Author: 610rrandtr

The true ‘Mansion on the Hill’ Gracefully hidden behind tall hedges and trees, the oldest house in my borough stood on the main drag atop the hill. It was a three story mansion in grey marble with a two story garage/servants’ quarters. On foggy nights, the twin lamps that straddled the oaken door resembled a… Continue reading THAT house

School is out from 5th grade. The playground is not finished. Tension is high. Our hero, little me, is out front in the shade of a tree, small transistor radio at my side. I was probably reading a comic book or My Weekly Reader (summer version). Across the street, Steve is under a car (soon… Continue reading The Music Begins

Splish Splash car was takin’ a bath I don’t know when car washes were invented, but one didn’t arrive in our corner of PA until the late 60’s. It was erected in a less fashionable part of the city….literally one block long. An amusement park ride for adult males. I’d say that it was maybe… Continue reading The thrill of…..the Car Wash (?!)

A Shooting Gallery This may seem off topic. but it isn’t…….In the sixties, there were no electric signs, except for neon. You either had neon, or you put up wooden signs. This left small shops like delis, hardware stores, pizza shops, etc out in the cold. Enter the major soda companies–Coke, Pepsi, Seven-UP, RC, etc.… Continue reading I Love the Sound of Gunshots in the Morning

Or, ‘I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass’ Starting in fifth grade, we changed from collecting candy to collecting candy and raiding. Raiding, suburb-style consisted of: throwing hard corn and/or cobs at windows and (especially) metal awnings, soaping cars (with or without profanities), and, if you were hard core, eggs. Corn was easily obtained ,… Continue reading Halloween, The Politics of Raiding

The Quiet Joys of Nature A minor 60’s fad was buying a picnic table and benches. All these post-WWII families in suburbia had to buy a set so they could dine outside. Well, as you’ve seen, battling the charcoal usually meant daddy lost. So, we hauled food outside when mom cooked it. This was doomed… Continue reading Bird Watching

A bitter Harvest…. His last hurrah was when we had our roof re-done. The nails flew. of course, and he must have gone out at night in his bare feet looking for nails. So how did I know? In the morning there would 1-6 roofing nails neatly piled on our back porch. Like some twisted… Continue reading Psycho Neighbor–the Epilogue

“Hate me, or HATE Me’ It was strange to grow up next to a wacko. Kids would talk about nice neighbors and I was ‘Huh??’ The idiot next door (we’ll call him Mr. D) was the only person on the block more hated than my father. He thrived on hate. He and his frail, stern… Continue reading The Psycho Neighbor

The mega-hype, mega hit. Impossible to miss in the sixties. There were some excellent ploys marketing of this film. Coming on the heels of Goldfinger, which was a bona fide smash. Connery was now a huge mega-star–women adored him and every man wanted to have a beer with him. First, the theme from Thunderball was… Continue reading Thunderball

Watch our childhood Fly…. With Fifth grade came the recognition that two kids I knew from the bullshit kids’ football charade also lived up the block. Dan was the heavier of the two, with dark hair and a musical curiosity that fit with mine. His neighbor, Bob, had been in Catholic school but now joined… Continue reading New Grade, New Friends