Allen Wachtel FHHS '59 sent us this picture of the Sigma Alpha Rho (SAR) Fraternity. The picture was taken at the Boulevard Nightclub in 1958. Scroll down to see the picture.
Allen Told us:
At FHHS there were about six or eight fraternities and an equal number of sororities. Each had membership of about thirty brothers or sisters. We all held weekly meetings, usually on Friday nights. Sometimes after the meetings we would have a get together with a sorority at someones home. However after the meetings most of the time we would all descend on the park near Continental Avenue near Queens Blvd (MacArthur Park) and hang out for hours or go to Jahn's and congregate there.
These organizations attracted students from all walks of school life. There were the social fraternities, the sports oriented, the geeks etc. I can only speak for Sigma Alpha Rho (SAR) and say that the experiences that we shared were wonderful. We had incredible brothers and forged long friendships based on the camaraderie developed during those years.
SAR was a chapter of a national high school fraternity. We were founded in the 1920's in Philadelphia and had dozens of chapters in the Northeast. We would hold conventions and have visits from board members of the National headquarters.
Once a year we would hold a major fund raising activity. The photo that I sent was taken at the Boulevard night club on Queens Boulevard in the spring of 1958. That night we had over 800 paying guests attending a dance. They were mostly students from FHHS. On the program that nigh were Tom & Jerry (Simon & Garfunkle), Bobby Freeman ( Do You Wanna Dance), The Magid Triplets (dancers) and many others. They all performed gratis in an effort to help our fund raising for Cancer Care. The school administrations policy was that fraternities and sororities were not authorized or recognized. However they looked the other way as most of the students in them were all good kids, many honor students, team and band members, and in the main were not only enjoying themselves, but making positive contributions to society.
There was a column in the Queens Post, the weekly newspaper, that was devoted to the doings at FHHS. It was a social column with the latest buzz. The column was titled Under 21. The fraternities and sororities were often written about. So they definitely existed but were never recognized by the school administration
The brothers in the photograph were not all from the class of 1959. Some were from 1958, others from 1959 & 1960.
We had a fraternity house in the basement of one of the apartment houses owned by the family of one of our members. It had been used by the fraternity for years and was fully furnished. We would hold many of our meetings there. There were strict rules. No women allowed. No beer or anything that would bring controversy or discredit our group. For the most part it was used to meet, conduct business or just hang out after school. I think we were the only group to have a frat house. What a hoot!
SAR Mini-Reunion
Allen also sent us a Picture of a SAR Reunion at the Palza Hotel in 2001. If you are interested seeing this picture, you will find it on the mini-reunions page.
Link to "mini-reunions"
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Sar in 1958 Top Row: U, Steve Danielson '60, Robert Klein '60, Eric Bosch '59, Center Row: Steven Scheiner '59, Herb Roth '60, Jerry Chasin '61, Bottom Row: Mike Brown '61, Joel Katims '59, Fred Abramson '59, |
