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Jac Toporek (6/63)
As Editor of the “WHS Note,” I get the “first look” at weekly mailings and sometimes benefit in having the privilege of the “first response.” Hope others will comment as to what is “familiar” in the picture, but I got a kick out of the dancing rabbis from Fiddler on the Roof doing their steps in front of Rabbi Sky’s Store selling all things Judaica. Jac
CALL TO REUNITE to WHS Classes of 66 and 62, 63 & 1/64:
Sharon Rous Feinsod (66)
Class of 1966 will be holding a luncheon on Tuesday, October 11, at Sofia's on Morris Avenue in Springfield, NJ (11:00 AM-3:00 PM). October 1, 2023 deadline for registration. For info, cost, response please contact Sy Mullman at 973-376-5929 or via e-mail, symullman@aol.com. Sharon
Calvin Schwartz (6/63)
CONFIRMED: Please hold Oct. 14, 2023 for reunion luncheon bringing together jointly classes of WHS January and June 1962, January and June 1963 and January 1964 at the Delta Hotel Somerset, NJ. Spread the word. Invitations will be sent out shortly.
Please “LIKE” the reunion’ Facebook site LINK TO REUNION INFORMATION) and follow the site for information, activities, RSVPs and more.
For more information, contact the following reunion committee members:
(1/62) Jeff Friedman - 908-202-1737 jeffthewanderer@gmail.com
(6/62) Bonnie Zunk Vogel - 732-956-6643 bonniev929@aol.com
(6/62) Cooki Wax Gulkin - 973-723-1707 cookigulkin@gmail.com
(1/63) Irwin “Ussie Steinlight – 732-991-4648 bballballnut@aol.com
(6/63 & 1/64) Jacob Toporek – 732-986-4498 whsalum63@aol.com
Thanks, Cal
To Arnold Tillman (6/63) on memories of Chancellor Avenue:
Beverly Aronow Samuels (64)
Thank you for remembering the original Hot Dog Haven on Chancellor Avenue between Wainwright and Leslie. I also remember the delicious French fries. My correction to Arnie’s note is that Bev didn’t own the Haven. My parents Dave and Pearl Aronow were the owners. Beverly, Fran and Les are their children. I do remember Arnold and Ralph Tillman who lived down the street on Wainwright Street. Beverly
Chester Cohen (6/59)
Thanks for the memory of the Hot Dog Haven. Used to run down there between Wainwright and Leslie on lunch break to get that fantastic bag of greasy fries loaded with ketchup. I employed my hand more than fork and hoped the bottom of the bag wouldn't break. We would sit around the juke box and pass a cigarette (found out not very Healthy). Chet
Michael Mandell (67)
If my memory is correct, Hot Dog Haven was where Syd’s was just down from the corner, I believe, from where Capital Fish was located. Dave left there and opened The Festival on Springfield Avenue in Maplewood which became Gary’s. Almost every place Dave started was a success after he sold or lost it. Mike
Mel Rubin (56)
The Kukamomga was from Syd’s, a block down from Hot Dog Haven. It was grape flavored and, I believe, with a slice of lemon. To Alan Ginter (64), that donut shop was on the corner of Springfield Avenue and 16th Street. I would always place a bag under it to absorb the grease, but they were delicious. I would bring them home whenever I was in the area. My mom used to live upstairs from there when she was a kid. Mel
Keeping the connection to the W-Homestead:
Roseanne Litwak Skopp (57) penned an article on “the time she worked at Woolworth’s” in Newark. The NJ Jewish News/Times of Israel highlighted the article at LINK to Woolworth's Story.
Paul Lipkin (60)
More stories about Mr. Kaplowitz. I was a big cut up in class. Mr. Kaplowitz told my dad at one of the class plays that I make him laugh so hard, he needs to step out of the room so that the class does not get encouraged by his laughter. Mr. Kaplowitz also led the secondary service at Temple Israel in Union for many years. In addition, he was an active member of the Springfield Community Players. He was a great teacher and a really nice person. Paul
Natalie Susser Braunstein (56)
Re: Block & Zuckerman, my husband, Leroy (Roy) Braunstein bowled with Hy in a B’nai Brith bowling league for many years. Of course, he went in often to the offices on Vauxhall at the Millburn Mall where his glasses came from. Still does so and has probably done so over 50 years. Natalie
Herb Segal (59)
Bill (Fruchter) Foster (60) recalls his time at the Flax house. Dr Charles Flax was my earliest mentor, taking me to the Beth for his rounds and surgeries. I remain in contact with his son Roger, now a most successful executive coach and author.
The center of our Baldwin Avenue neighborhood was B’nai Abraham, which was our community center, with its pool and gym. Our Temple basketball team is pictured, with Roger Flax on the ball and me directly behind flanked by Herb Litwin and Marc Lappe. Leo Pearl was our athletic director.
On our side of Baldwin Avenue, between Madison and Clinton, were the following families: Parent, York, Baillis, Flax, Panitch, Milstein, Lappe, Gaines, Hymes, Siegel, Shill, Silverman and Segal. The Lessins, Shorensteins, Bratters and Kotlers were within a block away. Our axis included Avon Avenue and Madison Jr. High Schools and the #14 bus to Weequahic. By 1957, we were sadly all gone, most to the burbs. Herb
Richard Reisboard (60)
I was playing bass drum in Weequahic's Marching Band at the Linden-Weequahic football game that Warren Bratter (1/60) discussed so well. I had to laugh when he talked about the happiness the players shared on their ride home on their bus after defying the odds and winning that game (maybe the only win of the year). The band had its own bus and we had different experiences following the win.
Our bus was laid siege to by a crowd of angry Linden students who couldn't believe the final score. The bus was stoned and clobbered with anything they could throw at close range. Windows were broken, but, as I recall, the glass was reinforced with some kind of strong wire. Nonetheless, glass sprayed everywhere. I was saved from harm by my bass drum (I was a piano player who was told that if I didn't march, I could not play in the school's orchestra which I loved to do). I hated the bass drum until that day. Our ride home consisted of picking glass shards off of our bodies while trying to lower our blood pressures (all before meditation practices were known to exist). My best to Warren and the guys who were able to escape unharmed physically or mentally. It really seemed like a magical day. Richard
Carole Heller Shapiro (6/63)
During my senior year at WHS I got a job as a waitress at Halem’s after school. I had never had a job like that before and found out that it was very hard work. We had to take care of the tables, the fountain seats and also make the fountain drinks. I made it through my first week and spent almost my whole salary getting more comfortable shoes. On one of the days during my second week my mother came to pick me up after work. I was exhausted, bedraggled and covered with chocolate sauce. The owner came over to my mother and said, “She’s learning quickly. Someday she may be able to get a job at the Weequahic Diner!” My mother responded, “That’s not what I had in mind for my daughter…” And needless to say, that was my last day at Halem’s. Carole
Frank Argenziano (6/62)
Reading comments and memories in the weekly newsletter struck two "great memories" chords in my mind. The mention of pinball machines was one. Our group played pinball machines in many, what we called, "candy stores." We played at Seligman's (next door to Goldman's, the drugstore on Clinton Place), Katz's (on the corner of Hawthorne and Reeves Place which was Goodwin Avenue when it crossed Hawthorne Avenue), Red Lippy's (on the corner of Schuyler and Renner, I believe), Becker's (which was on the corner of Clinton Place and St. James Place (which was Shepard Avenue when it crossed Clinton Place) and at Margie’s on Chancellor Avenue during our lunch period at Weequahic.
The best pinball machine player was Claude Gorelick (62). I remember him leaving so many free games on pinball machines at some of these places because we either had to get home or head back to school. If you count playing pinball by putting the machine up on your toes, as we often did at Becker's, Fred Goldman (6/62) was the best. If you count working a wire (the wire was always available because newspapers were delivered to each "candy store" in a bundle wrapped in wire) through the side of a machine (pinball machines were made of wood or a wood composite at that time) so you could rack up points by tapping the wire against the bumper, we were pretty good at that too.
The other memory that came to my mind was evoked by the mention of the railroad tracks that crossed Chancellor Avenue. Well, those tracks also crossed Woolsey Street, a one block long street between Chancellor and Lyons Avenue. That was our street for drag racing at night. The starting line was just off of Chancellor when you turned onto Woolsey. From there, the race would end at the railroad tracks where they crossed Woolsey.
Steve Silverstein's DeSoto was the best, although Rich Trechak's (6/63) Vette did give him some competition. Fred Goldman's 1959 Bonneville with Tri-Power (formerly owned by my classmate Mike Weisholtz), as well as my '57 Chevy with a Hurst stick shift on the floor were among the cars that participated. Claude Gorelick even raced with the Strulowitz delivery truck while he was supposed to be working. Gee, I hope they don't fire Claude for that.
"Meet me on Woolsey" was a popular phrase among our group when someone started talking about how fast their car was. Anyway, those were great memories. Thanks to the “WHS Note” for allowing us to keep them alive. Frank
Laurie Alterman Mayerson (59)
Re Alan Berlin’s (64) memories of the barracks in Weequahic Park, they also housed injured servicemen recuperating from injuries incurred during the war. My mom was a “Gray Lady”, someone who wrote letters for the GI’s and helped in any way she could. Minus a babysitter one day, she took me with her; I was three at the time. The antiseptic smell of the casts was awful, but I tried to be brave.
In those days, Margaret O’Brien was a child star and often wore her hair in braids, a style many of the moms copied for their little girls. One man whose two legs and an arm were casted and wired to the ceiling to hold them upright told me that I reminded him of his little girl and asked if he could give me a bit of a hug. My mom agreed and I remember this scary Frankenstein-like figure reaching for me. I screamed hysterically, much to my mom’s embarrassment. She had to take me home. To this day I attribute my fear of hospitals to this incident, so my memories of those barracks traumatized me. I don’t share Alan’s fond recall. Laurie
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