What was your nickname during your time at Hookway?   Did anyone (classmates, teachers, neighbors/friends or family members give you a nickname?  Let us know your nickname.  (Enter your nickname in the "Contact Us" site)

Nicknames

Cheryl Lockett-Samuels - My family gave me the nickname,
"Shay"

Karen Lewis - Ms. Slattery called me Levy 2.  My family called me "The Brat"  and my grandfather called me "Shawdy"  I also remember my softball t-shirt name was "Mouse and by the time I made it to high school and people learned I was named after my mom, I was called "Marva Jr." and the rest of the names I may have encountered from others--we will not go there (smiles)


The Hookway School Clean Up Song

Make the Hookway School proud of you.
Do all the cleaning you can do.

Make the neighborhood proud to say, that you live
here, and not some place very far away!

Cleaning up can be lots of fun,
So get real busy, everyone.

So, now it's up to you, 
So what are we going to do?

To make the Hookway School proud of you.

                   (Chorus)
Where ever you see some dirt
1,2(Clap) CLEAN UP!!
Whether at home or whether at school,
1,2(Clap) CLEAN UP!!
Each day of the week, each one will try
1,2(Clap) CLEAN UP!!
So, start right now and forever keep it up.
(Then go back to the beginning and start the first
stanza over) Make the Hookway School proud of
you. . .
(Submitted by--Kim Jeff) Kim said herself and Cheryl
Taylor had a good time singing it a couple of weeks
before the reunion)
           



Penny Candy (Remember--Georgia's Store on 79th & Princeton)

Nut Chew
Banana Split
Wine Candy
Shoe Strings
Mint Julip

Slang
A Gas - A lot of Fun
Bad - Awesome
Blast - A Great Time
Bookin' - Going real fast
Bread - Money
Chick - A Girl or Woman
Cool - Nice
Crash - Go to Bed / Go to Sleep
Dig - Do you understand?
Heavy - Deep/ Cool
Can you Dig It> - Do you understand?
Psyche - To trick someone
The Crib - Going home or to someone else's house
Gig - Work
Far Out - Cool
Phony - Two faced / Deceitful person
The Man - Police / Authority

Dances

Twist
Twine
Madison Time
Monkey
Jerk
Robot
The Dog
The Horse
The Jed Clampett
The Swim
The Bump
The Four Corners
The Funky Chicken
The Moon Walk
The James Brown
The Hitch hike
The Skate
The Bop
The Bus Stop
The Soul Train Line

Remember the Blue & Gold Class Ribbons (8th Grade)
The Blue & Gold Beanie Hats
The 8th Grade Autograph Books (Who signed yours???)

Remember the 12:00 Noon dismissal for Lunch--We got to go home for an hour, most of us watched  Bozo Circus.

Who was a playground leader???  Who was your playground leader???
Remember recess.

Remember our Hookway Clean-Up Song 
Clean-Up Week is now called Spring Break.

There were no CD's  or DVD's MP3's
There were 45's , 78's & Albums (Vinyl records)
8 Tracks


Styles

Bell Bottom Pants
Mini Dress
Maxi Coats
Hot Pants
Felt Skirts
Afros (Hairstyle)
The Process (Hairstyle)

Shoes

All-Star Converse Gymshoes
Hush Puppies Shoes
Black & White Oxfords

Stores

Community Discount Center
Robert Hall
Goldblatts
Zayre's
Ventures
Bond's
Lyttons
Evan's
Baskin's
Montgomery Ward

Grocery Stores

National Tea
Del Farm
High/Low
A & P

Neighborhood Stores

Foster's
Stutt's
Georgia's

Amusement Parks
Riverview
Fun Town

TV  1950 - 1970's

I Love Lucy
Leave it to Beaver
The Lone Ranger
Ozzie & Harriet
The Addams Family
Andy Griftith Show
Patty Duke Show
Mr. Ed
The Avengers
Batman
Bewitched
Dick Van Dyke Show
Gilligan's Island
Gunsmoke
Missiion Impossible
The Twlight Zone
I Dream of Jeannie
Mannix
All in the Family
Good Times
The Jeffersons
The Waltons 
Laverne & Shirley
Happy Days
H.R. Pufnstuf
Howdy Doody
Bozo Circus
Romper Room
Shari Lewis Show
Ed Sullivan Show
Soul Train
The Dick Clark Show
What's My Line?
Let's Make A Deal
Hollywood Squares
Julia
Sanford & Son
The Honeymooners
Father Knows Best
Donna Reed Show
Alfred Hitchcock
What's Happening?


My memories---  (Sandra Darden Shepherd)

The bats up at the park at dusk.
Playing in the mosquito control.
Gil's store at 81st & Vincennes.
Throwing crab apples at each other.
Neighborhood parade
Basement parties 7:00 - 11:00 p.m.
Friday night dances at the park.
Watching pony league  on the Stewart diamond.
Rushing up to the park after school for softball practice.
Playing "Cross the River" in the winter time.
Walking 3 miles to Calumet in the winter time.
Asking Mama--"Can I have company?"
Coming home after school to watch The Three Stooges

Slang--  
Boss - That's Cool!  (Today ... that's tight)
Solid - Meant the same as Boss
A Fezneckie - A cute girl, a fox
Mellow Fern -  A nice butt
Gousters - Guys who wore  knits, pleats, silks & leather jackets
Ivy Leagues - Guys who wore starched Brook Brothers shirts
The Wahoo Man       -    Fictionous character created by Herb Kent (DJ)


Style -  We wore two pair of sweatsocks scrunched down

Also-- There was a neighborhood wive's tale that a man who never came out the house lived on 79th & LaSalle right by the alley and they called him "The Racoon Man".

My memories---(Anita Cloutier Bridge)

I hope the "boss 9" sees this and recognizes that old title we went by.  Boppin' in 
basement, Bunny doing the James Brown, volleyball games across the park fence, Miss O'Neal, be in by dark, the girls'  softball team and I too, Bunny, must say, Piggy 3!

My memories--(Jewell)

I remember playing on Harvard and someone would say--"King" (the dog) is out!!
You could see kids all over running for higher ground!  I remember Ronnie Peterson could throw a rock halfway down the block! I remember going to the basement store
and getting 3 cents worth of ketchup on my chips.  I remember running behind the
mosquito truck in the smoke.  I remember trying to climb that rope in gym.  I remember Cinderella Green and Mr. Carter's word to the wise--"A word to the wise is
sufficent".  Mrs. Kirby (she could smell a pickle from Georgia's at 50 paces). I remember Ms. Hawkins and I remember the block parties.

My Memories -- (Denise Blue - Clemons)

Stutts -- 80th & Vincennes
Ms. Terry's Cleaners -- 81st & Vincennes
Playing Catch-a-girl, Kiss-a-girl
My third grade boyfriend-- Lil Joe

My Memories -- (Donna Shelton Marquez)

I remember all the softball games we used to play; the races by the fieldhouse (track, high jump, etc.).  Also, the dances we performed at night . . . and square dance lessons!  Ice skating on the baseball field (my dad always got the ice pond ready for us).  I loved walking to the 79th Street store to buy snacks and listening to the good music played in the park!  One last thing!  I loved playing "off the wall" in the Hookway playground!  We knew how to have fun!

My memories-- (Augustus "Gussy" Taylor)
I remember Mr. Foster's store and what wonderful baseball coaches we had Mr. Wilson (Cubs), Mr. Bacon (Yankees), Mr. Kirksey (Sox) and players too many to name.

My memories--(Kirkland Crossley)

I remember playing CROSS THE RIVER in the morning before school.  LAST ONE THIS WAY IS IT.  I also remember playing home run fence and the day I finally put one over the tennis courts.

My memories -- (James D. Lawson, Jr.)

I remember playing "Cross the River" outside behind Simeon's gym.  My mother sending me to school in the 3rd grade in shorts.  Only Dwight Dotts and myself led the way in fashion that day.  I miss playing little league (coached by Mr. Doss) and baseball in the park by the tennis courts.  Being inspired to play music by Billy Stepney. Paul and Alfred Bellinger.

My memories -- (Celeste Williams James)

Moving to West Chatham about a year before starting Kindergarten and the last day in 8th grade before graduation.
Yvette Collier was our playleader in 1st grade.  I was playleader in 6th grade.  The different playgrounds.  The double dutch jump rope rhymes (Fudge, fudge...and Teddy Bear)  The Hookway Talent Shows (daytime & evening)  The dress code change (girls could wear pants in 7th grade). My 15 minutes of Hookway fame...in 5th grade I was on Bozo Circus and played the Grand Prize Game.  My mother's Bluebird/Camp Fire group.  My father coaching the Little League team (Cubs) and the neighborhood trips to Thillens Stadium on the North Side.  Sunday afternoon skating at Savoy.  Neighborhood stores:  Stocking up on candy the day before a field trip at The Pink Shack (79th Perry) Grocerland (83rd Wabash) Georgia's (79th Princeton)  The Good Humor Man.  Growing up in a neighborhood where you knew just about everyone on every single block and the lifelong friendships that have endured.

My memories--(Sharon George-Bedingfield)

The mosquito man, kids would be runin' down the block following the mosquito man, in the white truck with the long trail of white smoke.  I remember we had to be in the house when the street lights came on, Brenda Polk, my sister, Brenda George and some more kids on the block we would play hide and seek, captain may I, red light, jumping double dutch till there were holes in the bottom of our gymshoes, riding our bikes up and down the block, rock teacher.  I could go on and on.  These were the good times.  We actually had dances with names that we did, and would wait on the new ones, African Twist, Boogaloo, the Jerk, the Twist, the Twine Time.  I know there are others I cannot remember.  Whenever I would mention to people what grammar school I went to--they never heard of it.  It was like we were in our own little world--a black community that was special, different.

My memories (Francine Ellison)
My first boyfriend, Owen Funches.
I remember the bug truck, block parties on 79th & LaSalle and Mable and Pam Wilson.




What do you remember back during the time when you went to Hookway?
Send in your memorable moments in the "Contact Us" site section of this website.