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Peter



Last Updated: 11/20/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Single
Age: 25
Sign: Capricorn

City: BROOKLYN(canarsie)
State: New York
Country: US
Signup Date: 3/18/2006

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Friday, August 04, 2006 

Current mood:  accomplished
Category: Life
For many kids who were born in New York City in the 1970's and 1980's cult movies like The Warriors were a badge of urban identity and a symbol of the city we were born into. The first time I saw The Warriors was when I was 5 yrs old in 1989 on the reccomendation of my dad's stoner friend from W. 16th St in Coney Island whose apartment he used to take me to every single Sunday in a house down an alley behind a delapadated tenement. For many kids my age baseball&soccer was the name of the game, but for me I would stand on the corner of W.17th St and Mermaid Ave and watch the graffiti covered B Train pull in and out of the old Stillwell Ave depot. My dad's friend's mom used to sit out on W.17th with a few other old timers and me too! She was a lady approaching 70 at the time of Polish descent and had a classic New York accent and smokers cough, every other word out of her mouth was a curse word. Even though I was just 5 it was both fascinating and a little scary to hear so many curse words that were forbidden at home at least until I turned 11 then I started cursing non-stop and cannot quit now. At that time some Coney Island clasics were still standing the Half Moon Hotel, Stauch's Bathhouse and the old Atlantis club which is now the Boardwalk Nathans and who could forget the deteriorating Thunderbolt Rollercoaster immortalized in Woody Allen's Annie Hall and locals used to try to scare me buy telling me a cannibal lived there because there was an American Flag and barking dogs. As for The Warriors my dad's friend Mickey knew I had a subway obsession so he told me to see the movie The Warriors which my mom who is atotal worrier took me to see at Brighton Beaches Oceana theater it was playing only at that theater as a 10th Anniversary thing 1979-1989. What I remember about the Oceana was it's faded grandeur and filth/neglect; it was the first time I ever saw large groups of teenagers sneek in and out the side exits of a movie house and pay no admission! Add to that the some of the patrons openly smoked in the theater and some were just plain out DOING IT! Brighton Beach in 1989 was not the Russian Paradise it is now, it was largely populated by an aging Jewish population of German and Polish heritage and a large Hispanic minority. While my mom was horrified by the theater and the fact that she took a 5 year old to see a gang flick she watched the film but kept asking me if I understood it. Well I did not understand the gang aspext of the movie I understood all the trains and vivid color explosion the movie offered. Altough I would have to watch it a few more times to comprehend the whole movie the colors stuck and that night I took out some crayola markers and tried to copy some of the local graffiti I saw on trains and in Canarsie/Coney Island on a neighbors house which got me in big trouble!! But nevertheless seeing that film was sort of a coming of age experience. On August 2, 2006 Netflix.com hosted a Warriors screening in Asser Levy Park in Brighton Beach and while seeing the movie again was great and being in the company of many die-hard fans some of whom dressed the part. It was extremely dissapointing to witness the overpricing of Warrior related items and even more so they brought Cyrus (Roger Hill) and Warrior characters Cleon(Dorsey Wright), Cowboy(Tom Mckitterick), Mercy(Deborah Van Valkenburgh), Ajax(James Remar), and Swan(Michael Beck) to the screening as I thought a nice symbol and gesture of thanks to a film that had such an effect on so many New Yorkers now in their 20's and 30's. But as is typical of our times it was just a promotion and to get an autograph or picture with any character was $10 and with Michael Beck $20. Well I didn't really have any money on me nor was I paying while I would have liked to take a picture with them and I did bring some sentimental stuff I wanted signed, I was really saddened about the price tag affixed to being a fan. But while times and people change my love for the original Warriors nor my memories of the New York of my childhood will never fade, at least they can't take that away from me. 
5:49 AM 
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Thursday, July 20, 2006 

Current mood:  calm
Category: Life
It's official!!! the Rockaways are almost at their end; this former working class beach paradise that was neglected for decades is finally seeing the destruction of what made the Rockaways the most awesome shoreline in the world after Coney Island of course. From the weathered victorian homes of a grander era to the forlon bungalow colonies that are to be found on many Rockaway strolls it breaks my heart to watch the wholesale destruction of this true blue collar beach resort. Maybe the former hotels andRockaway Playland did not survive into our generation but at least I am glad that I am old enough to have enjoyed the surf shops and Irish Bars that continue to dot the community. More amazing is still vast acerage of empty beachfront land that sits were the former bungalow colonies of Edgemere once stood that were destroyed during the Urban Renewal craze of the 1960s, and left to rot until recently altough mother nature reclaimed much of it and a ride on the A to Far Rockaway gives one a glimpse of what a barrier island coast may have looked like before the (WHITE MAN ARRIVED). From the refeshing breeze to occasionally boogie boarding and not well I might add...lol, to walking the splintered but classic boardwalk Americas longest by the way to exploring side streets and long forgotten bungalow colonies with my camera in tow as seagulls screech above me and children play and lifeguards whistles pierce the soft sounds of the rolling Atlantic Surf, I know for me the Rockaways magic will continue to cast a spell on me even as greedy developers shoehorn condiminiums and multi family homes of shoddy construction in what seems like every available space now. At least memories cannot be dstroyed and as you nurse a Guinness at Connely's on Beach 85th just remember what Joey Ramone said in 1977 and you gotta hitch a ride to Rockin Rockaway Beach now more than ever!
Currently listening:
Ramones
By The Ramones
Release date: 19 June, 2001
6:37 AM 
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Wednesday, July 12, 2006 

Current mood:  bouncy
Category: Life
Brooklyn has always been my home, I was born here lived here all my life and on my fathers side I am a 5th generation Brooklynite. Of course i'll admit that from time to time I have thought of leaving even to don't say it...MANHATTAN! But Brooklyn has always had some sick hold on me especially the eastern half probably cause this is where I grew up; but it's more than that it's almost as if Brooklyn has a magical spell over me the place intrigues me like you would not believe even though my heart breaks as I watch the shit that developers and other outsiders are doing to my beloved home town. But nevertheless as an obsessed Brooklynphile and urban wanderer I could never leave and now I know for a fact that Brooklyn is the best place in America; no make that the WORLD. The people are friendlier and the air is better and to me this is paradise I could care less about the rest of the world for Brooklyn is my world. When you stand out on a warm summer evening or freezing winters eve and see that magical sunset on the western horizon dipping below the rooftops and dangling wires and tree branches casting the hues of orange/red down the avenues and glistening off brick/brownstone alumining siding and glass or the silver of a moving el train or even the waterfront can you say to yourself where does it get more beautiful or serene then here.
Currently listening:
Licensed to Ill
By Beastie Boys
Release date: 25 October, 1990
8:22 AM 
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