Hey, It's Good To Be Back Home Again

There are so many emotions going through my mind as I moved to Stuy Town this week. It's exactly half a mile from where I grew up on Avenue A and every second that I've been here so far, I've thought of people I knew, stores that I remember going to, like Ray's Candy Store, where I bought many an egg cream in my youth or Sal & Tony's Pizza where I had probably thousands of slices.(sadly, that place was sold, and moved a block away, and the quality is just not the same). There's also San Loco, who, in my humble opinion, still make awesome tacos.
      There's the schools I attended: St. Stanislaus on St. Mark's Pl, which sadly, closed in 1989, due to the decline in attendance, because of the mass exodus of families in this neighborhood and of course, there's the old Stuy, with it's cracks in the ceiling and all, still sitting there in it's glory, on 15th St. Those four years, now a distant memory, still an unforgettable experience.
       The flood of memories of people I knew in my childhood, in this area, most have moved away from this neighborhood, except for an aunt and uncle, who still live in Stuy Town after 36 years of marriage, and a few childhood friends and classmates, who have been fortunate enough to stay, mostly because of rent control.
       I would say, the combination of emotions include: A feeling of great excitement, that I've been able to make it back here, after 20 years and walk among the people that live here now and be able to plan for a fun an exciting future here. There is, also a feeling of sadness, that so much has changed in this area. Most of my friends and family are not here anymore, along with probably 90% of the businesses I remember and the feeling is quite transient, that a lot of people are just here for school and will disappear like many of the people I knew before. I do still see the charm of Stuy Town and how enjoyable it can be to live here. But, there is a lot of uncertainty with the ownership of it and many long-time residents are worried that they will be priced out of here eventually. Hopefully, those issues will be settled, because it is very good place to live and I've enjoyed it so far........I just hope to be successful enough to be able to stay here.......which reminds me.......

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I'll discuss that with my next blog post, tomorrow.........