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Be a Berks Billionaire – The 1984 Berks County Monopoly Board Game

Be a Berks Billionaire is a fairly rare board game developed by a citizen of Berk’s County; Joan C. Zintak of Wyomissing. The game was developed and sold in 1984. It was originally intended to have a print run of 5000 games but I don’t know if they ever reached that goal or not as there was apparently some “drama” with the game at the time of completion. Competition issues of some sort? Source

The game features Berks businesses in the place of the standard Monopoly properties. If you have any information about this game or what the story is get in touch. contact@berksnostalgia.com

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The Clique Restaurant – 1960s

Image & caption from “Berks Countians; The Wonderful Way We Live”
As an attendant brings her Cadillac to the entrance, Mrs. A. W. Golden Jr. pauses for a moment under the canopy at the Clique where she has just enjoyed a delectable dinner.

Can’t find anything about this establishment online. Anyone remember where this was or know any information about it?

EDIT: thanks to a few commenters on the Facebook post we have solved the mystery. It was located on South 8th Street in Reading, now just an empty lot.

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Reading Hospital Photo Mystery

I got an email asking for help to solve the mystery of where the below photo was taken. The photo is of the back of the Reading Hospital around the time it was built in the mid-late 20s.

I checked out a few aerial photos I have of the area from 1927 and 1940. Due to the angle of the shot being straight on, I concluded it have to be on the museum grounds, and had to have been taken in the general area circled below.

When I looked a little harder at the photo the below things popped out at me. I believe a stone wall, Wyomissing Creek and Parkside Drive North (which was just a dirt road then) are visible in the photo. The stone wall is still at the museum, it runs along the Museum side.

Stone wall today

However, the image doesn’t appear to be taken from the museum itself. Does anyone remember another structure being on the museum grounds? Maybe some sort of stone gazebo with the swan decorative railing? Any information would be appreciated.

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Carvel Dari-Freeze – Sinking Spring

This Carvel was located in Sinking Spring, possibly on Penn Avenue in 1954. Does anyone remember the location and can shed light on where exactly it stood?

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Monday Mystery: The Hot Air Balloon

Found this image in my family’s album, but no one seems to have a recollection of what, where or when this image was taken. It was likely taken in the late 60s/early 70s, and appears to be summertime by people’s apparel. It looks to be some sort of fair or carnival at a local park. Do you recognize the location or event? Doesn’t that hot air balloon seem a bit too close to the power lines for comfort?

UPDATE 8/16/18: Mystery solved! Thanks to Richard Douglass and the nice folks over at the Early Years of Sport Ballooning facebook group, we have found the location and timeframe of the photo. According to Richard:

The balloon was a small Piccard hot air balloon made in 1966 by Don Piccard, and registered N1513U. It was purchased in 1968 or so by Robert Dodds Meddock. He and his family brought it to the Kutztown, PA Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Festival for many years in the late 1960s and 1970s. This photo was taken by the sausage tent at the fair, visible behind the balloon. Likely 1969 or early 1970s.