Shake Hands With Your Uncle Max

I never got to shake hands with my Uncle Max. He was born in Belarus in 1890 and died just before I was born. He was actually my Great (or Grand) Uncle Max. I was named, in Yiddish, after him. His English name was Max Samuel. I won’t tell you the Yiddish version of his (and my) name. Thankfully, my parents took the initials and named me Mitchell Scott.

Ocean Parkway is a nearly 5-mile (nearly 8-km) boulevard that runs through part of Brooklyn. The Kid Brother lives at one end of Ocean Parkway near Prospect Park and The Dowager Duchess lives at the other end near the beach. I think of Uncle Max every time I’m in Brooklyn because of a silly song written by Alan Sherman, which you can listen to at any time you like (it’s at the bottom of this post).

In the early 1900s, mansions were built along the elegant Ocean Parkway, and in the 1920s, apartment buildings and one- and two-family homes were built. After World World II, more apartment buildings and new homes replaced some of the older homes. The Kid Brother lives in a 1920s art deco building. Ocean Parkway was restored in the 1970s and again in recent years (and again after considerable damage from Hurricane Sandy). Until the 1970s, there were even bridle paths. People would rent horses in Prospect Park and ride them on Ocean Parkway all the way to Coney Island.

THE PEDESTRIAN PATHS ON BOTH MEDIANS WERE SPLIT IN 1894, CREATING THE FIRST BICYCLE PATHS IN THE UNITED STATES.

I wanted you to see some of the architectural styles of my old Brooklyn neighborhood, so I took a long walk Friday along Ocean Parkway and down the streets of some of my high-school friends. It will prove that more than “a tree” grows in Brooklyn. The Kid Brother and I took another walk in the neighborhood. It’s all here. (As usual, click any image to get the biggah pickshah. Spoken like a true New Yawkah.)

ONE OF THE SIDE STREETS.  THIS, TOO, IS BROOKLYN.

1950s ROW HOUSES.

A BRAND NEW McMANSION ONE BLOCK OFF OCEAN PARKWAY. A COMMON SIGHT IN THIS AREA OF BROOKLYN.

NOTICE THE ORIGINAL HOMES, AT LEFT, DWARFED BY THE McMANSION.

BACK ON OCEAN PARKWAY.  ABRAHAM LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL, MY ALMA MATER. BUILT  IN 1929, AND JUST A BLOCK AWAY FROM WHERE WE MOVED IN 1964.

ACROSS OCEAN PARKWAY FROM LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL. THE 1950s MEET THE 2000s.

THE KID BROTHER WAS THE ORIGINAL MODEL FOR “PEDESTRIAN MAN.”

THE RED BRICK BUILDING IN BACKGROUND AT RIGHT IS WHERE THE DOWAGER DUCHESS LIVES.

OCEAN PARKWAY STATION AT BRIGHTON BEACH AVENUE.

OCEAN ROYALTY.