school shopping in the old neighborhood

[marie-elena (ferracano) r]

hello old & new friends,

i know some people are away on vacation, but we needed something new/old to bring back some memories.
i do know that some of my buddies are "grandparents". some of us still have "teen-agers". so as i was waiting for my son marc to pick out new sneakers. i started thinking about how mom use to take me school shopping, as soon as august, rolled around. mom being a seamstress, needed to start looking for material, ahead of time. so 1st, we would start at "john's material store", on westchester ave, off of beach ave. from there we walked to parkchester. so that i could get my school supplies at "woolworth's", mom would also look for other sewing notions. then mom & i would walk to castle hill ave. where i would get all my hair accessories, while mom looked for other sewing notions. mom would then persuade me to continue our journey. so we walked down westchester ave, to the "square". where i would get my new shoes. then go into that woolworth's to see the different material and other sewing notions. then we would get an italian ice & head home on the #40 bus, exhausted. i always gave mom, a differcult time. knowing that it was going to be an all day thing & i was going to be exhausted, afterwards.

now we jump into the car & go to the mall. tell the "teens", what time & where to meet us. how i miss shopping with mom. maybe some of you other "stratton park" kids, would like to share, your old school shopping days!

[Les Sherwood]

Wow. A lot of good walking. We walked everywhere and only took th e bus bus/trolley when absolutely necessary.
Were the trolleys still around when you were a kid?
Les

[Lydia58]

I know I was a nerd when it came to school, but I LOVED back to school shopping. We used to go to a store in Parkchester for all our supplies. I don't remember exactly where it was but it was at the other end of Parkchester toward McGraw Ave. For clothing, we mainly went to Alexander's on Fordham Rd. I still love the colors of the back to school Fall clothes: the wines and maroons, the browns and greens. I really miss it. My daughter is 27 so no more back to school shopping for me. I guess I have to wait for a grandchild. Did I just say that???

[marie-elena (ferracano) r]

hello friends,

dear les, since i am a "few" years younger than you. i did not get to ride the trolly. wished i had. they looked cooler than the old buses that had no a.c.

lydia, my dear old friend. i agree with you, i love the colors in the fall. they are my favorite colors. i use to look foward to going back to school. new clothes, school supplies & a new teacher. now that i work for the dept. of ed. i am not as thrilled. i know that some of you tease me about getting "summers" off. yes, i am aware that some of you only get 2 wks of vacation, per year. i always felt bad, when the summer was coming to an end. we knew that "stevie" would not be coming around much longer. that it was getting dark,earlier. that the games we played all sumer long. were starting to get boring. so we tried to stretch the last few nites. we all ran out as soon as we finished our "after dinner chores".
i always felt bad for my buddies, that live in 1574 beach ave. they had to walk around the block to throw out the garbage. we tried to make every moment count, until somebody's dad would whistle, or when we saw the street light come on. we knew it was time to "go up". have a great weekend. hope some more of you share your favorite "end of summer" stories.

[bob5915]

Hello,

A big hello to everyone! I am so sorry I did not make the last two events as I have been to hell and back with family problems. Hope all is well with everyone. Marie Elena did you change your email? Please write me.
Regards, Bobby Roth

[Lydia58]

Do you remember the rides that used to come around the neighborhood? I remember thinking they were the coolest thing. And they would give you a piece of banana taffy candy.

[Grace Pasquale]

I remember shopping for my school uniform at Cornells on Unionport Road in Parkchester. It was a navy blue jumper and a white blouse with three blue buttons in the front, under the collar. There was also a navy blue hat. Both the uniform and the hat proudly displayed the "SAS" (Saint Anthony School) emblem, which was blue and gold. The most "glamorous" part of the emsemble were the brown oxford laced shoes, worn with blue knee socks. Once entering the 5th or 6th grade (I think) we were able to wear stockings.

Grace Pasquale

[bob5915]

I remember those rides very well with the taffy candy when you got off. There was the whip,the carousel,and the half moon, a great treat for a dime. I also remember from that era the horse and wagon that use roll down tthe blocks to sell fruit and veggies and the old man that came around with a cart to sharpen your knives,scissors and fix your broken umbrellas.
Great memories!

[Les Sherwood]

I guess I am aging myself again but who remembers the delivery of live fish to Auggie's fish store on Archer and how many neighborhood guys worked there. The fish was actually deliveriied in a large tank truck and and they would scop the fished out and then carry into the store. At times I would deliver fresh fish to many in Parkchester. John Horan(RIP) worked in the store choppiing ice and setting up the fish for sale.

[bob5915]

Hi Les: I remember Auggies Fish Market also. I beleive that is where Tommy Mcelroy worked and throughout life he picked up the nickname "FISH"

Regards, Bobby Roth

[tayloravegirl]

What I remember most (and hated) was going school shoe shopping. I went to St. Anthony's, Commonwealth Ave and they had a strick policy of what types of shoes you could wear. They had to be Hush Puppies. They were soooooo ugly. The girls wore one type and the boys wore another. I hated the girls style so much, I always bought the boys one. I wasn't the only one...most of the girls in my class wore the boys style.

[MaureenBo]

I loved the grey Hush Puppies. I wish I could find them again. I used to play with them all the time because if you rubbed them one direction they were light grey and the other direction they were dark grey. Yes, I was easily amused;) I thought they looked nice, though.

In my years the uniforms were green/green plaid and grey shoes. in the later years I think the uniforms started going blue because I remember we got new blue gym uniforms and different shoes.