Re: Pop Klee's Soda Box -- FIND AN OLD POP KLEE FRIENDFROM CANARSIE

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Date Posted: 03:33:46 10/01/06 Sun
Author: Joe Schuler
Author Host/IP: ool-43564b23.dyn.optonline.net / 67.86.75.35
Subject: Re: Pop Klee's Soda Box
In reply to: Karol (Klee) Olson 's message, "Pop Klee's Soda Box" on 12:13:12 01/05/02 Sat

>My grandfather was "Pop" Klee. He was never much on
>renovation, at least from my point of view. He was
>the "Pop Klee" of the 1920,30,40 and 50's. He died in
>1958. In order to keep the soda an Yoo Hoos cold (and
>they were all in glass bottles then, with those metal
>bottle caps) you had to dunk your hand and arm deep
>into a container filled with cold water that was kept
>cold with a block of ice delivered with tongs by the
>ice man. You had to dunk your arm in many times to
>find the one bottle you wanted. Many times I wanted
>to give up, but the reward of that Yoo Hoo or cream
>soda somewhere in that cold water was too tempting for
>me to call it quits. So I perservered. The Pop
>Klee of the 60s,70s,80s, and 90's was Bill Klee, his
>son. My father Edward was his brother. So Uncle
>Bill, became "Pop Klee" because he never changed the
>sign that his father had on the window. "Pop Klee "
>#2 kept the store running along with the fishing
>tackle until the day he died in August, 1995. He
>continued to plant the roses in the back of the store,
>just as his father had done. The original "Pop" lived
>upstairs, above the store, but "Pop" #2 lived several
>blocks away. "Pop" #2 loved Canarsie and loved to
>talk about it. He got great enjoyment out of the
>young men who frequented the pool room and I think it
>was his way of providing a safe place for the teenaged
>guys and older guys to go. He always knew what was
>going on everywhere in Canarsie because he had the
>best informants around. The guys told him almost
>everything. And even when it looked as if he were
>reading his ever present newspaper or magazine, he was
>listening. He was a smart guy. Canarsie was his home
>for his whole life. His grandparents, my great
>grandparents lived in Canarsie too!

Pop Klee's was the center of activity on E 94 between L&M.
I remember my father sending me down the block with 50 cents to buy him a pack of Camels at Pop Klee's. His fridge had Nedick's orange soda and Coke, and you could pop the top off with the wall-mounted Coke opener. If I was well-behaved, my father brought me there for a Hershey bar. When my father died, Pop showed up at the wake. When Pop died 15 years later, my whole block died with him.

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Replies:

[> Re: Pop Klee's Soda Box -- Joe, 19:21:07 07/13/09 Mon (pool-173-56-27-18.nycmny.fios.verizon.net/173.56.27.18)

Karol Bill was one of a kind. He was a great guy. I bought my first fishing rod there. I used to shoot pool there in the mid sixtes. I remember he used to charge 60 cents and hour to play. Bill was amazing he remember evybodys name and nickname. Karol one thing you left out was that there where spitoons there. Also every table had that Klees curve. I think about the old days and Klees pool room was a steping stone when you grew up in Canarsie. Had many a good laught there. When Bill passed I was in shock, he was a legend. Legends are not suppose to die. Bill will live in the memories of everybody he came in contact with. God bless him

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