Category Archives: Street Lifestyle
i grew up on 1250 leland…
i grew up on 1250 leland ave in the bronx, then on castle hill ave near the bingo hall. it was during the late 70’s- 93. i am now 30yrs old. i live now on long island. i always say i am so so happy i grew up in the bronx. no other place or time could replicate the good times i had with my 4 other siblings and friends. people just dont get that. all the street games, breakdancing, fourth of july, hanging out on the stoop from sun up to sun down, going to the corner store playing ms. pacman. teasing the old ladies sitting on the sidewalk in their lawn chairs as we rode our bikes passed them…..what a great group of kids from all nationalities…black, white, spanish,chinese and everything in between…we were one…we stuck up for eachother and looked out for one another…we were a real neighborhood. you dont see that anymore. i miss that. i just hope my son will have that experience,but somehow i doubt it…only in the bronx, kids!!!!
My girlfriends and I would…
My girlfriends and I would bring a pail of water (we’d load it up with table salt), a blanket, soda, and tan ourselves on tar beach. At night we’d bring pizza and sodas to the roof and hang out under the stars. The roof was a part of every city kid’s life. What great fun we had there.
Boxball was played with…
Boxball was played with 2 to as many a 6 players (usually 4). Each player got a square on the sidwalk. The object was to bounce the ball with an open hand, into the box of an opponant. The other player do the same till a player misses or fails to put the ball in an opponants box. A miss meant a point and the first to 11 or 21 lost or was eliminated… last one standing wins! That was a great game… hours of fun on a sunny Saturday afternoon around the cornerer from Liona’s Cand Shop (at the time in early 80’s, this was still a fountain shop, unrenovated from the 40’s!!!) they made egg creams there still. this was on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Ahhh those were the days!
Sonie Jaffe’s candy store…
down down baby down by the…
down down baby down by the roller coaster sweet sweet baby mama never let you go if you wanna kiss me just say you love me shimmy shummy coa coa puff shimmy shimmy rah, shimmy shimmy coa coa puff shimmy shimmy rah. I like coffee I like tea. I like a black boy and he likes me so step back black boy you ain’t shy I bet you 5 dollars I could beat your behind. Last night and the night before I met my boyfriend at the candy store. He bought me ice cream he bought me cake. He brought me home with a belly ache. I said momma momma I’m so sick. Call the doctor quick quick quick I said doctor doctor shall I die. He said close your eyes and count to 5 I said a12345 I’m alive on a channel 5 I said a678910 I’m dead on a channel 10 with a scooby dooby doo on channel 2. Frankenstein on channel 9. ….. that’s how me and my friends do it. I’m 14 so…I guess it’s sort of there…
Dave B from Sothwest Philly.We…
Dave B from Sothwest Philly.We played all of those games and it was great.All you needed was a pimple ball and one other guy and you could play games for hours.How many times did we dive in front of the sewer intake to keep the ball from going down the hole.If it made it down the hole the smallest guy got dangled by his feet down the sewer hole.Man did it stink.Does anyone remember “chipsies”?Whoever touched the ball last before it got lost was responsible for buying a new ball and turning it over to the previous owner.
I still have my two Ginny…
I still have my two Ginny dolls, and the little case with their clothes and shoes. The clothes hung on little hangers. One outfit was a dark blue velvet skating outfit with tiny white skates. Also I loved paper dolls, would make them clothes by tracing around and then coloring them. Do kids even play with paper dolls these days? They were so much fun.