Center of this Universe: Ashton & Willits Roads
Frankie Masters, Joseph’s Delicatessen, wiffle ball, Holme Circle, Winchester Swim Club, St. Jerome Church & School, Father Dougherty, 25-minute Masses, “Winchester, Colfax & Narvon lines …”, EJ Korvettes, Crown Cork & Seal, friendly football games, Angus Road, nasty football rivalry, Grant & Ashton, Grant & Academy, John Byrnes GC, the fence along Torresdale CC, Pollock School & playground, softball, FlatIron, chain-link basketball nets, the “Big A”, turtle jungle gym, huge angled sheet-metal slide, Route 20 & 88 bus, Philadelphia Electric Co substation (Ashton), North(east) Philadelphia Airport, Ryerson Road, Ryerson Circle, the 5 & 10 cent store (Willits), Shop ‘n Bag(s), “Free Soviet Jews” (B’Nai B’Rith??), 15-cent burgers at McDonalds (Frankford Ave.), Linden Avenue projects, I-95, Roosevelt Boulevard, Roosevelt Mall, Thomas Holme School, Cannstatters, Father Judge HS, dances in the gym, Cottage Green, the original intersection of Ashton & Willits, Lincoln HS, the football bowl, Thanksgiving football games, concrete roads, Bluegrass Shopping Center, grass median strips, Nazareth Hospital, Pennypack Circle, jungle-themed miniature golf, concrete underpasses (before and after), Shriner’s Hospital, Pennypack Park, beer parties, cops, running, beer-dumping parties, street hockey, Flyers Stanley Cup street celebrations, Holy Family College, Nazareth Academy, girls at Archbishop Ryan/St. Huberts, robin-egg blue police cars (post-’74?), PTC, Crispin Gardens, pee wee football, little league, The Evening Bulletin, newspaper shack on Ashton near Winchester SC …
(Disclaimer: Dysfunctional memory may result in not-completely-correct recollections. Please feel free to correct any inconsistencies via Leave a Comment/Post a Reply below.)
Cranky Man's Lawn 
Hi Mike. I just came across your blog. Great stuff! I’ve gotten into a Twitter conversation with Larry Shenk, who’s a long-time Phillies exec. You referenced Double Distelfink Day. I still have mine from when I was a kid. Do you by any chance recall what year that was? Was it around the end of Connie Mack or in the early years of the Vet? I just can’t remember. Thanks for any help!
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Gene … It was definitely late Connie Mack, but I’m not sure which season.
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Oh … They were playing the Cubs and Leo Durocher was managing them. There were a group of nuns sitting on the Cubs side, and allegedly Durocher asked the nuns to pray for the Cubs because the Phil’s “were double distelfinking them”
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I SAW FLATIRON BEAT EDDIE FEIGHNER AND KING AND HIS COURT 5 TIMES AT BUSTLETON & MAGEE. THEY NEVER GOT A HIT OFF OF GEORGE ULMER IN ALL 5 GAMES. THEIR WAS 15,000 PEOPLE AT MAX MYERS PLAYGROUND WATCHING THE GAME. AWESOME !!!!!
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Wow….neat. Only thing you missed was the dead end. Good stuff Chrissy
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Thanks … which dead-end? Funny how kids remember physical features as memory markers. When I lived in Germantown (birth-10 yo), we would wander – all of 100 yards from our house – to a place we simply called The Crack … because the pavement was buckled and “cracked” by a huge chestnut tree.
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Troop 395; Treasure Island Scout Reservation; the little candy store behind Mayfair elementary (where my buddy Billy Seltzer, who was the Captain of the Safety Patrol (I was just a patrolman), and I would go after my shift and drink sodas and eat candy; Hargrave St gang and football behind the houses; buck buck and jailbreak in the streets around Hargrave; Park Guard station in Pennypack Park (Woods)…fishing in Pennypack crick; Greenwood Dairies; Tillie’s Pizza (first pizza I had at around 6 years old was from Tillie’s); my Dad’s name on the Levis’ wall (not NEP, but it had our address on Macon Street); Acme parking lot on the Boulevard (Ken L Ration dog school for my half lab-half setter in the parking lot); Valle’s Steak House (second real job — and I was there for three years!); B bus; Farrell, Pollock, Mayfair, Lincoln; Little City; Merben and Mayfair theaters; the “punk” test; Camp William Penn (1967); YWCA at Holme Circle; Branch Free Library on Cottman; leaving unlocked outside Korvette’s my brother’s English Racer bike he earned selling newspapers…yes, it was stolen; Belcher’s accordion studio; police cars we called “red cars”; Murray the mailman; mowing lawns / shoveling snow ($5 per house); annual summer trek to Atlantic City (Diplomat Motel) or to Ocean City; special occasion dinners at Fisher’s Restaurant (my Mom’s favorite) or at Philip’s (in South Philly; when I was in the Navy, and my ship (Saratoga) went to the shipyard, one night I had dinner at Philip’s and the owner remembered my mom and dad…he gave me a bottle of Brunello gratis…the best). There’s so much more, but specifics will come with the use of spare brain cycles and maybe a couple of Rolling Rocks…
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Good stuff … I worked at that Acme on Roosevelt Blvd for 8 years!
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Roger…enjoying the other aspects of your erudite blog, as well.
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Wow … Thanks for that compliment!
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Hi my name is Lynda Master Santaniello … When I found this website, it made my heart not hurt, as much for those who knew of my parents. This is the week we lost them. So many of the memories our softball team, pollock school, Lincoln, Holme circle, joes deli next to our restaurant. So many made me smile this week. It is very hard on our family. Thanks for the memories!
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You are most certainly welcomed. Knew your father just to say hello to. Might have met your mother, though I do not remember it. What year did they pass?
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1984. It’s been a long time. Too long.
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Wow …
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GLENN, YOUR DAD WAS THE BEST SPONSER FLATIRONS SOFTBALL TEAM EVER HAD. HE TREATED HIS PLAYERS GREAT AND THEY ALWAYS HAD GREAT LOOKING UNIFORMES AND ALL THE PLAYERS ON HIS TEAM LOVED HIM. I PLAYED FOR FISHTOWN. IT WAS THE PHILLY MAJOR SOFTBALL LEAGUE.
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Hi I’m
Lynda Master Santaniello It was so nice to see my name in this memories along with many more … our schools, our softball team, flatiron and so many more memories. This is week we lost both of our parents, and this made me feel good to see these memories. Holme circle lived right down street along with so many others. thank you so much ❤️.
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Sorry for your losses. Frankie Masters was considered a neighborhood icon back when I was a teen. Good memories.
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I remember the miniature golf at Stanwood and the Blvd, the last hole had a seal with a rotating ball. Sink it in the spinning ball and the seal would bark, “arrrh arrh.arrh — free game, free game !” or similar.
Then I d go to KFC nearby and have some hamburgers for 25 cents each which they’d inexplicably wrap in clear plastic.
Then take the bikes back home riding in the brick gutters along holme ave.
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Which Bob is this? Sounds like a typical Saturday afternoon back in the ‘70s! That the 1970s …
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Harry W. – I remember when FLATIRON played at CONNIE MACK STADIUM for their home games in the seaboard coast league. Teams from CT,NY,NJ,DE,VA.GA,FL,NC,SC,LA,TE,OH,IL,MO, and TX. – FLATIRON drew more fans than the Phillies did back then for home games at CONNIE MACK.
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FLATIRON A.C. SOFTBALL – In the 60’s,70’s and into the 80’s they were unbeatable as they won league titles every year. They played the best teams in the entire country and came out on top. THE GREAT GEORGE ULMER was their top pitcher. Many games he would have 19 or 20 K’s. BIG GEORGE was clocked at 110 to 120 miles an hour. In one regional tournament GEORGE pitched 5 no hitters and fanned 101 out of 105 hitters. The entire team was the class of the leagues they played in.They played as great as their uniforms looked and they looked awesome.
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IN THE EARLY 70’S MY DAD TOOK ME TO SEE FLATIRON PLAY CARLINGS BEER OF BALTIMORE . THEIR PITCHER WAS CHARLIE SLAVINGS WHO WAS 66-0 AT THE TIME .GEORGE ULMER , FLATIRONS PITCHER STRUCKOUT 20 OF 21 OF CARLINGS BATTERS. FLATIRONS CENTER FIELDER BOB MILLER THREW OUT A GUY AT FIRST BASE IT WAS UNREAL,WHAT AN ARM.FLATIRON WON THE GAME 1-0 ON A LOU CATALINE DOUBLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE 7TH INNING . THEIR WERE ABOUT 10,000 PEOPLE AT MAX MYERS PLAYGROUND. I WAS 12 AT THE TIME AND I’LL NEVER FORGET IT, THANKS DAD.
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Hi! I am the Bob Miller that you mentioned. George was the greatest!
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MY DAD TOOK ME TO SEE THE CLEARWATER BOMBERS PLAY FLATIRON .THE PITCHERS WERE GEORGE ULMER AND BILL MASSEY FOR THE BOMBERS. I NEVER SAW A 100 MPH PITCH UNTIL THAT GAME . THE BOMBERS WON BOTH GAMES 5-2 AND 2-0 IT WAS AWSOME.
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YOUNG MAN YOU HAVE THE RIGHT SCORES BUT FLATIRON WON BOTH GAMES AS I WAS AT WHITEHALL PLAYGROUND FOR THE GAMES. FLATIRONS SPONSER WAS BOOKBINDERS SEAFOOD RESTAURANT IN PHILA.
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I left NE Philly for South Florida in late 1979. My friends down there were baffled by my “aggressive” driving. But impressed with my skills.
They have no idea what the Blvd does for driving skills. Frankfort Ave, Torresdale Ave. Old Delaware Ave……12 lanes of cobblestone, railroad tracks and vehicular anarchy. I also learned to ride a motorcycle on these roads and had a job under the Girard Point Bridge. Everyday rush hour….95, off at Allegany (95 didn’t go all the way through yet…remember that?), Packer Ave back onto 95, off at the airport and back roads to a tug and barge dock. I was 18.
When I taught my kids to drive we did a loop. Out of Holland, through Langhorne up 95, 95 to Taylorsville and then 532 back home. Once they mastered that it was 95 down into Philly, Cottman or Girard and back. But the real test was the Blvd. Langhorne to Adams and back.
5 very competent drivers, they can all out drive a Dominican taxi driver down Broadway.
Now…..Dinosaur Lake. Let’s see a show of hands. BTW, it’s still, there minus the dinosaurs. Napoli Village Pizza on Torresdale. The Hatcheries. Byberry…and it’s tunnels. Road grit encrusted pretzels handed to you by a guy that roaches ran away from. Whalers from Burger King. Pantry Pride. Fights, one on one, no posses, no homeboys…and the matter was settled.
Decatur Rd drag racing for those afraid of Front St. Hanging onto bumpers in the snow. Bad weed. Good weed. Cops who knew the difference. Keg parties in the woods at the end of Greenmount Rd. The Bricks (come on…fess up….)
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Okay so I got all those memories down, being a swimmer at both Winchester and PAC, also hanging out at Pollock which offered two versions of stickball. One played down in the schoolyard with base running and the other fast pitch under the A with either 1 on 1 or 2 on 2. The strike zone was a painted square and it sure taught you how to hit line drives because anything up hit the underside of the A roof and was a sure out. Not much launch angle. How about the can lunchers we made with tin, yes tin, either soda cans or tennis ball cans taped together, all ends removed except the bottom can that received lighter fluid and lighter to launch the balls? These morphed into PVC potato launchers. That wide, angled, sliding board someone mentioned could burn you when the sun was shining directly on it.
Now, growing up closer to Pennypack circle I have to bring up the Bowling alley with pinball machines, air conditioning, and refrigerated water fountain. A reprieve from the heat when playing for Rhawn Sandyford baseball. Rare, not like those porcelain one’s at Jerome’s. Now next to it, before the Gino’s was a miniature golf course. CAN ANYBODY REMEMBER THE NAME? It was across the Boulevard from the old Open Hearth that seemed to burn down regularly. And don’t forget Joe’s barbershop on Rhawn next to Perna’s pizza. None of that is there anymore. Apartments took over the baseball field and Gallo’s restaurant does decent seafood and burgers where Gino’s was. I know some people who got pieces of the bowling alley when they tore that out.
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We always played stickball down in the schoolyard. With the school building and the high wall in right, you could pretend you were playing in The Vet. Never had a can/potato launcher … Used to play at the Pennypack Circle mini-golf all the time. Remember it having an African jungle theme. When it was maintained, it was one of the better courses. Also remember the “gentleman’s club” right on the circle … Thanks for the post!
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Max Myers field, buselton and bowler police district, boulevard dance. Ron diamond sunday night dance (frankford ave. Skating rink- forget name). Parkwood shop etc.
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Went to Jeromes 64 -72. Hung at Pollack, drinking behind the backstop, Hardee’s Fast Food at Home Circle was perfect after a night of partying. LOL, or Slim Jim sandwiches from 7-11 across the street!!
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Slim Jim sandwiches is a new one …
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Rosalie Winkler I love you!
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Huh????
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That was painted on a bridge over Krewstown Road in Pennypack Park and remained there for at least twenty years. I must have seen it 500 times.
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From either the late ’60’s or early 70’s well into the 80’s.
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Wow … That’s a new one on me, and I drove under that bridge many a time.
Never even noticed it! Did it have any street legend to it??
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I love that sign. I always wonder who
she is and where she is. They should preserve the sign.
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Anyone remember name of dance club on Holme Circle from 1970’s?
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Do you mean Pennypack Circle???
I don’t remember one on Holme Circle. But that could be my long-term memory affliction …
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Yes Pennyoack on the Boulevard
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Yes, Pennypack Circle, my memory is fading. On SE corner.
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Doesn’t matter … I don’t recall the name. But I googled the question, and “Gene’s” came up. Sounds familiar …
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Mike, That was it !!! Thank you. My wife was lived just beyond Holme Circle and I lived in Olney. Both worked at Film Corporation of America on the Boulevard behind the IRS. Summer college job where I met her. We used to go Gene’s alot back then but then moved out of Phily after being married. She went to Ryan then LaSalle and I went to Roman then Villanova. Those were good times for sure.
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Remember Film Corp. My dad worked at Philadelphia Steel, which was close by the northwest edge of the NE Philly Airport. I went to Judge and LaSalle. Carol to Ryan and Penn State via Frankford Hospital’s School of Nursing. Was NEVER in Gene’s (that I recall) … Though I may have patronized one of it’s later iterations. ; ^)
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I lived on Stamford street. Went to Pollock and loved the chain link nets at Pollock. I live down the shore now, but miss the NE.
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I remember the Big A structure. We used to run up the angled sides to get up on the roof of it. Also that bizarre angled sliding board thing that is probably banned now in half the States as a fall and injury hazard!
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My dad was Frankie Masters. I appreciate you mentioning him. You brought up a lot of great memories.
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Actually worked for a few weeks at Master’s, but I didn’t take too well to washing dishes.
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I PLAYED FOR FRANKIE MASTERS FLATIRON SOFTBALL TEAM
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Wow. Used to love watching them play. Georgie Ulmer was amazing. That was a great team! My dad was very proud of them.
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I also played for flatiron when frank dillon sponser the team and jack Malley was the coach.
Hengy, Ulmer, Daut, Perry, Chief, Lou, his cousins John, etc were on that team.
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Those were the days …
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Jack Maley was my cousin RIP
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Went to school with his son, Jack. Knew Betsy as well.
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Your brother, Ray, taught me to play blackjack when I was about 10 years old. Back when Resorts first opened in Atlantic City. Used to visit the restaurant with my father, Jack Farrell, often. Great food!
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Moved to 2700 block of Tremont St in Dec ’61. Joe and his brother opened right around then and I helped carry rolls in and got a job sweeping and mopping at closing time. Mom worked there for years, Dad worked there when laid off from PTC (later Septa). Older brother worked there for a while. Joe made the best hoagies!!! Later, Joe’s uncle, Carl was the head cook, and a great one. Lot’s of neighborhood kids worked there. Frankie Masters (dishwasher for a few months) wonderful crab cakes on Friday nights. Gary Marks Atlantic station……worked there as well, I could go on& on. Great time of my life!
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Good memories! Knew a lot of guys who worked at Joe’s (’70s-’80s), but I wasn’t one of them. Absolutely the best lunchmeats and sandwiches … hands down!
I worked as a dishwasher at Frankie Masters … but only for a week or two. Rough job …
We used to take our cars to the Texaco across the street from Marks’.
Had The Bulletin route across Ashton from Joe’s and Master’s on Tremont and Maxwell for years. My brother had an Inquirer route on the other side of Ashton.
Good memories!
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I lived on Axe Factory Road. What a name huh? I remember going to the Gino’s On Welsh Road near Holme circle.
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I lived on the corner of Stamford and Axe factory road
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We lived on Ashton Road. Glad you liked the blog post!
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We lived on Mower Street near the corner of Stamford, 1959-68.
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St. Jerome’s School, 1960-68…
Thanks for the memories, I’ll add a few more: Snow plow coming to clear our street after a blizzard in 1960, sledding down Winchester Hill in the winter, hot dogs at the 5&10 store, donuts on Sunday from Al and Lou’s market on Welsh Rd (I think I got the name right!), selling Christmas cards, exploring Pennypack Park…Sally Starr, Happy the Clown, Pixanne (children’s TV hosts), May processions, school carnival in June, “mischief night” (Oct. 30), playing football in the street, staying out until 9 PM in the summertime, old Ashton Road (shortcut to the swim club), Winchester swim team…so many memories!
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Wow, Those fit my experiences. It is funny how a word or phrase brings back so many memories. Powder blue police cars…Getting chased for standing around, walking from Oakland and Pratt st all the way up to Father Judge HS when the busses were full due to snow. Catching a ride with your thumb at 5am on Roosevelt blvd to get to rowing practice on the River drive. Ginos on Frankford ave. Chipping in change from our pockets to the lucky people who had cars and cruising anywhere. way to go with those words…
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Thanks, Mike!
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How can you leave out street hockey, The Woods, Buc-Buc, Wireball. I sort of remember it being Free Soviet Jewelry….
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I can’t possibly mention EVERYTHING! Besides some things stand out in my mind more so than others. Jim P mentioned playing pinball at Josie’s, which I have absolutely no memory of. Buck Buck was very short-lived as I recall. I did mention the woods, I thought.
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Sorry it wasn’t Josie’s, it was Baldwins on willits rd. Later it became I think, D & E’s. That’s where we played pinball.
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I honestly do not remember that.
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Josie’s was towards Convent Ave….Baldwins was in the strip of stores. What was the name of the pinball arcade across from Larry’s Happy Tap? Next to Scooper Dooper?
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I barely remember any of that stuff.
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You just about summed it up except for pinball at Josies.. Keep going you creative writing fool.
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They’ll be more editions later. Try subscribing if you didn’t already via the quick and easy button on the rightside menu.
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DO NOT encourage him!
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Please feel free to add your own recollections regardless of where or when you lived in NEP!
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