Category Archives: Locales

I lived on Westchester/Bryant…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
[e-mail]"; } ?>
 

I lived on Westchester/Bryant Aves. The building was huge with 3 entrances surrounding a beautiful courtyard. I grew up there from birth (1945) to age 16 (1961). It was a pretty safe neighborhood until around the time my family moved to Queens. I attended PS 75, JrHS 60, and James Monroe HS. I used to love to walk to Southern Blvd. up to Hunt’s Point. I remember getting on the bus and going to the 3rd Avenue Alexander’s as well as going to the Fordham area. We couldn’t afford a bike and I remember renting one for the day every Saturday. All my relatives lived in the Bronx and it was a great place to grow up.

My best friend, Ann Hoffman…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
[e-mail]"; } ?>
 

My best friend, Ann Hoffman lived on Longfellow/Westchester Avenues and I lived on Westchester/Bryant Aves. We met in kindergarten, PS 75, and have remained close friends up to this day. When we were in our first two years of James Monroe HS, I moved to Flushing and 6 months later, so did she. We have gone through growing up in the Bronx, to our marriages in Flushing, with the trials and tribulations of raising children, and divorce. She resides in Florida now, and I in Penna. We are still in touch, still laugh and cry about our growing years.

I grew up in Laurelton,…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
[e-mail]"; } ?>
 

I grew up in Laurelton, Queens-and loved to play Skelly when I lived in the Woodside projects-melting crayons into soda bottle caps was the way to go-my brother always cried when I took the broken crayons to melt into new caps-I remember the scratches I got from the “pleats” on the caps they were the only caps allowed. I recently taught my girl Scout troop of second graders to play-it caught on quickly in the school in Ohio where I live

growing up in the Bronx…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
[e-mail]"; } ?>
 

growing up in the Bronx in the 1930’s i vividly remember playing the game of this chat group. I don’t recall what we called it, but i do remember that you would try to pile on top of the weakest link so as to cave in the group. it was a lot of fun and as one has remarked, i don’t recall any injuries other than hurt pride. also, only the boys would play this, no girls were involved, as it was probably too undignified for them plus the danger.

In the Bronx we also played…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
[e-mail]"; } ?>
 

In the Bronx we also played curb ball – played in an intersection with 5 or 6 on a side (although sometimes played with less) – corner sewers served as bases – players typically played positions similiar to baseball (1st base – 2nd base/ss – 3rd base – outfield) – After throwing the ball off the curb you ran – Play was just like baseball with the exception that if the ball did not go fair it was a strike – 2 strikes was a strikeout.

There were 2 versions of…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
[e-mail]"; } ?>
 

There were 2 versions of ‘Box Baseball’ that was played in the Bronx in the late 60’s – ‘Three Box’ in which one player ‘pitched’ underhand while the other player tried to hit it into the third box (closest to the pitcher) hits were determined by the number of times the ball bounced (1 for single – 2 for double etc) – ‘5 Box’ was played by bouncing the ball in the 5th box (furthest from you) then the 4th & 5th (only one bounce in each) etc and then reversing the pattern – the other player was allowed to play defense – that is – without going over the line you may stretch to prevent the ball from landing in the box.

Re: “King” (Lee Quinn)….

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
[e-mail]"; } ?>
 

Re: “King” (Lee Quinn). In Astoria, Queens in the early ’60’s, we played a game much like King called ‘Chinese Handball.” Many variations. One was as you described (if I’m understanding you correctly) where you could only shoot into a neighboring box (i.e., the Queen could shoot into the King or Jack box…the Jack into the Queen or 10 box] and the player who missed would go to the end with all other moving up. Another variation allowed anyone to shoot for the King (and replace him if you got him out). Sometimes we didn’t even keep score…just looked to be King for the longest amount of time (impressionistically speaking)….A shot that bounced low on the wall and then rolled was called a “killer.” You could hit a higher percentage of killers by slicing the ball…but carrying the ball was not allowed……