Category Archives: Bronx

I moved to Da Bronx in May…

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I moved to Da Bronx in May of 1960 to get away from crime. I originally lived in Mount Vernon. I lived on Pelham Parkway North and the Allerton Avenue area. I hung out with friends from school on Cruger, Holland, Wallace, and the Parkside area. There were the projects, apt. buildings, and all the way up to Eastchester Road and Allerton Avenue. My parents didnot worry about me getting hurt or anything happening to me in those days. I remember the Mr. Softee trucks selling ice cream cones for a dime, one candy store that had ice cream pops for a nickel, spalding balls for .19, and also John’s Bargain store on Lydig avenue. We sometimes bought generic spauldings for 7 cents there ! Those were the good old days ! I still live in the area and what changes I have seen over the years and it’s not for the better.

Hello to all the Bronxites….

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Hello to all the Bronxites. I grew up in the Bronx from the 60’s to now. My parents had moved from Mount Vernon to Pelham Parkway to get away from crime and a better life. I hung out on Pelham Parkway North, South, Lydig Avenue, and the Allerton Avenue area. There were alot of great times, memories, and sometimes mischief. What changes over the past 40 years as I am still here. Anyone who wants to drop a line please do so.

For me the Bronx of 1953-1959…

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For me the Bronx of 1953-1959 in the Throggs Neck Housing Project was also an innocent paradise. Our apartment building had whites, blacks, Hispanics, and everyone got along GREAT. If there were racial problems, we kids were blissfully unaware of them then. We were neighbors. It was OUR neighborhood. We took care of it… I was dragged kicking and screaming away from that HOME in 1959, at age 12, by parents looking for “The American Dream”: A chicken in every pot, two cars in every garage, 2.2 kids, and, most of all: A home of your own in the suburbs… When they told me we were moving I wanted to run away from home instead. 🙁 Nassau county LI was already $$$ out of reach, so we went to Suffolk county. A place called Deer Park which, for all I knew, still had Indians lurking in the woods! Who was I going to play stick-ball with? Or ringalievo? How could I leave the only life I’d ever known? I think that’s what we miss most, the carefree innocence of a youth in a different world, with friends that stuck by you cause you all “BELONGED”. I suppose in the long run, it was beneficial to the family to move, but I wish I could have stayed in the Bronx a few more years…

As a kid growing up in the…

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As a kid growing up in the Bronx, stickball is nothing new to me. Our field was our narrow, one-way street. (As I remember, the distance from first to second was quite a distance, but guys on first and third were practically right next to one another.) When I moved to Portland, Maine… a state overrun by soccer and basketball.. I thought stickball days would remain a memory from the past…BUT… The other day while in a Shaw’s supermarket in Scarborough, Maine, I discovered they were selling both the rubber Spaulding balls and… Spaulding stickball bats. The bats were somewhat thicker than the broom handle I was used to as a kid, but for $7 ($2 for the ball, and $5 for the bat!) I was armed and ready to start playing stickball again!

I WAS BORN IN THE BRONX…

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I WAS BORN IN THE BRONX AND DELIVERED AT THE OLD LINCOLN HOSPITAL ON JACKSON AND WESTCHESTER AVE IN 1935. AND LIVED ON UNION AVE.BETWEEN 155 AND 156 ST. AS I GOT OLDER (6YRS) THE GUYS ON MY STREET AND THE GUYS ON UNION BETWEEN 156 AND WESTCHESTER AVE.WE WOULD ALWAYS COMPETE AGAINST EACH OTHER MOST OF US WENT PS#52 AND THOSE THAT DIDN’T WENT TO ST.ANSELMS CATHOLIC SCHOOL.WE WERE ALWAYS ON THE STRETS PLAYING STICKBALL, HIDE AND SEEK, RINGALEVIO, COPS AND ROBBERS, PUNCHBALL, FLYING KITS OFF THE ROOFS WITH RAZOR BLADES ON THE KITS TAIL TO CUT THEIR STRING. WE BECAME VERY CLOSE IN ALL THOSE YEARS GROWING UP NO ONE EVER SEEM TO MOVE AWAY. WE WOULD HANG OUT AT A COMMUNITY CENTER CALLED THE MELAROSE HOUSE OR ON THE STREET CORNER AT 156 AND UNION AVE. WE STARTED TO BRAKE UP WHEN WE LEFT FOR THE ARMED SERVICE OR GOT MARRIED. IN OUR TEENS WE FORMED ONE STICKBALL TEAM THE “LANCERS” AND PLAYED GREAT STICKBALL ON THE WEEKENDS FOR MONEY. THE LOCAL BOOK MAKERS AND STORE MERCHANTS WOULD BE THE HEAVY BETTERS. WE PLAYED TEAMS LIKE THE LUCK 7’S, THE NIGHTS THE ROCKETS NAMES I DONT REMEMBER FROM WALES AVE AND LONGWOOD AVE. THOSE WERE GREAT TIMES.

I was born in the Bronx…

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I was born in the Bronx in 1947. 29 west 181st St between Burnside Ave and Davidson Ave. Went to PS 91 near University Ave then Creston JHS and De Witt Clinton. Played stickball, punchball, PBC(Pitcher, Batter Catcher) Grand Concourse was the greatest- Lowes Paradise, Krums, Alexanders. Love to hear from anyone!!

In the Bronx in the the…

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In the Bronx in the the late 60’s and 70’s we played a game called off the curb. We had two players on each team you throw the ball down on the curb a ground ball caught by the infielder was an out as so were fly balls balls hit over the parked cars on a fly were a double if the ball hit the building in was a triple or home run depending how high it hit. Anthony

I remember a game like that…

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I remember a game like that in the ’70’s with this song: Hello, hello, hello, Sir Meet me at the gro-cer no, sir Why, sir? Because I have a cold, sir Where’d you get your cold, Sir From the north pole, Sir What you doin’ there, Sir? Catchin’ polar bears, Sir How many did you catch, Sir? One, Sir Two, Sir Three, Sir….etc.

I was born in the Bronx in…

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I was born in the Bronx in 1947. I lived at 441 E. 139 Steet. I went to PS 9. I remember playing with the spalding balls where you bounce the ball and cross over the ball with one leg as you chant a rhyme. You had to keep the ball bouncing throughout the rhyme. Can anyone tell me what the name of that game was called? Do you remember any of the rhymes? One that I remember is: “One Two Three O’Lary I spied Mistress Mary Sitting on a bumble-ary One Two Three O’Lary” We would cross our leg over the bounced ball each time we said the words that rhymed. Hope someone can add some info. Thanks, Graysgrandma [at] aol [dot] com