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Blog Entry 150 of 157 Thanks for the Memories - Niagara remembrances
Stories, anecdotes and memories from Niagara Falls and the surrounding communities.

"It was a zoo out there" - Virginia Ceretto
Contributed by: Thanks for the Memories   on 6/27/2008

It was a zoo out there when I was growing up, too. What I mean was there was prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging on Buffalo Avenue and 11th Street. As I lived on 12th and Buffalo Ave., it was all around me when I lived on the east side. We were called East Side Kids. I guess we were supposed to be tough kids. The boys were. They had gangs. They had a one-stop place for all the men who wanted to go to them. Drinking, gambling, and have a prostitute for the night.

I remember riding with my dad to pick up my grandma who worked in a restaurant on Falls Street called Prospect House. As we were driving by on Buffalo Avenue, I could see the ladies in the doorways with kimonos on showing their legs with sheer nylon with slippers on their feet, waving a come-on to the men walking down the street to come in to see them. My father told me not to look at them, "they were bad women," and drove faster. I didn't realize they were prostitutes.

When my mother sent me to store to buy milk and bread at an 11th Street grocery store, the grocery man was so nice to me. But I could hear lots of men laughing and hollering out loud. The grocery man said they were playing cards.

I remember we had a curfew at dusk. A whistle blew, a cop car went around chasing the kids ff the streets. My mother also called us in the house. I guess all the animals came out after dark to play!

I guess it is a zoo out there. I didn't know what was going on until I was bigger, about 12 years old. I overheard my brother and a friend talking about what was going on.

There are still prostitutes, look what happened to our governor, Spitzer, who was so against prostitution that he got caught in the act and coming out of a hotel, he was with a call girl! He lost his job being governor, also. I don't think his family liked it at all. I know the people of New York didn't.

Originally written on April 28, 2008.



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Thanks for the Memories

Niagara Falls , NY

Thanks for the Memories has posted 157 blog entries and 4 comments since joining on 3/5/2007. Thanks for the Memories 's average blog rating is 5.
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