I did R117. I'm 61. Those days will never come back again. We still played stick ball in the gutters as there were not that many cars even in the late 50s early 60s. We played points with a 5 cent pink "Spaldeen" ball. More organized play, like soft and baseball was done in Tompkins Square Park for me and parks all over the city for other kids.
We just went to the park, no parents, no "play dates", none of that yuppie garbage. You'd leave your building and there would always be other kids out there to play with. The kids from the reformed Hebrew school were playing with the kids from the Catholic school across the street and we all played with the kids from the public school on the next block. No one thought anything of it.
Back then when some special movie was playing a kid's parent's might take him or her to a theater on Time's Square. Yes it was full of NY's low life but it was interesting and safe enough for a kid to be there during the day. It wasn't all Disney and white bread like it is today.
But of course my fondest memories are of the food. Everything was real. For a dollar you could get what today is called a foot long hero filled with imported polish ham, imported Swiss, lettuce, real tomatoes that actually tasted like tomatoes and as much condiments (mayo, mustard, oil, vinegar, etc.) as you want, for 1 dollar. It was enough for a 3 people to share.
Back then different blocks had different ethnic foods. You just knew where to go for the best, Jewish, German, Polish, Hungarian, Irish and even Nordic food. Except for CFoN, Nedick's and the Automat there really were no chain restaurants. Even though these had real food, not a chemical mixture posing as food like McDonalds and other fast food and even chain restaurants like Red Lobster and Olive Garden.
Ahh, pizza. In those days you knew at least 3 blocks away if you were coming to a pizza parlor as we called them. For 15 or 20 cents you had the most delicious large slice with perfect crust.
I didn't say much about the Automat. It was not only a delicious but such a fun place for a kid. You put your money in the slot (5 - 50 cents depending on what you wanted) and you got to watch the thing spin and the door opened and out came your food. If you were lucky enough to go up to the little food cubicles when more items were being put out you got to see this mystery hand placing the food in the little cubicles. You could never see more than a hand. It was like "Thing" on the Adam's Family.
The food itself was so good. They had a tomato mack and cheese that everyone loved. My own favorite, mashed potatoes with mashed turnips, various sandwiches, and luscious, luscious desserts. They had these little chocolate spice cupcakes that came out two to a plate. OMG! Hot cocoa was 5 cents and poured from a lion's mouth, as did coffee and hot water for tea. In the back they had hot cafeteria food, all kinds of meat, potatoes, vegetables and such, all homemade and real.
I was born in 1952. There were still milkmen and seltzer guys delivering and a man with a horse drawn wagon selling produce.
Along Orchard St. there were blocks and blocks of people selling their products from pushcarts and on a Sunday the crowds were huge. It was where you went to get a good bargain.
Uptown was also divided into ethnic neighborhoods only with more expensive restaurants but around 10th Ave. in the 50s great bargain French restaurants could be found.
You could get the best seats at a B'way show for 5 dollars and stop for a wonderful meal and pink peppermint ice cream at Howard Johnson afterward or if was something very special a fancy place, still affordable for working class people.
A great department store too was S. Kline's on Union Square. They had a toy department that let kids play there all day and lower priced but not lower quality clothes. For a nice meal near there was Joe's Italian Kitchen. Best cutlets and spaghetti you can't imagine, great pizza too.
Rents, btw, under a 100 dollars for a two bedroom in an elevator building, under 80 for walk ups.