Update 2-22-11

Hi,

Gotta do this.  You can sing along.  And I know you can.

There's a holdup in the Bronx.
Brooklyn's broken out in fights.
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
That's backed up to Jackson Heights.
There's a scout troop short a child,
Khrushchev's due at Idlewild,
Car 54, where are you?

John Strauss, the composer, just died, at 90. You can read his obituary in The New York Times.  Nat Hiken, the lyricist of the song and writer/producer of the show -- in addition to The Phil Silver's Show -- died in 1968, at 54.  You can read about him on Wikipedia.

Now, back to the present -- briefly.

From Andy Dolich:  My new e-mail address is: andy.dolich@gmail.com  Thanks.

From Allan Bendel:  A forwarded "Letter to the Editor" -- "Who Will Care for the Careless?"  Verified by the site formerly known as Urban Legend, with a comment.  http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/starner.asp

From Robert Fiveson:  Don't say I didn't warn you -- Study: Family History Of Alcoholism Raises Risk Of One-Man Show  http://www.theonion.com/articles/study-family-history-of-alcoholism-raises-risk-of,18863/

Also, from Robert:  This will make us realize how far we've come, and how truly brilliant Billy Joel is --  http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html

Back to the past, from Helen David:  Doesn't anybody remember the little hardware store on Mill Road, across from Roosevelt Avenue?  Was that before your time?  I had been in the area starting in 1953, but across Rosedale Road on the School District 14 side.  I'd drive from Rosedale up Delores to the south entrance of Valley Stream South.

From Judy Hartstone:  Tami Reid was the name of one of the women's clothing stores in the shopping center.  Another memory of the shopping center, or of that area, is that Martha Morenstein and I would catch a bus there that took us to Jamaica to catch the subway to Manhattan to go see the Leonard Bernstein series of concerts for young people at Carnegie Hall.  Great adventure, great education, great fun.

From Eric Hilton:  My mother was the accountant for Castro Convertible and worked directly with Bernadette Castro, who was the little girl who did the commercials.  If anyone remembers, she would open the sofa and jump up and down on the bed.  Now here is a little trivia:  when Bernadette became too old to do the commercial, there was a casting call to find a replacement.  My friend from Central High School, Bob Cappadona, had a sister who became the new Castro Convertible girl, and she stayed so for years. So if you see an old Castro Convertible commercial, it is either Bernadette Castro or Kathy Cappadona – unless they replaced Kathy when she grew up

From Barbara Blitfield Pech:  Woolworth's wasn't the only store to have a pet department.  J.J. Newberry used to not only have a pet department, but indeed sold a monkey in 1964 for the amazing retail price of $35.00.  The Hewlett friend who bought it brought it to Robert Fiveson's home in the garden apartments to show it off, and it escaped out the apartment window.

Also from Barbara:  http://outside.in/valley-stream-ny  You can find any city that you are currently in  or interested in for local news and blogs at this site, too.

From Mark Perlman, in response to a question from Joanne about the Dollar Shoe Outlet on Rockaway Avenue:  I don't personally recall any place where anyone could go to find things for a dollar.  I do not know if the concept is the same as we know it today, where everything in the store in 99 cents or a $1.00.  I would like to know how a dollar store operated in those days.  Did a person get an extra pair of shoes for a $1.00 after you bought one pair?  Do you know?  Or, a joke: you pay $18.00 for one shoe and a $1.00 for the matching shoe of the pair.
    As an aside, Converse sneakers were $3.95 then, as were Lee's Jeans.  My Flagg Brothers shoes couldn't have been much over $9.95.  $1.00 went a long way, and it had to, since minimum wage was only about $1.15.

From Barnet Kellman:  I haven’t been playing the memory game with you guys, but I’ve checked in on it from time-to-time with amusement and interest.  
    Forgive me if someone has already brought this up, but I’ve been shocked to see no mention of Tress – the men’s clothing store where many of us bought all our clothes and followed their fashions slavishly!  When Tress said cuffs were 13”, that’s what we wore.  When they said flaming orange was an OK color for a boy – it was OK by us!  In Green Acres, there were three religions:  Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Tress
    Just for the record, the store was on the “outside” ring of the shopping center, facing the north parking lot looking toward Sunrise, down by the western end of the shopping center, and very close to the pizza place, Newberry’s and, I think, Sam Goody.
    And someone else and I – was it you, Guberman? -- were banned  from Newberry’s for life for shoplifting.  It was too bad because I liked their BLTs and chocolate malts.

Finally, from Joanne Shapiro Polner:  I am just about done with the latest update of the names and locations of stores in old Valley Stream.  I've been aided by people like Barbara Blitfield Pech, Eric Hilton, Mark Perlman, Allen Moss and others.  We've used both Mark's extremely valuable 1965 Valley Stream phone book and the list of advertisers in the South yearbooks we had easy access to:  1958, '59, '60, '65, and '66.  Some of this is still not entirely verified information -- businesses suggested by a variety of people just playing "What do I remember?"  Eric's friends, above all, were good at this, and I lifted some stuff from Facebook in re:Valley Stream.  But we still have a lot of empty spaces on the map.
    However, the work has progressed really quite far.  It is now an official project that needs input from alumni memories before we can finalize it and send it to the historical society and library.  I'm hoping that when people see the following map, they will remember some of the missing places on Rockaway Avenue.  I figure that rather than overwhelm people with the whole map, we can take it piece-by-piece.  This is just the two most northerly blocks before Merrick Road, the ones near the Valley Stream movie theater.   People can either send their memories to me,  jocem@juno.com, or to the newsletter address, if that's more convenient.  Thanks, and best regards to all.

                                                Merrick Road
west side of street                                               east side of street

Lester C. Hume Realty  (on corner)     2                      21 Paint House (?) (on corner)
                                                             6
                                                                                     23  Lettieri's, Inc., Selected Meats  
Phil-Amy Florist  [1944-1994]              22                     23 Suburbia Meat  
Sal & Vin's Barber Shop                      24                     25  Peter Hair Stylist   . 
                                                                                     27  
Ade's Auto Supplies (?)
vacant; parking (?)  (on corner)                                    31  (on corner) 

                                                   Lincoln Ave
west side of street                                               east side of street
  
Laurel Pharmacy  (on corner)            42                     43  Valley Stream Auto Parts  C
A&P wrapped around pharmacy        50-62
Greenhouse Decorators                     46                     55   Esgar's Shoe's (?)  Stride Rite Shoes  
                                                                                               (moved to GA hopping center by 1965)
Spencer Furniture (after A & P moved) 50                    57   Pix Television and Radio, Sales and Service
Nite Cap Café (after A & P moved)     58                      63   Benjamn S. Davis  (optician) 
Prestige Formal Wear                          68                     69  Valley Stream Movie Theater  [1925-1998;
Suprina's  Sportland   68                                                                          building now demolished]
Suprina's Men's & Boy's Wear             72 
Whitey's  (?) (on corner)                       78                      73  James Coiffeur Salon  in  theatre

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

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


Rich