When I was a boy, living in the tall building in the background, right, there was a playground on this site which we called Whitey’s because the man who managed it was a Black man named Whitey. I can remember applying to him for the puck and sticks for an air hockey table that was sometimes set up there. The playground was a victim of the 2nd Avenue subway construction that went on for years and years (decades, really) before being abandoned (and eventually resuscitated). This is part of my project to capture memories from local residents as the neighborhood is rapidly gentrified.
He also provided balls for kickball and had mercurochrome for skinned knees. I can’t believe it’s gone!
Yes! I don’t remember him ever saying much but I do remember him fondly.