20 Reasons Why You Remember Cramer Hill

by Maria Miriam

1. At night, you parked at the Submarine Races at the Cooper River Parkway.
2. The scariest thing at the races was your date.
3. You know what a Package Goods store is. You know which were opened on Sunday.
4. You remember the neighbor’s dirty dishes piling high in their “zinks.”
5. Everyone on the block knew which old lady hollered, “Don’t tread on my lawn.”
6. You can still imitate the cheerful whistle of the mailman, remember the pleading call of the clothes prop peddler and the friendly clip, clop of the horseradish man’s horse and cart.
7. Horse droppings were not uncommon on the unpaved roads. You still repeat the expression, “It’s like horseshit – it’s everywhere.”
8. You can’t decide which was your favorite dinner; fried pork roll and eggs, a butter and banana sandwich, or a super-size bowl of Mom’s macaroni and cheese.
9. Your hoity-toity neighbors mentioned the “Yacht Club” at least once a minute.
10. You remember that the Yacht Club was a small boat basin at the edge of town.
11. You know what Yum Yum is. You remember young boys pulling a wagon, street-to-street hollering, “Yum, Yum!” They scooped soft, flavored ice from a wooden tub into a pointed paper cup. Cost: one nickel.
12. “Strolling down the Avenue” meant walking on Westfield Avenue to window shop.
13. You remember neighbor ladies sitting on their front stoops, wearing thin socks, wedgie, ankle-strap sandals and faded cotton housedresses.
14. You can still name the neighbor lady with worst body odor.
15. You know whose mother baked cakes, the mother who dreamed of putting her shoes under Frank Sinatra’s bed, and which one drank beer from a bottle before 11:00 am.
16. You once made forts where the apartment complexes stand. You played in those fields in the summer when the Italians didn’t plant the area full of tomato plants.
17. You remember babushka heads, women who tied scarves over their set hair to preserve their do’s for Saturday night.
18. You have taken more than one wild ride on the Civil War cannon located in Veteran’s Memorial Park on 27th Street.
19. No existing soda compares to Crescent Soda in a bottle. Crisp root beer, flavorful vanilla, glowing orange, and sweet, black cherry Vishnick will never taste the same again.
20. You still don’t know what Vishnick means..