These Folks Really Know Johnston

Our new Facebook page, You Know You're From Johnston RI If, has been live for about two weeks now — and the early numbers are in.

Since its launch on July 30, the new page — which asks for memories and observations about growing up in Johnston — has gathered 721 Likes and almost 6,700 views, as of 8:15 a.m. on August 10.

A majority of the comments follow the typically Rhode Island "Where the [business name] used to be" idea — from the Ground Round where CVS is now, to Mammoth Mart, which used to be on the property of the now-defunct Stuart's store.

Quite a number of people posted memories of favorite (or not-so-favorite) teachers and where they attended school — Graniteville, , Calef, and — and, in a few cases, how they managed to not attend school.

(Don't worry, we won't tell your parents!)

The received a few friendly pokes for being on the lookout for speeders and expired inspection stickers.

And while a couple of people noted Johnston's recent claim to fame of counting DJ Pauly D among its native sons, lots of commenters noted the little things that make Johnston unique in their minds.

Matt Mekuto observed: "When you realize that baccala isn't just a company but it means fish in Italian..."

(He's referring to the Baccala Construction company.)

Brenna Carnevale noted some Johnston drivers' preference for loud music: "if you hear bass from every car around you at a red light and, when you're in your house, the pictures on the wall shake from someone driving by with the bass cranked up."

And Christine Porter Imbriglio summed up the height of fashion for Johnston kids in the 80s: "if you had every color hi-top reebok, an outfit that said italy style, jeans in every color with a bow and zipper at the back of the ankle, you wore layered socks,had a leather or suede fringe jacket or boots, wore a mini-skirt with a band t-shirt, and high hair teased with aqua-net."

If you'd like to share your memories about Johnston, click on the link at the top of this article to go to the Facebook page, and leave a comment — and send the link to folks who have moved out of Johnston so they can add their voices, too.

Be sure to also check out the Johnston Patch Facebook page.

Thanks for reading!