STRATTON PARK

Since 2003, the internet home of "the old neighborhood" - Stratton Park , Bronx NY

MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE- 2005


Name:	Theresa Thornby Walsh <twalsh7@hvc.rr.com>
Date:	2005-12-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1459 taylor & 1436 Beach
When did you live there	1946-1961
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I was browsing thru the site & was happy to hear news from Kaka Carr..I also saw a note from George O'Hagen & was saddened to hear that his sister Ann passed away. We lived in their building on Taylor & my Mom was especially fond of Mrs O'Hagen. I remember when Peggy & Ann got married & seeing them come out in their beautiful gowns. But we also were friendly with them again in Rockland County. I live up in Saugerties NY now, retired & busy with 8 (soon to be 9) grandchildren....HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU !


Name:	Larry Mullaly <lmm4cam>
Date:	2005-12-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Taylor Ave
When did you live there	1935 till 1969
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	How many remember miss Rangelli,Miss Oneil, Miss Shehan,and Miss Leonard special teachers in St. Anthony's.Also what was the name of the candy store at the bottom of St. Lawrence Ave. and 177 st.( tacoma ave) pre cross bronx exp. Larry Mullaly


Name:	Geraldine <GERRY1977@WEBTV.NET>
Date:	2005-12-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	DID NOT LIVE THERE
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL


Name:	Kathleen Carr O'Leary <olearyowls@sbcglobal.net>
Date:	2005-12-26
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach Avenue
When did you live there	1946-1968
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	A big thank you to the Web-master for all his hard work in putting up this site. It is a wonderful Christmas present for us all. Much health and happiness in the New Year to everyone that was touched by the Stratton Park neighborhood.


Name:	Alan Soel <ajs.cs@mindspring.com>
Date:	2005-12-26
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1768 Mansion St - 1357 Beach
When did you live there	1941 - 1965
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	Merry Christmas. First, thank you to Tom Carr for alerting me to this great site. To Ralph Behringer, we lived in the house that you see in the first page of photos, last row "what is this building". That was a 2 family house. I lived upstairs with my mother and father and my sister Margaret, who was a St. Anthony's class of '45 graduate. Downstairs lived Mr. & Mrs. Heaney and their sons James and Richard. The house was owned by St. Anthony's and we paid $28 a month rent to Msgr. Scully at the time we were evicted for the new rectory in 1952 (we moved to 1357 Beach, just across the Expressway). Next to us was Mrs. Ryan and then your store. I was friends with Frankie Kelleher who lived next to your store. I remember climbing on his garage roof to pick cherries from the tree of a house on St. Lawrence. Without being too redundant of all the many great memories shared by others, there are some that come to mind in no particular order. Going to Jakes candy store and standing on the chair by the comics to see the latest issues. Eating mellowrolls in Jakes. For a short time there was a bakery next to the shoe store on Mansion St. There was a big house one or two up from Jakes on St. Lawrence where my sister played with her friend Dotty Dosso. Playing Johnny on the pony and kick the can 4 corners on St. Lawence. Tying cans on the back of cars when they stopped at the traffic light on St. Lawrence and Mansion. Watching Starlight Park from the old tennis courts (we called it the platau) light up the evening sky when it burned down. Playing guns in the lots by Noble and hiding by the cave. Putting out cans of ashes during snow storms for cars stuck on the corner at Commonwealth. Dropping off film at the Kodak store on Tremont between Commonwealth and Rosedale. Lining up in the grotto for Sunday Mass. As an alter boy, speeding through a Mass with Fr. Stauback and serving for Fr. Mike D'Allesandro (God rest his soul). When Fr. Mike left, he was replaced with Fr. Tom Tolintino, who later was the celibrant for my sister's marriage. Standing in the hallway behind the sacristy with my class during the air raid drills. Having 1st grade Sister Assumpter put red pepper on your tongue for talking and then being sent into the closet where you would wipe it off on the backside of your tie. Being chased by Martin the caretaker (he lived above the sacristy) for playing ball against the Church. Sleding down "double hill" (St. Lawrence to 177th) and in the Safeway lots on cardboard. Watching the annual burning of old Chistmas trees in the Safeway lot. Abe's malteds and egg creams. There was also a candy store a few stores up from Bogamann's. The phone booths in Doc Adlers. Watching the sports on the TV in Cotters, formerly Sams. Wishing for the 69 cent turkey dinner at the Woolworth counter. Looking at the annual setup of Lionel trains in the Macy's basement every Cristmas. Walking to 4 or 5 movie houses, including the RKO Chester at West Farms, where they filmed that great movie "Marty". Playing pool and basketball at night in the Community Center (CC) at the public school on Archer. Seeing the whole neighborhood in the Catskills on Labor Day. Going on fishing trips from City Island to Montaulk with the guys. But most of all, being blessed with growing up with so many great friends and living in a neighborhood that was one big family. Sad to say, after I was married and moved to Queens I failed to keep up the contacts. But it was great to "hear" them again in the message board. A Peaceful and Healthy New Year to anyone who remembers me.


Name:	regina emilio buckley <rme122853@aol.com>
Date:	2005-12-25
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1517 Taylor Avenue
When did you live there	1`953-1975
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	wanted to wish everyone a merry christmas and happy new year. am trying to find my 8th grade graduation picture for others to view. hopefully someone from my grade will find this website. lots of great memories


Name:	Rosie (NOCELLA) Clarke-Schofield <roro1390@optonline.net>
Date:	2005-12-22
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Mrs Cohen's
When did you live there	43-60
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	NO
Comments:	I would like to wish all a Very Merry Christmas and A Very Happy New Year to One and All. And I hope it will be a safe one.


Name:	Bill Egan <eganbill@cox.net>
Date:	2005-12-22
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach
When did you live there	1939-1952
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Several more class photos have been posted to the website’s photo page. Now we can put faces to the names of most of the Blue Jays, as well as Saint Anthony graduates from the classes of 1948, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1964, 1970 and 1972. Unfortunately, only one photo from PS 102 has been posted so far, the class of 1950 (6/4). Missing Saint Anthony class photos include the following: pre 1948 photos, 1949, 1950, 1953 (with names), 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965-1969, 1971 and post 1972. Three of these missing photos can be found on Bronxboard.com: 1949 and two 1953 photos, with names. It also includes the following PS 102 class photos: 1948, 1950 (6/5) 1951, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1968, 1969, and 1970. These pictures should also be posted on our website. As more class photos, with names, are posted the easier it will be for us to remember faces of old friends, classmates, their families, and neighbors. Considering that at least 50 percent of the kids that grew up in Stratton Park went to 102, its class photos would provide us with visual memories of good friends from the old days. They would also give the website’s photo page a better balance of both schools. With regard to the Blue Jays, if anyone could find a team picture it would make a valuable posting to the website, along with any other team picture, e.g. the renowned Steelers and Archer Rams, as well teams recently mentioned on the website: Sullivan’s Snakes, the FGR&R and Reltny Players. I believe that the Hustlers also fielded a team or two. Photos of games played at Noble Field, 102 school yard, street stickball and association games, etc. would bring back great reminders of the 40s 50s and 60s. If enough photos were submitted we could request our website master to set up a page for sporting-events. We already have an action photo of Frankie Riff at the Garden. Merry Christmas to all of you, and in the words repeated by Bill O’Malley: Nollaig Beannaithe agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh.


Name:	Richard Buckley <rjb@huntpetroleum.com>
Date:	2005-12-22
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1517 Taylor Avenue
When did you live there	1958 - 1979
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Although I have memories of riding the subway to Cardinal Hayes and later to work, my sympathies are extended to all you fellow New Yorkers suffering through another strike. I was unlucky enough to have lived through the last subway strike as well as the ones for Metro North and the LIRR. I now live in Flower Mound, TX and work in Dallas. Although I will take this commute any day of the week, they sure do not know how to drive down here. Merging is an unknown concept and half the folks think they are in a NASCAR race. I guess I will always be looking for nirvana. Being new to this site and being of a younger generation, I have only spotted a couple of my old class mates, but I will keep trying. Reading through all the stories is great. A wonderful memory for me goes back to the 60's when my mother was dating Herbie Gelman whose father owned the candy store on the corner of Taylor and Archer. My mother would have me, my brother and 2 sisters on Saturday and we would meet Herbie at the Candy Store, load up, and then see the sites of NY. Nothing beats being a little kid with a ton of free candy.


Name:	Marion Farrell Cronin <mcronin111@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-12-22
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1442 Leland Avenue
When did you live there	1962-1983
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	My youngest son just participated in his school's Christmas play. The performance brought back so many memories of St. Anthony's Christmas plays. As a child, it was so exciting to be pulled out of class for rehearsals, and the actual event seemed almost magical. Did anyone out there ever achieve the coveted roles of Mary and Joseph in St. Anthony's plays?


Name:	Marie Keane Lappetito <marielapp@webtv.net>
Date:	2005-12-22
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1512 Beach & 1510 St.Lawrence av
When did you live there	1934-1953
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	briefly
Comments:	JUST TO CLARIFY A COUPLE OF THINGS,MY PARENTS MOVED INTO 1512 BEACH AVE. wHEN I WAS 2YRS OLD. NOW YOU ALL KNOW THAT I'M 73. THEY MOVED TO ST. LAWRENCE AVE. WHEN I WAS FOUR. MY BROTHER BUd[LUKE JR.] HAD ARRIVED ON THE SCENE. MY BROTHER KEVIN ARRIVED MUCH LATER. HE WILL BE 61 IN JANUARY. WE ALL GRADUATED FROM ST.ANTHONY'S SCHOOL.I WAS MARRIED IN ST'ANTHONYS CHURCH IN MAY 1953. MY PARENTS LIVED IN 1510 FOR QUITE A LONG TIME AFTER I WAS MARRIED. MY AUNT NORA AND UNCLE JOHN SULLIVAN LIVED IN 1522 BEACH FOR YEARS. MY AUNT NORA AND MY MOM[SISTERS] CAME FROM IRELAND TOGETHER AND WERE NEVER FAR APART. I AM SO FULL OF MEMORIES TODAY. DOES ANYONE BUT MARTY WULSTEIN AND I REMEMBER McCARTHY'S CANDY STORE AND JOE AND JIMMY McCARTHY. HOW ABOUT JAKE'S AND SARAH AND MIKE'S. SAM KLEINS WHERE DAD COULD GET HIS BEER CONTAINER FILLED AND MY MOM WOULD OCCAISONALY TREAT US TO HOT DOGS[WE CAME HOME FOR LUNCH].I REMEMBER JACK BRILLA,HERBIE BUCHANAN, THE DONLEAVYS, THE DOSSOS, ALL THE HANLEYS, FR.BURRIESCI, THE ROGERS FAMILY-TOM,SIS, AND THEIR BROYHER BARNEY WHO WAS MISSING IN ACTION IN THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE. HE NEVER CAME HOME. I REMEMBER V-E DAY AND V-J DAY AND THE GREAT BLOCK PARTIES. I REMEMBER THE GIUSMONDI FAMILY AND THE FERRARAS.I REMEMBER DOC ADLER AND DR,HEENAN. I REMEMBER PEGGY THORNTON AND LOUISE DEL SIGNORE. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU WHO ARE STILLOUT THERE. GOD BLESS US EVERYONE1


Name:	Denis Horgan <CPTDENIS@AOL.COM>
Date:	2005-12-22
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach Ave
When did you live there	1940-1966
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Greetings from Mumbai, India.(Bombay) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the wonderful people who made growing up in the Bronx a classic experience. God Bless.


Name:	Tom Anderson <twa46@prodigy.net>
Date:	2005-12-21
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1435 Taylor, Theriot Aves
When did you live there	1946-1968, 1968-1970
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our friends and neighbors from Rosedale Ave to White Plains Rd, from Tremont Ave to the Cross Bronx Expressway. The Archer Rams, Sullivan's Snakes and FGK&R players and the "Reltny" team. Keep up the great posts. Tom & Laura(Fitzgerald) Anderson


Name:	Marie Keane Lappetito <marielapp@webtv.net>
Date:	2005-12-20
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1510 St.Lawrence Ave.
When did you live there	1936-1953
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	What a delight to have spent the last half hour reading the comments. Marty W. I certainly remember things you mentioned. Millie Mazzarella, I would love to hear from you. When I was a kid, I called Pete the barber Uncle Pete and his wife was Aunt Rose. My parents(Mae an Luke Keane) were great friends of the Bapperts.Thanks to my cousin Bishop Dennis Sullivan for telling me about this website.


Name:	Larry Mullaly <lmm4cam@aol.com>
Date:	2005-12-20
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1531,1475,1471 Taylor Ave.
When did you live there	1935 till 1969
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Just a line to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS,THANKS FOR A GREAT WEBSITE. LARRY MULLALY I DID NOT KNOW BEACH AVE. HAD A BASEBALL TEAM


Name:	regina buckley emilio <rme122853@aol.com>
Date:	2005-12-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1517 Taylor Avenue
When did you live there	1953-1975
Comments:	in response to Mike Cronin's about the rooms above the sacristy. one of the doors lead to the music room, if they still teach much at St. Anthonys. The other door lead to where the organ was above the entrance to the church. i think this is what he is asking for. if not i tried. another memory how about dance class with Ms. Whatshername and all the square dances she made us learn. How about Teen night, they certainly don't have that where i live now.


Name:	regina buckley emilio <rme122853@aol.com>
Date:	2005-12-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1517 Taylor Avenue
When did you live there	1953-1975
Comments:	Lived with my sister, Patti, and two brothers, Michael and Ricky. they all live in and around Dallas, Texas now. I am now living on staten island. Even my mother is down in Texas now. We lived right across from PS102. We all hung out down at the Deli, in front of Harry's on the corner, Spotless, Heime's furniture upholstery and at the pizzaria down the block. We also used to hang out at Noble Field also. My brother's played in the little league. My teachers were Sr. Loretta Jean, Ms. Kealing, Sr. Gabriel, Ms. Larkin, Ms. Bender, Sr. Cornelius and Sr. Ellen, i forget the 6th grade teacher but she wasnt there very long before I graduated in 1967. Some of my classmates were Maureen Cusack, Patti Shea, Lorraine Rispoli, Linda Tinelli, Janet Chiappa, Kevin Bourke, Sean Flanagan, John Mulligan, We were in 8-1 with Sr. Ellen. Does anyone remember Sr. Labourea, I probably spelt it wrong. Reading all these memories were great. My brothers also played for the Rams with Eddie Stack. My sister and I and friends were always on the bus to go to the games. My brother, Michael, was friends with the Harts and Billy Munroe and still is. We just saw a whole bunch of people in Oct, right around Halloween for Joey Shea's suprise birthday party. They all live up in Pearl River. It was great. The theme of the party was a roast. Everyone was telling Joey Shea stories. It was hysterical. I never laughed so hard. I saw so many people I haven't seen in eons. It was wonderful. I'm glad my brother Ricky ran into someone in Dallas whose father in law is from the nieghborhood. talk about small world. Anyone from my years, would love to hear from you


Name:	Richard Buckley <rjb@huntpetroleum.com>
Date:	2005-12-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1517 Taylor Avenue, Apt. 2
When did you live there	1958-1979
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	It's a small world. I currently live in Flower Mound, TX which is a suburb of Dallas. I was at a Christmas dinner on the 17th and met the wife of a co-worker. Beginning with the 'where did you grow up' question, she told me of her father, Bob Hammer, who forwarded the website to me. I've already spent an extended lunch hour going through the site and have forwarded the website to my siblings. Based on the majority of the postings, I am younger than most of the folks, but I am almost positive that Marion Farrell was a classmate of mine at St. Anthony's Well, I am late for a meeting. But if Marion sees this, I graduated in 1972 and I was in 8-2. Rich Buckley


Name:	Richard Buckley <rjb@huntpetroleum.com>
Date:	2005-12-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1517 Taylor Avenue, Apt. 2
When did you live there	1958-1979
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	It's a small world. I currently live in Flower Mound, TX which is a suburb of Dallas. I was at a Christmas dinner on the 17th and met the wife of a co-worker. Beginning with the 'where did you grow up' question, she told me of her father, Bob Hammer, who forwarded the website to me. I've already spent an extended lunch hour going through the site and have forwarded the website to my siblings. Based on the majority of the postings, I am younger than most of the folks, but I am almost positive that Marion Farrell was a classmate of mine at St. Anthony's Well, I am late for a meeting. But if Marion sees this, I graduated in 1972 and I was in 8-2. Rich Buckley


Name:	pat meade falci <patsieirishlady.com>
Date:	2005-12-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1450 taylor ave
When did you live there	1939-1960
Comments:	just a line to wish all of the old neighborhood a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful and healthy 2006. the years are all going by so fast where did all those years go. thank God for all the memories we share from taylor ave.,beach ave and all the surrounding blocks. have a happy.


Name:	Jeremiah O'Connor <mahoconnor@aol.com>
Date:	2005-12-18
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1443 Taylor Avenue
When did you live there	1934-1953
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Some of the names bring back lots of memories. I went to PS 102 and PS 47. My brothers are Jimmy and Pat. We all hung out on Archer Street. I remember Harry's candy store and the fish market etc.


Name:	Mike Cronin <mcronin111@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-12-18
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1574B, 1475T
When did you live there	1962-1977
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	You Bet
Comments:	Here is a Question maybe some St. Anthony's Grads could answer; While at my son's school Christmas recital, I was reminded of marching down the often unused stairs in St. Anthony’s so we would wind up near the stage for our Christmas Play. We would pass many rooms that I have no idea what they were used for. Does anyone have a clue? I remember passing a room over the sacristy and it looked like another sacristy? If anyone can shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it!


Name:	Cindy Ramos Grieve <CTGOB>
Date:	2005-12-17
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Commonwealth Ave
When did you live there	1950-76
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	Really enjoy reading all the info on the old neighborhood.I'm interested in knowing who submitted the class photo of "64 which was my graduating class. Also does anyone remember Pat Grieve who lived at 1574 Leland Ave the apartment house closer to Tremont Ave and went to St. Helenas grade and high school.


Name:	Jim Harrington <jfharrington_1@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-12-16
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1512 Beach; 1803 Archer; 1491 Beach
When did you live there	1944 to 1966; my family lived there 1938 to 2005
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	As a follow up to Eddie Bourke's Blue Jay story, the famous Blue Jay uniforms were passed down to the next group in line which included myself, Tommy Joe Bourke (Eddie's younger brother) Rich Luke, Johnny Purcell, John O'Neil, among others. We were leadership also, except on one occation Mr Bourke (Paddy B was TJ and Eddie's father) tried to organize us and held a practice seession in the old PS 102 school yard. It didn't last too long and the lasting memory I have of this practice is Paddy B helping us with batting practice. The problem we had was how Paddy B demonstrated how to hold the bat. Being a famous hurling player for Tipperary he was holding the bat like a hurling stick. Well, it just didn't work for the baseball bat.


Name:	Marty Wulstein <mwulstein@aol.com>
Date:	2005-12-16
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Mansion ST.
When did you live there	1924-1955
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No. I lived oposite St. Anthony on Mansion St.
Comments:	Some may remember what I have written below about the tavern on 177th St. I frequented in the middle 1940’s if they are from my era of the old neighborhood. The majority of you reading this no doubt are of a younger generation but might find it of interest. The Crescent It had a character of it’s own as neighborhood taverns sometimes do. But the Crescent had a unique quality. Maybe the era had something to do with it being just after WW II. The neighborhood’s former soldiers had returned much matured, yet still young and eager to resume their life long friendships. The tavern owner also had a hand in establishing its character and together with him, the customers, and the era, the Crescent’s personality emerged. We were all in our early twenties the owner Jim O’Conell and his wife Helen and sister Josie were probably in their forties and looked upon their younger customers as good kids. Yet they insisted on quiet conversation and decent language. We in return looked upon them like an aunt and uncle and showed them respect. The food they served was like at home and I remember after a late Friday night at the movies would drop down to the Crescent after midnight, and have the most delicious filet mignon steak sandwich in the state. The owner Jim being a former butcher, bought his steaks by personally picking them out from his former supplier. His wife Helen or sister Josie would cook them to perfection and serve them on the most delicious rye bread. Washing it down with tap beer kept at the proper temperature with clean pipes resulted in a thick foamy head that was a sight to be remembered. Sunday was a special day at the Crescent. Taverns in the Bronx didn’t open till after the last church mass was out, that being 1:00 PM, and we all met there sometime after that hour. On Sunday there was an unwritten law that no one sit on the very first stool at the left end of the bar’s elbow against the wall. If all the seats were occupied and that stool at the left elbow was empty you remained standing. Occasionally an unknowing soul would take that seat and would politely be told that that was reserved for Denny O’Toole. They would quizzically vacate the seat and move to a standing space taking their drink along. Denny O’Toole was a man in his forties who would shortly arrive with the Sunday newspapers tucked under his arm. He quietly sat in that empty spot at the left spread out his paper and began reading. Jim would put his beer on the inside rim of the bar so as to prevent it being knocked over. The previous intruder of that spot would look around for an explanation of just who is this Denny O’Toole. It seems that Denny had a house full of kids and he came to the Crescent on Sunday to get away from all the turmoil to read his papers in peace. Jim O’Connell sympathized with his predicament and laid down that unwritten law. We and other’s respected that law and never questioned it. In fact we automatically toned down our conversation just for Denny’s benefit. During the summer months Jim and Helen would go out together for a ride on Sunday in “the countryö as they called it. It was their habit to visit farm areas and more often than not bring back some farm produce. It was not an unusual sight for every one sitting at the bar to be chomping away at freshly picked large ears of corn that Helen cooked and served compliments of the owners. Ample bowls of melted butter was strategically placed along the bar with brushes to spread on the fresh picked corn. I remember this well especially the delicious taste and sipping the beer after each bite. Sunday Evening was also special at the Crescent being television night. No one had television at home in those days and only a few taverns had them the Crescent being one. It was a table set with a 12ö screen placed on a high perch with a magnifying glass mounted in front of the lens. In those days all TV was live and Sunday had variety shows that were not unlike Old Time Vaudeville. There would be automatic applause from us onlookers of the TV as we felt that we were actually at the show. It was a most pleasant time for television as compared to today’s miserable TV fare. Many on Sunday night would bring their future wives to watch the Vaudeville TV Shows, it being a very enjoyable and economical date; just the cost of a soda or such for one’s girlfriend. The Christmas Season was also special at the Crescent Jim and Helen would present to their customers a gift of what ever they usually drank. A bottle of bourbon or rye, or a case of beer. In addition once a year all the bar owners of the Bronx held a ball at the Bronx Winter Garden inviting their special steady customers, drinks on the house with live music. Can you imagine that being so for today’s bars? Then suddenly a tragedy struck. It was 1948 and Robert Moses after seizing property under eminent domain began building the “Cross Bronx Expresswayö. The Crescent was in that domain and was bought out. Our beloved Crescent was no longer on East 177th St. it was demolished along with many homes and establishments along the path of the expressway and replaced with what is now often called the “Bronx Gas Chamberö with it’s ever clogged traffic and noxious fumes. This wonderful gathering place we had enjoyed during our twenties was taken from us. However those memories are forever in the domain of our mind, and can never be seized and taken like the Crescent was seized as eminent domain. We even today, recall and laugh at those wonderful times at the Crescent with its one of a kind special personality.


Name:	Bill Carr <wcarrcpa@aol.com>
Date:	2005-12-14
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach Ave.
When did you live there	1938-1961
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Steve Coffey's posting concerning our 1950's Blue Jays baseball team conjured up many memories. I too have retained a copy of the article containing Julius Pashman's letter that Steve cites. About three decades ago, as it was achieving dog-eared status in my wallet, I asked my secretary to convert it to a scroll-like format which would be suitable for framing. I am looking at that framed product right now as my not so dexterous fingers labor at my keyboard. Steve's note indicates that his mother gave him the article which she had read in "The Bronx Home News". Wasn't that so typical of those overly-pampered upper Beach Ave. kids. Their mothers did their reading for them. I found and read the article all by myself but my source was the "Bronx Press Review" ( since that " Communist rag"(my father's words),The Bronx Home News, was verboten in the Carr household.) Perhaps Steve's mother sanitized the version she gave him so his tender sensitivities wouldn't be set off by what the letter actually said about the shoddy appearance of his team that day or perhaps it was the Home News' penchant for inaccuracy. In any case, the rendition Steve has re-produced omits several comments that were germane to the socio-economic strata we occupied in those days and their omission waters down the full story. At the risk of redundancy but in the interest of completeness, let me repeat that letter as it appeared in Jim Amen's column in the "Bronx Press Review" issue of July 17,1953: "A nice and very gratifying letter was received the other day from our friend Julius Pashman, manager of the Buffalo Blues, the current leaders in our Kawanis League. Julius writes: 'You may be proud that you included the Blue Jays team when you made up your Kawanis League roster for the year. As you know, we played them at Harris Field last weekend. They cam leaderless and,what is more, sans equipment. Not only didn't they have any uniforms but most of them had holes in their sneakers and rips in their pants. We loaned them our bats and catching equipment--even our caps to shade them from the sun. To add insult to injury, this little band of freckled face ragamuffins beat us. For a group of youngsters who, I repeat, were leaderless, I have never in all my experience encountered such well-behaved,well-mannered and grand young men. When you have to lose ball games (and God knows I don't want to but do) it takes the sting out of it when you lose to such boys as composed the Blue Jays team.'" Fifty plus years later, I sometimes can't remember why I have entered a room or whom I spoke with just ten minutes ago or the first name of whatshername, my wife. Yat I can remember the fellows on that team, by position mind you, as if it were yesterday. Steve Coffey listed most of the team members although I think there were two inaccuracies. Let me embellish a little from my memory bank. Most of us were members of the St Anthony class of 1952 and were now completing our freshman year a a number of diverse high schools. As a precurser to the affirmative action initative which would soon be vested upon the country, we also had several PS 47 graduates on the team. Some of them, I believe, were on an early release programs from various houses of incarceration. ONLY KIDDING FOLKS. Eddie Gallagher, who graduated with Jim Purcell and me from Fordham in 1960 and would die in a non-combat related crash while serving in the Air Force a decade later, played first base; I was at second; Buzzy Irving at short and Terry Mimnaugh at third. Tom McKiernan was a natural for catcher since he possessed our only catcher's mask. I refrain from saying he 'owned' that mask since its aquisition was somewhat suspect. Suffice it to say that a certain West Farms sporting goods store recorded some shrinkage that year. Strangely, we only had one pitcher, Steve Coffey. That was primarilly due to the fact that Steve refused to relinquish the ball to anyone even when he was being shelled. Steve was a southpaw and his demeanor on the field served to confirm the popular perception of the day that left-handed people were a little bit "odd". The outfield was a hodge-podge of whoever could make it to the game. John Sullivan and Jimmy Purcell have already been mentioned. In addition, we had Billy Franklin, Richie Rafti, Jim Brinn and Johnny Nagle. I believe we had a roster of 15 players so my memory is still a few members short. Playing the game was the easy part. Getting to the game site was a real pain in the tail. We generally played on Saturday mornings at either Harris Field, Bedford Park Field or Pelham Bay Park. When we knew he didn't have a funeral or wedding obligation (yes, folks, back then people used to get married in church on a Saturday morning-except in lent), we would show up at the St. Anthony rectory and ask Fr. Michael to drive us to the game venue. The expression on his face would say "not you guys again" but the saintlike Fr. Mike couldn't turn us down. It was quite a scene witnessing 9 of us emerging from his old Buick. On most occasions we had to resort to the subway and this presented a serious economic problem. The fare was $.25 cents and excess quarters weren't exactly plentiful on Beach Ave. We had to resort to a little subterfuge. The turnstyles back then were rotary and about 3' off the ground. (We couldn't have pulled this ploy with today's spoke-like turnstyles). The tallest of us, Tom McKiernan,would buy a fare by presenting 25 pennies to the token seller who was housed in a littlu booth that was visually confining. Tom would stand on tip toes in such a way as to impede the tokenman's vision of the turnstyle and would always be a penny short-thus causing a recount until the "missing"cent was found in his pocket. While all this was going on, the rest of us would sneak under the turnstyle. Most of us were skinny and the turnstyle tango posed no physical problem. The one guy who had a problem with it was Richie Rafti. Rich had been weaned on his mother's pasta (a delicacy still foreign to most of our Irish born mothers) and his girth reflected it. While the rest of us were ruler shaped, Richie's torso took on the dimensions of a cube. In addition, Rich's baseball skills were such that he realized that the only reason he was on the team was that he owned one of the two bats in our possession. As a result, that bat rarely left his hands. Seeing him trying to maneuver under the turnstyle, bat in hand, could have formed the inspiration for the "limbo". The game that elicited Mr. Pashman's letter was memorable. The Blues were undefeated and were the class of the league. They were a large, well structured and well financed organization that served hundreds of kids ranging from 8 to 18 in the North Central Bronx. We had never seen them before and, by all rights, we should have been intimidated. They came from the Concorse area and what we called flats and tenaments they called condos and co-ops; we arrived at Harris Field via shank's mare while they trolled up in taxis and private cars; our uniforms were torn dungarees an tee shirts of various hues of white while they had impressive home AND away uniforms;we wore sneakers that generally had exceeded their deprecible lives while they had matching spikes; we came sans any adult supervision or fan support while they had a 100 person support system that seemed to constantly bark out instructions and feed them between innings. Hell, they even had cheerleaders. We overcame their early lead and won that game by one run as some timely hitting was abeted by an uncharisticly controlled pitching performance from 'wild thing' Coffey. Though shocked at their defeat by a bunch of rag-tags, the Blues and their officials were graceful losers and smiled as they shook their disbelieving heads in bidding us goodby. We, of course, were elated as we contributed to Tom McKiernan's 25 penny stash for the trip home. The Stratton Park Little League came into being around 1957. Some will lament that my age group was born too early to participate in it. I'm inclined to disagree. There was something wonderfully exhilarating about being a free-spirited "band of freckled faced ragamuffins" (Mr. Pashman's words) and I echo Steve's sentiments that we played just for the fun of it. Ed Bourke has written a sequel to Steve's posting and I think he has two Blue Jay teams confused. Although I can't say that I remember Ed, I do remember the three guys he mentions as team members. To the best of my memory, none of them was on that '53 team. However the nucleus of the original Blue Jays joined a 15-16 year old league sponsored by the Babe Ruth organization in 1954. I was due to join that group but subsequently found out that guys who were on the roster of their high school team were banned from playing in Babe Ruth. As I had just won a starting position on my high school JV team, I had to leave the Blue Jays. I didn't really know the eventual members of that team but perhaps some of them are the ones Ed has confused with the '53 version.


Name:	CHARLES FALCO <SCORPIO12894@AOL.COM>
Date:	2005-12-14
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1427 TAYLOR AVENUE
When did you live there	1939 1963
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	YES
Comments:	ANOTHER NOTE REGARDING THE NEIGHBORHOOD. AS AYOUNGSTER OF 5 I REMBER DR. HEENAN REMOVING MY TONSILS IN HIS APARTMENT/OPERATING FACILITY AND WAKING UP ON HIS BED WITH FOUR OTHER YOUNGSTERS, ANYBODY ELSE OUT THERE/\


Name:	CHARLES FALCO <SCORPIO12894@AOL.COM>
Date:	2005-12-14
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1427 TAYLOR AVENUE
When did you live there	1939 1963
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	YES
Comments:	JUST DISCOVERED THIS SITE RECENTLY. WHO REMBERS SISTER DOLORES FROM THE FIFTH GRADE,ON FRIDAYS WE WOULD HAVE TO PLAY BINGOMFOR TEN CENTS. YOU COULD NOT BRING HER PENNIES.SO YOU WOULD STOP BY DOC ADLER AND CHANGE THEM FOR SILVER. UPON DOING SO HE WOULD KNOW SISTER DOLORES WAS YOUR TEACHER.


Name:	Ed Bourke <ebourke@frontiernet.net>
Date:	2005-12-12
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1809 Archer st
When did you live there	1941 till 1961 & 1963 - 1965
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	The Main bldg
Comments:	I want to add to Steve Coffey's list of the BlueJays, Brendan O'Donohue, Bobby MeKeon, Billy Flynn and Basil ??????? , I forgot his last name but his father help us get the Uniforms at Spalding sporting shop over on Tremont ave near Park Ave........ If anyone knows how to edit the Message Bd file....PLEASE correct the spelling of my Name "Bourke" It's ok Steve it happens all the time Thanks for the memories of 52+ yrs ago WHO CAN GET BUZZIE IRVINE ON LINE ED


Name:	Steve Coffey <st.coffey@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-12-09
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1530 Beach Ave.
When did you live there	1942 to 1963
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Many years ago, my mother gave me an article that appeared in the Bronx Home News newspaper. I still have it and will share it with you. A nice letter was received by Jim Amen, supervisor of the Parkchester Kiwanis League from Julius Pashman, manager of the Buffalo Blues BBC, highly complimenting one of the teams in the league, the Blue Jays BBC. Julius writes: You may be proud that you included the Blue Jays team when you made up the Kiwanis League roster. As you know, we played them at Harris Field, they came leaderless and what is more, sans equipment. We loaned them our bats, gloves and catching equipment, even our caps to shade them from the sun. To add insult to injury, they beat us. For a group of youngsters, who I repeat were leaderless, I have never in all my experience, encountered such well behaved, well mannered and grand young men. When you have to lose ball games ( God knows I dont want to, but do) it takes the sting out of it when you lose to such boys as compose the Blue Jays team." To Julius Pashman and his kids a "dozen roses" for their sportsmanship and character in helping out the Blue Jays Little Big Leaguers. The year was 1953 or 54. The Blue Jays were a neighborhood team. WE were about 14 or 15 years old. No parents were involved. Quite frankly I am sure we enjoyed it more that way. No pressure, just fun. I will list the names I remember from the team. If anyone can think of more, please share them with us. Buzzy Irvine, Billy Carr, Jim Purcell, Terry Mimnaugh, John Sullivan, Ed Gallagher,Tom McKiernan,Tom O brian, and Ed Burke. Memories of a different era. Merry Christmas!


Name:	Theresa[Munro]Maher <berndanerin>
Date:	2005-12-08
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1844 Guerlain Street
When did you live there	1935-1951
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	I was so delighted to come accross this web site.Most of all I am looking foward to getting in touch with Tisha Sullivan O'Connor.I was Baptized,made Holy Communion and Conformation at ST. Anthony's church.I attended PS 102 until the sixth grade.I then graduated from PS 47 after two years.I had the wonderful opportunity of making the best of friends from ST. Anthony's [and those who did not go there 1n 1951 I moved up to Hull Ave. I married Robert Maher[dec.September 12 2004]. I have three children 2 daughters and1 son.Also 4 wonderful grandchildren[Danielle,Erin,Anna&Nora]. We moved to Florida in Sept.1972 and returned in December 1989.I keep in touch with Mildred Mazzarella Schmatz and Chickie Bappert.I look forward to the renion and the luncheon in May."Those were the good old days"Nothing but fun,games and laughter.ST. Anthony's held us all together.For others you may want to contact;Mr.& Mrs.Vincent Flynn[Terry Mulligan]They lived on 1500 Theiriot Ave and are presently living on Hatting Ave,Bronx NY.Also Mr.& Mrs. Thomas Risi[Rita Lagovani]Seward Ave Bronx NY.Well enough for now. My telephone # is[732-873-8027]


Name:	Pat Kenny Barry <pavb67@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-12-08
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1451 Taylor Ave.
When did you live there	1942- 1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Thanks to Mike our webmaster for this site that has assisted in alerting and connecting us so many people and memories. I just returned home to Boston from NY where I attended JP Shanley's DOUBT with my sisters Eileen and Nancy. I was extremely moved with the play on several levels and have nothing but rave reviews for John and the cast. I highly recommend that you invest in the time and money to see an extremely thought-provoking play which presents some serious moral dilemnas. You could hear everyone in the audience discussing the issues as we exited the theater. I will see it again when it comes to Boston... Peace and Blessings to each of you and your loved ones. Pat Kenny Barry


Name:	Patrick ( Packy ) Hanley <hanleypf@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-12-05
Where did you live in Stratton Park	St. Lawrence Avenue
When did you live there	1942 - 1964
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Across the street fm. St. A
Comments:	Trying to contact Pat Crowley. He was a neighborhood guy who attended Iona College in the early 60's. Pat attended the lunch reunion at Charlie's Inn last October. My tele# is 302 945 8051. I continue to enjoy the many notes and comments. Based on the quality of numerous contributions, the Sisters of Charity certainly put in quite a solid foundation for many of us ! Merry Christmas to all ! Pat Hanley


Name:	Martin Walsh <mwalsh5647@aol.com/website: strikemepinkifidontthink.com>
Date:	2005-12-03
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1803 Archer, 1530 Beaqch, 1803 Guerlain (1574 Beach)
When did you live there	1936-58
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	This is just to acknowledge some things I've seen on here so the contributors will know someone's been listening. The first is Marty Wulstein, whom I don't know, but who knows my brother from Jersey. I remember the McCarthy family quite well from their store, plus I was friendly with Joe and knew Jimmy in the Police Dept. The names of Rogers and Gismondi and Armstrong ring a bell with me although I doubt I ever met any of them. The description of Pete's barber shop could have been a short story by Ring Lardner. I'm glad Marty has more coming. Answering Pat Dillon from 1459 Taylor Ave., I wonder if her Miss Larkin could have been Jean Larkin from my 1943 class at St. Anthony's. It sure sounds like her, including the Beach Ave. address. She had a brother, Alan. As for Steve Coffey, 1530 Beach Ave., I wonder how he left the Walshes off the honor roll of former tenants there. Actually I'm not sure how long we were there on our stopover between Archer St. and Guerlain St. I know we were there when Pearl Harbor happened. I think we must have moved in the following year, 1942. I remember Steve Sr. well. He was well liked by everybody. I see Jack Kelly at the reunions. I knew the Relihan family and their daughter Babs. She died young, in 1959, I believe. When I was new on Beach Ave. at the age of eight or nine or so I looked up to Richie Devanero (phon.) who may have been one of the 1530 tenants. We played stickball in the street or rather he played and we caddied. Clude Conti (phon.) lived across the street in one of the private houses, I believe. I could write much the same kind of thing about a lot of the entries I see, but these really struck a chord with me. I forgot to acknowledge Joe DeSantis's entry, which actually mentions me. Thanks, Joe. I'll be back answering the call again. In the meantime I'd like to see how many can pass the follwing memory test, thereby establishing themselves as true sons and daughters of Archer Street the Unforgettable. Who was...Vito Bartolomeo?


Name:	Bill Egan <eganbill@cox.net>
Date:	2005-12-03
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach
When did you live there	1940 to 1952
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	The web master was kind enough to set up a special page for class photos from PS 102 and Saint Anthony. More photos are already beginning to be posted. I would like to send out a call for contributions of the following photos: (1) SAINT ANTHONY - any pre 1948 photos, the 1949, 1950,1953(with names),1954 and post 1956 photos; PS 102 -pre 1950 photos and post 1950 photos. We need to see a good balance between both schools. Your contributions will be greatly appreciated.


Name:	Cathy Haire <dapperhaire@aol.com>
Date:	2005-12-03
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Beach,Taylor & Rosedale Aves
When did you live there	1943 to1977
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	In response to Cynthis Ramos Crieve. Yes, I remember you and Pat. The best tenants in the world. I remember that time very well. My family and I are all well. We moved to East Meadow, Long Island in 1977 and have been there ever since. How are you doing?


Name:	Cynthia Ramos Grieve <ctgob@aol.com>
Date:	2005-12-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1468 Commonwealth Ave-1480 Rosedale Ave
When did you live there	1950-1977
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	I went to visit my parents who still live at 1468 Commonwealth Ave. My brothers Alphonse & Anthony Ramos were there so were my cousins the Licastrinos' I went to St. Anthonys,St. Raymonds HS. I was married at St. Anthony's in 1970. I hung out on Rosedale Ave., Noble Field. I think my landlord when I lived on Rosedal was Jim & Cathy Hunter. Any one rembering me plese respond


Name:	Jennifer Sousa clavijo <edcjen@swbell.net>
Date:	2005-12-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1431 St., Lawrence Ave
When did you live there	from 4 to 18 uyears old left 1969
Comments:	I went to PS 102, Jr High School 127, James Monroe HS and St Helena's Vusiness HS. I made my first holy communion, confirmation and got married in St. Anthonys. My two sons were baptized at St. Anthony'. Anyone remembering me please leave a message. I now live in Texas


Name:	Marion Farrell Cronin <MCronin111@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-12-01
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1442 Leland Avenue
When did you live there	1962-1983
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	I just loved reading the comments by Martin Walsh, Marty Wulstein and of course, Patricia O'Connor. I do wonder something, though. I guess you could say I am of the baby boomer generation, and there are precious few people of my group who write in, even though we experienced similar things as the aforementioned writers. I wonder why there are not more of my group who share their memories?


Name:	Marty Wulstein <mwulstein@aol.com>
Date:	2005-11-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Mansion St.
When did you live there	1924-1955
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	One of my many memories of that old neighborhood; As I Remember Good memories last a lifetime and recollecting them my favorite pastime. I can be very down and be lifted immediately by bringing any one of them back. My early life in my Bronx neighborhood was that kind of community, it kindled good, long lasting memories. I recently read in the newspaper about how barbershops never change and where old memories can be easily brought to the surface. It started me thinking about my old time barber back in the late thirties/early forties. (On Archer St. next to Adler's Pharm.) Pete the Barber is the only name I knew him by. He was the typical barber knowing everyone by their first name and as he cut relate what the latest developments were around the neighborhood. I can recall his shop on a warm summer Saturday afternoon when I would go for my four week haircut. I would sit against the wall with a quarter for my haircut, waiting for Pete to shout “next“. On a table that separated the chairs against the wall, was a vast array of magazines one only found in a barbershop. They ranged from Sports to Girly magazines with Popular Mechanics etc. in between. The shop was narrow but quite long and in the very back stood a large table with a few chairs where no one sat except the local Prudential Life Insurance man, Mr. Storke. He sat with his narrow, 5 inch, thick, black, leather covered book that opened from the bottom like a huge pad. This book was devoted to keeping a running record of payments his customers paid of weekly twenty five cents premiums. Most of these customers lived in the six story walkups and an arrangement was made for them to drop off their premium books and twenty-five cents at Pete’s. They would pick up their receipt books later, checking to see if Mr. Storke signed his initials as paid for that week. In this way they did not have to wait around for him and most of all it saved many steps for Mr. Storke. If it was hot enough that day, someone would suggest getting a large container of beer from Mulhollin’s Gin Mill just across the street. That suggestion was never challenged and there was unanimous approval for getting some of Sam Klien’s hot dogs on a toasted roll, smothered in mustard with home made sauerkraut and relish. Klien’s was a Jewish deli whose dogs and extras had no match. No one volunteered to be the gofer as it was customary to wait for a local kid to pass by the shop and hire him for a nickel to fetch the beer and hotdogs. This took no more than one or two minutes and everyone in the shop put in their order. The only debate was how much beer to get and it usually was settled with we can always get more beer as it is only across the street. Paper cups were always in Pete’s department as he kept a good supply of them. In no time the shop had that unforgettable aroma of Jewish hot dogs, mustard, sauerkraut, relish, and beer. The snip-snip of the scissors mixed with an occasional burp and the chomping sound of many mouths devouring the dogs, and the aromas, still linger with me as I write this. Then particularly on a Saturday afternoon before post time, the local bookie Augie, would casually walk in and get greetings from all present. He would usually place a half dozen or so racing sheets on the magazine table and now the girly magazines were abandoned replaced by the poop sheets from the various tracks. He also took numbers and that too was on various slips with a nickel the housewives left in addition to their insurance premiums for the bookie. Their hopes of the fifty dollar payoff for that new set of drapes or such they dreamed of getting, was riding on their lucky number. Horse bets were also left on that back table and those present if they hadn’t placed a bet did so now. The ever present radio on the far counter just below the mirror was now turned on by Pete, already tuned to the station that gave racing results as they came in on the delayed teletype wire. I don’t remember the particular station’s call letters but in those days there were WEAF, WJZ, WMCA,WOR, WNEW it probably was one of these. When the station got the delayed teletype, the announcer called the race as if it was in progress at that very moment with piped in cheering to make it realistic. Everyone rooted for their particular horse and could be heard by anyone that was passing by the shop. Many times there was a winner among all those present and he would be paid off then and there by the bookie. Augie would then go across the street to Mulhollands gin mill and pay off any winners that might be there and then make his rounds in the neighbor hood. He always stopped back at Pete’s after the last race to pay off any daily double winners and other winners if there were any. It was easy to tell if one was waiting for the bookie for his pay off as he would be anxiously looking out the shop’s front window for Augie sporting his new slicked back recent haircut When you left the shop you might if you were lucky, come away richer than before both in the latest neighborhood news and your horse winnings, besides saturating all the air around you with that familiar just been to the barber’s smell. When you got home you were met with the usual critiques from the family on your new look. These were the days of the great depression, and gambling in nickels and dimes and occasionally betting on a pony was the poor man’s dream of riches. Having Klien’s hot dogs and Mulholand’s beer at Pete the Barber was their way of dining out with friends. This is as I remember those days of my past in the Bronx.


Name:	Martin Walsh <mwalsh5647@aol.com>
Date:	2005-11-29
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1803 Archer, 1530 Beach, 1803 Guerlain (1574 Beach)
When did you live there	1936-1958
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	The writeup is from my website from a few months ago. I've got one more about Archer for some future time. CRISES IN THE DIOCESE My new favorite play “Doubtö, which I went to see last week, just got another award. This time it’s the from the Drama Desk, an organization of critics and journalists. Previously it got the Pulitzer Prize and before that the New York Drama Critics Circle award for best play of the year. In other words, the Triple Crown. The actors, the leading man, the leading lady, the ingenue and the character lady all got nominated for Tony awards for their acting as well as the director for his directing. The four acting nominees were the whole cast of the show, which is one of the reasons all the “little theatresö in the country and out of it will be renting performance rights for it for the next twenty or thirty years. Small casts and one-set plays fit their needs perfectly, especially when they constitute a novelty in place of the usual repertory of plays available to amateurs. Besides all this, the toughest critic in the country, John Simon, in New York magazine gave it a review unlike any I’ve ever seen by him before. I mean, Simon first became famous years ago for describing a musical star’s “pop eyesö, “liver lipsö, “receding chinö, “nose threatening to become a trunkö and other defects in a memorable review that would never lead anyone to anticipate what he had to say about “Doubtö. What was that? Oh, only that it was “a nearly flawless workö, “wonderfulö, “an experience to last you a lifetimeö, and “may very well be greatö. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true, if Simon says so. He’s not an easy marker. I’ve noted before in these essays that “Doubtö is a special show for me, since it was written by a man, John Patrick Shanley, who used to live across the street from me in the Bronx, and its action takes place in a school I used to attend, among the kind of people I used to know. This isn’t to say I recognized everything in it, because Mr. Shanley has taken a scene from the past that was quite familiar to me and injected into it plot elements from the present day which weren’t part of that scene when I knew it. This is all okay because we’re not being offered a documentary, but a drama. All the same, when I heard on the stage a priest and a Sister of Charity trying to shout each other down for minutes at a time, I could only shake my head and say “Gee, I never knew all this was going onö. Well it wasn’t, of course. Not in those days. Today it could be and even should be, if it’s a case of a predatory priest against a nun trying to protect a student. There were no such priests in my time, or if there were, I never heard of them and certainly never encountered one of them. They were of a new breed, who saw the church as a perfect setup to enable homosexuals to indulge their taste for intimacy with young boys bred up by their parents to trust and believe in men wearing a priest’s cassock and collar. They infiltrated until they had the seminaries in their grip. All the bishops knew was that they were getting recruits at a time when priests were getting harder and harder to find. They weren’t inclined or equipped to inquire into their credentials to determine their bona fides. They were willing to take any help they could get. In time they learned that the gift they had received was fool’s gold. When they found out what their new priests were really up to, it was too late to do anything about it. Even the slightest admission that they knew what was going on was enough to open up the church to unlimited liability. All they could do was to use coverup tactics. Transfer these characters somewhere where no one knows about them. Demand proof against them. It won’t be easy to find. Pray a lot. Hope for the best. This too shall pass, maybe. This scenario is reflected in the play, but it wouldn’t be right to give away the plot here. I didn’t need the plot much anyway, as good as it is. I was busy enjoying “the aesthetic pleasure known as recognitionö while taking in the habits of the nuns with the black bonnets tied with a bow and shawls for cold weather, the priest in his cassock (but no biretta), the hard chairs in the school principal’s office, the card files, the graduation pictures on the wall. A woman in my group got a theater employee to check up on these after the show, but it turned out they didn’t come from our St. Anthony’s, but from St. Athanasius on Southern Boulevard. Close enough. As I’ve said before, the nuns’ habits didn’t give me any trouble when I was growing up, and not since either. They were becoming and quite practical. It’s the nuns who disagree about this. Since the days when I knew them, they’ve almost abandoned the habit, which is almost like a soldier throwing away his uniform. They’ve now become little ladies in pantsuits, which is bad enough, but on top of that they’re carrying picket signs and demonstrating for something or other, usually some cause against which I’m willing to die (figuratively) in the last ditch. How’d we ever come to this? What has happened to these women, the Brides of Christ, to whom Shanley dedicated his play with respect for the work they did in educating unlikely prospects like himself and me? I’m afraid it’s the old story. Something happened to them which is more characteristic of Protestants than it has ever been of Catholics, up to now anyway. They got bored with religion. They’re creatures of the media like the rest of us, and the media has no time for religion. Everything else is more interesting, sports, entertainment, business, politics, you name it. It’s a lot more fun to demonstrate in a civil rights march, or disrupt a shareholder’s meeting or even to bring a ray of sunshine to Death Row to encourage the martyrs suffering there, than it is, against their will to infuse a crew of runny-nosed ragamuffins with a keen desire to learn their ABC’s. That’s so bourgeois after all. I may have been too drastic with my description of modern nuns here, but there’s no doubt that some of them are like that. I hope “Doubtömay serve to remind them of how far they’ve strayed from the right path, and for those who have never strayed I hope it confirms them in staying the course they’re on. The play tells them it’s a right one. Although, as I said earlier, Mr. Shanley and I lived opposite each other at one time, this shouldn’t be taken to mean that we’ve ever met, except once through e-mail. He’s quite a bit younger than me, so we’ve missed each other. We have mutual acquaintances, though, who speak well of him. His only problem, as I see it, is what do you do once you’ve won the Triple Crown? How do you equal it? I think he’ll find a way.


Name:	Marty Wulstein <mwulstein@aol.com>
Date:	2005-11-29
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Mansion Street
When did you live there	1924-1955
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	NO
Comments:	Across From St. Anthony’s I am definitely from a different era than of this web site. I was born on Mansion St. in 1924 and lived directly across from St. Anthony’s School. I didn’t go to St. Anthony School but to PS 102. Most of those I grew up with kept in touch with each other up to and including the present, however the group has dwindled to just four of us as the rest have passed on to that neighborhood in the sky. I will mention some names and I’m sure many of the younger generation will recognize them. There was Tom Rogers known as “The Mayor of St. Lawrenceö was who lived at 1502 St. Lawrence Ave. across from Jake’s Candy Store, (died about ten years ago), Jimmy McCarthy who’s parents had a Candy store facing St. Anthony’s on Mansion St. under the apartment I lived in. Jimmy is no longer with us; Herby Buchanan who live at 1516, St Lawrence Ave. known as The Dutchmanö. Herb was our best all around athlete, he died last year; Anthony (Monk) Vacceli lived on St. Lawrence across from St. Anthony’s. Monk died some years back, Tedo Gesmondi lived on St. Lawrence across from St. Anthony School. Tedo passed away some years back. Frank (Don) Donleavy lived on Commonwealth, then St. Lawrence, he too passed away some years back. Bobby (Lefty) Smith lived on St. Lawrence in the middle of the “double hillö. He was our only left hander threw and batted left. Horace (Horse) Carey lived 2 houses up from St. Anthony’s on St. Lawrence; He passed on some years back, and John (Army) Armstrong lived on Noble Ave. passed away some years back. Billy Cunningham lived on St Lawrence Ave just in from Tremont is still with us; Bob Mackey who lived just off 177th. St. alive and kicking, and Tom (Brute) Foy now living in Pa. Still hanging around. Jack Brosnan known as "Blind Jack" lived on Merril St. now living in Throggs Neck. I was called Marty (The Head) as my hats were the biggest of all and would swim on anyone’s head. We all had nicknames that stuck forever and we still refer to and call one another by those nicknames I have mentioned. We are all in our eighties not more than a year or so apart from each other. We still keep in touch and see one another; that old neighborhood tradition still is alive. I recognize many of the names on this site as I’m sure others recognize ours. At another posting I will relate some stories of the neighborhood during our growing up period of the earlier 1930’s and 1940’s. To a later generation they may sound a bit corny but they were the real McCoy to us. Talk to you all then.


Name:	Pat Dillon <jdelsav@aol.com>
Date:	2005-11-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1459 Taylor
When did you live there	1942-1967
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	My favorite teacher at St. Anthony's was Miss Larkin. (1951-52, 4th grade) She was a tall lady with short light brown hair and a clear complexion. She had beautiful posture and an elegant slow walk. She was a fair and gentle teacher. She was my first hygiene teacher. She would examine our teeth when we returned to school after having lunch at home to see if we had brushed. I always liked the fact that she was one of us; she lived on Beach Ave. in one of the apartment buildings.


Name:	Dolores Courtenay Turner <DCourtenay@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-11-26
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1513 Beach Ave.
When did you live there	1938-1955
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	The empty lot on upper Beach Ave. was known by us in the early 40's as Leavy's lot. This is where we sleighed in the winter and if we didn't turn the steering bar at the base of the lot we ended up in the middle of Beach Ave. Not a great place to be! Winter was also the time when we dreaded walking down Beach because the boys would be on top of the O'Leary Flats and throw down snowballs, some with stones imbedded. We spent lots of time ducking the incoming, Dwith no ability to return fire!


Name:	Joseph De Santis <josephjad82@aol.com>
Date:	2005-11-26
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1460 Beach Avenue
When did you live there	1935 to 1953
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	I'm returning to this great website for the third time to re-live some of the fabulous memories that'Stratton Park' bring back to me. I livedat 1460 Beach Ave.-facing Merrill St.-from 1935 to 1953. I then married Lorraine Ryff (Joan & Frankies cousin). We have lived on Long Island for the past 45 years. I recently did a genealogy study on the Ryffs and foundthat they were a very large family living mostly in Hoboken,NJ and the lower Bronx before moving to other parts of NY. I found a cousin of Frank Ryff,Sr.(the boxer's father)living in Arizona and began chatting with him on the Internet. Unfortunately, during our study we came across an article from a Florida site stating that Frank(Bobby)Ryff, Jr.passed away on 7/19/2004,age 74,in the Heritage Health Center,Naples,Fla. He is interred at Fla.Nat'l.Cemetery. We had lost contact with Frankie since the 80s. Frankie was a tough competitor with a good heart--we all miss him.Lorraine & I decided to visit this newfound relative,Jim Ryff in Arizona and while there,we also looked up Gene O'Hanlon(1522 Beach Ave)who also lives in Phoenix,AZ(by the way-we found Gene through this website). WE had a great visit together and talked about the good,old days. Marty WAlsh,George Rossi,Jimmy O'Leary,Gene Dunscomb,Eugene Kenna,'Red'Crowley, Buster Patterson,'Tulu'(Touissant Vogelsang),Joe Tinnelli, Tom Fitzpatrick,Pat McQuillan,Bob McNulty,the Lyons Bros,the Durkins,Micky Harding,etc.were some of the names brought up. We re-lived a lot of stories & swell times we all enjoyed. In those years,there were many small pockets of groups that 'hung'out together around the neighborhood but everyone knew each other and respected one another. Too bad our children will not be able to see those kind of days in todays society We were all 'poor'(so to speak)but we didn't know it at the time.The people that are messaging on this site are all a little younger than the afore-mentioned group but I do recognize a few of the names. I was in the Army from '51 to '53(Korea & Japan)with John Anelli(Leland Ave)& Steve'Lefty Colangelo(Westchester Ave)together for the whole two years. John met Gene Dunscomb in Japan,while on leave(their picture is in Photo set5). My small group is in Photo set3, circa 1950. By the way,someone mentioned Charlie Scheuing from Archer St. He was Frank Ryff,Srs cousin also and he was known as 'Knockout'Charlie. That's it for now---as I remember more stories, I'll get back on again---God bless all.


Name:	Pat Kenny-Barry <pavb67@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-11-25
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1451 Taylor Ave
When did you live there	1942-1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Did anyone else think yesterday on Thanksgiving Day, of how we use to dress up in our parents' clothing and sing in the yards for the pennies the people would throw down, wrapped in tissue? I can recall the gents in Mullhollands being overly generous with nickles and dimes as we stood outside the bar room door. I wonder where/ how that tradition started? We did not dress for Halloween as I recall but either socked or got socked with nylon stockings filled with flour. What was that all about, I wonder?


Name:	bill egan <eganbill@cox.net>
Date:	2005-11-21
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 beach
When did you live there	1940 to 1952
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Following up on John Walsh’s example (Saint Anthony, 1948) and Pat Kenny Barry’s (Saint Anthony, 1955) and Ralph Behringer’s (PS 102, 1950) examples, I recently submitted my Saint Anthony, 1952 graduation photo. It is unfortunate that only four graduation pictures from the neighborhood have been submitted to date. Before I became familiar with the Stratton Park web site I used to check the Bronx Board web site from time to time and in I could find 18 class pictures from Saint Anthony’s and 15 from PS 102. Wouldn’t it be great to see all these pictures also in the Stratton Park Photo Section, with specific photo pages dedicated to the 1940s, 1950’s, 1960’s, etc. I am sure that many of the contributors of photos to the Bronx Board also participate in the Stratton Park web site.


Name:	Dolores Courtenay Turner <DCourtenay@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-11-20
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1513 Beach Ave.
When did you live there	1938-1955
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	Graduated St. Anthony's 1951 and am living in Osprey' FL. It's wonderful to read about and see photos of the old neighborhood. I have added this to my favorites list.


Name:	Mildred (mazzarella ) Schmatz <Bilmil716@AOL.com>
Date:	2005-11-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	St. Lawrence Ave
When did you live there	1945-1955
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	Bill and I remember so many names and places. Bill lived on Rosedale ave. I lived across the street from Hessdorfer's. we now live in Fords,NJ. I also remember the Nuns from St. Anthony's. Eileen Kelly, who is Sister Eileen Kelly (is my sister's sister-in-law) is also a sister of Charity and keeps me up to date on some of the nuns we had in St. Anthony's.She also went to St. Anthony's as did her brother Brian and Sister Julia. I hope to read more from this website. God Bless all.


Name:	Mildred ( Mazzarella) Schmatz <Bilmil716@aol.com>
Date:	2005-11-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	St. LawrenceAve
When did you live there	1945-1955
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	Reading these comments brought back fond memories. I graduated from St. Anthony's in 1948 and saw our picture on this we site. I was married in St. Anthony's on 10/16/55 and Father Mike married us. I was sorry to hear of his passing. Bill and I just celebrated our 50th anniversary. We had five children , 4 boys and a girl, who is a twin. we also have six grandchidren. I wish I would have known about the 1948 reunion. I hope you will let us know when you plan on having another one. It was great looking back and remembering our lives when things were simple and safe. Keep us the good work.


Name:	Fred Celli <shutters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-11-17
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1575 Thieriot Avenue and 1537 White Plains Road
When did you live there	1948 to 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Here's a little piece of poetry inspired by the old neighborhood and many of the comments and memories that have appeared on this site. Hope you like it. "One Little Street" One little street Runs end to end About a half a mile But has a lengthy history Whose memories make us smile It had its birth In Stratton Park A North Bronx neighborhood Then cut its teeth On pre-War grit To show the world it could The cross streets Beach and Taylor grew Beneath O’Leary’s hand His residences Known as “Flatsö All stoically still stand Stretching from Doc Adler’s To Jack’s on White Plains Road Between the two There is no count What stories could be told The V-Day celebrations The loud 4th of July’s The good times at Saint Anthonys And catching fireflies Teenage dances Ed Stack’s Rams Stickball in the park Days at P S 102 And Noble after dark Mansion, Rosedale Commonwealth St Lawrence, Guerlain too Leland, Wood and Thieriot Connected through and through Mullhollands, Harry’s candy store The funnies in the Journal Liotta’s, Pete the Barber The clubhouse up on Merril Chasing Stevie’s ice cream truck Pizza down at Vinny’s Bowling at the Playdrome Or hanging outside Minnie’s Half a mile of happy times Half a mile of tears Miles and miles of memories Unfaded through he years Birthplace of our lifetimes Neighbors to the end Carrying the legacy Of families and friends Wherever life may take us We’ll always have our past Forever cherish memories Which seem to last and last No matter how diverse the course What challenges we meet We’ll always share the common ground That’s known as Archer Street by Fred Celli


Name:	Sheila Hanley Sullivan <sheilasullivan1@nc.rr.com>
Date:	2005-11-17
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1492 St. Lawrence Ave.
When did you live there	1940-1961
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	I just had my first visit to this great website. Patrick has shared it with the family. There were so many names I recognized and I certainly would be happy to hear from any of the old crowd via email. We were so lucky to have such a great childhood in a very special place. There are so many memories of family, St. Anthony's, our crowd, and the people on St. Lawrence and the neighborhood. I moved to NC in 1990 after 25 years in NJ. My three daughters live in MN and I visit them often. There are five wonderful grandchildren. Can't believe that a 67 year old gal looks back at me in the mirror. Thanks for the memories. I'll enjoy reading everyone's comments.


Name:	Marion Farrell Cronin <MCronin111@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-11-17
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1442 Leland Avenue
When did you live there	1962-1983
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	As we approach yet another anniversary of the death of JFK, I think of a story my mother told about that day. My brother was in the first grade in St. Anthony's and my mother had her first report card meeting with his teacher, Sr. Kathleen. This was an hour or two after we had all heard the awful news. Maybe it hadn't really sunk in yet, but my mother said that neither she nor St. Kathleen mentioned it at all! They exchanged pleasantries about the weather and my brother's grades, but not a word about JFK. I find this hard to believe as we all were here on 9/11 and I can tell you, when I went to get the kids out of school on that day, every single person was a complete wreck. Maybe back in the sixties people didn't talk about anything political with their children's teachers (this would hardly qualify as a mere politcal event). Maybe everyone was in shock and didn't know what to say. It just seems odd.


Name:	Kathleen Carr O'Leary <olearyowls@sbcglobal.net>
Date:	2005-11-15
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach Ave. Apt 18
When did you live there	1946-1968
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	There is an Irish song, "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen." Well, that is what this site has been to me. It is a travel down memory lane. Our home was 1426 Beach Ave where I lived with my parents, Catherine & Bill Carr and my brothers, Billy & Tommy [as they were called then.] My nickname was Kaka and some people still call me that today. The school and church were the center of my family's life. The words, "Sister said" always had great power in our house. I was baptized and later married in St. Anthony's Church. I wed Dan O'Leary [no relation to John O'Leary.] Dan was a Bronx boy who was almost from the neighborhood. His aunts and uncles, The Flynns & Mahoneys lived in 1436 Beach and The Maloneys lived on Archer Street. Memories include eating tomatoes - fresh from the vine in my father's garden and getting ice cream from Stevie. My mother would toss the money to me wrapped in toilet paper from the fire escape window. Our air conditioning was the cross ventilation that my parents loved. On hot days we played in the hall. If I was bored I was told to sit under the tree at the end of the block and read a book. However, boredom was seldom a problem. There was always someone to play with. We had street games, Red Rover, kick the can, curb ball, jump rope, our Tiny Tears Dolls, sledding in the "lots" and down Devil's Hill and other fun things that have escaped my memory. Years later, my family has moved to different areas. I've been in Connecticut for the last 30 years and have two grown sons. Brother Bill and his wife Eileen O"Connor live in Florida and Tom lives in New Jersey. We have had personal losses with the death of my husband and Tom' wife, Carole. Our parents died several years ago but their love and strength and the values we learned on Beach Ave continue on in our lives, our children's and my brother' grandchildren. Love to all my friend and neighbors. It's been a pleasure visiting with you again.


Name:	George Patrick O'Hagan <gpohagan@juno.com>
Date:	2005-11-14
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1459 Taylor Avenue Apt#3
When did you live there	1939-1961
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Great place to grow up in, fantastic friends ,went to St Anthonys and Blessed Sacrament over on Beach between Westchester and Bruckner, and then to St Helena,s High School.Five in my family ,sister Peggi, Ann,myself,brother P.J.(philip Joseph)and James.P.J still lives on Theriot,brother Jaames and family live ont in Upper Montclaire N.J ,ssister Peggi upstate in New City and sister Ann lives downtown N.Y and florida.(ANN passed way Oct 31,2005 ,two weeks ago..


Name:	Peggy (Hanley) Battaglia <hipeg4@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-11-14
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1492 St.Lawrence Avenue
When did you live there	1940s - 1960s
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	Great place to grow up. Many wonderful memories. I will list a few that come to mind. Jake's and Sarah's candy stores. Steve, the bungalow bar guy. Stickball with manhole covers as bases. Fishing "spauldeens" out of the sewer with a bat and wire. Roller skating (walk to Dr. Heenan's for stitches) Breaking St.Anthony's stain glass window playing stickball -not good.... Not telling about trouble in school - only meant worse trouble at home. Playing in the "lots" - more stitches at Dr. Heenans. Touch football played on the street. Loews American, Castle Hill, Rosedale, and Palace movies where you could spend all day for 10 cents. Playdrome Bowling alley Walking to Parkchester for my first job at Woolworths. First duty on arrival was to remove the dead fish from the tank in the back of the store. Playing skully, boxball, stoop ball, curb ball. Cutting cigar boxes to play marbles when not playing in a large dirt circle. Classmates from St. Anthonys - school plays. Sister Alphonsine, Sister Therese, Sister Delores and of course, Sister Anita with her blessed bell. We lived right across the street from the school - too close. Stratton Park Irish dances with my parents. Also showers and birthday parties. St. Anthony's dances with the guys on one side of the gym and the girls on the other. Well - enough from me. We had fun, freedom and independence......


Name:	Peggy (Hanley) Battaglia <hipeg4@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-11-14
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1492 St.Lawrence Avenue
When did you live there	1940s - 1960s
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	Great place to grow up. Many wonderful memories. I will list a few that come to mind.


Name:	Martin Waslh/Website: Strikemepinkifidontthink.com <mwalsh5647@aolcom>
Date:	2005-11-11
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1936-1958
When did you live there	1803 Archer St., 1530 Beach Ave., 1803 Guerlain St.
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	ARCHER STREET ON BROADWAY Last week I reprinted some of the tributes sent in to “Stratton Park History Pagesö, the official organ of my old Bronx neighborhood, aka “Paradise On Earthö if you read the contributions, and mentioned that the old place was becoming famous at last. By this I meant that a Pulitzer Prize -winning play on Broadway “Doubtö, is set there and the incidents and characters are drawn from its life. The author John Patrick Shanley, is a native and very much at home with his material. This has aroused interest in New York and newspapers have even interviewed some of the old settlers for their reminiscences of past times in the Bronx. Considering the present reputation of the Bronx, it’s no wonder that I’m often met with disbelief when I tell people that I had a good time growing up there and even managed to ignore the Depression, which was flourishing at the time. It takes more than that to sour the temper of a nine-year-old. All the same, traveling to other parts of the Bronx could be a depressing experience because so much of it was overbuilt, with solid blocks of apartment houses cutting off light and air and not leaving any space for a park or a playground to relieve the congestion on the streets. My neighborhood was if anything underbuilt, though. We had our apartment blocks, but we also had streets of one and two-family houses, and here and there vacant lots, including the Tennis Court Lots, which covered several blocks and encouraged our Tarzan fantasies. On top of all this open space, we had play streets, the schoolyard of P.S. 102, a city playground and wading pool close by, and streets where the traffic was never so heavy as to interfere with kids’ games. I never heard of a kid being hit by a car and neither did I hear of anyone being attacked by a mugger. We also traveled to swimming pools, movie houses, libraries, ball games, the Bronx Park and Zoo, and even to New York itself sometimes. We lacked for nothing, except money, but none of these things cost a lot, and we could usually find some scratch somewhere. We had no Little Leagues and probably wouldn’t have welcomed any, because the times were such that adults felt no need to watch over their children incessantly, and certainly not to transport them here, there and everywhere to meet their activity schedule. That’s what trolleys and subways were for, and the kids were considered able to use them without help. Suburban life, with no public transportation, has changed all that. “Doubtö is set in a time later than the one I’ve been describing, but with conditions relatively unchanged from that. The action takes place in the heart of the neighborhood, that is, in the offices of the local church, which was both the religious center and the educational center of the neighborhood. The protagonists are a nun, who runs the school, and a curate whom she suspects of abusing one of her pupils. This is a modern touch, because such things didn’t happen in the days before, as one writer says, “The seminaries were taken over by homosexualsö. That’s why the old-timers seeing the show have no trouble recognizing the nun, but don’t twig the priest at all. I also don’t expect to have trouble with the nun character, because brisk teachers who laid down the law for their classrooms, were no strangers to me, and I’ll enjoy seeing the Sisters of Charity in their uniforms again. Some reviewers have sneered a little at these, but we kids never did. They were actually quite up-to-date for nuns. They came out of the nineteenth century, when women wore bonnets, making it natural for member of the first American religious order to be so outfitted. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was the foundress and she designed the habit on lines that were modern for her day, and didn’t look out of place in ours. The Sisters did good work for well over a century, turning immigrant kids like us into useful Americans in schools all around the country, along with running hospitals and even some good colleges. In spite of this, when I glanced at my local paper last month, which seems to have been Womens’History Month or something like that, Mother Seton wasn’t one of the outstanding American women featured in the daily articles. Neither was another lady named Mother Cabrini, who had the same type of career and achieved similar results. Instead the women selected for our admiration included types like Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm, the first of whom was a crypto-Communist and the second was a racial politician whom I remember for helping re-elect John Lindsay Mayor in 1969. The only good result from that was that New York completely swore off electing “liberalsö from then on. (The newspapers play these games with us sometimes. They buy this material from syndicates. One item was a history of Halloween which never mentioned any of its Christian associations, even its name, but did tell us how the Romans found it honored during their occupation of Ireland. Fortunately or unfortunately, this never happened. The Roman did take over Britain, and as we see from the ruins they left behind, they almost exclusively built bathhouses, probably as a reaction to their first encounters with the inhabitants. Everyone else remained “The Great Unwashedö.) I’ve mentioned the Sisters’ work in Americanizing the polyglot material swept into their schools by immigration. History played a big part in this. It was taught completely from an American point of view. Naturally Isabella the Catholic and her husband King Ferdinand were favorably mentioned in connection with the discovery of America by another Catholic, Columbus, and the Catholic French and Spanish explorers, some of them priests, were spoken well of, but the Protestants weren’t shut out by any means and we heard all about the Pilgrims and the Puritans and John Smith and Pocahontas. When it came time for America to split off from the Mother Country, that was the last we heard of England, or of any place outside the U.S.A. History was all America after that and everything we heard went to reinforce the patriotism we learned from singing ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’ every morning followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The same pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln that hung on the walls of public schools hung on ours. I don’t know whether someone made a conscious decision to give us a total immersion in Americanism, or it just happened., but it worked. Contrary to what some people might think, we didn’t get Catholic arithmetic or English or geography, just the secular type, in all its horror. We didn’t get any politics either, as some suspect, but yes, we did get religion, and plenty of it. It was a good place. I’d go back tomorrow. Mr. Shanley has done a service by showing the world the kind of place it was and the kind of people that made it what it was. For corroboration of his thesis, I refer you back to my last article with its quotations from our old neighbors or to the Stratton Park website for more of the same.


Name:	MaryAnne Vandervoort Finella <pfinella@cloud9.net>
Date:	2005-11-08
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1502 Rosedale; 1488 Commonwealth
When did you live there	1959-1980
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	Thank you, Paula Licastrino Yovine, for e-mailing me this website. These stories and pictures have brought back a lot of good memories. I even saw the house that I was living in on Commonwealth Ave in one of the pictures. I lived in the house next door from Behringer's market. My grandparents were Carmine and Angelina Fabiano. My Mom sold the house in June 2004. If there is a reunion for the St. Anthony's class of '73, please let me know. ~MaryAnne


Name:	Denis Horgan <Cpt Denis@aol.com>
Date:	2005-11-06
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach Ave
When did you live there	40-62
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Trying to locate Patrick Hanley, St. Lawrence Ave across from Saint Anthony's.Phone number and E-mail. Thanks for the help.


Name:	Martin Foley <mjfoley64@suscom.net>
Date:	2005-11-03
Where did you live in Stratton Park	St. Lawrence Ave.
When did you live there	1945-1964
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	I was attending a meeting last night and I spoke to Ralph Berhringer who told me about the site and gave me the address. It does bring back many memories. I have lost contact with crew on St Lawrence. Hope to renew the friends of the past. Good Luck with the site.


Name:	The Webmaster <info@strattonpark.com>
Date:	2005-11-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1574 Beach, 1475 Taylor
When did you live there	1962-1997
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	You Betcha
Comments:	I encourage all to read the great story by Patricia O'Connor about the old neighborhood. It can be found on the main page of strattonpark.com. P.S. Don't forget to check the main page for updates & new photos!!!


Name:	bunny bappert <hasirl@msn.com>
Date:	2005-11-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1807 archer street
When did you live there	1942-1966
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	read comments by patrick (packy) hanley - would love to learn more about st anthony's 100th reunion - it would be great to attend and see many of the neighborhood folk and old friends who might attend- looking forward to more information- thanks-bunny bappert


Name:	Patrick ( Packy ) Hanley <hanleypf@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-11-01
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Saint Lawrence Avenue
When did you live there	1942 thru 1964
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Across from St. Anthony's
Comments:	Attended the Archer Street Reunion luncheon on Thursday, Oct 20th. It was a great gathering, lots of laughs and many, many memories! Learned that St. Anthony's Parish will celebrate a 100th Anniversary during in a year or two. I will follow up and advise. That will be a GREAT OPPORTUNITY for one last neighborhood reunion ( similiar to the gathering Eddy Stack and others organized at Mount St. Michaels a good number of years ago ).Several in attendance agreed to work together on the parish reunion with any related proceeds to be donated to the parish.Plan to attend the May, 2006 luncheon. My brothers John and Jim as well as sisters Peggy, Shelia and Helena are going to join me there. Best regards, Pat Hanley


Name:	Richard Velting <ravelting@ispwest.com>
Date:	2005-11-01
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Beach, Taylor, Rosedale
When did you live there	1934-1956
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I was recently introduced to the Stratton Park website and memories of my happy childhood came flooding back; I found myself back on Beach Avenue, back at Abe’s candy store on Archer, back in the barber’s chair at Pete’s, back at the “fieldö playing ball, on the steps of Doc Heenans shooting the breeze, playing stickball in front of Old Lady Guida’s, having a few on Saturday night at Sam’s (later McQuillens), watching the Golden Gloves, Jacky Gleason etc. on Sam’s son’s homemade TV, playing fast pitch with a “spaldeenö at the school yard, roasting mickies in the lots behind the apartments on Taylor, dealing poker for my dad at the St. Anthony’s bazaar, spending punishment time in the lunchroom at St. Anthony’s school, ogling the pretty Irish dancers on St. Patrick’s night, and on and on and on.............. what a blast from the past............. Thank’s for the memories


Name:	Margaret Dunscomb Moore <margojjm@aol.com>
Date:	2005-10-29
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1444 Beach Avenue
When did you live there	1941 - 1967
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	My brother Gene told me of this site and I enjoy reading all the notes. However, I was sad to learn of Cathy Donnelly's passing. My regards to her family, and her sisters Pat and Helen. Cathy was my first childhood friend at age 4. I have great memories growing up in this neighborhood.


Name:	john shanley <jpshanley@aol.com>
Date:	2005-10-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1533 Beach Ave.
When did you live there	1955 to 1970
Comments:	Linda Pepe lived on Guerlain. I found her exotically beautiful and unattainable. Loretta Paolo lived next door to her, also very pretty, also Italian, also with the initials LP. I would walk by hoping to run into Linda. When I did run into her, I didn't know what to say. Finally, I heard from Patty Lamasney that Linda wanted to go to a dance with me at St. Anthony's. We were about 12 years old at this time. I took her. After, I walked her home. I was walking so fast that Linda asked me to slow down. I was nervous. I was practically dragging her. Poor girl. No Romeo me. Oh, but the stars I had in my head! I can still see her face in the streetlight.


Name:	pat meade falci <patsieirishlady@aol.com>
Date:	2005-10-25
Comments:	hi to all just a line to say joe and myself went to see doubt on sunday. we had a great time the show was wonderful. I can still remember the principals office it looked just like the office at St Anthonys when I went ther in th early 50's. Hope to hear from some of the old neighbors.


Name:	Theresa Thornby Walsh <twalsh7@hvc.rr.com>
Date:	2005-10-24
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1459 Taylor & 1436 Beach
When did you live there	1946 til 1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	It,s been 10 months sincee I discovered this site & made my first entry. I've turned so many people onto Stratton Park.com & everyone loves it. My sister Madeline Thornby & I had lunch with Ann Lavin & Helen Donnelly lasy week at the Palisades Mall in West Nyack. What a great day, we picked up the conversation like we have never been apart.We sat around doing some serious laughing for 5 hours but we could have gone on for days. Who says "you can't go home again"!! Sorry to report that Cathy Donnelly (the prettiest girl in the world) from 1436 Beach,top floor,passed away this year And so did my brother Billy Thornby both too young.


Name:	Theresa Thornby Walsh <twalsh7@hvc.rr.com>
Date:	2005-10-24
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1459 Taylor & 1436 Beach
When did you live there	1946 til 1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	It,s been 10 months sincee I discovered this site & made my first entry. I've turned so many people onto Stratton Park.com & everyone loves it. My sister Madeline Thornby & I had lunch with Ann Lavin & Helen Donnelly lasy week at the Palisades Mall in West Nyack. What a great day, we picked up the conversation like we have never been apart.We sat around doing some serious laughing for 5 hours but we could have gone on for days. Who says "you can't go home again"!! Sorry to report that Cathy Donnelly (the prettiest girl in the world) from 1436 Beach,top floor,passed away this year And so did my brother Billy Thornby both too young.


Name:	Adriana Monti <adriana.monti@gmail.com>
Date:	2005-10-23
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1456 Leland Ave
When did you live there	1962-1983
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	The "wooden shoe" was mentioned just below.... That has never been in the forefront of my memory. But, while reading the post, an image of that returned to me from the recesses of my mind! Thank you for that. Nowadays in the 21st century supermarket, I use the self-checkout... a symbol of our times - high-tech, fast (usually), and impersonal. Pioneer on Archer was the closest to us. However, my mom did shop at the A&P on White Plains Rd. Her hairdresser - Sal - had a beauty salon a few doors down. Sal, like my mother, were Italian-born, as was Sal's wife. They would converse in Italian as my mom had her hair done... I remember when the D'Agostino's opened in Parkchester (behind Macy's). I do not remember if it was in the '60s or early '70s. I do remember that there was a lot of fanfare the day of its grand opening. The best Italian bread ever - never since matched - was on the corner of those buildings (south of A&P and Sal's). It was called "Leonard's" and was owned by an Italian couple. Delicious. We got around even though my parents never learned how to drive a car... we'd go to the A&P on Westchester Ave, the other grocery store on the circle behind the Parkchester subway station, Gristede's behind Loews... Sometimes walking to the other stores in Parkchester and close to Castle Hill. Being Italian, we'd walk down White Plains Rd to Morris Park Ave and go to the Italian deli, bakery (Conti's), and pasta store (Riviera - which is still there).


Name:	kay rogan moore <kaymoore72@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-10-23
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1563 taylor avenue
When did you live there	1946-69
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	i'm so glad john shanley has been thinking of my mother, eleanor rogan. what a nice tribute to her and to my family...she would have been pleased. it turns out that everyone's mother made them check out with ellie at the A&P...she was honest, she knew what was on sale, and she made everyone feel special. she did work under harsh conditions...sizzling heat in the summer (which she didn't mind) and freezing cold in the winter (which she did mind)...but she loved working there...when the A&P closed she worked at the Pioneer on Archer Street well into her 60's... as for those damn drums...what were they thinking? but we were very proud when my brother and the band got a gig at the 1964 world's fair and the whole neighborhood came out to cheer them on... thanks john for such nice memories...


Name:	john patrick shanley <jpshanley@aol.com>
Date:	2005-10-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1533 Beach Ave
When did you live there	1955-1970
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	I've been thinking about Jimmy Rogan's mother Eleanor, who worked at the A&P on White Plains Road. My mother would say I had to go to Mrs. Rogan to tally the groceries and no one else. Why? "Because she won't cheat you." Eleanor was always good humored. The checkers had a wooden hand-operated 'shoe'. With this they pulled up the next batch of groceries. No air-conditioning. I think they had fans in the summer. You'd get the produce guy to weigh your stuff and he'd write the price on the brown paper bag. Then you'd take it up to Eleanor, along with everything else. I'd see Mrs. Rogan at home, too. Jimmy was my friend and I'd go to her apartment. It was a one bedroom apartment on the street level. Jimmy got interested in drumming. His parents set him up with a full drum set in his bedroom. His sister slept in there, too. Kaye. He'd beat the hell out of those drums. It never seemed to bother that lovely woman. Or his father or sister. Imagine what it sounded like to be full out playing the drums in a one bedroom apartment. That's love.


Name:	Stephen Zavadosky <stephenzava@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-10-16
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1452 Beach and 1451 Taylor and
When did you live there	1957 - Present
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I'm looking for Denyce McCabe who graduated with me from St. Anthony's in 1971, she lived on 174th St those day. I'm wondering where she is today. Anyone know where she is today let me know StephenZava@verizon.net


Name:	Ed Dougherty <eddocsr@msn.com>
Date:	2005-10-16
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1562 Thieriot
When did you live there	42-78
Comments:	Just talked to Pat Hanley,we're looking foward to see the old crowd on thurs. Doc


Name:	betsy wallace <nowwallace@aol.com>
Date:	2005-10-15
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1478 beach avenue
When did you live there	1946 - 1977
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I have been checking this site often and i am really happy to see the postings. i was so sorry to see that fr. michael had passed. he was such a spiritual man. but in the spirit of archer street i was laughing so hard at the post from stevie coffee. i grew up on beach avenue. my older two sisters were janet and jo'ann, my younger brother was joe. my dad was a super and my mom was a stey at home mom who in this day and age would definetely be some type of corporate whatever. stevie, just an aside my mom loved your mother and i always thought your dad was a gentleman. I loved your brother bobby like a brother and thought he was hilarious but not quite as funny as you. this neighborhood developed some very funny people and some very gifted people. i went to see the play doubt which was written by john patrick shanley. he was two or three years behind me in school. anyway i saw it with my sister jo'ann and i sat forward in my seat for the whole time. it was so powerful and so on the money. this man has a gift with words. I am glad that i finally posted and i enjoy the messages and will post again. it was a wonderful place to grow up in. i have a business partner from wisconsin and she has no idea where i got my nerve but all of you know. thanks betsy wallace


Name:	Luke 'Jackie' O'Malley <lukeomalley@optonline.net>
Date:	2005-10-13
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1436 Beach Avenue Apt 7
When did you live there	1939 (?) - 1961
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	I'll quote Mark Twain to express my sentiments: "Reports of my death are highly exaggerated."


Name:	The Webmaster <info@strattonpark.com>
Date:	2005-10-13
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1574 Beach, 1475 Taylor
When did you live there	62-77
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	You Bet
Comments:	The photo of Fr. Mike was "Borrowed" from the book published for the 75th Anniversary of St. Anthony's in 1983. Which reminds me -- St. Anthony's 100th Birthday is coming up in 2008! Hope there is a celebration. Thanks to Maureen and Geraldine for their postings re: services for Fr. Mike Best regards, The Webmaster


Name:	geraldine cunningham <gerripare@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-10-12
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach Ave, apt 17
When did you live there	1947-73
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	It was a full house for Fr. Mike's funeral mass at St. Anthony's yesterday - and a beautiful liturgy. There were 27 priests on the altar, including Bishops Sullivan and Sheridan who came from our old nabe, Msgr. Ed O'Donnell who grew up in the apt. directly below mine at 1426 Beach, ex-pastor Msgr. Ford, and Fr. John Graham, who's now pastor of St. Raymonds. While waiting for the Cardinal to arrive, St. Anthony's current pastor, Fr. Kelly, asked the schoolchildren present who ever went to confession to Fr. Mike to raise their hands. He laughed when Karen Manning, Anne Murphy and I stuck our hands up as well, calling us slightly older schoolchildren. We three each had a special fondness for this great, humble, and utterly kind and loving priest. Fr. Kelly gave a joyous, impassioned eulogy about Fr. Mike's fire for being a priest, his compassion, and availability at all hours of the day and night. And he bookended his appreciation by saying just as how Fr. Mike always responded "Excellente!" to encourage others or when asked how he was, surely when Fr. Mike arrived at heaven's gate God must have welcomed him with a big "Excellente!" The second graders' voices made the hymns all the sweeter as we realized how much this unassuming man inspired us. Thank you, Maureen Sullivan, for letting us know about his passing. It was wonderful seeing you there and we were so glad we could attend. I hope some of you got to the wake and we wondered if that's where the photo of Fr. Mike came from that is now posted on the site.


Name:	bunny bappert <hasirl@msn.com>
Date:	2005-10-12
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1807 archer street
When did you live there	1942-1966
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	who submitted the picture of Father Mike- when was it taken - thank you - bunny bappert


Name:	steve coffey <st.coffey@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-10-11
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1530 beach ave.
When did you live there	1942 to1963
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	billy eagan suggested some time ago that I share the names and some of the memories of the families that lived in 1530 beach ave. or as billy would say, "upper beach". to set the time frame, my sister jean graduated from st. anthonys in 1948, my brother bob in 1960, and I graduated in 1952. on the ground floor there was Ann and Bill Becker. Their children Dot, Maryellen, Billy, Jane,Christine and Barbara. The Uhls, two children, Joanne, who was in my class, and Richie, who was a couple of years younger. The Dejaneros and two sons, I believe their names were Anthony and Thomas. Mrs. Dejanero was an excellent cook and I can remember the hallway filled with the aroma of her Italian dishes as I ran upstairs to partake in my mothers interesting Irish meals. (gulp) Old Mrs. Jones, who spent most of the day looking out the window at the kids playing in front of the apartment. Come to think of it, Iam probably older now than she was then. On the first floor,apt.5,there was Selma and Loyd Chanses. They had two children, Gloria and Stephen. When Selma made her specialties like knishes or potato pancakes, she she always shared the goodies with the Coffeys next door. We were in apt.6. One bedroom, two adults, three children,and a convertable sofa in the living room. When my sister got married and moved out, my brother and I would sleep in the living room. My mother, however, in her quest to keep life interesting, would have us switch sleeping arrangements and give my brother and I the bedroom. One night when I was about eighteen or nineteen, I was out with the boys for a few beers and got home real late. I walked into the darkened livingroom and around the castro without kicking it, and decided to switch on the TV.When the picture came on I stepped backwards and sat on the bed. If you have ever sat on someones stomach in the dark in the middle of the night you know what a strange sensation it can be. As for my father, he emitted a gurgling sound that was foreign to me. Then all hell broke loose. Fists flying, all aimed at me, mother screaming, Bobby yelling in the bedroom. The best defense I could come up with was "how did I know". When I made my way to the bedroom I believe my fathers final words included something about a "drunken bum". The Relihans wrer in the apt. next to us. They had one daughter Bridget,who graduated with my sister. Martin and Mary Moran were accross the hall, one daughter Katie. Dan and Ann Comer lived next to them. One son Danny, who Ibelieve played football at Iona,and one daughter. On the second floor the Devaneros with one daughter Joanne. Charlie and Caroline Scheuing, one son Ken. Charlie was known as "knockout" by the Mulhollands crowd. I believe he was related to the famous boxer on Beach Ave. Frank Ryff. The Kellys with sons Jack and George. Mr.Kelly,whose first name was Mike, used to give my father, brother and I haircuts periodically. Since he would never accept money for his labor, he and my father would sip only the finest rye whiskey as he went about his trade. Fleischmans, Calvert, Carstairs, Three Feathers,Four Roses,you get the picture.My father would always go first, then me, then my poor hapless brother. When Mr.Kelly would finish with Bobby, half the toilet paper in the house would be stuck to Bobbys ears. Blood everywhere. Although tears would be flowing down Bobs cheeks my father kept assuring my mother and Mr. Kelly that Bobby did not feel a thing. Bobby grew up with a hairstyle that is now very "in". Ithink it is called "bedhead". The OConells, Kay and Danny. Kay graduated with me from St. Anthonys, and Danny grew up with my brother. One night My mother stopped Mr. and Mrs. OConell in the hallway and asked for their help.She told them my father was having a heart attack. Dan immediatly helped my father into their car and the four of them drove to Jacobi Hospital where they saved his life. That happened in 1957. My father had a long full life and died in 1995. My typing finger has had it. later


Name:	Rosie (NOCELLA) Clarke-Schofield <roro1390@opton;line.net>
Date:	2005-10-11
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1450 taylor Ave
When did you live there	1943-1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Mrs Cohen's
Comments:	My heart is broken over the passing of Fr Mike. As he married me back in 1960,He was the greatest priedt there ever was. Ans all of us at St Anthony's were very honored to have had such a wonderful Man. He had a heart that was made of GOLD. Love Rosie


Name:	Patricia Berry (Nocella) <bronxite48@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-10-11
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1450 Taylor Avenue, #25
When did you live there	1948-1988
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	I will always remember growing up in such a wonderful neighborhood. Attending St. Anthony's school and church from kindergarden throught 8th grade. I can remember when the new school was opened on Mansion Street and our classes were divided. I will never forget the nuns from school and how they "loved" my brother Eddie. I am still in close contact with quite a few of our old neighbors from this wonderful place. Well if anyone who reads this remembers me and would like to send me an email I would love to hear from you so we can talk about the old days. Take care to all. Love, Patty


Name:	Rosie (NOCELLA) Clarke-Schofield <roro1390@optonline.net>
Date:	2005-10-11
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1450 TAYLOR AVE
When did you live there	1943-1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No Mrs Cohen's
Comments:	It was so good to see some of my old friends post. Hi Patsy and Hi Bunny. I have such found memories of the past living there. I go married in St Anthony's in 1960.Any one that knows me e-mail me. Love to hear from you. Patsy do remember how Mrs Winters would make sur the halls were nice and clean when any one got married? And how we would all act angels when we knew Mrs Cohn would come around the Bldg. Bunny is the yoy who's Dad was Pete the barber?? Love To All Rosie


Name:	Ed Nocella <nocella78@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-10-11
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1450 Taylor
When did you live there	47-66
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	I wished I check the board yesterday. Father Mike was a Saint in my eyes. I'm so sorry I could not attend the service for him. He will always be in my prayers.


Name:	bunny bappert <hasirl@msn.com>
Date:	2005-10-10
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1807 archer street
When did you live there	1942-1966
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I am just one of many people I am sure that remember Father Michael - he was one of the greatest people I have ever known - he was a kind man, a great priest and always did what he could to make someone else's life a little easier - especially the patients at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx- God Bless you Father Mike - your star will shine bright in Heaven.


Name:	maureen sullivan <marycath@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-10-08
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1436 Beach, 1480 Thieriot
When did you live there	1934-Present
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Just a little correction on my e-mail address! Not sure if it makes a difference.


Name:	maureen sullivan <marycath@verizon.com>
Date:	2005-10-08
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1436 Beach, 1480 Thieriot
When did you live there	1934-Present
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Father Michael died yesterday. Most of you will fondly remember him. Monsignor Alessandro will be waked Monday, 10/10, 2pm-5pm and 7pm-9pm at Farenga's, 920 Allerton Ave., Bronx, [718-654-0500]. Funeral Mass: Tuesday, 10/11 10am, St. Anthony's, Commonwealth Ave. Cardinal Egan will be the Celebrant.


Name:	Ed Nocella <nocella78@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-10-07
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1450 Tayor Ave apt 25
When did you live there	1947 / 1967
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	I think it was Mrs. Cohen's flats
Comments:	This was truly GREATEST place to grow up in. I still keep in touch with many of my old friends, their siblings and offsprings through the Mud Bowls, Summer Picniks and IFOND Golf outings. When I meet everyone, so much has changed and so much has not. The close bonds we had than still exists. I don't know of another place that has this wonderful relationship. I'm so very proud & greatful to have had the oppurtunity to be part of it. And no matter which football team you may now rout for the, ARCHER RAMS will always be #1.


Name:	Patrick F Hanley <hanleypf@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-10-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1492 Saint Lawrence Ave.
When did you live there	1942 thru 1964
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No, lived across fm St. Anthonys
Comments:	I will notify my brothers and sisters re this web site. GOOD LUCK !


Name:	Richie Hillman <Boman1520@aol.com>
Date:	2005-10-01
Comments:	For those of you who may not know, alongtime resident of Archer St. Eddie Bonitz is sick with cancer. A tribute in his honor will be held at the VFW hall (2021 Westchester Ave.) Oct.22nd @5pm-9pm. To help defray his bills a $30.00 donation will be asked. This includes Hot & Cold buffet, open bar(liquor included) and a D.J.. There will be parking avalible accross the street in the garage. For more info call the VFW after 2pm 7 days a week, ask for Charlie or Richie (718) 822-0227.


Name:	Bill O'Malley <2irish@cox.net>
Date:	2005-10-01
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1807 Archer St.&1426 Beach Ave.
When did you live there	194?-1959
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Just found this web site.Reading the comments brought back great memories.


Name:	andrew stack <astack7@tampabay.rr.com>
Date:	2005-09-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1574 beach ave
When did you live there	1938 -1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I enjoyed the comments from many of you I remember so well. I now live in Bradenton Fl for the past 5 years and love it. A few wanted to know where my brother was. He lives in Congers NY. If any one from the old neighborhood is in this area please call. I amy proud to still say I am from the Bronx.


Name:	ronnie sanders(smulowitz) <thingspast@earthlink.net>
Date:	2005-09-26
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1471 taylor ave.apt.14
When did you live there	1947-1959
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	I guess so though i never heard it called that
Comments:	to think that there are still people from that neighborhood who still know each other,& keep in touch is absolutely great. What a marvellous thing this internet thing is. I just got a computer a comparatively short time ago and it greatly intimidates me ...& certainly impresses the hell out of me. I do have a printer or scanner and many old photos around here and though someone showed me how I've yet to use this feature. And my graduation picture from p.s.102 in 1946 p.s.47 in 1948. And others as well. I'd like to send copies of them all. Wasn'it mr. Smythe who was the super of my bdlg.then?And wasn't it mr O'reilley who was the super next bdlg. over?1975 taylor i think. If any days were the good old days ,they certainly were. Anybody care to write,whether i knew you or not,i'd be happy to answer. Be well, ron


Name:	ronald sanders(smulowitz) <thingspast@earthlink.net>
Date:	2005-09-24
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1471 taylor ave.
When did you live there	1947-1959(1953-1956(inthearmy)
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	iguesssoneverheardname strattonpk.before
Comments:	I used to know someone named harry O'brien. This was about 1950 or so. he lived across the street from me on taylor ave.and down a couple of houses.Could this be the same Harry O'brien listed here? Great site. Glad i found it. I've some old pictures around here somewhere. Hope to e-mailthem to site soon. ron sanders


Name:	john walsh <johnw1600@aol.com>
Date:	2005-09-11
Where did you live in Stratton Park	beach ave, gurelain st
When did you live there	'35-'58
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Regarding the little room, I remember when the collection was mostly coins the ushers had a coin separatinf and counting machine in there that was used ot count the collection, and was frequently run during the consecration. It aounded like a small plane revving up, causing more than one person to wonder about the parish priorities.


Name:	Mike Cronin <mcronin111@aol.com>
Date:	2005-09-10
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1574 Beach, 1475 Taylor
When did you live there	62-77
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	You Bet
Comments:	That little room was a change booth! Change for the collection and for the "Seat Offering". I can still hear the sound the coins made when they were dropped in the oak box. My Grandfather, Chris Flynn would be in the booth for the 7,8,9 am masses and a few times he took me in there with him. He would have little stacks of change ready to go - 3 quarters, two dimes and a nickel. Of course to me, who just wanted to "hand out the money", it seemed that he knew everyone and more talking that change giving was happening. I think as the building was built as an auditorium, this was probably a ticket booth! There was one on each side and the one near the school office was used for crossing guard raincoat storage!


Name:	Bob "bubby" Hammer <bobhammer@joimail.com>
Date:	2005-09-10
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach ave
When did you live there	1943 - 1961
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I attended St Anthonys church and remember a small room with a dutch door at the top of the steps on the right hand side of the vestibule that was used by the ushers. Does any one remember what the ushers used it for. Was it a coat room? office? religious article store? or something else I really would like an answer from anyone who can remember its Sunday morning use... Thanks for reminising... Bob


Name:	Frank Luke Jr <frank@shumaker.psemail.com>
Date:	2005-09-08
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1576 Taylor,1574 Beach
When did you live there	1963-1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Not sure
Comments:	Great website. What a great place to grow up. I recall one summer about 1968 when "FAB" the laundry detergent came out(or something new). There were samples on eveyone's door. We darling kids took as many as we could and had a huge bubble bath at the corner of Archer St. and Taylor Ave using our favorite fire hydrant of course. I recall the suds up to the second floor. My grandmother came back from church the next day and could not figure how come Archer Street was so clean. Her comment"I haven't seen Archer St. that clean since the war". I assume she was refering to WWII. Clever Kids. Best Regards. FL


Name:	Fred Celli <Shutters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-09-05
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1575 Thieriot Ave & 1537 White Plains Rd
When did you live there	1948 - 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	What a tragedy that has occurred in the Gulf Coast region as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Imagine if that had happened in our own neighborhood. Imagine the sense of helplessness and dispair we would be feeling. Lets all pray for our fellow American neighbors, each one our brothers and sisters. The humanitarian effort that will be required to salvage and rebuild the many lives that have been devastated will be immense. From political leaders, to the American workers, to the least conspicuous, we all must answer the call for help which cries out to us in the wake of this catastrophy. May we stand strongly united in the face of this crisis, as we always have in the past. We cannot afford to do anything less. This is a time that we, as a nation, need to do even more. I, for one, am confident that we will. God bless your efforts, and God Bless America.


Name:	Joe Montana <josephmontana@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-08-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1410 Beach Ave
When did you live there	1956 to 1976
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	Well, My sister Michele sent me this great site. Lots of memories, and the pictures gr8! There were lots of names I don't know, but there were lots that come to mind from listening to mom and Uncle Phil talk about when they were kids living there. Dont get back too often, just ask my sister, but I would love to get mail from the neighborhood. Once again GR8 site Joe


Name:	John P. O'Neill <jackoneill1@Hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-08-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1443 Taylor Ave.
When did you live there	1944-1971
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	From one John Patrick to another, it is very nice to hear from you on this message board. I think your accomplishments make us all feel very proud, and just a little bit more special, for having come from this neighborhood. I hope to see your play "Doubt" in the near future.


Name:	John Shanley <jpshanley@aol.com>
Date:	2005-08-27
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1533 Beach Ave.
When did you live there	1955-1970
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	I just want to say thanks to the people on this site who offered me their congrats. I loved that world we called Archer Street. I remember fireworks one 4th of July spilling off the rooftops of the O'Leary buildings like fabulous lava. I remember so many things. From time to time I'll write here one or two so as not to overwhelm. I remember the beauty of so many faces, boys and girls. Youth. You can't capture it. But you can remember it. My Very Best, John Shanley


Name:	Danny O'Connell <docco18@aol.com>
Date:	2005-08-27
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1530 Beach Ave
When did you live there	1946 to 1968
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	This brings back lots of memorys


Name:	pat meade falci <patsieirishlady@aol.com>
Date:	2005-08-26
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1450 Taylor Ave
When did you live there	1939-1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	Hello to all the old neighbors, The McGOVERNS, THE MCMONEGALS, NOCELLAS, KIRWANS AND ALL WHO LIVED AT 1450. RE-MEMBER ALL THE PARTIES THAT MRS. WINTERS HAD IN THE HALLWAY. WHAT FUN WE HAD. IT SEEMS LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY. WE HAD THE BEST BUILDING ON THE BLOCK.


Name:	pat meade falci <patsieirishlady@aol.com>
Date:	2005-08-26
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1450 taylor ave 1478 beach ave & 1461 Taylor Ave
When did you live there	1939-1968
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	what a great idea for this website. We, the Meades have such fond memories of the "neighborhood" it was the greatest. When our world came to an end when Danny was taken in VietNam the whole area came out to support our mom and dad. Joe and I still see Pat McLoughlin Owen Lapine , girl of many names, Tom & Theresa McEnroe, Mary &Charlie Malone, The two Kissane families & Matty & maryJO Mc Quillan. We had our 5oth reunion two years ago and it was great to see all of our old friends again. God Bless all of you.


Name:	jane gallagher dunscomb <fivehats@aol.com>
Date:	2005-08-23
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	1809 archer st
Comments:	i have a couple of pic. to send can you give me an adress not familar with emailing.


Name:	Danny O'Connell <docco18@aol.com>
Date:	2005-08-23
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1530 Beach Ave
When did you live there	1946 to 1968
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	I think so
Comments:	This is a very interesting site I hope it goes on


Name:	Judy Anderson Sullivan <BabyImYrz@aol.com>
Date:	2005-08-20
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1435 Taylor Ave
When did you live there	1948-1970
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Wonderful memories and great friends have enriched my life form the old neighborhood. Reading the posts here is almost like being there again, though it saddens me to see how many of these good people have past. I like to think that they are altogether again carrying on the Archer Street traditions.


Name:	Harry O'Brien <kayandharryo@aol.com>
Date:	2005-08-18
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1456 Taylor Ave.
When did you live there	1934-1958
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Marilyn Barrett Mooney, I hope you saw the notice for St. Anthony's class of 48 reunion on this site. If not, it will be on Oct. 22, site yet to be determined.If you are in touch with any other classmates please notify them as well. It should be a lot of fun.I tried to send you an e-mail direct but had no luck. Hope you get this message. If anyone is in touch with Marilyn, or any other 48 grad would you please give them a heads-up.You can notify John Walsh johnw1600@aol.com or Harry O'Brien kayandharryo@aol.com Peace, Harryo


Name:	marilyn barrett mooney <fraknjmooney9@aol.com>
Date:	2005-08-18
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Beach and Taylor Ave.
When did you live there	1940-1966
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	It was a fun place to grow up.


Name:	Tom Anderson <twa46@prodigy.net>
Date:	2005-08-16
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1435 Taylor & Theriot Ave
When did you live there	1946-1970
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Richie Burke from Taylor Avenue and brother of John Burke passed away this past weekend. Rich was retired from FDNY. He will be missed.


Name:	claire scanlon <claire5075@sbcglobal.net>
Date:	2005-08-15
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 beach ave
When did you live there	1950-1977
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	The best times of my life were on beach ave. Im still in touch with alot of my true friends from beach ave.I have great memories of my parents, the parties at stratton park club, also irish dancing at the club. The candy store on the corner, had lunch there stopped for a cherry coke on lunch break from St. Anthonys. I could go on for days, years haha


Name:	Ed (Dingo) Nocella <nocella78@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-07-31
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1450 Taylor Ave Apt 26/25
When did you live there	1947 to 1967
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	????
Comments:	Parents moved there in 1943. We lived in apt 26 until 1954 and moved next store apt 25(4 rooms). Sister Pat moved out of neighborhood in 1988.


Name:	gerri cunningham pare <gerripare@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-07-31
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 & 1444 Beach Ave
When did you live there	1947-73
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yup
Comments:	Michelle Montana, So good to see you mention your great Uncle Phil and mom, Santa Bernardi; they were great, gentle people. So you are still there - hope that 1426 Beach is no longer a drug hangout as you mentioned to me a dozen years ago. How is your brother, Joey, and ever hear from Vicki or Joann Pello, who rented upstairs from you from the 50s to the 70s? I wonder if they even know about this wonderful site. Last week I was in the Hampton Bays library with my pal Karen Manning, and she noticed a fellow who was in my year at St. Anthony's: Jackie Barrett, who's had a place out here for years. He was also very pleased with this site and the catch-up connections with old friends and neighbors that are possible. I hope you're well, Michelle, and any update on the state of our old nabe would be appreciated by all of us next time you write in. Thanks !


Name:	Michele Montana <michele370@earthlink.net>
Date:	2005-07-29
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1410 Beach Avenue
When did you live there	1954-1976 and 1982-present
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	My grandparents bought our house around 1922 and our family has lived here since. My uncle was Phil Bernardi and my mother, Santina Bernardi Montana. I enjoyed reading so many of the rememberances about our neighborhood. I wonder if anyone is interested in doing a retrospective of the neighborhood, perhaps a photo installation with text and maybe some performance.


Name:	Fred Celli <shutters86>
Date:	2005-07-22
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1575 Thieriot
When did you live there	until 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Does anyone know what has become of Eddie Connors from Beach Avenue? He lived in the same building as John Gavin. Eddie and I both attended Mt St Michaels. Last time I saw him was in '71. If anyone knows what has become of him, please either leave a post or e-mail me. Thanks.


Name:	bill philbin <bphilbinjd@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-07-21
Where did you live in Stratton Park	towards west farms
When did you live there	50-60
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	Anyone know whereabout of Kay Lyons sister of Eddie Lyons - they lived on Taylor just across from the playground. bp


Name:	daniel TUFANISCO <dannytuffy@msn.com>
Date:	2005-07-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1462 taylor ave
When did you live there	1948 - 1981
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	hi to all archer st area freddie seen tour comments on a few people still talk to few people danny


Name:	Pat Kenny Barry <pavb67@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-07-16
Comments:	This is in reply to John Walsh who replied to my posting. John, I accidently deleted your email and therefore cannot respond until you email me again please. Thanks, Pat


Name:	Pat Kenny Barry <pavb67@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-07-13
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1451 Taylor Ave.
When did you live there	1943-1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes (although this was new to me)
Comments:	For starters, I wish to thank the webmasters and each of you who have contributed to some delightfully happy childhood memories. Kay O'Neil O'Brien through her brother Johnny O'Neil 144? Taylor Ave. alerted me to the site last night and I read the entire message board steadily until after midnight. What happy dreams I had!!! Now, is there anyone out there who remembers a farm behind PS 102 on Taylor not far from Tremont and 1575 Taylor? (I forget the name of the street that runs perpendicular to Taylor right before Tremont. Susan Tracey (class of '55)and her family were superintendentants in the house on the opposite corner. Remember Augie the fish market man? How about Mike and Albert, the brothers who ran the butcher shop on Beach Avenue. I use to love to go in and watch them pound the veal cutlets as I swirled my feet around in the sawdust that was sprinkled all over the floor. Remember how barren Liotta brothers bakery on Beach Ave use to be, because they basically just baked Italian bread (13 cents a loaf, just like the Rosedale Theater on Westchester Ave 13 cents to get in.) But waht bread it was! Years later when my sister moved to Congers NY my husband went looking for a bakery in the area and what do you think he came across but a Liotta Brothers Bakery where they also now sold Italian pastries. Remember the pork store which was next to Mullohands? He use to give you a slice of bolony while your mother was making her purchases. I don''t remember the name (was it Abe's) but the candy store across from Harry's where you could put a penny in the slot and get a 4x6 of Tom Mix.. Anyone remember Harry and Estelle's son's name who helped out and ran the store for his parents sometimes?? Who remembers when the Half Moon ride would come around and for a dime you could be flown to the moon... One of my favorites was when the Charolette Rousse man came around and he would make up these sponge cakes with tons of whipped cream wrapped in a cardboard crown like holder for a nickel or a dime. More to come soon... Remember how Mr Halprin, who was not all that young himself would deliver your groceries in a box? Sometimes walking up 3-4 flights of stairs.


Name:	FYI <info@strattonpark.com>
Date:	2005-07-03
Comments:	FYI:Philip Kelly died yesterday (July 1). The wake is at the Castle Hill Funeral Home, 1528 Castle Hill Avenue, Bronx. Telephone # 718 828 9222. The wake will be Sun. 3 to 5 & Mon., 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 PM. He will be buried on Tuesday. Do not have that info yet on the funeral.


Name:	Brenda Behringer <nutsnbolts399@suscom.net>
Date:	2005-06-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Thieriot Avenue across from the park and ps102
When did you live there	1951-1969
Comments:	I used to love to go to Doc Adlers. My poor mother God rest her soul used to get the biggest and cheapest bottles of perfume he was selling on Mothers Day. But, you know your mom it was always wonderful. We found a couple of those bottles 20 years later till filled to the brim. I remember taking my brown oxfords to Tony the Italian shoemaker. I used to love going into his store because of the smell of the shoe polish. Pete the barber was next stor and I would go with my father when he would get a hair cut. White's card store; I think owned every religious holy picture ever printed. You had to have your missals popping with them on Sunday or your were just nobody. Remember the missions at St Anthonys? It was the first $1 store. The sisters would remind us everyday when we went home for lunch to remember to bring back money so that we could feed the poor. I also have a collection of plastic statues. Most of Marys blue has worn off her coat. I am not sure that was from my children chewing on her or the dogs. But , I always managed to save her. I am so happy to be able to share great memories and listen to you all share yours with me. Oh yeah! Father Starbach he was quite the fellar. How about Sister Alawisha Marietta? To this day the thought of her face brings fear to my heart. The boys were throwing spit balls one day in the class room and she walked in unannounced. When we went home for lunch she made the three of them (you know who you are) bring back an empty glass mayonaise jar. They were then told that they could not go home that day until they filled the entire jar and nobody was allowed to help them. Remember Sister Theresa and the lion that bite you if you did something wrong? How many times would we be stopped in the middle of a history class and told to take out our penmenship books because she didn't like the way someone was writing. To this day people say right away when they see my signature, Oh! you must have been taught by the nuns! I could go on forever- but dinner awaits. Thank you all for making my evening a lot brighter.


Name:	Freddy Celli <shutters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-06-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1537 White Plains Road & 1575 Thieriot Ave
When did you live there	1948 - 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	The following is an open letter to Ms. Pat Dillon, who was nice enough to send me an e-mail mentioning my poem which was posted a few days ago. Her friendly note contained some of her neighborhood memories which in turn rekindled some of my own. I'm certain many of you will remember them as well: Hi Pat, Glad you enjoyed the poem, and thanks for the compliment. I do remember the man who sharpened knives and scissors, and the rag man, as well as the organ grinder with the monkey. I don't remember the paper man though. Was it newspaper he collected? Do you remember catching fireflies, and puting them in a jar? I live in south Florida for the past 28 years, so I haven't seen a firefly in all that time. Someone recently told me that they only appear in areas that grow a certain type of tree, but don't recall what kind. I went back on the website and read your post from March, 2004. It brought back lots of memories. My wife and I are both 57. I am surmising from what you wrote that you are several years older than us. She was raised in the west Bronx, near Fordham and University (St Nicholas of Tolentine Church). Although we're from opposite ends of the Bronx, we constantly share childhood stories about our respective neighborhoods. I couldn't help commenting to her about your post, and your remarkable memory. God has truly blessed your power of recollection. I do remember many of the things you wrote about. Harry's candy store was a mainstay for me during my years at St Anthony's. I lived on White Plains Road then, but had to pass Harry's on the way home. He had the greatest loose chocolate candy display of all the candy stores. Barton's was the brand, I think; 3 cents apiece, two for a nickel. That was chocolate heaven! And you are so right, Doc Adler was just a terrific gentleman, and had a heart of gold. Do you remember White's religious article store? How many plastic crosses did I buy there? Maybe like a scillion! And yes, Father Staubach was the fastest gun in town. He flew through the Mass. I was an altar boy (of course), and I remember some conversations with him that were pretty amazing. He was quite brilliant, and equally bizarre. You mentioned the shoemaker. As soon as I read that, the memory of that unmistakable aroma aroused my senses. The combination of leather, and glue, and oil created a sensation that one's nose could never confuse with anything else. And yes, I can remember lying in bed at night, and listening for the familiar sounds of the neighborhood that poured in through the open windows during spring and summer, and into the early fall. I remember how good it would feel to go coatless once spring arrived. I can remember knowing everyone, from every floor in my building. I remember neighbors helping each other in time of need. Basically, I remember a life and a time that sadly no longer exists, at least not with any frequency. Someone should write a book, explaining where those times have gone, how the values we held so dearly have eroded so tremendously, and how much the worse for it we all are consequently. If someone could do the subject matter justice, it would probably be a best seller. And if someone could get us back on the road to living those values again, they'd probably win a Nobel Prize. The thing that makes the Stratton Park site, and others like it, so popular is that it reminds us of a time when we felt better about life because of those values, and because of the way people acted toward each other as a result. Now, our only solace is in our faith, and the knowledge that eventually, from all this disarray, will come stability. Finally then, the world will see the Light. Until then, we all have our memory of times much better than the present, and it is this memory that gives us hope. With these thoughts I'll sign off, and look forward to communicating with you again. Meanwhile, God bless you and yours. Respectfuly, Freddy C


Name:	Ed Bourke <ebourke@frontiernet.net>
Date:	2005-06-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1809 Archer St
When did you live there	When it was beautiful
Comments:	Its late but Quoting my elder lets not live on ceremony. THE CLASS OF 54 IS STARTING TO THINK,PLAN AND GATHER FOR A RE-UNION, WHEN ?? BUT SOON. MILESTONE 1 A CLASS LIST 2 FEEDBACK ON WHO KNOW'S WHERE THEY ARE 3 ADDRESSES OR EMAIL'S 4 SOMEONE GET 5 OR 6 SMART INTELIGENT MALES/FEMALES AS A COMMITTEE 5 DO NOT RE-INVENT THE WHEEL, WHAT DID THE OTHER CLASSES BEFORE THIS DO 6 PICK A CONVEINENT LOCATION AND DATE AVOIDING HOLIDAYS 7 S E N D O U T T H E A N N O U N C E M E N T WITH THE DETAILS Any sisters or brothers or counsins/friends of this class send me the email EB


Name:	john walsh <johnw1600@aol.com>
Date:	2005-06-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1803 guerlain, 1530 beach
When did you live there	1938-58,
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	The 1948 St. Anthony's Class Reunion is scheduled for October 22, 2005. Yes, it's short notice, and it's not on a 5 or 10 year anniversary, but so what. At our age we shouldn't be standing on ceremony. Let's get together and have some laughs while there's still life in us. Time and place to be decided as we gather momentum and attendees. Note that the semi-annual Archer Street reunion lunch will most likely be held on the 20th at Charlie's Inn in Throgs Neck. Two for the price of one for those who would have to travel any distance.. If you were in the class, whether you are interested or not, or if you know where we can contact a member of the class, please contact me or Harry O'Brien at: John Walsh johnw1600@aol.com Harry Obrien kayandharryo@aol.com


Name:	PETER BYRNE <pbyrne@law.nyc.gov>
Date:	2005-06-27
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1807 ARCHER STREET
When did you live there	1940(BORN)-1977
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	YEAS
Comments:	REALLY, VERY GLAD TO HAVE HIT ON THIS WEBSITE. LEFT THERE TWENTY EIGHT YEARS AGO. COINCIDENCE. IT WAS FIFTY ONE YEARS AGO TODAY-27 JUNE 1954- I GRADUATED FROM ST. ANTHONY'S-COMMONWEALTH AVENUE-ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.


Name:	PETER BYRNE <pbyrne@law.nyc.gov>
Date:	2005-06-27
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1807 ARCHER STREET
When did you live there	1940(BORN)-1977
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	YEAS
Comments:	REALLY, VERY GLAD TO HAVE HIT ON THIS WEBSITE. LEFT THERE TWENTY EIGHT YEARS AGO. COINCIDENCE. IT WAS FIFTY ONE YEARS AGO TODAY-27 JUNE 1954- I GRADUATED FROM ST. ANTHONY'S-COMMONWEALTH AVENUE-ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.


Name:	Ed Bourke <ebourke@frontiernet.net>
Date:	2005-06-24
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Archer St
When did you live there	way back when it was beautiful
Comments:	Hi Bobby Hammer over the last thirty yrs we met twice, once for a job in ny with the armed forces PX and once in Dallas at computer uses meeting. nice to hear from you, say hello to Maryann we entered the world on the same day. I have five daughters and 16 Grand Children maybe room for 2 more. Good luck with your battle, Angie is a 8 yr survivor The next neigbhood re union will be OCT (3rd thurs, i think) Charlies Inn, Throggs neck, take care. Ed


Name:	Freddy Celli <shutters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-06-23
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1537 White Plains Road and 1575 Theiriot Avenue
When did you live there	1948 to 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Sometimes childhood memories inspire thoughts of better days. Somehow the days we remember from our youth reflect different values from those we experience now. Not long ago, I remembered how the fruit wagon used to pass by our street in the middle '50's. It became the subject of a poem I wrote, and its sentiment seems to reference a common thread which echoes throughout the posts at this website. I thought I would include it here perhaps as a different way of expressing those feelings. The Fruits of Life We called him 'Frank the fruitman' And he used to work our street While he pulled an old green wagon With a white horse he called 'Pete' One could count on him like clockwork Every day he came at noon In his worn-out brown fedora, He would sing his little tune, "Fruit _____ fruit man Getcha peaches, getcha pears Gotcha melons, sweet as honey Fruits of life beyond compare"! Then he'd sing out all the prices As he made a nimble vault From the boot seat to the sidewalk While 'Pete' ambled to a halt First the baskets were uncovered And the scales were all slung clear Then he'd raise his voice an octave When he sang for all to hear, "Fruit _____ fruit man Getcha peaches, getcha pears Gotcha melons, sweet as honey Fruits of life beyond compare". So the locals came in bunches From the buildings all around And you'd think from all that bustle 'Twas the only food in town And Frank stood there smiling broadly With his tanned and leathered face Like he was the greatest fruitman E'er to serve the human race Now there are so many memories That my childhood held complete But there could be none more vivid Than when Frank drove down our street All was right, and times were carefree When the days were sweet and long And the jist of life was echoed In a fruitman's simple song, "Fruit ______ fruit man Getcha peaches, getcha pears Gotcha melons, sweet as honey Fruits of Life beyond compare"!


Name:	Bob (bubby) Hammer <bobhammer@joimail.com>
Date:	2005-06-23
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach ave
When did you live there	1943 to 1958
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	It's been 18 months since I first saw this site, I came upon it accidently if I remember correctly, and now have to admit I view it at least weekly. Back when I made my first comment I did not have much to say as I was recupperating from an operation to remove a cancer growth from my right lung. Only a year and a couple of months later I had another cancer growth removed from the same (what was left of it) lung. My last operation was St. Patricks Day of this year. After years of yearning for the Bronx I have renewed my N.Y. self thru this web site. Several perople have emailed me and one special person communicates with me and I them at least weekly. I know you can't go back in time but as I read the entries being posted I cannot wonder if St Anthony's (or P.S. 102) didnt do something to all of us that made some sort of indellible longing to hang together forever. I read a lot of what we remember and not near enough of what we are doing now. Other then collecting S.S. visiting Doctors, so after reading this how about it, How many children, grand children, where are we now, how were we influnced. Did we pass on our values to our kids no no no I mean did they accept the values we tried to pass on.. I went in the army a year after graduating from St. Helenas H.S. (now I think it Msgr. Scanlen H.S.) got out and went to work in computers for the military P.X. System in down town N.Y. then in 1963 Pres Kennedy called me up to serve another year because the Russians built the Berlin Wall.. It was then that I served in Ark. and met the love of my life. (not many Catholics in Ark but I found one) we tried N.Y for about a year but decided Ark was more to our liking. (A random fact "my wife is an R.N") a year later my old boss called and told me there was a job for me if I would move to Dallas Tx as the P.X. was relocating. I took it and have been here ever since. I own 12 acres and on it I raised 7 kids tought them all my values and most of them accepted my values as the way to go. one is a recovering alcholic while another is on his 3rd wife but they all have one thing in common they live close and visit just about daily. I now have 10 grand children on the ground and one in the oven so if you add it up 1 spouse, i self, 7 kids their 7 spouses and 11 grand kids that comes to a nifty 26 strange as it seems my children and their spouses = 14 and (not counting myself) there are 26 people in this immidiate family that = 14 26 my old address on beach ave. There I must be getting tired to come up with that..... I'm about to be 67 years old now and don't know how I made it but I did thanks to a lot of prayers from at least one old friend. I'm still healthy enough not to need nursing care , I fish, hunt, trap, boat, garden, raise livestock and drive some hugh farm equipment for one of my son-in-laws when he needs help. my love to all who remember me and I promise to post again soon. Bob P.S. I normally will ans. email so drop me a line if you remember that skinny buck tooth kid from apt 23 1426 beach ave.


Name:	Lenore Chris (Probe) <clm9216@msn.com>
Date:	2005-06-23
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1406 Taylor (home my great grandparents built)
When did you live there	51 - 63
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	Is that really Steve... did we call him the bungolo man, or was it simply the ice cream man? All the posts interweave and tell a story. I credit our teachers and other adults, who really took care of us children, so responsibly. I enjoy hearing all the voices through these posts. It is a unique and generous website. The work of our parents and teachers, store keepers and others, who raised this bunch of great citizens, is reflected so beautifully in this forum. Very poetic and articulate posts. Thank you.


Name:	Kay (O'Connor) Paetow <kathleen1935@earthlink.net>
Date:	2005-06-19
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1475 Taylor Ave
When did you live there	1941 to 1959
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Some of my best memories of my life are growing up on Taylor and Archer Streets. I attended St. Anthony's grammar school and graduated from there in 1949 and then attended St. Barnabas High School. I still keep in contact with the girls I graduated with in 1949. We even get together even though we are scattered all over the United States. I married and moved to Hauppauge, Long Island where my husband Henry and I raised our 6 children. He had a massive heart attact July 8, 1988 and I continued to work until I retired at age 65. I am now currently living in southwest Florida in Estero and enjoying the good life Florida has to offer.


Name:	Bill Carr <wcarrcpa@aol.com>
Date:	2005-06-12
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach Ave.
When did you live there	1938-1961
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I was made aware of this web site by Bobby Nolan who must have been a rich kid in that he lived in a private house on St. Lawrence Ave. (about 50 yds. north of Barbara Falk). (Of course, rich is a relative term and "rich" by Stratton Park standards probably translated into lower middle class by convential standards.) Bob's wife, Terry Dillon of 1459 Taylor, was best friends with my wife,Eileen O'Connor of 1475 Taylor (until the O'Connor family got uppity and moved to the elevator building at 1520 Thieriot. The girls shared 12 years of schooling at St Anthony and St Barnabas and Bob and Terry were in our wedding party in 1961. Although we left the NY area in 1990 (moving in a job related situation to Cincinnati and eventually retiring to Southwest FL in 1990), we have kept in touch with the Nolans for better than 40 years. By way of belated introduction, my name is Bill Carr and I lived the first 22 years of my life in apt.#18 at 1426 Beach (the southernmost O'Leary building on Beach Ave). I shared that spacious 500 sq. ft. apartment with my parents and my brother Tom (three years my junior) and sister Kathleen (five years younger than Tom).My mother and father, Bill and Catherine, emigrated from the west of Ireland in 1927 and 1933, respectivly, and moved to 1426 upon their marriage in 1937.My father lived in that same apt.until he died in 1981.My mother stayed a few more years until 1985 when she moved to CT to be closer to my sister. I note that the former residents of 1426 are significent contributors to this site. I have counted no fewer than six different posting sources. One of these, Billy Egan who lived right above me in apt.25, has memoralized my knobby 6 year old knees (and those of my brother)in the first picture under photo#5. I want to echo the plaudits extended by a contributor earlier in the week to John Patrick Shanley. Like the previous poster, I didn't know Mr. Shanley. When I saw him accept his Tony award last Sunday, he appeared to be 10 to 15 years my junior. I am also not familiar with the content of his play, "Doubt". An AP pick-up in our local Naples newspaper indicates that it's "a drama of suspicion and certainty set in a parochial school in the Bronx".Wow! That covers a plethora of possibilities. I only hope that it didn't succomb to the popular sport of church bashing that other members of the entertainment elite find so compelling. Mr. Shanley's acceptance speech was a breath of fresh air. On a night when his co-honorees were acknowledging their agents, their significient others (gender immaterial) ann even their pets,Mr. Shanley's first kudos were extended to "the Sisters of Charity who taught me how to read and write." Imagine that. The biggest night of his life and his most purposeful thank you goes to the little nuns who helped formulate him. And, on national TV no less! Way to go John Patrick! This site has conjured up memories that transend better than 50 years. I don't want to turn my first posting onto an epic but I hope to have more later.


Name:	Freddy Celli <shutters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-06-09
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1437 White Plains Rd and 1575 Thieriot Ave
When did you live there	1948 to 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	I noticed Patty Lamasney-Girty's post, which mentions she lived at 1574 Beach Ave. According to the History on this website, John O'Leary built the building at 1574 after buiding the ones behind it on Thieriot, one of which was my building at 1575. A lot of the folks from the neighborhood lived in an O'Leary flat, and didn't know it, myself included. Patty used to hang out with my sister, Anne, both having been in the same class at St Anthony's, and having lived right around the corner from one another. Anne married Ricky Costa from Beach Avenue. He lived right across the street from the Archer Deli. I had a fist fight with Peter Bourke right there in the middle of the street, and Frankie Riff came over and broke it up when it degenerated into a wrestling match. Ricky was one of Pete's buddies, and he was there to witness the whole thing. Some several years later he and Anne were married, and one of the first things he asked, once he got to know me, was whether or not I remembered that fight. How could I forget, as I took a left hook to the eye that left a mark which I wear to this day! Anne and Rick bought a house in Stoney Point, and Rick commuted to the Bronx every work day for the next 25 years until his recent retirement. I met a girl from the West Bronx, and we were married in 1972. After the birth of our son, Mick, we moved out of the Bronx, our respective homes of 27 years, and settled in South Florida, where we have remained to the present day. Kathy and I often reminisce over our old neighborhoods, and still stay in contact with old friends, always with lots of laughter and shared happiness. This website has become a welcome addition to that memory sharing, and we'd both like to take the time to thank those responsible for its existence. Here's hoping it continues to herald the legacy of the old Stratton Park neighborhood for as long as there are residents who remember it.


Name:	patricia girty <patricia.a.girty@aexp.com>
Date:	2005-06-09
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1574 Beach Avenue
When did you live there	1963 to 1970
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	I don't think so
Comments:	I always tell friends and co-workers that I had the most marveous childhood - so many good friends, so much to do from dawn to dusk - always outside - whether playing games in the park, picnicking in June at Noble Field or standing on the corner of Archer and Taylor for hours on end. Most people cannot believe that I am still in touch with people I went to grammer school with but it was that kind of neighborhood - tightknit. Patty nee Lamasney


Name:	Ellen Giorgio <ellengia@optonline.net>
Date:	2005-06-06
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1520 Rosedale Ave.
When did you live there	1958-1980
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	Congratulations to John Shanley on his Tony Award for Best Play for "Doubt." I didn't know him personally, but I feel like I do through his work. A lot of terrific people grew up in the area and it is wonderful to see somebody get some worldwide recognition. Congrats on the Pulitzer Prize as well. You have certainly put St. Anthony's and the neighborhood on the map!


Name:	steve coffey <st.coffey@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-06-03
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1530 beach ave.
When did you live there	1943 to 1964
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	THERE WERE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS THAT WERE ASKED ABOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD THAT I MAY HAVE THE ANSWER TO. THERE WAS A SECOND DELI-GROCERY STORE ON THE CORNER OF ARCHER AND TAYLOR. I BELIEVE THE NAME WAS BOGELMANS. ALSO EDDIE BOURKE SPOKE ABOUT SOMEONE WHO COULD THROW A BALL FROM THE LOT ON BEACH AND ARCHER AND REACH TAYLOR. IT COULD HAVE BEEN EDDIE O`CALLAHAN,WHO LIVED IN THE BIG HOUSE AT THE TOP OF BEACH. AS I RECALL HE NEVER PLAYED MUCH BALL,BUT HE HAD A POWERFUL ARM. HE WAS ED KELLER`S COUSIN,AND GRADUATED WITH MY SISTER JEAN FROM ST. ANTHONY`S IN 1948. IN RESPONSE TO BILLIE EAGAN`S REQUEST TO SHARE SOME OF MY MEMORIES OF UPPER BEACH AVE. I CAN ONLY SAY THAT I AM HAPPY TO DO SO. 1530 BEACH IS THE THIRD HOUSE DOWN FROM TREMONT AND THE SECOND FROM GUERLAIN. THERE USEDTO BE A LOT ON BEACH AT THE TOP OF GUERLAIN. THAT WAS OUR PLAYGROUND AS KIDS. SLEIGHRIDING IN WINTER, DIGGING FOXHOLES IN THE SUMMER, REMEMBER, THERE WAS A WAR ON, DIRT BOMB FIGHTS, ROCK FIGHTS WHAT EVER ELSE WE COULD THINK OF. THERE WAS A HUGE, OLD TREE BY THE HAMMER`S HOUSE AT ONE END OF THE LOT. IT WAS SO BIG AND SO TALL THAT THE BIG GUYS BUILT A TREE HOUSE HIGH INTO THE LIMBS OF THE TREE. NAILS AND SPIKES WERE POUNDED INTO THE TREE TO REACH THE PLATFORM. ALL SORTS OF LUMBER AND WOOD WAS PASSED UP INTO THE TREEHOUSE DAY AFTER DAY. ALL SORTS OF HAMMERING AND YELLING CAME FROM HIGH IN THE TREE. NONE OF THE LITTLE KIDS WERE ALLOWED UP IN THE TREE. I WAS ABOUT 7 OR 8 SO IT WAS 1947 OR 48 WHEN SLL THIS EXCITEMENT TOOK PLACE. MORE AND MORE PEOPLE CAME OUT TO STARE UP INTO THE TREE. AT NIGHT WE COULD HEAR SINGING FROM THE TOP OF THE TREE. THEN IT ALL CAME TO AN ABRUPT END. THE POLICE ARRIVED ONE MORNING. THEY STARED AT THE TREEHOUSE WITH THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD LOOKING ON. FINALLY, MORE POLICE ARRIVED WITH A PADDY WAGON. TWO COPS CLIMBED THE TREE WITH HEAVY ROPE. ONE END WAS TIED AROUND THE HOUSE AND THE OTHER END TO THJE REAR BUMPER OF THE PADDY WAGON. WHEN IT APPEARED THE WAGON DIDN`T HAVE ENOUGH POWER TO PULL DOWN THE TREEHOUSE A GREAT CHEER WENT UP. THEY KEPT AT IT HOWEVER, AND EVENTUALLY IT WAS PULLED APART AND CAME FALLING OUT OF THE TREE. MOBS OF PEOPLE TURNED OUT FOR THIS GREAT EXCITMENT. EVERYONE HAD AN OPINION ON WHAT HAD BEEN DONE. POLICE AND PARENTS WARNED THE CHILDREN, "NO MORE CLIMBING THAT TREE OR SOMEONE IS IS GOING TO FALL OFF AND GET KILLED". SO ENDED ANOTHER EXCITING SAGA OF LIFE ON UPPER BEACH. LATER


Name:	Barbara Pizzani <blazz13@aol.com>
Date:	2005-05-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1516 Leland Ave
When did you live there	1965-1971
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	I am looking for a woman named Linda Hill, anyone with info on her please foward to me via e-mail. thank you, Bartbara Pizzani


Name:	Brenda Behringer <nutsnbolts399@suscom.net>
Date:	2005-05-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1540 Thieriot Avenue
When did you live there	531-1969
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	I remember drinking grasshoppers with John Shanley, Patrick Murphy and Jimmy Rogan when his parents were out one Friday night. The Fantasy East,Ferry Point Park,Minnies,Jimmy and Eileen Mccarthy, Matthew Keenan, Edward Durholz. Going to St Helena's dances with Loretta Paola. Walking through Parkchester. Getting hit with snowballs from the top of the apts. from Tommy Heckler.


Name:	Brenda Behringer <nutsnbolts399@suscom.net>
Date:	2005-05-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1540 Thieriot Avenue
When did you live there	1953-1969
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no/pvt hse across fromps 102
Comments:	The great memories that flooded back last night when I came onto to this will be treasured forever. I met my uncle at at wedding and he told me about the site. I could hardly wait to get home and sign onto it. John Shanley do you remember being in Sister Theresas eighth grade class and putting an Alka Seletzer into a test tube ,putting the lid back on and putting it into your desk? A few minutes later an explosion. Sister was screaming what did you do Mr. Shanley? You of course replied nothing as the white foam came flowing out of your desk.


Name:	bill egan <eganbill@cox.net>
Date:	2005-05-25
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 beach
When did you live there	1938 to 1951
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Touché Steve, It is good to see that some of the old boys from upper Beach are still on ‘active duty’ and looking for news about the old neighborhood. Certainly a story about 1530 Beach and its surroundings by the Coffee Clan would be a very interesting read on the Stratton Park message board. With regard to your comments on our bottle spinning games, it appears you still haven’t forgiven me for being the first to take most of the girls into the closet. Manipulating a bottle was one of the skills we learnt early on lower Beach. Steve, I am looking forward to seeing you at the next reunion. Take care. Bill


Name:	steve coffey <st.coffey@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-05-23
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1530 beach ave.
When did you live there	1943 to 1964
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	My first day online, last week, Iasked Pat Oconner to send me a website that would have news about the old neighborhood. The first story I read about Ed Stack and the "Sully" mixup had me laughing out loud. Then I read Billy Eagan`s account of how I introduced spin the bottle at Ann Betz`s house. What he didn`t share with everyone, was how many times I had to clarify the rules to young William. The other boys involved in the game understood very quickly that it was not necessary to kiss another boy if the bottle ended up pointing at them. Not our Bill. There was a great deal of talk in the neighborhood following that party. Now that I think of it, maybe some memories are best forgotten. Later


Name:	Bob Alonso <balagraphics@verizon.net>
Date:	2005-05-22
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1230 E. Tremont Ave
When did you live there	1954 thru 1969
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	We use to hang out around Commonwelth Ave.,Rosedale Ave. and Nobel Field around the 1960's (Remember Zaimes Deli) Some of our crowd consisted of Vinny Cretelli, Tom Minton, Ronnie McFarland, Tommy B.,Greg Yanetti, Scotty, and my self, Gloria, Maryanne, Lucil, and Diane Florio. (Any one know the where abouts of Diane Florio please forward any info) I remember the many softball games playing for Abe Raskin at Nobel field and our arch rivals the Archer street guys Managed by Ed Stack. Some great games. Around 1961 our gang joined up with the crowd from Leland Ave. It remained our hang out for many years and probably some of the best times in our lives. Minies candy store was the main hang out spot. Many new faces joined the crowd, just to list a few Frank Bender, Frank Pandolphi, John Hetman, John Guida, Rick Mangini, Bobby F., George Tierney, Dennis Bazooka, Frank Diese, Frank Jacalon, Rose, Gail, Joanne, Helean, Carol, Lorraine, Dot, Linda, Casey, Hutch, Sue, sorry if I didn't mention your name it's a long long long list. Anyone hanging out with us it would be great to here from you.


Name:	Fred Celli <shuttrers86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-05-16
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1575 Thieriot and 1537 White Plains Road
When did you live there	1948 to 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	not sure
Comments:	In conjunction with Marc Seda's post... I think 1562 Thieriot was the building either across the street from mine(1575) or the one down the block at Guerlain St. The building across from 1575 was where my High School friend Tony Merendino lived, along with his family, a member of which was his older brother Richie, who was nicknamed "Bugsy". Richie had a neat car,and was one of the first to have his vehicle registered with Pennsylvania plates for the insurance "discount". Now the building on Thieriot down by Guerlain (caddy corner from the handball courts) was the one where the Tuttles were Superintendant. The son's name was Harry, and I think his sister's name was Grace. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong) Just down the street on Thieriot, on the handball court side, was one of the most beloved items in the neighborhood, the "johnny pump", or fire hydrant. In the summertime that pump kept the City guys working overtime trying to keep it shut off. Eventually the City employed the use of sprinkler heads fitted for the pumps to provide the welcome relief from the heat, while keeping the water usage to a minimum. I can remember how one of the high-school aged kids would lock fingers on both hands, and then cup the mouth of the wide open pump to shape the water into a flume that would be directed into the air. Anyone driving by with open windows had an undesired interior /exterior wash. That pump was not a conservationists best friend, but we kids loved every drenching moment. Anyway, those are just some of my memories of that end of Thieriot Avenue (Of course I'm leaving out the numerous memories associated with the concrete and wooden benches that lined the sidewalk, upon which much chug-a -lugging was undertaken). By the way, just inside the playground gate (alongside the ramp that led down to the softball field) was another set of benches (just across from the monkey bars and swings). That is were a kid named Ronnie (can't recall his last name) taught me how to play chess. He and I would spend many an afternoon, sometimes for hours, matching wits over the chess board. We used to "take out" the chess set from the parkhouse at the base of the ramp. I think the lady parkee was named Miss Sheridan, and one of the young assistants was a guy nicknamed "Bee Bee". Of course there was Ed Stack who was the main man. This brings me to a funny story which I'll sign off with. Ed used to call me Sully, just like everyone else in the predominantly Irish American neighborhood who misheard Celli as the shortened version of Sullivan, thus the Sully label. One day Eddie and Mike Fitzgerald are choosing sides for a softball game. The process was for each "captain" in turn to name their choices. "I got so and so",....'OK I'll take such and such' and like that. So it's Ed Stack's pick, and he wants me. So he calls out "I got Sully"...well I'm yappin' as usual to a bunch of the guys, and not paying attention. So I'm later told that Eddie raised his voice and calls out my distorted nickname. But I am oblivious, talking away; and he, not being acknowledged, yells at the top of his lungs "Hey Sullivan ..hey you, Sullivan get over here !" So I turn around, hearing all the yelling, 'cause now the whole group of guys around him are hollering at me to pay attention. So I look right at Ed, and I say "What"? And he says "What are ya, deaf? Dontcha hear me calling your name"? To which I reply , 'You weren't callin' me.You were saying Sullivan , Sullivan' So he looked at me incredulously, and asks, quite bewildered, "Well you're Sullivan aren't ya? Isn't your name Sullivan"? And so I reply 'No' ! And he looks around, still confused and asks the others, isn't he Sully, don't they call him Sully"? So somebody tells him, no not Sully, Celli. And he looked at me, real serious, and asks, "What's your name? Sullivan, right"? To which I replied, 'No, it's Celli', and he looks puzzled, then says "Spell it". So I say 'C - E - L - L - I' And he thinks a moment, then asks those standing next to him "Celli , what's that , what nationality is that? He's not Irish? What is he? They call him Sully,right. He's Irish , right"? Now all the guys around him are too embarrassed to tell him he's got me wrong for so long, then somebody anonymously whispers..'it's Italian'. And with that Ed Stack made the most disgusted face anyone could ever make, and says with total conviction "You mean your a Guinny" Everybody exploded in laughter including me, and it must have taken Eddie the better part of a week to get over it. But he was a swell guy, and I never took any offense to it. Some few years later, while taping ankles for his neighborhood football team, we reminisced about it, and shared a good laugh. He was a great asset to the youth of Archer Street and Stratton Park, and a true neighborhood friend. For that he will always have my deepest respect. Wherever you are, Ed Stack, a hearty thanks on behalf of us all.


Name:	Marc Seda <nscacpt@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-05-16
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1562 Theiriot Ave
When did you live there	1966
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Not sure?
Comments:	Great website, looking forward to reading the posts. I played in the little league there. I played for Playdrome Bowling Alley. We the championship two out of the three years that I played. Mr. Diaz was the coach.


Name:	bill egan <eganbill@cox.net>
Date:	2005-05-12
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 beach
When did you live there	1938-1951
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	FOLLOWING UP ON AN UNIDENTIFIED SENDER’S MESSAGE ON 2005-05-06, I WOULD LIKE TO NOTE THAT THE GENERAL TIME FRAME FOR ‘THE STORY OF 1426’ IS BASED ON THE PERIOD 1940 – 1950. IN 1951, WITHOUT CONSULTING ME, MY PARENTS DECIDED TO MOVE TO PARKCHESTER. CAUSING ME TO LEAVE BEACH AVENUE WAS SOMETHING I HAD A HARD TIME FORGIVING THEM FOR. IT DID, HOWEVER, EXPOSE ME TO OTHER PARTS OF STRATTON PARK THAT I WAS NOT YET FAMILIAR WITH. TWICE A DAY UNTIL I GRADUATED IN 1952 I WALKED THE LENGTH OF ARCHER STREET. I SHOULD ALSO NOTE THAT WHILE I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL I FREQUENTLY VISITED THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD TO PARTICIPATE IN CERTAIN ACTIVITIES THAT OFTEN TOOK PLACE IN AND AROUND NOBLE FIELD AND THE BRONX RIVER. AS FAR AS I REMEMBER, DURING MY SAINT ANTHONY’S YEARS GIRLS IN MY AGE CATEGORY DID NOT “HANG OUTö IN EDNA’S. AS THEY GOT OLDER AND WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL IT IS LIKELY THAT THEY WOULD GATHER AT THE CANDY STORE TO DRINK ITS FAMOUS EGG CREAMS. I HAVE FOND MEMORIES OF MARYANN HAMMER AND MAUREEN PURCELL FROM THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD. BOTH HAD BROTHERS IN MY CLASS. MARYANN AND I LIVED ON THE SAME FLOOR AT 1426. MAUREEN’S FATHER WAS A WELL KNOWN HURLER ON THE TIPPERARY TEAM AND PLAYED THE BAGPIPES AS WELL. EILEEN O’CONNOR, TERRY DILLON, ANN BETZ, BARBARA FALK, MARIE LYNCH, SHELIA HANLEY, KATHY DWYER AND KAY McPARTLAN GRADUATED WITH ME IN 1952. BEFORE I LEFT BEACH AVENUE I DO REMEMBER GOING TO A PARTY IN ANN BETZ’S APARTMENT ON TAYLOR AVENUE, WHERE STEVE COFFEE ORGANIZED A GAME OF SPIN THE BOTTLE. STEVE WAS ALREADY DEVELOPING HIS REPUTATION AS A LADIES MAN. AT THE TIME WE THOUGHT THOSE BOYS FROM UPPER BEACH WERE KIND OF STRANGE. LITTLE DID WE KNOW? I CAN’T RECALL THE OTHER THREE GIRLS THAT WERE MENTIONED IN THE ANONYMOUS SENDER’S MESSAGE. THEN AGAIN, EVEN AT SAINT ANTHONY’S I SUFFERED FROM MEMORY PROBLEMS THAT WERE OFTEN NOTED AND CORRECTED BY THE KIND SISTERS OF CHARITY WITH A YARD STICK, AS I FREQUENTLY HAD TROUBLE REMEMBERING AND DOING BASIC HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS. I WILL HAVE TO CONSULT STEVE WHEN I SEE HIM AT AN ARCHER BOY REUNION.


Name:	Ester A. Quinn <estertoo@optonline.net>
Date:	2005-05-10
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1576 Taylor Ave.
When did you live there	1946 - 1970
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	I continue to enjoy reading the postings; it brings back many good memories. I couldn't wait to get home from St. Raymond's, take off the uniform and head out to the park attached to P.S.102----before the park I enjoyed the old tire swing in the lot - even though I was warned not to go in there.... I remember a hand me down bike, doll carriage and scooter. I thought I was hot stuff in my red vinyl jacket at age 10! If anyone wanted to go high on the swing I offered to take them up as I stood on the swing and pumped while they sat.....and never a mishap! P.S. 102 in the summer was always fun...noc-hockey, ping-pong, arts and crafts and the dance festival....a very welcome, relaxed atmosphere compared to the parochial school year. Even though I didn't share the same teachers as my neighborhood friends, their stories became familiar. With my older brother, Bill, there were several crushes that were thwarted..."he's too old for you" --2 years older!!!???-- No play dates needed; just ring a bell and presto a friend and fun awaited with skates, a spalding, chalk, and bottle caps with melted crayons.


Name:	Bill Lappe <wjlappe@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-05-08
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Noble Ave
When did you live there	1964-2003
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	I guess you can go home again. Thank you for a wondeful childhood.


Name:	reposted info <info@strattonpark.com>
Date:	2005-05-06
Where did you live in Stratton Park	-
When did you live there	-
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	-
Comments:	In response to Billy Egan's fine recap of the neighborhood around Stratton Park I feel the need to correct one element of his work. There were plenty of girls who hung out in and around the corner by Edna's candy story. I know because I married one. All of the following were in the same age category as Billy Egan; From Taylor Avenue; Theresa (Terry) Dillon Nolan, Eileen O'Connor Carr, Ann Betz, Mary Lynch, Maureen Purcell From Beach Avenue; Ann Marie Hammer, Patricia Meyers Dean, Kay Mc Partland O'Brien, From St. Lawrence Avenue; Barbara Falk Flanagan, Vivian Delara, Sheila Hanley, Anna Marie Buckerman Bruno From Leland; Kathy Dwyer. I am sure that I have missed many more.


Name:	Freddy Celli <shuters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-05-04
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1537 Wh Plains Rd & 1575 Theiriot
When did you live there	1949 to 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	don't know
Comments:	...Just want to remember my days at St. Anthony's and a lot of my friends ...I often wonder where they have gone or how they are doing now... Jimmy Kelly is an intructor with NYPD...he showed up at my Dad's wake in '93 and I was so moved to see him there...we reminisced all evening... ...but where is the rest of the class of '62.....Ray Schneller..Danny Tufanesco ...Tommy White..John Nonna..Eddie Connors...Dennis Meade..Joe Barletti..Billy Boos..Donald Howe..Jimmy Galvin...Jimmy Newton..Tom Finnegan...Tommy Savage..Richard Little..Frankie Maloney..and those are just some of the guys... ....and what about the girls? I saw a post here from Sue Karnbach..but what of the rest..I wonder where you are and how you are doing ...Monica White..Noreen Sullivan..Diane Lambi..Eileen Clancy..Helen Brandi..Mary Shannahan..Rosemary Doonan..Christine Bahr... .....and how about my friends from White Plains Road and Archer St at Jack's candy store (which was purchased by Charlie and Howie Schneider, both terrific people)..where we read the comics and drank chocolate egg creams ...Richie Paraglia..Georgie DeGasparus...Freddy Jacobs..Jackie Burke...Billy O'Neil...Vinnie Ambrosio..Larry Candell (who could make a kite fly so high it would be wet when he brought it back down)...{I can remember him trying to scrape up 15 cents for another spool of string so he could tie it on the end in his hand, while the kite was soaring overhead}.... .....and how about the stand-out moments ...my first bike ride..with Jimmy Kelly running behind holding the seat steady...then letting me go solo all the way down the sidewalk and yelling "Go..go...go.."....and the punch ball world series featuring he and I against Georgie D and Freddy J... ....and the first year that the Sanitation Dept. piled up the snow into the perfect mound from which to form a "fort"....... roller skating until our legs vibrated so much, we could still feel them lying in bed at night....and my first job, at Murray's hardware store, where I learned the value of hard work (and many character-building values from a terrific person and boss),...and the first little transistor radio that brought us Elvis and Fats and Dion..and that Fourth of July when we ran out of bottle rockets, and I ran upstairs and brought down a model rocket which we fired halfway into Parckchester!....and going to Devil's Hill in the winter to sleigh ride into danger and boast about it later....... ....I suppose a lot of kids from so many places believe that their childhood and neighborhood were the happiest of anyone's ever......I guess that there are lots which were just as memorable as ours....I don't know....but I do know that none could have been better...time should have stood still somewhere between the turn of the last century and midway through it; if only it could have, what a better world this would still be. It's been a long time since I've seen the old friends I've mentioned...and I'm looking forward to the time when I see them all again...what a party that will be. Until then, wherever you are, may God smile on you and yours, may all your days be happy ones, and may you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows your gone.


Name:	Freddy Celli <shuters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-05-04
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1537 Wh Plains Rd & 1575 Theiriot
When did you live there	1949 to 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	don't know
Comments:	...Just want to remember my days at St. Anthony's and a lot of my friends ...I often wonder where they have gone or how they are doing now... Jimmy Kelly is an intructor with NYPD...he showed up at my Dad's wake in '93 and I was so moved to see him there...we reminisced all evening... ...but where is the rest of the class of '62.....Ray Schneller..Danny Tufanesco ...Tommy White..John Nonna..Eddie Connors...Dennis Meade..Joe Barletti..Billy Boos..Donald Howe..Jimmy Galvin...Jimmy Newton..Tom Finnegan...Tommy Savage..Richard Little..Frankie Maloney..and those are just some of the guys... ....and what about the girls? I saw a post here from Sue Karnbach..but what of the rest..I wonder where you are and how you are doing ...Monica White..Noreen Sullivan..Diane Lambi..Eileen Clancy..Helen Brandi..Mary Shannahan..Rosemary Doonan..Christine Bahr... .....and how about my friends from White Plains Road and Archer St at Jack's candy store (which was purchased by Charlie and Howie Schneider, both terrific people)..where we read the comics and drank chocolate egg creams ...Richie Paraglia..Georgie DeGasparus...Freddy Jacobs..Jackie Burke...Billy O'Neil...Vinnie Ambrosio..Larry Candell (who could make a kite fly so high it would be wet when he brought it back down)...{I can remember him trying to scrape up 15 cents for another spool of string so he could tie it on the end in his hand, while the kite was soaring overhead}.... .....and how about the stand-out moments ...my first bike ride..with Jimmy Kelly running behind holding the seat steady...then letting me go solo all the way down the sidewalk and yelling "Go..go...go.."....and the punch ball world series featuring he and I against Georgie D and Freddy J... ....and the first year that the Sanitation Dept. piled up the snow into the perfect mound from which to form a "fort"....... roller skating until our legs vibrated so much, we could still feel them lying in bed at night....and my first job, at Murray's hardware store, where I learned the value of hard work (and many character-building values from a terrific person and boss),...and the first little transistor radio that brought us Elvis and Fats and Dion..and that Fourth of July when we ran out of bottle rockets, and I ran upstairs and brought down a model rocket which we fired halfway into Parckchester!....and going to Devil's Hill in the winter to sleigh ride into danger and boast about it later....... ....I suppose a lot of kids from so many places believe that their childhood and neighborhood were the happiest of anyone's ever......I guess that there are lots which were just as memorable as ours....I don't know....but I do know that none could have been better...time should have stood still somewhere between the turn of the last century and midway through it; if only it could have, what a better world this would still be. It's been a long time since I've seen the old friends I've mentioned...and I'm looking forward to the time when I see them all again...what a party that will be. Until then, wherever you are, may God smile on you and yours, may all your days be happy ones, and may you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows your gone.


Name:	john walsh <johnw1600@aol.com>
Date:	2005-05-04
Comments:	further to Bill Egan. The movie you are thinking of is "The Pope of Greenwich Village," from the book of the same name. The book was written coincidentally by a fellow named Vinny Patrick, who lived on White Plains Rd near Wood avenue, whom I knew at St. Ann's High School.


Name:	john walsh <johnw1600@aol.com>
Date:	2005-05-04
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1530 beach and 1803 guerlain
When did you live there	1935-1958
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I love this website and all the comments coming from so many different sources. To Bill Egan, that was Dr. Heenan, not to be confused with Fr. Hurley. I remember when that house was built-there was dynamiting involved in breaking up the bedrock. We were fascinated by the explosions taht took place under the steel web blankets that kept the debris from flyig all over the place. Before he built that house Doc Heenan lived and practised in a ground floor apartment in 1512. His nephew, Jack Woodlock, was a weel known guy around the neighborhood in the late '40s and early 50's. I enjoyed your piece on lower Beach and hope to take the time one day to do something similar about the other end. We did discover pizza right after the war when a girl named Margeret Caola from 1534 used to organize excursions to West Farms for "abeets." When I was told that it was a pie, I decided against trying it at that time because I couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat a pie made from beets. When I did get around to it our favorite spot for pizza was the Parkchester Cafe on Wood Avenue. Someone recently asked about the principal of the old summer school sessions at 102. I remember those sessions being run by a Miss Russo who was the devil incarnate in my eyes. She was forever sending me out because she didn't like my behavior. Keep those cards and letters coming.


Name:	Ed Bourke <ebourke@frontiernet.net>
Date:	2005-05-04
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Archer St
When did you live there	f o r e v e r
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	where else
Comments:	The next reunion is May 19 Thurs 12 noon at Charlies INN Throggs neck area. I would say the youngest attendee is about 57 up to age 79. and James H. your correct it is PS 47. Does anyone know where I can get in touch with Vinny Quigley upper Taylar ave across from the Eddie Stack park


Name:	Fred Celli <Shutters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-05-03
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Theiriot Ave
When did you live there	until 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	don't think so
Comments:	I'm just remembering ...the guy who fought Fitzy was not Conway but Conroy....sorry ....later..


Name:	Fred Celli <shutters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-05-03
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1537 White Plains Rd & 1575 Theiriot
When did you live there	1948 to 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	not sure if he built those 2 buildings
Comments:	I played in the Stratton Park Little League in the 50's. My first team was Liotta's Bakery. The coaches were Paul Scalicki Sr and Manny Alexander. The team rode in a Liotta bakery truck to the district finals. The game was played at our "home" field, Crotona Park. We lost. The opposing pitcher was Micky Nagy, who went on to play for St Helena's H.S. followed by a successful career in the majors with the Boston Red Sox. I attended St. Anthony's School from 1954 to '62, then on to Mt St Michael's H.S., then to Iona College from which I earned my bachelor's degree in 1970. I married my wife of 32 years in 1972 while still residing with my family at 1575 Theriot Ave. That was "upscale" from the 1537 White Plains Road address where I lived for my first 17 years. So I was an Archer Street boy for my entire youth. My memories of the old neighborhood are numerous. Most of my grammar school days were spent on Beach Avenue close to the Cross Bronx Expressway. I had a crush on Catherine Rispoli. She was eventually engaged to her steady, Dennis Russo, with whom I played little league baseball. We unfortunately lost Dennis in Viet Nam, along with many other neighborhood friends, and those losses dealt a severe blow to the community as well as the entire country. But there were many happy memories that filled the streets in the Stratton Park area. The Stratton Park name gave way to the Archer Street label, which has remained popular to the present day. At that time Nobel Field had a huge lot across the street. Myself and John Nonna, Jimmy Newton, Tom Finnegan and Tommy White used that lot to launch our model rockets. Fortunately none of us advanced to the NASA program. Talk about catastrophic! My closest friend was Jimmy Kelly. We and our other friends formed the Rebels, and spent many a cold afternoon huddled in one of the many hallways or vacant storefronts during the winter. We were constant attendees at the St Anthony's Dances or "Teen Club" which was supervised by Father Grogan. I can remember many fun filled nights that started out from that venue. During my high school years, summers were always eagerly awaited, and Rockaway Beach was the place to spend them. The Theriot Avenue crowd rented a cottage there, just three blocks from the ocean. Jimmy Kelly and I used to pick up a gallon keg of Scaefer beer, and stopped by to share our goods before hitting the beach. One of the more vivid memories was a warm summer night when near-half the kids in the neighborhood gathered in and around the handball court at PS 102 playgound. We were there to see Mike Fitzgerald and Jonn Conway in the most highly touted boxing exhibition of the century.(But I exaggerate somewhat) The action matched the billing, the fight was appropriately judged a draw, and it was the talk of the neighborhood for weeks thereafter. Those are just some of the numerous childhood memories I have of the old neighborhood. I haven't been back there in over 30 years. I've often wondered what has become of it. This website opened a floodgate of remembrances for me. Most of them are happy ones. I hope they are for others as well. Thanks for letting me share some of my memories of Stratton Park and Archer Street with you. Maybe I'll get back there some day. If ever I do, I know I'll be smiling. Take care all, and God bless. Best regards, Fred Celli


Name:	Fred Celli <shutters86@aol.com>
Date:	2005-05-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1537 White Plains Rd & 1575 Theiriot
When did you live there	1948 to 1972
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	not sure if he built those 2 buildings
Comments:	I played in the Stratton Park Little League in the 50's. My first team was Liotta's Bakery. The coaches were Paul Scalicki Sr and Manny Alexander. The team rode in a Liotta bakery truck to the district finals. The game was played at our "home" field, Crotona Park. We lost. The opposing pitcher was Micky Nagy, who went on to play for St Helena's H.S. followed by a successful career in the majors with the Boston Red Sox. I attended St. Anthony's School from 1954 to '62, then on to Mt St Michael's H.S., then to Iona College from which I earned my bachelor's degree in 1970. I married my wife of 32 years in 1972 while still residing with my family at 1575 Theriot Ave. That was "upscale" from the 1537 White Plains Road address where I lived for my first 17 years. So I was an Archer Street boy for my entire youth. My memories of the old neighborhood are numerous. Most of my grammar school days were spent on Beach Avenue close to the Cross Bronx Expressway. I had a crush on Catherine Rispoli. She was eventually engaged to her steady, Dennis Russo, with whom I played little league baseball. We unfortunately lost Dennis in Viet Nam, along with many other neighborhood friends, and those losses dealt a severe blow to the community as well as the entire country. But there were many happy memories that filled the streets in the Stratton Park area. The Stratton Park name gave way to the Archer Street label, which has remained popular to the present day. At that time Nobel Field had a huge lot across the street. Myself and John Nonna, Jimmy Newton, Tom Finnegan and Tommy White used that lot to launch our model rockets. Fortunately none of us advanced to the NASA program. Talk about catastrophic! My closest friend was Jimmy Kelly. We and our other friends formed the Rebels, and spent many a cold afternoon huddled in one of the many hallways or vacant storefronts during the winter. We were constant attendees at the St Anthony's Dances or "Teen Club" which was supervised by Father Grogan. I can remember many fun filled nights that started out from that venue. During my high school years, summers were always eagerly awaited, and Rockaway Beach was the place to spend them. The Theriot Avenue crowd rented a cottage there, just three blocks from the ocean. Jimmy Kelly and I used to pick up a gallon keg of Scaefer beer, and stopped by to share our goods before hitting the beach. One of the more vivid memories was a warm summer night when near-half the kids in the neighborhood gathered in and around the handball court at PS 102 playgound. We were there to see Mike Fitzgerald and Jonn Conway in the most highly touted boxing exhibition of the century.(But I exaggerate somewhat) The action matched the billing, the fight was appropriately judged a draw, and it was the talk of the neighborhood for weeks thereafter. Those are just some of the numerous childhood memories I have of the old neighborhood. I haven't been back there in over 30 years. I've often wondered what has become of it. This website opened a floodgate of remembrances for me. Most of them are happy ones. I hope they are for others as well. Thanks for letting me share some of my memories of Stratton Park and Archer Street with you. Maybe I'll get back there some day. If ever I do, I know I'll be smiling. Take care all, and God bless. Best regards, Fred Celli


Name:	BILL EGAN <billegan@erols.net>
Date:	2005-05-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach
When did you live there	1938-1952
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	GERRI, THANKS FOR UPDATING AND FILLING IN BLANKS IN THE 1426 STORY. I HOPE YOUR BROTHER JOE IS FEELING BETTER. THERE IS AN ARCHER STREET REUNION ON MAY 18 AT CHARLIE’S INN IN THROGG’S NECK. IT ATTRACTS GUYS IN MY AGE GROUP AND OLDER WHO HUNG OUT AT SAM’S DELI IN THE 40S AND 50S. UNFORTUNATELY, SINCE I JUST HAD KNEE SURGERY I WILL MISS THIS ONE. THE OTHER REUNION IS THE MUD BALL, WHICH IS HELD THE WEEK AFTER THE ROSE BOWL. IT WAS HELD AT SAINT ANTHONY’S UNTIL A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. UNFORTUNATELY, AS I UNDERSTAND, AT THE REQUEST OF THE PARRISH PRIEST IT WAS MOVED TO THE LYON’S CLUB IN PEARL RIVER. THIS REUNION ATTRACTS THE YOUNGER CROWD, FROM THE CLASS OF 1953 ON. ALTHOUGH I GREW UP WITH A STRONG APPRECIATION OF GEOGRAPHY I DID NOT GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHAKE HANDS WITH A COMPASS UNTIL I WAS IN THE MARINE CORPS. AND TO SAY THE LEAST, IT WAS A CHALLENGE FOR THIS BRONX BOY TO FIND HIS WAY AROUND THE WOODS WITH ONE IN HAND. LOVE OF GEOGRAPHY PROBABLY MOTIVATED ME TO LIVE MOST OF MY LIFE OVER SEAS. I SPENT FROM 2 TO 5 YEARS IN EACH OF THESE COUNTRIES - CHILE, PERU, SENEGAL, NIGERIA, CHAD, BURUNDI, TUNISIA AND VIETNAM. ALL IN ALL, I ALSO SPENT MORE THAN A YEAR IN IRELAND, MY FAVORITE. IN FACT, I LOVED GEOGRAPHY SO MUCH I DECIDED TO SPEND AN ADDITIONAL YEAR IN SAINT ANTHONY’S IN ORDER TO ROUND OUT MY RESUME. THE TERRANOVA DOG THAT I REMEMBER WAS NOT VERY FRIENDLY; YOU MUST HAVE BEEN A BRAVE TODDLER. I DID NOT REALIZE THAT THE LARKINS ON THE FIRST FLOOR WERE RELATED TO MY FOURTH GRADE TEACHER. THANKS FOR REMINDING ME THAT THE NAME OF MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR’S SON IS JIM. HIS SISTER MARGARET, A COUPLE OF YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME WAS ALSO A FINE LOOKING GIRL. THERE WERE A NUMBER OF VERY PRETTY GIRLS LIVING IN 1426. I FORGOT TO MENTION ABOUT THE FIRE ESCAPES, ROOF TOPS AND ALLEYS OF THE FLATS AS THEY WERE ALSO PART OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD PLAYGROUND. I REMEMBER CLIMBING THE FENCE BEHIND 1512 WITH JOHN SULLIVAN JUST BEFORE THE 1952 GRADUATION. I SLIPPED AND ENDED UP WITH A SPIKE IN MY ARMPIT. DOCTOR HURLEY WHOSE OFFICE WAS ON THE CORNER OF BEACH AND MANSION JUST ACROSS FROM 1512 TREATED ME. AS HE WAS SEWING ME UP HE MENTIONED THAT MY WOUND REMINDED HIM OF THE BAYONET WOUNDS THAT HE TREATED IN FRANCE DURING WW II. AFTERWARDS MRS. McCRINK FROM 1512 TOOK CARE OF ME IN HER APARTMENT UNTIL MY PARENTS ARRIVED. THE WORST PART, HOWEVER, WAS THAT I MISSED A GRADUATION PARTY AT BARBARA FALK’S HOUSE ON SAINT LAWRENCE AVENUE. FROM WHAT I HEARD, IT WAS THE BEST EVENT OF THE YEAR. I ALSO REMEMBER SKINNY DIPPING IN THE BRONX RIVER AND IN THE ABANDONED STARLIGHT POOL. THE POOL WAS FEATURED IN ONE OF THE SCENES OF THE MOVIE THE RAGING BULL. WE ALSO VISITED THE DUMPS AT THE END OF BEACH AVENUE AND PLAYED IN THE YARDS OF THE NEW HAVEN RAILROAD BEHIND NOBLE FIELD. THESE WERE THE PLAYGROUNDS THAT WE KEPT SECRET FROM OUR PARENTS. YOU MENTIONED SANDWICHES. IN THOSE DAYS A TREAT WAS A BREAD AND BUTTER SANDWICH OR A LETTUCE AND TOMATO SANDWICH. JEWISH RYE BREAD WAS MY FAVORITE. PIZZA DID NOT BECOME POPULAR UNTIL THE 1950S. THE FIRST PLACE THAT SOLD PIZZA THAT I REMEMBER WAS THE ITALIAN BAR AND GRILL ON THE CORNER OF WHITEPLAINS ROAD AND WOOD AVE. THE BEST PIZZA THAT I ATE WAS AT THE PARLOR UNDER EL AT THE CASTLE HILL AVENUE STATION. IT WAS NEXT DOOR TO THE BAR AND GRILL ON THE SOUTH WEST CORNER. I THINK THAT BOTH THE BAR AND PIZZA PARLOR WERE FEATURED IN A MOVIE. GERRI, ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR HELPING ME BRING BACK MORE MEMORIES.


Name:	gerri cunningham pare <gerripare@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-05-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach Ave apt 17
When did you live there	1946-73
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Thanks Bill Egan for that amazing chronicle of my bldg, 1426 Beach Ave. Geography must have been your best subject or you were born with a compass in your hand! You left the bldg before I was in first grade so I dont remember you but thought I'd fill in a few blanks. Yup, my tonsils disappeared into the bowels of Westchester Sq. Hospital, where my mother was an R.N. and was on page 1 of the NY Daily News on its opening day in 1929. You mentioned the Bernardi/Pello private house on the bottom of Beach Ave. I was best friends with Vicki Pello & she had a younger sister, JoAnn, each now living in Hicksville, having raised a total of 7 kids, including Viciki's identical twin girls. The Terranovas across the street had a son Bobby and daughter JoAnn (as a toddler I wandered off and the whole neighborhood was searching till I was found in Terranova's garden playing with their big dog). Santa Bernardi had two kids, Joe & Michelle & were still living there when I bumped into teacher Michelle in mid-'90s. You mentioned the victory garden the lots our apt overlooked. It was Mr. Carr in apt 18 who kept it up, a huge garden, through the 50s & 60s. We used to play punchball in the lots, boys vs. girls & the boys hated when I had the ball cause I would often switch the ball to the opposite hand at the last second & throw off their game. And yes, I Declare War was a fun street game, as well as Slug. Among ourur super, McPadden's kids were female identical twins. It would be insensitive today, but I only knew each of them as "Twinnie." As for the families you listed a number I dont remember but here are a few I do: on the first floor there was the unhappy Mrs. Ulrich eventually confined to a wheelchair. The Horgan's daughters were Mary Ann and Betty, whom I occasionally saw on the #6 subway in the '80s. The Longboats with a bunch of kids, including Charlie who was my age, lived on first floor & we all felt sorry for them when their parents moved them to a private house way the heck out in Lake Ronconkoma (how awful we thought). On second floor, the name was actually O'Donnell & Eddie is now a Msgr & I used to bump into him when I worked in the Archdiocese bldg at 1011 First Ave. His sister Pat is widowed and lives in Throggs Neck. The Larkins had five kids (so 7 people in a 3 room apt; we were 7 in a 4 room apt), Robert, known as Sprarky, was born a few days after me and there was a sister Jeanne and Mrs. Larkin was their aunt was the 4th grade teacher in St. Anthonys. On my floor (3)I dont remember the Goldies but we were in #17 not 19 and my folks, Gerry and Nellie had 5: Mary, Joseph, Joan, Lucy & me. The Fishmans lived for a while in 16 with daughters Francine and Jill Holly. And across the hall were the Barlettis with kids Lucille and Joey. Upstairs on 4th was Mrs. Barletti's sister, Mrs. Rispoli, who with husband Al had two daughters I'm still friendly with, Catherine and Lorraine (who like Vicki had identical twin girls). Up on 5 the McDonalds moved in around '55, from Ireland where Mrs. McDonald and her new husband took her late sister's two youngest children, Breda and Josephine, after both their parents died, while the 2 older girls grew up with Irish relatives. Breda & Jo are still my good friends & live in Wappingers Falls where Breda's daughter just had identical twin girls (is a theme emerging here?) The Birmingham boy was Jimmy, a fine looking lad and very nice as well. I remember as a kid being fascinated by the fire escapes and playing in the big alleys that went all the way up the block (especially with Theresa of 1436) & also on hot summer days staying inside in the wide cool hallways and reading on the 3rd floor steps with Kathleen Carr and our mothers would bring us out sandwiches to eat in the hall & we thought it was a special kind of picnic. And when we were teenagers bringing home pizzas from Vinnie's on Archer Ave, the best anywhere. One schoolday in first grade my mother gave me a shiny red apple after lunch to give to Sr. Xavier. I couldnt resist & took a big bite out of it, but was careful to hand her the unbitten side. My friend Karen Manning who wrote above message & I would like to know when and where the next reunion is if anyone would kindly post such info. It would be great to see some of the people we grew up with and have such fond memories of. I'm off to visit my brother Joe Cunningham in the hospital now and I'm sure your history of our bldg will amuse him, Bill, so thanks for writing it.


Name:	bobby sherwood <coned21741@aol.com>
Date:	2005-04-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1523 taylor ave apt 15
When did you live there	1944 to 1979
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	miss my old neighbor hood and all the friends we grew up with


Name:	Karen Manning <KMANN1026@aol.com>
Date:	2005-04-29
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	I didn't live in Stratton Park but went to St.Anthony's. I lived on St. Lawrence and 172nd Street across the street from PS 47. That was definitely the school you passed on the way to the Rosedale movies.


Name:	Jim Harrington <jfharrington_1@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-04-27
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1512 Beach; 1803 Archer; 1491 Beach
When did you live there	1944 to 1966; my family lived there 1938 to 2005
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	In response to the note below: We became more ecumenical in the mid 50's when about 10 of us from Archer Street joined the Boy Scouts at the Presbyterian Church down Beach Avenue. This was after a failed attempt with the Catholic Sea Cadets over at St. Dominick's Eddie Bourke - I think it is PS 47


Name:	Ed Bourke <ebourke@frontiernet.net>
Date:	2005-04-27
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1809 archer st 3rd flr apt 16
When did you live there	1939--1964
Comments:	When you sit down and write as you fantasize about a great neighborhood you do not always remember all names and events. when i read my comments today I realize names were forgotten so not to say I'm forgetful but I did leave out at least one name I could remember now, I forgot to include Larry Mullaly as part of that great Clippers team from Archer St, I may of forgot other but memory recall is little slower. A TRIVIA question what really was the PS school you would pass when you went to the Rosedale movies and traveled south down Beach ave was it PS 77, PS 47 or as mentioned recently was it PS 36


Name:	BILL EGAN <eganbill@cox.net>
Date:	2005-04-27
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 BEACH AVE. # 25
When did you live there	1938-1952
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	YES
Comments:	A STORY ABOUT 1426 BEACH AVENUE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS (1940 – 1950) ONE OF THE O’LEARY FLATS LOCATED IN WHAT WAS KNOWN AS LOWER BEACH IS # 1426. ROUGHLY SPEAKING BEACH AVENUE RUNS NORTH-SOUTH AND 1426 IS FOUND ON THE EASTSIDE OF THE SOUTH END, THE LAST BUILDING. O’LEARY’S FLATS CONTINUE NORTH ALONG THE EASTSIDE OF BEACH AVENUE, COVERING THREE BLOCKS OF BUILDINGS. PARALLEL AND EAST OF BEACH IS TAYLOR AVENUE. HERE O’LEARY’S FLATS ARE FOUND ON BOTH SIDES OF THE STREET, WITH FOUR BLOCKS OF BUILDINGS. THUS, MORE OF HIS FLATS ARE LOCATED ON TAYLOR THAN BEACH, AND THESE BUILDINGS MAKE UP THE CORE OF THE STRATTON PARK NEIGHBORHOOD. STRATTON PARK’S EXTENDED BOUNDARIES COULD BE CONSIDERED 177TH ON THE SOUTH, TREMONT ON THE NORTH, WHITE PLAINS ROAD ON THE EAST AND NOBLE AVENUE ON THE WEST. ANOTHER WAY OF DEFINING ITS BOUNDARIES WOULD BE TO LOCATE THE AREA ON THE MAP SURROUNDED BY THE NEW HAVEN RAILROAD ON THE NORTH, THE CROSS BRONX PARKWAY ON THE SOUTH, NOBLE FIELD PARK ON THE WEST AND PARKCHESTER ON THE EAST. IN THE OLD DAYS 177TH STREET WAS THE EAST-WEST CROSS STREET ON LOWER BEACH. ALONG WITH SEVERAL BUILDINGS IT DISAPPEARED FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD IN 1950 WHEN THE CROSS BRONX EXPRESSWAY CUT THROUGH THE BOROUGH. THE EAST-WEST CROSS STREET ON UPPER BEACH WHERE THE FLATS END IS STILL TREMONT AVENUE. SINCE THE NEW HAVEN RAILROAD LINE RUNS JUST PARALLEL TO IT, TREMONT AVENUE CLEARLY DEFINES THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF STRATTON PARK. THREE BLOCKS SOUTH OF 177TH STREET IS WESTCHESTER AVENUE, WHICH HAD AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE LIVES OF THE INHABITANTS OF 1426 AND OTHER BUILDINGS IN STRATTON PARK. FIRST OF ALL, THE PELHAM BAY IRT ELEVATED-SUBWAY LINE RUNS OVER WESTCHESTER AVENUE IN THIS PART OF THE BRONX. IN THE MORNING MEN AND WOMEN FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD TOOK IT TO WORK IN MANHATTAN AND ELSEWHERE, AND STUDENTS USED IT GO TO HIGH SCHOOL. DURING SUMMER MONTHS THE IRT TOOK FAMILIES ON OUTINGS TO ORCHARD BEACH AND PELHAM BAY PARK. IT ALSO WAS A CONVENIENT WAY TO GO TO WESTCHESTER SQUARE HOSPITAL, WHERE MANY O’LEARY FLAT TONSILS DISAPPEARED. THE ROSEDALE THEATER WAS CLOSE TO THE IRT’S ENTRANCE STAIRWAY, AND FOR 12 CENTS WE COULD SEE TWO MOVIES AND FIVE CARTOONS DURING THE SATURDAY MATINEE. NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF BEACH AND WESTCHESTER ON THE SOUTHSIDE OF THE AVENUE WAS MULQUEEN’S, A CLOTHING STORE THAT PROVIDED JEANS, UNDERWEAR AND OTHER BASIC ITEMS AT VERY REASONABLE PRICES. HIS PRICES WERE CONSIDERABLY LESS THAN THOSE FOUND IN PARKCHESTER’S LARGER STORES. TO GET BETTER PRICES THAN MULQUEEN’S ONE WOULD HAVE TO TAKE A LONG TROLLEY AND SUBWAY RIDE TO ALEXANDER’S ON 149TH WHERE TUGS OF WAR WERE FOUGHT WITH WOMEN FROM ALL THE BRONX OVER UNDERWEAR AND OTHER ITEMS ON SALE. NEXT DOOR TO MULQUEEN’S WAS WALSH’S BAR AND GRILL, A FAVORITE STOP FOR MEN GETTING OFF THE SUBWAY AFTER WORK. BETWEEN WESTCHESTER AND 177TH WAS PS-36 AND A PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. ALTHOUGH A BOY SCOUT TROOP MET REGULARLY AT THE CHURCH, I DO NOT REMEMBER ANYBODY FROM O’LEARY’S FLATS WHO WAS A MEMBER. THE ONLY SCOUT I KNEW WAS JOHN NAGLE FROM LELAND AVENUE. HIS FATHER OWNED A BAR AND GRILL ON TREMONT. BETWEEN 177TH AND TREMONT ARE SIX STREETS THAT END ON BEACH. ARCHER STREET, WHICH ENDS ON BEACH AVENUE’S EASTSIDE SEPARATES UPPER AND LOWER BEACH. THE STREETS THAT END ON LOWER BEACH ARE WOOD AVENUE, TACOMA STREET, GUION PLACE AND MERRILL STREET. WOOD AVENUE, THE CLOSEST TO THE EXPRESSWAY, TERMINATES ON THE EASTSIDE. THE OTHERS END ON THE WESTSIDE OF BEACH AS YOU MOVE NORTH. TWO STREETS TERMINATE ON UPPER BEACH. MANSION ENDS ON ITS WESTSIDE AND GUERLAIN ON THE EASTSIDE. CONTINUING ON THE EASTSIDE OF BEACH BETWEEN GUERLAIN AND TREMONT IS THE LARGEST OF THE O’LEARY FLATS AND IT WAS KNOWN AS THE STATUE HOUSE. ALL THE STREETS NAMED ABOVE GAVE ACCESS TO THE O’LEARY FLATS. KANE’S BAR AND GRILL WAS LOCATED ON THE NORTH-EAST CORNER OF BEACH AVENUE AND 177TH STREET BEFORE THE EXPRESSWAY WAS BUILT. OPPOSITE IT JACK THE BARBER OCCUPIED THE CORNER SHOP. THE EXPRESSWAY FORCED JACK TO RELOCATE TO THE CORNER OF MERRILL AND SAINT LAWRENCE. AFTER JACK’S, THE NEXT STORE ON 177TH WAS A BICYCLE RENTAL AND REPAIR SHOP. ABOUT HALF WAY BETWEEN SAINT LAWRENCE AND BEACH ON THE SAME SIDE OF 177TH STREET WAS A GERMAN BEER GARDEN. IT ACTUALLY HAD A GARDEN IN THE BACKYARD, AND SERVED GOOD FOOD AND FREE PRETZELS. SOME OF THE OLD-TIMERS FROM 1426 AND OTHER BUILDINGS ON LOWER BEACH COULD BE FOUND IN THE BEER GARDEN ON WEEKENDS. WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE EXPRESSWAY IT DISAPPEARED, UNFORTUNATELY. ABOVE JACK’S SHOP WAS AN APARTMENT OCCUPIED BY THE CULLINARY FAMILY. THE CULLINARY CHILDREN – BILLY, BOB AND MARYANN - WENT TO SAINT ANTHONY’S, AND BILLY THE OLDEST GRADUATED. THE FAMILY MOVED TO QUEENS DURING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EXPRESSWAY AND BOBBY AND MARYANN HAD TO LEAVE SAINT ANTHONY’S BEFORE GRADUATING. BILLY, I BELIEVE, WAS IN FRANKIE RIFF’S CLASS. THERE WERE FOUR OR FIVE HOUSES ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE AVENUE BETWEEN WOOD AND 1426. ALL BUT TWO, I BELIEVE – THE FITZPATRICK’S AND THE BERNARDI’S - WERE DEMOLISHED DURING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EXPRESSWAY. ALL THE HOUSES FROM 177TH TO TACOMA STREET ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AVENUE WERE ALSO DEMOLISHED. THE ONE ON THE CORNER OF TACOMA WAS OCCUPIED BY THE TARTAGLIONI FAMILY, AND IT WAS PROBABLY THE NICEST HOUSE IN THE AREA. STRATTON PARK BOYS HAD A GREAT TIME EXPLORING ABANDONED HOUSES BEFORE THE EXPRESSWAY WAS BUILT. THE TERRINOVA FAMILY OCCUPIED THE HOUSE ON THE OPPOSITE CORNER OF TACOMA. FACING IT ON THE EASTSIDE OF BEACH WAS A WHITE TWO STORY HOUSE THAT WAS OCCUPIED BY THE BERNARDI AND PELLO FAMILIES. THE BERNARDI FAMILY HAD ONE DAUGHTER, SANTA AND ONE SON, PHIL WHO WAS IN THE NAVY DURING WW II, AND BECAME A POLICEMAN AFTER RETURNING HOME. FORTUNATELY FOR US, HE WOULD ROUND UP BOYS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND WARN THEM ABOUT THE DANGER OF USING DRUGS. THE PELLO’S HAD A DAUGHTER NAMED VICKIE. BETWEEN THE BERNARDI HOUSE AND 1426 WAS A VACANT LOT THAT RAN FROM BEACH TO TAYLOR. THIS LOT WAS DIVIDED BY A FENCE ABOUT TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY TO TAYLOR. THE PART OF THE LOT ON THE TAYLOR SIDE WAS USED AS A VICTORY GARDEN DURING WW II. THE OTHER PART WAS USED TO DUMP ASHES FROM 1426’S FURNACE, AND IT ALSO SERVED AS A MINI SOFTBALL FIELD. MANY OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD’S CHRISTMAS TREES WERE BURNT IN THIS LOT. IT WAS ALSO USED FOR SLEDDING BY YOUNG KIDS. OLDER KIDS PREFERRED SLEDDING ON SAINT LAWRENCE’S STEEPER INCLINE FROM MERRILL TO 177TH STREET. LIKE TAYLOR, SAINT LAWRENCE AVENUE RAN PARALLEL TO BEACH. ON THE WESTSIDE OF BEACH BETWEEN THE TERRANOVA HOUSE AND GUION PLACE WAS A LARGE VACANT AND BARE LOT THAT WAS SORT OF AN INFORMAL PLAYGROUND. IT WAS ALSO USED TO BURN CHRISTMAS TREES. GUION PLACE WAS A SHORT ONE-BLOCK STREET THAT RAN BETWEEN SAINT LAWRENCE AND BEACH AVENUES. IT STOPPED ACROSS FROM THE ENTRANCE OF 1436, WHICH ADJOINED 1426. ON THE NORTH WEST CORNER OF BEACH AND GUION PLACE WAS GILLMAN’S AND THEN KAPLAN’S PHARMACY. NEXT TO THE PHARMACY GOING TOWARD SAINT LAWRENCE WAS A CLUB WITH A RECESSED DOORWAY. BEFORE THIS SITE BECAME A CLUB IT WAS OCCUPIED BY A SMALL UMBRELLA FACTORY FOR PART OF ITS EXISTENCE. THE DOORWAY SERVED AS THE “DENö FOR BEACH AVENUE’S RINGOLEVIO TEAMS, A VERY POPULAR AND ROUGH GAME. THE CORNER OF BEACH AND GUION IN FRONT OF THE PHARMACY SERVED AS THE BASE FOR GAMES OF KICK THE CAN. BEACH AVENUE’S STICKBALL FIELD STARTED IN FRONT OF 1426, WITH HOME PLATE FACING SOUTH. THE MARBLE PLAYERS USED A DIRT STRETCH BETWEEN THE STREET AND THE SIDEWALK ACROSS FROM THE ENTRANCE TO 1426. UNDER THE WINDOWS OF THE MALONEY APARTMENT GAMES OF SLUG BALL WERE OFTEN PLAYED. OTHER GAMES THAT WERE PLAYED ON THE STREET AND SIDEWALKS INCLUDED --- I DECLARE WAR AND JOHNNIE ON THE PONY. AT THE OPPOSITE CORNER FROM KAPLAN’S PHARMACY ALONG THE WESTSIDE OF BEACH AVENUE FACING THE FLATS WAS SHAPIRO’S, THEN EDNA’ AND LATTER MADELINE’S CANDY STORE, AT THE CORNER OF BEACH AND MERRILL STREET. MADELINE HAMMER LIVED IN 1426 BEACH. THE MOST PROMINENT BUSINESS BETWEEN KAPLAN’S AND THE CANDY STORE WAS SULLIVAN’S BAR AND GRILL. IT WAS LOCATED APPROXIMATELY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK, FACING 1444, WHICH ADJOINS 1436. SULLIVAN’S WAS THE FAVORITE HANGOUT FOR THE KERRY MEN, WHILE, MULHOLLAND’S BAR AND GRILL AT THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF BEACH AND ARCHER WAS THE CORKONIEAN’S GATHERING PLACE. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF BEACH FROM MULHOLLAND’S WAS SAM’S DELI, WHERE THE YOUNG MEN OF STRATTON PARK MET. SAM’S SON WAS THE FIRST BOY FROM STRATTON PARK THAT WAS KILLED IN ACTION DURING WW II. NEXT TO KAPLAN’S WAS A DRYCLEANERS FOLLOWED BY LEVANDER’S GROCERY STORE, WHERE YOU COULD BUY FOOD ON CREDIT. JUST BEFORE SULLIVAN’S WAS THE SINDONI HOUSE. AFTER SULLIVAN’S WAS THE LIOTTA BAKERY AND JUST BEFORE THE CANDY STORE WAS SAM’S BUTCHER SHOP. SAM WOULD HAND OUT SLICES OF BALONEY TO YOUNG CHILDREN. DURING WW II JARS OF FAT TAKEN FROM FRYING PANS THROUGHOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD WERE COLLECTED AT SAM’S. THE CANDY STORE WAS THE MOST POPULAR BUSINESS ON LOWER BEACH, AND IT WAS THE ONLY HANGOUT FOR TEENAGERS. THEY CAME FROM TAYLOR AND AS FAR AWAY AS LELAND AVENUE, FOR EXAMPLE, JOHN NAGEL AND RICH RAFTI FREQUENTED THE HANGOUT. SOME OF THE OTHERS WERE TOM TRACY, STEVE COFFEY, JIM BRINN, JIM SULLIVAN, JOHN SULLIVAN, JOHN KENNEY, JIM PURCELL, BERNARD RYAN, TERRY MIMNAUGH, TOM O’BRIEN, PAT CROWLEY, BILL CARR, BOB HAMMER AND BILL EGAN. THE LAST FOUR LIVED IN 1426. UNFORTUNATELY, GIRLS DID NOT HANG OUT AT CANDY STORES IN THOSE DAYS. EVERYBODY MENTIONED ABOVE WENT TO SAINT ANTHONY’S, EXCEPT JOHN NAGEL AND RICH RAFTI WHO WENT TO PS-102. ALL GRADUATED IN 1952. NEXT DOOR, ON THE MERRILL STREET SIDE WAS THE STRATTON PARK CLUB. THE CLUB WAS USED AS A SCHOOL FOR IRISH STEP DANCING AND WAS ALSO RENTED FOR PRIVATE PARTIES. A LOCAL MUSICIAN FROM 1426 BEACH, PAT CROWLEY, SENIOR PLAYED HIS ACCORDION FOR THE STEP DANCERS, AND HE WAS FREQUENTLY REQUESTED TO PLAY AT THE PARTIES. IT WOULD BE VERY INTERESTING TO KNOW HOW THE CLUB IS USED NOW. MANY OF THE SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN FROM THE FLATS IN LOWER BEACH WENT TO SAINT ANTHONY’S. THE SHORTEST ROUTE WAS GOING UP MERRILL STREET TO SAINT LAWRENCE AND THEN WALK NORTH ONE BLOCK TO THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF MANSION STREET AND SAINT LAWRENCE. HOWEVER, FOR MOST STUDENTS, THOSE FROM UPPER BEACH, ARCHER STREET, TAYLOR AVENUE AND BEYOND, THE SHORTEST WAY TO SAINT ANTHONY’S WAS ALONG MANSION STREET. CHILDREN WHO WENT TO PS-102 WALKED UP BEACH AND DOWN ARCHER STREET TO THE NORTHEAST INTERSECTION OF TAYLOR AND ARCHER. WALKING HOME FROM SAINT ANTHONY’S ONE AFTERNOON TOM O’BRIEN, CLASS OF 1952, PLACED HIS BOOKS ON THE RUNNING BOARD OF A PARKED AUTOMOBILE ON MERRILL STREET IN ORDER TO ENGAGE IN SOME HORSEPLAY. BEING VERY OCCUPIED HE DIDN’T NOTICE THAT THE AUTOMOBILE HAD LEFT. THERE WERE FAR MORE PRIVATE AUTOMOBILES ON SAINT LAWRENCE AND MERRILL STREET THAN BEACH IN THOSE DAYS. BEFORE THE EXPRESSWAY WAS BUILT HORSE DRAWN CARTS SERVED THE NEIGHBORHOOD. THERE WERE VEGETABLE WAGONS, MILK WAGONS, ICE WAGONS AND JUNK WAGONS. ICE MEN CARRIED HEAVY BLOCKS OF ICE ON THEIR BACKS UP FOUR FLIGHTS OF STAIRS FOR THE ICE BOXES IN EACH APARTMENT. I STILL CALL A REFRIGERATOR AN ICE BOX. MILK MEN WOULD LEAVE BOTTLES OF MILK AND CREAM OUT SIDE OUR DOORS. THE DROPPING FROM THE HORSES ATTRACTED LARGE BLACK FLIES THAT COULD GIVE YOU A NASTY BITE. WHEN THE HORSE DRAWN CARTS STOPPED SERVING THE NEIGHBORHOOD THE FLIES VANISHED. ONE OF THE FEW MOTOR VEHICLES THAT WAS SEEN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD ON A REGULAR BASIS WAS STEVE’S BUNGALOW BAR TRUCK. OTHER VEHICLES INCLUDED GARBAGE TRUCKS AND LARGE TRUCKS THAT DELIVERED COAL TO EACH BUILDING FOR ITS FURNACES. NOW AND THEN A TAXI WOULD PASS BY AND THE STICKBALL PLAYERS WOULD GIVE IT THE BRONX CHEER. IN THOSE DAYS BEACH AVENUE WAS STILL SURFACED WITH A TAR LIKE MATERIAL THAT WAS MIXED WITH SAND AND YOUNG KIDS MADE TAR BALLS AND OTHER FIGURINES OUT OF IT. 177TH STREET WAS THE EAST-WEST THOROUGHFARE FOR TROLLEY CARS. DURING THE BLIZZARD OF 1948 THE OLDER BOYS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD TOOK AN ABANDONED TROLLEY FOR A JOY RIDE. IT WAS UNUSUAL TO SEE A GREEN AND WHITE PATROL CAR ON BEACH AVENUE. DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS THE PRINCIPLE ACTIVITIES OF THE OFFICERS WERE TO CONFISCATE FIRE CRACKERS AND STICKBALL BATS (BROOM HANDLES), WHICH THEY IMMEDIATELY BROKE. IF A RINGOLEVIO GAME WAS IN PROCESS THEY STOPPED IT. CRIES OF “CHICKIE THE COPSö COULD BE HEARD ALONG THE AVENUE WHEN A PATROL CAR WAS SIGHTED. ON RARE OCCASIONS THE OFFICERS PASSED OUT PAL CARDS FOR BALLGAMES AT THE POLO GROUNDS AND YANKEE STADIUM. 1426 HAD FIVE FLOORS, WITH A TOTAL OF 35 APARTMENTS, AND THE SUPERINTENDENT LIVED IN THE COURTYARD APARTMENT BELOW THE FIRST FLOOR. MR. McPADDEN WAS THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HE HAD A SON NAMED JOE AND SEVERAL DAUGHTERS. I CAN STILL SEE JOE WORKING VERY HARD EACH EVENING TO KEEP THE BUILDING CLEAN. THE FAMILIES THAT OCCUPIED THE APARTMENTS ON THE FIRST FLOOR WERE: #1 HORGAN, #2 FRANK, #3 ???, #4 GOUGH, #5 CROWLEY AND #6 MALONEY. THE HORGAN’S HAD TWO SONS AND TWO DAUGHTERS; ONE OF THE BOYS WAS NAMED DENIS. THE CROWLEY’S HAD TWO BOYS, TOM AND PAT AND THREE GIRLS, PATRICIA, DOROTHY AND MARY. THE MALONEY’S HAD ONE SON, EDWARD. THE FATHER WAS A WW I VETERAN IN THE 77TH DIVISION (LOST BATTALION FAME) AND WAS WOUNDED TWICE. EDWARD FOUGHT IN THE PACIFIC DURING WW II. THE MALONEYS OWNED ONE OF THE FEW PRIVATE AUTOMOBILES ON THE AVENUE. THE FAMILIES THAT OCCUPIED THE SECOND FLOOR APARTMENTS WERE: #7 McDONOUGH, #8 ???, #9 ??? #10 O’DONALD, #11 LARKIN, # 12 BANNER AND #12-A FLYNN. THE McDONOUGH’S HAD ONE SON. THE O’DONALD’S HAD ONE SON, EDWARD AND TWO DAUGHTERS, PATRICIA AND NOREEN. THE LARKIN’S HAD ONE SON, ALAN. THE FLYNN’S HAD ONE SON, HUGHIE AND THREE DAUGHTERS. . THE FAMILIES THAT OCCUPIED THE THIRD FLOOD WERE: #14 FEEHAN, #15 ??? #16 GOLDIE, #17 ???, #18 CARR, #19 CUNNINGHAM, #20 ???. THE FEEHAN’S DID NOT HAVE CHILDREN, BUT A NEPHEW, MARTY GAFFEY LIVED WITH THEM FOR A YEAR OR TWO, NEITHER DID THE GOLDIE’S HAVE CHILDREN, THE CARR’S HAD TWO BOYS, BILL AND TOM AND A GIRL, KATHLEEN, AND THE CUNNINGHAM’S HAD ONE SON, JOE AND A GIRL, GERALDINE. THE FAMILIES THAT OCCUPIED THE FOURTH FLOOR WERE: #21 ???, #22 ???, #23 HAMMER, #24 REGAN, #25 EGAN, #26 BIRMINGHAM AND # 27 AMIRANTE. THE HAMMER’S HAD ONE BOY, BOB AND ONE GIRL, MARYANN, THE REGAN’S HAD ONE GIRL AND A BOY, THE EGAN’S HAD ONE BOY, BILL, AND A NIECE, MOIRA LALLY, THE BIRMINGHAM’S HAD ONE GIRL, MARGARET AND ONE BOY, THE AMIRANTE’S HAD TWO BOYS, THE YOUNGEST WAS NAMED JOHN. THE FAMILIES THAT OCCUPIED THE FIFTH FLOOR WERE: # 28 ???, #29 UKASHEVSKI, #30 ???, #31 SUMMERVES, #32 ???, #33 MICHALES, AND #34 ???. THE UKASHEVSKI’S HAD TWO BOYS, EDWARD WAS THE OLDEST; THE MICHALES’ HAD ONE GIRL, LORETTA. LIKE ALL THE O’LEARY FLATS THE BUILDING PROVIDED A SAFE ENVIRONMENT WHERE CHILDREN COULD PLAY, AND FEEL SECURE. IT HAD THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING SURROUNDED BY EMPTY LOTS WHICH PROVIDED THE YOUNGSTERS WITH AMPLE SPACE TO PLAY BALL OFF THE STREET, ALTHOUGH THE STREET WAS CERTAINLY THE FOCAL POINT OF MOST ACTIVITY. CLEARLY IT WAS AN ENVIRONMENT THAT ENCOURAGED THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG LONG-TERM FRIENDSHIPS. ALL IN ALL 1426 BEACH AVENUE WAS AN APARTMENT BUILDING MADE UP OF A DIVERSE POPULATION. FOR MOST OF ITS INHABITANTS IT WAS THE FIRST OR SECOND STOP ON THE IMMIGRANT TRAIL AND THEY FELT VERY COMFORTABLE IN THIS NEW ENVIRONMENT. CHURCHES, SYNAGOGUES, SCHOOLS AND A SMALL PLAYGROUND AT NOBLE AVENUE AND 177TH STREET WERE LOCATED NEARBY. ALSO, ADJACENT TO THE PLAYGROUND WAS A FOOTBALL FIELD AND A BASEBALL DIAMOND. IF ANY OF THE READERS OF THIS STORY WOULD LIKE TO MAKE ANY COMMENTS THEY ARE VERY WELCOME TO DO SO. CERTAINLY THERE MAY BE ERRORS AS WELL AS THE MANY OMISSIONS. FOR EXAMPLE 12 OF THE APARTMENTS IN 1426 ARE LEFT NAMELESS. NOT EVERYONE WHO HUNG OUT AT EDNA’S CANDY STORE IS MENTIONED. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MAKE ANY CORRECTIONS. COMMENTS HAVE ALREADY BEEN MADE BY PAT CROWLEY AND BOB HAMMER FROM 1426 AND ANNE MURPHY FROM 1475 TAYLOR. IT WOULD BE VERY INTERESTING TO READ STORIES ABOUT OTHER BUILDINGS IN THE AREA. STRATTON PARK WAS AN INTERESTING AND VERY SOCIABLE NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THIS IS EVIDENCED BY REUNIONS THAT ARE HELD ON A REGULAR BASIS. I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THAT THERE ARE NEIGHBORHOODS WITH SUCH CLOSE AND ENDURING TIES LIKE OURS THAT COULD BE FOUND ELSEWHERE IN AMERICA. WE WERE VERY FORTUNATE TO GROW UP IN STRATTON PARK. SEMPER FIDELUS.


Name:	Tom(big red) crowley <reddemon30@aol.com>
Date:	2005-04-25
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 beach ave
When did you live there	1930-1963
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I graduated from St. Anthony's in 1943. Outstanding brains in the class that I recall were Marty & Pat Walsh, Bill Moriarity, Jim Griffith and Ann Fitzpatrick I was a late bloomer, still blooming. I graduated from CCNY school of Technology with BEE degree and worked at it for 42 years. My Mother ran into 5th grade Sister Dolores a number of years later and Sr D wanted to know how I turned out(ditch digger or unemployed Bum) and she almost had cardiac arrest when my Mother told her I was an Engineer. I remember Gene Dunscomb singing "For it was Mary" in St A school play. We also starred together in CCNY production of Synge's "Riders to the Sea" about 20 yrs later. Joe DiSantis - name of candy store at St L and 177th was Weindorff's, he had a very badly disfigured son. Ed Bourke - Running thru alley's from Taylor to Beach into Sullivan's to beat cab fare didn't always work. One nite a very tough but small jewish cab driver came into a crowded Sullivan's looking for his fare. We payed him for his Moxey. Also, the Steers were an outstanding football team. I tried to get "the Beach Avenue Varsity" to practice and play, but they had casual interest. Since the Steers played every Sunday at Noble field I joined them. Low and behold the BAV under coach Eddie Collins and number of ringers George Rossi, Johnny Anelli and TuLu beat the Steers by couple of pts thanks to Bill Moriarity interception and drop kick (can you believe a drop kick) by Dom Amirante in closing minutes. Someone asked what was name of Ardea Reality was. I think his name was Frank McGrath via con Dios to all TomC


Name:	Martin Walsh <mwalsh5647@aol.com>
Date:	2005-04-23
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1803 Archer, 1530 Beach, 1803 Guerlain
When did you live there	1935-58
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	I always seem to come in here with bad news, usually another crime story. Today, though, I'm reporting my cousin Mary O'Shea from 1451 Taylor Ave., has died. Mary's family first moved into the neighborhood about 1943 or so. They lived at 1535(?) Beach Ave., also at 1560 Taylor Ave. and eventually at 1451. She was the last one of them there. She's being waked at the Castle Hill Funeral Home, 1528 C.H. Ave. tomorrow night and the funeral will be at St. Anthony's at 9:45 AM Monday. Speaking of crime, there was a domestic murder lately in 1451, but that had nothing to with her case.


Name:	wilma portnoy <wjp1944@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-04-20
Where did you live in Stratton Park	theriot
When did you live there	50-50's
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	I am looking for a guy from years and years ago - he was real bright and i think went to fordham prep and he had the bluest eyes i ever sa- his first name was Bill and last was something like phillips- i remember he was a great football and basketball player and he played for the archer street teams -some folks called him Fumbles- he would be around 58 to 60 by now. wilma


Name:	Jim O'Hagan <joh1745@comcast.net>
Date:	2005-04-17
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1459 Taylor Ave.
When did you live there	1945-1973
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Who stole the penguin from the zoo and placed it on Sullivan's Bar? What was the name of the electrician that worked for Ardea Realty...Frank? What was the name of the deli a couple doors from Gelman's...Toms River?...great pickles and Nehi soda. What was the name of the other grocery store across from 102 on Archer where they always had the Rheingold girl contests...the first loves of my life ...I used to stuff the ballot. Vinnie's Pizza, the kosher meat market. What was the name of the principal that ran the CC at 102..she always knew my name?? and I went to Blessed Sacrament on Beach Ave down by Bruckner. How about the dumps and the Quonset huts. Anybody know where John Gannon is? or sister Madeline for that matter. That reminds me I have to give Johnny Purcell a call. Best Regards,


Name:	Eugene Dunscomb <Eudie3@Yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-04-06
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1444
When did you live there	32 to 59
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	I was sorry to hear that Jimmy Griffith and his brother Tommy died. We were good friends in the late 40's and then Jim graduated from Manhattan in 1951 and became an electrical engineer with General Electric. I saw him once again in 1959 in Pittsfield, Mass. Where he lived and worked. I met Tommy at the downtown Fordham School of Ed.at night. They were both brilliant mathematicians. As a matter of fact several of Jim's classmates at St. Anthony's were brillant scholars. My class was a little different, half of the boys of the class of 1944 went to Korea. Tommy Fitzpatrick was killed there and Jimmy Spolen was wounded. When I went over there, a sergeant was looking for a typist, so I volunteered to type. I was a volunteer typist and I held the rank of PFC.Typing was one of my favorite subjects at Cardinal Hayes. There was very little homework involved. I met John Anelli in Japan. He was in a Tank company in Korea and volunteered to become a cook. I think he volunteered Joe DeSantis for the position of cook also. John Anelli was also on the baseball team, playing shortstop with the 24th Division. Anyway it was a long time ago. Does anyone remember my singing performance on the stage in St. Anthony's, I danced with Kathleen Donnelly in 1943. If you are between 95 and 105 you might remember my performance. In Sister Conrad's class. She taught me the difference between a noun and a pronoun and I got a 90% on my English regents. A big year for me.


Name:	geraldine cunningham <gerripare@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-03-30
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 &1460 Beach Ave
When did you live there	1946-73
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	For those of you who attended St. Anthony's, especially if you remember Sr. James (now Sr.Margaret McEntee) today's NY Times (March 30) has a great article about her & how John Patrick Shanley came to write about her & St. Anthony's in his extraordinary Broadway play, Doubt. I'll TRY to copy it here for those who would lilke to read it. If I dont succeed you can go online to www.nytimes.com/20050330/education & see for yourself. Thanks for this wonderful web site, whoever put it up and maintains it, bless you! A Teacher Sees Herself Younger, and on Broadway By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN THE phone rang in the Bronx convent last Thanksgiving morning while Sister Margaret McEntee was watching the Macy's parade on television, just another teacher thankful for a long weekend near the semester's end. One of the other sisters answered, listened and walked to Sister Margaret with the message, "They're asking for Sister James." Now that was strange. Sister Margaret had not been known as Sister James since 1968, when she chose to adopt a female name in a personal response to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. And stranger still, the woman on the phone, her former student Gerri Cunningham, had kept in touch over the years and knew full well to ask for Sister Margaret. So why the anachronism? Why the inside joke? "By any chance did you read the write-up about this new play?" Mrs. Cunningham asked. The question made Sister Margaret remember a comment at the convent a few nights earlier, about a photograph in the paper from a play titled "Doubt," a picture of two sisters in the distinctive black bonnets and robes of her order, the Sisters of Charity. One was identified in the caption as Sister James. As Sister Margaret began to recite those details over the phone, Mrs. Cunningham interrupted to say: "That's our school. That's you. And the writer is John Patrick Shanley." Nearly a half-century of cluttered memory fell away - all those schools, all those classes, an education career ranging from elementary school to college, from the Bronx to the Bahamas - and Sister Margaret saw Johnny Shanley. She saw Johnny Shanley in her mind's eye with his shaggy auburn hair, one child among 42 in class 1A2 at St. Anthony's school in the East Tremont neighborhood in the Bronx in the fall of 1956, and she saw herself with the red hair and toothy smile of Sister James, a 21-year-old newcomer teaching her first class. As Sister Margaret learned in the subsequent weeks and months, Mr. Shanley had transformed his own memories of a beloved teacher in a childhood school into the stuff not of mere nostalgia but great art. "Doubt" opens tomorrow night on Broadway after an acclaimed run at the Manhattan Theater Club last fall, and in it the fictional Sister James stands at the center of a piercing, relentless drama. Mr. Shanley has renamed St. Anthony as St. Nicholas and imagined an incident that never happened there - an alleged case of a priest molesting a pupil. The boy's teacher, Sister James, finds herself torn between the play's two antagonists. One is a progressive, eloquent priest, Father Flynn, who may or may not have committed the sexual abuse. The other, Sister Aloysius, is the school principal, an educator hidebound enough to lament the demise of fountain pens and deem the song "Frosty the Snowman" heretical, yet acute and perceptive in her suspicions of clerical misconduct. In a play that refuses the palliative of a clear answer, Sister James represents nothing less than the audience's conflicted conscience. PEOPLE come in thinking that nuns are funny because of 'Sister Act,' 'Nunsense,' 'Sister Mary Ignatius,' " said Mr. Shanley, referring to films and plays that treated the religious women as easy targets, since what could be more ripe for ridicule in a cynical age than the combination of piety, idealism and celibacy? "But I think of the play as an homage to a time and a place and a people who gave greatly of themselves. One of the things I'm asking an audience to doubt is their assumptions about these women." This tribute comes not from a teacher's pet, either. Mr. Shanley's own Catholic-school career in the Bronx included being thrown out of kindergarten for daydreaming about "The Mickey Mouse Club," banned from the St. Anthony hot-lunch program for flinging leftovers at other pupils, and expelled from Cardinal Spellman High School for going three months without turning in his Spanish homework and telling the religion teacher he didn't believe in God. "I actually did," Mr. Shanley says. "I just knew it would get a rise." Sister James had seen the early stages of a different Johnny Shanley, though, a quiet boy who wrote skillfully enough to win a statewide essay contest for Catholic school students. And that Johnny Shanley remembered a Sister James of patience and tolerance, a teacher who placed a cigar box under the desk of a boy whose feet otherwise didn't touch the floor and who taught phonics with her own songs. "When two vowels go walking," went a typical verse, "the first one does the talking." When the inspiration for "Doubt" first struck Mr. Shanley three years ago, as the Catholic Church's sexual-abuse scandal was making national news, it was only natural that he thought back to St. Anthony and Sister James. "Eugene O'Neill used to talk about the 'poetry of the real,' " Mr. Shanley said. "I knew I had this world that I knew about and that few people knew. It's just the specificity. It let me use these youthful impressions and dream off them." The stage designer for "Doubt," John Lee Beatty, based the set on the actual St. Anthony. In refining her performance as Sister James for Broadway, the actress Heather Goldenhersh spent a day visiting with Sister Margaret, at age 69 still teaching classes about social justice at Notre Dame high school in Greenwich Village. On the wall of Ms. Goldenhersh's dressing room hangs a photograph of Sister James taken in the late 1950's, and the actress seems to have virtually rearranged her molecules to resemble that figure. But those efforts at impersonation all came relatively late, months after "Doubt" had opened Off Broadway. For it was only after Thanksgiving that Mr. Shanley phoned Sister Margaret and only in January, on the last day of the Manhattan Theater Club engagement, that the student and teacher, both gray for years by now, met again. On the day Sister Margaret saw "Doubt," Mr. Shanley sat at the end of her row, checking her face for reactions, abashed as the first grader he once had been. "Calling her up was a little trepidatious," he said. "But the really powerful experience was having her see the play. I hadn't seen her since I was 6. I didn't know what kind of person she was now. My concern was that she'd say, 'You stole my life.'" He need not have worried. "He renewed my life," Sister Margaret put it. "I am young again." E-mail: sgfreedman@nytimes.com


Name:	Bob Patterson <boober @snet.net>
Date:	2005-03-28
Comments:	MY SISTER PAT CALLED AND TOLD ME ABOUT THE STRATTON PARK HOME PAGE. WHOEVER PUT IT TOGETHR DID A GREAT JOB. IT'S VERY INFORMATIVE . I ESPECIALLY ENJOY THE MARTY WALSH POSTINGS. HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GOOD THANKSGIVING.


Name:	Robert Patterson <boober@snet.net>
Date:	2005-03-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1523 & 1467 Taylor, Leland and Rosedale Ave.
When did you live there	1937 - 1958
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes -- Taylor Aveue buildings
Comments:	I think children of the 3o's & 40's grew up in the best of times. It was a safer world. Daily you'd see a patrolman on Archer Street. Moms watched kids from the stoop or their windows. Vehicle traffic was at minimum. Kids learned to negogiate; gain confidence. They organized their own games. The playyard behind PS102 was always open. Games were unlimited. Kick the Can, JailBreak, Stickball measured in sewer covers, Jump Rope, Potsy, Emmies,Johnny-on-the-Pony, Slug. Remember the Steers? It was a team from either Van Nest or the other side of 177th St., They played football with the older guys from St.Anthony's Parish in the field off Rosedale and Theriout Avenues.


Name:	Bill Philbin <bphilbinjd@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-03-28
Where did you live in Stratton Park	St A's but tow West Farms
When did you live there	see above
Comments:	My brother Paul ( pphilbin@cypressmail.com ) is looking for anyone with current info on leslie sherwood. Bill "Fumbles" Philbin


Name:	Marion Farrell Cronin <MCronin111@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-03-22
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1442 Leland Avenue
When did you live there	1962-1983
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	Sadly, acts of violence as cited in the previous post are prevalent, if not the norm, in our old neighborhood. However, on a brighter note, I wanted to comment on Easter. As a child, I remember almost every Easter as being warm and sunny, althought I do recollect a few cold ones. I know my memories must be a little skewed - the weather could not possibly have been as good as I recall. Perhaps the yearly new coat, shoes, and hat made me feel as though everything were perfect.


Name:	Martin Walsh <Mwalsh5647@aol.com>
Date:	2005-03-21
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1803 Guerlain, 1803 Archer, 1530 Beach
When did you live there	1936-1958
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Today, March 21, NY Post reports body of a man named Milton Joseph, 25, was found stabbed to death at corner of Mansion St. and St. Lawrence Ave. at 1:45 AM Sunday. This is the same corner where Sister Cecilia used to ring her bell to stop our ring-a-levio games and return us to class after school lunch hour every day. I've posted this kind of thing before. If I ever see anything positive I'll put that up too.


Name:	Jim Harrington <jfharrington_1@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-03-18
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1512 Beach; 1803 Archer; 1491 Beach
When did you live there	1944 to 1966; my family lived there 1938 to 2005
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Looking for addresses and E-mails of 1958 graduates of St. Anthony's. A group of us are planing a possible 50th anniversary get together.


Name:	John O'Neill <jackoneill1@Hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-03-16
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1443 Taylor Ave.
When did you live there	1944-1969
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Yes
Comments:	Greetings, and Happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all. Its been very enjoyable reviewing many of the comments made on this site over the years. I feel very fortunate to have grown up in this neighborhood, which taught me a lot, and prepared me for life. Am presently living in Massachusetts, south of Boston, and its a wonderful feeling living where the professional teams seem to win it all every year. i'd be surprised if that didnt draw a reaction.


Name:	Jeanine Kohl <jeaninekohl@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-03-16
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1475 Taylor Avenue
When did you live there	1965-1976
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	Had to ask my mom but yes
Comments:	Growing up on Taylor Avenue was an experience that I will never forget. I have returned to see the neighborhood on many occaisions and still have very fond memories of it. At the time I lived there we all left our door open and were one big happy family. Although I did not attend St. Anthony's, I went to C.S.102 I had many freinds who did.


Name:	bill philbin <bphilbinjd@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-03-15
Where did you live in Stratton Park	lived on bronx park av went to st a's
When did you live there	beach av
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	??
Comments:	I am looking for francis sullivan daughter of dan sullivan ( tv 123) last i heard she was single in san francisco. any info would be appreciated.


Name:	thomas boer <boer3@aol.com>
Date:	2005-03-13
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 beach ave
Comments:	i remember growing up on beach ave in the 60's they were the best times of my life. great friends like kevin bourke donald diehl, jimmy scanlon, kevin and tommy mcelroyjoey pierro g.g. quinn and a close friend eamon kelly who just passed away about a month ago. the great times we had were great times that will never be forgotten. we had great times going to all the archer ram football games. also the great times in the beer bar the stories we had other people would think they were all lies.i married jim and joan murray's daughter marianne we will be married 19 years this may.i missthe neighborhood very much, but we all see each other every so often. looking to here from old friends from this web site


Name:	Denis Horgan <cptdenis@aol.com>
Date:	2005-03-10
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 Beach Ave Apt 1
When did you live there	1940 to 1960
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes
Comments:	Anyone have information on Ed Stack? thank you. Denis Horgan


Name:	Marion Farrell Cronin <MCronin111@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-03-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1442 Leland Avenue
When did you live there	1962-1983
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	A big fuss in being made about a New Jersey teacher who had the audacity to raise his voice in class. This brought back so many memories of St. Anthony's. How many of us got a tongue lashing and perhaps a whack from the nuns. We all survived. I remember Sister Joseph getting so angry and red in the face once I thought for sure she would have a stroke on the spot.


Name:	Penny <penny1965@webtv.net>
Date:	2005-02-18
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1574 Beach Avenue
When did you live there	1965-1978
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	yes iguess i did
Comments:	the mid 70s were a very interesting time, Nixon resigned then Ford came in and inlation went wild, WIP was his slogan, Whip Iflation Now, but in the Bronx it meant We In Need. Fuel Oil went from 12 cents a gallon to $1.15m coal from $25.00 per ton to $125.00 a ton, interest rates hit 12%, everything in the Bronx below Moshalou Parkway was considered the SouthBronx, Banks redlined, Insurance Companies put all buildings in assigned risk pool at 300% increase in premiums, everyone was flocking to the greatest place on earth, Co-Op City, the smart ones to Rockland County and Long Island creating lots of vacancies that junkies could break in to steal the radiators etc. to feed their drug addiction. All so sad


Name:	mc <mcronin111@yahoo.com>
Date:	2005-02-15
Where did you live in Stratton Park	Taylor Ave
When did you live there	1962-1977
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	You Bet
Comments:	Does anybody know what became of the Daltons?


Name:	Julie <JulieLL@webtv.net>
Date:	2005-02-14
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	no
Comments:	It seems to me that all of the good memories occured during the time when Ardea and Dalton owned the buildings. I dated one of the Daltons in the early 60s, he was a great guy


Name:	gerri cunningham pare <gerripare@hotmail.com>
Date:	2005-01-25
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1426 & later 1460 Beach Ave
When did you live there	1947-1973
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	I think so; not sure it was
Comments:	The off Broadway play, Doubt, written by our former neighbor, John Patrick Shanley, closes this Sunday, Jan. 30. It was sold out from the start of its run - and with good reason. In the offing is a move to Broadway and a larger theatre, hopefully in early Spring. I was lucky enough to see Doubt. Clearly set in St. Anthony’s parish, in 1964, the two nuns are recognizable to many of us: stern principal Sr. Aloysius, and young Sr. James. Happily, the priest, Fr. Flynn, is not. With just one other character appearing (the mother of the school’s only black boy), Doubt is a tight and taut drama that is very topical but not typical. You’re not set up to root for one character over another and feel a smug satisfaction at the conclusion. It’s much more nuanced than that and therein lies its brilliance. The crux of the play concerns the principal’s conviction that youthful, popular Fr. Flynn is abusing the black child. She chides Sr. James for her joyous approach to teaching instead of stressing discipline. Confiding her suspicions, she insists Sr. James report anything improper, but the young sister is loathe to believe the amiable priest capable of any such horror. And Fr. Flynn is angry and adamant in his denial when confronted by the two nuns. The tension escalates. The play unfolds in riveting fashion with such spare dialogue every word counts. The magnificent Cherry Jones perfectly captures our former principal’s steely demeanor, and even though of a different physical type, at times even resembled her. Equally skillful is Brian O’Byrne’s fleshing out of the priest under fire who leaves the audience continually unsettled. When I saw it, understudy Nadia Bowers filled in the Sr. James role, bringing poignancy and heart to the testy situation at hand. It’s set in the principal’s office, the church and the grotto area between the school and the rectory where we used to crown the statue of the Blessed Virgin on May Day. For those who attended St. Anthony’s, it’s almost eerie to be transported back to those long-ago sites and hear names such as Msgr. Skully and other teachers we may not have remembered in years. But more importantly, Doubt offers the opportunity to reflect on the dedication of those who taught us so unselfishly at the expense of their personal lives, and to assess the terrible sex abuse scandal with more than a knee-jerk reaction. No wonder Doubt is on virtually every theatre critics’ 10 Best List, sometimes at Number One. I hope many of you will seek it out on Broadway; it’s unforgettable. On a personal note, I’m delighted to report Sr. James is still a Sister of Charity, a wonderful teacher, delightful person - and hardly seems to have aged at all. And she’s looking forward to seeing Doubt this Sunday, courtesy of her former first-grade pupil, JPS.


Name:	Adriana Monti <adriana@monti.name>
Date:	2005-01-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1456 Leland Ave
When did you live there	1962-1983
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	Christmas was a specfial time of year for me and my parents. Here are some of my special memories... When I was a child, my parents and I would trek down East Tremont Ave toward Castle Hill Ave/St Raymond's. (Actually, it may have been very close to where the DMV was in the 70s/80s.) Yes, we walked since neither of my parents drove a car. Our destination was a train car parked alongside the RR tracks that ran parallel to E. Tremont Rd. There, we purchased our favorite live tree and then turned around and carried it home to Leland Ave. Each of us - my dad, mom, and myself - held a section of the tree. I can recall the excitement I had participating in this task! Another memory I have is of decorating the tree. We kept our Christmas decorations in boxes in the basement. About a week or two before Christmas (not Thanksgiving weekend as is now the custom in "modern" times), my dad would carry the boxes upstairs to our apartment on the 2nd floor. I helped as much as possible - always handling the box containing the creche and figurines. That box was one of the smaller boxes. My dad would unwind the strings of lights and check that they still worked. The lights went on first, then the ornaments, and finally the garland. My mom would be busy in the kitchen cooking meals and preparing special foods and baked items for the holidays. One time that I remember - after completing the tree - my dad and I took a walk in the early evening darkness to admire the Christmas lights that people lit in their windows and homes. We walked down Archer to Beach, then left toward the Cross Bronx Expressway, then home on Guerlaine (sp?) Other brief memories... The fountain in the circle in Parkchester decorated as a winter/candy wonderland... Meeting Santa in his little house in the street between Loews and Macy's... St Anthony Christmas play... Condensation in the windows that would diffuse Christmas lights to a soft glow... "Jack Frost" collecting on the windows on exceptionally cold days/nights - I would use my fingernail to carve out words in the frosted windows... I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.


Name:	Pat Shanley Seith <patseith@msn.com>
Date:	2005-01-02
Where did you live in Stratton Park	1533 Beach Ave
When did you live there	1956-60
Did you live in an O' Leary Flat	No
Comments:	Where do you begin recalling all the wonderful memories from our days in the Bronx? I went to St. Helena's Grammar and H.S. and moved to Beach Ave when I was about 15 yrs old. We lived next to the McMearty's and in time I met the gang at Howie's candy store on the corner of Merrill and Beach Ave. I remember thick malteds and $.02 pretzels, cherry cokes and egg creams. I remember the juke box in the back of the candy store and all the wonderful friends I made. I am still in close contact with Angie (Critelli)& Eddie Bourke, Sheila (Harrington) & Jim Kissane, Mary (Guido) & Frank Kuna, Kay (Gu Gu) Faherty Galligan, Rosemarie (Gerardo)Baird and Terry Bruschi. In fact my husband and I will be seeing all but Rosemarie in a few weeks. On a sad note our dear friend Phil Galligan, who was married to Kay Faherty, passed away 5 yrs ago. On a happier note there were many parties at Jackie Baird's family apt. on Beach Ave., where Eddie Bourke, Eddie McIntire, Jackie Baird and Ray Ray Pollichetti would sing some of the latest songs. They did a great job with "Little Star"?? I'm not sure if that's the title but it ended with "where are you little star". It was a fantastic and memorable place to live and I cherish all the memories I have and the fact that so many of our crowd from so long ago are still very, very close friends. They say there are no friends like the old friends and I believe that. It just throws you back to innocent and carefree times. Ed Seith from St. Lawrence Ave and I were married at St. Anthony's in 1960. We had 4 children who are all married and have blessed us with 10 grandchildren. Where did all those years go? Thanks so much for this webpage.

Established in 2003, This page is a monument to a little spot in the Bronx called Stratton Park. Once the name of a thriving community, it describes a part of the Bronx situated between White Plains Road to the Bronx River Parkway, East Tremont Avenue and the Cross Bronx Expressway. The neighborhood was named for a real estate developer, John Stratton O'Leary, who starting in 1926 built blocks of apartment buildings that would become the heart of Stratton Park. His buildings were also known un-officially as the O'Leary Flats. The Purpose of this web site is to remember Stratton Park and to pay tribute to John O'Leary and the many others that made it a great place to live, work and play. Please visit our Message Board to see what other have said and perhaps add your own remembrances and facts.

. | . | . | .| .