"Reverie"
N.O.K.
Page Four
Bay Ridge
Brooklyn
New York, N.Y.
The Stoop
at 522 52nd Street. From here we surveyed all that
went by.Watched the kids at play, entertained neighbors, exhanged
news, and gossip.
Played "stoop ball", and slid down rails. Probably
the most important feature for a friendly neighborhood.
Treacherous when covered with snow, but otherwise the best
seat in the house, or the world for that matter. Made of wrought iron, it is
most likely the original, if not, that iron- work must cost a mint today. Note
the ever present garbage can. Ah...
Brooklyn!
The view up 52nd Street. Noticable
are the numerous cars, and trees. In my day, there were only two cars on the
whole street, and neither was in the way of our stick-ball, football, box-
ball, or whatever sports, and only one tree, and that was half-way up the
street clear of our sports activities.
Once an attraction for
leisurely strolls, fishing, and sight-seeing, besides being the Brooklyn
Terminus for the Staten Island Ferry, Excursion Boats, and a handy pier for tugs
to change crews, take on water, and call in for orders, this is 69th Street Pier
today. The evidence of the crane shows the intention to restore this Brooklyn
landmark to some semblance to what it once was. My mother would wheel me out on
this pier in my "stroller" as a baby. I can still remember the smell
of salt-water churned up by the side-wheel ferries, and the tar impregnated
timbers. I can even remember the sweet scent of a vanilla dixie cup
ice-cream.
There once was a
steel light tower with a flashing red light at the end of the pier. Let's hope
it's restored to just a pier, and not a
carnival.
Photography by
Gene Sirota.