By: Frank Cornacchiulo
Our teenage years were an exciting time in our lives. I came across this old photo Jackie and Jean’s wedding way back when, just look at these young men and you’ll see the love they have for each other. We spent most of our years at that time on a place called the square which was on the corner of Clinton St and 4th place, Brooklyn. Fortunately, there was a candy store located on the same corner with a jukebox that provided Latin and Rock and Roll popular music to practice our dance moves to impress the girls. “The Square” was a hang-out and playground (handball, box ball, stickball, domino, poker, dice, one and over, etc.) we were two generations of boys and men, who would occasionally buy us a beer.
We would also meet almost every day to play games and socialize with each other. I recall that one year the older group of young men met and suggested that we open a “Social Club” called the “Late-Late Lounge” on Third Street in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, near the canal that allowed tall mast ships to navigate below the IND subway train station. The teenage boys agreed to help finance and work on our new club. It was a blast when it was completed. We had girls from all over Brooklyn flocking to this location for the music and dance with young members of the” Late-Late Lounge". As Luck would have it, my friend Jackie spotted a beautiful young woman there, approached her, and asked if she “would like to be his kissing cousin?” That’s where Jackie Valek and Frances Jean, first met and fell in Love.
Our teenage years were wonderful. Once upon a time in 1961 my beautiful girlfriend, Frances Claire, asked me to escort her to her, Bay Ridge High School Prom at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan. Wow, a Brooklyn kid going to the Waldorf on Park Avenue? Unbelievable, It turned out to be one of the "Best Times in my life" as we danced the night away at the Walddorf Astoria and later that night at the Village Barn, with our childhood friends, Virginia (Ginger) Profilio & Ralph Reale (top row center in our prom photo)
At the end of the night a bunch of us went down town, and we took the Staten Island Ferry for a ride. The sun was coming up as we passed the Statue of Liberty. It was such beautiful sight that we will never forget. As I was reading our locale newspaper, LI Advance I see that Ralph and Ginger son is now a successful restaurant entrepreneur in Patchogue, NY. Wow, I know that his success would make his parents proud. Just so you know that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Young Ralph Reale was exposed to the restaurant business since his dad Ralph Senior. founded the successful fish restaurant "Popie's" around 1990 on Long Island which established a strong foundation for his son Ralph Reale, to follow.
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