NYC Dec 26-27 -Grand/Flatbush ave

the rain has stopped the sky looks stormy
i like the Lutheran tall and skinny churches in the puertorican neighborhood.
they remind me of some old Ingmar Bergman movie.
sometimes I get coffee or breadpudding at the bakery down the street -
the guy always tells me teh same thing " we make the best cheesecake in new york"
and I wonder how large is new york for him - maybe just east williamsburg - graham avenue.
and I much prefer the breadpudding at the ghetto/drunk hipsters 24 hour bakery on grand and union.
this time I try the Mexican place -
I am undecided -
the pizza looks really good but I go for the taco.I tell him i hate those san loco tacos with ground frozen meat.
i ask if he is Mexican - as this hood is mostly Puerto/Dominican-
he said he is
and starts teasing Dominicans:
" what do Dominica people put in their tacos? rice and beans? they put
bananas! they put bananas in their tacos!!!"
laughs at what keeps saying.
his kid is laying on the bench -
the taco is not that great - I don't like the sour cream on it -
usually i like em just with lettuce lime chopped onions and beef.
the places in Ridgewood/bushwick are way better.
Grand street Brooklyn is still a great street with old stores and signs -
cheap jewelry - check cashing places - tuxedo rentals - bodegas and so on -
there is a hairstylist with a neon sign at the window that says
"UNIXES" instead of "unisex"
i look at the cell phone store
and the neon sign with "MCI / AT&T / OMNIPOINT etc"
not a single one of those phone carriers listed is still in business.
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there is a members only club - at night sometimes you see a muscle man security guy outside and aging men that look like old italian american mobsters -
after all these are teh streets of the movie "Donnie Brasco"
--
I buy a sidral at the Mexican bodega -
they sell panettone - the Milanese Christmas cake - made in Peru.
"Bimbo" in Italians means toddler. kind of an old fashioned term.
they sell religious items next to flour and cookies
the couple that owns the place has been in NYC for 35 years
they still say "New Jork"
they tried to move back to Mexico but were unable to make a living there
---
there is a sticker "GOD is GOOD" underneath a Miller LITE sign
and
a Chinese restaurant with bullet proof window and a girl with a Santa hat.
you never see Chinese people eating at these places
---
next day
Flatbush and Atlantic avenues
on 4th ave
there is a Chinese restaurant - "NO PORK HALAL KITCHEN" says the sign/awning
it is a Muslim neighborhood and you see the Islamic bookstore / cultural center below the national guard recruiting office.
there are all these pawn shops one next the other selling cheap gold.
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going toward the manhattan bridge there a huge poster with an image of 50 cent holding a gun
"Get Rich or Die Tryin'"
just below
theres is another poster with a smiling cop
"Join Us - 212-RECRUIT"
it says as a reminder
-
just a coincidence?