Some more comments............

Hello Everyone,
Got more comments to share with you. It's great hearing from you. If you have anything to share don't hesitate to send it to tomyread@aol.com and I'll pass it on.

John Sullivan writes: (that's John from 135th St)
Thanks for adding me to your VH memories. You must have a photographic memory to recall all these names and events. Truly amazing.
One minor correction is for the McIntyre family. There were four children. Isabelle (the oldest), Charlie, Tom and Rosemary the youngest Charlie died about five years ago when his car was struck by a speeding car as he was turning into townhouse where he lived. Charlie and Tom were not twins although they were in the same Annunciation class together.
Your recent blog from Odette Alfafara brought back memories re her brother ?? Dickie who I believed graduated with me from Annunciation in 1951. She did not mention him in his blog.
John Sullivan

Editor's note: Dickie passed away January 1, 2005. Odette had sent a letter to the Gazette informing us of his passing. May he Rest in Peace.

Bernie Harrigan writes:
Tommy,


Bernie Harrigan checking in. As with the others, I appreciate your blog and the memories we all have.
I lived at 1532 Amsterdam and my next door neighbors was the LaMarche family,
I have three younger sisters, Marie, Margaret and Julie. All are doing relatively well.
I hung out with Vinnie Murray, Ray Barnett and Jimmy Yepes. We called ourselves the Kool Kats.
My first love was Margie Considine whom I believe was mentioned in an earlier email as having many children.
I had seven myself. She would not have been disappointed.
My entire career was in law enforcement. Retired in 2008 and reside now in Danbury, CT.
Again thank you for provding us this forum.
Stay well.
Bernie

Tony Ramirez writes:
Hi Tom, my name is Anthony Ramirez and I grew up on 135th Street in 504. My Father was the super and everyone knew him as Mr. Louie. My Mother, Mary passed away when I was just a young kid. I had two brothers, George and Louie and we all went to and graduated from Annunciation.

My Father became the school and church custodian after John Flynn left.
My Brother George was the oldest and he hung around with allot of the people you mentioned. He graduated Annunciation in 1956 and then attended Regis for a year and then finished high school at Cardinal Hayes.
Louie graduated in 1960 and then went to Bishop Dubois up on Amsterdam Avenue, next to the 30th precinct.
I graduated in 1964 and then went to Automotive HS in Brooklyn.
Both George and I eventually became NYC Transit Police Officers and we both retired after twenty years of service. Our Brother Louie went into the army and then worked various jobs, mostly in service stations as a mechanic. Unfortunately, we just lost him in July to a heart attack.
My pop passed away in 1980, he was 83.
It was such a pleasure reading your posts and although I am probably 8 or ten years your younger, I still recalled much of what you spoke of. I used to hang around with the son of the family that had the Chinese hand laundry that was at 500 near the candy store. Their son Edwin Chin told me that the curse was chicamahongdingding and that it was a really bad curse. Hearing you speak about it just brought me to my knees laughing.
Also, I vividly remember Al Capri, the cab driver in 502. He has false teeth and he used to push his top plate halfway out of his mouth and scare all of us younger kids. He was surely a riot.
You mentioned Charlie who used to sit outside on the stoop of 504. His last name was Molnar and his wife was Julia and he had three daughters, Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Juliette. I don't know what ever became of the family, except for Juliette who ended up somewhere in Washington Heights where she and her husband owned a hardware store, on 181st Street.
Thanks for the great job you’ve done with the VH Blog and I look forward to reading more as time goes on.
Please feel free to share this e-mail with the rest of the Vinegar Hill gang. Oh and speaking of gangs, the three I remember were the Rebels, the Knights, and Los Diablos. There were many fights with the Sportsmen who came from the other side of St. Nicholas park.