Being a girl, my games were very different. Maybe boring. I was the queen of jacks and fiddlesticks. Very sedate games , no physicality. If we had chalk, occasionally hopscotch. Good times! Fun!
Hi Ed! Boy does that brings back memories of the old Health, Wealth and Wisdom St neighborhood!
I.think the year we all got bicycles (I would have given anything to own a 26 speed English Racer!) kind of spelled the end of that compact little magic kingdom we all just ran around or hung out in all the time.
The song 1,2,3 Red I guess originally was inspired by the card game, Red,Green 1,2,3.
The record was #5 in the USA in 1968, (#1 in Canada!)
I never heard of it! Its lyrics like the cover of the record were maybe bittersweet or maybe just scary:
“Stop the game (stop the game)
You got too much to lose (too much to lose)
If you stop me again
That's when we might end”
The only song I remember from 1968 was Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild!” quite different than 1,2,3 Red!
I played all those games, at 82, I remember them fondly, and try to remember the rules. We also played the card game War, and there was one called knuckles where you got your knuckles whacked with the deck of cards for some reason. Roller skating with those metal skates and the key. Sliding on cardboards down the hill across George M Cohen Blvd, down to where they were loading the scrap boats. Sometimes the boys would let me pitch baseball cards against the cellar wall of Goulart's house, but I was not very good at it, seems to me it was a boy talent. We had a two seater swing in our yard that my Dad built and I remember swinging on it for hours. Hopscotch and jump rope two girl games that boys avoided. Did you say Giant Step? All fun and great to remember, thanks Ed.
I think it was different than Simon Says, Giant Steps you were told to take a number of Giant Steps to get to the person leading the games. I did find this online. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/giant-steps
What a wonderful story about your childhood! Bring a girl, my games were very different. Hopscotch, jacks and roller skating, with the skates that fit your shoes, and you wore the key on a piece of yarn around your neck!!
Ed, my Great Grandfather is George J. West - glad to see him in one of your posts!!!
Also, the ball field next to the school is named after my great uncle, ENS Jay Hetherman, who died in WWII. (There’s a weathered bronze plaque noting that - at least there used to be.)
You brought me back to my family’s old neighborhood with this post - thanks so much!
yes lots of memories, a card game called "knuckles" where the loser was hit on knuckles with the deck of cards, and "kick the can" where you had to find people and race back to a can before someone kicked. If you got there first, they had to protect the can, find someone.
And yes you were expected to go home when the street lights came on.
What a different playground! What different games! I grew up in the country, Coventry, on 7 acres with a sister and 3 brothers . The age range was only 7 years so we were all good friends as well as siblings. We did not have any close neighbors; the closest being a pig farmer with 3 children of similar ages. We occasionally would share our playgrounds. Loved the pig rides! With all that acreage came all sorts of animals: chickens, roosters, Bantom hens, turkeys, dogs, cats and a pony. With all those animals came lots of jobs, the least favorite was hauling chicken and pony manure down to the apple orchard where we played house in the apple trees. Our property was outlined with a stone wall which we tried to see how few times we would fall off as we traveled the full length over several hours. At the far end was the swamp where we founded islands. "The Woods" were to the right where we let our imaginations go wild always traveling with a buddy. Our property housed 5 outbuildings: a large chicken coop with 4 rooms, a storage utilitarian low building which held a huge generator and stuff in one room, a room where we stored the wood that we chopped down.,(We even built a coral with the birch trees we cut down.) and a multipurpose room, a small shed that held all the gardening paraphernalia, a raised stable with an open sided half which became part of an obstacle course (we jumped through the high window landing in the manure pile), and finally a small lookout building which belonged to the U.S. Airforce which they used during WWll because our land looked out over the Valley. We had a tennis court which had many uses: tennis, trike riding, baseball, badminton, etc.
My dad was an OBS/GYN but grew up in a large family on a large farm and he wanted us to have some of the experiences. He was a great believer in having fun while working and making light work out of many hands as in "endless chain".
Sounds so much like my early years in Mt Pleasant. Canton and all the surrounding streets were my playground. Wonderful innocent times, such great memories.
Great story Ed, I grew up on Vinton street on “the Hill” and we played nearly all of the games you mention. One thing that you didn’t mention was that that street light on the corner was also the signal to come home and end our play. When that light came on, we all knew that it was time to go home and end another fun day. Thanks for the great memories.
Yes, Tom, that's the area of The Duck Pond. At one times, it was fenced off from LaSalle. On a rare occasion, we'd jump the fence to get into a Friday night football game.
Wonderful story of childhood and our boundaries when we were kids. Whenever I went back to Denver, I always found myself driving around the old neighborhood, including the baseball fields, the park we played football, and the school yard were I played 4-square with a vengeance. You rightly pointed out those youthful sports activities taught us valuable life lessons though we didn't know it at the time. Bravo.
Being a girl, my games were very different. Maybe boring. I was the queen of jacks and fiddlesticks. Very sedate games , no physicality. If we had chalk, occasionally hopscotch. Good times! Fun!
Wait, I played hopscotch , alara, jumprope and ringolievo
And ringolevio. We didn't play this often, if ever
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringolevio
I forgot about jumprope. Good exercise. What was alaro and ringolievo?
Here is the game we calaled 'alara'
https://blog.oup.com/2007/04/one_two_three_alairy/
I did play that. I thought I was original. One, two, three alara that is all I remember. Broke my bubble!
See, you were an all-rounder, did it all.
What? No wars?
When things were a bit dull, our “Street Gang” planned nighttime wars.
All I can say is that an Angel had to be watching over us and nobody was ever hurt!
Most of those games you mentioned were also ours.
Thanks Dr. Ed. for those memories!
Well, we did in The Sandbanks, Jim. I forgot to mention them. We saw many war movies at The Castle and tried to emulate heroes like Audie Murphy
Hi Ed! Boy does that brings back memories of the old Health, Wealth and Wisdom St neighborhood!
I.think the year we all got bicycles (I would have given anything to own a 26 speed English Racer!) kind of spelled the end of that compact little magic kingdom we all just ran around or hung out in all the time.
The song 1,2,3 Red I guess originally was inspired by the card game, Red,Green 1,2,3.
The record was #5 in the USA in 1968, (#1 in Canada!)
I never heard of it! Its lyrics like the cover of the record were maybe bittersweet or maybe just scary:
“Stop the game (stop the game)
You got too much to lose (too much to lose)
If you stop me again
That's when we might end”
The only song I remember from 1968 was Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild!” quite different than 1,2,3 Red!
Yes, I had a one-speed bike also, Jim. I added the song for the title, but the lyrics didn't fit the piece. Thanks for teasing it out.
We lived in a great neighborhood.
Great Ed and how true,thanks for that trip back in time. Frank
I wallow in the world of nostalgia, Frank, and love it. As do so many. So, I'll keep going.
I played all those games, at 82, I remember them fondly, and try to remember the rules. We also played the card game War, and there was one called knuckles where you got your knuckles whacked with the deck of cards for some reason. Roller skating with those metal skates and the key. Sliding on cardboards down the hill across George M Cohen Blvd, down to where they were loading the scrap boats. Sometimes the boys would let me pitch baseball cards against the cellar wall of Goulart's house, but I was not very good at it, seems to me it was a boy talent. We had a two seater swing in our yard that my Dad built and I remember swinging on it for hours. Hopscotch and jump rope two girl games that boys avoided. Did you say Giant Step? All fun and great to remember, thanks Ed.
Thanks, Mary Jane. Was the game "Simon Says?"
I think it was different than Simon Says, Giant Steps you were told to take a number of Giant Steps to get to the person leading the games. I did find this online. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/giant-steps
Ah, OK, thanks. Now I remember
What a wonderful story about your childhood! Bring a girl, my games were very different. Hopscotch, jacks and roller skating, with the skates that fit your shoes, and you wore the key on a piece of yarn around your neck!!
I played those games also, Rosemary. And i had the same roller skates.
Nice. Thanks
Ed, my Great Grandfather is George J. West - glad to see him in one of your posts!!!
Also, the ball field next to the school is named after my great uncle, ENS Jay Hetherman, who died in WWII. (There’s a weathered bronze plaque noting that - at least there used to be.)
You brought me back to my family’s old neighborhood with this post - thanks so much!
Yes, thanks so much for the nice comments, Larry. Was Jay Hetherman Judy's Dad?
I played many a game on that field, but I do not remember a plaque.
A great old neighborhood, it was indeed. That's why I take so many nostalgic rides back.
Jay was Judy’s uncle - her dad was Edmund. (My Grandma Julia Hetherman West was Jay’s sister, and was married to George West Jr.)
I’m the family genealogist, so sorry if that’s a bit too much!
No, not much at all. I love genealogy and family history
yes lots of memories, a card game called "knuckles" where the loser was hit on knuckles with the deck of cards, and "kick the can" where you had to find people and race back to a can before someone kicked. If you got there first, they had to protect the can, find someone.
And yes you were expected to go home when the street lights came on.
Yes, Yes, Biagio, we played those games. I forgot about them. Thanks for the reminders.
Streets were the beacon.
What a different playground! What different games! I grew up in the country, Coventry, on 7 acres with a sister and 3 brothers . The age range was only 7 years so we were all good friends as well as siblings. We did not have any close neighbors; the closest being a pig farmer with 3 children of similar ages. We occasionally would share our playgrounds. Loved the pig rides! With all that acreage came all sorts of animals: chickens, roosters, Bantom hens, turkeys, dogs, cats and a pony. With all those animals came lots of jobs, the least favorite was hauling chicken and pony manure down to the apple orchard where we played house in the apple trees. Our property was outlined with a stone wall which we tried to see how few times we would fall off as we traveled the full length over several hours. At the far end was the swamp where we founded islands. "The Woods" were to the right where we let our imaginations go wild always traveling with a buddy. Our property housed 5 outbuildings: a large chicken coop with 4 rooms, a storage utilitarian low building which held a huge generator and stuff in one room, a room where we stored the wood that we chopped down.,(We even built a coral with the birch trees we cut down.) and a multipurpose room, a small shed that held all the gardening paraphernalia, a raised stable with an open sided half which became part of an obstacle course (we jumped through the high window landing in the manure pile), and finally a small lookout building which belonged to the U.S. Airforce which they used during WWll because our land looked out over the Valley. We had a tennis court which had many uses: tennis, trike riding, baseball, badminton, etc.
My dad was an OBS/GYN but grew up in a large family on a large farm and he wanted us to have some of the experiences. He was a great believer in having fun while working and making light work out of many hands as in "endless chain".
THIS is a beautiful story. It sounds like a memoir is lurking in the wings, so go for it. Such a rich experience(s). Farm? Unique indeed.
Pig rides? I never came close. Tennis courts? Why that was another place for stickball.
Thank you so much for sharing this.
Sounds so much like my early years in Mt Pleasant. Canton and all the surrounding streets were my playground. Wonderful innocent times, such great memories.
We may have played on the same fields of gold, Ed.
Great story Ed, I grew up on Vinton street on “the Hill” and we played nearly all of the games you mention. One thing that you didn’t mention was that that street light on the corner was also the signal to come home and end our play. When that light came on, we all knew that it was time to go home and end another fun day. Thanks for the great memories.
Yes, the streetlight was our beacon also. It was comforting in a way. I just forgot to mention it.
Yes Ed, I do the same thing. Every once in a while I take a drive down Home Ave where I grew up.
(I thought I was the only nut who does that LOL!) My father put up a basketball court in the back
yard, hours of playing basketball! Ice hockey in the street, baseball at Lasalle (the Brothers never
bothered us, I doubt that would be allowed now). Playing tag all over the neighborhood! I remember the smell of burning leaves every fall...
Fellow, Nut, did you skate on the Duck Pond?
Not sure where that is? But half way up Whitford Ave, near Mt Pleasant High School,
there is a little forested area (less now, Lasalle developed a lot of it) that we used to
explore and play in. Also, a lot of bike riding along Pleasent Valley Parkway.
Yes, Tom, that's the area of The Duck Pond. At one times, it was fenced off from LaSalle. On a rare occasion, we'd jump the fence to get into a Friday night football game.
Oh, ok! I don't remember water, maybe we didn't go near that part but
Home Ave is at the bottom of Whitford and I grew up a couple of
houses in on the right. Beautiful street back in the day, rode my bikes
(eventually my folks bought me a 10 speed) everywhere!
I remember the street well, because we moved to Minto Street in 1960 or so.
Oh wow, I had an Aunt and Uncle who lived on Minto, does the
last name Marriotti (not sure about the spelling) sound familiar?
Their first names were Nick and Virginia. They had two sons, Rick
and Donald, Donald was a year or two younger than me, spent many
hours at their house, about 2 houses in from Whitford.
Wonderful story of childhood and our boundaries when we were kids. Whenever I went back to Denver, I always found myself driving around the old neighborhood, including the baseball fields, the park we played football, and the school yard were I played 4-square with a vengeance. You rightly pointed out those youthful sports activities taught us valuable life lessons though we didn't know it at the time. Bravo.
Thanks, Larry. Yes, great lessons, many of them learned on our own. And life-lasting.
What a sweet read this morning Ed. So many good memories. Very well done, I’ll be thinking of my own childhood experience today, thanks to you. Gus
Thanks. Gus. Hit 'em far.