I’m back again. I can’t seem to stay away from this site.

The one place that comes to mind when I think of the Lower East Side is Mott Street. Little Italy to most of you. We had a large group of kids that hung around together. At most we were around 15 boys and girls who ‘stayed together’.

In the summer months we could be found at the corner of Mott and Broome Streets. Just hanging out on the front stoop.That’s what we called it. Just hanging around.

We sat around and talked and there was always singing and dancing to someone’s radio. This was way before hand held recorders for tapes. CD’s weren’t even invented yet. (Gee, how old am I?)

On Sunday we attended church and then later on took in a movie. Always a group of us went. Maybe a local movie house (Delancy or Canal Theaters) or if there was something good happening uptown – either at Radio City Music Hall or any of the other big theaters.

Does anyone remember ‘The Dumps’. Also known as the Universal Theater. It was a little movie house at the corner of the Bowery and Hester Street. In the later years, it always smelled like the inside of a liquor bottle. That’s where the homeless (to be politically correct) hung out and kept warm. But I remember it when we could spend an entire Saturday there for 15 cents. We would get 20 cartoons and two full length features. Plus the Newsreel.

My father would drop me off in the morning with a friend or two and then pick us up in the late afternoon. Can you imagine we were entertained for several hours for 15 cents! Try and get this now.

Well, I think I’ve rambled on and on for long enough. It would be soo nice to see some replies on my posting. If you remember some of these places, maybe you were one of those kids.

Take care…Jeanne from Forsythe Street