My Childhood Home

If you have listened to the morning show for a long time, you probably know where this house is.

My son got a hold of this photo so that I could have a memory of the place where I spent the first 7 years of my life.

I may have moved to Aberdeen (then Matawan) when I was in second grade...but the childhood memories I formed in the home pictured here seem stronger than many memories afterwards.

This was the three-family home I lived in for several years and I still remember the phone number (CO6-4287) and the address (130 Bay 32nd St., Brooklyn.) This was my grandmother's home on my mother's side. Prior to that, I lived in the house behind this one at 123 Bay 31st St in my other grandmother's (my dad's mom's) three-family home.

My parents grew up in those two homes and met because their backyards connected and they got to know each other as friends over the fence until they started dating.

Here are some of my memories while I lived in that house:

We lived on the third floor, my grandparents lived on the second, and my mom's sister and her husband (my aunt and uncle) lived on the first floor. In the basement was my grandfather's wood shop (he was a carpenter) and I spent so much of my childhood hanging out with him and smelling/holding wood shavings.

My grandmother worked at Korvette's department store and we would walk through the streets of Bensonhurst to visit her at work where she was a cashier and gift wrapper. My mom would also walk with me to the bagel shop on 86th St. and we would take the (elevated) train to the library.

I had a mad crush in first grade on identical twins named Neil and Dominic. This was after I overcame the horror of leaving my mom to attend PS 101. I cried for days at having to go to school (Mrs. Haber was my Kindergarten teacher), even though my uncle Charlie was the principal!

I would play with my stuffed teddy bear (still have him) in a baby carriage in the back yard while my record player was going.

We would have huge block parties complete with rides like The Whip that were so much fun. All of our neighbors were friends.

I would spend time with my Aunt Aurora and Uncle Charlie on the first floor acting in videos and recording narration from the time I was a baby...guess I always wanted to perform.

I remember huge family parties at the holidays, my grandmother's amazing cooking and the way she would fix me ice cream or warm milk at night.

And I remember my first friends: Roseanne Brevetti, Rosemarie Donofrio, Andrew and Jimmy Astuto, and a girl named Suzan.

But, most of all, I remember the feel of this great family home and neighborhood. I am afraid to go back there and not remember it the way it was. Plus, I would want to go inside those two homes and search my mind and heart for more memories!

Where did you grow up and have you ever gone back to see that home? What are your earliest childhood memories?