Public Places of Amusement

In our younger days we visited public places of amusement like the Club 300 Bowling Alley, the Warner Theatre, Yankee and Shea Stadiums, Madison Square Garden, and the various carnivals that toured through our area in the summer months. We ate out on special occasions like when we visited a ballpark or a carnival and ate what they sold and it wasn't a big expense. A big expense would have been taking our Mom out for her birthday to a place like Stasny's in Waldwick.

Presently, The Club 300 Bowling Alley is long gone, as are Yankee and Shea Stadiums. Stasny's was replaced in 1989 by Nellie's Place. The Warner Theatre has divided itself in 4 parts, and fewer carnivals tour across the area.

Families eat out more often now and the options are seemingly limitless, with no special occasion necessary, like a mother's birthday, needed to send the family out the door. This is all easily justified by our more hectic lifestyles and the fact that many families have two incomes and no time to shop, let along cook when the work day is over.

Now we all have more entertainment options in our cell phones and tablets than any of us could have ever obtained from our TV sets and their antennas back in the day. It's now wonder places of public amusement have been in a long decline. The sad part is that people with different incomes used to come together and mingle, if only for a short time. If everyone was playing pinball together or rooting for a professional sports team, then we all shared a common struggle and felt a sense of community, albeit a simple and fleeting one.

The new Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and Madison Square are now places of exclusivity. Court side seats or box seat behind home plate can cost thousands. Even the $5 and $6 seats up in the nosebleed sections are priced to dearly to be anything more than once a year event or the result of a gift from a corporation.

I am not asking that we return to the days of smokey bowling alleys and limited options for dining out. Nor do I want to tax the richest to the point where they want to hide their money overseas. It's just that it appears all of the talk of the 1% is more than hyperbole, and constitutes a loss of something nameless that we might look back on and regret.

People of all incomes coming together was a educational experience that I am glad I experienced. We used to sit in the rafters of Madison Square Garden in the early 1970s, and listen to the salty conversations of the New York sports writers. The arena was loud with fan noise and the organ playing of Eddie Layton. There was no need to fill the place with ear splitting rock n' roll during timeouts. We created our own atmosphere and urged on our home team Knicks and Rangers by contributing our voices to chants of "Defense" which would certainly distract opponents if not strike fear in their hearts. It doesn't work like this anymore. Just count the empty seats from the comfort of your home TV screen at any sporting event and you will know what I mean.