My Brooklyn (351)

Phyllis (Chanin) Baumann

The very best public school—P.S. 238. Best friends Shirley Nevins, Barbara Berman, Norman Lieberman, Bunny Schwartz, Estelle Zeiler, Toby Blum, Marsha, Arlene, etc. Lived at 718 Ave. O. My father owned the Studebaker car agency. Remember those cars. The Jewel Theater on Kings Highway, Avalon Theater, Cohen's for egg creams, pickles in barrels and fresh rye bread under the BMT on Kings Highway. The Automat, Junior's. The very best memories of a great childhood.

26 April 2001

Maggie

My Brooklyn still lives brightly in my heart and mind. I left Brooklyn in 1984 for New Jersey (which was still close enough to visit). Now I'm in Tennessee and unfortunately I don't get home enough (about two times a year if I'm lucky). I went to P.S. 177, Seth Low J.H.S. and Lafayette (graduated 1964). There is nothing like being able to take a subway or bus to get you where you want to go, we didn't have to know how to drive or even own a car, there were enough ways to get around. Sidewalks, oh what a unique idea. We don't have sidewalks down here. If you want to walk, you walk in the streets with all the crazy drivers down here. Brooklyn still has the best pizza, Chinese food and delis. We have nothing like that down here. What a great time to grow up in Brooklyn—late '40s, '50s and being a teenager in the '60s. Life was so uncomplicated when we were kids. Oh, if the world could have stayed that way. I'm heading back home (Brooklyn will always be home to be) next week and I can hardly wait. I used to love to watch the show Brooklyn Bridge when it was on TV. I never missed a show. Than cable channel 68 down here picked up for a time and I watched all the reruns. I remember the year the Dodgers left Brooklyn; I remember the Mets' first season. The Mets couldn't play ball as good as the Dodgers but Brooklyn had another team to watch and hope to see them get into a pennant. Well, 1969 they made believers out of a lot of people. I still try to watch the Mets when they are shown down here (which by the way is not often enough). Brooklyn is still the greatest!

29 April 2001