Readers Report
Such memories I forgot about reading these pages.
I was born in Jan 1950 and lived at 916 Carroll St. for year and then moved around the corner to Washington and Crown. PS 241 is my alma mater.
I remember playing ball in the P.S. 241 schoolyard and Clara Barton had several yards to play in. A long cement one for stickball, a small one at the other end for punchball, and a dirt one for football. We also played football at Guider Park and Prospect Park at on the lawn in front of the Brooklyn Museum. I remember sledding down the hills behind the Museum on the edge of the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. We used to cut classes in high school (Erasmus) and hang out at the BBG. It was so pleasant there, especially the Japanese Gardens.
I remember having my first cigarette at 12 in the long alley in the schoolyard of PS 241 next to the Clara Barton schoolyard. I remember playing Ringalevio on hot summer nights and hiding in the parking lot near the car wash on Franklin and Crown. There was a pharmacy on the corner of Carroll and Crown and there used to be a different display all the time and my friends and I made up stories about the displays. Right next to that was a bakery with the best-looking cakes and then the Ben's appetizer store with pickles for a nickel in a big barrel and the best pistachio nuts. Then the fish store with Fat Sonny who had a wart on his nose and his fat belly bulging out beneath a bloody apron. Further up Franklin Ave. was Ben and Sol with the best cream soda and Rae's luncheonette, and Honey's Toy store.
No air conditioners, we used fans and open windows on hot summer nights. My bedroom faced a courtyard where the Franklin Ave. shuttle ran and I would get used to the noise of the train. On warm nights I could hear the announcer from Ebbets Filed. I went to one game and it was really exciting. My hero, GiIl Hodges, hit a home rum. My brother took me and my mother gave him 2 bucks to get me in and buy me food. I thought it was a lot of money in 1956.
As teenagers we used to meet on the steps of 241 on Carroll Street and hang out or get in someone's car and go to Nathan's.
Good memories and more.
21 October 1999
Anonymous
I grew up in Brooklyn during a strange time. A metamorphosis was taking place in our fair city at that time. A metamorphosis that would change to face of Brooklyn forever, and unfortunately, not for the better. However the Brooklyn that will always live in my heart's memory will be the Brooklyn of my childhood. The Brooklyn that saw my friends playing Skelly in the street, before they turned to Skeletons in the Clarendon Cemetery. I will always remember the Brooklyn that saw me and my friends doing wheelies on our dirt bikes at block parties, instead of so many of my friends doing years, up on Rikers in cell blocks. I will always remember and love the Brooklyn of my youth, when we would open up the fire hydrant and spray each other (and every now and again the unsuspecting car) with cool refreshing water, back before the water was replaced with bullets.
Brooklyn, before all the bodegas went bullet proof, and all the cops went ballistic. Brooklyn when all the only animals in Prospect Park were the ones in the Zoo. Brooklyn, back when my block was integrated, and no one knew that it was a model community, and what's more, we thought every place was like our block. Brooklyn, when a kid hopping a turnstile, was nothing more than a kid hopping a turnstile. Brooklyn when the brownstones of Bed-Stuy were considered stylish, and not slummish. That's the Brooklyn I'll always remember.
22 October 1999
My Brooklyn was Happy's candy store on Stillwell Ave. in Coney Island. In the early 50s we would gather there and our entire social life revolved around friends like Red Marino, Charlie Emanuele, Frankie Polio, Johnny Ronzoni etc. My girlfriends, Dotty Driscol, Bobbi Yunderfrom, Anita, Ducky Iris, Arlene. Where are you all? Please, if you're out there send me an e-mail. I live in California now, but would love hearing from any of you.
22 October 1999
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