Readers Report
May 1960: Arrived as a four-year-old from Scotland and my father Angus McArthur, who had come out three months before us, picked us up at the airport and back to our new home at 20 Butler Place, round the corner from Grand Army Plaza. Brilliant memories of a great few years of my life, started school at P.S. 9 with my funny accent! Wasn't long before I was talking like a real Brooklyn boy! Great friends, Frankie Brennan, Micheal Castledyke and Mike Butler—wonder where they are now. Used to play on the street at baseball, carts with roller skates nailed on to them ( plank of wood and an apple box!).
Coney Island at weekends in summer, it used to rain on one side of the street and be sunny on the other. Hanging out around the fire station, going for soda at the deli on the corner of Butler place. Bazooka bubblegum! All childhood memories of a real friendly neighborhood and a great start to life!
Visiting there with my wife in June '99, living in South Africa now and want to revisit all the old haunts. Can anyone tell me if Butler Place is still there?
21 May 1999
I lived at 450 95th Street in Brooklyn 9, NY until March 1957 when I, at the age of 12, moved to Norway. Went to P.S. 104. Now I am beginning to realize what a great place it was. . . . Please, send me some lines.
22 May 1999
I enjoyed reading all the Brooklyn memories, but this is my Brooklyn. I grew up in the very small neighborhood of Kensington, which extended from the Kensington branch of the post office on McDonald Ave. off of Church. It included the small streets of Louisa, Clara, and Tehama And my street, Chester Avenue, ran straight through to Ft. Hamilton Pkwy. If you lived in Kensington you went to P.S. 230 and had Mrs. Smoller or Mrs. Mendelsohn for Kg. And if you were really bright you found yourself in Mrs. Cohen's IGC class in 6th grade. The Beverly Theater was the place to be on Saturdays. $.25 got you in for 25 cartoons and of course the matron Bertha would be flashing her flashlight in your eyes. On Church Ave. you went to Gorelick's for a hot dog and of course Scorollas's for pizza. Burgerama was the big treat on Dahill and Ft. Hamilton Pkwy. and of course riding my bike down Greenwood Cemetery on McDonald was a great thrill.
It was on to the greatest J.H.S.—Montauk, 16th Ave. and 43rd Street, where you met up with new kids from the larger area of Boro Park. It was great and of course graduating from Erasmus—class of 64! Well, the years have passed, but fortunately my Brooklyn remains close at hand since I teach in Sunset Park and still have a chance to pass through what I remember as Kensington!
22 May 1999
3rd Street 6th & 7th Ave. . . . P.S. 77—no longer there, J.H.S. 51, 5th Ave., 4th & 5th Sts. Manual Training, class of '60—named John Jay that year. St. Frances Dances . . . the Del-rays . . . love to hear from anyone from back then . . . Prospect Park, a walk to see the "Bums" at Ebbets field, paddle boats, Monument Hill, the Prospect and Avon theaters, the smells, the sounds, all the guys on Third . . . hung at 86th and 5th after H.S. Green Tea room, Hinch's . . .
22 May 1999
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