In the heart of Houston’s Denver Harbor District, a young boy finds himself thrust into a world teeming with colorful characters, gritty tales and the unrelenting struggles of a bygone era.

In his new autobiographical book, “Harbordale Food Market,” author Stanley Handel unravels the rich tapestry of life in the 1950s Houston neighborhood, offering readers a front-row seat to the raw, unvarnished reality of his family-owned store, which served as the epicenter of an entire community.

As a teenager attending Stephan F. Austin High School, Handel toiled away in his father's food market, where he became an unwitting witness to the human drama that unfolded within its walls. From shady customers and crime to ordinary folks struggling to make ends meet, the market was a microcosm of life in a struggling neighborhood, with heart-wrenching moments etched into Handel’s memory.

In an interview, Handel responded to questions about “Harbordale Food Market,” available online at Amazon books.

Q. What brought your family to Houston?

A. My father, Phil, owed money. We left our home in Beacon, New York in the dark of night and headed cross-country. Leaving town was his way of canceling his debts, a poor man’s bankruptcy solution. Not so easy to find someone in the 1950s. He piled my mother and four children into our brown 1950 Dodge Wayfarer, and we ended up in Denver Harbor. I was 13.

Q. What was Denver Harbor like in 1953?

A. It was a rough area, which befit my father, who was a rough man. It was a backwater, an orphan region on the fringe of Houston. The people were mostly blue-collar workers and a mixture of races –even though segregation still had a grip. It was a hardscrabble neighborhood. My father bought into a food market, which would sustain us but often felt like a prison to a teenage boy.

Q. The Harbordale Food Market is the center stage of the story. How was the store more than just a business?

Working at Harbordale Food Market gave me an early and keen awareness of the human drama of love, hate, loss, conflict and suffering. I was immersed in the stories that played out among the fascinating personalities that passed through those doors. It was a crucible of life experiences. For example, I remember a grandfather coming in, tears in his eyes, telling my father he didn’t have the money to bury his two-month-old grandbaby who had died in the crib. Phil went to the cash register and handed over money to help the man. But I also remember Phil standing with his arms crossed, a .45 gun in his hands, warding off some local tough guys who wanted to come into the store and beat a customer.

Q. Yours was not the picture-perfect 1950s family of Ozzie and Harriet or the Cleavers. What were those years like for your family?

A. No, this is not your typical coming-of-age story. Our lives were dominated by my father, who was a scoundrel. He spent time in prison twice. When dad got the Harbordale Food Market, he also inherited an arrangement with local thugs who moved stolen goods through the store. A police raid and a shootout were part of the backdrop of our lives.

Q. Why did you choose to share this deeply personal story?

I wanted to share one aspect of Houston in the 1950s, a time and place now gone. The people, the streets, and the Harbordale Food Market itself have all disappeared into the mists of time. The address of the market, 511 McCarty Dr., is now a  fenced dirt lot. Though this is my personal story, it’s also a human-interest story, preserving and chronicling an intimate picture of Houston history.

From this rough beginning, Handel went on to attend the University of Houston, teach at Incarnate Word Academy and graduate from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He was a practicing physician for 51 years before retiring. Handel and his wife, Carolyn, now live in Oklahoma, to be near their children and grandchildren.

“Harbordale Food Market” is available as an eBook and printed book on Amazon. Dive into the pages of this captivating narrative and let the echoes of Denver Harbor, Houston, in the 1950s ignite your curiosity and touch your heart.

For more information about Harbordale Food Market, contact the Author Stanley Handel at [email protected]