Update 5-12-09

Hi,

A lot of notes:  First, to Henry Gabbay from Bernie O'Brien:  Please tell Henry that he was correct.  That ref was Wally Rooney in the NBA, and he left South High School for Lynbrook to be a guidance counselor.  If he stayed at South, he never would have been permitted to take off the amount of time he needed to work for the NBA.  He still splits his time between Rockville Centre and Florida, plus he spends some time at the Jersey Shore.  I see him quite often when he's in Rockville Centre.
   
    And to Henry from Peter Rosen:  Walt (Wally) Rooney was one of the all-time great NBA refs.  I saw him occasionally at Atlanta Hawks games.  He was actually the varsity coach at South through our 10th grade, until Stan Silverberg came to town so Walt could devote more time to reffing.  I learned so many valuable basketball things from him, especially defensive moves.
   
    From Mary Sipp-Green:  I now have the phone number for Joe the artist Jochnowitz, and I plan to call tomorrow.  Thanks very much for getting me there.
   
    [Rich -- I asked Mary to send Joe Jochnowitz our best and to please give use a brief report after her call.]
   
    From Caryl Snapperman Avery:  Having immersed myself in this nostalgia about our favorite kinds of candy, I thought you might like to know about the world's greatest candy store.  It's called Economy Candy, and it's located on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  They have everything you can imagine from our growing-up years -- Sugar Daddies, dots (those hard little things on paper, remember?), Chunkies, licorice pipes, Jujubes, Double Bubble -- you name it.  And at really good prices (as opposed to Dylan's candy store in New York City, which is insanely expensive).  You can also find Economy Candy online -- and they ship.  Yum!
   
    From Peggy Cooper Schwartz:  For all you nostalgic candy lovers, you can still find a  lot of these treats from the past at the Cracker Barrel restaurants, which dot the Interstate highways.
   
    From Claire Brush Reinhardt:  Hi all you South High Falcons, and Happy Spring to all.  Your Alumni Association is planning another "Booker Gibson" night at the Irish Coffee Pub in East Islip, this time for Wednesday, July 1st.  If you would like to see our beloved Booker T. Gibson, enjoy his wonderful piano stylings, connect with old friends, and maybe meet some new ones, please plan on joining us at around 6:30 that evening for a repeat of the last two highly successful gatherings we have enjoyed at this fine restaurant.
        The Irish Coffee Pub is located at 131 Carleton Avenue, East Islip, New York 11730.  Please make your own reservations for your party at:  631-277-0007.  Also, please mention that you are part of the South High Alumni group coming to see Booker Gibson.  You can go to the Pub's web site at: irishcoffeepub.com for more information about the restaurant and for directions.
        I know a few of you have mentioned that it would be easier to do this on a Saturday night, and Booker does play there on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  But he feels very strongly that Wednesday is the better of the two days to arrange an event like this.  Of course, a smaller group could always go on an Saturday night later in the summer.
        I'll be making a reservation for a table for the class of '62 and for anyone else who wishes to join us.  If you would like to be included, please get in touch with me, earlier rather than later, at: reino@optonline.net.  Or you can give me a call at: 516-599-7522, and I will be happy to make those arrangements.  Either way, please let me know if you plan to attend, so we can get some idea of the size of the group.  Thanks.
   
    A kind of anonymous question:  I just got another idea.  In addition to the music and theater scholarships, what about a creative writing scholarship?  We could name it for a favorite teacher.  I could send a starter check for that.  What's the process to get that up and running?
   
    [Rich -- my instinctive response:  I don't know about another scholarship.  The present two may be all our collective classes can presently support, especially considering there are also Alumni Association scholarships.  Further, I suspect that if the classes do want to support another ongoing scholarship, it would probably get more support in a field outside the arts, which we've already covered.  Maybe in sports -- and the sciences are certainly deserving.  And is there a large enough group that has a favorite teacher in the languages, history, or math?
        Just thoughts.  What does anyone else think?]
   
    To Sandy Tartar from Allen Moss (Moss in Maine):  I sent in a memory blurb to the newsletter about Marty Howard's quite a while ago.  It was next to the Gibson train station, and many a night did I spend there with a whole group of guys, including Bobby Friedman, Steven Boughner, Greg Kaplan, Neil Guberman, and, I think, Dennis Pizzamenti and probably a whole bunch of the South High gang.  Not all at the same time, but pretty regularly, and I think it was always on a Friday night.  Maybe because there were beer specials?  Anyway, thanks once again for the recollection!
   
    From Shirley Hess Deutsch to Steve Cahn:  Gene Barkin is on the VSSHS Facebook site.
   
    Finally, from Steve Cahn:  Sandy Tarter hit the nail on the head -- Shor's in Hewlett.  What a great place!  It was situated where the Burger King is now, in that little triangle of land where Broadway meets West Broadway, very near the Long Island Railroad, and it was there all through the 50s and 60s.  It was a mini-Nathan's, with franks, burgers, clams, fries, shakes, sweet corn on the cob, and the rest of the standard Coney Island fare.  It was owned, I think, by the famous Toots Shor's brother.  My mother used to comment about two brothers in the same family -- one with a restaurant to the stars and one with burger grease all over his apron.  My brother and I would look at each other and try to figure out if she was sending us a message.  It had a fixin's bar with ketchup, mustard, kraut, 2 kinds of relish and fresh raw onions -- just like Nathan's used to have before everything came in packets.  And there was a popcorn machine which gave you a white paper bag of warm, yellow, salted popcorn for a dime.
        Nearly next door was my favorite:  The Hamburger Express.  It was on Broadway, also near West Broadway, and across from the China Jade restaurant in Hewlett.  It was sit-down with waitress service, not a walkup counter-style like Shor's.  People waited on line to be seated in the special dining area.  Once your order was taken, it was delivered on plates which were affixed to full-size Lionel model trains.  These trains were mounted on tracks along the exterior wall of the dining area.  Someone behind the counter would work the controls and have the train stop at your table, where you would remove your order, and the train would be on its way with a little toot.  The food could have been a b'zillion dollars and tasted like dog-spit. but the trains made it my favorite restaurant hands-down.  In the early 60s, they took away the trains and changed the name to the Hamburger LOCAL.  The magic was gone -- it was just another greasy spoon.
        P.S. I connected with Sherry Gordon, class of '58, I think.  Her younger sister was Randee Gordon, '63?  Anyone need their contact info?
   
    The South '65 e-mail addresses:  reunionclass65.blogspot.com
   
   
    Rich