ADAMS, Mass. — Most towns have that one spot that seems like it's been open forever.

 

The food is good and the prices are right. People sit at the same table or stool they've been sitting at for years. They do it almost without thinking. Conversation invariably turns to town politics and there are no shortage of opinions.

 

For Adams, that spot is the Red Carpet. And at the Red Carpet, one of the longest running group of regulars is "the Ladies in the Window."

 

If you've walked by the Park Street restaurant any Friday morning for the past 40 or so years you might have noticed the same group of women having breakfast at the corner table. 

 

The hair is grayer, the diets are different, the memories not quite as quick, but the laughs are just as deep, and the stories still as meaningful.

 

Fran Bassi, Nancy Kelley, Carol Graves, Barbra Kittler, Ann Doyle, and Brenda Robinson met for the penultimate time at the soon to be closing Adams institution. The group have met for breakfast every Friday at 7 a.m. since around 1980. A few of the members have changed but its most recent iteration has been going strong for at least 20-plus years.

 

"Originally, I was with Sally Ostrobinski and Angela Poulimenos (former regulars) and we were all in the school system. We covered all the schools in Adams pretty much. Renfrew, Hoosac, Commercial Street, Liberty, Memorial. It's why we have breakfast so early," said founding member Fran Bassi. Bassi still lives at the same house on Lincoln Street that she did when she was born. 

 

"We're still on the same schedule. Now we just get to stay longer. And that's good because we have a lot of problems to solve!" Nancy Kelley laughed.

 

The group has 21 children and 49 grandchildren between them. Robinson has the first great-grandchild of the bunch on the way. Their husbands worked at Sprague Electric or GE or in the school system as well. 

 

"It was just friends getting together on a Friday ... so we could celebrate the end of another week," said the "newest" member Ann Doyle. She's only been coming for about 20 years.

 

Doyle, originally from Worcester, is married to longtime Hoosac Valley High and Williams College football coach Joe Doyle. She showed up one Friday morning and that was that. She had found her group.

 

"I had children later so I had to get them ready for school and all that but when my youngest turned 14 I could come earlier," she said.

 

"She just popped in one morning," Bassi said.

 

Brenda Robinson explained how the group got its name.

 

"I had a gentleman come up to me and say 'You're one of the ladies that sit in the window' and I was like, oh yeah, I guess so," she said.

 

After a few quiet moments, faces blushed and the table erupted in laughter.

 

"That doesn't sound good Brenda!" said Carol Graves.

 

"In other countries, that's not a good thing!" added Babrbra Kittler.

 

Robinson responded proudly, "At least he called me a lady!"

 

Exchanges like this have happened hundreds of times over the last 40 years. All at the corner window table at 69 Park St.

 

"The funny thing is, we're not really big breakfast eaters, we just enjoyed getting together," said Kelley. "We knew each other through church and most of our kids went through the school system together so we always had a lot to talk about."

 

"These days people probably don't do it as much because everything is so crazy. People just don't have the time. We were lucky," Bassi added.

 

There have been scant changes to the group outside of Doyle and to a certain extent Graves, who is originally from Turners Falls. Even visitors aren't very common. No matter how well they knew people or even if they were related.

 

"No, our husbands never came or our children really. Every once in a while one of the grandkids would come by. We only have so much room so it's easy to say, 'Sorry, there's no place to sit so … ," Robinson said, looking mischievous.

 

 As for the Red Carpet closing after 69 years under the Haddads, they shared the same sentiments of all the customers. Both sad for a part of local history to be going away but excited for the family to be able to enjoy their golden years.

 

"We've all had their kids in school and our children knew them as well so it's like we all went through it together. They all deserve some time to enjoy their lives now," Robinson said.

 

"I can't imagine the town without it but I understand it's just time. Ann and George and all of them have done so much. It's not easy what they've done," said Graves.

 

"They've meant so much to this area. All the kids were so great. We'll just have to move on I guess," Bassi sighed.

 

The next half hour was filled with stories about Adams' not so recent past. Shopping trips and clothing clubs at the former Schiff's clothing store, the ski lift up, and the short trip down, Bob's Hill, Whitman's hardware, Bay State, The Crest. The names are as familiar as they are endless. All gone now. 

 

Soon the Red Carpet will be one of those names. Talked about for decades over holiday dinners by different generations trying to keep their memories alive.  

 

Eventually the conversation turned to the future. The Red Carpet may be closing but that doesn't mean the end for the Ladies in the Window. 

 

Adams is fortunate to have two other long-standing locally owned options for breakfast and gossip. Dick and Joan Carrigan's Corner Lunch on Summer Street has been feeding people since 1979 (get the breakfast ham). And for the last decade and a half, Ben and Nancy Acquista have been running the Daily Grind, just down Park Street from the Red Carpet.

 

"We've kind of decided on the Daily Grind. It's just bigger so we can stay there longer if we want to. They might have to put some tables together to get us by the window though," Graves said.

 

The closing of the Red Carpet will mean different things to different people. For pessimists it will simply mean another empty storefront among the rest on Park Street. To optimists, it will be an opportunity for a young family to perhaps start a new tradition with a fresh perspective. To the Haddads, it will be a chance to relax and reflect on a life spent serving the community they've called home all of their lives.

 

To the Ladies in the Window and the rest of the loyal customers, it will be the end of an era. An end to decades of lazy Sunday morning breakfasts with kids, grandchildren in tow, back to visit for the holidays. An end to fighting over the decisions made at whatever town meeting they had just been to. An end to Ann letting her brother George think he runs the place.

 

There is some truth in all of those perspectives. It will be an empty storefront, an opportunity, a fond memory for many. It certainly will be the latter for the Ladies in the Window.

 

Brenda Robinson tried to sum up her feelings.

 

"I love Adams. I think it's one of the most unique towns going. We will miss this place but times change. People need to change with it. I'm happy for the Haddads and I'm also kind of excited."

 

The Red Carpet will be closing for good at the end of business on Dec. 31 after 69 years.