Elizabeth, 70

(1/2) “I grew up in 129^th and 8^th Avenue, in Harlem, the St. Nicholas projects. Back in those days it was nice. Things have changed so much, because when you lived in the projects back in those days you could not write on the walls, you could not do anything you weren’t supposed to do, you could not run on the grass. It was very neat. The stores were on 125^th street. You’d go shopping and the movie theaters were there. My aunt, she was a nurse, and every Saturday afternoon she would take us to the movie theater. I had no sisters or brothers so she would gather up my friends and we would go to Apollo Theater and see a movie and see a show. She had a big bag and she would put goodies in the bag. She’d have about six kids, and she would sit in the middle—there were three on this side and three on that side. And she would pass the goodies around. It was fun. It really was. You would see a movie and then you would see a singer—Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin. Back in the day, it was fabulous. I can’t remember all of the stars. The Apollo was a big deal, because you had the Apollo here, then you had Lowes, I think it was, and around the corner there was another movie theater. There were three movie theaters but most of the time we would go to the Apollo because that’s where you get two for one.”