Who is a native Brooklynite?

Subject: Re: Park Sleazy

Sted Ruckus wrote: wooord.. I miss old school Park Sleazy... I miss all the old Italian ladies sitting in front of their buildings on Carroll Street. I remember what all these heads are talking about... Al's Toyland... and the original Purity, and the Economy, and the bars... when I go back to the Slope... seriously I don't recognize it at all, and it is a pale shadow of the tight knit community it once was, when it wasn't Manhattan Lite... when it had distinction... and was an actual Brooklyn neighborhood.. I feel what homie was sayin about Pre-Giuliani too.. cuz cats used to mix it up alot around the way.. Carrol & 6th HOLLER

Remember the place next to Al's Toyland? I think it was called Abbie Yo Yo...it was never opened...think it served as a storage for Al's. I also remember Carnival Candy Store, right next to Pino's. Not sure what's there now, but I remember that Carnival closed down when Bobby, one of the owners, was murdered during a robbery.

we still have some old italian ladies in cobble hill! there's a house full of them on my street and they take the UPS packages for everyone on the block. i work late often and once when i picked up a package at 9pm, one of them said to me, "yeah, i know you come home late, i told the guy, you come home late!" classic-- now the UPS guy knows my business. and when there's construction on any one of the houses on the street, a few of the lawn chair stoop guys come around and analyze the goings-on.

i360 wrote: Went to John Jay from 9th to 12th and graduated.

What years did you go there from? (If you don't mind me asking ).

Wasn't born in God's Country but lived there from 1953-1987. I have lived in Minnesota since then. The Gopher state may be fine but it will never be God's Country!

Carnivore wrote: Wow, it's scary how close together some of us lived! I was on E 28th between I and J. My brother went to Hudde and Midwood, but I commuted to Hunter.

geezz.. I grew up in that neighborhood too.
e.21st and I so I went to Midwood.
small worl among the ole brooklyn crew.

Tradition is over-rated and is positioned on a greased slope with pride at the zenith and narrowness at the bottom.

Al's Toyland, holey moley haven't thought about that place in years.. grew up on 13th and the Park myself, in a building my grandfather (a fireman) bought for something like $15k back in the 50's.. imagine a civil servant even living in PS now!

Anyone remember the Chinese ice cream shop on 9th Ave with the Italian name that was only open like 2 mos a year? How about back when Smiley's Pizza used to be that hole in the wall off the corner, with concrete floors! Dante's Video on 5th Ave, or the old Sanders (now Pavilion) theater when it was abandoned for like 25yrs..

My mother used to make me call Farrell's payphone when I was a kid to tell pop dukes to come home, still remember the bartender yelling out his name like on the Simpsons, lol..

Remember when exploring alleys (God knows what the 'residents' call them now) was a death-defying experience? And forget about Prospect Park at night.. I still get a kick out of the fact that the park's hills are now covered by GRASS as opposed to dusty dirt and flattened beer cans.. PS and the city as a whole used to be a shitty place but god, it had a heart and soul, and I loved it..

Thanks to the 'out-of-towners' (as my father calls 'em) me and my childhood friends are now multi-millionaires, but I would trade every penny to have the old neighborhood back and teeming with real people again, who talk about real things and have real lives, and who don't live every minute like they're trying to reenact a lifestyle that they learned from television.. ](*,)

I don't understand the outrage. The "real people" who used to own my house decided they would rather live in New Jersey. I decided I would rather live here than in Manhattan. Things seemed to work out to the satisfaction of all concerned.

There are still quite a few "natives" in the South Slope, civil servants even. There are a few families on my block who have been here for generations. They could cash in and move, but I guess they like it here. Maybe that makes them more "real" than the people who left?

This is similar to the "Anyone originally from Park Slope?" question/post. How about one "Who is a native Brooklynite and what neighborhood are you from?" or a "Anyone originally from Brooklyn? If so, which neighborhood?" post?

erikka wrote:
I actually worked at the competing toy store when I first moved here--Brooklyn's Best on Union and 7th. I can't tell you how many times I was asked to wrap gifts in "gender neutral" colors and would ask if the brown craft paper was organic. Uh, no...but it's FREE.

Oh -- I just remembered that place! With the parrot? The guy who owned it seemed really nice --was he? Why did they go out of business? It seemed like a good fit for the neighborhood.

The funny thing is, many of the new "yuppies" who are so despised are the children and grandchildren of the "real people" of Brooklyn who moved to the suburbs a generation or two ago.