Pimple Ball Games

Back in the 50's and 60's, neighborhood kids played outside almost every day. We played many games in the back (driveway) using a pimple ball. I hadn't seen these games played since I was a kid. There were many variations of these games:

Stickball - the bat was usually a sawn off broom handle. The batter would face the row house on the other side of the driveway. There were two sets of parallel electric wires that ran horizontally across the row houses, essentially dividing the house into three zones. A ground ball that reached the house would be a single, a line drive of fly ball that reached the lowest zone would be a double, the middle zone would be triple, the highest zone would be home run. Hitting the ball on the roof would also be a home run, but that wasn't desirable because we'd have to use another ball. Kids looked forward to the days when roofers would come to repair someone's roof. Kids stand below and the roofers would throw those 'home run' balls down to us. Also, there was always the risk of breaking someone's window with a batted ball!

To avoid the risk of breaking windows, I'd sometimes walk over to Fels Junior High to play stickball in the yard. Strike zones were chalked on the wall and we'd pitch the ball overhand and fast. That was my favorite game as a kid.

Wallball - one player would throw the ball against the wall and the other player would try to catch it off of the bounce.

Handball - No resemblence to the handball game played on a handball court. No bats used in this game, but the 'batter' would toss the ball up in the air and use his fist to punch the ball, then run to the bases. The bases would be corners of the driveway blocks. Usually, there were two players on each team, one player would be an 'infielder' and the other an 'outfielder'.

Boxball - Similar to handball, but there would be a pitcher who would 'pitch' the ball to the batter on one bounce, the 'batter' would use his fist to punch the ball and then run the bases.

Halfball - When our pimple balls broke in two around the seam, we'd use a half to play this variation of stickball. It's much harder to hit a half ball.

Stepball - Played in front of the house. One player would bounce the ball off of the steps and the other player would try to field the ball.

Update 10/8/09: Thanks to Mike Flaherty for contributing his pimple ball photo to the blog!

"I'm Buying Men's Clothing"

Sometimes when I think of the old neighborhood, I remember waking up to the loud voice of an elderly man with a heavy accent walking slowly down the driveway in back of the house. He would yell "I'm buying men's clothing, I'm buying men's clothing" over and over. It's been so long ago, I can't remember how often he did this, but it seems like it might have been once or twice a month. Some of the kids on the block would yell out the window at him to shut up, but that didn't keep him away. This must have occured during the late 1950s, early 1960s.

I always wondered what he did with the clothing he purchased. Does anyone else remember him? Does anyone remember selling him anything? Any ideas what he did with the clothes?

Castor Avenue: From Oxford Circle to Cottman Avenue

Welcome to the Oxford Circle Memories blog. The purpose of this blog is to reminisce about the Oxford Circle neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the way it was back in the 1950's and 1960's. You know, when Philly police cars were painted red! I decided to create this blog for several reasons: to have the opportunity to exchange memories with other folks who have (mostly) fond memories of the neighborhood where I spent my childhood years, to have readers contribute photos of the neighborhood from that time period, and to experiment with blogging. So much of the neighborhood has changed it no longer felt like "home" the last time I passed through over a year ago.

I haven't lived in Philadelphia for just about 35 years. I moved out of Philly for my career after college. I attended Carnell Elementary School, Fels Junior High, and Northeast High School. I grew up near the intersection of Hellerman and Frontenac, just a few blocks from Castor avenue.

For my first post, I thought I would list the establishments that I remember along Castor avenue, from about the Oxford Circle to Cottman Avenue that existed in 1950s/60s that are no longer there. These places are just a distant memory now. If you have any pictures of the neighborhood from that time period that you'd like to share on this blog, I'd really appreciate it. Anyway, here goes:

Benner Theatre: I remember this as the theatre where I saw "Rosemary's Baby" in 1968.
Castor Theatre: In the late fifties (or early sixties) they had children's matinee movies for 25 cents. Lots of "creature feature" type movies for kids back in those days.
Tyson Theatre: they used to have $1 movies back in the 1960s.

Dante's Inferno. Pizza restaurant.

Pep Boys (between Stirling and Levick?). As a kid, I remember being fascinated with the vacuum tube testing machine they had. I think it was next to or close to the post office.

Frankford Trust Bank (at Hellerman): where my parents banked.
Western Savings Bank: think I had a passbook savings account there a long time ago.

Sun Ray Drug Store (at Hellerman). It later became the Gingham House restaurant.
Sailor's Dairy. A couple doors from the Sun Ray Drug Store.

Linton's restaurant (near Hellerman). I think there were several Linton's restaurants in Philly back then.

Fogel's (at Hellerman). I think this was a dress shop. I remember it had a large neon sign that was lit at night and could be seen from my house. Singers Appliances is there now, I think.

A&P Supermarket (at Passmore). You can see the A&P in the photo in the upper right section. Next to it is the Woolworth's 5 and 10. I think there's a drug store there now.

Bogalavsky's (sp?) bakery (at Greeby). I believe this is now an upscale restaurant called Paloma MexicanHaute Cusine.

Fleet's (at Magee). A men's clothing store. I believe they closed sometime in the 1990s.

Corset shop (between Magee and Fanshawe). I can't recall the name of the shop, but it had a great classic sign. I'd really like to see a photo of it.

Lenny's Hot Dogs. In about 2003 when I was helping my mother move out of Oxford Circle, I took a walk along Castor with a friend of mine. We were passing the storefront where Lenny's used to be and overheard a couple of guys discussing Lenny's. Turns out it was the owner of Lenny's reminiscing about his Castor store.

Penn Fruit supermarket (at Magee).

Barson's Grill (at Tyson). Waffles and ice cream was a favorite of mine there. Across Castor avenue from Barson's on Tyson there was a wooden newspaper stand where you could buy a newspapers from your car while driving by.

Chinese restaurant (between Tyson and Princeton). The name eludes me, but I believe it was just a few doors away from Barson's on the same side of the street. It had a long purple awning that stretched across much of the sidewalk. Does anyone remember the name of this restaurant? It was probably where I had my first Chinese meal.

Ronnie's Hot Dogs / Cooks Hamburgers / Fun Bun Hamburgers. All occupied the same location. There might be a 7-11 there now. Not sure if Ronnie's or Cooks was there first, but whichever was first is where I had my first fast-food meal. I vaguely remember hamburgers at Cooks were 15 cents and 10 cents for fries.

Wellington Car Stereo Center (7000 Castor). I used to pick up WFIL Famous 56 top 50 song lists from there. I still have them!

Ott's Camera shop (at Longshore). Not sure if it is still there, but I think had been around forever.

Novack's. I think this was a place to get seafood and bbq chicken takeout. It was pretty good from what I remember.

Lit Brothers (at Cottman). A department store. Later it became Gimbels, and then Clover.
Food Fair Supermarket (at Cottman). Next to Lit Brothers.

Lychee Garden (between Cottman and Bleigh). Chinese restaurant that my family frequented. We were friendly with the owner and I once had an opportunity to play table tennis with him at his house. There may still be a Chinese restaurant at that location.

Well, that's about all I can recall from the cobwebs of my mind at this time.