Floyd DeSilva, owner of DeSilva South Brooklyn Liquors on 5th Avenue in Park Slope, passed away on August 7, 2008. Corie Trancho-Robie interviewed Mr. DeSilva in July for the Park Slope neighborhood guide we are working on, and clips from this interview will be made part of the audio tour (due out in October). I learned of Mr. DeSilva's passing when I called the store to get his approval for the clip we'd like to use. I'm so glad we were able to record Mr. DeSilva's memories of the neighborhood.
Born in Trinidad, Mr. DeSilva came to New York as a teenager. He saved up the money to buy his store by working at a hospital during the day and driving a cab at night, and he kept his cash safe in a mattress! Mr. DeSilva laughs a lot as he describes his first few months as a business owner. He chose not to sell lottery tickets at his store, even though it's lucrative, because he didn't want to encourage people to spend their money unwisely.
Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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