Teaser Page

As I play catchup, I am creating a page to not only post some updates but display my current projects.

Tim O'Reilly's tax photos
Tim has been one of our major contributors, and he sent over a slew of great tax photos. This one is of the corner of Crescent and Jamaica in 1940. On the far right is the famous catering hall, The Showboat, and closer to the corner the Werner and Acker Florist, still in business today. We discovered quite a secret about the Showboat, it will all be part of the rollout of the tax photos.
Abbracciamento's, Liberty Ave.
Danny Blanda has been another great contributor to the site, and he sent over these shots of the long running restaurant; an early shot of his dad from 1943 and his sister Carrie from 1968.
This great shot comes from Jack Magat. The intersection of New Lots, Ashford and Livonia is known as the "Triangle", for fairly obvious reasons. It's not clear why there's a huge crowd in this picture. I have a picture of this area circa 1917 before the El was built and I'm researching the specific location.
Churches
Andrew Santoriello tipped me off to some churches down on Elton Street by Belmont and that has started me on some new research. St. Barnabas and Friendship Baptist, pictured in the local live image on the left, were listed in the 1924 Brooklyn guide as "colored". St. Barnabas I believe had an earlier structure and I have not identified what Friendship Baptist is called today. On the right is a postcard of Williams Ave. Methodist Episcopal. This congregation merged with Andrews Methodist in the 1920s. The building is no longer standing, I am working on its history.
Phil Rizzuto, Dexter Park 1947
The great Brooklyn collector Brian Merlis shared a series of images with me taken back in 1947 at Dexter Park. A number of Dodgers and Yankees appeared in the game and I'm finally getting around to building a Dexter Park page to share the images and history..
360 Montauk Avenue
From Mike Bivona; "Sisters Mae Bivona Curti and Anne Bivona Ambrico in front of 360 Montauk Ave between Blake and Dumont Avenues, July 1955". On the right , "Wash Day" circa 1960. The question is, why did someone take this picture?
Rod Maggio's 1963 shot of himself in front of 154 Berriman has us investigating the history of that location. By this time it had long been a warehouse, in 1963 for Peerless Plumbing Supplies and a toy distributor. The owner, however, told Rod the site was used by Vita-fone studios to shoot early movies, including Fatty Arbuckle. We are researching that one.
The "Lost" album
My mother had misplaced an album of family photos from the mid to late 60s and we only recently located it. These two samples are typical shots of classic memories; the spring Maypole dances at Highland Park by the Public Schools, and the Sunday School Parades in Brooklyn. The sign in the background reveals it is the corner of Ridgewood and Hale. A lot more to come from this album.
Rod Maggio's Liberty Ave. series
Rod Maggio, who is a warehouse of East New York memories, sent me a series of shots he took along Liberty Avenue in 1982. These two, near Elton and Cleveland, give a sample of the rather depressing look of the area then, but Rod has numerous stories and facts that I am putting together to paint a story of what has long been a vibrant area of ENY.
The R-31 Series
From the Brian Merlis archives, the R-31 series of photos document the planning and construction of the El along Livonia Ave. This shot, looking down Livonia from Williams Avenue, shows the block before the El is constructed.
Blessed Sacrament, 1969
From Rose Ann (Guddemi) Hogan, her class 6-2 at Blessed Sacrament in 1969, taught by Mrs. McGuire. I've challenged Rose Ann to name her classmates, maybe some of them will step up and help!