More Tales about 500 East Fourth Street

This weekend my old friend Patty D. was up from Florida to play goalie with us down at Avenue F. And once again I asked him questions about 500 East Fourth Street. Now according to what Pat learned about the house it was one of the first houses in Kensington. In fact Pat even said that the old woman who lived there in the 70's told him that her great grandparents were Dutch and the house was in fact made from the wood of the ship they dragged from the
Coney Island.

Pat also told me that his brother has pictures of the house with American Indians standing outside of it posing with the owner, as well as other photographs of the cornfields that surround it. Hey, what the hell, it sounds a lot more interesting than the history of my house. According to my family it was owned by a Jewish gambler who owed so much money to Joey Gallo that he had to sell it before they put him in a drum packed with concrete and dump him in Sheepshead Bay.

The other stories about each house next to me goes as so. 403 East Fourth street was owned by the Bryer ice cream family, (although they were from Philly) while 395 East Fourth was owned by the Reingold family that owned the beer company in Brooklyn. The servants quarters were on the top floor of each house, and they used a dumbwaiter to deliver the food to every floor.

I remember as a kid my mom telling me to keep away from this open shaft near our bedroom. So I think that story's not far from the truth.

And as for 500 East Fourth, I"ll keep bugging Pat for those pictures.

Ron Lopez
Mopar195@yahoo.com