Isn,t this a kick! We are one nostalgic family.I,m crusing for old friends and look what I find? My mom and then my brother. This is no fun,I just called you both. And Tony don,t get on mom what are you doing home… Anyone else out there familiar with Ollinville & Arnow circa 50s thru 80s league football, two hand touch in the street, BASKETBALL Saturday morning at Parkside or winter nights at Fordham college, and of course GIRLS… Clubs,in early 60s was the Monterey Club up by Edenwald Projects, then the Riviera lounge I believe in Yonkers, and by the late 60s it was Maxims on Jerome Ave. Lets hear it from the dancers!!
While we all played and had fun all year long, the Summer months usually brought special memeories. What are some of yours? I remember the distinct smell when it rained on a hot summers day – rain, and concrete and asphalt was a unique experience of the senses that one couldn’t experience anywhere else but in NYC. Remember the steam coming up from the streets? I also remember going to Yankee and Met games with the local PAL…I think we had to pay a buck which included transportation, lunch, and the ticket! I also remember the moths and bugs swirling around the street lights on a steamy, hot, Summer’s night…and Mr. Softee music and the light from its truck in the background. Banana boats were under a buck…wow! I also remember making genies by emptying the gunpowder from leftover firecrackers from the night before on the 4th of July…we called it the 4th. I also remember eating those freeze pops in the plasic sleeves…may favorite was blue ice, what was yours?….not to mention the chocolate eclair or creamsicles from the Good Humor man or Bungalow Bar. And what about jamming ourselves in the boys and girls entrances in the schoolyard until the rain was over….one last powerful Queens memory….going to Weiss’s and Lenny’s clam bar on the way back from Rockaway beach. Oh, Summer in NYC, I wish I could have just one day back again!
KlutZ books Puts out a great book on Chinese Jump Rope complete with pictures and several versions. I just bought it for our school and you have now lived until you have seen 100 grade 5/6 kids playing this. I’m now on the quest for the old ball bouncing rhymes that started out with the word Ordinary…. it had clap at the front, clap at the back etc. Help. e mail at d.m.douglas@ lycos.com Thank you
I’ve been searching high and low for info/references on a game I played a lot in 5th and 6th grade called Goofball. As I remember, it was a played with a wiffleball bat and a tennis ball. No gloves were allowed. First and third base were the same, but second base was like out in center field or even beyond, usually a big tree or piece of playground equipment. The batting team had three outs to work with, supplied the pitcher and generally played by three-pitch rules. However, you could hit it anywhere: in front of you, behind you etc so no such thing as a foul ball. Like three-pitch, you had three pitches total to hit the ball “safely” (meaning not caught by the fielding team or not hitting a runner), and could be called out if you swung/missed or didn’t swing on the third pitch. Outs were made by pop flys or line drives caught, force outs (1st base only as I remember), not hitting safely by the third pitch, being tagged by the ball (with the ball in hand by an opposing team member, or getting hit by a thrown or batted ball), or not returning home before your next at-bat. If you made it to first base, once you left first (or any) base, you couldn’t return to it. However, you could have multiple players on a single base, and it didn’t matter whether the guy/gal that batted behind or ahead of you scored or was called out before you. It made for some crazy chases where runners who left first or second would run all over the place, towards the school corridors, hiding out, until they knew it was safe to advance to the next base. I do remember that you had to get home before your next at-bat or it was an automatic out. If anyone has any additional info on this, or knows where I can go to find some, please email me at . Thanks.
Remember the mars Attacks cards? I remember trading someone a pen, a dollar, and some baseball cards for the whole set…wish I still had them. When we had the drills where we had to “make like a turtle and crawl into a ball under your desk” in school, I would wonder if we were under attack.
IN A QUEST TO HELP MY 6 YR OLD TO EARN HER BROWNIE (GIRL SCOUT)BADGE, WE HAD TO PLAY CHINESE JUMP ROPE. I WENT LOOKING FOR RULES – FOUND A SITE WWW.GAMESKIDSPLAY.NET THAT HAS ALL KINDS OF RULES FOR “CLASSIC” KIDS GAMES AS WELL AS RHYMES FOR JUMP ROPE….NEVER THOUGHT THIS 39 YR. OLD BODY COULD DO IT, BUT WE HAD AN EXCELLENT TIME! WE LAUGHED UNTIL WE CRIED…… I WOULDN’T TRADE THAT TIME TOGETHER FOR THE WORLD…… ON TO DOUBLE DUTCH!!!!!!!!
PS 66 in Richmond Hill Queens had everything from punchball, stickball, slapball (“Slap”). basketball, off the wall, asses up, ringelevio, coco-monster, chinese, handball, whiffleball, errors, 5 boxes, hit the penny, strikeouts, to softball. I even remember the “non athletic” kids playing checkers, chess, or cards off in some corner. Out in the street were skelly games, I Declare War, Tops, and kids doing unbelievable things with yo-yos. Soemtimes we would use nearby Forest park fo ringelevio…and of course one of the Queens meccas, Victory Field. What memories. This experience of playing led me to my wonderful profession – a Physical Educator.
i just bought a package of jacks at a old country store in east aurora,new york…called vidlar’s..only 69 cents..and the back of the package has a no. of instructions on different games…the store is on the internet….vidlar’s.com…so anyone who wants to order them can get them there…hadn’t played in 35 years..opps…40 yrs….was fun trying it once again…can’t wait to show my grandkids tis week-end…happy memories of days gone by..
How can you forget your first kiss? It was in my closet with Victoria, the girl next door. We where about in the fifth grade. Her younger brother and sister where on the other side of the door asking “What are you doing in there?” We kissed each other on the cheek a couple of times and then one of us said how about the lips this time? Pretty racey for ten year olds around 1957. Now I must talk of THE kiss. The one that lead to my first true love. We where walking home from our first date at the movies. It was a cold Bronx winter evening. I still remember the date 2/2/62. With snow on the ground. We stopped in a small playground near her building and leaning against this large cement turtle (sounds funny when I think of it) we embraced. Let me tell you, my feet where not cold anymore. Same for my nose, hands or anything else! We went on to become great friends over the decades but have lost touch. Jill, if your out there I hope all is well.
You should have a big international stickball tournament with teams from every country. Build the stadium on a platform built into the New York City Harbor. Pay for all the supplies too, like quality ebony stickball bats and balls with rare chinese silk stuffed inside them. Why? Why not? An add campaign would go great with it, tying up even more money. The trophy for the winner would be, of course, a diamond studded lump of platinum! All runners-up would recieve a life-time supply of Yoohoo chocolate drink. (Yoohoo is chocolate drink, not chocolate milk)