Did you participate in the phony ID game? Where?...Every Friday night in 68-69, I could be found with the crowd at the Kilarney Rose on Webster just off the corner of Fordham...so, what's your story?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mike McWatt,

Didnt need a phony id -- The local bodegas didn't card us... Was a retired drinker by age 16...

Hmmmm...Bodega??? Oh, that's right...the old Bronx Candy Stores!

Oops sorry, I guess thats a term used since the 80's... Bodegas are small (usually hispanic owned) grocery stores...

Bodegas have been around since the beguinning of time. and yes it used as a name for hispanic small grocery store. But the term 'bodega' has always been used by the hispanics.

Luis you mat have done this a few years after me . We used to drink alot on the steps that went from the lower level to the upper level of PS 90

Mike,

Was there a bar near Webster & Fordham by the name of Grippos Torch Cafe. Legend has it that it was a notorious establishment for under age drinking.

The name is not familiar...might have been earlier or later than my era...the most notorious joint for under-age drinking on Webster near Fordham was the Kilarney Rose (K&R)

I'd almost forgotten the Kilarney Rose, that was another of those places that had a steam table in the window and where you could get a good old greasy lunch with your suds. I was always tall for my age and I never had a problem with getting liquor, even when I was 16 or so the other kids would be refused but I'd sail right through.

The term "bodega" might have been around forever, but it wasn't part of the popular Bronx landscape until the mid 50's. Before the bodega came to the Bronx, there were small grocery stores and delicatessens that were usually owned by German or Italian couples. In the early 60's, at least in the Fordham section, most of these were taken over by Irish merchants and specialized in products that were popular in the Irish community.

In the Tremont section, however, the grocery and candy stores were predominantly Jewish owned, and they were bought out by the newly arrived Puerto Rican residents. I can still remember the little bodega on 176th st. near Southern Blvd that opened when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It seemed so exotic. There were bins of beans and other dry goods and there was an odor of some pungent stuff, almost sour, that I never could figure out. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, just different for what we were used to. Nowadays I either got used to it or they don't sell whatever that stuff was, because I don't notice it anymore.

Hey Billy, are you sure about the Steam Table...I can't honestly say I ever saw one in the Rose?

I believe underage drinking was a blessing because I learned at a young age on how to drink responsible so while my frat buddies were yacking in the bushes I was just mildly buzzed. I remember as far back as a seven year old and my grandmother (polish) giving me a dixie cup full of beer or a little schnapps. So I learned to drink responsible.

I'm happy for you Rehrauer, now if only one of my sons could learn that trick.....Hmmmmm?