My Brooklyn (350)

Richard Knox

SBHS '63, BC '67 . . . I thought I'd just do this by stream of consciousness . . . SBHS: Mr. DeLeonardis on the picket line . . . Hurricane Donna, the first day of school . . . Nominating Marvin Sachs (fictitious student) for SGO president . . . the tree of knowledge . . . living on the same block (E. 18 St.) as Mr. and Miss Sheepshead (Mike Levinson and Andrea Kantor) . . . Math with Mrs. Gottfried (ugh) and Mr. Venezia (yea) . . . Mr. Newman (physics) proving the phlogiston theory while almost setting his room on fire . . . Rico Petrocelli signs with the Red Sox! . . . trips to Stratford, Conn. . . . great buddies Steve Shapiro, Howie Kirsch, Billy Wagner Cunningham: School was 2nd in USA on Iowa tests . . . 2 with mustard and kraut from "Pop" the Sabrett vendor . . . snowball fights in Kelly Park . . . burger and fries at luncheonette on Coney Is. Ave. and Ave. S . . . Miss Finkelstein (wow!) P.S. 206: Buying baseball cards at Saltzman's candy store (Neck and 22 St.), . . . do you have the "set" yet?? . . . Miss Keyes' perfume . . . the day the music died . . . take cover drills . . . running bases . . . your own man says you're out! . . . Chinese hand ball . . . Sadie and Lou's candy store (19th and Neck) . . . Bobby Kahn, Mike Singer, Mitch Silverman, Bob Kantor . . . The neighborhood: go to the 2nd car and buttonhook . . . I'll hit you with a pass . . . FraMar on 23rd and U . . . my folks' shoestore (Arlene Bootery) on U and 18th . . . Cookieburgers on U, M, and J . . . Three Star (still there!) . . . waiting for a local at the Neck Rd. station while 3 expresses whip past . . . the smell of burning leaves . . . The call of the "I Cash Clothes" man on Sat. mornings . . . Howdy Doody and Rootie Kazootie . . . Hopalong Cassidy and Gabby Hayes (ya darn tootin'!) . . . Grand Army Plaza library (wow . . . this is big!) . . . Happy Felton's knot hole gang before the Dodger games . . . Charcolette (later Big Daddy's) on C.I.A. and Y . . . the lampposts in the middle of each intersection on Ocean Pkwy . . . the Staten Is. Ferry (no bridge then) . . . Brighton private . . . the Oceana, Avalon, Mermaid, Graham, Ave. U, Kingsway, Mayfair, Sheepshead, Midwood . . . two films and a bunch of cartoons . . . special color coded student passes . . . jelly apples and pez . . . Junior's burgers and a flick at the Brooklyn Paramount, Fox, or Albee . . . shopping at Mays with mom . . . summer trips to the Catskill hotels (Schenk's, Raleigh, Windsor, Nemerson, Flagler, Granit) . . . Weiner's bungalow colony. All in all . . . Those Were the Days My Friend.

24 April 2001

Carol Herzberg

My Brooklyn was growing up in East Flatbush on Newkirk and Brooklyn Aves. I went to P.S. 269, P.S. 89 and Erasmus ('62). I remember summers waiting for Rocky the ice cream man to come; we never bought from Good Humor. Going to the Vanderveer to hang out with friends, Weber's candy store on the corner of Newkirk & Nostrand Aves., Farragut Pool, waiting in line for an hour to swim in the P.S. 89 pool, then going into the school yard to play knock-hockey. I remember sitting on the stoops on Brooklyn Ave., playing stoop ball and going to National shoes on Nostrand Ave. with my older sister to buy shoes, the bus ride with friends to Riis Park. I would love to hear from anyone who may have lived in the neighborhood from 1950-1960. I now live in South Jersey. Unless you lived in Brooklyn in the '50s, you never lived!

25 April 2001