South Philly Memories: Guys Experiencing Some Really Fun Times with Friends, Girls, Cars, and Places

By Samuel Sbraccia

To me, growing up in South Philly was truly a wonderful and great experience. I really believe that you must have lived there yourself to really understand exactly what I am saying and why.

You see, to me South Philly is unlike anywhere else, and I will try to make you understand why.

South Philadelphia is a place of living life to the fullest and really appreciating it. There were wonderful foods, fast cars, beautiful girls, and really good deals for things that supposedly just happened to drop off the backs of trucks, love, caring for others and their situations, and much more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499055481

Samuel Sbraccia

Samuel was born on August 12, 1948. He was born and raised in South Philadelphia by his loving parents, Margaret and Daniel Sbraccia. Since his birth, he was taught the values of helping others and those in need and never forgetting where he came from no matter what levels in life he may attain. With this in mind, he has risen to his current position of president of a multimillion-dollar association that he currently represents, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is respected by everyone who knows him because of his love for his wife, daughter, and three granddaughters. He is a very charitable person and never says no to someone in need. He believes that by helping those in need, he is not only helping them but also helping himself by making him a better person. He remembers when, as a child, his family experienced many hard times and when his father worked not one job but three at the same time to give and provide for his family everything that they needed. Samuel surely proves that he himself is made from the same mold as his father, Daniel.

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Copyright © 2014 by Samuel Sbraccia.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014913415

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4990-5549-8

Softcover   978-1-4990-5550-4

eBook   978-1-4990-5548-1

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Rev. date: 09/30/2014

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication

Chapter 1 Growing Up in South Philadelphia

Chapter 2 A Really Great Place to Live

Chapter 3 Our Crew

Chapter 4 Times Remembered

Chapter 5 A Kid in Some Real Trouble and US Guys

Chapter 6 One Particular Night at the Races

Chapter 7 Girls, Girls, and Girls

Chapter 8 One Really Scary Night

Chapter 9 Some of the Other Crazy Things that we did

Chapter 10 When I was in the Eleventh Grade

Chapter 11 After Graduating from Computer School

Chapter 12 Trouble in our Agency

Chapter 13 Reflecting Back on Past Loves and Times and Dating a Playboy Bunny

Chapter 14 More and More Experiences That Never Seemed to Stop

Chapter 15 Rethinking the Entire Dating the Playboy Bunny Situation

Chapter 16 After the Playboy Bunny

Chapter 17 After All the Girls and Partying

Chapter 18 Taking Care of Things and Putting Them in Order

Chapter 19 I Have No Regrets

Chapter 20 Back in the Day

Chapter 21 I Always Try to Dwell on the Good Things, Never the Bad

Chapter 22 Turn Your Problems into Procedures

Chapter 23 Some Childhood Experiences that Most of Us Had to Face

Chapter 24 Limitations Are Something That We All Must and Will Face

Chapter 25 Living Each Day to the Fullest

Chapter 26 Mary and I and Our Lives Together

Chapter 27 Today Our Lives Together

Chapter 28 Looking Back at My Life

Chapter 29 Today Years Later

Chapter 30 The Crew Today

Chapter 31 In Conclusion

Chapter 32 A Gift for You That You May or May Not Like

Photo Alblum

DEDICATION

My wife of forty-three years, Mary, who experienced all of my ups and downs in life and was right there by my side with me every time.

My daughter, Kelly, and my granddaughters who have brought so much happiness into my life.

To Larry, Johnnie, Ronnie, and Mark, for all of the good times that we had and experienced together. Also, to all of their wives and friends for bringing so much happiness into their lives. In addition, to my remaining friends for all of these years.

To all of the girls and guys that I have met and made contact with throughout my entire life, who taught me so many things.

To you, the reader of this book, who purchased my book and hopefully enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. May you take away from it some laughs and memories of your own.

To my mother, Margaret, and my father, Daniel, for the way they raised me and the lessons that they instilled in me, which I have used to this very day.

To my mother-in-law, Catherine, and my father-in-law, Edward, for being such wonderful people and being such good parents, grandparents, and mother-in-law and father-in-law to me.

I sincerely thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

CHAPTER 1

Growing Up in South Philadelphia

To me, growing up in South Philly was truly a wonderful and great experience. I really believe that you must have lived there yourself to really understand exactly what I am saying and why.

You see, to me South Philly is unlike anywhere else, and I will try to make you understand why.

South Philadelphia is a place of living life to the fullest and really appreciating it. There were wonderful foods, fast cars, beautiful girls, and really good deals for things that supposedly just happened to drop off the backs of trucks, love, caring for others and their situations, and much more.

You were educated in some way every single day about life, situations, people, where to go and where not to go, how to handle different things, and much more.

People, unlike today, openly shared everything with each other, and expected nothing in return. For example, if I say someone found a good deal somewhere, they would call or go see everyone they knew and tell them where and when to go. Everyone cared and shared with everyone everything. I think that this is how many people survived the hard times that they had to face in the sixties.

Say a person lost his or her job. Everyone on our street would try to find them a job at the place where they worked. More times than not, the unemployed person was working again within a few days.

Say that there was a death in a family; all of the neighbors would bring that family food for one or two weeks. It got to the point that you had to tell the neighbors to please not bring anything else.

It was a wonderful place to live and grow up in, and everyone knew it.

More importantly, you learned how to appreciate and take care of everything that you had, knowing how fortunate you were to have it. Unlike today, it seems like nothing means anything to anyone, and the attitude is Oh well, I’ll just get a new one.

People were hard workers and taught their children to be hard workers too, and to appreciate everything that they had.

Parents were much stricter with their children with regards to manners and helping other people even if you did not know them. For example, if you rode the bus or subway and a pregnant woman got on, you would stand up and give her your seat. If a disabled person got on the bus or train, just about everyone would stand up to give them their seat. If someone dropped a package, you would be expected to pick it up for them.

What a wonderful way to be brought up with respect for others and those in need, again, unlike today when these things seem to be things of the past.

Today, my wife is in a wheelchair, and when I take her out, sometimes it is hard for me to handle her when opening doors or doing other tasks. On some occasions, people will hold a door open for me, which makes it a lot easier for me and my wife. And we make it a point to thank them when they do and let them know how much we appreciate what they did for us.

It costs nothing to be nice to someone that helps you with whatever. And these types of people should very well be thanked for what they did for you.

Today, we should all help those that need help without even thinking about it. If we needed help, we would like people to help us, would we not?

We all hear stories about people getting beat up and those standing by doing nothing for fear of getting in trouble themselves.

We hear about accident victims not being helped by anyone for fear of being sued or some other reason.

To me something is definitely wrong today when people do not help others, even strangers. I like the old days better, and I am sure many others do too.

I was taught many things by my parents at a very young age like every other baby boomer, I’m sure:

1. Study hard.

2. Get good grades.

3. Do your very best in whatever you do.

4. Stick up for whatever you believe in.

5. Don’t take anything from anyone.

6. Never ever get into trouble.

7. Never give up.

8. Always be mannerly.

9. Be a hard worker.

10. Think before you act.

And many other things too.

These things in my opinion provided a great foundation for any child, especially living in South Philly or anywhere else for that matter.

For those of us that occasionally messed up, there was always a cat with nine tails. Just about everyone from South Philly I am sure knows what a cat with nine tails was. It was a barber strap that was cut into nine strips that were made by your favorite shoe-repair man. You see, when you got hit on your butt with this strap you got nine strikes at a time and not one. Usually, these straps were hung in the kitchen so that at all times you could see it and remember what is was there for. You! When you did something really bad or got into trouble for doing something bad.

I don’t care who you were or how bad you thought you were. Believe me, you definitely feared this strap and what it was there for.

All you had to do was do what was expected of you, be good and stay out of trouble, and you had nothing to worry about. So naturally, everyone that had one of these in their home tried their best to follow the rules and stay out of trouble. Believe me, this seemed to really work for all kids, not just myself.

CHAPTER 2

A Really Great Place to Live

There were so many great places to go and get different things. For example, no one had lots of things in the fridge like today. You see, every day people bought fresh. For Italian things, you would go to the Italian store for fresh meats, breads, and other things. For traditional things, you would go to the corner grocery store. For staples and canned goods, you would go to the supermarket. For chicken, you would go to the chicken store and pick your chicken and have it killed and plucked on the spot. For fish, you would go to the fish market and pick out what you wanted. For crabs, you would go to the crab store. And the list goes on and on. Everything was always fresh, unlike today when the majority of our foods have preservatives in them. In my opinion, people lived much healthier then than we do today.

Hucksters would come around with a horse and wagon one or two times a week so you could buy your fresh fruit and veggies for the week. Everything was so fresh and good, again, unlike today.

Salesmen would come right to your home and you could buy clothes and other goods and pay for them on time, which just about everyone did.

Milkmen would deliver milk right to your door a couple of times a week. And when it was really cold outside, the cream would rise to the top of the bottle, which my parents just loved because they would use the cream for their morning coffee.

On Saturdays, the bread man would come to your door and see if you needed any cookies, cakes, etc., for the weekend.

So as you can see for yourself, everything was always fresh, and everything you needed was within walking distance from your home.

Needless to say, everyone got their exercise walking here or there for whatever they needed.

Back then, you were taught that if you really wanted something that your parents could not afford, you had to work for it and earn the money to get it. So naturally, everyone was always looking for ways to earn money.

Looking back, this is really funny because as you know, when children want to earn money they can come up with some really unique ways of doing it.

I myself thought up some really unique ways of making money. One way I earned money was walking around the streets and park picking up soda bottles and returning them for either two cents or five cents each, depending on the size. Another way of earning money was shoveling snow when it snowed. Another way was painting addresses on the sidewalks and then going back and telling the homeowner that I had done it. And when asked how much money I wanted, I would say whatever they think it’s worth. Now understand that there were forty-four houses on each street, so I used to make between thirty and thirty-five dollars per street. Sometimes, I would get a friend that needed money to help me by doing one side of the street when I did the other. On these days, I could earn between forty and fifty dollars, because I could do a lot more streets with a helper. Then there was selling things door to door. When my father was working in a tool-and-dye company, I could buy different things that his place made, like thimbles, bobby pins, hairpins, and other things. I loved when his company made bobby pins and hairpins because all I had to do was go to beauty shops and take orders. In South Philly there was a beauty shop on just about every other street, so it was easy and profitable. There were so many ways to make money that there was no excuse not to have money when you needed it. Kids were pretty ingenious back then, to say the least.

Then there were the times when some really nice things fell off the backs of trucks, so to say. Things like shirts, sweaters, suits, canned hams, and cigarettes. All that you had to do was have the money to buy them, then tell everyone you knew that they were hot and add on your profit and they would sell like hotcakes.

I could truthfully say that I never ever was broke or needed money. As a matter of fact, I think that I was the only kid in sixth grade that went to school with fifty dollars in my pocket. On the other hand, if my father ever knew that I was selling hot stuff, I was sure that Mr. Cat with Nine Tails would enter the picture. I was really lucky that he never did find out some of things that I was selling and where I got them.

The things that everyone wanted to buy back then were as follows:

1. Clothes so as to be in style at all times.

2. Shoes so as to be in style at all times.

3. An Eco Chamber for your car.

4. Headrests for your car.

5. Speakers for your car.

6. Rolls and pleat seat covers for your car.

7. Wheel skirts for your car.

8. Custom steering wheel for your car.

9. Money in your pocket for dates.

10. Baby Moon hubcaps for your car.

11. And naturally a leather jacket or coat to be in style.

None of these things came cheap by any means but if you worked for them, you would definitely get them.

Also, you always needed money for gas, so as to be able to go driving around looking for girls. And to be able to race your car on Front Street on Friday or Saturday nights.

Back then, no matter what kind of car you had you took care of it like it was a Rolls-Royce. Every Saturday, you will take a bucket of water and a can of wax and glass cleaner and wash and wax you car under the bridge on Tenth Street so you would get no streaks. Then Saturday nights was date night. Date nights usually consisted of going to get pizza, going to a drive-in and making out, or going to the Hot Shop at Sixty-ninth Street for a burger and fries in your car. Or going to the lakes and making out. All of which were a lot of fun and quite the experience.

When I was sixteen years old, Dad bought me a car as he had promised when I was younger, if I did not get into any trouble and maintained good grades in school.

He got me a 1960 Chevy Bel Air. I loved my new car even though it was used and about five or six years old. Now I had transportation and could go anywhere and anytime that I wanted to. No more buses or subways for me. I took care of this car like it was brand-new. I washed it and waxed it constantly so that it always looked really sharp. This car literally was my baby, and I treated it like one.

All of my friends were envious of me with my new freedom and transportation. They all knew that now we would really be able to have some real fun. All of us being in our teens were only interested in girls, dates, and racing on Friday nights on Front Street. And boy did we have fun.

On Friday nights, we usually went driving around looking for girls, which we usually met and made dates with for the following weekend. Then we usually would wind up either at Pat’s Steaks for some of those famous Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches, or China town at Ninth and Race Street for Chinese food, or the Triangle Bar for mussels or pizza at Ninth and Moyamensing Avenue. Believe me; we all knew exactly where to go for good food. All week we would look forward to the weekend.

In the summertime we would make weekend trips to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the real action was. We would always stay at the Wynn Mawr hotel. It cost fifteen dollars for Friday and Saturday nights. Our rooms consisted of a bed and a sink in the room. We really did not care because all we were going to do was to sleep there. The bathrooms and showers were at the end of the hall. In the summertime we frequented this place many, many times. We always had fun and met lots of girls from all over the place on our weekly trips in the summertime.

You see in the summertime most of the kids that had jobs down the shore were from Ireland, Canada, and other places. Many of them were exchange students from other places. And these kids really knew how to party on their days off. The girls that we met were really hot (beautiful) and definitely knew what they were looking for, and hopefully that was us.

You would meet girls at the places where you ate, on the beach, at the arcades, and just about everywhere else. It was unbelievable! Was there any reason anyone would not want to be at the shore? No!

When we went to the shore there were some things that were a must to bring with us. Money, booze, sharp clothes, and snacks for your room. Which we always did.

We really never wanted for anything when we were down the shore and we were only about sixty-five miles from home.

On the days that we were down the shore we would get up early, get something to eat, and hit the beach. We would stay on the beach for a few hours, going into the ocean and trying to meet some beautiful girls, which we did more times than not. What was really good was that you would see these girls in their skimpy bathing suits that left little to your imagination. These girls were definitely good-looking and built like you know what.

Many times these girls would be tanning themselves on the beach and ask if you would please put suntan lotion on their backs, which you would jump for the opportunity to do. Other times while tanning they would unhook their tops so as to get an even tan on their backs. What was funny was that most of the time these girls would forget that their tops we unhooked and when they fell asleep and awoke would get right up, and guess what, yes no top on. They would get so embarrassed or at least they looked embarrassed. Other times girls would go into the ocean and their tops would be knocked off by the waves. On a good day you would see more boobs than you could imagine, some real eye candy.

CHAPTER 3

Our Crew

Larry was my neighbor and friend, and we grew up together since childhood. We had been friends and buddies forever, for as long as I could remember. We lived only two doors away from each other. Larry was very outgoing and would say exactly what he was thinking to anyone, with no exceptions.

Johnnie was a schoolmate that I had met in high school, and we had become good friends immediately. Johnny was on the quiet side but immediately broke that habit soon after we met.

Ronnie was Johnnie’s friend whom he had introduced me to, and we immediately became friends. Ronnie was very talented with music, both vocal and instruments. As a matter of fact, after graduation Ronnie moved to California and was an opener for Bob Hope, Red Skelton, and the likes.

Mark was someone I met in school and became friends with immediately. Mark was an undertaker’s son, and looked like an undertaker himself. Always very white in color and used to get