Update 2-15-11

Hi,

Happy day after Valentine's Day.  In belated celebration, a couple of spelling corrections from last week:     
    Elissa Sonkin Weiss, not Elyssa.  And she writes:  Everyone has always called me Lisa -- though I spell it with two S's.  I would have graduated in the class of 1965, and I went to William L. Buck for elementary school, when Robert Carbanaro was principal.  But even though I graduated in Baldwin, most of my youth, I was Valley Stream, through and through.
    Second spelling error:  Thom McAn, not Tom McAnn.  Should've checked it on the Internet.

Another correction, from Eric Hilton:  First, to clarify two very important pieces of information -- The Thing (1951) was a space movie with James Arness.  It took place in the Arctic or Alaska and was very scary. The movie with the giant ants was Them (1954), staring James Whitmore, but it was only a little scary.
    Second, Barbara, don’t make fun of your little brother because I can empathize with how he felt about The Tingler.  I did the same thing and walked out of The Bride of Frankenstein -- or Frunkinstein as Gene Wilder pronounced it in Young Frankenstein.  Now, that was one of the finest films ever made, especially when you're stoned.
    Third, I remember the Jane Arden dance studio because I was in a band with one of Arden’s sons, Bobby, a very good drummer.  And Nicky Tauber was the envy of many young guys because he had a very -- way cool -- customized car.  I remember that all of us hip guys were always drooling over it, but I don’t remember if it was a Corvette or not.  I’ll have to ask Greg Wohlgemuth.  I think Eddy Marra might have painted it.  Like Nicky, Eddy passed away two years ago.  And I was sorry to hear about Nick's passing.

Similarly, from Ray Staley:  Wow, what a memory jog that was -- about George and Florence Tauber.  I remember going to their store quite often with my father.  He became very close friends with them.  Their liquor store was opposite Bohacks, a few doors down from LaMarr's Tuxedos.
    I also remember Nicky and his first car, which was a 1961 Chevy Impala.  He traded that in on a 1964 GTO, and Ron Ochal and I used to go for rides with him in that GTO!   Does anyone know what happened to Nicky? 

Allen Moss writes:  Let's not forget the Bohack's supermarket, at the corner of Rockaway Avenue, across from LaMarr's Cleaners.  And my folks bought me some great toys in that hobby shop, Eric, but I can't remember its name, either.

Valerie Nelson Gillen writes:  Mitchell's still exists in the same spot.  When I worked in Rosedale, I would take my coworkers there for lunch.  And Barenberg's Bakery was definitely on Rockaway Avenue, not on Sunrise Highway.  Barenberg's had fantastic eclairs.  Actually, it had fantastic most everything.

[Rich -- Joanne Shapiro Polner meant the bakery was on the southern part of Rockaway Avenue, south of Sunrise Highway.  It was probably my clumsy editing.]

From Judy Zinger:  The bakery across the street from Bohack's was Jenner's.  I remember my father going there every Sunday when he went into town to get the Sunday newspapers.  They had great crumb buns and other goodies.

Joanne Shapiro Polner confirmed this with some clever investigating, which found that South's 1958 yearbook had, in its business directory:  Bahrenburg's -- 136 Rockaway Avenue.  And the 1959 yearbook had:  Jenner's Bake Shop, Kurt Wolf, Proprietor, 381 Rockaway Avenue.

To which Barbara Blitfield Pech responded:  Jenner's!  Oh my god!  That's it!  Barbara also added, by the way, there was a hosiery shop, possibly next to the old Lantern.  And the Marjorie Shop, which sold hats, might have been next to the library, on the corner.

Emily Kleinman Schreiber replied:  We still eat at Mitchell's before the Alumni Association meetings, but it's across the street from the original one.  That was much smaller and mostly an ice cream parlor.  I remember going there after sixth grade graduation.
    Also, in the Green Acres Shopping Center, Chandler's was the more expensive shoe store, across the way from Baker's.  I worked at Chandler's while I was a student at Hofstra.  They had me working the register, selling hosiery, and dying shoes.  Mr. Josephs -- I think that was his name -- was great, but the shoe dyer, Amos, was always asking me why I wouldn't let him kiss me.  And I loved pre-sale times, when we were allowed to stash away the shoes we wanted.  Later, we bought them when the prices were super slashed.

Barnet Kellman sent the start of a long list of stores in the Shopping Center.  And Joanne Shapiro Polner, especially with the help of Barbara Blitfield Pech and Mark Perlman, has been updating the town list and locations of the shops there.  Once this list and map are finished, they'll turn up here.  Meanwhile, if you want copies of them and instructions on how to help Joanne, please writer her at:   jocem@juno.com

More from Eric Hilton:  Someone talked about a deli and pharmacy in town.  There was -- and still is -- Brancard’s German deli, where my mother bought the best potato salad.  And the pharmacy across from the movie theater and Valley Stream Auto parts -- or Studnicks? -- was called Laurel Pharmacy.  I remember that because my friend worked there and gave me condoms for free.  That saved me embarrassment in 11th grade because I didn't have to ask the pharmacist for them   They were strictly sold behind the counter.  Years later, while I was in the Navy and home on leave, my friend no longer gave me condoms.  Do you think it was because I was dating his sister?
    As for Gayle Ulrich -- most of the guys I hung around with all had the hugest crushes on her, even back in Brooklyn Avenue School.  Last year, while visiting in New York and getting together with my South friends, one of the guys told me that he always wanted to date Gayle but was too shy to ask her.  I remember those days and feelings because I felt the same way about Gael Holtz.  I told her about it later, at one of the reunions, maybe 18 years ago.
    As I may have said before, on Roosevelt Avenue, there was a commercial bakery -- next to Bohack’s -- which use to leave its racks of hard-seeded rolls outside to cool, and we always took a roll on the way to school.  As for Bohack's, my wife’s cousin, whose family owned Packer’s supermarket -- there were none in Valley Stream -- married one of the Bohacks, and the chain became Bohack-Packer's.  I thought that was some interesting trivia.

Next, always one to remind us that kids today have nothing on us -- well, on some of us -- anti-nostalgia from Robert Fiveson:  Then there was the bowling alley where Jay Tuerk and I would save up the money we made hustling kids for a quarter-a-game on the bumper pool tables and from showing a black-and-white porno film featuring a guy with a fat lady on an 8 mm projector in the basement of the garden apartments. The film was funny because the guy never took off his white socks or his hat, and many a younger brother among us was a customer.  Jay and I would spend the money we'd made drinking the rest of the day, using fake ID's at the bar.  And remember the movie theatre on Sunrise, which showed a revival of Gone With The Wind for it's premier?  Jay and I were the third and fourth customers in -- and the first thrown out.

Finally, back to the present, from Jean Cohen Oklan:  It seems that lately that every time I contribute to the newsletter, I start off with an apology for the bragging to come, and this time is no different.  I can't brag at work because my coworkers only enjoy talking about hunting and sports, and they would probably walk away.  But with you guys, I have a captive audience -- sort of.
    In any case, I'm going to be a nana in a couple of months, for the first time.  I think I'm going to be at the height of excitement when I see a baby girl in my son's arms.  Also, my son is touring with Nicole Atkins, and if you go onto her web site, you might discover the band may be in your neighborhood in the next three weeks -- in Los Angeles, this coming week!  Go see them if you can.  And tune into Conan O'Brien this Thursday night on Ted Turner's station and check out that drummer.  I'm so excited that this tour my son isn't passing a kidney stone as he did the last tour.  I could plotz!  And, now, I thank you all for letting me do what I do best.

The South '65 e-mail addresses:  reunionclass65.blogspot.com

The South '65 photo site:  picasaweb.google.com/SouthHS65 


Rich