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It is a small section on Philadelphia in the North Western part of Philly. Zipcode 19128. Referred to by the locals as Wissahickon. Partly because it is seperated from East Falls by the Wissahickon Creek. Wissahickon is an Indian word for "Better than Manayunk but not quite Andorra" (just kidding you yunkers.) Life was much simpler in the late 60's and 70's growing up on Manayunk Ave. Making the mile trip to Church at St. Mary of the Assumption every sunday until first grade and then it was every day. Kindergarden was at cook wissahickon when it was at the corner of Osborn St. and Rochelle Ave. Half way around the block from my house. The first month my Grandmother walked me to the corner to watch me cross. After that she just looked from the porch. The old Wissahickon Library was right across the street. Played in the front of the building all the time after I was 7 and able to cross the street by myself. Then it shut down sometime in the late 60's. Before the final fire collapsed it in the 70's we still played around the building. Even broke into it once or twice but there was nothing interesting there. Besides the streets there were these wonderful alleys. There was one directly across from my house that ran behind Osborn St. and even cut behind the houses on the other side of Manayunk Ave. I was always jelous that those guys could have basketball hoops up they could play on all the time. Not like the ones down in the Cook school yard that always had the older guys hogging up. There was also an alley going up behind the houses on the other side of Osborn St. This was a strange alley because it ran side by side with the alley behind Dawson St. Talk about so many places to play and ride big wheels and bikes. On the corner of Ridge Ave. and Dawson St. was a church with a back lot that met up with the two alleys. The church was built on a big rock so the Manayunk St. side was a big wall with Steps through it. Very neat little tunnel where I spent countless hours racing hot wheels. With the exception of Saturday mornings and Sid and Marty Krofft shows I was outside as much as possible. We all were. There were no video games in 1968. No VCR's. There were pinball machines. Actually there was a store down at the corner of Rochelle Ave. and Sumac St. across from the Wissahickon train station, that always had a pinball machine in it. Then there was a little store with a mini arcade in it right on Manayunk Ave on the corner of Ridge Ave. They had 5 pinball machines. What a piece of heaven. They even had one older game that still gave 5 balls per game and 3 games per quarter. That was my first lesson in economics. I could make 25 cents last for 15 minutes. One Dollar could last me one hour. Working for my Grandfather I used to make 2 dollars an hour. I remember thinking getting double the playtime for my worktime was a good deal.

So where are all the kids from the old neighborhood. I already talked to MaryEllen from across the street. What about Albert and Ricky and the Finks.. The store at the corner of Kalos St. and Manayunk Ave. was called Chris' for the longest time. Chris was the nice old lady that owned the place and worked in there every day. This was the place to go for candy. Back then there was real penny candy. Some even 2 for a penny. And nothing cost more than a quarter. And in 1973 the worst deal for a quarter was Wacky Packages. You could get 50 swedish fish or red hot dollars for a quarter. 5 suckers. A HUGE candy bar. Even baseball cards gave you 6 cards besides the stick of gum. Wacky Packages were stickers and came two to a pack with a stick of gum. That was my second lesson in economics. There were 30 stickers in all. I wanted to collect them all. I already had about 8 different ones. I figured if I spent $3 I could get the rest. Hah. That 3 bucks only got me 10 new ones. What a rip. You could only trade to so many newbies. This became my first obsession. At least the first one I remember. I can't calculate the amount of money I spent in 1973 to finally collect the whole first series, but I proudly stuck them on the inside of my closet door. My first complete collection of something. At about the same time my parents got me a stamp album. Trying to divert my attention I guess. It must have worked because I do not remember having more than a few of the second series and beyond. Then for my birthday in 1973 I got the ultimate toy which launched my future career choice. A Radio Shack 100 in one Electronic Project Kit. I thought someday I would be fixing radios and TV's. In the summer of 1974 something dreadful happened. I realized there were strange things going on with girls. I was so looking forward to seeing a girl I had as a friend the year before at the swim club. I wanted to find out what these strange feelings were all about. But she never showed up at the club that year. And then it happened. I became a teenager. I wasn't hanging around with anyone within 8 blocks of my house. I was becoming free range :) I was looking for girlfriends and not anyone to race hot wheels with. My hot wheel was a Schwinn Lemon Peeler. This was such an expensive bike for the time but since my sister's Godfather was a Schwinn dealer we got a discount. So anybody reading this now I was not a rich spoiled brat at the time. I had connections :) And so ends the first interesting chapter of my life. Please write me if you think you know me :)

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