Summer in the City
By Clyde Borg
Nostalgia Magazine

Hanging out the window?  What was that all about?  Well, it was one of the ways people passed the time during the hot summer days in the New York City of the 1940’s.  It was rare that anyone could go on vacation, so people devised other means of enjoying themselves. 

Hanging out the window was a common diversion during those summer days.  All that it encompassed was the placing of a pillow on a windowsill and then simply leaning on one’s elbows and looking out the window.  It was the ultimate interesting form of people watching because it could be done from the privacy and comfort of one’s own dwelling.

An alternative to hanging out the window was to sit on the front stoop of the apartment building.  It was here that mostly all the female inhabitants of the building would congregate during the hot summer evenings: eating, drinking, gossiping, and watching their neighbors, and also keeping an eye on their children playing in the street.  It was an escape from the non-air-conditioned apartments.

The children’s games consisted of playing stoopball, box ball, and the most popular city game, stickball.  They also participated in games of kick the can, tag, hide and seek, and an expanded game of tag and hide and seek, called ring-a-livio.  As long as one of the parents was out on the stoop, the kids could continue playing some games into the evening.

On particularly hot and humid days, the fire hydrant was opened and barrel staves were used to form a shower for the sweltering children.  The police would eventually arrive to close the hydrant and spoil the fun, but not before the adolescents were cooled off by the New York City water system.

Rarely did anyone venture out of the neighborhood; people found things to distract them in their own familiar area.  Window-shopping was a favorite inexpensive diversion that consisted of simply walking along a thoroughfare that had many interesting stores and looking into their showcase windows.  Fourteenth Street was lined with department stores like Klein’s, Hearn’s, and Orbach’s, and countless other smaller retail stores.  And that is where many people would take leisurely walks on a Sunday afternoon.

Another favorite neighborhood excursion was a walk to the open pier on Gansevoort Street .  It was here that people came for a nice refreshing breeze and a look at the not so gleaming Hudson River and a disinterested view of Jersey across the way.  The more venturesome boys of the neighborhood would dive off the west side piers into the murky and dangerous Hudson . 

Aside from the river, the only cooling air to be had was in the local movie theaters.  There were four movie houses that were available: Loewe’s Sheridan , the RKO 23rd Street , the Elgin , and the Greenwich .  Each of these establishments had a large sign draping its marquee that read, “Cooled by Refrigeration.”  The enormous disparity in temperature upon entering or leaving the theater caused a tremendous jolt to one’s body.

Other avenues of escape from the heat were the infrequent trips by subway to Coney Island or Rockaway or maybe a boat ride to Keansburg in faraway Jersey .  But most of the time was spent in the neighborhood enjoying the simple ways devised to spend the summer days.  A short trip to the local candy store to purchase ice cream crammed into a quart cardboard container and some cream sodas at home was a great treat on Sunday evenings.

The simplicity of those days was truly remarkable.  I wish I could hang out the window one more time.