Streetplay Discussion Archive

I grew up in Flatbush Brooklyn. I am 40 yrs old now. We lived on the streets as kids. Our imagination was not provided by a computer or a video game. We had very little money so we had to play with things like skully, stick ball, johhnie on the pony, kick the can, hide the belt, ringoleavio, tag, army, and the fondest memories included building a go cart in the garage. The pride we had rolling that baby onto the street is unmatched in todays children. They would rather buy one. I remember playing skully all summer long. There must have been 40 kids on my block on East 35th street. We made our board with a screwdriver when the tar softened from the summer heat. The rain never washed away our board. I remember the black knees, the worn out middle finger nail, and the extentsive efforts at finding the best cap we could find. Sometimes a kid would show up with what he thought was the cap of all caps, only to find out that it didn’t do the job on the court. One never knew until they actually played the game. Those were the fondest days. The long hot summer nights, the families on the sidewalk in the folding lawn chairs watching the Mets on a black and white TV with a coat hanger as an antenna. (dont forget the aluminum foil) Kids running around with jelly jars catching lightning bugs until “rocky” the ice cream man showed up. The stoop was an institution. We had nothing, but we were rich in that we were never bored. My kids tell me they are bored all the time. We give them so much, that we never let them learn to value things. It’s sad in a way. I loved my life on the streets in Brooklyn in the 1970’s. Thanks for this web site