OUR NEIGHBORHOOD THE WAY IT WAS

This house at 1661 Weirfield Street in Ridgewood was owned by the Long Island branch of the Kolping Society. Originally, it had been the residence of the brewmeister for the William H. Frank Brewery Co. Reader Vincent Reilly recalls when his future wife and her family lived there. As we have found over the years, a letter from one reader often will lead to a response from someone else, with memories of their own to share about a particular person, place or thing.

When it comes to local sports, the remembrances often involve baseball or softball—but not always.

In the June 26, 2008 issue of this newspaper, the "Our Neighborhood" column presented a letter from Brooklyn resident Laura Richards, who lamented the loss earlier this year of Woodhaven Lanes in Glendale.

Ms. Richards shared some bowling related memories involving such places as Hart Lanes, at Wyckoff Avenue and Hart Street, and the Glenwood Bowl—formerly the Glenwood movie theater—at Myrtle Avenue and Decatur Street. Today, they are a supermarket and post office, respectively.

Based on this 1935 advertisment, Ridgewood bowlers got more than one chance to see trick-shot artist Andy Varipapa put on a show—in person and on the silver screen. In commenting on Ms. Richards' remembrances, we noted that a bowling operation, Glenwood Recreation, was located on the lower level of the Glenwood Manor—the former Evergreen movie theater—at Seneca and Myrtle avenues.

This week, we have a letter from Vincent Reilly, a former Ridgewood resident and a past contributor to the "Our Neighborhood" feature.

He writes: "I read, with great interest, the most recent article about the bowling alleys of Ridgewood/Glendale.

"I was born in a house on the south side of Weirfield Street between Wyckoff and Irving avenues in September of 1932. It was the first residential house west of the dummy tracks. Burns Bros.' coal yard was located at the dummy tracks. I was the second of six children born to Leo and Bridget Teresa Reilly. We lived there with our dad's mother, Margaret Monica Reilly.

About a year later, we moved to 1641 Hancock St., located between Wyckoff and Cypress avenues, where our brother, Terence, was born in June of 1935, in a house owned by a Mrs. Cash, whose daughter also lived further up the block. We later came to know them as Mr. and Mrs. Richmond. They had a daughter named Mabel.

"In about 1937, we moved to the top (third) floor at 1655 Hancock St., where we lived until I went into the Navy in 1952. The family continued living there for many more years. The Wittine family owned the house and operated the grocery/deli on the first floor. Sophie and John Wittine had two sons, Ferdy and Willy. They were a few years older than us kids.

"The workers at the brewery, along with our many neighbors, patronized the deli and contributed to their business. Mrs. Wittine's sister Mary and her husband, John Perz, lived at 1657 Hancock St. They had two children, Eleanor and Johnny, about the same age as myself and Terence. Our sisters, Monica and Madeleine, were both born at 1655, while our youngest brother, Jerry, was born at Williamsburg Hospital in Brooklyn in February of 1945. Leo also was born in a hospital, in September 1931. All six of us children attended from kindergarten to graduation at St. Matthias School, located on Catalpa Avenue, east of Onderdonk Avenue, and we were taught by the very capable and highly dedicated Sisters of Notre Dame.

"On the subject of bowling alleys, at the age of about 16, my older brother, Leo (now deceased), worked at several bowling alleys, setting up pins. One such place, as I recall, was in the basement of a bar & grill on Myrtle Avenue in Glendale, the name of which I believe was Wimberger's Tavern. Another alley he worked was in Ridgewood whose name may have been the Madison Lanes, which was also below street level near and on the same side of Myrtle Avenue as the Madison Theatre. The pin boys were paid a few cents per line for their backbreaking work. Leo did it for a number of years.

"Ms. Richards' letter brought back many pleasant memories of the many happy years that we all spent while living in Ridgewood, where we all made many good friends. My wife, formerly June Reeber, was also a Ridgewood resident and lived with her parents, Lillian and Fred, and her brother, George, at 1661 Weirfield St., as caretakers of the house which was formerly the residence of the brewmeister of the old Frank Brewery.

"The house was, at that time, a boarding house for Catholic German-American men. The brewery extended from Weirfield Street to Hancock Street on the west side of Cypress Avenue. June and I married at St. Matthias Church in January 1954 with the reception being held at the meeting hall in her home. We subsequently had three children—Thomas, Robert and Maureen—and now reside in Delray Beach, Fla.

"I have submitted two other letters to your column which you were good enough to publish.

"Thanks for keeping all former residents of our neighborhood informed and in touch with everyone who has fond memories of times gone by."

Old Timer's note—We wonder how many of our readers recall the days when the pins were set manually at bowling alleys.

While there were earlier inventions involving some kind of mechanical pinsetting, Gottfried Schmidt is credited with inventing the automatic pinsetter in Pearl River, New York in 1936. Even so, bowling alleys continued to use human pinsetters (also called pinspotters or pin boys) into the 1950s.

Like Vincent Reilly, two of our area's local history buffs, brothers Robert and Arthur Miller, can recall the bowling alley that operated below ground level on Myrtle Avenue, just east of the Madison Theatre.

Robert Miller remembers visiting it as a young boy, sometime around 1951, and that the pin-setting was performed manually at that time. He, too, thinks that it was called the Madison Lanes, as Mr. Reilly suggests.

In keeping with the bowling theme, we have an advertisement that originally appeared in the Feb. 15, 1935 issue of the Ridgewood Times, regarding personal appearances by Andy Varipapa to promote the film, Strikes and Spares, a Pete Smith novelty short that is regarded as the first bowling film. In 1934, it was nominated for an Academy Award.

Andy Varipapa was a champion bowler and a showman whose abilities as a trick-shot artist—being able to make spares of the most difficult splits—won him great fame. Born in Italy, he resided in Brooklyn before moving to Hempstead in Nassau County. Varipapa enjoyed a long life—he died in 1984 at the age of 93—and continued bowling into his later years.

From the advertisement, we see that Strikes and Spares was shown at two local movie theaters. The Ridgewood, which closed earlier this year, was located at Myrtle and Cypress avenues. For those who may be less familiar with the Parthenon, it was located at Myrtle and Wyckoff avenues.

We also have a picture of the house on Weirfield Street where Mrs. Reilly had lived with herparents and brother—as Mr. Reilly notes, the former residence of the William H. Frank Brewing Co.'s brewmeister. At one time, it was customary for the German brewers to open a beer garden at their brewery and to furnish their brewmeister with a house adjacent to the brewery, as the brewmeister was on call 24 hours a day.

When the Reebers lived there, the house was owned by the Long Island branch of the Kolping Society, who sold it in the 1960s and moved to the former Unity Hall building on the south side of Myrtle Avenue, just to the east of Cypress Hills Street, in Glendale.

As for the Frank Brewery, it was a complex of buildings on Cypress Avenue between Hancock and Weirfield streets. By the time Prohibition ended in 1933, it housed the City Brewing Co. and Koenig's Beer was one of the company's brands; Tally-Ho was another.

If you have any remembrances or comments that you would like to share with our readers, write to the Old Timer, c/o Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 860299, Ridgewood, NY 11386-0299.

To send a submission via e-mail, our e-mail address is Old Timer@timesnewsweekly.com.