July 2014

July 6, 2014

A Sign of the Times

When we moved into our house in West Palm Beach, it had two bedrooms and one bath. When Sons Adam and Matt were little, they shared a bedroom. I drilled a hole in the door and installed a wideangle lens peephole so we could see if they were (A) Awake; (B) Asleep or (C) Up to mischief.

In retrospect, that might have been more useful when they got a bit older.

In 1986, we added two rooms and another bath to the back of the house. Matt got the new back bedroom and Adam got the old one to himself.

Mother ran across a wooden sign that read “The Adams” in a yard sale. Wife Lila rearranged the letters so it spelled “ADAM” and we hung it on his bedroom door. (Covering the peephole at the same time.)

Adam hits 34

Family and friends gathered to celebrate his 34th birthday on July 6, even though his official Birthday is July 7.

Grandsons Graham (barely visible at left) and Elliot are quick with the puff. I was too slow to capture the lit candles.

Room is officially mine now

Just before we left the house, I grabbed a screwdriver and pulled the ADAM sign off the door.

His acceptance of it concedes that the room is now, officially, my office. I have to decide what to do with that peephole, though.

July 5, 2014

Hula Hoopla

I was looking at a digital copy of our 8mm home movies shot in the 1960s. This brief clip brought back memories of the hula hoop craze in the late 1950s. The things were all over the place: schools incorporated them into recess and PE programs; Life magazine loved to run hula hoop pictures, and Brothers Mark and David had to give them a go in our back yard.

Wikipedia has a pretty good history of the hula hoop.

Here’s a hooping video

Our two hoops were part of the more than 50,000 hula hoops that were being produced every day at the height of the craze.

P.S. This is a silent movie. Turning up the volume isn’t going to help.

July 4, 2014July 4, 2014

D’Ladium’s Basement Door

When I photographed D’Ladiums / Pladiums for a 2010 story, two dozen or so readers shared their memories of the place. Is that ornate, black, boarded-up doorway on the right the entrance to the fabled basement? (If you were a fan of the place, make sure you follow that link.)

John Martin, Class of 1958, mentioned “I also heard there was a table stakes poker game in the basement on ocassion, but ‘I know nothing!‘”

Chris Stevens chimed in, “In the late 60′s Jerry let us use that underground (basement) space for a “Find of the Holidays” party one Christmas vacation. We served more than 3.2 and no one checked IDs that night.”

Tony Haman “will never forget the 1 and only time Big Dog took me downstairs to the ‘TABLE’ schooled me but taught me 3 quick games, what a privilege to have in my memories.”

I was an innocent

My folks didn’t put many restrictions on me. I mean, how could they? I spent my toddlerhood tooling my toy tractor around in my grandfather’s liquor store in Advance, and Mother delights in telling about how she outsmarted the sheriff who was coming to confiscate their slot machines when she was barely a teen.

Still, they cautioned me to stay out of pool halls and other dens of iniquity, so I’m not sure I ever went into the smoky palace of pleasure at 1127 Broadway. It must have been relatively civilized because I never had occasion to show up there for a shooting or stabbing.

I was told that Captain Beaver is one of the reasons for good behavior. He rules the joint with a firm, but gentle, touch from a barber chair like the one I have in my living room. (It must be more than the chair that produces the result, though.)

July 4, 2014