I lived near Peshine and Hawthorne Ave.
in the early forties.
I went to Peshine Ave. school, which was across from St. Charles,
where we went to church. We used to eat knishes Jimmy Buffs Hot
dogs and Watson bagels. There were horse drawn wagons selling watermelons,
and collecting rags and junk. The coal truck would put a chute into
the cellar window, and we'd watch the coal fill the bins, we'd pick
up pieces of coal and write on the sidewalk with them. Also, we
liked when the ice man delivered ice. We'd eat chunks of it to cool
us off.
We always had friends to play with. We'd be outside all day, and
in the evenings, our parents would come out on the porches to get
a little air and talk, while we ran around, playing tag, or another
game we invented.
The apartments were stifling in the summer. There were all nationalities
in the neighborhood. We didn't know anything about prejudice. A
special treat for us, would be every year, they had soap box races
right down Hawthorne Ave. The boys built the cars from whatever
junk they could find. Sometimes, the wheels would fall off, but
it was all in fun!
We had clip on roller skates which required a skate key. Sometimes
they were so worn out that the wheels had holes in them, but we
kept going. The boys made scooters from old milk crates with skate
wheels on them. Also, they'd find any old wheels and make wagons.
Only the "rich " kids from the nicer neighborhoods, had
store bought toys. We made the most of our own. We had big snowball
fights in winter, building snow forts for protection.
We could buy a bag of penny candies at "Bilsky's" candy
store on the corner of Hawthorne and Peshine. Does anybody remember
eating "charlotte russe". How about the merry ground on
a truck? Or the whip on a truck. Olympic Park was one of our favorite
places. Especially the big pool.
If anyone can relate to any of the things I've mentioned, I'd love
to hear about your memories.
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