Category Archives: Locales

In Queens in the 60’s, we…

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In Queens in the 60’s, we played the five box version of boxball described above. Two players stood with five boxes between them; you would first bounce it once in the box closest to your opponent (your fifth box), and then once in each of your fourth and fifth boxes, and so on. I’m not quite sure if I remember the ping-pong style of two box that Connie describes above. We didn’t play hit the stick, but I do remember playing hit the penny. I think you scored one point if you hit the penny, and two if you flipped it. Players stood with two boxes between them, and put the penny or other coin on the crack between the two boxes. We didn’t like to use nickels because they were heavy and more difficult to flip. :^) This was a mostly a game for younger kids, whereas I remember still playing boxball into early adolescence, when we weren’t playing wiffle ball or stick ball or just hanging out. Another favorite game of childhood was ring-o-levio, which I played from early childhood right through high school. Those later HS games were neighborhood-wide.

In Washington Heights (Dyckman…

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In Washington Heights (Dyckman area) we called it “Manhunt”. But it was basically the same game, with one team chasing the other and placing them in “base”. We did not allow running into basements, buildings or passing the corners on either side of the block. There was always someone guarding the base. I remember running with a car (running alongside of it as low as possible) and then pouncing on the base and saving as many of my teammates as possible. Also for a period of time we could kick the lamppost on our block and the lights would go off and the other team couldn’t see what was going on for about 8-9 minutes. Those were the days (late 80’s). We usually played during the summertime and usually till about 11:30 pm (never during the day either! Too hot!)and then just lay on top of a car and talk the night away.

I’m 25 years old from Washington…

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I’m 25 years old from Washington Heights. But, while my friends and I were growing up we played Chinese handball (we have actually passed it down to the younger kids that are currently growing up). We had various forms of the game where the “Ace” could decide what the rules of the game were going to be. Usually when the best players were around we played “killer serve” (where you could serve as you pleased as long as you didn’t pass the first block of cement and the last block of cement), with stealing (you couldn’t step into another player’s box) and hitting the ball three times (if you wanted to).

Most of the above songs are…

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Most of the above songs are very familiar. Now I have a song that I have been trying to find the lyrics to for months. My mother (91 years old) used to sing it to my sons. I don’t know all the lyrics and would love any help anyone can give. If it is at all familiar, please send anything you know to me at esbock [at] juno [dot] com It is a song made up of product names from the 1920’s and starts, “Oh Castoria cures the measles It is the best in town.” Much further along is something about Purina and “Watch Lillian Russell wrestle with a pack of…..” Thanks for any help you can give.

The game called “pinners”…

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The game called “pinners” above was a game we called “off the point” in the Bronx. We also played the other version,”off the wall” but you didn’t get a home run unless the ball hit the building across the street. You could still get an out by catching the ball off the building before it bounced on the ground. There were so many other great games. All you needed was a spaldeen and one other kid.

I used to play Skully as…

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I used to play Skully as a kid in Queens; there was a board painted on the schoolyard blacktop, but I don’t remember exactly how it was laid out. What I remember most about skully was making the pieces. We used to tie washer magnets onto the end of a piece of string to fish the bottle caps out of old coke bottle vending machines, and then melt broken Crayola crayons into them under high intensity lamps and let them harden in order to give them some weight. A good color pattern was considered cool. :^)

Statues! Sure, I remember…

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Statues! Sure, I remember that game and loved it. We played it in the 50s and 60s growing up in Queens. I hope kids are still playing it. As for the ball bearing roller skates, they were the best! If you couldn’t skate very well, they had enough resistance to hold you up and keep you from falling on your face, at least long enough to grab onto a fence post, lamppost or side of a building. I loved the sound they made, the little yellow “hubcaps” that were actually the ball bearings, and the ritual of tightening up the clamps to fit just so around your sneaker. I also loved wearing the key around my neck and feeling it swing back and forth as I went.

I grew up in Bensonhurst,Brooklyn…

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I grew up in Bensonhurst,Brooklyn in the 40’s and 50’s. Both of these games were played in the middle of the street. There were not all that many cars then. Both boys and girls participated. Does anyone else remember these games and how exactly they were played?In Statues the leader closed his or her eyes and counted to three. The players moved toward the leader as quickly as possible but when the leader looked you had to be frozen as a statue. If you got caught moving you were out. The one who could tag the leader won.I can’t seen to remember Three Feet Off the Ice But I believe we played it on roller skates. Does anyon remember ball bearing skates.