My Brooklyn (256)

John LaFemina

CANARSIE, that's my Brooklyn. Growing up in "Little Italy—East 86th St. & Ave J. Moving to East 96th St. between M & N. Hanging out on the "L" and cutting classes at S. J. Tilden so I could shoot pool at Pop Klee's on E. 93rd between L & M. Graduating to "The Old Road Inn" on E. 93rd St. Great bar where we buy a picture of beer for a buck, dance to all the R & R songs of the 50s then Cobe Dinner for coffee and eggs at 2 in the morning. Nobody who isn't from Brooklyn could know how great it was growing up there in the 50s. And if Patty (Frog) Leone, Jackie Cassatta, or Otto Diekmann are still alive, you guys made my childhood great.

19 April 2000

Peter Hepburn

My story begins with #185 on this site but I wanted to add some more thoughts. My father passed away in July of 1968. I was 12 years old. My mother decided to use the life insurance money to buy a small house in the Catskills and save my brothers and me from the new dangers (drugs/crime) that seemed to be taking over every major city in the country. It took a year for her to find a small house in Napanoch, NY and so we prepared to leave at the end of the school year (June '69). I had a new bike and rode around 61st Street a great deal those last few weeks in Bay Ridge. I loved our nice little house in the country. I was going to miss my friends very much. Oscar, Tommy R., Peter P., Seymour, Matty O., Bobby F, Richie C, and many others. At the very end of June the moving company loaded up the van. It was early in the morning and none of my friends were out yet. I've managed to say hello to a few of them recently via the internet. When I think of my time in Bay Ridge (Brooklyn) the memories are sweet. Most of us aren't just writing about Brooklyn. We are writing about our youth. The other kids who were in our day to day lives had an impact on us then. They still have an impact on me more than thirty years later. The lazy days of summer at Coney Island, the snowball fights, the annual burning of the Christmas trees, the long b.s. sessions in the vestibules of our apartment buildings, flying kites off the roof, the wild fireworks on the 4th, the french fries at Pure Foods on 62nd Street, my first smooch with a girl who lived across the street, the trips on the Staten Island Ferry, our soujourn to Palisades Park (by ourselves). Well I think that my friend Tommy R. may have passed away. Others have become cops and stockbrokers. I moved to California and am now a teacher. I've had 44 great years so far with few complaints and fewer regrets. My first 13 years were spent in Brooklyn (50th, 60th, 61st Streets). They were good years with good friends. I lived at 202 50th Street, 364 60th Street and 404 61st Street from 1955 to 1969. I went to P.S. 140 and Pershing J.H.S. (J.H.S. 220). I'm still looking for Christine Caird, Margaret Bennet, Lisa Owens, Lillian Holmes, Sammy Black, Eddy Onny, Michael Shaunnessy, Phillip Tagliafero, Billy Sheehan, Lenny Hanson, Eugene Kaditis. If you knew me or any of the Hepburn family from Bay Ridge please write to me.

Thanks for this website. It's ver tol (very cool).

22 April 2000