Readers Report
I was born in Coney Island Hospital and went home with my parents to 95 Ave. U. This was my grandfather's house . It was also on the corner of West 9th Street. I lived there for ten years upstairs in the back apartment. My Aunt Lina lived in the front apartment. Downstairs was my grandparents' apartment with my uncles Johnny, Adam. Raymond, and my Aunt Ella who was never married. My three cousins Louis Frankie and Nicky Pannese were Aunt Lina's sons. I had a brother who was sickly so I became a tomboy and my cousins' playmate. We played stick ball, Johnny on a pony, flipping cards and marbles and pitching pennies, caps filled with wax and until I learned to be good at these games I was a patsy. I would fight with Louis and really take a shellacking from him. He would knock me down and take my skates or wagon or bike and enjoy himself until my uncles would get them back for me. Grandpa had a police dog named Bessie. She would walk us to school every day and then meet us at 3 o'clock. We went to P.S. 95 on Ave. U & Van Sicklen Street . When we got home we would go downstairs to grandma's and she would cut a slice of round Italian bread that she made that morning. Whatever she was cooking we would get the bread with some on it. It was to hold us till we had supper. We all ate together. If you ever saw the Waltons that would show you what our life was like. Grandpa even made the table and benches. There were only two chairs for him and his Lucia. My Uncle Johnny (Fish) worked in the Stillwell Theatre on 86th Street and 24th Ave. across the street from the firehouse. We would go to the movies as often as we liked. Mostly in winter. Unc was the manager so we got in for nothing. On Saturday it was serial races. When you paid for your ticket you would get a number and then when the winner won the race (it was cars, foot racers, bike, skate, swimming etc. you would get a prize. They gave about five winners. My cousins and I would be a winner every week. We took turns. Then on Tuesday they had dish day. Everyone had a couple of sets. They built a brand new school on West 13th St. between Ave. U and Ave. V and a beautiful park. P.S. 248 was modern. In later years they built Lafayette High School across from the park. 248 is no longer a school. It was the last school to go up and the first to close down. I will write again about later years. I have so many beautiful memories to talk about. I hope you let me come back.
Lucille Riccardi continues . . .
I don't know if I did right today. I was in a loving mood and wrote about my beginning life in Brooklyn. I got carried away and didn't say what I really miss. On Ave. U across from Lady Moody Square (Ave. U between Van Sicklen Street and Lake St. ) in front of the P.S. 95 school yard. This school was a one room school house when my father went to it. I went to it in my youth and my children did also. I don't know when it was built but my father was born in 1900. There is a little house next door to the school on the Neck Rd. side that is an historical site. They said that George Washington stayed in that house. It is also rumored that there was an underground tunnel from the house to Lady Moody Square. That's how they escaped the British soldiers. In the back of Corso Court there is a cemetery. If you go in and see the headstones they are from the 1700's. It is taken care of and there are about 100 head stones. Gravesend got its name from there. How many people live in Bensonhurst that even know that it exists? Look up Brooklyn in some library books and it will leave you with an awesome feeling. I once read a book called Sodom by the Sea and is all about Coney Island when pirates landed on the beach. One more piece of trivia . . . Did you know who gave Nathan Handiworker the idea to open a stand called Nathan's? It was Eddie Canter and Jimmy Durante. They were working on the Bowery in Coney Island and would go look for Nathan and his cart. He never stayed in one place and Jimmy and Eddie said, "We tell everyone how great your hot dogs are but they can"t find you. Why don't you get a stand?" And he did and the rest is history. If you've never had a Nathan's, the original Coney Island 5-cent hot dog, it's like anyone who has never lived in Brooklyn—you missed a living wonder.
Trying to get in touch with Jason Paulotsky. He wrote a post on this site and his e-mail address doesn't work. The Yeshiva he spoke about is still there on E. 26th and Ave. Z in Sheepshead Bay and I do have a picture if he wants it or for that matter anyone else that might be interested I went back to Sheepshead Bay last September for a visit and ate at Lundy's and walked through the OLD neighborhood and had a great time.
Readers' reports continue . . .
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