My Bicentennial Memories
I’m not sure I believe in fate, but there must be a reason why I could never bring myself to throw out my Ross Bicentennial bicycle. My parents, despite complaining about its prolonged residence in the cellar of 1710 78th street, could never bring themselves to roll the bike out with Tuesday trash (something they had no issue doing with all my other toys and preciouses). Maybe I or they knew the Bicentennial would be something I’d one day revisit. Or maybe we all knew, as long as the bike remained, so would those wonderful hazy summer day memories of years past.
Keep checking back — as we countdown to the release of Brooklyn ’76, I’ll be adding some wonderful star-spangled, red, white, and blue blasts from the past.
Bicentennial Bell
The Bicentennial Bell was gifted by the United Kingdom to the U.S. and presented by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip on July 6, 1976. The bell was cast at the Whitechapel Foundry in London, the same foundry that cast the Liberty Bell. After sitting in storage for over a decade, the Bicentennial Bell found a new home this past summer in Benjamin Rush Garden in Philadelphia.