REMEMBER WHEN 8/2/14 The Y and the Curfew When I was 15 years old, my girlfriend, Marlyn and I joined the YM/YWHA at Broad and Pine streets in Philly. It was a great place to socialize and swim during the summers. Most of the kids we met there were from South Philly. We made many close friendships with these “city kids”. Of course we were “city kids” too, but a little more “suburbanized” living all the way out in Mt. Airy. I remember yearning to live in their neighborhoods where everyone seemed like a family. Everybody knew everybody since most had probably lived there for several generations. They were in and out of each other’s homes and sat outside on their porches or steps for hours under the street lights while other kids played street games and parents congregated with each other. This was something I didn’t have in my ‘new’ neighborhood in Mt. Airy where everyone moved in at the same time to brand new homes, and there just wasn’t a real neighborhood feeling. I envied that of my “South Philly” friends. The trip to center city involved taking the “L” bus to Broad and Olney, then the Broad Street subway to Broad and Pine, about a 45 minute trip total. A trip my best friend, Marlyn and I made regularly during the summers of our mid-to-late teens. Marlyn and I would go into town two or three times a week for swimming, but every Wednesday night..........that was the most fun of all. That was the time for the “Roof Garden Dances”! Yes, we’d swim during the day, go out for a light dinner, then spend the entire evening dancing to the music of the late 50’s - early 60s on the roof of 401 South Broad Street. We did all the ‘fast’ dances....the “Jitterbug”, the “Bop”, the “Cha Cha”, and the “Madison” and the “line dances” like the “Stroll”. But the best part was when they played a Johnny Mathis ballad like “Chances Are” and one of the boys came over and asked you to slow dance......that was so dreamy. There was one boy I particularly liked named Ronnie, who lived in Southwest Philly. He’d occasionally take all the buses and trolleys it took to come out to Mt. Airy for a date, but mostly we’d have our “dates” at the “Y”. The “Roof Garden Dances” started at 7 o’clock and ended at 10 p.m. Our parents insisted that we never stay till the end of the dance because in Philly, back in the day, there was a weeknight curfew of 10 p.m. and midnight on weekends. One Wednesday night, Marlyn, and I were having an especially great time....dancing our feet off under the stars, when suddenly we realized what time it was!! Oh no....it was past 9:30. If we left the “Y” now, we wouldn’t get home before 10 p.m.!!! Oh noooooooooooo......my parents will kill me!!!!! I’d been warned never to stay out past the curfew or I’d wind up with a “police record”!!!!! We still had about a 45 minute trip home.....we’d never make it!!! To be continued................. Copyright 2014 © Jacqueline Kravitz Strauss All Rights Reserved REMEMBER WHEN on TALK RADIO 1210 AM WPHT or cbsphilly this and every Saturday night from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. EDT Join Steve Ross, Jim Murray and me! Our contact number: 855-839-1210 and a free call from your cell: #1210 “WE LOOK FORWARD TO LOOKING BACK” Your “Remember When Neighborhood Correspondent”, ~Jackie Strauss
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 01:19:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015