Category Archives: Locales
grew up in brownsville section…
Johnny-ride-a-pony? Anchor…
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Johnny-ride-a-pony? Anchor man stands with his back against the wall (or in our neighborhood in the Bronx, the garage door) as his teammates bend at the waist and hold on to him and one another in an ever-lengthening human saddle. The members of the opposing team take turns running up to the chain of backs and leaping onto them as far forward as possible in order to make room for the others to jump on. The jumpers win if the “pony” collapses and the “pony” wins if all the jumpers get on and the pony holds. I was always the first jumper since I had great elevation and distance. I was the only girl to hit to two sewers in punch ball. Still a tom-boy, I tend to be assertive (I prefer that to “aggressive”) at the net in tennis and still have great speed if not agility at the age of 57.
I grew up in Jackson Heights….
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I grew up in Jackson Heights. We played a game in the schoolyard of P.S.69Q. We called it “Stonewall Jackson.” Everyone faced the handball wall. The ball was pitched against the wall and the batter had to hit the wall first. Then depending on how far the ball traveled, the hit was determined. Catching the ball on a fly was out. I mentioned this game to a lot of guys who grew up in NY and no one ever heard of it. Did you?
I remember my first kiss,…
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I remember my first kiss, it was in 1952 and I was 6 years old attending kindergarten at P.S.26 in Queens, NY. Her name was Janet and she invited me for a soda after school, I accepted and when I did she gave me a small kiss on my lip. I still remember to this day, how much it meant to me. I am always telling my kids about Janet and that first kiss.
Hey Lloyd, in Queens New…
In Queens their was only…
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In Queens their was only 1 playground and that was at P.S. 26. Sure their was others, 73,188, Jewel Ave but only 26 could you play softball, basketball, stickball any kind of ball at night because we had the lights. Even if the parky locked up we had the key to the parky room and turned the lights on ourselves, it was play all nite, or maybe some card games in the empty sand box. Those were the days.
I grew up in Queens and…
Does anyone remember slapball?…
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Does anyone remember slapball? In the 50s in Brooklyn (Flatbush) we played this thrilling and skillful game. Three players to a team: three based 1st, 3rd and home. The pitcher stood in the middle of the gutter (we all lived on dead-end streets – a must for this game!!) and fluked (spun the ball in one of four directions, as in boxball) over a chalked in home plate. Balls and strikes were called. The batter would slap the ball hard and made sure to a) stay within the foul lines (two cars) and keep the ball from bouncing on the sidewalk first (an out). 9 innings – lots of fun.
It’s great to find a site…
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It’s great to find a site where our childhood experiences resonate. I grew up on Ave. B (bet. 3rd and 4th,) in a cold flat. (I stopped telling co-workers where I grew up when I heard “We bought drugs there when I was in college” once too often.) Guys with beards sold hot knishes from little metal carts on Ave. B in winter, and shave ice in the summer. Ave. C and D and the surrounding streets were like Orchard Street now – a bazaar with wooden boxes on stands on the sidewalk, full of comic books and baseball cards. The Loew’s movie theater on B between 4 and 5 – or wasit 5 and 6? – with those gorgeous yellow plaster lions rampant, clutching blue shields with a wide red sash. Riding the subway at the 2nd Avenue stop with my big brother, wistfully looking at the pea green candy machines in the station, even though mom said the candy was wormy. (And the grease used by the French Fry Guy at B and 4th was rancid.) She couldn’t come up with a story to prevent me from asking about the dolls for sale at the supermarket at B and Second street, though. Anyone else with any memories of the lower east side are welcome to drop me an email anytime.