The Bay Ridge Digest
A bi-weekly hyper-local Bay Ridge magazine-style podcast combining everything from culture, restaurant recommendations, history stories, current events, interviews, humor, and human interest.
The Bay Ridge Digest
The Bay Ridge Digest Podcast - EP016: Beach Season
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Out now on all podcasting platforms, The Bay Ridge Digest Podcast episode 16! We talk about Coney Island, community theater, growing up in Bensonhurst, and meet several ladies running small businesses in the neighborhood.
Featured in this episode are these segments:
• A life in fashion with Sew ‘N Fashion’s (@sew.n.fashion_bk) Alyson Melhus
• What exactly is a Coney? Coney Island’s early history
• Growing Up In Bensonhurst with Victoria Salerno of Mighty Functional Fitness Studio (@mightyfunctionalfitness)
• The First Happy Father’s Day in 15 Years
• Anna from Anna Bella Pizza Cafe (@annabellapizzacafe) with how family tragedy led her to a life as a foodie, opening up Anna Bella Pizza Cafe, and how her and her husband Hisham are running this new sourdough pizza cafe
• Dreamland Burns Down
• Music the World Makes with John P. Loonam (@jploonam)
• At the grand opening the new Law Offices of Khalifeh and Strupinsky (@khalifehstrupinsky)
• Community Theater with Jeff Samaha (@jeff_samaha)
• Wedding and Summer Jokes with Freddie Friday (@freddiefridaystoryfuntime) with a PSA for the Itty Bitty Kitty Bay Ridge Cat Rescue (@ittybittykittynybayridge)
• Running Sew ‘N Fashion and courses offered (@sew.n.fashion_bk) with Alyson Melhus
Coming June 29th: The Bay Ridge Digest Monday morning roundup email. It’ll feature local events, classifieds, restaurant recs, human interest, and other important Bay Ridge happenings.
Want to receive this? Want to submit a story or important event you already know that will be happening this Summer? Do all that at BayRidgeDigest.com.
Want to have your businesses logo featured in the weekly email for one small monthly fee? Go to Patreon.com/TheBayRidgeDigest to do so, and the Media Kit at BayRidgeDigest.com to find out more.
To individually support all these Bay Ridge Digest pieces of media for as little as $5 per month, please go to Patreon.com/TheBayRidgeDigest.
For more info on how to submit a story lead, please go to BayRidgeDigest.com. You can also get in touch by emailing BayRidgeDigest@gmail.com.
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Support for the Bay Ridge Digest is provided by our patrons. Become a show supporter for as little as five bucks per month.com/slash the Bayridge Digest. Memorial Day weekend was always an important time for me as a kid. It's when the beaches opened up. My family's beach of choice? May 25th on Coney Island. Today the Coney Island Peninsula consists of four neighborhoods. Running from east to west, they are Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, West Brighton, and Seagate. The western portion of the island has three major east-west avenues Neptune, Mermaid and Surf. The eastern portion has two Shore Boulevard and Oriental Boulevard, named for the resort that once dominated the area. But this area has been one where New Yorkers went to summer swim, hang out, and more since the late 1820s. And it's also played an important role in the technological advancements that have you listening to this episode right now. How? Tonight. We'll dive in and find out.
SPEAKER_11I don't know if I understand it. I started back in the days when the Yellow Mo Marconi started, I think. Now I've been in it a long time. This is how many years? Over 50 years. And it goes back to the days when I first started, and everybody says, How did you ever get into radio?
SPEAKER_03How did you ever get into radio?
SPEAKER_11I forgot. I got in and I guess I was going to school at the time, and if if any of you know New York City, there is a bedroom called Brooklyn where we live. And there is an additional place called Coney Island. And a friend of mine walking on the boardwalk, a friend of myself walking on the boardwalk in Coney Island, when we got to the Half Moon Hotel, and on the basement floor, there were a couple of stores. And one of them had the letters W C G U. And I said to this friend of mine, What do you suppose that is? He said, I think it's a radio station. I said, Oh? And at that point, a guy came running out and said, Can anybody here do anything? And this fellow pointed to me and he says, He plays piano. And he grabbed me, threw me into this studio, which looked like a house of ill repute. It had velvet drapes all around, a solitary piano, and there was a microphone on a stand, and this was known as a carbon mic. A big round mic. And there was the actual mic itself was suspended on rubber bands. And the man came up to the mic, tapped it to get the carbons all settled, and said, Ladies and gentlemen, we now present that distinguished concert pianist, Mr. Paul Hart. And I looked around and said, Who the hell is he talking about? You know. He said, What are you gonna play? I said, Well, I'm gonna play Dizzy Fingers and uh it had to be you and a few other jazzy things. And he said, Wait a minute, you've got to play something classical. I said, Oh, I'll play the minute waltz by Chopin, a little Bachfugue, and a Beethoven sonata. Mr.
SPEAKER_17Hart opens his programs today with Welcome to the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast, episode 16. My name is James Scully. Tonight we talk Coney Island, community theater, growing up in Bensonhurst, and meet several ladies running small businesses in the neighborhood. Subscribe to the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast everywhere you get a podcast. For more info on how to submit a story lead, please go to Bayridge Digest.com. You can also get in touch by emailing Bayridge Digest at gmail.com and follow on Instagram at Bayridge Digest. Coming June 29th, the Bay Ridge Digest Monday morning roundup email. It'll feature local events, classifies, restaurant recs, human interest, and other important Bay Ridge happenings. Wanna receive this? Want to submit a story or important event? You already know that'll be happening this summer? Do all that at BayridgeDigest.com. Want to have your business's logo featured in the weekly email for one small monthly fee? Go to patreon.com slash the Bayridge Digest to do so. And the media kit at BayridgeDigest.com to find out more. To individually support all these Bayridge Digest pieces of media for as little as $5 per month and get your name in the weekly email, please go to patreon.com slash the Bayridge Digest. In need of anything from script writing to MCing, editing, producing, mixing, and directing? I do all these things. Been thinking about starting a podcast and not sure where to begin? I can help you produce your podcast at any stage from pre-planning through post-production. You can contact me for a consultation at james at the wallbreakers.com.
SPEAKER_05You know, everyone wants to be the next designer, the next passion designer, you know, and I was just so honed in on getting a job. So I actually went into leather industry, the leather industry, which I didn't study at all in college. I applied, I think it was to over a hundred jobs and heard actually too. And one of the two that I had interviews hired me. So the leather industry was my life for eight years, and I just no, never never thought about teaching anyone. But as soon as it happened, I was like, this is enjoyable. This is awesome. It's not like dealing with deadlines and production issues and everything. You're dealing with someone and you're making that connection and you're passing the skill onto them that they can use for the rest of their life if they want, and it's a really cool thing.
SPEAKER_17Have you passed by Sew and Fashion at 278 87th Street? This is Alison Melhoose, owner and proprietor.
SPEAKER_05Hi, my name is Alison Melhose, and I'm the owner of Sew and Fashion. We are located at 278 87th Street in Bay Ridge. My husband is born and raised. I met him in 2013, and I came to Bay Ridge, I want to say 2012. I moved from the Bronx, actually, and I just liked how quiet and friendly the neighborhood was. Very family, very cute. Kind of reminded me of home. And I met him while I was working my second job at Windy City Alehouse. Okay. The hockey bar over Third Avenue. And he came in with two of the regulars, and we just met on a hot summer night, and that was it.
SPEAKER_17She grew up in Pennsylvania.
SPEAKER_05So it's a small town called Perky Oomenville. It's about an hour from Philly, like northwest of Philly.
SPEAKER_02Growing up in that small town, obviously Philly is a closer big city than New York City. But for a somebody growing up in a small town of Pennsylvania, what was New York City to you as a kid? Incredible. Why was it?
SPEAKER_05It just was always like this big, shiny place to me because there was so much going on there. And I never thought I would end up here, honestly. But we would come on field trips, we would see the Statue of Liberty, you know, World Trade Centers, like all that. And it was just always so fun. There was always so much going on. And back home, I had to drive everywhere. I didn't have delivery service. So if you wanted to take out, you had to go get it. I think my closest friend was at least a 15-minute drive. So being in New York and be able to just walk to any store, get food, whatever you wanted, it was great. I loved it.
SPEAKER_02When does it become a plan?
SPEAKER_05It became a reality, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You clearly had to be thinking about it.
SPEAKER_05I guess it started to come into my mind when I went to college because I was just thinking, like, where can I work? I'm studying fashion design. Am I gonna stay in Philly? What's in Philly? Oh, they have urban anthropology, that kind of thing. And then, okay, I need to get an internship. Where am I gonna get an internship? New York City, let's test the waters. So I got an internship at Zach Posen, and then I lived in Carroll Gardens, which was incredible. Fortunately, I'll probably never be able to live there again. I think that's when I really realized that I wanted to be here. Because Philly was always a possibility. But then when I had my internship, I was like, okay, I think New York's the place to be. And I was able to make that happen.
SPEAKER_17Allison's grandmother was one of her biggest influences growing up.
SPEAKER_05She was a professional seamstress. That's I believe how she met her husband, my grandfather, too. They worked in the same factory. I think he was in the mechanical end of it, and she was on the machine.
SPEAKER_02So as a little girl, earliest memories of her working or just you watching her?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So she never worked when I was alive. She was just my grandma. But working making stuff for your face. Yes, right. Oh, everything. Matching outfits with my sister, Halloween costumes, scrunchies, crocheting things, Barbie clothes, doll clothes, you know, Afghans, quilt, all that stuff. I got a lot of my traits from her too about the scissors. The one thing you'll know about any seamstress, you don't touch fabric scissors. And so that was like ingrained in my head until I started sewing. Because as soon as they touch paper, they dull. You mean to cut stuff like anything cut fabric? Anything but fabric. My mom laughs at me because I do the same thing. Like if she asks me to alter something, I'll ask, is it black? And her mother used to do the same thing because that was the thread that was in her sewing machine. So it's just I just remember going over to her little place. So my mom had a rancher house, and she lived in the in-law quarter, so it was basically an apartment. And so it was a two-bedroom apartment, and the one bedroom was her sewing studio, and she had all of her notions and tools up on the wall, and a big table with her, you know, the inlaid sewing machine. And I just remember always going in there and she'd be like, careful, there's pins everywhere. And you know, it was just kind of like a world of wonder to just see her work, but it was always don't touch the scissors. Especially when you're little, you know, you know.
SPEAKER_02They don't cut it anything. No, they don't.
SPEAKER_05And you see these massive, you know, fabric shares.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_05My mom was very supportive, and my sister's actually very creative as well. She didn't go the creative route in terms of her job. She's in tech, but my mom put us in art classes, and like we went to a high school that was incredible, had an incredible art department, ceramics, weaving, 3D art, digital art. Even, you know, I went to high school, what? I graduated in 2006, and so they were doing Adobe, you know, that kind of stuff too. Anything that we wanted to do, my mom let us like venture into that. And when I started cutting apart my clothing, she just watched, you know. She she didn't supportive. Yeah, very supportive. I remember like safety pinning and like all this stuff, and she was just like, Okay, you know. That's when my grandma was like, No, no, no, you have to learn how to sew. So it just became a thing. So, what was the model of the sewing machine that your grandma had in here? I believe it was a baby lock. She had a couple. The one she passed to me was a baby lock for sure. I think she might have had a singer before that. But you know, the machines they make now aren't the same as they used to be. Not as good. Not as good as fatal, right? Yeah. I mean, you can get a good machine, but you know, everyone knows it. They were built to last back then.
SPEAKER_17How did Allison wind up in Bay Ridge? It all started at college at Casanovia College.
SPEAKER_05It was a small liberal arts school close to Syracuse. But it was a really great school to go to for fashion because it was small classes. I got in there and it kind of also reminded me of home. Bay Ridge reminds me of home a little bit, and Casanovia did too, because it was just quaint. You could do your independent studies with whatever you wanted. So I was able to go into menswear, millinery, that kind of stuff, and I didn't have that intense competition that you find at some of the schools in New York.
SPEAKER_02Being an art school graduate.
SPEAKER_05I've heard horror stories, and I almost transferred to FIT my second year, but I decided to stay. And I'm glad I did. I think I got a really good education from Casanovia.
SPEAKER_02Now you spent eight years work in the industry, right? And at this point, we go to 2018. You are here in Brooklyn, living in Bay Ridge. What makes you decide to shift into teaching?
SPEAKER_05Well, I got pregnant. Okay, well, that's good. You know, that'll do it. So I got pregnant in 2017 and I went on a maternity leave and I left it open-ended with my job, and they were okay. Like I told them that I probably wasn't coming back to work and I didn't, and it was okay with them. You know, they brought me on as kind of a consultant here and there. Then 2020 happened, and it was good that I was home, but I always needed to do something. Like I felt like I needed creative juices to flow. I've always had my bridal line on the side, so I was trying to keep that up and going. And actually, a local mom posted on Facebook that her daughter wanted to learn how to sew. And people were tagging me. It was, I think, the Bay Ridge Parents group. And I reached out to her, and that started a trickle. That was in 2021. So that started with a group of I think four girls, and then it dropped into two, but like separate. One of the girls wanted private, and then the other two stayed on together, and then I got another job at a different house with another two girls that were sisters, and then one of the moms hooked me up with 185 to do an afterschool program. So it started off as a small group and it just kept rolling into more and more opportunities. And then when I was teaching at 185, I parked in Funnel 278. It was vacant, called, and that was that. Yeah. Now this is 2024. This is 2024, so it was about like three years doing in-home lessons. The 2023 to 2024 school year is when I was doing the afterschool program at 185. So all the paperwork went through. We got the keys in May of 2024, and then it came KA construction, like my mom and I. We renovated the whole place ourselves, and it was born, I guess. The impression was born.
SPEAKER_02I feel like you probably were like a Gilmore girls. I was. I'm hearing light female harmonizing.
SPEAKER_05Favorite, favorite show.
SPEAKER_17We'll pick up with Allison later in this episode of the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast. Native inhabitants of the region, the Lenape, called this area the land without shadows, for its continuous direct sunlight. The Dutch named it Konya, or Rabbit Island, for the widespread population. The British later anglicized the name to Coney. In 1829, the Gravesend and Coney Island Road and Bridge Company built both of those things connecting Coney Island with the mainland of Long Island. They next built the Coney Island House, the area's first hotel, near present-day Seagate. Five years later, the town of Brooklyn, which is one of the six towns of Kings County, along with Bushwick, Flatlands, Flatbush Gravesen, and Neutrich, received a charter to become the city of Brooklyn. By the 1840s, hotel owner and politician Michael Norton was sponsoring a ferry that docked at today's Norton's Point in Seagate. On the beach near a makeshift pier and pavilion, unregulated gambling took place. Men sold steam clams, and chowder became the go-to food. Prostitution was rampant. Murder, not uncommon. After the steamship reduced travel time to just a few hours, wealthy New Yorkers began to eye the eastern end of the island. In the 1870s, resorts named the Manhattan, Brighton, and Oriental opened. New roads and elevated railways connected New York's growing population. Soon, Master Carousel builder Charles Louf built an amusement ride at Van der Veer's bathhouse at West Sixth and Surf Avenue. And in 1876, the centerpiece of the Philadelphia Exhibition, a 300-foot-tall observation tower, was moved to Coney. It was the tallest structure in the United States. In the next decade, James V. Lafferty opened a seven-story hotel in the shape of an elephant at the corner of Surf Avenue in West 12th. Bull Boynton opened Sea Lion Park, and George C. Tilew opened Steeplechase. The amusement era had officially begun. Coney Island became the country's top vacation destination for both wealthy and merchant-class Americans looking to experience the wild and never-before seen. Meanwhile, on Thursday, January 18, 1906, at Norton's Point in Seagate, Guglielmo Marconi sent a wireless telegraph to Captain Hayes of the Majestic, a White Star Ocean liner. This station formed the final link in Marconi's chain, connecting all Atlantic liners with the shore up to 70 hours away at sea. A ten-word message for an American ship cost a dollar. Foreign ships, 40 cents extra. And by 1906, this four-mile-long, half-mile-wide peninsula on the southwestern end of Long Island was home to collections of objects, people, and creatures unseen together anywhere else in the modern world. From the point of Coney's development in the last half of the 19th century, the eastern part had been the most expensive. The West was the cheapest and most dangerous. But the area was rapidly changing. Thanks in part to Coney. The world was getting smaller. The resort era was coming to an end. The following year, gambling was outlawed, and soon upper-class regality gave way to working-class pandemonium. The Marconi Company operated this station at Seagate until World War I, when the U.S. Navy gained control of all American Marconi stations. A decade after the end of World War I, wireless telegraphy had become radio broadcasting. Movies, public transportation, and the car helped change Coney's demographic. And nickel now brought you here from anywhere in New York City. On blistering summer days, upwards of one million people could be found sea bathing, eating new and old delicacies, and at night, staring up in wonder at what the newspapers labeled the electric city. The entire world knew Coney.
SPEAKER_03That would be 85th Street between 20th and 21st under the L. I grew up there. I was young in the 70s and 80s. During the time that everyone was driving up and down underneath the elk. Good times happening in Benson House at that time.
SPEAKER_02Well you mentioned the Benson.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah. Lowe's Oriental, which now is a Marshall's. Yeah. We used to go to the theater there and they had a balcony. So we used to pay for one movie, and then from one movie theater, we would just move from that movie theater, go to the next movie theater. We spend the whole Saturday watching different movies because no one would know at the end of one movie, we'd just go to the next theater.
SPEAKER_17This is Victoria Salerno, owner of the Mighty Functional Fitness Studio.
SPEAKER_03I'm Victoria Salerno, and I am the owner of Mighty Functional Fitness Studio in Bay Ridge. We are co host Located inside of the green spa at 8804 Third Avenue.
SPEAKER_17As you just heard, Victoria is a Bensonhurst girl. What was her favorite Bensonhurst pizzeria growing up?
SPEAKER_03We went to Neil's. So if anybody knew Neils, Neil was located between 85th Street and 86th Street. And he was this short Italian guy, and he worked in there with his wife and his son. You know, he was a strict pizza guy, tossing the pizzas up. His shop was smaller than Lenny's. He was a fiery man. But we love Neil. Neil was amazing.
SPEAKER_02And you also mentioned Richard Lou's Diner.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, Richelieu's Richelieu's was in the middle of 86th Street. Sometimes we'd have our parties in the back of Richelieu's, but there was also Jan's. Jan's was on the corner of, I believe, 20th Avenue and 86th Street. You know, it's a shame because all of these old places, they had all those old fixtures in them and they really had personality. Now, 86th Street Bensonhurst, obviously it's a whole different culture, but that's great too, because throughout the years, everybody has their own chance to make a mock. Children growing up there now have their own or are gonna have their own memories of what their neighborhood was like, and so it's nice.
SPEAKER_17Today Victoria is a teacher, but that wasn't always the case.
SPEAKER_03I am a teacher. I work for the Department of Education, and I've been a teacher for about 26 years. I actually just fell into teaching because what I originally was was an anthropology major and a film major. And I worked for a public television show. I decided, you know, this isn't going to pay my bills. So while I do this, I am going to work in a private school. It'll be stable, I'll make some money. I ended up getting a job at St. Patrick's School, right here in Bear Ridge, and then from there I just sort of fell into it. Life happens. And unfortunately, my dreams of being a documentary filmmaker sort of went on the back burner, and somehow I meandered into the education field, into the DOE teacher, a teacher coach, an administrator in the DOE.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's what was the public television show that you were working for?
SPEAKER_03I was working for Out of Ireland Television with Patricia O'Reilly, and she had been on for a long time, and they had a very strong Irish-American following in the 90s. During that time, that was a rich time for Ireland. It became known as the Celtic Tiger. I don't know if it was before or after, but I do know that there was this period of time where there was great prosperity in Ireland. Everybody was interested in Ireland. Frank McCord, everything in the 90s, you know, all of these um movies. Yeah, River Dance, you know, all of these movies, these shows. Uh, you know, it was a big time for Irish Americans. So I worked for Out of Ireland television, camera person, continuity. It was very interesting. We used to film the show once a week out of NYU Ireland House, just by Washington Square Park, and I got to meet a lot of interesting Irish people, and it was fun.
SPEAKER_02And you are a special education teacher?
SPEAKER_03Yes, correct. I'm a special education teacher. I've done that now for over 20 years. I really enjoy working with students who are struggling and who have social emotional needs, who have academic needs, who sometimes other people might get frustrated with. But, you know, it's very important to be nurturing and to think about, you know, what is the story that this child comes with? Because, you know, sometimes a child might be behaving a certain way, but you have to always look beyond and see, you know, where is that child coming from?
SPEAKER_17I was curious where her patience comes from. But, you know, then again, we Italian Americans from Beds Nurst are definitely known for our patience.
SPEAKER_03Patient?
SPEAKER_06So where does that level of patience comes from?
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness. I would say my level of patience comes from my dad. My dad came here from Sicily when he was 12 years old. And my mom's family is from Naples, but her grandparents are from Naples. My patience, I would say, comes from my dad, but I do have a point where being Sicilian and being a Leo, so being somewhat fiery, you know, my patience, there is a limit. You can go from like zero to a hundred, my bed centers can come out. But my patience would come from my dad, who was one who was reserved. He listened a lot. But if you did push a little too far, then you know.
SPEAKER_17The black hand.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. So I would say that.
SPEAKER_17As we said at the top, Victoria owns the Mighty Functional Fitness Studio. It's located inside the Green Spa and Wellness Center at 8804 Third Avenue. So where did our fitness inspiration come from?
SPEAKER_03I have always been involved and interested in the fitness world. And where did it come from? When I was much younger, I dated someone who was like six foot four, 230 pounds, very athletic. We used to go to the gym all the time. And at that time, we went to Dolphin Gym, Powerhouse, and it was like a real gym where it was all about working out. It wasn't about going there and socializing. And so we'd go to the gym, and they really taught me how to work out. The guys at the gym taught me how to work out. Form, which is everything. And then I worked out with someone named Jim from the gym. I called him, and he was a runner and he got me into running. I met someone else who got me into biking, and we used to do biking tours over 100 miles. So I was very, very fit. I enjoyed it. At one point I was training others, eating right, etc. Once you get into that rhythm and that routine, it's just something that for myself, if I had stopped, I just never felt right. But then at a certain point, I became pregnant. I was a single mom and I was high risk, so I couldn't work out while I was pregnant. Sort of my whole routine, it just fell to the wayside. After my daughter, everything was my daughter. As a single parent, I did have a lot of help. I did have a lot of support. However, it was not in my nature to say, okay, I'm going to leave my daughter with someone else while I go off to the gym and focus on making my body beautiful again. Some people say, yes, you have to have, and for me, maybe that was extreme. You know, you should have healthy boundaries, but I just didn't feel comfortable.
SPEAKER_02For those of us who are not old enough to have gone to the Powerhouse Gym and have to deal with people with tripods in certain gyms in the area here. Oh my gosh. Can you please explain to some of the modern listeners the differences and what working out in a gym in the 1980s was like?
SPEAKER_03Sure, and even Jack Lelane. I did go to Jack Lelane, and there was one woman there, I think she has since moved to Florida, but her name was Cena, and she was serious, a little short lady, and I actually ended up working with her later on in the DOE. These were people who took their working out seriously, but they weren't so much that they took it so serious that they would not help you when they were not approachable. They would watch you and they would come over, and they wouldn't come over to judge you, but they'd come over to help you. And so they would tell you, watch your form. Your form is not right here. Let me show you how it's done. And so the thing that I learned then in my 20s that I carry on and I've carried on forever is it's all about your form. If you go to the gym now and you see young people working out, or even older people, and then when I get clients and I watch their form, like I'll say, okay, sit down, let me see what you're doing, let me see how you do it. And their form is completely off. And then they end up hurting themselves. They hurt their back, they hurt their shoulder, they hurt, you know, their knees because their form is off. Back in the day at those gyms, women and men were very serious about their working out, very serious about eating. They would help out and they would show you how to do the exercise correctly. And I don't think you get that anymore. I know that, you know, I tried, what's the gym on 86th Street in the middle? Planet Fitness, yeah. And I I went there and it's full of kids, which there's nothing wrong with it. I think it's great for kids to work out, but they need to know how to work out.
SPEAKER_17Let's leave it here with Victoria for now and pick up with her opening the Mighty Functional Fitness Studio on the next episode of the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast. But before we go, hey Victoria, tell the people about what specials you're running and how they can find you.
SPEAKER_03We are running a special, so it's our $99 special. You get three sessions, and you get the in-body assessment, you get a consultation with me, which reviews the in-body, and you get a nutritional analysis. We go over that, and then we get three personalized sessions. And if you want to continue after that, which most people do, they like it. I'm not tooting my own horn here, but they do because what they like is the space, they like that it's one-on-one, they like that they can work out and no one's around them, crowded around them, or you know, watching them. So if you're that kind of person who is looking for that, if you're the kind of person who you feel your body has changed and you just don't know what to do, or you don't know how to work out, if you have a daughter that you would like to become physically fit, or she would like to become physically fit, but you know, she doesn't feel comfortable working out at the gym, come see us. We're here and we're here for you. We'd love to have a chat. To make an appointment, you can visit our website at immighty.as.me. Or if you're in the neighborhood, you can stop in. I'm not here all the time, but you can give your information to the front desk. Usually it's Bianca, and Bianca will send me a referral link. But again, it's immighty.as.me, and there's a link for a consultation. Fill it out, and I will get back to you immediately. The social is Instagram and that's at Mighty Functional Fitness. And that's the prime social. So check us out. You'll see some pictures, you'll see some videos, but check us out.
SPEAKER_17Interested in advertising your business on the Bay Ridge Digers podcast? Get in touch with me at James at the Wallbreaker.com. Now enjoy this teaser for Burning Gotham. What's Burning Gotham? It's an historically accurate audio fiction soap opera set in 1835 in New York City. I created, produced, directed, and co-wrote it. The first eight episodes are out anywhere you get a podcast right at Burninggotham.com. Episodes are ten to fifteen minutes in length. Burning Gotham made the 2022 Drebeka Film Festival as an audio selection.
SPEAKER_16Right now, experience New York City like you've never before.
SPEAKER_00The speculation is out of control. The whole republic is going to come, gentlemen!
SPEAKER_16Will you make the right deal?
SPEAKER_01Memories are short in New York. If you don't make a fortune, someone else will.
SPEAKER_00I know you've been bringing rosemary into port illegally. I have eyes and ears and noses and tongues everywhere or full to greed.
SPEAKER_01If I was caught with diamonds at any time, any time, my sister and I would have been gang raped and murdered. I do this for you. Look at what we got here, bricked up.
SPEAKER_10Looks like we're caught as a dandy and a whore all alone on South Street with nowhere behind. Ain't that right, boy?
SPEAKER_16But whatever you choose, there's the choice. You just always make the same choice, the one for yourself. Just make sure you get out in time.
SPEAKER_17Out now on your favorite podcast app. Burning Gotham, the 2022 Tribeca Select Audio Soap Opera. About the fastest growing city in the world and the opportunists who shaped it. To find out more, go to Burning Gotham.com. If we were sitting in hinges at 8518 Fifth Avenue with a copy of the Daily News, the front cover would have told you about the passing of legendary Broadway composer Alan Lerner. The overdose death of Olivia Channel, daughter of Paul Channel, UK Cabinet Minister and Guinness Brewing family heir, and the anti-South African apartheid rallies going on across the city. Because of which we're concerning ourselves with an article by Bill Real on page 134 called The First Happy Father's Day in 15 years. William J. Real was born on April 14th, 1939 in Connecticut. He was a Yale graduate in 1962. And that year he got a job with the Daily News as a $40 a week copyboy. Moved up to makeup editor, then feature writer, and city site and religion reporter before becoming a columnist in 1974. What was his column called? Real People. It was said that Bill Real wrote about ordinary New Yorkers in an extraordinary way. Easygoing with a confident smile. He was known as Reverend among his newsroom colleagues for his deep faith. One of his best-known columns was about the work of Good Counsel, a religious group that seeks shelter for pregnant women. The next day, Real got a call from Frank Sinatra asking where he could make a donation. Sinatra gave 10 grand. Real wanted to make note of that in a follow-up column, but Sinatra didn't do it for publicity. And that brings me to the words of Bill Real on June 15th, 1986. He had just left the OTB parlor on Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge when he ran into his ex-wife. They practically collided on the corner of a crowded 86th Street. When their eyes met, they stared at each other. It had been fifteen years. How are you? he managed to ask. I am fine. You look wonderful. I thought you were dead. I should be dead. It's a miracle I'm not. Standing amid the swirl of busy shoppers was awkward, so he suggested they go to Hinch's for a coffee. They sat in a booth in the back. He touched her hand. You did the right thing. He was serving a year in jail in Rikers when she divorced him. He was always in and out, and mostly in jail, in those days. How's Mary? He asked, struggling to get the question out. Mary, their daughter, a toddler, the last time he saw her, was a young woman now. He had wondered about her a thousand times. Remembering her standing in the kitchen playpen in their old Ridgewood apartment, wearing rubber pants and a bib, shaking a rattle and laughing, blonde curls framing her beautiful face. Mary's doing fine. We live on Staten Island. She graduated from high school last year. She's studying to be a beautician. How about you? I'm remarried. Look, I know I put you through hell. All I can say is that I'm sincerely sorry. I'm a different person now. No drugs, no alcohol. I haven't been locked up in over ten years. I've got an apartment near here. I live alone, I work, I associate with a different set of people. Really, my only vice is that I stop at OTB once in a while. And I'm glad I did today. I've thought of you and Mary so many times. I wanted to get in touch and make amends. I just didn't feel I had any right to barge back into your lives after all these years. I was afraid I might upset you and Mary. I was afraid you might reject me. I didn't know what to do. She said nothing. Her eyes forgave him. I'd like to see Mary. Do you think she'd want to see me? I think so. She used to ask about her father all the time. His eyes filled up. Excusing himself, he went to the men's room. When he returned to the table, she gave him a phone number. Mary has her own phone in her room. He called that night from the diner where he ate dinner on Fourth Avenue. Mary said she had been expecting him to call. For fifteen years, he said. She laughed. He could see that toddler in the playpen. No, since mom came home from shopping and told me she met you. The next night he drove to Staten Island to meet Mary for dinner at a place on Highland Boulevard. No words could describe how nervous he was, but she put him at ease with lively small talk. Over coffee, he told her. I realized I was no father to you. I'm sorry, the life I used to live. Well, it's a long story. I'll tell you sometime if you want to hear the gory details. But I just want you to know, I want to be as good a father as I can from now on. If I can do anything for you, please ask me. She smiled. Well, I'm just glad I have a father, so I forgive you. That was a couple of years ago. He and Mary have had many happy dinners together, and they'll be together today. The other night on Fourth Avenue, he was telling a friend how grateful he is, and he remarked, Some fathers take Father's Day for granted. Not me. Bill Real, The New York Daily News, Sunday, June 15th, 1986.
SPEAKER_04As many as a food engineer, he has his master in food science. So he's helpful as a master production. He's very well to the degree of things. So he's the mastermind behind the sourdough cross. And I am the mastermind of how it's going to be completed. We complete each other. Yes. So we're definitely like a 50-50 couple.
SPEAKER_02You obviously got on board.
SPEAKER_04A hundred percent. Sourdough is so much better for your health, but wise. It doesn't give you that heavy sinking feeling of oh, why did I eat that? It's just a healthier digestion. It's not an easy task to create a very good sourdough. This was a year in the making of trial and hour. Creating the starter. So we finally affected it. We set on this recipe and we ran in it. So we were just in time to make it to the Pizza Wars.
SPEAKER_17This is Anna from Annabella Pizza Cafe, co-owner, along with her husband Kissan, of the new sourdough pizzeria in Bay Ridge.
SPEAKER_04Hi, this is Anna from Annabella Pizza Cafe, 7521 Third Avenue, here in Bay Ridge. We are welcoming all and everyone to come and try our sourdough pizza. Beautiful slices. We have Detroit style, New York style, and Roman slabs. We have unique recipes and we have amazing cinnamon rolls, also made it salad. I came here when I'm about 10 years old. I entered school at PS102. From there I went to McKinley, and from there I went to Fort Hampton High School. And I just love Bay Ridge. We've been here most of our lives. This is where our neighbors are, our family are, you know. My grandparents came here in the late 60s, after the Six Day War in Palestine. And they came with eight children. The youngest, a set of twins, five years old. And they came for a better life. And they entered downtown Brooklyn. From there, they try to start. A new life together. My grandfather was supposed to enter the United Nations as a translator, in five languages. And the first year here, he was shot and killed in a robbery in downtown Brooklyn, and his continual sudden shot in the arm. So it changed our family completely because being new immigrants, it was very important to try and find new life. And that came with a very hard curveball, losing the main man of family. So our Italian neighbors took us in. Told us how to make fresh mozzarella, told us how to make sauce. Treated us like family. Came around the dinner table. Love thy neighbor was implemented in our family in a very New York kind of way. We exchanged purple figs and green figs, and I have this olive oil, you have that olive oil. They used to babysit me. It impacted my life. They changed our names. My grandmother's Anna, my uncle's Mike. Mom is Najla, they changed to Angelina. And my grandma's Amna, they changed it to Anno. My aunt's Aziza, they changed it to Tina. My uncle's Mohammed, they changed it to Mike. My brother's Joe and my sister's Emma. So it literally like changed our family background. We're forever grateful. They treated us like they and Mike. You go to their weddings, they come to our weddings. I really wanted to represent that with my business because love right neighbor is so important.
SPEAKER_17So how did Anna's Palestinian heritage meld with this learned Italian-American culture and shape Anna's cafe?
SPEAKER_04A lot of things came together over food that we've learned, recipes that were passed down from neighbors and from being around friends. That affected me in a very strong way. My grandmother planted grape lings in the backyard. She rolled them and she'd give them to her anita. Being in that kind of setting, and I was around my grandmother a lot. Me and her were like beat. My mom worked a lot with my dad, and they owned an Italian deli, so they used to make tuna fish. And even the tuna fish was so popular at that deli. We got a line with the woman just for the tuna. My mom used to make it. And I actually have it on the menu. It's called Tony e Angelina. Tony is my dad, and Angelina is my mom. I mean the Altiacer tuna sandwich. So I wanted to represent us in a different way and let people know that we all came from the same cloth. We're all New Yorkers. We all had different diverse backgrounds. Bay Ridge is so diverse. I wanted to do something unique for everybody. We have Mexicans, we have Irish, we have Italians. So I did a bunch of unique slices based on the diversity of Bay Ridge. You know, I made a taco slice and I made a shakchuka slice and I made our typical classics, Italian style, you know. Bianco, and I called it Bianco after Mr. Bianco from PS102, who made an impact on my life as a great teacher for my daughter. I know it's called Bianca everywhere else, but I called it Bianco after him. I did some small tweaks here and there where I named certain things after people who had impact in my life and put it on my menu. I just wanted to share that little family dynamic. You don't have to just look at somebody based off of their head scarf. You can be a good person, good-hearted, just by saying hello, good morning. There's nothing wrong with showing that and representing that in a nice place to come and have something to eat. I really believe that people can come together when there's great food on the table. Food and family is the most important thing. So I tell everybody when you come, you're family. This is my goal to let everybody understand that. Hopefully they get the message. My local community are very supportive. Ms. Kenzie was a teacher or the principal of PS10 now. She was a teacher when I was going to school there. And I was a teacher's assistant there for years. And she was so supportive. I told her I have this idea, some cooking in my head for a while. And she said, Anna, just do it. We're gonna support you. She came here, her and her husband, her grandchild supported me. Maybe about six teachers came by that became good friends, and you know, we just wanted to do something for families. Not so much fine dining and sucker restaurant where you're telling kids, sit down, don't move. But somewhere you can just come, you know, grab a slice, sit down, not so much in a near greasy slice shop, but you know, have somewhere nice to eat and grab a cup of coffee if you wanted, or say them home.
SPEAKER_17Annabella Pizza Cafe opened on May 2nd. But what was the process like in finding this space?
SPEAKER_04The rents were pretty hot. I was pretty lucky to find this location. I've always eyed this location just because I've been in the area for so long. I was looking at a spot on 81st Street, I looked at a spot on 89th Street, and then when this spot went up for rent, it was a smoke shop. And before that, I don't know if you remember, it was Mr. Tang Express Chinese food restaurant. You know, I said it has probably the bones of a restaurant, you know, we just remade it back and do something nice for the community, maybe like inspire the community to bring something nice to the area, not just another smoke shop. Change our area, not so much, you know, bring it Donald's. I just felt like we were heading in a different direction. So I thought maybe to change that direction for the better.
SPEAKER_17Okay, let's talk about pizza. So Anna grew up working at pizzerias and bakeries, and pizza's her favorite food. One of the kinds she offers is Roman style.
SPEAKER_04So a Roman-style pizza, it's not as thick as a Sicilian, but not as thin as a Burema, somewhere in between. So it comes in six slices. They come in long slices, and we sell them in slabs. So your delivery would be a very long box. So it's a very unique way of selling pizza, but it's beautiful. I wanted you to experience what it's like if you entered Rome, Italy, and had a pizza, if you took an airplane and without paying the airfare. Have you experienced that? The decor in here is based off a European, you know, Mediterranean kind of cafe. As if you went to Rome, you'd find pizza on one side, you'd find espresso on the other side. My little New York input is the cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls. I wanted to do something unique. The toppings are unique as well. I did, you know, like strawberry Nutella. I tried to do tiramisu, but as a cinnamon roll, so that's the New Yorker side of me. I wanted to put something unique. And like, you know, have uh nice settings. So when you come in, you're going to feel like, hey, you know, am I in New York? I'm in the city, or where did I go? I wanted you to experience the Roman style feel. And I had a gentleman come in here, he's Italian. He came in with his wife and his children. He's like, wow, this is oh my god, I feel like I'm in Rome. This is amazing. And I said, Oh, that I did my job. I wanted to do something unique. I where you felt like you escaped. He was like, I'm gonna cry. You literally brought me back. I haven't been there in years, and now I feel like I felt that experience. I was like, I'm so glad I did my job. That was my whole goal. So make you not just have a great slice of pizza, but also to give you the experience of it. And he's like, Well, you hit the nail on the head.
SPEAKER_17Another kind is Detroit style.
SPEAKER_04So Detroit style is kind of like a Sicilian, but the crust is more of a deep-fried crust, but not deep-fried as you think. We spread extra virgin cold pressed olive oil in our pans, and we create a golden crust. And the cheese that's on a Detroit style is a special type of cheese. We use fresh mozzarella, and we use regular mozzarella, but we also use sharp cheddar. You can adjust the cheeses the way you like, but the whole goal of it is to make a frico type crust, which it almost is like if you had fryer cheese, like a Spanish cheese that you would fry in a pan, but the pan creates that fryer around the crust and creates a cheese crust. So you get that crispy golden cheese. It makes such a unique experience when you bite into it. And I just love the form of it. And I was just like, you know what? Why not? Let's just add it to the menu. Somebody ordered a Detroit-style vodka pie the other day. I thought it was phenomenal. They loved it.
SPEAKER_17The menu is diverse, but if you really want, they'll make a custom pie for you. So how are they settling in?
SPEAKER_04We're still learning. Staff is still learning. We're trying to get things right, and our recipes are unique, so it's gonna be a little bit of a learning curve, and that's why we haven't opened deliveries right away. We do make some deliveries locally. We're trying to get that open as fast as possible, but just for now, we want to see what people think once they come in the door and get their opinions. And and Beyridge is very well opinioned and very well. I know. And I know my people, you know, my fellow Bay Ridges, they're very, very judgmental. So it was either culture everywhere. They come in, either they love you or they hate you, and they'll let you know it.
SPEAKER_02So the Italian people that you grew up around, the Italian Americans, are you still in touch with them? And what do they say about all?
SPEAKER_04They're so excited. They were like, we're so proud of you. This is beautiful. I'm gonna put some pictures up. We'll have like some family moments here, but it's just a matter of time. A lot of them that were older generation from my grandmother's generation, they all have passed, God rest their souls, but just a very unique way of being in New York, being part of Bay Ridge, enrolled in a great community.
SPEAKER_17And speaking of the menu, they're slowly building it out to include several delicious items, which by the way are all made fresh every day.
SPEAKER_04We pretty much mastered our cinnamon rolls. We're said to bring in the last few recipes for our pizza man to understand how to make our pizzas. Once that's mastered, we're gonna open up that big Parmigiana Reggiano. You get to choose your own pasta, choose your meatballs, choose your chicken, choose your sauce, whatever you like, and build your own pasta bowl. We also are going to be offering not just a pasta, we had also the choice of like zucchini noodles and beet noodles, or we can, you know, have a vegan option. We also have vegan pies where we have vegan pepperoni, vegan sausage, and vegan cheese. So there's a little bit of everything for everybody. I had a vegan coming for the other day. I was so excited about our vegan options, and she's a teacher also at PS185, but she's like, I'm so excited and happy that there's a sourdough pizza that's vegan, and I'm beyond them. She gave me a big hug, she said, thank you for this. And I said, Of course, you know, I had a sister who was vegan for many, many years, and I know what it's like for her to try to find a really good something to eat. They have tofu on the menu as well. You know, there's some unique things that you're gonna find and tasty things, so it's not just bland and boring.
SPEAKER_02Well, and it does seem to me, well, and you said it had a word for bakeries and pizzeria, and beverage has no shortage of pizzeria as we found up. Yeah, but you had 1,000% basic heat on everything that no one else has. Like, we'll do to do all the things that no one else has. So I think this is honestly very exciting. The whole picking view where the case is different.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And I'm smelling smelling Korean barbecue with kimchi right now. So you know, we're such fruities. And I have a very close friend who's Korean, my best friend is Mexican, I have another close friend, she's also Israeli, and she's Jewish. We all know that we're a New Yorkers and we stick together. So being a trio of Mexican and you know, Israeli Jew and a Palestinian to be friends is a very odd thing to find. Only in New York, only in New York.
SPEAKER_17Annabella Pizza Cafe is located at 7521 Third Avenue.
SPEAKER_04Our hours are from 7 a.m. to eleven p.m., Friday and Saturday to 1 a.m. And our handles for socials are Annabella Pizza Cafe.
SPEAKER_17Memorial Day opening weekend. It's one thirty in the morning, and we're at Dreamland Park. Owners have poured thousands of dollars into renovations. The park is lit by over one million lights. Workers are finishing changes at Hellgate, a ride that takes visitors on a boat over rushing waters through the dim, demonic caverns. In the haste to get everything ready to open, something went wrong with the electricity. Light bulb began to explode. All at once the lights flickered. Then were torn into darkness. Nearby worker accidentally kicked over a bucket of high target, igniting algate into flames. Most of the buildings at Dreamland Park were constructed using a combination of highly flammable wood and thin plastic. Chaos ensued. Thirty minutes later, the entire park was on fire. Animals escaped running in every direction. Lion named Black Prince rushed into the street. More than 400 men fought the blaze. The new high-pressure water pumping station at West 12th and Neptune Avenue failed. By daybreak, Dreamland and much of the surrounding independent amusements were reduced to smoldering rubble. The loss was more than $5.2 million. Little was insured. Overnight, more than 2,500 people lost their jobs. Dreamland was never rebuilt. On a positive note, the babies in Dreamland's incubators, some with polio, were saved by the heroic efforts of Sergeant Frederick Klink of the NYPD, who made several trips into the burning structure to rescue the infants.
SPEAKER_14So here's a lens that I have that's very particular. I taught for 35 years. So that means assigning part. In 1984, when I started, you could not assign a boy the part of Julia. No matter who the boy was, they would not do it. You could assign a boy who was the class clown, the nurse. Maybe. You couldn't assign girls any point you want. You couldn't assign a girl. Any of them. By the time I retired, you could assign a boy. And you could assign a boy the nurse and get a more sense in reading, but it wasn't over the top. Classrooms or whatever had advanced to the point where you could know, yeah, I'm playing a girl's part. It does not make me a girl. It does not say anything about me. You couldn't do it to every boy, but so that I think that is a change. When I was in high school, nobody the first person I knew who came out as gay did it early in the summer after senior year. Not during school. And I think the second person who was probably out of college.
SPEAKER_17If you've listened to the last two episodes of the Bay Ridge Digest podcast, then you already know that the Just Heard author John P. Loonham is self-reflective about his life and career. It shows up all over his writing, like in the collection of short stories, The Price of Their Toys, which is available at the bookmark shop at 8415 Third Avenue. One thing that struck me about this collection was how analog it is. Can stories like this exist in a 21st century digital world? Can relationships like this?
SPEAKER_14On one level, the answer would be I don't know. I'm not imagining a future as I write them. But I am aware as I looked at multiple drafts and time goes by, because sometimes I'm working on them periodically over a long period of time. How rapidly the world is changing. And I become aware of the fact that when I sit down to write and somebody's gonna pick up a telephone, it's actually an old wired phone. Even though I myself don't use them anymore, my imagination is somehow still tied to that. My wife has this sort of funny thing that she'll sometimes do of watching a movie and saying, Well, if this movie were made today, like the plot would be over. You know what? Yeah, oh.
SPEAKER_02There's a famous Lucille Fletcher who is a short story writer. She was married to Bernard Herman, the composer, for all the time.
SPEAKER_17She wrote Sorry Wrong Number. Oh, okay. She also wrote another story called The Hitchhiker, which is about a guy on a cross-country road trip that keeps seeing the same hitchhiker over and over again. Yeah. And at the end, you know, I guess we're giving something away 80 years late. But he calls his mother, and someone picks up the phone and she says, Well, she's not here. She had to be taken to a hospital. She had a nervous breakdown when her son Ronald was killed driving on the Brooklyn Bridge six days ago, and he's Ronald, and he's the first time he sees the hitchhiker is six days ago. But he's been interacting with people the whole time, and so now he's really confused. Yeah. And it's sort of like all these plot lines that don't exist in the world of the cell phone, you know, their perception.
SPEAKER_14Yeah, you would just change them. I had an experience a number of years ago, a story that's not in here. You mentioned Raymond Chandler, who is an influence of mine, and Dashell Hammond also, and another person in that genre, Elmore Leonard, because of the efficiency of their writing. They can get characters to, you know, cross the room, punch somebody in the face, and keep going, like, even though I don't write that kind of thing, the efficiency of their writing really attracts me. The long story is I was reading an Elmore Leonard novel, which opens with a robbery of a local store, and that it being Elmore Leonard, he follows the robbers. I was like, what if instead you followed the cashier who was held up? So I wrote this story that was published with an Action Adventure, and I set it in Blockbuster, which was over here on Third Avenue. I mean, I spent many hours there getting movies for my kids and my family, but for a while I spent many hours there wandering around, going, okay, like what details do I want in this story? Somebody holds up the Blockbuster, and a person is shot, and then we follow some of those characters. I wrote it over a period of a couple of years, and then I sent it out to be published over a period of a few years, and then it was finally published, and then it was a delay, and the publisher was doing a thing where they interviewed me about the story, and her question was, Why did you make the story set in the past? I was like, I didn't. It's just that time is moving, technology is moving so quickly. Everybody in the world went to Blockbuster when I was writing it, and Blockbuster is gone now, but it was only six years ago. So I think some of that is things are changing just so rapidly. How long will we be carrying these things around? Maybe forever? Maybe Google Glasses will become the thing and we'll stop carrying around entirely. I don't I don't know. But I do think there's something about my imagination, and maybe this is true of everybody, is formed in childhood and adolescence. So that yeah, when I imagine things, I have to sometimes think, oh no, the person would not do that. They would have a computer and they would do it this way, and I have to consciously think the person's not going to sit down to a typewriter, they're not gonna pick up a phone off the wall. And to the extent that on a certain level, sometimes a very minimal level, but on a certain level, all of these stories are on the biographical. Even if they didn't happen the way they did, I'm pulling something from the past, and it might be something that was quite a long time ago, and I may be moving it into 2020, but it still exists in my memory from 1986 or something. In that last story that we were talking about, the man with dementia, I did actually have a neighbor once who suffered from dementia, and because I was a teacher and around for the summer, I interacted with him a lot, and there was a day when he called me over and he couldn't remember how to put his pants on. And so I took that and used it in this story. The rest of it is not autobiographical, but that detail sometimes that will give me a hook.
SPEAKER_17John has also had short plays read in the Motola Theatre Company's Cherry Picking Festival. I can find information about you online, but but there is not a ton of Information online about you. One of the things that you mentioned is workshopping things with the Matola Theater Project. And that's your wife's maiden name, obviously. Yes. So what is that theater project?
SPEAKER_14So my sister-in-law, my wife's sister, Claire Matola, is a theater teacher. She's the head of the performing arts department at the Fieldson School up in the Bronx. And in the summers, she runs a project called Cherry Picking. And what she does is she has a network of people who are writers or who want to be writers. And she'll come up with a theme and a series of prompts. And then we as writers have a certain amount of time to write a short play in the eight to ten minute range. And then she has another network of actors. And she will select some of the plays and they'll do stage greetings of them. It's a really wonderful evening. It's a lot of fun. And I've done that a number of times. And most of the plays, not all of them, a couple of them, the writers have gone on to expand them. But most of them only exist for this festival.
SPEAKER_17So when you're workshopping, some of the stories that you wrote in this collection, does your wife read your work before you?
SPEAKER_14Yes, she's a very harsh critic. Which is what you need, maybe? Yes, yeah, although I never like it. But yes, she does read them, and then I'm part of a couple of writing groups that I meet with, and that stuff is tremendously helpful.
SPEAKER_17While John is working on his cherry-picking play, he's also got a new novel, Music the World Makes, on the way.
SPEAKER_14This is a novel set in the late 1950s and early 1960s in New York. It's about a woman who is in a very strict Catholic community, Irish and Italian, and she is a lesbian, and she's trying to figure out she wants to be part of both these worlds. She has close friends and family she cannot reveal herself to, and then she develops a sort of community of queer people and can't get them to coincide and has to make a decision. So where is the inspiration for Sunday Lingus coming from? The inspiration is a good word. It is not based on anyone, but it is inspired by questions and thoughts I had about my aunt, who lived in Styveson Town. We never married. And, you know, growing up in, say, 1968, 69, 70 in the suburbs, she was the only adult I knew who wasn't married. All her friends were women. And one of her interesting quirks was that she liked to go to a man's barber shop to get her hair cut in a style not that different from yours. A little bit longer, a little bit different, but not that different. Which I just thought when I was 12, I thought she's such a curious, interesting person. When I was 19, I was like, oh, wait a minute. Maybe there's things about her that I don't understand. And I was close to her later in her life. She was very private, and I never had the courage to ask her about those things. And then after she died, I really regretted that. I don't know if my aunt was a lesbian, but I said, if someone who grew up in her world was, obviously many of them had a certain kind of courage that allowed them to come out and fight for the lives they wanted. But many thousands had a different kind of courage in my mind to say, I'm going to live the life that fits into my world. How do you make that decision? So it's really about a person trying to face that decision. I have two things in my life that are important to me, and I can't have both of them. So what do you do? As you look back on your relationship with her, do you think she was satisfied with her? I think she was, and I think this about a lot of people of her generation who grew up during the Depression, the bar for satisfaction was different. They didn't grow up with the notion that you can do anything and be anything. They grew up with the notion of like, oh, we're surviving, that's pretty good. And I think she did have a sort of you take what life gives you. But she had lots of friends. She traveled everywhere. She really loved New York and got to live it in her whole life independently. She loved theater, she loved restaurants. I think in general she had a happy life. And I have no idea, obviously this deals with sexuality, and no idea what her sexuality was.
SPEAKER_17Right, you're only guessing educated guesses, right?
SPEAKER_14Yeah. And I'm sort of using that question of whatever her situation was. Let me think about someone who did have a sexual desire that was thwarted. So when will Music the World Makes be released? I'm hoping November, December of this year. These are very small presses. And that was coming out from a place called Freight Edge Press in Philadelphia. Their schedule is subject to a lot of other people doing what they're supposed to do on time. So if whoever's ahead of me in their queue is meeting their deadlines, then I'll come out soon. But I don't know if that's gonna happen. But it'll be out fairly soon.
SPEAKER_17To read more of John's work and contact him, please go to jplunam.com. You can also follow him on Instagram at JPLunam and pick up a copy of the price of their toys at the bookmark shop at 8415 Third Avenue. You can come and take me for a consultation and James and the Wallbreakers. If you're a regular listener of the baby's dad just like it, you hear everything from fully produced history segments to the wacky jokes. Thanks, Freddie. Here's a commercial spot. See what else he's been up to. Brett underscore Solomini on Instagram. That's B-R-E-T-T underscore S O L I M I.
SPEAKER_15Hello, sir. You what do you want? You know what I want. How could I possibly?
SPEAKER_16You're roaming through the city. You have a voice. Use it. I'm trying to use it. Ah but are you using it correctly? What do you mean?
SPEAKER_17Isn't it obvious? Script writing, narrative nonfiction, audio fiction, editing, producing, mixing, directing, acting.
SPEAKER_15What does this have to do with you following me through the street on a rainy night? Have you utilized any of this? No?
SPEAKER_17Well then, it's time you launched a podcast or at least some kind of audio production.
SPEAKER_15Why would I need to do that?
SPEAKER_17You're in one already.
SPEAKER_15I am?
SPEAKER_17What do you think this is? Stalking! No, you're in my commercial spot. I'm James Scully, I do all these things.
SPEAKER_15Wait, you mean you wrote, directed, produced, and mixed this?
SPEAKER_17Yep. Reach me at James at the Wallbreakers.com.
SPEAKER_15Do I get paid for my time at least?
SPEAKER_06I hope you like a pepperoni on your pizza.
SPEAKER_17On the warm evening of Friday, June 4th, I was at 8011 Third Avenue for the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new law office of Khalife and Strapinsky. The Khalife is Nick, and the Strapinski is Eugene. They, along with Mark Hanna, make up the firm. Here's Eugene to tell you more about their services.
SPEAKER_12Hi, my name is Eugene Strapinsky. My partners are Mark Hanna and Nick Khalife, and we are the law firm of Khalife Strapinsky. And we're opening a new office at 8011 Third Avenue. We've practiced law for a long time. We're from the neighborhood, but we had a different location, and Mark was somewhere else, and he recently joined our firm. And we're so excited to have our own storefront on Third Avenue, which we like. And we live here, we work here, and we practice real estate, so we help people buy and sell property. We do wills and trusts for people, that's called estate planning, and probate that goes along with that. And Mark handles family law and bankruptcy and election law, which is rare, seasonal, but a lot of fun. And this is very much a multilingual law firm, correct? Yes. Two of us are ourselves immigrants. I am from Ukraine. I speak Russian and Ukrainian, and Nick speaks Arabic because he was born in Jordan. And our paralegal speaks Spanish fluently, Andres. And our secretary speaks French. So we actually do try to cover and help people out in their own languages if we can. So general office hours are general office hours are 10 to 6, Monday through Friday. We are at 917-717-5007. Our website is Halife Strupinski.com. That's K it's impossible. I really can't do it.
SPEAKER_17That's K-H-A-L-I-F-E-H.com.
SPEAKER_12And our Instagram is at Halife Strapinsky.
unknownThanks for all again. Um yes, thank you.
SPEAKER_17The phone number is once again nine one seven seven one seven five oh seven.
SPEAKER_12And the address is eighty eleven, third avenue.
SPEAKER_13Somebody in the group said, You know why can't we do something more visual like maybe a Broadway show? And I'm thinking, how are we gonna do that? Of course, little did I know that the entry into doing Broadway shows wasn't as difficult as most people thought.
SPEAKER_17If you've tuned into the previous two episodes of the Bay Ridge Digit podcast, then you know that the Just Heard Jeff Samaha form Ridge Corral as a singing group in 1968. After 32 years, Ridge Corral became a full-fledged community theater group. So what was the first show Jeff tackled?
SPEAKER_13You buy the rights to a show you want to do if they're available. From there you produce the show. So, with the help of a bunch of folks in the Ridge Corral, we put together Jeff Samaha Theatreons. And the first show we did was a show called Children of Eden, which is a Stephen Schwartz show. Stephen Schwartz did The Whiz, The Magic Show, a bunch of other Broadway shows. And Children of Eden, a lesser-known show, was done by Stephen Schwartz, but it had such a nice message that I thought it would be really interesting to start out with that one, which was not as difficult as some of the other shows that were facing me. Following uh Children of Eden, Ragtime was on Broadway, and it closed. And once a show closes on Broadway, you most of the time can get the rights to perform it as a community theater group. Turns out we became the first production company to do ragtime after it closed on Broadway, and we produced it here in Brooklyn at Poly Prep. The name of the theater in Polyprep is the Richard Perry Theater. The best stage we ever had of all the years we've been doing this polyprep stage was magnificent. So Ragtime got produced there. Following ragtime, we did Mary Poppins West Side Story, Hairspray.
SPEAKER_17Jeff heaps tons of deserved praise on the people around him. Karen Tadros became his producer, and the two remain friends all these years later. In fact, Jeff is on the board for Karen's nonprofit, Beyridge Cares.
SPEAKER_13But the person who produced the show and did all the grunt work for me was Karen Tadros, who I know you've had on your podcast. Karen was our producer from the time she saw Children of Eden. Her first show as stage manager for my shows was Ragtime. And from then on, she worked with me on all of those Broadway shows up until the reunion show, which happened in 2019. She actually brought me in after I saw, I think it was Oklahoma, but I somehow I remember having advised her on a couple of things. One in particular, she'll always throw at me is I always complain that the sorry with the fringe on the top, the fringe was too short. So I said, I think you have to make the fringe a little bit longer. I mean, detail for me was something important. But after that, she invited me to be musical director on the show following that. I did two shows with her as musical director, and that gave me the ability to see her producing accomplishment and the way she put together. So then she came to see Children of Eden. She brought her daughter. In fact, Pam, her daughter, became one of my musicians in the orchestra. She played for a couple of years, keyboard, very talented young lady. During the intermission, she came down to the orchestra pit and asked me some questions about the orchestra and the show itself. I said, Well, you know, if you'd like to work with me, I saw what you did with Oklahoma and uh would love to have you on board. And that's how she became stage manager first on Ragtime, which was 2003. She did great. And then from there she became the producer, but she also handled the calling of the lighting cues. So she did a lot of different aspects of the show or any show, and we called it grunt work, which she really did not enjoy doing. I remember when we did the reunion show at FDR High School. When we walked in there for tech week, nothing was working. The lighting was off, the audio was disconnected. So she's crawling under the stage trying to hook things up. I don't even know how she had that ability. I never asked, but she was able to fix everything.
SPEAKER_17During the 2000s, Jeff and Ridge Corral continued to be an integral part of the community.
SPEAKER_13Additionally, I had joined the creative staff of Bishop Carney in the role of conductor for the school's theater program and was instrumental in helping their program grow and thrive. In 2002, I was asked to produce a benefit concert to raise funds for Burt Zeldon Foundation for Cancer. A two-night concert of live music and sketch comedy, Dare to Dream, was televised on NBC and directly benefited the late wife of Chip Gaffaro, who was a patient at the time at the hospital and was supported by the foundation. Rich Corral, a not-for-profit group, has always recognized the need to help other groups in need of funding and has performed for AARP, St. Mary's Church, Lutheran Hospital, and Sany firms in many local organizations for no compensation. We also performed for the residents of Lutheran Augustana home on many occasions. We have been featured in park concerts through Senator Marty Golden and Community Board 13. We formed the Ridge Corral Youth Theater in 2008, a group that serves young people aged 13 through 22. In 2008, the Merchants of Third Avenue presented me with their Pioneer Award for Outstanding Community Service. And in the same year, I was presented with a citation from Senator Marty Golden for helping promote and foster good relations within the Asian community through performance and the arts. I received the Vince Mazza Award from Brooklyn One Theater Company in 2009 for promoting the arts in our community and for constant endeavors to bring quality theater to Bay Ridge.
SPEAKER_17So, what was Jeff's all-time most coveted show?
SPEAKER_13The most favorite of all time for me was Les Miserables. And Les was not opening their rights at all. For the years that I was doing choral, I started the group in 1968 and I did choral concerts, and then the middle segment of the performance was staged songs from Broadway. So I would take a scene from Le Miz and produce that as part two of the overall concert.
SPEAKER_17In 2013, Jeff finally got the opportunity to do LeMiz.
SPEAKER_13I must have done every scene of Le Miz over the years without getting the rights until finally the rights opened up. And when the rights opened, I grabbed them. They only opened for one year. It happened simultaneously with the release of the movie Le Miz Rob, which, in my opinion, was nothing like the production on Broadway. The reason they opened up for one year is that I believed that film was such a bomb that they needed to increase their revenue. So they opened up the local theater. There was an outfit in Staten Island. They got it first for some reason. And we were actually refused the rights to Leh Miz the first time we applied. And they had already given it to Staten Island. They said, Well, we're not giving it to the boroughs. And I said, What do you mean? You just gave the rights to Staten Island. And I said, Well, what would you do for your community through this performance? How are you going to help the community? And I said, Well, if you give us the rights, we'll put on a show for a fee of maybe $20 a head or $25 the most to provide an inexpensive way for the community to see almost Broadway. I'm not going to say we're Broadway quality. We don't have the money to be Broadway quality to hire the people that do it. But we come pretty close. So my answer to them was we're providing a service, an artful service, for the community to come to at a reasonable price. And people can't afford Broadway anymore. Being a purist, I wanted to do lameness so badly, I want I had to keep it exactly the way it was on Broadway. Which the Whites people didn't like. They didn't want you copying the sets or copying the choreography. They wanted you to create your own illusion. And in my mind, if you don't do the show the way it was produced, then don't do the show at all. So following Le Miz, which was the highlight of my musical career. The rest of the shows down the line, the one in particular that agreed with me on that aspect was the producers. The script for the producers on one side of the page had the dialogue, and on the other side was the visual moves that had to be made in conjunction with the lines, which was brilliant because I didn't have to think about it. I just look at it. The guy says this line, he's coming through the door, he hangs his hat on the hook, crosses to the couch, and sits down. Totally laid out. Perfect for me. I didn't want to have to make up anything. After Les Miz, that was 2013, we did, as I mentioned, several Broadway shows, right up to Hairspray, which was, I believe, the last one before we did our 50th anniversary show. And the 50th anniversary, I took my favorite songs from all the Broadway shows. And all the choral stuff we did and mixed it up into one three-hour show. It included my favorite material. And then the cast, in return, turned it around to become uh homage, as I say, or homage to me as the producer and director of The Rich Crowd. Now I say produce, that's I was executive producer.
SPEAKER_17In the previous episode of the Bay Ridge Digest podcast, Jeff and I chatted about how expensive the rights fees have become for community theater troops looking to put on Broadway shows. In some cases, they've more than doubled in the past ten years. I was just thinking to myself, it's so unfortunate because in a way, with the rights fees being so expensive, if you want to put something on, it would push you to, well then we've got to come up with something original. But the point of doing a show like Le Miz is that the potential paying audience recognizes the show. And so it's a selling point, you know.
SPEAKER_13Absolutely. A lot of the membership have suggested shows to do. The first thing that comes to mind is are people gonna recognize the name and the storyline? And if not, don't do it because they're not gonna come. So a show like Le Miz, Mary Poppins, West Side Story, Ragtime, Hairspray, Producers, these are all shows we've done. They're up on YouTube, by the way, in case anybody wants to see them, just put my name or Jeff Samaha Theatre Productions in YouTube. All our shows will come up except for one, which was Miss Saigon. Now we got pushback from the rights people on Miss Saigon. Even having taken a video of the production that was done five years ago, putting it on YouTube so people could access it and see it again, you get pushback from Music Theatre International or Tanner, whoever you've gotten the rights from, saying you gotta take it down because you haven't paid the rights to broadcast it on YouTube.
SPEAKER_17So while Jeff has retired from his career at NBC, and he's still producing videos for organizations like Bay Ridge Cares, does he retire from producing theater productions?
SPEAKER_13I do feel like I need to do one more show. My wife is Mary Ann Radioli, who is a nurse. She's retired as well. She keeps telling me, you've got one more show. One more show in you. And that keeps me thinking about it. And I feel I'd like to do one more. And if the small one is successful and I still have the energy, maybe Showboat will come into play. Since I don't have to direct it, I'll just be involved musically as a musical director and conductor, which is what I really love doing. Which ties into my background from playing trumpet.
SPEAKER_17And so we've come full circle with Jeff Samaha. To find out more info about all the Ridge Corral productions, please go to ridgecorral.com. That's R-I-D-G-E-C-H-O-R-A-L-E. To watch recordings of the productions, please visit Jeff's YouTube channel at Jeff Samaha two four nine one. Frederick Freddy Friday. Welcome in to another, you know, masterful joke session here on the Bear Ridge Digest Podcast episode 16. Right, producer 16? 16, Freddy. Yeah, say your name for the people who know your name already. His name's James. Tell them why we're here today. Tell them about the people we're trying to help, and by people I mean kitty. Well, before our jokes, we'd like to mention the Itty Bitty Kitty Beyridge Cat Rescue. Yeah, could you stop in, Freddie? If you stop at the Henry Hardy's at 9314 Third Avenue, you can do what, Freddie? You can donate 25 bucks and get a free t-shirt for helping to save these cats. All proceeds go to vet visits, cat food, and supplies. You can also visit their website, you know, where? Itybittykitty ny.org. Yeah, donate that way if you're somewhere else, you know? And t-shirt shipping is available if you want one and you'll say you're in New Jersey or California or something. Right. Yeah. So to see more of the cats they're helping, visit the Instagram page at itty biddykitty and y Bay Ridge. Yeah. You ready to tell some jokes? Well, you know, I was thinking. We got the summer solstice right around the corner, you know? Yeah. And since I hear this episode is about beach season and Coney Island and stuff? Oh yeah. I got a couple of summer jokes for you out there. Oh, you do?
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_17Hey, I heard about that elephant hotel back in Coney Island's history? Yeah. Well, why did the elephants get in trouble for skinny dipping? And when they got in trouble, what did they use as their excuse? Is this a joke? Yeah, it's a joke. What do you want, why did the elephants get in trouble for skinny dipping? And when they got in trouble, what was their excuse? Why you cutting me off? Well, you know, listen, people, you got any ideas? Okay, why did that happen? They said, I only thought we needed to bring our trunks. Oh, Freddie. Hey, Coomer! Hey, listen. What happens when you try to eat ice cream off your tennis racket? What happens when you try to eat ice cream off your tennis racket? Yeah. I don't know what. Soft serve. Zeke's roast beef, rest in peace. What would you know about Zeke's roast beef? You told me they had a soft serve ice cream machine. They did back in the day. Well, listen, okay, listen. I'll admit people out there. Sometimes my jokes are not world-class, you know. I mean they're better than SNL jokes and all, you know. That's true. But I just want them to be lighthearted and make you smile and happy because summer is almost here. Look, it's also a wedding season, right? Anybody been to any weddings this morning? Anybody picked up any straight cats at weddings? Straight cats? Yeah. Okay. Well listen, I got a wedding joke. Okay. How did you know the waiting wasn't an emotional one? Why are you laughing? Well, I don't know. I've never been married. Well, how did you know it was an emotional one, people? Because even the cake was in tears. I'm glad somebody thinks these jokes are funny. Gomer! Okay, layers one. What happened when the one antenna married the other antenna? Antenna? Yeah. What happened when the one antenna married the other antenna? Oh boy. You just ask just a just a leason to the answer. I don't know, Freddy. What? Well, the wedding itself wasn't too good. But the reception was great.
SPEAKER_16I'm so funny, you know I'm funny.
SPEAKER_00Oh boy.
SPEAKER_17It's nothing, you know? Okay, well, if you'd like us to mention a specific animal rescue center, please email Watt Freddy, bayridge digest at gmail.com. Or DM Bayridge Digest on Instagram. You can also see Freddy's archives of jokes and stories, at Freddie Friday Story Funtime on Instagram, and Freddy Friday on YouTube. And how do you spell your name, Freddie? F-R-E-D-D-I-E, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I say yeah. Yeah. So until next time, people, happy summer. Hope you're doing well. And to-dos. Tell the one you love.
SPEAKER_02Toodos!
SPEAKER_17And Jesus do one.
SPEAKER_06We joked about the little more girls.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So this is home for you. Yeah. And this little shop.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, this is my home away from home. How about that? Yeah. It's very fun. I'm maxed out here, but it's very fun.
SPEAKER_02Maxed out in terms of what's case. Well, you could uh, you know, maybe I was just thinking of the Gilmore Girls. Are you really Yes? No, I I love Gilmore Girls.
SPEAKER_05When they do the picture window, yes, to see into Taylor. I actually always joke with my neighbor here that I'm gonna bust down this wall and give him like a little corner. But yes, this would definitely be like the Taylor window over here. I want to say I focus more on children, but I do have more children students. However, my adult classes this year were full. That's a big thing.
SPEAKER_02What's the clientele for the adult classes?
SPEAKER_05I mean, I'd assume mostly women. They're all women. Uh last year I did have a gentleman and he wanted to go into tailoring it, and unfortunately, his schedule was just too conflicting, and so he wasn't able to stay the whole time. I actually want to get more men in here, or even boys too, because sewing is it's not just for females. No, like it's a really good skill to learn. Even hand sewing, a button.
SPEAKER_02I do know what a hand sew.
SPEAKER_05But it's definitely something.
SPEAKER_02Well, you just said that, and I'm like, I've got a suit that I meant to get altered, so why don't I just do it myself?
SPEAKER_05Yes, and that's the thing. People coming near all the time asking if I do alterations, and I'm like, no, but I can teach you how to alter. Right. And I think people, if they knew how to do something, it would probably be so much easier for them to get something done. Because everyone's always asking, how do you alter? Where do you take your stuff to alter? And you don't know. Right. Well, I mean, there are tailors. There are tailors, but people are always asking, and then they the cost.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think also you being the kind of arts group student that you were, and same thing with me at Pratt, that you have the direction that you went in, but you've been taught all these other ancillary like I have carpentry skills that I hadn't needed in 15 years, but you still know how to do it. Right. I built a bar. It was like the last thing I ever knew was I built a bar. So you know that's it's just I'm a celebration. Yes, but you like to enjoy yourself. Right.
SPEAKER_05So and it's really good for your mind, especially now with all the TikTok and social media, like it's good to get off your phone and do something with your hands. And I've noticed that with kids, there's so many kids that come in here and they don't want to leave because they're having too much fun. And even the adults, some of the adults are like, this is so fun. Making something, yeah, you're creating something from scratch and you get to see it be built. It's really awesome. Sparks a lot of joy.
SPEAKER_17So, what are her classes and courses?
SPEAKER_05My sewing classes are skill building, and a lot of people who are new to sewing don't realize that you can't just jump in. You're using a machine. You have to learn how to use this machine, how to thread it, how to wind your bobbin, how to follow seam allowance, how to unjam it, because it will get jammed, it will get unthreaded. And if you don't know how to do these little tasks with the machines, you're not going to be able to sew. So I think it's really important that people understand that you can't just jump into a sewing class. You have to start it from the beginning, learn the fundamentals, and then increase your knowledge as you go. So, all of my sewing classes start out with basics. Even if you're in a second level or third level, we'll always start with learning something new before we get into our projects. So the beginner course starts learning the machine, how to thread it, bobbin, all that stuff. Then you go into the different types of seams there are, hems into buttons, and then zippers, and then we go into projects. So the sewing classes, you will learn a lot if you stick with it, and you will learn how to read patterns as well in the process. It's not a fast process. You need to have a lot of patience when you're dealing with a machine because machines can do things that can get frustrating.
SPEAKER_02Or cause blood to spill.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah. Well, we haven't had blood. Well, a lot of blood, and you know, we are dealing with pens and pricks and stuff like that. I have plenty of band-aids. But you know, you learn all these little skills, and they're all like hand motoring skills too, cutting your patterns out, cutting the paper out, learning how to pin properly. You might not think it, but there's a lot of math in sewing. I have to just reiterate to my students that it's really important. And it's not to try to be perfect, but try to do your best at maintaining your seam allowance. But yes, learning to sew is not an easy thing and you can't jump into it, but you will learn a lot in either the full year or half a year, and you'll be able to do projects at home for sure. I also teach weekly fashion illustration classes, and that starts with learning how to draw a fashion figure, the elongated body. It also goes into learning how to draw hands, feet, spaces, which are really difficult to learn, how to draw clothing like the way it falls, ruffles, pleats, wrinkles, textures, and then I go into rendering, how to create shading, shine, patterns, like uh textiles, that kind of stuff. And then we go into projects, and the kids that are in the fashion illustration classes do learn how to create a full figure and how to design. And I also try to make them think about the construction in a way, like how would that dress fall, or how would you make it? And to think about a light source. So it's combining art with fashion, it's not just sketching on a croakie, which is the fashion figure, but it's actually learning how to do it from scratch and to bring in also fine art skills like the hands and the feet and the faces. And then we also use other mediums like paints and watercolor, that's my favorite. And then sometimes we use scraps of fabric because I like to be very resourceful and sustainable as much as possible. So we'll use scraps of fabric to create looks too, and then sometimes trash. It's really fun. I like to use different mediums to keep the kids interested. And then the other classes that I have here is my little fashionista class that's for ages four through six. And that is a mix of illustration, jewelry making, hand sewing, and like weaving. So the girls that are usually in that class uh will sew like little stuffies. Right now I have a class that's embroidering a design, so they're actually using very sharp needles to design a pillowcase. They also have woven a pumpkin stuffy with yarn, which was fun. And they do jewelry making too, like heat of jewelry and the rainbow looms. And then I have a crochet teacher who is phenomenal, Maya. She teaches them how to do the slipknots into like the single stitches, double stitches, granny squares, creating backpacks and little stuffies as well.
SPEAKER_02So these courses, whether they be the fashion illustration or so they're all extended courses.
SPEAKER_05Yes. So when I first opened, I wanted everyone to sign up for a year. That's not feasible.
SPEAKER_02They're weekly courses.
SPEAKER_05They're weekly classes, and they're different lengths. So, like the sewing is about 16 weeks for a semester and then 32 for the year. And then you have the other classes, crochet, little fashionista, and fashion illustrations that are 11 weeks long. And so those students are more than welcome to stay for the whole year. They can re-enroll, but they don't have to. And it gives parents more flexibility because kids are busier than parents sometimes. They want to do gymnastics, they want to do dance, swimming, you know, and this way they can just shift it into their schedule for a short period of time.
SPEAKER_17What's the capacity of the studio?
SPEAKER_05So for my camps, I cap out at eight. For my sewing classes, for my adults, I'm gonna cap out at four, five for children, and then my other classes are six to eight, depending on what it is. But I try to keep them a small. That way everyone gets attention. It's really important that you're able to give people attention, especially the younger kids when they need help.
SPEAKER_17Our summer camp is getting started in a couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_05So summer camps are from June 29th all the way to September 4th, and that is a Monday through Friday camp. Each week has its own theme where we do different projects and activities to fit that theme. For instance, I have a spa week, so we'll be making like spa face masks and maybe a robe and that kind of stuff during that class. And it's really great because it's a fast track for kids to learn how to sew, and there's not that much anxiety or stress about trying to finish it in one day because they come back the next day and if they don't want to flash it for your five days a week. They're here and we go out to play at the park, and you know, we have a bit of the day 8 30 to 3 p.m.
SPEAKER_02So this is you're a teacher.
SPEAKER_05Uh yes, the summer, and you know, I keep thinking, oh, maybe I'll have classes, but I'll be here 12 hours a day if I do that. Yeah, you have a I do, and I want to see her for the summer.
SPEAKER_17So, what are Allison's daughter's hobbies?
SPEAKER_05My daughter is seven, she's gonna be eight in October, and she loves to be here.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I was gonna ask you like, so what are the hobbies that she's showing strong interest in?
SPEAKER_05She loves arts and crafts, loves it. She does love to sew, but you know, any kid can get bored or frustrated with sewing and just need a break, and that's fine, right? You know, you want to encourage kids, you don't want to force kids. But she's been like, can we go to your studio? Can we go to your studio? Because she knows all the fun things I have here. Every time she's here, she wants to draw, sew, do jewelry, anything. We have not as much craft stuff at home, but we have a good amount of craft stuff. Yeah. We even have like a little pottery wheel because I love throwing pottery at Ovington. Yes, I take classes over there. I love it. I love throwing pottery. Oh yeah, Katie's fantastic. The whole program over there is great. And so she's been begging me to go to Ovington Pottery, too. So I'm gonna try to bring her over there as well. But she's got this little toy pottery wheel that she uses at home, makes a big mess.
SPEAKER_17If you're in the area on Friday, June 19th at 3 p.m., stop by for Allison's two-year anniversary celebration.
SPEAKER_05So it's kind of like an open house. Last year I did my one-year anniversary and I had a tie-dye bar outside, right? I saw that. I was living. Oh, you were? Oh, okay. Yeah, so it's really fun. I just invite my students and whoever is in the area to come. You don't have to be a student. I have free activities for kids that day, and then I also have some like DIY kits available to purchase. So those are usually decorating sunglasses or doing a friendship macrame bracelet, that kind of stuff. But this year I'm gonna do a bedazzle bar. I'm really excited. So lots of rhinestones everywhere. And then I always have fashion illustration available for kids too for free. And I usually have refreshments, some sweets, then drinks.
SPEAKER_17To find out more about Allison and Sew and Fashion, you can visit SEWN F A S H I O N dot com or follow so dot n dot fashion underscore BK on Instagram. She's also on Facebook, and you can always give her a call. The number is two six seven four two one seven one nine six.
SPEAKER_09Well, a part of it, a part that nobody ever sees. Coney Island is actually in the city of New York, but nobody who's been to Coney Island has ever seen nobody at Coney Island. Because this clean, so clean, empty beach, with a trash basket lined up at attention in perfect rows, looks like this only once a day.
SPEAKER_17Next time on the Bay Ridge Diges Podcast, we pick up our history of Coney Island, chat with local business owners, and gear up for the debut of the Bay Ridge Diges Monday morning roundup email. The reading material used in today's episode included articles from Charles Denson's History Project at Coney Island History.org, David Sullivan's, heart of Coney Island.com, Jeff Stanton's Research at Westland.net slash Coney Island. And the New York Daily News. Thank you to the guests. Anna from Annabella Pizza Cafe, the late Andre Barouch, John P. Loonham, Alison Melhouz, Victoria Stilerna, Jeff Samaha, and Eugene Strapinsky. Coming June 29th, the Bay Ridge Digest Weekly Monday morning roundup email. It'll feature upcoming Bay Ridge events, local classifieds, restaurant recs, human interest and other Bay Ridge happenings. Want to sign up for this and find out more? Please do so at the completely revamped at Bayridge Digest.com. To support all these Beyridge Digest pieces of media for as little as five bucks per month, please go to patreon.com slash the Bay Ridge Digest. For more info on how to submit a story lead, please go to BayridgeDigest.com. You can also get in touch by emailing Bayridge Digest at gmail.com. So until June 25th, my name is James Skully. This has been the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast episode sixteen. And I'll be catching you on the flip side. Thank you very much.