Rockaway, Long Island, N.Y.

By Harvey Tobkes

My mom and dad rented a bungalow every summer from the year that I was born till about age 13. I’m sure there must be a few viewers reading this who remember some of the streets were not paved with asphalt but filled with sand, just like living on the beach. Every spring when we went to hunt for that summer bungalow, one of the adults was sure to remember me in my baby days and remark about how I used to eat the sand. It didn’t help my bowel movements though, as I am still constipated. There are many, many fond memories I still hold. I remember:

BeachOur baseball team played on the beach, we went fishing in the bay, I made a surf board out of my mom’s ironing board and road the waves and some days they were gigantic. We had “wars” and shot little squares of roofing material from wooden guns that launched the missiles by unhooking the pulled back rubber band, we went to Gameland and played ice-hockey, Baseball, Shoot a Jap. Poker and Ski-Ball and tried to accumulate tickets to redeem for prizes. It was so good, eating frozen Milky Ways, hot dogs and Knishes and lemon Ices. Mmmmmm! We used to watch the teenagers jitterbug to songs like “Tisket a Tasket” and “In the Mood.”

As I got a little older one of the games we played was camping under the boardwalk at advantageous spots to be able to peer through the boards and look up at the girls legs as they walked along. There were so many activities and things to do that I could fill a book, but now it’s only a memory.

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Published:
05.23.07 22:20
Category:
Memories