You know it's summer when it's 82f at two in the morning. Btw it's going to be 95f+ today.
Summers in the Emerald City are merciless. Those in the area remember to look in on your older family, and pals. That, and make sure the kiddies in your life are hydrated.
That is make sure they're dancing semi-naked in front of fire hydrants. I remember doing just that when I was little, and living in Harlem.
Fire hydrant water falls, the shaved ice man, fans made of bright colored card board with bamboo handles. This was how the common prole kids enjoyed summer in New York.
About shaved ice. It seems to have three independent evolutions. Puerto Rican, Southern rural Blacks, and urban Italians. They all came up with a variety of cones based on shaved ice, and fruit flavoring.
The flavors varied according to the ethnic taste, but it was all good.
So I was out there sucking down fruity ice, getting splashed by fresh Adirondack water,..via our block's hydrant. That, and listening to the Brooklyn Dodgers which came out of every window.
Especially after Jackie Robinson signed on with the team.
Also heatwaves only lasted for two or three days tops. As opposed to now during the age of planetary climate change when heatwaves can last weeks. You bet I gots an air conditioner,..two!
I runs'em full blast too!
Bleep conservation it's Hot Dammit!
Stay Tuned.
These are some scenes from 1920's,30's,40's Harlem. Much was still around in the early/mid-1950's when I was a wee lad. I see much here that I remember.
2 comments:
#42 - my first hero.
There was something about Harlem. In the early sixties, as a newly minted 20-something, I moved to NYC. I went in order to hang around the Village and the Beat scene, but I soon found that I liked Harlem even better, for reasons I couldn't express, and still can't. This pasty white, blue-eyed New England boy spent a lot of time way uptown. These pix are, of course, well before even my time, but there's a lot that resonates. Thanks for warm memories.
ed
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