roaming the internet information superhighway, i find there is a wealth of misinformation concerning the pre wwii time in the bronx, ny. i've seen incorrect maps, incorrect names of places, and incorrect histories and a lot of back biting among people who want dominance. my discussion of this time is authentic. i guess i'm the last one alive who (sorta') remembers how it was and writes it down.
i suggest that other people of this age create a more public image and blog to write their history without comments or back biting.
nevermind, the people (and engineers) can just guess at events and stuff like they always do.
upscale living in this area included rowing on the bronx river above the waterfall. walking across the top of the fall was an interesting activity. below the fall you could catch tiny eels or other disgusting stuff. accidentally slipping into the water, getting soaking wet, and trying to sneak home past the neighborhood housewife watch brigade, encamped outside my building was challenging, actually impossible.
just before wwii we moved to another neighborhood way-way across the bronx, near bronx park (and its famous zoo). it was four el stops from the intervale station (simpson, freeman, 174th, and 177th). my dad was probably making $50 big bucks a week at this time and my mom wanted an upscale place to live. i don't know.
FOUNTAIN IN THE ZOO - REMEMBER? - NO YOU DON'T.
i have no idea why there was an exodus from the south bronx to this area but the klovers from rogers place were on vyse around the corner, the olsmans had moved to mohegan avenue and my grandparents at some time moved to vyse and 180th st.
i don't want to leave out morrison avenue where my baby sitting father let me ride down an incline on my tricycle and i found there was a step on the bottom and i flew off in one direction and the bike flew off in another (you're enjoying this, aren't you?). bike and all crash landed. thanks dad. who holds a grudge?
or when he took me to a sandlot baseball game a few blocks away and forgot about me. this stuff builds character. if it doesn't kill you it strengthens you. yeah, right!
LA TIMES: "Nevada, Boise State finish with victories"
strong finishes for last week's adversaries. unfortunately neither team is of uber-football charisma or strength. virginia tech is going to the orange bowl and bsu kicked their butt and have a better record. life is not fair.
THE FOOTBALL FAIRY
sorry, there is no football fairy. there is no free lunch in football. whatever!
if you liked movies like, the black swan (1942 - tyrone power) or the sea hawk (1940 - errol flynn) you'll love this book. it has all the angles and facets of the theme of the "good pirate" (me) against the evil world (you).
this story seems to be destined to become a movie. it appears to be somewhere in the initial production cycle to be released in 2014.
capt. charles hunter, privateer and his crew is:
on a mission to take ill-gotten treasure from bad guys;
captured by bad guys;
escapes from bad guys;
climbs sheer cliffs;
hacks his way through tropical jungles;
blows up an impregnable fortress;
captures a treasure ship;
defeats a battleship of overwhelming power;
confronts cannibals;
overcomes an attack of deadly curare darts;
fights off an unstoppable, many tentacled sea monster;
survives a super powerful tropical hurricane;
captured by supposed good guys;
sentenced to death;
escapes from supposed good guys;
settles debts with the deceitful;
and more.
************************************************************************************************************************* JUST SAYIN'
the year is 1665. if you strung a handful of lifetime lengths like mine end to end, extend them into the past you would arrive at a time when people exactly like you and me were alive during what seems to be a bizarrely primitive time. sorry, no ipads here.
i am strangely fascinated by the weird world of british expansion before 1700. it existed and our ancestors existed and i can assure you they were exactly like us. somehow in their total ignorance they survived long enough to procreate. yea! survival rates and life expectancy were virtually .. umm .. nil. but we're here. initially i thought this book would be more historical than fictional.
after leland avenue and before kelly street was morrison avenue, sorta' near now defunct monroe high school.
my dad was night manager at a 24/7 eatery on westchester avenue.
among the big events in my toddler life was the day another kid fell on the outcropping of rocks on the lot across the street. she may have been hurt, stuck or something but it was the talk of the street among toddlers and their moms. and the day i saw, after her bath, a girl's private area. it was a shock. i thought she must have had a terrible accident or something. to this day i don't know what happened to her privates.
it was stated this morning on scarborough that there is nothing magical about federal tax rates.
i cannot accept that we are discussing changing tax structure. .the current federal tax rates were handed down from god to george w bush to the people. thank you, jesus for the republican party who will carry the tax rate torch for the betterment of all mankind. AMEN.
you cannot be surprised that governments are hypocritical exactly like or worse than you or your associates. in your heart you know that your mother wouldn't give you the right time unless there was no other choice. so, suck it up, the truth is revealed and you can't handle the truth. we must kill the messenger.
for me this is a breath of fresh air being tired of constant attempted manipulation via the various government propaganda machines.
can i sell you some stock? you know, we are running out, especially before xmas.
the year before moving to 179th and vyse my mother had a tragedy. i ruined her life. she had bought tickets to hellzapoppin, a popular broadway show for dimwits with olsen and johnson a slapstick vaudeville type pair. my mom never forgave me for having an appendicitis attack, getting sick, and ruining her life.
i had an acute appendicitis attack the day before the day of my parents performance. after the removal of the offending part i came down with measles in the hospital and. (in those days) i was quarantined. from the fuss that was made you would think the black p;lague had attacked the hospital. they loved me there. but i lived and here i am.
i returned to school about six weeks later. my absence did not seem to affect my sluggish progression through life as i was promoted to the next grade on time.
eating out twice and consuming huge amounts of unneccessary food and chemical additives have (i'm sure) shortened my remaining life. but i will persevere.
everyone can return to what they normally do and i can go back to my various usual activities. yea!
for three quarters on thanksgiving day i was rooting against the cowboys but after their gallant (whatever) recovery and comeback, i suddenly found myself rooting for them. unfortunately, the saints must have had a deal with hell to make a comeback.
meadowlands stadium (sorta) just before last minute winning touchdown
although i favor the NEW YORK jets, who play in new (ugh) jersey, they have a miraculous or devilish 9 win and 2 defeat record. their last minute victories are more than amazing ... ummm ... suspicious. with five games to go, we will see if their wheels stay on.
being a giant fan, i'm overly optimistic that the giants barely hanging on to hope with a 6-4 record will win, win,WIN,WIN ............. if they lose i will deny any association with them or the nazi party.
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the gorgeous young lady in the excerpted, "our town", video the other day is Penelope Ann Miller, alive and well at the ripe old age of 46.
to cap off my somber mood. i want to suggest a federal budget cutting change to the congressional menu:
do nothing officer's wives should be restricted from wasting their time and my money on the post golf course or the bar at the officer's club. drinking, flirting, playing golf, and general bitchiness does not constitute patriotism. if they are so patriotic, then do something patriotic.
boise state, a two touchdown favorite against nevada tonite probably has to beat the spread to satisfy the football authorities.
my grand daughter living within walking distance of the school opted to go elsewhere. simple me, i would have selected the glamour and fame of boise state. i was so proud and uplifted in 1950 when my CCNY team won both the nit and ncaa basketball tourneys. although having nothing to do with their victories, my self esteem was enhanced forever. not only was CCNY superior in its academic work but we were superior physically also. let us just say supermen. get lost, ivy league. no george w bush's here.
************************************************************************************************************************* LIFE BEFORE DEATH IN NEW JERSEY
as i was just looking at internet stuff, i ran across this item. irwin dambrot and i sorta crossed paths being at a summer rental in the eariy 40s and attending CCNY in the early 50s. nevermind.
i was totally mesmerized when i saw my first theatrical play at ps 75. the colors, the lights, the performance, the total atmosphere. those strong feelings for the stage have worn down to a nub over the past 150 years.
sadly for me even, "our town" leaves me cool and certainly the thought of some musical extravaganza like cats can cause my brain to shrink and die. ok, occasionally i see a show that makes an impression. in my present residential area i recommend howard county communinty college performances. i don't think i've ever been disappointed by their professional productions.
careful selection of broadway or off-broadway shows can yield favorable memories although they may be a bit pricey for someone like me who paid $1,20 a ticket (or something) of his father's money in olden times.
sarah is starting to get annoying. alaska is not the center of the universe. new jersey women are stronger and crazier.
y'know all housewives in new jersey think they can be president. does this make this country great or what?
the wife of the richest businessman in my new jersey town who basically mows lawns and sells lawnmowers will be glad to tell you about how to run this country.
the new jersey housewives unity guild, gabfest club, and mah jong group are anxious to run the country.
sarah palin, please step aside for some real talent.
fortunately for north korea both me and douglas macarthur are out of commission. as suggested by imus this morning we can refurbish the enola gay to straighten out these psychotic morons.
one time while living on hoe avenue, my mom and i visited some poor relatives on long island. my dad, working regularly made us rich. it so happens that they were so poor they could not afford to live in the bronx. they bought an old house on a small piece of land in what is now downtown flushing, ny for about $25. my mom and i walked from the li rr station, a few blocks to their humble abode.
sorta' like flushing new york (ca 1930s)
i suspect that if fortune did not change for them and they were not able to move back to nyc, they would be incredibly wealthy real estate owners in flushing, ny of the donald trump prototype. as it turned out the children of the family became professionals (doctor - lawyer - indian chief, whatever) anyway. and amazingly without social workers, special advisors or charter schools.
around the corner was a large (mmmmmmm..... ) pancake eatery close to or near where the, "subway" is now. further around the corner on southern blvd. was a bus depot which had buses going all over and out of the city. my granpa's stock broker was across the street in the building next to the spooner movie theater on southern blvd. a few doors down from the bus station was another movie theater. opposite the pancake house was, hunt's point square where my granpa and i played checkers.
spooner movie house
further up southern blvd was the loew's boulevard theater and past westchester ave. was another movie house (the freeman theater?) . my aunt florence took me there once and i'm still having nightmares from the movie.
two nyc subway system stations were and still are nearby. one at hunt's point square the other at simpson street and westchester avenue. trolly cars along southern blvd. and along westchester avenue.
eating places and retail stores lined southern blvd. food markets lined 165th street near simpson.
and ps 75 and a playground were a few blocks away. library nearby.
on about $40 a week or less you could live well, all this could be yours and your wife didn't have to work.
high schools were selective. CCNY was free.
no lawn mowing, no car problems, no new jersey nitwits to put up with. the great depression was not called GREAT for nuthin'.
i was a little kid when i first went to school from hoe ave. relying on my mom to take me to and from home on my rainy first day was a disappointment. she was no sacawagea. i didn’t know where we lived and i had no idea as to how to get there from school. the last kid standing; hungry and alone in the rain. very distressing. mom was late but who holds a grudge?
she finally showed up and saved me. thanks mom. i'm sure there were more important things to do than taking care of your little son. perhaps shopping?
lotsa stuff while living on hoe avenue. ok, we moved around a lot 'cause my mom told me that during the great depression, landlords would give you one or two months free rent and the savings would justify moving every year. my dad, poor guy worked all the time during this period and died young. a lesson not wasted on me. my bs, phd uncle from baltimore who worked for the defense dept. was always whining about something and lived a long time. thats for me. whining and living a long time. i too worked for the defense dept.
i think we lived twice on hoe avenue when very young after morrison avenue which i haven't gotten to yet.
doctor professor smith: " i now bestow on you the degree of doctor of chemistry. you have successfully regurgitated what i have told you, which i had successfully regurgitated from my teachers and they from their teachers for a thousand generations. go forth and spread your knowledge."
it is trick or treat time in wash. dc for new congressional members. being that the lobbyists are loaded with assorted gifts and cash, i suggest you dress up like a congressperson and extort stuff from lobbyists. your moral standing will be no worse than theirs. go for it.
"The CIA granted some Nazis entry to the US for intelligence gathering purposes after World War II, the New York Times reported, citing a 600-page report ... "
why is this news? 30, ,, 40, .. 50, years ago i could have pointed out several suspects in new jersey.
from defecting hessians during the revolutionary war, german and italian people jumping ships from axis nations just before wwii, bund meetings before they were banned and supposed emigres working at my defense dept. installation the whole state of (ugh) new jersey is suspect.
somehow i published part vi before this one part v. time warps exist.
my grandparents, after their living on kelly street lived on tiffany street probably for about four years. there was a lot of moving around in my family for known and unknown (to me) reasons.
i recall being a kid:
reading my first book from the large public library (two streets away), about the development of metallurgy;
sitting under the radio listening to such great programs as, Speed Gibson Of The International Secret Police;
being given a copy of, the arabian nights, which i didn't understand, by two sisters boarding with my grandparents;
being taken to a stock broker's office by my grandfather while he was baby sitting me (note: today there are
no stock broker's firms physically located in the bronx);
listening to my two young aunts and my mom discussing man catching strategies while depilating;
going to the tiffany movie theater to watch two or three movies at a sitting, receiving a comic book, and candy - all for 11 cents;
listening to 78 rpm records on their windup phonograph.
i'll quit now as i see i've put you to sleep.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
about 70 years ago murray koss assisted me in writing a second stanza to my famous poem, "pearl harbor". he declined having his name on the piece. perhaps it or i was not up to his magnificent standards. only after its publication in the ps 6 paper with only my name on it did he complain. this morning i found the following amazing documents in my computer room next to each other:
my lawn mower warranty - MURRAY;
my cd player warranty - KOSS.
Remember that day in forty-one,
When the japs came over and made us run
From Guam, from Wake and the Philipines too,
They've had their fun and now they are through.
We were ready on December eighth,
And Roosevelt's speech gave us great faith
To fight to the gates of Tokyo,
And to kill and destroy our nipponese foe.
before rogers place there was kelly street. the couple next door were both legally blind but were gainfully employed. their daughter, barbara, was a normal sweet girl. it was sorta' sad to think about their difficulties.
at this time my grandparents lived on the floor above us. later they moved to tiffany street. my grandmother took in "foster children" to supplement their income. i would like to report that being around women during my young life; my two aunts and all the young women my grandma took in, sometimes two at a time, i was never abused. how strange. and i was a cute kid.
being a mature five and a half, i recall lecturing barbara and a red headed girl about life. they listened intently to my views. that was the last time anyone paid attention to me.
"Colin Powell comes home to christen apartments - NYPOST.comSep 23, 2010 ... When Colin Powell returns to his home neighborhood in the south Bronx ... home was at 980 Fox Street, and then he moved to952 Kelly Street. ..."
the kelly street address certainly was the same block i lived on and across the street from my building.
“I left the Bronx some 55 years ago, but the Bronx never left me,” said Powell to cheers and applause.
.
ruth lived up the street. she was in my first grade class. one time i saw her on the entry steps to her house, red eyed and crying. it was probably the first time i felt empathy, a weakness i'm still trying to overcome. you would think my transylvanian roots would deny these feelings.
at the end of my street was a small park now called albert dorey park. who the hell is albert dorey? my superficial scan of the so called "internet information super highway" yielded a variety of misinformation. nevermind.
at the other end of the street, the westchester avenue corner, there was a private swimming pool.
seems to me that life was a lot more active and interesting during the times of the great depression than the bs suburban affluence of today. there were at least eight movie houses within walking distance: three in and around prospect avenue, four along southern blvd. and one at tiffany street. now there are none.
george w bush's book is being released today. as they say, "you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear."
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does ava look good or what?
as you 21st century folks may not know, an apartment building, pre wwii in the greatest place in the universe, nyc, is equivalent in size to a whole new jersey town except it had less retards and engineers.
arthur freed lived on the ground floor on the other side of the building from the klovers. his parents would punish him for getting poor grades. unfortunately for him he was doing his best. he was just stupid. it wasn't his teacher's fault. it wasn't the school system's fault. it wasn't fdr's fault. these days they could have trained him to be an engineer in new jersey. the defense dept. is chock full of people like him.
please restrain the delusional dallas football franchise from calling themselves "AMERICA'S TEAM". it is an embarassment to the essence of this great country.
i was wrong when i wrote that boise state would disappoint when up against a red hot, hawaii team but even though state was overwhelming they may not be headed for a major bowl game. unfortunately, viewing other games on tv yesterday the facts are that other teams have better tv coverage and presentation. boise state's major bowl game aspirations are fatally flawed because of deficiencies in a variety of superficial areas.
FOR EXAMPLE -
THERE'S NUTHIN' LIKE A LOTTA BS IN PROMOTIONS
the boise state game lacked in:
crowd noises
marching bands
tv announcers
tv camerawork
cheer leaders
major alumni funding
major tv channel exposure and display.
as you know winning is not the only thing. its glitzy presentation and bs thats important. look at what the republicans did on absolutely nothing. winning an election while running on empty. lying also helps.
upgrading boise's image is important. potatoes are out. 22nd century technology is in. folksy pioneer spirit is out. the future of america is in. SEE THE FUTURE. GO BOISE STATE!!!!!!!!
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ALABAMA HAS ALL THAT JAZZ. BOISE CAN KICK THEIR BUTT.
in olden days you could get a middle class one room apt. in an outer borough of nyc for about 10 to 15 bucks a month. the klovers lived in one of those on the ground floor.
sometimes after my 2nd grade school day ended at public school 39, the klover kids, mike and gerry, ray olsman from the third floor and i, assembled in the klover one room ground floor apt. mr. klover was asleep in a big bed and alice klover would supervise and be doing married lady things. it was rather busy and crowded all at once.
i recall assembling (american) indian beaded items from kits costing one cent.
mr. klover slept right through all the activities.
many democrats and their staffs will remain in the dc area and the good news is that the new members of congress will need housing. thank you for winning.
i have given up diablo (again). after finishing off andariel rather neatly i went back into her throneroom to mop up the few stragglers and get the remaining deutsche marks when i was bushwhacked and killed. thats it.
********************************************************************************************************************************** “When all were against me, when all gods; good, evil and even neutral opposed me, I survived. What hope have you, mortal?” - Necrosis
the last world series for the ny giants was in '54. the 111 win cleveland indians were defeated in 4 games. my brilliant phd baltimore blowhard uncle was still claiming victory for cleveland after they were 3 down,
