The Big Wind Comes to Brooklyn

The day before yesterday there was a Tornado in Brooklyn.
I have seen hurricanes, bad storms, blizzards, roads wiped out, gale force winds but I have never seen Tornadoes in Brooklyn.

It seems almost sacrilegious… I have seen Yuppies in Brooklyn. I’ve seen Union bashes, street parades, sidewalk vendors of every size and description n Brooklyn selling everything under the sun. I have seen libraries, Botanical Gardens and Children’s museums. I have seen people attacked on the street in Brooklyn. I saw my favorite restaurant blown up in Brooklyn as a response to Meyer Lahane’s suicide, I have seen block parties in Brooklyn after the War, I have gone to Junior’s in the middle of the night and tried to finish a slab of cheese cake before they called the emergency wagon. I have gone to Sheepshead Bay and eaten clams in Joey’s Clam House; I have seen people shot over their pasta with no witnesses in a crowded restaurant. I remember hanging out around the docks where Sinatra used to go for butterflyed shrimp and macaroni…I remember the pizza wars and my friend getting burned out because he refused to buy the Maifa’s sauce. I remember gun fights in South Brooklyn’s Red Hook where if you were caught in the gunfire. I remember listening to submachine gun wars almost every night coming from the projects when my kids were trying to sleep. I remember the old brownstones where great movies were made and the hang outs of the Mafia chiefs when they wanted a great meal. I remember taking the ferries at night to Staten Island and feeling like Robert Mitchum in Macau. I remember what happened when the young black stabbed the Orthodox man and he died on the street and the antagonisms never went away. I remember all of the Jewish delis closing when the blacks moved in. I remember how each little town was separate and distinct and that you could leave your kids on the block all night; I remember my kids walking my small block and taking hours to find their way home. \The reason? Everyone invited them in for pasta, or dessert or ice cream. I remember when the shop owners knew your name and knew what you wanted in advance and if you wanted the cold cuts “thin,” you got them thin..
I remembered the old days at Coney when you were lucky to find a postage size spot for your towel and everyone was on the beach having a ball. I remember going to Luna Park before it burned down and going on all of the rides with my dad. I remember the threat of being attacked by a gang because the leader of the gang resented me dating his girlfriend. He was later found dead. I remember the merry go round where kids used to meet and going to the submarine races with your favorite gal. I remember the big clubs
In Flatbush, including Ben Massicks, where all of the famous performed from Durante to Eddy Cantor…I remembered that Nathan Handwerker started his dynasty called Nathan’s with five cent hot dogs that are still the best where I might go to in the middle of the night for hot dogs and fries… I remembered the beautiful movie houses on Flatbush Avenue where it looked as if you were ascending into some kind of Moorish Heaven to see a movie. I remembered waiting in line for the newspapers to come out at night because they had the ‘numbers.’ I remember the Quiz kids and Streisand starting out And the Automats where I could have the best creamed spinach, macaroni, and tapioca and the coffee being poured for a nickel and those little slots where you put your nickels in for some culinary treat. I remembered Vaudeville where you went to the movies and you saw a bunch of acts and you could spend an entire Saturday away from home in the cool dark theatre watching movie after movie and a half dozen live acts. I remember the troops coming home and the big block parties and I remember the Wonder Wheel and the Parachute jump which stopped about twenty years before but provided young people and their dates with a wonderful opportunity to see New York and impress memories that would never go away. I remembered Greenwood cemetery where all of the famous are buried from Civil War generals to famous musicians, from actors of our generation to inventors, politicians to famous people from virtually every walk of life. Bernstein is buried there; so is Elizabeth Taylor’s co-star, that famous hunk ; not to mention gangsters from the hay day of Prohibition.

I remember all of these things and so much more; but I don’t remember ever having a tornado in Brooklyn.

I guess the times are changing and we must change with it.

Pretty soon, they will be telling me that with the warmer climate, they are planning to turn Brooklyn into a big green park. At that point, I think I will just finish my will and lie down and call it quits.

Les Aaron….