STORY SEVEN

COLD-WATER FLAT

OR

LEARNING THE ROPES

Manhattan, the lower East side: all the noise, the trucks, buses, cars, pedestrians and the Third Street El passing right in front of my Grandmother's apartment. It took me at least a week before the din and vibration of each passing train, and they ran very frequently, even at night, was tolerated sufficiently by my nervous system so that I could start to get a good night's rest. Not only were the noises, sounds and sights different, but so was the food and the language. Potato chips, french fries, hot dogs and hamburgers, root beer and Graham crackers, and on and on - it was all new to me. I learned how to peel a banana, drink coke from a bottle, have an ice cream sandwich and eat apple pie. I found out you could get an egg cream or a sundae at the candy shop, get a box of cough drops at the drug store, go to the super market for milk and tuna, and to the fruit store for apples, plums and oranges. Saturday mornings I lined up with the other kids to be one of the first fifty to buy a five cent ticket and receive a free comic book. One of the first pictures that I saw was, The Mikado, and I thought it was super. There were only a few weeks left before school was out for the summer, so it wasn't necessary for me to attend right off. Instead I hung around with whatever kids were on the block and they too taught me some of the do's and don'ts of inner city life. For example, I learned to hang around in front of the super market and ask if I could help carry home the groceries. If you were lucky to be selected, and there were several competing kids, you could count on a five or ten cent reward, which of course would pay for a movie or an ice cream. Another way to make small change, I quickly found out was to hang around the local candy store which was equipped with pay telephones. Most people in that area and at that time owned neither cars nor phones, so that when someone wanted to call a date for example, they would ring the local candy store pay phone number, and one of the kids would then run to the apartment of the person wanted to inform them of the phone call. Usually, but not always that would again result in a five or ten cent reward. Some other lessons were less than nice, in retrospect. Take for instance learning how to get past subway pay turnstiles for free rides, or ride on city busses without paying, or use the exit doors of movie theaters to sneak in for a show. If you were clumsy in anyone of these efforts and got caught, you would usually be turned over to your local friendly police officer, who would after a lecture on his own, turn you over to your parents for your just award.

To my surprise, I found out that there were a number of other relatives in the city. I had several aunts, an uncle, and some distant cousins. My uncle was single and was a life long cabby, who had his own medallion. Apparently that was a not a small achievement, since these were scarce due to the limited number available and there was a ceiling on the overall total for the city, so that he was quite proud of that. We loved when he came to visit his mother, or grandmother, because he would always be generous and kind and bring several bags of delightful groceries with him. He was also sort of a New York character and was full of interesting stories about events and fares that he had encountered. Naturally, he knew the city inside-out and when time permitted would drive us uptown or downtown to view some of the many sights. But most of all he was a very good person and he especially liked us kids. One day he took us in his cab and drove us to Rockaway Beach for the day. That was a wonderfully enjoyable experience for us and it was the first time that I played in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. My other aunts lived in better neighborhoods and had their own modest homes. One lived in Jamaica the other in Flushing. We would visit them by subway every other weekend. They were also very nice to us and always prepared a big meal which was thoroughly appreciated. One aunt didn't have her own home as yet. She was also married and lived in an apartment in the Queens. They had no children, and I was asked if I'd like to stay with them for awhile. I thought that was a good idea and was enthusiastic, especially since I would have a chance to see my family regularly.

What a difference between apartments. My aunt lived in a multistory building, where the halls were carpeted and there even was an elevator. Her rooms were nicely furnished, and there was a large kitchen with a refrigerator, instead of an ice box like grandmother had. There was also a phone and other luxuries of a middle class home. My uncle who was perhaps a little less enthusiastic about me than my aunt, nevertheless was generous to me and one day brought home a new pair of roller skates for me. I soon learned how to use them especially since there were a number of new apartment buildings in the area and they all had nice, smooth and shiny concrete sidewalks. I guess uncle had a good business day, and when he came home he met me outside the apartment and gave me a fifty cent piece to spend on myself. I had so many choices when I went to the local five and dime store that it took me almost two hours to spend my allowance. My aunt was really very nice and took me along wherever she went. That included the beauty parlor, the grocery store, restaurants and movies. Sometimes she would just call the local grocery or fruit store and have them deliver her order. She always did that with the butcher shop. She liked flowers and also visited the local florist often for cut flowers which she would arrange ever so neatly in various vases. I started elementary school that fall in their neighborhood. They put me in first grade so that I could learn how to write and read properly. Naturally I was somewhat bigger than the other first graders, but they were ahead of me when it came to their native language, so it all evened out. My aunt believed in having an active social life and there were always plans for the week end. Picnics, trips to the beach, shopping trips to Manhattan, or visits with friends were commonplace. It was a great break for me and it spoiled me somewhat. You see, after the first six months, my family was ready to start life on their own and they found an affordable place to live.

Linden Street, Brooklyn: it was a clean two story house, albeit the apartment was somewhat stark. The kitchen had an ice box, and a sink. There was also a gas range. There was no hot water however, hence the term, cold-water flat. The neighborhood was made up of working class German, Irish, and Italian folks, although I'm certain that many others lived there as well. A few houses down from us was a city park. It had a big fence around it, an outdoor roller skating ring, swings and see-saws, a handball court, and was completely paved with cement. We spent most of our spare time there. It was a great place to play for us and meet lots of other kids. But not everything was play. Besides going to a new elementary school, I got a job as a newspaper delivery boy for the local candy store and earned two dollars per week. During some afternoons and on the week end I also got a job delivering packages for a local butcher shop, and likewise, at a local drug store, delivering prescriptions. Of course this was all neighborhood stuff. Later on when both parents were working to make ends meet, it was up to us kids to have some kind of dinner prepared, and help keep the house tidy. Some evenings we would all walk to Knickerbocker Avenue, or to the German section, Ridgeway, where we would mostly window shop. If the family felt flush we would be taken in for a foreign film, usually the German movie house, and treated to sausage, tortes, and hot chocolate. On other week-ends, like Saturdays, we kids would pack a big lunch bag and line up at the local movie for the triple feature, plus a serial and cartoons at about ten in the morning. We usually wouldn't come out of the movie till late in the afternoon; sometimes we would even stay to see the show twice, in which case it would be dark by the time we came out. To the other side of us, on the block where we lived, was a corner house with a dental office on the second floor. It was there that we went when we absolutely didn't have any other choice, sort of the last recourse. I believe the dentist was of German background and didn't believe that filling or pulling a tooth should bother anyone very much. It was pure agony going to him, but there was no alternative.

I had an opportunity to join the scouts and was very proud when my parents bought me my uniform as a birthday present. We went hiking and picnicking, mostly on Staten Island, which at that time still had a lot of farms and acreage. It was fun to take the Staten Island ferry for a nickel, and get a long ride on the open water. We spent the whole day there and once every so often, the troop would camp out overnight. One day the scoutmaster took us way uptown Manhattan by subway. We left the station and walked across the George Washington Bridge. We hiked all day and were bushed at the end of the day, but also very satisfied, because we made it all the way up to Bear Mountain Park. Naturally, we camped out for the week-end. We took a bus coming back however, for which we were grateful. I met a nice girl of Danish background through school. Her name was Helen and she lived in a nicer home on Bushwick Avenue. We got to be friends and she would visit us or visa versa. When I visited her house, her mother would always serve Danish cookies and pastries with hot chocolate. She was very nice. When she visited our house, we would romp around the house and jump on the furniture and beds, and just have a great time; that was mostly because our parents worked and we had the run of the house to ourselves. But we really didn't get into any big trouble and it was all pretty much kid stuff.

There were two kinds of schools I went to. The regular public school and after a couple years an afternoon religious school that would eventually prepare me for confirmation. Public school was just what you would expect. The teachers were nice, but strict and they concentrated on the three R's, reading, writing and arithmetic. We did have a gym class, but it was mainly playing out in the school yard. The kids were neatly dressed, and the girls were especially well groomed. Anita and Janet were no doubt best dressed and perhaps best looking. As for the boys, there was Joe. He was of Italian descent, because he knew all the Italian cuss words which he frequently used, but he was also someone that a lot of boys liked a lot. He knew some things that were unique to him. For example he could lift his arm and then bring it down sharply on his rib cage which would result in a loud noise akin to expelling or venting gastric gas. He was also good at sports which I envied because I had little skill in that area. As I became more and more familiar with the language, I started to skip classes and pretty soon, in a matter of less than three years, I was where normally I should have been, had I started on time. The school year was almost over and the family was preparing to move out of the area.

Dear reader this somewhat lengthy introduction to the ways of little street kids should have knocked you for a loop long ago, probably after the first two paragraphs. So I feel like I've done my job. Of course if you are now ready for another night's sleep and want to make sure you'll sleep tight, please finish STORY SEVEN first and then turn to STORY EIGHT, if you survive reading the rest of STORY SEVEN in the first place without falling asleep. Thank you.

©1990 Herbert Holzbauer

published @1996 edition S.p.N.LAUB

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