Roberta Bergman

September 9, 2004

Post #1751 – 20040909

I am wondering if Daniel Pinkwater is the same, slightly chubby kid named Manus Pinkwater (who could forget that name?) who lived in the apartment building next door to where I lived at 509 Roscoe Street in Chicago? We were both about 8 years old — we had another friend who lived in his building named Phoebe Fabrikant (who could forget that name?). My name was eminently forgettable: Roberta Allen.

Daniel replies:

We lived at 551 Roscoe. In our building lived a sister and brother named Lois and Henry Galt, another kid named Harry Targ, and in the basement apartment a tow-headed kid, whose name I forget, possibly Tom, and his sister, Ruth. A few doors east, lived Mike Sideman. I assume you attended the Louis B. Nettelhorst school a couple of blocks south on Broadway. I can still smell the bricks, the backyards and alleys, and remember the pathetic failed victory gardens, Simon's drugstore on the corner, and the live poultry market--a huge favorite of mine--on the way to school. Check the photo section on this website and see if you recognize anyone.