On the corner of Summerfield Street and Forest Avenue, in Ridgewood Queens, was a candy store which we all called Abie's...and of course there was a Breyer's Ice Cream sign which said "Candy Store."

The place was tiny...a marble soda fountain with two green leather swivel seats...where Abie would make us small Egg Creams for a nickel or once in a while we'd splurge and for a quarter we'd get a Black and White or a Chocolate Frosted...(a malted without malt.)

Next to the fountain was the ice cream locker where Abie kept the Mello-Rolls or the Fudgsicals.

Facing the locker was the candy case...ooooooo....name it...and Abie had it...NIK-L Nips, pez, those orange candy bananas, the wax lips, the licorice strings...we would really pig out for a dime or a quarter.

One of my favorite things in Abie's was his comic books display.  At a dime a piece...15 cents for a Classic comic...I had a trunk full of comics at home...(my mother through them all out...ohhhh if we had only known...). But I loved those comics...from Nancy & Sluggo, to the Katzenjammer Kids to Henry to Bat Man and Robin, Superman, and Captain Marvel...and of course, Wonder Woman...I had them all...hundreds...

Yeah...that was Abie's...one of my fondest memories from my pre-teen years.  (I drove past the store a couple of years ago...It was an Italian meat market...Times do change.)

Do you remember YOUR "Abie's"????     

We had Sally's for her 25 cent black and white ice cream sodas, and Joe's for the funny books or as you call them comic books and his MAD and Crazy magazines. We went to Jimmy's for his cool magic stuff and other strange things like real jumping beans with worms in them, a fake firecraker with only fuses to lite, black chaulky nuggets that when you lit them with a match a curly black snake of ash would grow out of it about  2 feet long...cool! and the biggest selection of penny candy and gum in town. Then we go to Jack's for his back room firecrakers and swich blade and push button knives...the real stuff! There was Patty Boy's in Newark who had the best 25 cent chocolate eggcream soda I ever had and he had a pool table in the back room.

Nastos ice cream store wasn't a real candy store only went there for their home made Italian Ice Cream and Italian Ice. For a nickel you get a two scoop cup of lemon ice with the flecks of the lemon skin in it or any other of their 10 flavors...they are still in business today and you probably ate their ice cream if you dined in an fine Italian restaurant anywhere within 75 miles of Newark NJ....the "boys" like their tartufos and tortonies.

All the old candy stores are gone replaced with 7 / 11 or Quick Chex's or if there is one still around they're big with Pick-It customers, $1.00 candy bars and $6.70 packs of cigarettes...gone are 1 cent candies and the cool stuff. Oh well! like I always say " the only thing that dosen't change in life is...change" 

Silvies (Mr. Silverstein).  Whenever anyone walked in he would say "Give me a dime, a great big dime, and I'll give you a buckaroo" 

Silvies (Mr. Silverstein).  Whenever anyone walked in he would say "Give me a dime, a great big dime, and I'll give you a buckaroo" 


What is a buckaroo? it sounds dirty.

What is a buckaroo? it sounds dirty.


He spoke broken English so I think he just made it up. I don't think it meant anything realy, but you have never heard of the term buckaroo?  Buck Owens and the Buckaroos? Buckaroo Bonzai?  A buckaroo was a cowboy.

He spoke broken English so I think he just made it up. I don't think it meant anything realy, but you have never heard of the term buckaroo?  Buck Owens and the Buckaroos? Buckaroo Bonzai?  A buckaroo was a cowboy.


I'll just leave it alone.

There were 2 places back in the mid to late 60's. One was a tiny store owned by a little old lady and she had tons of candy for sale, All sorts of penny candies and candy bars for a nickel. The store was the front room of her tiny house about 4 blocks away and to me as a small child this store was fantastic but now it looks so small.  My Abie's was downtown and it was called The Scoop News.  It was a newstand with tons of comic books and a lot of candy. They had a popcorn maker and for .10 you could get a tasty bacg of freshly popped corn. They had a huge jar filled with malt balls for a penny each. They sold drugstore items and misc. toys, books, sundries and in the same shop was a great soda fountain with milkshakes and my favorite, Cherry Cokes.  It seemed as if they had anything you could want as a kid, and for me the main reason to go inside was for candy. I did buy a 6th grade girlfriend a ring from there. It cost a whole dollar. The building is still there but there have been many different business's and I'm not sure what it is now, but the next time I take a trip back to my old hometown, I'll be sure to check and if I have a picture of it in this town history book I bought from the local museum, I'll scan it and post it once I get my scanner online.