502 West 135th Street

The building, 502, was different from the rest of the buildings on that side of 135th Street in that there was a ten foot gap of space between that building and 500. All the other buildings on that side of the street were side by side with no space in between. We always speculated if someone would ever try to jump from the roof of 500 over to the roof of 502. As I recall the two building were about even in height so it would have been a significant broad jump to perform that feat.
My crowd used to hang out in the hallway of 502, particularly in the cold and rainy weather. The building lobby was our "club house". We would play cards or just hang out. I don't remember if we played Whist in 502, but I do remember playing Banker Broker and Black Jack. It was only for pennies or nickels and no one ever got rich. Donald MacIver and Edie Bosser, neither of them lived in the building, would always be going upstairs to one of the landings to "make out". The people who lived in the building were very tolerant of us. They had to climb over us to get to their mail boxes or, depending what floor they were at, climb over Donald and Edie.
When I say, "my crowd" it was Donald MacIver, Hughie McVeigh, Jimmy Magner, Fanny Fallon, Philip Vicente, Walter Wheatley, Gerry Wenz, Bobby Montiel, Frankie Byrne,  Danny O'Rourke, Peter Davis, Junior Rodriquez, Edgar Rodriquez, Anne Sweeney, Edie Bosser, Millie Parsons, Alice Reid, Fran Cribbons,  Mary Mc Gowan, Pat Murphy, Molly Torres, Margie Moore, Theresa Quealey, Mary Purcell,  Kay Kelleher, Anne O' Rourke, and I'm sure I have missed some. One poor guy who always wanted to hang out with us but just never fit in was Jimmy Saxton. His nick name was "Tin Can ". Other than the fact that he always got kicked around, I don't know where the name came from. He was a bit of a sad sack and we were very cruel to him.   Now the era I'm talking about is when we were between the ages of twelve and seventeen. That would have been 1951 to 1956 which is when I went into the Air Force.
During that time I also hung out, sometime, with the guys on the other side of 135th Street where my dad had the store. I think at one time or another I hung out with everybody.
I'm going to try to tell you the families that  I remember in 502. I'm not going to tell you what apartments they lived or what floor they lived on because for the most part, I don't remember.
The Woods were on the first floor because I remember Mrs. Woods talking to us from her front window. Her son Jackie was in my crowd until they moved to Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Jackie had an older sister Jean and an older brother Bobby. I believe Bobby married Pat McKenna who lived across the street in 501. When I say, "as I recall" or "I believe", I'm  calling on my memory and I may not be 100 per cent accurate.
Mr. Woods was an electrician.
When the Woods moved to New Jersey, the Devlins moved into their apartment. There was the parents, Mary and Pete and then there was Buddy, Billy, Jimmy and Bobby and finally a girl, Mary Ellen. Bobby had a tradgic accident one day and was killed. I think Bobby wasn't even in his teens, a terrible tradgedy. They made a TV show out of it, a very sad story. The Devlin's forgave the boy that was involved. I don't think it was much longer after that when the whole family moved to California. I hadn't heard a word about them until there was a letter published in the Vinegar Hill Gazette from Odette Alfafaro three or four years ago.  Odette's sister Angie married Billy Devlin and they are still in California. The Devlin's were Scotch. I remember Mrs. Devlin still had a bit of a burr in her speech. They were co-owners with the Tighes of what was originally Tony's Candy Store. Mary and Mrs. Tighe (Mildred) ran the candy store during the day and then Mr. Tighe, (Tom) and Pete Devlin ran the store in the evening. I always remember Pete Devlin having one of us, we were eleven thru fifteen years old, "run around the corner" to get him a quart of Ballantine Ale. I wonder if he is still alive and does he still drink his ale.
Across the hall from the Devlins was the Horans. They only had one son, John. John was an only child and never got to hang out with any of us. He was in our class at Annunciation . His mother was very protective of him and didn't want him hanging out with us "Holligans".
Down the hall came one of the McGowan boys from 505 and his new bride. I'm not sure if it was Tommy or Jack. When they got married that's where they moved to. I think her name was Margie. We always kinda giggled when they came in because they were the newlyweds.
As I go upstairs I'm not going to tell you who lived on what floor because I don't remember. There was the Reeds, no relation to me and we always had to explain that we had different spelling and we were not related.  As I say this I don't remember if it was Reed or Reid. Alice was in our crowd and she had a sister, Clara, who passed away at a very early age. I remember talking to her and she always looked very sickly.
Big in our crown was the Wheatleys. Walter and Loretta hung out with us and then there was the oldest brother, Buddy, who was away at the seminary. He became a priest and was stationed down south somewhere. I don't recall seeing him, ever. Then there was Anna and Kathleen and Joe. It was either Anna or Kathleen, but one of them had a dog, a boxer named Tango. He was a gift from a serious suitor although I don't think he won. I hope I'm wrong. I always remember Mr. Wheatley with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a newspaper tucked under his arm coming home from work. During the summer Mr. Wheatley and Mr. Dillon who lived upstairs would go fishing. If they got a good catch, which they often did, they would stand outside of the building passing out fish to anyone who wanted them. The trunk of Mr. Dillon's car would be loaded with fish.
The Dillon's had several daughters and Kathleen was in our crowd, a bit, as she was a year younger than us and that put her in a different crowd. I remember talking to one of Kathleen's sisters after one of the reunion masses, but I can't remember her name.
Another family was the Capria's. Ray, as we called her, was their only daughter. She was a year or two older than us and didn't always hang out with us. It was much to our regret, as she was a good looker. Her dad, Joe, was a cab driver and he was hysterical. He was one of the few Italians in the neighborhood and he and his partner owned a cab. They each worked twelve hour shifts and when he got off he would always tell us of what went on with some of his fares, some very funny stories. He had some of the greatest "dirty jokes".
The Collins were another family. I remember John who married Kay Moore from 134th Street. What I remember about John, he was five or six years older than us, was this. He could take one of those four legged, chrome, soft cushioned bar stools, lay on the ground and pick it up with one hand by one leg at the base. I hope you can picture that. Grab that stool by the base with one hand, lift it up, while you were lying down. No one else even attempted to do it the night I saw him do it.
Anne and Mae Sweeney used to hang out with us, too. Mae was a year or two older than Anne and she didn't hang with us as often. Mae hung out with the likes of Dinky Devlin, and Kay Kellker. I think they called themselves the Jets long before we had the Jets of football fame. Anyway, Anne was in our crowd. Mr. Sweeney was a brick layer or a mason. He always brought his tools home in a little black suitcast. I guess it was a tool case.
The Phaelans were also upstairs. They had two children, Jack (Jake) and I think it was Kay. They were older then us by a few years and didn't hang out with us in the hallway. John Scott wrote a very nice article about John in one of the issues of the Gazette. John had become very successful and it was no surprise. He was a great image to us when we were growing up, his parents as well. I always remember Mr. Phaelan looking very dapper and Mrs. Phaelan always very well dressed, on their way to church.
A few families moved away from the building before we started hanging out in their hallway. There was the Healy's and for some reason I think they were on the top floor. I think their daughters name was Margie but I'm not sure.
Then there was the Vogt's. Mrs. Vogt was a tiny lady and they had one son, Billy, who was equally as tiny. I think they moved when Billy was seven or eight.
Another family was the Sullivan's. I remember Charlie. He was our age and I still remember his great smile. He also moved when he was seven or eight.
That's it for 502. I'm sure there are some inaccuracies but that's the way I remember it.
I want to share an e-mail I got from Molly Torres after my last post. Molly is as funny now as when we were kids.   Hi Tommy,


I started to send a reply the other day & my

email went down & lost it. I send condolences regarding the passing of your

friend. I grew up on 131st street between

Amsterdam & Old Broadway, 521 W. 131st

& remember a butcher on 131st & Amsterdam. I bet that is the same store my

mom went to, because sometimes she would send me with a note to give to the

butcher with the meats she wanted. This would have been around 1949?, but I remember distinctly the man behind the

counter & how he would wrap the meats up

with the butcher paper. My mom always

bought lamb chops, veal cutlets, pork chops

& other meats. For chicken she & my grandmother went to the poultry market

which was on 126 or 127th street & Amsterdam Ave. It smelled awful in there

& I hated going with them, but they dragged me in there anyway & I would gag

& carryon & they would ignore me or else

my mother would pull me to the side & tell

me to stop annoying them. Yuk! I never went inside one of those places again. Maybe that's why I'm not crazy about chicken, even though I make it at home, but never order it at a restaurant.

Must mention that my husband loved your

last email & the story of Pang's laundry & the macahoydingding part got him hysterical. So we just went on a cruise with

Holland America to KeyWest, etc and all the

crew was mixed, but mostly Indonesian & Fillipino. So everyday if we were in the cabin or dining, & he would say call "macahoy" over here & then he would

rub his teeth with his index finger. We laughed all week with that & are still laughing. Best to you and your wife.

Keep in touch,

Fondly,

Molly Torres Kafes

Mary Corcoran 1932-2009

It is with much sadness that I report that Mary Corcoran  Sheridan was buried on November 12, 2009. Mary had been in ill health for some time and had been suffering from dimentia.Mary was predeceased by her husband George.  Mary is survived by her sister Cathy and brothers Billy and Jimmy and many nieces and nephews. Her Requium Mass was celebreted by her cousin Father Jerry Gallagher. Internment was at St. Mary's cemetary in Freehold, N. J.
Mary's parents operated Corcoran's Grocery and Meat Market on Amsterdam Ave.between 131st and
 132nd Street on the East side of the avenue. I'm not sure of the name of the store, The Emerald also come to mind.  One side of the store was the meat market operated by her father Jim and the other side of the store, the grocery, was run by her mother, Betty.
The Corcoran's lived at 128 Convent Ave. Mrs. Corcoran's sister, I forget her name but, of course,  we called her Mrs. Gallager  Her husband and their two children, Jerry and Mary Elizabeth, lived with them. They were the Gallagher's. Mr. Gallagher worked for the Fifth Ave. Coach Co. Mrs. Gallagher ran the household.  The Gallagher's and the Corcoran's shared the one apartment, all ten of them. On top of that they had one of the first televisions in the neighborhood and Jimmy always invited  Jackie Hayes, Junior McGoldrick, Jimmy Bradley, Vinnie Nyholm and my brother and me to the house to watch the TV. Many times there were many more guys there. I think the TV was  a ten inch De Walt. It had a magnifier in front of the tube to make the picture look bigger.
 We were always very welcome, very well fed and ,with the TV, very well entertained. Mary, Cathy,Billy and Jimmy treated all of us as if we were part of the family. Even Jimmy's dog Fuzzy was very welcoming. The Corcoran's also had a summer home in Edgewater, NJ. It was in a place called "The Colony" . It was right on the river. Of course we were always welcome there as well. We all swam in the Hudson and there was actually a little beach there.
The Corcoran family was another one of the families that made Vinegar Hill the great neighborhood that it was. Mr. Corcoran was one of the oldest original residents of the area. I believe he was born somewhere around 131st Street. He was in the neighborhood until the sixties, when the family moved to Fort Lee, NJ. The Gallagher's moved with them, to a two family house.

500 W. 135th Street

I think I'm around 5 or 6 in this picture. I had ring worm and when my hair grew back in it was very curly. I hated it but Mom loved it. Behind me is 499 to the left and 487 to the right. The store front straight ahead was a student co op from either CCNY or Music and Art. To the left of that was the Chinese laundry. Remember Pang and machahow ding ding. Pang was the boss of the laundry and machahow, if that's how you spell it, was supposed to be a Chinese curse word. After you said it you were supposed to rub your teeth with your right index finger.

500 was a typical building in the neighborhood. It was 5 stories and was a walk up. If you lived in an elevator building you were rich. If you went up to the roof you could connect to the buildings on Amsterdam Ave. all the way to 134Th St. That would have been 1512 Amsterdam, 1508 and then 501 on 134Th St. Through the back alleys is wasn't as easy because, if I remember correctly, there was about an 8 to 10 foot jump from the alleys on 135Th St. to the alleys on 134Th St. If you ran the alleys at night ,playing hide and seek, there was always a good chance that you would get clothes lined by one of the supers wash lines.

We had a great apartment, 3A. It was in the front of the building and we had windows not only on 135Th St. but also Amsterdam Ave. It was six rooms, as the real estate ads would say 3BR, LR, DR, EIK. In the bath there was a tub, toilet and sink but no shower. The thought of sitting in that tub grosses me out. After all, up until I went to high school, we only took a bath once a week, Saturday night. You can just imagine the black ring around the tub when I got out. We always had mice and so we always had a cat. Pepsi is the one I remember the most. It was the funniest thing to see that cat come running down the hall and it loved to leap into the tub when it got into the bathroom. What a surprise it would get when the tub was full. The highest rent I recall being paid and this was in the early 60's was like $60 a month + gas and electric. Mom lived in the apartment until around 1970 when she was burned out by an accidental fire from the apartment below her. The night of the fire I gathered up what was left of her possessions and locked them in the one bedroom that wasn't touched. I went to the hardware store and got a big lock and hasp to secure the bedroom door. When we came back the next afternoon the junkies had broken in and what little was left had been thoroughly ransacked looking for valuables. All of her pictures were strewn all over the room and we only managed to salvage a few of them. The neighbor hood had radically changed from when we had moved in but even after the fire Mom wanted to move back there. She just couldn't.

We always had a superintendent, better known as the super and some of them that I remember were the Sanchez's. They had a son named Mario. He was a midget and I when they moved out I lost track of him. Then there was the Feeley's. That was Genie Feeley's family. His grandpa was the super and I think Gene had just been born. I believe Dan was the grandpa's name, and I think it was him who had a fondness for the drink and when the fondness got the best of him we had no heat. Banging on the pipes didn't mean a thing. Knock three times and you got nothing but a noisy radiator. Then came the Murry's and we had all the heat we wanted. Ann and Mike had 4 boys and they all got a turn to take care of the furnace which in those days meant they had to shovel the coal in and collect the ashes and then bring up the ashes from the basement to the street. Those cans were very heavy. Mike Jr. was the oldest and he lived in England before coming to join his Mom and Dad and brothers. He went to Fordham and majored in Russian. He went into the Air Force from the ROTC and of course became an interpreter. I don't think I ever saw him after he went on active duty and he made a career out of the Air Force. Eddie was the next oldest and I believe that he is out on Long Island. I haven't seen him in years. Vinny was very active in coming to all of the V.H. reunions but I understand that he has moved to someplace near Valley Forge in Pa. Tommy, may God rest his soul, passed a few years ago at a much too early of an age. I can always picture Tommy and Artie LaMarch playing the bagpipes when we had a reunion in Van Saun Park in Paramus, NJ.

The Murry's quit being the supers and moved up stairs to the apartment next to us. Mr. Murry passed away and left Tommy,Vinny and Eddie and their Mother, Anne. I don't remember any of the supers after the Murry's left the job.

The super always lived on the second floor. I think it was 2B. In 2A , directly under us was originally the Coynes and after them came the family that owned the beauty parlor in the building, the Diaz's. Of course they were Spanish and because of the language we didn't talk that much with them. Across from them in 2C was the Wenz's. I only remember old Mrs. Wenz and her daughter May, the dancer. I think Mrs. Wenz had 2 son's who lived in he neighborhood, George and Dick. I'll talk about them later. Old Mrs. Wenz would get mad at the guys who hung out in the candy store and when they would get too loud she would pour hot water out the window onto them. Sometimes there would be a customer coming out of the candy store and they would also get doused.

Next to Mrs. Wenz was the Sullivan's. I don't remember a Mr. Sullivan but there was 2 sons. Jimmy was the oldest and after WW2 Jimmy had an affinity for the bottle. He was getting a check from the government and that kept him viable. So many guys came back from the military after the war with that affliction. Dennis was my brother Harry's age. He and Dennis were both avid comic book collectors and a least once a week they would get together and trade

comics. Harry said, one time, that if he had kept his comic book collection he would be a millionaire today. They would also go down to the candy store and you could trade comics with them but I think there was a small fee. I think Dennis fell into the hands of the junkies but the last time I saw him he was living with his cousin Sheila Sweeney out in Rockaway. It had been a number of years since I had seen him and he had a terrible accident while working for the post office. He was delivering something to a hangar out at JFK and when he went into the hangar he walked right into a rotating propeller on an aircraft. He was seriously hurt but survived. Mrs. Sullivan was a corpulent women but she always had this little bitty dog. Was it Princess? Anyway, she had this squeaky little voice and between her and the size of the dog it was a comical sight.

Up to the third floor now. Before the Murry's moved up, next door to us was the Redmond

family, a mother and father and 2 sons. I remember Hal. He was older than us and he had a car.

Mr. Redmond worked for the Fifth Ave. Coach Co. where many of the fathers in the neighborhood worked. The bus garage was on 132Nd St. off Broadway so it was just a short walk to work. Across the hall from us in 3C was the Amezaga's. He was from Spain and she was from Czechoslovakia. They had one son, Danny. My memory goes back to when he was married and I think Mrs. Amezaga never liked her daughter in law. Mrs. Amezaga, Lucy; Mrs. Murry, Anne; and my mother, Renee always got together and Lucy was always complaining about the daughter in law. Lucy was a phenomenal cook and she did quite a bit of catering. I can still remember all the fancy stuff she made for my eighth grade graduation, all kinds of fancy salads and beautiful cuts of meat. My mouth is watering. Next to the Amezaga's in 3D was the Mac Alindons. Mrs. Mac Alindon passed away when her only daughter, Mary, was still in high school.

Mr. Mac continued in the apartment until he passed away many years later. Mary married Jim Costello and is living in Rockland County. Sadly she is suffering from Alzheimers. What a beautiful girl. I think she was only a year or two older than my brother and I but on occaision she would babysit for us. I met her and Jimmy a few years ago and introduced her to my friends as my former baby sitter. We had a good laugh.

On the fourth floor, in 4A was a fellow named Jimmy Cinque. He was there for at least 20 years and the few things I remember about Jimmy are that he was very quiet, we never heard a noise from upstairs. He never had a room mate or a girl friend and all we ever did was exchange hellos.

Next to Jimmy was the Dunican family. Mr. and Mrs. and John, Brendan, Pat and Mary. Mr. Dunican worked for the Third Ave. Transit down on 126Th Street. He was a trolly driver and then when they came in, he was a bus driver. Mrs. Dunican was a homemaker as were almost all the Moms in our generation. She was a wonderful lady, always had a smile on her face. In the summer time she would take me along with all of her family to Rockaway. She always went with Mrs. Barry and her family, Leo and Mary.They were from 134Th Street. All of us would troop off to the subway and then to the Long Island Railroad on the train to Rockaway. What great times we had. When I got a little older Pat and Brendan would go with me to Palisades Amusement Park. We'd take the 125Th Street ferry over to Edgewater. When we got down to the ferry we always asked the guys driving their cars on to the ferry if we could ride with them to get on the ferry to avoid paying the fair. Once we got on the ferry we would ask the driver if he was going "up the hill" past the park entrance. Most of them were and we'd save the fare money to play some of the games at the park. The salt water pool at Palisades was the greatest. On the way home most of the guys would ride the water pipe that went down the side of the hill down to the ferry terminal. I was always a wimp and too fat so I chickened out and walked down the hill. I usually got home thirty minutes later than everyone else.

Across the hall on the fourth floor in 4C was the Cassidy family. Mr. and Mrs. and Mike, Ann, Peggy and John. Mr. Cassidy was a bus driver for the Fifth Ave. Coach Co. down on 132nd Street. Lots of Sundays they would invite me up for Sunday dinner. Being a chubby kid I never refused and after dinner with the Cassidy's, I'd go downstairs and have dinner with my family.

I alway remember that Mike and his dad had made a shoeshine box and Mike would shine shoes down on Broadway near Bickford's by the subway station. I wasn't allowed to shine shoes so I'd go as Mike's salesman. I'd try to get the people to come over to Mike to get their shoes shined. I think Mike got ten cents a shine. I don't recall if I ever got a "commission". Who cared, we were having fun. The Cassidy's had a dog, Lady. When Lady had a litter of pups I begged my parents to let me have one of the pups. They finally relented and I had my puppy, for one night. The puppy was so unhappy away from its mother that it cried all night. Nothing would stop it. In the morning I took the puppy down to walk it. Mrs. Cassidy stuck her head out the window and hollered down to me, "How was he last night?" I told her I slept all night but the puppy and my father never slept. I had to return the puppy. Good thing I did as I understand that he grew up to be the size of a German Shepherd, a big dog. Mr. Cassidy and my dad were for a long time the only car owners in the building. I remember the Cassidy's always went down to Freehold, NJ and I think Mr. Cassidy eventually built a house down there.

Next to the Cassidy's was Mrs. Kaplan, a Jewish lady. I didn't know too much about her, she had no family and she had a dog. I think it was a Pomeranian. She was always giving advice. I don't remember if she worked.
On the fifth floor in 5A was the Walsh's. It was old Mrs. Walsh and her daughter Helen. Helen never married and worked and took care of her mother. Some time after the war Helen's brothers children Dickie and his sister, I can't remember her name, came to live with them. Dickie was a good athlete and his sister was very pretty. They were a bit older than me and I never hung out with them.

I think that next to them was the Hanson's Peggy and Tommy. I don't remember anything about their parents. Peggy used to babysit for me and my brother and I know I had a crush on her. I was six and she was thirteen. What a chance I had.

In 5C was the Milton's. I remember Mrs. Milton, she was a very sickly woman and she always wore black. I'm not sure if she was a widow but I don't remember a husband. Her daughter Jeanne was much older that us and after her Mom passed she moved away. Would you believe, I forget who was in 5D.

I'm a little hazy about the sixth floor but I do remember that Dennis Hurlihy's sister Theresa married Tom Lovett and they lived on the sixth floor. Theresa had two children and I recall her wheezing as she climbed the stairs with the two kids and the groceries. Some times she sounded like she was gasping for air. I understand that she did have a bad heart and I believe she did pass.

After the Milton's moved out the Tully family moved in. They were from Ireland and I recall two children. Their daughter was beautiful and I think she did some modeling. I do remember some unhappiness and I don't know what ever happened to them. At one time there was also the Garvey family. I remember Mary with the beautiful red hair. I think they were also on the fifth floor.

Most of the families moved out of 500 by the early sixties but Mom, Mrs. Murry and Mrs. Amezaga remained for awhile longer. They were the greatest of friends and looked after one another. Mrs. Amezaga passed away and Mrs. Murry moved to Astoria. Mom remained until she had the fire.

I drove by the building after our reunion this October and I was thinking of all the stories that one building could tell. We had moved in , 1942 and the building was old then. Sixty seven years later the building still stands and I'd say it doesn't look too bad. There are still twenty families living there but I don't think they will ever be as close as we were.

I plan to work my way down the block and I'll continue next with 502.

This is my first post.

Hello All,
I am new at this and so please be patient with me. I suspect those who I want to reach are also fairly new to blogging.
Who are the people I want to reach? Any body from my old neighborhood, Vinegar Hill. Where is Vinegar Hill. Well if you Googled it, it would show up as what is now known as Dumbo, down under the Manhattan bridge. That is not my Vinegar Hill. Nor is the Vinegar Hill in County Wexford, Ireland. My Vinegar Hill is at the top of Amsterdam Ave. and 136Th Street in Manhattan. It comes for the name of what was once a very popular Irish bar of that name. What put Vinegar Hill on the map was the terrific basketball teams of the early 40's. They were invincible teams and created a great reputation for our neighborhood. The Hill also fielded some great football teams and soft ball teams.
My generation started in the middle forties when we started going to Annunciation Grammar School on 131st Street, between Amsterdam Ave. and Convent Ave. I guess I should say my male generation went to that school because the girls of my age went to what I want to call Annunciation Girls School. We were segregated from the girls and the only time we did anything together was First Communion, Confirmation and Graduation. We also went to Mass every Sunday as a group. The girls were on one side of the church and the boys were on the other. Boys on the right and girls on the left.
The story that I remember about how the girls came to be separated from the boys was that the Madams of the Sacred Heart, the order that taught in the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, wanted to do something charitable. Their solution was to build a school for the young girls of the neighborhood.
Before I go any further, let me explain a few things about this blog. What I write is from my memory. All that I have written so far is , as I recall it. What I would like is that if I write something that is not accurate, please correct me.
I grew up on 135Th Street. Our building was 500, on the south west corner of Amsterdam and 135Th Street. My dad had the camera store which was diagonally across from us. The address of the store was 1519 Amsterdam Ave. and as I recall his phone number was Edgecomb 6-7373. We didn't have a phone in the house until about 1950 so every time Mom wanted to call some one, she had to go to the store. If the store was closed, no phone. In our building, 500, we had a candy store. During my era it was owned by Tom Tighe and Mary Devlin but for years we called it Tony's Candy Store since it was originally owned by Tony DeGracia. He had a son named Boppo and also a daughter but I don't recall her name. Anyway, when we were little, almost no one had a home phone and so if you wanted someone to call you, you gave them the number of the candy store. We always hung out at the candy store and when the phone rang there was always a mad dash to answer the phone. You knew that you had to go fetch the person who was being called and there was always a tip involved. I remember that there was a girl in our building, Mae Wenz, who was always getting phone calls. I must have cost her a fortune. She was a great dancer and one year she and her partner, probably the guy who was calling her up, won the Daily News Harvest Moon Ball dance contest for the Tango or the Rumba. She was beautiful.
On the 135Th Street side of the building we also had a Chinese laundry, a shoe repair guy and one store that was always changing owners. The only two that I remember were a guy that set up some kind of ham processing shop. He sold hams but he cooked them some way that created a terrible odor. The landlord was forced to throw him out, the smell was so bad. The only other tenant was a beauty salon.
On the Amsterdam Ave. side of the building there origninally was a dry cleaner and when he went out of business Mr. Miller moved his liquor store from 1512 to the corner. Next door to him was Mr. Coynes grocery store. He was the nicest man. When you bought your groceries he would always write down the price of what you bought and then add them up. I was determined to catch him in a mistake but it never happened. When Mr. Coyne passed away they laid him out in his apartment which was just below ours. We were on the third floor and he was laid out in the corner of the living room. After that I would never sit in that corner of our living room because Mr. Coyne was right below me. I think I was six or seven at the time.
Mr. O'Rourke took over the grocery store after Mr. Coyne passed away. I think he came from Peter Reeves and he wanted to go out on his own. All of this before Safeway moved in on us and changed the neighborhood. Next to O'Rourke's was Jimmy the Barber. But Ma, I don't like Jimmy the Barber, I wanted to go to Anton's up the block. I went to Jimmy because I think he was cheaper. 500 was a great building and the people who lived there were the best.