Hi Classmates,
Last week I was on my way to visit my mother in Guilderland but, had some time so I thought I would drive from Saratoga Springs thru Schenectady and then on to the Guilderland Nursing Home.

As I entered Schenectady 's north side Van Vranken Ave I decided to spend some time around the old neighborhood. Gone was the Old Brewery building on Foster ave. It was there that we would occasionally have to climb up a section of that building some how, to the roof top and retrieve our only taped up baseball we would always seem to have.

Now it sits as a vacant lot with a fence and hazardous warning sign around it.

I remember playing ball on Carrie St park with Phil Aulicino, Joe Jestrebski, Bob Sanford, and Carm DeMatteo, Anthony DePaula , Pete Pandori , Ed Cyzsowski, Ernie Marotta, Pat Popolozzi, Nick Valentino, all day long during the summer and basketball in the fall. Never not knowing what time of day it was, until somebody mother yelled "Dinner Time! Come on Home".

In the afternoon for lunch we kids would first find and get cash for empty 2 cent and 5 cent bottles. Then buy Sliced American cheese and Italian Perecca Bread at Avon Meat Market. ( Avon 's is still there and open.) Only because Stanley Maurcy did not sell Perecca Bread. And if Avon 's was out of Bread we would have to peddle our bikes down to Joe and Jens Corner Store (sits vacant now) which is located next door to where Pete Pandori lived.

We would then go to our parents garden and get garden fresh many ripe red Tomatoes and "Cukes". One large long loaf of Perecca Bread packed with all the above "special ingredients" cut in half served only two us. Wow, that's right we must have started the "Sub Sandwich Craze"

Carol Maurcy's father's had a Groc. store where we used to have a 10 cent tru-ade and a 10 cent bag of Schulers potato chips each evening. We would sit on the front porch of the store and just talk. Mr Stanley Maurcy and his son John would come out occasionally and chat with us , we all liked him very much. Sad the store was gone now and being used as an Apartment.

Across the street from Maurcy's Cash Market was a "beer joint" (can't remember the name. I think it was a Polish name) where we (Pete, Bob, Carm, Tony, Nick, Phil, Bill "Ornament" Ed,) had our first under age beers. Wow, were we big deals. That is gone now too, but it has changed and is now called "Somebody's" Sports Bar.

Hooray, Ricitello's is still open (next door to that Sports Bar) and is being run by Lew Ricitello, son of the original owner and brother to John Ricitello who graduated a year or two before us, along with my sister Barbara Maioriello Fallone.

Just down the street and next door to Tony DePaula was Peckham Lumber Company (closed now) where Bob Sanford's father was the foreman. Bob Lived upstairs from the Lumber Co. Office. Bob Sanford was the first in our neighborhood to get a Motorcycle and an a MGTD. He (we) would drive it around the lumber yard at night and sometime when his parents were away, we would sneak them out and go for a drive on Hetcheltown Rd. A road "noted" for all the sharp turns in the road.

Later Carm got his own MG also.

To be continued....................  July 17, 2006

Well where was I? You know that during the age of 10 and 17 is only 7 years but they all seem to blend together and it gets very confusing as to when and what year it actually happened.

Wow those 7 years seem like a life time.

Oh yeah, driving down foster ave. You know what I just realized is that there was an awful lot of " Beer Gardens " located on just about every corner in "Goose Hill".

Mostly on Foster Ave , Van Vranken Ave and Nott Street .

Kelly's, DeMatteo's, Arrow Grill and many, many more are all gone now. Down Peek Street past Mike Ottati's house which was across from the Big N Shopping complex. In my mind it was the first Shopping Center I can remember. There was a bar across the Street from St. Anthony's Church. Does anybody remember it's name started with the letter N I think. Jack Lortie tells me it is called The Alps Grill.

It is has now been refurbished by Union College . What a beautiful job Union College has done for that whole area around the Union College Campus. It looks beautiful. They are and have been buying houses for several years now and completely restoring them for college housing.

Those remaining Beer Garden hang outs around Union College are: Diamante's (in definite need of a face lift) across the street from Union College where "our" Jimmy Durante had tended bar while going to college. Rupsis Tavern on the corner of Carrie and Hattie St. Gravel Gurties on Van Vranken Ave.

As I traveled down foster ave past Gloria Barnhardt's house (my old heart throb) , past Joe and Ray Tanatta's house past the railroad tracks where we used to hop on freight trains.We would take them over the Mohawk River and get off in Glenville. Later that day hop one coming back. The difficult part was when the trains got going to fast to get off. Your little legs had a tough time keeping up with your body. We did that until Tom Paleschi almost killed himself. He slipped between the freight cars and his arm caught the last rung on the built in train ladder as his feet hit the ground and tracks. He was able to pull himself up and was as white as a ghost and that my friends was the end of our Train Jumping career.

If our parents only knew, they would have killed us.

Past Nick Valentino's house on Alexander St., where we would lay in his neighbors strawberry garden under the cover of night and have a few of his sweet large berries. I think he must have known we were there. So past the berry patch and up to Stimeitz Park I went. It's still there. wow, old memories did flow

Carm DeMatteo's parents moved up near there later in life. I wonder if Mrs. DeMatteo is still there on Oakland Ave. Added 7/23/06 I am very sorry to hear but Mrs. DeMatteo has passed away. God Bless you Mrs. DeMatteo.

Oh , Stimetz Park ... At the Park we would see Gail Bianchi, Stephanie Bianco, Gloria Barnhardt, Johnny Gallo, Dan DeMeo, Harold Seymore, just about everybody from Goose Hill would be there. We would go there all year long. Swimming during the summer even after park closing, hiding under the diving board platform while the Police cruised by using their search lights. When they were gone we would all come out and start jumping and diving again. You know , thinking back we did a lot of "so called bad things" but we never did any harm to other people or their property. In the winter we went ice skating there, playing games of tag for hours.

After I left the Park I went across Lenox Road past Olivia DePasquale, Kathy Liberski's, Julie Ruscitto's house and down Mason St to Franklin School . 

Well, Franklin School is now a condo complex.

It was there that I met Linda Bricoccolli, Casey Furlong, who lived directly across the street from the school around 1947. And just down the street was Gary DiLallo, Carol Mangano, Fran Penta, Ted Zelondack, Bill Zubda, Mark Yakubeck, too name a few.

It's funny most of these really great people are all on the Class Reunion Committee.

Well , I continued to Union College where we played football on the field next to Van Vrankin and Nott St. Joe Jastrebski (deceased) , Stan Majack, Pete Pandori, Yanni VanCants, myself and about 10 to 20 others would play football.

And Union College we would go there on Halloween Nights and I remember one Halloween having a big snow ball fight with the college dorm students. Also, the City Police would follow us around and keep telling us to break up the large gang we accumulated. they would send us in different directions but when they left we would form back up again. Funny.

During the Summer we would sneak into the Union College indoor Pool and go swimming.

Always careful to make sure everything was as we found it.

Next up Nott Street past Jane Cohen's , Kitty Tanski, and Peg Burnham's houses. Next,

Ellis Hospital is larger than ever. Several large additions to both Ellis and Sunnyview Hospitals have been done over the past 50 years. On to Oneida School .

It too, has an addition on it. The fenced in play area , where we used to play Buck , Buck during lunch looks the same. But , the corner stores where we got our pizza for lunch are gone as I remembered it.  Oneida School , where Rocky Revella as a 15 year old drove a "Caddy" to school occasionally. hehehehe it makes me laugh, visions of little rocky.

He could barely see over the dashboard. Boy did we think he was so so cool.

To Be continued....................................... Part 3 July 23, 2006

Ok time to finish my joyful ride, it's raining outside . No golf today.

I left Oneida school pumped up uncontrollably anxious to get to Linton High School.When I got there I realize that it was not Linton any more. Now it was called Schenectady High School . It looked the same to me but, that name did not stir up the memories I was looking for.So I sat in the "Linton" parking lot pretending I was in my 1951 Chevy and hoped that the memories would flow. After a few minutes I was back in 1958 waiting in my 51 Chevy. I was waiting for Bucky Kosowaski., Jim Patrokus. Bob Sanford, Jack Lortie, and Jack Amrock. We were in the same electronics and electrical classes together and as soon as they got to my car we were going to skip a class and go for "coffee and donuts" on Union Street .

Linton's parking lot brought back many, many great memories. Mrs. Montalbano's home room, Mrs. Sullivan's English & Poetry classes what a hoot. All my friends that I made in Ken Christians Electrical Class. We were together for 3 years under Ken's helpful instructions.I next thought of all the great times I had on the Linton Football Team. I was probably the smallest linebacker at 142 lbs. I was terrible and I stunk up the joint, but I really tried my very best every week. One of our coaches Walter Przybylo used to call me "peanut". Our senior team went 4 wins , 2 loses and 1 tie. A big loss was "The Game of the Year" against Mt. Pleasant High School . We were never really in the game and lost 33 to 0 yup a big goose egg. .....zippo I always thought my father never saw me play football because he was never there at the games but, later in life my Mother told me he used to watch me play from outside the fence and never told me. I wonder why? Strange , hun? oh well.

From my neighborhood and on the football team were ,Pete Pandori, Carm DeMatteo (deceased now), Gary DiLallo, Claude Guerra and Paul Bricocolli and Ang DeFelippo A Funny story. When I think back, I had a "great" job at Giant Market on Van Vrankin Ave , and worked after school. My wonderful older sisters Ann, Mary Jane, and Barbara, said I should give up my job and join the Football Team. And If I made the team they would pay me the $20 per week I was making. So, because they never paid me, not one dime, I figure they must owe me $600,000 by now with the $20 payments and interest compounded. 

And Linton High School 's Fantastic "60" Basketball Team. I remember being in the gym in our Senior year watching Barry Kramer score more than 50 points. More then the opposing team. Yelling and screaming the whole game while our great team reached 100 points.Our great team consisted of Barry Kramer, Jim Seaman, Ed Rollins, Jack Washington, Bob Murray, Mike Ottati, Karl Heiner, Dick Clemente, Mike Sahr, Bob Elwell, Marshall Family and Dave Torre (now deceased) received all kinds of awards.And finally our Beautiful and very talented Cheerleaders and Majorettes. They were Hot, Sizziling Hot.

From my neighborhood came , Carol Mangano, Pat Lezzi, Julia Tama, Angela Meola, and Mary Ann Pace. Others were Nancy Karras, Nancy Morrison, Cindy St. John, Janice Rogers, Ruth Livingston, Barbara Wassel, Sara Todd, Barbara Krawiecki, Agatha Zukauskas, Carol Piccolo, and Carol Colavita. When they were from I do not know, but this I do know, they were "All Real Beautiful and Classy Ladies" each and every one. Ok, time is running short so off I went out of the parking lot, over McClellan St and up Union St. Past "Beautiful" Diane Fenzel, and "Tea House Of the August Moon" Butch Savage's house and on to the upper Union St Area. When I was in school this upper Union Street neighborhood was like going to Tibet . To me coming from "Goose Hill" It was an area of unknown street names and unfamiliar surroundings.....scary. Today Upper Union Street looks very nice. And Guess what... I know my way around.

Getting Late, got to move on to Central Park . When I was very very little around 8 yrs old, my father and mother used to take my three sisters to Central Park . My mother would stay up and cook the whole night before a Saturday or Sunday. And when we went on a picnic, I'm talking PICNIC. No hot dogs and hamburgers for us Maioriello's. We had roasted chicken and potatoes, Sausage and Peppers and lots and lots of Perecca Bread. And of course some Pasta. Swimming in the "Mud Hole" long before it was as it is now with" concrete and everything." Later in the day they would have music from a grand stand in the woods, that my parents liked to go to. We kids wanted to call it a day and have our Lemon Ice on the way home.The fountain in the center of Iroquois Lake would have colored lights on it in the evening.  Central Park looks very nice today.

My next stop is downtown Schenectady . Thoughts of Thursday nights when the stores would stay open till 9 PM . This is before the arrival of MALLS. When I was younger we would walk up and down State Street from Schenectady Saving Bank, on the corner of State and Clinton Street, down State St. past Proctors Theater to Erie Blvd. and back up the other side of State St. Walking and talking doing that same loop over an over, again and again. Later in life after cars became our means of travel, we would do the Nott Terrace to Western Gateway Bridge Loop, over and over again, also on Thursday nights.

Today The Proctors Theater is Beautiful. There has been a big addition to the stage area and the inside has been totally reconditioned. It is a jewel. If you get a chance to see a production there, do it. Next door to where Carl Company was will be a Mega Movie Theater. Remember the Apex music Store on the Corner of Broadway and State where we bought our 45 rpm records? Well, it has been replaced by a New Dept. Of Transportation high rise office building.

Also, where the Woolworth's 5 & 10 cent store was, is now another State office Building .It certainly has helped remove a lot of vacant stores and buildings, but I don't think it will every again be as crowded with people laughing and shopping before Christmas on Thursday Evening.

Listen carefully, and you can hear the honking of car horns, the laughing and talking of the kids and the ringing of the city mission Christmas bell ringers. Honk, Honk, ringggg ringggggg, Bee Beep, Bee Beep