My Brooklyn

Readers Report


Roberta Morgenstern

My Brooklyn is Canarsie. My family lived there from 1949 until 1989. In the area we lived, the streets were unpaved and sparsely populated (unless you count the rabbits, frogs, grasshoppers, praying mantises, etc.) . There were "quonset huts" along Seaview Avenue extending to the shore, and from East 105th St. to about East 92nd St. Temporary housing was for the GI's, who were returning from the war, and their families. Most of the kids of Canarsie went to P.S. 115, P.S. 114 and Tilden H.S. The families were mostly Italian, a few Irish, and very few Jewish. It seemed that everyone knew everyone. It was a simple time of innocence for kids . . . and a strong sense of community. I cherish the memories of the wonderful friends and carefree days of that time.

17 August 1999


Mario (Junior)

Hi.

My Brooklyn was in the Sunset Park section around 1950 to 1964. Hung out a candy store on 48th Street & 7th. Ave. and 8th Ave. from 48th Street to about 55th street. At that time you could walk by yourself any time of the night and knew almost everyone. It was what i think of as the best time to live in Brooklyn. The pizza places, candy stores—stay till closing playing records and talking and, as the night went on, more kids would come by. The names were Spanky, Angel, Mitch, Kookie.

Remember the custom cars of the 50s?

Yep, those were really the days.

19 August 1999


Jim Murphy (AKA JAMIE)

My Brooklyn was the next block from Tony Mattera (187). I was born on East 43 Street between Farragut and Foster, but lived most of my life on Ave. I and East 42 Street. I remember playing stickball on East 43 Street with Tony and his cousin Dino.

I went to St. Vincent Ferrer Grammar School (class of 1968). I spent my summers in both Farragut Pool (what I would not give for one more summer in Farragut Pool) and Breezy Point, and worked on the Ferry that ran to Breezy from Sheepshead Bay.

In later years I hung out and worked as a bartender im Mahoney's on Ave. D and East 42 Street, and played football and softball in leagues at Farragut Park (football on concrete, what were we thinking!).

Would love to hear from anyone from the old neighborhood. My e-mail is JMU7777777@aol.com

21 August 1999


Lisa B.

Walking to ballet class with Mr. Alan in Trump Village. The best pastries from Cuccio's on Avenue X. Playing paddleball in the "big park" on Avenue Z. Kindergarten in the annex in Beach Haven apartments. Going to the movies at the Trump Cinema next to the best Chinese restaurant in the area. Hit the penny, freeze-tag, giant step with about 25 kids in the neighborhood. Seeing who could get the biggest bags of candy at Halloween, when you dared to go to all the buildings in Beach Haven. It was safe, back then. Walking to school underneath the F-train—216, Boody J.H.S. and Dewey, instead of taking the train.

22 August 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