This is Our Lady of Grace Church on Avenue W in Gravesend, Brooklyn. It's where my parents were married and I was baptized. I haven't been there since I was age 11. It's waaaay smaller than I remember it, but Google Street has shown me that's pretty much the case with everything from my childhood.
Checking out the parish photo collection, I see that it's still very much an Italian congregation. This widowed-support-group Christmas party gave me a laugh because it is so familiarly Italian. As you get deeper into the images you can see how they made the waitstaff staff abandon their posts and join the party. There is no way a group of older Italian women would allow them any say in the matter. If they say party, you party; they won't let up until you submit.
If my grandmother had been there, she would have tried to help them clear the tables and do the dishes.
Photo #100 of the Christmas party was worth the click-thru. And did you see the food in the block party photos?
Posted by: Donna B. | Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 06:39 PM
Yes, 100 is good. I liked 101, as well.
Posted by: Dr X | Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 07:56 PM
Last year I took a "memory lane" tour of my childhood Chicago suburban homes. My mother was a serial home buyer and every time my Dad got a raise we would buy a new house somewhere in Chicagoland.
The tour included homes and townhouses in Evanston, Des Plaines, Rolling Meadows, Hoffman Estates, Arlington Heights and Barrington.
All of the houses and yards looked absurdly small to me.
Posted by: lancifer666 | Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 09:45 PM
A bit of overlap, Lance.
Me: Evanston a couple of times, Glenview, Prospect Heights, Hoffman Estates, Skokie, Northfield, Chicago Uptown & Rogers Park.
Posted by: Dr X | Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 10:32 AM
Where and when in Hoffman Estates? I lived off of Higgin's Rd. (IL 72) in a subdivision called Barrington Square. I was a memeber of the first class of Hoffman Estates high School, though we of course moved again before I graduated.
Posted by: lancifer666 | Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 05:02 PM
Heh... Late 70s to mid 80s, across the street in Barrington Lakes on Hassell Road, directly across the street from Barrington Square, next door to the 7-11, when west of Barrington Rd was corn all the way to Elgin.
Posted by: Dr X | Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 05:22 PM
The land those apartments sits on was vacant when I first moved to Barrington Square. I remember them being built!
A manic friend and I vandalized the building site. I'm not proud of it, and actually tried to stop him at one point, but he had some mental problems and I think he really may have been psychotic.
We broke out a few sliding glass patio doors. Was your apartment a ground floor with a patio door?
I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has expired but it feels good to clear my conscience.
Posted by: lancifer666 | Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 09:20 PM
Maybe you should bill me for an hour of therapy.
Posted by: lancifer666 | Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 09:23 PM
They must get crazy at weddings.
Posted by: Eileen Ragan | Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 08:24 PM