GREENPOINT, Brooklyn

by maggiemel

Greenpoint Savings Bank, Manhattan Avenue and Calyer St.

 

KNOWN as the “garden spot of Brooklyn”, an eponym bestowed by theBrooklyn Eagle many years ago, Greenpoint is Brooklyn’s northernmost neighborhood, separated from Long Island City by Newtown Creek. It is the place where the country’s first ironsided warship, the Monitor, was built, the land of Mae West’s birth, and the place where your webmaster once rented an apartment for two weeks.

Let’s take a look at this Polish-Hispanic enclave from north to south.

The big building at Manhattan Avenue and Commercial Street is the former Chelsea Fiber Mills Building, now the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center. GMDC rehabilitates vacant maunfacturing buildings for use by small companies.

Tank on Commercial Street west of Franklin Street, that just might have been the original model for the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden, perhaps?

Don’t know what Harte & Company actually does but I enjoy its national headquarters at Franklin and Commercial, especially that wraparound window, made up with multiple glass panels.

The other side of Franklin and Commercial Streets features a somewhat desolate playground, oddly placed in this über-indüstrial area. Commercial Street itself faces a terrific view of mid-Manhattan, which, as usual in Brooklyn waterfront areas, is off limits to most, behind barbed wire.

The King of All Buildings can be seen spectacularly from Greenpoint, as well as from southern Queens communities just to the north. Directly in front of the ESB is 3 Park Avenue, a building turned at a diagonal to the street grid, completed in 1976. I’ve visited offices on the 38th floor which provide spectacular all-around views.

This swing bridge, constructed in the 1800s, connected Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint with Vernon Avenue in Long Island City over Newtown Creek. It was replaced in 1954 by the massive Pulaski Bridge a block to the east.

Street art at the northern end of Manhattan Avenue oppoite the Manufacturing and Design Center.

Two buildings, Franklin and Eagle Streets. Franklin Street was the original road from Greenpoint to Long Island City, opening in 1839 as a toll road. It was built by industrialist, shipbuilder, and real estate speculator Neziah Bliss.

Eberhard Faber, the scion of a Bavarian pencil producing family, arrived in the USA from Germany in 1848, and after his first USA pencil factory on Manhattan’s east side burned down in 1861, he relocated to Greenpoint in 1872. His son Eberhard II (he had changed his name from John) took over the company, which remained in Greenpoint until 1956 when it decamped to Wilkes-Barre, PA. Faber is recalled by a large sign facing the East River painted on its original 1872 building at 37 Greenpoint Avenue at West Street, and by the huge yellow terra cotta pencils on its old Art Deco building next door at Franklin. The pencil factory itself, on Franklin Street near Java, is recognizable by a distinctive yellow star-in-diamond symbol.

Pierce Steam Laundry, off West Street; “Syrup of Figs” sign on Greenpoint near Franklin. “Syrup of figs” was not a dessert as I had originally imagined but rather, a laxative mixture, rather similar to Fletcher’s Castoria. As a matter of fact, syrup of figs is still used as a laxative.

Brooklyn has a Manhattan Avenue, but can you imagine Manhattan with a Brooklyn Avenue? I didn’t think so. The northern end of Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint’s spine, has many Forgotten relics. I found the hotel with mattresses piled in the windows intriguing, as well as the building which, except for the four small windows, has not one opening that is the same.

Don’t know the history of J. Joseph and sons, but they have quite the little empire on Manhattan Ave., with a full block worth of shops, and an ancient neon sign.

Might the Norwood, at 960 Manhattan, have been a hotel originally? The abandoned JK Restaurant Supplies, next door, is an example of the dual nature of Greenpoint, with some pockets stubbornly resisting a comeback. Everything is broken, as Dylan says.

I arrived in Greenpoint in 1982, on the news that it was on the verge of a comeback. It took about 20 years for the comeback, if you can call it that, to happen, spurred from nearby Williamsburg, where trendies from the East Village had arrived and spilled northward, to a degree. The reality was that Greenpoint was never necessarily in need of a comeback. It’s been a remarkably stable area of Polish and Hispanic emigres for most of the 20th Century and on into the 21st.

My apartment, however, on Green Street, was in need of a comeback. There was a bathtub in the kitchen and a single electrical outlet to suffice for two and a half rooms. I got out of the lease and obtained an apartment in Bay Ridge, where I remained for the next 8 years before being ousted because the super needed the room “for his daughter.” What their real purpose was, was to renovate the place and invite me back in at a much higher rent, which I refused. But back to Manhattan Avenue.

I’m fascinated by stopped clocks on the street; most exterior clocks are no longer maintained.

I believe Halpern-Perlow was a men’s clothing store.

When you’ve got a good sign, you don’t need to ever replace it. The old school phone number, probably EVergreen, is still there too.

I’m fascinated by the detail on the old Meserole Theater, now an Eckerd durgstore. It was built in the 1920s where the old Meserole family farm had stood. Might that be why there are cattle skulls as part of the decor?

Some of the interior detail of the Meserole has been preserved on the drugstore ceiling. Photo: Chris Sattler

Greenpoint Savings Bank, on Manhattan and Calyer. It was built in 1908 by Helmle and Huberty. The bank itself was established in 1869. RIGHT: ad for R&G Corsets above another partially obscured ancient ad.

BELOW: Dunne’s Polemost Liquors, shot from a bus window. This name strikes me as incredibly corny, given that this is a Polish neighborhood, but that’s Greenpoint.

If Manhattan Avenue forms Greenpoint’s Y axis, Greenpoint Avenue makes the X. It was laid out in 1852 as a means of bringing Manhattanites to the new Calvary Cemetery in Maspeth. It has been previously called L, and then Lincoln, Street. If you follow it eastward, it reaches Sunnyside, Queens, changes its name to Roosevelt Avenue, and plunges into Woodside, Corona and ultimately, Flushing.

Walsh’s Shoe Factory and the gorgeous 1895 Mechanics and Traders Bank Building at Franklin Street, now the offices of the Polish newspaper Novy Dziennik (“New Day”) are near the avenue’s western end.

Photo: bridgeandtunnelclub

f you have a wedding or a Confirmation to get to at the Polonnaise catering hall, you have to make your way down Greenpoint Avenue past the old stables and the poultry slaughtering joint.

It looks like Frank Gehry dropped in on this Greenpoint Ave doorway east of Manhattan Avenue. Old-school Greenpoint reasserts itself a few doors down.

Terra cotta griffin detail, building on Greenpoint Avenue near McGuinness Boulevard

The rusting industrial area on West Street, the western end of Greenpoint, has been the location for dozens of motion picture scenes where a desolated area is in the script. In Romeo Is Bleeding, Lena Olin attempts to garrote Gary Oldman, who crashes his car here to avoid getting killed. Lena squeezes out of the smashed windshield and hobbles down West Street in her underwear, which she appears in for most of the movie. Oakum is manufactured for plumbers and used for packing around steel pipe fittings or caulking lead joints.

A water tower on Noble near West Street is inscribed with the Polish flag on one side and “Save the Palestine” on the other.

Parts of West Street are lined with what I have never seen in other parts of NYC: sidewalks made up of cut wooden blocks.

Landmarked Milton St., a block south of Greenpoint Avenue, is among the area’s finest residential areas. The street is marked by two tall spires, belonging to St. John’s Lutheran Church (1892), a remnant of Greenpoint’s now-departed German population, and the red brick-white limestone 240-foot tall St. Anthony of Padua, a Catholic church built in 1875.

Walking on Guernsey north of Calyer (noting the distinctive 2-story brick building on the corner) produces one of Greenpoint’s most pleasant surprises: a bend in the road turns into Oak Street. On the left is a house where a friend lived in the 1980s; he had the top floor bay window, from which we could see the picturesque scene. A back window afforded a view of the King of All Buildings. Partially shown on the right is a building once known as Greenpoint Home for the Aged, set considerably back from the street. It was built in 1887.

Greenpoint is the birthplace of Brooklyn’s longest street, Bedford Avenue, which begins at Manhattan Avenue a little north of Nassau and runs southwest, southeast and south through Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Flatbush, Midwood, and Sheepshead Bay to Emmons Avenue. In Williamsburg, Bedford Avenue was called 4th Street until about 1890.

Monsignor McGolrick Park, bounded by Russell and Monitor Streets and Nassau and Driggs Avenues, was originally named Winthrop Park and renamed in 1941 for a beloved pastor of nearby St. Cecilia’s Church, Msgr. Edward McGolrick. The park contains a triumphant crescent-shaped shelter pavilion designed in 1910 by famed architectural firm Helmle and Huberty.

The John Ericsson (Monitor and Merrimac) Monument by sculptor Antonio de Filippo was dedicated in 1938. Engineer Ericsson built the Monitor, the USA’s first ironclad warship, at Greenpoint’s Continental Iron Works in 1861, and engaged the Confederate States’Merrimac at Hampton Roads in 1862. Less than a decade after the battle, William Street was renamed for the famed vessel.

PS 110, 124 Monitor Street, built 1895

St. Stanislaus Kostka, Driggs Avenue & Humboldt Street. Former Polish president Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II have each visited.

St. Cecilia, just below the southern Greenpoint border at Herbert Street and North Henry Street, is recognizable for miles by its illuminated green dome.

More Greenpoint:

Greenpoint’s Enchanted Villages
McCarren Park Pool
Bridge and Tunnel Club in Greenpoint

Sources: Big Onion Guide to Brooklyn, Seth Kamil and Eric Wakin, NYU Press 2005
BUY this book at Amazon.COM

Your webmaster shot these images in August and December 2004 and wrote the page on April 30-May 1st, 2005.

 

68 comments

john malmfelt February 14, 2012 - 2:27 pm

Many Brooklyn memories conjured up by these photos. Although I was born in Brooklyn Hospital, I lived in Queens near the Brooklyn/Queens border. Traveled by “el” and by subway to my grade sachool -Blessed Sacrament in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn and then to Brooklyn Prep in the Crown Heights section (Nostrand Ave. and Carroll St.) As to Greenpoint- my grandparents lived in a tiny red brick row house on Monitor Street opposite Monsignor McGolrick Park and a “stone’s throw” from the John Ericsson Monitor Monument. Many Sunday afternoons were spent with my cousins in the park and somedays in a movie with a bright yellow facade that I recall was at the corner of Driggs Ave and Russel St. opposite the park. However, I can’t remember the movie’s name . My dad attended PS 110 and as a young man,sang in St. Cecilia’s choir. Greenpoint at that time (19 20s-1950s), had large Irish as well as Polish enclaves .Thanks for the memories and for keeping the old Greenpoint alive !

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Diane (Connell)Luberto November 14, 2021 - 8:31 am

Wonderful article! I grew up in Greenpoint in the 50’s/60’s & 70’s. We were 6 kids living at 1031 Lorimer Street on the 3rd floor of a 4 story walk-up. The 8 of us managed in a 3-bedroom 1 Bath
apartment. Got married and moved to 1125 Lorimer Street at the time the only elevated apartment bldg in the neighborhood.
Attended St. Alphonsus grammar school on Java Street and the church on Kent Street. Never new much of the history this
Article covers. Returned a few years ago and pleasantly surprised to see the regentrification of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg section. Now retired living in Naples, Florida and probably couldn’t afford to live in the area now! Thanks for the beautiful walk down memory lane.

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paul beissel December 28, 2012 - 2:47 pm

It’s Josephs not singular! I am 64 and lived in Greenpoint since 1965 but knew it since 1955…and
my family goes back to 1900.

As far as I know (and Josephs great grand son who is 40) told me that the first Josephs established
the store in 1894….It was the Macy’s of Greenpoint for many yrs…

The fourth generation Josephs still runs a skeleton of the store and is 75….The son would love
to sell and build a 7 store half block hipster condo.

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Gloria February 20, 2013 - 4:18 pm

Great post, great photos. I lived on Manhattan Avenue and then India Street when I was younger. I’m now in CT and I miss Greenpt. so much. You brought back great memories… Thanks!
Best,
Gloria

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Carol March 27, 2018 - 6:42 pm

Gloria….
I am looking to relatives who live on India st.
Did you know Barbara Wody

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Alan December 13, 2018 - 7:47 pm

When did you live on India st

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Rudy July 12, 2013 - 4:21 pm

…you being an early 1980’s immigrant to Greenpoint, it is laudable you have put together this “historical”/archival/trivia collection of photos and a job well done for the most part, but your basic knowledge of the area and its ethnic history is lacking and obviously not well researched and at times inaccurate..historically back through the decades of the 20th century, Greenpoint was NEVER predominantly a neighborhood of Polish decent inhabitants or Polish immigrants..it was a mixed population w/ a majority of Irish ethnic descent , a mixing of some Polish, some Italian , and from the 1920’s though the depression era 30’s even a concentration of some Scottish Catholic immigrants, further back in early 20th/ late 19th cent were German immigrants as well..the “hispanic” refernce you make. well it was strictly familes from Pueto Rico for a long time and concentrated in certain scattered pockets, the way things developed in those days, with a huge Puerto Rican community in the south side of Williamsburg , now overrun by the “hipster invasion”..(some of which was VERY positive esp in the mid- late 80’s, the early struggling artists converting abandoned commercial buildings into flourishing communities and bringing a great flair of new activity.. ..when you arrived in 1982, the concentration of Polish speaking immigrants you encountered had occurred in the early to mid-1970’s, when U.S. immigration quotas were relaxed and increased for immigration from Poland and that occurred at a rapid rate in those years in the 70’s and the neighborhood took on it’s “little Poland” aspect..and was a welcome phenomenon and transformation, but there was some assimilation issues on the streets with the youth in the late 60’s into the early 70’s…. i was there… there was always a scattering of pockets of longer generational Polish families that spoke polish in the family through the generations.. the largest catholic parish on Manhattan Ave, St. Anthony’s , an architectural fixture since its building in 1875, til present day, as you note well, & its elementary school on Leonard St., was overwhelmingly Irish descent in its congregation right through into the 1980’s..the Polish catholic congregation was concentrated in the Polish language speaking St. Stanislaus at Driggs Ave and Humboldt st., and its elementary school on Newel St.. you are not alone by any means in making this basic historical error, even the N.Y. Times real estate section has started describing Greenpoint as”always” predominantly Polish in ethnicity..wrong….this jumped put at me when you describe w/ humor the name of “Dunne’s Liquor Store” as being “incredibly corny”, ..this description REEKS of a lack of knowledge or a real interested pursuit of accurate history.. i was born in Greenpoint at the now gone , small St Catherine’s Hospital where all the working class families went in the 1950’s, i am 1st generation SCOTTISH american, my father coming there as a young child in the mid 1920’s, with an influx of poor working class Scottish catholics along with the Irish in those days.. in early 1950’s thru 60’s grew up there, went to school there lived there until 2001…WORKED along with some buddies at that liquor store in the early 1970’s when a college kid ( the stories that occured there could be a blue collar MEMOIR!)..it was “Dunne’s Liquor Store” ‘ for decades, owned by a somewhat notorious Irish family of the hood, ,..there were family political connections back to the end of Prohibition days, .. Gerry Dunne was the owner in my day, who was widely known including for some , well you might say, “colorful” reasons..haha..i worked for him and got to know him very well, and he had grown up and knew my parents in the 30’s-the 40’s WW2 days, ..it was a VERY successful retail liquor business, with loyal customers coming from outside the neighborhood all along, particularly Italian descent from the Italian sections on the Northside of Williamsburg and the Italian enclave along Graham ave on the other side of McCarren Park and the BQE split.. ..reason for that was connected to Gerry Dunne’s eh, well, side- business activities….he sat in back of that store thru the late 1970’s and finally sold the biz to a chain operation called Foremost w/ the stipulation of keeping the Dunne name and i do believe a continued business investment interest… as the hood became more and more Polish dominant and Polish speaking, do believe it was sold to Polish owners , name becoming “Polemost,” but , again, smart in keeping the old and somewhat known Irish name, Dunne’s..i am indeed surprised that the name is still in use, but it is in no way just a” corny” misplaced name..much of your work here is excellent and i learned some things myself about many of the still “there” historical factoids..i live in a very far away place now and at times in a state of memory- tweaking melancholy search up websites on the PERNT as we called it, and found yours with its great fotos…..thank you for that.., “Rudy” Robertson

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Don Dwyer February 3, 2014 - 9:18 pm

Your post was so interesting. My father ,William Dwyer ,grew up on Leonard St and went
to school and church at St Anthony’s in the1930’s. He lived there , except for WW2, until about 1956. I was born there in 1953.. We moved in 1956 to Long Island.. AT age 60 I live in Buffalo NY .. My dad is gone. My father always described Leonard Street and the area as Polish. Of course we are Irish and I am surprised to hear the area was Irish.

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Hank August 3, 2015 - 1:32 pm

Hey Rudy, Loved your comments. I used to live at N.13th St. and Kent Ave. You and myself and Norman Funicello used to hang out together all over N. Brooklyn. I’ve been wondering how to reach you. Send me an email- hlinhart@gmail.com
Hank

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Richard Oliveri March 15, 2016 - 10:42 am

Great Rebuttal Rudy. I was born and raised on Franklin between Huron and India.1955 through1989.

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Anonymous November 18, 2022 - 10:01 am

Are you related to johnny Oliver and his sister kitty?

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Chamille June 4, 2020 - 1:52 am

Thank you for sharing that more accurate recollection. These younger folks lack discipline in researching when the sources on the internet aren’t as abundant. With sincere gratitude Puerto Rican

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Ben January 6, 2014 - 6:09 am

The ”Syrup of Figs” sign was painted for the filming of “Donnie Brasco”, it’s a fake!

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Ken January 7, 2014 - 1:08 am

Wow, thanks for posting the photos of Greenpoint. I was born and raised on India st. off west. I grew up playing on the docks along West st. and remember that ships bringing in lumber for shipment. We used to ‘borrow’ lumber to make club houses in the rear yards along India and Java. I attended St. Alphonsus church and school there also. I left in the early 70’s and returned some years later after my career with the military only to find out some of the families I had known as a child were still there. I recalled playing ‘stoop’ ball, Johnny on the pony and a game we called skully with bottle caps and a chalk board drawn on the streets. I recalled almost all of the photos you posted on this site. Thank you for doing so. Brought back many good memories of a time gone by and let this soldier forget if only for awhile the horrors of war.

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Richard Oliveri March 15, 2016 - 10:45 am

Ken, when did you go to St. Al’s. I went from 1961 -1968. Lived on Franklin between Huron and India

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Howard H January 19, 2014 - 2:54 pm

Harte & company had 2 locations one in Green Point the other located in Mountaintop, PA Harte & Co was a manufacturer of vinyl products. My father business Wearever Shower Curtain Corp. bought form Harte & Co vinyl material for the manufacture of shower curtains that were heat sealed. Harte also manufactured vinyl car mats among there menu of products. Their showroom was on E 34th Street. My fathers company went out of business around 1987, and have no idea when Harte finally went out or sold out. Should you require and further info please feel free to write I generally check my emails approx 3 to 4 times daily. Regards, Howard H

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KEN September 3, 2014 - 10:10 am

WENT TO SAINT CYRIL AND METHODIUS SCHOOL ON DUPONT STREET CLASS OF 1960
ITS NOW A CONDO LOTS OF MEMORIES.WISH YOU HAD A PICTURE OF IT. KEN T.

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roger December 11, 2018 - 1:14 am

St. Cyrils is gone?? Me, my siblings and cousins did first communion and confirmation there, grand parents received last rights and cousins were married.
I went to PS31, which i know is no longer there, then JHS 126,John Erickson, and Brooklyn Tech, class of 70. I lived on Freeman st between Franklin and West.

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Ken Foulks September 9, 2014 - 6:49 pm

Interesting to see old buildings and familiar names. My great-great grandfather, William D. Foulks was a partner in the shipbuilding firm of Lawrence and Foulks, located in the Greenpoint section of the City. Also, he was a director and vice-president of the Greenpoint Savings and Loan Bank. Any additional information you could provide would be appreciated.

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Lynn Heidelberger September 5, 2015 - 2:46 pm

My family settled in Greenpoint in the middle of the 19th. century and operated a large meat packing plant which took up an entire city block. They owned the Astral apartments for about 50 years and I remember visiting their office when I was a child. It is an amazing building and worthy of your attention. The story of its construction and early purpose is very interesting. I would like to visit it some day again.

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BOBBY BURKE SR. February 3, 2016 - 10:59 pm

I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN GREENPOINT,MOST OF MY FAMILY STILL LIVES THERE AND I THINK IT’S A DISGRACE WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY NEIGHBORHOOD,I DON’T KNOW HOW THE PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS LET THIS HAPPEN ,GREENPOINT WAS ALWAY’S A PLACE WHERE THE TALLEST BUILDING WAS 6 STORIES NOW ,FORGET IT!THE CITY,BIG MONEY& NYC.HAS RUINED WHAT WE HAD NO MATTER WHERE YOU WENT IN GREENPOINT,YOU KNEW ALL THE PEOPLE OR THEY KNEW YOU,NOW THAT’S GONE,THE YOUNG PEOPLE LIVING IN THESE NEW APT.’S ARE NOT FROM HERE BECAUSE WE COULD NOT AFFORD THEM ANDNEITHER CAN THEY FOR THE MOST PART THEIR PARENTS SENT THEM HERE TO GET RID OF THEM AND THE PARENTS PAY THE RENT.

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S.B. Freeman February 21, 2016 - 2:52 pm

Thanks for the fascinating information on Greenpoint and the rest of Brooklyn. As a Brooklynite transplanted to California at a tender age, I especially appreciated the walk down Manhattan Ave. as that was the street my grandmother grew up on. I’d love to know the history of 784 Manhattan Ave. between 1897 and 1910 when she lived there. The current 784 was built in 1928. Any idea where I might find a photo of the building before then?

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Judy Farrell nee: Skiladz May 8, 2016 - 1:59 am

I was born and raised in greenpoint. Lived on dupont street as a kid, then on manhattan ave. as an adult. Went to PS. 31 and 126. Loved “Dem bums”. To this day will not root for the yankees. Best childhood memories ever.

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roger December 11, 2018 - 1:21 am

Judy I also went to PS 31. class of 64 and 126, class of 67 hen Tech class of 70..did we know each other??

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Frank rohan April 23, 2017 - 12:38 pm

Grew up on java and West also als bar was down stairs went to st also from 64 to 68 the place isn’t the same any more played slap ball punch ball stick ball on West street.

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Carl Sicinski May 1, 2017 - 5:56 pm

I was born at St Catherines Hospital in 1945, and lived in Greenpoint until I got married in 1967.
Lived in a “Parlor Floor and Basement” apartment at 10 Broom St until the age of nine, when my parents bought and renovated an old farmhouse at 683 Leonard St. Looking through some of your articles, and even this one, there is a picture of 177 Greenpoint Ave,and in another article, a comment stated that it was a Taximeter repair Store. That is not entirely so. The Taxi Meter business (they installed and repaired the taxi meters and also certified them , plus was a source for purchase and installation of any automotive gauges available at that time), was located on the southwest corner of Eckford St and Greenpoint Ave, with Jo and Al’s diner located on the southeast corner, and 177 Greenpoint ave located directly across from the end of Eckford St. When I was in my late teens/early twenties, myself and friends rented 177 and used it as a clubhouse. We paid $25. per month rent to Jo Swiderski from the diner across the street. Also, Oakland St (now McGuinness Blvd) was paved with cobblestone (Belgian blocks) and when it was widened, half of the streets housing on the east side was eminent domaines by the city and demolished for this road, with the backyards of houses on newell st now bordering on McGuinness. I also worked at Greenpoint Bowl from day one until I married and moved to Woodside Queens. Thanks for doing all these great stories as this history should not be forgotten.

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Anonymous October 28, 2018 - 1:45 pm

carl sicinski my moms family from greenpoint and born around the same time as you wondering if you might know my family?

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Mr Conway February 9, 2021 - 7:05 pm

You absolutely correct sir. I remember jo and al

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MAUREEN HUNT August 21, 2017 - 8:14 pm

Polemost Liquors was previously called Foremost Liquors. The new owners replaced the F and the R with a P and an L

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N h September 1, 2017 - 7:00 am

I grew up in greenpoint on manhattan ave my birth cert has me when born at s 5th street williamsburgh then patents went on to Huron st 205 Huron st now a condo.rhen finally 1134 manhattan ave renovated but bldg still stands .I reside in pgh pa but visit as much as possible siblings stop live in area lots family in greenpoint.greenpoint has changed big-time from 1134manhattan ave i as a kid can see from wtc to Citicorp bldg now a bldg 16 floors high has taken that view away i attended ps31 when it was on DuPont st then moved to meserole st by the 94th pct the john Erickson Jr high 126 then eastern district high .o can’t believe kniahes were back in day 50 cents now a can of soda and a knish is 7.50 ridiculous. I cant believe new bldgs go up and thugs graffiti written on some nice bldgs its an awful disgrace the gov and mayor should give stiff fines to the graffiti thugs well I can visit my old neighborhood but I will never live among crowds and overly priced real estate it’s a disgrace .NYC is t all what it stands for .It’s sad to see pan handlers in every corner people can’t eat because they must pay ridiculous rent it’s just not right. NYC people living on top of each other overly crowded overly priced real estate for what .I ask for What? It’s not worth that kind of money to live there I’d like to slap the schmuck who did that real estate is vs nykrs get ripped off big-time I mean ripped off my sister bought an apt 210k dollars I can buy 4 5 6 houses in pa for that kinda money and she still pays a 935 dollar mthly maint fee who dreamed that up that’s just bs then you pay a finders fee if r e agent finds an apt for you ny wake up your getn ripped off it’s a joke the ridiculous rent amount ripping off good hard working people who can’t eat no thanks ny i have good memories but nightmares of how it had changed not for the people but for the greedy real estate monsters

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Mark November 1, 2017 - 1:58 pm

I was born in Greenpoint in 1950 and lived at 95 India Street. Went to PS 31. On the corner of India and Franklin was a large commercial laundry company. I think it was Consolidated Laundry. Used to play punch ball, slap ball on the street. It was a perfect street to play on since the fire department was on India and no cars could park across the street. This meant we had an open street to play. This was between Manhattan and Franklin. On the other corner of India and Franklin was the Astor. Amazing building that a few years ago someone wrote a really good novel about living there.

My mother and her friend owned the Ice cream parlor and luncheonette on Manhattan Avenue between Meserole and Norman from 1961-1965. Best malteds and ice cream sodas. It was next to the jewelry store with the large clock outside.

Went to all 3 movie theaters in Greenpoint. The Meserole, The Norman on Manhattan Avenue between Noble and Calyer and the American on the corner of Greenpoint and Manhattan. My friend Joe’s family had the best pizza in Greenpoint on Manhattan Avenue between India and Java. On Huron and Manhattan was Baby Anna’s pizza. They only sold pies – no slices.

I used to play little league by the tanks on the other side of the high BQE. When I lived in Greenpoint McGuiness Blvd was called Oakland Street. Also, easy to reminder the streets as they started from Ash to Box to Clay to Dupont to Eagle to Freeman to Green to Hurom to India to Java to Kent – then Greenpoint Avenue – Former Lincoln to Milton to Norman.

They used to be a large synagogue on Manhattan Ave between India and Java until it burned down in the mid 50’s. There is still a small synagogue on Noble Street.

A lot of good times in Greenpoint.

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roger December 11, 2018 - 1:32 am

Mark
You’re about 2 years older then me. I went to 31 lived at 66 Freeman St, Between Franklin and West, went to all 3 theaters, except we called the Norman the RKO, ate Baby Annas Pizza, slice and a coke for 25 cents LOL I remeber when the Synagogue burnt down and used to swim in the Newtown Creek and come home with an oil slick on our back or go off Noble st docks
Good memories

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Millie Miller November 10, 2021 - 8:29 pm

Loved Greenpoint. Lived there in 1967 through 1970 on Leonard street also on Nassau avenue and finally on Manhattan avenue across from Socrates restaurant. How I wish we could go back for just a little bit. Had many friends there.

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Geraldine foray. March 6, 2018 - 8:57 am

Loved hearing about Greenpoint, I miss it and go back at least once a month. I lived on Huron st. Across from the bath house. It was a great time in my life playing with all my friends, Doris banta, Paul Ingram, Johnny Sutera.

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ken todzia March 20, 2018 - 8:15 pm

Paul Ingram was my cousin passed away last year I live on franklin and huron above the store back in the 1950,s

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Thomas Mcginn January 9, 2019 - 2:16 pm

I knew John ‘Foggy’ Sutera. He owned Mitch’s Bar on Franklin and Huron. He wound up down in S.C. near Myrtle Beach. Ran into him and his wife Mary down there some years ago with Jimsie Smith (Greenpoint Ave) and Charlie Layden (Noble St) all gone now. Mary is still with us, visits Breezy Point now and then.

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Nilsa Holtz April 29, 2018 - 6:54 pm

I GREW UP IN GREENPOINT ,205 HURON ST IN LATE 60S EARLY 70S ,ME MY FAMILY MOVED TO 1134 MANHATTAN AVENUE ,WOW ALL THE GAMES STICKBALL ,BOTTLECAP GAME ,RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT,I WENT TO PS31 THE ONE ON DUPONT THEN MESEROLE ST CLASS OF 1976,I REMEMBER MR BLAKELY,MR MCULLOUM ,WONFERFUL GOOD OLD DAYS, I VISIT EVERY YEAR, I HAVE FAMILY IN GREENPOINT, QUEENS ,ROCKAWAY BEACH IS BEAUTIFULLY REDONE,WTC JUST GLORIOUS,I MISS GREENPOINT ,WISH I COULD CONNECT WITH CHILDHOOD KIDS I GREW UP WITH BACK IN THE DAY,I TOOK LOTS OF PICS WHEN I WAS VISITING ALMOST EVERY MONTH LAST YEAR,WENT TO JR HIGH SCHOOL 126 ,ALSO ,NEWTOWN CREEK NICELY DONE, MY DAD WAS A PRINTER IN HARTE AND COMPANY FOR 23 YEARS ,ANYWAY I WILL ALWAYS LOVE MY GREENPOINT BROOKLYN ,I AM A RESIDENT OF PITTSBURGH,PA, I WILL FORWVER BE A BROOKLNITE,A NEW YORKER AT HEART AND ATTITUDE AND ACCENT I STILL HAVE FUGHETABOUTIT,MISS THE GOOD KNISHES ,PEACE MY FELLOW GREENPOINT, FOREVER IN MY HEART AND THOUGHTS

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Barbara Schmidt June 18, 2018 - 2:16 pm

My mother and grandmother moved to Greenpoint from Savannah, GA in1929. My grandmother and her sister both worked in the telephone company that was on Guernsey St. But I found no mention of this anwhere and it employed many Greenpointers. Canyou tell mewhere exact,y the building is or was?

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hoko June 28, 2018 - 9:00 pm

The Telephone Company Building is (was) located on the NW corner of Nassau Avenue at the start of Guernsey Street; it is now commercial space that is home to multiple businesses.

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Herb December 10, 2018 - 10:38 pm

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Christina Burry January 9, 2019 - 1:35 am

I also love the walk down Manhattan Ave, it brings back so many memories, I went to school at PS 126 from kindergarten to 9th grade, I grag. in 1963 age 16. I am now 70 and live in Califorina, I miss Greenpoint very much I am a Greenpoint girl, I lived on North 10th street then on Nassau Ave till I was 18 then married and moved to Maspeth Queens for a total of 6 yrs then we moved to VA for 18 yrs then moved to Texas for 7 yrs till my husband passed away then I moved here whith my son to CA., but in all my years Greenpoint was always in my mind and heart, it is where I have the dearest memories and all my family and friends were there, over the years the my heart was always in Brooklyn and will always be. I was on the page that showed me a pic of John Erission Jr High School, guess that is the new one cause I remember the old school building only. Brooklyn may of changed the pictures and stores, but in us old timers it stays young and we will always remember the way it was from Greenpoint to Williamsburg to the Auto school and Mc Carens Park in between where I had my first picture taken by a reporter in the News Paper taken on ice skating with two others in the baby pool one winter of 63. These are precious memories of days gone by that never leave.

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Donna Nemeth February 21, 2019 - 6:57 am

Hi Christina Burry, Would you believe I was just looking for you last week? I was remembering the old times in Greenpoint Brooklyn in the early 1960s and I lived in the same house as you at 177A Nassau Avenue. You were older than I was but I remember you. I was asking my mother, Millie, what she remembered about the places that we lived in while in Greenpoint. I was able to get in touch with a girl that my sister Laura and I played with who lived around the corner on Jewel Street. It was a play Street with a sign that we would roll into the middle of the gutter at the corner near Nassau Avenue so that we could play without being interrupted by cars. The Busy Bee Market is still on that corner today. I remember the fish market that was downstairs to the left when you walked out of our door, and the dry cleaner when you walked to the right; next to that was the pizza place, Baldo’s. Anytime I have been in Greenpoint over the years, that is still a Pizzeria, although there are different owners now. My sister and I played with Rosie Puma who was the daughter of the pizza place owners. We would go in the back and eat the dough sometimes with her. My sister recollected recently that Rosie’s older brother Nick had been missing part of a finger or to do to the dough machine. When I contacted the other friend that used to live around the corner Margaret, she recollected the same thing and that the father was missing fingers as well. Greenpoint, Brooklyn was a strange and very interesting place to grow up as a young child. I left there when I was 7 almost 8, but the memories during that time where are varied, interesting, fascinating and enough to last a lifetime. I remember Von Dohlen’s I believe on Manhattan Avenue, where my mother used to get me malteds that came in large metal cups and felt so cool to your hand on a hot day. I wish I could see a picture of the place because it’s still in my memory of us sitting in a booth, and of me being very happy to be there. My sisters and I also remember some sort of lemony frozen custard on Manhattan Avenue that we’ve never had since then or seen anywhere.
I remember Freericks and also chocolate egg creams on the corner of Nassau Avenue and Manhattan Ave.? (maybe) near the subway. I remember going “up the Avenue” with my grandmother Clara Wagner, who was born in Greenpoint in 1902, and lived on Oakland Street and then later it was McGuinness Boulevard. On a hot summer day, when we’d finally get to the bank, I remember it being one of the only air-conditioned buildings I’d ever been in. And we wore shorts and when we sat on the seats, the coolness of the leather against the back of our legs felt wonderful!
My sister Laura and I will be going to Greenpoint again soon because we have a lot of things he wanted to check out, before it’s all gone.

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Mr Conway February 9, 2021 - 7:25 pm

I remember everything like it was yesterday von Dolan’s. The old man that owned it. Freddricks ice store I remember all of it. I was born on Manhattan ave. Above jimmy palaces restaurant 888 Manhattan Ave. 1952 the sisters convent the German deli on Manhattan Ave. off Meserole Ave Bertell bakery. Am talking a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Greenpoint. Chadwick’s that’s name of restaurant on calyer st and Franklin when I was a kid. Like 10. I use to deliver fish to all the restaurant by bike. For my uncle Lou and my father John the fish man. It was great because as I kid all you seam to recognize was Greenpoint clean quiet. No one else you could be in your own world. Fly threw the streets in that bike. But if course at the end of the day. The old man took bike away and said that for delivery only so it sat in the fish store all night. Waiting

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Thomas Mcginn January 9, 2019 - 2:00 pm

Just Great to read some of the entries here. I went to St. Anthony’s school from 1949 to 1957. Lived on Greenpoint Ave from 1944 to 1952, then on Manhattan Ave. until 2007 – long time, 63 yrs. I’m now out in the Rockaways. My father owned McGinn’s Bar & Grill on Manhattan Ave next to Nick & Mary’s rest. and the American theater (The Itch) and Greeberg’s grocery which became Green Farms owned by two brothers, Mike and Stanley. There were some great bars in Greenpoint then, Franklin St. used to have so many watering holes that some of the older people that I knew swore that you wouldn’t be able to drink one beer (8oz glass) in every bar on Franklin St., if you started near Noble St., you would not make it to Chic’s at Dupont St. That was when the docks were going full steam and all longshoremen were known to hoist a few.

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Frank Hom February 1, 2019 - 12:43 pm

I lived at 931 Manhattan Ave.in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I went to PS 31, JHS 126, Brooklyn Tech and Brooklyn College. I hung out at Milton St. Park during the 60’s. Greenpoint was a great place and many untold stories. I played for the neighborhood football team, the Greenpoint Crusaders.Back in the day living from the 50’s to the 60’s was a major culture change. The 50’s were street gangs turned into the 60’s, Peace and Love,. Then the Vietnam war. I use to attend the Church of the Ascension and we had a very hip pastor named Father William Davidson. I credit him and the church on putting me back on the right path. I live in Los Angeles now and I sure don’t miss the winters.

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Kevin February 12, 2019 - 8:27 pm

Does anyone know the Cheswick(Szczehoviak) family from Sutton and Driggs? I’m looking for pics of the Hoople Inn.

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Patti Kelly September 22, 2019 - 1:33 am

My aunt Genevieve McGuinness use to go to the Hoople Inn with her friend Chickie. I was born at Greenpoint Hospital’s Maternity ward and on Humboldt St near Nassau Ave…We moved to Levittown in 1952 and boy have I missed Greenpoint. Mom’s uncle Pete McGuinness was a democrat, alderman and very popular back in the day…I think he is rolling over in his grave with the political status now. I remember the Polish women coming out to sweep their stoops, then back to scrub them 5-6 times weekly, and St Stan’s where they spoke Polish and I was too young to understand the difference…still remember some of the story the Nun taught us in Polish. Those were the good old days and times. Wish we could have good places like Greenpoint to live at again. My name is Patti Kelly and I live in Queens for almost 40 years now. Most of my family is gone now.

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STACEY GORDON September 24, 2019 - 3:46 pm

There was a restaurant on Calyer St. I think on the corner of Franklin St. served only Bfast and lunch. they always had a Spring Salad, which was lots of veggies, chopped up with cottage cheese and sour cream. Anyone remember that place? Name?

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Mr Conway February 9, 2021 - 7:10 pm

Chadwick

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R.BRUNO December 19, 2019 - 8:53 pm

Does anyone remember the Christmas display, Santa and his reindeers on top of the Trunz building near Meeker Avenue, any photos. I was born on Monitor St. Went to PS 110 and St.Cecila Church. My father had a fruit and vegetables store on corner of Meeker Ave and N. Henry St. Lived in Brooklyn until my late twenties. Always loved that display, made Christmas Eve real. Thanks rosiefla302@gmail.com

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tom Finnigan November 14, 2020 - 2:34 pm

hi Roseann! Tommy Finnigan, here. I moved to California and became a TV Comedywriter. I think the last time I saw you was the st cecilia reunin in 92. I lived on Kingsland Ave about a half block from the Trunz display. IMO.it wasnt officially Christmas untill the, Trunz displsy went up BTW, your family had the best fruit and v
eggies in the neighborhood!

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Joe Bekanich December 27, 2019 - 12:14 pm

I’m hoping to find information about my grandfathers bar an grill. “Guss’ Bar and Grill. Greenpoint. Possibly on Oakland street. Operated by Tony Guss. 1940’s maybe into the 50’s

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James Betts April 6, 2020 - 10:26 am

I believe that the swing bridge you reference on Manhattan Avenue was replaced by another bridge before the Pulaski Bridge was built. I remember riding on it to Long Island City to a paint and wallpaper store. The bridge sloped up on both the Greenpoint and L.I.C. sides. In fact, the remains of the bridge of that bridge stayed on the L.I.C. side for a long time in what is not parking spaces. I went to college at Stony Brook with the sone of the furrier, Neal Lowry.

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tom finnigan November 14, 2020 - 2:40 pm

hi james we were class mates at St Cecils. Do you still run a montessori school,?

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Big Jim, coach August 5, 2020 - 8:36 am

Great stuff !!! I’m really surprised that there aren’t many comments regarding the old days of the Green point little league or the softball / football games at the ” tar-courts” of McCarrenerspark. Those were two locations where all neighborhoods of Green point were represented. I vividly remember when the the Mystic Oilers
Football team beat the undefeated Volts in 1981. I think it was the largest crowd ever assembled there to see a game and it did not disappoint, ( unless you were a Volts fan LOL). The Oilers dealt them their first loss after winning 63 in a row, and stunned the crowd.

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Joe Bekanich August 28, 2020 - 4:08 pm

Looking to know if anyone knew of the owner of Chics Bar and diner. Possibly on Milton or DuPont.
My mom Marion Guzowski remembers her Father Thomas Anthony Guzowski aka tony Guss loaned money to his brother or brother in-law to buy this diner.

Piecing together the greenpoint puzzle.

Thank you

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Anonymous October 2, 2020 - 7:53 pm

Im looking for the Gem Virgin Olive Oil Company that was in Brooklyn. Does this sound familiar? I believe my Grandfather worked there in and around the 1940’s. I know there is another company elsewhere know but I’m looking for information on the original. The logo had a diamond and they were in cans.
Thank you!

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Robert December 26, 2020 - 3:56 pm

In 1943 I was born at St.Catherines Hospital on Humboldt.St.It was not a hospital ,but a place where midwives assisted deliveries.
I grew up on Bayard St between Graham and Manhattan avenues.Nearby, were lumber yards just before the Mc Carren Park
pool.During the summer the pool opened in the morning and was free.The afternoon session cost ten cents. There were two
cheap movie houses – the Wintrop -the winnie” and the Nassau.Admission on Saturday was ten or twelve cents .Two movies,five cartoons and a serial film- Flash Gordon. I remember the trolleys and electric buses on Graham Ave. A little unknown fact is that
Newtown Street was cobblestoned ,before it was paved.
How about New National Hall on Driggs Ave where they held Friday and Saturday dances. Reminiscent of the movie Marty.
My father purchased the home on Bayard Street in 1952/ for $4,500.Today on Zillow it lists for $1.8 million- for “railroad” rooms.
Manhattan Ave between Nassau and Greenpoint was a shoppers paradise.VIMS appliances,A&P,Bohacks and the Meserole
and RKO movie theaters with balconies where as a teenager I made out.
Greenpoint will always hold a special place for me.

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Martin Horn January 12, 2021 - 6:52 am

Manhattan Blower Company…Later re-named MBC Industries.

Active ? Until 1977…

Meserole (sic), I believe.

Any memories?

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Mr Conway February 9, 2021 - 7:28 pm

I remember when I was a kid they use to swim off noble street docks. Remember that

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Barry Connell November 13, 2021 - 10:35 pm

Hey Tommy my name is Barry Connell I lived in Greenpoint from 1952 to 1980 I knew Joey Ladden and Charlie and used to hang out at Mickey’s bar on Eckford st. My best friend was Mickey Leishman, My brothers name is Scott We also use to hang out at Mitchs bar in the late 60 .along with A bunch of other guys I remember the RKO and Meserole and there was another one by Green point ave called The American where I would go and sit for 3 hours and watch horror films for .25 cents in the 50s There was also a big Chinese restaurant on the corner of meserole ave that we sit in for hours just eatting soup lol.I have some memories of Greenpoint ,I just wish I could remember all of them ,

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Paul February 12, 2021 - 1:04 pm

They say many things happen for a reason , I consider this one . . My Dad , James W. Daunt was born there, grew up there . The adopted 2 yr old child of William and Margaret Daunt in 1914 . He told me that he went to St . Anthonies and St Alphonsus ( records lost ) as a child with his also adopted sister & brother Helen and Raymond. He lived at 103 or 106 Dupont St . He was one of the few who were legally adopted .What I find interesting was Dad lived in Flatbush in ’68. and I , needing to get my life back on track as a 20 yr old . asked him if I could move in with him for a while . Of course he said “sure” even though he really didnt raise me , he always showed his love through the years . So that year, late Oct ’68 I decided to look for work while residing with him and having history of bowling alley work I saw an ad in the papers for a job at the Messerole Lanes in Greenpoint . The trip from Flatbush to Greenpoint was not a short one on the double GG, to I believe Classon Ave to a walk to the lanes .While only there for a month I made some friends with the locals ; sons and daughters of Greenpoint . (they actuallly made the first move) They lived very near to where my Dad was raised, Dupont St.and I was able to actually see where he lived yet that didnt really mean anything until many years later . For all you children of that , “Point ” may I now say “Thank you” for the kindness you showed to me. And while your names have now since faded ,your beloved “Greenpoint” will always be one of those beautiful things , “for a reason ” . God Bless

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John Borisuck Jr February 14, 2021 - 12:44 am

Used to live on Morgan Avenue between Nassau and Driggs. Went to PS 110 then 126, then Grover Cleveland from mid 70’s to mid 80’s Lived there until the late 80’s. Born in 1967. Remember the block parties, Winthrop/mcgoldrick park baseball on the fields. Jiffy’s candy store. Shanghai lee and the upstairs new garden Chinese restaurants. Would love to chat or see old friends from the neighborhood. Worked at domino sugar from 1986 to 2001. So many memories. Email mrmetdaddy@aol.comi if lived there around that time, name is John Borisuck

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Paul September 13, 2021 - 7:15 pm

I grew up in Greenpoint. My family migrated from Puerto Rico in the 50’s & remained there until the mid 2000’s. We all lived in the Northern End of Greenpoint. 1130 Manhattan Ave, 220 Franklin St & 79 Huron St. We also had relatives on India, Java & Calyer st. I played stick ball on West street, fished off the pier on
Huron street. Went to Saint Cyril & Methodius, then when $ got tight I attended PS 31 & finished Elementary School in PS 34. Middle school years in Saint
Cecilia’s. After HS left the area to pursue a career in the military. Once and a while I head back to the old neighborhood. Lotta changes, family & friends
have passed away or moved outta the neighborhood to start families. In my day Greenpoint was a working class family town. Now it’s not affordable. you
gotta make serious $ to live comfortable in Greenpoint nowadays. When I visit I walk the Ave and reminisce bout old times. I always grab a Peter Pan donut and day dream about the Chopin theater(near McD’s on the corner of Manhattan & Greenpoint Ave. It’s now a Starbucks), the Meserole theater which also
became a roller rink (Manhattan Ave). The Greenpoint Bowling alley on Humboldt St, the pool in Franklin/Milton Park, or McCarren Park/Pool. I here the
McCarren pool has been restored & reopened. In my day we called McGlorick park Winthrop park. There was Mickey’s toy land a family run toy store down
the street from the park. There was also the Greenpoint Toy Store on the Ave (Still there today). Life is short and things change. It is how things go. Too bad. I miss old Greenpoint. Oh.. and Socrates Greek restaurant, the 3 Decker Diner, & Shang Hai Lee’s Chinese restaurant were mainstays on the Ave. Well God bless you all folks. Enough of the memory lane stuff. It ways heavy on the heart.

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Millie Miller November 11, 2021 - 9:59 am

Love to know who is still around from 1967 and born in 1949

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Arthur Gabriele July 31, 2023 - 11:21 pm

My grand parents bought 137 Oak St. and converted it into a furnish rooming house. I used to live there. There was a walk in freezer in the bastment that they converted into a room connecting to a private kitchen that my family used while we lived there. The yard was very large and my friends and I used to wrestle there and new challangers would come. One time a big older guy came to challange me, and I said you are to big, but we will all try to take you down, and he agreed. And we did take him down. I had a lot of fun there including making out with my then girl friend on the back porch. Great memories!. The house to the left is where my brother Vincent’s friend John Tackus lived and to the left was a professional wrestler who lived in the basement. Around the corner was Tony’s candy store, where for a buck, I came home with a bag of candy. On the other side of the street was Rays grocery store. Someting happen to him, he was given away free money. I wouldn’t take it. In the basement we had a TV where everyone came to watch and some would get drunk and some times there were fights. They used to keep me up at night when I had to go to school in the morning.

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Mary Ellen Redmond Dunne Maresco August 1, 2023 - 2:49 pm

I had the best childhood growing up in Greenpoint. I went to St Anthony’s school and enjoyed the CYO where we could play basketball and go to dances. As young children we played in the streets while our mothers sat in lawn chairs along the d sidewalk watching us. There was a strong sense of community and a love for God, country and neighborhood. I married into the Dunne family and everyone shopped at Dunne’s liquor store. The Irish influence was strong while I was growing up and The Ancient Order of Hibernians was a popular organization. Division 6 marched every year in the St Patrick’s day parade with sashes made by the women. My Aunt Mary Redmond McDade (Oochie) sewed many of them over the years. I love all the memories and the fact that we can share them so happily.

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