Meet Dolores
This is Dolores on the slide in Carroll Park in 1941 as a 19 month old. In the background is President Street, off Smith Street. Notice the wooden slide.
Here she is in 1942 with Mrs. Viola, her mother.The houses in the background are on Carroll Street,
looking towards Court Street. Some of the elm trees in the
photo are still standing today.
This is my favorite photo of Dolores, circa 1950. It was taken along the Park on President Street.
Dolores as a 16 year old. I wish I could have met her then.
I love the self-assured pose.
She is standing in what is now the park's ball field,
looking towards President Street.
These last three pictures are of Dolores in Carroll Park
in 1973 with her son Stephen.
The monument is still the same of course,
but notice the little fence around it.
In the back are the brownstones on President Street.
May I introduce you to my friend Dolores, who has lived in Carroll Gardens all her life? One of the greatest pleasures of living in this neighborhood is to sit on Dolores' stoop on a summer evening and to listen to her stories about growing up, marrying and raising a son right here in Carroll Gardens.
I could listen to her for hours. I consider it a privilege that she is sharing some of her earliest memories with me. Recently, when I mentioned to her that I wanted to document stories like hers, to hold on to the Carroll Gardens that she knew in her youth, she told me with a twinkle in her eye that she had old photos that she could show me.
So yesterday, Dolores delighted me with many wonderful pictures. I especially loved the ones that showed familiar places in the neighborhood. The photos above were all taken in Carroll Park, first, when Dolores was a baby and then, as a teen and finally, as a mother. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
And Dolores, my friend, thanks for sharing them!
Links to this post:
The New York Times: Money for nothing, and your tickets for free
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6 comments:
Thank you so much for this story. Those have to be the sweetest pictures.
I am glad Dolores allowed you to share them.
What a nice surprise to stumble across this blog. I lived on Sackett Street in 1983/84, then moved to Stuyvesant Town. Some of my favorite memories come from the wonderful community in Carroll Gardens. They welcomed this Kansas boy with open arms - and, here I am on the Great Plains of Texas.
Hi Roger,
Glad you like my little site about Carroll Gardens.
Would love to hear more about your time in the neighborhood. Care to share with my other readers?
Katia,
I lived, as I said, in Brooklyn and Manhattan, only from 1983 through 1985. I was transferred there through my employment and left my family in Topeka, Kansas. I flew back every other weekend and often my family would visit me on the odd weekend.
I lived in a flat on Sackett with the most wonderful Italian family on this planet. I had never known Italians as a community before. Of course, growing up, I had friends with names originating from all over the world but we all had Southwest accents and never thought about Italian, German, Mexican, etc. I had also lived in many places prior to the City but wow, what an eye opener! All these ethnic communities - I loved it. If I was walking to the F train with a slight limp some older man on a stoop would call me over and advise me to use warm olive oil as a liniment; one day I wandered out of the neighborhood to buy some groceries and I returned to find some concerned neighbors on the corner waiting for me - someone had seen me leave the neighborhood heading into a seemingly unsafe area. I think I realized on that day that the next time I come back to this world it will hopefully be as an Italian. Oh, and many times at the Metropolitan Opera listening to all those beautiful Italian voices didn't hurt either.
Manhattan was fun, exciting, but I was at home on Sackett Street.
FYI, I am Scotch, Irish, English, Welch and American Indian.
Roger
What a wonderful account. More please, more...I love to hear about people's experiences in the neighborhood.
Would love to make a post out of it for my readers, when I get back to Carroll Gardens.
would have loved to see the neighborhood then.
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