I loved growing up on Montgomery Street in Brooklyn in the 1950’s. Our street was so lively with lots of different trucks riding up and down the street. There was a “rag man” with a wagon pulled by horses, who would slowly go down the street yelling "Rags, rags for sale." Then there was the "knife sharpening man" with his wagon pulled by horses. He would holler "knives, knives, sharpen your knives." We also had an iceman on Montgomery Street, who came with his wagon and horses and he would yell "ices here, ices here.” All of the kids on the block would run over to his wagon with a nickel. For 5 cents, the iceman would shave off your ices from a big block of ice and put them into a paper cup with syrup on top.
Then there was "Joe the vegetable man" who drove a truck down the street filled with fresh vegetables and fresh fruit and a big metal scale swaying as he drove. My mother would send me to the truck with a list of what she wanted. I would give Joe the list and he would pick out the fruits and vegetables on my list, but many times my mother was not pleased with his selection. Joe would weigh everything on his big silver metal scale. But, even as a child, I did not have confidence that the scale weighed the produce accurately.
We even had a truck that came down the block with children’s rides on it! You would pay a nickel, climb into a cart on the truck, and get whirled around until you felt sick. The ride truck was not my favorite.
But by far, the MOST exciting – the BEST – truck that came down our street was The Good Humor truck. I waited each and every day for the Good Humor man to come down the street. Then when he came, I went down off my porch and approached the truck. Each day I stood there and looked at the list of ice cream on the side of the truck (it was the same each day) – and each day I picked out the same thing. I watched carefully as the Good Humor man opened the latch on the door on the back of his truck. I saw the white smoke come out of the back door and watched carefully as he took out my ice cream - a cup of vanilla with strawberry on top!
I loved all the trucks that came down Montgomery Street in Brooklyn. They all brought so much life to our block. But most of all, my favorite was the Good Humor Truck. One day, if I win the lottery, I am going to buy one of the old Good Humor Trucks and park it in front of my house!