Cleanman's Memories of Dexter the Horse and "the Greatest Neighborhood to Grow Up In"
In a February 2006 thread about the property at the corner of 23rd and Bainbridge that is a triangular surface parking lot today, PhillyBlog member cleanman posted the following about that property and the neighboring Naval Home.
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I remember( i am giving my age here) that used to be a diner, and a great one at that, The guy who ran it his name was Gabe, he was a crazy bugger, but a decent fellow, we use to pack it not only on Sunday morning after mass at St. Anthony, but also during the week, during the week we would bend our elbow at Kelly's and go to Gabes to eat, the good old days, yes it is well kept , i would love to see it kept as is, but progress seems to be more important, does anyone remember the horse name that was kept by the sailors in the Naval Home??
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Originally Posted by lbphilly
You've lost me here, and possibly some other folks. There was a diner where the floriferous parking lot is now?
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Yes there was a diner there and the route 63 trolley came up Bainbridge st at the time, at least i think it was the route 63, the horses name was Dexter, a big horse, had to be 16 hands tall, no urban lure here, all true, we used to go to Christmas partys at the Naval Home, Capt Noah and his wife were always in attendence, as were Chief Halftown some times, we went to grade school at St. Anthony's at 23rd & Carpenter, when we walked to school and if the flag at the home was being raised we had to stop and salute, good old Mrs. Douglass made sure of that .She was the crossing guard at Grays Ferry , i lost my train of thought, the street where the church is, i remember may processions, stations of the cross on Fri in lent, had to be there no ifs and or but, also used to sell newspapers before and after Sun mass, wait for the mass to be over , then sell parking spots on Bainbridge across, from Sylvan Seal milk to the eagles game when they played at Franklin Field, yes they were that good that people parked all the way there to walk over the South St. bridge for there games , oh boy what memories.
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It just came to me , Mrs Douglass was the crossing guard at Fitzwater, i got Irish alzeimers CRS
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Let me tell you something about old Dexter, he used to pull all of us down to the swimming pool in the back of the Naval Home, you could at one time see the pool from the South St. bridge, there used to be Pennbrooke milk on the other side when you come off the bridge on 27th street. Also Mc Fadden plateau, that was what we called it , it was a small apartment building on the left of the bottom at the bridge, there is apartments there now, underneath at one time was a sheetmetal shop, a guy by the name of Ray ran that, helluva nice man. I have to say reading these threads has been great for me, if anyone has any questions about that area please ask. The swimming pool that is at Taney and South at one time was 12ft deep to 3ft deep, had wooden lockers, we used to climb on the top and run on them, we used to jump off the roof of the house on Taney St, i dont remember the exact adress, but it was at the alley, jump off the roof into the pool, the pool was drained every Sat, unless someone pooped in the pool, we used to play touch the drain, i know a few guys (and girls) who would remove the drain grate, and it was heavy , and sit in the drain, and the 4th of July parties , forget it, it was the greatest neighboorhood to grow up in.
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