....JUST ROLL OUT THOSE LAZY HAZY CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER THOSE DAYS OF HOT DOGS AND PRETZELS AND BEER!!
THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIENDS, I WISH THEY HAD NEVER ENDED
The subway,bus and trolley were only a thin dime to ride...Schools were the showcase for the whole country...Tuesday night was fireworks night in Coney Island, put on by Schaefer Brewing...There was little pornography...There were the bath houses: Stauches, Bushman Baths, Steeplechase Baths, Washington Baths, Ravenhall and Brighton Beach Baths....There was respect for teachers and older people in general... There was almost no violence...The theme of music, of the times, even when it became Rock n Roll, was love not anger...A great day was going to the beach at Coney Island or Brighton Beach.....People made a living and, rich or poor, they all knew how to have a good time no matter of status...There was no better hot dog than the original at Nathan's in Coney Island, and no better French fries Than Nathan's thick ripple cuts....There were no divorces and few "one parent" families....There were no drugs or drug problems in the lives of most people.....The rides and shows Of Coney Island were fantastic: Steeplechase Park: the horses,the big slide, the barrels,the zoo (maze), the human pool table,the Cyclone Roller Coaster, Tornado Roller Coaster, the Thunderbolt Roller Coaster,the Bobsled, the Virginia Reel, the Wonder Wheel, the Bumper cars, the Tunnel Of Love, Battaway,the Loop The Loop, the bubble bounce, miniature golf, the Whip, the many Merry-Go-Rounds, the penny arcades...Luna park, the Thompson Roller Coaster, the Parachute Jump, Faber's Sportsland and Fascination, toffee and cotton candy stores, custard stands, Pokerama, Skeeball, prize games, fortune teller guess games, hammer games, the Harlem Revue, freak shows, House of Wax, animal nursery,restaurants, rifle ranges, push cart rides and parades.....The fruit man, the tool sharpener, the junk man and the watermelon man all with horse and wagon !.....Sheepshead Bay was Lundy's Restaurant and fishing.....Only place for pizza and only whole pizzas was Joe's Bar and Grill on Ave U. Then in the mid 50's a pizza explosion: you could buy it by the slice for a dime at many places. By the late 50's it was a whole 15 cents a slice ! A tuna fish sandwich or BLT were 45 cents.A small Coke was 7 cents. A large Coke 12 cents. Remember vanilla Cokes when they pumped real vanilla syrup into the glass before adding the Coca Cola ?...... There were many theaters where every Saturday afternoon you could see 25 cartoons and two main feature films. The Highway,The Avalon, Kingsway, Mayfair, Claridge, Tuxedo, Oceana, The Oriental, Avenue U, The Kent, The Paramount, RKO Tilyou,The Mermaid, Surf, Walker, Albermarle, Alpine, Rugby, Ambassador, Peoples Cinema, The Canarsie, Marlboro, Avon and the Globe......Everybody knew all the high schools in Brooklyn......Big eating and coffee hangouts: Dubrow's on Kings Hwy, also on Eastern Pkwy/Utica Ave, Famous on 86th St. and Garfield's on Flatbush Ave.....Ebinger's was the great bakery..loved the chocolate butter cream with the almonds on the side. Boston Cream Pie and the Blackout cakes ! Bierman' was terrific also....Kings Highway stores had their own ornate glitz as far as style goes.......There were many delicatessens in the 50's ..very few today..the best ?..Adelmans on 13th ave. and Hymie's on Sutter Ave. The food was from heaven !.......Big night clubs in Brooklyn were Ben Maksiks' "Town and Country" on Flatbush Ave. and "The Elegante" on Ocean Pkwy.....There were no fast food restaurants in the 50's and a hamburger tasted like a hamburger........There was Murray the K, Rock and Roll concerts at the Brooklyn Fox and Brooklyn Paramount. You had to go the night before to get good seats.....Quick bites at Brennan and Carr, Horn and Hardart automat,Nedick's, Big Daddy's, Chock Full o' Nuts, Juniors, Grabsteins or Joe's Deli. Junior's ,you'll be glad to know, is still in the same place, and the cheesecake is still fabulous...Knishes were great at Mrs. Stahl"s in Brighton or at Shatzkin's knishes. Mrs.Stahl's is now a Subway.. Remember the knish guy on the beach with the shopping bags ?.....People in Brooklyn took pride in owning a Chevy in the 50's. There was nothing better than General Motors then. The cars would run and run and run, no problems.....You bought sour pickles right out of the barrel ..for a nickel.. and they were delicious. By the 60's they cost a whole quarter.....The Brooklyn Dodgers were part of your family. The Duke,the Scooge, Pee Wee, Jackie, the Preacher, Campy, Junior, Clem,Big Don, Gil. They were always in alot of our conversations. Remember Ebbet's Field and Happy Felton's Knothole Club? For a nickel, you got into Ebbet's Field and saw the Dodgers play. For Brooklynites it was..and will always be..a shrine... You come from Brooklyn but you don't think you have an accent. To you Long Island is one word which sounds like "Longuyland".....You played alot of games as kids. Depending on whether you were a boy or a girl, you could play: Ringaleaveo, Johnny On The Pony, Hide and Seek, Three Feet Off To Germany, Red Light Green Light, Chase The White Horse, Kick The Can, Buck,Buck How Many Horns Are Up?,War, Hit The Penny, Pussy In The Corner, jump rope, Double Dutch, Stories, A-My Name Is, Box Ball, Stick Ball,Poison Ball, Relay Races, soft ball, base ball,basket ball, Horse, 5-3-1, Around The World,Foul Shooting, Knockout, arm wrestling, indian wrestling. And then card games like Canasta, Casino,Hearts, Pinochle,War and the unhappy game of 52 card pickup...... You hung out on people's stoops or in the courtyard... You learned to dance at some girl's backyard or house... Kids were safe playing around the neighborhood..Summer nights in good ol' Brooklyn..were something I wish my children could know. Life was simpler, happier..Oh, the fun we had... I'm so glad I was a part of that world....You roller skated at Park Circle or Empire Blvd. Skating rinks in skates with wooden wheels. You had roller skates at home with metal wheels for using on the sidewalks and you needed a skate key to tighten them around your shoes.Those metal wheels on concrete were deafening !...The big sneaker was Converse. Also, Keds and PF Flyers...the guys wore Chino pants with a little buckle on the back, peg pants, And the girls wore long wide dresses. Remember gray wool skirts with pink felt poodles on them ? The poodles had rhinestone eyes...In the 50's Rock n Roll started big teen styles for the first time......Everyone went to a Bar Mitzvah even if you weren't Jewish. ..There were three main nationalities in Brooklyn in the 50's: Italians, Irish and Jewish. Then there was a sprinkling of everyone else. The Scandinavians and Greeks in Bay Ridge, the African Americans in Bedford Stuyvesant and the Polish in Greenpoint...And immigrants were happy and eager to learn their new language..English........The only way to get to Staten Island was by ferry from the 69th St. pier in Brooklyn It was a great ride in the summer for a dime.... In Brooklyn, a fire hydrant is a "Johnny Pump"...... Rides on a truck came to your neighborhood to give little kids a ride for a dime. The best one was the "whip", which spun you around a track. You got a little prize when you got off, sometimes a folding paper fan or straw tube that you inserted two fingers into, that tightened as you tryed to pull your fingers out again...As a kid you hit people with water balloons from atop a building. You Shot linoleum projectiles from a carpet gun, you shot dried peas from a pea shooter and you shot paperclips at people with a rubber band.......You shopped at E J Korvettes, Robert Hall, Woolworth's, Mays, McCrory's, Packers, A&P, Bohack, A&S, Barney's was Barney's Boys town back then and not a luxury store.You bought your shoes at National and Miles, AS Beck. When you got Married you bought your dishes at Fortunoffs under the "El".....NBC's main production studio was on Ave M and E. 16th St. The Cosby Show was made there.....Everybody lived near a candy store and a grocery store....The first mall came to Brooklyn at Kings Plaza....Bagel stores start popping up everywhere in the 60's......you'd go to Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor with a big group and have the "Kitchen Sink". If it was your birthday you could get a free sundae(you had to bring your birth certificate)......Everybody knew somebody who was a connected guy.....We used the word "swell"; That's passe today......In the summer we all waited for the Good Humor, Bungalow Bar, Mister Softee or Freezer Fresh man to come into our neighborhood to buy ice cream. In the early 50's, the Good Humor man pushed a cart instead of driving a truck. Remember the bells ? A pop was 15 cents, large cup was15 cents, small cup a dime, and a sundae...remember licking the chocolate off the back of the cardboard top ?...was a quarter.( Movie stars pictures on bottom of Dixie cup lids)....As a kid growing up in the 1950's we would spend our money on bubble gum baseball cards, candy and ice cream. A pack of baseball cards complete with a stick of bubble gum and full size candy bars were 5 cents each or six for a quarter. ....In those days there were lots of interesting coins still in circulation. Dimes and quarters were still made of silver. The oldest Roosevelt dimes were not yet 15 years old. It was not uncommon to find Mercury dimes or worn out Standing Liberty quarters; and Buffalo or Indian Head nickles were common too. Most pennies were wheat backs. They didn't get the familiar Lincoln Memorial on the reverse until 1959. With luck it was even possible to find an occasional Indian Head penny in your change. But, the most coveted, for us kids, was the unusual 1943 steel penny..... Many of us would sneak cigarettes and hide them when we got home.....When we talked about "the city" everyone knew we meant Manhattan.....In the 60's the Mets became our substitute for the Dodgers..But, they never did and never will make up for the Dodgers leaving....In the 60's we were ready to drive and hit the night life scene. With the car came the girls..........We are all part of a select club because we all have roots in ....Brooklyn !.....Those were the days !
