Pitkin Avenue in History!

Today we have a special guest blogger, Sylvia Schildt. Ms. Schildt grew up on Pitkin Avenue, and has written a book titled Brownsville: the Jewish Years. Thank you Sylvia, for taking the time to write this for us!

Stroll With Me Down Memory Lane -- Pitkin Avenue, April 1945

Life in the Brownsville of my childhood was rough. But it wasn’t all bad – we had Pitkin Avenue.

I was born and raised in the corner building on Herzl and Pitkin, diagonally across from where Shoppers World and the Pitkin Avenue Business Improvement District now live. The buildings along the avenue were not torn down in all the attempts at fixing the disastrous housing conditions that had plagued Brownsville for almost a century.

When the subway and New Lots line were built, it became open sesame for sweat shop workers and their families living in even worse conditions on the lower East Side, and was over 80-90% Jewish. In fact it was a poor neighborhood, and overcrowded. But for most it was really a way station to the hoped-for better life. If many aspects of life in Brownsville were tough, there were others that were very nurturing for kids. I try to describe them in my new book – Brownsville: The Jewish Years.

Key among them was Pitkin Avenue. The store front buildings have not been torn down – but it was a very different place. I invite you to a brief stroll on Pitkin Avenue in the Spring of 1945, just before the war ended. Even then, in the midst of the horrors of a world war, it was a place to dream in. I was just about eleven. Roosevelt had ridden along Pitkin Avenue on a rainy November day during his last Presidential campaign.

Picture this – the air is teasingly warm, it’s April. The place is full of ma and pa shops with the emphasis on fashion. Pitkin Avenue has many expensive shops – my mother and I like to look in the windows even though we can’t afford what’s in them. There was a Rainbow Shops then, but it was so much smaller. There were sportswear shops, hat shops, places that custom-made ladies corsets, you name it.

Any time of day the Avenue was packed with shoppers, baby carriages, street vendors and people getting on and off smelly busses.

Many of the stores actually closed after the summer sales, soaped up their windows and put in signs promising to re-open on or about August 15^th. And the owners would go on vacation in the mountains. Imagine that today. And when they did re-open it was to reveal Fall styles and window trim. It was like a fashion show.

There was a lot of ethnic food around – now on Strauss, where a Bootery stands, was Hymie’s delicatessen, which had plump sausages called knockwurst, pickled sliced tongue, pastrami and more. Street vendors sold halvah, sesame candy, sweet potatoes, knishes, hot dogs from carts they pulled along.

Weddings happened on the Avenue. In fact, above Shoppers World was a catering place where Saturday night was wedding night. It was a one-stop deal – the ceremony and the celebration and wedding musicians played both traditional and pop music, complete with vocals, until 2-3 in the morning. And during the hot weather, neighbors would gather on milk crates and old chairs to gossip, argue politics, and when the window was open, enjoy the music until the last notes of “Good Night, Sweetheart.”

There were also men’s clothing shops where a man could have a suit made to order as well as haberdasheries that sold gentlemen’s accessories like ties, men’s jewelry, etc. The most famous was Jack Diamond’s, on Pitkin between Herzl and Strauss, the same building I lived in.

Pitkin Avenue was a destination then. People came from all over Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and even Long Island. They parked their cars on the streets where poor people lived in tiny rooms and hardly anyone had phones yet.

But the beacon, the heart of Pitkin Avenue was the Loew’s Pitkin, a magical movie theater on Pitkin, that took up the whole block between Legion and Saratoga. It opened in 1929, showed some of the greatest movies ever made as well as vaudeville – I remember seeing Buck and Bubbles perform LIVE. Here you saw on film families with maids and butlers, high fashion gowns and fur-covered telephones, and came back at night to your hovels. The decor of the theater was also splendid, including the lounges.

We got our news from the movies every week, also from newspaper stands and people’s gossip. Hope for peace was in the air.

Late afternoon on April 12, I was playing with friends in front of Jack Diamond’s window when someone stopped and said, “Have you heard? Roosevelt just died.” It was like my world came to an end – he was gone, the only president I had ever known.

All these memories and so much more are wrapped up for me with Pitkin Avenue and Brownsville.

-Sylvia Seigel Schildt

Brownsville: The Jewish Years is available at Amazon.com.

An Invitation from Department of Consumer Affairs Associate Commissioner Fran Freedman

The NYC Department of Consumer Affairs is holding a FREE "Red Flags" workshop for all small businesses in New York City on April 29, 2009. The workshop will be held at Fordham University's Lincoln Center Campus at 113 W.60th Street in Manhattan. It will focus on how businesses can prevent identity theft for their employees and customers. All businesses are encouraged to attend. For more information contact the BID office or the contact information below.

Most companies keep sensitive personal information in their files — names, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, or other account data — that identifies customers or employees. However, if sensitive data falls into the wrong hands, it can lead to fraud or identity theft. Preventing identity theft requires a comprehensive approach. Businesses must implement data security practices that deter crooks from obtaining personal information to open or access accounts. Businesses also must pay attention to telltale signs – or red flags – suggesting that thieves may be trying to use personal information that they’ve already acquired.

The Federal Trade Commission, the Center on Law and Information Policy of Fordham Law School, the New York State Consumer Protection Board, and the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs will sponsor a free, full-day workshop in New York City on Wednesday, April 29, 2009. Other sponsors include the New York State Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination, the Better Business Bureau Serving Metropolitan New York, and the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Business people, attorneys, government officials, privacy officers, and other experts will provide practical guidance for businesses of all sizes. The morning session, “Protecting Personal Information: Best Practices for Business,” focuses on how businesses can better secure personal information, implement best practices for developing an appropriate data security program, and respond to data breaches and other privacy and security threats. The afternoon session, “Fighting Fraud with the Red Flags Rule: Practical Guidance for Business,” addresses a new regulation that requires creditors and financial institutions to develop an Identity Theft Program for their covered accounts. FTC lawyers will provide guidance and answer questions about the scope, structure, and requirements of the Red Flags Rule. Business people and privacy experts will discuss their experiences with creating and implementing an Identity Theft Program.

Both sessions are free, open to the public and take place in Pope Auditorium on the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham University, 113 West 60th Street, New York, NY. The first session starts at 9:30 am; the second at 2:00 pm. On-site registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Advance registration for the workshop and for CLE credits will begin on March 31, 2009. Visit http://law.fordham.edu/ftc for more information. To learn more about the workshops, visit www.ftc.gov/infosecurity.

Application for CLE accreditation of this course or program in New York is currently pending. Attendees seeking CLE credits must pay a fee for those credits. The International Association of Privacy Professionals will automatically approve five Continuing Privacy Education credits for anyone in attendance who is a Certified Information Privacy Professional.

As part of its business education program, the FTC has information to help businesses develop their own data security plans, including an online tutorial, a booklet, and a series of articles suitable for reprinting in print or electronic newsletters. All are available at www.ftc.gov/infosecurity. Further information about data security, including New York State’s Business Privacy Guide, is available on the Consumer Protection Board’s website at www.consumer.state.ny.us/.

If you have any questions, please email infosecurity@ftc.gov .

David Yassky Creates Information Package for Small Businesses

Councilmember David Yassky of the NYC City Council has created an informational brochure to help small businesses best take advantage of the federal stimulus package. Of particular use to Pitkin Avenue businesses are:

The expansion of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit
(WOTC) to include two new targeted groups - unemployed
veterans and young people between 16 and 25 who haven’t
been employed or attended school in the past six months. If
your small business hires such individuals in 2009 and 2010,
you can qualify for a $2,400 tax credit per worker.


Small Business Estimated Taxes
Your business may be able to make estimated tax payments
equal to only 90% of your preceding tax year liability, instead of
the usual 100%. To qualify, you must have a gross income of
less than $500,000, and more than 50% of your gross income
must come from a small business source. Go to www.irs.gov
to see if you qualify!


Carry Back of Net Operating Losses
If your small business makes less than $15 million a year, you
are eligible to carry back your 2008 net operating losses to five
years prior to the loss. Under previous law, net operating
losses (NOLs) could only be carried back to the two taxable
years before the year that the loss arises. If you have already
submitted your taxes for 2008, you may amend for this credit
until April 17, 2009. For more information on this tax
incentive, go to www.irs.gov.

The full report is posted on our website, www.pitkinbid.org, and on David Yassky's website.

If you think you may be eligible and need assistance, please contact the BID office for more information.

Much thanks to Councilmember Yassky for putting this together!

Welcome to our Pitkin BID blog!

Greetings! This is the first post on our new blog.
This is a great space for us to make announcements, profile area residents and businesses, and tell stories about Pitkin Avenue. Guest bloggers are always welcome.
This is a space for the community, so please feel free to offer comments and suggestions. Thanks again for stopping by!