The 1950's was a great time to grow up in Brooklyn. In the summer of 1951, some of my girlfriends from 45th Street and the surrounding streets decided to form a "club". These girls' clubs were very popular at that time. If you walked a few blocks in either direction you would see girls wearing matching "team" sweaters. Most of these clubs had nothing to do with actual teams. It was just a way for a group of girls to create an identity for themselves and their neighborhoods. 42nd street had the "Clovers". 46th Street had the "Dominettes". And 45th Street had the "Gems".
(The Dominettes actually were connected to a boys' softball team, the Dominoes, most of whom lived on or near 46th Street.)
Dominettes
The faces are hard to see but here are most of the names:
In the back row: L to R: Rose Galante, Luana, Pat Waters, Marilyn Peterson, Maria Rombi, ?don't know?, Sally Karalius.Next: Connie Karalius, Annette Galante, Anna Ancona, Maryann Eliopoulos.
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Getting Our Gem Sweaters
It took a real effort for 14 and 15 year old girls with no income other than their weekly allowance (about $2.00 a week) to get together enough money to order these beautiful wool sweaters. They were long sweaters, ending at the hips and had long sleeves. The Gems decided on turquoise and black for a color scheme. We had our names embroidered in black on the left front of the sweater with GEMS on the back. When we finally got the money together we all took a trip to Manhattan (5 cents each way on the train) to the manufacturer and ordered our sweaters. We waited weeks which seemed like months but finally our sweaters arrived. We were all overjoyed and immediately put them on and called each other up to say "Let's meet at Nick's", our ice cream parlor hangout. And there we were, all nine of us, wearing our sweaters and grinning from ear to ear.
The original Gems: (Maiden Names) Maria Rombi, Joan Lee, Irene Kilfoyle, Babs MacKenzie, Charlotte MacCormack, Helen Petrowski, Mary McGrath, Annabelle Boyle, myself Pat Esposito.
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Gems at Luncheon Charlotte, Maria, Strange Looking Sailor, Joan and Pat
Annabelle and Babs in back
Some Old Photos of the Gems and Friends
Maria, Babs, Charlotte and Luana were kind enough to send me some old photos of the girls taken in the early 1950's.
Here are a few:
Pat Esposito, Charlotte MacCormack, Pat McCormick and Charlotte Briglio graduating from St. Michael's in 1951.
Charlotte and Annabelle at Coney Island
I've forgotten some of the names of the girls in this photo but here are the ones I remember wearing our new Gems sweaters.
Babs MacKenzie, Mary Rist, Irene Kilfoyle, Pat Esposito, Maria Rombi and Mary McGrath.
Babs
Maria, Babs, Mary and Josephine DeLuca
Here are more faces some of whose names I can't remember.
Irene, Carol Wells, Maria, Helen's Mother, Helen, Charlotte, Babs. Evidently at Helen's birthday party.
Irene, Babs, Maria and Joan having pizza in Maria's kitchen.
Joan and Irene's Graduation from Dewey Jr. High.
Some of the boys.
Gems after school.
Pat
(dig that kerchief around the neck, everyone had kerchiefs in different colors).
Pat Waters
Joan Lee
Charlotte MacCormack
Some of the guys in the crowd.
Willie Byrne
Willie again!
Richie Wells with Irene and Pat in front of DeBarrows.
Gary Cordes and Dick Condon
Irene and Bill Cooper's Wedding Day
Maria and Les - 1950's
Maria and Les now
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Dominoes and Dominettes
Back Row: Bobby Teetma, Joey Esposito, Tony Maceira, Connie Karalius, Bobby Galantee
Next Row: Luana Beckridge, Pat Waters, Bobby McElvy, Helen Ferares, Harry Balukas.
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Some years later during the late 1970's a few of us attended a St. Michael's School Reunion.
Here are Charlotte and Ellie Wilkie catching up on the news.
Pat with Annabelle and classmate Carol Bogaart
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Early 1980's Gems Reunion in Staten Island
Pat, Annabelle, Maria, Babs and Ruth Smith
Mary, Joan and Irene
Pat presenting Babs with Gems shirt in honor of her visit from Houston. The shirt had the names of all the Gems, guys we knew, songs we loved and singers we listened to over and over (like Johnnie Ray and Al Martino).
Annabelle, Babs (in background), Joan, Pat and Mary at reunion.
Babs and Billy
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A visit with Maria and Ellie (mid 1990's)
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Maria and Pat visit their old 45th St. homes - 1999
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Another visit with Babs, Bill, Ellie and husband Pat, and Dick and Pat -- dinner at LaNonna Piancone's.
Bill Whitton, looking great as usual.
Ellie, Babs and Pat
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Recent photo of Charlotte & Dick
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Some places we don't forget
St. Michael's
Rainbow Cafe on 39th St.
Luana and Jim's Wedding
Sunset Park Entrance and Pool
68th Precinct
Bay Ridge High School
(the old ladies home)
Brooklyn Bums
Bay Ridge Roller Rink
The old brownstones we lived in.
Coney Island Fireworks
Nathan's Hot Dogs
The crowds at Coney.
And let's not forget the old trolley's.
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Our Latest Reunion - May 2010
Charlotte, Annabelle and Babs
Bill Whitton and Maria
Richard, Pat's husband
Elaine Galantee, Ann Eliopoulis and Marge Wong.
Joe Wong and Bill Eliopoulis
Joe and Bill Whitton
Luana, Charlotte and Annabelle
Maria and Joan
The Gang's All Here!
Hope you enjoyed a nostalgic look back to our days in Sunset Park.
You can take the girl out of Brooklyn, but you can't take Brooklyn out of the girl!
Our friend Billy Eliopoulis passed away this January, 2011. He will be greatly missed.
If anyone else has some old photos you'd like to see on this Blog, please email me: triciart@aol.com
