It all starts about Memorial Day when the pool is opened for maintenance. All hell breaks loose as schools are closed for the summer and if you live in Yorkville, you head to John Jay Park on 76th Street and get on line for the pool. I believe that it costs 10 cents to get in back in teh day. As a young child who practicallt lived in the pool, we were there most of the time for the morning which was free and we would return afternoon for the rest of the day.
On the way home, one would walk to Fink's Bakery to buy a loaf of bread for home but have a slice ot two to eat on the way home. of course, a cold bottle of Pepsi Cola was always purchased to wash down the bread. I remember on one trip back to 85th Street that my friend Jimmy Dunne stopped by a bar on 1st Avenue between 84th and 85th Street and he told me to hold his bike while he went in. I asked him what he was getting and he told me that he was getting a 'takeout' cup of beer. In a few minutes, he came out with a cup of beer in a white 'take out' container. I looked at him and was trying to figure out how he did it and Jim told me that the bartender only cared about the money coming across the bar for the price of a beer. Both me and Jimmy were 15 years old. it was Yorkville.
For those that are familiar with the area, across the street on 1st Avenue and on the SW corner is Beggi's Tavern that was quite popular with the local crowd for its food. Also, on any given day from Monday through Friday, there were at least three to four garbage trucks parked outside at lunch time. This section of Yorkville was also famous for a traffic accident that killed a father of a boy in my class who made the mistake of crossing the street and not looking both ways when the traffic was switched from two ways to one way tarffic.
That's enough memories for now. Don't forget to make those donations to keep thsi alive this time at PayPal.