BOSTON GARDEN

Back in the 1950’s a group of us had season tickets to the Boston Bruins in the old Boston Garden. Our seats were high in the rafters in a Section known as “Nig….rs Heaven” I know it is a terrible name but that is what it was called. We eventually lost those seats when the section was converted to luxury suites.

At the time I was single so my attendance at the games caused no particular problem at home. That wasn’t the case with some of my married friends. One in particular, Louis Shkliew (pronounced Sklow) had a problem. Some of you may have known him since he ran a successful barbershop on E. Broadway on Pill Hill, called that because most of Southie’s doctors were located there at the time.

During the game we often heard over the public address system “Would Louis ‘ Shik-a-loo’ please call home” Louis often ignored the call. Unfortunately, he later told us when he returned home after the game he found his apartment completely empty. Not a stick of furniture was left. His wife had backed up a moving van and removed the entire contents of the apartment and returned to her mother in Worcester.

The moral of the story is that if your wife calls during a sporting event do NOT ignore the call. Better still, give up your season’s ticket.