Old Williamsburg Memories

"Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York. Especially in the summer of 1912."

Betty Smith's opening lines, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn."

June 2013, I was in Williamsburg for a friend's event. Reaching the top of the Bedford Avenue subway exit I saw a row of three story tenements and thought about Francie Nolan in 1912. Despite Williamsburg's overwhelming gentrification, if you look carefully there are remnants of the past that remind you of people, places and things that came before.

Thank you, Jimmy Wohl, for inviting me to perform at your show at Muchmore's on North 9th Street. Your artists were terrific and you gave me an excuse to explore the neighborhood for an hour.

Francie's walk in 1912 Williamsburg

"Mom, Where's Dad?"
Banksy ~ a sad boy on the wall walking away from a discarded recliner.

Kaiser Wilhelm

sweet colors

M. Leona Godin performing at Jimmy Wohl's show

Muchmore's front window, Williamsburg

If you enjoy vintage memories of New York neighborhoods, please take a look at my photos here in the "photos" link on top the home page, also in my public albums on Facebook & Instagram.

My memoir, "I Hate The Dallas Cowboys ~ tales of a scrappy New York boyhood,"  is about a NYC neighborhood, Yorkville, in the 1950s & 1960s with background stories starting in 1896. On sale at Logos Bookstore , 15@@ York Avenue and everywhere online. The book has 136 five star Amazon reviews our of 136. It's "The Wonder Years" meets "Everybody Hates Chris," plus Checker cabs, the Yankee bullpen & the Sisters of Divine Charity, you know... Nuns!

If you don't like it, I'll eat my straw hat.