My Brooklyn (355)

John

This is a great site. I relived many of the memories of my youth reading the various messages posted by the wonderful Brooklynites. Do the kids still play stickball in the streets like we used to? I am currently living on the West Coast and even though there is much to be said for the life style here, I miss the people and memories of Brooklyn. Besides you can't get a decent slice of pizza out here.

I spent much of my youth in Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge. I lived on Bay 32nd and Benson Ave. I went to St. Mary's and P.S. 101. I attended Brooklyn Tech while it was still all boys and you could ride the subway for 15 cents. I was always outside with my friends playing all of the games that you mentioned in your message. As soon as someone appeared with a Spalding, a new game of stickball, boxball, Chinese handball, stoopball, hit the penny or punchball would startup. After playing for awhile we would go down the block and collect empty soda bottles from a vacant lot. Across the street from the lot was Phil's candy store. We would bring the bottles to him and ask for the 2 cents on a small bottle and a nickel for the large bottle refund. He would always ask if we bought the soda from him and we would always assure him that one of our mothers did. Depending on our luck sometimes we were able to gather a whole armful of bottles. This would immediately be converted into penny candy and an egg cream or two. When you're a kid it doesn't get any better then that.

Sometimes during the summer months we would go fishing off the seawall at the foot of Bay Parkway and the Belt Parkway. As a teenager I worked behind the counter at Lou's on Bay Parkway just off 86th Street. We used to sell newspapers like there was no tomorrow. I learned how to make the best egg creams and fraps in Bensonhurst. I later worked in the Dairy Queen on 18th Ave. Met a lot of great and interesting people. When we got older we would drive over to Mitchell's and check out the all great cars that came through. I loved the '67 GTOs. I had a summer job working in the VA hospital nearby. I would love to hear from anyone from the old neighborhood.

26 May 2001

Gerard (Jerry) Cipolla

My memories of Brooklyn are of Bensonhurst or Bath Beach. We lived on Bay 25th St. near Bath Ave. I'm a little older than most correspondents but my memories are just as vivid. Born in 1923, my schools were P.S. 200, J.H.S. 128, and the brand new Lafayette H.S. Movies were only a nickel then, but a nickel was often very hard to come by. That was the Bay Theater later renamed the De Luxe and prices jumped to a dime. Our church was St. Finbar's and guess what, there are two successful Italian restaurants here in Southern California named Finbar's owned by a man who went to that church. I would sure like to hear from anyone who lived in that neck of the woods. Write me.

26 May 2001

My Brooklyn

Carla Nunziante