yes,yes,yes….it is a sliding pond. Not just in East Flatbush but in south central Queens. Now I live up in Mass. and they think I’m nuts when I use the term. Check out the book “New Yawk Tawk”. The author says that sliding pond is only used in NYC and may come from the Dutch Bahnn which means TRACK….sliding track.
How about those big hunk candy bars? I finally found a place on the net where I can still order them and I ordered a case to give out as gifts. Anyone want the address? just ask. Use to eat a pink peanut pattie , anyone remember these? how about when we bought little packages of sweet kool-aid and dipped lemons in them? Little cokes in bottles still better than the big ones! Ann
I am originally from the Morris Park section of Da Bronx. We played in a playground called Loretto Park. The park was between Morris Park Ave and Van Ness, and Haight & Tomlinson Avenues, The “parkie” (attendant) was a woman we called Polly. If you were from the Bronx it was a sliding pond, a see-saw, and a spaldeen. Nothing else would do. The City of New York even painted a skully court in the park for the young kids to play on…us older kids played it in the street. I can remember being the first kid in the park after lunch. The sliding pond was about 200 degrees in the sun, and all you wore were shorts, you’s sit on that hot stainless steel board and burn you freakin butt….but it was fun, and no one cared less. There were no rubber mats at the end, or sand pits, you just landed on blacktop and took the abuse like a man. It was fun in those days.
As a Brooklyn and Queens kid of the 50’s, I have to cast a vote for the one and only ball that any repected kid would use in my neighborhoods. You bought a Spaldeen (At Uncle Milty’s Candy Store). Period. That other ball would be like using some artsy fartsy chocolate syrup for an egg cream instead of U-Bet. And nobody bought a stickball bat. I couldn’t believe when they started selling them at the local stores!
The ONLY acceptable, official ball to use in my neighborhood in da Bronx to play stickball, punchball, stoopball etc. was the GREAT Spaldeen. We use to pick up two ball at once, hold them at about eye level then let them drop to see which one bounced higher. We’d do this until the candy store owner screamed “Hey you kids..stop makin’ my balls dirty”. Then we’d have to make a quick choice and buy it.
It’s that crazy hula hooping hippie from Oklahoma (gulp! Will I ever graduate and move?) I went over to Online sports and found that they, like all other hula hoop importers, discriminate against tall (er) people. HHHippie is not a tall adult. So how do the over 4 footers hoop? With black PVC hose. This stuff is used for inground sprinkler systems and is available at most D-I-Y type stores. A roll of 100 feet costs about $10-15 here. I get 10 hoops out of a roll, factoring in goof-ups. I use the 1 inch diameter hose, although huskier folks have been known to use 1 and 1/2 inch. Get connectors, too. the internal types are all that will work. The kind with “fish gill” threading rather than regular pipe threading are harder to assemble, but stay together better. ACE hardware sells a pvc cutter which makes nice clean cuts very easily. It’s an $8 tool. Purple primer, PVC cement and gaffers or duct tape round out your supplies. Cut the pipe to your preferred length, prime and cement the hose insert the connectors and PUSH! Seal the gap with tape. I hold the hose in a circle and stand it on its end. A hoop that comes to my chin is almost perfect. It is a bit on the heavy side, and therefore spins at a slower rate than the lightweight toys, but you can walk and even dance while hooping. Robyn, the Hula Hooping Hippie
We got nasty when we made a slingshot just from a heavy rubber band and cut pieces of wire and bent them into a U shape and shot them at different things. Sometimes they would stick like a staple. I quit this when I hit a kid in the forehead and it stuck. It scared me when I figured out I could have taken his eye out. That wouldn’t even pass by saying kids will be kids…Jim