My Grandfather would tell me stories of a not so hidden under world. He owned and operated an ice house.And this places was as big as walmart is now and they would deliver To the big hotels and the mom and pop stops .But every now and then someone could not make it into work .So pop would deliver in his good clothes,Good clothes i recall was a white t shirt slacks and belt and over coat. Anyway in the bigger stops was your card games ,In the card games guys with big money .But ice was like booze or dope everyone had to have it. Anyway a guy like my grandfather could get in a card game with the top Gangsters and the banker and the horse breeder .Meaning they mixed regular people with top gangsters back then.A man like my grandfather who owed and operated a large ice house business could make 500$ a week. You could just walk in and get in a game back then. Do think that in 1988 a guy making a delivery and the Chin holding a game and say come and play,No i dont think so . Just saying it must of been relaxed old days. Very nice time to be a Gangster.BOOZE was gold and A.C. was a gold mine. A C was very open to all that stuff .Strange that there was not it not at the very least a large crew here .Scarfo was just a flash and gone.And Bumpy And to this day you would think that a large crew could do good..philly a little and they dont get it.

It has grown so so big that there is maybe a 8 mile stretch of woods left between philly and the suburbs of A C that hold thousands and thousands of malls store shops .I guess they have lost there ability to make it. {it is wide open}

Unfortunately for me my first memories of AC was when it was probably at it's lowest point. But many years ago it was considered a top place to go.

Yes, ice used to be a big thing.Alot of people would put a big block of ice in front of a fan in the summer months. A poor mans air conditioning and before air conditioning was available at a reasonable price for the masses. And before refrigerators were priced low enough people had ice boxes in their kitchen. Ice houses were a big business years ago.

yea my grandfather went from a very profitable ice business .I mean the size of this place would make a school look small.But he knew the refridge was on the way.and made a smooth move into boiler repair after working on all the ice equipment ,Right down into the same big hotels he served ice ,he fixed the boilers..when A C was at a good time...i would bring him lunch i think as early as 1962

where did he learn to make that ice? that cold gold as i like to call it!

ice house is still there ,it is an amazing place,It is used as a weilding shop and other things artist use it to make hardcore stuff but the place has allways had a perfect ora about it.anything thing can be done there. equment from 1800 till now... still are used..

sorry eating and typing with one finger,..hen i started bring him lunch it was 1960 62 and it was all bolier and the guy could build fix invent anything..very cool place to be..

Ice was a serious commodity back then, worth it's weight n gold