THROWBACK THURSDAY

68jk09 · Mar 11, 2020

"Radio Row" pictured in the first 2 photos above actually encompassed several blocks on different Sts containing almost anything you could think of radio wise from old WW2 surplus to some more "modern" equipment (all stores were demolished for the WTC) .... in the early '60s prior to joining the USMC i worked nearby for "William H. McGee Marine & Aviation" & i used to spend many hours browsing "Radio Row" always looking for something more sophisticated to monitor FDNY than my Harron Labs "Fire Pal" tube radio... i enjoyed browsing the tons of radio stuff but i never found anything better until Sonar (then on Wortman Ave in BKLYN by 290/103) came out with their first 6 channel crystal controlled radio a few years later.....aside from the radio stores there was a great lunch place that sold an overstuffed Ham & Swiss hero & a mug of Beer for a few bucks..... in the late Spring of 2002 after the WTC Recovery site was almost combed down to near nothing & we thought there was no hope of actually finding any remains (we did actually on one of the last weeks recover part of a jaw bone with some teeth... hopefully providing some family some closure) i had some time to just walk around thru the few inches of the wet gray sludge that remained on the bed rock floor of the site avoiding the many water filled elevator pits & try to imagine what old stores would have been on the footprint above where i was standing at the moment & wishing i could have turned the clock back to 1961...... CONTINUED REST IN PEACE TO ALL !

memory master · Mar 12, 2020

If I'm not mistaken, Cortland Street had numerous radio shops. I like that Buick parked alone on the street.

JohnnyGage · Mar 12, 2020

memory master said:
If I'm not mistaken, Cortland Street had numerous radio shops. I like that Buick parked alone on the street.

Yes Charlie, the two photos I used is Cortlandt Street. Cortlandt at Greenwich St was the epicenter....Good story JK, ^^^^^^^since the landfill from the WTC was used to create Battery Park City, imagine metal detecting before the area was was built up? Might have been very interesting!

nfd2004 · Mar 12, 2020

After reading the above comments and then looking at that picture, "it was my FIRST Trip to NYC with my father". I guess sometime back in the 50s. My father was a "ham radio operator" as a hobby and he brought me down there. No GPS in those days and I remember we got lost and stopped at a firehouse. First time I was ever in a NYC firehouse. I think it was Engine 7/Ladder 1. They also had another Engine Co there too. Engine 31 or 32 (???).

For me, that was the best part of the trip. First time seeing the Big City and stopping at a firehouse too.

We made a couple more trips down there later on and I sure did like it when my father brought me with him. No scanners in those days. Good thing or I think we'd both be chasing some fire trucks.

raybrag · Mar 12, 2020

Never made it to "Radio Row" . . . but I can remember my father taking me in to Liberty Ave. in Jamaica to the Holy Grail . . . Lafayette Radio. I was like a kid in a candy store.

68jk09 · Mar 12, 2020

^^^^^ Yes Lafayette Radio ... Liberty & Merrick/168 another great place back then for originally tube type & later crystal controlled FDNY receivers as well as many other types of radio equipment.

memory master · Mar 12, 2020

68jk09 said:
^^^^^ Yes Lafayette Radio ... Liberty & Merrick/168 another great place back then for originally tube type & later crystal controlled FDNY receivers as well as many other types of radio equipment.

Such as my tube type tunable "Monitor Radio" from Lafayette which I received in 1962 and believe it or not still have. Now where to get tubes, mmm? Can't go to Cortlandt street anymore.

P.S. Chief, remember Schildkraut Ford dealership right next door?

JohnnyGage · Mar 12, 2020

Charlie, shouldn't be hard to find the tubes you need, just head up to the local drugstore that has one of these contraptions!

68jk09 · Mar 12, 2020

memory master said:
68jk09 said:

^^^^^ Yes Lafayette Radio ... Liberty & Merrick/168 another great place back then for originally tube type & later crystal controlled FDNY receivers as well as many other types of radio equipment.

Click to expand...

Such as my tube type tunable "Monitor Radio" from Lafayette which I received in 1962 and believe it or not still have. Now where to get tubes, mmm? Can't go to Cortlandt street anymore.

P.S. Chief, remember Schildkraut Ford dealership right next door?

Yes ... i never paid attention to the name because it was a ford place but i remember it being there !...... some other interesting places in the late '50s early '60s around there were Central Mens Shop on the North side of Jamaica Ave East of 160 St....a lot of the usual Army & Navy Store cool inventory but especially a large selection of SCUBA equipment as well as classes & instructions at a local pool.......a block away at Archer Ave & 160 St was Jamaica Watercraft where my Father LAD*43 worked on & off at one of his side jobs repairing Outboard Motors..... his other side job was at an auto repair........then a few blocks East on Jamaica Ave at 165 St was Gertz Dept Store where in the basement level you could get what then was called a Frozen Custard which was really soft ice cream in a Pilsner Glass & a big spoon with either Chocolate or Strawberry Syrup for 15 cents then after on Jamaica Ave you could get a square Kinish loaded with mustard for another 15 cents & eat it on the way to get back on the Jamaica Ave EL heading back West..... when i went to Enlist in the USMC in 1963 the Recruiter was located in one of the Court Bldgs on Sutphin Blvd by the DMV....i had the address & went there expecting to see a big Office with a lot of USMC stuff...he was in a little cubby hole by himself under a stairway & signed me up for 4 years & sent me home with a date to report to go to Parris Island.....another big Jamaica place back then was Motor Vehicles on Supthin Blvd & 89 Ave (where many of the Courts are today) ....back then it was an all day nightmare....i remember when my Son was getting his license at 17 after Drivers Ed & i told him to be ready to be in lines all day ....he said OK but afterwards he said i would have never thought it would be like that....today there are more DMV Offices around in NY & they are more automated Thankfully....
& Years later when i was both the CPT of 275 then 126 (the El was gone & 298/127/50 BN had moved from the old Big House on 162 St North of Jamaica Ave up to Hillside & 153 St ) .......we responded to all these spots i enjoyed going to as an early teenager but they were mostly gone....actually just yesterday i took my Wife to Social Security on Jamaica Ave & 155 St for a replacement SS card ....all the old spots are long gone including Mary Immaculate Hosp where my younger Sister worked for many years.

memory master · Mar 13, 2020

Yes, I recall all that you mentioned and my wife worked at "Mary Mac" as well. Mary, St. John's on QB and St. Joe's across the street from 315/125 are all just bygone memories now.

JohnnyGage · Mar 18, 2020

NO. 25: "THE NAKED CITY"

REMEMBER....for adults

REMEMBER...for kids

WHATSHISNAME...

A

B

C

D

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

"WHAT EVER YOU DO TO THE REST OF YOU, YOUR FACE BELONGS TO ________________

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

WHAT IS THIS?

raybrag · Mar 18, 2020

A. Mr. Whipple (Please don't squeeze the Charmin!)
B. My memory fails me.
C. Mr. Ed (Alan Young's best bud)
D. Mr. Television (Milton Berle)

A playground slide.

"WHAT EVER YOU DO TO THE REST OF YOU, YOUR FACE BELONGS TO ___NOXZEMA_____________

t123ken · Mar 18, 2020

B. Davey and Goliath
D. Milton Berle, but more accurately Louie the Lilac from Batman.

We used to call it a sliding pond.

t123ken · Mar 18, 2020

Seeing the photo of the cigarette machine reminds me that the Job used to have either a PA/ID or an AUC on cigarette machines in quarters.

68jk09 · Mar 18, 2020

I remember when cigarettes went up to 24 cents.....the machine required a quarter & the cigarette manufacturer had placed the penny change inside the cellophane wrapper just for use in vending machines.

mikeindabronx · Mar 20, 2020

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fdnyhome/albums/72157713532607473?fbclid=IwAR0PsGi7TP7n7UBDnXb1vMByrlI36PZ6vzzRAeghaTwYIXO8pVCeggJLcWI

JohnnyGage · Mar 25, 2020

NO. 26; "THE NAKED CITY"

SCOUTING:

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?"

"WHAT IS THE 'CHARACTERS' NAME?"....and not the Skipper.

68jk09 · Mar 26, 2020

1st photo on the Subway ....the girl is the then Lisa Sliwa Wife of Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.....they later divorced & she took back her maiden name Lisa Evers & is today a reporter on Fox 5 TV News https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&channel=mac_bm&source=hp&ei=ZT58XqGnIIGvytMPpO2goAs&q=lisa+evers&oq=lisa+evers&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.3150.6201..7165...0.0..0.114.764.9j1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i131.mBJR1rsKScA&ved=0ahUKEwjh7eL4tLfoAhWBl3IEHaQ2CLQQ4dUDCAs&uact=5 ....Curtis does a radio show & does appearances on Spectrum NY1 News political discussions dressed in various costumes usually ranking mayor wilhelm & other politicians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Sliwa .....Curtis is also the surrogate Father of the children of former QNS Boro President & current QNS District Attorney Melinda Katz....https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&channel=mac_bm&source=hp&ei=_D58XozjH9SyytMPwYyEiAw&q=melinda+katz&oq=melinda+katz&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.2581.8061..11556...0.0..0.107.897.11j1......0....1..gws-wiz....... 0i131.ryxQ81ZJ7uU&ved=0ahUKEwiM0eLAtbfoAhVUmXIEHUEGAcEQ4dUDCAs&uact=5

68jk09 · Mar 26, 2020

3rd photo is a "mess kit" ...2 halves of metal plates one flat & one compartmented with a handle attached to use in Mess Lines ...in the USMC we all had a set....as you lined up to enter the Mess Tent there was first a GI Can (garbage can) with a burner underneath filled with boiling water & some caustic soap.....second there was another can of clear boiling water ....you held the pieces by the end of the handle & cautiously dipped the combo into the 2 cans then it air dried (somewhat) as you proceeded into the Mess Tent....i always wondered what the caustic soap in the first can actually was ? .....then again it probably did not make much difference as one of my early Base's was Camp Lejuene which is still under the Camp Lejuene Toxic Water Study from ground water contaminated with INDUSTRIAL CHEMICLE'S back then ... https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&channel=mac_bm&source=hp&ei=YFF8Xrr7J6TJ1QHrv5WwAg&q=camp+lejeune+water+issues&oq=CAMP+LEJUENE+WATER&gs_l=psy-ab.1.2.0i10l10.15231.27093..30689...19.0..0.238.310.1j0j1......0....1..gws-wiz.....6..0i362i308i154i357j0i131j0j0i13.YULcCCZe64o

68jk09 · Mar 26, 2020

4th photo is a obviously a Boy Scout version of a type similar to a Swiss Army knife.....to this day i still almost always have my Swiss Army Knife (the "Bicyclist" model on my belt) of course unless going anywhere with a metal detector.