Young Again – Conshy Style

Young Again – Conshy Style

7/10/2026

By Brian Coll

This article was born from three things.

1. My son asked if he could stay out and play until the streetlights came on.
2. A local author named Holly Spofford and I got chatting about Conshohocken in the early 1980’s ( I can not wait until her book comes out, it’s a crime fiction. She has already published a few other books)
3. The band Shinedown released a new album, there is a song on it called Young Again and each time I have heard it I drift away to my little neighborhood in Conshohocken.

Here are the lyrics to Young Again by Shinedown. Found on AZLYRICS.com

“Young Again”

Lost in suburbia, we were too feral to tame
Built kingdoms in cul-de-sacs without a penny to our name
We were off the grid, just being kids
If you know, you know
And nothing was serious, and life was mysterious
And I thought that

You and I would never die, and there’d always be a castle to defend
And when we let it go, we didn’t know that we’d never be this young again
Whoa
Never be this young—

Surfing the blacktop, mixtapes of punk rock, and backyard battlefields
We stayed out past curfew, planning our next move just to see how it feels
And no one knew the score in the bottle rocket wars

And you and I would never die, and there’d always be a castle to defend
And when we let it go, we didn’t know that we’d never be this young again
And we spent our last nights under the street lights with our friends
And we made a stand in Neverland
And didn’t know we’d never be this young again

You know we’d never be this young again
Never be this young again

Bid farewell to the breakfast club
Say goodnight to the ones we love
Step-by-step, we were born to run
We were born to run
‘Cause

You and I will never die, and there’ll always be a castle to defend
And when we let it go, we didn’t know that we’d never be this young again
And we spent our last nights under the street lights with our friends
And we made a stand in Neverland
And didn’t know we’d never be this young again

So, while Conshohocken is only one square mile, growing up every couple blocks felt like its own little neighborhood. Sometimes the kids would overlap from one couple block area to the next. My group of friends might find an old fort in the woods made by a group of kids slightly older than us….. some Summer days two different groups of kids would be playing sandlot baseball at the same place and time and the game would go on until the street lights came on. Occasionally we’d rope my dad Jack in as steady pitcher or steady QB in street football.

My dad Jack made a lot of neighborhood kids happy while not having a lot of resources to do it. He’d find some plastic and make slip n slides in the small grass alley by our house. He’d find scrap pieces of wood and leave them out so the kids could build bike ramps. Of course we’d need to go see Pete Crippen at the hardware store at 9th and Fayette for a bag full of nails. Maybe we’d grab a sandwich at Jem’s while we were up on Fayette or a slice of pizza at Bolero’s.

Of course if you read what I write here at Conshystuff I have probably over shared my love for Josie’s store on West 8th…. however as we got older, we’d branch out to places like Jim’s on the upper east side, or Julia’s Market. If we were down by the silt basin Frank and Eddie’s was always a good place for a soda. The deli at 6th and Maple went through a few name changes over the years. It’s where my sister got to become friends with the amazing Barb Kelly when they worked together. (in the Facebook comments you’ll have to tell us all the names you remember of the 6th and Maple corner store)

Here’s something they don’t tell you about childhood and your early teenage years….. at least before cell phones. There comes a moment where you knocked on someone’s door for the last time and asked if they wanted to come out and play, or hang out as you got a little older. Now, sometimes you’d set out to go knock at so and so’s house, only to round the corner and see them already outside. But there comes a day, where it just doesn’t happen. As you get a little older you might join an adult sports league or something… but the pick up games in the street stop happening.

In my recent conversation with Holly (I really can’t wait to read her books, not just the one she is working on that may have some nods to Conshohocken along the way) I brought up playing pick up baseball at 7th and Fayette/Forrest where the old Conshohocken High School was, now home to Santander Bank…. There was also a makeshift field around east 8th by the old Lee factory where he made surgical supplies before getting into tires.

Of course, those of you reading are probably different ages than me and each part of the community had little spots to play. I seem to remember an open field on the upper east side….. like 14th, 15th and it could have been a plot of land just waiting for a house to be built… sometimes the open spaces were only open for a short period of time…. but if it was when you were of a certain age, you could find yourself playing there or hanging out there for a summer or two.

I could keep talking about my childhood, and if you’ve been reading for any part of the past 13 years since we’ve had a website, you know I do talk about my childhood and how lucky I was to grow up here. I hope you have fond memories of growing up in our community.

One more thing…. if you want FREE TICKETS to the Reading Phillies game on July 19th, stop by our shop at 324 Fayette Street here in Conshohocken. Grab a bunch for your family and friends. See you up there!

Back to playing outside until the streetlights come on…. my little guy was so thrilled when he got to catch a few lightning bugs the other night as the streetlights came on.