I grew up in the Bed-Stuy section of BROOKLYN and when we stoped playing streetgames we went on the roofs to fly pigeons! Tiplets, Bald heads, Tumblers and Homers were some of the birds that kept my head in the clouds when the streets started to get roughf. Did your coop ever get tapped off? Also known as having your pigeons kidnapped.
I grew up on Hancock st. in the Bed-ford stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and yes, I played punch-ball, stick-ball, kick the can, red light green light 123,Ring-o-livio, Johny on the pony, yo-yo’s, spinning tops/crack tops skelley, marbles, jacks, and our neighborhood favorite, run catch and kiss. That was a game that would later lead to hot roof top make out sessions.
is skully the same thing as a game we played in astoria, queens which we called “mud”. if anyone knows what mud is (also played with bottlecaps, on the sidewalk where a chalk square was drawn with numbers inside) and if, in fact, it is different from skully i’d appreciate knowing. th
We were lucky – living at the end of a street in the ’40s-’50s. Punchball was our favorite, and we used the magnificent building called Chateau Frontenac as an automatic HR if you hit it on the fly. Otherwise ball was in play. I remember when I just wasn’t big enough to hit it, but then I was!! What a thrill the first times I hit the building. The location was East 19th Street and Tennis Court – a two block street in the heart of Brooklyn. Anybody grow up near there?
Who remembers the ballgame played under the boardwalk? It was similar to stoop baseball using the “spaldeen.” The ball was thrown as hard as possible against the concrete beam (Bays 6+ where there was sufficient height). Two fielders tried to catch it on the fly before it struck the sand. If it dropped before the first fielder, it was a single, if it dropped at the first fielder it was a double. A triple was at the third fielder and a homerun past the second fielder. It probably was the fastest version of stoop baseball and used a field perhaps 10 feet in length. Herbert Dubno Brooklyn, in the 50’s
The Coney Island Boardwalk was always a place of fascination. Two and a half miles long with something to see all along the way. It starts at Bay 1 (where Manhattan Beach ends and Brighton Beach begins) and gets to Bay 7 (Ocean Parkway where Coney Island begins) and then to the end which is Bay 35 (the beginning of Sea Gate). Bay 2 was where you made your date for Saturday night. It was wall to wall blankets, and the sand was hot so you’d stop at a blanket with the pretty girls on it, and start up some conversation. Back to the boardwalk … there was the Coney Island rides section off the Stillwell Avenue train station, then moving west we had Silvers Baths, and a few bungalow colonies where people vacationed to escape the summer’s heat. And remember, one wasn’t allowed to walk on the boardwalk unless adequately covered … police were always looking for such infractions (that’s when there were rules of “proper conduct”). What went on under the boardwalk was a world unto itself … the police were above looking for improper dress. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/7448/
I’m an 11 year old girl from Brooklyn and I do this hand game all the time… Her name is Ooh ahh tumbelina atchie catchi liberatchi I love you. Second verse.. Saw you you with your boyfriend last night! How did you know? Looked through the keyhole. Nosey! Didn’t do the dishes lazy! Didn’t flush the toilet nasty! Jumped through the window ,now I know you’re crazy. Thats why they call you Ooh ahh tumbelina atchi catchi liberatchi I love you!
I grew up in Bayside, Queens,My Mom still lives in the same house.It was ringoleevio.I don’t remember thr rule. We also playe stickball with a broomhandle and a spaldeen.We also played punchball.skelly,boxball,stoopball and Chinesehandball The girls and sometimes th boys played Hop scotch,potsie?, jacks. Then there was Johnny on the Pony also known as Buc-Buc. I think all of this is almost gone