Friday, November 14, 2014

Why: It Rhymes With Soy

I'm back home in Fuengirola after an easy trip and great flights and service on Iberia. Not a moment's sleep along the way, but you can't have everything. What a joy to see San Geraldo when I arrived in Málaga.

Back in Brooklyn earlier in the week, I got to take a 2-hour walk beginning on the Boardwalk through Brighton Beach and continuing on through Manhattan Beach to Sheepshead Bay. (Click any image to enlarge.)

WOODEN BOARDWALK WHERE IT MEETS THE NEW CONCRETE BOARDWALK.
NOT EVERYONE LIKES IT, BUT IT'S AT LEAST NICE TO NOT WORRY
ABOUT TRIPPING OVER LOOSE BOARDS.

At one point, as I snapped a photo, a woman stopped behind me and looked, in apparent incredulity and disgust, at what I was shooting. "I used to live here and am back for a visit, so I'm taking pictures," I explained.

"Woy?!?" she demanded (That's "why," which rhymes with "soy").

I tried to explain. She asked asked a lot of questions. Almost angrily. I don't know woy. But I made my escape quickly and gracefully.


OLD BRIGHTON BEACH OVERLOOKING NEW BRIGHTON BEACH.
FORMER SITE OF THE BRIGHTON BEACH BATHS (A PRIVATE CLUB, 1907–1994)
(3 POOLS, TENNIS, HANDBALL, MINIATURE GOLF, EVEN — AT ONE TIME — A NUDE BEACH).
THE END OF THE BOARDWALK (SEPARATING BRIGHTON FROM MANHATTAN BEACH).
MY PARENTS USED TO WALK HERE AND KICK OFF THE WALL BEFORE TURNING BACK HOME.
I REPRESENTED THE FAMILY AND KICKED OFF ON MY OWN.
I HEADED ONTO THE BEACH TO SEE CONSTRUCTION
AND THE BACKS OF SOME MANHATTAN BEACH HOUSES.
THE FRONTS OF THOSE SAME MANHATTAN BEACH HOUSES.
OLD MANHATTAN BEACH.
MORE OLD MANHATTAN BEACH.
A McMANSION...
ONE OF THE TUDORS...
A MUTE SWAN: SO, NO NEW YORK ACCENT.
MANHATTAN BEACH SIDE OF SHEEPSHEAD BAY.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF SHEEPSHEAD BAY ACROSS THE FOOT BRIDGE.
MANHATTAN BEACH "HOUSE" THE GULLS (IN PREVIOUS PHOTO)
WERE LOOKING AT.

SOME FORMER SUMMER COTTAGES. THE NEIGHBORHOODS
WERE ONCE FILLED WITH THESE.
SOME CHARMING OLD ROW HOUSES IN MANHATTAN BEACH.
BRIGHTON BEACH OLD STYLE.
OLD BRIGHTON BEACH ART DECO.
TWO OF THESE FLANK THE ENTRANCE TO AN
OLD APARTMENT BUILDING IN BRIGHTON BEACH.
"WOY?!?" THE LADY IN BROWN DEMANDED.

Brooklyn USA...

26 comments:

  1. Coise, that's woy!!
    My my, Brooklyn,USA.
    Marvelous!
    I bet those summer cottages were all rage.
    Great post Mitchell. Good to be home, eh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim:
      That's pronounced KAWZE! Canadians! Sheesh! It's great to be home with San Geraldo. It made me so happy to be greeted with open arms at the airport yesterday.

      Delete
  2. interesting beach house some of them are typically English I love the Tudors... NY is a mixture of building styles..Melting pot..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gosia:
      The city has a very eclectic mix of architecture. You're right -- a melting pot.

      Delete
  3. For me New York is just an amorphous media generated mass consisting of Skyscrapers, steam vents,gangsters,graffiti,iconic film and telly backdrops and other stuff.
    Your photos provide a refreshing counterpoint.
    1979 saw the opening of England's first nudist beach in the seaside resort of Brighton

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tynan:
      My goal is to give you a sense of what else there is. Although I doubt I could live there now, it's definitely so much more than people imagine.

      Delete
  4. Thanks for the tour. I love all the old homes, and buildings, you show. Such style we had back then.

    I don't know woy we lost it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob:
      Many of the McMansions that have gone up (some simply by adding three floors to the stately old places) just don't have the charm of the originals. It's a doity rotten shame. Dat's whut is iz!

      Delete
  5. I did not know Manhattan had a beach. I expect the houses would be worth a lot of money, and how nice some of the older ones are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrew:
      Sorry, it doesn't. I should have explained all that. You probably already know much of this, so forgive me: New York City is made up of the five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens [The] Bronx, and Staten Island.

      "Manhattan Beach" is a neighborhood in Brooklyn.

      If you live in the borough of Manhattan, your address is New York, New York.

      If you live in Brooklyn or one of the other boroughs, your address is the name of THAT borough. People who live in the area, say they're going to "The City" when they go to Manhattan. "Do you live in The City?" "No, I live in Brooklyn."

      Clear as mud, huh?

      Delete
  6. It's always bittersweet to walk through the neighborhoods where we grew up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stephen:
      I'm fascinated by all the changes. I always felt like an outsider when I lived there.

      Delete
  7. Glad you're home! Still, I did enjoy seeing New York through your eyes again... especially the Chelsea Market, but you knew that didn't you. =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jacqueline:
      It was a very good visit, but I'm glad to be home, too. (The temp was supposed to go below freezing yesterday in New York!) Ah, Chelsea Market!

      Delete
  8. New York does deco so very well does it not?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John:
      I realized I could just do a deco photo tour of the city.

      Delete
  9. I'm glad the swan didn't start talking to you as well, or that might have really been freaky. Loved the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda:
      They were very pushy, New York swans. They saw me coming and expected food. I think I heard them swear at me as I walked away.

      Delete
  10. Those old Brooklyn buildings, townhouses and apartment buildings, are wonderful. Welcome home!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Walt The Fourth:
      I can only imagine the photos you'd take there. I really had to reel myself in.

      Delete
  11. I spoke with my sister who works in that area of New York for JASA. She has lived in NYC for decades and her clients live in that area of the City. She laughed when I told her about the Brooklyn accent, she tells me it is still like that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laurent:
      I love it. If you have a chance, and if your sister wouldn't mind, please email me her name and for which JASA office she works. My mother is a member. Also, although people often talk about "the Brooklyn accent," studies have shown there's no such things, just different variations on "the New York accent."

      Delete
  12. Woy is the word of the day here in AZ.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spo:
      This brought a big smile to my face. I don't know woy.

      Delete

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