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My Brooklyn

There have been generations of Flatland-ers (a real place) who never set foot in "the City" proper, easily accessible by elevated and subway lines since the early 20th century. Why bother? Certainly not to shop or eat or find entertainment. Not with downtown Brooklyn's elegant A&S and even tonier Martin's department stores nearer by, at least until both those gave way to a proletarian mall. Not when you had Bensunhurst's pizzerias and pasticcerias and East Flatbush's Jamaican beef patties, not as long as Coney Island and Brighton Beach were just a bus or a train ride away.

Thomas J. Hubschman