Miramar Saltwater Pool

Miramar had the hottest sand I have ever stepped on. Thanks so much, Ken, for this wonderful piece. When I was a little girl up on PTW (early 60’s), if a promise was made by my ‘big sisters’ to take me to Miramar the next day, but would wake up (after barely sleeping for anticipation) to a rainy day, I would be totally disconsolate. On better days when they took me, they couldn’t wait to get me settled playing/swimming with some other kids, so they could spend the day flirting with the boys – “Ugh!” I’d think to myself, “That’s so stupid.” haha. I remember feeling so sad when Miramar closed.

Why Miramar closed?

Simon, I don’t know why, but I guess the land was sold so that Pathmark could be built.

Miramar closed due to the building of the newer pool up at Van Cortlandt Park, and the fact that the Pathmark Corp. made an monetary offer that could not be beat. Pathmark also was going to fill a void in the neighborhood of a bigger shopping center, parking, jobs and everything else that goes with big construction.

I remember the protests that were held because many of the families were now becoming a 2 working parent household and Miramar was a safe place for kids to go. But as we all know Big Corporations win out.

Gerri, thanks for that – you’re so awesome. I don’t remember what year it closed, though. Well-written comment.

Cole – Gerri used to live across the street in “The Castle” also (Isham Gardens). We grew up together – we addressed her parents as “Aunt” and “Uncle” – to give you an idea of how close we all were growing up. As she said, she may be sending you photos – she’s a gem of a photographer. My ‘Garden’ photos are in a box somewhere – sorry – we’re in a ‘storage stage’ of our lives. I’ll get them to you when I can.

My dad, Matty Macho (1932-2008) worked there for years as a lifeguard when he was in his teens and twenties. I loved that place. Me, my sister, Roberta and brother Thomas went there every day.
One year my family ran the food consession stand. I can still remember the icy cold White Rock soda in tin cans. Grape was my favorite! There were no flip tops yet. They delivered huge blocks of ice to keep the soda cold every morning before we got there. I would get to use the ice pick to break it up. And Oh my God those warm soft jellydonuts and the pipping hot coffee with lots of sugar and cream.
The huge old cash register with big wooden buttons. Maybe it was 1966 or 67 when it closed. My Dad knew the guy who owned it. He was there all the time. I remember sitting next to him and he was telling me that he couldn’t afford to pay the taxes on it anymore. And the City of NY was broke too. They wouldn’t subsidize it either. Wow , so sad. I still remember his face as he talked about it becoming a Pathmark! My best friend Janey and I would try to sneak past the deaf lifeguard who would always blow the whistle really loud when coming from the sand area back into the pool. I don’t think we needed another grocery store! What a loss it was for alot of us. Today it would have been put on the historic register and saved. There are some good things about todays world. I am so glad I have those memories in my head.

They played music, too. If you went under, you couldn’t hear it, and when you surfaced, there it was! Walking home (I lived on Post) I remember that heavy, exhausted feeling, and also feeling like I was still in the water. We were lucky to have had such a fun place to enjoy the summer.

Sheila,You had to love the musicYou were always singing.Roy was so proud of you.I could Always enjoy when you sang,Your voice was like an angel.I think the only time Father Flattery and I agreed was when you sang,we both really enjoyed.Yes,we cam from a great neighborhood and yes we had great friends.Have you ever heard from Gerry Hickey.Emily.Bro.John and I lost contact.Hope to see you soon.Bill

Hung out at sammy’s chinese laundry & moes candy store on Academy &Sherman in the fiftes went to PS 52 they were the good days

Bill your so right those where the day’s the 50’s and 60’s going to the Miramar ,Movies
St. Judes Bazaar, Gandy’s any one remember that hanging out on the conor of Sherman or Post Ave. Summer at PS52 they open it up so the kids had some place to go on a summerday Playing stick ball in front of 580 Academy .Those days are long gone but remembered.
Your so right Bill

Oh what memories this site brought home – I went to the pool in the late 30’s and what fun we had -I had never seen anything like it and now in my 80’s still haven’t. What a shame they did away with it as now kids don’t understand how such a place existed – Thanks for the wonderfull memories .

This is amazing! I can’t believe there was a pool where Pathmark is at now. Too bad it’s gone…Ken I live on Isham, 26yrs old and as I’m painting my apartment and peeling off some old paint layers that reveal colors of beige, green, yellow, and white, I can’t help but wonder who lived in my apartment on Isham 60+ years ago. Do you know when the buildings were constructed on Isham St. between Vermylea and Sherman? How was the neighborhood and people? …I know you were born in 47′ and I’m curious about who populated the street I live in. Thanks.

I remember the Miramar pool very well as a little boy. Both my parents, Al Porterfield and Ruth Jane Taylor grew up in Inwood. I dont remember it being saltwater though. I was about 9 when they closed it for a Pathmark. I was angry at Pathmark then and I’m still angry at them.

I remember the St. Judes Bazaar well too. My aunt won a car there!

My parents would take me, in the late 1950’s from the Belmont section of the Bronx to the Miramar pool in upper Manhattan. It was a nice change from Orchard Beach and Pelham Parkway, and I remember floating easily at eight years old, in the salt saturated water. The men’s lockers were downstairs and I remember it being kind of dank and the floors wet and gritty. I recently pulled up this site and it brought back the memory of the high walls and seeing a glimpse of the apartment buildings, surrounding it. I’ve since relayed this site to other friends who fondly remember Miramar, and what a welcomed oasis it was, during a hot summer in the city, for all of us.

Joe (his real name was Pete) was my uncle, he had the concession in Inwood park and my grandmother owned the luncheonette on 207th at 10th Avenue. My uncle went to Miramar pool many times. He lived at 449 West 206 street. Please contact me if you have any pictures of the concession at the park.

I lived around the corner from the Miramari pool from 1952 until it closed down.I was the best. I would like to know how i could get a copie of the two photos of the pool.I would like to enlarge them and hang them on my wall. linda cunningham

I lived on Sedgwick ave in the Bronx, and used to walk to the pool every day as my parents gave me a pass when I was in the 7th grade. There was a lifeguard named, “Teddy” who took me under his wing and helped me to become the competitive swimmer I grew into. And the sand….our feet were black when we came from it. And to think it is a Pathmark today…..what a fun place.

The summer of 1962 almost everyone in our crowd from (181 Street and from Grand Avenue, in the Bx) had passes and went as often as we could. My girlfriends and I had the same design two piece bathing suits in different colors. That was soooo much fun.

I lived at 268 Nagle Avenue, between 204th and 207th streets, from the age of 5. The sand at the Miramar Pool WAS the hottest! I’d run to the end where the fence was to get my feet into a shady spot. The guys would be on the exercise equipment while we played in the dirty sand. I counted 102 steps to the top of the slide and once on top you could overlook the streets. The slide had constant water trickling down to make it easy to slide and you had to sit forward so as not to hit your head at the bottom. There was a cafeteria and I’d get my soda there. I had a friend Iliana who lived around the corner and her dad managed or owned the pool, not sure which. To everyone who lived in Inwood, remember the speedway at Dyckman Street. Lots of sledding in the winter. Also, Orchard Beach, dirtiest water ever! City Island was great, hope it still is. Luncheonette on 207th and 10th was called Pupleys. Two bars on my block, I can’t remember the names. Also two candy stores, between 204th and 207th streets. One was Cooperman’s and the other was Harry’s. 5 cent egg cream and 2 cent pretzel. Went sledding in cardboard boxes in the alleyways on 204th Street. Great for roller skating too, since the street was on a hill. Across the street was what we called the White Rocks. I’m sure there’s some huge development there now. We used to climb those rocks and play lots of games. Remember the Inwood Lounge on Sherman Ave?- could hardly wait to be of age to get in. Great bakery on 207th between Post Ave. and Sherman Ave. Haven’t had a decent roll or pizza since I moved to NJ. Dyckman Street had a world of great shops and 2 movie theaters. I attended PS98, PS52, and G.W. High School. Relatives lived in Washington Heights and Kingsbridge Terr. in the Bronx. Remember the Paradise movie on University Ave. all the stars on the ceiling, better than the movie! Alexanders, Crumbs bakery, Jan’s Ice Cream Parlor, Needicks had the best orange drink and hot dogs ever! I even remember bowling lanes in the 181st & St. Nicholas Ave. subway station. Great memories. I think of lots of people but they are probably not there anymore.

God, you are bringing back so many memories. I grew up in Inwood and my brothers and I use to go with my mom to Miramar. We lived on Isham St. I moved arond a bit thru my life, but have been back in Inwood for a number of years now. I remember I hated taking a shower before you were allowed to go into the pool. My brother loved jumping off the diving board. What great memories!

Other memories: Alpine Movie Theatre, Woolworth’s, Buster Brown on Dyckman St. I also remember a movie theatre on 207 St. There was also a comic book store on Bway between 204 St. and Vermilye, where we went in and trade our comic books, that was great!

Oh, My – I remember old Joe and his green octagonal (or hexagonal?) stand in the park. When we were very small, my Mother, Maureen Dunne Ballantine would sit us on the benches by the tennis courts and buy my 2 sisters and me a Dixie Cup – vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on top. She’d tie an old diaper around each of our necks, to keep us from slopping up our outfits and we’d lick the cups clean. I even remember tryng to suck the ice cream out of the wooden spoon! LOL

When I got a little older, I met an Irish boy I knew, Dave Murphy. He had an older brother, Billy, and they worked at Gristede’s market. Their uncle, (Gabe, I think) worked there a long time and was a friend of my grandfather, John Dunne, from Seaman Ave., right next to the entrance of the Park. Anyway, Dave Murphy asked me to go out – I was 15- and I had to call Mom at Macy’s to ask her. My father, Jack Ballantine, FDNY, had died 2 yrs. earlier. So, that night, ’twas a Sat., we went to the movies and to an Irish dance. My very first date ever! I was scared to death, really, because I was sure Dave would ask me to kiss him. He did. It wasn’t at all bad for my very first kiss, either! If Inwood could be as it was then, and I could go back, I would! What a fabulous neighborhood we lived in – like an oasis, really. We had the park, the Woods “down by the river” several ball courts and fields. It was like a Country Club, only free. We city kids weren’t to be pitied in Inwood. We had the “Great Outdoors” just beyond our apartment doors.

My Mother and sister Barbara walked around the park 2 years ago, on one of my infrequent visits. It’s more beautiful now than ever!!!! And, of course, we stopped in for a “visit” to Good Shepherd, and, the gorgeous “Garden of Remembrance”. Just to think of it sends chills up my spine.

Oh, where do the years go?! First, you’re starting 1st grade, then Communion, Confirmation, Graduation, another graduation or two, marriage and/or career, family, and BOOM, you’re reminiscing just like I am right now. Anyone who wasn’t there cannot possibly appreciate our memories, can they? So, dream on every sooften, fellow Inwoodites. They can’t ruin our dreams!

My parents were separated when I was young and my father lived on Sherman Ave. My father, also Al was a cop who moonlighted as a lifeguard at Miramar. My brother Fred and I lived in The Bronx with my mother, Ada, and when we went to stay with my father we would always go to the pool. We loved playing in the sand and it didn’t bother us since geting dirty was a rite of childhood at that time. The loss of Miramar was a sad time for us all.
When we went to visit the three of us would get haircuts and our shoes shined on E. 207 and Broadway. I remember playing tag and war with all the kids in the neighborhood.
In the early 70’s I rember going to the beer distribitor which is across the street from Pathmark everytime they got a secret delivery of Coors, which was not suposed to have been sold east of The Rockies..

I can’t believe that the pool was still open until 1962 but alas and alac.
I went down the large slide on a bust Sunday and just managed to tap my head on the end of the slide.
The rope that cordoned off the diving area was usually floating nicely until someone decided to stand on it. Well I made it most of the way across when the rope disappeared but the big foot swimmer grabbed me in time otherwise this comment would not be here.
The guard posted at the top of the stairs from the sand pit would accept Peach Pits and would whittle them into rings for the little kids.
At 6 years old my Mother would hand-over-hand the horizontal ladder in the sand pit but my chubby body would pull my full weight on my small hands and I could not follow her across the ladder. I must agree that the sand was impossible to walk on, exposed to the then clear sky hot Sun feed. Today, with the missing Ozone layer, the Sun would be twice as hot, close to unbearable.
I remember the Sodas as Mission Soda. And of course Pathmark spoiled everything there. The musak was delightful.
The west wall of the swimming area had a sloped point on top of it. So I would try to toss my Spalding Pink Ball and expect it to bounce back to me. Twice I got away with it but the third time the ball went over. I walked through the entrance, telling the gatekeeper that I was going around the corner to retrieve my ball. In swim suit and tongs I walked around to the gate on the south side of that area where I expected to find my ball. I passed through a gate and traversed down the wooden steps and through 2 yards and retrieved the ball. As I return passed by the first yard I noticed that I was now being watched by a small Dog. We played, I move, you move, until I felt close enough for a quick exit up and through the gate at the top of the wooden stairs. I slammed the gate and returned to the pool in one piece. Put the ball away and went swimming.
I earned my first $1.00 at the pool. One day a pool accessory company was taking photos of water floats and rings. A few kids were selected for inclusion in the photos. They mailed me my first Silver Certificate. It is a collectible today. And, that’s the truth.

I emailed A&P Family of Supermarkets, the present owner of Pathmark, and they could only support the information that their present Pathmark opened in October 1968 which sits well back from 207th Street in a Shopping Mall setting. In my mind set I remember a Supermarket that fronted directly on 207th Street after the pool closed. I never saw that myself having moved to Long Island in 1966. I stand to be corrected with joy.

Still digging in my mind. My last visit kind of wrapped up the pool visits. Probably 1955 when the locals started letting their naked sons walk over to the pool edge and pee directly therein. It was college and marraige that kept me busy in the ’60s and the Miramar was replaced by the Palisades Amusment Park Pool, then that closed and regular pools beckoned. But the smell of the pool which hit you when you got off the IRT still resides in my head.

I cannot believe i found other people who remembered the Miramar. We live at 407 W. 205th st. the backyard of our building faced the Miramar. I would sit on the fireescape and long to be able to go the pool. We did not have too much money in the 1950’s so it was a special treat to be able to go a few times during the summer. My aunt would go dancing there at night and we could see her as she was standing on the balcony. The cafeteria was magical to a ten year old and I was always thrilled with the day. I attended St. Judes school, and my aunt Ann Dasaro was the first person to win a Ford falcon –It was the first night that they were giving cars away. She had no license and rarely drove it. It was a 1960–white– and we sold it about 15 years ago with only 25, 000 miles on it. I do believe I have many pictures from the 40’s and 50’s when my parents were young and went very often. I also remember the luncheonette, and how about the “lorraine Bakery–on brdway. The mocha cake was still the best I ever had and has raised the bar on bakeries for me forever. the aroma from that French bakery was enthralling. The bazaars,
good sheperd, Franks Beauty Parlor, Rings department store–it was a hardware store, but my mom bought my holy communion dress there too!!–so many more memories–Let me if anyone wants to hear–jacqueline margherita–{now Jacqueline romanelli}

It’s so wonderful to hear everyone’s memories. Let’s see if anyone out there remembers of the following places:

Alpine Movie Theater on Dyckman – I went to see Planet of the Apes, that was such a big thrill. Eventually it burned down.

Woolworth’s on Dyckman

207 St – there was the penny candy store – can’t remember the name of the store

207 St & Bway – the lunch place that had great burgers

on Bway between 204 & 207 St. – there was a pizza place
where we use to hang out.

There was also a great place for ice right on Bway between 204 and Vermilyvea Ave, where you would take the peel off the ice cream and put it on your cone. Does anyone remember that?

We used always play in Inwood park. It is more beautiful now than ever.
We used to play hide and seek in the Closter’s.

Don’t know if anyone is still in the area, but Dyckman St. from Bway toward the Henry Hudson has some great outdoor restaurants now. What a difference!!!!

My experience in Inwood only dates back to late 1972, but I do have to correct Sonja regarding the Alpine movie house. It did not burn down, but possibly she is thinking of one of the other movies either on Dyckman or 207th. The Alpine was operating through the seventies and into the eighties when I finally closed and was converted into a McDonald’s which is still there. I saw first runs of Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, Pink Floyd’s The Wall and dozens of other films, so I guess I could figure out roughly when it was that I was there.

I recall a lot of places (bakeries, delis, etc) named either Alpine or Lorraine, though I know of no historical reason for this. I do know that Lorraine was the phone exchange that later became known as 56x as in LOrraine x. Maybe the phone exchange came first and the business names followed.

As far as the Miramar goes, I do recall that the Pathmark definitely occupied that spot in 1972 when I moved up here, but looked pretty new, so 1964-68 being roughly the closing date of the pool and building of Pathmark makes sense.

Dyckmanst, Betty Allen, Shillingham and the other ice cream palor by the Alpine an my first pair of KIDS from Jacks Pants shop downby the old funeralparlor on the north side of Dyckman.Am I nostalgic?

I grew up in Inwood from 1950 to 1963 (1963-1965 Army) and lived there until 1966 when I married and moved to Westchester County. I lived at 578 Academy Street. I remember going to the Miramar as often as we could afford it. When we could not afford it we swam in the Harlem and Hudson. We used to play on the “White Rocks” accross from the Dykman House playground. Stick ball and curb ball were what we played mostly. Ring a Leereo (not sure of the spelling) and we also played “Hot Beans and Butter” We played stickball on Academy Street between Sherman and Post Avenues. I went to St. Judes grammer school. I hung out with Denis Collins, Gary Larson, Rich McIntyre, Rich Rabbeker, Billy Cashin, Jimmy Tolfree and his sister Pat and Lana Turner to name a few. We hung out at Moe’s candy store on the corner of Academy and Sherman. We used to slay ride down the big hill at Fort Tryon park and also down St. Nicholas Avenue right into Nagel Avenue and Dykman. (Not a smart move) LOL. We used to go to the alpine We would go to the movie house on Dykman Street on Saturdays for about 4 hours and it cost just 50cents. We used to get our hot dogs from POP the old Greek who used to push his cart from 10th ave to Academy and Sherman. 15cents a hotdog. We would ride our bikes like crazy people all over Isham park and Inwood park. I met my wife who was from the Bronx at Inwood Lounge. (A great place) and we hung out at Sam’s Tavern on Sherman between Academy and 204th st. And who could forget the dances at Good Shepherd church. (school) on Friday nights and some Sunday afternoons. 50cents to get in. But when we danced the slow dances there was always someone telling us to make room for the “Holy Ghost” LOL. Inwood was a close nit neighborhood. Everyone kind of looked out for each other. Every Sunday after Mass we would have to go to Reginas bakery for rolls, buns, etc. And at night my mom would throw money down to me from the 4th floor to get the Daily News and Mirror. 5cents at that time. If you want to contact me and connect regarding the old neighborhood it would be nice.

The other icecream parlor was right next to the Lowes movie theatre. We used to hang out there. Nash’s bakery was next to Woolworhts on Dykman Street. There was a Chinese restaurant named Hi Ho that was there for ever. Jacks pants shop was actualy up from Reginas Bakery not next to the Alpine movie. Next to the Alpine movie theatre was a Jewish Deli. The other Jewish deli was call Loprrians and that was next to the Loews theatre. Bickfords was on the cornor of Dykman and Broadway.

Larry Miller
You may remember Bill Mahady , Myself Bob Heise we knew the same people. I lived at 580 Academy .
Any body know the following people .Robert Charlton ,John Gallo,Bill Barry. The Reids the Gillespie’s, Morgan’s ,the Kelly’s ,Bamberger’s,Bobby Turner ,Peter Collins. To name a few . Left Academy St in 1962 .Look at this web site copy and past might find more people from the past.
http://www.washington-heights.us/history/archives/dyckman_street_boat_basin_113.html
My email is rheise@echoes.net
Bob Heise

207 St – there was the penny candy store – can’t remember the name of the store
It was called the 5 &10
207 St & Bway – the lunch place that had great burgers
It was called the Capitol
There was also a great place for ice right on Bway between 204 and Vermilyvea Ave, where you would take the peel off the ice cream and put it on your cone. Does anyone remember that?
They were called Mello-rolls,and 204 and Vermilyea intersect right at the post office
on Vermilyea

True story…Sometime in the 40s my Uncles ship was torpedoed and he was in the water for about 10 hours.When he comes home on 30 days survivor leave he stayed at our place at 120 Vermilyea.
Saturday dawned very hot and humid and my mother,his sister suggested they go to the Mirramar.My uncle Ed who just spent 10 hours in the Atlantic declined immediately

I lived in Inwood, the first time, from 1966 to 1970. My current boyfriend, Bernie Cacchione, was the same guy who lived with me in Inwood, back in the 60’s. He is the one who introduced me to Inwood, many years ago (1966). He tells me that I went to the Miramar pool, once, when I was living there. I don’t really remember the incident, but you know the saying “If you remember the 60’s, you didn’t really experience them”.
(Ha ha, that’s a joke, you know.)

the name of the ice cream parlor near miles shoe store was called martys.i lived at 37 payson ave from in the 40,50 60,s anyone from payson ave????

Joe’s Concession Stand . It was located in Inwood Park on Isham Street across the street from Good Shepherd Church. My Family owned the stand from the mid 1920’s when the Presbyterian Medical Center was built. It was given by the NYC parks department to my Grandfather James Pupley and his brother Peter when they arrived in this country from Greece in the 1900’s. They came to the Parks Department with the idea to sell snacks in the park. His original stand was on the site of the Presbyterian Medical Center. They asked him what park he wanted to relocate to and he chose Inwood Park. Joe (his real name was Pete) sold candy, soda, hot dogs and ice cream. Frank and Louise, his niece, took it over in 1971 and remained until 1988. It has since been torn down. All the original owners – James, Pete, and Frank and Louise (my parents) have passed away.
–Frank Yannaco

Inwood in the 1950’s we did not
have a TV much less the Internet.
You got together at friends homes
to watch a show in black & white.
There was not many “networks” or “choices”.
A phone I don’t think so.
The stoop was the meeting place.
Your relatives were down the block
or a bus ride away to the Bronx.

Our Family went to St Jude’s Chapel
on Sundays and said the Rosary
as a family every night.
Our friends waited on the stoop for us
to come down.
{The Bazaar was held for many years
to make money to build the church.
Before that, mass was held in the movie theater.}
Then you were Proud to be a Catholic,
bless yourself in public when
you passed a Church,
and bowed at the name of JESUS.
All the stores were closed on Sunday.

Except for Regina’s Bakery.
My mom Eileen worked there back in the 50’s
In Washington Heights there was a bakery
called Home Made Pastry on 188st
and St. Nicholas Ave. She worked there for years.
On Sunday that was servile work unless
you had to feed your family.

Our family The Tolfrees lived at
584 Academy Street.
We 3 boys and 4 girls have 24 children
grandchildren.
We total around 92 decedents of
Herbert & Eileen Tolfree.

We lived across from Moe’s candy store.
Remember the egg creams and cokes in
the paper cone and metal holder cups.
The stools that spun and Moe.
We lived near the corner and there was
a “Meat Market” at 584.
Outside in the nice weather Pop with his umbrella cart would sell hot dogs and orange drinks.

I moved from 584 in 1959.
Went to Saint Jude’s School till
3rd grade 56-59.
Remember 1st grade Sister Mary Magellan
and Miss Scott from kindergarten.
All of my family went to either St. Jude or Good Shepherd.

First Friday Mass at St Jude’s Chapel.
Remember the luncheonette near St Jude.
We would go their for breakfast after
First Friday Mass before returning to school because we had fasted from the night before.
Those were the days.
Navy Uniforms white shirts and beanie hats.
Back then women and girls would wear hats, then scarfs, then doilies and then tissues.

Now we don’t wear hats at all!!!

Across from Good Shepherd in Inwood park
there was a octagon stand that sold hot dogs, candy and soda.
The man’s name was Joe, so they called him.
His real name was Pete.
He was my husband Frank Yannaco’s uncle.
Then he retired and Frank & Louise
Yannaco took it over.
It was in the family for 40+ years.
They gave up ownership in 1989.
Louise also worked at Miramar pool in the 50’s.
Near the pool was a luncheonette on 210 St
and 10th ave.
Frank’s grandfather owned that in the 50’s.

Remember the fish store with the live fish.
The Bazaar and Miss Rinegold.
The stoop we sat on and
the gutter we kept out of.
{They had nothing to do with rain.}
Connecting roofs we climbed over.
Fire escapes we use to hang out on.
Both my husband and I were born in
Jewish Memorial hospital.
Re-named in 1936 in honor of the
Jewish Soldiers who died in WW I.

Inwood for me was a real
neighborhood back then.
In the heart of NYC zip code “34”.
Even though I did not know it then.
My neighborhood was special.
The “Super” would wash the floors
every Saturday and polish the brass
handrails and mailboxes.
On Saturday everyone
would clean their house.
Nobody worked on Sunday because
you went to mass and had a special
dinner to prepare for the family.

Neighbors you could turn to by just
yelling out the window or down the alley.
The place many of us yearn for now.
I think Inwood is still that place,
my building is still standing and
I’m sure 50 years later people are still yelling out
the windows to their neighbors….

I grew up in Inwood in the 60s and 70s, when just about every family was headed by an Irish immigrant. I lived at 631 W. 207, less than two blocks from the park, and around the corner from Good Shepherd. We would play stickball and roller hockey on the play street in front of the school.

Larry Miller – I believe the game is spelled Ringolevio. But yes, I remember it ending with an R sound. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringolevio

The Pathmark did take over the Miramar Pool grounds in the late 1960s. The supermarket never fronted on 207th Street, but it was built along the road. It front into a parking lot, and looked toward the Bronx.

There were three candy stores on 207th between Cooper Street and Broadway. One, Gees, was on the corner of 207th and Cooper; the other two were at the other end of the street, next to the subway entrace/exits. Each had a deli next door. One was Jones’ (Joans’s?)Deli; the other was know as the German deli.

The hamburger joint at the corner of 207th and Broadway was the White Castle. The Capital was on Broadway, a few doors south of 207th.

As for ice cream, I remember Francesca’s (spelling??) that opened on 207th on the east side of Broadway, sometime in the 1970s. But hey, all you had to do was go to the park and wait for the Good Humor man, or the Mr. Softee truck.

I lived in 2 Ellwood Street until I married in 1968. Best memories were of Freddies Candy Store and Luncheonette on Nagle Avenue near Ellwood Street, Schillingman’s ice cream parlor on Dyckman where they made their own ice cream and had the best tuna sandwiches on a roll for 50 cents, the Inwood Blue Bakery across the street from JHS 52 where all the kids lined up at lunchtime to buy humongous chocolate chip cookies for 25 cents, Nash Pastry shop with the tea room in the back, Johnnie’s Bakery on Broadway where you would get cake if it was a special occasion, the Alpine Bakery on Nagle near Ellwood, the egg store on Nagle run by 2 sisters, Kron’s appetizing store on Nagle where you could get the best pickle for only 5 cents, and of course Emil Lance’s Bowling Alley in the old car dealership building on Broadway between Ellwood Street and Dongan Place where you could spend an entire Saturday for under $1.00. I still tell people that I grew up in Inwood, “a small town in Manhattan.”

Joan Carol,

I also grew up on Payson Ave. Number 115. It is at the top of the Payson Ave. hill and faces the road going up into the park. Next door were two brick 2 family homes. One was home to the teaching nuns from Good Shepheard Church. I lived there from the time I was 4 or 5 until I went into the service in 1957. Now I am 76 and living in California. Love to correspond.

John

My family of 6 kids all girls@ the time of living in Inwood ( 20 Arden St.) are my favorite memories. Miramar Pool was the best.My sisters and I would walk there. We still talk about it. Fort Tryon Park, and Schillghams Ice Cream Parlor and my favorite Nashes 7 layer cake. So many fond memories.
One thing for sure we were never bored and we always were playing outside. Stick ball. roller skating, good wholesome fun. The kids today don’t have a clue to how great life was and most of us were poor and never new it.
My family moved up to Rockland Co. and went on to have 2more girls and 1 son. 9 kids.
This article was great. Thank you

Grew up at 550 Academy Street . I lived there and at 72 Ellwood street from 1947 to 1967 Thanks for all the memories.It,s a small world ,I was at a party on a small island in Rumson New Jersey , and I met a women who lived right across the street on Academy, Thanks For The Memories

They were the best years of my life…lived at 20 arden street until 1965….I was 9 when we moved but I remember so much…The Miramar ..Oscar the good humor man….Dyckman St….Shillinghams, the BEST tuna sandwiches…. egg creams….Does anybody remember The Halfmoon Ride that came around on the truck…so much fun swimming in the sprinkler in Fort Tryon Park…down by the river…. sleigh riding at the speedway….Connies deli.had the best potato salad ….Dyckman st at Christmas time…I could go on and on…..I wish that my kids could have had the experience of living there also….THE BEST!!!!

I lived in Inwood from 68-83. Remember Fannie Farmers? Wolves? Carrot top bakery, the Blue Mountain, open gym night at Good Shepard on Fri nites in the winter, ISPY! Wouldn’t trade it for the world, although I wish they had sports for girls in the 70’s.

I grew up on 173rd Clay Ave in the Bronx but had many cousins that lived in the Inwood section. There were the Mooney’s , Purcells and the Keane’s . I went to Miramar only a few times but remember it well. I also worked in the Kingsbridge bus garage on 218th and B’way and saw that pool many times on my way to work .

My sisters Mary, Sheila, “Eileen and yours truly all worked there in
the cafeteria….The girls always worked behind the counter…I started

as a bus boy and then was ‘promoted’ to behind the counter…selling
the soda…a husband and wife team, Charlie and Mary ran the
cafeteria….some of the life guards were (only new their first names)

George (two of them), Charlie Beaver who sat at the entrance to the
sand area and made sure you washed your feet coming from that area back

into the pool and then there was Teddy, the lifeguard who could
neither speak or hear but could sure blow that whistle of his…many many
memories!

And then there was the beautiful blond girl by the name of Renee who hung at the pool and every red blooded American guy at the pool just loved her! She was sooo sweet…never her nose in the air…but a beautiful girl!

Pete Foley

I lived there, if were weren’t in the Catskills for the summer.. I loved the dirty black soot riden, sand.. from the incinerators..which used to fall like black snow flakes… and the dayglow green foot wash which not sure if you really wanted to walk through it!!

My mother swam at Miramar Pool in the 1930’s and won several diving medals. When Mother grew up she and her family lived on Sedwick Avenue then moved to Yonkers. From the 1940’s through early 1050’s my family lived at 99 Marbel Hill Avenue. In the 1940’s after the War, my father and I used to walk to the Hudson River to watch men catch eels and prepare them for market. Skullers from the Columbia University could be seen practicing their rowing skills.
My niece is now a swimmer and competes on a university intermural team in Virginia. I plan to give her the photos of Mother along with her medals.

I also remember the Miramar. We lived in the Amalgamated on Van Cortlandt Park South. My sister was a few years older than me and she would take me their and she and her friends would oogle over the guys. I remember the food area and how crowded it all was. And the music was blaring, you would feel the cool wet floor downstairs on your feet and I also remember the showers before you were allowed in (as per the other comments). I was born in 1950 so I imagine we went in the 1950’s to early ’60’s era.
I miss the old days and the community the Bronx was. It was a much simpler life and times and I think in general people were more content and happy.

ohmy….now theres a big ol pathmark…Thats the only memory i.had…..All who had the chance to visit were lucky..I grew up in Inwood with the Cloisters and Inwood Park…Not much to do..

I lived at 35 Payson Ave. White Tower, a hamburger place like White Castle, was on 207th. I worked there for a few years. I used to dive off the Columbia Rock in the fifties as the Circle Line approached. St Jude’s Bazzaar was awesome.

I lived at 9 sickle st late 40’s early 50’s. I loved Miramar Pool. I had my first payin date at miramar with a girl names Georgette De Pace. It was sad to see it close.

I lived on Familar Ave Not sure if that is the right spelling but loved going to the pool. My aunt use to have to catch me at closing because I did not want to leave. My cousins grew up there on same street there last name was Winrow. Great time in the 50’s now live in Rockland.

My dad, J. Ray Woods, a graduate of GW HS, grew up in the Kingsbridge neighborhood across the bridge and went there in his boyhood in the 20s and 30s.
We lived on the UWS near my mother’s parents on 90th St.
My dad used to take my older brother and me up on the Bway 1 train to 207
to go to Miramar, regularly during the 50s.
Those are sun drenched memories of a city boy on an outing with his father.
Undiluted happiness.
Great to see the pics.
MIRAMAR! Magic.

Memories of the Miramar Pool so vivid in my mind. Summer relief from the heat/the alternative was a hose up the dumbwaiter shaft to the roof to cool off. Sugar Ray in his pink cadillac driving by on my way to St. Jude’s School and of course their annual bazaar. Lived on Post Avenue, anyone remember fat man’s hill an alleyway between the buildings we would roller skate down and sled in winter. Remember Johnny Ride the Pony and others? Football in the street with a stuffed milk container? Catching a big spray with the fire hydrant before they came to shut it down? The ice cream parlors were so beautiful (still remember the stained glass and designs on the tile floors. Baseball and tennis on sunday at Good Shepherd Park, strolls up the pathways with my dad and walks along the Hudson River to the GW Bridge. Fort Tryon Park with the big spray in the middle down the hill from the Cloisters. Many wonderful memories, hopefully never to be forgotten.

Lived on Post Ave from 44 thru the late 50’s – Memories of the Miramar Pool to cool off if we didn’t have the hose up the dumbwaiter shaft to the roof, or a dip at Fort Tryon Park with the big spray in the middle. Sunday afternoons at Good Shephard Park watching baseball games and tennis with strolls up the pathway into the woods. Went to St. Jude’s – often saw Sugar Ray ride by in his pink cadillac by the projects. Johnny Ride the Pony was always a fun favorite and sleigh rides and roller skating down Fat Man’s Hill as we called it between the two bldgs. The two ice cream parlor were so beautiful with the stained glass and beautiful marble designed floors. Anyone remember the Chinese Rest. on Dykman St. near Bwdy a favorite on a friday. There was also a religious store on 207th St. near Broadway, they had everything. Inwood holds lots of memories for my bro and I. Football with a stuffed milk carton, and stick ball, fire hydrants spewing a spray held up by a board until they’d come to shut it down. Forth of July on the rooftops spanning the city fireworks. Hopefully never forgotten from the windmills of my mind!

My mother took my sister and me to the Miramar many times . It was the late 1950’s. It was all we had to keep cool and we used to sit on the “beach”. I didn’t know it was dirty!

Pat Carey,

You must mean the Hi Ho Chinese restaurant on Broadway. The best Chinese food anywhere in the City. Ate there regularly in the early 50’s to ’57 when I left for the Service. Our waiter was Kenny Young. Grew up on Payson Ave fron 1940 to 1957.
Stepmother still lived there intil just 5 years ago.

Jack Stone

I lived in an apartment on 205th Street, in the late thirties,just two blocks from the Miramar. It was truly an oasis from the humidity and excessive heat of New York City summers. One the admission fee was paid (was it only a dime?), you were given a locker key that you wore around your ankle. I attended Good Shepherd and met many of my classmates at the pool. What a relief it was!

When did Miramar close? When did Pathmark come in. I’m guessing mid-to-late 1960s.

Pat Carey

The Hi Ho Chinese restaurant was actually on Dykeman Street just East of Broadway
across from the Alpine Theater. My mistake.

Jack Stone

This is truly a wonderful site although I was a Heights kid whose only trips to Inwood consisted of singing with my amateur doowop group at Good Shepherd, going out with my girlfriend, Carol, who lived at Academy Street, and the occasional trip to Miramar Pool. Miramar Pool as many have already said had that HOT dirty sand, and those COLD showers that one had to take before going poolside. I once went there during the mid-1950’s with my gorgeous Aunt Marie, and trying to be ‘protective’ of her as several teenagers approached to flirt with her as we sat on a towel. That being said, I have two not-so-nice memories of Miramar where (1) I was swimming underwater when I came up for air and a piece of loose turd was floating right in front of me, and (2) as I stood naked atop the wooden bench in the locker room while mu father began to dry and dress me, I noticed a man standing there watching me from the entrance, and when I told my father who suddenly spun around to see who the man was, the latter ran off somewhere out of Miramar! It was relatively expensive as compared to Highbridge Pool which charged a dime, but a trip to Miramar Pool on a Sunday afternoon was something my parents, sister and I looked forward to during the 1950’s.
I think it incredible that so many posters herein have such excellent, clear memories of Inwood that make reading ’em about as good as it can get decades later ….

Born in Harlem 1940 but grew up in Inwood since I was 6. Lived first on Nagle Ave and then moved to 581-89 Academy St. Always went to the Miramar Pool when I could with many friends whom I played Stickball with routinely. Always beat the old guys (early 20’s) on Sunday for a case of beer which they hid underneath the parked cars since we were not of drinking age. When we beat them we grabbed the case and went to the parks (e.g. Payson, The Hudson River at the end of Dyckman or the Speedway) to drink it Miramar was like an oasis in the summer when we all roasted in that hot humid weather.

Response to Pat Carey. As I recall The Hi Ho was between Sherman and Vermilya Ave’s not across from the Alpine. On the same block as Sarafian Jewlers.

To Jack Stone: The Hi Ho was not on Broadway it was between Sherman and Vermilyea Aves down from Sarafian Jewelers.

HELLO LARRY MILLER, remember me this is PETER COLLINS, Denis’s brother. Can’t forget the time we went to a double header at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees were playing Detroit. Stadium security escorted us out as we were still working on a ton of beers we were drinking. We sat in the bleachers so we gave the beer guy $5 so he would bring us beers every half hour or so until we couldn’t drink any more. Stewed to the gills when we left for sure.

Inwood was in a great location, surrounded by beautiful parks. As kids we were never bored. Lived on Nagle Ave & there were many kids to play with. We would jump rope for hours, the boys would play stick ball; we never came into the apartment. In the winter we would play in the snow & then go into the vestibule of our apt bldg. & put our wet mittens etc. on the radiators & put on plays etc., my mother never saw us for hours on end. In the summer we walked up to Geo Washington H.S. & used the pool. The Miramar was a luxury. We went to Payson Park a lot & I can remember playing ping pong for hrs. On weekends the family might walk down to the Hudson River & have a picnic, one always felt safe in the neighborhood. The late 40’s & 50’s were good days, I will always remember Inwood as a great place to grow up in.

Hey Peter Collins, I’m betting you weren’t born in Harlem. We seem to be of an age and probably traveled the same route. Born on Vinegar Hill which is in Manhattanville and quite often referred to as being in Harlem. Moved to Inwood in the early 40’s. as many families of the Annunciation parish did. Now in Rockland Co. Have I guessed right?

In the second half of ’30s, when I was 12ish, my Mom never let me go to the Miramar because she was afraid I’d get polio. We lived on Isham between Vermilyea and B’way. Polio was a problem then, and I seem to remember that there were quite a few cases coming from the Miramar.

On the other hand, she let me swim in Spuyten Duyvel, under the HH Bridge, where the raw sewage (turds and condoms) used to come out of that 3 ft. pipe at the foot of 218th St. by Baker Field and Indian Rd. Also used to swim at the famous “Bagby Beach” over by the RR tracks. Since I will be turning 88 on March 3, 2013 (2 1/2 mos.) I must have thereby picked up an immunity to a ton of bacterial and viral diseases.

My Dad would take us to the Mira mar a lot ..Kathy Eddy..Tony.. Gerri… Wells family loved it there long days:) never forget….

from 204 ST and Post ave. 1950-1970

I remember the beach south of the pool which had hot dark brown sand.

We moved to Post Ave during the war in 1942.My Father worked on the docks with a guy that worked in the ticket booth. All I had to say was I’m Bill Kane’s daughter and I got in free. They had the best hamburgers with onions that you could smell all over the pool. I was eight when I jumped in the high side when the lifeguard wasn’t looking and taught myself to swim or drown. In those innocent times we could go to the pool by ourselves, play on the street till it got dark. Inwood had everything we needed. We had no money but we had the pool.the parks and best of all the freedom to grow up.

I come from a long line of inwood folk. My Mother ( Eileen Mc Laughlin ) was born in Inwood in 1927, I believe at 666 W207 st. She was Baptized at Good Shepard, the old church. Many people don’t realize that the Good Shepard Church is actually the 2nd Good Shepard to stand there. The first church quickly became to small for the burgioning Irish Catholic population of the neighborhood, that a new church was built, and the old church was actually moved on rollers around to where the school is. Not sure if it is still there. Mom would talk of doing fund raisers in school for the ” new ” church, she always kept on her dresser a little folder, like a Mass card, with facing pictures of the new and old churches and a cross made from the wood of the old church. at some point I believe they also lived on Sherman. When Mom was in 3rd grade, at Good Shepard, they moved to 153 Vermilya Ave. my Grandparents were Myles & Elizabeth ( Bess ) Mc Laughlin. Mom was Eileen, she had an older Brother Myles, and younger sister Elizabeth. Dad, Marty Kennedy, moved to Inwood from Hells Kitchen, sometime when dad was a kid. I believe they settled on Post. Dad always said my Grandparents, Michael & Mary Kennedy, moved a lot because in those days when you moved in you got a paint job and your first months rent free. Mom & Dad managed to hook up and were married in 1951 in Good Shepard. I was born in 1961 at 85 Post, baptized at a St. Jude, my oldest brother Bill went to St Jude. I only lived in Inwood a very short time as my family joined the flight to the Suburbs, and we moved to Long Island in 1963, but a good part of my family, including my Grandparents remained until the mid, late 70’s. My Father was a NYC police officer, and with my family there, I spent a lot of my growing up in Inwood. Climbed the ” C ” rock, climbed under the 207 st bridge, hung out in Inwood Park, remember the bizzare ? Well.
Lots of good memories for a Hayseed suburban kid who spent a lot of time ” visiting “

My family had season lockers a couple of summers. I loved diving off the diving boards but my ears gave me enough trouble that I had to give it up. I just love seeing the pictures!

I remember Miramar very well. I believe I only visited the sandy beach part once, and yes it was dirty all right – the sand boxes at the playgrounds too. In retrospect, those things weren’t such good ideas. I remember the elastic cord that you hung your locker key on around your wrist. I believe I got thrown out of Miramar a couple of times because I was running around banging on the lockers which seemed to be a good idea at the time. Occasionally we went downtown to Highbridge swimming pool, and sometimes we went to a swimming pool place in New Jersey but I don’t remember its name or where it was or even how we got there. And yeah Inwood in the fifties and before was a wonderful place to be a kid.

PS How did they get the water to be salty? Did they toss surplus salt from the sanitation dept. down the block in it?

Miramar was such a great neighborhood getaway . we lived on Post ave , just grabbed your stuff in the morning and head over and stay the day. Some times we would go to the Tally Ho and get lunch first because both my father was a bartender there.Learned to swim there ( just pushed into the deep end) I think that was just the way we all learned. My oldest sister Judy Kerr took me and my brother Jimmy and Frankie all the time. The beach was great with all the apparatus to play on too. Lotsa good memories in the 60’s

Lived in Inwood the first 22 years of my life, 1935 to 1957. Have great memories of the Miramar. I recall one sweltering summer day when I went to cool of there with my pal, Charles Mango. Charlie was going to Good Shepherd and I went to PS52.
That day the line was a block long and four or five deep. The heat got to us and we decided to go back home and take a cold shower. Charlie couldn’t get out of line so he climbed up to a light fixture and hung there until the crowd made room for him to leave. I continuesd to return to Inwood to visit family until just five years ago.

I just loved Miramar but couldn’t always afford it. I would go to Tibbets Brook as an alternate, and, of course, Orchard Beach!

I was born in Inwood in 1943 and lived at 616 West 207 St. until 1964. Although the cost was reasonable for admission to the Miramar it was still considered a treat when you had enough cash to pay it Most of my swimming was done at B.A. beach, Slant Rock and the Cut.
It was also much more of a challenge swimming in the river when you had to plan your swim around the change of tides. You certainly did not want to be on the Cut jumping when the Sewer Line came by and you had to get back to Slant Rock. I will always remember fondly my years growing up in Inwood. I have many GREAT memories.

I remember passing the pool on the bus on our way to the zoo, Orchard Beach or Alexander’s. We never went to the pool despite pleas to my mom and I was sad when it was gone because then I knew that I would never get to go, but when Pathmark opened, we went shopping there at least once a week. I hated Pathmark.

I grew up on 101 Post Ave. My grandfather John Stancarone was the superintendent. my mothers sisters were in the area. One in the same apt complex and another onNagle Ave. I went to the Miramar a lot also. I remember a bar under the El that had the best beef goulash. My grandfather would take me. I went to St Jude’s . I remember playing by what was called the white rocks. Anyone remember that? Two people I remember growing up with we’re Bobby Beckner and Virginia Ryan. Anyone know them? I moved to Jersey in 1959 haven’t been back in a long time. I too would walk to the river at Dyckman street with my father in the evening. Good times remembered.

Hi Everyone! I was so pleasantly surprised to see this site.
Brought back alot of very fond old memories. Thank all of you who made it possible.
I see those photos with the exremely lush trees in the park – who would ever have believed that Manahattan, of all places, could look like that, except for those of us lucky enough to have been there. I probably spent as much time in the woods as anyone and knew every single part of it and in a sense practically grew up there… and at the basketball courts, tennis courts and handball courts. Hardly a better place for a kid to grow up I think.
Miramar – learned how to swim there… along with the Hudson Rver.
I”m in Ft Pierce, Fl now – enjoying?? the retired life. Wish all of you well- Buerna Suerte and God Bless!!… and hope to hear from some of you that know me.

Looks like we Inwoodites who liked to imbibe will suffer some memory loss eventually- so who knew??

Oh my years in Inwood 1946-1969

Loved the Miramar. Just around the corner from our apt at 3852 10th Ave (204th St). Spent nearly everyday there in summers. My father was a cop in the 44th Pct near Yankee Stadium so I got into the Miramar on the arm most days as well as into Yankee Stadium. Different times for sure. Sad day when Miramar closed. Spent a lot of days “making out” on the sand in high school. 🙂

Just to add to all that has been said, I remember the turn styles we deposited the coins, in order to get in. My two uncles and their friends used to put on the acrobatic shows off the diving boards. Does anyone remember the cowboy gun-draw shoot out or the cowboy and horse falling off the cliff (high board)? They were my uncles.

I went to the pool in the 50’s with my brothers and parents. We lived at Hawthorne Gardens at 4861 Broadway. The pool seemed huge to me and I still remember the damp, concrete floors. My father used to play handball there as well. It seems like a million years ago.
As I look at the old pictures it’s hard to beleive a place like that even existed.
Is it possible to get copies of those picures?

Grew up in the 5o’s and 60’s in the Marble Hill projects and went to Miramar when we could afford it. I remember that they put so much chlorine in that as you walked home you could not take a deep breath.
Like other responders, I learned to swim in the Harlem river jumbing off the cut.
Larry Lief mentioned a pool in Jersey, could have been Arcola which was in Paramus. We could take a stinky old brown bus from the 181st terminal right to the front door. Thanks for the memories

Hi Gerri Wells…our families were friends from Inwood. I have an old picture of Tony, if you are interested I’ll send it to you.

Hi Geri. Knew your brother Tony will never forget him. Would love to see a picture of him…

Lived at 570 W. 204th St. in the 50’s and spent many a summer day at the Miramar. Remember Teddy, the mute Lifeguard? When I didn’t have the admission money, would spend the day playing basketball or one wall handball on the project park courts.

Inwood, where growing up in the ’30s and 40’s with memories that time hasn’t diminished. The posts have covered just about everything we all experienced and enjoyed.
The Dyckman ferry………the Charlotte Russe’s ….. The Cloisters and Fort Tryon Park………..the 5 cent ‘MelloRolls……….. the HI Ho where 25 cents bought a huge plate of chow mein………. a 25 cent haircut which caused ‘Bill, the Barber’ to groan whenever he saw me enter his shop. (hair, like the Beatles, years before they came here.
We lived for a time, at 449 W 206th St. overlooking The Miramar where I spent many a water logged day during summer vacation and hearing the songs of the day from the enclosed snack area……… songs, like Maria Elena……….Yours……….’Oh Daddy’……….and on and on. So many great memories of Inwood and The Miramar!

My summer Saturdays in the ’30s were spent at the Miramar…..all day! My mother would bring me lunch, passing it through the chain link by the sandy side. Now what we called ‘the woods’ is now formally called Inwood Hill Park, I believe. I remember when the Cloisters was constructed in Fort Tryon Park–so wonderful. And there was the ferry over to Jersey where there was a small playground right by the dock. A wonderful childhood which I didn’t leave until I got married (in the ’50s)!

I will forever cherish my memories of Miramar. I attended summer day camp at St. Martin of Tours parochial school and we usually went to Miramar at least twice a summer. I and my friends had the immense pleasure of going there at least eight times as it wasn’t exactly ’round the corner. We loved that pool experience so much I think we would have walked it if we were allowed!! What awesome memories. And, yes, dang it! That frikkin’ sand WAS hot! My feet are still numb!

I might have been the first baby swimmer, my dad had a free pass because he advertised at his store on 204th &
Bainbridge opposite to a Movie Theater. Had to be 1937 , then as my sister and brother came along dad took
us almost every Tuesday to swim and enjoy the sand and sun. Slide was great fun.Probably the only time my
father has some fun time. He was always working long hours. So thanks for the memories,

Great pictures and memories! We a group from the Marble Hill projects would walk over from 225 St to enjoy Miramar! 1959-1965+! thanks again for the memories!

I have truly enjoyed each and every post, reminiscing about the days gone by in Inwood as I sit at home on Memorial Day
during the 2020 pandemic
I lived in Inwood in the 60s thru the early 70s (when I moved to Long Island with my family).
Such great times and great people.
So many memories.
Did not go to Miramar but do remember going to the new pool at Van Cortland.. on public transportation with a group of friends at the rope old age of 12!
Remember
Citarellas on 207th
Parness dress shop
Johnnie’s luncheonette
The TV store on Vermilyea where you went if a tube blew out!
Roman’s deli
Orange crunch cake from Alpine
Walks to Carvel on Dykman with my dad on Friday nights.
Walking on Park Terrace with friends at lunchtime recess at GSS
Baby punch in the street (CAR!!)
Melting crayons into bottle caps for Skullies.
Relay races behind the Picadilly
(I was awful)
Learning to bike ride in Inwood Pk
Hanging out at Pizza Haven
Buying 45’s for my radio/phono
at the record shop on Dykman
and so much more
What a great place
A true neighborhood
I still remember the day we left
Rocketman was playing on the radio and I couldn’t stop crying.
All the neighbors stood on the stoop and waved goodbye.
Good memories

Worked at Pathmark there 1971-2 when I was going to Bronx Science. I never went to the pool but I knew Pathmark was built on its site. Went to the Van Cortlandt pool in the summer of 1971 when it first opened.

Does anyone remember or have a pic of an old bar called the InnBetween. Gone now but used to be on SW corner of 207 st and Sherman avenue? I’m creating a diorama and this was my uncle’s favorite bar from around 1965-1980.My family grew up in Inwood, from the 1920s until early 1970s. If anyone have a pic of it to scan or even description. I’d really appreciate it. My is David Taylor. My parents are Alfred Porterfield and Ruth Jane Taylor. Please email me if you have any info on the InnBetween or can point to any place to find it. I’d really appreciate it. Bill Porterfield- waporterfield@gmail.com.

Do you know how the name In Between originate from.

My great grandmother owned a restaurant called Elisa’s Pizzaria on the corner of 10th Ave and west 207th street. She owned this restaurant in the 1930’s to 1940. Miramar pool was behind this. I recall hearing stories Joe DiMaggio and also Tuscanini frequented there. I have some neat pictures I would be happy to share. If anyone has heard of any memories or pictures please contact me to share. Thanks!!

My favorite childhood memories mostly involve summers at Miramar in the early 60s. There were several families (tons of kids) who’d walk over from Academy St. We set ourselves up in the corner by the street side of the deep end. We were also very tight with a few of the lifeguards – Big Jim Alexander who taught me how to swim, deaf Teddy who was one of the funniest persons I’ve ever met, and a guy named George who taught my sister how to swim.
There were others of course, but those are the ones who stand out in my mind. Big Jim was 6’7″ and I have a distinct memory of a very crowded Sunday and a probably about 13 years old at the time Lew Alcindor being at the pool and they get them measured up back to back and I think Big Jim won by just a scotch (Big Jim ended up at in Chicago at one point and got married to the daughter of the Swedish ambassador). I also have a very distinct memory of one afternoon the people from the TV show Naked City did a shoot in the exterior of the 207th St side. Very exciting! (You know what’s on the other side of Naked City of course…). Another vivid memory was walking home’ there’s was often a woman chalk artist who drew the most amazing creations on the sidewalk on the short block of 207th St. between !0th Ave and Post. I guess right in front of Matty’s pizzaria. Nobody else in my family remembers her, but I sure hope someone else does, because I do!

The Beach. The guy who ran the beach – sitting there in a pith helmet checking everyone for a pass to go down onto that broiling hot sand. I want to say his name was Pops (I might be confusing the name with the old guy who pushed a Seabretts hot dog cart through the neighborhood in the summer (and spent each winter in Florida!) Surely there can’t have been two old guys working who were called Pops lol!

The Beach guy Pops has a huge old fashioned very heavy black and blue ink tattoo of a battleship on his chest, which must have looked very impressive when he was a young man in the ‘teens or ’20s (thinking about it now, what tales I bet he could have told of his life – but I wouldn’t have cared back then – it’s a shame) Anyway, by the time I saw his chest tattoo in his 60s or 70s, the battleship had definitely sunk. I was both fascinated by it and repulsed. I’ll never forget it. I often thought of him and used him as a cautionary tale back in the 00s when tattoos became a big thing again – do any of these young people ever think of how it’s going to look when they get old and their own “battleships” sink? I have definitely given this Pops a lot more thought in the last 20 years than I ever did at the time!

(Just an aside story – when it came time for me to get my tattoo, of course I thought of Pops and had them place a small one in my left hip. But what to get? I wanted something personal and maybe more unique than a tweety-bird tattoo – gotta think of the poor ladies giving sponge baths at the nursing home when I’m old and decrepit! I was a pokey little kid and my folks have home movies of me falling asleep face first into a bowl of stew at the dinner table – my Dad used to call me “Lightning” because I was “quick as..” (Ha!), so I decided to get a demure little red yellow and black lightning bolt tattoo on my hip in honor of him (as a pain experience it was pretty disappointing). So anyway, I’m very proud of myself with my little unique lightning bolt tattoo thinking about those sponge bath ladies when I’m old – only as it turns out they’re going to take one look at me and nod knowingly and say “oh, another Harry Potter”. )

I read in a book once the idea that after you’re ded you aren’t really gone until there’s no one left alive who still remembers you. So I know Pops and Big Jim and all the rest – they’ll still be around hopefully, for a long time yet

I also read in another book once (Edward Rutherford, SARUM – great book!) a story of a lady during Elizabethan times when people were subject to religious persecution and she has all kinds of stress and problems in her adult life, but her favorite memory wa a day with her father walking in the forest when she was a girl and he protected her. She ends up being executed, but as she does, she ends up back in that forest as a young girl with her father forever and ever – that that’s what heaven is – you get to spend eternity in your favorite memory
If that IS the case, then, please, I want to end up as 6 or 7 and it’s 1961 or 1962 and eternity is just one long never-ending summer at Miramar Pool for ever and ever.

I grew up in Inwood; First on Park Terrace West then on 211th– left when I was 16.. I recall PS 98,PS 52, Isham park, Fays restaurant and much more. There was a bakery on Dykman street – Mante’s i think was it’s name and an Italian Restaurant near the 207st bridge.

Leona, I also lived at 2 Elwood St, attended Our Lady Queen of Martyrs on Arden St.
I remembered Freddy’s candy store and Alpine bakery. I had a part time job at Food Pageant Supermarkets.
My Mother lived on Nagle Ave next to the YMHA.
Great memories

Thanks for all the memories!
I lived in the Bronx 2636 University Avenue. Walked to the Bronx Zoo. Used a key to turn on the box to learn about the animals.
100 Post Street, 101 Sherman Avenue. One thing I didn’t read was a slot car game room on Sherman Avenue and Dykman Street. You paid by the hour, rented a car or brought your own car that you glued together from scratch. A kit you bought with a tube of glue. Entered race contests to win prizes. Played games in an empty lot, made potholders, played lots of street games with Tops, YoYos, Double Dutch, caps, handball, Chinese Jump Rope, 3 Steps to Germany, 123 Red Light Green Light. Boys had Pigeon Coops on the roof and I slept on the fire escape in the Summer. Still have my ID Picture Card from Good Shepherd Dance signed by Father Curtin, C.S.P 1966-1967. Went to Jr. High 52 before moving to Elizabeth, NJ.
I went to our Inwood Reunion October 6, 1990 at the American Legion Post No. 774, 3035 Corlear Avenue, Bronx, NY. 6 hours of non-stop partying!!! DJ Music by Kenny & Donny Quinn. Kathleen Kenny (O’Rourke), Maureen Carton, Barbara Gray (Murtha), Gail Gray, John Kitson, Mary Ann Canterbury (O’Rourke), and Dennis Powers. The Young Hearts, The Young Hoods, The Bums, Park Boys and Park Girls, Dynamics, Post Boys & Post Girls. Other Inwood Inhabitants. Thanks for The Memories, The RAC and E & G’s, Barry’s and Gallagher’s, G.O’s and the Sloop. Queen of Martyrs on Arden and the Projects on Nagle. Filled in as a Cheerleader at St. Jude’s School. Never was able to see my first boyfriend Dennis C. and brother Kevin C., John Gallo, Susie, Maureen, Joann, can’t remember all the girls.
Those were the days!!!

Lived in Inwood in the 50’s – 570 W. 204st. – Great memories of Miramar pool, stickball between Sherman Ave and Post Ave – good buddies Alex Fermanis, the Sullivan brothers Jimmy, John and Dennis, Francis Bowman, Gene Borkan and more, the White Rocks, Moe’s, Blue Bakery, PS 52 and 98, Matty’s meatball subs on 10th Ave, Pop the hotdog vendor, Basketball in the Project’s park , and much much more….