Oral History From KV Reunion 5, Part 6

Mentioned here:

A KV stake out and how a body flying out off of the I building ruined one's appetite. The gray areas of keeping kosher.

Oral History From KV Reunion 5, Part 5

Mentioned were:

The story of how Lee was out stealing home and how it ruined a game that Murray pitched. LMRC Coach Sklar, the "social club," the story of Paul, Ron and David A.'s snowball fight and Ron's flight to the A building in order to escape from Paul's noogies

Oral History From KV Reunion 5, Part 4

Mentioned here:

Judge Sandler, Judge Picariello, the opera singer Judith Raskin, Zero Mostel in the H building, Judge Lupiano, Paddy Chayefsky, Marion's boyfriend Leonard Michaels of the L Building, the Jewish exodus to Warbasse when Moses parted the East River, the difference between Sephardic and Eshkenazi Jews

Oral History From KV Reunion 5, Part 3

Mentioned here:
The KV news, movies on a Friday afternoon in the auditorium in the K building, the arrest of the Rosenberg's, the sound of Ethel's voice and the oxford shoes she wore, the mothers waiting for their children after school, Joey Katz, the Bronstein's, the Epsteins of the L building, Dr. Serafin, Dr. Essner, Dr. Bogart, Rich's Pharmacy, the paper hats that Journal American guys made, the loud thud of the rolls of paper from the Journal American, the Luxtons?

Oral History From Reunion 5, Part 2

Mentioned Were:

211 Madison St, Gouverneur Hospital, Hamilton Street, Hamilton Madison House and its director Geoffrey Wiener, PS 177 staff: Mrs Perrins, Mrs. Lebergott, Mrs. Lieberman, Mr. Gregor, Mr. Press, Mrs. Lapping, Miss Herzer, Miss Lizzio, Miss Smith, Miss Keeshon Miss Handwerker, Miss Sterling, Miss Mulligan, Miss Peck, Miss Feuer, The Madonna House fire , Jane and Bob's Nursery, the KV Photography Club, the bowling alley, the package room.

Oral History From Reunion 5, Part 1

A chance encounter with long time resident Rita Basso starts the reunion group down memory lane. Mentioned were:

Mrs. Teper, Pete's Candy Store, Kremo's, Birnbaum Meats, Dave's Village Grocery, Tillie Aaronson, Joe Bruno and more

Oral Histories Of The Great Depression: Madonna House

Survive Future Shock - Making Ends Meet in the Great Depression - Our Survival Story
from survive the future, Alabaman Anne Pezzillo Moon reminisces about Madonna House

Phil's Lower East Side

I had the good fortune to meet Phil at the Institute for Retirees at Brooklyn College (IRPE). For more about the IRPE and to learn about the courses they offer
Phil's dad must have been one of the first Seward Park graduates. Phil knew the joys of Guss' pickles, but he didn't stick around the LES long enough to know about Cheap Heshies

What Do You Know Joe?

Last week I saw Joe crossing the street at Ludlow and Stanton. I knew he had a story to tell so I asked him if he grew up on the LES. When I realized how interesting it was I asked his permission to record it. The first and last part is below. Part of the middle is above.
an interview with Joe on Rivington and Ludlow 3/9/2010

KV's 2nd Oldest Resident: Mildred Cohen

What a treat that I got a chance to meet this wonderful lady this past weekend. She's sharp as a tack.
We've seen her before in this 1957 picture from a post from November of 2008
Below is a then now comparison over a 52 year span

Bronx Boys 3

The boys talk about their old teachers. PG 13 rated

Bronx Boys 2

The boys play stickball the way we used to in Coleman Oval, except we used the Manhattan Bridge as a convenient outfield.

Bronx Boys 1

This is one segment from an award-winning documentary. Here the "boys" play touch football. The bronx boys website

As they recall schoolboy crushes, ice cream trucks and stickball, their reminiscences also conjure up a safer, simpler world. Maybe that's why what began as a video scrapbook of their joint 70th birthday celebration wound up an award-winning film, The Bronx Boys, which has appeared on Cinemax, played at a few film festivals and begun appearing on PBS stations this fall. Carl Reiner is the host of the film, which was edited and directed by Benjamin Hershleder. 'They have something special, these 15 guys,' Hershleder says

Nathan's House Furnishing On Catherine Street

A post Christmas present in my email box.

Just happened to stop in at Bob's on my way back to Martha's Vineyard; You might remember my grandfather, Nathans House Furnishing, on Catherine street, between Henry and Madison. NEXT to the Rug Place, NEXT to Savoia..., and of course CARVEL on their right;You know my grandparents would close down some Xmas times and get driven up to Boston by a guy named JOEY... Could never forget you guys...knowing Bob, Marty Sklar, Alan gave me an entree onto a paved playground with all you guys...who believed they were speaking 'ENGLISH'. Also the Submarine Sandwich...HERO, and where could you find a Pizza the size of a STEERING WHEEL for $1.00...I'm talking the 'OLD' car steering wheels. So I'm MIKE ZANE signing off

Mike must be referring to #27 Catherine, as #25 (Sweet Spring Restaurant) is where Carvel's used to be.

Teacher's Pet 2004

But back to the 1958 era. I've gathered together some PS 177 memories. Evidently some of us were teacher's pets and some weren't;

Perrins was the green toothed, alkie instructor of our third grade class. She performed the litmus test and then was stumped over how to interpret the paper turning green. She became confused and rageful. If memory serves correctly she hung Reginald Wiggins out the window by his heels until Ms. Lipman -Eleanor Lipman that is, the ass't principal - rushed into the room and saved him. It was about this time that Peter Levine revealed that 'antidiestablishmentarianism' was not only a part of his spelling vocabulary but that it had been filed in the word of moderate difficulty section of his brain.

Ok, I've always meant to add to this list: Skipped kindergarten, so no teacher for that year. (I got my library card at age 4 at Chathan Square because I could read and write,) First grade: Miss Bosser; Second grade: Mrs. Grant? Third grade: Mrs. Wachspress (aka Mrs. Wash and Press), who may have been the only teacher to experience a rat running through her classroom (or at least while I was in it.). Fourth grade: That's when they formed the special IGC (Intellectually Gifted Children, known to the other kids in the school as the Idiots Gifted to Chatter and the International Garbage Collectors. We were put in with the 5th grade new IGC with Mrs. Perens, a very old lady (at least to us 4th graders). 5th grade: Mrs. Perens, who became ill and I think later died. Our substitute became our permanent teacher. Remember her name: MISS VIGILANTE! She was young, and had a hell of a temper. When she didn't think we were learning the state capitols fast enough, she threw chalk and erasers at us. I guess it worked - - I still remember most of them pretty well. Amazing what you coukd get away with back then. Sixth at PS 177 was with Mrs. Meyer, I think, though I may have her and Mrs. Grant confused. I remember sixth grade quite well, because of the presence of Carlos Alejandro and Leo Martinez keeping it so lively.

And of course this was Esther Lapping. Was she an assistant principal? I remember as very old, very mean, and with kind of [avert your ears, squeamish ones] long dangly old-lady boobs. We used to joke that she had to carry them around in a shopping bag! (Not to her face, but we were still pretty mean...)
So, some questions for the gang: What ever happened to the beautiful stained glass in the auditorium when they demolished the school?
Does anybody know what happened to Sol Press and his daughter Lori Press? He was a remarkable man - he made our 6th grade class read the NY Times each day. No WONDER I was reading at 12th grade in 6th grade! He was also the camp director for Camp Madison-Felicia, one of my favorite leftist settlement house camps on earth (and Whoopi is an alum, too) which sadly, no longer exists. His daughter was a camper with us, and a nice human being. I felt sorry for her - - she got to go to school in Riverdale. Do you know my brother was once interested in dating a girl from Riverdale and her mother wouldn't let him because he was from the LES?

You had them right the first time, Mrs. Grant was 2nd grade and Meyers was 6th grade, missing from the list is our 4th grade teacher - Mrs. Hommell, reddish hair, fair skinned, she was the first of our I.G.C teachers ... Vigilante was feisty, I thought she hated me - always telling me I needed a haircut, but she gets credit for setting us up with penpals in Huntington and eventually organizing that trip to Long Island .. back then the LIE only went as far as exit 43 (Syosset), not far from where I live now ..sometimes when I pass a school in the Huntington area I wonder if it's the one we visited in Spring, 1962? .....one of my favorite recollections of the auditorium was that great red stage curtain with the word A S B E S T O S embroidered across the top, guess if 177 ever burned down, that curtain would have been the only thing remaining ...Sol Press...I had two close encounters with him, the first (probably 5th or 6th grade) when he sent a monitor to bring me to his office..what did I do? there must be some mistake?? turns out I really was in a bit of trouble but at the expense of my freedom of speech..Press was bent out of shape when I arrived at his office over a composition I wrote about 177 in which I stated that it should be preserved as a historic landmark..it seems he was active in a movement to have it torn down and replaced with a modern, safer structure which he described to me in no uncertain terms, I really struck a nerve with my preservation ideas and was out of my league in that debate ....the better encounter was in the 6th grade when I was called down along with seven girls and told we were accepted into the S.P. program, I was especially honored to be the only boy in the school to 'make' S.P. and smart enough that day to keep my mouth shut about preserving the old school as a landmark.

Who's Who In Knickerbocker Village History: Natalie Sosinsky

Natalie was always considered one of the best looking of all the KV moms. She was also active in the family shirt business and became active politically, especially in the struggle for better schools on the Lower East Side. She's still going strong in her 80's. Back in the 1998-9 I helped in a neighborhood history project that involved 4th graders from PS 20 and Sosinsky and Sons on 143 Orchard Street. Natalie's son Ron was running the business at the time. Along with giving the kids a history of the store and businesses on Orchard Street he played it to the hilt with a tale of opening his grandfather's safe found in a back alcove. He showed them old receipts, coins, money, etc that were found during a ceremonial safe-cracking to commemorate his father's birthday one year. This was before Geraldo Rivera's hyped and disappointing Al Capone stunt. I remember now as I write this that one of the girls from the class lived at 122 Orchard Street, where my father had lived 70 years before. Later Natalie graciously came to the school and had the kids interview her. This is another lost treasure I recently unearthed. The video quality is not the best. The sound and audio were completely out of synch. I tried my best to realign them.

Sam And The History Of Movie Theaters On The LES

One of those lost and primitive iMovie videos from the past (2002) that I did as school projects. I converted it now to take advantage of the google video format. I notice the streaming here causes a loss of the short embedded video segment. Still, I think it's well worth it. Sam Zilberzweig, by the way, was a teacher and later an ap at JHS 22 on Columbia Street, a destination for some KVers.

The Last Day Of The Automat

The automat "thread" reminded me of this great piece by David Isay at soundportraits. It was done in 1991. I added images to accompany it. BTW, that's Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart in the first few. A bonus, it came with a transcript:

DAVID ISAY: I got the call at about 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon: "They're closing down the Horn & Hardart tonight, on the sly. They don't want any kind of landmark fuss. Don't tell anyone I told you."

I got to the Automat about a half hour later, and everything seemed normal in the huge art deco cafeteria on 42nd Street. The tables were crowded with older men and women nursing cups of coffee, reading the paper, or talking. But then: a sound from the back, where the ancient Automat machines have stood for decades.

(Drilling.)

It was true. Workmen had just begun to dismantle these stainless steel machines, cracking them apart from the wall with chisels and hammers, screwing off the marble-covered turn knobs, pulling out the tiny black-on-white signs beside each compartment: "kaiser roll with jelly," "pot of baked beans," "bologna sandwich." This was indeed to be the last night at the country's last Automat. None of the customers had any idea.

You know they're closing the Horn & Hardart tonight?

CUSTOMER: Tonight? They can't do that, they've been here for over 50 years. You're springing this on me all of the sudden. Today's the final…? You're not kidding.

CUSTOMER: Oh, no. We love it.

CUSTOMER: Oh, am I happy I was here to have a cup of coffee. I'll miss it so much. I'm 97 years old. I never miss to come here. It hurts. What happened? Tell me.

CUSTOMER: Forever? Unbelievable. I came here 75 years ago. And now they're closing?

CUSTOMER: I was brought up in the Automat. My mother brought me here. I was a hard kid to feed at home. I liked to go out to eat. No matter how good she was a cook, I liked coming to the Automat.

CUSTOMER: My mother used to take me for allergy shots. After the pain of the shots, the thing that I most looked forward to was to go up and get the chicken pot pie from the Automat.

CUSTOMER: When I was a young actress, I used to go to the Automats on Broadway. And a lot of stars would come in before show time. Before plays went on they would come into the Automat. And, oh, it was terrific! The chocolate cream pie, the pumpkin pie, and the wonderful vegetables. It was terrific, the Automat.

CUSTOMER: The Automat was the closest thing to home cooking. Really.

CUSTOMER: There were so many, I don't know how many. How many were there? I don't know. Everywhere they were! Everywhere! Everywhere!

CUSTOMER: Downtown, Wall Street area. Every place, yeah.

CUSTOMER: Before we'd come to work, we'd stop in, have a cup of coffee, a sandwich. It was real nice. And you always see something, some characters or something. It was beautiful.

CUSTOMER: This was years ago a poor man's paradise. People didn't have too much money years ago. People could come in here and ate like a rich person. They could eat, relax, enjoy, meet their people. It was nice.

CUSTOMER: You come in relax, read a paper, something you can't do in no fast food chain now, because they got to get you in and out, and that's the name of the game now, you know? And maybe that's one of the things that ruined the Automat too, you know? Maybe too many people came in, stayed too long. Must be some reason why they're closing up.

CUSTOMER: If they close this place where can we go?

CUSTOMER: Where's a poor man gonna go? Where's the average person gonna go?

CUSTOMER: They've taken a home away from people that love it so much. Makes me cry. So many years...

ISAY: At six o'clock the manager locked up the two large revolving doors at the front of the Automat, a couple of hours before usual closing time. Customers arriving for dinner pushed at the door, which budged a bit, but wouldn't turn, shrugged their shoulders and walked away. The manager put up a small sign: "Closed for Alterations." Those few, who were still left sitting at the tables inside, read, chatted, and lingered over a last coffee, pouring what spilled over onto their tray back into their cups to make it last, just a little longer.