Got a brand new thing!

Broadway just around the block

The Crank Call

We used to make crank calls for Pizza deliveries, or Chicken Delight deliveries, or even Limousine (to go to the airport) pick-up deliveries. We would normally make all these calls for Clarence Eisen, my Landlord who lived on the first floor of 88 Wadsworth Ave. Needles to say when the Deliveryman or the Limousine Chauffeur would knock on Clarence's door he would say that he didn't make any calls for a delivery or a pick-up. The guys would get into an argument and would regularly come out fuming mad, while we (the fellows from the block) sat a building away on the steps observing every detail. What a goof? We were real pranksters indeed.

When that gag got old we started calling the cops about policemen getting beaten up at the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal or a mad man trying to jump-off the Bridge Apartments building on Wadsworth Ave @ 178 Street. The cops would arrive in a few minutes since the 34 Precinct was at 183 St. and Wadsworth; they would dash out of their cars with their caps in their hands into the 30 story building's lobby headed for the roof; When they had gone to the roof and found no one up there they would come down and out on to the street furious, looking around and wondering who had called them on this wild goose chase. What a sight it was watching their faces from less than a block away!

Close calls

So here goes the stroll down memory lanes from this side of history ... my my the years went by humming ... too, too fast.
Anyway, my boy "Jun" has set the table about the goings on at our block, I'll do my best to fill you in a bit more. BTW, we had the BEST --- BEST --- childhood, even though we were a little on the wild side. Ringoleevio, stick-ball, eggs filled with mustard, The big guys vs the little guys, the stoop, the rat hole, "Jew" park, Highbridge pool, The port authority, Palisades Mister Softee... I could go on and on. This brief lines will be about close calls. Times when I felt I was came way too close to death... and escaped by God's good grace upon me because frankly, I was just plain dumb to know how close to that edge I really came. Castaldy, a guy who I must've ticked off - I was doing that to folks at times. This guy was really ticked off however. He waited for me with a rifle pointed at the entrance of the "club" ( the Caribbean Kings basement hangout Jun mentioned). The same entrance that our boy Mario (a nice decent young man from El Salvador) had his stomach eviscerated by a guy in the Savage Skulls - dead at 17. No close call for him. Well, that day the finger of God nudged me to out the back way. Shot never fired. Another time was when I was rounded up by about 15 to 20 guys -and girls from Harlem. They came up to PS 143 because I had corralled a guy sometime earlier at the point of a gun. They didnt like that so they came up to the Heights to settle it with me. Robin (my classmate at 143 and the main antagonist of the group) wanted to know why I pointed a gun at that black guy a few days - or weeks, who knows- earlier. I saw in all their eyes that they werent coming over to hold an open forum, an amicable give and take. No these guys came Uptown to kill. No exaggeration. Anyway, as they looked back at eachother and at their surroundings to see what was up, they "reached" for God knows what they were pulling out of their pockets. They began to close the circle around me and raise their voices. I screamed back defiantly. not too obliviou,s but really kind of stupidly. I didnt realize how close I was to that edge... once again. The people behind me kept yelling that I shouldnt look down. They were on my side but were safely protected behing a shoolhouse fence. I glanced back quickly and turned my eyes back to the front - to the danger, to my executioners. it was then that I spotted a tall thin guy in their bunch. He was my ticket out. My salvation. Some days or weeks earlier in a subway we were out patrolling for "scalps" The guys I was with - some members of the Galaxys - fearless guys approached hin and were gonna do to him what these guys were gonna do to me. I used to hang out a bit with him at 143 and so I literally saved him from a severe whoopin, stabbin, something grave. I yelled to them that I had saved him once and he in turn, not too reluctantly I might add, staved them off as I had done for him once. Whew, that was close. more to come.

Groovin'

Up against the wall!

Once while my friends and I were hanging-out near this corner (probably on the church's stoop), a patrolman came over and asked us all to stand up against the wall so that he could frisk us. 
He said:  "All of yous get up against the wall and spread them".   Don't give me no lip, punk!

We were on our turf.  What?  Keep moving, the cop said, or I'll have you arrested for loitering, he told us.  We moved to 177 St. next to the Garage, our regular hang-out.

In the rear you see the Port Authority (George Washington Bridge) Bus Terminal on Broadway and 178 Street, another one of our hang-outs.

Also in this shot, Bove's building, Bear and Lorenzo's building...
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To Dress like a Pro

To be able to hang, you had to look like you were hip.  You needed to be in with the latest fashion...

Kangol cap..

Cortefiel Corduroy Coat

Here's a few accessories a Pro would wear back then:

Pro Keds, of course to hang-out.

The original Playboy shoe brand was established in 1936 in UK and is today originated out of Copenhagen. During the 60’s and 70’s the shoe met huge success and the brand grew rapidly throughout Scandinavia. In the beginning of the 70’s a special sailor’s shoe was successfully introduced for America’s Cup – followed by a moccasin met by success as well.

Listening to Symphony Sid

Symphony Sid was a disc jockey-promoter of Latin American Music who had a fantastic Radio Show on WEVD AM (WWRV AM 1330 in New York City, which held the WEVD call sign until 1981);
This was the hippest, the most famous radio program of the times for those who wanted to hear the latest Latin Soul, and Latin Dance Music.  Here's a taste of the music Symphony Sid played:







































This was just a sample of the wonderful music Sid played back when.