Young people also could ice-skate on the tennis courts at MacArthur Park with music playing and hot chocolate to warm them up. In the winter the wading pools were transformed into ice rinks. Many children frequented the two wading pools in the city. There was a rope swing over the Tonawanda Creek for the daring swimmers at Kibbe Park. If it was hot out, which seemed to be almost every day, a sprinkler was set up and you would run through it.
Misplacing the key was the biggest problem with these skates, so the skater would wear the key on a string around his or her neck.
#Sandlot games roller diner how to
They were quite heavy but if you were lucky enough to have a pair you learned how to maneuver them. The skates were clamped on the shoes with a skate key. The skater needed to have a pair of shoes that had leather soles. Rollerblades were unheard of but roller skates with ball bearings were the skates to own. The one who completed the seven steps was the winner. The players had to catch, bounce, and throw a ball in seven different ways. Other games included hopscotch and 7UP (not the game played in school today but one that involved a ball and a slanted roof). If you had a piece of cardboard from Max Pies Furniture Store you could be seen sliding down the side of the South Jackson Street overpass. Sandlot baseball games could be found in almost any vacant lot. The bases would be very creative depending on what you could find for the day. If your front yard was big enough, that was where the bases would be put. Where it was played was quite an adventure. What that really meant was you would create your own fun and the word “bored” was not part of your vocabulary.Ĭhildren still love to play kickball today, but kickball in the ‘60s was a game that could be played for hours. In the ‘60s, your summer would include playing outside. It always seems an exaggeration, the “hardships” our parents endured, until parents in their 60s are telling similar stories to their children. Fast forwarding to the 1960s, people in their 60s might have shared some of these childhood memories with their children. Every decade has its own memories and artifacts. The numerous artifacts illustrate our early history. They can imagine what it was like to cook on the hearth of a fireplace. In touring the Holland Land Office Museum a visitor can be taken back to the time when Joseph Ellicott surveyed the land with the help of our Native Americans. Story and photos courtesy of Anne Marie Starowitz.