My Brooklyn

Maya Drozdz

Hey, good job! I love Brooklyn myself—I lived in Greenpoint for two years and then in East Flatbush for about ten more, before going to school in Ithaca and recently moving to California. I'm so glad you did this, though it makes me nostalgic. . . .

Anyway, I'm attaching a photograph taken this summer at the kiddie park in Coney Island. This is from the last time I came down from Ithaca to Brooklyn before crossing the country. My boyfriend (a Californian) and I spent the day with my six-year-old sister Gabrielle, and this was the first time she'd been to an amusement park. She got really hyper about the whole thing, and I was happy to show her this fun activity, but very sad because I wouldn't see my home or my family for a long time.

I hope you'll use this photo in your (what should I call it?) photo essay, since it means a lot to me and to my memories of Brooklyn.

Oscar Ramos

Bay Ridge Brooklyn, one of the last true bastions of middle class living in a New York that is either far too rich or tragically too poor. I've spent most of my life in the East New York section and then moved to nearby Sunset Park for my teen and young adult years. I met and married a girl from down the block and we decided to stay and buy a home of our own in Bay Ridge. Growing up in a neighborhood is an important part of a kids growing up and I could not think of a better place for our son to grow up in. My son's best bud lives next door and his other playmates live down the block or around the corner, that's how you talk and live in Brooklyn. All you need is within a short walk and a few hellos away. Living in Brooklyn means not having to take your car everywhere and in Bay Ridge if you live on 81st Street you walk to Century 21 past two bakeries, three meat markets, two banks, four bar/restaurants, one icecream shop, one diner, two card shops, two clothing stores for men, three bridal shops, three jewelers and one hardware store and the gardening store. For those of us who live there we may seem a bit jaded by how handy a place it is to live and we are because we work hard at not leaving the neighborhood for shopping in the City. Our merchants make a great and largely successful effort to keep us there and we are responsive to this. I like my neighborhood and when my wife and I think of buying a bigger place our thoughts stay within the area. My neighborhood, I think I'll stay.

Art Schlefstein

I have lived at 1799 Union Street & 836 Crown Street.
Art Schlefstein continues . . .

Chris Price

Carroll Gardens, on the edge of Red Hook, across from the Gowanus, by the river, that's my Brooklyn.

Readers' reports continue . . .

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