Kozel----U R FANTASTIC
These pictures and stories are wonderful. We lived in a nice big house on
Muhlbach Court off Beach 19th St in Far Rockaway from 1934 til 1940. My
father was a conductor for the LIRR and I traveled all over with a pass because
of his job. Even went to Brooklyn by myself to see the beloved Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
Went to the World's Fair in 1939 and 40 by myself--being only 12 years old was no big
deal because I had been on my own traveling since I was 5 1/2. That's the way it was then.
In the Far Rockaway segment they show the RKO Strand where I saw
lots of movies but the one most remembered is Alexander's Ragtime Band. My brother
and I came out of the theater into the hurricane of 1938, the worst ever to hit LI.
We made it home through downed trees and power lines. Scary.
In the Rockaway Beach portion they show the Park Inn on Bch 116th St. Next to it
was the Park Inn Baths where I was taught to swim by a runner up to Johnny Weissmuller
for the Olympic 100 yd freestyle championship. I would ride my Schwinn from Far Rock
to Rockaway on the boardwalk----5 miles each way and both ways up hill !!!
It was during the depression, and my father had a good job but with 5 kids we were
still broke. It was a great place to grow up. On Mulhback Ct we had Italian, Jewish,
German and Irish all together and right over an old wooden fence was a small apartment
house where a number of "colored" families lived. All us kids played together and
never knew we weren't supposed to like each other. My best friend was Albert "Fats" Rosen.
------Thank you so very much, the memories are re-kindled.