“Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town.”— Simon and Garfunkle, My Little Town.
JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — Lucille Ball has been dead for more than 30 years but she may still be her hometown’s biggest attraction.
The pioneering comic was even laid to rest far from Hollywood in Jamestown, N.Y.’s Lake View Cemetery.
The town of 26,000 is about 120 km southwest of Buffalo near the Pennsylvania border. Other notables are 10,000 Maniacs singer Natalie Merchant, Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter and Marmaduke creator Brad Andersen, who don’t quite have Lucy’s cache.
But the glory days are long gone.
On a recent Monday, most of the bars, restaurants and attractions were closed. That included the popular Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center.
Once, though, it was the largest furniture manufacturing centre on the planet with enough dough pouring into local coffers to allow for the grand houses that encircle downtown.
Visitors from around the country came to attend furniture expositions at a large building called the Furniture Mart. Its once lovely facade now has the appearance of a beautiful woman who started banging meth.
And since 1950, Jamestown’s population has dropped by about 35%.
Traditionally, Jamestown and surrounding Chautauqua County have gone big for the Republicans. Former president Donald Trump took 59% of the vote in 2020.
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On Third Ave., George Palmeri, 55, “born and raised in Jamestown,” has no ambivalence over who he’s going to vote for.
“Donald Trump, all the way. He’s the man,” Palmeri told the Sun. “I’m a lifelong Republican.”
Palmeri’s buddy is reluctant to give his name or have his photo taken. But he does have some things to say.
“I don’t think there’s going to be an election because 2020 is going to be overturned,” the 50ish man said in front of a Trump sign. “See, on Trump’s hat he has ’45-47;’ that means he knows.”
Looking around conspiratorially, he said: “There’s a lot of liberals in this town, they have ‘Trump derangement syndrome.’ I can’t even wear my MAGA hat or else they’d flip out, then again they’re too busy watching MSNBC.
“And you have the mockingbird media. Any given day, 85% of what they say is nonsense.”
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There were about 20 patrons at Wicked Warren’s on Monday afternoon with more expected after dinner for Monday Night Football. The Buffalo Bills were on, so it was a fairly big deal.
Bartender Emily Crawford, 21, says she can’t get out of Jamestown fast enough. It’s depressing, too conservative and most importantly there are few opportunities for young people. When she has the dough, she plans on getting out of Dodge to study nursing.
In the interim, she toils behind the wood at Warren’s, a brew pub that makes a terrific wood-oven pizza.
“I’m happy Kamala (Harris) is running instead of (President Joe) Biden,” Crawford said. “I don’t think Donald Trump should be allowed to run for president. He’s a convicted felon, there is a stigma there. The presidency is sacred and I don’t think Americans treat it that way.”
Forget immigration, crime and the economy, for Crawford Trump is the issue. The former reality TV star doesn’t “respect what the American spirit stands for.”
Then there are Trump’s women problems, including accusations of sexual assault.
“New York is a Democratic state, but only because of New York City. The rest of the state is more blue-collar, conservative, farmers and industrial workers,” she said.
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A native of Jamestown, she is fully aware of the town’s fall from grace.
“Over the last 50 or 60 years, the economy has really taken a hit and it has hit Jamestown really hard,” she said.
As Bob Seger’s Night Moves plays in the background, a co-worker chimed in: “I don’t pay attention to politics anymore.”
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Susan and Fred Atkins are happily going to be abroad on Nov. 5. Fred, 80, is a retired New York City math teacher, while Susan, 70, still works part time as a therapist.
The sprightly pair are in Jamestown because Susan has been a lifelong Lucy fan and wanted to check out the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center. She reports that it’s “fabulous.
“I’m a never-Trumper, but I’ll also say I’m not a happy Democrat, either. Sure, a lot of Kamala’s promises sound good, but you can’t pay for everything,” she said.
The couple say they’re middle-of-the-road patriots who want both sides of the aisle to work together for the betterment of all Americans. Both are glad that Biden bowed out, but note Harris is an unknown quantity.
For Fred, the endless political gridlock is infuriating and he blames both parties.
“You can’t get anything passed. Good, bad or indifferent, they can’t get laws passed. All of this impacts the economy,” he said.
As for the candidates, Fred’s main issue with Trump is character — which he believes the real estate mogul lacks. He pointed to the former president torpedoing a widely supported bipartisan immigration bill.
“The character of Trump came out loud and clear. It was important for me to have an issue like that to serve the American people,” he said. “I don’t think we can legislate morality. We tried it with booze. We tried it with weed. We tried it with a ton of things.
“But I wouldn’t trust Trump with my money or my daughter.”
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