I was just back in the old neighborhood after many years. The only word I can use to describe it is stifling! Wall to wall cars, people, houses & stores. I rode down my old block of E. 13th Street between Kings Highway & Avenue P and was so bothered. It had changed so much for the worst. All the private homes that used to have grassy front yards are gone or changed. Every home is built out to the sidewalk or have driveways where the green yards used to be. The quietness is gone and crowdedness is everywhere. Kings Highway has become a crowded bustling street of schlock shopping. I can’t imagine that I used to live there and liked it. I couldn’t even get out of my car to walk around. No parking anywhere! The old Kingsway Theatre is a Walgreens. Even my old favorite: Mrs. Stahls Knishes in Brighton Beach is gone for a SUBWAY shop! I guess the good old days really are the good old days.
I grew up around the corner from bmovies on E. 13th St. between Ave. P & Kings Highway in a 6 story apt. house. I lived there from 1948 – 1975. The neighborhood was well kept and all the homes (mostly 1 family) all clean and well taken care of. This did not look like a poor neighborhood at all. I also went to P.S. 238 from K – 8th grade from 1952 – 1960. Then to James Madison H.S. I remember at P.S. 238 you would hang out in the schoolyard until a whistle blew & then you had to line up by class. There were 2 big yards. One for boys on the north end and one for girls on the south side. These were for the older grades. The younger grades were in a smaller middle yard between the other two.
I remember there was a real small park called Sgt. Joyce Kilmer Square at the intersection of Kings Highway, Quentin Rd. and E. 12th St. On the corner of that square was a RExall Drug Store. Right down Kings Highway was the original Crazy Eddie Store and across Kings Highway from Crazy Eddie was the best bakery in the world: Ebingers!
E. 12th St. did not have brownstones in the same sense as in Manhattan or Brooklyn Heights. These were 1 family attached homes made of brick with steps & porches. On the corner of E. 12th St. and Ave. P was a Jewish Center where I would go to play Bingo with my mother when I was around 14. We used to play punchball & stickball on E. 13th St. There was a stupid tree that hung over the infield area that the ball would always get caught up in.
The Kingsway Theatre was on the SW corner of Kings Highway & Coney Island Avenue. My friends and I used to go on Saturdays. All shows were double features. We would come in at anytime and leave when we got to the part that we came in on. Kids were $.35, but it got hiked to $.50 for a Disney feature. There were really mean matrons that kept the kids seated in one section and ran up & down the aisle with their flashlights keeping us quiet. I graduated in the theatre from P.S 238 in 1960. There was a good chinese restaurant a few doors down.
I could keep going, but I’ll stop here. Ask me about anything else if you’re interested. It was fun!
Crawfords did sell records in the 1960s-70s as well as housewares and eventually electronics by “Crazy Eddie” before he became known as Crazy Eddie on Kings Highway between Coney Island Avenue & E. 12th St. Directly across Kings Highway from Crawfords there was a sporting goods store that also sold records called Byhoffs.
I was just back in the old neighborhood after many years. The only word I can use to describe it is stifling! Wall to wall cars, people, houses & stores. I rode down my old block of E. 13th Street between Kings Highway & Avenue P and was so bothered. It had changed so much for the worst. All the private homes that used to have grassy front yards are gone or changed. Every home is built out to the sidewalk or have driveways where the green yards used to be. The quietness is gone and crowdedness is everywhere. Kings Highway has become a crowded bustling street of schlock shopping. I can’t imagine that I used to live there and liked it. I couldn’t even get out of my car to walk around. No parking anywhere! The old Kingsway Theatre is a Walgreens. Even my old favorite: Mrs. Stahls Knishes in Brighton Beach is gone for a SUBWAY shop! I guess the good old days really are the good old days.
I grew up around the corner from bmovies on E. 13th St. between Ave. P & Kings Highway in a 6 story apt. house. I lived there from 1948 – 1975. The neighborhood was well kept and all the homes (mostly 1 family) all clean and well taken care of. This did not look like a poor neighborhood at all. I also went to P.S. 238 from K – 8th grade from 1952 – 1960. Then to James Madison H.S. I remember at P.S. 238 you would hang out in the schoolyard until a whistle blew & then you had to line up by class. There were 2 big yards. One for boys on the north end and one for girls on the south side. These were for the older grades. The younger grades were in a smaller middle yard between the other two.
I remember there was a real small park called Sgt. Joyce Kilmer Square at the intersection of Kings Highway, Quentin Rd. and E. 12th St. On the corner of that square was a RExall Drug Store. Right down Kings Highway was the original Crazy Eddie Store and across Kings Highway from Crazy Eddie was the best bakery in the world: Ebingers!
E. 12th St. did not have brownstones in the same sense as in Manhattan or Brooklyn Heights. These were 1 family attached homes made of brick with steps & porches. On the corner of E. 12th St. and Ave. P was a Jewish Center where I would go to play Bingo with my mother when I was around 14. We used to play punchball & stickball on E. 13th St. There was a stupid tree that hung over the infield area that the ball would always get caught up in.
The Kingsway Theatre was on the SW corner of Kings Highway & Coney Island Avenue. My friends and I used to go on Saturdays. All shows were double features. We would come in at anytime and leave when we got to the part that we came in on. Kids were $.35, but it got hiked to $.50 for a Disney feature. There were really mean matrons that kept the kids seated in one section and ran up & down the aisle with their flashlights keeping us quiet. I graduated in the theatre from P.S 238 in 1960. There was a good chinese restaurant a few doors down.
I could keep going, but I’ll stop here. Ask me about anything else if you’re interested. It was fun!
Crawfords did sell records in the 1960s-70s as well as housewares and eventually electronics by “Crazy Eddie” before he became known as Crazy Eddie on Kings Highway between Coney Island Avenue & E. 12th St. Directly across Kings Highway from Crawfords there was a sporting goods store that also sold records called Byhoffs.