Dad: You can’t wear that
Me: Why not? What’s the problem?
Dad: Don’t argue with me, that’s just not how its done over there. Just put on some pants.
Me: But its 90 degrees outside, its so hot.
Dad: If you want to go you have to wear pants, enough!
This was how the conversation went every time, its not like we were going to some fancy banquet and I wasn’t dressed appropriately. We were going shopping in Boro Park for God sake, I just had no idea why I had to wear pants. If only I would have known what I know now, I would have had some great arguments.
For instance, my father and I would always wear jeans and baseball hats, according to most folks Jeans are much more goyishe then a pair of shorts, but this was my fathers vision of what other people wore. Such a conformist and all we were doing was going to three stores. G and Sons, Wallachs and then some pizza.
My father is the type of guy who loves a good deal, when he finds something he brags about it for years, and these deals are usually found in obscure stores in Borough Park. He recently found wild salmon for cheaper then regular farm salmon sells for in Far Rockaway. I have heard this fact nearly 80 times, every person he meets, he feels the need to tell someone.
Same with Wallachs on 13th avenue, throughout my youth I spent many hours there, trying on shabbos shirts and pants (only FFB’s call it that) because Wallachs was apparently the cheapest dress clothes store in the world. This was before I discovered Marshals, TJ Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory – I then realized that Wallachs was pretty damn expensive and mildly annoying because navigating the triple parked cars on 13th avenue is a nightmare.
My father told me that when he was a kid his father wouldn’t let them go to Wallachs because it was open on shabbos, and so they went to Beckers that was closed on shabbos but more expensive. I guess it goes to show you that stores open on shabbos last a longer time because Beckers is not around anymore.
We also used to go to G and Sons all the time, when I moved out of my house and needed pots and cutlery, we went to G and Sons and I realized that “cleansing” your stuff in a kelim mikvah is one of the most disgusting things you have to do in Judaism. My father dropped a spoon to the bottom and got soaked trying to get off the floor which was littered with other dropped silverware, waterlogged beard hairs and paskez candy wrappers.
G and sons was like the Wal Mart of Boro Park, they had all of the cheapest most non-durable products. Heimishe (term used by frum people to describe low quality) would be an understatement, but as modern orthodox kids who never saw the frum candies like bloomys and paskez, we were in heaven. I had an addiction to sour sticks, fizzer pops and bubble blast gum at the time, to my fathers chagrin.
No trip to Boro Park was complete without some cheap pizza. Back in the day, every pizza store in Boro Park charged a dollar for a slice – this was long before I thought I would see $3 a slice. In a way pizza is like gasoline, it keeps going up in price yet no one curbs their pizza addiction – unfortunately pizza cannot be replaced by some sort of alternative pizza.
Boro Park has changed a lot for me, the only reason I step foot in the place is to go to my bank, car mechanic or for lunch at subsational yesterday. People keep telling me to check out one of the Thursday night cholent spots, but for that I need a tour guide, anyone want to take me to Hadar Geula and be by guide?
Boro Park is much more Chassidish than it used to be. I know people who grew up in Boro Park who are MO today.
We never went to Wallach’s when I was a kid- it was The Right Place once a year, before Pesach usually.
But I swear the first time I went to Walmart I was all like “wow, it’s like G and Sons but even bigger!” When we first got married, I would drag my wife to the Walmart right outside Lakewood all the time, because I was- and still am- all impressed by the size, cleanliness, and selection of Walmart. My wife, born and raised in various out-of-town wilderness spots such as Savannah and Indianapolis (that’s right, I didn’t know there were frum Jews there, either) doesn’t get it.
At least she’s prevailed upon me to upgrade to Target.
I grew up in Boro Park and I am MO. When we used to shop on 13’th Ave, I preferred Linicks to Wallachs 🙂
I went to school at Etz Chaim on 13’th Ave and 50’th St. Once a week, our Rebbe allowed us to go to one of the pizza shops (there were at least 3 in very close walking distance) for lunch. The deal was 2 slices and a coke for $1.00! I’m somewhat 🙂 older than you.
There are some things that we (well, only my parents now, since the rest of us moved out of NY) still only buy in Boro Park. Schach and teh arbah minim we always get in Boro Park (my dad even brought me my arbah minim from Boro Park to South Florida this year). Wine we pretty much only got from Boro Park. Also most seforim, only from Boro Park, but now we have Eichlers in Flatbush and mail order, of course. Tzizit, only from Boro Park. Fabric for sewing clothes, only from Boro Park. Up until a few years ago, I got all my glasses only from Boro Park (a guy in a basement), even during the 10 years that I lived in Israel!
But I don’t really like going to Boro Park anymore, the almost complete lack of derech eretz really gets to me. The sinat chinam is palpable there. It’s turned wonderful childhood memories of mine into … well, something else.
In our days they used to say it takes one to know one.
Boro Park is still a nice place to live in. I wonder where you live now.
One can be affected by something he lets himself or herself be affected by. It is still a mixed neighborhood. Yes, it is more Chassidish because many people have changed. We for example have a mechutin, father of a daughter in law, who wears a bent down, tie, gets regular haircuts, he and his wife are college graduate and teach there. Their children are with shtreimel, shpitzel, white socks. They let their children grow which way they felt.
Come for a Shabbos and daven in Beth El and you will change your mind.
You ought to stop into Chabad of the 5 Towns some shabbos morning. The rabbi says “shabbat’ in his public speaking. You’d enjoy it. They carry the torah into the womens section
My mother in law, who moved out of Boro Park 25 years ago, and who now lives in Baltimore, will only purchase linen in Boro Park. Apparently goyim don’t purchase quilt covers and therefore quilt covers are never sold outside of Boro Park.
Murray the K – what on earth does that have to do with anything, I wouldn’t stay in the five towns just for that. If you would have said that hot girls dance behind him as he says this then I would have said maybe.
I grew up in BP, just moved out a few months ago because I got married. Hated the place for the last 20 years and dont plan on moving back there. Though I’m going in for shabbos…
I remember as a kid I did all my shopping on 13th avenue before I discoverd Manhattan, now I dont go back to that place. There is a shoe, clothing, and pizza store on every block; Nature Walk, M&M Shoes, Elzee, and of course M&H Makeup. Omnone’s had the best pizza (however u spell it) though non of the stores were clean, always full of flies and the tables were washed with water after every customer.
Heshy, Hadar Geula is awesome but very pricy. I used to go there every thursday night with my sisters. We would be the only girls in there for chollent and kugel that they would always serve us first so we dont have to stand with all the men. Their over night potato kugel rocks, best one in boro park!! Also, there are a few tuna bagels working there, and one guy who looks really frum but talks like a surfer dude!
G & Sons was awesome for Purim costumes! I was wondering if it was still around.
My wife went into a store in BP w/o stockings on and didn’t get great customer serivce. She went back the next day w/ stockings on and had 2 different sales people rush over to her (like going to the GAP). My wife informed them that yesterday after they blew her off she went to another store instead and spent $400.00.
This post was a classic.
I used to love G& Sons, they had everything. Enjoyed the Pizza at Kosher Castle. I also bought glasses in the basement -the guys name was Minzer. The basement was a free for all with no order. You had to push your way in to get your order taken & prevent people from butting in front of you. I remember one guy there asking if he could pay for his glasses using food stamps.
These comments rock
when i was 13, and moved from Baltimore to BP, i felt like someone had dropped me off in a frum version of the magical kingdom of food shopping, and by food, i mean candy, ice cream, and pizza, there were 2 candy stores, and a pizza/ice cream store on my way to and back from yeshiva, which of course meant, that when i went shopping for my mom, you know where all the change went, yep, you got it, candy, soda, ice cream, and pizza, as for G&Sons, walking in there b4 purim, was just amazing, besides for the costumes, they had the best “shtick” around, and loads of it, always fond memories!!!
Former Baltimore – you sound like those old communists talk about when they first saw bread on the shelves.
Yo Hesh I go “chulent hunting” every week in Brooklyn, you can come, but you had better not call my friends ugly again
also, great post.
I remember going to G & Sons with my mother for random stuff when I was a kid. It closed years ago and became a National Wholesale Liquidators, which sold pretty much the same stuff and went out of business last year.
My mother grew up in Boro Park in the 70s, before it was as chasidish as it is now. She says Boro Park then was what Flatbush was like in the early 90s.
Many National Wholesale Liquidators (we called it the Indian store) locations reopened a year or two ago. I do miss G. and Sons. Tonight I came across these light bulbs; I wonder if they’ll work.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/52d197c9ef3115dc7ebc4059339c42eace29eb0b8225deffa0a42ac4ecd6f6cc.jpg
I wish I can say I have some sort of memory of BP, but I simply can’t because I grew up in Flatbush and hardly ever stepped foot in BP. And on those seldom occasions that I did, I wanted to get out of there in a hurry. Double parking, non stop honking, congested, etc, etc… Not for me!
My Savta also used to take us to G & Sons. I don’t remember what we bought there, but I know that every time I visited her, she’d take me there.
Both of my parents grew up in Boro Park. According to them, Villiamsboig used to be where the Choosids lived, and BP was the MO location. That all changed sometime in the early ’70s when the Bobover Rebbe moved in. That’s when the other groups followed. My Mother grew up 3 blocks from where Bobov is now; she says that when she was a kid, that area was mostly Italian and pretty mobbed up. Within a few blocks of her place there were plenty of ‘organized fights’ going on in the area.
Even more interesting. My Father’s Mother also grew up in BP. Her late mother said that when she first moved to BP in the ’20s, it was mostly farmland. Now that’s just hard to imagine. My Grandmother has told me about those days where there was only one kosher buther in BP, and every Jew (no matter what denomination) trusted him. Back in those days, he’d actually shecht the animal on the spot for you, and you had to do the salting, kashering, et al. Nowadays, every Chassidish group has its own butcher…My Grandma is one of the few vestiges of the old school BP. She loves seeing the look on the faces of these Choosids when she busts out the Yiddish on them. To them, a blonde haired/blue eyed lady with uncovered hair and pants who speaks fluent Yiddish must be from outer space. The MO community has died out so much, that I was once reading (in the Jewish Press out of all places) about one of these old school pillars of the BP community dying, and how the Choosids all refused to attend his funeral. so they actually had to import a minyan from Teaneck!!! Wow.
You should check your information before spreading such lies.
It is a matter of fact that anything can happen to anyone.
In Boro Park anyone who is Jewish can have a funeral with dignity, all you have to do is call Misaskim and they’ll treat you like a king/queen from A to Z. You are a bitter person and think about yourself.
Boro Park is growing into different branches, with Bucharins, Mexicans and even frum Puerto Ricans. It seems you walk two blocks and have seen it all. The Jewish Press with the reporting it has, lost its’ readers to such as Hamodia, Yated Neeman, Mishpacha and Bina. For you a magazine as Horizons would be good. Most writers are B.T. and wouldn’t trade back their old life. It’s never to late for you.
FRUM
It’s not measured by how long your beard is or by the amount of wool in your tzitzis. How fast you shokal or how slow you make a bracha. It’s not measured by how many dips you take in the mekvah or how many pubes you eat along the way. How much criticism you can give or how little you can take. It not measured by the maximum amount of rebbe cards you obtained or the minimal amount of college education you received. The biggest bargain you got or the smallest @#@# you have. Because not everything is black and white besides wool tzitzis, a chasid, Boro Park’s most famous cookie, my TV I had growing up until Baywatch’s debut, and a bird’s eye view of Lakewood. So what’s frum measured by? Go ask a bt they ALWAYS have the answers for everything and they are more then willing to tell you!
Where DOES your dad get his cheap fish?
Bubble blast was the best stuff out there, havent seen it around anymore. And this post was hilarious.
Hesh,
I used to go there too…except that my parents would buy me clothes for school, not just shabbos.
THen in 5th grade, people suddenly wondered why I was dressed like an Amish boy. THat night I cried to my mom and we went shopping at the Gap on West 69th Street and Columbus Avenue and that was that… I never looked back.
I have not been back to Wallachs or Borough Park for clothes shopping in 16 years and counting.
I have some friends who go to the cholent gatherings. shoot me a facebook message or email and i’ll hook you up (they live in the NY area, dont worry).
apparently the cholent hassidim are considered too off the derech to get good shidduchim, but too frum to dip into the mod orth dating pool. a pair of the cholent hassidim popped by Yiddish Camp last year for shabbos. they were cool, but a little shy.
Marcos for some reason I bet you were the only kid in Ramaz who shopped for clothes in BP.
Jelen – I am not talking about the rebel cholent party, which as a Yiddishist you must attend- you would love it.
“Heimish” does not mean “low quality”, it means “homey”. The fact that some Chassidim treat their places of business as their very messy homes doesn’t change the meaning the of word; “hemish” can mean something very nice and cozy, sometimes.
Hey, I’m from Monsey, I know from gross Chassidish stores. Auction Mart, anyone?
Hesh,
I was in Park East at the time (I left after 5th Grade). I don’t think Ramaz would have accepted me if I came there dressed in BP clothes.
My grandfather used to take me to G and sons for an action figure every sunday night if i aced my 1st and 2nd grade chumash tests.
Damn good times.
Thank you Sruly, that’s what she used to get me at G & Sons. Most of my Thundercats action figure collection came from there. Then one day, she decided she was tired of buying me those ‘monsters’ every time I came over, so she got me a WWF action figure: Vince McMahon, no less. Remember those old WWF action figures? The ones made out of really hard rubber that was impossible to bend, all you could really do is bang them into each other really hard and pretend to be piledriving, flying elbowing, jumping off the top rope, body slamming, et al? And this Vince McMahon, complete with a red blazer and microphone, had one finger in the air, so this made it particularly hard for him to fight back against my other action figures. At least she could have gotten me a Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, or Rowdy Roddy Piper. But no, she decided that Vince McMahon is a “handsome young man”, so she got me that one instead.
Camerman-
JEWISH SHEETS!!!!
Back in those days, I actually had a crush on Hulk Hogan… and you’re right the action figures were lame…. I preferred transformers…. I even used to watch the show after school…
Awww G&Sons… I used to get my Barbie dolls there. Good times.
MarriageNewbie // May 22, 2009 at 10:29 am
“Heimish” does not mean “low quality”, it means “homey”. The fact that some Chassidim treat their places of business as their very messy homes doesn’t change the meaning the of word; “hemish” can mean something very nice and cozy, sometimes.
Hey, I’m from Monsey, I know from gross Chassidish stores. Auction Mart, anyone?
-I can tell you from a personal knowledge that Auction Mart is doing very very very well BA”H.
I’m from “Brooklyn, just moved to monsey”.
MS – that was meant as a joke, albeit a truthful joke
I got the joke, and I make fun of the fact that auction mart is flying, I just thought I’d share that they are bh doing very well despite their “heimish”ness.
re kelim mikvah
I take it as a testemount of my non-frum mom’s love for me that she still goes with me after the first time. The place totally horrifies her, and rightly so, and I drown everything in hot water once I get home.