My Brooklyn

Readers Report


Warren Bernstein

My father owned a bar on Hinsdale St. (in East New York) his name was Bright-eyes. I went to J.H.S 214 and lived at 1117 Belmont Ave. near Autumn Ave. I remember the St. Fortunata Bazaar on Crescent St. I remember going to P.S. 159 Pitkin and Crescent St. Across the street was the Jewish delicatessen. Also was the candy store where everyone hung out. It was a place where the Good-fellas and the Crescents hung out. In all it was a very safe neighborhood for all ethnic groups to enjoy life. I remember the Old Mill, and going down there to see my girlfriend Francine (we both were 13 years old at the time). Now after being married to Francine for forty years it is hard to believe that all the good times we had are a thing of the past. Boy are we lucky that we had all those good times. Now the good times are our children and grandchild. One on the way, boy it sure is great to remember the good old times.

13 September 2000

Warren Bernstein continues . . .


Alex Passantino

I believe I have the unique distinction of still living in the same house I grew up in. I live on 4th Place and Clinton Street. Went to P.S. 142 from '47 to '55. Some teachers that come to mind, Mr. Fine, Miss McSherry, Mr. Daynes (father and son). Went to Manual Training H.S. from '55 to '58. Anyone out there remember Quality Restaurant on 7th Ave. or the 7th Avenue Bakery. Some teachers I had Mr. Riccio (gym), Mr. Randazzo (Italian), Miss White (English), Mr. Davis, Mr. Segal (dean of boys). At home the crew I hung out with went to Ebel's ice cream parlor, or Sweets ice cream parlor, Delfonte's for sandwiches or Nino's for pizza. We would go to Union Street for vastedde or panelle (Sicilian soul food). We played the same games that every other kid played in Brooklyn, however in reading the comments on this site I have yet to read anyone who played a game that we played called "one and over." My head is spinning with all the memories that come to mind. It's hard to put sixty years down in a few sentences. This is a great site. All the best to you.

14 September 2000

Dan Bernstein

The journey begins on Bedford Ave. The school system was great— P.S. 181 In Flatbush, where the teachers cared. Playing stickball, punchball, soccer , softball in Sears' parking lot (didn't mean ta break that window). Hanging with the Argentina bros. Riding bikes down Ocean Parkway to the beaches. Riding to Prospect park for a barbecue on a hot summer day. Working at Carvel ice cream on Flatbush Ave. Survived the blackout of '77 while listening to breaking windows of the stores being looted on Flatbush Ave. Jumping off garage roofs playing "coco-levio" with the Rincon bros. Being shipped off to Bensonhurst schools: 286 (Cavillaro) where any free time was spent in Mr. Simeone's classroom helping other kids with their ceramics projects. (Thanks). Eating Nathan's at Coney Island and swimming at Manhattan Beach. Riding the Cyclone and being fortunate enough to have a girlfriend that lived next to the only Dunkin' Donuts in Brooklyn. Attended movie theatres like Loews Kings and the Rialto, when there was only one screen. Real balconies to sneak into. Eating knishes and riding the subways. Listening to the "cosmic" saxophone player on the "D" train and then asking for donations. Jahn's ice cream and Prospect Park. Life was grand on the streets of Brooklyn, with and without the violence . Real fireworks displays that started in June and ended on the 4th. Brooklyn . . .

15 September 2000

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