Category Archives: Reader Stories
Speaking about vendors,…
Candy Dots on a long white…
Candy Dots on a long white piece of paper. Wax lips. Candy cigarettes. Little bottles of wax that contained some sweet liquid that now would probably decay the enamel off of a bathtub. My telephone number started with Canal 6 – I still remember the entire number. How about black telephones. The big clunky kind. I sprayed mine gold and got into big trouble with the telephone company after it stopped working. And in my neighborhood…Kerosene stoves to keep you warm in the winter, before my building when to steam heat. And making wine in the basement – grosses me out now when I think of all the rodents that probably crawled over that barrel. And you forgot the best…YooHoo Chocolate Drink. You had to shake it to get the chocolate at the bottom to mix with the soda on top. One day I forgot I had opened it up and sprayed the grocery store with all this soda. I was thrown out of that store and told never to come back. It was on Mott Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Good Ole New York. Had…
Good Ole New York. Had the privilege of returning to NY last month and all these memories came back. I even ate a Charlotte Russe. Yummy! But it had a little bit of cake at the bottom. Not as much as I remember it had years ago. I never did get a chance to eat a knish…they don’t have such an animal in this part of the USA…most people here don’t even know what a knish is. I remember that The Enterman Bakery Truck used to come around selling those cupcakes that were listed above. Who remembers the penny pickles on the lower east side…and the lemonade man that came around each summer? You could get a Italian Lemon Ice for 5 cents. Gee, I’m dating myself.
i too remember going to…
i too remember going to a double feature on sunday’s after church with my friends in the mid 70’s. we used to sneak up to the balcony, since it was closed, and watch the movie from there. then we would throw candy at people below, usually the small round red ones(can’t remember what they were called). Soon after, we would see people yelling and/or fist fighting because they would blame someone else. we had a ball. ps we were only about 10 or 11 when we used to do this..
Jack, the good humor man,…
OK New Yorkers of ole. How…
OK New Yorkers of ole. How about a Charlotte Russe with the false bottom. Then there were the sweet potato venders and the soft pretzle guys and don’t forget the Hot dog vendors. Does anybody remember a deli on 42nd Street near B’way where a nickle bought you a hot dog, a hamburger or a knish with a free root beer. And then further down athe block were the spaghetti stores with the huge boiling pot in the window. All you can eat spaghetti for 25 cents. Where have the “real” Nathan’s hot dogs gone?
On a hot summer’s day, a…
On a hot summer’s day, a friend and I decided to go into business. We took one of our Mom’s glass pitchers and filled it with icecubes and lemonade. We set up a folding table in front of a neighborhood park bench, placed the pitcher and some paper cups on top, and waited … Soon, wide eyed thirsty kids appeared. We charged 10 cents a cup, and at the end of the day, we had a total of 50 cents. We split the profits and gave it all away to Jack the icecream man! ; )
Anybody out there remember…
Anybody out there remember your favorite penny candy, candy bars, ice cream bars, sodas, cookies and 4″ pies? A kid with a sweet tooth and no flouride in the water, what chance did my teeth have to last me this long? Blue Bird pies – cherry – oh how it hurts to dredge up this memory. Nehi Grape soda – with a Blue Bird pie – now that is a complete food group! Moon Pies – gourmet food for a kid. Bottle Cap candy – with those little tin spoons that cut your lip. Wax coke bottles – chew the wax til the flavor is gone. Write on the store windows with the ABC wax (Aready Been Chewed wax). Any of this sound familiar? Your phone number started with a word – Juniper 5868 The smell of a rainy after noon in the 50’s The smell of Ivory soap on the nuns as the hustled you off to mass. These are a few of my favorite things, add yours.
How about going to the movies…
How about going to the movies on Saturday morning for 15 cents and spending a dime on JuJuBees. We spent the entire day in the movies, double features then and sat in the balcony and chucked wet JuJuBees at girls. A kid I new when I was ten went to a pet shop and bought 4 feeder mice and snuck them into the movies and let them loose. The mice had a field day as they ate dropped popcorn, candy and God knows whatever else was on the floor. Sometimes you could hear people scream as the mice crawled over a person’s shoes. It was great fun, at least for us.