Category Archives: Locales
On the Lower East Side we…
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On the Lower East Side we called them “sliding ponds” also. And yeah, I have to chuckle when I think about all the “death-defying” stunts we did on those things — and the swings! I never did it, but many of my friends loved to stand on those metal swings, pump as hard as they could and fly through the air just holding on to the chains. I was WAY too chicken to do that. I did love the monkey bars, though. – webdiva
We threw anything we could…
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We threw anything we could get our hands on. I loved this game growing up on the Lower East Side because you didn’t need to find a playground that already had a hopscotch “board”. Anyone who wanted to play would just go to the store and get a piece of chalk and draw right on the ground. We used bottle caps (when we weren’t playing skully with them), rocks, even pieces of glass in a pinch. – webdiva
Many times after whatever…
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Many times after whatever weekend night activity we had a few of us guys would meet late night at Nathan’s ususlly we had fries and a chow mein sandwich, but in the winter i’d warm up with their CLAM BROTH (of course this grossed my friends out)but I still like a good cup of clam broth!
I went to college in Baltimore…
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I went to college in Baltimore (pronounced Ball- mer) they had carts that would go around selling flavored shaved ice in a cup. The vendor had a big block of ice and a large sharp scraper. he would put the shavings in a paper cone then add the syrup flavorings you wanted. They aslo had lemons sliced in half and would use a hollow peppermint stick as a straw and you would suck the tart lemon juice through the pepermnt stick straw and it would taste real good on a hot sticky day-never saw that in Brooklyn
LULU HAD A BOYFRIEND, HIS…
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LULU HAD A BOYFRIEND, HIS NAME WAS TINY TIM , SHE PUT HIM IN THE CESSPOOL TO SEE IF HE COULD SWIM. HE FLOATED TO THE BOTTOM AND FLOATED TO THE TOP LULU GOT EXCITED AND PULLED HIM BY HIS……COCKTAIL ,GINGERALE , FIVE CENTS A GLASS IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT I’LL SHOVE IT UP YOUR…..ASK ME NO MORE QUESTIONS,TELL ME NO MORE LIES..WHOS GONNA MARRY LULU THE NITE BEFORE SHE DIES! …FLATLANDS PARK ,BROOKLYN CIRCA 1970. GUYS I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET IN TOUCH W/YOU FOR OVER 3 WEEKS….YOUR SERVER IS DOWN,OR THATS WHAT THEY TELL ME….I HAVE MANY PHOTOS AND 8MM CONVERSIONS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO SEE…DROP ME A LINE THANK YOU JOE KELLY
Like “stairball” and “pinners,”…
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Like “stairball” and “pinners,” our baseball-style version of stoopball was called “off-the-point.” We played it on the granite step in front of the girls room of the parkhouse on Van Cortlandt Park South in the Bronx. There were always negotiations and clarifications on the rules, such as which fence posts were the foul posts, before the game began. Hitting the sweet spot–the corner of the granite step–with a new Spalding resulted in that “ping” sound that sent a rush through us and usually meant a hit.
In response to a request…
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In response to a request for the ‘weirdest’ skelly cap, I’d like to add that in Brooklyn, NY during the early ’70s we used the rounded metal feet from the bottom of Catholic school desks. Once we found how well they slid across the street pavement, many of the desks at school (St. Simon and Jude) were imbalanced. It quickly got out of hand and became an unfair advantage for those who were using the standard bottle cap with melted crayons (as the feet were much heavier). I’ll also note that most boards were made in the street with chalk (don’t remember any standard dimensions), but one year we carved a more permanent one into the tar with pocket knives. Thanks for the memories. Makes me think back on other street games like Johnny on the Pony, Ring-o-Leavy-o, Coco-Leavy-o, Slap ball, Box ball, the other game played on a box ball setup (2 adjacent sidewalk boxes) where you had to flip and/or move the popsickle stick or coin -sorry I can’t remember the name…