Still More Way Back When....

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Way Back When.....

We had one password for everything: "Open Sesame."

A friend was someone we'd actually met and a job came with pay.

Banks employed more tellers than fortune tellers.

The only trader we knew was Vic.

Where there was smoke, there was a smoker.

And....smoke was in the office, butter was on the roll, fat was in the gym, and bacon in the pan.

Starbuck's was the brick place on Main Street, Nantucket.

healthcare provider

A visit to the doctor or his/her visit to you did not require three separate corporations to send/explain the bill, process payment of the bill, or mail your prescription in 10 days.

Soho was in London, Tribeca was a message with a phone number on a wall, and meat packers really did.


All real pizza began below 14th St, crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, spread and changed the world.

A brand was what cowboys put on a cow.

No Ball Playing!

Amazingly, many adults still read books. Reading was something that actually happened all year, not just in summer. Children read books that had absolutely nothing to do with any test, list, or anything other than the pure whimsy of doing something entirely on their own without any merit, medals, or meddling. Imagine the audacity of growing an imagination, right in their own homes! It's scary to think about, but it's true.

Kids often went outdoors after school, unescorted, on foot or bicycle, unsupervised, un-coached, and unscheduled to an open space clearly marked NO BALL PLAYING, where they proceeded to play every conceivable kind of ball game....just because.



Ed Note: We really did say, "Open Sesame," even if there was nothing behind the door or curtain; it was an adaptation of the opening lines of Ali Baba. Yes, Millennials, doctors made house visits, prescribed sulpha tablets for everything from a sore throat to a "charlie-horse," to an addiction to watching re-runs of My Little Margie. The photo is of Hawthorne Park, Forest Hills Gardens, NY, where ball playing was prohibited, and the author and his friends endlessly tormented Bill The Park Warden (RIP). This was our greatest game of all, except perhaps when we learned to lure Charlie The Private Detective into a chase each night. But, that is another story.