This photo might be meaningless to people who didn’t grow up in a housing project, so I will try to explain the various elements of the picture. 1 – Number one is me, not me now, but me about 30 years ago. I don’t look anything like this anymore. It was taken on a visit […]
The grassy spaces of Pomonok are actually much greener today than back in the day. That’s because us kids weren’t inside playing video games. We were always outside playing on the grass and wearing it down to dirt! Except we weren’t supposed to be on the grass. There were signs to keep off the grass […]
It’s a very common trap for people to over-romanticize their childhood. I have memories of many humiliating and frightful events that stick with me to this day. But I prefer to talk about how young children, in their curiosity, daring, and imagination, find mystery and adventure in everyday things. Frankly, I can’t imagine a more […]
Jack the Ice Cream Man During the summers we had competing ice cream men vie for our dimes. But Jack the Ice Cream man was by far the most successful, so successful that Jack Friedman ended up buying a house in Florida and retiring there. How did he do it? Good old American know-how. He […]
It was the baby boom generation after WW II and there were always enough kids around for a pick up game of baseball, football, or punch ball. But my favorite game was stoop ball. Stoop ball was one of the great street games of all time. Best played with the Pennsy Pinky, the liveliest and […]
Why do certain places have an aura of danger or mystery for kids? In Pomonok the stairwells, basement, roof, and elevator fascinated and sometimes frightened me. There were two separate stairwells in the seven-floor apartment buildings. One stairwell led to the front entrance of the building and the other to basement in the back of […]
There were four seven story apartment building surrounding my court, all filled with families of multiple children. It was a paradise for kids. Bushes, cellars, and hallways to play hide and seek in. Parking lots to play punchball and football. Stoops to hang out on and play stoop ball. Playgrounds with jungle gyms, slides, and see-saws, […]
