It’s right around the corner…yes, good old summer. Sun screen, sand on the beach and warm weather. But I can feel it right now, it’s close to 90 degrees today.
Back in the day we had so much to do as kids living on 9th avenue.
Denis Hamill of the New York Daily News has a great piece recently on his childhood memories from 7th avenue and 12 street. It’s a great read.
For me, besides the boys and girls schoolyards there was Prospect Park, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, Jones Beach, Rockaway and Coney Island. I wasn’t a huge sun worshiper; I have that pasty white, Irish skin…when I sat in the sun, I turned red as a lobster. There were times I burnt to a crisp. We went through a ton of Noxzema.
Some kids went to Breezy (the ones with the money).
Remember the sprinklers at the 11th street playground?
Another way to cool off was turning on the Johnny Pump.
One more exciting thing was owning a pool in your backyard. (I’m sitting here trying to recall which one of my friend’s had a pool?) In Greenwood Lake where my cousins lived, they had a sweet built-in pool.
I went to two camps as a kid. One was a basketball camp and the other was a simple camp where you did many things. It was a camp where you hiked, fished, played games, and you also worked on some arts and crafts. I was the only Catholic kid there-I later found out it was a camp for Jewish kids. My landlord Fanny Hyman thought it would be a good idea if my mom sent me away for a couple of weeks. (was she trying to send a message?)
Overall, I had fun at both camps.
My daughter is 11 and she’ll be looking to do a lot of things this summer…of course she’ll be including me in many of them.
What are your thoughts on summer while growing up in the neighborhood? What’s changed over the years?
-Steve
Hoops135@hotmail.com