Oxford Circle Vocabulary

There are probably many "regionalisms" - words that are generally associated with a particular region of the country. Philadelphia has several that come to mind, such as hoagies and jimmies ("sprinkles" on ice cream). But are there words that are either unique or have a unique meaning in Oxford Circle? After discussing this with a childhood friend the other day, we've come up with two possibilities:

Breezeway - the space between two groups of rowhouses in the middle of a city block. (I placed this entry on Wikipedia). Breezeway has different meanings depending on what part of the country you live.

Texas Tommy - a hot dog with cheese and a bacon strip wrapped around it. Texas Tommies were available at the neighborhood luncheonettes. I've never heard of this food item outside of Oxford Circle.

Can you think of other words, phrases, or terms that could possibly be unique to Oxford Circle? If so, I'd love to hear from you.

Update: Punks could very well be another "Oxford Circle-ism": is that a term unique to the neighborhood? What do you think?

Cranford Street Landmark

Recently, I saw an old Nash similar to the one in the photo that brought back an old memory. Somewhere along the 6500 block of Cranford Street, there was an old beat-up rusty, turquoise and white two-tone car, which I believe was a Nash. That car sat on the lawn inside a fence in the exact same spot for so long I considered it a landmark. It was there for so many years from perhaps the late 1950's through the entire 1960's decade and beyond Does anyone else remember that car? Was it in fact a Nash? I always wondered why that car was kept there. I also remember a barbershop along Cranford street near the intersection with Magee Street, where I had my haircut several times as a young boy. Anyone remember that? I think there was "Wildroot" sign in the window of that barbershop.

Northeast High School 40 Year Reunion

This coming weekend, NEHS class of 1969 will hold it's 40 year reunion at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Philadelphia. So, I'll be headed back to Philly this weekend and hopefully will come away with an idea or two for a future post. Please let me know if any reader of this blog is a member of that class. Looks like I'll be missing the Phillies playoff game on Saturday night due to the conflict, but I'm sure it'll be fun reminiscing with old high school friends.

Call for Topics -- Guest Blogger

I've been pleasantly surprised that there's been so much traffic coming to this site over the last couple of weeks! When I started the blog, I was hoping that it could be a repository for photos (street scenes) of the old neighborhood, but no one has contributed any to date. I do appreciate all your comments!

I wonder if any readers of this blog would be interested in contributing Oxford Circle related articles themselves for posting here. Please let me know if you have any interest in doing so. Also, does anyone have any suggestions for Oxford Circle-specific topics for future blogging?

Laura H. Carnell Elementary School

I attended Carnell Elementary School from 1956 (Kindergarten) to 1963 (6th grade). I'm sure much has changed since then. There are a few things that stick out in mind from way back in those days. On some occasions during recess, I would see coal trucks delivering coal to the school. The trucks would unload their coal into large metal chutes accessible from the outside of the school building in the schoolyard. Coal was the fuel used to heat the building. As a matter of fact, I think that Pennsylvania required schools to use coal back then. Makes sense, since Pennsylvania was a major resource for coal. I wonder if that's still the case today. I also remember that teachers would ask kids to take erasers filled with chalk dust down to the boiler room to clean them by clapping them together. I'm sure today those chalkboards have been replaced with whiteboards.

Nowadays most kids commute by school bus, but back in the 1950s/60s, most kids walked to school. Only handicapped students would take the school bus. Along the path to Carnell from my home, I remember there were couple of old street vendors selling soft pretzels from their white pushcarts to kids near the school. I'd also pass by Tarken playground. Those were days when the playground was clean and a decade or two before they build a hockey rink there. I played baseball in a "peanut" league when I was perhaps around 7-8 years old.