Readers Report
My Brooklyn begins in Coney Island. This is not just the grandfather of Six Flags but it is a community made up of refugees from other parts of the city. I moved there as a child of 10 in 1974 from Brownsville (home of the vacant lots even then). It seemed as though everyone that lived there came from some other part of the city and was trying to escape to a "better life." The air is clearer, the streets wider, the city heat never seems as intense and you cannot go anywhere in Coney Island and escape the heavenly scent of the ocean water. As I go "home" to visit now (I live in Philadelphia—the "FAKE" city) when I cross the Verrazano Bridge I begin to smell my way home. Coney Island is where the children actually get bored going to the amusement park. It actually become a chore to take visiting relatives to Astroland and Nathan's. Speaking of Nathan's, can you believe that a hot dog's value can go up from 5 cents to almost $2.00 in just a mere 100 years? No matter . . . it still has no equal in taste. I attended Abraham Lincoln High School on Ocean Parkway and as far as I am concerned I lived my whole teen life on the property of that school and loved it. The teachers were wonderful, the school was wonderful and so was the football team. I was one of the Captains of the Cheerleaders during my time there. My boyfriend was the Captain of the football team (they were undefeated and City Champs while I was there). My best friends were Captains of the Boosters and we had a wonderful life. There were no wild parties, no drugs (we didn't even think of that then), no drinking and no matter what anyone else who went to school with us thought, not much sex either. We lived a life that people I have described it to call "growing up in Mayberry, Brooklyn." Too clean for some people to believe. We did our homework, we stayed out until 11:00 p.m. and when our parents tracked us down, they found us on the football field making up new cheers or new halftime routines. We all had good grades, we either went on to college or we wanted to, we all had boyfriends who got along like members of our family with our parents (my parents actually added my boyfriend's favorite items to the weekly grocery shopping list), and I haven't yet had to go to a funeral of anyone close to me from school. We need to find out how teenagers then developed such close relationships without sex and let these young ones know what to do or what not to do. We would have a lot more of them have much more successful lives. Some of our relationships developed into marriage, some developed into wonderful friendships that have weathered close to 15 years. I would like to know when we are going to have a reunion. Well just like everyone else from Brooklyn, I can talk a lot but I hope that you have gotten a taste of "My Coney Island" and "My Brooklyn."
29 July 1997
My Brooklyn was 910-81st as a child. My grandparents lived at 924-71 St. and I attended P.S. 127 and P.S. 259 and Fort Hamilton H.S. I remember when the bridge was going up, we thought we would have to move because of the expressway leading up to it. It was a very scarey time for a kid to think that they were going to lose their home.
Now that I am doing my family research I have learned that my great-grandfather worked and was killed at the A&S building at Livingston and Hoyt, downtown Brooklyn. I've learned that a lot of family is buried at Green-Wood cemetery; I don't even think my mother knew this. There is a lot of wonderful history in Brooklyn. Too bad I don't live there anymore—I would love to be able to explore other avenues of my family tree. Another great-grandfather was in real estate there and owned a butcher shop on Myrtle Ave. Wow! What history I have there. Too bad I'm not there anymore to learn more.
1 August 1997
My fondest memories of Brooklyn were of Christmastime on Fulton St. I'm sure many of you remember the lights and beautiful decorations at Martin's, Mays, E. J.Korvettes and especially A&S. It was truly a wonderful time of year in Brooklyn
4 August 1997
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