My Brooklyn (308)

Larry Lomenzo

I was born in 1961 and lived the first four years of my life in Canarsie. East 80th. between Flatlands Ave. & Glenwood Road (Glenwood Rd. remained unpaved for years and was more of a "Rocky Road," in my memory). From that time I can remember Ziggy's Candy Store at the corner of Flatlands and 80th. I remember being VERY young and sitting in a shopping cart at Danza's Supermarket on Ralph Ave. and Waldbaum's, also nearby, while my mom shopped. At 4 yrs. old, my family moved to Bensonhurst, where my mom still lives, at West 9th. Street between avenue O & P. This is where my Brooklyn Memories first took shape.

I went to School at P.S. 226, I.S. 303 and Sheepshead Bay High School (class of '79). The graduation ceremony was at the Walker Theatre (now a Mandee's Dept. Store, I believe). From there it was on to Brooklyn College. Among my favorite memories are saturday afternoon movies at the Marboro Theatre. Visiting my many relatives who lived scattered all up and down 18th Ave. (from 59th. Street to 74th. Street between 17th and 18th). I remember the gas station at 74th & 18th that blew up one July fourth from a wayward firework. There were family outings in summer to Manhattan Beach for picnics, to Coney Island to ride the rides and play in the arcade and to Sheepshead Bay to have a seafood dinner. Church services at St. Athanasius Church (St. "A"'s to the neighborhood kids).

My mom's boss owned Philips Dancing School where parts of "Saturday Night Fever" were filmed. She has said she remembers John Travolta running up and down the block doing retakes of scenes, and the girls in the crowd all going nuts. Radio, back then was all about WABC and WMCA, Rock & Roll & "The Good Guys."

There's more to come but too much for this space right now. . . . I will be back.

If you share my memories, have known me, or just want to talk . . . please write to me. This is a GREAT site!

10 December 2000

Doug Sievers continues . . .

This is for TonyBoy Anderson. I too remember the cartoon you mentioned but I remember it as Gigantor, not Gigantal. I still remember the melody of the theme song, "Gigantor the space age robot. . . . " I also remember Speed Racer, Winky Dink (with the at-home kit to draw on the TV screen), HR Puff 'n Stuff, and a short lived series called Captain Weird. There was another short lived series that began with the song, "It's about time, it's about space, it's about a man in a stranger's place." . . . It may have been called It's About Time, but I wish I knew for sure what it was called. I was hooked on Batman, Superman, Gilligan, Bewitched, the Mothers-in-Law, Dick Van Dyke, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie . . . they don't make TV like that anymore. Remember Davy and Goliath, one of the earliest "claymation" series? Things like The March of the Wooden Soldiers and the Wizard of Oz were on only once or twice a year, and if you didn't catch them when they were on you had a long wait! That really made them feel a lot more special. Disney every Sunday night, the Sonny & Cher Show, Ed Sullivan, the Honeymooners, man what a vast and beloved world TV was back then. I too have never met anyone else who remembers Gigantor! I was hooked on anything slightly scary, and whenever we got the new TV Guide I would go through it cover to cover and mark all the movies that were listed as Melodrama or Thriller (the Thrillers were usually the better ones). And then there were The Bowery Boys, Abbott & Costello, Hope & Crosby, and so much more. During a certain time, they showed the same afternoon movie (channel 5, I believe) every day through the whole week ... I remember watching King Kong 5 days in a row! Another one I did that with was The Reluctant Debutante. Anyone remember that? Well, that's enough reminiscing for now. This site absolutely rocks! I can't get enough. By the way, my Brooklyn is Cypress Hills, home of the 75th Precinct, Highland Park, and the Cypress Hills Cemetaries. .

10 December 2000