Eight

JUST FOR FUN

Summing up the story of Glendale requires touching on a number of different elements in its history that are not related in any way. Many of them are rather lighthearted in nature but support the notion that Glendale was once regarded as a place where people visited just to have fun. The stories of the old picnic parks bear this out, but coupled with this are the stories of the people that lived there and the traditions that they established. One of the best examples of this is an old holiday called Ragamuffins Day that was celebrated on the same day as Thanksgiving. Explaining this practice to anyone who is not from the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn or any of the communities surrounding Glendale, of course, draws incredulous stares.

Glendale has also made its contributions to the entertainment industry, with its own movie studio and places in town that became part of the modern culture because they were featured in television programs and feature films. Over the years, there were roller-skating rinks, bowling alleys, nightclubs, and baseball teams, and at one time, it seemed as though there was a tavern on every corner (even though Glendale never matched Ridgewood in that regard).

Some of this history has been preserved, thanks to the efforts of the historical societies and other civic organizations, but sadly, much of it has been lost. Glendale continues to be a vibrant community, and new chapters in its history are being written every day. The old German restaurants have been replaced by all of the dining options available in the mall at the old Atlas Terminal site. The picnic parks are gone, but Forest Park still offers golf, outdoor concerts, and ample space for picnicking. The diversity continues, as more people of different nationalities move into the area, bringing with them a variety of cultures, so that they can write their own future chapters in the history of this wonderful little town.

Legendary New York Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto grew up in Glendale’s Liberty Park section and was a star ballplayer for nearby Richmond Hill High School. He was born in 1917, the son of a trolley car motorman, and lived in Glendale for many years. The Yankees signed him in 1937, and he played for them until 1956. “The Scooter,” as he was known, wore no. 10 for the Yankees and played in seven world championship games. He was a five-time all-star and the American League’s most valuable player in 1950, and he was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994. Rizzuto went on to do play-by-play and sports announcing for the Yankees for an amazing 40 years after his playing career ended. Several generations of Yankee fans watching or listening to games waited for the excitement of the play to reach a high enough level that they heard Phil Rizzuto call out his trademark expression, “Holy Cow!” (Courtesy of GRHS.)

In the 1950s and 1960s in Glendale, young people looking for something to do on lazy summer evenings would sometimes throw impromptu parties. Frequently, the place chosen for the evening would be an oversized garage in someone’s backyard. It took some last-minute scrambling, but with everyone doing their share, the cars would be moved out, the floor swept, and some tables and chairs appropriated from several houses. Then, all that was left was to plug in the phonograph. This particular group of friends, some of whom are 18 years old (the legal drinking age at the time), appear to be enjoying a couple of Rheingold or Pabst Blue Ribbon beers, while the ladies on the side wait for someone to ask them to dance. (Both, courtesy of the author.)

The brick or cement front stoops of many Glendale houses also provided entertainment to young people in the 1950s and 1960s. It could either be a social gathering point to visit with friends and make plans, or a place for a challenging game of “stoop ball,” in which a Spaulding rubber ball was thrown against the steps to score a certain number of points. (Courtesy of the author.)

This group of men’s fashion trendsetters stands outside of George Eck’s candy store sometime in the late 1950s on Sixty-second Street just off Myrtle Avenue. The business behind them on the corner was the Rainbow Pizzeria, and on the far side of the street, above the street level, was a barbershop known as Up the Steps, as well as Smitty’s Photograph Shop. (Courtesy of the author.)

This is not just a plug for Bob’s Discount Furniture, as the building holds some historical significance. Located on Woodhaven Boulevard north of Myrtle Avenue for more than 50 years, this building housed the bowling alley Woodhaven Lanes. It was a 60-lane establishment that was a gathering place for Glendale residents and home to many of the bowling leagues that were so popular during that era. The popular television program Jackpot Bowling, which used two other venues as well, did live broadcasts of their program from Woodhaven Lanes in 1959 and 1960. Woodhaven Lanes was closed in 2008, and much to the credit of the owner of the Bob’s furniture chain, he had the plaque below made to commemorate the history of the building. (Both, courtesy of the author.)

In the 1940s and 1950s, long before the practice of trick-or-treating on Halloween was as popular as it is today, children in Glendale and its surrounding communities spent their mornings on the Thanksgiving holiday going around to their neighbors’ homes “begging for Thanksgiving.” They would go out dressed in makeshift costumes as hobos, beggars, or circus clowns and hope that their neighbors would favor them with treats or a couple of coins. Most did not even know that the practice they were participating in was originally known as Ragamuffins Day, which dated back to the late 1700s. At that time, homeless men would dress as women and beg for food and money during the holiday season. (Both, courtesy of the author.)

Just as on Halloween today, when someone answers the door and children exclaim, “Trick or treat?,” the proper entreaty on Ragamuffins Day was, “Anything for Thanksgiving?” The history of nearby Greenpoint, Brooklyn, states that children would dress in rags or masks and be known as “Thanksgiving maskers,” but for these two and other Glendale children, the rules were different. One can only suppose that the little girl here is meant to look like a gypsy, while her very patient older brother decided to forgo the costume part entirely. Ragamuffins Day ended in 1941 when Pres. Franklin Roosevelt established Thanksgiving as a federal holiday, but the traditions lived on for many years in the Glendale area until Halloween overshadowed the Thanksgiving holiday practice and ended the tradition of begging for Thanksgiving. (Courtesy of William and Loretta Stahl.)

Long after the movie studio and picnic parks were gone, Glendale continued to exert some influence on pop culture. The Assembly Bar and Grill, located on Cooper Avenue, was featured in the 1996 movie Trees Lounge, written and directed by Steve Buscemi. It was the set for the fictional bar from which the movie took its title. (Courtesy of the author.)

“Those were the days,” or so they said in the theme for the television program All in the Family. But it was not Hauser Street, as Archie Bunker used to say, it was actually this house on Cooper Avenue that was used as the home for the Bunkers in this 1971 CBS comedy. There is nothing outside of the house to give a hint about its place in sitcom history. (Courtesy of the author.)

Glendale’s architecture and the charm of its neighborhoods continued to appeal to filmmakers and television producers as recently as 2014. This lovely home was used as a setting in the movie The Cobbler, starring Dustin Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler. (Courtesy of the author.)

This postcard from 1916 shows the building on Myrtle Avenue that stood adjacent to Gebhardt’s Restaurant. At that time, it housed Unity Hall, a social gathering spot that featured a bowling alley in the basement, a saloon on the ground floor, and a second-floor hall that could be rented for meetings. In later years, it served as a courthouse and police precinct, but it has since been torn down. (Courtesy of the author.)

One of Glendale’s more glamorous contributions to the entertainment industry was Dorothy Darrell, who lived here in her early years. She was born Dorothy Hallenbeck in 1920 in Greene County, New York, but moved to Glendale and lived with an aunt and uncle on Seventy-fifth Street. In her childhood, she attended Public School No. 119 in Glendale and nurtured dreams of becoming an actress. She adopted the stage name Dorothy Darrell and moved to Hollywood with the hopes of succeeding in the movie industry. Her efforts did earn her some degree of stardom, and she appeared in Abbott & Costello’s 1941 comedy Buck Privates and was a featured player in It Started with Eve and Hello Sucker.

Hollywood success also brought Dorothy Darrell a celebrity wedding. She married Joe Pasternack, the head of Universal Studios in the 1930s, and enjoyed the luxurious lifestyle of people in the movie industry. Dorothy is seen here second from the left in a photograph from her wedding, flanked by her husband, Joe (left) and Mary Livingston (Jack Benny’s wife), followed by the unidentified judge who married them, Jack Benny, and film producer Mervyn Leroy. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Unfortunately closed just before this book was written, for many years, Glendale’s Belmont Steaks restaurant was known throughout the area for its excellent steaks and fine dining. Many of its local patrons were unaware that the restaurant’s exterior design was patterned after the clubhouse at the Churchill Downs racetrack in Kentucky, the site of the annual Kentucky Derby. This photograph of the restaurant shows the three towers on the roof, which were built to resemble the towers over the grandstand at the Kentucky racetrack. Hopefully, any new owners of the property will decide to retain the look to preserve this piece of more recent Glendale history. (Courtesy of the author.)

Two of the three towers over the grandstand that were used as models for the roof additions at the Belmont Steaks restaurant are shown here in this exciting race-to-the-finish photograph at Churchill Downs. Note that the grandstands and the field-level spectator locations are completely packed, indicating that this photograph was taken during the annual running of the Kentucky Derby. (Courtesy of www.churchilldowns.com)

To conclude this journey into Glendale’s past on a vintage note, it ends with two split-image photographs from the town’s past. This 1912 pair show proprietor George Mader and two employees outside of his home furnishings and hardware store, located on Myrtle Avenue near Sixty-ninth Street. The delivery vehicle in the second photograph has advertising on its side for a brand of cigarette-sized cigars. The practice of selling advertising space on trucks was not that common in 1912, and there is no explanation for the matching white hats that the two men on the truck are sporting. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

This last image seems to include a sketch of his home superimposed over a drawing of John DeBevoise himself (mentioned on page 26). Apparently his nickname of “Ropewalk” was not something that he wished to include on something as formal as this portrait, but the oddity in this exhibit is that his last name is spelled “D’Bvoise.” This conflicts with just about every other record of his history, and lacking the letter “e,” would be difficult to pronounce.