My Bronx Tale - Episode 4

HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO ORCHARD BEACH

Previously on My Bronx Tale—you learned about Quonset huts, lollipops, and stoops. You read why my dad said no, why the fire department had to come, and why all dentists are not created equal.

In today's episode sliders, sun and sand bring on the memories and the drool.

White Castle

If you’ve seen the movie, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, you know I’m talking about hamburgers and not a place where kings live.  If you haven’t, here’s the premise. Harold and Kumar are two guys who get the munchies after smoking marijuana. They watch a commercial on TV for White Castle hamburgers, whose slogan is “What You Crave,” and the two set out to satisfy that craving. They go to the closest White Castle only to find that it has been replaced by another burger chain. There they get directions to another White Castle and so their adventure begins.

The White Castle building now and then.

The burgers were only five cents until 1940 when they were increased to a dime.

Ten burgers for a dollar could feed four kids easily.

I have not seen the movie, but I do know about the Crave. You see we had a White Castle just across the street from our apartment building. Sometimes even Mom would get the Crave and when Dad came home from work at midnight, she would ask him to go across the street and bring her back a few burgers. Yes, the Crave is strong, very strong...especially at midnight.

The White Castle we went to all those years ago is still in operation.

You can see the Projects off to the right. It looks further away than I

remember. I can’t imagine Mom letting us cross the street to go there!

For me, there is nothing like walking into a White Castle establishment and taking in the aroma. It's like nothing else I've smelled. It increases your craving tenfold! Mom would occasionally give my brother Bill a dollar and we'd go across the street to buy a bag of burgers. Oh wow, I'm craving them right now as I write this!!

The original sliders. Small square beef patties cooked in onions.
No wrapping paper for these babies. They have their own special box.

The memories these conjure up are priceless!

After we left the Bronx, I didn't have a White Castle burger for 20 years. I was telling my husband at the time how great these little burgers were when he told me there was a White Castle near his hometown of Valley Stream in the town of Lynbrook. We immediately got in the car and drove the 40 miles from our house in Ronkonkoma so I could satisfy my crave. The place smelled the same as I remembered and the burgers tasted so good!! We order a bunch and I pigged out! They are so small I could eat one in three bites!  I remember making that trip a few times! When you get the Crave, you just have to give in to it!

After I moved away from the Island, my White Castle cravings were put on hold. Then one day in 2003, Rick and I took a trip to St. Louis from our home in Pittsfield, Illinois to celebrate our anniversary. We were driving on the freeway when all of a sudden I saw the ever recognizable White Castle building just off the interstate.

"WHITE CASTLE, WHITE CASTLE!!" I screamed!!

Rick, not knowing what I was screaming about, asked me, "What's a White Castle?"  After I told him, we made plans to eat there later that day.  I won't go into details, I'll just say we did enjoy our fill of those savory little burgers but I suffered for it later that night.  Apparently, my digestive system did not remember how much it used to like these tasty little buggers.

They built a White Castle in Centereach where my Mom lives.  I went there twice back in 2010 when I went home to take care of Mom after her hospital stay. Later, I suffered in silence. Yes, it was worth it. 

So, if I get the opportunity, I will have White Castle wherever and whenever they are available...even if it means I will suffer for it later. As I told you, the Crave is strong, very strong.

Orchard Beach

My family did not take vacations. We just didn’t. I never thought anything about it at the time because I didn’t know any different.  What we did do several times during the summer months was have picnics at Orchard Beach.

Orchard Beach is located in Pelham Bay Park in the northeast corner of the Bronx. One third of Pelham Bay was filled in to create the beach. This was done under the direction of Robert Moses, whose planning efforts can be seen throughout New York City, Long Island and the surrounding Burroughs. Orchard Beach is the only public beach in the Bronx.

I remember Mom packing food, drinks, towels, blankets, extra clothes, pails and shovels, you name it.  If you could use it on the beach, she packed it.  I remember it being a big production that fell mostly on Mom’s shoulders to organize.

Orchard Beach was seven miles from where we lived. When I asked Mom how we got to the beach since we didn’t own a car, she said we took the bus. I can’t imagine how crazy that must have been—herding four kids and all that stuff from the apartment to the bus stop and from the bus stop to the beach. Mom said it wasn’t as bad as I am imagining but maybe she just not remembering how bad it really was!

There were usually a few families from the Projects that got together on beach days. The Serrano’s were our closest friends—Dotty, Richard, Laura and Richie.  Dotty was from Holland and she lived in the building across the street from the evil dentist’s office.  Richard, her husband, was a barber. Laura was the closest thing to a best friend I had back then even though she was a few years older than me. Her brother Richie was the first boy I had a crush on. I used to think that one day we would get married.

I am not a beach person. I never have been. I don't enjoy sitting out in the sun being hot. I never learned how to swim so I don't enjoy going in the water. 

But the main reason I don't like the beach is because of the sand.  As a kid on Orchard Beach, everything I ate tasted like sand. To this day I dislike eating anything gritty tasting [raspberries, blackberries, cornmeal as a breading] and I attribute it all to the SAND I ate at Orchard Beach.

I did, however, like playing in it. A pail and shovel was a must have when playing on the beach. What kid doesn't like playing in a huge sand box?

Summer 1958.

My brother Rick, Mom and me at Orchard Beach.

Check out the bathing suits! My Mom looks great!!

Even though there were things I did not like, overall my memories of going to Orchard Beach are good ones so I must have enjoyed myself.  

Tomorrow's episode deals with church and school. You will read some funny stories about me, my kindergarten teacher and the Nuns at Blessed Sacrament. 

Stay tuned,

~ P