Judy
lives across the hallway from “Ask a New Yorker Headquarters”
in a small apartment building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
She is a frequent visitor, always with a new story of what
she’s been up to, or what someone else on the block has
been up to. The day this interview took place, she had dropped
by at about 7:00am asking if someone would run around the
corner to the store to get her a tube of Ben Gay. See, she
has been banned from this particular bodega ever since she
got into an altercation with its owner over some lottery
tickets (in which she ended up hitting him over the head
with her handbag, quite hard, from what I hear). I first
had to promise I would not tell the owner the Ben Gay was
for her, then I went to fetch the goods. When I came back,
I thought, “Judy is long over-due for New Yorker of
the Month status”. She agreed to answer my questions,
as long as I didn’t ask her about sex.
AskaNewYorker:
Judy, how long have you lived in Williamsburg?
Judy:
All my life. I was born on Forrest Street by a midwife,
then I lived at 115 Withers Street, and then in 1946, when
I got married, I moved into this gorgeous house (said with
a very sarcastic tone).
AskaNewYorker:
Things must be very different now than they were when you
were younger, when you got married.
Judy:
Oh, it’s terrible now compared to back then. We could leave
our windows and doors wide open, and nobody bothered us.
There weren’t all these crooks who rob and shoot people
like there are now. Kids played outside in the streets and
they were safe. We all were safe. I’d give anything to have
it be like it was then. Clean! No garbage!
AskaNewYorker:
What are your favorite memories of the time when you were
younger in Williamsburg?
Judy:
Probably all the parades. The people of my mother’s nationality
had a parade called “Our Lady of the Snow”, and
everybody was involved and helped to get the parade going.
My mom was Italian, born in Italy but she learned English
when she came here. Everybody around here was Italian back
then. Now it’s all mixed up…mixed up with crooks, mostly!
Anyway, at the parade we’d have a party and light firecrackers
and have a great time.
AskaNewYorker:
Do you make it into Manhattan very often?
Judy:
What, into New York? No, not for many many years. At least
40 years. I haven’t been to New York in forty years. What
do I want in New York?! I just stay around here. After I
got married, I forgot about Manhattan.
AskaNewYorker:
What do you mean? I thought you went last year to see your
grandson play his music?!
Judy:
Oh, yeah! I went and saw my grandson at Carnegie Hall! He
plays real good music, and my son took me to Carnegie Hall
to see him. It was real nice. You should hear him. But normally
I don’t go to New York. I don’t like to travel. I’m afraid
of all those bums on the train, they’ll rob you if you’re
not careful. My daughter goes all the time. She knows how
to travel around all over the place, a lot better than I
do.
AskaNewYorker:
When you were younger did you go into Manhattan much?
Judy:
Oh, yeah, before I was married I liked to hang out on Grand
Street and go to Little Italy, or go to movies, and go to
the seaport where the sailors were. I went with my girlfriends
down there. It was beautiful there! So nice. I made a boyfriend
there on Grand Street. My mom didn’t like that at all. He
took me out to dinner all the time. I can’t remember his
name, but he was nice. He got sick and died. Good thing
I didn’t marry him or I’d have been a widow a lot earlier.
But I went to New York a lot. I wasn’t a quiet girl. I’m
still not, you know! I got lots of friends and I go play
bingo at St. Francis’. I don’t like to play cards much,
I stick to Bingo.
AskaNewYorker:
Any advice for young people moving to New York City now?
Judy: Yeah, don’t come. We’ve got enough people here now.
