My Brooklyn (338)

Dina Bednarczyk (formerly Diana DelRe)

My Brooklyn is what I guess they now call Cobble Hill. We knew it as Red Hook then. President St., between Clinton & Henry, Court St., Carroll St., etc. Went to P.S. 142, Prospect Heights H.S., graduated in '62. Lived in several parts of Brooklyn, Ave. V between West 8th & 9th, East 21st between Foster & Farragut Rd., Bay Pkwy between Bath & Benson and moved to Old Bridge, NJ 30 years ago. Still have family in Brooklyn and go back for wonderful food stores and restaurants. When I first moved to NJ, a new friend born and raised in NJ didn't understand why I missed Brooklyn, until one day I took her there. We packed a cooler. I took her to all my favorite meat stores, salumerias, bakeries. Took her to visit my family. I showed her "My Brooklyn." On the way back to NJ she said "Now I know why you miss Brooklyn." My husband and I often take her and her husband to Brooklyn. In fact we're due for a trip. You can take the girl out of Brooklyn, but you can't take Brooklyn out of the girl.

2 March 2001

Robert Budney

My Brooklyn was Prospect Avenue.

I was born at 296 Prospect Avenue between 5th and 6th, which is no longer there. The Prospect Hall side stayed, which is the odd numbered side. My side made way for the Prospect Expressway. From 1944 I lived between 8th and 9th Avenue, went to P.S. 10 and graduated in '49. I went to Manual Training for one term, transferred to finish my schooling in '53, at the school that beat Brooklyn Tech at football . . . Boys' High. The memories of the trolleys, playing baseball in the Cascade Laundry lot. The stickball, the stoopball, I could go on and on. I worked for the Western Union in 1951 and covered all of Brooklyn in those days. On Saturday I worked the 9th Street office. On Sunday I worked the LIRR Office. Do you remember the RKO Prospect on 9th Street? How about Germain's on the corner of 15th St. and 5th Avenue? . . . God those were the days.

I'm 65 now. I moved to New Jersey in 1953. I didn't miss Brooklyn after a few years, but I always think of Brooklyn. After all those years I still have the Brooklyn accent and I'll never be a Yankee fan.

An old Brooklyn Dodger fan,
Bob Budney

3 March 2001

Robert Budney continues . . .