Vanishing America: An Old Fashioned Style Candy Store – Ojai, CA

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Kingston’s Candy Company: A Candy Trip Down Memory Lane

Kingston's Candy Co. Interior

If you are ever near Ojai, about 85 miles north of Los Angeles, Kingston’s Candy Co. is worth a visit, even if you don’t crave sweets.

When I first visited Ojai, California around five years ago I kept wanting to pronounce Ojai, “O.J.” as in O.J. Simpson. It is pronounced Oh Hi.

Kingston's Candy Co. ExteriorThe reason for my initial visit to Ojai was Bart’s Books, a unique used book store that is mostly outdoors. Walking along East Ojai Avenue, the main street of Ojai’s small downtown area with its quaint shops and restaurants, you will eventually stumble upon Kingston’s Candy Co..

Walking into Kingston’s you will discover an unpretentious, real candy store, the kind that used to flourish in every neighborhood in every metropolitan city until the 1960’s.

Kingston's Candy Co. Standard CandyThe prices are about on par with supermarkets for the regular candy such as M&M’s, Kit Kat’s, Milky Way’s, and other standard fare. What makes Kingston’s unique is that it has a lot of older candy brands that were popular years ago and you thought might have vanished forever. Confections like Sugar Daddy, Whatchamacallit’s, Coconut Alice’s, Good n’ Plenty, Teaberry, Glee, Hubba Bubba and Gold Mine Chewing Gum, and dozens of other candy’s, gums and sugar based sweets line the small shop. Continue reading →

Old New York in Photos #32 – Subway Explosion 1915

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1915 Subway Explosion Kills Seven, Injures Scores: 7th Avenue Between 24th and 25th Streets

This photograph taken on September 24, 1915 looking east across Seventh Avenue between 25th and 24th Streets shows the extent of a tragedy that took the lives of seven people and injured more than 100.

At about 7:50 a.m. on September 22, 1915 during the subway excavation for a new line, an explosion followed by a massive street collapse threw 7th Avenue into a scene of pandemonium and carnage.  A blast of dynamite caused the temporary roadway of wood planking to give way. A trolley loaded with passengers plunged 30 feet into the abyss created by the cave in. A beer truck minus the driver also fell into the excavation.

The reason more people were not killed was because the street undulated for a few seconds before collapsing which allowed precious time for people on the street to scatter to safety.

The motorman of the northbound trolley, John Mayne said, “The car sank just where I stopped it. I had no stop at Twenty-fourth street and there was no warning there. When I was half way to Twenty-fifth street I saw a flagman and set my brakes. As I set the brakes I felt the earth going from under me. The next thing I knew I was being pulled out of hell.”

Fanny Borie, 18,  of Brooklyn was on the trolley, on her way to work when it went down into the hole. “When the car started to sink there were terrible screams, and I think I fainted,” she said. “I remember feeling people tugging at my feet, as I was buried under some timbers. Then I lost consciousness and came to again when I was being carried up a ladder to the street.” Continue reading →

Mickey Lolich – Hero Of The 1968 World Series

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Mickey Lolich Wins Game 7 Of The 1968 World Series – October 10, 1968

Mickey Lolich Oct 10 1968

ST. LOUIS – Oct. 10 – WORKING ON THE CARDINALS – Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich as he pitches to the St. Louis Cardinals in the final game of the 1968 World Series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis Thursday. (AP WIRE PHOTO)

It had been 23 years since the Tigers had last won the World Series. A Detroit pitcher would play a huge role in the 1968 World Series, but it wasn’t who everyone thought it would be.

The Tigers ace pitcher was Denny McLain who posted an incredible 31-6 record in the regular season. He remains the last pitcher to win 30 or more games in a season. But in the World Series McLain went 1-2, unfortunately going head to head twice with the Cardinals star hurler Bob Gibson and losing both times in games one and four.

Mickey Lolich on the other hand, was a very good pitcher and put up a solid 17-9 regular season record. In the World Series he proved to be unbeatable, pitching three complete game victories, including the exciting finale against Bob Gibson. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #26 – Jimmy Stewart & Ginger Rogers

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Jimmy Stewart & Ginger Rogers Win Oscars – 1941

James Stewart Ginger Rogers Oscars 1941

February 27, 1941 – the Oscars are awarded at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. This was the first time sealed envelopes were used to keep the winners names secret. Continue reading →

A Close Play At The Plate In Game 3 Of The 1951 World Series

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Alvin Dark Slides In Safely As Yogi Berra Drops The Ball And The Yankees Fall Apart

Giants shortstop Alvin Dark is safe at home plate as Yankees catcher Yogi Berra can't handle the ball

Giants shortstop Alvin Dark is safe at home plate as Yankees catcher Yogi Berra can’t handle the ball

NEW YORK: ERROR FOR BERRA – Giant Alvin Dark is safe at the plate as Yogi Berra drops the ball trying to tag him. Bobby Brown threw to Berra from third on Monte Irvin’s grounder in the Giants big five-run sixth inning. The National League champs made it their second victory over the Yankees in the third game of the 1951 World Series at the Polo Grounds, Oct 6, with a 6-2 score.  Credit (ACME) 10-6-51

The New York Giants had every reason to believe that this was the year they would win the World Series. They had defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers just days before in a best of three tie-breaker playoff series. On October 3, Giants fans witnessed the “Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff” – Bobby Thomson’s dramatic 9th inning home run off of Ralph Branca that propelled them into the Series against the Yankees.

The World Series would be a match-up between cross-river rivals and their respective rookie stars Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle and it would end up being the finale for Joe DiMaggio’s career.

On October 6, 1951 with 52,305 fans packed into the Polo Grounds, the largest crowd ever to see a World Series game in a National League ballpark, the Giants fans were cautiously optimistic.

The series was tied at one game apiece and the Giants were holding a slim 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, when depending on how you look at it, the Giants erupted or the Yankees fell apart. Continue reading →

Maury Wills And A New Stolen Base Record October 3, 1962

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The Dodgers All-Star Shortstop Maury Wills Gets His 104th Stolen Base

Baseball Maury Wills Steals 104th base 1962 10 3

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3 – WILLS STEALS AGAIN – Maury Wills of the Dodgers slides safely into third for his 104th stolen base of the season, as the throw from catcher Ed Bailey of the Giants bounces past third baseman Jim Davenport and into left field. Wills kept going and scored on the action to put the Dodgers ahead 4-2. (AP Wirephoto)

Maury Wills lead the National League six straight times in stolen bases from 1960 -1965. When he shattered Ty Cobb’s 47-year-old single season record of 96 stolen bases in 1962, with 104 steals, Wills revolutionized the game. Teams looked at Wills style of play and realized they could change the outcome of the game by having their own speedsters.

Eventually Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson would each succeed in establishing new stolen base records of 118 and 130 bases respectively. But it was Maury Wills who brought back the art of the steal from the deadball era of baseball. In addition to an all-star selection and gold glove award Wills was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1962.
One interesting side note: Wills got caught stealing only 13 times in 1962. In his 96 steals, Ty Cobb was caught 38 times in 1915.

Roger Maris Hits His 61st Home Run

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October 1, 1961, A Home Run Record Is Set & Baseball Blows Its Big Moment

Roger Maris emerges from the dugout to tip his cap after hitting his 61st home run of the season. October 1, 1961

Roger Maris emerges from the dugout to tip his cap after hitting his 61st home run of the season. October 1, 1961

52 years ago today, on the last day of the regular season October 1, 1961, Roger Maris hit his 61st home run of the season off of the Red Sox hurler Tracy Stallard in the fourth inning. For those who were fortunate enough to be there, it was a great moment in baseball history.

Unlike many of today’s players who will take a curtain call without any prodding for driving in the go-ahead run, Maris had to literally be pushed out of the dugout to acknowledge the 23,154 cheering fans at Yankee Stadium.

So why were there only 23,154 fans to see Babe Ruth’s record eclipsed?

That has to do with former sportswriter and then baseball Commissioner, Ford Frick who was a great friend of Babe Ruth and his ghost-writer.

Frick had declared that an asterisk be placed next to any home run record set, if it was not accomplished in 154 games, which was the number of games Ruth played in 1927 when he set his home run mark at 60.

Legendary baseball owner Bill Veeck tells this scathing and hilarious story in his wonderful memoir, Veeck as in Wreck written with Ed Linn (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) 1962.

Let us be fair. Ford Frick does not try to do the wrong thing. Given the choice between doing something right or something wrong, Frick will usually begin by doing as little as possible. It is only when he is pushed to the wall for a decision that he will always, with sure instinct, and unerring aim, make an unholy mess of things.

Suppose that, purely as an exercise, I had put the following baseball question to you at any time during the past twenty-five years.

Suppose, starts the question, that someone comes along to challenge Babe Ruth’s record- which is THE record the same way Mt. Everest is THE mountain. Continue reading →

Joe Collins Second Home Run In Game 1 Of The 1955 World Series

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Yankees Win Game 1, But Brooklyn Wins Their Only World Series

Duke Snider Joe Collins home run WS 9 28 1955

The World Series began on September 28, 1955. Yes, they actually used to begin the “fall classic” right after fall began. Yankee first baseman Joe Collins slugged his second home run of the game, a two run shot in the bottom of the sixth, to put the Yankees up 6-3 in a game they would go on to win 6-5. The outfielder in the photograph leaping in vain for the baseball is Dodger centerfielder Duke Snider.

This was also the game where Jackie Robinson stole home, which to this day is still disputed by Yankees catcher Yogi Berra who insists Robinson was out.

As covered previously by stuffnobodycaresabout, this World Series would be the Brooklyn Dodgers moment of glory as they ended up beating the Yankees in seven games.

Mickey Mantle’s Last Game At Yankee Stadium

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Unlike Mariano Rivera’s Farewell, No Fanfare And Only 5,723 Fans At Yankee Stadium – September 25, 1968

June 8, 1969 - Mickey Mantle Day- Mantle gazes, as former Yankees announcer Mel Allen in the background

Mickey Mantle looks on as his longtime teammate Whitey Ford announces his retirement May 30, 1967.

With all the celebrations surrounding Mariano Rivera’s retirement and last game at Yankee Stadium, it got me thinking about Mickey Mantle’s last game at Yankee Stadium.

It was a sunny day on Wednesday, September 25, 1968 and not being able to attend school yet because I was too young, my father who worked a night shift took me to Yankee Stadium to see a meaningless 2:00 pm game between the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees. It was the last home game of the season for the 5th place Yankees. I vividly remember the game, but it originally wouldn’t be because it was Mickey Mantle’s last game at Yankee Stadium. Continue reading →

A New York City 1859 Mass Murder Prank

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15 Dead Bodies Discovered in The East River

A shocking discovery was made on Thursday June 9, 1859 near Hell Gate in the East River, when some fishermen picked up a box which contained 15 dead bodies in various states of decomposition.

Death on the River print 19th centuryAs was common in early journalism there were mistakes made when the papers first broke the story.

They reported the box contained seven bodies, all dressed in fine night clothes, packed in lime and shavings and having the appearance of recent decease.

This caused a bit of panic among New York’s citizens who concluded that a whole family had been murdered in their beds and packed off to sea to conceal the crime.

The investigation by city authorities three days later revealed the true nature of what had transpired.

The bodies had been removed from the old Potter’s Field and were being transported by barges for re-interment in Long Island.

The box containing these bodies went overboard, and the workmen let it go without trying to retrieve it – just to see what an excitement it would create!