Readers Report
I lived at 566A Bristol Street between Lott and Hegeman. I remember going to P.S. 165, which was around the corner from where I lived and then coming home for lunch. After lunch my mother would give me 5 cents and I would go to Schwartz's candy store on the corner of Lott and buy candy. I remember all of the teachers at 165 but the worst of all was Ms. Hartman—she taught sewing (among other classes) and all graduates had to make their dress. What a fiasco for me. To this day, I do not sew.
4 April 1999
What a fantastic web page! It has been pure pleasure reading all of the submissions and I really think they should be published in a book! It wouldn't be accurate for me to talk about "my Brooklyn," though, since I've never lived there. I grew up in a suburb of D.C. and we visited my three cousins in Marine Park (they all graduated from Madison H.S.) several times during the late 60s & early 70s. They lived in tiny rowhouses and I lived in the equivalent of Scarsdale, but I envied them SO much and desperately wished I could trade places; I fell in love with Brooklyn the first time I went there (o.k., I admit it: part of the appeal was the fact that it was so accessible to Manhattan!). I lived in Manhattan from 78-84 and got to really know Brooklyn—and to renew my love affair with that wonderful borough—because I had a good friend in Bath Beach; in fact, she's still there. Twelve years ago, another good friend from those years moved to Bay Ridge. I get back to NYC about once/year—not nearly often enough!—and have taken my husband around many wonderful Brooklyn neighborhoods during the last several visits; even though he's not overly fond of huge cities and he swears his blood pressure is elevated whenever we're in Manhattan, he actually began to love Brooklyn—so much so, in fact, that we're actually thinking about retiring there! (we're talking about 20 years from now, unfortunately; wonder if I can wait that long!). My Bay Ridge friend thinks we're the only people who plan to move TO Brooklyn in retirement, but it makes perfect sense to us! I love too many things about Brooklyn to enumerate them. . . . Lastly, I have a query: during my sophomore year of college (71-72), I briefly dated someone from Midwood named Ted Levin; I remember that he graduated from Midwood H.S. in '68 and—if my memory hasn't failed me after 27 years—his family lived at 1801 Avenue K and his father was a doctor. Does anyone know what happened to Ted? Many thanks for any information.
5 April 1999
I lived in Brooklyn on Sackman and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. It was a two-family house where I grew up with my mother, father and two sisters and my grandmother and grandfather lived in the other apartment. The first floor was a funeral home which my grandfather owned and we had many many fond memories of the neighborhood. We went to Sammy the fruit store, Caizzo bakery for the best bread in town and across the street was Pete's grocery store on Sackman Street and also Pat's grocery store on Atlantic Avenue. We had many friends there and so much fun—I never found another neighborhood quite like it again. Some funny memories were when my friends came to call for me they would be afraid to ring my bell because they thought they would see dead bodies. My grandfather always told me "You have to be afraid of the live ones, not the dead ones." Needless to say, I didn't have a problem with it and my some of my happiest times were in that house, which is also where I got married from.
7 April 1999
Return
to Brooklyn Home Page.