At the end of April and the beginning of May, Arthur Lonto repeated rituals taking place all over Brooklyn--he planted his garden, and he enjoyed the beginning of the baseball season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was never idle. Here are a few more extracts from the busy realtor's journal.
"Wednesday, April 30, 1947 Dodgers lose 1st game at Ebbets Field to Chicago. Jerome & I took Jitterbug lesson at 6 p.m.--Miss Young.
Thursday, May 1, 1947 New family moves into 1431 E. 7th St from Park Slope. Called Rickerman, man, wife and young daughter
Saturday, May 3, 1947 Father & I drove to Sears & Roebuck & bought 5 rosebushes. I planted them in afternoon. 2 pink, 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 red-yellow...Driving to Sears we saw the yellow new leaves on the trees.
Tuesday, May 6, 1947 Bklyn-7, St. Louis-6. Painted rose arch in yard. Wednesday May 7, 1947 I GOT MY BROKERS LICENSE IN MAIL
Thursday, May 8, 1947 Record COLD for the day. Evening: Went down to Day's house & helped Joey Day shellack his new work bench and listened to St. Louis shellack B'klyn. 8:30 p.m. night game St. Louis-5 Bklyn-1 1st series that the last place Cards won this year against their Bklyn "cousins" the 1st place Dodgers.
Monday, May 12, 1947 Planted grass seed in front. Dodgers beat Boston 8-3. 5-ALARM FIRE IN CONEY ISLAND. Jerome is one of first firemen on hand
Tuesday, May 13, 1947 AM took BMT #5 to CONEY ISLAND saw FIRE damage. Mother and I met new neighbors the Rickermans. Evening worked in garden. Night game Cincinnati-7 Brooklyn-5
Wednesday, May 14, 1947 RAIN 10 AM Dance lesson w/Miss Carroll. Cincinnati-2 Bklyn-0. Uncle came. Drove him to Brighton Station Bought drills at McVeigh's bought turpentine, paint remover, fertilizer at Gluck's."
So passed a peaceful two weeks for Mr Lonto. The May 12 fire at Coney Island, according to an online history of Engine 245, "started in rubbish behind 1228 Surf Avenue. This fire burnt through a dozen or so building[s] between Surf Avenue to Bowery Street, and Henderson Walk to W. 12th Street....The fire...injured forty five people, mostly firemen."
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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