Places Where I've Lived

Well my journaling group writing on various topics. The first is places where we've lived. I loved my home growing up in Silver Lake.

I grew up at 204 Lakeview Avenue, East White Plains, NY. Some call it East White Plains, some say West Harrison, but to those who lived there it was Silver Lake.

Silver Lake was a predominately Italian hamlet or oasis. Most of the families lived there for generations. Our roots went back to the Mauro and Galasso families. Great-grandfather Galasso owned a lot of property and he has his wife, Victoria, had 10 children. Five boys and five girls. The girls inherited money and each son received a home on Lakeview Avenue. My grandfather, Nicholas, the oldest son, received #204. 204 was a duplex home on the level part of the hill that was Lakeview. My mother grew up there on the left-hand side with my grandparents and her brother and sister. My grandparents still lived there when we moved into the right hand side in the 1960’s.

My mother tells of growing up in a rural area surrounded by farmland and barns of animals and chickens. She grew up during the Depression and WW2. Most of her cousins lived on the same street or a block or two away. Relatives flooded the home because my grandfather loved a houseful and my grandmother was a great cook! Grandma had the first washing machine on the block! They raised the chickens they ate for dinner. She and her brother would roll up the carpet and jitterbug in the living room. When she returned late from a night out, grandma would meet her on the front steps and walk her upstairs to the bedroom, each stepping on the same step at the same time, so they wouldn’t wake my grandfather. As a child, I remember noodles laid to dry on the couch and grandma lowering a basket full of 7-Up and Coke bottles for us kids playing the yard. It was also the place where we all danced around the TV-set when the Beatles were on The Ed Sullivan Show.

204 was also the place of sadness when my uncle died in the line of duty as a fireman for the City of White Plains. His wake was held in the living room and family and friends would sit there all day and night in mourning. My grandfather and my father both passed away in 204.

A legacy was lived there and life was full at 204. It was the family haven. Having grandma live “next-door” to us made it all the better. I slept with her each Friday night after grandpa passed away to keep her company. She was so glad when I gave that up because she said I kicked her all night, yet she never complained. I helped her by baking all her Christmas cookies and watched her as she made all the traditional Italian foods. Her linens were stacked on her shelves, ironed and folded neatly. There was a pile for the flat sheets, another for fitted and one for pillow cases. Each pile was perfectly matched. In her kitchen drawers were specific places for the measuring spoons, can opener, etc. There were no such things are “junk” drawers at grandmas!

Oh, that every young child could have the memories of growing up on Lakeview Avenue. We played outside until the lightening bugs came out and we couldn’t see in the dark. We rode bikes, played in the back of Uncle Louis’s pick-up truck, played hopscotch, put on talent shows, played wiffle ball in the yard and sold Lemon-Aide and cookies for charity. My most fun was getting in the huge flour barrels that Uncle Louis would bring home and roll down the hill in the them. We would also “sneak” in the huge gardens and pick the veggies and make food for our dolls. As a child you would just have to sit on your porch and someone would eventually come out and play.

Life was wonderful at 204 Lakeview!