Pete Hamill: Get off your phone and live this weekend

“Folks complain about gentrification, however it’s higher than heroin,” says longtime journalist Pete Hamill, who, at 83, remembers the unhealthy previous days of the town. In 2016, he left Manhattan, his house of 30 years, to return to his native Brooklyn along with his spouse, Fukiko Aoki — a transfer that impressed the e-book he’s writing now, “The Previous Nation.” A documentary, “Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists,” about his and the late Jimmy Breslin’s newspaper years, premieres Monday on HBO. Hamill, who bought his begin as a reporter for The Submit in 1960, tells HANNAH FRISHBERG about his favourite Brooklyn haunts, previous and current. I like the truth that Brooklyn remains to be horizontal and not vertical, so you possibly can get up and see the sky. I additionally love that we live in a home in-built 1873. I had my first newspaper job after I was 11, delivering the Brooklyn Eagle, and it was being delivered to brownstones and now I live in a single. After I grew up, we didn’t even lock the door. Who the hell would steal something from us? If I had the time, if I may do it, I’d in all probability go to Prospect Park. I liked strolling in Prospect Park — the Prospect Heights aspect of it, which is what I’m most accustomed to. The small lake, the place they known as the Satan’s Cave. Whenever you go away the smaller lake, what was once known as the Swan Lake, there was a path that went alongside the aspect . . . In case you go the opposite method, in direction of Bartel-Pritchard Sq., there’s what they known as Monument Hill, which had a deeper slope. I liked that. I owned a home on Prospect Park West at one level till anyone fired a bullet by means of the window that missed me by a few foot. And I stated, “Jeez, I can’t do this.” I haven’t been to Coney Island this yr but, however final yr I used to be there 4 occasions. I went within the winter twice — simply to stroll round, inhale the ocean air laced with onions. It’s like visiting a special world. I see previous dudes like me each from time to time order 4 scorching canine. That provides me some power. Mainly, my eating regimen is so austere, as a result of I’ve two damaged hips, to begin with, so shifting round shouldn’t be simple. I’ll by no means tap-dance once more! (I didn’t.) I used to go to the Palladium Ballroom and dance: merengue, cha-cha. James restaurant is true across the nook. They know us, the workers. It’s very handy, half a block. I at all times get the identical factor — French toast. It has a contact of applesauce, which I like. And the black kale salad. I at all times go on Sunday brunch. Not each Sunday, however often, if the climate’s not ferocious. After I see a younger man and a younger lady are available in for lunch and find yourself every speaking on the cellphone, I say, “Live your life.” I hope for them that they’ve as a lot enjoyable as I had. [embedded content] Share this: https://nypost.com/2019/01/25/pete-hamill-get-off-your-phone-and-live-this-weekend/ The post Pete Hamill: Get off your phone and live this weekend appeared first on My style by Kartia.