WHERE AM I?

by Kevin Walsh

If I’m lost somebody can give me a ride home.

27 comments

Woodside Guy April 21, 2012 - 11:01 pm

Kensington Stables in Brooklyn
51 Caton Place

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Arline May 4, 2013 - 7:54 am

I remember them well. I did see something about the building next door going from a riding arena to a warehouse. This is not true. I, and so many others spent wonderful days and nights, for years skating on the beautiful floor of Park Circle Roller Rink before they trashed it and turned it into a warehouse, so sad.
It is like it never was, and this is upsetting. I remember when the weather warmed up and Jack or one of the guards would open the back door, no a/c back then, and we could smell the stables. Being a member of the Figure and Dance Club, besides the sessions, we spent long hours in instruction and practice. There was a snackbar down in the right corner near the back doors. We also used to go across the street in back to the bowling alley for lunch.
The floor was redone at least once a year, a beautiful shine and was so easy to skate on.
Please those who remember, let this place not just disappear, it brought enjoyment and friendship to so many. I think even some marriages came out of folks meeting there.
Those were the “good old days”.

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Dan Herbst April 21, 2012 - 11:31 pm

Webster off CI ave

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Kevin Walsh April 22, 2012 - 11:06 am

Cold

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Alexander Riccio April 21, 2012 - 11:39 pm

By any wild chance….Greenport?

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Fred Metz April 22, 2012 - 2:07 am

Dixie Dew?

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maurice teahan April 22, 2012 - 2:08 am

Kensington Stables

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Sharon April 22, 2012 - 4:06 am

That is Kensington Stables, on Caton Place in Brooklyn, I would know it anywhere! Those stables have been in business since well before 1962, which was when I started riding out of there. I have very fond memories of joyful cantors through Prospect Park. They’re still in business!

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Kevin Walsh April 22, 2012 - 11:06 am

Yes

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Heartland April 22, 2012 - 12:35 pm

By the way, equestrians, you’ll be glad to know that a bale of hay costs less in NYC than it does out here in Arizona. A few months ago the internet edition of The Queens Chronicle ran an article about a riding academy in Flushing, which among other things, noted the cost of hay. I printed it to show a native Arizonan friend. She read it & commented that she wished that she buy hay for her two horses at the same price as in Flushing. Go figure.

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Eric April 25, 2012 - 3:45 pm

Of course hay costs more in Arizona, it’s mostly desert. Here in New York we get more rain than Seattle. If the ranchers in Arizona hadn’t overgrazed the cattle, there would be grasslands of native bunch grasses instead of scrubland.

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somebody April 27, 2012 - 7:23 pm

Actually, if you’ve heard, the Arizona landscape is not all “scrubland”. There is also a lot of pasture as well, but you only see the Arizona lands as deserts since that is the state’s stereotype. Anyway, there is also a horse barn in Manhattan near 11th Avenue in the Javits Center area.

Rita Bell September 19, 2017 - 9:57 pm

Not anymore

Sharon April 22, 2012 - 4:08 am

p.s. back then you rarely if ever saw an English saddle ;+)

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Gary April 22, 2012 - 8:57 am

kensington stables at e. 8th street and caton place in brooklyn.

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Nora April 22, 2012 - 9:02 am

Kensington stables?

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Tyler April 22, 2012 - 9:49 am

Kensington Stables Canton Place and East 8th Street

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Kevin Walsh April 22, 2012 - 11:06 am

Caton not Canton

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chris April 22, 2012 - 9:50 am

Kensington Stables in Brooklyn, Caton Place & E 8th Street

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Kevin Walsh April 22, 2012 - 11:05 am

Right

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Rachel Teplow April 22, 2012 - 10:00 am

My husband says Kensington Stables, south of Prospect Park. He just joined the mounted auxiliary police and can now ride in Central Park for free (minus the cost of the uniform)!

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Kevin Walsh April 22, 2012 - 11:05 am

Correct

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Heartland April 22, 2012 - 10:44 am

Flushing near 164 St.,Kissena Park & the cemetary?

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jim April 22, 2012 - 11:04 am

prospect park stables

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somebody April 28, 2012 - 9:10 am

Kensington Stables in the Prospect Park area on Caton Ave at E 8 St (as I was guessing even before I saw all these comments)?

By the way, the poster named Tyler who wrote”Canton Place” above should know that no such street exists in NYC that has a horse stable along its length. Or maybe at all.

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Bob Sklar May 9, 2012 - 11:26 am

There is a Canton Court in Gerritsen Beach. Also a Hazel Court in that same area, which was also the name of an actress who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Presents and other dramatic anthologies. Presumably coincidence. What’ I’m sure was NOT coincidence, however, is Tennis Court in Flatbush. Must have been intended as a joke.

Bob

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Loooney2ns May 9, 2012 - 11:41 am

When I was a kid, I used to go the the Brooklyn Children’s Museum on Saturday mornings for classes. I would see the horses walking in the street or sometimes down the median on Ocean Parkway. I thought it was really cool to see horses in the street! My mom told me about the stable and drove past it to prove it was really there. I thought they rode all the way from the Jamaica Bay Riding Academy off the Belt Parkway. As a kid, I thought it was incredible to see horses and a stable on a city street. Fond memory from my childhood. Thanks!

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