I grew up about 45 minutes from Brooklyn and my mother also grew up in Brooklyn in Canarsie. I always liked Canarsie, heavy Italian population, hanging out on the front stoop, the old way of doing things, yelling out the kitchen window to the neighbors for a cup of sugar etc.. Those days unfortunately are over but my wifes aunt lived there and I always liked visiting them for the reasons above..
Oh man, I so miss Palermo Bakery, in Little Italy. I was there about
10 years ago, they finally ship their cookies and pastries, and just
noticed Juniors ships their cheese cakes. So .. once this COVID crap
is over, I'm throwing a family party and ordering both!
Every year I visited, I'd have my friends (who somehow knew I was
coming) yelling for me from the street at hours that would piss my
grandma off. She'd kick me out to go play. I'd ride my grandpa's 10
speed which (for my age) was like riding a tall unicycle, around the
hood. Everyone waved and would talk to us. The neighbors looked out
for one another and were family. I miss it. When I went back .. it
wasn't like that anymore. Most homes sold, and rebuilt from the ground
up. Becoming more high end, and nobody home. No kids out playing,
etc. The only things that hadn't changed were the bagel shop, barber
with the exotic birds he owned hanging out outside his shop talking to
people, and the corner store that still sold bottled milk. But, there
were a lot more drugies, hookers, and mentally unstable people roaming
around the corner lot which I never remember. We used to visit Kings
Plaza every year .. so we went the last time I was there, and it was
all the same other then the big apple is no longer on display. It was
a great trip overall. We stayed in a hotel where mostly Russians
dominate, and my god was it a trip. I never like to get too
assumptive, but I sware we at at a diner, outdoors, ocean front view,
right next to a Russian Mob Boss. In addition, I went to a bar and
drank my ass off for free, thanks to an italian guy working for the
Russians, who spent the night buying me drinks and teaching me how to
loan shark lol! My wife was pregnant at the time and got bored and
left us too alone. And of course, the guys name was Tony. He literally
had a bunch of people walking past the half open bar (to the street)
stopping by to pay their respects and say hello. It was the trippiest conversation I've ever been involved in. But like they say .. "Only in
New York." ha!
-tG
--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/32)
* Origin: www.theunderground.us:10023 (80:774/101)
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au