As I continue my memorable journey through the neighborhood, looking back on all the wonderful families and the streets they lived on, an intriguing thought crossed my mind:
Do teens still hang out on the corner anymore?
A few days ago I wrote about Howard Place; today I will give you my thoughts on the block which was right around the corner from Howard, Fuller Place.
I spent a lot of time on Fuller Place, mainly because I had loving cousins who happened to live there, the Sabbagh’s.
Brian, Lori, Nu-Nu (RIP), Liz, Susan, Joe (RIP), Mark and Chris. Their parents, Sheila and Joe are both deceased.
I use to love going over to their house. My uncle Joe was a hard-working, funny dude and my aunt Sheila was warm, kind and very caring. I always felt at home at 29 Fuller.
One day I was on Fuller Place and it must of been close to ninety-degrees outside. We were all just sitting on someone’s stoop hanging out with the kids on the block and nature began to call. For some reason, (actually I had respect for their residence and the notion of ringing the doorbell before entering always crossed my mind) I always rang my cousins doorbell before entering their house and this time I was greeted at the door by my Aunt Sheila. I calmly asked her if I could use their bathroom. ‘Why of course, come in’, she answered.
I quickly sprinted past her and raced up the stairs to their restroom which was located on the second floor.
After I’m sure what seemed like forever, as I made my way back down the wooden, creaky staircase, my Uncle Joe was sitting at the dining room table with a huge plate of hot food in front of him. As I past him he blurted out with a mouth full of food mind you, ‘All you ever do is come in here to take a dump!’
I flashed an embarrassing smile at him for a quick second and without replying exited the house.
It was there at the Sabbagh’s where I was first introduced to ‘Syrian Bread‘, a middle eastern style flat bread that you can serve with lunch or dinner. I recall putting everything from ham and cheese with mustard to peanut butter and jelly on it. (Uncle Joe being of Syrian decent)
(Thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/redxdressfor photo)
I remember playing stickball with the Rooney’s (Jamie and Timmy), Caputo’s and Dilgen’s. Next door to my cousins was Kenny and Jimmy Rallis who were great people. I recall Jimmy going for ‘runs’ all the time. He would walk out of his house, lace up his running shoes, check his wristwatch and take off.
The dude would be gone for what seemed like hours.
While playing stickball, if you hit the ball all the way to Prospect avenue, you were a stud! Not sure if I ever got it that far?
Someone once said on the Container Diaries message board about Fuller Place:
Fuller Place was like living in a country club. It was a side street so there was hardly any traffic and the street and sidewalk were immaculate because we all kept it that way. We even at one point painted in a tennis court on the street. What a beautiful place to grow up.
It had to be Mr. O’Boyle, the father of Joe O’Boyle (who was a pretty good basketball player) that painted the tennis court on the street? (I think his older brother was a stud tennis player?)
We played football, whiffle ball, kick-the-can, red-light/green light, had relay races in the street and played slap-ball from dawn to dusk; and sometimes later.
Tom Cuite, a city councilman lived on the block and I always recall seeing a black Lincoln Town Car coming to pick him up and drop him off.
Thomas J. Cuite (1913-1987), a Windsor Terrace resident, was vice-chairman and majority leader of the New York City Council–a position similar to the current role of Speaker–for 16 years, until his retirement in 1985. A democrat, Cuite had previously served in the New York State Senate. He was a co-founder and first Grand Marshal of the Irish-American Parade, and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He was a tireless worker for his community and greatly appreciated by his constituents–many of whom can thank Cuite for their first summer jobs. (http://www.windsorterracebrooklyn.com/WTwhowaswho.html)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention playing ‘Seven Minutes in Heaven‘ when I was like 13 years old. Fuller Place was the street where I first kissed a female.
Like Howard Place, the homes on Fuller Place had those couple of steps that led down to the basement and they were perfect for us youngsters to hang out on – especially at the homes where we knew the folks were gone for the weekend.
The actress Geena Davis filmed the opening of her movie Angie on Fuller Place.
Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn, sent out a message last year asking residents of Fuller Place if they wanted to appear in a documentary on Fuller Place being one of the ‘Greenest Blocks in Brooklyn”
Respectfully,
SF
hoops135@hotmail.com
Helen Cole Prestia said:
I spent alot of time on Fuller Place growing up right down the street on Windsor Place. We used to take over the steps to the big house on the corner of Windsor & Fuller like we owned the place. We always got chased but were back again the next day. Whenever I catch that Gina Davis movie or As Good as it gets it’s brings me back to the good dog days of summer. Now there are alot of strange people living on that street. My mother used to get so made everytime they filmed a movie or commercial on the block. She said “I’m not even allowed to park on my one street, who do these people think they are?” Now, when I get lonely for the old neighborhood, I just have to rent a few movies to get a glimpse of it.
Jerry Cole said:
Helen, I think you mean Helen Hunt not Geena Davis. As Good As It Gets, now that was a great movie. Also, wasn’t there a scene in it filmed near the corner of 9th & Windsor in which you could see Ballards?
Dogday Afternoon was shot here as was part of Brighton Beach memoirs (I think). Ok, people what wlse was shot in the neighborhood?
Betty used to get nuts when they’d close down the street. I remember coming over one spring after Stephanie was born. I was dropping her off so that mom & dad could watch her while I played softball for Farrells. I get to the corner of 10th & Windsor and some little chick with a walkie talkie says you can’t drive up this street we’re filming a movie. I told her, I grew up here and I am taking my daughter to see her grandparents. I also said that if you think I am parking several blocks away and then hauling all this crap back over here that she’d lost her mind.
Hey Glenn T., at this point I’ll bet that you undoubtedly know full well just how much crap you have to carry when you have a baby on board. So, she crackles into her walkie talkie and out of nowhere a cop appears. I guess he was working security for the shoot. He listens to my story and tells me to go ahead up and park my car. That little witch looked like she was gonna spit fire. What’s worse is that during one take I came bouncing out the door with my gear to head over to the park and all I heard was CUT! I am sure that the little witch was about ready to blow. Too bad I didn’t get to smile at her as I headed towards the park.
Steve, am I crazy or didn’t the Big O also film a commercial in HN schoolyard right?
hoopscoach said:
JC,
Yes, the Big O did a Jordache commercial in the boys schoolyard.
Jo-Jo White did a Pro-Keds commercial at Ford.
Harvey Keitel did some work in the Post Office too.
jim vackner said:
Big O was there in the mid 70s.. I just missed seeing him..
You mentioned Joe O’Boyle. We were in grammar school together and he was one of the funniest guys in school. he and Mike Gallagher did great imitations of GIllen.. Joe also did a mean Columbo.. When I did my Gillen in forn of the class, he walked in behinf me, grabbed me and led me to the 6th row 1st seat where my cousin Drew sat shaking his head.. Gillen proceeded to hit me with three shots with his Board of Ed.. I guess he did’nt like my version…
GW said:
Hey Jerry-
Your sister is correct. The Geena Davis movie was “Angie” and the opening scene was Davis as a small child on Fuller Place. Gandolfini of Soprano’s fame played her boyfriend. The scene was short, but it was a very good shot of Fuller Place at the Prospect Avenue end. The gardens were full of colorful plants and flowers, unlike anything I had experienced growing up through the ’60’s.
“As Good As It Gets” was more true to the moral fabric and unique class of the neighborhood. Even the interior shots of the home on Howard Place reflected an authentic picture of where we lived.
Like the rest of the neighborhood, some great families and athletes grew up on Fuller way back when. There was rarely any traffic, so playing stickball, football, slapball, kick the stick, running bases and other I’ve forgotten, went on all day. We carried a piece of chalk around to mark bases or boundaries in the dark asphalt for the game of the day. The older kids on the block would teach and include the younger kids in stickball and two hand touch. Phil Persey was a few years older than us and a tremendous athlete. Phil had boundless patience and taught me and a few others on the block how to swing a stickball bat and play football. He must be a teacher getting ready to retire by now. Thanks, Phil, wherever you are.
Thanks, Steve, for remembering my Home Block.
Jane Harte said:
I spent most of my life suffering from Fuller Place Envy. Living so close, but yet so far – my house was directly across the street on Prospect Avenue. Liz Sabbagh, Jeanne Ansbro and Dolores Dilgen were close gal pals. I remember that the Sabbaghs were one of the few families in the neighborhood that had airconditioning in their house. I would ring the bell to call for Liz on hot summer days and stand as close to the doorway as I could to wait for her just to get a few seconds of the fabulous cold air. Fin – I wish I had thought of the “can I use your bathroom?” trick. That would have given me plenty of time to cool off!!!
Hey Jimmy Rallis – you still owe me a pogo stick.
hoopscoach said:
Jane,
I used to love the AC in the Sabbagh’s, you kidding? Thanks for recalling the Ansbro’s, they were good people. Remember their dog? How did they give him his name? Big time trivia here!
GW,
I forgot about ‘running bases’, what a great game!
Jerry Cole said:
GW, thanks for reminding about “Angie”, for the life of me I could not recall a Geena Davis movie filmed ib the hood.
Robin Mardini Adelson said:
Jane,
Remember sitting on Liz’s stoop and putting on Cover Girl eye shadow? We used to follow the lines on the diagram on the back of the package. By the time we were done we looked like drag queens!! How about singing “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” with Mark Sabbagh?
I always felt a certain kinship to the Sabbaghs, being a fellow Syrian and all as well as the Kawas’s and the Nemnom’s, too!! Liz and I thought it was so funny that we both had sisters named Nu Nu.
John Harte said:
Turns out my parents had there first kiss behind a tree on Fuller Place. I found this out when my mom saw them cutting the tree down. After a long night at Farrell’s that same night, we ( dont remember who was with me, suprisingly) rolled about a 500lb piece of the tree all the way to Prospect Avenue into our back yard. It was a great idea at the time, but what do you do with it after?
I think we called on Mr. Cottingham to swing by with the truck.
Kathleen Harte Pardalos said:
The Ansbro’s dogs name was Jetsel First letter from
Jean
Elizabeth
Thomas
Susan
Edmund
Lisa
No clue where that fact has been stored all of these years.
Liz Sabbagh said:
And to think Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again.”
I thank you one and all for proving him wrong!
hoopscoach said:
Liz,
I think Dorothy said it best in the Wizard of Oz when she was clicking her heels…
hoopscoach said:
KHP,
Good job…
Eileen Slavin McElroy said:
KATHLEEN!!
So good to see you post! I am living and working close to your old stomping grounds….Marist. I think of you and your family often and hope you are all well!
Eileen
Kathleen Harte Pardalos said:
Hi Eileen:
Email me at Kathleen_Pardalos@ars.aon.com
As for Fuller Place, I remain in therapy working through the trauma of being rated by the “older Boys” on Fuller as I walked home from St. Saviour during my prime pre-teen years.If you were lucky they followed it with the hose or even better, relocating you via car to another block to add on to your walk home!
Emotions are crazy at that age, was in love with them one day and hoped to marry and ran home screaming soaking wet others to tell my mother what they had done.
Any comment on the skateboard ramps and Freddy? They were before their time!
We had the best of all worlds. Thanks Fin for the topic.
Tommy Cole said:
Jerry:
Betty hated whenever they came to film on the block but Sis loved it because the catering people used to give people left over sandwiches after the actors and crew had their lunch.
I don’t know if you ever heard this, but Windsor Castle was examined by a few crews for possible use in one or two films. The reason was because there is a good view from Fuller Place into the hall and then down the hall into the kitchen and yard. They also liked all the exposed wood. I still have the business cards and name of the movies someplace because I had to check them out before they would let the people in the house. Your Mother thought it was great cause she would have made some money on them for a change…LOL!!!
Does anyone remember being chased off the corner by Curella? He didn’t like people making noise on his street… LOL!!!
If I remember correctly, another great resident of the block was Mrs. Griffin, Secretary for the Boys Department – Bro. Carlos, Bro. Bruce and Bro. Lambert. I spent lots of time in their office from 1st. – 4th grade. Too bad they didn’t know about ADD back then, they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by filling us with drugs…
Jerry Cole said:
Tommy,
I have a vague recollection of the production people asking about the house but do not recall the movies either.
LOL re: the ADD comment. Even it it was a known condition back then they still would have believed in a Physical medical treatment as opposed to a pill.
Liz Ansbro said:
Kathleen, I can’t believe you remember our family secret. LOL
My dad was so proud of himself for coming up with the name.. I always fought with Eddie that my E was the first E… LOL
hoopscoach said:
KHP,
No problem. Thanks for the memories!
Jeanne Ansbro Gulbransen said:
Hi everyone! Liz forwarded this site to me and I have to say thank you, dear sister!!
Not to crush a memory, Liz, but I distinctly remember it was Mommy who came up with Jetsel’s name! He was such a cutie, wasn’t he?? (And you were the first “E” in his name — since you were the first “E” in the family!!)
It’s so nice to read about Brooklyn and see the familiar “faces” posting here.
I miss Brooklyn so much. I’ve been in South Florida for the past 17 years….boy, time flies!
Be well.
Jeanne
Liz Sabbagh said:
Hey, Jane!
It’s funny because I loved going to your house. Your mom always seemed up for anything. Remember when she let us make donuts? My parents always wanted us outside. I guess that’s what happens when you have eight kids.
hoopscoach said:
Liz,
Your mom, ‘She’ was the best. Many didn’t realize she was a very good artist.
I miss the days and nights in the backyard at 29 Fuller!
Liz Sabbagh said:
Steve,
Yes, “She” was a very talented artist along with her very good friend Mrs. Slater from Sherman St.
I miss hangin’ in the backyard too…remember April? What a great dog! April was always trying to break lose from the house. When successful she’d run to The Windsor Pub to look for Joe!
hoopscoach said:
Liz,
I forgot about the Slater’s from Sherman -I think I left them out. Damn it…What was the girl’s name that was in our grade?
That was funny April use to run to the Pub’ kinda like Lassie!
Where are all the portraits ‘She’ painted?
Liz Sabbagh said:
Katrina Slater was in our class. Because our mothers were such close friends they often shopped together at their favorite bargain spot “May’s” basement As a result, Katrina and I would end up having the same outfits.
My mother wasn’t so much a portrait painter. She painted many still lifes, landscapes and abstract designs. She also did sculpture and and life drawing. I am fortunate enough to have a acquired a few of her works. Mrs. Slater, I believe has gone on teach painting and is still is today.
hoopscoach said:
Katrina Slater, that’s right.
Thanks…
Brooklin said:
You are forgetting a classic Fuller Place resident that goes down in a Fuller Place Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
I am talking about the one and only Ronald Saint George!
john dilgen said:
this past weekend (10/16 — 10/19) a group of fuller place boys went on their annual montauk fishing trip we’ve been going out to montauk for about 6 years (I THINK) together and the group has been growing the group includes JOE DWYER(EL PRESIDENTE) JOE AND JIM O’BOYLE JIMMY, TOMMY, AND JOHNNY TAMPAKIS
MARK AND BRIAN SABBAGH FRED BOSSARDT JOHN DILGEN(AND USUALLY BILL [FIRST LADY] DILGEN) AND THIS YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME GERRY WELDON AND A COUPLE OF FULLER PLACE WANNABES MIKE LAYDEN CHRIS ARTZ WILLIE BAUCCIO a great time was had by all and if anybody is in contact with ronald st. george we want to invite him along with artie crozier
john dilgen said:
this past weekend (10/16 — 10/19) a group of fuller place boys went on their annual montauk fishing trip we’ve been going out to montauk for about 6 years (I THINK) together and the group has been growing the group includes JOE DWYER(EL PRESIDENTE) JOE AND JIM O’BOYLE JIMMY, TOMMY, AND JOHNNY TAMPAKIS
MARK AND BRIAN SABBAGH FRED BOSSARDT JOHN DILGEN(AND USUALLY BILL [FIRST LADY] DILGEN) AND THIS YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME GERRY WELDON AND A COUPLE OF FULLER PLACE WANNABES MIKE LAYDEN CHRIS ARTZ WILLIE BAUCCIO a great time was had by all and if anybody is in contact with ronald st. george we want to invite him along with artie crozier
jimmy mckee said:
holy crap! have i hit pay dirt!
i spent alot of time on fuller.
i was/still am a friend with most of the dilgens.
just for the record, robert sweeney and i bult that skateboard ramp at #23. we “reused” some police baracades.
i have really fond memories of that place.
cool to see some old names here.
my mom and dad still live on 18th street.
i visit alot and i always walk thru fuller. i always seem to run into joe o’boyle.
there are some amazing old photos on a site called
“Brooklynpics” look in the windsor terrace section.
jimmckee@california.com
hope all is well.
jim
Ron St. George said:
John Digen! What rush of memories.
I remember you had the coolest guitar amp. I think it was called a “plush”. It was big and loud and I thought it was the coolest thing ever! Do you still play?
Count me in on your next fishing trip. It will be great to see everyone after so many years.
hoopscoach said:
Ronnie,
Good to see you and thanks for stopping by. Wonder how many folks from back in the 70’s still call Fuller Place home?
Diana Malaret said:
Hello… I only visited The Sabbagh’s home one weekend in the summer of ’79… The same week Elton John played Central Park…but they were an awesome family and really made me feel at home during my short stay there.
I started dating Mark shortly after we met at CPI in Hampton Bays…he was staying in a group rental with some friends that called themselves…”the dirt family”…if any of this sounds familiar to you …
I would love to hear from Mark Sabbagh…so if any one knows how I could get in touch with him… That would be great!
My name is Diana …Missmalaret@gmail.com