Another Time Another Place [Paperback]

Gerald Chatanow and Bernard D. Schwartz (Author), Gerald Chatanow|Bernard D. Schwartz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2000

The Brownsville/East New York neighborhood of the 1930's, 40's and 50's is now but an almost faded memory, a "time warp" as it were. Today it is a neighborhood that has been eviscerated and exists only as a geographic locale. Through the collective memories of the famous and the not-so-famous, Jerry Chatanow and Bernie Schwartz have elicited and chronicled a treasure trove of anecdotes and remembrances that bring back to life a once vibrant and exhilarating neighborhood. The authors vividly transport the reader back to a bygone era of street games, egg creams, mello rolls and knishes, patriotism at the home front, plush movie palaces, the Dodgers, the Knicks, boxing venues, old time radio and the neighborhood settlement houses with its open doors waiting to welcome the teeming masses. Anyone from small town or big city who was ever enriched by the nurturing warmth, the loyalties and camaraderie of a "neighborhood" will enjoy this major contribution to the oral history of America. This is a story told within the context of this country's transformation from "The Great Depression" to World War Two to "Baby Boomer" prosperity. The authors were both observers of and participants in what in retrospect proved to be a triumphant generation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gerald Chatanow, who grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, lived his formative years there, attending the local schools and participating in typical boyhood activities of the area. After receiving an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he established a financial and estate planning consulting practice in New York City in which he is still active. Bernard D. Schwartz, who also grew up in Brownsville, taught at Junior High School 263, one of the neighborhood schools. After teaching at the school for fourteen years, he accepted an assignment at the Central Board of Education of New York City, where he coordinated citywide programs, including the In-Service Program and the Textbook Review Program. He retired in 1991 and devotes much of his time to writing and other pursuits.

Product Details

• Paperback: 534 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738842338
• ISBN-13: 978-0738842332
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,071,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A walk down memory lane, March 14, 2006

By 

H. Eisenberg "history instructor" (NE New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Another Time Another Place (Paperback)

For anyone who lived in or near Brooklyn's Brownsville section at any time prior to the early 1960s, this book is sheer nostalgia. By having interviewed a substantial number of people (many of whom now live in Florida), the authors do an outstanding job of conveying the flavor of "the old neighborhood" in days gone by. At the end of the book there's a series of interviews with Brownsville celebrities, that is people who went on to become nationally famous, including Steve Lawrence and "Grandpa Munster" Al Lewis.

The authors clearly convey a picture of Brownsville in its heyday as a nuturing neighborhood and the experience of having grown up there as not at all unlike my vision of small-town America--a place where people knew and cared about one another.

Perhaps small-town America is still like that. However, one would be hard presssed to find an urban neighborhood that could be called nurturing anywhere in America today.

I only wish the authors had told us more about the history of Brownsville all the way up to the present time and why the neighborhood changed so drastically, but perhaps that was beyond their purpose. Still one can't help but wonder what became of the elderly people who had lived there all or most of their lives and were "left behind" through no fault of their own when the area turned into a crime-ridden slum.