"Our Inwood Christmas"

Hello my friends,

My winter wink and blink can only turn to Christmas in “OUR INWOOD”… there have been those who have said… (err, written)… that “OUR INWOOD” was/is “not really…nor culturally” part of Manhattan!

What!?!... Ahh, HUMBUG!

Humbug… I say… not only is OUR INWOOD part of Manhattan culturally and in every other way you can think of… but, to put it frankly… it is one of the few true residential neighborhoods in Manhattan… it was the destination of the “old landed gentry” of the New York City of the Golden Age… it afforded the rich and powerful a “bucolic and yet urban oasis” for their mansions… and later still… it was the destination of the newlyweds of the post-WWII era… and those people… were… I am very proud to say (for the most part)… our parents…

So, to those who say that “OUR INWOOD” was something closer to Yonkers, or god-forbid Staten Island…?

I say again and again… in this Christmas and Hanukkah season…

Bah HUMBUG!

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” that is how the words go when singing one of my favorite Christmas jingles… and it reminds me of how “OUR INWOOD” readied itself for the big day… how the stores would magically change over to the wrappings and trappings of Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving was over… now-a-days we don’t have to worry nor wait for Thanksgiving… since Christmas decorations go up in the stores on July 5th in advance of the big day… but, when we were celebrating “the season” in our day… it truly was as these youthful remembrances would have it… that the decorations appeared in our neighborhood almost as if by magic…

The first sense of “The Season” were the holiday street lights… ahh, my friends… the lights… as they were strung across the wide expanse of W. 181st Street, and Dyckman Street and W. 207th Street… like… well, yes, like… magic… those large wooden poles painted green or red and then on occasion painted both half green and half red… and the strands of lights were white, gold, red and green… some years the local store owner’s association really splurged and the streets were and alternating flood of colors… and always the strands had bells, snowflakes and stars centered on our grand shopping streets… the main avenues of “OLD NEW YORK” had nothing on our uptown shopping districts… oh, all right… all right…. 5th Avenue had all of those beautiful windows… and Macy’s over on 34th and Broadway… at Herald Square… they had window after window… and then there was Lord & Taylor, and Bloomingdales, and yes, in Sachs 5th Avenue and so on… and yes, Rockefeller Center had “THE TREE”…

But we also had our store windows… and Lt. Tighe Triangle had “OUR TREE”… and the snow was always falling in my winks, blinks and nods… and I’m walking on Dyckman Street and I’m looking at and in all of the shop windows… and everyone is smiling… and everyone is bustling around… to complete their lists and to get them wrapped and under the tree…

And speaking of trees… there were no artificial trees to be had… no sir… it was real… it was fragrant… it was Balsam, Douglas Fir or Scotch Pine… and it was tall and full… and it was always in the corner of the living room… you remember over near the front window… opposite the steam radiator…

The trees at last look in this wink and blink… were still out on the fire-escapes catching a blanket of white… they would not go up in the corner of many a living room until there were visions of sugar plums dancing in little heads all over “OUR INWOOD”…

Now you all know what I have to do… now, yes you do… you know… that I cannot let Christmas go by without doing it…

I just have to do it… even though it will be a repeat of sorts… I just have to write:
“The snow is falling… in OUR INWOOD”…

The windows of Barone’s Restaurant are steamed from the heat of the kitchen and everyone is enjoying bottomless bowl of pasta… a bottle of red… and Christmas Cheer…

Rite-way Fruit across the street has sold its last dozen oranges… and pineapples… and still as one of two wreaths available…

Regina Bakery is till open and the last of the rye, white and pumpernickels just left the store… the baker is busy redoing everything as there will be the Christmas Morning rush for cheese buns and rolls in the morning…

The snow is falling… and now is getting heavy under foot…

Hans signals for you to come into Schillingmann’s and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with that little cookie… or with an English Muffin with all of its nooks and crannies dripping in butter… the hot chocolate is so good… and so inviting that you don’t want it to end… the “little cookie” is the height of ice cream parlor elegance… but it does and as you wish Mr. & Mrs. Schillingmann, Hans and everyone else sitting a the counter and tables a very Merry Christmas… you’re out the door and onto Dyckman Street once more… and you guessed it…

The snow is falling… harder now…
Weiss’ Toy Store is closed and out of almost everything… the electric trains, the fire engines that will pump real water… the plastic ship models… battleships, aircraft carriers, pt-boats… everything is sold-out…

Mr. DeMiglio’s always a friendly fellow is selling the last of his trees… Danny D. wishes you a very merry and asks if you’re attending mid-night mass at OLQM… the answer is yes… and that you’ll see him there… and the Loews Inwood is showing a holiday film…

Woolworth’s is almost ready to call it a merry holiday… the little trinkets, a set of pot holders for Mom… and that great find of a pipe for Dad… are all sold… the luncheon counter has sold its last ice cream soda… and its last slice of apple pie… and the last balloon with a discount price has been popped…

And outside… The snow is falling… harder… it will be a blizzard…

The Denwin Tavern is packed to the walls… the trees that are being sold along its wall on Post Avenue by Big John and Billy C. are almost gone… Scotch Pine is all that remains… the holiday cheer abounds… Mr. Marino the Shoemaker has repaired his last heel & sole and has given his last shoeshine… he has left his little Christmas Tree in the window lit to wish all of his neighbors a blessed Christmas…

All is quiet… in the snow… on the corners of Post Avenue and Dyckman Street…

The windows of Lewis’ Appliance Store are dark… and Parness Women’s Shoppe is about to close… there is just enough time to pop in and buy Mom a Christmas pin for her coat…

Barracini’s Candy Store is still open and the last boxes of chocolate covered cherries and butter crunch are waiting for you to buy them…

Horn and Hardut is almost ready to call it a night… if you’re fast you can pop-in and pickup some rice pudding and fish cakes and spaghetti… because after all of this whirlwind shopping Mom has not held dinner for you… and of course H&H’s fishcakes and spaghetti are things of legend… and the rice pudding is getting a following too…

And yes, the snow continues to fall… your thoughts turn to sledding tomorrow…

A run across Sherman Avenue towards the Chase Manhattan Bank is now a feat since the snow is ankle deep – so much for the shoeshine… you glance back to see that Barry’s Bar is also ringing in Christmas in fine fashion… the joint is jumping…

You can hear the crashing of bowling pins and the clanking pin-setters coming from the Dyckman Bowling Alley… sounds like all the lanes are full… a few steps further and there it is… the television in the window of Whalen’s Furniture Store is on… Lawrence Welk is playing his dance music… and soon the channel will be showing that Ralph still thinks Norton is crazy… and that Alice is the greatest… in their own adaptation of the “Gift of the Magi”… then the greetings and blessings of Mid-Night Mass from Saint Patrick’s Cathedral will be on the air… after midnight mass… the annual Yule Log will once again blaze away… and it will give the viewer standing in the snow on Dyckman Street some electronic warmth…

The Hi-Ho is selling the last of the boneless chicken and chop suey… the egg rolls and fortune cookies are always a delight… the clock on the corner above Sarafian’s shows that there are but 20 minutes to make it to midnight Mass… at the corner of Vermilyea Avenue you can see that the younger crowd is making a grand time of it in GarryOwens… where the girls are always pretty and will help make Christmas magical…

The snow has now shut Broadway and Dyckman Street down…

You can hear nothing but the crunch of snow beneath your feet… slowly the Broadway Bus the #100 arrives quietly… the snow has softened everything.. the doors open and you hop aboard… just enough time to arrive at Good Shepherd and mid-night Mass… for at the end of Mass they will sing the Star Spangled Banner… and even though you’re from OLQM… the beauty of midnight Mass at GS is simply something to behold… with its never disappointing salute to God & Country…

Hopping off the bus in front of the bank… you see that Fanny Farmer is closed… all of the holiday candies have been sold… a very quick look around the corner shows that Tara Gifts has also finished selling its Irish gifts for the holiday… and the lights just went out in Esposito’s Liquor store…

Once mid-night mass is over…. it’s out into Christmas Morning… and the falling snow… and home to put the presents under the tree… but first, you slip into the Golden Rule Restaurant for another hot chocolate…

The #100 going downtown is no where in sight… and so you hoof it down Broadway… Minogues (later Costello’s)… Dolan’s (later the Hedgehog)… Freehill’s… Patrick’s… Markey’s… and The Park Gate… are all full and the patrons are toasting this Christmas and wishing for a New Year better than the one that is coming to an end…

This was Christmas in “OUR INWOOD” my friends… may all of your Christmases be as wonderful… may you get all the things that you always want and wish for… may you have the true gift of Christmas… and that is… what I wish for each of you… today and always…

Peace…
Inwood Guy