A-Z Challenge – JEROME AVENUE

Wow, I’ve made it to J in the A-Z Challenge. I have a lot of memories from Jerome Avenue, most good, some not. My parents and I lived on 167th Street and Jerome from the time I was about two until we moved to Davidson Avenue and 183rd Street when I was 13. It’s only a block up from Jerome.

Jump Around!

I was an introverted kid (shy, too). People think the two go hand in hand, but that’s not necessarily so.

I read a lot. I got my first library card in first grade. The High Bridge branch of the New York Public Library was across the street from Sacred Heart school. Sweet.

NY Public Library-High Bridge Post Renovation

I felt like a grown-up when my mom started letting me walk to the library myself at six. I’d go every other Saturday and come back with every story book I could carry. It never occurred to me that my mom’s friends were watching me, either out their windows or the front stoop of their building. They’d ask where I was going; how my mom was. I thought they just liked hanging out of their windows and stoops.

Nope. Mom told me years later she called them when I left and to be on the lookout. Most had front facing windows; the ones that didn’t would ‘bump’ into me, supposedly going to the Bodega for whatever and walk me part way. Yeah, my mom was a keeper.  🙂

I have tons of stories I can tell and I wrote a note to myself to save them for future posts. The challenge does have limits.

Did you know these people were born in the Bronx?

1. Joel, Billy – Singer, Songwriter
2. Jordan, Will – Character actor, Comedian
3. Jackson, J.J. – Radio and Television Personality (1941-2004)

I didn’t find too many J’s, but Billy Joel is a WHOPPER! I love Billy Joel. Anyone else like his music? Remember J.J. Jackson from MTV? Planning anything special for the weekend?