To: ████████████████████████; ██████████████████
Cc: Philip Kafka██████████████████; Janet Kafka[████████████████]; Jeffery
Edwards[jeevacation@gmail.com]
From: Terry Kafka
Sent: Tue 9/15/2009 4:18:24 PM
Subject: Fw: Going Back To Ol' Brooklyn

----- Original Message -----
From: Gerri Kyhill
To: mom ; Arty Podnos ;  ; Gerri Kyhill ; Terry Kafka ; Mark Houllif ; Hank Adler ; Linda Rothschild ;  ; Susan Danzig ; Karla Sona
Cc: 
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:11 AM
Subject: Going Back To Ol' Brooklyn

Enjoy!


Gerri

Gerri

THIS IS REALLY A GOOD ONE TO ALL THE BROOKLYNITES OF DAYS GONE BY -

## OLD BROOKLYN

## OLD BROOKLYN (cont.)

1. The subway, bus and the trolley were only a thin dime to ride. And if you are really old, you'll remember a nickel a ride.

2. Schools were the showcase for the whole country.

3. Tuesday night was fireworks night in Coney Island, put on by Schaefer Brewing.

4. There was very little pornography.

## OLD BROOKLYN (cont.)

5. There were the bath houses: Stauches, Bushman Baths, Steeplechase Baths, Washington Baths, Ravenhall, and Brighton Beach Baths.

6. There was respect for teachers and older people in general.

7. There was almost no violence.

8. The theme of the music of the times, even when it became rock and roll, was love...not anger.

9. A great day was going to the beach at Coney Island or Brighton Beach.

10. People made a living, and, rich or poor, people all knew how to have a good time, no matter of status.

11. There was no better hot dog than the original, at Nathan's, in Coney Island; and no better French fries than the Nathan's thick ripple cuts.

## OLD BROOKLYN (cont.)

Nathan's

Nathan's

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL

WORLD FAMOUS

FRANKFURTERS SINCE 1916

Clothiers SEAFOOD CLAMS

Dahon

TAKE

HOME

FOOD

S

12. There were no divorces and few "one parent" families.

13. There were no drugs or drug problems in the lives of most people.

## OLD BROOKLYN (cont.)

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic:

Steeplechase Park

GEORGE C TILYOU'S STEEPLECHASE PARK

STEEPLECHASE

PLACE

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic: (cont.)

- Scene: grayscale photograph of an amusement-park pier or boardwalk.
- Prominent elements: Ferris wheel (left edge), metal railing/walkway running foreground to midground, multi-story building at right edge.
- People: several pedestrians (≈6–8) walking/standing along the walkway.
- Background: distant tower-like structure and low buildings on horizon.
- Overall impression: public seaside amusement area / pier.

The horses, the big slide, the barrels, the zoo (maze), the human pool table, the Cyclone Roller Coaster,

Image depicts the "Cyclone" roller coaster and "Wonder Wheel" thrill ride.

Image: Cyclone Roller Coaster at Astroland.

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic: (cont.)

The Tornado Roller Coaster, the Thunderbolt Roller Coaster, the Bobsled, the Virginia Reel, the Wonder Wheel, the Bumper cars, the Tunnel of love, Battaway, the Loop the Loop, the Merry-Go-Rounds, Bubble Bounce, the Penny Miniature Arcades, Golf, the The Parachute Whip, the Jump, many Fabers Sportsland and Fascination, toffee and cotton candy stores, custard stands, Pokerama,

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic: (cont.)

- Scene: busy seaside amusement/boardwalk area with a large wooden roller coaster (right side).
- Foreground/left: long row of vintage cars parked along street (about 20–25 vehicles).
- Street marking visible: "FIRE — NO PARKING" (painted on pavement).
- Boardwalk: continuous line of storefronts/arcade/concession stands with many pedestrians and small queues.
- Background landmarks: tall cylindrical tank and a tower-like building.
- Visible watermark: "LIFE" (bottom-right).
- Overall: crowded public leisure scene, likely mid-20th century based on vehicle styles.

The image shows two scenes. The first is a daytime scene with crowds of people walking along a thoroughfare lined with booths, flags and buildings. There is a sign for Souvenirs. The second image, taken at night, shows a prize game stand where crowds are gathered to "Win Big Prizes".

Skeeball, prize games, fortune tellers guess games, hammer

games, the Harlem revue, the freak shows, the house of wax, the animal nursery, restaurants, rifle ranges, push cart rides and parades.

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic: (cont.)

15. The fruit man, the tool sharpener, the junk man and the watermelon man, all with the horse and wagon.

- Image: two stacked black-and-white street photographs (top and bottom).

Top photo
- Urban storefront façade with display windows and posters.
- Sidewalk activity: group of adults and children gathered; several people seated at a bench or small table.
- Market/vendor presence: goods displayed on a wagon/cart at curb (covered with cloth).
- Horse-drawn cart wheel visible at right.

Bottom photo
- Horse-drawn wagon with high wooden railings (open freight/stage-style) carrying several people standing/sitting inside.
- Street clutter/debris in foreground: boxes, pots/pans, barrels.
- Multi-story commercial buildings lining the street; shopfronts and awnings visible.
- Several pedestrians on sidewalk around the wagon.

Overall scene
- Early 20th-century urban street market or moving/transport scene.
- Key objects: horse-drawn wagons, wooden-railed wagon, storefront displays, street vendors/goods, assorted debris.

16. Sheepshead Bay was Lundy's Restaurant and fishing.

- Scene: Nighttime/low-light photograph of a building corner (storefront).
- Visible text on facade: "LINDO'S" (partially obscured).
- Architectural features: stucco exterior, decorative cornice, arched doorway, multi-pane glass door/window.
- Awning: striped fabric awning over entrance.
- Exterior lighting: wall sconce beside door; interior lights visible through windows.
- Vegetation: two tall, narrow shrubs/trees flanking the entrance.

17. Only place for pizza, and only whole pizzas was Joe's Bar and Grill on Ave U. Then, in the mid-50's, a pizza explosion: you could buy it by the slice for a dime at many places. By the late 50's, it was a whole 15 cents a slice!

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic: (cont.)

- A tuna fish sandwich or a BLT were 45 cents. A small Coke was 7 cents, a large Coke was 12 cents. Remember Vanilla Cokes, when they pumped real vanilla syrup into the glass, before adding the Coke?

A grayscale photograph shows a diner counter with stools.

18. There were many theaters, where every Saturday afternoon you could see 25 cartoons and two feature films: The Highway, The Avalon, The Kingsway, The Mayfair, The Claridge, The Tuxedo, The Oceana, The Oriental, The Avenue U, The Kent, The Paramount, The RKO Tilyou, The RKO Bushwick, The Lowes Gates, The Fox, The Mermaid, The Surf, The Walker, The Albemarle, The Alpine, The Rugby, The Ambassador, The People's Cinema, The Canarsie, The Marlboro, The Avon and The Globe.

19. Everybody knew all the high schools in Brooklyn

20. Big eating and coffee hangouts: Dubrow's on Kings Highway, also on Eastern Parkway/Utica Avenue, Famous on 86th Street, Bickford's on Church Avenue, and Garfield's on Flatbush Avenue .

21. Ebinger's was the great bakery...loved the chocolate butter cream with the almonds on the side, Boston Cream pie, and the Blackout cakes! ...Bierman's was terrific also.

22. Kings Highway stores had their own ornate glitz, as far as style goes..

23. There were many delicatessens in the 50's -- very few today. The best? Adelman's on 13th Avenue and Hymie's on Sutter Avenue. The food was from heaven!

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic: (cont.)

- Left panel (storefront)
  - Signage: large "HYMIE'S" across top; subtitle "RESTAURANT & CATERING"
  - Street-level storefront with glass window and door
  - Multiple posted notices/menus in the window
  - Small text in lower-left corner: "JRBworks 2007" (appears to be a photo credit)

- Right panel (interior/restaurant table)
  - Seated person (identity not specified) holding a menu upright showing "HYMIE'S"
  - Table with a glass/mug and napkin; person resting chin on hand
  - Menu cover displays decorative pattern and the word "HYMIE'S" clearly visible

24. Big night clubs in Brooklyn were the Ben Maksiks' "Town and Country" on Flatbush Avenue, "The Elegante" on Ocean Parkway, and the Club 802 on 64th Street in Bay Ridge.

25. There were no fast food restaurants in the 50's, and a hamburger tasted like a hamburger.

26. There was Murray the K's Rock and Roll concerts at the Brooklyn Fox and the Brooklyn Paramount . You had to go the night before and stand in line, to get good seats.

27. Quick bites at Brennan and Carr, Horn and Hardart Automat, Nedick's, Big Daddy's, Chock Full o' Nuts, Junior's, Grabsteins or Joe's Delicatessen. Junior's, you'll be glad to know, is still in the same place, and the cheesecake is still fabulous.

- Photo of a building façade with a sign and a multi-pane window.
- Visible sign text (lower center): "ARDART" (all caps, illuminated/bright against darker background).
- Multi-pane window above the sign with several lighted panes; rounded/arched frame at top left.
- Dark surrounding architectural elements; partial occlusion on the right side of the sign.
- No people visible.

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic: (cont.)

Key entities:

*   Sandwiches
*   Pies
*   Pastries

This is a food vending machine.

28. Knishes were great at Mrs. Stahl's in Brighton or at Shatzkin's Knishes. Remember the knish guy on the beach with the shopping bags? (Mrs. Stahl's Knishes is now a 'Subway's')

29. People in Brooklyn took pride in owning a Chevy in the 50's; there was nothing better than General Motors then. The cars would run and run and run -- no problems.

30. You bought sour pickles right out of the barrel -- for a nickel -- and they were delicious. By the 60's, they cost a whole quarter.

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic: (cont.)

The image shows barrels likely containing pickles or other foods, one labeled "Dill." Serving tongs are visible near the "Dill" barrel. Small dishes are stacked nearby. The scene appears to be inside a store or deli.


Anyone remember Miller's Appetizing, on the corner of 13th Avenue and 50th Street ?

31. The Brooklyn Dodgers were part of your family.

BETS

m's

are

## 14. The rides and shows of Coney Island were fantastic: (cont.)

A crowded baseball game is underway. Many spectators fill the stadium. A few players are on the field.

- The Duke, the Scoonge, Pee Wee, Jackie, the Preacher, Campy, Junior, Clem, Big Don, Gil. They were always in a lot of our conversations. Remember Ebbet's Field and Happy Felton's Knothole club? For a nickel, you got into Ebbet's Field and saw the Dodgers play. For Brooklynites, it was -- and will always be -- a shrine.

32. You come from Brooklyn, but you don't think you have an accent. To you, Long Island is one word which sounds like "Longuyland."

33. You played a lot of games as kids. Depending on whether you were a boy or a girl, you could play: ring-a-leaveo, Johnny light-green on the light, Pony, chase Hide and the white Seek, horse, three feet kick off the to can, Germany, Buck, Buck, red pussy-in-the-corner, how ball, many stick jump ball, horns rope, box are double-dutch, baseball, up?, war, catch hit Stories, the a fly, penny, dodge A-My ball, Name stoop Is, box ball, you're up, running bases, iron tag, skelly, tops, punch ball, handball, slap ball, whiffle ball, stick ball, poison ball, relay races, softball, baseball, basketball, horse, 5-3-1, around the world, Indian-wrestling. foul And shooting, then there knockout, were card arm wrestling, games like game canasta, casino, hearts, pinochle, war and the unhappy of 52-card pickup.

## 34. You hung out on people's stoops or in the Courtyard.

## 34. You hung out on people's stoops or in the Courtyard. (cont.)

35. You learned how to dance at some girl's backyard or house

36. You roller skated at Park Circle or Empire Blvd. skating rinks, in skates with wooden wheels. You had roller skates at home, with metal wheels, for using on the sidewalks, and you needed a skate key to tighten them around your shoes Those metal wheels on concrete were deafening!

37. The big sneaker was Converse. Also Keds and P-F Flyers.

38. The guys wore Chino pants with a little buckle on the back, peg pants, and the girls wore long wide dresses. Remember gray wool skirts, with pink felt poodles on them? The poodles had rhinestone eyes.

Seven women are standing in vintage clothing, likely for a dance group or similar performance, in front of a wall decoration. They are wearing poodle skirts and similar attire.

39. In the 50's, rock and roll started big teen styles for the first time.

40. Everyone went to a Bar Mitzvah, even if you weren't Jewish.

41. Everyone took their date to Plum Beach for the submarine

## 34. You hung out on people's stoops or in the Courtyard. (cont.)

races.

42. There were 3 main nationalities in Brooklyn in the 50's: Italians, Irish and Jewish. Then there was a sprinkling of everyone else. The Scandinavians and Greeks in Bay Ridge, the African Americans in Bedford Stuyvesant and the Polish of Green point.

43. The only way to get to Staten Island was by ferry, from the 67th Street pier in Brooklyn. It was a great ride in the summer time for a dime.

The image depicts a ferry and the Statue of Liberty.

44. In Brooklyn, a fire hydrant is a "Johnny pump"

45. Rides, on a truck, came to your neighborhood to give little kids a ride for a dime. The best one was the "whip," which spun you around a track.

You got a little prize when you got off, sometimes a folding

## 34. You hung out on people's stoops or in the Courtyard. (cont.)

paper fan, sometimes a straw tube that you inserted two fingers into, that tightened as you tried to pull your fingers out again.

46. As a kid, you hit people with water balloons from atop a building, you shot linoleum projectiles from a carpet gun, you shot dried peas from pea shooters, and you shot paperclips at people, with a rubber band.

47. You shopped at EJ Korvettes, Robert Hall, Woolworth's, Mays, McCrory's, Packers, A&P, Bohack, A&S. Barney's was Barney's Boys Town back then, and not a luxury store. You bought your shoes at National, Miles, Thom McAn, and A S Beck. When you got married, you bought your dishes at Fortunoff's under the "el".

48. NBC's main production studio was on Avenue M. and E.16 St.The Cosby show was made there.

49. Everybody lived near a candy store and a grocery store.

50. The first mall comes to Brooklyn at Kings Plaza .

51. Bagel stores start popping up everywhere in the 60's.

52. Went to Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor with a big group and had the "Kitchen Sink." If it was your birthday (you had to bring your birth certificate), you could get a free sundae.

The image shows a man and a woman around an object covered in foam. The man is looking at the object. The woman is gesturing with her hands.

53. Everybody knew somebody who was a connected guy.

## 34. You hung out on people's stoops or in the Courtyard. (cont.)

Type: Photograph

- Scene: Two men seated on a leather sofa in an indoor living-room-like setting.
- Left person: older-appearing, wearing a suit, sitting upright, holding a cigarette near mouth.
- Right person: more casual, wearing a hat, reclining with legs up on the sofa, also holding a cigarette.
- Background: framed pictures/art on the wall behind them.
- Mood/pose: relaxed, conversational; both smoking.
- Caption/context provided: "54. We used the word 'swell'."

54. We used the word "swell

55. In the summer, we all waited for the Good Humor, Bungalow Bar, Mister Softee or Freezer Fresh Man, to come into our neighborhood, to buy ice cream. In the early to mid 50's, the Good Humor man pushed a cart, instead of driving a truck

- Photograph shows Good Humor ice cream truck with staff on the street.
- Several individuals are visible near the truck.


- Remember the bells? A pop was 15 cents. A large cup was 15 cents, a small cup was a dime. And a sundae -- remember licking the chocolate off the back of the cardboard top? -- was a quarter.

(Movie stars pictures were on the bottom of the Dixie cup lids).

- As a kid growing up in the 1950's, we would spend our money on bubble gum baseball cards, candy and ice cream. A pack of full-sized baseball candy cards bars (complete were 5 cents with a each, stick or of six bubble for a gum) quarter. and

In those days, there were lots of interesting coins still in

## 34. You hung out on people's stoops or in the Courtyard. (cont.)

circulation. Dimes and quarters we still made of silver. The oldest Roosevelt dimes were not yet 15 years old. It was not uncommon to find Mercury dimes or worn-out Standing Liberty quarters; and Buffalo or Indian Head nickels were common too. Most pennies were wheat-backs; they didn't get the familiar Lincoln Memorial on the reverse until 1959. With luck, it was even possible to find an occasional Indian Head penny in your change. But the most coveted find (for us kids, anyway) was the unusual 1943 steel penny.

56. Many of us would sneak cigarettes and hide them when we got home.

57. When we talked about "the city", everyone knew we meant Manhattan .

58. The Mets in the 60's became our substitute for the Dodgers; but they never did, and never will, make-up for the Dodgers leaving.

59. In the 60's, we were ready to drive and hit the night life scene. With the car, came the girls.

60. We are all in a select club...because we have roots in BROOKLYN.

## IF YOU ENJOYED THIS, PASS IT
ON!!

Express your personality in color! Preview and select themes for Hotmailit%. <u>Try it now.</u>

Windows Live: Keep your friends up to date with what you do online. <u>Find out more.</u> =