I raised twelve children in that apartment.

mk:12 of your own children?
Yes, and now I am raising four grandchildren up there.

mk: how many of your sons and daughters live around here?
Around here? None. They, they live in Queens, oh let me fix that, Mario lives up the block. Mario lives with me, but he works up the block. And my daughter lives in 102 [Front Street, next door], that�s it. The one you took the picture of before.

mk: You said you're raising four grandchildren?
Yeah, because my children died, two of my daughters and a son died. And I have their children. I just lost my husband, March 1st. Oh, wait a minute, I forgot you were doing this! I thought we were just talking!

mk: What do you think about the future of the neighborhood?
It�s supposed to be going up. The effect it will have on me? I don�t leave my house, so it�s not gonna have an effect on me one way or another. I�ll still be on this corner and I�ll still be barbecuing. On the corner, it�s usually like some of the neighbors--my neighbor Lydia next door--and my children. They all come down and we barbecue and we open the hydrant, and we have fun. Oh, boy! How long we been barbecuing? For over 40 years! Over 40 years we been out here.

mk: Did you feel like the neighborhood was a good place to raise children?
Yes, but a lot of my kids got in trouble. But that�s because they started wandering, towards that way, towards the projects. The projects were deadly, over there in the 50�s and the 60�s. Yeah, well, wait a minute, I had my first daughter in '51. So they would�ve been the 60�s when they started wandering up there.

mk: The projects were rough right from the beginning?
No, there were mostly whites in the beginning, and then it started integrating, and then the drugs started coming in, and everything started getting mixed up.

mk: You feel safe up here?
Oh yeah. Since the city sold us the apartment, and it�s run, like they call it a corporation, they put looks on the door, that�s another thing, we never had to lock our doors. But now, we have to put locks on the doors, cuz people come in, and they steal the bikes and everything. Oh yeah, cuz if anything happens to me, that apartment is willed to them (points to her children). So it�s up to them, if they wanna stay. That�s one of my grandson�s over too, that�s one there, that�s one there. Yeah, they're good. These two buildings over here are mostly Puerto Rican. I�m Puerto Rican and Italian. Yeah, he (her husband) was Italian.

mk: Were there a lot of Italians around here?
Yeah, up the block. In the beginning, when I lived up the block, I told you, white was the dominating race. All up this block, there was a bar here, and there was apartments all the way up to where that traffic light is. On Prospect Street.

mk: When did the (Jehovah's) witnesses start coming in? do you remember?
Well, they always had that building up on Adams Street. But then in 1954, they took over the other building. That�s when I had to move down here and then they started spreading all over. But they�ve always been there, up on Adams Street.

mk: Aside from the Italians were there any other ethnic races?
Filipino. They had a lot of restaurants on Sands Street 'cuz that...that entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge wasn�t there. So Sands Street was busy, all the way down to what they call Cadman Plaza now. Merchant Marines. Merchant Marines were around here.Track4, 06:58

mk: Your family seems very important to you? Is there anything you want to say about that?
I try to keep the...like her mom, her mother moved to California, but she�ll come down every two years, she just went back after my husband's funeral. But they, they always come back home.

mk: How long were you married for?
48 years.

mk: How old were you when you first got married?
16. I�m old.

mk: You got married here, or in Puerto Rico?
Here. I came here when I was 5; I�ve never been back to Puerto Rico. I never got to know it.Track4, 08:49

There used to be a club, down on Jay Street. Down by the A & S warehouse. There used to be a club right there, what was it Chico�s Bar? Everybody used to go, like from the projects, and they used to have a lot of fun down there. But they don�t have nothing like that no more. The only bar around here is that one up there (Between the Bridges). When I first moved here, I couldn�t sleep with that train, and now, I don�t even hear it. You get used to it. (note: The DeMayos live under the Manhattan Bridge subway trestle)

mk: So you had twelve children?
Yeah, it wasn�t hard. It wasn�t that hard, nah. Now I wouldn�t have 12 children! Oh my, never. Now, it�s hard! I can�t even handle the 4 I got up stairs. Before, in them other years, I used to be able to handle them.

mk: Did they look after each other?
Oh, yeah! The ones that were grown up, if you messed with one, you had to fight the whole bunch. That�s the way they were.

mk: Your daughter just got married?
Oh she�s been dating him for years, but yesterday, she decided to make it legal. How old is Jillian? 21! Her oldest is 21. I�ll tell ya how the neighborhood�s changed and that they stole my car right from where this one is. May 29th. Broke the column and I didn�t hear anything. They found it; it�s up the block, my sons got it. I don�t want it. I just feel liked I was raped or something, I just... he told me, I could by you a new steering column, I said, "No, Mike." So I got a Ford Taurus now.

mk: Do you remember anything about the 60�s?
Oh, I could tell ya bout the clubs and the dancing. There was a lot of clubs, you could go dancing, you didn�t get stabbed! You didn�t get cut up, there was no problems, You went dancing, came home. Now the gangs! Now you got these little kids; they got the yellow kerchief, they got the red kerchief. That Eagle warehouse down there, it�s a co-op now, but that used to be a real big factory. They was a lot of them down there, down by the water. That building (#1 Front Street) used to be a bank, and now I believe it�s a club--they made a gay bar and some guy from 191 (Sands Street) was there, and he disappeared and they found him floating somewhere in the river. That was the last place they saw him alive. I�m trying to talk to you and keep an eye on the grandchildren across the street. We used to have cops that worked the beat over here too. We used to have cops, they used to walk the beat, and be real friendly and everything.

My three kids died from AIDS; the drugs killed them. So I don�t like the projects. I really don�t even like to go shopping up that way. I only go to Willie, cash my V.A. check, and come home. Sometimes, I send some one else to do it for me. My daughter finished high school, she�s on her way to college. All of the sudden, I saw tracks on her hands and she�s gone. He, you really need to interview. He's left, her husband. The one that died, yeah, 'cuz he�s still a drug addict. He could tell you more or less. He could tell you everything. He lives at 233. 233 Sand St., 11G, his name is Louie if you want to look him up.

Most of them--9 out of 12 is not dead.

mk: You proud of the ones that you have?
Yes, very proud! I�m proud of the ones that were bad. I�m proud of all my kids!

mk: How many grandchildren do you have?
26. And 5 great-grandchildren.

mk: And people married young?
Oh, yeah. It just seemed normal at the time. I dunno, I think if I met my husband now again, and I was young, I would do the same thing over again.