Debbie Fiero

This interview with Debbie Fiero was conducted at Debbie’s Lil’ Restaurant in Hudson, New York on July 16, 2012, as part of the Oral History Summer School.  Debbie Fiero grew up in Hudson, NY, surrounded by her large Italian-American family.  She has spent most of her life here, except for a few years living in nearby towns when her two children were young.  For the past 19 years, she has owned and run Debbie’s Lil’ Restaurant on Columbia Street which has transitioned from a breakfast/lunch/dinner and weekend all-night place to a breakfast only place with a primarily local clientele.

The factories she remembers from her Childhood are gone and some of the local Warren Street shops closed as they could no longer compete with the box stores and malls outside of town.  Although she misses the tight-knit community she grew up in, she sees a positive change in the revitalization of Warren Street as the antique shops have opened and the buildings have been restored and that many local family businesses remain.

Some of the topics that came up in the interview are:
Family and friendships, Childhood in Hudson, activities at Oakdale lake, the restaurant business, cooking, Hudson during WW11, changes in Hudson after the factories and local businesses closed. (Atlas Cement, McGuires, L & G, JJ Newbury’s, Woolworth’s). Local businesses that remain (Jonny’s Ideal Printing, Vasilow’s Candy Shop, Mulino’s, Stewart’s.) Antique shops and the restoration of buildings on Warren Street, tourists, Route 9 and the Malls, racial tensions in the 1970’s, Hudson High School, changes in education, community involvement.

This interview would be of interest to people looking to learn more about growing up in Hudson, changes in the town, and what it’s like to open and run a busy restaurant.