Yes, spring is here, and with it another Easter season amid war, and severe environmental conditions. I’m using the term Easter season, because there are other religions who celebrate their happenings at this time of the year. In fact, I just read that all religions will be celebrating this week, something that doesn’t happen often. It maybe a positive sign, and all peoples should reflect, and take advantage of this occurrence. I hope so, because we need all the help we can get, if we want our world to continue. Now that I have expounded on the current problems that we are all facing, let me reflect on my memories of a simpler, happier time.
In my household, all major holidays were complex affairs, and Easter was no exception. My father was not a religious man, but a very spiritual one. He didn’t refute religious beliefs or teachings, but looked at them in a different perspective. He believed the bible was one of the greatest books ever written, because it’s a book of multiple dimensions. That being said, this is what our Easter week was comprised of.
At the start of the week, it was the time to buy me, the one and only suit that I was going to have for the year. My mother would take me to what we called downtown Brooklyn. This was where most of the retail stores were located. Where the Abraham and Strauss department store was located, near the courts and official buildings. Now A&S as we called it, was the only up-scale department store located in Brooklyn. Buying my yearly suit, was my mother’s territory. My farther, was busy coloring the Easter eggs, which he did alone to his perfection, along with creating the Easter baskets which would be filled with traditional jelly beans, gourmet jellies hadn’t been invented yet, and of course a chocolate bunny. So here I was with mother, picking out a suit and tie that would be suitable to wear on Easter Sunday. The only suit I remember from photos, many of which were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, was a beige colored suit. I guess it fit into the spring motif, resurgence of warm weather, and all that. Whatever, I had no choice, due to price and availability.
So, now it was Easter morning. First, we would spend time going through our Easter baskets, which my father had painstakingly assembled. Just before lunch it was time for the family to travel by subway into Manhattan. Our first stop was to a medium-priced restaurant for lunch located in the Times Square section. At that time there several chain restaurants. I not quite sure, but I think the restaurant we chose was the Californian located on 7th Avenue and 45th Street, just before 7th Avenue and Broadway cross, as they head downtown. My mother really liked to dress up and go out. So, Easter was a big deal, and we had to be dressed as best we could. We would have a leisurely lunch, with my mother having her favorite cocktail, a “Manhattan.” After we finished lunch, we would walk from the Times Square section to Rockefeller Center located on 5th Avenue, about six or eight blocks. Across the street from Rockefeller Center is St. Patricks’ Cathedral. There was always a line outside with people eager to see how the cathedral was beautifully decorated, especially at Easter, something my father always appreciated. After we looked throughout the Cathedral, we exited right onto 5th Avenue, just in time for the Easter Parade. Yes, there really was an Easter Parade, and still is, just like in the 1948 movie “Easter Parade.” The traffic which was, two ways in those days, was stopped between 57th Street and probably 50th Street. So, we’d strolled up and down the avenue with all the swells in our A&S finery. The only thing that was missing was Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, not that it would have made it better. Actually, just recently I bought the movie bought the movie Easter Parade. The opening number, “Happy Easter,” with Fred Astaire shopping for gifts at various stores is magnificent. It ends in this toy store, and the choreography for his dance number, I think, is one of the best that I’ve seen him do. If you have a chance, rent it, and see if you agree.
Easter in New York, when I was growing up, was very special to me.
