... I'm sure, good readers, that you have all been watching the New York State and New York City budgets closely. Many of us in the Brooklyn Collection, and at Brooklyn Public Library as a whole, have been watching the budget negotiations compulsively. Budget mania is nothing new to the libraries in New York City and I write that with a sigh because libraries are easy targets over and over again. As archivist of the Brooklyn Collection, my work allows me to sort through photo folders and
The Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street (corner of Clinton) will celebrate the opening of “Home Base”, its exhibit on the Brooklyn Dodgers, this Thursday evening, June 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. All are invited. From the BHS:Join the Brooklyn Historical Society this Thursday for the opening of our new exhibition Home Base: Memories [ ... ] ...
When the Dodgers left Brooklyn 53 years ago they not only ripped out our hearts and guts they also took away the borough's only major league sports franchise. We all know this sad story, so let's not dwell on it here; better for Brooklyn sports fans to turn their attentions to the hardwood machinations of a spindly Russian billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov, majority owner of the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets. Or, I should say, the Brooklyn Somethingelses ... At a recent press conference Prokhorov
At the end of April and the beginning of May, Arthur Lonto repeated rituals taking place all over Brooklyn--he planted his garden, and he enjoyed the beginning of the baseball season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was never idle. Here are a few more extracts from the busy realtor's journal ... "Wednesday, April 30, 1947 Dodgers lose 1st game at Ebbets Field to Chicago. Jerome & I took Jitterbug lesson at 6 p.m.--Miss Young ... Thursday, May 1, 1947 New family moves into 1431 E. 7th St from Park
We have recently acquired one volume of the diary of Arthur Lonto, a noted authority on transit and a former President of the Electric Railroaders Association. A World War II veteran, Mr Lonto worked in insurance and real estate until he was hired by the MTA, eventually becoming a transit management analyst ... At the time the diary was written, Mr Lonto lived on East 7th Street between Avenues M and N. He notes indefatigably and compulsively every journey taken by public transportation, but
This is my gift to you, Brooklyn Dodger fans. ... My Valentines Day weekend was quite romantic, so readers will have to forgive me if these Valentine's poems are a little late. I found them competely by accident, while I was looking for some photos of Gil Hodges in military uniform. ... They were written by the somewhat eccentric, so-called "Dentist Laureate" of Borough Hall, who was also dentist and poet to the Brooklyn Dodgers, Dr. John L. McAteer. Dr. McAteer wrote quite a few
On Tuesday, we reported on the Gowanus building at “toid and toid” owned by Con Ed, that is said to contain a portion of the wall once surrounding the Washington Park baseball field used by the Brooklyn Dodgers before their move to Ebbets Field. From the Daily News today comes a definitive answer from Brooklyn author and historian Brian Merlis, "I can say with absolute certainty that this wall was not part of Washington Park prior to the Brooklyn team's departure [in 1912]," The paper goes
Brian Merlis, well-known Brooklyn historian, says a famed wall in Gowanus that is believed to have been part of the old Washington Park where the Dodgers played until 1912 was not part of the park at that time. He bases ...
A famed wall in Gowanus believed to be a remnant of the old Washington Park stadium where the Brooklyn Dodgers played before moving to Ebbets Field may not even have existed when the famed team played there, baseball and Brooklyn historians now believe ...
On the eve of a New Year, we are reminded that not only buildings make up neighborhoods, people do. Here is a story about someone who makes a difference in Brooklyn ... Life-long Brooklynite, and perpetual Brooklyn Dodgers fan, Sol Moglen, wanted to dedicate a wall of Keyspan Park, the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team home, to his heroes, the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. Everything was set up for the tribute, and then 9/11 happened. Sol was touched to learn that over a third of the first responders who