To get a feel for the corner, read my profile.
Like I said before, we moved to the corner area in 6th grade. By 7th grade my schedule was pretty much fixed with the rest of the "corner crew". Got out of school about 3, hung out till about 5, went home and about 6 [M] would come by to get me to hoof it back to the corner till about 9:30.. He lived about a block from me. What did we do, beside the organized sports in the PG, and beside choosing up sides when we were not playing in a league, soft ball, football, volley ball, ping pong, etc,. In the PG we could just sit on a bench outside and tell stories about what 1 guy said or did, and how stupid said individual was, call each other names, [good naturedly], how stupid the other guy was, although we used other descriptive names to indicate lack of intellectual capacity, sometimes we would just pitch horseshoes. PG had horseshoe pits and NO we did not carry horseshoes around with us. In the fieldhouse there were horseshoes. When in the BA there was shooting pool, playing billiards, and just sitting around. Outsude of Mesirows there was pitching coins , petty gambling and hanging out, the same at the other side of the street by Leo's. Sometimes after school we [BIG SEVEN or as he would say GIB VESEN] would go to backward mans house
and play cards and mess around like a club house. No one was home. Sometimes in the evening we might go on one of the streets near the corner and play hide and go seek. HS freshman , but it was the adult form of it with our own rules. Other games we played were relievio which might have been H and G Seek, I do not remember, Red Rover, etc. We were older, not yet driving and we had alot of time to fill up. One game that we played in the PG was really dumb, but we had fun with it. Buck, Buck, How many fingers up. There would be about 4or5 on a side and one team would line up with their backs perpendicular to the ground and the other team would take running starts and jump on the backs of the othersand would raise fingers and the down guys would have to guess and if they were right they would change positions. If one of the teams had a heavy guy he would usually cave in the pile. We really liked that game?
About Me
- Jay Norman Davis
- chicago, illinois, United States
- Education was in Chicago, Emmett Grammar school and The Austin High School. Higher education was the corner of Madison and Central, "The Corner" on Chicago's west side. On one corner of "The Corner" was a drug store with a soda fountain where you could get drinks, etc. Outside among other things we pitched pennies and just hung out. On the other side of the street was Emmett Grammar School and the playground {PG}. It had a huge ball field where we spent alot of time. And down the street was the Bowling Alley [BA]., with about 32 alleys and pool and billiard tables. Alot of time was spent up there also. The Corner was a busy place where there were always "Characters" around from young guys to older men. Bookies, Gambling, and just hanging out. This was what we did from around 6th grade on. No drugs, no violence, just fun and sports and hanging out.
No comments:
Post a Comment