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About “A Place Called Brooklyn”
Growing up in the 1940s and 50s in a place called Brooklyn, the center of my universe was located deep in the section called Red Hook. At Smith-9th, the old IND Subway is grandly elevated as the highest elevated station in both Brooklyn and the city, conforming to old regulations that allowed tall-mast ships to navigate the Gowanus Canal. The metal trestles and pillars were constructed in concrete. Like that grand station, so are my memories cast in a concrete. I have a never-dying remembrance of what life was like once upon a time.
These stories are not meant to chronicle the suffering that a generation endured, but to document some the experiences growing up on the streets of the densely populated Brooklyn streets. Their ingenuity bested boredom through street games and spontaneous adventures.
Games like tag, buck/buck, hide & go seek, one and over, ring-a-leave-e-o, and others that did not require a ball, rope, skates, bat, baseball cards, marbles, straws etc. And, we can add to this mix various adventure games that involved fireworks, chalk, balloons, lumber, sticks, yo-yos, straws, also discarded items (Skates, Gallon Glass Jars, Cans, Carriages, etc.) That could be recycled into a game. These stories feature ‘Pepino’ a nine year old Italian kid, who lives with his mother, father and teenage sister in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn during the summer following World War II, and are told through his eyes.