David Neumann Class of 1971
I lived up the block on 76th Ave (“138-48” to be exact).
I practically LIVED in the playground of PS 164, playing stickball, baseball, tag, basketball, football, knock-hockey (wooden sets supplied by the
“parkie”, and squash. We climbed the fences and jumped on top of the backstop. We ran backwards up the “sliding pond”. Or we would
lay face down atop the heavy metal swings and do somersaults or stand on them and swing. No rubber ground protection in those days!
When a ball would fall down the school stairs outside behind the wrought-iron gates, we would “shoot” for who would get it…once-twice-three shoot!!
We thought the water fountain next to the parkies shed was the best water in the world!
If not playing in the schoolyard, we played in the “alleys” behind our row houses on 76 Ave. Every conceivable game was played- my favorite was “hide and seek with a base in which your hiding teammates could set you free if you had been caught and put in jail. In the winter we took out our sleds and went down two different hills leading down into the alleys. I remember it like it was yesterday.
We would walk to the stores on Main Street: Mama Lucy (one dollar bought you two slices and a soda”, Jackies Luncheonette (“Whoose next boyss”), the
“5 and 10” to buy some junk, Bartons for chocolate, Greenes for toys (later this became “Middle Earth”, a head shop selling black-light posters, pot pipes and bongs).
And of course the Main St Movie Theatre. I remember going to double features on Sat afternoon. They had “old lady matron’s” who would walk around the dark theatre with flashlights looking for which kids were throwing stuff at the screen or each other…hilarious!!!!! There was a butcher on the corner of the same block.
Beyond that a drugstore where I bought my first jock-strap (I know-- too much information!)
How about the huge cracked-bell inside the bank on Main St with the library in the back? The next block had the A&P grocer. I can still picture how the store was organized. “The” fish store on Main St had sawdust on the floor and a cat in the window…like the old days…..wait…it was the old days!!! “The” shoe store was where I got every pair of shoes and sneakers I ever wore back then.
Across the street from the bank on the other side of Main St was Willies, another luncheonette (We called them “Candy Stores”) where we bought huge amounts of candy such as….lickem-aid, wax bottles, rock-candy with a string, chicklets, bazooka joe bubble gum, Goldenberg’s peanut chews, bubble-gum cigarettes that would puff at the end, red-licorice swirls etc. etc. Someone told me that Gene Simmons from the rock group KISS was related to the owner. True?
When really adventurous, we would walk all the way down main street to Angelo’s pizza, or take the Q44 bus from Vleigh Place to Queens Blvd then walk to Jahn’s
Ice cream parlor, or take the bus into Flushing, or walk to Wainwrights department store in Fresh Meadows. We would ride our bicycles everywhere, including down to Park Drive East. Wow.
With whom did I do all this? Jason Steiker, My brother Peter, Seum Chung, Steve Lebhar, Sandy Kingsley, Howard Roman, etc. In the playground the players included all of the above plus Jeffrey Strauss, Steven Ludwig, Jay Finkelstein and many others I forget. Hitting the “top deck” of the fences was a home run. On weekends we didn’t even go home for lunch!
I too remember every teacher I had at PS 164-
Kindergarten: Mrs. Finkelstein and Mrs. Alexander
First Grade: Mrs. Bloom
Second Grade: Mrs. Silverblatt
Third Grade: Miss Addonizio (Had a huge crush on her!)
Fourth Grade: Mrs. Hoffman (Couldn't stand her).
Fifth Grade: Mrs. Feehan (Formerly Mrs. Addonizio; crush still present!).
Sixth Grade: Mrs. Rothbird
On Fridays the boys had to wear ties for Assembly. Once I forgot to and the punishment was I had to sit in the back of the first grade class for the time period—I was in the fourth grade! Every assembly, play or meeting in the auditorium required that we march in-line by class and take our seats while Mrs Farkas played “Anchors Away” on the piano. Then we had to march out to the same tune when the assembly was over. Come on people, you must remember that!!.
A great treat was to be chosen by the teacher to clean the erasers with a special vacuum, located in a small room off the main school corridor. Or get picked at the end of the day to wash the chalk board with a wet eraser. Or carry the milk cartons into the lunchroom each morning.
The teacher’s pets (always a girl) got the highest honor every day- to take a message to another teachers office or to Mr Gannon the principal , to Mr Ricca who followed him as principal, or to Mr Minogue the vice principal.
Every morning before heading to our classrooms, we had to line up by class, either outside in the playground if the weather was warm, or in the gym. Mrs. Sondike, the mean disciplinarian, would stand on a chair and yell at all of us to be quiet.
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