THE PERFECT CORNER - recollections from back then

Probably, as far as intersections go, the epicenter of Philadelphia, at least from a Cheesesteak perspective, is the funky intersection of 9th Street and Passyunk Avenue in South Philly, where you can find both Geno's Stakes and Pat's King of Steaks.  

However, for me, my favorite corner was a much more interesting place.  It was on the line between Darby, PA and Philadelphia.  Both streets changed names.  Island Avenue/Island Road change to become the Cobbs Creek Parkway.  Main Street from Darby becomes Woodland Avenue in Philadelphia.  Main Street/Woodland Ave. carried the #11 Trolley from Darby to Center City (and still does).

Lets start at the Trolley station in Darby, and catch the #11.  

The cobblestones on Main Street, while tough on the ankles, would have lasted as long as cockroaches and twinkies after the world ends, were it not for the brilliant whoever who decided to remove them decades ago.

This trip is full of decisions.  Which side  do you want to sit on?  What window do you want to look out of?   If you sit on one side of the trolley, you can look at the houses and stores of Darby drift by.  If you sit on the other side, once you get to 4th Street, you get to look at the homes of Colwyn until you get to my favorite intersection.  4th Street, 3rd Street, 2nd Street, Front Street, and finally Water Street pass by on the Colwyn side.  The houses are all up on hills, above Main Street. 

On one side of Front and Main in Colwyn is 20 Main Street, where my grandparents lived for years, and where I spent much of my summers when I was young.  It was a good life - I had a group of kids on my street in Collingdale who I played with, and when my mother went to her parents, which she often did in the summer, I had another set of kids there to play with.  The kids in Collingdale were "good" compared to the kids in Colwyn.  I enjoyed both, but the Colwyn kids enjoyed exploring much more - "getting into things" as my mother would say.  Plus they always seemed to have firecrackers, and knew where to find "punks".  Real ones.  A few blocks away there were some garages, and a big wooden fence with a loose board that would let us get into a part of the train yard of Fels (more on this later).  There were four train tracks (that seemed like twelve) that passed through this forbidden spot.  Fast trains - Amtrak, as well as freight trains, I seem to recall.  Crossing the tracks really was extremely dangerous.  You couldn't dodge an express at full speed.  It probably wasn't wise to put our ears to the track to hear if a train was coming either.  We used to put pennies on the track, to let the train smoosh them to the size of silver dollars (so the lure went) but we never did find a penny after it was run over.  Of course, there was also the fear that, as lure also went, you could derail a train this way.  On the other side of the tracks was, as always, a "woods".  For some reason, every town seems to have unfinished areas that are left as woods.  This woods, which you can get to if you survive jumping the tracks, had the Cobbs Creek run through it, and a little pond I seem to recall.  If you look at a map, you'll see that you could walk in the woods and end up all the way out by I-95 at the Tinicum Wildlife Preserve!  I remember going to this woods with my Colwyn friends for the first time.  It must have been like how it felt for the founder of the Mormons when they came out of the mountains and saw the valley below, now Salt Lake City, and said, "this is the place".  When I first saw the middle of the woods, with groups of kids playing there . . . I had no idea!  A little kids Mecca - and I'm sure few of their parents had any idea where they were.  Our own little lost world.

Back onto the trolley.  After we pass Front Street and Water Street, on the Colwyn side you ride on a bridge, over the Cobbs Creek, and can see the grounds for the Fels Naptha Soap Company, also called Fells & Co.  The factory, which made Fels Naptha Soap, was built on a source of water, as factories often were, and was on the train line as well.  

It was a pretty well protected property - not the kind of place you could walk onto, unless you knew where the one loose fence board was.  Of course, I could get into the factory whenever I wanted - I would even get the grand tour and be introduced to everyone.  My father worked there.  Often he would walk to my grandparent's house for lunch, or my mother and I would take lunch there for him, or I would walk there by myself and he would take me to the Fels cafeteria for lunch.

I don't want to get too far away from the Colwyn corner of Front and Main.  As I said my grandparents lived on one corner.  On the other corner was a house on top of a much higher hill, with dozens of steps from Main Street up to the front porch.  Along The Front Street edge of the property there were several garages, built into the side of the hill, presumably built because the other houses had no garages, and these were rented out - not to anybody we knew, but the garages were always full.

"The Old Man" lived alone in this house for years, and then he died and it went up for sale.  While we never were up close to the house, lest we get caught and eaten, we did find the garages interesting, and the cars in them that never seemed to move, and didn't appear to have owners.  Each garage door had upper windows, which we could see in if we stood on our tippy toes, which we often did, so we knew.  We knew that one garage, and only one, had a door on its back wall.  It could only be one thing, it had to be a door that lead to a stairway or passageway that went up - up to the house.

Shortly after the Old Man died, the car owners must have been contacted, because one day the garages were empty and unlocked.  Within a week, they were all padlocked closed, but we took advantage as soon as we could.  My Colwyn friends and I slipped, one by one, through the barely open garage door and into the dark, clammy garage.  We stood in front of the solid wood door on the back wall, and one of us finally got up the nerve to touch the doorknob.  The door was unlocked, and up we went, up a staircase, in total darkness, almost on hands and knees, feeling the next step, then the next, not even talking, not knowing who may be in the house.  The first of us finally bumped their head on soft wood, the top of the staircase.  We sat there and listened, and hearing nothing, again tried a doorknob, and the door opened into a well-lit room on the main floor, bright sunlight shining in, no curtains or shades anywhere.  Again we listened, again, it seemed like we were actually alone.  The house was three stories high, a tall house on top of a big hill.  There was little wallpaper on the walls.  There was no furniture.  It was almost as if someone prepared the walls to wallpaper or paint a decade earlier, and never did it.  Many of the rooms had fireplaces.  It must have been an incredible house in its time.  There were two staircases that went from the first floor to the second.  Drawn on the walls, some of them, were arrows - arrows drawn in pencil.  They were hard not to follow.  They pointed up the steps to the second floor.  Some of us followed one set, some followed the second set.  Both led upstairs.  Both sets of arrows led to the same wall, in the same room, on the second floor.

Back on the first floor, on the shelf above the dining room fireplace, sat a beautiful old camera.  It must have been made of mahogany with a black bellows.  It was a large, professional camera.  Its color, against the stark off-white walls, was striking.  It was also scary.  Someone swore they heard a creak upstairs.  We realized that we had no game plan.  What if someone came up the steps from the garage?  Which way would we go?  What if we were on the third floor and the front door opened?  Would we hide?  Run?  The exploration was over.  We found a light switch that lit a series of light bulbs all the way back down the staircase to the garage, and another switch that let us turn them off at the bottom.  We slipped out one at a time, leaving space between us in case parents saw us, but no one did.  At least no one that we know of.  Urban exploration like this has always been one of the most exciting things to do, I've found.

If we continue on the trolley ride to my intersection, you now know that the Fels & Co. factory takes up one corner.  Across the street, if you had been looking out the other side of the trolley we were riding on, you'd see a falls on the Cobb's Creek, and on the corner, a little house.  

The sign indicates that it is a historical site, the Blue Bell Inn, where supposedly George Washington actually slept!  At this point, Main Street becomes Woodland Avenue, so as you go through the light, you move from Darby/Colwyn into Philadelphia. 

On the corner adjacent to the Blue Bell Inn is a little triangular "block" that I think just had a little parklet on it.  Whenever you have five square feet or more of grass, it's officially Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.  I'm not even sure if there was a bench there, but there had to be. 

There is the fourth corner, which was really an exciting place for me to go with my father on a Saturday morning.  On the corner, I forget, but I think it was a Pep Boys store.  I loved the smell of the place.  They sold car parts, bicycles, all kinds of great guy stuff.  There was a narrow alley that led to a garage behind the store, where you could get work done on your car.  Adjacent to the alley was another alley that went back to a garage behind the next store, which was a Penn-Jersey Auto Parts Store!  Pep Boys and Penn-Jersey were independent but very, very similar stores.  Being able to cruise one, then go next door and cruise the other, was great fun.  It made about as much sense as having gas stations on adjacent corners.  I mean, what kind of sense could that possibly make, right?

Behind Pep Boys and Penn-Jersey was another building, off of Island Rd., which held white collar offices and the cafeteria for Fels employees.  

Fels owners and workers ate together there.  Workers went because it was very inexpensive, and owners because it was such a good deal they couldn't pass it up either. 

There's a lot of history on this corner, although its almost all gone now.  If you're interested, read on.  If not, thanks for reading this far!  If you stay on the trolley, heading into town, you'll pass some great places that aren't around any more, like the Breyer's Ice Cream factory.  (William A. Breyer sold "a relatively new concoction called ice cream" in 1866, first from his home in Philadelphia, and later on the streets using a horse and wagon.  The company was eventually sold and for awhile owned by Kraft.  Now Breyer's is owned by Unilever, since 1993.)

Lets get back to the Blue Bell Inn in Colwyn.  There is a short video on YouTube so you'll know it actually exists. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHPcfPmoSfE
It is a "George Washington Slept Here" kind of place.  Built in 1766 by Henry Paschall, it was a stagecoach stop for coaches heading south out of Philadelphia.  It is also the site of Pennsylvania's first water-powered mill, sometimes called Printz's Mill or Old Swedes Mill, built around 1645.

 I'm assuming the Mill site is somehow related to the falls that are on the Cobbs Creek, just a few yards away.  This is not to be confused with The Blue Bell Inn in Blue Bell, PA (open since 1743).

I had mentioned the adjacent corner, a small triangular "block" that was just a "park", surely a part of Philadelphia's system of parks, Fairmount Park.  Cobbs Creek is surrounded by Cobbs Creek Park, which is a major part of the Fairmount Park system (the largest urban park in the country).  According to Wikipedia, "For many West Philadelphia and Upper Darby children, Cobbs Creek is their first introduction to wooded greenspaces and freshwater ecosystems. . . . The wildlife includes regional birds, raccoons, opossums, spotted deer, wild turkey, rabbits, and in recent history, even a mountain lion."

Across from the park triangle, in Philadelphia, is the corner where Pep Boys and Penn-Jersey coexisted for many years.  (I can still smell the inner tubes!)  According to their website, four Navy buddies, "Mannie" Rosenfeld, "Moe" Strauss, Moe Radavitz and "Jack" Jackson, all from Philadelphia, put together $800 (in 1921) to start an auto parts supply company.  The Manny, Moe and Jack characters were modeled after the founders. One of the Moes, Moe Radavitz, left after only a few years.

They started out as Pep Auto Supplies, and the story tells of a Philadelphia policeman who worked near their first store, who would often send people to go see the "boys" at Pep, so the "Pep Boys" was in common usage before they changed their name.  They chose the official name of "The Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jack" because Moe noticed that lots of businesses used first names, such as a local dress shop called "Minnie, Maude and Mabel's".  There are currently over 700 stores across the US (Pep Boys, not Minnie's).

One of the original Pep Boys, "Moe" Strauss, had a brother, Izzie Strauss.  He started Strauss Auto in Brooklyn, which later became Strauss Discount Auto.  In 1987, the company acquired Penn-Jersey Auto Parts.  Small world.

The Penn-Jersey Auto Stores were founded by Samuel H. Popkin.  His first store, in Easton PA in 1920 was called Sam's Tire Supply Store (according to the Philadelphia Jewish Business Archives).  

Most of these stores and factories were created by Philadelphia's Jewish community leaders.  They built much of modern Philadelphia.

On the remaining corner is the Fels Naptha Soap company factory, which I'd like to say a little more about.  Fels Naptha soap is a harsh soap known for handling heavy grease and oils.  It was Joseph Fells who developed a new soap-making process in 1895.  It started as a home remedy for contact dermatitis, such as exposure to poison ivy - "oil-transmitted skin-irritants."  It became a laundry room standard - reliable and cheap.  The product was so successful, Fels built a factory in Southwest Philadelphia, a "water-powered mill-seat on Cobbs Creek."  At it's peak in the 1930's, the factory employed more than 600 employees.  It is now essentially demolished and a gas station has been built on that corner.

One reason why Fels Naptha soap became so popular was the efforts of Anty Drudge.  According to "Adapting to Abundance: Jewish Immigrants, Mass Consumption, and the Search for American Identity." by Andrew R. Heinze (1990, Columbia University Press), Aunty Drudge advertisements were considered as Yiddish advertisements.  In many newspapers, there was often an Aunty Drudge column, in which the Aunty Drudge character gave housekeeping tips, which often discussed a problem where Fels Naptha soap was the solution.  

Heinze writes:  "The value of being up-to-date, as well as time-conscious, was reinforced by Yiddish advertisements.  Fels Naptha soap, the well-known brand of a Jewish soap manufacturer, was regularly advertised with the character of "Aunty Drudge," a matron who instructed readers in the progressive approach to cleaning.  At times, a drawing of an attractive, fashionably dressed young woman helped to convey the message that Fels Naptha would help keep a woman up-to-date."

Whenever Aunty Drudge (anti-drudge, get it?) was drawn, her dress resembled a bunch of Fels Naptha Soap wrappers sewed together.  She is sometimes referred to as Anty Drudge. 

I do have a small book, "Anty Drudge's Cookbook" (A Cook Book of Tested Recipes, Containing Many Helpful Hints for Housekeepers, Compiled by Anty Drudge, Who will gladly answer any questions or give advice about housework and cooking), from Fels Naptha, Philadelphia, 1910.  

There is a different "verse" at the top of each page. For example, "Fels Naptha soap makes clean clothes - fresh paint, spotless homes, rested women - happy families."  The recipes, sometimes for complete meals, always are inexpensive, sensitive to the needs of the woman of the house, easy to prepare, easy to clean up, etc.  Several recipes come under the "fireless cooking" category, and there is a large section on paper bag cookery, in which food, sometimes meals, are cooked inside a paper bag in the oven (and some people thought it was just a fad!).

So that's my story of my favorite corner.  Everyone should have one, don't you think?  It was pure Philly.

Growing Up in The 50's and 60's in Philadelphia and Delaware County - Some Things That I Remember

Things I remember:

1.  Tastykakes

2.  soft pretzels

3.  steaks and hoagies

4.  people who sold roasted chestnuts on the street in the winter

OK, those are the ones you were probably expecting.

Looking back, our lives were different in the 50's and 60's, at least to me.

1.  Cars had a single, front seat. These were a make-out heaven.  One hand was for driving and one was for holding.  Why did we go from a bench to bucket seats?  Shouldn't we have voted or something?

2.  It was a time when I knew how to talk about music.  If someone recorded a dozen songs and made those songs commercially available, they would have "made a record".  Apparently use of the word "record" for such a collection confuses people now.  Records came in albums and albums had album cover art, and text on the back and text, occasionally, on the paper sleeve that the record came in.  When you bought a dozen songs, you used to get so much more than what you get now when you download.

3.  If you heard the word Cappuccino, you would assume it was a good Italian family name.

4.  It was a time when the only air bag in your car was when Uncle Elmer was driving.

5.  It was a time when cars were works of art - fins were in, and if your friend's parents had a Hudson Hornet, you got to ride in a cross between a hearse and a mechanical beetle.

6.  It was a time when vocabulary was rich - sampling history, entertainment and politics in daily analogies.  This unfortunately has all gone out the window like high button shoes. 

7.  There were formal battles everywhere, and you had to choose.  These were more important than whether you were a Democrat or a Republican!  Which side were you on?  The Beatles or the Dave Clark 5?  Pepsi or Coke?  Arco or Texaco?  Chevy or Ford?  Catholic or Protestant?  Ivory or Dial? American Bandstand or Aquarama?  Penn Jersey or Pep Boys?  The Bazaar or Jerry's Corner?  Thom McAn or Father & Son?

8.  People actually felt good about putting a tiger in their tanks.

9.  There was ABC, NBC, and CBS.  That was really it. 

10.  Newspapers were great, there were lots of them, and they were a part of our daily lives.  We got the Philadelphia Inquirer (the morning paper), The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (the evening paper) and the Delaware County Daily Times (on Thursdays).

11.  Radios were AM.  You listened to the music on the radio out of a 2-inch speaker during the day, and an ear bud late at night or, if you were lucky, a bed speaker that you put under your pillow.

12.  Nothing was stereo.

13.  People drank everywhere - in bars, in cars, on porches, in yards. 

14.  The world was black and white - TV, magazines, newspapers, and photography.

15.  People owned clothing that was formal (and often wore it); men had ties, jackets, suits, and vests in their closets.  They were probably purchased at Robert Hall (when the value goes up, up, up / and the prices go down, down, down . . . (you can finish it))

16.  Comfortable shoes were called sneakers, and had no connection to tennis.

17.  People held doors for others.

18.  People let you cross the street, in the absence of laws.

19.  Central air conditioning had little meaning.  You can't cool a house down by running cold water through your radiators.   (FYI, radiators are in houses, not just in cars.)

20.  People ate hot breakfasts every morning.  One utilized a range to do this.

21.  "Drugs" meant aspirin or Alka Seltzer.

22.  Cars rotted.

23.  People "made do" with what they had, and were not ashamed of it.

24.  People liked stories about World War II, airplanes, and private eyes.

25.  You didn't mess with grandparents.  You appreciated them.

26.  If you were going to take a trip, you'd likely get a map at the gas station.  People knew how to fold up gas station maps, and took the time to do so.

27.  If they looked like headphones, they were called earmuffs.

28.  Santa was real.  He had helpers who dressed up like him.  End of story.

29.  Snow fell deeper.

30.  Rain rained harder and longer.

31.  We wore lots of ties.

32.  Boys and girls went on dates if they wanted to be together.

33.  Clocks had hands.

34.  Clocks and watches had to be wound up daily.

35.  Church was mandatory.

36.  Family was everything.

37.  Just because you die, it doesn't mean your television show won't continue to air at the same day and time.  See Lawrence Welk.

38.  Money went a long way.  It seems like, while we had less money, we more often ate steak.

39.  Billboards and ads for smoking and drinking were everywhere.

40.  People smoked and drank on airline flights.  Cigarettes were given to everyone, free, on flights.

41.  Cameras had flashbulbs, and you could only use them once.

42.  James Bond movies were based on Ian Fleming books that you had already read.

43.  People read.

44.  People shopped at the Food Fair or the Acme. 

45.  The Food Fair gave out Top Value Stamps with every purchase.  Some other stores gave out S&H Green Stamps.  We would lick stamps, fill books with them, and redeem books of stamps for everything from underwear to new cars.

46.  Mom's meals were threesomes.  If you had meatloaf and mashed potatoes, there was a corner of your plate that would be empty, so you also had corn or green beans too.

47.  "Big Brother" was part of 1984, the future.

48.  Barbie didn't have a job or much of a back-story.

49.  Fox was an animal, not a network.

50.  Dress shoes and black socks went along with shorts just fine.

51.  There were small stores that sold mostly milk, called Wawa.

52.  It was enjoyable to go to the movies.  You didn't have the urge to kill anyone near you.

53.  Drug stores sold ice cream and soda, but not radios and grills.

54.  You could walk to a corner store for milk, soda, ice cream, canned goods, bread, and candy.  Within 10 blocks there was probably a butcher store where you would buy your meat, as well as a barber shop, pharmacy, bakery, and hoagie shop.  You knew where a drive-in movie was.

55.  Men wore leather shoes, and when the heels or soles wore down, they were replaced by a shoemaker.

56.  A gallon of gas was 29.9.  That's cents.

57.  You weren't afraid to take a bus, trolley, or the El into town.

58.  If you said, "into town" you meant Philadelphia, if you said "into the city" you meant New York.

59.  You never needed exact change for anything.

60.  Most places didn't take credit cards, and most people didn't have them.

61.  People sent each other cards - you bought them at card stores, and sent them using U.S. postage stamps.

62.  You had to lick the back of a stamp to get it to stick.

63.  People stopped at red lights, and often at stop signs. 

64.  We didn't always understand the difference between local and national treasures.  Couldn't you get black cherry wishniak or Tastykakes anywhere in the country?  Didn't everyone know who Sally Star was?

65.  Ovens were things that were used weekly, and not just as storage areas.

66. You knew not to buy a Dixie Cup (which wasn't a cup, but a cuplet filled with ice cream) unless you got the little flat wooden spoon too.

67.  Food came to you.  Mr. Softee (or the competition, some pirate guy) rode through your neighborhood every day in the summer.  Perhaps someone came to your street with a truck or a station wagon, and sold the things they grew on their farm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EQm_5_XrAU&feature=related

68.  You bought a converter box to attach to your TV to get additional fuzzy channels, UHF channels.

69.  You could dream through catalogs.  Every house had the year's Sears catalog, probably a Penny's Catalog, a Top Value or S&H Green Stamps catalog, and perhaps a Radio Shack or Heathkit catalog.  So many dreams!

70.  Books had hard covers.

71.  Schools required students to protect their schoolbooks.  In addition to buying pencils and pens and paper to start a school year, you probably also bought paper book covers, which were wrapped around the books' hard covers, to protect them.  This was not an option.

72.  Your high school played football on Thanksgiving Day.

73.  Penn football and Eagles football were played in the same stadium.

74.  Ice could be purchased at Ice Houses.

75.  We ate liverwurst, and liver, and baloney.

76. A Volunteer Fire Company was an important, integral part of your neighborhood.

77.  Families found things to do on a weekend that were free.  We could walk around the feet of William (pronounced "Billy") Penn on the top of City Hall, or go see the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall, or tour the Mint, or go to the airport and watch airplanes take off and land.  (There were even observation decks above some gates at the airport where you could not only watch planes come in, but listen to pilots talking to the tower on the radio.) 

78.  At "Christmas time", you went to Wanamaker’s to hear the organ play and to watch the Christmas show.

79.  At Christmas, you went to 69th Street to shop, to see one or more Santas, and to let the kids slide down a two-story slide that was built inside of a big shoe. 

80.  Lawn mowers were muscle powered.

81.  The weatherman on TV was on the faculty at Drexel - Wally Canan the Weather Man.

82.  You couldn't have imagined that the boss with the hot sauce would last for many decades.

83.  The only really "coffee shop" you knew was one owned by Eight O'Clock, in Manhattan.

84.  If you really, really wanted to splurge, you drove into town to Bookbinders, to spend too much for some pretty good food.  (Get the snapper soup!)

85.  Cigarettes (and occasionally, cigars) were usually purchased from a vending machine (when a pack was 40 cents).

86.  In the summer, everyone would roll their car windows down just a little, and roll them back up every evening as the sun was setting.  If you didn't do this, your car would explode and your windows would blow out.

87.  The mummers were, even then, very difficult to explain to outsiders.

88.  There were department stores (not just Wanamakers) like Gimbels and Snellenburgs.

89.  Code for "going to Wanamakers" was "meet me at the eagle."

90.  They were Schmidt's, Schlitz, Esslinger's, Rolling Rock and Ballentine.

91.  The Mayfair was a Philadelphia breakfast treasure!

92.  Matchbox cars were 50 cents or maybe more, but were worth every penny.

93.  There was a White Tower in Darby.  (I was shocked to learn that most were called White Castles!)

94.  "Real" Vanilla ice cream, from Dolly Madison and perhaps Breyer's, had black specks in it (vanilla beans) and little pieces of ice as well.

95.  "We" made train engines (so cool) at Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton.

© 2012 John Allison

Why Kids Turn Out the Way They Do

I know that those of you who know me were always curious why and how I turned out like I did.  I think it is clear that events and influences in my early life shaped me, and I also think I can identify many of them.  So here are my recommendations, if you'd like your kids to turn out like me.

1.  Surround them with technology.

Maybe I did have to go to the bathroom - I forget.  You need to focus on the piece of furniture behind me - state of the art black and white TV on one side, a combo AM radio and record player on the other side - this thing was amazing.  I quickly became the house expert on how to use it, and used to spend my days playing my Mitch Miller record, and my soundtrack of The King and I.  I knew all the words! It has come in handy so many times, I can't begin to explain.

2.  Let them buy Comic Books

OK, so maybe this needs to be updated, maybe not.  For me, Comic Books had an obvious influence.

I decided to become a chemist as a young boy, when I watched Element Lad try to change the cosmic eye into something other than Uranium.  Obviously he never became a part of the Legion of Super Heroes, but he tried.

I did all of my personal shopping through ads in comic books.  While my friends all had interesting stamp collections, mine was special because they all came from pirate strongholds.  Seriously.  My thanks to the pirates who sold those great treasures to me.

Of course I wanted to be the life of the party, and while 25 cents was a lot of money, I did save up and get my own giant catalog.  It was the world's greatest.  These amazing magic tricks were expensive, but I did buy "change nickels into dimes" and was prepared to be the life of any party I was invited to.  I don't recall many parties, but I'm sure there were and I'm sure I was.

From the age of about 7 on, people would comment on my spaceman-like body.  I can now tell you that it was all thanks to the American Bodybuilding Club.  Nobody suspected that I worked out every day with a space-man fulcrum bar-bell.  Lets just say that no one kicked sand in my face - at least not directly.

3.  Feed them well.

One of my hangouts - the Strathmere in Strathmere.  We ate much better then than we do now!

Lets see, I'll have the cup of snapper soup for 35 cents, a cup of joe for 10 cents, the broiled lobster tail for $3.50 (with potatoes and cole slaw), and I'll have to toss a silver dollar to decide whether I want the bisque tortoni or the spumoni (they're both 30 cents).

4.  Make available others who can provide the advice and wisdom they need.

For a penny, a wise grandmother in a machine on the boardwalk gave me, personally, this card.  She even told me my lucky numbers, and as a bonus reminded me of what are the appropriate gift types for wedding anniversaries.  Her predictions were all correct.  I just wish I'd have had another penny, since she offered at the time to tell me more.

5.  Encourage the pursuit of the joys of music.  It's important.

I apparently started drumming in 1959; it's unclear when that career ended.

6.  Encourage youthful experimentation.  It's always better to know and understand something than to not know and to fear it.

7.  Let them experience disappointment and learn how to deal with it.  Let them follow Philadelphia sports.

It was 1964.  They told us that the only way the Phillies can NOT be in the world series was if they lost 10 out of their last 12 games!  Hahahaha.  That would be impossible.  Hahahahaha.  Lets start selling tickets now!  Hahahahaha.  OK, now lets try to figure out what to do with all of those World Series Tickets we sold!  Rain check!  Hahahahaha.

8.  Hope that they will speak softly and carry a big gun.

Dirty Harry?  Big deal!

© 2012 John Allison

Recipes (I heard your eyes roll!)

Members of the Silver Cloud Harbor Marina contributed almost 250 Recipes to a Marina Recipe Book.

I'd submitted three recipes, and will share them with you here.

Title:  Abby-Gale's I Don't Know Creamsicle Shake

Category:  Appetizers, Beverages & Dips

Ingredients:  Vanilla Ice Cream,
Milk,
Cointreau,
Triple Sec

Instructions:  You're making a vanilla ice cream shake in your blender. I don't know how much ice cream to put in, it depends on how much you want.
You can put a little milk in, depending on how thick you want it. I don't know how much. Thickness is a very personal decision.
You can add a shot of Triple Sec, but, I don't know, you can always add more than a shot.
You can add a shot of Cointreau, or maybe more, I don't know how much you like it.
Cointreau and Triple Sec are both orange-flavored liqueurs, but they're very different.
Cointreau costs a little more, but has a great, not-too-sweet orange flavor.
Triple Secs tend to be sweeter.
The two should give your drink a rich orange flavor, but I don't know, you could use just one of them if you want. If you decide to do that, spring for the Cointreau. (You might also like it naked, on the rocks.)
I don't know what you want to serve it in, but I'd serve it in big glasses, just like you'd want to get a milk shake in (with a straw and a cherry and/or whipped cream on top?)
I don't know if you'll like it, but if you don't, you didn't make it right. You need to follow the directions more closely.

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Title:  Jackie's First Summer Drink

Category:  Appetizers, Beverages & Dips

Ingredients: Friend,
Fresca,
Breath mints

Instructions:  These instructions must be followed very carefully! 
Go over to your friend's house - that friend whose parents drink too much.
Fill a large glass with ice-cubes.
Fill the glass 2/3 of the way up with Fresca.
(You may have to go back in time to get it. If you do, I suggest 1965.)
This next part is very important.
Get the gallon bottle of gin from your friend's parents' alcohol supply.
With a pencil, lightly mark the initial level of the gin on the bottle.
Fill the glass the rest of the way with gin. Mix/swirl with your index finger.
Repeat for all others who are present. (They can use their own index fingers.)
Add water to the gin bottle to bring the level back up to the initial mark.
Erase the pencil mark. Return the bottle to its unlocked storage place.
Enjoy!


(Don't forget the breath mints!)

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Title:  Rosemary's 911 Chili

Category:  Main Dishes & Meats

Ingredients: 1 can dark red kidney beans,
1 can black beans,
1 can chick peas,
1 bottle sliced jalapeno peppers,
1 can diced tomatoes with zesty mild green chilies,
1 can diced tomatoes with rosemary and oregano,
1 package whole mushrooms,
1-2 pounds of cubed meat - beef and/or pork,
1 can Progresso Traditional Beef Barley soup (19 oz.),
shredded cheese,
500 mL Chianti 



Instructions:  I use a Presto Multicooker which cooks much faster than a crock pot. This could also be cooked in a pot on the stove.
Layer the components and let them remain layered for at least an hour before stirring.
On the bottom, place the cubed meat.
Pour the jalapeno juice over the meat (drain the bottle of its juice)
Layer the beans on top of the meat.
Layer the diced tomatoes on top of the beans.
Pour the soup on top.
Lay whole mushrooms on top with the jar of peppers (optional)

When layered, the meat cooks first and is marinated in the pepper juices. Flavor from the peppers on top works it's way down while cooking. The soup makes a great chili base. Allow mushrooms to float on top and they will absorb many of the flavors. Cook for at least two hours on medium heat, stirring after one hour. Stir well before serving. Serve in bowls with cheese on top. Add one full mushroom to each bowl. Drink the Chianti. If the entire bottle of peppers is used, dial "91" on your cell phone, so that you will only need to dial the last "1" if you're not prepared for the "flavor."

© 2012 John Allison

The Art of Housepainting

Some of my earliest memories include watching the hands of my father as he painted around the house.  Occasionally he would explain some things to me, but mostly he was happy that I was watching what he did - and I still remember all that he taught me. My father was a very good painter.  I've watched "professionals" slap paint on with a brush, and roll or spray large sections, looking completely bored through it all.  Not so with my father.  He almost always used a brush.  If he was painting the dining room, it was a good time to "get to know the walls and trim".  Every square inch was personally inspected by him, every centimeter got his attention, as he worked.  Sometimes he'd find a nail hole from a picture we used to have hanging, that he forgot about, and would take the time to fill it, before painting over it.  Maybe there was a paint chip that came off; he would sand over it so that little spot would look good again.  He taught me not to just put paint on something, but to really "work the paint in".  I've found that I go through more paint than others, and my job always last longer.  Painting wasn't a chore, it was something that he enjoyed - he took pride in his work.  Usually, he would use a round brush - not a flat brush - round.  Their official name is an oval sash brush.  These brushes held lots of paint, and were very versatile.  Of course, this was back when paint brushes were not throw-aways (and weren't made with a sponge).  After you painted, you'd get the turpentine, or the paint thinner, or maybe even some gasoline if you had nothing else, clean the brush, possibly even soak it for a few days to get most of the paint off, then wrap it in a paper towel so that it could slowly dry and be supple and soft for the next job, even if that was a few years later.  When he had really big jobs, like one summer when he was on strike from Westinghouse and got the job painting the inside of an entire elementary school (Pusey Avenue School), of course he used a roller - there was no other way to cover that much area in a reasonable amount of time.  But you'd frequently see him going over parts of the wall with a brush, once he finished with the roller, just smoothing spots out, making sure it was all up to his standards. 

Whenever I paint, it gives me a moment with my Dad again.  Light and heavy strokes, dabs, twists of the brush, I watched him work, learned his tricks, and learned how to paint just like him.  This was also a time when people didn't tape off a room before they started painting.  He didn't need tape on the trim when painting the wall, he would paint the wall without getting paint on the trim! People trivialize the process - you got a brush, you got the paint, there you go.  But there were people who painted to create something of quality, that would last, in an act that was satisfying, relaxing and enjoyable.  Quality of workmanship - sometimes it seems like a lost concept.  I never appreciated it at the time.  Kids are like that.

© 2012 John Allison