***** BUNGALOW BAR–VS–GOOD HUMOR *****
***** BUNGALOW BAR–VS–GOOD HUMOR *****
As a kid growing up in Brooklyn (1950s-1960s) at 811 Cortelyou Road Apt. 6M—two ice cream “trucks” Bungalow Bar and Good Humor competed on a daily basis for “us” kids’ business. When I think back on those days, I can’t believe that ice cream bars were 5 & 10 cents, pizza was 15 cents a slice, a small coke was a nickel, a hamburger was 20 cents, french fries were a dime, a haircut was 50 cents, for 50 cents you got to watch two movies and three-four cartoon shorts and a gallon of gasoline was going for 20 cents a gallon…I also remember my mother “buying” me and my brother an encyclopedia–one book every week for $1 until the set was completed from the local Waldbaum’s Supermarket. Crazy as it may sound to “youngters” out there- but every couple of blocks, there was a candy store, local market, bar, bakery, diner…back then most families only had 1- car, there were no shopping malls and kids either walked to school or rode the public bus which was 15 cents and the bus driver made change for you. There was no Starbucks-Costcos-Walmarts-Targets-Wendys—but there were plenty of Chock Full O’ Nuts, Nedicks, Ebingers. There were no soda machines that let you mix 100 different Coke flavors, but all of the candy stores had soda fountains and ice coolers which you stuck your hand into- and searched the freezing cold water for the bottle you wanted.
This one is open to everyone.
Tell Jeff Eats of days long past.
A Queens boy myself.
Remember Bungalow and Good Humor. If memory serves me right, Bungalow was a nickel and Good was a dime. My favorite was Good’s toasted almond and its chocolate cake pops. Also loved its creamsicles.
Also remember Topsy’s fried chicken.
One of my all time favorites, Ebinger’s black cruellers. Dunkin’ doesnt even come close.
Also remember cream cheese on date bread at Chock and its wonder orange drink to wash it down.
Fond memories.
Don’t know who started the rumor back in 1953 but it was said that Bungalow Bar had worms in their ice cream so most of us kids went for the Good Humor truck (except of course the kids who liked the taste of worms). Does anyone remember playing a game called “heels” the greatest street game ever invented?
Jeff,
stick ball in the streets.
punch ball in the apt buildings back yard.
chinese handball in the school yard.
flipping baseball cards.
5 baseball cards and a stick of gum for a nickel.
lime ricky’s in the candy store.
penny candy, dots, licorice,
a school bus pass for a buck a month.
stoop ball.
newspapers for 5 cents
the post, the bklyn eagle, the tribune, the times, the hearld, the daily news.
mayor wagner.
senator javits.
governor rockefeller
president eisenhower one of the greatest leaders of all time.
hebrew lessons.
moms who actually cooked.
dinners at home with assigned seats for all family members.
mom’s getting their hair done on saturdays.
bohack supermarket
fortunoffs on pitken ave
garfields cafetria
automats.
matrons in the theatre
now the kids got the internet and video games but no sense of community.
I used to live for punch ball but I remember handing out those bendable tin election pins for Adlai Stevenson, when I was 8, in 1956, and wasn’t real happy that Ike won
You forgot Dubrows at Kings Highway. Big Daddy’s on Coney Island Ave. Box ball in front of the building you lived. Jahn’s Ice Cream. Sunny Dew orange drinks. Ebingers-now that was cake especially their blackout cake.
Jeff:
The 1950’s and 1960’s were surely different times than they are today.
I think I read this here but it should be repeated:
When we were kids we often took family trips with our parents. Our dad took loads of pictures on those trips. When he went back to work he would take the rolls of film and drop them off at a photography store. Usaullya week or two later the pictures were ready and when he brought them home, the whole family would sit around and look at them and remember the trip that we had been on.
Now a days, you get instant gratification. You can shape a picture and instantly see it.
Back in 1950s and 1960s we didn’t have vcrs, discs, computers. We had tvs and in our case in the BX we had ABC, NBC, CBS, WNEW, WPIX, WOR, PBS end of story. No vcr recalls. If you missed a show you missed it.
We had Ed Sullivan, we had Elvis, we had the Beatles. Huge tv nights.
We had the Fugitive, huge tv nights.
We had Cronkite, Brinkley, Huntley, Rather we didnt have some good looking airhead blond reading a teleprompter.
We had the Rat Pack and glamor and real movie stars.
It was a much better time in America.
People talked to each other.
No texting no gimmicks, just straight old talk.
We had Mantle, Williams, Berra, Yastremski, to name but a few and they all needed off season jobs because they didnt make $30,000,000 like some of the guys do today.
Amazingly back then the politicans like today are still all crooks. Just think, this guy Obama and this guy Romney will spend a billion dollars each to get elected to a job that pays $400,000.
The Israelis hate the Arabs and vice versa, nothings changed ever in that department.
What I found incredulous is that no matter what era they come from, politicans think that they can get away with stuff and the public will never be the wiser. Nixon, Clinto, Hart, Edwards, Frank, Rangel, Estes, the list never ends. I guess no matter what era you favor some things never ever change.
As a kid I recall Howard Johnson’s controlling the highways.
I recall Dolly Madison being a huge ice cream brand.
I recall Chock Full O Nuts and Nedick’s controlling NYC’s street corners.
I recall Garfield’s Dubrow’s huge cafeterias.
I recall seeing every NYC worker carrying a brown coffee bag to the office.
I recall hat blocker stores.
I recall black and green NYC police cars.
I recall being shocked to see your school teacher shopping in the supermarket.
I recall Soupy Sales, John Neggy, Winky Dink, Sky King, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, My Little Margie, Abbot & Costello, Mighty Mouse.
Times change.
Memories last forever.
Sonny Fox and Wonderama, the Sandy Becker Show (and his character Hambone)…
I grew up in Glendale Cal.
Most of you easterners probably have never had the pleasure of eating at Bob’s Big Boy.
Forget all these 5 Guys this and that, Bob’s is as they say the bomb.
Fortunatley for us Bob fans, its been around since the late 1930s and has a number of locations in other states.
If you come across a Bob’s try it. It will take you back to when things were going great.
Your big Boys are no match for the White Castle sliders I grew up on Rockville Centre, NY.
I got one that’s going to top all of you guys.
I’ve been eating pizza from J & V Pizzeria in Bensonhurst since 1952. Best NY slice you ever had.
Mr. Fonzie:
Just had a chance to read your comments.
I think I got one that goes-you one better…I’ve been eating at Garguilo’s Restaurant on West 15th Street in Brooklyn since 1950. My parents use to take me and my brother even as infants to both Gargulios and Carolina’s which was across the street. So there!
Jeff,
Carolina’s is no more. But Garguilo’s is going strong as ever.
As an old Brooklyn Boy, you do know that years ago Mimi a former owner of Carolina’s opened Fiorentino’s on Avenue U. Exact same food. Definitely some of the best Italian food that I have ever eaten. The place is like a time warp, nothing has changed in like 30 years.
Anna Cohen (Boynton Beach):
Just had a chance to read your comments.
I am very familar with the Carolina’s-Fiorentino’s saga.
Over the years, I’ve eaten in Fiorentino’s literally a 100 times. Great food.
Thanks for reading…
I still have a home in Bay Ridge. I eat at Fiorentino’s at least twice a month. Best food.
You guys don’t know anything…try Woodrow Deli and right next to it Willies Pizza then will talk.
Remember the saying ”Bungalow Bar tastes like tar the more you eat it the sicker you are”
Jon G:
Just had a chance to read your comments.
Take a look at 3/16/2009, I got a review for Woodro Kosher Deli.
By the way, I’ve also eaten in the pizza joint a few doors down from Woodro and if memory serves me right, they made a real good slice.
Thanks for reading…
Personally I was always a fan of Senior’s and Junior’s.
Woodro has great food.
It’s been there something like 50 years.
Norman who owns it sits at the front register and knows everyone who comes in there.
Use to eat there with my parents when we lived in Lawrence.
Every so often when I get back to the neighborhood I stop in for a great corned beef or pastrami sandwhich.
Been down here in Wellington for over 10 years.
Other than Ben’s and Zinger’s haven’t found any delis that even come close to the Woodro.
Too bad it’s a 20 mile trip one way to Boca for me or I would be at Zinger’s and ben’s a lot.
Above places are in Hewlett, LI
jon g,
lived over 30 years hewlett.
have eaten in the woodro many times.
fabulous food.
they made a hawaiian chicken salad that was fabulous.
same for their mush steak.
oh, their fried kreplach with sauteed onions, a must for evry good jew.
we now live in boca and eat at zinger’s deli. i think gary zinger as a kid worked at the woodro. gary makes some delicious food so being so far from the woodro is as painful as it could have been.
by the way, ben’s another LI deli is good in boca but zinger’s is better.
have you ever eaten in la palma, great food on the island?
Any of you guys remember BIG Daddy’s Drive In on Avenue Y and Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn? Their franks and fries were as good as Nathan’s in Coney Island. I use to eat there in the 1960s and 1970s. They over expanded to other NY locations and even down to Miami and eventually couldn’t make it.
Loved the franks and fries.
How about the knishes at Mrs. Stahl’s Knishes under the tressel in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn? Best knished I ever ate.
There is a Big Daddy’s tribute site at http://www.bigdaddysconeyisland.com
When I was a kid I went to Brooklyn Day Camp in Far Rockaway. Our arch rivals was Broad Channel Day Camp in the same area. We use to hit each others yellow school buses with water balloons on the way home.
Karen,
They could never defeat us!! BDC was the BEST!!!
Anybody know McCobb’s Family Restaurant & Ice Cream Bar in Wayne NJ?
Been going there since 1966.
Bungalow Bar
Tastes like tar
The more you eat it
The sicker you are!
From Wikipedia:
Bungalow Bar was a brand of ice cream sold from trucks to consumers on the streets in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens and the Bronx, as well as in Yonkers, during the 1950s and 60s. Bungalow Bar trucks serviced the Bushwick section of Brooklyn during forties. Bungalow Bar trucks had a distinctive, quaint, and decidedly old-fashioned look: white, with rounded corners, and made to look like a small, mobile bungalow topped with a dark brown shingle roof.
The founder of Bungalow Bar was a Greek immigrant who left Greece just before the onset of WWII. He had five children all of whom worked in the factory. His 2 daughters are still alive today March 2008. To the best of their memory, they can remember the huge production building located in Richmond Hill, Queens. The one daughter worked both in the office and then learned how to operate the machines in the packing plant.
Bungalow Bar’s chief competitive rival was Good Humor, whose trucks appeared larger, more angular, and more modern. Perhaps for this reason, Bungalow Bar suffered from a terrible – and undeserved – reputation among children, who believed their product inferior. Good Humor’s ice cream on a stick sold for 10 cents, while Bungalow Bar’s price was 5 cents. This reputation was expressed as a kind of chant or song and, passing from one child to another, quickly crossed neighborhood boundaries and age groups. The lyrics, as learned in Flatbush, Brooklyn in the late 1950s, were:
Bungalow Bar
Tastes like tar
Put it in a jar
And throw it far
There were many localized variations of this chant. One, during the same period went:
Bungalow Bar
Tastes like tar
The more you eat
The sicker you are
And another, from Brooklyn:
Bungalow Bar
Tastes like tar
Take a bite
And spit it far
Who here remembers Freedomland, Palisades Park, Rockaway Playground, Steeplechase at Coney Island?
Keds sneakers.
Converse sneakers.
Spaldines and Pinky balls.
Much different times.
Joke…One Christmas my father gave us an empty box as a gift. Me and my sister told him it was a lousy present and he said it was the hottest gift going. It was called GI Joe went AWOL.
You guys remember the bridle path on Ocean Parkway?
It’s still there, only half as wide.
You want to talk old I’ve been eating at Lou Mitchell’S in Chicago since 1954. Best diner ever. I think it opened in 1923.
A chocolate stick cost 5 with bungalow and 10 with good Humor. My mother was a smart lady. Me and my sister both got pops and mom only went for a dine. My sister and I are non the worse for that move.
I used to take the subway from Queens to the Brooklyn Fox to see the Murray the K shows. I think it cost about $3 to see a movie, get a free album, and see all the following groups, I think in 1965: Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Martha & the Vandellas, the Temptations, the Marvelettes, the Del Satins, the Four Tops, the Righteous Brothers, the Rag Dolls, Cannibal & the Headhunters. I think that was a 1965 show but he had talent like that all the time and all those guys were in their prime back then. I know Jeff loves the tribute bands that play around here but when you’ve seen David Ruffin, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, and Levi Stubbs, all singing live one after another, it sets the bar pretty high for the future
L.H. Martin’s – Widensky’s – Mr Engel’s barber shop – flipping baseball cards- home seltzer delivery-cartoons and pledge of allegiance in the auditorium before school-hop scotch-and a brand new pair of pf flyers.
gary, and how about home hoffman soda deliveries and white shirts and a red tie for boys for auditorium on fridays.
great memories.
Got a good story for you guys.
I attended Cornell University 1966-1970.
In Ithaca there was a Dunkin’ Donuts store. Back then it wasn’t the huge chain that it is today. Donuts were 10 cents a piece.
There was also a MacDonald’s but you could only pick up at the window and eat outside. Burgers were 12 cents and cheeseburgers were 15 cents.
Now get this.
Both stores had a delivery service.
You had to have a minimum order of $7.
When you think of that for 7 bucks you could have gotten 58 burgers or 70 donuts.
Amazingly because we were college kids we could really eat. Let’s just say that we ate a load of donuts and burgers during those years.
I have a home here in Pompano Beach and one in Clifton NJ.
I’ve been stuffing my face at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton for 53 years. Its open 24/7 and everything they make is diner perfection.
Maid Rite loose meat sandwiches.
If you’re from IA you’ll know what I’m talking here about.
Been chowing on them for 50 something years.
Until you’ve had one you don’t know squat about what a real burger is all about.
To show you where we live I recently saw this advertisement at a community. “All shows $14, no house dresses allowed.”
Jeff, it’s a kid growing up I brooklyn I use to love the Carmel corn that the candy store right down from Nathan’s in coney island made. Haven’t had Carmel corn like that in almost 50 years until yesterday. I got Carmel corn from popcorn zone in boca. It was delicious and it was as close to the old Carmel corn I loved. You ever been to this popcorn zone ? If you haven’t try it.
hi–
I live at 811 Cortelyou Road #5M! We’ve been here for two years. Not a fan of the current ice cream trucks, but I love the neighborhood and the building.
Natasha
Natasha:
Just had a chance to read your comments.
I lived at 811 Cortelyou Road Apt 6M from 1949 to 1975.
Tons of great memories.
I knew all of the families that lived in your current 5M apt.
Thanks for reading…
Jeff, we live in #6N. Great reading your post – we love this neighborhood and our local community. Come back sometime and check it out!
Samir Chopra:
Just had a chance to read your comments.
I’m getting old, walking out of Apt 6M is Apt 6N to the left or right?
Thanks for reading…
jeff, it goes to show you what a small world this is. two people have written to you telling you that they currently live in the same apt building where you grew up as a kid. one right uner you and one in the apt right nest door. it also show that this blog has a wide net of readers.
got one for you, i went to Camp Annisquam with you in Gloucester Mass. you had one of the best senses of humor that i’ve ever seen. i also remember that in our group was issac asimov’s son and although his father was a famour sci fi writer he was scared of the dark. we were in the Salty bunk and our counsellor was group leader Gary.
i and my wife have lived in aventura for over 25 years.
bobby katz
Ring-a-levio 123 — King Kong truck ride –switching out of my school clothes and into my play clothes–Good Humor strawberry shortcake bar
Once came very close to finding China,while digging in the lot behind my house.
Jeff:
No contest, Good Humor was better. BUT they got a dime and the other guy got a nickel.
This story brought back some great memories.
Do you remember NBC’s studios on Ave. M. in Brooklyn?
How about Cooky’s on both Ave. J and Ave. M?
–Spaldings or Pennsy Pinkies?
–Harnik’s Happy House on Ave J for records (“My Green Tambourine” was my first)
–Jade Wah–wonderful–also on J
–and the Dime Savings Bank where i put my first monies ever made
–Met Food Store on Ave. H; Associated on Coney Island Avenue; Bohack and Packers…long gone.
–Plaid stamps and King…hmmm…something
–Dave was our Good Humor man. Chocolate Eclairs and, yes, that toasted almond. YUM!
–Fred and Rudy’s for malteds with my next door neighbor Lawrence. Hey, Lawrence, where are you now?
–Lightning bugs! Foxes and hounds! Hide and seek–oh the wonders of summer.
Susan Ab,
We must have lived right near each other and shared the same good humor man…Dave. I lived on East 7th and Ave. H in the 60’s. We shopped at Met Food, then Bohack when it opened later. Fred and Rudy’s was where I had my malteds also. My first bank account was also at Dime Savings. Definately Spaldings!
Randy, re: Fred & Rudy’s:
http://mrbellersneighborhood.com/2008/12/i-left-my-youth-at-fred-rudy%E2%80%99s-candy-store
Dave was my Good Humor man too.
http://petercherches.blogspot.com/2008/08/windows-of-my-childhood.html
How about Ebinger’s, 2 movies and cartoons for 50 cents, haircuts for 50 cents, small Coke 5 cents, 15 cents for a subway ride, Bonno Turkish Taffy 5 cents for a bar, 5 baseball cards and a stick of gum 5 cents, lime rickey’s, italian ices 2 scoops 10 cents.
All of theabove sure beats video games, dont you think?
JE: Great column and some really great comments.
Beautiful memories.
How come nobody mentioned Popsicles with the double sticks for a nickel?
Do any of you people remember in the 50/s how a guy delivered milk in glass bottles to your house and another delivered bottled sodas?
Hey Jeff,
I lived at 400 Ocean Parkway from 1948-1974. Like you I attended PS 179. I went to Ditmas JHS and Erasmus Hall HS.
Maybe our paths crossed back then but I don’t recall knowing you.
I was recently back in the old neighborhood and almost everything has changed since the old days. The one constant is George’s Restaurant on Coney Island Avenue at Cortelyou Rd which opened way back in 1956. I really remember that place because my mother made a huge deal about my crossing Coney Island Ave by myself when I was 11 to get there.
I grew up in the nice part of Jamaica Queens…. Salerno’s pizza was 15 cents a slice and was nice and crisp and thin crust style and the subway (of course) was the same 15 cents. At age 12 I was allowed to take the subway into Manhattan by myself or w friends. Maybe even younger.
Katz’s was not a tourist trap back then 1960s. No cheese on the pastrami to make a disgusting Reuben sandwich. In my neighborhood there were a few kosher style delis that were very good. The real unsung hero at Katz’s are the knockwurst aka specials. I can get great pastrami down here (Zingers and a few others) that is as good as Katz’s. Those garlicky fat specials were a common deli item but are rare these days. Anyone have them down here and I don’t mean Hebrew National.
Also education at NY state universities was very cheap and the NYC public school system was solid with discipline.
Who remembers Friday assemblies in elementary school and boys had to wear white shirts and red ties?
One of my favorite memories from way back then was when they ran a movie in class showing us how to take cover under our wooden desks in case of a nuclear attack.
I also remember buying cookies in class for 1 penny.
How about a whole pizza for buck?
How about the changers that bus drivers use to use to make change for you?
How about Chinese laundries?
How about 5 cents for a cup of coffee?
Still can’t figure out Starbucks at 5 bucks.
Jeff, I use to live on Cortelyou Rd and East 21st Street.
Use to ride the Flatbush Ave bus to Ebbets Field for a nickel to watch the Dodgers.
Who remembers G.I. Joes on ocean prky &ave Z?
I was born on Avenue L and E. 14th Street. Rest of the family lived on E. 12th and 13th right around the corner from Avenue J. They are long gone and the last time I visited the “old” neighborhood, I couldn’t believe how much it had changed. The memories, though, will live on forever.
Hey Joan, I visit long time friends on E12th and Kings Hwy. Ain’t been down since 2014. Gotta get back again.
I’m a Bronx boy
The only borough with a The in front of it
Not a DAH like you guys in Brooklyn used to say
I remember 35 c movies with your GO card and a whole pie and 2 cokes for 1.15
I also remember the automat (Horn and Hardart)
we had Jahn’s where we got a kitchen Sink
(about 20 scoops and of Ice cream with any and all toppings for 3.00 (ten of us ate it)
We had Shweller,s with real coney island knishes acorned beef sandwich with all the pickles and pickled tomatoes you could eat.
Daitch Shopwell, Wakldbaums, and real bakery breads.
I remember The lox was hand sliced to order and as thin as you wanted.
Bagel shop I worked in where we hand made bagels (bulls ) and they were only 1.20 f0r a bakers dozen.
a vanilla egg cream and a pretzel was 10c
we had penny candies and loose cigarettes were 2 c. The New York Times on Sunday was 25c and you could paper train 4 dogs for a week on them
The cop on the beat knew everybody by name
Now you have @ politicians spending almost a million dollrs each to get a $400,000.00 job
nad screw everybody
Bring me back to the old days .
Good luck to us
Hi folks, I’m an old Queens boy, myself, Jamaica to be precise. I lived on Jamaica Avenue off 178th street in what was called a railroad flat. That meant there was a long hall on one side, and all the rooms were on the other side, like a Pullman car. Things were pretty tight back then, but that’s not the way things stuck in my memory. I remember both Bungalow Bar and Good Humor, in fact, my cousin was one of the managers of the Good Humor plant in Brooklyn, and he got me a job there right after high school. Hard to imagine a young kid sayin’ this, but I hated the place and the job. Worst 2 weeks of my life ( up ’til then).
In Jamaica we had locally owned candy stores like Mrs. Fader’s place across from my house where you could get a small bag of candy for a nickel! We had the Jameco Chevy car dealership next to us, and you could get a bottle of Coke for a dime (and 2 cents deposit back) Nino’s pizzeria was the local shop, and a slice and a coke was 2 bits. My favorite place was Meyer’s ice cream parlor nearby. I loved their handmade banana ice cream. Put good humor to shame! (Are you starting to see a trend here?)
Thank you folks for letting me ramble on about these old memories. It was fun!
worked there in the area and nino’s pizza was still there as 2012
does anyone remember carvel ice cream trucks in the 60’s
Yes, and their competition was Freezer Fresh.
Don’t recall Carvel trucks but do remember Mr. Softee coming around the neighborhood.
we had carvel ice cream trucks in ridgewood queens in the 60’s besides freezer fresh
Anybody here attend Erasmus Hall Class of 64?
We grew up in theBronx. Remember going to see cartoons before the main feature and if I rem correctly, .75. How about Louigis Pizza on west heater Abe. Whole pie was $1.50. Extra cheese .25. Johns ice cream parlor where we watched kids eat the “kitchen sink” and then throw up. The Jelly man who glazed marshmallows.
Great memories indeed.
Btw, class of ’63 from James Monroe HS
on Flatbush Ave near Church I remember a Dairy Queen opened up in 1965; also a DQ on Main St in Flushing just past Sanford Ave around 1970…now Carvel’s seems to be the only soft serve ice cream in NYC-I read that DQ an Carvel sort came to an agreement whereby they divvied up sales territories around the US to avoid having to compete; don’t know if that’s true, however