Graydon Pool in Winter 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Hey, if it is posted on FaceBook then it is fair game. Thanks to Alan Seiden for this Graydon Pool snow shot . You will find it originally on Ridgewood Patch . With all the chatter regarding Graydon Pool on all the available mediums, the best one on the Ridgewood Expats discussion board was about the rite of passage of swimming to the "Third Raft." Our Mom used to take us exclusively to the grassy side because we lived in upper Ridgewood so this was the fastest way to park. Also, we had friends who lived nearby to Graydon so they would walk over to join us. The routine was pretty simple: we arrived mid-morning for a swimming lesson or to swim until Noon. Then we had a sandwich and some juice. We had to wait at least 20 minutes before we could go back in the water, lest we would induce a gramp and drown (the Moms were all in agreement on this bit of wisdom). After lunch we would go to the Good Humor truck for an ice cream. I can clearly remember them going up in price from $.10 to $.15, and finally to .$20 during the period we visited Graydon. Lastly, around 3PM we would ask for the pennies from my Mom's purse to purchase penny gumballs. This burned off the last of our youthful energy and helped make the ride home a quiet one.

Ridgewood Fire House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      My pal Kurt posted this to the Ridgewood Expats site on FaceBook. I know he won't mind the repost: "These old firehouses were wonderful. The fire engines were horse drawn steam water pumps, kept in the garage below, while the firemen lived above. It was quickly discovered that a stair wide enough to let all the men run down at full speed was also wide enough for the horses to come UP! So the stair was made smaller and tucked away, and the sliding poles were added to get the firemen down." This old firehouse was torn down to make room for a parking lot.

Woolworths 1968

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Where do you start when remembering Woolworths? I start with the ladies behind the lunch counter who put up with more kids and their orders of french fries and cokes than any person should ever have to endure. It's not that we were disrespectful, only that we were too young and clueless to leave the huge tips they deserved. Oh well, it was a different age, and these ladies weren't trying to make huge, Ridgewood mortgage payments. Next stop is the photo booth in the front of the store. For the princely sum of $.25 you were allowed, I believe, 4 photos. These were promptly developed and delivered before you could leave the store. After the photo booth I believe the birds and fish in the back of the store would be my final lasting memory. Besides their smell, you could not help but notice all the noise they made. The people who took care of this menagerie had to have had the patience of saints because there were so many to mind. It boggles the mind that one could find all of these things, not to mention the bargain basement, under one roof.

Welcome Ridgewood Expats

Welcome to those of you who are visiting this corner of the Internet after finding it via the Ridgewood Expats group on FaceBook. This blog is part web portal, diary, and bulletin board. It has no advertisements or ax to grind. The hope here is to record memories and post photos of how it was in Ridgewood and its environs in the 1960s and 1970s. My family lived there between 1961 and 1978 so that is what I know best and have endeavored to write about lest I forget too soon.

If you have a thought or memory which you'd like to elaborate upon feel free to let me know as co-bloggers from all classes are welcome. You can also send your photos and let them become part of the public record. Lastly, if you have a link to a class site or one of a one-time Ridgewood student then send them, too.

I expect people to use this site and the many others on the Internet, like those on FaceBook, as an opportunity to reflect and hopefully reconnect with people who they knew when they were younger. Its not a perfect medium and never will be. Luckily for us all it will likely be superseded by some new form of Social Networking which has yet to be created. This is all fine with me.

I just hope this Social Networking phenomenon gives you all some grins and helps you remember your favorite stories of growing up so you can tell them at your next reunion. I guess what I'm saying is that if we write these things down then they will be easier to recall. William Butler Yeats states this best:

When You Are Old and Grey

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

RHS Class of 1970 Reunion

http://www.rhs70.myevent.com/index.php

The Reunion will take place Columbus Day weekend, Oct 8-9, 2010 in and around Ridgewood, NJ.

Ask questions about anything/everything
RHS70 40th Reunion
Irene Nagy


Icebreaker (8:00 – midnight)
Elks Club, Ridgewood
111 Maple Ave (next to town hall)

Meet and greet your fellow classmates in a totally informal and unstructured setting. (Munchies provided. Cash bar. TBD)

Al and Harry's

It seems quaint now to think we used to go buy newspapers at local stores. In Ridgewood we had Drapkins and Al and Harry's. The photo here is of Al and Harrys, which was around the corner from Drapkins. Both were places that the cops would go to briefly escape from the elements and to engage in conversations with the local owners and towns folk.

The Sunday newspapers, I know from first hand experience, were folded in two stages. On Saturday the first half arrived which included things like Travel, Book Review, Magazine, and the Sunday coupons and advertisements. The more time sensitive sections would arrive on Sunday. Together they made up part of many people's Sunday rituals, which included going to Church and picking up a dozen fresh doughnuts at Fischl's Bakery.

Al and Harry's used to sell glazed doughnuts and coffee which we would eat while on break from folding papers at Drapkins on Saturday mornings. These would always hit the spot as we used to start by 6 AM in order to get all the bundles of newspaper inserts off the sidewalk so people could walk.

142 Glenwood Road

The old homestead circa 1975. The gravel driveway I never understood but my Dad liked it. Of course, it was the boys job to sweep the gravel back into the driveway. All it took was a rain and we had a job to do. Just the act of pulling a car into the driveway would send the gravel down the sidewalk since we lived on a hill, and give us a weekly job to keep us out of trouble. The driveway was paved over shortly after we moved in 1978. I imagine the new owners didn't have the patience to keep sweeping the gravel back, and I don't blame them.

The house as I recall sold for about $140,000. Today it is valued at 4 times that amount. The subsequent owners have added onto the house by converting the garage into living quarters and turning the den into a garage. It's funny that we turned a porch into a den and then they turned it into a garage. I guess they had to keep up with the neighbors on both sides who were adding on or tearing down and rebuilding.