A Special Day

Ocean City – Part Five

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 3 Comments

Just for continuity, understand that much of part five takes place at the same time as the developments in Part Four. 

img_0769-1So, having made our decision, things were a little different when we came down to spend our 3 weeks at Denise’s house during the Summer of 2004.  We had something else to do besides go to the beach, eat out, and do some gambling in AC during our vacation.  We had to now add house hunting to our list!

Our local realtor Ray Elias had sent us listings all through the spring, and by the time we got to Ocean City in July of 2004, we were primed to start looking at properties. We met img_0773with Ray 3 or 4 times a week, traveled the island, as he showed us various houses at different price points and different parts of the island.  Although we had always rented in the South End of town (first the 3200 block of Asbury when I was a kid, then the 3900 block of Central, and now the 4900 block of Asbury), there was something we liked about the newly found area of the island called the North End.  I say “Newly Found”, because to be honest with you, in close to 50 years of coming to Ocean City, I had no recollection of ever traveling to the North End.  I know that Susie and I had never gone beyond 9th Street with our family, so this was all new to us.

I don’t know what the legal definition is, but to our mind, the North End starts just beyond 9th Street, and runs till you get to the much more residential (not as beachy in img_0772-1other words) Gardens section of Ocean City.  Ray had showed us several interesting houses, on the shorter East/West streets in that part of town, and we found them very attractive.  First of all, having rented on Central and Asbury, where you have traffic traveling the length of the island, a house on a quiet street running just a couple of blocks was an interesting prospect.  Then, those streets were also on the boardwalk…not the commercial part of the boardwalk, but an area just a couple of blocks north of Gillian’s Wonderland.  That meant a trip to the boardwalk was a walking event, not a driving and finding parking event.   That sounded good too!

The interesting thing was that during our summer hunt, we’d even looked at a couple of properties on Pennlyn Place, including the upstairs of our now good friends Jane and John!  Yes, we continued to look at other places, in other areas of town, but we kept coming back to the North End.

Kind of like Las Vegas, Ocean City had been experiencing it’s own growth in property values.  The yearly jump was quite substantial, and we even had a first hand brush with that growth.  One of the properties Ray had to show us was an empty lot and plans of a house to be built on St. James Place in the North End.  He’d showed us some of the builder’s other work, and wanted to show us the plans and the lot, but we had friends coming to town, and rather than go on Friday, we put it off to the following Tuesday.  Well, over that weekend, the calendar changed from July to August.  On Tuesday morning he came to our rental house, laid out the plans for a second floor and owner’s cottage 4 bedroom 3 bath condo, on the dining room table, and we liked what we saw. The price was at the top end of our range, but doable for such a nice property.  Before we headed to look at the lot, he called the real estate that was the broker, wanting to make sure it was still available.  Yes it was, but when he checked the price, it was $50,000 more than he quoted us, just because it was now August and not July!  Needless to say, we didn’t see that lot!

Our vacation ended and we had still not identified a house we were interested in, but we had time because the Vegas house hadn’t been sold yet.  We planned to come back to Ocean City between Christmas and New Years as we’d done for the last couple of years. 0F1B810F-3729-43BD-A467-E57096BAC502Houses were much cheaper to rent at that time of the year, and we loved the empty city that morphed into a much fuller town as New Year, and First Night approached.  Well, when looking for a rental that year, where did we find one, but right on Pennlyn Place!  It was about mid block, and a perfect place for us to house hunt from.  By now the Vegas house had been sold, so the clock was ticking.

Ray came over the day after we arrived with several houses to show us.  We loaded into the car, and traveled to a brand new property on West Avenue.  We were impressed by the newness, but had doubts about the layout of the property, and the fact that it was on West Avenue in the teens.  First of all, it was a long walk from the beach, second, it was a very commercial area of West.  It was nice, but we had our doubts.  

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThen Ray took us to the second property of the day, and that was just down Pennlyn Place from our rental.  This property was a first floor, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, in a house that had been built just 3 years earlier.  We loved the street, loved the way the property was decorated, loved the fact that it was just down the street from the beach.  In short, we loved everything we’d seen.  It was a little more expensive than the West Ave property, and to help us,  Ray did a workup for us of what the mortgage costs of the two properties would end by being.  It turned out that there was just dollars difference per month between the two properties.  I think the kicker was that Susie and I agreed that if we bought the West Avenue property, we wouldn’t even consider vacationing there, so if we bought that, we’d continue to pay Denise to rent her home, rather than stay at ours.  The West property would just be an investment.  Those two week’s of rent would more than make up for a year’s worth of mortgage difference.  The decision was getting easier.

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854 Pennlyn before it was OURS!

It was December 28, 2004, and that was the day we saw our future home at 854 Pennlyn Place!  After looking at the place again, we had Ray make an offer, and before we left from our week’s stay on Pennlyn Place, we got the word…if everything else worked out, we would shortly own a house in Ocean City.  Our dream was that much closer to being reality!

 

To Be Continued…..

FYI….

Ray Elias…https://www.longandfoster.com/AgentSearch/AgentInfo.aspx?PersonID=10451215

 

 

 

The World is a Little Darker Today

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 2 Comments

34AEB718-F59A-4480-AE4B-C2F1DEA0D56AAs we get older, we lose many things that hold importance to us.  It may be a favorite restaurant, a store we loved, a house we lived in, or even a car.  In the same way, as we get older, we lose people that have places of importance in our lives.  I’ve lost my Mom and Dad, my Father-in-Law, Aunts and Uncles, Friends, and people I’ve worked with.  Today, another person joins those ranks, as last night in Florida, Dan Ingram died at the age of 83.   If that name means nothing to you, then you didn’t grow up in and around NYC, or you’re not one of my radio friends.  You see, Dan was the afternoon DJ on America’s Most Listened to Radio Station, Musicradio 77 WABC, and is counted by most as one of a handful of the best DJs in America during the era of Top 40 Radio. 

I was fortunate that my first 6 years at WABC were the last 6 years of Musicradio.  Most afternoons of those 6 years, I could be found on the board in WABC’s Studio 8A, working on Dan’s Show. Those 6 years were the best of the 40 I spent at WABC, in no small part because of my experiences during those afternoons I spent with Dan.   The lessons I learned, the laughs we had, and being accepted as a part of Dan’s life, are memories I will treasure forever!

Four years ago, when I started my Radio Stories blog, one of the first stories I wrote was about Dan.  Copied below is that edition of, It’s Better Than Working For A Living:

“Radio Stories….Dan Ingram – August 18, 2014

I have been very fortunate in the 42 years that I have been an Engineer in New York Radio to work with some of the very best people in the business. In fact, if I started a list of the DJs, talk hosts, and programmers I’ve been lucky enough to work with, and for, it would be a “Who’s Who” list of the best in New York Radio over the past 40 years. While I’m telling stories here, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about some of these great pros. So here goes…… Might as well start with someone who most folks would have at the top of their Top 10 lists of all time great DJs, and that would be Dan Ingram.

Like most kids who grew up in the New York area, I had listened to Dan a lot since he started at WABC in July of 1961. The first time I met Dan as a WABC employee, was probably the second week I worked at WABC, in August of 1976. Like most new hires in the Engineering Department back then, I started on the overnight. It was slower and easier to get your feet wet in the middle of the night, and since you were still working on the air at WABC and WPLJ and doing news production, you got exposed to everything that a Group 2 NABET engineer would do on the 8th floor. Working on the overnight was also a way to size up the new hires, and to make sure they were solid enough to work the rest of the day parts. After a couple of days on the overnight, I started slowly moving around the day parts until about 7 or 8 days into my time at WABC, I found myself working with my training engineer on Dan’s show. On the day I started at WABC (Sunday, August 8, 1976), they started destructing Studio 8A, the main air studio to build a new studio, and we were working out of Studio 8B which Dan and others called “the trailer”. That’s because it was the same length as 8A, but was only about one quarter of the width. So anyway, I had just finished up working an hour or so with Ron Lundy with good results, so it’s decided I’m going to stay on the board. In the last record of the hour, Ron packs up his gear and Dan comes in, and just before he sits, he extends his right hand across the over bridge and says, “Hi, I’m Dan Ingram” to which I reply, “I know”. Snappy come back, huh?

One of my Dan Ingram stories happened 4 years before that fateful day, when I first met him in 1976. In the spring of 1972, I got hired in my first NY Radio job as an audio engineer at WHN radio, and after initial training, most days I worked the afternoon shift, which started at 4 PM. As I wasn’t that far out of college yet, a lot of days I would spend the morning and early afternoons out at WCWP, the CW Post radio station. A little before 2, I’d hop into the car and drive into Queens to take the subway to WHN at 400 Park Avenue. Well of course, even though I worked at WHN, my car radio was set to WABC and I’d get to listen to 30 or 40 minutes of Dan’s show before I got to the subway in Forest Hills. As always, Dan had some funny comment about the titles of the songs he played, often times a change of meaning from what the song writer had in mind. So I’d listen to Dan on the way to work, and then later that same day, I’d be on the air with Jack Spector at WHN. During the first 6 months or so I worked at WHN, we played a kind of middle of the road soft WNEW type format, and some of the new records we played were the exact same records that were being played on WABC. Many times Jack Spector would schedule a record that I’d just heard Dan talk up on my way into the city. Unconsciously, I’d hit Jack with the comment that Dan had made in his intro, and on many occasions what I’d just said would come out of Jack’s mouth as he introed the song! I realized that I was the unintentional vehicle through which Jack Spector was stealing from Dan Ingram, which caused me to stop listening to Dan on my way to work! Luckily, less than 6 months after I started at WHN, we flipped to a country format, so that issue no longer existed, and I was back to listening to Dan on my way to work! As far as I know, no one but me ever realized what was happening….

On July 3rd, 1981 Dan Ingram celebrated his 20th Anniversary on WABC, and I, along with George Musgrave, were the two guys scheduled to engineer the show, and I even got a shout out when he was on the air with Cuzin Brucie! WABC News Man Rick James had done a lot of prep on things that had happened in the world during the 20 years, plus we had audio clips of highlights of his past 20 years at WABC, lots of phone guests scheduled, and a big selection of the music that Dan had played during the 20 years. We had a great time that afternoon, enhanced I’m sure because that July 3rd was a Friday, and a company holiday because July 4th fell on a Saturday that year, and WABC was empty! (Yes….remember back to the days that even big stars like Dan Ingram worked 6 day weeks and holidays?). The show was a wonderful look back at Dan’s career at WABC and how he got there, but it was also a great look back at the history of one of the world’s greatest radio stations, Musicradio 77 WABC! There was the British Invasion, the W A Beatle C period, the great DJs like Cuzin Brucie and Scott Muni, transit strikes, snow storms, black outs, old jingles and the music. We had a great afternoon, and really, a party on the air. and in 8A, as the only people on the floor, were the operations folks that day. Little did we know that by the next July, WABC Musicradio would be replaced by WABC Talkradio, and our time working with the likes of Dan Ingram would be over! 

20 years later, on July 3rd, 2001, on the 40th Anniversary of his debut on WABC, Dan was a guest on WABC’s John Gambling Show, which I was also the engineer for. I talked to Dan on the phone that day just before he went on the air, and it was fun to let him know about that little bit of trivia that I’d engineered both his 20th anniversary AND his 40th anniversary on WABC!

Of course, what everybody remembers about Dan was the Ingram wit. Even if you didn’t get to listen to his whole show, catching the show open and the show close became the first instance of appointment radio for many in the New York Metropolitan area! He was a fast thinker and a funny thinker, and much of what came out of his mouth was not planned, and certainly not scripted. Take his closes for instance. During the 6 years I worked with him, often times I’d be on the board as his close approached. A lot of days he’d be looking for a topic to have fun with over this closing music, and I was lucky enough to have a suggestion that he liked, and was the beneficiary of several Ingram closes. Like in 1977, when I was still a VR and got a letter in mid December that I was to be laid off on Christmas Eve…that became an Ingram close. Or the day after Thanksgiving one year, when driving into the ABC Building, I hit a pot hole on the LIE and lost a wheel cover…that became an Ingram close. Or on September 29th, 1980, when I told him that a year ago we’d both been at my wedding….Susie and my first anniversary became an Ingram close that day!

Funny things just came out of Dan’s mouth and they did it with very little effort, and once they were out, they were forgotten…like his intro from Neil Diamond’s Holly Holy, which I remember him subtitling on the radio, as “The story of a religious carburetor”. Anytime I hear that record I remember that phrase, and so in 1980 I’m sitting on the board in 8A, and Dan puts Holly Holy on the overbridge as the next record to play, and I say, “Oh, the story of a religious carburetor”. Dan says to me, “Hey, I like that. Can I use it on the air?” To which I replied, “Why not…I stole it from you a long time ago!” Dan didn’t have a set of cue cards, or a reference library that he’d go back to, or a Rolodex loaded with his best lines. He was funny, and once he said something that many of us will always remember, it was out of his head! I will remember this line for the rest of my life, but on that day in 1980 when I said it back to him, he had no clue that it had originated with him!

The last time I saw Dan was on a dinner cruise WABC sponsored to mark the 25th Anniversary of switching from music to talk in 2007. It had been a long time since we sat across the board from each other in Studio 8A at the ABC Building and I went up to him and said, “Mr. Ingram, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Frank D’Elia and I used to be your Engineer at WABC.” Not only did he remember, me but said something that I will always treasure. “Frank”, he said, “you were one of the smartest engineers I ever worked with. I had no idea why you were doing the job, but I know that every time you walked through the door into 8A, I was happy you were.” Yea, nice to know that the best DJ most of us will ever get to hear, thought I was one of the best engineers he’d ever worked with. I’ll take that!

Listen to a couple of classic Dan Ingram show closes that I was involved in:

 

Dan Ingram was the voice of WABC on TV  

Listen to Dan’s  20th Anniversary Show    http://youtu.be/Y4xSoJYufDI”

After this was posted 4 years ago, my friend Dan Taylor from WCBS-FM made sure that Dan saw the blog.  I got a lovely email back from Dan, telling me he loved the post, and still had fond memories of our time together at WABC.  Thanks Dan, for facilitating one more Dan Ingram thrill!  

If you’ll indulge me a little more, I’d like to share a couple of other stories.  

FFB33E5D-02D5-4B34-8CA6-8E58C6FA156DOne afternoon, working the 4-Midnight shift, I was assigned to 8A from 4:15 to the end of Dan’s Show.  Being blessed with the ability to sense the vibes of a room when I walked in, I knew something was not right.  After I relieved the other Engineer, I asked Dan what was up.  “The damn transmitter keeps dumping”, he replied.  I knew that having the WABC Transmitter repeatedly dump during the Dan Ingram Show was definitely not something that ABC wanted, and I understood Dan’s pissed off attitude.  We played a couple of songs, and the transmitter continued to dump and come back.  As we approached a spot break I asked him, “do you want to not play the commercials?”  Figuring that if the transmitter dumped during a spot, we’d owe that client a make good.  Dan’s reply…”Fuck Em…Play the spots.  Nobody gives a damn, till you start costing them money”.  I can not tell you how many times in my 40 years at WABC I repeated that sage advice to younger members of the staff, courtesy of Dan Ingram!

During the time I worked with Dan, I was pleased to have him share several personal moments with us.   Dan was at our wedding when Susie and I got married, and at several parties we had at our home. At one of our parties, he came with his then current wife, who was somewhat younger than Dan.  Another guest at that party, was my friend Louie Perianno, who I worked with at WHN, who was a HUGE Dan Ingram fan!  He made me promise to introduce him to Dan, and I assured him I would.  One problem when you are a radio person and go to a party with other radio folks, is your significant other ends up having nobody to talk to.  Lou’s wife Susie was in that situation, and hooked up with another woman about her age, who said that her husband worked with me at WABC, and found herself in a similar situation.   After talking for sometime, the woman’s husband returned and his wife introduced him to Susie, and the three of them continued their conversation.  When Louie returned, it was Susie Perianno and not me, who introduced Louie to his idol, Dan Ingram!  Dan was a regular guy, who liked to have a good time! 

Like the Christmas Eve a couple of years ago, when George Michael died, I am torn today between being sad, and being happy for the memories I have of working with someone who was  acknowledged as one of the best DJs of all time, and who thought I was pretty special too!  I’ve often said that everybody in radio has an ego, and to be Dan Ingram, you had to have a huge one. But his was not a destructive ego, it was an ego that embraced those of us who worked with him, and who were accepted into his group of favorite folks to work with.  The six years I was lucky enough to work at Musicradio 77 WABC were the best of my 40 at WABC, and I will never forget them.

As I said on Facebook someplace today, the great thing about memories is that nobody in them gets old.  For me, I will always remember my friend Dan Ingram, during the late 70s and early 80s at WABC…The Most Listened to Station in the Nation!!  Thank you Dan for all you did for radio, for all the folks you influenced to have a career in the business, and for being my friend!  I will always love you!  God Speed my friend!  Heaven’s radio station, just got a whole lot better today!! 

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Happy National Mustang Day!

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 3 Comments

CB643FED-999A-438A-B648-FB6027E46E0DToday is Tuesday, April 17th, and to a certain segment of the population, today is also known as Mustang Day, 2018. That’s because, 54 years ago today, on April 17, 1964, the Ford Mustang was introduced at the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair! As an impressionable teenager and car nut 54 years ago, I remember the day clearly. The Mustang was all over TV that night, there were newspaper announcements, and the Mustang was even featured on the cover of both Time AND Newsweek magazines that week!! Ford knew what they were doing, using the NY World’s Fair as a backdrop to the introduction, and if you’d like to read my memories of seeing and even riding in a Mustang at the fair, check out my NY World’s Fair blog at this link.

https://rnewadventures.com/2017/04/09/196465-new-york-worlds-fair/

But today is a day to rejoice in the Mustang, and what it means in our life, so let me give you a look into my personal relationship with a certain Mustang convertible.

In the fall of 1999, I decided to replace the Mustang I owned, a 1988 red convertible with a new 2000 model. I decided to do this because we had rented a 1999 convertible during a trip to Las Vegas that Spring, and we were really impressed by it. After researching the options, packages and colors that were going to be available for the 2000 Mustangs, I knew exactly what I was going to order. It was going to be red, and it was going to be a convertible. We favored a dark convertible top, versus a light one, so it would have a black top and a charcoal interior. It also would have an automatic transmission, and a few other accessories.

Factored into the decision making process, was, at the time, I had three teenage children at home, so my brand new 2000 Mustang was going to have a V-6, just in case any of my teenagers would ever be fortunate enough to get the keys from me, and having a V-6 would considerably lower their “temptation “ when they were driving it (not to mention the insurance costs).

One afternoon, after I returned from work, Susie and I went to Mineola Ford, and ordered the car. After hearing northing for several months, I received a call from them, saying my Mustang had been delivered. After speaking to the salesman for a few minutes, I realized something was wrong…..they had ordered the wrong color car! Instead of it being Laser Red, it was black. When I told them that I didn’t want the black car, the dealer was very surprised, but they told me they would get me the car that I had ordered.

After waiting several more weeks, and getting no clear answers, I came to realize that the dealer was just trying to buy time. They were hoping that they could wait me out, and that I would change my mind and take the black car. I’d had enough at that point and told them I wanted to forget the order and get my deposit back. They told me I needed to come to the dealership so they could credit my Visa card with the deposit, which I found out was just another ploy. When I got there I discovered that they had put the “mistake” Mustang in the center of the showroom! It was sitting front and center, all shiny and new with the top down, and they were surprised when they couldn’t get me to look at “my car”. Disgusted with the whole process, I just got my deposit back and left.

On January 5th, 2000, Susie and I went together to Park Inn Ford to order my 2000 Mustang. I had just turned 50 on January 2nd, so this was to be my “mid-life crisis” car, a red Mustang convertible! My experience at this Ford dealer was much better than at the first dealership. The owner himself explained to me about their Mustang allotment, and kept me in the loop from the day the order was accepted by Ford, to the day it was scheduled to be built, right up to the day he called to let me know my car was at the dealership. I picked my Mustang up on March 31st, 2000, which was just in time for some spring top down driving.

Over the years this Mustang has taken us to lots of places. From the beach at Ocean City, to the North Shore of Long Island, to the Long Island Rail Road station in Mineola. For many years it was my daily driver, and the car that Susie and I would choose to take whenever we were going some place without the kids. Speaking of the kids, the kids drove the car too, and for her senior year, it took Krissi to Mineola High School. She hasn’t lead a charmed garage life, has even had a couple of minor fender benders (one done by Krissi, and one by me), and has had her share of bumps and scrapes. Over the years, we’ve thought about replacing her with a newer model, but as she got driven less and less, we just never did it.

435F5A0F-8EC5-4193-8590-CC81C8D3AC22Now, some 18 years after that proud afternoon I first drove her out of the Ford Dealer, my Mid Life Crisis car, has become my Retirement car. As such, she now lives a much easier life. She moved to the beach in Ocean City before the rest of us did, and she now spends her life downstairs in the garage, but she still gets used all year long…just not in the snow. In fact, as she does many times, this morning, she took me over to Somers Point and Hot Bagels. As of that trip, she’s got a total of 84,441 miles on her. She obviously gets a lot more use in the summer, when we practically leave the top down all the time.  She is our vehicle of choice for rides around town, going to the store, or on our Sunday exploring rides. This summer will be the 19th Summer she’s been a member of our family, and I expect she will be with us for many more.

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The perfect car for a trip to Custard Hut in Somers Point on a sunny Summer day!

It’s a Small World After All

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 2 Comments

Well, it is Disney World, but more about that later!

This was our last day in Walt Disney World, as tomorrow morning we will get back into the Sonata, and journey up north to Ocean City. Today is our 19th day in Florida, and with the exception of the day it rained in Key West, the weather has been incredible. We have eaten out, sat at a tiki bar along the Intracoastal Waterway, and relaxed at the pool! Thank you Florida for giving us these gifts during February, of 2018!

So, today we decided was going to be a relaxing day. We started with breakfast in the Innkeepers Club, and as we walked in, one of the gentlemen who works there said, “Oh, here are the love birds”. We figured that was a good omen. Susie had her favorite…crostini with prosciutto and a slice of melon. Today they had grits, and I made them cheese grits! As usual, a nice breakfast, and a great perk for staying in a club level room.

Then it was back to the room to change and go to the pool. Several relaxing hours poolside, under a beautiful blue sky, reading, sleeping, and visiting with folks. Oh, this is where the Small World theme first comes back. We are sitting next to these two ladies, and Susie talks about the storm that is coming tomorrow and Saturday to Ocean City. One of the ladies hears Susie say “Ocean City”, and she starts talking to us. Turns out that they are Nancy and Roz, and they own Sun Rose Books, on Asbury and 8th Streets in OC. We had a nice discussion with them about life in Ocean City, including favorite restaurants. Nice ladies, and how about the likelihood that we run into someone who lives and works in the same small Jersey Shore town as us?

Then it was back to the cottage for a couple of GDDs in our English Garden, before we showered and got dressed for dinner. We had a 7:15 reservation in the Flying Fish restaurant, right here at the Boardwalk.

Our GDD view, and one of Susie’s little friends!

The Flying Fish was elegant, the food was super, and our waiter JR made us feel special! All that and a 40% Cast Member discount made for a wonderful meal!  A great last night!

We never seem to remember to take food pics BEFORE we eat it!!

A little shopping (got to get the last of the Cast Member discounts), and then we headed to the Belle Vue Bar, for our last nightcap with Allen, and guess what…we met up with someone else from our past!

Kevin Plumb was 20 years old when he started at WABC, and over the years I worked with Kevin on a lot of remotes, I worked for him when he became the Director of Engineering, and now he’s a Vice President with ESPN, who happened to be down in WDW on business, and emailed me. It was good seeing someone I first met back in the 90s, and reminiscing about so much of our shared history!

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Kevin has always been tall…I am not shrinking!

So, this is it for WDW and for Florida. We leave tomorrow morning, and sometime tomorrow, we will bid goodbye to the state of Florida. From Indian Rocks Beach on the Gulf Coast, to our nights in Key West, to our stay in Hollywood Beach, to the time we spent with our cousins Jeanne and Walt, to these last 5 glorious days in WDW, it’s been a great trip! Thanks Florida for our preview of Summer, 2018! We WILL be back!

Baseball and Walt Disney World

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

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Back when Disney bought CapCities/ABC, my contention was that what they really wanted was ESPN, but to get it, they had to buy all of ABC. Not only were they already in the Cable TV business, but there was a lot of synergy they could get out of a Disney/ESPN match up. Just look around Walt Disney World, and you see ESPN everywhere! From the ESPN Club at our resort, to various ESPN themed areas, all the way to ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex. (Oh, by the way, there is an ABC Commissary at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but the cafeteria on the 2nd floor of 1330 was a better place!)

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ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex contains what they call a Baseball Quadraplex (4 professional sized baseball fields) that host several tournaments and training programs, Marathon Sports Fields (17 manicured fields) that can host soccer, football, or lacrosse, the HP Field House (4 different basketball courts under one roof), The Softball Diamondplex (6 softball fields, all equipped with lights), a Tennis Complex (featuring 10 clay courts), the Visa Athletic Center (a multi sport facility that houses cheerleading and dance, basketball and volleyball courts, and more), and then, a world class Track and Field complex! It’s also the home of Champion Stadium, which at present is the Spring Training home of the Atlanta Braves.

After I retired at the end of January, 2016, we came down for a couple of Spring Training games, and one of them was the Mets vs the Braves at Champion Stadium. More because of Disney than the Braves, it’s a very well run stadium, and your experience is closer to a major league park than we experienced when we saw the Mets later that same week, in Port St. Lucie. When we were planning this trip, I discovered that the Mets were once again playing the Braves during our stay, and I got tickets. Today was our ballgame day at Walt Disney World!

As we walked into the complex from the parking lot, we were treated to a concert by the Atlanta Braves Philharmonic Saxophone Quartet just outside the main gate. We’d see them again in the field before the game, and during the 7th Inning Stretch!

As the game started, we realized that these were the Unknown Mets playing today. With the exception of Matt Harvey, who pitched the first two innings and Zack Wheeler who pitched one inning, we’d never heard of any of the players. Well, that’s not quite true…Tim Tebow did take 2 at bats, but did nothing really. It was a beautiful day for a ballgame (well it was, once the sun went behind the building and we were in shade…before then, it was HOT), and the seats were great. Although the score went back and forth a couple of times, in the end the Mets came out on top, by adding 3 runs in the top of the 9th, after getting 2 outs, to beat the Braves 6 to 4. Oh, and yes, if you’re interested, they still do the f**king chop, which is perhaps the most annoying thing that happens when you watch the Mets and Braves play!

Matt Harvey, Tim Tebow and the rest of the “Mets”

After a short drive back to the Boardwalk, we dried off and came back to life in the air conditioning of our room. It was a good day, and honestly may be the one and only time we get to watch the Mets play baseball live this year.

Late in the day, after we felt alive again, we took the boat to Epcot and walked the World.

Dinner was Fish and Chips from the Great Britain pavilion.

And then there was some shopping! Susie got a hat and a Minnie windbreaker, and I got a Mickey hat…got to use that 35% Cast Member discount!

Then there was a boat ride back to the Boardwalk, where we watched one of the nightly boardwalk shows….

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Before heading home, we stopped to see Allen at the Bellevue Bar for our nightcaps, where we discovered tonight he is involved with Boy Scouts, so we had plenty to talk about!

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Another Magical Day at Walt Disney World!

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It’s still Magical!!

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 1 Comment

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Look, before we go on, I need to clarify yesterday’s post. It wasn’t a miserable day, and we did enjoy it. It’s just that there were some disappointments, and some issues that had nothing to do with Disney, and some that did, that played a role!

Let’s be honest…there seems to be more and more of the “It’s all about Me” folks wherever you go these days. You know, the ones that stop dead as you go through a door, or have to be first to everything, or just don’t follow the rules. The folks with no situational awareness are everywhere! Get crowds like we saw yesterday, and there are way too many of these kinds of families to count. That’s a societal issue and OUR ISSUE, not Disney’s.

I had a friend comment on the blog this morning, and he agreed with me, but raised the point that we may have outgrown theme parks. I know we’ve probably outgrown concerts, so that was a very valid point to us. He pointed out that lately they’ve enjoyed visits to historical places that are much less crowded, and easier for those of us who are older.

Then last night at the Bellevue bar, Tim the bartender pointed out that in many ways, it’s like flying. Folks who are a lot younger than us, don’t remember the days when you were served real food, had room to cross your legs, and were traveling in style. Today’s generation has no idea it was ever like that, and expect a style of traveling, that today has become more like riding a bus. Same thing with theme parks.

So really, it’s more about us, than anything else. That said, we still love it, but like the favorite book you’ve read over and over and over (mine is Steinbeck’s Travels with Charlie), at some point, you have even had enough of that, and are better living with your memories. So, we may be done with the Magic Kingdom, but there’s a whole world of Disney to explore!!

And what did we do today, you may ask. Well, we went to the Innkeepers Club for breakfast, then we spent the day at the pool, which is outside the door of our cottage. Look at the pictures, and tell me this isn’t the way you’d love to spend a day February, in winter, in Walt Disney World!

The “Quiet” pool right outside our door..we’re the cottage with the 3 window dormer

We were supposed to go to Epcot and eat at the United Kingdom Pavilion tonite, but the day was so glorious, and we were so enjoying having our GDDs outside our cottage, that we canceled.

For dinner, we went back to the Innkeepers Club and had a great meal for free. Then we headed to the boardwalk with our coffee cups of Prosecco, watched the passing parade of folks, and then we had ice cream!

We ended the night at the Bellevue Bar with bartender Allen, and lots of good talk from him and the patrons. Unlike many other folks we’ve seen here, Allen’s has Disney’s 35 year pin on his name tag. Suddenly, I don’t feel so lonely!

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A couple of Titos on ice at our cottage’s front porch, and it’s July in Ocean City. A perfect day for us! Maybe not in other people’s eyes, but definitely in ours! Doing what we want, when we want, where we want! Life is VERY good!!!

The blogger at work!

Sleep well…..

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The gate of our cottage…Mickey above, and Doves down below!!

 

 

Barefoot Bay, Florida

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 1 Comment

Isn’t that a wonderful name, for a town in Florida? Well, in case you’ve wondered where we’ve been for the past couple of days, we have been in the aforementioned town, visiting with our cousins Jeanne and Walt. My Mom was the oldest of three kids, and grew up with 2 younger brothers. Jeanne’s Dad was middle brother Bill, and she’s slightly older than me, and the person who has known me longer than anybody else in the world.

Susie and I got here Wednesday afternoon, and have been having a great time with our family. We’ve sat around the dining room table, or on the screen porch, talking, and talking, and talking the night away. In fact, that first night were were here, we all looked at our watches and discovered it was almost 3 AM! That’s just the kind of relationship we have, and we love that too!! Oh, and by the way, it’s not just what we do in Florida, we did exactly the same thing when they came to spend time with us in Ocean City last year!

Today, Jeanne made plans to get us off our asses and out of the house, and thanks to her, it was a wonderful day! We started this morning with an Air Boat ride. These were always things that fascinated me when I was a kid and we’d visit Florida, or when watching old TV shows like Flipper or The Everglades. The last time we’d been on one, was way back when the kids were little, and we took a ride on a big one out of Homestead. This was a great sized one, piloted by Bob, who was a snowbird from point Pleasant, New Jersey. We each had wireless headphones, and Bob gave us a great tour and narration.

We saw lots of Florida wildlife, beautiful plants, and trees, and even some alligators!! I was enamored of the beautiful colors, especially the blues of the sky and water! Ah, Florida in February!!

After saying goodbye to Bob, we headed out of the Blue Cypress Conservation Area, and Jeanne and Walt said they had the perfect place for us to go for lunch! Yee Haw Junction was where we were going, and since Jeanne was driving, and Susie and I were in the back seat, off we went! As we traveled, Walt started to explain to us that Yee Haw Junction was not it’s original name. That was Jackass Junction. But as Florida’s population started to grow, and the Florida Turnpike was being built, the powers that be decided that Jackass Junction wouldn’t look great on an Exit Sign, so the name was changed to Yee Haw Junction!

And where did we have lunch? Well, it was called Desert Inn Bar and Restaurant and let’s just say that had Jeanne and Walt not been our hosts, we would have driven right by. Had we driven right by, we would have missed an incredible experience! It was fun, the drinks were cold, the food was good, and the atmosphere was…..well, look at the pictures below, and you decide!

So we’re back at the house now, sitting around the dining room table, looking at the pictures we took today, laughing about the folks we saw in the restaurant, and enjoying just being together.

Neither Susie nor I are lucky enough to come from families with hundreds of cousins, and relatives everywhere. It’s something I kind of imagine is missing from our life, but I’m sure that some folks who do have huge families, may be telling me to be careful what I wish for. We’re lucky enough to have Jeanne and Walt as our cousins, and I know that because of that, we’re lucky enough!

See you soon!

PS…You’re intrepid reporter, hard at work!

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Fort Lauderdale Memories

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

Today was a day to chase memories and to discover that time doesn’t erase your memories, but sure makes it harder to retrace some of the steps involved in those memories!

Susie and I have many Fort Lauderdale memories in common, starting with our first Florida trip as husband and wife, which started in Fort Lauderdale, and included a trip on the Jungle Queen (which is still operating from the exact same spot). Then we were here with the kids several times over the years, drove down for lunch on the beach one day when we were down for a wedding at the Breakers in Palm Beach, and the two cruises we were on when Kenny was working on Royal’s Allure of the Seas originated from Fort Lauderdale. But the memories I was trying to chase today, originated long before those. In fact, long before I knew Susan Lynn Johnson.

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David and Joyce lonoong before I met them

These memories have their origin in a little private school, on 79th Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, where I went to school from First Grade through High School. It was called Garden Country Day School when I started, but the name was shortened to just Garden School along the way. It started with three guys who met in the Technician’s Club, and became fast friends. Richard and I were in the same grade, but Dave was a year older than us, and his sister Joyce was a year younger. Richard and I had known each other since first grade, but David and Joyce showed up in the high school years. Our 3 Musketeer friendship was really cemented during the summers of 1964 and 1965, when the New York World’s Fair was in Flushing Meadow Park. I lived near the 82nd Street stop of the #7 elevated train, Richard by the 96th Street stop, so we’d meet on the train or the World’s Fair platform. Dave lived in Flushing, so he’d take the bus down Booth Memorial, come in the Rodman Street entrance, and we’d all meet by the Unisphere. Those were two magical summers for the 3 of us, as we probably went to the fair over a hundred times, and knew it like the back of our hands.

As members of the Technician’s Club, we were all involved in the school plays, and since David was a year older, he got his license before us. During rehearsals in the spring of 1966, we spent a lot of time hanging out, and going to and from rehearsals in the 61 Chrysler Winsor that had been handed down to him. It was big, it was black with a red interior, and it had those crazy Virgil Exner designed fins…we called it the Batmobile! Now with wheels, we didn’t just see each other at school and the fair. We were at each other’s houses, hanging out on the weekends, and doing the things you expect of 3 best friends.

After spending the summer of 1966 together, David went off to the University of Arizona, at Tucson, while Richard and I finished our senior year at Garden. After we graduated, Richard’s family moved out to Suffolk county, and we didn’t see as much of each other. Meanwhile, David came home from that first year in Arizona, deciding that he wasn’t a student, and that college wasn’t for him. He went to work in the Cohen family tie business, and we saw each other often, and spent much time at each other’s houses and became part of each other’s family! In a real sense, I had a brother and a younger sister…a heady thing for an only child!

David was the brother I never had, and in 1968 when we moved from Jackson Heights to Bayside, David’s folk’s house in Flushing was just down the road! Now we were together all the time! David would have dinner at our house, and my Mom would tell him that the ham she was serving was really rare roast beef. I’d eat dinner at the Cohen’s house, and David’s Father would always try to time the punch line of his joke, just when we had a mouthful of liquid! Mrs. Cohen fed me matzah brie and taught me a life lesson that I will always remember, as I will the exact moment and place she taught me. One day in the living room of their Flushing house, she and I were talking and she said to me, “Frankie…when you’re talking to someone, look them directly in the eyes. It lets them know you value what they’re saying!” To this day, some 50 years later, it still pisses me off when I’m talking to someone and they’re not looking me in the eyes! Thanks Mrs. Cohen!

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David’s Official Army picture

Since he no longer had a college deferment, he watched the draft numbers closely, and when it looked like it was getting close to him, he went down and volunteered, and was able to specify helicopter school. Remember, this was the height of the Vietnam War…not sure how smart that was, but he wanted to learn how to fly! I remember the day I took him to his Army Induction at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, wondering when I’d see my “brother” again. I didn’t have to wait long, as David was home in about 8 weeks, when it was discovered that he had asthma. Thank you for your service, you’re commitment to the US Army has been satisfied.

So David came home, went back into the family business, moved out to his own apartment, but NOTHING changed between us. We were still with each other as much as possible. Going to the movies, eating out, spending time with each other’s families, and going on vacation together…if you saw one of us, it was pretty unusual if the other one wasn’t tagging along!

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Joyce and David with their Dad..seems like yesterday to me!

At some point though, he decided he wanted more out of life, and took an electronics course and was working towards an FCC license. Although not a “student”, like most of us, if we like the topic, we rise to the occasion, and that David did. He passed the course, got the license, applied for jobs, and got one with the Motorola Company, down in Florida! This was a great thing for him, but to be selfish, a major blow to me. My best friend in the world, who I’d been best friends with since high school, was moving away. But fear not…a solution was on the horizon!

I was working at WHN Radio in NYC at the time, and a new IBEW contract had just been negotiated, with some rather radical thinking for the early 70s. What the contract did was create two classes of engineers. There were “On the Air” Engineers and “Production” Engineers. The “On the Air” Engineers would work 5 hours a day, Monday through Friday, and do one DJ’s whole show. The “Production” Engineers would work four days a week, 8 hours a day and do News or Commercial production, and fill the weekend on the air slots. That first year, I was designated to be the guy who filled in for vacations, as vacations were now scheduled 12 months a year, but only one of the guys could go at once. So the results for me were that, as well as my vacation, there were 5 times that first year where I’d work for a Monday – Friday guy, have Saturday and Sunday off, and then the very next week, work for one of the 4 day a week guys and be off Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday! So, in addition to my vacation weeks, 5 times during the year I was off for Five Days In A Row! So what did I do???

This was back in the days when you could fly Eastern or National Airlines (remember their campaign, “Hi, I’m Betty…Fly Me!”) roundtrip from LaGuardia to Fort Lauderdale for $69. This was also the day, when the Fort Lauderdale Airport was fronted with no name car rental agencies where you could rent a Ford Pinto or a Chevy Vega for $9.99 a day! So what did I do for all of those 5 day periods? Why I bought a plane ticket, rented a cheap car, and made believe I lived in Fort Lauderdale! For 5 times that year, Dave and I were roommates at his apartment in Fort Lauderdale, and 5 times that year we renewed our best friendship, and hung out, doing best friend things. Honestly, things were cheap back then, I’d become permanent at WHN and was making nice money, and I lived at home! Hell, I’d even bought a boat!

So that’s what I was trying to relive today. Trying to remember some of the memories, and some of the places we hung out during that year. Trying to find where Dave’s apartment was, trying to be that 24 year old I was 44 years ago. Trying to remember my best friend, and the fun times we had, in a much less populated South Florida. But alas, times they do change, and progress marches on. When he first came down here, his apartment was at the end of the developed part of Fort Lauderdale, and 40 plus years later, the areas are not even recognizable. Roads that used to be underpasses are now over passes, and golf courses are housing developments or shopping centers. Areas that used to be nice residential neighborhoods are slums, and even McDonalds and Burger Kings we used to frequent are gone or unrecognizable. Time marches on, and how I expected almost 45 years later, to find things that look the same, I don’t know. Hell, I don’t look the same as I did 45 years ago! Why the hell did I expect Fort Lauderdale to??

One of the biggest disappointments in my life, is that Susie, the love of my life, never got to meet David, my best friend. One Sunday, not long after that first year he was down here, I came back from a day out on my boat with some friends, and walked into my folks house in Bayside to find my Mom and Dad very somber. It was not easy for them to tell me that that afternoon, my friend David Cohen had died in an accident while taking scuba diving lessons. That’s why it was so important for me to try to find some vestige remaining from that great year I had visiting David in Fort Lauderdale!

Thanks Susie for understanding and encouraging me today, to try and find the places where these memories happened, and to keep them alive. I love you!

Thanks Joyce Cohen Leiber for letting me steal some of your Facebook pictures

Heading North Again

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

After a fabulous night at the Pier House, this morning it was time to end our brief visit to Key West. Did I mention yesterday that we had a martini at the beach bar, two bottles of Prosecco with dinner, then two martinis each at the Beach Bar, then Susie had a To-Go Key Lime Colada, and then we finished the night with a vodka at the hotel? Just checking.

The sun was shining, (we were a little cloudy), but it was very windy when we left Key West this morning. It was hard to drive with the windows open, because the cross winds kept trying to have us switch places in the car, so unfortunately, we drove in air conditioned comfort. Traffic was better today going north than it had been heading south on Saturday, and that was good. For the most part, the drive is filled with incredible colors and interesting sites, and is by no means boring.

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We enjoyed our Saturday lunch so much at the Islamorada Fish Company, that we once again decided to stop. As luck would have it, we were given the same table as we had Saturday! Same table, different wait-person, and different meal. Our waiter today was a bit of a pip. Now, we’ve been in many restaurants over the last couple of weeks, and have noticed how much the people working in them hustle. This guy could not multi-task at all, and hustle wasn’t in his vocabulary!

 

The rest of the trip north was uneventful, till we got to Miami Beach. Figured, how could we pass through the area without going through Miami Beach? Let’s just say, that it has changed an awful lot since I vacationed there with my folks, back in the 1960s and 70s! South Beach is alive today, and filled with sites and more modes of dress than you can imagine!

As we got a little farther north, things calmed down, and there were some familiar old names mixed in with the very new residents!

One reason for all the traffic, we discovered, was it was the last day of the Miami Yacht Show on Collins Avenue! Big boats and big bucks, we’re sure!

When I was a kid, we stayed at the Stratosphere Motel at 95th Street and Collins Avenue, in the Surfside section of Miami Beach. Let’s just say that the Stratosphere is gone, but there still is the Surfside Post Office there, but little else I remember! Susie and I were there once, the first year we were married, so we did share that together. Will have more discussions about that in a couple of days with my cousin Jeanne, who vacationed there with us, when we were all kids!

We drove north to Hollywood, and checked into the Double Tree Resort on Hollywood Beach. A really nice hotel, and after vegging for a bit, we headed down to the pool bar. What a beautiful pool, a great tiki bar, and on the intracoastal waterway!! Another perfect night with our bartender Kalford!! We had several wonderful drinks, enjoyed our conversations with Kalford, and met a couple of nice ladies, Tammy and Layna. Great conversation with people we’ve never met before. One of the things we love about vacationing!!

Back in our room, perhaps a vodka on the balcony watching the ocean, and then bed! Life is good!!!

A Rainy Day in Key West

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

So, they all can’t be perfect, and today it was the weather that threw us a curve! When we got up about 8:00 this morning, the temperature was in the 70s, but the weather forecast said that it was a cloudy 70 degrees. It also called for sporadic rain, but as we were sitting around getting ourselves collected this morning, the sun came out, so we hoped that was a good omen!

We were very relaxed this morning, as both of us had a good night’s sleep, and were in no hurry to start our day. Then I re-read the check in information, and realized that breakfast didn’t stop at 11, but rather 10, and it was about 9:30 already. Not wanting to get there for the last dregs of breakfast, we decided to get into the car, and drive around a bit, and see what we could see, and then look for a place for a late breakfast/early lunch, so that’s what we did.

We started out with the windows and sun roof open, but soon we were getting rained on. It was not real rain, more of a heavy mist (what we call “misting”), but enough that we had to use the windshield wipers. Our first task was to find the local Wells Fargo bank to take some money out of the ATM. That task completed, our plan was to look for parking somewhere around Mallory Square, and spend a couple of hours wandering the streets and taking the Conch Tour Train through town. The rain was on and off, but we still figured we’d be able to get through the day. Guess where we ended up parking? At Mr. Buffett’s Margaritaville Resort and Marina. Having just recently opened, we considered staying there, till we did a dummy booking, and saw what the price was going to be. Let’s just say, that only the most well off Parrot Heads will be partaking from it’s hospitality. We went in the lobby, and figured we’d look around, but the lobby really just consisted of a check-in desk. Oh well, we had a place for the car, and now we were on foot.

 

Right next door is the Museum of Art and History at the Custom House, with some interesting and large works of art in the courtyard.

 

We checked out a couple of tourist shops, but as we all know, we already own too much stuff, so no purchases were made. It was about 11:15, and the rain was still falling, so we thought we’d look for someplace to get a little something to eat. We spotted the Red Fish, Blue Fish restaurant, and decided to see if they were open. There were people inside, and indeed they were serving lunch, so in we went. We had an order of incredible Conch Fritters, then Susie had a Chicken Sandwich, and I had a Shrimp Po-Boy Sandwich. We both agreed we should have stopped with the fritters! Oh well, we were out of the rain, and had something in our stomachs!

 

We pulled out our phones, and looked at the weather forecast, and even the radar, and it looked like the weather was going to improve. The radar showed the storm pulling out of the area by 1 PM. We had hopes for better weather as we walked over to the office for the Conch Train. The train in the station was full, but the signboard said the next one would leave at about 12:15. It was getting brighter by the minute, and we both decided to give it a try. I bought us a couple of tickets, and when the next train pulled in, we jumped on board.

 

Launched in 1958, the train is about an hour plus tour in and around the old and new city of Key West. It passes lots of sights, and there is a narration conducted by the “Engineer” as you go around town, which brings up a question….why the hell do people take a tour that costs this much (our two Senior tickets me almost $60), and then proceed to talk through the entire tour! Here is a picture of the three loudmouths that talked, laughed, and even took phone calls through the tour!

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These three couldn’t shut up till  they got off the tram!!

So we were about a third of the way through the tour, when the weather forecast proved wrong, and the heavens opened! Did we get wet? Yes, but it’s warm and wet, so not the end of the world. We enjoyed the sights we saw, and at one point, the 3 talkers got off, so we could hear the narration better!

 

One of the sights you pass on the tour is the Southernmost Point Buoy that you always see in pictures. Hard to believe that there was a block long line of folks (maybe 75?) waiting to be able to take their picture by the buoy. I don’t know if this is an out growth of the “selfie craze” or what, but it’s a trend we’ve noticed happening more and more lately. People will wait in line for anything!

 

One thing that was obvious during the tour, is that the city is crazy! As quiet as the city was when we started out this morning, it was hopping now. Every bar was overflowing, and the sidewalks and shops were full of people! Bad planning on our part, in that this is President’s Day Weekend, but also there are 3 cruise ships in town. Key West is apparently a big cruise port, and with 3 ships in today, thousands more tourists were eating, drinking, shopping, and spending money. Key West is, after all, a tourist town!

So after getting off the train, and still being a little wet, we decided to get the car, and go back to the hotel for a bit. A drink, a shower, and getting ready for our 6 PM dinner reservation at One Duval at the Pier House Resort and Spa.

After getting ready for dinner, we took an Uber for $9.00 to the Pier House. We had a 6 o’clock reservation for dinner at One Duval, but first stopped at the Beach Bar for a Martini. After enjoying that, with a wonderful view, it was time for dinner.

 

Then we moved up to One Duval, and what can we say, other than the fact that it was the absolute best dinner we have had on this trip!!! A great setting, wonderful food, and a great server!!! Take a look at these pictures of the setting, the sunset, and our meal, and see if you can raise a doubt! It was awesome!!!

 

After a great dinner with our server Linda, (from Latvia) we moved back to the Beach Bar with bartender Merri! Some great conversation with other patrons (one of which had gone to high school with Merri in Massachusetts, and just wandered into the bar), a couple of more Martinis, and then Susie got Key Lime Colada to go! It was the perfect end to a perfect night!

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Honestly, we are not folks to hang at Sloppy Joes, and drink out of plastic cups, and hope that the guy next to us doesn’t puke on us! The Beach Bar at the Pier House was the perfect venue to end our night!!!

Then a $10 Uber trip home with Jorge, ended a perfect night!!! This is our version of Key West, and honestly, we loved it! It was one of our best nights of this trip. We’ve had several great nights, and this was in the top 5!! Thanks Key West!!!!

See you tomorrow when we head north again!! Hope your Sunday night was half as good as ours!!!