Roslindale Op/Ed Http://TownOnLine.com
Hank Brandli grew up in Roslindale, MA and now lives in Melbourne,
Fla. He will be sharing his memories of his hometown with Transcript readers
over the next couple of months. He can be reached at hbrandli@spacey.net
April 18, 2002
By Hank Brandli
Guest Columnist
This winter season in Florida was a little on the chilly
side, but certainly nothing to
compare to the winters I recollect as a youngster in
Roslindale. It was the years of
the trolley that
ran on steel tracks imbedded in the tar street from the Dedham line
to Forest Hills to the Arborway.
The two-way "cattle cars" also traveled out
along Center Street through West Roxbury.
These MTA vehicles were very drafty and carried large
loads of sand which the
conductor released slowly in snowy- icy weather to
increase the metal wheel traction.
He did this with a special tool.
My destination most of the time was Boston Latin
School. It turned out that our locker
keys would also release the sand. At longer street car stops such as
Roslindale Square,
a few of the boys would huddle around the back of the car
whooping and hollering when
a large pile of sand appeared on the tracks as the car
pulled away.
Coasting was the big winter sport in the Roslindale area
for kids. Riding on a sled(lying
down or sitting up) down a hill on snow or ice was our
”sport”. It was hardly comparable
to the skeleton, bobsled and luge events in the recent
2002 winter Olympics in Utah, but
nonetheless competitive and a great deal of fun.
In the "Rossie" area, coasting was ideal for a
kid under ten. Some time, two or more kids
piled on. You always got a running start like John Shea
did in winning the gold in skeleton
at the Olympics Of
course, some of the parents would join in on their large family size
Flexible Flyers or Speedways. The best coasting occurred after a big snow or ice storm.
The "no-school; all schools in Boston” all-day radio
bulletins came every half hour from
6 a.m. It was like
music to our ears. The glazed newly
plowed streets brought out all the
coasters. In some
cases kids like Frankie Brady used to put on his ice skates and zip
down the steepest icy hills from Washington Street to
Walworth Street, not too far from the
Pleasant Cafe, with its horseshoe pits covered with
snow.
Who recalls "Slearing" their buddies on their
Flexible Flyers? Those sleds were the
best. ”Speeedway” was another brand. You could steer these sleds with a two
grip wooden bar
unlike the “’skeleton” in the Olympics which was fixed. At the ends of the wood steering bar
connected by a linkage to the front part of the curved runner metal blades were
two holes for
putting clothesline rope to pull the sleds. Dragging our
black overshoes in the snow were our brakes.
All the boys, Chuck, Art, Jimmy, Buzzy, Don, Eddie, Freddie, Patsy, and
Richie would
line up at the top
of Hillock or Orange streets and start the race. If someone got ahead you,
you would “slear” him by grabbing the end of the runners
and pulling the sled to the side
causing it to smash into the snow bank. Or, you could grab
the side rails of his sled and pull
yourself past him by pulling him back. Bumping and pushing
were allowed-anything to be
first at the bottom. The coasting races were like short
track speed skating in the Olympics
also similar to roller derby.
Street coasting was the big thing in the forties and
reasonably safe due to the scarcity of automobiles and the closeness of variety
stores, which also led to less road traffic. These
many corner variety stores carried all the staples and
then some. I'll never forget buying the
16 oz. Royal Crown Cola (RC) for a nickel. Or, were those big bottles only 12 oz? With RC,
the stores would provide, also for a nickel, a Devil Dog
or a Moon Pie, which tasted the same,
but were round.
The longest sled ride began at the water tower high on the
hill between LaGrange Street
and the Parkway.
This same granite tower drew kite flyers in the summer- but that's
another
story. Pulling
clothesline ropes hooked to the steering gear of the sleds, a gang of youths
trudged up the streets thru the tree-lined paths to the
tower overlooking the whole city of
Boston. One by one, we ran as fast as we could and hopped
on our sleds toward the city.
Down the slick snow covered icy path we flew, across the
parkway, then onto Nikisch
Avenue. Each of us would make a sharp right at Beech and
then a sharp left at Leniston
Avenue. Picking up speed, we crossed Cornell and down
Walworth with another sharp right
onto Roslindale Avenue.
I can still feel and hear the steel runners clacking on
the hard ice. Your nose always ran and
your eyes watered.
What a ball! With luck, we
passed White's field and traveled almost to
Roslindale Square.
There was always one more hill like Birch Street that ended our day.
Another steep hill on Hillock off Cornell St. provided a
scary turn at bottom. I almost got killed
here once when Art grabbed the back of my “Flexible Flyer”
and sleared me under a parked
coal truck. If I
had picked my head up, it would have ended up on the truck metal housing
cover- SCARY!!
Just after I started the fifth grade at the Mozart School,
my family moved southeast across Washington St. into my deceased grandparent’s
house on Beech St. I was now in the Phineas
Bates School. Two of my new friends, Dave and Norm were
also coasting aficionados. One day
After coasting down Kittredge St, we met up with Norm at
Metropolitan Ave. The three us pulled
our sleds to the top of the hill. There to the left looking Northeast and down
lay before us
Augustus Ave. Wow!
It was like the view from the top of the Olympic Ski Jump. The few icy
rides down that treacherous hill with danger at the bottom makes me shiver to
this day.
Coming home to a warm house
after a day of coasting was always a treat. A cold darkness
gave way to Mom removing the
boots, socks, leggings, scarves, etc., near the heater or radiator.
The socks were always placed
on those old grey radiators with an “aromatic” sizzle.
Our parents had to get up on those cold winter mornings
and shovel the coal and stoke the
“ole” furnace. I
find myself wondering how many kids even have a sled today. They probably
have their own snowmobile!!!!