My Brooklyn

Readers Report


Doug Sievers continues . . .

Okay, this is my last posting for now. This is directed to Sal Cartagine. I stumbled onto your paragraph about growing up in Cypress Hills and was delighted. I too grew up there, but don't remember you by name. How old are you now? I too knew the Lonergans, the Taggarts, the Brushes, Jack's Pizzeria (it was once known as Jock's), etc. Did you know the Baldi family on Fulton? The Communiello's (Moony)? Did you know Mark Zale who lived over the bar on Euclid and Ridgewood? Do you remember Lois and Sal's deli right across from the bar? It sounds like you and I would be around the same age. How old are you now? Name some of the kids who were in your classes at school, that would tip me off if you were a year above or a year below me. I think I would remember your name if you were ever in the same class as me. My grandmother lived at 390 Ridgewood Avenue, right next door to that same bar mentioned above, and I used to go there to eat lunch every day and watch Bewitched before heading back to the schoolyard to play Ring-o-leavio or tag or to knock the girls' hats off. I went to B.S.S. from 1st-8th grade, was an alter boy, a choir boy, and was voted Class Clown in 8th grade. I'm sure we know many people in common. I moved from Bklyn to Manhattan around 1983, then to SLC, Utah in '86, where I did a Bachelor's in English & a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Utah. I graduated with honors and was even chosen as class valedictory speaker . . . not bad for this street kid from Bklyn, eh? From the looks of your paragraph,it would appear you have an inclination for writing too. Are you still in Arizona? Not too hot for you? I spent 12 years in Salt Lake, and have lived in Minneapolis now for 2 years. Drop me a line if you read this. I tried your e-mail but it didn't work. Thanks for the memories. (Who remembers watching the Bowery Boys movies, and Abbott & Costello movies every Sunday morning, Chiller Theatre, the Million Dollar Movie, oh man, somebody stop me. . . . )

8 December 2000

Doug Sievers continues . . .


Larry Lomenzo

I was born in 1961 and lived the first four years of my life in Canarsie. East 80th. between Flatlands Ave. & Glenwood Road (Glenwood Rd. remained unpaved for years and was more of a "Rocky Road," in my memory). From that time I can remember Ziggy's Candy Store at the corner of Flatlands and 80th. I remember being VERY young and sitting in a shopping cart at Danza's Supermarket on Ralph Ave. and Waldbaum's, also nearby, while my mom shopped. At 4 yrs. old, my family moved to Bensonhurst, where my mom still lives, at West 9th. Street between avenue O & P. This is where my Brooklyn Memories first took shape.

I went to School at P.S. 226, I.S. 303 and Sheepshead Bay High School (class of '79). The graduation ceremony was at the Walker Theatre (now a Mandee's Dept. Store, I believe). From there it was on to Brooklyn College. Among my favorite memories are saturday afternoon movies at the Marboro Theatre. Visiting my many relatives who lived scattered all up and down 18th Ave. (from 59th. Street to 74th. Street between 17th and 18th). I remember the gas station at 74th & 18th that blew up one July fourth from a wayward firework. There were family outings in summer to Manhattan Beach for picnics, to Coney Island to ride the rides and play in the arcade and to Sheepshead Bay to have a seafood dinner. Church services at St. Athanasius Church (St. "A"'s to the neighborhood kids).

My mom's boss owned Philips Dancing School where parts of "Saturday Night Fever" were filmed. She has said she remembers John Travolta running up and down the block doing retakes of scenes, and the girls in the crowd all going nuts. Radio, back then was all about WABC and WMCA, Rock & Roll & "The Good Guys."

There's more to come but too much for this space right now. . . . I will be back.

If you share my memories, have known me, or just want to talk . . . please write to me. This is a GREAT site!

10 December 2000


Doug Sievers continues . . .

This is for TonyBoy Anderson. I too remember the cartoon you mentioned but I remember it as Gigantor, not Gigantal. I still remember the melody of the theme song, "Gigantor the space age robot. . . . " I also remember Speed Racer, Winky Dink (with the at-home kit to draw on the TV screen), HR Puff 'n Stuff, and a short lived series called Captain Weird. There was another short lived series that began with the song, "It's about time, it's about space, it's about a man in a stranger's place." . . . It may have been called It's About Time, but I wish I knew for sure what it was called. I was hooked on Batman, Superman, Gilligan, Bewitched, the Mothers-in-Law, Dick Van Dyke, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie . . . they don't make TV like that anymore. Remember Davy and Goliath, one of the earliest "claymation" series? Things like The March of the Wooden Soldiers and the Wizard of Oz were on only once or twice a year, and if you didn't catch them when they were on you had a long wait! That really made them feel a lot more special. Disney every Sunday night, the Sonny & Cher Show, Ed Sullivan, the Honeymooners, man what a vast and beloved world TV was back then. I too have never met anyone else who remembers Gigantor! I was hooked on anything slightly scary, and whenever we got the new TV Guide I would go through it cover to cover and mark all the movies that were listed as Melodrama or Thriller (the Thrillers were usually the better ones). And then there were The Bowery Boys, Abbott & Costello, Hope & Crosby, and so much more. During a certain time, they showed the same afternoon movie (channel 5, I believe) every day through the whole week ... I remember watching King Kong 5 days in a row! Another one I did that with was The Reluctant Debutante. Anyone remember that? Well, that's enough reminiscing for now. This site absolutely rocks! I can't get enough. By the way, my Brooklyn is Cypress Hills, home of the 75th Precinct, Highland Park, and the Cypress Hills Cemetaries. .

10 December 2000


Readers' reports continue . . .

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