I hope everyone is enjoying my blogs. I look for comments and try to respond ASAP.
One of the questions/comments this week was from a woman who asked me if I had relatives living on the Jersey Shore in the 60’s and 70’s. Sorry to say that none of my relatives lived on the Jersey Shore that I’m aware of. However, on my mother’s side of the family we did go to Coney Island in Brooklyn in the summertime where my great Aunt Josie and Uncle Louie, my grandmother Anna’s brother, would rent an apartment on the boardwalk. That’s was in the 40’s though and I don’t have a lot of memory of it. I only know from the stories my mom and sisters would tell me. My mother would rent an apartment too and it was shared with the entire family; including my sisters and all 13 of my mother’s brothers and sisters.
In the photo on the right my father is holding my sister Ann. Aunt Josie is on the bottom with her only child Michael next to her with the tongue sticking out. 
Don’t remember the names of the two other ladies. I only remember the woman in the middle was Aunt Josie’s sister. Aunt Josie’s son Michael was born with six fingers on one of his hands, actually two thumbs. I asked my mother once why he had six fingers. She told me that every week my grandfather Vito, who had a fish store called Tocco’s on the corner of 113th Street in East Harlem, would send fish or seafood to Queens where Aunt Josie and Uncle Louie lived. Well one week during Aunt Josie’s pregnancy, my grandfather sent lobster. When she opened the bag she was startled and jumped when she saw the live lobsters clapping her hands together where the two thumbs crossed. Do you get the mental picture? Hence the lobster claw hand. Most Italians are so superstitious. If you can believe that story, I have a few others to tell you soon. They loved eating Nathan’s hot dogs and going on the rides. They would bring a pot of sauce for the weekend with meatballs and make heroes too. I was too young to remember because it was during the 40’s, but I think they stopped going towards the end of the 40’s.
My in-laws used to frequent Golden Beach in the Bronx, which was in Country Club. I remember my sister-in-law Angie, she would have her folding chair with her little white sailor hat on and park her chair in the usual spot where all the rest of the Tarantos would gather; Tony, Joey, Paulie, Babe and whoever else came that day. Of course it was mainly on the weekends because they worked during the week. They had tans that even Coppertone would be proud to advertise.
Then there was Tar Beach. Do any of you remember Tar Beach? Tar Beach was the top of a tenement building where they paved the roof with tar and tar paper over it. I remember my older sisters with our uncles who were the same age as my sisters, and their friends taking a thick blanket or a folding beach chair up to the roof to work on their tan. They didn’t have cars like everyone does in this day and age, so they made due with “Tar Beach.” Once in a while they would take the train with their friends to Pelham Bay where they would walk to Orchard Beach in the Bronx. We lived in a tenement building in East Harlem in New York City. We thought Orchard Beach was so far away when in actuality it’s not far at all. On another note, my grandmother in fact was pregnant the same time as my mother and then had another child after my mother thought she had stopped. My sisters had uncles younger than them. Unfortunately they are mostly gone with the exception of my Uncle Sal who lives down in Jupiter, Florida now. Only one aunt left too, Aunt Carmela, who is 91 God Bless!
These blogs are certainly bringing back many memories that I haven’t thought of in a long while. If you have any questions or comments, by all means let me know.