AskaNewYorker: Hi Manny. Tell us some history about Crest Hardware.
Manny: Well, my brother and I started the business about 42 years ago across the street. We had 800 square feet. Now we have a 5000 square foot store and a 2500 square foot warehouse. It’s a happy business, I enjoy what I do and most of the people working for me have a good time selling hardware and being there to answer questions and such. Sometimes I feel like a frustrated psychologist. The neighborhood has been changing, like everything else, nothing stands still.
AskaNewYorker: Tell us how the neighborhood has changed.
Manny: Basically, when we moved in it was predominantly Italian. Before that it was German and Jewish, and now it’s Italian-American and we have also now Polish and a cross-modular group of people from all different places in the world. It makes it interesting.
AskaNewYorker: Do you have a favorite restaurant in the neighborhood?
Manny: We’re fortunate we have a good selection of restaurants, too many for me to have a favorite. I enjoy a few of them, fish houses and Italian restaurants.
AskaNewYorker: One of the things I love about your hardware store is that once a year you have an art show. Tell us about it.
Manny: The idea was brought to us by Gene Poole, and he asked if he could put something in the window as a showcase. I said OK, and he came back and asked if he could put in another piece, and soon he had the whole window. And then he had the concept of showing art in the store mixed with hardware. We still have a few pieces hanging in Manny’s world of art. It’s sort of payback to the artists in the area. We don’t live alone, we don’t survive alone, we try to help each other, we try to help our customers, and they help us by buying their stuff here.
AskaNewYorker: What about this beautiful parrot over here?
Manny: It’s an African Grey. My wife bought him when he was a week and a half old and we had him at home. We’ve kept him here in the store since my kids have grown up, and they were off to school. Customers come in every day just to see him. Sometimes they sit down and spend a half hour with him. His name is Finley.
AskaNewYorker: How did Finely get his name?
Manny: My daughters go to Fordham, and there’s this Finley Hall, and they decided to name him after that hall. They don’t know who the hall is named after, though. It’s not a perfect world.
AskaNewYorker: Did you ever see anything like that blackout before? How was that for business?
Manny: Yes I did. About thirty years ago, I was across the street when we had that major blackout, and I thought it was my fault because I was out all night and I just came in. We were fortunate, we’ve always been fortunate. So far we don’t have any earthquakes or landslides or anything else. A little snow but it goes away, and that’s it.
AskaNewYorker: Any other hobbies or passions?
Manny: I’m just a basic hardware person, nuts and bolts and maybe a little plumbing and such. Otherwise, I like to read about history.
AskaNewYorker: What part of the city do you live in?
Manny: I live in Park Slope, I’ve been there for sixty or seventy years. Moved there when I was about seven years old.
AskaNewYorker: What’s the last book you read?
Manny: I’m still reading it. The Power Broker. It gives you a good sense of history. It tells you some things about who streets around here are named after. Like Kingsland Avenue. Kingsland was a brother-in-law of Havemeyer (another street right here) who was who started Domino Sugar. Power Broker is about Moses in the highways and the parks department and the relations to the bridges and parkways.
AskaNewYorker: Thanks Manny, and happy New Year!
