The Canonical Penguin: Family Sunday Outings

It is funny how family traditions start. We do something we like, over and over, and then one day looking back, see it as a tradition, rather than just as something we all liked. I have talked about some of these “traditions” in my family before, like going to the airport and watching the planes take off and land or feeding the ducks. Well, this is a family tradition we had when I was growing up that still to this day brings me a smile. It involved three things – pigeons, the ferry and the Automat. Let me explain.

My parents were always looking for a way to entertain us kids, and cheap was best. We did like to travel as a family and did our share of car rides for vacations and the like. One weekend staple was this trip to NYC. We did it regularly, always essentially the same events although in different order but still the same. And the trip went like this.

Pile into the station wagon early on a Sunday morning after mass. Drive into NYC through the tunnel and head all the way downtown to Battery Park. Feed the pigeons there. Get on the Staten Island Ferry for boat ride. Return on Staten Island Ferry to car. Drive uptown to City Hall Plaza area (near the Brooklyn Bridge) where we would go to the Horn and Hardart Automat for a snack. Ride home through the tunnel again. So let me break this down for you even further…

Going to mass was essential for the family, we went to the 9am service, out of there and on the road by 10 am. We would take the Long Island Expressway into Manhattan. The world’s largest parking lot during the week, my dad knew it was the fastest way into the city when there was no traffic and on a Sunday morning, none would be encountered. We would pass the site of the 1964 World’s Fair just past Flushing, Queens and would see the Unisphere as we drove by. The mid town tunnel was an experience. Just the thought that there was water above you as you cruised through was enough to get the skin crawling when you are a kid. The slight rise to the road meant the trip through was almost done.

Battery Park is at the southern most tip of Manhattan. We would park near there and walk over to the park, where we would see some horse drawn wagons/carriages and feed the thousands (and I mean thousands) of pigeons. There was always someone there who could be termed a “professional pigeon feeder” who would be casting handfuls of seeds across the sidewalk to the delight of tourists and pigeons alike. Next, onto the ferry.

The Staten Island ferry is a commuter boat from the borough of Staten Island to lower Manhattan. Each day thousands of people park and boat to work this way. Perhaps less so with the different commuter rails that have been built but I still think this is a preferred way of travel. During the week it is for commuters, on weekends it was the best nickel boat ride around. That’s right, a nickel. Now this is not one of those “back in my day, you could get a whole meal in a restaurant for 10 cents” facts. The ferry was subsidized at a lower cost to keep it being used. Even when the cost of the NYC subway was 50 cents, a ferry ride was a nickel. From the Ferry website – “The 5 cents fare was established 1897. On October 10, 1972 the fare was raised to 10 cents. In 1975 the fare was increased to 25 cents. On August 1, 1990 the fare went up to 50 cents. Finally on July 4, 1997 the fare for foot passengers on the ferry was eliminated. “

The ride took about 30 minutes and would pass Governor’s Island and the statue of Liberty as well as other ferries. When we got to the terminal on the other side, we ran down the ramp back through the turnstiles and back on board for the trip back.

Back to the car and a drive all of a mile uptown to City Hall Park, by the Municipal Courthouse, for our favorite part of the day, a trip to the Automat. From Wiki – “An automat is a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drink are served by coin-operated and bill-operated vending machines. Originally, the machines took only nickels. In the original format, a cashier would sit in a change booth in the center of the restaurant, behind a wide marble counter with five to eight rounded depressions in it. The diner would insert the required number of coins in a machine and then lift a window, which was hinged at the top, to remove the meal, which was generally wrapped in waxed paper. The machines were filled from the kitchen behind. All or most New York automats also had a cafeteria-style steam table where patrons could slide a tray along rails and choose foods, which were ladled out of steaming tureens. The first automat in the U.S. was opened June 12, 1902, at 818 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia by Horn & Hardart. The automat was brought to New York City in 1912 and gradually became part of popular culture in northern industrial cities. Horn & Hardart was the most prominent automat chain. In its heyday, recipes were kept in a safe, and described how to place the food on the plate as well as how to make it. The automats were popular with a wide variety of patrons, including Walter Winchell, Irving Berlin and other celebrities of the era.”

We entered and walked down a flight of marble stairs and through a revolving door into the automat. Our parents would give us a few nickels and we would grab some pie or cake and then put a nickel into the slot and pulling a crank, held a glass under the mouth of a chrome lion that dispensed milk. Wow, what a treat. My parents would go through the steam table area and get some food – I remember mashed potatoes and vegetables mostly, along with a cup of coffee from huge chrome tanks and we all sat together dining. Then the ride home, another successful Sunday family outing completed.

(These are stories about things that actually happened with plenty of witnesses. It has passed from the apocryphal to canonical in nature. Wiki says of canon – “material that is considered to be "genuine", "something that actually happened", or can be directly referenced as material produced by the original author or creator.”)

The Modern Penguin: The Nathan’s Trip

(By Modern Penguin I mean stories that are part of my adult life, that are in my memory banks as well as in the memory banks of others. This does not mean I am not misremembering, just that this is the way I recall it. I am sure that Mrsfabp or CollegeBoy or MillieJupiter or someone will quickly correct my stories so that they are accurate…)

When I was in college one of the guys I hung around with, I’ll call him Hud, was from Brooklyn and he had some very strong Brooklyn tastes. He like his bagels and lox, loved his Brooklyn pizza, cold, and had a special place in his heart for Coney Island.

For those who might not know better, Coney Island, was the equivalent of Six Flags Amusement Park at the beach. There was sand and boardwalk and amusement park rides and one of the world’s oldest and best roller coasters, The Cyclone. This is where the Hot Dog Eating Contest is held every year, right in from of the famous hot dog and Coney Island staple, Nathan’s.

You can buy a Nathan’s hot dog at the grocery store now a days but as good as it is, it is not as good as one eaten with relish (yes, double entendre there!) with the sound of the surf in your ears and the smell of the ocean in your nostrils. Well, Hud was partial to the dogs there and to raw clams on the half shell so it was not out of the ordinary for him to ask if anyone with a car might be interested in a 2 am trip to Nathan’s. It was only 20 minutes from school at that time of night, more like an hour during the day, fighting the Kennedy Airport traffic, so it was an easy trip and I had a car.

So one night, 3 am or so, Hud knocks on the door and asks about a Nathan’s run. On top of the hot dog and raw clam goodness, he has an opportunity to introduce a non-city boy, we’ll call him Noel, to the greatness of hot dogs at that hour. Noel was from the northern NYC suburbs, had never been to Coney Island or had a Nathan’s dog so a trip it was.

No traffic, no problems and before you could say Gulden’s mustard, we were on the sidewalk in front of Nathan’s. Of course it was quiet but there were some people there, probably headed home from their local tavern and in need of a bite to eat. Well, it was hot dogs and sodas all around and Hud got a plate of raw clams, drenched in hot sauce and awaiting a slurp, which he did oh so well. This is where things get interesting.

We are standing, munching out on the dogs, when Noel notices that Hud has something different. He asks what that was and Hud says clams, would you like one. Noel says sure and Hud spends a minute explaining how to tilt the head back and slurp it down. Noel does the job like a pro and then Hud asks him what he thought of it. He said (a paraphrase after 30+ years but pretty damn accurate) “Well, it’s a bit salty but I was expecting it to be hot. It’s weird that they would cook it and then cool it down.” Hud replied in three simple words “They are raw” at which point Noel doubled over, grabbed his stomach and evacuated its contents onto the sidewalk. Yes he threw up on the sidewalk in front of Nathan’s. Quickly one of the workers ran out with a hose and washed the clam, hot dog bits and soda off the sidewalk and onto the street.

After a few minutes, we climbed back into the car for the drive back to school with a story I would remember and tell several times a year ever since then. MillieJupiter just came in and with a smile told me this is her favorite story that I tell and I have to admit I think it is my favorite too.