My Brooklyn (318)

Doug Sievers

Okay, what the heck, I guess I'll try to spew out some more memories of growing up in Cypress Hills. The kids on my block (Shepherd Ave. between Jamaica and Ridgewood) were great, and I remain friends with some of them to this day. Coletta and Susan (Sue Sue) next door, and Margaret on the other side. Coletta, Susan, the twins Roman and Jerry and I used to build "tents" in Susan's front yard using big blankets and clothespins, then play house inside. We used to string sewing thread from the chain link fences in front of our houses to the trees by the curb, then hide and wait for people to walk into our "spiderwebs." What a riot! One day my pet mouse crawled up Susan's sleeve and bit her. She remembers it to this day and laughs about it with her kids. Her sister Coletta chased me on roller skates one day for making Susan cry and I fell and broke my arm. I got in a fight one day with Joanne from down the block and her halter top got inadvertently pulled down exposing an eleven-year-old incipient breast in front of all the other kids. Man, she turned three shades of purple and the fight abruptly ended. Every block had at least one crabby adult to yell at us kids, ours was Mr. Gandolf (and his daughter Nancy), as well as an old man who we called Crabby. Whenever our ball went in his yard he would throw a tantrum. We also called him crowbar man for a while because he came out waving a crow bar at us one day. There was Tommy and Billy who lived in the Gandolf's house, Bobby and Laurie Tagle (the "spoiled" kids of the block), and two little twin brothers named Mark and Jimmy. I used to terrify Jimmy with a hand puppet I had. I remember rolling a tire down from the top of Leeann's tall stoop and watching it go down, cross the street, down a driveway, and crash into a tin garage door on the other side of the street. We got quite a kick out of that. Oh yeah, there were Leeann and Joanie; we used to play Twister in my front yard. On 4th of July we used to set off firecrackers in the knothole in the big tree in front of my house. I remember when I "squealed" on my best friend Rocky about some mischief that I had perpetrated on a neighbor's backyard swimming pool, and Rocky was grounded for two weeks. The word on the street was that I was a dead man when Rocky got out. I felt sorely in need of the witness protection program. Sure enough, when Rocky got out he turned all my other friends against me and they used to march en masse down the middle of my block chanting, "Dougie's dead and he's sick in the head." I felt like a prisoner, trapped within the confines of my own front yard. I took elaborate detours home from school to avoid crossing Rocky's path. Finally, one day he caught me after a block-long chase, punched me twice in the chest, and we were instantly best friends again. Such was childhood! Rocky experienced his own ostracization one summer when his family spent two weeks at their summer house "upstate." For some reason, we all entertained ourselves in his absence by badmouthing him and carving nasty things about him in the asphalt street. When he returned he was treated as a pariah for some time, probably without a clue as to why. But then, there really hadn't been a reason, other than that he hadn't been around to defend himself and champion his own worth. Rocky and his brother Richie were my best friends for quite a while, but their names were anathema in my household because I always got in trouble when we were together. Then there was the time I spray painted my name (in bright red) on the outside of the YMCA building. It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out who did it. Pretty soon I was serving my penance by sweeping and hosing down the sidewalk in front of the Y for two weeks (and painting over my graffiti). Well, that's enough storytelling for now. I hope some of my old friends see and enjoy some of this reminiscing. I'm sure we all agree that childhood in Brooklyn was never boring.

5 January 2001

Mervin Magdol

I lived the first fifteen years of my life in an apartment house in Crown Heights—456 Brooklyn Ave. at the corner of Sterling St. (1942-1958). Among my memories are Sid's candy store on the corner of Empire Blvd. and the Schneiders' candy store across the street. The Crown Movie Theater which closed down around 1950, Kuller's Drug store, the kosher deli on Empire Blvd. between Brooklyn Ave. and Balfour Pl., Lefferts Hospital, the A&P on Empire Blvd. near Nostrand Ave. I remember New York Ave. before Lefferts Junior High School was built. The Sterling St. IRT station. I remember Abbess's Field—when someone would hit a home run or make a great play you could hear the crowd roar a mile away.

I went to Wingate H. S. in 1956. Among my teachers were Miss Weinstein—English (wow! did I have a crush on her!), Miss Berman—English (another big crush), Mrs. Jeffries—science, Mr. Rosenstein—phys. ed., Mr. Peters—metal shop and HR, Mrs. Foster—art and HR, Mr. Geschwind—soc. studies, Mr. Warmbrand—Soc. studies.

In 1958 I moved to East 10th and Ave. N and transferred to Lafayette H.S. from whence I graduated in 1960. Among my teachers were Miss O'Shea—English, Miss Simon—Soc. studies (she predicted in 1958 that JFK would be elected President in 1960), Mr. Levine—Soc. studies, Mr. Gappelberg—Soc. studies, Mr. Maiman—English, Mr. Chast—French (his daughter Roz Chast is a famous illustrator/cartoonist), Mr. Rutigliano—phys. Ed. (who would later coach the Cleveland Browns), Mr. Holstein—chem. (I drove him nuts coming late to his first period class.)

6 January 2001