A wooden crate, from the pushcart man, on Blake Ave. (Brooklyn)… two sticks to hold onto… the metal skates on a large, wide board on the bottom and bottle caps that you nailed on…Voila! a scooter.And remember the wooden rubber band guns? You’d make them and use linoleum to shoot at the one or two cars that went down your street.I was a tomboy, and loved hammering, and sanding and nailing…
Definitely a sliding pond..and there was a huge fountain in the center of all the concrete and it had a circular seating area (of concrete) and that was our ‘pool’.. Nok-Hockey (Toys R Us has the wooden one, with the wooden puck).. a ‘sandy beach area’ to play with your shovel and pail and a circular track so you could skate..with the metal skates that had the key, and fastened onto your shoes, and you could make them bigger as your feet grew, and tighten them.. Snedicker Ave. park in East New York (Bklyn) and Bradford St. park in East New York… I’d ride my little trike
I remember Mitchells drive in. Didn’t live in Bensonhurst, but close enough – Bay Ridge on 92nd street between ridge blvd and colonial road. Born in Shore Road Hospital – guess they must have torn that down many years ago. Remember wearing dog tags to school – was mandatory – at PS 185. Great memories of the Brooklyn of long ago – when I close my eyes, can still hear the doo-wop music I loved so much
Hi Marc…this is super!!!!!!! I remember Chink ball..played at every corner store in Feltonville where there was a ” Jewish ” candy or variety store, and the drug stores wall with light buff colored brick were not exempt either. We used to be ” chased ” by Muchnick, Mr. Gold, Lenny’s food market and even the Smylie Rd shoe repair man. It was a great way to spend an evening! Now here were the rules…you had to show up in a white tee shirt, and not the athletic ones either or you couldn’t play. You pitched a penny against the wall to find out who would serve first and keep score!! That was important. One bounce of the pimple ball which was sold for 9 cents by the store owner ( the corner) where you got chased was shared by all players. One bounce was the rule and if the ball jumped the wall and went onto a lawn, you lost 2 points! The game was played with and open palm to smack the ball, almost like tennis or racket ball Well we invented ” Jewish Chink ” —My family was the Ponnock Toy company and we were privy to have the old paddle and ball…A wooden paddle and a long rubber band attached to the ball manufactured inside and connected to paddle with a staple. I cut the rubber band and brought two paddles with me to Muchnicks’ in the early 1960’s and we had fun! We called ourselves the Pennway Paddle Club. When the pimple ball went flat from us really abusing it, we held off from immediately cutting it into ” halfies ” and ran around playing ” paddle Tag” So much fun!!! thanks marc.. this is great
Here’s an expense that will reduce your capital and put a smile on my face. Buy me a Ford Excursion Limited fully loaded with leather seats, cd player, sunroof, towing package, Diesel powerstroke engine with all the bells and whistles. I would like Blue or Black with the beige trim at the bottom. Or if some generous person who reads would like to make our wish come true please do so. Me and my children thank you in advance for your generosity.
This has been an exciting season for the Foxboro Stickballers in Columbus, Ohio. The record for the farthest homerun was broken by one of the two sharers of the old record, Kyle Winter. Winter, who along with friend Matt Selhorst hit 249′ blasts on August 18, 2000 during a game in the Outerbanks, North Carolina. Kyle shattered his old mark on August 11, 2001 by launching a 267′ bomb into the alley in left center field at “The New Place,” the main home to Foxboro Stickball in Columbus. Stay tuned for upcoming end of the year awards including Most Valuable Player, Pitcher of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Golden Gloves, and Silver Sticks.
“Gotta” tell “ya”..this is the very best site, EVER…. After 30 years I ‘found’ my best friends on the Internet…Bobby Stone, Jerry Hertz (introduced me to Dylan and guitar playing) Irene Mossberg (who I grew up with, on Alabama Ave. in Brooklyn, and who I went with, as kids to Coney Island and Prospect Park and Botanic Gardens) and last but not least, IRA MOSCOWITZ who I danced with and made-out with so both of us would know what to do when we started dating others, for real!