Atlantic City as a Youth - 6th grade - 8th grade

             Atlantic City As a Youth - 6th grade - 8th grade

       I was still in fifth grade when we moved, my two brothers and baby sister to Arizona Avenue, far from the Inlet, where we lived when I was in grades Kindergarten to 5th. 

      When I went back to school in the Fall it was to

Brighton Avenue School and I would be in the 6th grade. I suppose I was lucky, there were only two sixth grade teachers, Mrs.Kelly who looked old enough for them to have built the school around her.   Then there was a beautiful blond, first year teacher, Miss Graham.   Being almost eleven, I didn't know much about it but I was sure I was in love with her.  I did manage to get into trouble, perhaps because her punishment was to have the culprit sit in the cubby area under her desk, where her legs would be when she sat.   Hmmmm, now that I think about it.

     Arizona Ave. was only a half a city block long and ran from Fairmount Ave. to the bay.  Our house was about 50 yds. from the bay and the small boat marina at the end of the street.  Across the bay was Bader Field Airport, one of the nations' first.  It usually only serviced small aircraft, one or two engines at the most though  twice a naval jet from Pomona Naval Air Station tried to get in, but on both instances ended up with its' nose in the water.  

     Most of the small planes, taking off or landing flew right over the roof of our house. We often warched in fascination the bi-winged planes that would tow the advertising signs as they'd  swoop in, grab the tow cable and then haul the messages into the air.

     Except for going to the movies on Saturday there wasn't much to do during the winter months.  Most of the theaters charged the kids only $.25, so for $.50 cents you were in "hog heaven."  With the change you could get a bag of pop corn, a soda and a box of candy, usually Ju, Ju Beads or Juicy Fruit since they lasted the longest.  Most of the time, they had a double feature and lots of cartoons.

   One Saturday a large group of us went to see Sands of Iwo Jima, I think we must have stayed to see it at least three times.   Next time we played War there was a humongest arguement over who should play John Waynes' character.

     Of course there was a myriad of games we would play outside.  One of the telephone poles had a hoop attached to it.  If we weren't playing basketball, we played "Ducks" or "Horse".  Another was "Stickball"  where an old broom or mop handle was used as a bat and the batter tried to hit a cut in half pink rubber ball as far as he or she could.

One strike was an out and bases or homeruns were determined on how far the ball was hit.

     "Guns" was another popular game.  Not real guns, of course but cap pistols and rifles that made realistic sounds.   The of course "bang-bang you're dead."   We enjoyed this mostly at night when you would climb over backyard fences and hide behind parked cars on the street.   All the houses on the street were row houses, with a little alley between each house.  The more daring would put a foot on each houses' outside wall and climb up as far up as they dared and waited for an "enemy" 

to pass below them.   They not only "killed" them, but scared the heck out of them too.

     Without a doubt, summer was the best for us kids, if we could, we would have lived on the beach.   We never went alone but as a large group, boys and girls together.  We'd simply walk down Fairmount to California Ave turn left , then up to Arctic then Atlantic and then Pacific Ave. To get to the boardwalk you would have to walk another block and then it's another block to actually get in the ocean.   At that time it was a very broad beach. I don't recall any of us ever taking down a towel or blanket.

    If it were lunch time and you didn't have any money you could crawl under the boardwalk, beneath the hotdog stand, and see if you could find any money that people may have dropped between the boards.

     Aside from swimming we all enjoyed "body surfing".   I still love doing this despite not getting to the beach very often.   This "fun" almost broke my neck.  Now of course we would never intentionally bump into people, but on this occasion, with my arms spread out to the sides and my head in the water, I didn't see this rather large woman bent down in the water.  My arms went around her body and my head hit her dead center in her rear end.   I don't think she budged, but I thought I had broken my neck.

     On the way home from the beach at California and Atlantic Ave is a firehouse.  It had a shower and spigot for those going home to wash the  sand off of themselves.  It's stll there.

     As the older we got, the more daring we became.  Several blocks up from our usual beach was the Million Dollar Pier.   It was loaded with all kinds of ride and attraction for children and adults.  It ranged out about a quarter of a mile over the ocean and had huge nets that were set down in the water and every afternoon they would haul the nets in and allow people to see what had been caught in them. 

      For the fun of it several of us decided to dare the others to swim out and around the end of the pier.  Those of us who took the dare were good swimmers and had no difficulty.   The scary part came a few days later when we all decided to go to the end of the pier when they were hauling in the nests.   We stood in awe and I suppose with a certain dgreee of thanksgiving.  Captured in the nets that day were three rather large sharks.   We asked the guy in charge if they often caught sharks and he told us , yes, all the time.

You can guess it, there would be no more swimming around the end of Million Dollar Pier.

Reviews

[sedulous_mind]

I really enjoyed reading your story. It's stunning how many details our memory can store to keep our memories in such a beautiful way alive. I am glad that nothing happened to all of you at that time in the water.

[Dave]

Thanks for taking the time to read. I have posted several reminisces. When reflecting on all the crazy things we did, I'm surprised that none us were ever hurt.

[Samuel Dickens]

These are some fine memories you've captured. Some of the best kind, I'd say, for we're only young once, with wide eyes and welcoming hearts that experience life more acutely than any time afterwards. Though our environments were very different, we were the same in our zeal for fun. Une thing was the same, however--the price of a movie ticket. Actually, I paid a dime until I was 13, then it went to a quarter.

[Dave]

I'm probably a bit older than you. On Sat. most of the movie theaters charged kids a nickle. For twenty-five cents we were in"pig-heaven" $.05 for the movie, $.10 for a bag of popcorn and another $.05 for a box of Juicy Fruits, they lasted the longest
Thanks for stopping by - Take care - Dave

[barleygirl]

Good job packing your story with a ton of interesting details that really give us the flavor for life of spending one's youth in Atlantic City. I love that you include a big variety of interests, not just school & beach. I also love the ending where you show instead of tell -- letting the reader guess about what must've been going thru your heads when you saw those sharks in the nets. There are some typos here & there, but I've never known you to be a fan of nit-picking, so I won't attempt it! Thanks for sharing a sweet nostalgic slice of your youthful life! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Dave]

Margie - I've once again remiss about getting back to messages sent to me. I have been going nuts sending out query letters trying to get a novel published.
I'm hoping to clear up my problem with typos, etc. I discovered Grammarly.
Take care - Dave

[barleygirl]

Stay focused on your dream, my friend. That makes me happy for you, too!

[Dave]

Margie - you are the nicest. Thank you - Dave