518 Tyler Street, East Trenton.
2 blocks from the Burg in my Burg day:)
This ones for Linda:)
Yes my Dad knows your Dad and I remember hearing the name
Cholly (Charlie) Chell among the names he mentioned when talking to
other folks when I was a kid:)
Here are some of your neighbors on Tyler Street in the 60s:
Tyler Street: 502 Eades 503 Burchfield, 504 Mitchell, 505 Onorati,
506 Bates, 508 Thompson, 511 Schleher, 514 Hammond, 516 Dunlap
517 Bilancio, 518 CHAS CHELL, 520 Nicholson, 521 Candelori, 523
DeGianni, 525 Franceshini, 528 Franzoni, 530 Acquisti, 534
Valenzise, 536 Naples, 541 Watson, 543 Blizzard.
UPDATE: If you were from this block or your family members were
from here please read comments by Linda Chell Rooney. They
are great:)
6 comments:
Mack - you're the best!
#518 is on the far right of the photo - my early childhood home and home to some of my oldest and fondest memories. I can still see every detail of that house in my mind's eye - it's probably like that with most people when they think about the place where so many "firsts" happened.
My dad worked nights at Yellow Cab back then, and my mom must have had a heck of a time keeping all 5 of us (myself, my brothers Charles and Anthony and sisters Cora and Maria) quiet during the day when he slept, but we had a backyard with a swing set and a sand box and sidewalks to ride our bikes on, and I remember spending a lot more time outdoors than kids do today - gosh, that makes me sound OLD! :-D
I remember going to "the corner store" at the corner of Tyler & Monmouth, where we brought our collected bottles (2 cents for small Coke bottles, 5 cents for the big Kerns soda bottles!) and traded them for Tastykakes and penny candy. There were many times my mother would have my brother or me pick up bread or milk or a pound of bologna, too - although she preferred Latini's (behind the old Acme on Roebling St) for her "lunch meat."
On the opposite side of Monmouth from the corner store was the Circle F factory. In the summer, a bunch of us would walk down there and yell into the partially-below-street-level windows to say HI to the workers, who would hand up to us sections of pull chains like you'd see on a ceiling fan. Who knows why we thought that was so cool, or what we did with these little "gifts"! LOL!
I was best friends with Joanne Ungarini from #534 and Carol Cocoa (whose dad had a prosthetic practice at the corner of Tyler & Chambers St) and Carla Breccia from around the corner on McKinley. I just reconnected with Ron Ungarini (Joanne's older brother) and Carla on Facebook (gotta love social networks)!
I have memories of a lot of the neighbors on the list, but I'll have to post them separately, due to space constraints. What memories!!
OK, here's who I remember from Tyler Street in the 60s:
#502 Eades - they were elderly folks on the corner of my block and had the most beautiful roses in their backyard.
#505 Onorati - my cousins Joan, Angela and Carolyn lived there with their parents Edward ("Lou") and Carmela.
#506 Bates - I remember Mrs. Bates and Charlotte and Irene ("Reeny") ... Charlotte had a little girl and taught school and was often on her porch in the evenings "marking papers." Reeny had a boyfriend, Phil, and they used to walk home from Trenton High (the “big clock” is literally right at the end of my street, which T-intersects with Chambers), and we little kids used to chant "Reeny and Phil sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," which we, of course, thought was hilarious. She eventually married him, and I saw her about 10 years ago and they're still married!
#508 Thompson - OMG - the haunted house! It was vacant for what seemed like most of the time I lived on Tyler Street. We kids used to RUN past it, it was so creepy!
#511 Schleher – When I was in kindergarten, Walter, who was my age, was riding his bike on the sidewalk and got run over by his dad, who was backing his truck out of the driveway (there were only a couple of driveways on the street, and that was one of them). He ended up being OK, but he was out of school for a long while recovering, I remember.
#514 Hammond - I remember Ricky Hammond, who was the son of the owners. He was much older than us, out of high school - seemed to spend a lot of time just sitting on the porch! LOL!
#516 Dunlap - never knew the next door neighbor's name, but whoever lived there in 1959 or maybe it was 1960, set the attic on fire by smoking and painting at the same time (before water-based paints!). We both had to evacuate until repairs were made and the homes were inspected - and it was my birthday (2 days before Christmas), so that was a Christmas to remember!
#517 Bilancio - I think that might have been the twins' house, although their name was Sereni (back then, a lot of families lived two generations to a house). One of them was named Andrea, and their older brother was David.
#520 Nicholson - I remember my brother Anthony falling in the snow in this lady's yard, and it was so deep it was almost impossible to get him up again. Of course, we were in those god-awful snow suits, like the kid in "A Christmas Story"!!!
#528 Franzoni - Mrs. Franzoni was a sweet little old lady who used to sit on a rocker on her porch in the evenings. Always smiled and said hello to us.
#532 Camera - this is one Mack DIDN'T have on his list of neighbors - but this is where Jill, John, Jeff, and Joanie lived ... was there a 5th one? Not sure. They moved to Anita Way in Hamilton Twp in 1966 - and, coincidentally, Anita Way is just off Martha Drive, where we moved in 1967 - and EDDIE MAC NICOLL was my parents' Realtor!!
#534 Valenzise - This is where the Ungarinis lived – Vince and Marie and their kids Ron, Joanne, and Sammie. The Valenzise name was Mrs. Ungarini's parents, who lived there with them.
#536 Naples - Joanne Ungarini always called them her aunt and uncle, but I'm not sure whether they were really related or just very close friends. I think he was a City Councilman (Gerard?) and she was Jean - and she once smacked me - hard! - across the face because Joanne and I had a fight and Joanne went home crying. My parents actually called the police - but, in their defense, she actually left a big red hand-print on my face, so I guess it was kind of a big deal to them! I got over it and Joanne and I were friends again, probably before the hand-print disappeared! LOL!
So that's what I remember about the people who lived on the street I grew up on, Mack! Hope you don't mind my long-windedness - it just brought back so many memories. THANK YOU so much, once again, for starting and keeping this blog going!!
Thank You Linda:)
I love your comments on this and on the other posts:)
Circle F and the deli at 501
Tyler have posts on this site with
pics of both (use search blog atop main page- readers).
I will add a comment to this post
to read your comments here:)
Here are a couple of corrections to my July 1 posts:
My friend, whose dad had the prosthetics practice on the corner of Chambers & Tyler, spells her last name "Cocco."
The Cameras, who lived at 532 Tyler, were John & Joyce and their 4 children (listed). Also, when we moved to the Township, it wasn't Eddie MacNicoll who was the Realtor, it was Nick Tomasulo. But it WAS Eddie MacNicoll who tried to help my husband Tim & me find our first home in 1982, although ultimately the deal didn't go through. We loved the home - on Nottingham Way - but, in the end, it had a couple of expensive inspection violations that we just couldn't afford to take on.
I recently heard from Ron Ungarini, who reminded me that (1) the Camera family DID have a fifth child, Joey, and (2) Walter Schleher was not run over by his father, but by the neighbor, Mr. Sereni. It's good to have someone else from the street to help with the details - thanks, Ron!
While growing up in Trenton, I lived in 200 block of Tyler for a few years, next to the Goldenbaums.
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