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| Kids in Carl Schurz playground |
Looking up towards the playground from the checker table reminded me how kids end up in Emergency Rooms.
At the northern end of Carl Schurz playground is a semi-circle area we called the "Horse Shoe." The path that winds around the "Horse Shoe" dips down towards the river and the wall climbs from two feet to 12 feet across from the Hockey Field.
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| Tommy's work station |
In the 1960s, a fleet-footed and skinny athletic kid with a good grip on his sneakers, say Freddy Muller, would take a running start at the high wall and drive one foot off the stone block, push himself up off that first sneaker, plant his second foot higher on the ridged stone and with his outstretched arm grab the fence above him and pull himself onto the ledge at the top of the wall. Freddy walked the ledge triumphantly, one hand in the air waving or he climbed over the fence at one of the light poles into the "Horse Shoe."(easy access at the pole where you didn't have to worry about getting your nuts caught on a spike).
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| Wall up to playground and Horse Shoe |
If a clumsy chunky want-to-be athletic kid tried to do the same thing. Say me! Here goes!
I felt my love handles jiggle as I ran my fat ass over the grass towards the wall. I planted my worn-out Keds sneaker somewhere on the stone, this lifted my Husky dungarees and me a few feet in the air but with no further momentum I fell backwards before my second foot got anywhere near the wall. Freddy had a good laugh and a great view of me on the ground from the top.
Repeated tries raised the odds I'd be visiting Doctors Hospital Emergency Room. And I did, twice.
Our next "City Stories: Stoops to Nuts" storytelling show is Tuesday, August 13th @ 6pm @ the Cornelia Street Cafe. Our artists: Lorraine Hartin-Gelardi; Jim Hawkins and Karen Pillsworth. I'll host and tell a Yorkville yarn. Admission is $8 and that includes a free drink. Time Out Magazine thinks this show is a swell thing to do.
The week after Labor Day, The Yorkville Creperie will host a reception to open a two month exhibit of my photography. I'll announce the opening date next week.
Yorkville Creperie
1586 York Avenue
between 83rd & 84th Street
Visit and view places you love: Yorkville, Carl Schurz Park, Central Park, Hudson River, Around NYC, Scenes From A Bicycle. Upcoming galleries: Coney Island and Rockaway Beach.
Prices are reasonable. Get a piece of Yorkville and NYC on your walls. Gift your friends who miss the old neighborhood.
Stop by "Thomas R. Pryor Photography."
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| The Drive towards the Triboro |
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| 82nd St last light |
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| 500 block 82 St |
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| York & 82nd |
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| Up York from 82 St |
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