Bill Ryan
4/27/2010 08:34:53 am
Please send your pics from the reunion to:
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Cathy M
4/27/2010 09:20:01 am
I was heartbroken the doctor would not allow me to fly up. I was looking so forward to seeing all of you! I have had several kind emails and Bill has filled me in on all the details of the evening. It sounds like it was a grand time. I would like to thank each and every one of you for making our class reunion an overwhelming success! Your joy and happy energy spread and made us all remember the good and happy times we had before we had to be adults. It was and is nice to return to those carefree days, once again. I can't wait for the pictures and the name tags!
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Pam (LoCastro) McPhail
4/29/2010 12:28:13 am
All I can say is WOW!
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Erma
4/29/2010 11:23:52 am
OK, Bill, I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time - so when do you start planning our next reunion. It'd better before the next 50 years - so how about the next one in 5 years? What do you think, everyone?
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Frank Dann
4/30/2010 03:16:41 am
Hi Erma......
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Frank Peters
4/30/2010 03:59:36 am
Frank There are some pictures already posted
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CATHY M
4/30/2010 04:25:30 am
I've had several questions as to the dessert at the reunion. Anyone still in Woodside:
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Bill Ryan
4/30/2010 04:44:15 am
Frank,
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Erma
4/30/2010 07:09:36 am
Frank, you are absolutely right and anytime anyone wants to get together count me in.
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Bill Ryan
4/30/2010 12:03:38 pm
I just found out this evening that James Dolan, of the "mixed" class, is definitely deceased. Someone had told me he thought he had heard that Jim died a number of years ago. However, the "evidence" was very slight. I got confirmation this evening that Jim is, in fact, deceased. That brings the number of "Missing Classmates" now down to just 8. All the "boys" of the class of STS60 have now been accounted for.
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Frank D
4/30/2010 03:11:52 pm
Bill, your comments on the re-union pic sites are quite hilarious! Especially the part about the ongoing sentence diagramming work.
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Tom Walsh
5/2/2010 04:39:46 am
Hi Guys !
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Erma
5/2/2010 09:54:50 am
Tom, be careful of what you wish for. I'm actually headed to Georgia in a week but, fortunately for you I'm sure, I have absolutely no idea where Waverly Pond, Georgia is. Now if the gods are truly against you, I might be in the next town and will definitely look you up.
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Frank Dann
5/4/2010 02:22:54 pm
Okay, so I AM having STS "Blog withdrawl."
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Tom Walsh
5/5/2010 02:04:51 am
OK, Frank, don't withdraw, fill in the blanks. Whatcha been doin' for 50 years. We never got much chance to talk.
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Pam (LoCastro) McPhail
5/5/2010 06:05:34 am
Well.... my personal story is that I met and married a Woodside boy from St. Mary's, had 2 sons, moved to Bergenfield, NJ and did all the things mothers of boys do (baseball, basketball, soccer, scouts, music etc.)
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Noel Skip Sawyer
5/5/2010 11:25:45 am
Good evening all, my wife and I did not make the reunion because of my health.
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Tom Walsh
5/6/2010 02:27:29 am
Great biographies, guys. I guess health issues are something we all have to deal with as time goes on. Like they say, though, it's better than the alternative.
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Pam (LoCastro) McPhail
5/7/2010 01:56:48 am
Tom, you wowed me with your story! Come on everyone, it's time to tell your life story. You may think it to be mundane but let us be the judge of that! Maybe a contest to see who has the best or worst story. Winner buys drinks at the next get together.
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Tom Walsh
5/7/2010 03:26:13 am
Thanks, Pam. Like the song says: "You've seen it in black and white, you should have seen it in color !" But, as your addition has shown, everyone has a story, we've had our ups and downs, but we've all made our contribution, whether to family, community, church or whatever. It's a trip to hear about them. Let's get writing !
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Frank Dann
5/8/2010 06:24:38 am
Hi Pam and Bill,
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Cathy M
5/8/2010 07:20:20 am
What interesting lives! Tom love your choice of Miles Davis, one of my favorites along with Coltrane, Getz, Peterson & Brubeck The Village of those long ago years is gone and differnt now. No more Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Bon Soir, etc. like everything - The times they are achanging! I think we were fortunate to experience it during it's "glory" days.
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Pam (LoCastro) McPhail
5/8/2010 07:59:19 am
Yes, Frank please finish. I have my dermatologist on speed dial as I have had enough skin cancer to go around. That's what I get for being a fair skined Italian! Thanks MOM.
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Bill Ryan
5/8/2010 08:42:59 am
Hey, guys (& gals)! Just wanted to let you know that my internet line gets turned off during the wee hours of Monday a.m. I won't be hooked up to my new ISP until Friday afternoon. I'm hoping at least one of my new neighbors down in Ephrata has an non-secure router that I can "use" for a few days. If not, I'll have to wait till Friday.
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Frank Dann
5/8/2010 10:18:44 am
Hey STS Classmates,
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Cathy M
5/9/2010 12:22:17 am
Frank! How rewarding for you as well as everyone else. I must say you have left more than footprints in this life. See you at the next gathering, I promise!
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Maureen Murphy Carlson
5/12/2010 08:23:23 am
I got back to the Alaskan tundra on April 29th. After 3 months on the East Coast, it took my body clock more than a few days to get back on Alaska time (and the 17 hours of daylight that we currently have did not help the transition!) Now if spring would just arrive, I'd be a happy camper.
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Bill Ryan
5/14/2010 11:48:46 am
Well, we survived the move. We're in the new house and back on-line.
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John J Kaufmann
5/14/2010 09:32:17 pm
Bill,
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Bill Ryan
5/15/2010 08:08:46 am
John, I'll be in touch with you soon about some "tips and tricks" for searching for people. Sounds to me, though, from what you told me earlier, that you're already up and running with some good tools at your disposal: the program (bulletin) with all the names of the grads in it (the one they handed out the day you graduated) is crucial. However, I'll give you one little tip right here on the blog: I'd bet there are at least 3 "kids" in your class who did not use their actual middle name for the program. We (STS60) had about 3 or 4 who decided to use their confirmation name instead. Anyway, a real smart move on your part was to join ancestry.com. I wish I had joined it. By the time I realized what a good "tool" it is, it was pretty much too late. Fortunately, Diane (Coyle) Angelini was a member of ancestry, and she helped me out when the going got tough - with the last 25 or so missing classmates.
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Frank D
5/15/2010 11:02:04 am
Hey Bill.......you have many people hanging: so HOW was that move?
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Bill Ryan
5/15/2010 11:39:40 am
Hi, Frank - The move, all in all, went well. The first 2 days, though, were pretty hectic because we hadn't yet located all the "critical" items. The one thing I'll always remember, however, about this move is what happened last Tuesday a.m. As the moving van was coming up the street to deliver the furniture, etc., to the new house, my wife said to me, "I hope you have the checkbook to pay the movers." I went into the bedroom and (with boxes everywhere and nothing yet put in its place), I couldn't find it. So, I thought maybe I left if out in the car overnight. In fact, I was pretty sure I had. Well, even though this neighborhood is 55+, and I'm living in a sea of Mennonites, you never know. Somebody could have entered my car and gone "rooting" around for "goodies". So, here we are, in a state of disbelief - "Tell us it ain't so - we've been robbed our very first night on Harvest Drive." We couldn't find any of the 3 different checkbooks (his, hers, ours). So, Jean had to call the banks up in Lewistown to stop all activity on the accounts. Of course, not having the internet, she couldn't supply acct #s, etc. Well, about an hour and a half later, Jean came sailing out from the bedroom, holding the missing green banking bag (w/ all 3 checkbooks). I can't describe the feeling of relief! I had put the bag on the floor of the walk-in closet, and a duffle-type bag must have fallen over on top of the banking bag, blocking it from view completely. Of course, we figured the banks would nail us with fees for requesting the "stop-action", but, in fact, they were great about it - and no charges were applied. That was the "big excitement" as far as the move goes. The rest is just drudgery - lugging boxes, unpacking, etc. It was great to get hooked up to cable on Thursday and then to the phone/internet on Friday.
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Frank D
5/16/2010 04:22:33 am
Hi STS60 buds~~
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Bill Ryan
5/16/2010 07:30:31 am
Hey Frank - Things are settling down and getting more and more organized and thus hopefully the probability of my having any more "senior moments" will be reduced. Fortunately, there were sufficient funds in all checking accounts to take care of the movers, etc. Speaking of money and accounts, I think I put out a general email to everyone shortly after the reunion in which I said that we ended up with $550 after expenses, from the reunion. That $550 was donated to the parish. If I didn't put a general email out like that, please let me know. That would be another "pearl" in the string of my "senior moments". Cathy Woods sent me some pix just a little while ago. I'll be posting them on the 60 website later this evening. (I'm using the netbook right now - too limited.)
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Erma
5/16/2010 09:56:41 am
Bill, I've been out of town and just got back after being gone nearly two weeks. I'm headed to Seattle so sometime before I leave, I'll get you the pictures I took although I must say I had such a wonderful time I didn't have time to take too many - I'd venture to say that would be true for most of us who were young enough to remember our cameras.
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Charlie Daly
5/20/2010 07:27:22 pm
This is for Tom Morrisroe: Since you have not given out an e mail address, I am trying to pass something on to you via the blog. During the course of some FDNY business, I met a younger FF named Craig Brannan who knew you and your family and also lived in the same buiding as you on 48th Sreet. Small world and I just wanted to try to let you know about meeting Craig.
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Pam LoCastro McPhail
5/20/2010 11:44:19 pm
Any of you NYFD ever meet Vinnie Dunn?
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Charlie Daly
5/21/2010 05:07:48 am
Pam, though I have never met him, Chief Vinnie Dunn, is well known & highly respected in the FDNY. He is famous for his books on building construction & the effects of fire on the buildings. I worked my last 16 years of my 25 on the job as a Lieutenant at L-110 in downtown Brooklyn. Pretty sure Chief Dunn was mostly working in Manhattan and/or the Bronx.
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Pam LoCastro McPhail
5/23/2010 06:03:40 am
Even in NJ where I rode volunteer ambulance, his name was well known with our volunterr FF. He is my brother's brother-in-law. Therefore, I still see him at all our family functions.I always kid him about being soooooo famous. He's a great guy.
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George Prinz
5/28/2010 09:55:47 am
No more bloggers? I am very disappointed. Seems there should be a lot of comments following the glorious reunion. Truly wish I could have attended.Best wishes to all.
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Charlie Daly
5/29/2010 11:47:11 am
Hey George, would have been nice to see ya that night; too bad ya couldn't get there. It was a truly wonderful evening. John K is working on getting it together for the 1961 class.
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Bill Ryan
6/10/2010 09:55:48 am
Maureen Connors sent me a lot of nice pics she took at the reunion. However, they were "embedded" in her picasa gallery. When I copied them onto my hard drive and then tried to put them in my picasa gallery (the one connected to this site, with all the "albums"), all her pics "shrank". They were too small to be of much use. So, try this: copy and paste this link into your browser's address bar:
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Skip Sawyer
6/10/2010 11:22:39 pm
Good morning Bill,
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Bill Ryan
6/10/2010 11:49:51 pm
Hi, Skip,
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Frank Dann
6/12/2010 05:18:06 am
hey friends
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Bill Ryan
6/13/2010 04:31:49 am
Frank - I remember the first time I had entered the school after many years - it was in the mid 80s, and I had my 3 kids with me one weekday a.m. I figured I'd take the kids over to see where "Daddy went to school". The door was unlocked; so we just walked in. At any moment, I thought some crazed nun would come flying down the hall, threatening me with arrest for trespassing, etc., but, in fact, there was virtually nobody in the school. At that time, I thought the school looked very small. Then, almost 25 years later, I had the chance to go in there again (in 2008). That time around, it didn't look quite so small. This most recent time (2010), the only part that looked very small to me was the double stair case. And, on each of those 3 occasions (@1986, 2008, and 2010), the ceilings still looked inordinately high to me. The classrooms, too, looked smaller, but I think that was mainly due to the fact that in our memories, we see the rooms completely filled, wall to wall, with bolted-down desks, whereas nowadays, movable student desks seem to be scattered all over the place, making the classroom seem smaller than when they were filled with the usual 6 rows by 8 seats back that we were used to.
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Pam (LoCastro) McPhail
6/14/2010 11:43:54 pm
I wasn't able to go to school this time but I did get there during s neighborhood reunion many years ago. It wasn't the sights that got to me, it was the smell. Even after all those years the school smelled the same. maybe it was the wood or the tiles, I don't know.
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Kathy Matthews Klein
6/15/2010 07:13:11 am
Hi Guys - Finally had time to check in It looks like things have calmed down considerably. However, that does not mean that the terrific job that was done by Bill & Jean, Diane & Cathy, is not still to this day appreciated by all. It amazes me the camaraderie (sp?) that still exists after 50 years. I might be wrong (this spaghetti brain seldom works accurately these days)but do believe we graduated on June 24th (OOPS or was that my HS Grad date from Bishops). Anyway,even if I'm wrong, wanted to say (datewise) once again a happy 50th Anny to the STS zoo crew I grew up with. Let's not wait 50 years again (Not that we'd be around). Would be nice if we could gather in 5 years or so, even "regionally" for those who had to travel far. Want to send my very best to each of you that were & are part of my fondest memories. Enjoy a safe and wonderful summer ahead & keep the faith! Later...Kathy
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Bill Ryan
6/15/2010 10:04:03 am
Geez! Maybe the blog is not dead after all! Nice to hear from you gals, Pam and Kathy. I don't associate smells all that much with STS, except that I do remember when I was down in the lower grades, especially 1st, it seemed we were averaging about one "puke incident" a day, with the janitor rushing in and sprinkling his magic sawdust over the protein splat. There was some kind of sickeningly sweet deodorizer mixed in with the sawdust. Man, just writing about this, I'm getting a little queazy. Sorry! But, hey, that's the way it was back in our lovely little world of STS! Kathy, you mentioned the actual day that will mark 50 years to the day that we graduated from STS. It'll be Saturday, June 26. Wow! 50 years! Makes me feel like part of the History Channel! LOL
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Frank Dann
6/15/2010 10:25:55 am
Hi everyone~~
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Cathy M
6/15/2010 09:14:06 pm
Frank / Pam: I, too, remember the smell which is stuck in my sense memory. I was at the school like Pam about 20 years ago. It isn't that "pine sol" smell but a furniture polish combined with a clean smell. What struck my memory, too was the high polish on the floors and wood. How immaculate everything was and still is. I can remember the children getting sick as well as the first graders having "accidents", too but fortunately these are not part of my smell memory. Poor Bill! That was lovely to have a recent picture of Frank W and so nice to have him included.
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Charlie D
6/15/2010 09:53:14 pm
Hello all, good to see some still blogging. My mind recalls that the name of the fellow who had to clean up the accidents was Vincent. One of the early aroma memories for me was the smell of the pencil sharpener. Onward to the late 70's: as a joke on our Lieut. some one emptied the remians of the pencil sharpener into his pipe tobacco pouch. He lit up as we were riding down the road in the truck going for lunch and the aromas of 1st grade wafted thru the air. The saying goes, I want to be a fireman when I grow up. Reply is, you can't have both.....
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6/16/2010 04:54:53 pm
Better late than never...
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Hello again-
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Bill Ryan
6/17/2010 10:51:32 am
Ed - Holy cow! What a great set of photos! If anyone reading this hasn't checked them out, do it right now! Follow the link that Ed posted on June 16. Just copy and paste that into your browser's address window, and it should take you there. At least I think it will. I've been waiting to see if anyone would let me know if they were able to access Maureen Connors picasa gallery, but, so far, no one has said anything. You guys are so freakin' shy! LOL
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Bill Ryan
6/17/2010 10:52:20 am
Holy camoley! I may have to start a new chapter on this blog soon. What do you think?
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Charlie D
6/17/2010 09:13:58 pm
Bill & Ed, great pics Ed. Comments below some pictures are a very nice touch. Also, Bill, I did get to view Maureen Conner's pics but needed a bit of tech help to access them. Also some great shots. Viewing the shot down 48th Ave from Schirmer's reminded me of the 1965 blackout. Lynn and I were sitting in my car at that time & when we looked down the avenue, Manhattan was dark. That was a calm blackout compared to the 1977 one.
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Bill Ryan
6/17/2010 11:11:15 pm
Hey, Charlie. On Nov. 9, 1965, the date of the first Big Blackout, I remember I was home, cramming for a test I was going to have the next day (I was a student at Manhattan College.) First the lights went out in our house - which was way down the far end of 42nd St, the 2nd house in from Laurel Hill Blvd. When you stood at our front door, you could see all of lower Manhattan and, off to the left, north Brooklyn and the Kosciusko Bridge. I went outside to ask my next door neighbor if she lost power, which she had. As I was standing there, talking to her, I could see the lights go out, grid by grid, from north to south, in Manhattan. Then the lights on the bridge seem to go out in several "spurts". It was quite a sight. However, I had little to complain about. My poor wife, who I didn't know at the time, was new to NYC and got stuck in the tunnel somewhere between Vernon-Jackson & Hunters Point stations. She had to walk home from there. Welcome to the Big Apple, Jean!
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Skip Sawyer
6/17/2010 11:41:28 pm
Good morning Bill,
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Ginny Purcell Jimenez
6/19/2010 12:47:36 pm
The smell along with the sawdust spread around when someone lost their lunch was chlorophil.........I remember the green color.......and turning green myself!!!]
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Kathy Matthews Klein
6/20/2010 09:28:24 am
Greetings.... Here's wishing our STS60 guys a very happy Father's Day! Such a fuss is made about Mom's Day (NOT that we don't deserve a fuss) but fair is fair...Wouldn't want you to feel less appreciated on your special day.
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Tom Walsh
6/21/2010 06:36:54 am
Hi Guys !
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIGhlrzizcM
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Frank Dann
6/22/2010 01:34:49 pm
Does anyone remember a certain shoe store on Greenpoint Boulevard where you could put your feet under an x-ray and see them move? I remember this well when my mother took me there to buy Sneakers. Guess I was about 10.
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Ed Martin
6/23/2010 04:15:11 am
Frank-
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Bill Ryan
6/23/2010 05:37:49 am
Yes, Frank, I remember that contraption. I think it was either in National Shoe or else Sherman's Bootery. There were two stores on the south side of Greenpoint Ave, between 45th and 46th St. - same block as such establishments as Peter Pan Bakery, Merkel's pork store, a record store, and Carvel, down at the 45th St. end. I wonder if anybody, in later years, tried to sue the owner of that shoe store, claiming that that machine caused untold pain and suffering in that person's life as an adult. I'm sure some "litigious" character took advantage of that situation. Yeah, Ed, I remember Regal Shoes, on the SW corner of 46th St. and Greenpoint, across from Genovese; Thom McCann (who always carried the coolest shoes - I remember I got a pair of loafers there when I was about 13 that were black but had this white wedge-shaped insert going back the sides - reminiscent of the 59 cars with their huge tail fins) - Thom McCann was on the SW corner of 47th St. and Greenpoint, near Woolworth's. There was always a low-grade battle going on between me and my mother. I loved the "stylish" shoes sold at Thom McCann's, but she said they were cheap shoes and would ruin my feet. I don't think Thom McCann shoes ruined my feet. Age and weight did a sufficiently good job in that dept.
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Bill Ryan
6/23/2010 05:54:26 am
Correction: on the second line of the previous post, I meant to say that there were two shoe stores on that block.
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