Category Archives: Locales

I grew up in South Boston…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Paul
 

I grew up in South Boston “Southie’ and the white pimple ball (circus ball) was more expensive 15 cents and desirable than the pinky (pennsey?) 10 cents. Circa 1960. We played fast pitch stickball against a brick wall with a chalk marked strike zone and a short field. We played slow ball stickball in a bigger parking lot. Both ways meant some broken windows. Also played handball and “hin-do” to us was a “hin-da” Local accent of course. (Hindrance) We also used the pimple ball for “scrub”, previously referred to as punch ball and another game, “off the steps”. Finally, halfball when the pimple ball lost its bounce. Pinkies were rarely, if ever, used for halfball, and were a poor substitute for all the other games. We also scoured all the flat roofs we could get on and did all we could to get the balls out of the sewers. All and all great memories. You handball guys from NYC must remember Paul Haber, boy, kill shot king. He used to do exhibitions against the local talent at the L Street Bathhouse.

I just spent about a half…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Phil [e-mail]
 

I just spent about a half hour last night explaining the game Skully, that I played as a kid in Brooklyn (1965 Canarsie)to my wife and kids. Could not believe it when I found this website. I’m gonna spend some time this weekend making a few caps. Don’t know if the rest of the family will play but I sure am going to. Thanks!

I noticed that in many of…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Tomvess
 

I noticed that in many of the posts here referring to “Buck-Buck”, the player that stood against the wall was called the “pillar”. I’m an old south brooklyn boy and I played buck-buck regularly as a kid and we called the guy against the wall the “pillow” for what I thought was an obvious reason. If that guy wasn’t standing there it would have been murder for the first guy bent over when the other team jumped on their back. The force would push his head against the wall darn near breaking his neck. With a “pillow” there, he softened the crunch and there was less chance of getting hurt. That being said….”anyone wanna choose up sides and play?”

I remember the 60’s back…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: nector perez [e-mail]
 

I remember the 60’s back in the claremont project in the bronx every kid had a pocket bulge(spalding). we climb on old factory rooftops or the freight tracks and find balls that some seemed to be as old as fifty yrs. being poor I remember taking them home and boilng them in hot water to try to return a bounce to them. It worked but nothing like a spankin new spalding.

I grew up playing in St….

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: maurabheog
 

I grew up playing in St. Mary’s Park on St. Ann’s Avenue. There was a high hill right at the front of the park. The lucky ones got to be the Indians who ran down the hill and attacked the “settlers” at the bottom. Nobody wanted to be a settler. Everybody wanted to run. They used to show movies from a truck at the back of the park in the summertime. People would bring out their Sunday papers and sit on them watching the movies. Can’t remember what the movies were. We were too busy running around. During the summer there was aman who used to bring around a pony and children whose parents could afford it would have their pictures taken on the pony. I never had my picture taken but that’s okay. My uncle Jimmy had a camera and he used to take our pictures up on the roof. I think his camera needed a lot of sunlight. All our pictures show us squinting at the camera and trying to smile. Wow, how I am going on. Anyone remember St. Mary’s Park?

Thanks to Richard Ostrowski…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Stratford Pook [e-mail]
 

Thanks to Richard Ostrowski for the info on “roundup”!! That used to be one of our favorite street games and I couldn’t remember the rules because it was so similar to ringolevio. Brings back a lot of good memories. And to Tony and Fran, I definitely remember “Run, Catch and Kiss”! We’d play with all the neighborhood cuties and it was a ton of fun, unless you catch or get caught by your friend’s “big” sister! Yes, I remember having to make believe I fell to avoid catching “Big Wanda”!!! I tell my kids about all of our old games from the Bronx and they don’t believe any of it!!! I tell them they don’t know how to have fun. This was all before pc’s, cell phones, and x-box/playstation 2 were even being thought of. Poor kids!

On Stratford Avenue in the…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Stratford Pook [e-mail]
 

On Stratford Avenue in the Bronx, this was a neighborhood favorite. But it was basically an all day affair because, we’d hide on the roofs, in backyards, everywhere! We just couldn’t go to one of the neighboring blocks to hide. We’d be running up and down buildings, streets, and alleys, ALL DAY LONG, jumping on cars to free our friends. Man, I wish I was a kid again! I don’t know how we did it but it was too much fun. I saw another post mention “Roundup” and this too was one of our games. It was a variation of ringolevio but also a lot of fun. Anyone have any info on “roundup”?

Growing up on the same Bronx…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Stratford Ave Crew
 

Growing up on the same Bronx block for 21 years, we called the game “slugs” although i do recall the other names (ace, king, queen and chinese handball). It was one of the most popular games on the block. As a kid, I’d watch the older guys play with awe and once I started playing, i loved it. Expecially after learning to “cut” the ball, which would fool the hell out of an opponent, unless he had a nastier cut than you. Then there were all the other “rules” we’d throw in like “waterfalls”, “baby waterfalls”, “hindus”, etc. I’m just mad that I can’t remember what all of these mean or how they were used in the game! I remember how the whole neighborhood would get into the game and we’d play for hours, with sometimes 8-10 players at a time. Then it was on to skelsies, johnny on the pony, or ringolevio. Ah, the good ole days.