Category Archives: Manhattan

I have been searching for…

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I have been searching for Spaldeens on the web since I got on the web. Today I find they are back! Yippie! I don’t remember the Pensie Pinkie unless they were the solid foam rubber balls that would get gouges taken out of them and you see the spongy inside. I hated them. We played stick ball all over the dead ends of Sutton Place in Manhattan. We hated loosing the Spaldeens in the East River. I remember a teacher in High School that always carried a Spaldeen. He had huge forearms. All day long he would squeeze his Spaldeen. I am heading for a sporting goods store now to find my first spaldeen in 30 years

In the late 50’s and early…

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In the late 50’s and early 60’s in Yorkville (Manhattan) we used to line up and jump into and out of the rope one at a time then run around the rope turner and jump back in and out on the other side to this rhyme: “Put the dirty diapers on ____” The name of the person would be the kid who was in the rope at that moment. It was a very fast game and so much fun.

Just stopped by , enjoy the…

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Just stopped by , enjoy the site ! My question to anyone out there is Where did stoopball originate and when ? If anyone can answer this It would be appreciated. I remember playing stoopball, curve ball or off the wall when I was a kid, living on 21st in Manhattan. If anyone can direct me to the history of the game , it be great ! I heard so many different stories, one never know what the truth. My name is Joe V. and I can be contacted at: jlv301 [at] frontiernet [dot] net Hey tournament stoopball !

yeah but the tops at toycrafters…

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yeah but the tops at toycrafters aren’t like the one’s we used to play with. As I recall we played with two different types of tops in the Harlem River Projects. We used to buy them at this store on Bradhurst Avenue called the “Peace Store”. None of the tops had any manufacturer’s markings on them and they were red, blue or green. I can’t remember if they came in yellow too. Anyway, most of the tops we played with had steel points. We also played with tops we called “Ball Bearings” because instead of a sharp steel point they had round points on the end. These ball bearing tops were also larger than the other steel point tops. I would be curious to know who actually made these two types of tops in the mid to late 60’s and early 70’s. I’ve seen some of the steel point tops around but I haven’t seen any of the ball bearing tops.

Does anyone remember the…

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Does anyone remember the type of knock hockey boards that we used to play with in the late 60’s to early 70’s in New York? I could have sworn they were orange and blue, possibly made by AMF. I remember playing knock hockey a lot during summer day camp in the Harlem River projects.

CarolT’s comments brought…

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CarolT’s comments brought back a flood of memories. I grew up on West 65 Street in Manhattan and recall walking from Amsterdam Avenue up to Broadway to get the next day’s Daily News and Daily Mirror. In fact, many times (these days) I pick up a News and a Post, put my money on the counter, and tell the clerk, “I have a News and a Mirror.” Old habits die hard.

I grew up on 172nd Street…

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I grew up on 172nd Street (145 Audubon Avenue)1948-1966. That was a time when you’d wait for the Daily News and Daily Mirror to “come up” around 9pm, especially on Saturday night. I loved to play jacks while sitting on the stoop. I recently went back to the old neighborhood, the stoops are gone. The parapet on 145 Audubon and some of the other buildings have been removed. Incarnation Convent has stood up well over the years.

My aunt lived at 501 West179th….

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My aunt lived at 501 West179th. We used to walk there (my grandmother, cousins, from West 65 Street. Then they’d all walk us across the George Washington Bridge. I remember Highbridge pool, the great movies on St. Nicholas Avenue. It was a beautiful area. This was in the late 1040s and early 1950s. I haven’t been there in many years.