Update 7-15-08

Hello,

First, a response from Ira Mitzner to Andy Dolich, about fishing with Mr. Maggio:  Andy, I have a few comments about your carp story.  I can tell that, like myself, you are a lover of fishing.  A few years ago, Rachael and I brought a weekend house on the Western Shore of Maryland, about twenty minutes south of Annapolis and only forty-five minutes from downtown D.C.  My twenty-foot fishing boat is in my back yard, and I regularly catch all kinds of fish, but no carp, thank goodness.  As you say, "best of all," I trap blue claw crabs off my dock, and we regularly feast on the "beautiful swimmers"  -- the name of a great book about the blue claw crabs -- washed down with cold beer.  If you don't give me any more of your wisecracks about the requested Redskins/San Francisco tickets -- your last comment, if you remember, was, "We take Mastercard or VISA" -- maybe you could stay at our place and gorge yourself on blue claws.  However, I must say that your wise-ass answer brought back good memories of my conversations with you years ago, while we waited out front of Forest Road School in the mornings.
   
    Ira continues, about the "why" dance:  I never heard of that term, but I did have some experience with the activity.  Given the libido and physical prowess of a young man in his late teens, grinding was a very dangerous endeavor for your wardrobe.  I first witnessed it as a newly arrived seventh grader at South -- two seniors were "dancing" in the hall, but there was no dancing whatsoever.  Obviously, this makes out a good case for having separate middle schools.  Also, unlike Robert Fiveson it seems, I was never so lucky as to find a girl who danced with her legs "whyd" -- assuming Robert isn't telling fish tales.  But since all teenage boys talked as if they had achieved more than they had in actuality, it was a good thing that we got in a "why" dance once in a while.
   
    On the same subject, an unsolicited fan note from Robert Fiveson:  Lest anyone ever wonder what an editor does, Rich not only cleaned up what I said about "why" dances, he made it edgier and much more polite.
   
    [Rich -- Other things this "editor" does:  Uh, that would be "rite of passage" last week, not "right."  Goes along with "Hungary Harbor" and "Brain Dead."}
   
    Back to  dancing matters and Barbara Blitfield Pech:  Thanks to Robert Fiveson for his extended definition of a "why" dance.  Who knew?  Not the girls!
   
    And Barbara on hair matters:  Thanks so much to both Judy and Bryna for the name of the hair salon.  Another lapse of memory solved.  I never would have come up with the name without their help, and, next time I head to Boca -- no pun intended again -- I will look up Vintonio's.  At the very least, they will understand me when I explain that I want to get my hair cut in an "artichoke."
   
    And Barbara on horse matters:  I remember a pony ring at a stable at what I recall being a fork or split in the road at Francis Lewis Boulevard and a back road in Rosedale that the Bulova watch factory was on.  Also, did we once have an exchange in the newsletter about the factory originally being a munitions or some kind of war materials plant?
   
    On a more edible subject, a restaurant tip from Larry Rugen:  If you still live on Long Island or come back to visit, please try this treasure of a restaurant my wife and I found last weekend.  If you like ethnic food -- Polish, German, or European --  try Bozena Restaurant in Lindenhurst.  We saw it advertised, and since my wife is of Polish decent, she decided we should go.  They have the best stuffed cabbage, beef patty, Kielbasa, and Perogis, and the place is beautiful to boot.  Happy Eating!  Here's a link to their web site --   http://www.striperonline.com/polish_dinner.htm -- and a sample of their dinner:  The  Polish Platter consists of cutlet, stuffed cabbage, kielbasi, and perogis.  In German, that's:  Polski talerz: kotlet, gollaabki, kiellbasa i pierogi
   
    Back in English, a note from Linda Tobin Kettering to Helen David:  My memory was not keen enough to recall whether or not you had been my teacher, but luckily my mother cleaned out her house recently and gave me all of my report cards from Forest Road School and South High School.  So I was able to go back and see who my teachers had been.  I can now say with certainty that you were not my teacher.  My science teachers were all men:  Messner, Seaman, Saffrin, Sympson, and Lichtenstein.  Maybe you had my brother Evan.  He graduated in 1972.
   
    Also from Linda, some Green Acres Shopping Center trivia:  First, we used to call it the "shopping center," and now it's "Green Acres Mall."  Anyhow, I was at a July 4th party this year in East Northport given by a friend of a friend.  I was making small talk with one of the guests, and she asked me where I had grown up. After telling her "Valley Stream," she asked if I remembered the pizza place in the original shopping center.  She said it was called "The Golden Crust."  I said, "Of course," although I hadn't recalled its name.  Well, it turns out that she had grown up in Elmont and had worked in the restaurant from 1960 to 1963.  She told me that the biggest drawback to working there was that the staff wasn't allowed to get tips.  The owners felt that since they didn't really have table service  -- remember the long counters that snaked around the place? -- the staff shouldn't get tips.  Who knew?
   
    A preliminary book report, from Amy Bentley:  I ordered The Lords' Woods on Amazon.  It was $14.00, and there was still another copy left for the same price.  I will let you all know about the book once I've read it.  I love this stuff.
   
    More Lords' Woods notes from Stu Borman:  Thanks to Amy Miller for sending me a copy of the map she mentioned here last week.  It's fascinating, but it cuts off just south of Green Acres, the area I would have been most interested in seeing.  Woodmere Academy is on the map, and the future location of the Jewish temple on Rosedale Road is labeled "Hooded Warbler."  That's the name of a small bird of Eastern hardwood forests with a black head and yellow face.  Apparently, the creek behind the houses in Green Acres was called Mott's Creek, and the map also shows a water works and settling ponds in the woods just southwest of the intersection of Rosedale Road and Mill Road.  I remember those because I went there with Neil Guberman and took photos, one of which shows Neil but is out of focus.  Thanks again, Amy, for finding this map and sharing it with us.
   
    Finally, further history from Stu:  I've scanned an original brochure for the smaller, one-story model of the Chanin house sold in 1954 in the "new" section of Green Acres.  I'll be happy to send JPG images of the front and back of the brochure to anyone on request.  (sborman@gmail.com)  My parents, or the salesperson, made marks and notes on the brochure, including furniture drawings in the living room area of the room layout.  The brochure says, in part, "Green Acres is a long-established, carefully-planned community in Nassau County, adjoining the New York City line, about 17 miles from mid-Manhattan or Brooklyn.  The new Green Acres grade school is within easy walking distance of any home.  Construction of a 1,500-pupil junior-senior high school, adjacent to Green Acres, is scheduled to begin in the summer of 1954.  Green Acres homes are designed and built by Chanin to give the average-income family more comfort and luxury at minimum operating costs."  The price, $16,750, included six rooms and bath, all on one floor, an attached garage, and a full basement.