Questions Specifically for Benjaman

[hyldo]

Does Mr. Kyle look familiar to you by any chance? :blowkiss:

Oh how I wish! The Marsh factor almost certainly puts him in Central Indiana though. Marsh did try to expand a bit into Ohio and I think even some into Illinois, but they never caught on in those markets.

 

[Kimster]

Thank you Mr. Kyle for answering so many of our questions. Some of them had me smiling and laughing.

I'm gonna guess if you recall people talking about Dick Biondi's 'knock knock' joke, you must have been within the listening area of WLS am 890 at the time the joke was told on air. I guess I have some homework to do- and see if I can find out the date that joke was told on air, and how far the station broadcast during Biondi's show. that would give us a possible time and limit of area's you were in at the time.


I know AM radio broadcasts pretty far during the evening, and quite possibly covered a several state area.......

As for grits, I know they are sold in grocery stores in the Chicago area, so I imagine they aren't too hard to purchase.

ETA: WLS AM 890 could have been heard, hundreds if not a thousand miles away in the evenings, so it is unlikely this would specify an area.

I have never ever heard of the knock-knock joke and I have lived in the western states area all of my life. I would safely assume you were not on the west coast, Benjamin

And a heartfelt WELCOME to Websleuths!

 

[Cubby]

This is copied from the wiki page:

Kyle has memories of Indianapolis as a child, including the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, the Woolworth's on the Circle, and the Indiana Theater showing movies in [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinerama"]Cinerama[/ame]. He remembers [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Hill_Cemetery"]Crown Hill Cemetery[/ame], though not its name; the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Rite_Cathedral"]Scottish Rite Cathedral[/ame]; and the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_River"]White River[/ame] when "it was mostly just a dumping ground

Can you expand on any of these memories as there is very limited information at the wiki page, and I don't recall seeing the details posted here. For example, what do you remember about these places? Where they teen hang outs? Anything funny or offbeat about them-

say for example what was interesting about the Scottish Rite Cathedral? (I ask because locally we had a story about "peabody's tomb"- a source of 'ghost stories' and a place teens hung out)

or the Soldier's and Sailors' Monument? ( I remember a small local vietnam vet listing a few blocks from my childhood home, which was eventually removed due to vandalism and relocation of the town hall. We also had a very small local Memorial day parade, which passed my house as a young child.)

What about this particular Woolworths? (I remember a Walgreens and a Woolworths directly across the mall from from each other, both had sit the small sit down counter to have a meal... way back.... I remember walking a few miles to take the 313 bus to the mall... in an area that didn't really have 'public' transportation. ) That 313 bus was right near a Taco Bell - which was a teen hang out, and the guys used to climb up on the roof and unscrew the bell... and toss it in the parking lot. they got so tired of having to put that bell back up they finally thought to grease it so no one could twist it off....


I'm thinking about something odd or unusual.... which might help tie a location, or search for others sharing those same old memories....

or maybe something else you might like to discuss that hasn't been asked?

TY!

Cubby - who on an OT note FINALLY heard Dick Biondi's version of On top of a Pizza! See Benjaman, you're making a liar out of me. As soon as I posted I had never heard the song... and I have been listening to him on and off for since 1983? I finally hear the song. You never know what we might stumble upon here for you case if you just put out whatever crosses your mind, even if casually.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Do you remember back to school shopping for clothes as a kid? It was always a traumatic event for my brother. LOL

 

[carolwood]

NB and BEN:
When you get a chance, please see the 50-60 yr. old thread #5, posts #265-266. I went through the 1930 census and posted Powells from KY, now living in INDIANAPOLIS. Thank you.

 

[Benjaman]

O/T Pickled eggs with a RIND????

The longer the Hard Boiled Eggs(Hereinafter known as HBE'S) sit in the pickling brine, the harder the outside layer of the egg would get. The best Pickled HBE's(Hereinafter known as PHBE's) had sat in the brine for several weeks. You could even put food colouring in the brine and the eggs would come out bright red or green. This was great if you wanted to gross out someone by eating a coloured PHBE in front of them.
In case anyone is wondering, you do peel the eggs after boiling and before putting them in the brine.

 

[Benjaman]

Cool... I looked up Marsh, reminded me of the good old days, kind of.... but Marsh got into several other business's.

We had a Mr."one letter" -it's a one and only..... for who knows how long. They were known for finer meats, long after 'butcher stores' weren't so local. Across the street was the "flower" Bakery... where we went for "Poonchki's" ( what I heard of polish as a kid) or Paczki Day aka Polish Fat Tuesday. Which we called Bismarks.... not doughnuts if they were jelly filled.

Our local bakery was good, but not as good as some in the city....

It was funniest when I took my then 7 year old nephew for a paczki on fat tuesday... and at that age he tought EVERY tuesday was paczki day.

I wonder what kind of dougnuts, or meat markets, or good old fashioned 'drug stores' Mr. Kyle might recall... we had both woolworths and walgreens sit down at the table, and a few old drugs stores with the old shake machines.... and wow were they fun.. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to sit in a Rexall style 'drug store' for a home made milk shake.

I remember Bismarks. the Best ones were custard filled and dusted with confectioner's sugar. I do not remember them in Colorado. In Georgia all you can get is Krystal Doughnuts and they are nothing but a grease laden doughball whose real purpose in life is to give you a heart attack.

 

[Benjaman]

I have to respectfully disagree SS. My tastes in food as an adult are very very different than when I was a child. Simply because I have been exposed to a greater variety of foods I was never exposed to as a child. For example, while my family is of Polish decent, as an adult I developed a dislike for bland heavy foods. I had never tried many seafood dishes, Italian, Pakistani, Indian, and other foods as a child. Many of which I love now. I suppose if one was a picky eater as a child, they may or may not be a picky eater as an adult........ I'm from Chicago, I LOVE pickled eggs! Something more popular in the south- but I am not from, nor have I ever lived in the south. If Mr. Kyle worked in a restaurant, he would have been exposed to a variety of foods never made in his childhood home which would have influenced his food tastes based on what kind of food the restaurant served. As a manager he surely would have sampled all the foods on the menu. Hope this makes sense. :blowkiss:

There is much speculation about foods that I like. I have very Catholic tastes(pun intended). Here is one recipe that I eat often. It is a very forgiving recipe, so the amounts do not matter a whole lot.
Oatmeal
Chicken base(do not use chicken bouillon)
Jalapeno peppers or Hot Sauce or red pepper flakes
Frozen Vegetables
Onion
Garlic powder
Just cook together until the oatmeal is done.
Some of you will not believe that I eat this, but I do-Just ask NB.

 

[justthinkin]

Hi Benjaman!

I don't post much here because I have little knowlege of CO, and none of IN, and the only thing I know about food is how to cook it and eat it! I'm wondering though if you have any memories at all of having visited a foreign country, and if so, which one?

 

[SeriouslySearching]

The longer the Hard Boiled Eggs(Hereinafter known as HBE'S) sit in the pickling brine, the harder the outside layer of the egg would get. The best Pickled HBE's(Hereinafter known as PHBE's) had sat in the brine for several weeks. You could even put food colouring in the brine and the eggs would come out bright red or green. This was great if you wanted to gross out someone by eating a coloured PHBE in front of them.
In case anyone is wondering, you do peel the eggs after boiling and before putting them in the brine.

Try "pickling" them in jalapeno juice. Great on salads etc. I figured this out when my pregnancy craving was jalapenos in any way even on ice cream. LOL (I got the idea from eating PHBEs)

 

[Cubby]

There is much speculation about foods that I like. I have very Catholic tastes(pun intended). Here is one recipe that I eat often. It is a very forgiving recipe, so the amounts do not matter a whole lot.
Oatmeal
Chicken base(do not use chicken bouillon)
Jalapeno peppers or Hot Sauce or red pepper flakes
Frozen Vegetables
Onion
Garlic powder
Just cook together until the oatmeal is done.
Some of you will not believe that I eat this, but I do-Just ask NB.

Oh my, I just laughed out loud reading this and my almost 7 year asked what was so funny, so I read this to him. Now this kid has an appetite that would compete with an old man in NY from the old country - my son is like Mikie, he likes everything, but he thought this sounded disgusting.

I'm lost on the Catholic thing.... Other than lamb cake at Easter, and no meat on fridays during lent, I don't remember any foods specifically being 'catholic'. What about special foods for holidays?

I do remember my dad telling me my polish ancestors ate duck blood soup, and I was like oh no, that is one I simply could not try. (I think I would try chitlins first)

On a Catholic note, do you have any recollections of your first communion? Your confirmation? - such as confirmation name, or even your sponser? Anything in particular about your Catholic schooling? We had some nuns and then later brothers. We used to get away with wearing our uniforms too short, but that was the late 70's. I remember in 8th grade Sister Mary Estelle (complete nasty woman she was- and the school principal) locked a kindergartner in the storage closet for not finishing his lunch. He could have been hurt if the stacked chairs and tables had fallen on him. I told his teacher, who told me to mind my own business. I didn't know any better than, but I wish I would have known to find him after school and ask to talk to his mother to tell her what happened. Catholic school today- post all the sexual abuse that was exposed- is much different now than it was even 20 years ago. One of the preists, Father White, who was only at my school for a short time, was moved from school to school for abuse. (that was the 70's). So, I understand some of the bad memories.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Hello Benjamin. I am somewhat new to WS. I went back tonight and read through the threads here. I saw you have a possible memory of Arthur Treachers Fish & Chips. I do know for sure there was one of these in or near Jekyll Island, GA around 1974. I know this because I went there from Virginia with my mom, sister, brother-in-law and I do not eat seafood, fish of any kind and so my mom and I went next door to some kind of other restaurant while my sister and her husband went to AT F & C.

Speaking of my brother-in-law, he worked for a few years at Kenny's Drive-In and eventually managed a lot of them and I think they were only in Virginia with possibly one in West Virginia.

Also, there was a Burger Chef in Roanoke, VA, and both my husband and I believe they went out around 1974-75.

This same brother-in-law (passed away in 1992 sadly) but worked as a route salesman for S & D Coffee Company. If you have heard of S & D or Kenny's Drive In, I'll do a little more research to see exactly what states they covered. Thank you.

My husband is from Michigan and he thinks grits were mainly a southern food.

 

[Cubby]

I don't mean to push or pry, so take this as just talking out loud if you wish Mr. Kyle

some of the memories of the restaurants were nationally known. I'm wondering what sticks out maybe just regional?

For example, in Chicago we have two major brands of hot dogs. Chicago Red Hot and Vienna. I will only eat Vienna if I have to ( the skins are too thick - yuck!) It's a sin to have catsup on a hot dog in the Chicago area and they will not put it on a hot dog with everything unless one asks.

We love our Italian beef! Portillos, has the (vienna) hotdogs and good Italian beef, but not as good as Johnny's beef on North Avenue in Elmwood park! The lines outside of Johnny's can wind around the block. The choice of peppers is also important, sweet or italian hot giardiniera ( I will take the giardiniera- and that oil is so good on portillo's french fries! )

when we had White Hen Pantry they used to have the soft cones called a Whippy Dip. Robin had square ice cream cones, and obviously the butt of kids jokes.. there were only 5 or so locations, and only one still remains open to this day. Oberweiss is really good ice cream too.. they have expanded, but they were first operational in Aurora, Il.

I will be a little less specific for privacy reasons, but I remember a local candy store that made their own chocolate. They were as good if not better than Fannie May, and we could watch them poor the chocolate.

Other things that stick out to me are unusual bridges... say the ones on the road that are only one lane under the bridge, or an odd or unusual underpass walk way that stood out. Old limestone bridges.....

Strange commercials for grocery stores stick out too. In Chicago there is a "Moo and Oink" for the south side that specializes in african american foods... the commercials are funny and memorable. They only have two locations. And years ago, Cub Food had a commerical which was very quickly pulled because they had the cauliflower turn into a little old white lady and the eggplant turn into a little old black lady ( most people know that is a bad word in Italian for african americans). I remember my mouth dropping, thinking someone is getting fired for that commercial.

So I guess, I am just tossing out things that might bring back some fond, or funny memories.

 

[Cubby]

Being from the Chicago area, there always a lot to talk about political wise, even if one doesn't necessarily follow politics. The first mayor daily had his 'rumors', Jane Byrne was often made fun of, there were many rumors about Harold Washington when he was mayor of Chicago, and good old Mayor Daily junior has his quirks too.

Anything like that, that might be location specific?

 

[dreamweaver]

There is much speculation about foods that I like. I have very Catholic tastes(pun intended). Here is one recipe that I eat often. It is a very forgiving recipe, so the amounts do not matter a whole lot.
Oatmeal
Chicken base(do not use chicken bouillon)
Jalapeno peppers or Hot Sauce or red pepper flakes
Frozen Vegetables
Onion
Garlic powder
Just cook together until the oatmeal is done.
Some of you will not believe that I eat this, but I do-Just ask NB.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Benjaman: I thought, what the heck, this concoction is like oatmeal hot spicy vegetable soup. I have never heard of this before. Maybe it is of your own making. But very filling I would think.
Pretty amusing. Thank you.

btw: In the Pacific NW, a lot of us add dried cranberries, raisins, nuts, to our oatmeal.

 

[dreamweaver]

I do not know anything about Indiana or Colorado or Illinois.
What I do know about is the 60's.
And I mean the 60's that did not include going to Woodstock.
While I had liberal leanings and would have marched at Selma, if it wasn't all the way across the country, I did not
protest, go to wild concerts, join any love-in's, or live in a commune.
(not that there is anything wrong with that)
I was married young, had children at a young age and lived in my same small hometown.
I did work on the college newspaper and had a chance to express my political and social feelings there.

My point in saying all that, is :
Benjaman:
1. I think you said that when JFK was shot, you remember being outside your school, maybe it was junior high?
2. Do you remember where you were when Kent State happened?
3. What about Woodstock?
4. Is there a memory of the Cuban missle crisis?

 

[Cubby]

Good questions carolwood. I thought Mr. Kyle did say he remembered being outside a junior high building when JFK was assinated. With an estimated birth year and date of August 1948, that would only put him one year off with being in JH in Nov 63.

(I remember cut offs for kindergarten enrollment being Dec 1st in the 70's vs. the most often used Sept 1st these days, though a few states currently have later dob cutoffs for KG enrollment. What I remember about KG enrollment dates fluctuating meant a child could start KG anywhere from 4-6, but never 7 that I have found).

What about when Elvis died?
When John Lennon was assasinated?

 

[Benjaman]

Try "pickling" them in jalapeno juice. Great on salads etc. I figured this out when my pregnancy craving was jalapenos in any way even on ice cream. LOL (I got the idea from eating PHBEs)

Sliced Jalapenos on ice cream is good-Try adding them to the Ice cream when you are making it.

 

[Benjaman]

Oh my, I just laughed out loud reading this and my almost 7 year asked what was so funny, so I read this to him. Now this kid has an appetite that would compete with an old man in NY from the old country - my son is like Mikie, he likes everything, but he thought this sounded disgusting.

I'm lost on the Catholic thing.... Other than lamb cake at Easter, and no meat on fridays during lent, I don't remember any foods specifically being 'catholic'. What about special foods for holidays?

I do remember my dad telling me my polish ancestors ate duck blood soup, and I was like oh no, that is one I simply could not try. (I think I would try chitlins first)

On a Catholic note, do you have any recollections of your first communion? Your confirmation? - such as confirmation name, or even your sponser? Anything in particular about your Catholic schooling? We had some nuns and then later brothers. We used to get away with wearing our uniforms too short, but that was the late 70's. I remember in 8th grade Sister Mary Estelle (complete nasty woman she was- and the school principal) locked a kindergartner in the storage closet for not finishing his lunch. He could have been hurt if the stacked chairs and tables had fallen on him. I told his teacher, who told me to mind my own business. I didn't know any better than, but I wish I would have known to find him after school and ask to talk to his mother to tell her what happened. Catholic school today- post all the sexual abuse that was exposed- is much different now than it was even 20 years ago. One of the preists, Father White, who was only at my school for a short time, was moved from school to school for abuse. (that was the 70's). So, I understand some of the bad memories.

Catholic in this usage means "wide ranging". I was making a pun on the fact I was raised Catholic.

 

[Benjaman]

I don't mean to push or pry, so take this as just talking out loud if you wish Mr. Kyle

some of the memories of the restaurants were nationally known. I'm wondering what sticks out maybe just regional?

For example, in Chicago we have two major brands of hot dogs. Chicago Red Hot and Vienna. I will only eat Vienna if I have to ( the skins are too thick - yuck!) It's a sin to have catsup on a hot dog in the Chicago area and they will not put it on a hot dog with everything unless one asks.

We love our Italian beef! Portillos, has the (vienna) hotdogs and good Italian beef, but not as good as Johnny's beef on North Avenue in Elmwood park! The lines outside of Johnny's can wind around the block. The choice of peppers is also important, sweet or italian hot giardiniera ( I will take the giardiniera- and that oil is so good on portillo's french fries! )

when we had White Hen Pantry they used to have the soft cones called a Whippy Dip. Robin had square ice cream cones, and obviously the butt of kids jokes.. there were only 5 or so locations, and only one still remains open to this day. Oberweiss is really good ice cream too.. they have expanded, but they were first operational in Aurora, Il.

I will be a little less specific for privacy reasons, but I remember a local candy store that made their own chocolate. They were as good if not better than Fannie May, and we could watch them poor the chocolate.

Other things that stick out to me are unusual bridges... say the ones on the road that are only one lane under the bridge, or an odd or unusual underpass walk way that stood out. Old limestone bridges.....

Strange commercials for grocery stores stick out too. In Chicago there is a "Moo and Oink" for the south side that specializes in african american foods... the commercials are funny and memorable. They only have two locations. And years ago, Cub Food had a commerical which was very quickly pulled because they had the cauliflower turn into a little old white lady and the eggplant turn into a little old black lady ( most people know that is a bad word in Italian for african americans). I remember my mouth dropping, thinking someone is getting fired for that commercial.

So I guess, I am just tossing out things that might bring back some fond, or funny memories.

I never heard of Chicago Red Hot but Vienna's are great. Their is a following for them across the country.