Like many of you, this site definitely brought back a lot of memories. I’m 41 and living in California these days but back in da day (’65-87), the Bronx was my world. I lived in the same apt on Stratford Ave for 21 years. My friends on the block all did too. As a child I remember it as a mostly jewish/italian community. As I grew up more latinos moved in but it was still a mix of Puerto Ricans, Ecuadorians, Dominicans, Costa Ricans, etc…The nice part was…we all got along. Don’t ever remember any racial tensions…not as a kid…maybe later in my teens years but nothing crazy. Yeah, we were poor as hell, but back then, we didn’t realize it. It’s was only after leaving that I realized, “man, I was poor!”. But I was rich when it came to what we made of it. I tell my family (raised in California) about my life in NY and they shake their heads sometimes, thinking, this guy is insane with all his stories…but they’re all true. It’s a different generation now. It makes me appreciate everything I have today. I wish my kids would understand that sometimes. We had no nintendo/xbox, cell phones, or 300 channels of HDTV. We had channels 2/4/5/7/9/11 and 13. That was it. That was enough for me back then. I was never home…I was always outside with all of my friends. Sometimes I wish I could just go back for just one day, to see all my friends, laughing, running around, playing. I’ll always cherish those years. Luckily most of my friends made it out alive and we still keep in touch. To those who didn’t, r.i.p. (Victor “Lil Vic” Maldonado, “Kendo”, Nelson “Lil Tito” Rivera, Frankie Vasquez, Tuto’s brother Johnny, “Kolo”, Darnell “Perk” Perkins-TC5). I always pour some beer out to these guys. peace, Pook