Thanks, Marian. I work in lower Manhattan, so I don’t miss the city as much as I would, if I didn’t work there, but I still like going back to visit old haunts in Brooklyn and Queens, either in person, or on fan sites like this one, and Bushwick Buddies.
Thanks for the condolences for my friend’s death and for the lunch invitation.
I realized over lunch that I should have said, the older of my Lefferts Blvd. friends, Ron Kloot, died. The younger one (Eric) is still very much alive and well in Florida.
Thanks for your answer. Small world. My cousin John lives in Shirley.
No, I’m not from Kew Gardens. I know the area, though. Friend of mine named Ron Kloot grew up at Austin and Lefferts. Another friend and his wife used to live at 83-15 Lefferts, between Metropolitan and 84th Avenues.
I moved from Ridgewood, Queens to Dobbs Ferry in Westchester County 16 years ago because I was getting married, and my wife-to-be and I needed a home convenient to both our jobs : mine in Manhattan, hers in New Rochelle.
Thanks for your private e-mail address. I may use it for non-theater chat.
The Wyckoff Theater, at the eastern corner of Wyckoff Avenue and Bleecker Street in …. Bushwick ? Wyckoff Heights ? Ridgewood ? … Brooklyn, postal zone 11237, became a Jehovah’s Witnesses hall, before I had a chance to know it as a movie theater. My oldest aunt remembers it as a movie theater, however.
Good for you, Marian ! A good intro to Jefferson Airplane’s “Plastic Fantastic Lover” and Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a few years later, in 1968 !
I looked at the site. So many memories. I had large and small Fireball XL-5’s. My dad made me a balsa wood and Gilette razor plastic bubble Supercar a year before the plastic model came out.
Color photos of kids : reminded of the one of me, age seven, Christmas 1962, with my Whirlybird and Texaco gas station, under the Christmas tree.
Aurora models were the easiest : fewer, bigger parts. Revell models were the opposite : many more, and smaller, parts. I had both the small Aurora, and huge Revell, Cutty Sark clipper ship : the latter, Christmas 1965, from Stan Jak Hobby Shop at Myrtle and Decatur, across Myrtle Avenue from Glenwood Bowl (formerly Glenwood Theater).
Glad you enjoyed my spelling correction. I HATE being wrong with speling, too.
I remember those Rube Goldberg contraptions. The closest I came to them was “Mouse Trap” in 1963.
Oh yeah ! Hobby glue : great smell ! I mostly used Testor’s. Revell had the same smell, but was more liquid and runny. Aurora, which I could rarely get, smelled different, like strong Chinese mustard.
Models of cars : I hated having to file away the chrome on certain parts to expose the plastic, so the glue would take.
Loved the Aurora monsters : I had Creature From The Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy, King Kong, Godzilla, Phantom Of The Opera, both customizing kits. Also Superman and Batman.
Don’t recall the goopy stuff used to blow bubbles with straws.
I don’t know how, Marian, I just remember lots of stuff. I think black was “Jet black”. Not sure of the number.
I got a wood burning set for Christmas 1965. I remember the smell well. Yes, it’s seared the molecules of our lungs forever, as well as our noses and brains. Ditto the Mattel Creepy Crawlers “Thingmaker” (like an electric hot plate, with metal tray molds and handles) and its bottles of “Plastigoop”, which I got for my 10th birthday in November 1965.
“Castle” as in “Castle Of Frankenstein”, if not “William Castle” ?
I remember those films advertised in the backs of those monster magazines. I feared disappointment because they were not the entire film, but when I finally saw the “Bride of Frankenstein” excerpt, I enjoyed it. Running through your entire catalogue reads like watching lots of trailers, which try to pack the most exciting moments of a film into about thirty seconds.
Did your mother throw out all your old monster magazines ?
I read this page on the way home last night. Good work by all who posted on it. My only other comment is about the steep slope of the floor in front. Natural ground ?
Hello again, Muzer.
I’m at Federal Plaza, just north of City Hall Park. Three stops on the 4 and 5 lines from 55 Water Street.
PKoch
Thanks, Marian. I work in lower Manhattan, so I don’t miss the city as much as I would, if I didn’t work there, but I still like going back to visit old haunts in Brooklyn and Queens, either in person, or on fan sites like this one, and Bushwick Buddies.
Thanks, anniegirl. I haven’t seen or spoken with Eric for awhile, but I can reach him easily enough through work.
I sometimes have lunch on Friday with an even earlier friend from parochial and prep school (Grades 1 through 12).
I hope your visit to your old neighborhood next month goes well.
All this talent from Cypress Hills ! Wow !
Marian, where in Westchester do you live now ? I live in Dobbs Ferry.
P(eter)Koch
Thanks for the condolences for my friend’s death and for the lunch invitation.
I realized over lunch that I should have said, the older of my Lefferts Blvd. friends, Ron Kloot, died. The younger one (Eric) is still very much alive and well in Florida.
Thanks for all the details, anniegirl. My cousin lives on Mastic Avenue in Shirley.
I don’t know if my friend knew that deli on Lefferts Blvd. I can’t ask him now, because he died in the mid 1990’s.
Anniegirl :
Thanks for your answer. Small world. My cousin John lives in Shirley.
No, I’m not from Kew Gardens. I know the area, though. Friend of mine named Ron Kloot grew up at Austin and Lefferts. Another friend and his wife used to live at 83-15 Lefferts, between Metropolitan and 84th Avenues.
I moved from Ridgewood, Queens to Dobbs Ferry in Westchester County 16 years ago because I was getting married, and my wife-to-be and I needed a home convenient to both our jobs : mine in Manhattan, hers in New Rochelle.
Thanks for your private e-mail address. I may use it for non-theater chat.
P(eter)Koch
Try this, also see links in my post of May 12 2004 :
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?24041
The Wyckoff Theater, at the eastern corner of Wyckoff Avenue and Bleecker Street in …. Bushwick ? Wyckoff Heights ? Ridgewood ? … Brooklyn, postal zone 11237, became a Jehovah’s Witnesses hall, before I had a chance to know it as a movie theater. My oldest aunt remembers it as a movie theater, however.
Yeah, saps, I’ll bet.
Slightly skewed nude teenage girls on that still-huge screen ! Hubba hubba !
“Porky’s” at RKO Keith’s Flushing ? All those nude teenage girls on that huge screen ? Hubba hubba !
Noted, Ed. Thanks.
Thanks, Ed Solero. Your explanation makes sense.
Great picture, mp775. Thanks. It feels like I’ve got those early 1960’s GM Fishbowl buses in my DNA !
Good for you, Marian ! A good intro to Jefferson Airplane’s “Plastic Fantastic Lover” and Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a few years later, in 1968 !
“The Tick Tock Clock” : 1961 ? Mattel ? Ideal ?
Chatty Kathy ? Vanity / desk set for little girls ?
“A little girl becomes a lovely lady with her … all her own !”
“It’s divine !”
I also remember kid’s toys commercials being satirized by Jackie Gleason on his “American Scene Magazine” Saturday evening variety show :
“Blasto ! the only genuine atomic war grenade ! Start a nuclear war amongst your little friends !
“Brought to you by the makers of Panzy Wanzy …. The Doll That Wets !”
My cousin Fran had a Yo-Gun : a yo-yo that shot out of a plastic gun.
I remember Ideal toys also.
I looked at the site. So many memories. I had large and small Fireball XL-5’s. My dad made me a balsa wood and Gilette razor plastic bubble Supercar a year before the plastic model came out.
Color photos of kids : reminded of the one of me, age seven, Christmas 1962, with my Whirlybird and Texaco gas station, under the Christmas tree.
Thanks, Marian. Allen Adler.
Can’t believe you finally stumped me ?
I’ve never claimed to know everything !
Although they’ve played “Stump Pete” with me at work for the past 25 years !
Aurora models were the easiest : fewer, bigger parts. Revell models were the opposite : many more, and smaller, parts. I had both the small Aurora, and huge Revell, Cutty Sark clipper ship : the latter, Christmas 1965, from Stan Jak Hobby Shop at Myrtle and Decatur, across Myrtle Avenue from Glenwood Bowl (formerly Glenwood Theater).
Glad you enjoyed my spelling correction. I HATE being wrong with speling, too.
I remember those Rube Goldberg contraptions. The closest I came to them was “Mouse Trap” in 1963.
Oh yeah ! Hobby glue : great smell ! I mostly used Testor’s. Revell had the same smell, but was more liquid and runny. Aurora, which I could rarely get, smelled different, like strong Chinese mustard.
Models of cars : I hated having to file away the chrome on certain parts to expose the plastic, so the glue would take.
Loved the Aurora monsters : I had Creature From The Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy, King Kong, Godzilla, Phantom Of The Opera, both customizing kits. Also Superman and Batman.
Don’t recall the goopy stuff used to blow bubbles with straws.
Marian, I think it’s spelled “Damocles”.
I don’t know how, Marian, I just remember lots of stuff. I think black was “Jet black”. Not sure of the number.
I got a wood burning set for Christmas 1965. I remember the smell well. Yes, it’s seared the molecules of our lungs forever, as well as our noses and brains. Ditto the Mattel Creepy Crawlers “Thingmaker” (like an electric hot plate, with metal tray molds and handles) and its bottles of “Plastigoop”, which I got for my 10th birthday in November 1965.
Thanks, kong1911. Glad you got out of the Palace O.K.
Yes, I DID enjoy, Ed Solero. Thanks.
“Castle” as in “Castle Of Frankenstein”, if not “William Castle” ?
I remember those films advertised in the backs of those monster magazines. I feared disappointment because they were not the entire film, but when I finally saw the “Bride of Frankenstein” excerpt, I enjoyed it. Running through your entire catalogue reads like watching lots of trailers, which try to pack the most exciting moments of a film into about thirty seconds.
Did your mother throw out all your old monster magazines ?
I read this page on the way home last night. Good work by all who posted on it. My only other comment is about the steep slope of the floor in front. Natural ground ?