Readers Report
As many have written, all is familiar. I would like to add my 2 cents. Born in Brooklyn in 1925—lived there 28 years. Most of that time was at 129 Adelphi St. No I didn't know Eileen at 99 Adelphi St., probably because I left about 1953. Went to P.S. 12, P.S. 67, then to aviation school in Manhattan. The war was too much draw on me so I joined the navy—1942. When I came home, went to Borough Hall Academy
I often wonder about some of the young people from the neighborhood —Farley, Pagano, Marino, Catello, Turco, on and on. . . . Is Pete's Restaurant still there? The Dodgers would stop there once in a while.
Brooklyn was not a place, it was a feeling. All the times we would walk any where, I never remember looking behind me. Now live outside of Baltimore about 10 minutes from BWI. We only go into the city on rare occasions. Anyone that would care to contact me, you would be more than welcome.
15 February 1999
My Brooklyn is Williamsburg-Greenpoint in the 60s and early 70s. The Graham Theater ("Always Three Big Features Daily") and the Grand Book Center, St. Mary's School on Maujer and Leonard (class of '66), and the docks on Noble Street. '49 Park and McCarren Park. Any old friends out there who aren't dead or in jail, please feel free to write.
16 February 1999
No matter where you go . . . if you grew up in Brooklyn your heart is always there. I lived in Red Hook (actually Erie Basin) and lived on the corner of Wolcott & Van Brunt . . . over the A&P. We had steam heat and it wasn't a railroad flat. Our rent was $25.25 a month and we didn't always make it even though my father was a letter carrier. By today's standards we were poor, also by today's standards we were rich.
My sister went to Bishop McDonnell and I went to Boys' High, then we both went to Fordham. I was Class of '58 and Wilma, Class of '63. We were the first in our family of turn of the century immigrants to go to college.
My Brooklyn was Mike's & Willem's Ice Cream Parlors on Van Brunt Street. The Pioneer Theatre (12 cents) and the Clinton Theatre (25 cents), baseball at Boys' High with Coach Kane and Tommy Davis, the Parade Grounds and Mark Twain Field in Coney Island. The Rock 'n Roll Shows at the Fox and Paramount. Of course . . . Juniors, and Michel's on Flatbush Ave. . . . playing hookey to go Yankee Stadium . . . it was great living in Brooklyn and rooting for the Yankees (except for 1955). I remember the wading pool at Coffee Park, the big Red Hook Pool, but I really learned to swim at Pier 38, ducking the Coney Island Whitefish.
I left Brooklyn in '67 for Long Island and left LI for the Jersey Shore in 1973 . . . still go back occasionally for a hero (they are hoagies here) at Defonte's on Columbia Street and go down to the piers to remember the good old days.
My youngest two boys were born in NJ. They are 21 & 22. About ten years ago I took them to Red Hook and their reaction was, "Dad, you never lived here?" How did a tough Irish-Italian kid from the Hook get two yuppies? Progress? I doubt it. The streets of Brooklyn were the best education. Of course a couple of fat lips were the tuition.
18 February 1999
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