Author Archives: Streetplay Discussions

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Guess what? I still have all my marbles from the sixties. I don’t know how they survived but they are here and on the mantle piece. We used to play marbles but none of us knew any rules, so, we would make them up. I guess that’s the way it goes with marbles. In our old kitchen, the linoleum had buckled and my dad had nailed down the trough of the buckle. The coolest thing was that it created sort of an elevated highway for the marbles to travel along. The kitchen being an important place, my discovery of the unique properties of the lino forced a banning of the marbles from the kitchen floor. I guess that’s why I still have them. Last summer, I invited some kids from my block into the living room and they discovered the marbles. These two six year old girls had a chance to make up their own rules and play with my marbles. They are still asking if they can come over and play marbles. It’s great!

WOW, I came from the Lower…

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WOW, I came from the Lower East Side, Forsythe Street and this was my favorite game. We called it Skell-zee. I thought it was a game that we kids had invented. No one has ever know what I was talking about when I’ve talked about this game. We used bottle tops and mostly used orange peels to weigh them down. It was a great clean game, of course, unless you laid flat down on the dirty sidewalk. We also had the park across the street where we would chalk the game down on the playing field. We also played iron tag.

OK New Yorkers of ole. How…

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OK New Yorkers of ole. How about a Charlotte Russe with the false bottom. Then there were the sweet potato venders and the soft pretzle guys and don’t forget the Hot dog vendors. Does anybody remember a deli on 42nd Street near B’way where a nickle bought you a hot dog, a hamburger or a knish with a free root beer. And then further down athe block were the spaghetti stores with the huge boiling pot in the window. All you can eat spaghetti for 25 cents. Where have the “real” Nathan’s hot dogs gone?

On a hot summer’s day, a…

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On a hot summer’s day, a friend and I decided to go into business. We took one of our Mom’s glass pitchers and filled it with icecubes and lemonade. We set up a folding table in front of a neighborhood park bench, placed the pitcher and some paper cups on top, and waited … Soon, wide eyed thirsty kids appeared. We charged 10 cents a cup, and at the end of the day, we had a total of 50 cents. We split the profits and gave it all away to Jack the icecream man! ; )

You all sound like youngsters…

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You all sound like youngsters compared to me. My first and only bike came at age 13 in 1939. It was the Rolls Royce of bicycles; a Rollfast with a tank and a horn on the tank, a headlight on the front fender, a streight bar accross the chrome handlebr. It also had a carrier on the back fender and a chain guard. There was also a speedometer/odometer which registered to 50 mph.The crowning glory was the Fisk whitewall Air Flight inflatable tires. At that time, (still into the depression) the retail cost of this “machine” was $47.50. My Dad got it wholesale for $29.00. That bike was transported to North Carolina where I attended collage and then was transported accross the country to Los Angeles. I equiped it with a $50.00 Whizzer motor that I rode through the canyons between N. Hollywood and Van Nuys to Los Angeles and Westwood. I eventually hit a car that ran a red light. I flipped over the front of the car. The bike ended up a lot worse than I did.

> I guess I’ll have to play…

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> I guess I’ll have to play a few games to remember again I want to do this too. I live in Westchester NY, but I think I can find a lot of clean, level pavement in the local now-defunct Caldor’s parking lot. Not a bad place to squeeze in some stickball either now that I think of it.

How about the wooden produce…

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How about the wooden produce box ends that we used to put into an “L” shape and cut two edges off the right angle sides then put a nail in the front and attach a rubber band and pull it over the lip at the right agle. Then put a little square of light cardboard between the rubber band and push the rubber band off with the thumb and watch the missle go flying. It had quite a force and a bit of a sting if it hit you. A bit more creative than the guns the kids use today.

In the late 30s and early…

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In the late 30s and early 40s in Washington Hights (the upper end of Manhattan) we played a game called Baseball Off the Wall. The game was played from one side of the street to the other side of the street. The brick tenament houses had rows of inlaid bricks which was used to bounce the rubber ball off the edge of the brick. If the ball bounced onto the first sidewalk it was a strike. If it bounced on the fly to the first half of the gutter; this side of the manhole cover, it was a single. If it bounced past the manhole cover, but still in the gutter, it was a double. If it bounced on the sidewalk accoss the street it was a triple and if it hit the building it was a home run. If the ball was caught on the fly before it hit the ground, of course, it was an out. The teams were made up of one kid each. We even had leagues going. What fun!