Readers Report
Well, I have such fond memories. . . . I was born in Brooklyn Jewish Hospital and I was bought to my new home named and addressed 504 Marcy Avenue. I was born February 26, 1958. I attended P.S 148, I.S. 76 and I graduated from Eastern District in 1976. My oldest sister Jeannette Gregory still lives in the Marcy,623. My other sister lives in the Tompkins. I now have over forty nieces and nephews consisting of greats. I remember the blizzards we walked in to get to school. The teachers you grew to love and would remember for years to come . . . Ms. Hyman from 148, my first and most impressionable teacher of all The trips to the White Castle on Sundays after church. My church was Greater Free Gift on Stockton street, Pastor Rev Bates. School friends . . . Veronica Young, Susan Turner, Norma Seda, Yvonne Mincy, who passed in 2000 from a heart ailment. That was an ordeal that let you know . . . that time is slipping by. My church friends, Brenda Hickman, Carolyn Whitted, Quentin Bethea, her uncle and my first boyfriend . . . who was like a son to my parents, and Joseph, nicknamed Sparky, who was a special part of our family also. . . . But as time passed, we no longer kept in touch. He attended my mom's funeral. . . . It was a special moment seeing him after so many years. I moved from New York in 1976 to Maryland to work for the FBI and after eight years of service I joined the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C. I now have bought my father here to live with me and my husband in Ellicott City, MD. I have a son 20 years old and a daughter 6 years . . . and I am soon to become a grandmother. After twenty-five years there is still no place like home . . . Brooklyn . . . Bedford-Stuy . . . the Marcy projects, sitting on the bench in the summer, jumping double Dutch . . . the boys racing the girls . . . getting in a circle playing all the little girl games. . . . Our parents calling for us to come in and eat now. . . . Coney Island, the Himalaya, the mouse, our rollercoaster (was then the largest), and the famous hot dogs, the good little hamburgers—White Castles, the corner stores, Wise potato chips, violet candy, those ham and cheese heroes for $1.00, two kisses for a penny. I got a quarter every morning for my snack later in the day . . . so on my way to school there was a little store across from my elementary school 148 . . . and every morning I would stop and get 50 kisses in a little brown bag. Ah, those were the days . . . without air-conditioning . . . but the summers were great..
I came upon My Brooklyn quite by accident. I love reading the stories. It brings back many happy memories from my South Brooklyn. I was born in the same house I live in today. This was my grandmother's house she had bought when she came from Italy. She lived here with her three daughters. My grandfather passed away before he was able to move with them. I remember our block: 6th Street was always filled with lots of kids. Every family had at least four kids. We were the Silvas and my cousins were the Orsinis. There were the Bellones and Lupos, also the O'Connollys lived net to each other. There were the Scarpas, the Parisis , the Crows and the Montelones. These are just a few families I grew up with. We all had a common bond—family and friendship.
The summers were always the greatest . . . none of us ever went to sleep-away camp. Our vacations were spent making scooter cars with leftover roller skates parts, watching the boys playing stick ball while the girls played stoopball. We also played a game called buck-buck: the biggest kid was always the pillow; he was first who stood with his back towards the garage while each kid held up the other. Our days were spent at Coney Island or at Prospect Park. These are memories which will never fade. Our families all knew each other well. Everyone ate in each other's house. Dinner was always whosever mother made the best. Sometimes you ate more then once. Times were different then. Our mothers did not work—just our fathers—so everything was made from scratch. We were very lucky. Sundays were the big day for church. We all had to dress up for 9:00 mass—that was for the kids, 12:15 was for the adults . Dinner at our house was at 2:00 every Sunday. We would wake up to the aroma of my mother frying meatballs for Sunday dinner. There were always friends stopping over to eat—four or five was not unusual. On Saturdays we went to 5th Ave. for the shopping. I remember Germains, John's bargains, Loft candies, 5&10-cents store. We sometimes went to 7th Ave. to Ebinger's bakery for blackout cake. We also went to the RKO movie or the Avon for a double show and cartoon. I could go on and on. Would love to hear from South Brooklyn oldies but goodies.
Hi. I grew up at 1710 Carroll Street off Utica Avenue. The best years of my life were growing up in Brooklyn. It's so wonderful connecting to my past and meeting up with old friends.
Readers' reports continue . . .
[ Jump to My Brooklyn, page 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11
12 13
14 15
16 17
18 19
20 21
22 23
24 25
26 27
28 29
30 31
32 33
34 35
36 37
38 39
40 41
42 43
44 45
46 47
48 49
50 51
52 53
54 55
56 57
58 59
60 61
62 63
64 65
66 67
68 69
70 71
72 73
74 75
76 77
78 79
80 81
82 83
84 85
86 87
88 89
90 91
92 93
94 95
96 97
98 99
100 101
102 103
104 105
106 107
108 109
110 111
112 113
114 115
116 117
118 119
120 121
122 123
124 125
126 127
128 129
130 131
132 133
134 135
136 137
138 139
140 141
142 143
144 145
146 147
148 149
150 151
152 153
154 155
156 157
158 159
160 161
162 163
164 165
166 167
168 169
170 171
172 173
174 175
176 177
178 179
180 181
182 183
184 185
186 187
188 189
190 191
192 193
194 195
196 197
198 199
200 201
202 203
204 205
206 207
208 209
210 211
212 213
214 215
216 217
218 219
220 221
222 223
224 225
226 227
228 229
230 231
232 233
234 235
236 237
238 239
240 241
242 243
244 245
246 247
248 249
250 251
252 253
254 255
256 257
258 259
260 261
262 263
264 265
266 267
268 269
270 271
272 273
274 275
276 277
278 279
280 281
282 283
284 285
286 287
288 289
290 291
292 293
294 295
296 297
298 299
300 301
302 303
304 305
306 307
308 309
310 311
312 313
314 315
316 317
318 319
320 321
322 323
324 325
326 327
328 329
330 331
332 333
334 335
336 337
338 339
340 341
342 343
344 345
346 347
348 349
350 351
352 353
354 355
356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368]
Return
to Brooklyn Home Page.