My Brooklyn

Readers Report


Lee Fischman

My Brooklyn is canoeing into the inlets off of Jamaica Bay, jam car racing at Floyd Bennett Field, hanging out on the Gil Hodges Bridge at midsummer, and getting all that natural air conditioning.

My Brooklyn is best experienced on a 10-speed, starting in Canarsie at 7:30 going through Flatlands, Borough Park, then the Slope and onto the Bridge by 8:15 just as the borough is getting to work.

3 May 1999


Andrew Losch

I am a Bensonhurst Brooklynite, and we grew up in Brooklyn all my life also our family generation too! Since 1995 last time I visited my parents lived in apts on 85th St. When I walked on 18th Ave. about two blocks past on street and I saw the New Utrecht Reformed Church on Eighteenth Ave. and Eighty-Third Street. It's really old built and worn out things also missing on the top church cross with white colors I remember since I was kid. What happens to do now? I saw on sign for church service their different foreign language? I tell you that this is histrionic church! dates back to 1677 was the first settled by Dutch colonies was until the 1890s the town of New Utrecht. The present building, a meetinghouse, was built in 1828, with stone from the older church, built about 1700. I saw white pole with worn out peel off never paint on it? The Liberty Pole in front of the building is the last remaining on Long Island, and the fourth (1910) on this spot since 1783. I hope this histrionic church keep the future! Our children will visit that I will show them this my hometown!

I now live in Independence, MO. Funny thing, I drove on I-70 Highway near downtown Kansas City I saw the sign on exit. It was named Brooklyn Ave. Sigh! I miss a lot with Nathan's (the original Coney Island), bagels, pizza slice, Italian ice, deli, bakery with fresh Italian bread, subways ride, old friends, our neighborhood, our guys chased with rival the gypsies just corner street, biking near shore on Bay Parkway, playing stickball, handball, bottle cap games, flipping baseball card for trading, football in the streets. It make you feel that all was good with the world. Brooklyn was the best world! Brooklyn will always hold a special place in my heart. Thanks for the memory!

6 May 1999


Lawrence Lesman

I lived at 1159 President St. (between Nostrand and Bedford Ave.) from 1956 to 1965. I attended P.S. 161 and Lefferts J.H.S. These were great times to live in Crown Heights and President St. was the best block in the neighborhood. We would hang out on a building stoop or at the corner candy store (owned by Sam & Ester) and drink Coke which was kept cold in a large ice bin. Do you remember stick ball, roller skates with "keys," egg creams and stick pretzels, cream soda? On hot summer days the building super would spray us with a garden hose and in the evening our parents would bring chairs down and relax in front of the building or under a tree while we waited for the Good Humor truck so we could get an ice cream for a dime. And at night we would sleep out on the fire escape to keep cool. On Saturday afternoons we would go to the Loew's on Eastern Parkway or the Savoy and see two shows and cartoons for twenty-five cents. Sometimes the movie stars would appear live on stage and the theater would hand out special finger rings to all the kids. But the most fun was tormenting the matrons who policed the isles with there flash lights picking out the talkers and popcorn throwers.

7 May 1999


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]


subway tokenReturn to Brooklyn Home Page.

Copyright © 1995-2010 David Neal Miller. All rights reserved. For clarification and limited exceptions, see the Brooklyn Net copyright page. Last updated: December 26, 2010