A friend of mine who works at the local coffee shop asked me for the URL of Container Diaries last night. I told him to just google ‘Container Diaries’ and it will pop up. But I wasn’t sure if he would find the blog interesting. Hopefully this newspaper article that was sent to me gives him a solid introduction.
It’s 5:20 A.M. and I got up a bit earlier than normal on this rainy Sunday morning. (I can recall back in the 80’s walking through the front door at 5:20 and sleeping all day!)
While everyone’s asleep in my house, I log onto the computer and search for a newspaper article that I had saved from the Daily News back in 2002 on Windsor Terrace.
(Holy Name Church - Image compliments of Icky)
Click here for a story on the neighborhood from writer Joyce Shelby. Here are a couple of highlights from the piece.
“This is a great neighborhood,” said Houlihan as he took a break from working behind the stick, serving tap beer. “I’ll tell you how great. About eight years ago, the priest over at Holy Name [Church] told me the school was in bad shape. It needed painting. In one weekend, 300 people turned out to paint the whole school.”
What an amazing display of human compassion. People coming together for a school that many of us attended as youngsters. (Denis Hamill wrote a story on this project, if anyone has the link or any info, please send it to me)
Behind Houlihan on the mirror overlooking the bar hangs a color photograph and memorial tribute to Fire Capt. Vincent Brunton, who, until the Sept. 11 terror attacks, was a part-time bartender at Farrell’s.
Honoring WTC firefighter
“For Vinny, we did a scholarship fund,” Houlihan continued. “So far, we’ve raised $110,000 for children in the neighborhood to go to Bishop Ford High. That’s what kind of neighborhood this is.”
Vinny Brunton was the salt of the earth. What a great guy. The courage of a lion!
At Terrace Bagels, across the street from Farrell’s on Prospect Park West, Perlman kept employees scurrying, serving up handmade bagels and coffee.
“This is a great place,” he agreed. “It’s safe. Everybody helps everybody. Everybody is friendly. You can count on your neighbors in a pinch. That’s what I call community.”
Terrace Bagels, what a great spot to relax, sip a coffee while reading the newspaper. Not to mention excellent egg sandwiches.
But of course like everything, there has to be a bit of controversy.
And if there is one issue that seems to spark a debate in Windsor Terrace, it’s what having new neighbors has done to the area.
“Ruined the neighborhood,” snapped one life-long tenant who declined to give his name.
Ronny Moore, who has lived in the neighborhood all his life and in the same apartment since 1977, said, “When I moved in, the neighborhood was a beautiful, working-class neighborhood. I knew everybody between where I lived and where I worked.
“Now, I don’t know anybody,” the retired driver said. “The old people from my building have moved, and the new people don’t seem as friendly - or maybe they just want to keep to themselves.”
‘The new people don’t seem as friendly’. Well just remember, if you want a friend, you need to first be a friend! But knowing you Ronny Moore, you have probably reached out to the “newbies” and received nothing in return.
c’est la vie!
-SF
Hoops135@hotmail.com
I moved back in 96. The neighborhood has changed a lot but everything does. It’s still a great place to live and I miss a lot of things about the neighborhood. I also was one of the 300 who painted Holy Name that weekend. We did it in shifts with everyone working 4 hours or so. We did it for each other for great memories for the next round of kids going to school there. I did it to be with all the guys and we had a great time. I would do it again!
Chris Bullock
Coach,
I think that your friend will find the blog interesting, informative and entertaining. There is no doubt that he’ll at the very least get a sense of what kind of people grew up in the neighborhood and why so many people are still so connected to it even after moving away.
I gotta agree with Chris.. it has changed but the essence of the place is there. There are still quite a few people on Windsor that I grew up with and the new folks for the most part have been great. My tenants told me that they like the block’s people alot. When people see ya more than twice, they start saying hello.. I remember my dad, aunt, uncle, and next door neighbor talking to LA-La all the time. I remember the mailman coming up the block and I would run in and get beers for my uncle and him and he would take a break, sit in our arey (front yard) , and hang out for a little while. I often tell my wife, we should take the upstairs apartment when we retire especially if Holy Name has hoops!!!
i too was one of the guys who helped to paint HNS.my only complaint is give credit where credit is due, chucky k ran that job, later that night we all had a party in the school basement. however chucky could not attend the party, due to his father being gravely ill. the beer was supplied by farrells, food was supplied by terrace bagels all the supplies were scrounged up by chucky and trust me he left no stone unturned. in case you did not know i am retired from the ta as a paint inspector & master painter. in todays money that job ,done by pros would take 10 days with a gang of 10 workers, at a cost exceeding $150,000. we did it in one day, and to be honest with you,i do not know if it cost the school any money or if the cost of the paint was covered by the neighborhood.
tommy