Breakfast with Herb & Mike

Before playdates and iPads, there were trolley rides, clamming buckets and bare-handed baseball. Herb and Mike swap stories from their kid days—proof that childhood may look different now, but the joy of being a kid never gets old. And the journey of breakfast with Herb and Mike continues...

Herb: Just Kid-ding is a clever title for this issue of SB that focuses on businesses that cater to children.

Mike: I agree. You can credit that one to Betsy. But let’s talk about what we did as kids. What do you remember from your childhood in the late 1940s and ‘50s?

Herb: Growing up in Cambridge and Boston was different than what you experienced here in Plattsburgh. My father came back from the war in the Pacific and went to work for the MTA driving trollies and buses. One of my favorite things to do was to wait until late in his shift and then board whatever he was driving that day, sit right behind him and then walk home with him.

Mike: My earliest memories are of being outdoors with the kids in our neighborhood. There were no organized play dates in the 1970s. We put together our own fun. We rode bicycles (no helmets) and played games like Red Rover and Kick the Can. Electronic games were in their very early stage so we didn’t spend much time on them — although I do remember my first video game — Atari. It was just black and white and primitive by today’s standards.

Herb: In the ‘50s the area trolley barn got one of the earliest television sets in our area and I would go there and watch. It didn’t offer much in the way of programming, but it sure was exciting.

Mike: Summers for me were a time to play baseball with a pickup group in a vacant lot. No special equipment, just a bat and a ball (usually a tennis ball). Most of us didn’t have gloves, but since no one could hit the ball very hard, we could catch it with our bare hands. As I got older, I played Little League and then Babe Ruth – organizations that are still offering great experiences for kids today.

Herb: In the summer I would go clamming. We’d take an old bucket and shovel and go to one of the beaches in Revere or Nahant. At low tide we’d walk along the shoreline watching for the clams to spit up through the sand. They weren’t very deep so it was easy to dig them up. It was fun and it gave us dinner that night.

Mike: Life was simple when I was young. No one supervised us. No one locked their doors. We traveled freely, often staying at a friend’s house for meals. Our parents didn’t worry.

Herb: My parents didn’t worry either when I was out with my friends, but maybe they should have. My friend, Eddie Cotter, and I loved to play in the rail yards in Cambridge, spending hours climbing in and out of the cars. One summer day, when I was about 11, we were resting out of the sun in one of the cars when it began to move. We thought it was being hooked to other cars so we weren’t concerned. We assumed they were just moving them from one place to another in the yard, but then the speed picked up. By the time we realized we were in trouble, we were moving too fast to jump out. We were in for the duration. When the train finally stopped, we were half way to Worcester — about 20 miles from home.

Mike: How did you get back?

Herb: We hitchhiked.

Mike: I can see every parent who reads this cringing. Did your parents ever find out?

Herb: No, there were no witnesses and we weren’t eager to share that adventure with them.

Mike: When I was about seven, I started to play organized hockey. We played at the SUNY Field House and at the Crete Center at the beach. I quickly fell in love with the game. I started out as a Squirt, progressed to Pee Wee, Bantam and finally Midget. There was a time in my life when I envisioned myself as a professional hockey player, but then reality set in. Now I am a huge fan, seldom missing a game and even traveling to New York and other cities to see my team — the Islanders — play.

Childhood is different now than it was when you and I were growing up— not better or worse — just different. Ask any adult and I believe they will tell you their childhood was memorable — a time of simple pleasures. I’ll always want to be a kid, at least at heart.