Category Archives: Queens
As a kid my big thing was…
As a kid my big thing was horror. I drew horror comics, hung horror posters in my room, and collected an impressive assortment of horror related toys. I made my own super-8 movies about axe murderers, the dead coming back to life and aliens in miniature spaceships who could render you horribly deformed with a blast of their ray guns. My notebooks were filled with drawings of freaks, multi-limbed oddities and all sorts of straight-jacketed loonies. I wasn’t just a ghoulish kid, mind you – as this was juxtoposed against my other interests of a more joyful nature such as The Beatles, The Marx Bros, super heros and the like. But if I spotted anything creepy or strange in my neighborhood candy and magazine store, my eyes would instantly light up and I would start digging in my pockets to see if I could afford it. An old after school haunt of mine was a small candy shop in Queens Village known only as “Helen’s”. I used to go there to get my “Wacky Packages” bubble gum cards. It was run by a cantankerous old woman who was suspicious of just about any kid she didn’t know who would wander in for an egg cream or a comic book. Even though I had been there hundreds of times I was usually rushed to make my purchase and get out, along with the rest of them – but she always had these dusty old model kits in the back of her store which I’d always gravitate to. The old Universal Monsters of yesteryear were Gods in my eyes… and I eagerly assembled and painted my horror model kits with the care and detail of a fine surgeon. I had ’em all… Frankenstein, The Werewolf, The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Godzilla and King Kong. These kits came with alternate glow in the dark heads and hands… which I always thought was pretty damn cool. I also collected the lesser known, but even more intriguing Aurora Monster Scenes kits which included Doctor Deadly, The Hanging Cage, The Pendulum and the beautiful Vampirella, also with interchangable arms and legs. Also available was “the victim”, a plastic model kit of a scantly clad woman in hot pants and a torn blouse, that I’d assumed, was intended for the hanging cage. Today, of course, in our politically correct environment – you’d NEVER see toys like this again! One of Queens Village’s best kept secrets was the basement of Stevens department store on Hillside Avenue (now long gone) where, similiar to Helen’s, also seemed to have it’s share of creepy, long forgotten toys. Sort of the land of Misfit toys, I’d say! It was there my older brother bought me one of the creepiest toys I still own today – a ventriloquist doll made by the old Juro company, famous for it’s Jerry Mahoney knock-offs. With his unblinking stare and wearing his dapper little red suit – he was the sort of toy you couldn’t tear your eyes from – yet he was petrifying. It was the same sort of ventriloquist dummy you’d see coming to life in those old, black n’ white Twilight Zone episodes. He must’ve felt right at home sitting up there on my shelf, alongside my other toys of horror. Alas, the great monsters of yesterday have all but dissappeared. Even a trip to Universal Studios last summer left me gravely dissapointed (excuse the pun!) as the store where I had previously bought my wolfman head drinking cup, my animated battery-operated Frankenstein and my Dracula doll – was sadly monster deprived. The nearest thing to a ghoul were their plush mummy figures from the recent Brendan Fraser movies – almost as cute and cuddly as their Shrek dolls. Not the same thing, I’m afraid. Today, these horror model kits sell for big bucks on eBay, and those old ventriloquist dummies can fetch anything up to $300-500 bucks a piece. During my earliest introduction to the internet auction scene I ended up being reunited with many of my childhood “friends” once again – and more recently I was thrilled to meet and talk to some other ghoulish icons from my past at the Big Apple Comic Con this April, the alluring Elvira – Mistress of the Dark, and George Romero, the legendary director of “Night Of The Living Dead”. I was in monster heaven. Once a ghoul enthusiast, always a ghoul enthusiast.
Never hung out with him…
Liz, Yup, I played this…
Played stick ball at PS…
Played stick ball at PS 46 in Bayside (Queens) N.Y. from 1960-1967. The ‘field’ consisted of the fence (used for the handball court) behind home plate (that was drawn on the ground), a fence from home plate with a distance of approximately 125-175 feet (it ran on a diagonal) and a fence (that was the foul pole) that ran down the right side of the field until it met the other fence in the right corner of the field. The foul pole on the left side of the field was a post on the fence approximately 175 feet from home plate. The pitcher stood approximately 50-60 feet away from home plate. There was no running. The batter would hit the ball and the result would be as follows: 1. A grounder caught by the pitcher was an out. 2. A grounder not caught by the pitcher was a single. 3. A fly ball caught by the pitcher was an out. 4. A fly ball that landed between the pitcher and the fence was a double. 5. A fly ball that hit the fence was a triple. 6. A fly ball over the fence was a home run. I used a number of bats that I purchased for 59 or 69 cents at the local candy store. These bats came in a variety of colors, were regulation size and width and of course they had the unmistakable black tape wrapped around the upper portion of the bat. The ball used was either a Spaldeen or a Pensie Pinkie. What a great game.
Love this site! I grew…
Love this site! I grew up in Astoria, very familiar with “Last Licks” and “Chips on the Ball”. The home team, or team batting in the bottom of the inning was the team who got “Last licks”. “Chips on the Ball” meant, if the ball was lost or split ( Spaldings had way of splitting at the seams) the person who hit it had to give the guy who brought the ball money to buy a new one.
Gary, I grew up in Howard…
Gary, I grew up in Howard Beach , Queens and although 12 years your senior, even “back then” we used the term ‘chips on the ball’. Which indictaed the owner of the ball expected to be re-imbumbursed or have the ball replaced by anyone who caused it be lost (sewer, roof top), or broken. And I agree with your definition of “last licks”. Don’t see why anything one of the Yankee announcers (corporate shills) say should bother you. The default is that they’re wrong. I’ve been a Yankee fan since 1956 and this is the worst crew (by far) they’ve ever had.
Hey, Loved playing Cracktop…
Hey, Loved playing Cracktop as a kid growing up in the Ravenswood projects on 21 st. and 35 ave. in Astoria It involved the use of small wooden tops. We would get in a circle and spin all of our tops at the same time. The first top to come to a stop on it’s side was the top that was put in the middle of our circle. Then each of us in turn would try to “Crack” the top in the middle by hitting it with our top as hard as we could as we threw it to spin it. If you hit the top in the middle on your throw and your top kept spinning, you were good till next turn. If you hit the top or missed and your top did not spin, it was your turn in the middle. But if you missed the top in the middle, as your top was spinning you could pick it up in the palm of your hand ( the top had to remain spinning all the while ) and drop it on the top in the middle, if yours kept spinning after that, you were good to go. We had hours of fun playing this game and we became quite adept at hitting and even Cracking the tops in the middle. We would show off the Paint of other tops that would rub off on ours after hitting them. We also had a name for hitting the top in the middle. I have no freakin idea where it came from, but we called it a ” Kosky ” LOL I have no clue what that means, but when we hit the top in the middle it was called a Kosky! Hope this brings back some good memories, it does for me.
We played a LOT of Chinese…
We played a LOT of Chinese handball on my block in Astoria, primarily without boxes even though the sidewalks had them. When we were younger we played the AKQ version but than got more athletic and adventurous. A distinguishing rule on our block was that as long as the ball hit the wall in-bounds it could hit the ground on its way back to the next player OUT-of-bounds, which meant the winning strategy was to get up as close to the wall as you could on an offensive play and slam it as hard as you could at a sharp angle just in-bounds. The successful result was a ball that ran great distances unimpeded down the sidewalk for retrieval until it would go under a car, or in one direction on into traffic. The other blocks where I’d occasion to play in Astoria or nearby Jackson Heights also played this game in various forms and my observation was that the guys on my block were consistently better players down the line than other blocks we’d visit as it was the ONLY game we played. Not having a convenient schoolyard or park we didn’t play much stickball, though we did when we got a little older throw some touch fotball and eventually softball in nearby yards. For many years though Chinese was pretty much all we played. I taught the game to a guy in Texas a few years back in the university gym. He was a competitive tennis player and really liked it. I’ve had a standing bet with my oldest friend that I can spot him 19 points in a 21-point game one-on-one. He still declines and I still keep offering though we’re both currently 48 years old.