~ Chapter 51 ~ First Home Adventure ~

~ Chapter 51 ~

~ First Home Adventure ~

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It would be 1963 and my friend Johnny Rap was insisting that I come to see his new Home in Staten Island that was located in New Dorp on Cranford Ave and the builder Vinnie Raia was about to begin building a new section of semi-attached homes by creating a new swat in the woods that would be called Tysens Lane ~

My wife Elizabeth and I had been looking out in Long Island for a new home but the Property Taxes were too high so we both decided that there was no harm in taking a look-see in Staten Island that was about to become a major new growing part of the city as a bridge called the Verrazano Bridge was going to be built soon ~ We were living in Sunnyside, Queens for two years and the lease on the apartment was coming up in another year and that was constantly on my mind ~

After taking a dry run from Sunnyside on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway to see how far and long it would take us to get to the Brooklyn side of Staten Island where the bridge was going to be built, this idea of buying a new home in Staten Island was becoming more than just a dream ~ On many occasions we took the Staten Island Ferry that at that time would also accept automobiles to get onto the Island ~ John Rap who I had met at work continued to talk to me about moving not only to Staten Island but also to his new neighborhood of New Dorp too ~

One day while riding on the subway from Sunnyside to my Manhattan job it dawned on me that why not buy this home on Staten Island because the worst thing that could happen would be that either I could not afford the mortgage or I could not afford the rent on the apartment if I suddenly were to lose my job so what difference would it make.!!! Now all I had to do was talk my new young bride who was 6 years younger than me and was really not yet ready to buy a new home with the responsibilities that goes with it ~ At first she was slightly hesitant in making such a drastic move because of her age as she was comfortable living in the same building that her Uncle Gus and Aunt Grace also ( Chapter 20 - http://www.americantorque.com/page/0/2437/ ) resided in ~ Well it seemed that the timing was right cause the season of Spring was now upon us and the greenery from the trees and the singing of the birds put a better light on this wonderful little island that was about to become ours ~

Johnny Rap had promised that if we bought that house on Tysens Lane he would play the song "Revels Bolero" when we were moving in and just the other day Liz and I saw the film "10" on HBO and that's where the song was playing ~ lol

Next thing you know would be that we were in the model home that the builder Vinnie Raia used to show to prospective home buyers and we were asking him how much he needed as a down payment to hold on to one of his new homes and he replied $25 while he was putting his TV in his car as he was about to close up shop ~ The one page document for the 25 dollars was signed by me and my wife and we celebrated our new home adventure by having dinner in a Chinese Restaurant on New Dorp Lane across the street from The Lane theatre ~

A whole new world and life was about to be bestowed upon us ~

I can recall that one day while going to our new home that was now in the building stage along with the other homes on this block I noticed that a ladder was being installed by the builder from the second floor into the attic ~ I thought to my self what a great guy Vinnie the builder was as he was putting a ladder in our home free of charge and without even telling us ~ He must have liked us I thought ~ The next time that we came back to Staten Island to view our home I noticed that the ladder was missing only to realize that the last time we visited we were in the wrong home ~

The home was finally built and completed and my friend John would tell us that when we moved into our new home he was going to have the music from "Ravel's Balero" playing loud and clear in the neighborhood as we were moving into our home and he was true to his word ~ I had arrived with a rented truck full of furniture that we had moved from our Sunnyside apartment with the help of my Dad and Brother Vito, along with two co-worker friends Joe Camp and (can't now think of his name) ~

Over the years John and his family would become very close with our family and we would go on many vacations together including but not limited to Expo 67 in Canada but that's another whole story ~ Just one more thought that I need to mention is that with John's pioneering to Staten Island many other co-workers would follow in his foot steps that were with such names as Ray Celano, (Chapter 13 - http://www.americantorque.com/page/0/2491/ ) Stan Feinberg, Joe Campagnola, (Chapter 2 - http://www.americantorque.com/page/0/2413/ ) and Paul Kaufmann and Ed Purfield too ~

Ed Purfield recently told me that when he was living in his semi attached home on Staten Island his next door neighbor was Frank Scorsese brother to Martin ~ He also mentioned that he met the whole family when they would come over to visit Frank ~ He met many times his Mom and Dad and Martin too ~ Small world as they say lol ~

~ I can also recall when I first started to landscape the front of my home that I needed to buy a shovel to dig up some dirt from the other side of the street where there were presently no homes at this time ~ That side of the street would start off level and than drop down about 10 feet ~ The dirt in the lower part was real black and would make for a good top soil and coat for my grass that I was going to plant in that area ~ I can remember a young neighbor of mine called Paul Adamsky RIP who had a broken arm in a sling and wanting to help me to dig up the dirt ~ Being that he had a broken arm I thanked him but said it might be better for him to just keep me company while I did the digging tho ~ Paul would be one of my first neighbors that I would meet on that day and I never forgot him to this date ~

Nick ~ September 15, 2016