Guest post by Barbara Goldsmith Burkel
Although Alan Myer is older than I am, “Classic Hollywood Park” describes my experiences perfectly as a Peterson / Von Steuben graduate (1960 and 1964). It took a “village,” and that’s what we had.
My friends ranged from Larry and Eileen Mermelstein and Bobbie Bagel on Spaulding to Harold Kaplan and Marilyn Friedes on Bernard, to Bonnie Frank, Barbara Seidman, and Carol Bernstein on Kimball, to Jaci Goldman who lived across the street from me on Christiana…all in the 5400 blocks.
We played together in the summers in the alley between Christiana and Kimball. We walked together as 7th and 8th graders to what was called the “Upper Grade Center” at Von. We kept walking together for 4 more years when we were officially in High School.
The last day of that journey, Bobbie gave us all a bag of candy from the Company where her Father worked with a note that read, “For 6 great years of walking together.” I literally still have that bag, still filled with candy, in my box of treasures (and I love candy).
It is with the greatest pleasure I can say that decades later I still “walk together” with these friends. It is hard to explain to those I’ve met from other cities that I grew up in a “small town.” But we all did. Its name was Hollywood Park; my life was enriched then, and it remains enriched now.
Thanks for stopping by. It’s always fun to be able to draw a line from an earlier generation of the house to the present. And it’s great to know it still feels like a village.
Loved reading this! We live in the house pictured here, and my best friend lives across the street. Our children, and many others on this block and surrounding ones, grew up together in this neighborhood. Such a wonderful place to live. It’s still a village within a large city.
Bruce, thanks for stopping by. Love that you found my blog and hope to hear more stories from you.
I just found this blog. I have so many memories of the neighborhood. Alba go go (bowling alley), my greaser buddies, Alan Locke wearing costumes to class to break the dress code at Von and a million more. I lived at 5643 Christiana from 60 to 67, went to Peterson – remember Adrian’s which became CVs? And the marshmallow bomb – seltzer water, chocolate syrup and a marshmallow that the carbonation exploded? They served the drink on a plate because it always overflowed. Wonderful times.
Hi Barbara, We graduated Von Upper Grade together and the night of the graduation after it had ended we walked past each other on the north stairway. You congratulated me and to this day I have never forgot that. Just wanted to thank you for that kind gesture after all these years. Strange the things we remember .
Thanks for stopping by Marcia.
Although not in your class, I share those memories, especially Christiana and the 7th and 8th grade at VS-HS. Great memories for sure.
Hi Sandy, Nice seeing YOUR name. I knew where Barbara Seidman was up until a few years ago: She worked as the AV Instructor in a Chicago School with a friend of mine. I did not, however, reconnect with her then. Therefore, I have no way to do so now. If you should find her, thanks to your post, please let me know. As you can see, I cherished these relationships and still do!
I lived in Peterson Park and loved going to Hollywood Park and being with a whole set of new friends.
Yes, I often tell people I was from a small town, in my case, Albany Park. If you fell and skinned your knee, any mother on the block could bandage it up. I feel sorry for kids nowadays, who are glued to their devices and over-programmed with after-school activities and are missing out on the comaraderie of neighbors and school chums.
BTW, Barbara, do you know the whereabouts of Barbara (Slidi) Seidman? I hung out with her a lot in HS. She wasn’t at the reunion.
So right about the closeness and love for that time and place.