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Mark Schweickart

To: Dave Mitchell-- Well I have no memories of sledding on Overbrook, but I am surprised no one has mentioned that its seclusion provided the perfect romantic getaway within the heart of  the city for another favorite pastime -- slutting on Overbrook. Where else could you pull off the side of the road, and feel as if you were in a far-off woods, safe from prying eyes, until that is, Chief Wiggams tapped on your window with his flashlight and scared the bejeezus out of you. 

Mary Clare Hummer (Bauer)

Mark, you are now going to take this discussion off in an entirely different direction. Never met Chief Wiggams but I think seclusion could also be found down by the casting pond at Whetstone Park. Mind you it was only that one time and there was that inconvenience of the gearshift gizmo thingy right there on the floor but I think it felt safe from prying eyes. Seems like I heard of somewhere on Walhalla or in the ravines back there, too. Of course, we hadn't heard of the Zodiac killer yet!  Clare

David Mitchell

Yup to all three of those spots (and a couple others I won't mention - well okay, the parking lot at Dominion Jr. High was a bit obvious). 

But Heck, you didn't need to go to all that much trouble. After one of the proms, Blanche Rish suggested the safest place was right there in her own driveway. She said her parents would not be up that late and those pesky Arlington cops would never come right into someone's own driveway.  WRONG !

(Note: It's the same flashlight tapping on the windshield and the same "bejeezus" in Arlington too!)

And speaking of where to go for a smootch. Didn't we all take the ritual walk from Watterson Basketball games down the alley on the east side of High Street all the way to Ricardi's? Okay, so you had to walk out in the open on High street until you passed the gas station and Our Lady of Peace, but then the alley took you the rest of the way - in almost total darkness. 

I had to do it my first time as a freshman with a sophmore "big sister" who I didn't even want to kiss - she made me do it. But I learned the routine that night. When I had a crush on Donna Bain, we did the "alley" after a ball game. But I was so scared of kissing her we simply walked - that was all - then had a coke at Ricardi's. I guess that didn't sit well with her. I took her out on a double date one time shortly after that. But when I called her a week later to ask if she got the 16 yellow roses I sent for her birthday, her little sister answered the phone and I could hear Donna yelling in the background, "TELL HIM I'M NOT HOME!"

Shoulda, coulda, woulda in the alley. 

p.s.

Gotta share this - years later on the alumni fundraising "phone-a-thon" (which I did for several years while back in Columbus, I got Donna on the phone in Arizona and we shared a wonderful laugh about that one. 

David Mitchell

Tim, You forgot "Lash LaRue". All dressed in black and had a bull whip that was as fast as any cowpoke with a six shooter.

And speaking of famouse landmarks, how could we forget "Jet Stadium"?

Remember "Catholic Youth Nights" at the ballpark? I saw Boog Powell playing 1st base for the Rochester Red Wings, and Richie Ashburn hit four home runs (minor league of course) for the Arkansas Trevelers. And there were the Richmond Vees, the Syracuse Chiefs, Buffalo Bisons(?), and for a while, the Havanna Sugar Kings (who had to sneak out of the country late one night for their own safety) and became the Jersey City Jerseys (later Jacksonville).

I saw 6'7" pitcher Tom Cheney who struck out 21 batters later for the Senators, Julian Javier, Gene Alley, Don Clendennon, and Big Bob Veale - who struck out 22 batters one night at old War Memorial Stadium (featured in "The Natural") in Buffalo - and LOST! 

My dad took me out one Sunday afternoon and we sat way out in right field past first base, pretty close to the right fielder, a big, black rookie, just up from Asheville in the AA league. The first two opposing hitters lofted easy fly balls that this kid camped under, caught, and then dropped - both of them. My Dad turned to me and said, "this kid will never last the summer here". Dad was right - sort of. That "kid" finished that summer and the next 17 or 18 in Pittsburgh. His name was Willie Stargell !

Lordy, how would I have ever gotten through my pre-teen years without Joe Hill calling those games on WMNI ?

James Hamilton, M. D.

Fred Clem

Gil McDougald, New York Yankees, hit the line drive that smashed into Herb Sore's face.

Fred Clem

Speaking of the Indians, in 1954 (the year we started 1st grade), they were 111-43.  It was the most wins ever for an American League team under the 154 game format and the winning percentage was .721.  In the World Series, they were swept by the New York Giants 4-0.  After the 1957 season the Giants moved to that "City by the Bay".

In that Series, Willie Mays (Bob Curtin's idol) made that fantastic catcch of Vic Wertz's dive to centerfield in the Polo Grounds.

In the 50's the Yankees won the American League pennant 8 times.  The 1954 Indians and the 1959 White Sox were the only exceptions.  Both of those teams wee managed by Al Lopez.

David Mitchell

Wow Tim! How could we have both forgotten.......

"A firey horse with speed of light, and a cloud of dust, with a hardy Hi Ho Silver.

The Lone Ranger!

Robert Berkemer

Mary Clare!..... "the Casting Pond", I'm shocked! But please tell us what kind of car it was... ;-)

James Hamilton, M. D.

Janie Albright (Blank)

Because my brother and dad were big baseball fans one year we went to Jets opening night on my birthday, April 20!  My brother collected cards and still has some although my mother - without Tommy's permission- gave many away to the neighbor kids. :(. I can clearly recall Dizzy Dean snd Pee Wee Reese on our tv in the living room on the weekend. Singing the Wasbash Cannonball!  

Another baseball connection - you guys will remember the name.  The condo we are renting in PV is owned by a lady named Jeannie Maloney in California. Previously she rented it out by the week during high season b/c she thought she could make more money. I wanted it for 3 months. When we talked I said I was from Ohio and she said where? I said Columbus and she said oh, I used to go to Cincinnati a lot.  I asked if she had family there and she said her brother used to pitch for the Reds!  I quickly made the connection and pulled the name Jim Maloney out of my head!  Very good looking on his baseball card. Lol. We have become fast friends ever since and stay in her unit every year now. :)

David Mitchell

Bob, touche!

I too am stunned, and share in your surprise at Clare's revelation. I didn't think nice Catholic girls ever went to "the casting ponds" (other than to watch their dad's actually practice casting in broad daylight).

But then, girls from Whetstone were a differnt matter. I was 2 for 2 there. Two romantic visits and two frightening "tap, tap, tappings at my window". And that god-awful light they shined in your rear window. I think that's what they meant by the phrase "I saw the light". I realized every cop in the north end knew that spot, and I gave that place up for greener pastures.

But yes Mark, Overbrook Drive towards Indianola, right behind my own house (across the creek and belwow the cliff), was the best spot! But you are lucky you weren't a bit older. In late grade school we used to ride our bikes down there on Friday and Saturday night's with big powerful flashlights and wreak havoc with the "visitors". Oh, the things the devil made us do?

Mark Schweickart

I am glad to hear (am I, not sure?) that I was not the only one bejeezed by the tappping flashlight. You have to wonder what was going through the cops minds as they approached still another unsuspecting roadside attraction. Do you think there was a betting pool back at the station with the winner determined by the most provocative stage of undress illuminated by said flashlight? Probably not or they would have no doubt also popped a flash photo in order to claim their winnings. 

Note to Clare-- I just used "Wiggams" as a stand-in name for your favorite harrassing police officer, as in Chief Clarence "Clancy" Wiggams on The Simpsons.

Mary Clare Hummer (Bauer)

Sorry, Bob. You can't get the make & model out of me that easily. It would be a good clue, though!!  😁         Who do you think had the coolest car at Watterson?  Remember when Linda Testa got her Mustang?  I always rode to school with Mary Margaret & crowd with her Dad driving the station wagon. I don't think it was considered cool. And then we walked home every day . . . 3 miles through the pouring rain . . . Wonder why we didn't take the bus???

Clare

Michael McLeod

It's interesting how some of the memories are attached to the hidden glens of our part of Columbus - Overbrook, Walhalla - though I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you, to hear about what went on in them.

Then again I'm in no position to judge. I was always getting into trouble, mostly in grade school.

I got to thinking the other day about the Omar Bakery distribution station that was behind our house on East North Broadway. Remember Omar? Remember a tv ad that went "Ma! Oh, Ma! Here comes the Omar man!" ?

Staples like milk and bread were delivered in those days. Don't know how common it was in the homes of that era but we even had, at the side of our house, beneath the kitchen sink, a rectagular metal cabinet, about the size of a small suitcase, that opened up from the outside so  the milk man could deliver bottles of milk in the morning. Then I think my mom would leave the empty bottles in that little cabinet for him to pick up. And of course we had a coal room, too, with an opening for that pre-gas-and/or-electric-heating necessity, which was delivered through a chute in a basement window. I remember watching my dad shovel coal into the furnace every winter evening.

Anyway the Omar distribution warehouse, where the delivery trucks would go each day to pick up their orders of bread, rolls, and most importantly donuts, for delivery to the homes on their routes, was within view of my bedroom window. An 18-wheeler filled with fresh-baked items would arrive regularly, in the night, and back up to the building. And I watched from my bedroom outpost, and figured out the schedule, and would sneak over in the dark of night, when the warehouse was still vacant, squeeze in between the building and the back of the truck, and steal boxes of still-warm donuts.

I would tell my mom "the guys at the warehouse gave them to me."  Sometimes she had me take a box down to the convent for the nuns at I.C., who never knew they were eating stolen pastries. That may even count against me as a second-degree sacrilege of some sort.

Those donuts, forgive me, were the best donuts I have ever tasted in my life. I never got caught. Don't think I ever confessed it, either. It's a wonder I didn't wind up in organized crime.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Janie, I am thinking this would be a great time to take up another collection for the continuity of our website!!  

The fun we are having remembering and sharing the memories is fantastic. We owe you big time. Right, everybody?

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

That was just a way of saying many thanks, Janie, for providing us  with this forum to allow for sharing all these fun memories.

Guys, your memories and embellishment of your recollections are hillarious. Mike, it would appear that your  bedroom had a window on the world. Who knew?

Mark Schweickart

Clare--I imagine your tryst at the Whetstone casting pond took place in the dark. Are you sure that "inconvenient thingy" you were bumping up against was in fact a "gearshift gizmo" -- just wondering?  

James Hamilton, M. D.

Fred Clem

My dad and I would go to breakfast Sunday mornings @ the Jerry's across from WLWC, now WCMH.  During basketball season Fred Taylor & Jimmy Crum would be there prepping for the coach's show.  Jimmy was much more friendly than Fred.

Michael McLeod

Yes, Donna, I will second the thanks to Jane for the creation of this website. Really appreciate that and all the work on the reunion.

And yes it is funny how that bedroom window of mine looked out on numerous opportunities; some legal, some not. It also overlooked a patch of elderberries growing wild at the back of our lot; if we picked enough of them, our mom made us a wonderful pie, the likes of which I have yet to encounter since.

Do we all remember collecting Frito wrappers? Cannot remember why. They were redeemed for something or other.

And I remember making things - tiny little rafts - with popsicle sticks. And collecting acorns. And havng tiny turtles that died prematurely, and dyed chicks at easter time who fared no better. My parents told me they took them to a farm. Yeah, sure.

Oh, as to tv peeps of the day: anybody remember Aunt Fran?

David Mitchell

Janie, 

I agree whole heartedly with the gratitude we all owe you for the work you put into the reunion(s) and this web site. This forum thing is almost becoming more fun than the night of the reunion itself - which was approximately 3 days too short in my humble opinion!

-----------

And Jim wasn't it -- "I'm the Omar man, knockin' at your door. When you taste my bread, you're gonna want more".

But my mother always went to a little bakery down on High Street owned by a Yugoslav immigrant named Eleck (I think) or Eleck's Bakery. It was on the west side of the street but I forget if it was north or south of North Broadway - a little red brick two story building. Always fresh baked breads and wonderful doughnuts and sweets. 

------------

And in case anyone is counting, I think Jim and I are tied for the lead in mis-spelled words. You might want to check that out Mike.

David Mitchell

Here's another "restaurant" memory that we've all missed. And Bill Reid, if you don't recall this one we are officialy revoking your subscription to Fude and Whine Magazine - forever!

I will start with a little history. One of my mother's first jobs was the phone operator at the company's main office. This had to be around 1930. She was there when they got so busy they had to bring in a new piece of equipment that required the girls to pick up one plug connected to a wire on an inertia cord and shove the plug end into a receptical hole on an upright board facing her. This connected the incoming caller to the department they wished to speak to - ala "One Ringy Dingy" (Lily Tomlin). It was called a "switchboard". She loved working there so much she kept going back to employee reunions into her 70's. 

The "restaurant" I am talking about is that singular bastion of epicurian delight, that shinning city on a hill, that monument to fine dining, that shimmering ---- wait for it ---- White Castle ! 

Home of America's only "steam grilled" burger  (AND remember, the holes are free).

Mom and I always went for a "bag" at the one down on High Street near the end of Arcadia - near North High School (where my Mom and Dad first met). But I am not sure that one is still there. Whenever I am in Columbus, I make it a point to stop for a "bag", usually out at the one on Kenny and Henderson, or sometimes on High Street down in the Short North. In my travels I have also discovered one on the far south side near I-270, and far west side out off of I-70 near Rome-Hilliard road. But I can no longer find the one on W. King Ave (or was it W. 3rd?). Anyway, there are few memories in life that delight like those do.  

David Mitchell

Sally Flowers - wow!  What about Ruth Lyons and the 50-50 club (from Cincinnati). Or Jerry Razor's teen dance club. Wasn't it Saturday mornings? 

We loved to watch  "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, and Paul Winchell with Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead. Dad loved  Jackie Gleason on the "The Honeymooners" , and Mom watched Perry Como and the Gary Moore Show. How about Ed Sulivan and of course Bishop Sheen!

And OMG - Arthur Godfrey, Howdy Doodie, and Pinky Lee.  Does anybody remember "I Remember Mama" where they worked the Folger's comercials right into the scene - and then went right back into the plot without an actual comercial break ?