I’m currently reading Marc Eliot’s “Song of Brooklyn, An Oral History of America’s Favorite Borough”. Here are some things I didn’t know. Did you? Answers will posted later. If I remember.
1. Legend has it that two would be celebrities encouraged Nathan Herdwerker to open his hot dog stand in Coney Island. (That would be Nathans). They were:
a. WC Fields and Lou Abbott
b. Jimmy Durante and Eddie Cantor
c. Groucho and Harpo Marx
d. Ed Sullivan and Jerry Lewis
2. Which young star was a Steeplechase stilt walker?
a. Patty Duke
b. Dean Martin
c. Sidney Portier
d. Cary Grant
3. Pips is:
a. The oldest continuously operating comedy club in the country.
b. A comedy club in Flatbush that has open and shut it’s doors 20 times since it opened.
c. A music venue in Sheepshead Bay.
d. The place where the Not Ready for Primetime Players started out.
4. The first major Brooklyn rapper was:
a. Biggie Smalls
b. Run DMC
c. Big Daddy Kane
d. Grandmaster Flash
5. Which of these people is NOT from Brooklyn.
a. Larry Davis
b. Larry Bud Melman
c. John Cusack
d. None of the above.
6. Mel Brooks grew up in Williamsburg. During his childhood, the rent on his apartment would’ve been:
a. $16 per month
b. $40 per month
c. $1 per week
d. $200 per month
7. Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond were in the same class in which high school?
a. Midwood
b. Lincoln
c. Erasmus
d. Tilden
8. The 1991 Crown Heights race riots were sparked by an incident involving:
a. Rudy Giuliani
b. The NYPD
c. Yusef Hawkins
d. Gavin Cato
9. Author Sol Yurick wrote the book:
a. The Warriors
b. The Lords of Flatbush
c. It Happened in Brooklyn
d. Saturday Night Fever
10. Which area was modeled after the Champs-Elysees?
a. The Junction
b. Ft. Hamilton
c. Eastern Parkway
d. Cadman Plaza
3 Comments
WOW! These are good. I started out not knowing a damn thing but picked up the pace as the quiz progressed.
1 – No idea! B sounds good. I’m going to have to Google this…I’m so curious.
2 – No idea again! Ditto on google.
3 – DITTO! I’ll say B. It sounds like the best story.
4 – Got to be D…he was one of the first, so seems like the right answer
5 – Not sure, so I’ll have to go with D (seems like a trick question)
6 – No idea but I’m going to have to go with the lowest, C
7 – C
8 – C
9 – A
10 – C
Well, I didn’t know most of these. The only reason I was able to come up with them is because I happen to be reading the book.
1. B
2. D
3. A
4. C
5. D
6. A
7. B
8. D
9. A
10. C
I think both Neil and Barbara went to Erasmus, but the book says they were in the same CLASS at Lincoln.
GMF is from the Bronx.
Yusef Hawkins was the teen killed in Bensonhurst. For extra credit, where can a memorial still be seen?
D’oh!! These were toughies. And I had no idea about the Neil/Barbra/Lincoln connection.
Memorial is in your ‘hood…Bed-Stuy…yes?? Just not remembering exactly where so maybe half credit for me.