... Recommend this section to a friend.

Stella Rogers, a "proud graduate from P.S. 181" writes: How could you leave out voting for Miss Rheingold every year? Riding the subway/bus/trollycar to see the pictures of the candidates so you could pick out your favorite, the Granada Theatre on Church Avenue, mandatory attendance every Saturday afternoon for the double feature no matter what the movies were, given money by mother for a maximum of "two things" from the snack bar, the Loews Kings on Flatbush Ave. and the fabulous decor, the gold mosaic goldfish fountain, pre-filled ice cream cones with a slice of paper to peel off the top, and Probably Pink lipstick at, I can't remember, maybe the dime store, it was down the street from the Kings, and the Biltmore on Church Ave., site of my brother's 1952 bar mitzvah, and the Lincoln Bank at Nostrand and Church, and on Church Ave., one of my favorite haunts, The Doll Hospital (where I bought my Judy Bolton books), with a "drinking bird" in the window.

Well Stella Rogers I'll have you know, I can leave out a lot of things. Let's remember this now: (1) I never went to your P.S. 181. (2) I live and lived in a different part of Brooklyn. (3) I never wore lipstick. And (4) I never played with dolls. Notwithstanding all that I missed, all the woulda, shoulda, coulda's, and by that I don't mean wearing lipstick, I sure appreciate your enthusiasm.

Now Howie Merrill of Highland Mills, NY, writes with his own fond memories of Brooklyn, especially Canarsie. First he writes, "I want to thank you for your wonderful website! I spent over an hour reading your site to my mother. I had to stop after a few pages because my throat is killing me". (Oh, now the complaints. I don't know why he complains to me about his throat; I just write this nonsense, who told him he has to read it.) He says his "parents bought a house on Avenue N between 88th and 89th in 1960" and he was 10 months old at the time, and lived in Canarsie until 1981. (That's only three blocks from where I lived at that time.)

His "mother remembers when Ruby the knish man had a pushcart in Brownsville. She lived on Stone Avenue down the block from the Brownsville Boys Club". His earliest memory of Ruby was when he (Ruby) 'upgraded' to a van. He had a public address system and they stopped their punch ball game on East 89th when they heard "RRRRUUUUBBBYYYY THE KNISH MAN" ... those were the times when kids played in the street.

We also had the Bungalow Bar ice cream truck, Miltie the Good Humor man, and a truck that sold Chinese food freezer fresh. He says Bungalow bar tasted like tar; the more you ate it, the stickier you were. (I think he talking about Brownsville whereas in Canarsie, and maybe I'm talking about a few years earlier when food was fresher, Bungalow bar was a real treat.) He remembers a truck with soda and seltzer bottles. Charles Chips delivered pretzels and potato chips. Leon, the kosher butcher, delivered only the best kosher meat. And Seaview Cleaners would pickup dry cleaning. (For "real treats, we were lucky to grab a chunk of ice off the ice truck; this guy was wealthy by my standards.)

He writes about milk boxes on the porch. Then he mentions his Grandma Sophie (like I want to hear about his grandma Sophie; does he want to hear about my grandma Lena?). Anyway, his dear grandmp Sophie had a malted machine and of course used real seltzer and Fox's Ubet chocolate syrup to make REAL egg creams. (Well, I agree with Howie there; malteds then really had that special malted taste.)

Joe's pizza on 92nd and L (that's Avenue L) was down the block from PS 115. He says he remember the jukebox in Joe's only because his brother gave him a quarter and asked him to play some song but he pressed the wrong buttons and the "Theme from Batman" played. There was a place on 94th where they cut hot dogs in half and grilled them. That was a SPECIAL lunch. He says the name might have been Ralston's. (I remember when that Ralston's, maybe it had three aisles, was the largest grocery store on the avenue. Do kids today know what a "grocery store" is?)

So Howie used to go to Kennys (that place was huge, an upstairs and a downstairs) between 93rd and L to buy Pensy Pinkies or spaldings to play stoop or box ball or "single, double, triple, homerun", spud and the many great games that kids played in the streets. East 89th street was their playground. They played tag, freeze tag, punchball, street hockey. Seems that he, like most kids growing up then, had skates with a skate key. (Not to have a skate key was not to be part of the human race.)

His dad had a gas station in the city (now he's getting personal but all right, I'll permit it. After all, he's reading my website so I have to give a little latitude). Around the corner, he says, was Paragon's sporting goods. He bought street skates there which were boots with steel skates, and he still has them. (Question is, does he still skate?)

Across from the "Projects" (Rockaway Pkwy and Seaview) was Charcoal Chef and the Seaview Theater. (I would say they were closer to the Belt Parkway than to Seaview, and those were the Seaview Projects, middle income I think.) When he was in 2nd grade, PS 115 built "the portables". His teacher, Mrs Martino was very pregnant (his expression, but I don't think his fault), and left after a few months. Miss Lovinger finished the rest of that year. She wasn't too interested in teaching, just fixing her makeup. His mom met Mrs. Martino recently in West Palm Beach Florida - "small world" he adds. (I'm hoping she reads this and returns to discuss teaching vs makeup, and the reason for her pregnancy with Howie.)

He fished at Canarsie Pier (I remember when it was a wooden pier). They had a bait station but the bait station sunk. Now its a restaurant, heard it was good, never been. (Yes, Howie, name of the restaurant was/is "Abbracciamento on the Pier" restaurant - 2200 Rockaway Parkway, and they are from an Italian family in East New York. The old woman was also at one time the president of District 19 School Board in East New York. I ate there once; no big deal, they play up the view thing.)

He remembers every Xmas: Guarino's Funeral Home on Flatlands Avenue always did a huge Xmas decoration. We always went there to check our all festivities. (Howie, I was living on that same street between J and K; my part of 93rd was a dirt road when I was a kid.) He says he was very young when Avenue N was paved. He's seen pictures of himself in a playpen in front of the house and the road was just a dirt road and there were no houses on the other side of the street. (Don't worry folks, I won't post any picture of Howie in his playpen.)

He writes that when they went to Lundy's, he remembers all the waiters were black, extremely slow, but waiting for the clam chowder, fresh little necks, filet of sole, biscuits was worth the wait. (Take note, Howie, those waiters were very carefully chosen to fit exactly into a southern mold. They really were skilled in what they were doing and as I recall, being a waiter in Lundy's then was a very choice job, like Pullman Porters.)

Howie loves Italian food (c'mon now, like who doesn't). He mentions Vesuvio's in Queens, Stella's on Avenue N, Caroline's in Coney Island, and Anna Napoli's on 96 and Flatlands; he can still taste that lasagna. (You're not alone, Mr. Howie.) He went to school with Pat Kleeman, Pop Klee's grandson. He never played pool there; was scared of the back room (I do remember it was very dark there, a place of mystery in Canarsie). But like all of us, he bought tackle and bait at Pop Klee's on East 94th between L and M (east side of the street).

He writes about a few more interesting tidbits. He bowled at Gil Hodges on Ralph Avenue or at the Mill Basin bowling alley, went to Bildersee Junior High School on 82nd and Flatlands. And across the street was a bagel shop on one corner and a bialy shop on the other. Breakfast was a bagel and a coke.

All right, now I know more about Howie; he's much younger than I am. In my time, there was no junior high school, and the only high school for miles around was Tilden, and Flatlands didn't have a bus line. I'm not even sure Flatlands went all the way through to Flatbush Avenue. As for the bagel and bialy shops (on opposite corners), yes, when I lived in Canarsie, those were the best bialys one could buy. I'd buy a bag of those bialys, and two would be consumed before getting to the house on East 85 between N and Seaview. And those were many years after I started out in the old part of Canarsie.

He writes that Jahn's in Sheepshead Bay (he says it was on Nostrand and T; could be, I won't argue having had too many discussions in email as to the exact location) always gave you a free sundae on your birthday. (Let's see, at this particular writing, October 23, 2006, it happens that only last summer did Joan, Sarah, and I, visit the original Jahn's in Queens, 117-03 Hillside Avenue; the place has been there for 100 years.)

Howie worked for Sid Cherry, the kosher butcher across from Grabsteins. He delivered roast beef to Grabstein and worked for Willie Grabstein, delivering catering for a year. He says that Grabsteins had a big refrigerator in the basement. They kept pickle barrels and barrels of coleslaw and pickled tomatoes on one side of the fridge. On the other side were barrels of garbage. He says he had to out the roast beef in the fridge so he would take a deep breath, run in the fridge, put down the roast beef, run out and breathe. Needless to say, but he says it anyway, he didn't eat in Grabsteins any more. Besides, he had a huge fight with Willie. He called his mother and cursed her out.

Howie, "tuchus auf de tish" let's talk restaurants ... if you are going to worry about cleanliness, stay out of restaurants, ALL restaurants (maybe there are few exceptions) are filthy where you don't see it. I know I wrote somewhere on this site that a friend worked for some caterer and had to mix some drink (let's say some fruit punch). This was done in a barrel and in a barrel you don't use a tea spoon to mix drinks. The paddle, or whatever you want to call it, was not immediately available so what was done? He rolled up his sleeve, hand arm and all went into the barrel, mix-mix-mix, and the job was done.

If you are concerned about cleanliness and general hygiene in restaurants, stick with open kitchens. Furthermore, make sure you get a full tour of the basement. And you know, that'll never happen. So when we eat in restaurants, don't think about cleanliness or we'll never enjoy our meals. Maybe a blind eye (we'll call it dimming the vision) is just one of those "facts of life" that we have to accept to keep our sanity. Better yet, stay home and if you are lucky enough, enjoy a good home-cooked meal, and pray that the ingredients are okay.

And yes, Howie, too bad the Mets didn't take the second game; let's see what they do in the rest of the series. And thank YOU for adding to our memory lane.

Another reader, Manny Blatt, writes to me with the following (I'm quoting him directly. He has a colorful way with words and it'll be much easier) ... "Yikes, this makes me feel old and weird. I've lived in Canada for 40 years, but I remember almost everything you mention. I also want to 'weigh in' on that critically important subject: deli.

I grew up near the Quality Deli on Church Ave.. It was good, but was it the best? Not a chance. I smell a ringer here. The owner of Quality Deli was named "Goldberg". I have to wonder ;-)

"Although I don't come from anywhere near Crown Heights, so we aren't dealing with neighbourhood loyalties, the absolute best deli in Brooklyn was Ben & Sol on Franklin Ave. near Eastern Parkway. This was a tiny place, but they had a huge, city wide catering business. They didn't actually cure their own meat, which is, to me, the ultimate test of a deli.

"But Ben & Sol did make everything else in their basement. And it was all good; from the potato salad covered with an inch of Hellmans, to the fries made one order at a time in a pot of boiling oil, to the pastrami and corned beef (which Sol would hand slice if he liked you). They split up their partnership in the 60s when the neighbourhood changed and both moved out on the Island, but they were, unequivocally, the best. (Editorial Note: I guess we can also mention Sid & George, originally from Brownsville? and then found in the Georgetown shopping center.).

"I'd also give an honourable mention to Zei Mar on Brighton Beach Ave.. They had really good homemade stuff; noted for their 'honey beef, Israeli Style', a kosher corned beef decked out to resemble a ham, and for the very clever tricks they used to short-weight your food.

"And why would anyone want the l-e-a-n-e-s-t pastrami when the flavour is mainly in the fat? One of the nice things about that era is that we didn't all obsess about fat and cholesterol yet. To be a fresser was a good, if not admired, thing.

"I won't open the argument of New York pastrami vs. Montreal smoked meat, since nobody in Brooklyn likely knows about Montreal smoked meat - though the owner of Quality Deli actually did - but it is really hard to get the real thing now rather than an awful over processed product. Is your pastrami still the same or has it turned to 'dreck' also?

"Re: mistakes -- shame. You misspelled 'Junior's' in # 28" ... (Editorial Note: Manny, with his sharp eye for details, was referring to another page here about what only old Brooklynites would understand, where I made a typing boo-boo. All right, Manny, you caught me, so I left the 'eye' out of Junior's; it has since been corrected, thanks to you. But if you're going to bring up spelling, look above at the way you spell neighborhood, honorable, and flavor (neighbourhood? horourable? flavour?) and how would you spell color ... colour? MSWord spellcheck is laughing at you. If the richest man in the world says it's 'color' then it's color. Even without Micro$oft, your Brooklyn schoolteachers would have you sitting in the corner wearing a dunce cap ... And Manny continues:

"And how could you ignore Loew's Kings on Flatbush Ave? One of the grandest theatres in the known universe! One of my childhood naughty pleasures was throwing popcorn at the stern matron in the 'children's section' and getting away with it.

"Or speak of 'King's' Highway? Everyone knows it was just 'The Highway'. I recall a really insular Brooklyn girl named Lina who, on overhearing a conversation, remarked "...but there IS no Howard Johnsons on the Highway".

"Doesn't anyone else remember Sutters, the incredible real French bakery at Flatbush & Caton, where they made everything in the window?

"As for Entenmann's, yes, we have that in Canada. Indeed, Entenmann's is a Canadian company (Weston Bakers). Entenmann's isn't a pretender to the beloved and lamented Ebinger's throne. I'd say Entenmann's sucks. Now, just bring on Ebinger's Blackout Cake" ... (Editorial Note: Some of the above is not necessarily the opinion of yours truly; we all have out own pastrami opinions, but I do appreciate much of Manny's contribution to our Brooklyn memoirs).

Now Alida (as she calls herself in some email I received) says she lived at 1012 Ocean Avenue, and one of her fondest memories was stopping at Ebinger's for a black and white cookie and for their seven layer cake with pistachios on the top. She would like the recipe for that cake. Anyone? Speaking of old Brooklyn, she says her grandfather worked a couple of doors away from the Newkirk Station, at LaSalle's Restaurant. Now being a Canarsie boy, yours truly would have no knowledge of that part of town.

Someone sent me this bit calling it "Stroll With Me". How could I resist adding it to this reminisce? He must have seen it all and he writes: ... Stroll with me, close your eyes and let's go back to a time before the internet, before international strife, aids, herpes; before semiautomatics and crack, way back. I'm talking about sitting on the curb, sitting on the stoop, about hide-and-go-seek; Simon Says and red-light-green-light. Lunch boxes with a thermos, chocolate milk, going home for lunch, penny candy from the store, hopscotch, butterscotch, skates with keys, jacks and Cracker Jacks, hula hoops and sunflower seeds, wax lips and mustaches, Mary Jane's, saddle shoes and Coke bottles with the names of cities on the bottom.

Remember when it took five minutes for the TV to warm up. When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids arrived home from school. When nobody owned a purebred dog. When a quarter was a decent allowance. When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny. When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces. When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done everyday and wore high heels. Running through the sprinkler, circle pins, bobby pins, Mickey Mouse Club, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Kookla, Fran & Ollie, Spin & Marty, Dick Clark's American Bandstand, all in black and white (in some parts of the country your mother made you turn it off when a storm came)

Remember when around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going somewhere Climbing trees, making forts, backyard shows, lemonade stands, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, staring at clouds, jumping on the bed, pillow fights,ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree, Jackie Gleason, white gloves, walking to the movie theater, running till you were out of breath, laughing so hard that your stomach hurt...remember that? Not stepping on a crack or you'd break your mother's back ... paper-chains at Christmas, silhouettes of Lincoln and Washington, the smells of school, of paste and Evening in Paris. What about the girl who dotted her i's with hearts; that before the smiley face. The Stroll, popcorn balls and sock hops?

Remember when there were just two types of sneakers for girls and boys - Keds and PF Flyers, and the only time you wore them at school was for gym. And the girls had those ugly gym uniforms. When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking -- all for free -- every time. And, you didn't pay for air either, and you got trading stamps to boot. When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.

Remember when the worst thing you could do at school was flunk a test or chew gum.And the prom was in the gym or the lunchroom and you danced to a real orchestra. When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed -- and did. When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat. But we survived because their love was so much greater than the threat Remember when a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car -- used to cruise, peel out, lay rubber, scratch off or watch the submarine races?

Remember when people went steady; and girls wore a class ring with an inch of wrapped Band-Aids, dental floss, or yarn coated with pastel-frost nail polish so it would fit their finger. When no one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the car and house doors were never locked. Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying things like "That cloud looks like a..." And playing baseball with no adults needed to enforce the rules of the game. Remember?

And, with all our progress, don't you just wish, that just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace...and share it with the children of today? And who remembers Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Laurel and Hardy, Howdy Dowdy and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk, as well as the sound of a real mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides, baseball games, bowling, visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar from the palm of your hand. There, didn't that feel good? Just to lean back and say: "Oh Yeah, I remember......."

Any corrections? ... ... you be my guest.

We continue, old Brooklyn ... Remember When ... very fond recollections.
As of now, this next page will be the last page of this section.
Have a happy life.