The Bay Ridge Digest Podcast - EP012: Right Where You Left Me

In The Bay Ridge Digest Podcast episode 12 we recap Tastes of Third, hang out by Flagg Court, commune with the president of Fort Hamilton’s Alumni Association, find out what’s happening on 5th Avenue, and gear up for Pizza Wars. 

Highlights:

• Scenes from Jackie Robinson’s first game in 1947

• Growing Up in Analog Brooklyn with Joe Estrella

• Some Tastes of Third Avenue Highlights with Saravá Bistro, Anthony’s Butcher & Deli, Latte Da, and Brooklyn Dipped

• Bay Ridge 5th Avenue BID News with Executive Director Elizabeth Lovejoy

• Growing up in Flagg Court with Christine Walters

• An Upcoming Pizza Wars Promo with The Merchants of Third Avenue’s Chrisie Canny

• The Fort Hamilton High School’s Upcoming Hall of Fame Ceremony with Alumni Association President Joe Estrella

• April and Tax Day Jokes with Freddie Friday

• Three Day Champion with Christine Walters

The reading material used in today’s episode included articles from:

• BayRidgeFlagCourt.com

• The Bay Ridge Home Reporter

• The Brooklyn Daily Eagle

• Brownstoner.com

• PastDaily.com

Coming later this Spring, the next step in The Bay Ridge Digest: A weekly Monday morning roundup email, delivered straight to your inbox, featuring important upcoming Bay Ridge events, local classifieds, restaurant recs, human interest, and other important Bay Ridge happenings. 

If you’re a business owner listening to this, I’ll be releasing the email wireframe and media kit in the coming weeks. It’ll show affordable sponsorship opportunity placements within this email. I’ll also be explaining how people can purchase classified ads within the newsletter. All other stories covered within will be free of charge. 

Want to receive this? Sign up for this email in the form at BayRidgeDigest.com. Want to submit a story or important event you already know that will be happening in say, June or July? Do so with that same form or email me at BayRidgeDigest@gmail.com.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Give me some ephemeral Bay Ridge places of your that you can recollect and miss these days.

SPEAKER_10 0:06

Sure. I mean, I had friends who worked at Once Upon a Sunday and Logs and, you know, met and got married after meeting there. Thompson's Fish Market used to be on 73rd and third. They had french fries in a waxy paper bag. You could only put vinegar on them, no ketchup. It was like vinegar and salt, kind of like the old Seamongers from the British Isles kind of situation. And that was like a big treat to go get French fries at Thompson's. Vesuvios is still there, but Vesuvios is so much different than it was when I was growing up. We used to call it Teresa's because there was a little old Italian lady, Teresa, who ran Vesuvios, like it was a quarter of the size it is today. And as a PS102 kid, we would on Friday afternoons run to grab a booth at Vesuvios before the Our Lady of Angels kids could grab a booth before us, you know. So it was like the pizza booth wars of the 70s. So many beautiful places, and a lot of it around food, because it is Bay Ridge, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:21

Welcome to the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast, episode 12. My name is James Scully. Tonight we recap Tastes of Third, hang out by Flag Court, commune with the president of the Fort Hamilton Alumni Association, find out what's happening on Fifth Avenue, and gear up for pizza wars. Subscribe to the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast everywhere you get a podcast. For more info on how to submit a story lead, please go to BayridgeDigest.com. You can also get in touch by emailing Bayridge Digest at gmail.com and follow on Instagram at Bay Ridge Digest. Coming later this spring, the next step in the Bay Ridge Digest. A weekly Monday morning roundup email delivered straight to your inbox. It'll feature important upcoming Bay Ridge events, local classifies, restaurant recommendations, human interest, and other important Bay Ridge happenings. If you're a business owner listening to this, I'll be releasing the email wireframe and media kit in the coming weeks. They'll show affordable sponsorship opportunity placements in the email. I'll also be explaining how people can purchase classified ads within the newsletter. All other stories covered within will be free of charge. Want to receive this? Sign up for this email in the form at bayridgedigest.com. Want to submit a story or important event you already know is happening, say in June or July? Do so within the same form. Or email me James Scully at bayridge digest at gmail.com. In need of anything from script writing to MCing, editing, producing, mixing, and directing, I do all these things. Been thinking about starting a podcast and not sure where to begin? I can help you produce your podcast in any stage, from pre-planning through post-production. You can contact me for a consultation at james at the wallbreakers.com. And stay tuned for upcoming new walking tours, like the long-awaited Gowanus Tour, Ghosts of Old Bensonhurst, and a Bay Rich Food Tour. Keep tabs on my upcoming events at Linktree slash the Wallbreakers. That's L-A-N-K-T-R.ee slash the Wallbreakers.

SPEAKER_14 3:40

I hope you noticed Julius when he ushered on Internet this morning.

SPEAKER_17 3:43

I did. Well, I guess uh Judas is a movie fan.

SPEAKER_14 3:47

And that's not all, he's a baseball fan.

SPEAKER_17 3:50

Yes, and it's let me ribbon all over him today. Well, it's 8 15 and this is breakfast with Dorothy and Dick, coming as usual, direct from our apartment on 66th Street, New York. And today we're very happy to have at our breakfast table two friends who are also neighbors. And they've strolled up the street for some coffee and eggs with us. They're Leo DeRoja, who needs no introduction in this neck of the woods, and his very beautiful wife, Mrs. DeRochia.

SPEAKER_05 4:16

Tuesday, April 15th, 1947, at about 8.15 at 9269 Shore Road. We're tuned into the Mutual Broadcasting Systems flagship, WOR. On the air is breakfast with Dorothy and Dick. The morning talk show is hosted at home by Dorothy Kilgallen, Broadway columnist for the New York Journal American, and her husband actor Dick Colmer, radio's second Boston Blackie. It's a daily show on for 45 minutes at 8.15, Monday through Saturday. Although it's a local series, it's nationally known thanks to WOR's 50,000 watt signal. It's often heard by over 20 million people. Because of which, it earns the couple$75,000 per year on this alone. What's significant about today's show?

SPEAKER_17 5:17

I think it might be a little bit difficult batting with Abbas.

SPEAKER_05 5:26

Today is opening day, and the Brooklyn Dodgers are taking on the Boston Braves at 1 p.m. It's where we'll be heading, and not just for baseball purposes. I'm a columnist for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and something monumental will be happening at Ebbotts Field in Flatbush. We better finish our breakfast and get going.

SPEAKER_19 6:22

You know, 58th between. That's kind of how we all grew up. You knew based on your last name and what block you grew up, people kind of knew each other. And it was, you know, an extended family. It was really a village raising people at that particular time, you know, on the block. Kids were outside all day from eight o'clock in the morning all the way to sundown, playing by ourselves, solving conflicts, getting into fights, and going right back to playing the sport with the same person you just decided to get into a fight with. So I love my childhood. In Sunset Park, we were kind of surrounded by a lot of gangs. This is Joseph Estreja. My name is Joseph Estreja. I'm class of 1987 from Fort Hamilton High School. For those of us who graduated Fort Hamilton, I'm also currently now the president of the Alumni Association at Fort Hamilton High School, so I love to introduce myself and I'm ready for some questions.

SPEAKER_05 7:23

As you just heard, Joe is the president of the Fort Hamilton High School Alumni Association. The school is having their big Hall of Fame induction ceremony, the weekend of April 25th.

SPEAKER_19 7:32

So where did Joe grow up? Well, originally I was born in what we call Los Sudes, which is southside Williamsburg. That's where I was born. That's where my parents immigrated to in 1967, I think they came. So I was born in 1969 in southside Williamsburg, and then we migrated over here to we moved to Sunset Park, 56th and 4th. That was 1976. I started first grade right here in PS 140 on 60th and 4th. Been here ever since. 52 years, I think, somewhere around there then. Yeah, Sunset Park. You know, in our generation, we kind of everybody, unless your parents had some money, maybe you went to old PH was, you know, right up at the block for those who did the Catholic school route. But we weren't those that had money, so we went the public school track. So we went to every public school that was zoned for us. And for Hamilton High School was my zone school. So I'm the youngest, and I followed all my siblings who also went to all the same elementary schools, junior high schools, and high school. So we just went to our zone school. What was going on in Sunset Park in the late 1970s? Sunset Park had gone through a big change. We had a lot of white flight. There's a lot of redlining going on here as well. So it was kind of a shift in demographics from your Irish, Norwegians, Italians who lived here prior because of the waterfront and longshoremen jobs that were found here. And they kind of shifted into more Puerto Ricans became the big demographic that moved in here. Some Dominicans, I'm from a Dominican heritage, my parents were born in the Dominican Republic. So there were some Dominicans, but predominantly Puerto Ricans were found in this neighborhood. And although they were gangs, I never felt unsafe. Which is kind of strange, you know, thinking about gang violence. Because if you weren't involved in any gangs, there wasn't really any violence directed towards you in particular. I didn't feel unsafe. I'm from the generation that we were walking to school by ourselves. Our parents did not take us and pick us up. So I've been walking to school since the first grade. You know, we picked up our friends along the way. This is why it was so important to know people. And the Brooklyn of that time, like people knew each other on different blocks, and you kind of met your friends. You know, I lived on 56th, the school was our sixth year. I walked four blocks to school and back, but my friends lived on 57th, 58th. So as we kind of walked, we kind of picked up more friends on our path there, and we went to school and and we came back. Don't think for a second that Joe feels negative about this time. Brooklyn was a marvelous place growing up in the 70s and 80s, at least in my experience, and most of my friends that are my friends currently, I'm gonna be turning 57 the 27th of this month. I know them since elementary school. So we know each other for 50 plus years, which is crazy to think that we're still friends until today. So I think that's one of the main things that my kids, you know, I raised my kids here in Sunset Park. That connection of 50-year friendships is gone. That's no longer something that you see here, at least in Sunset Park, and I don't see it throughout Brooklyn anymore.

SPEAKER_05 11:03

In that era of racially segregated neighborhoods, if you were from Sunset Park, for the most part you stayed in Sunset Park. For Joe, walking into a different neighborhood could be dangerous.

SPEAKER_19 11:14

West of 65th Street was Bay Ridge, and not that racism was somebody burning a cross on your lawn, kind of racism, that kind of overt racism, but we knew that if we were in Bay Ridge at that time, especially after hours or anything like this, the chances of somebody confronting you or looking at you in some kind of way was going to occur. So we knew that that was something that we had to be mindful of. And as I said, I didn't feel particularly endangered, but you had to be aware of where you were going in Brooklyn all the time. I still carry that with me. That's still in my mind. I have to plan out if I'm going somewhere, where am I going? What's the demographics? How do I get out of there? Do I know somebody that's from there? I still think that way until today. That's still something that is a remnant that I carry from growing up in Brooklyn in the 70s and 80s at that time.

SPEAKER_05 12:19

Joe was also a kid who experienced school busing for middle school.

SPEAKER_19 12:23

Bussing started in the late 70s. Since I was the youngest, my sisters were the first ones who started getting bussed into fencing hurts at that time with that guides. Thank God they were females, so the violence towards them wasn't as bad, you know. But adults were outside waiting for kids and chasing kids home at that time in the 70s. I ended up going to DACA in 1980, and because I was the youngest, my siblings were always ahead of me, which served me greatly because the teachers knew me by my last name. And we had no choice but to be very good students and very well behaved. Immigrant parents don't play around with education or behavior. So I was well received at the school, and so Dica was really my first introduction of being in a neighborhood outside of my neighborhood. So I already had an idea of what was going on. Because I was always an athlete, sports has always been able to merate a lot of this racial kind of tension because nobody cares what race you are when you could win. And if you wanted to win in recess, you needed me on your team. I went from Joseph to Joey in my three years in middle school. I now became Joey to everybody, and everybody, you know, all my ended up meeting a lot of great people who I still know to today who call me Joey still. So that was my transition period. Fort Hamilton was way more relaxed. By the time I got into Fort Hamilton, you really didn't see any of that kind of racial strife that I saw a residue at Dica in Fort Hamilton. We really didn't see that at all. What was Joe's first impression of Bay Ridge in the mid-1980s? It was mostly a Greek community, so you saw a lot of Greeks back then and a lot of Latinos because Sunset Park was a uh cracksman school for that area. So my same friends who I went to elementary school and middle school with, they also came there. So we came with a lot of people that we knew. I'm into a different area. I mean, one of the things about Fort Hamilton is like you don't even know you're in Brooklyn when you're over there on that side. Beautiful houses, you know, the gingerbread house that's right there in the corner is one of the landmarks that when you see there, you're like, I'm still in Brooklyn, so that was kind of a change. But I think overall, I had a great experience in my four years there.

SPEAKER_05 14:52

We'll pick up with Joe later in this episode with how he became president of the Fort Hamilton High School Alumni Association and the upcoming Hall of Fame ceremony.

SPEAKER_18 15:19

This is our this is our chai with a little cinnamon, but we're also offering called Burrow with pistachio cold comb. This is Ron from Latte Dam. My corner Joe's around here somewhere. This event is kicking off and we're having a good time.

SPEAKER_16 15:35

What's up, guys? This is Joe Mayori, owner of Latte Dam, best coffee in town. See you on 86th and 3rd.

SPEAKER_05 15:42

Did you come to the merchants of 3rd Avenue's Tastes of Third Avenue on Saturday, March 29th, 2026 at St. Patrick's Auditorium? Moda sold over 300 tickets. 30 local Third Avenue vendors gave out samples, met new customers, upsold their products, and had a good time. Listened to some of the sounds from Tastes of Third Avenue.

SPEAKER_09 16:04

Hi, I'm Rafaela, I also don't have a vistro. How are you guys all doing? 60A 19 Third Avenue. And you're coming soon, Igwazu? Yes, we're coming soon in 93rd in Fourth Avenue. You know when it's gonna be mid-April between 60 and 17 with Lauren Shiam.

SPEAKER_07 16:24

I'm the owner of Brooklyn Dipp, started in 2014. We're a dessert cater, an event servicing company. We're on a taste of third. We're really happy to be here for the second year in a row. Everyone's loving our display. We have shot glasses, cheesecake, caramel cheesecake, chocolate moose, some chocolate-covered pretzels, and we have some sampler boxes that have five different things of goodness in it. And everyone's been really buying them. They're gonna sell them out pretty soon among the line.

SPEAKER_05 16:50

So if people want to get in touch with you to cater their party for desserts, how can they do so?

SPEAKER_07 16:55

They can call us, 718-635-4845. They can email us at BrooklynDips at gmail.com or DM us on Instagram. Go to our website, brooklynzips.com.

SPEAKER_09 17:06

And what's your Instagram handle?

SPEAKER_07 17:08

Brooklyn Dips. Pretty simple. D-I-P-P-E-D. Not one dip.

SPEAKER_09 17:25

I will try something while I'm here.

SPEAKER_08 17:34

Hey, it's Michelle from Anthony's Butcher here at the taste of Third Avenue. We're just here representing all the great food that we offer, and we're really happy to see that the community's all together.

SPEAKER_05 17:45

Hey Anthony, what's your address? 7324 Third Avenue Bay Ridge.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Okay, people announced this in Diaph.

SPEAKER_05 17:56

Next up is Pizza Wars. A joint collaboration between the merchants of Third Avenue, the 86th Street Bid, and the Fifth Avenue Bay Ridge Bid. And I know the perfect person to give out more information about it. When you're growing up in Bath Beach, and it doesn't need to be like the actual map, where is Bath Beach begin? Because I think it begins as 86th Street towards the water. But when you were a kid growing up in Bath Beach, what did you think of as what was Bath Beach to you as a place?

SPEAKER_13 18:31

I mean, you have Diker Park, but that's kind of on the borderline with Bath Beach and Diker Heights. Honestly, I knew for a long time what Bath Beach was because it was instilled in me to know.

SPEAKER_05 18:42

Okay, well, what is Bath Beach Pride then? For those of us from Benson Hearst or Bay Area, what is Bath Beach Pride?

SPEAKER_13 18:49

Bath Beach, it's very different. I mean, when you're closer to the golf course, it's very residential until you get to 86th Street. And then you have the beautiful walkway off of Bay Eighth that you can walk to and walk all the way to Bay Parkway. It's gorgeous. And it's very quiet, which I appreciate. And then sometimes you could actually hear the trumpet call at Fort Hamilton at 5 o'clock, 11. Yeah, yeah. And then sometimes you could hear the D train in that distance.

SPEAKER_05 19:19

Right. Okay. So so what was your train stop growing up?

SPEAKER_13 19:22

18th Avenue. And then I would have to either take the bus or walk to because a great distance. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 19:30

Yeah. This is Elizabeth Lovejoy.

SPEAKER_13 19:32

Hi, I am Elizabeth Lovejoy. I am the executive director of the Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District.

SPEAKER_05 19:40

As you just heard, Elizabeth grew up in Bath Beach, but she also went to school in Bay Ridge.

SPEAKER_13 19:45

So I've been in Bay Ridge for a long time. I went to Visitation Academy. Then I went to Fontaine Hall Academy. And then I went to Brooklyn College.

SPEAKER_05 19:54

Okay. Yeah. Alright, well, that brings up some other things because as you know, Visitation Academy is no. You are the first person that I'm actually speaking to who has done more than a tour inside Visitation Academy. So is there indeed a pond?

SPEAKER_13 20:08

There is a pond, yes. And I I've seen it online where people say it's a lake. It's not a lake, it's a pond. And there is a boathouse. There is a stone crucifix, and there is a huge basketball court, a huge field, gorgeous grounds. You know, it's been a while since I heard any updates, but I would love to see it landmarked, as you should be, right? Because it was built in 1855.

SPEAKER_05 20:32

Right, and there's a reason why those stone fences are as high there, because there was nothing around it. Exactly. Yeah, it's a fortress. Liz was a guest on the very first episode of the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast. As you just heard, she's the executive director of the Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District.

SPEAKER_13 20:48

So Fifth Avenue, just a little introduction. So the district here on Fifth Avenue, we go from 65 to 85 streets on Fifth Avenue. And it's very culturally diverse with M-E-N-A, that's Middle Eastern North African. We have a bunch of businesses that are Yemeni and Middle Eastern as well. And it ranges from restaurants and retail. Of course, now we have a lot of coffee shops that are popping up, which is great. I mean, people definitely need their caffeine fix.

SPEAKER_05 21:20

Obviously, there's also the holdouts that you mentioned, legends, or skin flants, little lords, little ladies.

SPEAKER_13 21:26

Yes, the legacy businesses that we have. Skinflants, who I believe they just celebrated their 50th anniversary. And it was exciting because I did go there on that date and they had the same pricing as when they opened. And also Alex Hair Salon, he's been open for 50 years as well. Bearage Pizza is another legacy business.

SPEAKER_05 21:46

And the Tuxedo place.

SPEAKER_13 21:48

Yes, Dante Zeller.

SPEAKER_05 21:49

Dante Zeller. I feel like I was fitted for several uh wedding party tuxedos there.

SPEAKER_11 21:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 21:58

So just how robust is the 50? Avenue Beay Rich bid.

SPEAKER_13 22:04

So we have 350 businesses in the district. I want to say that we are in communication with more than half, actually. And of course, when there's a new business opening up, we have a welcome folder. We, you know, do a lot of outreach, introduce ourselves, and you know, we're here to help them survive and do well.

SPEAKER_05 22:27

What are some of the friction points that you've had to get past with people, maybe either skepticism or things like that? What are the second things that you, you know, you say outreach means like that, but I'm sure there are some businesses that are like, ah, I've been doing this forever on my own. I want to. What are you telling people to tell them, hey, this is important that you join us?

SPEAKER_13 22:47

We like to provide updates because there's a lot of business owners that don't have social media, do not use their email as much. So anytime there's an update from New York City in terms of law, you know, we want to keep all merchants updated on that. For example, there's the new law now for security gates. And so the Department of Buildings wants business owners to comply by July 1st. However, it's not friendly for small businesses in terms of costs to update the grill gates, and so therefore, we're advocating on their behalf with the Brooklyn Chamber.

SPEAKER_05 23:21

And what are you advocating for?

SPEAKER_13 23:23

To pay for the cost or to appeal it or delay the law.

SPEAKER_05 23:28

Now, when there's a business on Fifth Avenue that has a vacancy, the real estate person trying to get it rented, do they come to you often and say, hey, this is what we're trying to do? Do you ever put feelers out? How involved are you in things like that?

SPEAKER_13 23:42

We do always reach out because we just rebranded our website so that it's more destination focused. We do list our vacancies so that investors as well as realtors can see. Also, there is a community wish list that's on the website as well.

SPEAKER_05 24:03

If you're an owner of a brick and mortar business, especially along Fifth or Third Avenue, you're well aware of the upcoming changes to the security gate codes. Both the Fifth Avenue Bay Ridge Bid and the merchants of Third Avenue are currently advocating for, as Liz just said, to appeal or delay this law from hitting the books. As one merchant recently told me, it's cheaper to pay the fines than replace the security gate. And as Liz will tell you, a lot of merchants have beautified and branded their security gates, making it an important and unique part of the visual design of their business. We're recording this interview on April 8th. That means we are less than four weeks away from Pizza Wars. So, what kind of updates can you share from the Fifth Avenue BitStar for the upcoming Pizza Wars?

SPEAKER_13 24:48

Yes. So this year we're focusing on squares instead of slices. So far, Elegante Pizzeria and Bay Rick Pizza are participating, and there's more to be announced.

SPEAKER_05 24:59

I know you're working closely with the East Street Fit and the Third Avenue merchants for that as well. For those who went to Wing Wars, for example, in January, what's going to be similar about this event?

SPEAKER_13 25:10

The winner is going to get a trophy and there's going to be an after party at the Firefly, which is going to be a good one.

SPEAKER_05 25:17

Correct. I've done a promo with Chrissy for like where people can buy tickets. But if you want to share any information as far as like your Fifth Avenue bid loyalist, Fifth Avenue bid on want to get tickets, where can they go?

SPEAKER_13 25:30

They could go on the Merchants of Third Avenue website. There's an event page, and you could get tickets through their Zeffi account. So on May 31st, it's going to be the 32nd annual Fun on Fifth Festival. Hopefully, it will be a beautiful day. Of course, we have merchants that are going to be participating as well as vendors. Our goal in all our events is to have it family friendly focused.

SPEAKER_05 26:00

If somebody listens who has not attended the festival yet, is the street close off traffic?

SPEAKER_13 26:05

Yes, the street is closed off to vehicular traffic starting at 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. And the event itself starts at 10 a.m. to 6.

SPEAKER_05 26:13

And the merchants on 5th Avenue, they can put a table outside.

SPEAKER_13 26:17

Correct.

SPEAKER_05 26:18

Yep. Like music.

SPEAKER_13 26:19

Yes, we have a main stage that's on the 7700 block. And we also have kids' rides from Bay Ridge Avenue. I do want to thank New York Presbyterian who is opening their new office on 86th Street. They are being a champion sponsor for a festival. So I just want to give them a shout out and a thanks.

SPEAKER_05 26:40

The streets that are closed up, will this be 65th 80th Street all closed?

SPEAKER_13 26:43

It will be Bay Ridge Avenue to 85th.

SPEAKER_05 26:46

I asked Elizabeth if there were some new businesses on Fifth Avenue that she'd love to mention.

SPEAKER_13 26:51

Yes, so there is another coffee shop called Ibex Coffee Shop, and it is actually two floors. Very warm, natural elements. Like the space is just gorgeous. And then right next door, there's Ood Square. The interior is very Victorian. They sell luxury and modern fragrances.

SPEAKER_05 27:10

It's not just businesses who are aware of the Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue bid. Local residents are as well. And they're the ones who help hidden gems stay in business. Hey Liz, any hidden gems you'd like to share?

SPEAKER_13 27:21

Yes. So first one is Chocolat Plus. It is the oldest chocolate shop in Bay Ridge. Also Brooklyn Baklavah. They make baklava on site, and I recommend anyone with a sweet tooth to stop by. There is a new business called Kiddult Brick who sells toys and collectibles on 82nd Street. Also, you know, for those who own pets, there is My Natural Pet and Brooklyn Pet Supply.

SPEAKER_05 27:47

You know, you're working on your next fiscal year. You've got the second annual Pizza Wars, and you've got your annual 32nd annual festival here on Fifth Avenue. That's it until the fall, then, right?

SPEAKER_13 28:01

Well, I have to figure out the permitting, but we're looking to do a fun run on Fifth Avenue on July 11th to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States. And I would love to get the Fort Hamilton Army Base involved, create a fundraiser as well. So that's something in the summer. And then of course it will be our Fampchell event in September, followed by Halloween Fest in October. For anyone listening, we have our annual meeting coming up on Friday, April 24th. All are welcome to attend to see what we're doing, what we're accomplishing. Stakeholders, so merchants and property owners and residents within the bid are registered to vote. Sign up for our newsletter.

SPEAKER_05 28:44

This is going to be at the Bay Ridge Manor. Correct. It's 6 to 9 p.m. Is there a dress code for people who want to attend? Business cash. Okay, and um, will there be uh drinks?

SPEAKER_13 28:55

Yes, food and beverage will be served.

SPEAKER_05 28:57

Cash bar, open bar.

SPEAKER_13 28:58

Open bar. Open bar. To anyone who wants to partake.

SPEAKER_05 29:03

You can follow the Fifth Avenue Bid on both Facebook and Instagram at Fifth Avenue BK. And that's with fifth spelled out and not numerologically. You can also visit their website at bayridgebid.com. Interested in advertising your business on the Bayer Digers podcast? Get in touch with me at James at the Wallbreakers.com. Now enjoy this teaser for Burning Gotham. What's Burning Gotham? It's an historically accurate audio fiction soap opera. In eighteen thirty-five New York City. I created, produced, directed, and co-wrote it. The first eight episodes are out anywhere you get a podcast at Burning Gotham.com. Episodes are ten to fifteen minutes in length. Burning Gotham made the 2022 Driveca Film Festival as an audio selection. Right now, experience New York City like you've never before.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

The speculation is out of control. The whole is going to come, gentlemen.

SPEAKER_04 30:34

Will you make the right deal?

SPEAKER_21 30:35

Memories are short in New York. If you don't make a fortune, someone else will.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

I know you've been bringing rosemary into port illegally. I have eyes and ears and noses and tongues everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 30:49

Or fall to greed.

SPEAKER_15 30:50

If I was caught with diamonds at any time, any time, my sister and I would have been getting raped and murdered. I do this for you. Look at what we got here, Brick Top!

SPEAKER_12 31:00

Looks like we're caught as a dandy and a whore all alone on South Street with nowhere to hide. Ain't that right, boy?

SPEAKER_04 31:09

But whatever you choose, there's the choice.

SPEAKER_05 31:11

You just always make the same choice, the one for yourself. Just make sure you get out in time.

SPEAKER_03 31:21

Lord, have mercy on us all.

SPEAKER_05 31:24

Out now on your favorite podcast app. Burning Gotham, the 2022 Tribeca Select Audio Soap Opera. About the fastest growing city in the world, and the opportunists who shaped it. To find out more, go to Burninggotham.com.

SPEAKER_10 31:58

Oh, sure, yeah. We used to call it Bliss Park, because I think in the 70s there were a lot of people who used to get high there, so we called it Bliss Park. But yeah, I mean going sledding on the big hill, right? Amazing memories of that. I took my son when he was young. I was like, we gotta go sledding there, you know, just so he had that experience. I mean, the sprinklers down there as a kid, we didn't have a pool to go to or anything like that. So it was like just going to all the local parks and cooling off there with your friends. So definitely good memories there.

SPEAKER_05 32:37

This is Christine Walters.

SPEAKER_10 32:39

Hi, I'm Christine Walters. I'm a writer, producer, and podcast host.

SPEAKER_05 32:44

But you're also a Bay Ridge native.

SPEAKER_10 32:47

I am a Bay Ridge native. I should have probably led with that, right? I grew up in Flag Court my whole life. The only move we made in my entire childhood was from unit three to unit seven of Flagcourt. That was our big move, literally two doors down the block.

SPEAKER_05 33:08

As you just heard, Christine grew up in Flag Court. Have you been inside? I highlighted this complex in episode 11 of the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast. It's a 422-unit, six-building sprawl designed by Ernest Flagg and built between 1933 and 36. The official address is 7200 Ridge Boulevard, though there are buildings on Ridge 72nd and 73rd. Flag Court once had a bowling alley, swimming pool, nursery school, and 500-seat auditorium. By the time Christine came along, many of those amenities were no longer in use, but their remnants remained.

SPEAKER_10 33:55

And my apartment that I grew up in in Unit 3 overlooked this pool. It was kind of beautiful because you never had to use the telephone. You could just open your window and call out to your friends and it would reverberate. Like you could hear, you know, hey, you want to go out and play tennis in the tennis court? That kind of thing. Flagcourt had a tennis court. It is now a parking lot. It had a pool and a beautiful gazebo. The gazebo still stands, but the pool has since been filled in and is now like a garden pathway. There was a nursery school. I went to the Flagcourt Nursery School as a kid. That was, you know, how you met all your playmates when you were embarking on making friendships in your early years. But in the 30s, it was exclusive. I think a lot of the people who were part of the soap opera system and the studio system that used to exist in Bay Ridge and the Midwood area and all that, a lot of those stars lived in Flag Court, that there was an exclusivity to Flag Court. My mom tells me there used to be a sign that said Irish need not apply, which I find really funny because we're of Irish heritage. So somehow we slipped in there. But there used to be doormen. My uncle on my dad's side, he was a doorman at Flag Court. And I think that's how, like, I mean, we had multiple family members who lived in Flag Court. And I think it was partially because he was there and he was kind of like, okay, I'll ease the way for you all to get in here. In its heyday, it was a beautiful place. And my mom says that when she and my father first moved in, people would come around, and if they saw like a mop in your window or something that felt unseemly, they would come and knock on your door and say, please remove that from the window. But unfortunately, in the 70s, it just kind of started to fade.

SPEAKER_05 36:04

You also had some experience in the abandoned bowling alley, right?

SPEAKER_10 36:08

Yeah, yeah. So in the 70s, when they were trying to maximize rentals at Flag Court, they decided to make apartments on the basement level. That's where the laundry room was and the nursery school was and all those amenities. But back in the heyday, there was a bowling alley and there was a theater, there was fallout shelters because this is wartime. They had barrels of hard-tacked biscuits and water and things like that. So, as kids, when they started the excavation process to create these apartments on the basement level, all of this stuff was uncovered. So we would explore and run in and out of those underground. It felt like you were in like this underground world, but we'd find bowling pins and bowling balls. And, you know, we would just make our own fun down there. Yeah, there was a lot that just kind of got uncovered in terms of the history. I think I stole a fallout shelter sign that I had in my bedroom for years and years from the basement.

SPEAKER_05 37:22

And the theater you're mentioned now, that's the 500-seat auditorium that used to exist in Flagcourt.

SPEAKER_10 37:28

I believe that's what it was. You know, at the time I was young, so I didn't really like truly understand the history of it. I just knew, like, oh wow, who knew that this all existed? Because it was previously shuttered off. Little by little, you know, we were kind of trespassing going into these spaces as kids. And also there was, we had a little like grassy area with trees and stuff where the parking lot is now. Fladcourt, you'll notice there are units one, three, five, seven on the 72nd Street side, and then on the 73rd Street side, there's units two and four, and six was never built. Seven was built before six, and so six became just this dirt lot with trees in it. And so that was kind of our playground. We called it Tabby Town for some reason. I don't know if it's because there were a lot of cats, like stray cats and whatever, but we called it Tabby Town. And then they put the parking lot in sometime in like the mid to late 80s. I think they were like starting to pave it over and get rid of it.

SPEAKER_05 38:37

In the last episode of the Bay Ridge Digest podcast, I spoke about the theater troupe, the Four Wall Players, which performed in the 500-seat auditorium within the complex's basement level. As Christine just mentioned, the nursery school was also in the basement.

SPEAKER_10 38:54

I will say in the nursery school, and I don't know if this was a remnant of the players, but I distinctly remember one of the things we used to play around with was there was this giant trunk full of costumes. And as kids, like part of playtime was like, okay, you can go in the trunk and you can put on these silly hats and these silky gowns and things like that. And I always thought, oh, I wonder if some of that stuff was just recovered costumery from years gone by, you know, that just kind of made its way into the nursery room somehow. And in the 80s, that big sunken pool became not a skate park, but it became a hangout until we would get chased out of the empty pool. The winter of 77, when that huge snowstorm hit, we were jumping off the gazebo into big snowdrift piles as if we were like diving into a pool, but we were like jumping into snowdrifts. That's a very distinct memory of just kind of hanging out and having fun. And then it became like when David Letterman started doing his thing of throwing things off a 10-story building. A couple of kids thought, let's do that Letterman bit, because Flag Court's nine stories tall. You used to be able to like sunbathe on the roof and go and hang out on the roof. And they closed it very soon after this. Kids were like stealing shopping carts and throwing them off the roof into the pool, and the sound was deafening. So they kind of had to cut down on the hooligan read.

SPEAKER_05 40:34

We'll pick up with Christine later in this episode.

SPEAKER_11 40:45

Hi, my name is Chrissy Canney, and I'm the special events coordinator for the Merchants of Third Avenue. Our next event is Pizza Wars happening on May 3rd throughout Bay Ridge in cooperation with the 86th Street bid and the 5th Avenue bid. We're gonna start the day at Firefly like we did last year, and we're gonna let people out in groups of 12, walk around the neighborhood like they did at Wing Wars, which was such a huge success. And they're gonna go from Pizzeria to Pizzeria, maybe stop at a bar or two along the way. They're gonna do a loop up to 5th, down 86th Street to 3rd, and come back to Firefly for the ending party. This year, instead of Star Wars theme, we're having a Saturday Night Fever theme. And if you've been to Firefly, you know they have a disco ball. It's the perfect scenario to have a party and have a disco dance floor after when we crown the winner of the best squares in Bay Ridge. Last year for the slice, Elegante one. I think since we're doing squares this year, that I can invite more pizzerias to be in and we can really like just do a bite or a third of a square, and I think it'll be easier to share, and people take bites now. We know that we got up to 18 for Wing Wars, so we can push the 12 to up to 18, and then we'll still have a hop on bus again, thanks to the Bay Ridge Center. So the tickets are$45, like Wing Wars was. We'll have some swag. I haven't decided what it is yet.

SPEAKER_05 42:06

And so somebody wants to be a sponsor either for the say step and repeat or a program sponsor, help them maybe.

SPEAKER_11 42:12

The best way is actually to reach out to me for those. I mean, we have other sponsorships for like summer stroll and everything as well. The best thing is to reach out to me at chrissycanny at gmail.com, and that's Chris plus I E Canny C-A-N-N-Y. And a fun thing for Pizza Wars, he whispered something in my ear, and I'm gonna hold him to it. Danny Seldano from Seldana Realty has a white suit because he did the whole dance at his wedding of John Travolta dance. So I'm gonna have him perform that somewhere, and I'm getting it on video. Everybody should know, don't tell me something because I'm gonna make you do it. So the easiest way to find tickets right now is you can go to the merchants website, so merchants of thirdavenue.com, and you can go to our Instagram page, merchants of thirdav, and it's up in the link in the bio. And it's a Zeffi link. So it's great. So with Zeffy, if anybody wants a tip, you don't have to pay the fees, roll that back to zero, and you're playing the flat rate.

SPEAKER_06 43:20

Alsack, tell me this now.

SPEAKER_20 43:22

I've heard it said that we take a team like the Yankees, who have had tremendous success, great ball players through the years. Uh, it's been said that most anyone could have managed this team to the championship because of the great baseball players that they've had. Do you believe this?

SPEAKER_01 43:35

I don't believe it. I don't think uh the Yankees in the last three, four years had great ball clubs. I think you fellows in uh Brooklyn had better ball clubs than Yankees when you were over there.

SPEAKER_20 43:44

Well, this is what do you think? Al Shaxon.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

What do you what is your opinion?

SPEAKER_20 43:48

Well, my opinion is There must be a reason you asked me this. I have an opinion, definitely. I think personally that baseball players make the manager. I think that if a fellow goes out Plays for the Yankees, the Dodgers, the teams you mentioned here. Single or Alston or Dresson or DeRocher, whoever you have, can manipulate and move and take a player out. I think a manager can lose ball games a lot easier than he can win ball games.

SPEAKER_05 44:16

Tuesday, April 15th, 1947. It's 12 45 p.m. It's Damp and Overcast. We're at Abbott's Field in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. The visiting Boston Braves are playing the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day. We can smell hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn, canishes, and beer. Bert Shotten, known for his calm and steady presence, is managing the Dodgers. They're expected to contend. Regular manager Leo DeRocher has been suspended by MLB's offices for conduct detrimental to the team. Red Barber is up in the press booth, calling the action for CBS. And Gladys Gooding is on the organ. Here with us are stadium celebs, like Hilda Chester, the Calbell Lady, and the Dodgers Symphony band. Attendance is over 26,000. These men, women, and children are wearing Dodgers' caps, windbreakers, flannel jackets, letterman sweaters, sport coats and suits. They're Italian, African American, Jewish, Irish, Polish, Norwegian. The melting pot is starting as the Dodgers are trotting out of the clubhouse. Their second baseman, Eddie Stanky. Center fielder, Pete Reacher. Hatcher Bruce Edwards. One by one, the rest of the Dodgers starters come out. Right fielder, Dixie Walker. Left fielder. Dodgers first baseman. Next year in Montreal with a Dodge Triple Eight. Mostly getting leaded. 1131 score. 34 extra base hits. 40 stone basics. 127 strike. I can see Robinson smoothing the dirty plane pet by first base. Colour swings left to grab towards their face. Just like that. A 50-year-old gentleman's agreement between changing owners of the commissioner's office that would bar any dark-skinned men from playing in the league. He's dead. He died here in Flatbush at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15th, 1947, as 26,000 people looked on and wildly cheered.

SPEAKER_19 49:39

Both my basketball and baseball coats, I found out he passed away during COVID, and I went back to the school because I wanted to start a scholarship in his name because he meant so much to me and helped me out. And that's where I learned about the Alumni Association just by serendipitously, I had no idea that it even existed.

SPEAKER_05 50:00

That's Joe Estreja, president of the Fort Hamilton Alumni Association. Earlier in this episode, we spoke with Joe about his journey to Fort Hamilton High School. He feels that, like himself, many alumni don't know the association exists. So what are their main objectives? You graduated Fort Hamilton in 1987. Correct. Time goes on, you're not a member of the Alumni Association for a long, long time. You get involved with the Alumni Association. So for those who don't know, what is Fort Hamilton Alumni Association, since you've been involved, what has been the main thing that the Alumni Association at Fort Hamilton is trying to accomplish?

SPEAKER_19 50:33

Just like myself, I graduated in 87 and I had no idea there was an alumni association, which actually began in 1983. So I was technically in the school when the Alumni Association began, but I had no idea there was one. One of our major obstacles is to be able to let people know that there is an active alumni association that's trying to get former alums back into the alumni association. So we could do a lot of the things that we do, which is career days at the school, where we come up and speak to seniors that are looking to get into certain professions. So it's always great to have somebody that's an alum who sat in those seats before and was dreaming dreams, to have somebody who they could see that could accomplish these dreams and are actively in the profession that they're seeking to get into. What about some of the important programs? Career Day is something that we do twice a year at the school, and they have a great program called Fort Shadowing. We try to get alums to come in that are in careers that the seniors are looking to get into. It's sort of like a big brother kind of spiel there that you would then take on. And now with technology, you could do things like we're doing through Zoom. You don't have to have them in person. And you basically would then have a senior that you will then be a mentor towards that you help them out with some of the questions they may have. If you could bring them to your job, it's great. And so they could get a day of visiting your job and stuff like that. So it's a mentorship program that the principal started, and we try to support. You can imagine how many alums there are for Hamilton. I mean, normally, I mean, these graduation classes now are crazy. They're like 3,000 graduating students. The first graduating class started in 1943, and we're in 2026. So there's a lot of people in the Bay Ridge community who pass through those doors that we're trying to reconnect back to the school. I haven't met an alum who has any negative experience at Fort Hampton. Everybody loves their years and time at Fort Hampton. It's just a matter of people don't know. If they knew, they're like, yeah, I'm willing to help in any way that we could possibly do. That has been my experience in my two years as the president. Is once they do know, they're like really energetic about trying to give back to the school.

SPEAKER_05 52:59

So, what are the easiest ways for Fort Hamilton alumni to get involved with the Alumni Association?

SPEAKER_19 53:04

We have a modern website. One of the things that I had to do is to get us more modernized so we could disseminate and promote our alumni. So we have a website. It's F T H A M alumni A-L-U-M-N-I.com. So that's our website. You can go on there. A lot of the programs that I spoke about, which is a mentorship program, career days. There's an ability to start a scholarship, which is how I got involved. So on our website, that's where you'll be able to get reconnected to a lot of the programs that we're doing with the school. You're able to donate as well to the school as well. Most of as you know, we're basically running our operations on donations. This is a way that we're able to help fill in the gaps with the school because sometimes the school's budget doesn't have the gaps to pay for, like, let's say, uniforms for the marching band, or the baseball team needs new balls or needs a bus to be able to get to a facility. And the school then comes to the alumni to see if we could kind of fill in those gaps. So it's a great way to give back to the school and to the new student body.

SPEAKER_05 54:19

Fort Hamilton has had a hall of fame, but this year they're unveiling a physical wall of fame.

SPEAKER_19 54:24

We decided that we wanted to put a wall of fame up because we had so many people who'd come through our halls, and we didn't have any way of honoring them. We actually had something on the second floor, but I was like, well, there's no access to that when people come in to see the spring musical. We should do something on the first floor, which will give people access, parents and visitors who come into the hallway. So I asked the city councilman about it, and he said, sure, I'll fund it. And I was like, what? I was like, great. So that's kind of how, and that started the ball rolling for this Wall of Fame. So we ended up getting the school construction authority to decide to fund the wall. We got it put up on January, I think, 16th. April 25th is gonna be the official unveiling of the wall. So we're gonna have some of the Hall of Famers that are already up on the wall coming that day. And we're gonna have a ceremony. This will be our initial ceremony that we're gonna start this tradition of all the new inductee class will get to put their picture up onto the wall the day before they get inducted, which is normally the Sunday afterwards that we do our Sunday brunch, which is the induction ceremony. So on the 25th of April from 12 to 3, we're gonna have the unveiling of the hall, which will be a ribbon-cutting kind of event. I think we have eight new inductees for the 2026 class. They will be there and they'll get to slide their picture onto the Hall of Fame that day. So it's gonna be a great event.

SPEAKER_05 56:01

If you're an alumni looking to attend on Saturday, April 25th, you can go to fthamalumni.com. Go to the menu drop-down and select alumni events. There you can see the unveiling ceremony listed as well as Sunday's Hall of Fame brunch and other events too. There's also a Ford Hamilton High School Alumni Association Facebook page. And you can follow at FTH S A-L-U-M-N-I on Instagram. Uh but hey Joe, what's the best way for people to contact you?

SPEAKER_19 56:31

My number, which would be the best way to contact me, would be 347-320-1711. I take on all questions that you may have and help guide you through from my parents' yearbook. They don't have it anymore. We lost it in a flood, we lost it in a fire. Helping you guys navigate through scholarships, helping them if they want to do any of the Fort Shadowy mentorship programs, or just a reunion. We get a lot of people who want to do reunions, which is a lot of work, but we're the Flampton Alumni Association is here to help anybody who's interested in getting and starting one of the class reunions.

SPEAKER_05 57:11

Once again, Joe's number is 347-320-1711 Hello everybody, it's me, Frederick Fred Friday, back once again with another popular joke session here on the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast. You know what I'm saying, Bernoulli? Say owner. Everybody knows my name, I'm the host of the show. Oh, his name's James, you know. You got jokes for us today? Yeah, but why don't you tell the people why we're here before we get to the joke session, you know? Let's tell them how we're saving the kiddies. Before our jokes, we'd like to mention the Itty Bitty Kitty Bay Ridge Cat Rescue. If you stop at the Henry Hardy's at 9314 Third Avenue, you can donate 25 bucks and get a free t-shirt for helping to save these cats. Yeah, all proceeds go towards vet visits, cat food, and you know, supplies, things like that. You can also go to their website at ittybittykitty ny.org and donate that way, and t-shirt shipping is available, you know? That's true, it is. Yeah. So to see more of these cats they're helping, visit the Instagram page at ittybitty kitty ny Bay Ridge. Hey producer, what's up, Freddy? How about this weather this week? Last week, people, it was like 42 degrees, and we're recording it right now at like 82 degrees and humid. What the heck? That's April for you, what are you gonna say, you know? And I got some April jokes for you, you know? You got some April jokes? Yeah, people, you wanna get into the season. We were already living it, we might as well get into it, you know, unless I mean, unless you're listening to this in like Australia or something, if that is the case, hello. Oh yeah? Well, why don't you tell some jokes? Well, you know how they say April showers, right? Well, you know, along those lines I got some rainy day jokes for you, because I'm sure we're gonna get some rain, you know? Oh yeah, yeah. So listen, people, what's worse than raining cats and dogs? What's worse than raining cats and dogs? Yeah, you know the old statement is raining cats and dogs, like the left scene in Breakfast at Teofonies, where's the cat? Oh yeah. That's a pretty good movie reference, Freddy. So what's worse than raining cats and dogs? What's worse than that, people? Hailing taxis. I don't even know if you go get a taxi these days in the outer borough. Nobody sees no green taxi no more. Oh boy. Okay, listen. What does a cloud wear under its coat? What does a cloud wear under its coat? Yeah, what does a cloud wear under its coat, people? You chuckling already? What does it wear? Thunderwear!

SPEAKER_06 59:55

Kaboom!

SPEAKER_05 59:58

Well, I hope you're not doing too many kabooms in your underwear. Freddy! Oh, you like that one, huh? Oh yeah, you like that one too. You like the bathroom humor. I guess I do sometimes like bathroom humor. Cause that's where his mind belongs, people swirling down a toilet ball. Excuse me. And Leon, with tax day just passing, I'm pretty sure we could use a couple of laughs because I bet there's some people out there even though taxes were supposed to be due yesterday, that haven't filed their taxes yet, and uh haven't requested an extension yet either, you know. Don't worry, the government knows just where you are. But Leon, why did the two accountants break up? Why did the two accountants break up? Yeah, why did the two accountants break up for all our accountant friends out there who elected to have a very stable career, you know? So why did the two accountants break up, Freddie? Because there were too many taxing issues. Don't worry, Produce, I have a feeling they'll be finding their balance again in the balance sheets. That's not a little kid joke. Oh boy, Freddie. Well, you're in a good mood today. Yeah, I'm always in a good mood, so listen. Play us out. No talking on Badusa. Tell the people we know why we were here in the first place. Well, if you'd like us to mention a specific Animal Rescue Center, please email us at bayridgediest at gmail.com or DM at BayridgeDigest on Instagram. By the way, I also know the Sean Casey Animal Rescue Center, which is at 153 East Third Street. They are in their middle of their spring fundraiser. They're one of the only no-kill shelters in the area, so please go check them out, Sean Casey. And uh, if you'd like to see Freddy's archives of jokes and stories, Freddie, where can they go? They can go to at Freddy FridayStory Funtime on Instagram and at Freddy Friday on YouTube. And I spell my name F-R-E-D-D-I-E, you know, like Mercury, because that's what's gonna be happening. The Mercury gonna be rising, people. Well, until next time, Freddy. Yeah, until next time, people, I like to say to people I love toodles. Doodles to the one you love, so you know, tell your people that you love those doodles the next time you see them. Tell the next time on the beverage digest five days. You can contact me for a consultation at james at the wallbreakers.com. If you're a regular listener of the Bavers Digers Podcast, you can hear everything from the fully produced history segment to wacky jokes, thanks, Freddy, to narrative interviews. Here's a commercial slide. Special thanks to Brett Solomany for lending his vocal talent. See what else he's been up to at Brett underscore Solomini on Instagram. That's R E T T underscore S O L I M I finally lost.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:23

What do you want? You know what I want. How could I possibly?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:30

You're roaming through the city. You have a voice, use it. I'm trying to use it. Ah But are you using it correctly? What do you mean?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:44

Isn't it obvious? Script writing, narrative nonfiction, audio fiction, editing, producing, mixing, directing, acting.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:56

What does this have to do with you following me through the street on a rainy night? Have you utilized any of this?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:05

No. Well then, it's time you launched a podcast, or at least some kind of audio production.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:13

Why would I need to do that?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:15

You're in one already.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:19

I am?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:20

What do you think this is? Stalking. No, you're in my commercial spot. I'm James Scully, I do all these things.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:28

Wait, you mean you wrote, directed, produced, and mixed this?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:32

Yep. Reach me at James at the Wallbreakers.com.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:39

Do I get paid for my time at least?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:44

I hope you like pepperoni on your pizza. But I mean you did some early work, like voice work with Beavis and Butthead, right?

SPEAKER_10 1:04:55

I did, yeah. That was post-college. I always had this facility for doing strange voices. When I was a kid, and I'd go to the supermarket with my mom. We used to speak makeup languages to each other, and people really thought we were speaking a language. Like it was just kind of always something that I did. I was working with these two animators on a totally different project. It was a show called Ghost Writer. And there was an animated character in that show. Ghostwriter. Yeah. And um, so I was like the post-production supervisor for that show, doing all the editing. So we would sit in these long, long edit sessions with these two animators trying to incorporate the ghost into these live action scenes. And it was different then. It wasn't like today where you know anybody with a laptop can animate. And so to pass the time while we were waiting for things to render, I would just make them laugh. I would just do silly voices and say stupid stuff. And they were like, you know, you should. Make a tape and we'll give it to Mike Judge. And I was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they were like, No, no, no, no. Just put like a couple of different voices that you do anyway on a tape and we'll send it to him. And I was like, All right, fine. So a friend of mine was like, I'll help you record it. He had a recording studio. And I gave him a cassette tape. I said, Okay, here it is. I don't know, a couple of months later, I got a phone call, like, would you like to come in and audition? And I said, Great. And they gave me one line to read as many different ways as I could read that one line. And I don't think they knew what they were asking for because at a certain point, Mike Judge was like, You can stop, you you can stop now. Okay, you you got the job.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:45

I could talk to Christine Walters about Bay Ridge forever, but as you just got an inkling of, she's also had an extensive career in media TV and broadcast communications. She's done everything from voice work for Beavis and Butthead, directed comedy festivals, VP of development and original programming for Warren Media, been head writer for impractical jokers, and produced for both Nickelodeon and Sesame Street. Christine was also a longtime performer with the Upright Citizens Brigade. We're gonna cover all this in the next episode of the Bayers Digest Podcast, but I'm jumping way ahead because Christine is producing a live comedy podcast called Three Day Champion. It's in residence at the Caveat Theater, located at 21-8 Clinton Street. That's between Houston and Stanton Streets in the Lower East Side. The next taping is this Sunday, April 19th at 5 p.m. It's a comedic storytelling show that's in a game show format. How does the concept for 3 Day Champion come about? You can talk about when you decided, okay, not a studio but a live show. But was it always supposed to be, excluding the live aspect of it, was the distribution always supposed to be an audio show, or was this supposed to be a television show? Can you talk me through how does this come about and how does it take shape?

SPEAKER_10 1:08:00

I think I came at the idea of building the format for it in terms of being like a TV producer development person. What are the things that people like? And, you know, I think one of the tricks of TV is how do you get the person to stay with your show? If you have a lot of followers, viewers in the first act, and then they leave in the second act, you don't have a very successful show. How do you keep people till the last minute? And so that's kind of the TV development frame that I had in terms of the podcast, which was, and no offense to like straight up interview podcasts, but there's really no incentive to stay until the bitter end unless you really like a the host and you're just gonna listen to it no matter what, or B, you really like the guests they have that week and you would listen to anything that they said till the bitter end. But there's no like, what's my prize at the end? And so in building this show, and I can explain what the show is, it's called Three Day Champion, and it's a comedic storytelling show that's in a game show format. So unlike the moth, which is just story after story, this has a judge and three rounds of play, and there's dumb prizes at the end of it. And I think you want to stick around to see who wins the game, who wins the show. And so that's kind of how I looked at it. And you know, if you think about impractical jokers, that's part of the beauty of the structure of that show. Okay, these guys are in rounds of play, and then at the end, somebody gets punished. And I want to see which one of these guys gets punished. So, in terms of just like the inside making the sausage, that was my idea around that. I was approached by Jet Road Studios former UCB friend who had since moved to LA, started his own recording studio, and he wanted to do this thing called pilot season. He was gonna make eight new podcasts and just do a pilot for eight different podcast ideas and see what stuck. He came to me because he was like, hey, I know you do development, blah, blah, blah. Have you ever thought about developing a podcast? And I was like, I have. And so he kind of spurred me into taking action because it felt like, oh, there's a pathway for me to make this. There's an infrastructure for it. So he and I are partners on this project together.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:39

If you'll allow me to be a broadcast nerd for a second, back in 1940, CBS tried something new. Their most popular radio show was an hour-long movie adaptation program called the Lux Radio Theater. This was an era in which many Americans had no access to movie theaters, especially in rural areas. When Lux went off the air for an eight-week summer break, CBS decided to produce pilots for public consumption. Each week a half-hour show is broadcast from New York, and a half-hour show is broadcast from California. They encouraged listeners to write and call in, expressing which shows they like the best. The most popular ones could be considered for full series broadcast, and a few very much were. Why do I bring this up? Because what's old can be new again in the world of podcasting. Like live comedy audio tapings.

SPEAKER_10 1:11:29

Yeah, I mean, it's not the most cost-effective model for TV, but for podcasting, why not? Right? Like, let's see what works. Having a proof of concept to know, like, is this something that I should invest my time in? Is this something that does have legs? And the first episode we did, we did a pilot and I flew out to LA. We recorded it in studio. It was never a live show at that point. I called a couple of comedian friends. Will called some comedian friends. Will is a former team Coco engineer producer, so Andy Richter agreed to be our guest judge for the pilot. I had John Gabris, Sarah Tiana, and Andre Highland. And so it was just like an all-star cast of comedians. We recorded it, just really had a lot of fun in the room. And I think it came through in the recording. And I just shared it with a bunch of friends and people that I knew from the business. And I was like, if you have time, you can listen to it on double speed, but just give me your reaction. What do you think of this? And just the overwhelming positivity that came back, I felt like, okay, I think there's something there. It felt like you wanted to be in the room with everybody. And I think that was the best compliment that I kept getting over and over again. Like, oh my God, that sounded like so much fun. I felt like I was a part of the conversation. When I came back to New York and Will's in LA, and I'm here, we were trying to figure out, like, well, how do we do this on a consistent basis? Because I'd been part of the New York comedy scene, someone I knew was starting to program some stuff for caveat theater in New York. And they were like, Well, would you ever want to do the podcast as a live podcast? Honestly, after we recorded it, everybody was like, Oh, you should do this live. And so we did our first one at caveat last September. And again, it just felt like lightning in a bottle. We had Chris Redd, Aaron Jackson, Chris Gethard, and Mo Rocka were on the lineup, and everything clicked. We're now about to do the sixth live show, which I'm very excited about. For the foreseeable future, we're just going to keep doing it as a live show. And now I am starting to think about it as maybe there's a festival circuit doing it in different places, different cities. We haven't fully launched the podcast, the audio version of it yet. We're thinking of launching it late summer because we wanted to stockpile enough episodes so we could have at least a limited run series of like eight to ten episodes.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:14

How does the gameplay function?

SPEAKER_10 1:14:16

The idea for Three Day Champion came from watching game shows with my family. That awkward interview at the top of the show where Ken Jennings is like, tell us a little bit about yourself or Ryan Seacrest or whoever is the host. And it's always like a weird, bizarre story that people tell. But the funniest ones to me are when somebody keeps coming back to Jeopardy as a returning champion and they have to keep telling a story about themselves and you realize they're running out of stories. I think there was something really just so funny when James Holzhauser was on his 50th episode and they were like, so James, uh, what'd you have for breakfast this morning? Because he had no more stories left to tell. But I think everybody has at least three good stories in them. Whether you are a professional comedian, actor, or musician or not, I think everybody has their, these are my life-defining stories. And so we gamified it where we have three comedians competing to tell stories. There's no theme. They can tell any story they want from their life in three rounds of play. And because I don't want to determine who wins or loses, I usually have a celebrity guest judge on the stage, and it is really up to them. They make up their own rubric of how they're judging the stories. Andy Richter was like, it has to have a beginning, middle, and end. That's what it has to have. You know, Jackie Hoffman from Only Murders in the Building, she was like, I don't want to hear any stories about babies or kids. So each judge has their own thing. And it's just really fun and loose and conversational. It's not like the moth. I say it's almost more like the Graham Norton show in a lot of ways. It's very like loosey-goosey. We interrupt people in their stories to ask questions. It's just really fun.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:07

The initial episode is out on all podcast platforms. I've listened to it. It's fantastic. But uh Christine, who's on the lineup card for Sunday, April 19th, 5 p.m. recording.

SPEAKER_10 1:16:17

Josh Gondelman, uh, regular on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. We have Julie Klausner, who is a podcasting legend. She does How Was Your Week, and she also does Double Threat. We have Kurt Bronneller, who is a writer for The Tonight Show at Jimmy Fallon. He's been on After Midnight a million times, just super funny guy that I've known from the UCB for over 20 years. And Todd Levin, who is a longtime contime Conan writer. He just wrote with Conan for the Oscars. Super funny, super great stand-up comedians. So killer lineup. And I will say I've been so fortunate. The comedic talent that has come on stage for these shows has just been beyond my wildest dreams.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:07

Anything else before we get to the all-important socials?

SPEAKER_10 1:17:11

Well, I will say this for Three Day Champion, we are looking for people who want to be the donor of the grand prize because there are prizes involved. It is a game show, so you can't have a game show without there being prizes. I try to work with mom and pop or individual businesses to provide those grand prizes. We call it winners and least winners. The least winners get like a booby prize that is usually hilarious. But the real winner, I always want somebody to walk away with something good. So, like in the past, we had a wardrobe stylist who was like, I'll give a one-hour consultation to, you know, and Chris Red won that prize, you know. So there's a little something in it for the person who's giving the prize as well. We had actually a local Bay Ridge CrossFit guys, they started their own supplement company called Steel Monkey. And we had them provide the prize, like a basket of their like superfood products. And so, you know, like we will give a plug to those businesses on the air in return for it, doesn't have to be a big money prize. It's just something that helps them and helps us too. So I would love to support Bay Ridge businesses who are looking to like get their product out there in front of people or get their service out there in front of people. DM me at 3dayChampion because I would love to talk to people about that too.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:46

So, as Christine just mentioned, you can follow and DM her at 3dayChampion on Instagram, and that's with three spelled out. You can shoot her an email also at threedaychampion at gmail.com. Sunday, April 19th, taping is once again at the Caveat Theater located at 218 Clinton Street. You can buy tickets at the door, but also go to caveat.nyc slash events. There you can see the full lineup and select three-day champion to purchase tickets through the Eventbrite link, and I will 100% be there. Subscribe to 3D Champion anywhere you get a podcast. This way, you'll also get the 411 when teasers and more info drop this summer. And we'll have more with Christine on the next episode of the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:55

It's Superman!

SPEAKER_05 1:19:58

It's 5 15 p.m. I'm driving back to Bay Ridge from Ebbett's Field. I'm tuned into WOR, where the adventures of Superman is on the air.

unknown 1:20:06

The adventures of Superman!

SPEAKER_05 1:20:09

Superman debuted on radio in syndication on February 12, 1940, over WOR in New York. In August of 1942, it joined the full mutual network lineup, airing daily in the late afternoon. Opening day is over. In the bottom of the seventh inning, after an error while batting allowed him to reach second base, Jackie Robinson scored the Dodgers' fifth run of the game with a double from Pete Reeser. The Dodgers won 5-3. Although he'll be the subject of taunts, beanballs, spikes, and scuffles with opposing players and fans all season. Jackie Robinson has the faith of African Americans and Brooklyn Dodger fans, as well as the quickly earned support of his teammates. I think I'll head over to the Shore Road Casino for some dinner and drinks. Today's a day worth celebrating. As the Brooklyn Dodgers went 94 and 60, winning the nationally dependent. Next time on the Bayridge Digest Podcast, we say goodbye to April with the coming of aged tales, reflections and remembrances, and major announcements. The reading material used in today's episode included articles from BayridgeLay Court.com, the Bay Ridge Home Reporter, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brownstunner.com, and PassDaly.com. Thank you to the guests Christy Canney, Joseph Strasia, Ron Caver, Elizabeth Lovejoy, Joe Mayori, Rafael and Nagroni, Michelle Perricone, Lauren Scheid, and Christine Walters. Coming later this spring, the next step in the Bay Ridge Digest. A weekly Monday morning roundup email delivered straight to your inbox featuring important upcoming Bay Ridge events, local classified, restaurant recs, human interest, and other important Bay Ridge happenings. If you're a business owner listening to this, I'll be releasing the email wireframe and media kit in the coming weeks. It'll show affordable sponsorship opportunity placements within the email. I'll also be explaining how people can purchase classified ads within the newsletter. All other stories covered within will be free of charge. Want to receive this? Sign up for this email in the form at BayridgeDigest.com. Want to submit a story or important event you already know that will be happening in June or July? Do so within the same form or email me at bayridge digest at gmail.com. For more info on how to submit a story lead, please go to bayridge digest.com. You can also get in touch by emailing BayridgeDigest at gmail.com. So until April 30th, my name is James Scully. This has been the Bayridge Digest Podcast episode twelve. And I'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you very much.