Readers Report
My Brooklyn is 1254 Union St. between Nostrand Ave. and N.Y. Ave. Sitting on the benches on Eastern Parkway with my clique of friends: Linda Peller, Yvonne Martucci, Roger Reinlieb, Jimmy the Greek, Alan Davidson, Pat Ward, Anne Gold, Bobby Chiodo, Tommy Chiodo, Anne Higgins, Paul Fraser, Mike Loehner. Boy what good times we had. Anyone remember?
Anyone remember the Embassy Ice Cream Parlor on Nostrand Ave. & Eastern Parkway? We'd sit there for hours nursing a lemon coke. Finally, Jimmy the owner would throw us out. How about Bush's Ice Cream Parlor? The best ice cream in the world. Oh yes, and don't forget Dave's Luncheonette on Nostrand and Union St. How about Toomie's Diner on Empire Blvd. (shaped like a bus.)
I went to P.S. 161, Lefferts Junior High, and graduated Wingate H.S. in January 1965. I still live in Brooklyn. This is my home and I still love it.
27 March 1997
I was born in Unity Hospital on St. Johns Place in Brooklyn in November 1947. I lived at 1511 Sterling Place. I went to P.S. 191 and J.H.S. 210. I have fond memories of going to Lincoln Terrace Park, Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Museum. I remember my grandmother going to the Kosher butcher to buy chickens and they had to be plucked! I remember dumbwaiters, sitting on the roof of 1511 Sterling Place in the summer to get "tan" or to cool off at night, stick ball, kick the can, scully, Ebingers. I remember Good Humor ice cream trucks.
In 1960 I moved to Queens and graduated from John Adams H.S. in 1965. I got married in 1968 and moved out to Miller Place, LI. I am now living in Scranton, PA—but do miss NY and think about my growing up years in Brooklyn, NY often.
2 April 1997
I graduated SUNY Downstate Medical School in 1975. I hated the place. The atmosphere in Flatbush then was anxious, paranoic.
After graduation, I fled to the West. Numerous requests came from the Alumni Association for me to join; like Woody Allen, I thought: Why would I join an organization that would have me as one of its members?
Recently, though, I have had a change of heart. Reading the front page of the Wall Street Journal on 21 March 1997, I saw that two of New York City's premier medical schools, NYU and Mount Sinai, had seen their projected merger collapse beneath the weight of collected egos. Feh, I thought to myself. And then I was glad that I had gone to Downstate: Nobody would've ever wanted to join with us. Anyway, we'd moider da bums. Zolst vaksn vi a tsibele, mitn kop in drerd, I wanted to say to those smart guys in Manhattan.
Now I am looking forward to participate in my class' 25th reunion, in 2000. Anybody out there know how I can get Harvey Keitel for guest speaker?
7 April 1997
My Brooklyn, CANARSIE....what a place to be in the '60s! Teenagers harmonizing on street corners, candy stores to have an egg cream (Ike and Jerry's probably most popular) and just "hang out." And who can forget "riding the bumps" on Pennsylvania Avenue? Grabstein's Deli was immortal in those days, as were the Holy Family Youth Center dances where everybody met on Friday nights, no matter what school you attended or what your religion! Going shopping on "the L" (Ave. L) or Rockaway Parkway was neighborhood fare and the only movie theater in town was the Canarsie Theater on Ave. L where admission was 50 cents. Pizza and a soda cost 25 cents at any of the "pizza joints" in town and those egg creams were a big nickel!
Before Canarsie High was built, the school district was split at Rockaway Parkway between Thomas Jefferson and Samuel J. Tilden, along with some specialty schools like Clara Barton, etc. If drugs were present, which I'm sure they must have been, it was only the juvenile delinquents who were involved . . . most of us committed our biggest crimes by smoking Kents or Marlboro and maybe having a few beer parties!
Canarsie also had some pieces of history that were left behind by the Canarsie Indians, like finding arrowheads in the dirt at excavation sites for the ever-growing new homes developments. Many Mafia bodies were said to have also been buried (dumped) in Canarsie, but this writer never found one (although I did find an arrowhead when my parents were installing a pool!). Canarsie was a wonderful, safe place with a rich history and it's a shame that time has altered all of the wonders of My Brooklyn!
10 April 1997
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