00:00:00Amy Starecheski: Great. It's so nice to do this. If you need more
00:01:00room you can move that out. It's nice to do this at my house where I can have it
all set up.
Samuel Brooks: Exactly.
Amy Starecheski: It's always a lot of like fussing with the equipment. Okay. So
this is Amy Starecheski interviewing Samuel Brooks, President and founder of the
Mott Haven Historic District Association, long time Mott Haven resident, for the
Mott Haven Oral History Project. Today is June 11, 2018 and we are in my
apartment. And so can you start off by telling--say your name and tell me where
and when you were born. And then just tell me a bit about your early life, where
you grew up, what your family was like. You can go as long as you want, I'll
jump in and ask questions if you get stuck.
Samuel Brooks: Thank you. I actually was born in Honduras, Central America on
September 13, 1962. Lived there, you know pretty modestly--owned our own home.
Six brothers and a sister and cousins and extended family so we literally been
in Honduras for a while, for decades where my mother and father were actually
born. But we got to Honduras by way of England and then we went to Grenada and
then we ended up in the Panama Canal. And then my grandfather eventually moved
further up to Honduras and that's where my mother was born. And I think I was
probably about ten or twelve, I don't remember exactly. But we
00:02:00ultimately ended up relocating the immediate family from Honduras in 1974. Prior
to that, two years earlier my mother came ahead and literally left ah five of us
in Honduras. So one of my brothers, the older one, one of the oldest was
responsible for the cooking. The other one was responsible for taking care of us
and imagine me as a 10-year-old, and my mother already in the United States. Our
older brother had also gotten here two years prior, so he was in the military.
He was in the army, and that uhm facilitated the road for us to be able to all
come together. So could you imagine us coming to and flying for such a long time
on a 747. So that was that was an experience of course. And while we
00:03:00were kids, we always imagined things about the United States. They always said,
"Oh when you guys get there man you could walk up and down the road, you gonna
find bicycles, that people just put out, you'll find refrigerators, you'll find
shoes and clothing." So those are the--those where the myths that actually you
know we believed you know. I mean we had relatives that had been in the United
States in the '60s and even earlier than that. So anyway, so when it was time
for us to come, as I mentioned five of us came together and went straight to New
Orleans and from New Orleans one of our aunts--you know her husband I remember
at the time had this brand new Cadillac. Oh my God. And you know we would have
bell bottom pants and what have you. So it's a little of--the English
00:04:00that we spoke is not the American English. It's not like a West Indian type
English, but it was a thick accent and they were waiting for us to open up the
huge trunk and they had all kinds of food while were waiting in between flights.
Chicken and what have you. So we were in paradise. And then we made our way to
the connecting flight a few hours later. And then we arrived to the South Bronx.
That was July 14, 1974. And literally we went to 1075 Simpson Street, apartment
8. Believe it or not I still remember that. So it was my sister who--the only
girl in the middle of a family of five brothers and one sister--she had also
come like two years ahead. And she with my mother went looking for an apartment
and found that apartment. So perfect apartment. So we were all living
00:05:00there. And I think probably eight months later. That's the height of the Bronx
was burnin'. So you can imagine the apartment building they literally burned it
down. And the the good thing about it is, well if there is such a silver lining
in it, they always, you know we knew the neighborhood kids who would take the
forty, fifty, dollars, hundred dollars, and just do it you know put the candle
on the sixth floor.They already knew the pattern of the people coming in and
out. And it was a six-story tenement building. And they were bang on the door
and every--believe it or not because the fires were everywhere, right. On a
daily basis, dozens at a time. And the resources for the fire department was in
there. But as a child, I just didn't put that together. So they would bang on
the doors. Banged on our door, we heard their signal and then you know we all
went down. Little did we know that my sister was still in the room.
00:06:00So the good thing is she was athletic so. I think we were on the second or third
floor because you know had the fire escape and then you have the gate that comes
down and--so she couldn't get back out through the hallway because the smoke was
already thick. So what she ended up doing is she made an attempt to come out
through the fire escape and then she got to the second floor which just then and
she and then jumpin'. She didn't injure herself but anything could have
happened. And you know the typical scenario, your apartment gets burnt, the Red
Cross is there and you get relocated. Well we get relocated. So we went to--the
name of the hotel escapes me but I'll have to check with my brother. So we go to
Midtown Manhattan. And it was a very nice hotel. I mean this was like
00:07:00a hotel. So imagine in 1974. Nice hotel. We actually had a three-bedroom or a
two-bedroom suite. And you know in retrospect thinking about it I mean that was
something to be seen! That was a three-bedroom suite in the middle of midtown.
And out of one of the windows that three of us were staying in one room.
Literally the apartment building was--I mean the Empire State Building was
across the street. And we stayed there, would come in the morning and we'll go
down to the to the restaurant and eat. My mother had a hot plate in the room and
that's how we survived. And then we found an apartment on 140th Street. And
that's when I think I was eleven or twelve, got to Mott Haven. So I
00:08:00moved to 140th between. St. Anne's and and Cypress. And you could just imagine
that is the mid '70s you know at the time crack wasn't even invented I don't
think--it was primarily heroin. And it was just a whole bunch of abandoned
buildings and junkies. Literally. I mean that's that that was the scene and the
good thing about us is that it was predominantly Puerto Rican in that area you
know I didn't run into Dominicans or anything like that until I went to--you
know much older and went to college and high school and I could start seeing. So
my Spanish accent will change according to who I was hanging out with. So and it
was primarily Puerto Ricans in our building and we had a very good time and it
was just drugs I mean it was a lot of a lot of heroin, a lot of
00:09:00competing drug dealers who are poisoning different clients and what have you.
That's when I learned the word shooting gallery. Where a lot of these junkies
would go in and literally just shoot up dope. I remember one time. When we were
going to church on a Sunday morning on Southern Boulevard. So the minute we left
the apartment, apparently there were five junkies in the abandoned building next
to ours was shooting up dope. And apparently they cut it with rat poison. So and
that is that will kill you within a matter of one? Five Minutes? After you shoot
up. Two of them dead inside. Two more I guess they at the time and
00:10:00they ran out the building but they collapsed on the sidewalk. So here we are on
a Sunday morning. Looked at the bodies like many other thing and just stepped
over the bodies and just kept going going to church. And that was the way it
was, you know. It wasn't like you had--nothing was shocking. So I spoke the
language obviously Spanish and English. So I was you know playing around with
these kids and what have you. I went to the local elementary school. I went to
Alexander Berger Junior High School. And the interesting thing about that, and
I'm going to just go forward for a bit. So I was on 140th between St. Ann's and
Cypress back in 1975. I came back to 140th between Willis and Brook Avenue
almost 18 years ago as a homeowner. So imagine me as a kid running up
00:11:00and down Brook Avenue and into Patterson projects and all these things up and
down with some of the kids that--because I was I found the projects fascinating
because they had an elevator, right. So they had an elevator, so you say wait a
minute and they were relatively new in '75 still. Not that old, right. And we
used to look at these massive towers I had friends that lived in there, some of
them kept their apartment pretty cool and you go in on 18th floor or whatever
top floor and you could just have amazing view. Again, one of those things as a
child you never appreciated. And I ran up and down 140th as a kid and now, like
I mentioned I came back 18 years ago, so some of the people that are relatively
my age that would go to St. Peter's Church. They started looking at me and
says "Wait a minute, you kind of look familiar" says, "Yeah you guys
00:12:00look kinda familiar too" and I say, "Well you know we went to the same--Berger"
you know everybody. And we started naming names and teachers and he would say,
"Yeah you were in my class!" Oh! So I said, "You were the one that I that that
caused me to get kicked out of the school because --" it is the funniest stories
you know it is just amazing. So he said "hey wait a minute--so although you
across the street you bought your home 18 years ago, you literally was part of
this whole thing even dating back. I said, "Well absolutely. That's where I
went" and then even further than that, I went to South Bronx High School. Which
is you know the ultimate. We were the--at the time I think we were the second
graduating class. Yes the second, I think I graduated in 1981, I was class of 81
and in class of 80 was a much smaller class. But obviously we saw each other
throughout those years. So that was the beginnings of it and you know
00:13:00like any other thing I--I came to the United States with one goal and one goal
in mind and that was to get an education right because you come to this country
and the way is written you supposed to take advantage of it and stay clean, stay
straight, and you know like any other thing right. Some of my friends got
involved in gangs, drugs, and some of them prison, some and then just got killed
robbing people, join gangs and then what have you. So it's just you know it took
some people down and it made some other people stronger. And I've always knew
what I wanted to do. You know. I wanted to go to high school--I'm not going into
the military, I'm going to go to college. And I applied to go to all these
schools because I you know I was financially disadvantaged, but
00:14:00academically advantaged. So I was always a pretty decent student. So everywhere
I applied from Fordham University to all the SUNYs and what have you so. And
then I didn't want to go too far away right. But I wanted to go far away that I
could stay on campus and get that sort of experience. And my sister became a
registered nurse my older brother also went to college, Bronx Community College,
and graduated from Lehman. My other brother also went to another state
university the other so we--one of my other brother was a specialist back in the
70s dying buttons. Used to work in the garment industry. He passed away a few
years ago and then the other one who passed away, that was about eight years
ago. He was a chemist at Lincoln Hospital. So we all fairly you know.
00:15:00Fairly did okay as far as you know career wise or doing something where we
didn't go to the deep end and ended up in violence or prison or anything like
that which was pretty common. For people in the neighborhood. So I went to Stony
Brook University and I was I was there with the intention of going to medical
school. So when I was in the South Bronx high school and again you've probably
heard a lot of the same stories you know hip hop was just getting into the fray.
One of the famed photographers, Joe Canzo, which was my classmate who you know
he just had a camera and he was just taking pictures took lots of pictures of
myself as a as a teenager you know in high school and you know he lucked out
extremely well. He kept all the negatives and now you know all those
00:16:00years later he's now the source of original content as far as photography. And
then you had kids--it was a diverse student body would I mean diverse. We did
have one white kid in the class. Her name was Gloria Bernstein. I'll never
forget Gloria Bernstein very attractive, and the rest of us was just Black,
Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. And that's the way we lived you know you get out
of school, you find out who's playing music and these were we to call them back
in the day, jams. You just go in the schoolyard or wherever, somebody will you
know bring speakers in. That's just the way of life, that's what it was. There
was no cell phones. Atari was the game that you played on TV or channel 11. I
remember Pix used to call in the station and then used to play is the weirdest
thing. Now that I'm that I'm speaking to you just my mind is now coming
back full circle. So yeah. So that's what I wanted. I did an
00:17:00internship at Lincoln Hospital my senior year I went to a program at Mount Sinai
Hospital for talented individuals who wanted to pursue medicine. So I graduated
from South Bronx High School but I also got a specialized high school degree
from there as well. And I worked in Lincoln Hospital in the emergency room area.
So there I saw a lot of trauma, trauma and drug overdose and that kind of thing.
So I say Okay, I think I'm set with this thing. Went to Stony Brook went to the
summer program there. 100% paid for of course. And did a six-week summer program
and then I deliberately did not want to room with any person that looked like
me. Meaning that I didn't want another Spanish person, I didn't want
00:18:00another Black person. I wanted something radically different so I remember going
to my selection and I said I going to go with this roommate Michael Weiss. So we
were there in what they call at the time G Quad. It was--I was the only Black
guy on the whole--but that's what I did intentionally you know because I just
wanted to get the diversity of just being there and I was there for with them
for about two years you know. So I got to get that other half and I would
obviously go to parties at night and mix up and everything else, where you
living, oh I'm living here with these guys and they eventually figured out you
know that's what you want to do. You could always hang out with each other but
if you don't think beyond your nose then so be it you know. So I did that and I
was a psychology major. So I got a Bachelor's of Science in psychology because I
also did all the premed requirements. I didn't have, in retrospect--I
00:19:00used to even tutor people that in science but I didn't have sort of like the
background, like you have these kids who took advanced placement in high school
and what have you but I was smart enough to be able to figure it out, right. And
I remember graduating. And I went and I took my medical boards, my MCATS and
everything and so my advisor say, "Okay you know apply to medical school this
that and the other, they got programs you could either consider going getting a
master's first and then [unclear] And I said no. And then there was a young
lady. Who I was I mean I thought she would never get it and she just didn't get
it but she says you know what I'm going to move away, I'm going to go to
Atlanta. Think she ended up going. And I'm gonna go get a masters and then just
focus and she did and she's a great pediatrician. She is snap (makes snap sound
with fingers) you know sometimes it just--I on the other hand, I just changed my
mind on graduation. I said you know what. That was 1985, '86. Right.
00:20:00So I say you know what I think I'll get a job anywhere but I'm going to go to
Wall Street. So when I graduated I, I graduated obviously I came back to the
Bronx. At the time when I graduated my mother had then moved to Harlem. Right.
So on 136th street, 130th street. And then I was I was there for a little bit
and I says nah I want to move with some of my college friends. So I moved to
Washington Heights for about two years. And then I decided you know what let me
come back to the Bronx. So after that I end up coming back to Co-op City. I
lived there for several years. Then on Pelham Parkway. And then I made
a decision to then try to come back to Mott Haven-- still not knowing
00:21:00anything in terms of you know foreseeing any of this. It was just instinctive,
you know because at the time, I was I was flipping houses with a friend of mine,
colleague of mine where I worked at Citigroup I used to do it for a while. You
know we would go in and buy a property, very low, and then sell it to a family
not in extreme values and then we used to match them with potential financing.
So I did. So when I graduated that Sunday, that Monday I went to Simms. I
remember $86 I bought this striped polyester suit. I got a copy of The New York
Times and then I just looked and then I see that they were hiring at PaineWebber
and I says okay I'm going to go in there and get a job. And I literally went
in. And I got the job. I was I was what they called at the time a
00:22:00registration--I was a registration agent, meaning I would register stock brokers
who were moving from one brokerage firm to the other. And it was regulatory kind
of paperwork that needed to be done to be in compliance to be able to now become
a broker for PaineWebber. So that's how I got into Wall Street. And then from
there I went to another job doing mergers and acquisitions. We were doing a lot
of tracking those statistics of companies that were being bought and so we used
to repackage it and then we used to sell it back to the investment banks. So I
did that for for quite a while actually. And then there was the downturn in the
market. Meanwhile, all along most of my friends outside of the ones that I went
to school with and the ones that lived that I still used to come and
00:23:00visit in Mott Haven or on 140th had no idea what I did for a living. You know.
So I didn't even --we never--the topic never came up. You know I said I got a
job downtown. You know and I always kept it that way you know for for different
reasons not to show that-- listen I did what I had to do and I'm doing it and so
on and so forth. Did that the downturn in the market where they were getting rid
and downsizing. So I left. I left Wall Street in 19--I was at Citigroup actually
the last I was in Citigroup for three years in the '90s '93 to '96. Then I went
to Morgan Stanley. I was doing work in investment research and in investment
banking. And then the market really took a turn tumble. And then I
00:24:00lost my job and I says okay it's no big deal I'm still you know, and then I
remember the Department of Education had this new position called parent
coordinators where it was an opportunity for the parents to have an advocate in
the school besides the guidance counselor. Somebody that will listen to the
parents and take a parent's concerns to the principal and address whatever the
situation was. So that was that was pretty good. It was a newly created
position. I got the job. I says You know what, I like education. So I did that
for about a year. And then the government came out with this "there's no child
left behind" program where they were providing stipends for parents to be able
to take after school tutoring. So that's the growth in that business started
flowing. So you have all of these tutoring companies that saw this as
00:25:00a goldmine and some of them did make incredible amount of money. So one of them
approached me and says look we are looking for a director of student enrollment.
It was a not-for-profit firm and I said you know what, I'm going to work with
you guys. So my job as a director was to go within the community here in the
Bronx and everywhere in Washington Heights and recruit students to provide--did
that with them for a while. And it was another company out of Boston in the same
line of business. They wanted to open up an office in New York. Now. The first
company that I worked for as a director they were based in Harlem, but their
home base was Boston. So I said to them, we're growing quite rapidly. We were in
a town--in an historic townhouse on 137th street. Very nice house. I remember at
the time it was like amazing wood carving. So they wanted to relocate
00:26:00to a larger space. So I said to them, listen why don't you guys consider coming
to the Bronx? To the South Bronx. They said are you kidding me, says nope. As a
matter of fact, maybe you guys should come to Fordham Plaza. It was very nice,
modern amenities and it's certainly cheaper than you know housing us in
different locations. So I convinced them to move and bought with that all that
economy to that community. So that was my first economic impact in the South
Bronx that I was able to finagle, with all the right reasons of course. That
could have been anywhere else, it didn't matter the teachers were local to the
schools that they taught. So having a base anywhere, it didn't really matter. So
we did that there. And the other company in Boston wanted to open up a division
here in New York as well. So they recruited me, I left them and I
00:27:00started working for them. So they had me in an office in midtown Manhattan. So I
was responsible for setting up the entire operation. The staffing, the hiring
and so on and so forth. I said look, why don't we move to the Bronx? And they
say well your call, where do you think we should go? I think we should move to,
uhm, Willis Avenue. So literally, we opened up the store on Willis Avenue the
iconic building on 149 that that it's sort of like been around, that's where you
used to see the el train and what have you. And I bought all the staff, hired
everyone local and everyone from the administrators to the program managers they
were all local people deliberately that I picked and chose. So that was the kind
of thing that that that that I've always been conscious of doing, right. And
then getting back to the neighborhood they always would see me--you
00:28:00know wake up in the morning because I at the time now I was already living on
140th, and I'll go there do what I spent time there and then they decided to
sell the company. Again, without a job. So 15 years ago, April actually, I got a
call from Citigroup to say that they were looking for someone with a background
of what I had of course as a consultant still in investments. So I said you know
what I'll go in, what the hell in between jobs. Get there and started work in
the same division that I had left you know like 10 years earlier. And a month
later, they asked me if I was interested in working full time. And I said sure
why not. And I'd been back in finance again for the last 15 years.
00:29:00Now I don't know if you're going to ask any questions in between but--
Amy Starecheski: Go ahead, I'll jump in when you're done.
Samuel Brooks: It's just a matter as far as the transitional change in the
neighborhood. You know. I've always been conscious of it. Right. But the thing
with myself personally, is that I work--I've been on both sides of the equation
right. You know doing the day-by-day job just is a whole different
characteristic, it's a whole different personality because it's just by nature
of the of the work that I do. I interact with people totally different, if is an
African-American and Latino we're all well-educated and what have you and this
is what we do. And of course you know I've been fortunate I could have lived
any--not anywhere but I had choices, right. But I always came back to the Bronx
and my ultimate choice was to come back as a homeowner. And specifically in a
building of the sort that I used to run up and down with. That's how I ended up
with what I have now. But I've I've actually noticed the neighborhood
00:30:00changes probably about 10 years ago. You know that's when I really started
consciously--because everyone was talking about y'know gentrification. Everyone
was talking about how's it in Manhattan, it's getting prohibitively expensive.
Everyone was buying in Harlem and it got to a point that people couldn't afford
in Harlem so those are the spillovers that started coming into Mott Haven,
because of the proximity to Manhattan. And that's when I started noticing newer
people coming into the neighborhood and they were coming in as homeowners, you
know buying on the same block on 140 and these were people that lived in Harlem
and they didn't want to be left out of this process again. Then going into
subways in the morning, I started seeing a diverse group of people. Now this is
in the morning--so my assumption is they live here. Then you see them
00:31:00again the next day so it wasn't as though they were visiting. In the evening you
come back, and start seeing them I says okay and now it's just growing and
growing and then here comes the developers. You know all this land that some of
them held for years and it was just the bandit but technically there's no such
thing. And it just was waiting for the right time. And then you have people just
literally coming in leveraging whatever they had and buying massive parcels and
flipping them and selling it among each other and building and then you have the
rising chorus of discontent displaced, rightfully so, people who have dedicated
themselves to just be a pain in the ass. You know an activist in some respects
then go into community meetings, demanding things from the developers and what
have you. But I I'll be honest with you I'm a logic and reasonin' person, I see
logic and I see reason and when there is--you know I speak to quite a
00:32:00few of the developers right. And I always engage them. And I always tell them
you know it's always there's always great to have the dialogue and don't dictate
but it's free enterprise right. You bought a parcel of land. To zone it allows
for you to do whatever it is that you're doing. You don't have to interact with
any person, right. And if it's going to be a residential you just bring in the
people that can afford that rent and more than likely it's not going to be the
people in the same community. But it would be great if whenever you start your
building, you do have some community engagement. Because it goes well for--and
some of them have been doing it. But everybody's walking on sort of like on pins
and needles. Rents already, who would have imagined a one bedroom in the South
Bronx. Fifteen hundred. I mean that's just like unheard of 10 years
00:33:00ago. You know in the townhouses that we have now, they mean and asking of them
over a million dollars has now become standard fare. Who would have thought 15
years ago. Could have gotten those things for 250, 200, 125 depending how lucky
you were. And so goes y'know so goes it you know. And that's what inspired me to
continue this thing with this historic preservation because everybody's talking
about new new new. And here I am running against time, because I figured these
new people that are coming in with deeper financial resources they're going to
come into this neighborhood and they're going to say hmmm all these gorgeous
buildings, all this historic district, and there isn't an association that's
driving this you know. And that's when I say you know what. Let's just put
something together just as a as a pin on the wall. And let's see what
00:34:00happens. So that has increased, it has driven my passion for preservation but
not just the physical structures or the buildings. But for the people that look
like me who've been moving into the neighborhood in the 50s you know Puerto
Ricans and African-Americans and and what have you because there literally
cannot afford the rent. I mean that's just the way it is is. By virtue of the
job they have they just it is mathematically it's not possible. And some of them
are moved back to Newburgh, others that went to Pennsylvania, the Delawares and
that kind of thing. And literally the people that you see for example on 139,
140, Alexander Avenue--these are people that have a lot, not a lot but they have
greater means to be able to stay there. So that's that that journey that
personal journey that has turned into a passion for me personally. And
just speaking to not for people and even the newer people that come
00:35:00and says look you just can't sit on your stoop and pull out a bottle of wine and
not say hello to a guy that's across the street who's been living there for 65
years in that single room tenement because that's the same guy who if you do
park your car or bicycle or somebody is trying to do something in your
home--he's the guy who gonna say hey, don't leave that alone because that
belongs to you know. Or when you have an Amazon delivery and they leave it there
you know. And that's why I always call it the power of anonymity--you don't know
who's who. But if you decide to wake up here every single day, it behooves you
to literally interact with your neighbors. Don't tell me you bought a beautiful
townhouse on Alexander Avenue, you restored it to its period and you're having a
fabulous dinner parties whatever you want to call it and inviting all your
friends from downtown and then you telling them, "Hey don't worry, the next one
comes up I'll let you know you could be buying". ou know and they've been doing
that of course but you know speak to the people you know. Say hello
00:36:00to the people you know. I mean. Blacks and Puerto Ricans started coming to Mott
Haven in the '50s you know. So you had originally the Irish that were coming
here in 1850s. You had the Irish, the Germans, Eastern Jews--Eastern European
Jews. So they were here before we actually got to this part of the Bronx. Right.
So it's almost like a full circle so that if you see them you know it's sort of
like let's just have that interaction and that's what I've been doing for the
last couple of years more focus on the community. Not from an advocating, in a
protesting way in terms of things that are coming into the neighborhood because
I you know I'm an entrepreneur by nature. You know but that's just me so.
Amy Starecheski: I have so many questions. This is fantastic, thank you for
sharing all that. I'm going to start by going all the way back.
Samuel Brooks: Yeah sure.
Amy Starecheski: Ehm, you said your family had a house--can you tell
00:37:00me about that house?
Samuel Brooks: Actually yeah. It was. It was a four-family wooden house. We
lived on the second floor, and had the larger part of it and we had a tenant on
the side and then we had two apartments on the bottom. That part of Honduras
where we actually owned that piece of land my uncle owned the other piece, so my
grandfather owned pretty much like about a third of the block. And he gave it to
different siblings you know my mother and my uncle and my aunt, and so on and so
forth. But the way we ended up with that property there and that is the central
part of the town of [unclear] Honduras. There was a hospital where I was born
called the D'Antoni hospital where it was on the golf course. So we originally
owned some of that property. So they wanted to build a hospital in that area. So
then they agreed and I guess my grandparents and everything say well
00:38:00we'll take this section here because it's only eight minute ten minute walk. And
that's how we ended up there. So we were always you know we were always my
mother--my father passed away when my mother was eight months pregnant with me.
So I never had the opportunity to meet my father, so all my brothers became my
father. I think my father died he was like thirty-six years old. So my mother
was a very young widow and remained so. So the way she survived was she used to
lend money you know exchange money--she's always used to go to the standard food
company because these workers during the week weekends had spend all their money
and they need to borrow money so she used to be and people used to come to the
house and they used to borrow money. So that's what she used to--she used to do
that, that's how she survived. And we've had aunts that that lived in
00:39:00the US that came back to Honduras. People in the islands. So [unclear] we had
family. So it wasn't like I was walking barefoot in Central America wondering
you know what's going to become of me. We weren't rich, obviously, but we owned
our own property and we had you know a maid that would come in and you know do
our laundry that kind of thing. So it was pretty good.
Amy Starecheski: How did your father die?
Samuel Brooks: You know that's a very good question. I think he had some teeth
that were taken out and I think he was drinking at the time and he caught some
sort of a blood infection. And you know back then what penicillin couldn't cure
or whatever basic cure didn't apply to him. Or it didn't have it at the time or
what have you. And he just died. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I saw. Pictures
00:40:00of you know procession how they used to do in the real traditional you know with
a horse and you know music and you know you see my mother and. My other brothers
and you see my mother pregnant that was me is just like wow. It's. Pretty cool.
To say the least you know. So. Yeah that. That was that part of that story and
because I never had any sense you know I was a child so and my brothers were
always overprotective of me because I was the last one who made it who was lucky
to say the least.
Amy Starecheski: Did your family keep that land in Honduras?
Samuel Brooks: As a matter of fact. The way the way the land is pretty valuable
in a sense because everyone started discovering Honduras 20 years
00:41:00ago, 25 years ago. And then there's a lot of commerce in that particular town
because it's the it's the more popular one and then you have the islands of
Roatán where a lot of Americans started going there and buying property and
what have you. So yes, we still have it as a matter of fact. When my mother
passed away about 20 something years ago. We tore down the house and we rebuilt
it out of concrete. So on the very top there's a huge four bedroom, two bath
kind of a thing and then downstairs we got two apartments. But now what you've
been reading in the papers, the last 10 years or so the level of violence, gangs
and what have you there literally--so I told my siblings I said look I think
it's time for us to pull out of that part of--where we had lived all
00:42:00our decades in our lives. And let's sell. So we're in the process now of trying
to get rid of that property. But I said at the same time we still should own
something in Central America so we're considering going into the island of
Roatán and sort of buy like I don't like like a one bedroom in one of those
resorts kind of a thing that will allow for our kids to go safely there and come
back without having to go to the mainland and deal with all of that foolishness
because I want nothing to do with that. So we're in the process of doing that.
Amy Starecheski: Do you know why--it sounds like your family had like a
relatively stable situation, do you know why they came here?
Samuel Brooks: Well, I mean it's like any other thing right. Everyone that we
would meet that has been to the United States is something that we wanted to do.
I mean our intent to come here was to just pursue a better life, if there is
such a thing. And by virtue of education, it was an opportunity. We
00:43:00had one of our aunts one of my mother's sisters who was in San Diego at the
time. She used to. She used to do a lot of sewing. In the '60s she managed to
open up a factory, a sewing factory. So when my father died when I was a child
about two years old. My aunt that was living in, I think in San Diego at the
time, was doing very well. Wanted--told my mother to his sister why don't you
give me him, me, give me to her. And then because you already have five, I have
none. And you know I'll take care of him, I'll raise him like my own. I mean
I'll tell him that you're his mother, but he'll come right away to the United
States. That would have been here at the age of about two or three years old.
And of course, my mother said no. She refused, said she could manage. And I'll
take my chances with him! (laughs)
Amy Starecheski: What was your mum like? What kind of person was she?
00:44:00
Samuel Brooks: She was she was she was very you know she was a religious person,
very you know, very friendly of course. Thing about our mother we never called
her mommy or you know. We used to call her by her name. Her name was Enel, Enel
[phonetic] and I grew up calling her by her name. You know. [unclear] Latino.
Like that was her legal name that was, that was her name. So we never called you
know we never called her by anything other than her name. So it was that kind of
a relationship that. That we had.
Amy Starecheski: I'm just going to close the window, there seems to be a bit of
a siren situation out there. Why you called--was that typical? Like why?
Samuel Brooks: Ahhhh. No it wasn't typical of the time. It wasn't
00:45:00typical. I mean that's what everybody called her. You know and remember we were
relatively young. You know back then. I mean our father by then you know that
was 50-57 years ago. Right. So my oldest brother is 68. Right. Ten years. Yeah.
So imagine that you know. So he was still relatively young. So yeah we just
call--it wasn't a tradition, it wasn't something that we English speaking people
from Honduras would typically call you know everybody else was calling their
mother you know mommy you know not even my mom. Mommy, the Spanish version of
it. And that's just the way it was. But we just were a bit different in that
regard. I used to just call her by her name. You know. Dona Ines. Antino and
that's what--we used to come to the house and used to say Dona Ines and that was
her name, Antino [phonetic]. And that's what I grew up I never called her
mother, none of us did. You know. I mean we knew that was our mother,
00:46:00but this it's weird it's weird dynamic. And again, that was that was Caribbean
life. You know. We went to school there, we went to English school there as
well. So again, we had the opportunity where we went to the local Spanish
school. But then again, we had the resources because we spoke English and
everybody else either spoke just Spanish or the Garifuna people that came by way
of St. Vincent and that relocated to Honduras all they spoke was their language
you know. And I --we spoke both English and Spanish. So we went to Spanish
school and went to English school. And that's the way we were rolling back then.
Amy Starecheski: So when you, when you came here you know, coming here for
opportunity for a better life and then coming to the South Bronx in
00:47:00the 1970s--what did you think?
Samuel Brooks: I mean I was I mean we were all anxious to get to the United States.
I mean that's just it didn't matter. I had no--I mean it could have easily have
been, we could have landed and lived in Brooklyn or Queens. The Bronx is just
where we ended up. We did have some people that that came years earlier before
we got here in the '60s, used to go to Intervale Avenue. 1061 Intervale Avenue.
That's where a lot of the English-speaking Hondurans would come and then they
would congregate there--they would go to Bathgate on 183rd Street. Ah so there
was that little community so our proximity was on Simpson Street. Which wasn't
far from Intervale. Which wasn't too far from Bathgate. So that's where it was
always that part of where the Honduran people would come in. So my sister
actually looked in the papers and found that apartment, told my
00:48:00mother I think the price is right, I think it was like 200 and something dollars
some amazing number for like a three or four bedroom apartment. Go figure. How
about that. The building is no longer there of course. They built private homes,
private--those townhouse looking kind of a thing. They demolished the building
and that abandonment and all that foolishness. So but yeah I know it wouldn't
have--it didn't matter where. We knew we were getting on a plane. We had a
passport and we had a green card. So we were we were set to go at any time and
we just waited and then my brother said okay, the consulate said we're ready to
go. And we all came at the same time. So imagine that, the Brook's leaving at
the same time you know, so that would have been a sight to see. And it was cool,
it was pretty good. Pretty good.
Amy Starecheski: Can you remember anything more of your first
00:49:00impressions of the Bronx as a--you said like an 11--
Samuel Brooks: Yeah well yeah about 12. You know then again I was more I didn't
I didn't understand that we moved into a neighborhood that was very very poor. I
mean y'know it was just that. I mean as a 12 year kid, listen I came from
Central America, so I'm not--I didn't come from Darien, Connecticut and says oh
my God what is this. You know I'm living here, on Simpson Street with all the
sirens and all the police sirens and all the you know the drugs and all that. To
me you know I just said I'm in the United States. And I enrolled in school
obviously right away. I--my diction and what have you wasn't like the way the
American folks or the people who were living here. You know so I had to adapt
quickly because my reading wasn't to par, I fail a lot of the classes
00:50:00because I just didn't put one and one together at that level. You know I didn't
go to kindergarten, I didn't got to first second and what have you. I came in I
think at fifth grade or sixth grade. I don't know what the what the number would
have been. And that was just it. It was a struggle for me probably the first
year. Teachers told my older brother I think it's best if you put him in
bilingual. And he said no, why would I do that, that's going to be
self-defeating. You know he needs to go through this process and sure enough the
following year. I mean I was an A student in every sense and didn't turn back.
So that's just the way we were. You know we came with a level of discipline. And
we had respect. Which was different in these kids who would stay out all night,
hanging out in the street. By 8:00 or something I had to go upstairs,
00:51:00I had to do homework. And my other three brothers that were ahead of me you know
that's what we did. You know we came from a totally different place completely
where we had more freedom and everything else. And it was just no locks on the
door, I never saw a key in my life. I literally--we didn't even have a lock on
our door in Honduras. Here obviously you need it, even though it was still in
the '70s you know. You know I--just the most remarkable thing you know and there
I understood back then it was tranquil Honduras then obviously as I started
getting older and I started going wait a minute, this place is truly a dangerous
place--if they don't know who you are you know. But you grew up in a
neighborhood. So therefore you've been adopted by the neighborhood and the drug
dealers knew who you were and they would say it's okay, leave those alone. These
three guys that are there going to school you see they don't hang out here late
at night. They're not runners. They don't work for any of us. Leave those you
know like me and my two other brothers--you know these guys doing
00:52:00what they have to do. And that's the way we kept it. You know not a single one
of us had any issues with the law. None of us were ever arrested and we just did
what we had to do. Even my older brother at the time they were probably 17. 18.
You know. High school age kind of a thing, and we survive you know. Thank God.
To say the least you know but yeah. So when I got here in '75 to me it didn't,
it didn't impact me. I was more excited the fact that I got on a plane, I'm in
the United States. I see pretty cars, I see people with bicycles, I hear ice
cream trucks and we were good. You know the local bodega. We used to have
change, go there buy candy, what have you and just had access to a lot of
things. Things that were considered an amount--anomaly in Honduras at the time
was as a twelve-year-old it just didn't happen you know. You know
00:53:00clothes that were fancy clothes to say the least so it wasn't like I was born on
Brooke Avenue and so in all that turbulence and I dropped out of high school and
I decided to go into the military or I had to go away because I was hanging in
the streets. We didn't have that path. You know even though we were mixed with
people who had that path who were very good friends of ours. You know I had very
good classmates of mines who lived in the projects. You know all of them
surrounded projects.
So we were all one big family--I just happened to just live in a six story
building. And that's just the way it was. You know I would see them in school,
those who used to come when they could. But that's just the way it was. So it
didn't impact me in that regard. I went to high school again stayed within
throwing distance from where I was all this time. And only when I started going
to college then I say wait a minute it's a class--it's a two class
00:54:00structure here. You know there are people that are being dropped off in cars.
You know I had to take the long island railroad and my suitcase. You know you
know kids telling me oh my dad makes seventy thousand--remember Michael Weiss',
father was an insurance salesperson. He said, "Yeah my dad makes, he does
a--makes like seventy thousand dollars a year." I couldn't even wrap that around
my head that. And I says, Wow. But they also were curious about me because at
the time they knew, Wait a minute you came from the South Bronx--so tell me what
it's like, what about the buildings and the burning and all that kind of stuff.
So I had my own assets, right that they found it curious you know. Like I told
you I interacted because my purpose of going to college was to exactly do that.
You know not just to stay on the African-American side or the Latino side and I
ventured across the street because it would have been a been a
00:55:00self-defeating mission so to speak which allowed me even now I navigating both
worlds. And I said to you earlier, most people have no idea what I do for a
living. The people that I consider my friends--other than colleagues of
course--I'm talking about people in this community. Yeah, I just work downtown.
That's what I tell them because I think. What I do with the tours or what I do
with the preservation is a job, it's a volunteer it's not you know--it's just
keeping an eye on where I'm living. I just for me financially obviously because
I have a major investment but just if I can just raise my hand and just say
something about some injustice you know I will do it. But I'm not the one that
you're going to see picketing Fresh Direct or you know because I am too logical
you know a perfect example. That deal was already a done deal, right. And
I remember telling this to some of the people who would picket it and
00:56:00what have you and says you guys realize that that is that the tax
abatement--that's a done deal, it's not going to be reversed. It's not--you
cannot go to the community but you cannot now. But I think you have an
opportunity to say okay it's a done deal, our concern was the high level of
asthma--and I suffer from asthma as well--is so devastating that can we come to
some sort of arrangement where--and I told them, you guys could have probably
gotten a half a million to a million dollars or even more from First Direct if
they would have set up some sort of an asthma test in local facilities within
the community, sensors to measure. But at the end of the day, you got nothing
out of it. You got a little press at the very beginning but Fresh Direct is not
a human being it's like Columbia University acquiring property all
00:57:00throughout Washington Heights and what have you. That's the there is no such.
There is no such person that's 68 years old named Columbia. Right. it just
doesn't exist. We both will all be gone. You know that's just the way it is. You
know. So that's the kind of thing that you know I say, you could have gotten
something out of a bad situation you had them--and I remember speaking to Fresh
Direct and I says look I mean you guys are getting hit up in the media and all
that stuff. It's a lot of attention, a lot of press, a lot of things that you
see on the wall and what have you. They say Yeah it's sad but they come
with--you know too bad you're not part of that organization or the organization,
but if they would have said to us this is what we want, we were ready to give
them any and everything they wanted. Maybe they made an offer and they said no
no we don't want it. That's why I--you know same thing with the developers. They
keep talking about Keith Rubinstein. You know he came bought this
00:58:00parcel of land, fifty something million, was going to build six towers.
Brookfield came in, made him a better offer, flipped it and he was eviscerated
for having--the party, talked about the [unclear], a whole bunch of things. And
he always he said Sam, just as long as you don't respond to any of that because
eventually there is nothing--this is a free enterprise there's nothing that can
be done. They're not threatening my life. Right. You know I just bought
something that was there and this is what I'm doing. All these warehouses in the
back here. I mean people that own those warehouses were not black or Hispanics.
You know these were people who bought these things in the '60s and '70s--all
those factories that are back there now, those things are flipping for multiples
of millions of dollars you know exotic lofts and everything else. Everyone in my
office they know more about Mott Haven than I do. You know they say well
we buyin' sites un seen. I remember, 15 years ago. My boss used to
00:59:00live in Connecticut, Greenwich Connecticut. Old Greenwich Connecticut in a
multimillion-dollar home. He says so Sam tell me about Mott Haven. I said, Well
you know I bought there just the other day you know that like three years ago.
He said really. I yeah, no, I think. And I say well do you want to buy a house
there. And he says yeah just find me one and I'll just buy it. I said Joe, but
you haven't seen the house and we call this sight unseen. If you're living there
why not. And sure enough I say okay we'll find your house. Found them a
townhouse on 139. So the story goes he buys the house he buys it cash--his two
daughters at the time he wanted them to see the house because potentially I
don't know when they get older they go to college in NYU or Columbia
01:00:00or whatever. Those girls walked in there and said, Oh my god what the hell is
this dump. And at the time he was I think going through a divorce and he looked
at me and says wow, what do you think you can do. I said you know what, I got a
solution. So when I was doing work in my house I photographed everything. So I
come with this book right. And I says oh you think that house look bad in the
inside, this is what mine looked like and now this is what it looks like now. So
they look and say okay, I can see the potential. So make a long story short, in
probably a 10 year period, the daughters went to high school graduated college
and one of the daughters now is coming back to the South Bronx. She's going to
be teaching, starting this summer at one of the charter schools I
01:01:00think on Willis Avenue or somewhere. And where do you think she wants to live.
She's moving in there and the last top floor because it's trendy and it's like
wow and she sees what no other place--so just a funny story to see this whole
full circle and the other daughter who is in theater says oh no I'm coming back.
And that's where I want to live. You know. Yeah. Connecticut we live well and
you know what have you, but that was just that. But this is where you know young
artists, and she's artists obviously she's in theater, live you know
well-educated young women and you know it's the weirdest thing. Full circle.
Amy Starecheski: Yeah, you said maybe it was like 10 years ago that you started
to notice significant changes.
Samuel Brooks: Yeah.
Amy Starecheski: At what--at what point did people in your office start knowing,
start talking about Mott Haven? Because that's a different level of--
Samuel Brooks: Well yeah but the thing is right so we we cover publicly traded
companies in all industries and and real estate is one of our leading
01:02:00industries that we've always ranked number one and the team I know them well and
we know each other well we go back a year. So this is what they do. They do that
for for a living as far as you know coverage so they know what's happened in
terms of commercial and residential. They foresee markets and what have you. And
you know when they mention things in--can I just take a break? My sister called me.
Amy Starecheski: Yeah, yeah, go ahead. It's nice that you're still close with
your siblings
Samuel Brooks: Yeah, what was the question?
Amy Starecheski: I was asking like at what point--
Samuel Brooks: People in my office--
Amy Starecheski: Yeah like at what point did people in your office start saying
we'll buy anything in Mott Haven.
Samuel Brooks: Yeah I think it was about yeah about 10, 12 years ago when they
started realizing the trends because the way we follow the market right. We
knew, for example, Tribeca--our headquarters is at 388 Greenwich
01:03:00right. Back in '80, not '80-something--back in '96, nobody wanted to live in
that area. Just think about, you used to see a lot of rats running up and down
alleyways. But it was again the De Niro's, Robert De Niro's grandfather was
acquiring a lot of that, those properties the Pontes were acquiring a lot. But
you know that's just the way nature operates. Right. So with regards to the
South Bronx they started realizing that the Bronx the Bronx literally begins
where Manhattan ends. Right. Technically as far as the southern part of the
Bronx. So during that time of the Harlem Renaissance where people were buying
townhomes 15 years ago, 18 years ago and they just started realizing that
eventually it started becoming prohibitively expensive. It's like back in
the--back in the late '80s nobody wanted to buy anything North of 96th street,
that was the red line. You do not go up north of 96th Street on
01:04:00Broadway or Amsterdam or Riverdale--Riverside you just don't do it. Then you had
pioneers that would go 10 blocks further up, bring their friends and eventually
that's just the way the ball has rolled. So with regards to Mott Haven from a
projected point of view, the people in finance always had this this thing about
neighborhoods. You know because they track them, you know they knew what was
going on. And so on and so forth. So some of them started getting into the
market. As far as the real estate in the South Bronx. As far back as 12, 13
years ago whenever it is that they started saying wait a minute there is some
money to be made here and there's hold for a while and sure enough you know the
changes that are happening now is just at a rapid pace. So ten years ago I began
to notice the difference in terms of the people that were coming into the
neighborhood and then the accelerated process 7, 5 years ago with the
01:05:00developers now coming in and at the time there wasn't any marquee real estate
company. There was nothing. Now you have the local, small realtor that was
selling townhouses to this to that getting overrun by the likes of Corcoran
Douglas Elliman and they just here now. I mean that's just the way it is. I mean
I don't see a physical office but it's across the street in Harlem. But they're
here, the agents live in the Bronx. And some of them just moved in and that's
what they're doing and they're doing--they're flipping these things. And they're
getting buyers, they're knocking the doors in. And that's just the way it goes.
I mean the person that I met--you probably already know this, is friends with
Carol as well. 280. I mean they bought two of them at the same time from the
sisters from the Dominican sisters--two of them at the same time. Go figure.
01:06:00
Amy Starecheski: I have other questions in the middle but since we're talking
about it, can you tell me about the kinds of experiences that other homeowners
on your block or in the area are having now with--you know you were telling me
stuff about people getting offers, being pressured to sell or having
opportunities to sell like--
Samuel Brooks: Yeah I mean there's--my immediate neighbors she's been there for
probably like 40 years, 50 years you know her ex-husband owns another townhouse
on 139. Her mother owns a nice house on Alexander Avenue. So they've been in the
neighborhood for decades. And she tells me all the time you know Sam I get just
as much offers as you do but I'm not going anywhere. There was a young man at
the end of the block next to the school where--I think I may have mentioned this
to you--where his father, he was young, his father was a Vietnam
01:07:00veteran died like, probably like 8 years ago and left the house to his son. He
was the youngest. I guess he had him when he was in his '60s left the house to
him and his sister. He was like 25 years, 24 years old kid that never went
anywhere, hung out in the street with the guys at the corner. And I remember
clearly telling him says young man, when you speak to your sister just make sure
that you do not accept any offers less than say 800,000 dollars. This was a
couple of years ago. So there's this gentleman that used to walk the
neighborhood with a suitcase with cash and his Jewish kid with a suitcase full
of cash and he would see opportunities or knock on doors, he would literally
just knock on doors "Hey my name is A.J.. Are you willing to sell your house."
It worked for some. In his case, he was always in need of money for
01:08:00taxes and what have you, so this guy began to build that relationship with him
before you know it. House was sold for four hundred and fifty dollars, four
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Kid takes the money, splits whatever he has
to with his sister, buys a BMW. Hanging out with those guys before you know it,
he no longer has the BMW. That person that bought the house for 450, flipped it.
He already had a buyer. Flipped it for 720. Didn't do a thing to the house. I
don't even think he painted inside. Flipped it. Okay. And the young couple that
bought it I think they're Koreans or, yeah I think either Koreans or Chinese.
They wanted to flip it without even doing anything to it. They wanted to get it
for like nine--they wanted the same equivalent, like 920. The offers
01:09:00they were getting were into the high eights already, so they already got it for
720. They say you know what, we gonna renovate and then rent it out and hold it
for you know three four years and then really go north of one. They just
finished the renovation. And I think now they're going to now--given what one of
our neighbors just sold on 139, they'll definitely get more than that. The other
house on 140th, the buyer tracked down the owner who was living in Puerto Rico,
went to Puerto Rico, bought the house from her for seven--for 120, came, flipped
it for four, from four--it is just like that's the kind of game that some of
these guys that are in the market of finding distressed properties having the
ability to locate the owners. And that's that's just that's the competitive
market now. The person who just closed yesterday didn't even use a
01:10:00broker to sell the house went on Street Easy. Took some pictures. Put it up.
Paid six hundred dollars to have a premium placed, open house, 10 people came,
three offers were made--first person that walked in and said I'll take it. And
you know but that's that's it's inevitable. I mean that's what happens. You know
that's what happens. I mean simple as that. That's what happens. So. It's not.
It's it. But like I said I hope they can hold out for those who still have
because most of the homes on 140th in particular and even the older ones on
Alexander there's no mortgage on these homes and they haven't been upgraded in
terms of the mechanics of the homes and things of that nature but they just
they're getting old you know. And it's inevitable that something is
01:11:00going to happen you know. But hopefully if they want to live out a couple of
years you know, having choices to go out to dinner and travel and everything
else and maybe move back somewhere else where it's less expensive and take it
given how much years you have to have to live or something to that effect. You
know because I'm not the person, I'm not going to stay the past 10 years. You
know you just let it become somebody else's dream. You know that's just the way
I see it I don't. And I have no problem with it. Yeah.
Amy Starecheski: To go back for a minute--when you were a kid here, like what
kind of games did you play?
Samuel Brooks: It was all street games--ring the leader, kick the can, spin the
bottle. You know tag. It was all--actually matter of fact, I don't
01:12:00remember most of--I don't even remember knowing any kid that was obese. That got
12-year-old a 13 year old a 14 year old. I don't remember. Because everything we
did was so physical. You know when I learned how to do backhand springs it's
like you know abandoned buildings, take the mattress, everybody was doing--every
abandoned building had mattresses, you stack 'em up and that's what you learn to
do. Your acrobatics. So if you look at some of the older pictures you say wait a
minute. If you just notice that little nuance, because we were always movin'.
Right. Or like now with all the sugary sodas and what have you it's just like
kills you. You know it's like the way your daughter and the daughter's friend is
always on the monkey bars and all of that. That's the kind of thing we did. It
was all physical street games that's all we had. It was nothing to stay upstairs
and play with when you go upstairs--it's just homework and bed. And
01:13:00that was nothing else.
Amy Starecheski: You wish it was monkey bars--it's just scaffolding they're
playing on!
Samuel Brooks: Yeah (laughs). That's the urban version of it.
Amy Starecheski: Right (laughs).
Samuel Brooks: Now that we have a multimillion-dollar park down there, let's see
how long--.
Amy Starecheski: I can't get them out of that new park.
Samuel Brooks: that lasts.
Amy Starecheski: Yeah. So--what did your mother do for work when you got here.
Did she find a job?
Samuel Brooks: She was a uhm she used to be a home attendant. She did that for
about 10, 12 years. She took care of one person for that many years until they
passed away and she was assigned to another person. And that's what she did. She
never earned more than $14,000 a year. That was her top earning. When she passed
away, she had amassed about like $30,000 that she left for us. Exactly. And she
managed to buy her burial plot at Moshulu. And the way she died she
01:14:00died of what they called a pulmonary embolism. So she was slightly overweight.
She was feeling pain in her leg. She went to Lincoln Hospital. And I think one
of the attendant physicians says "Oh you're fine" and she was complaining about
this pain and everything else. And they say something to the effect of no you
could just go home and take some aspirins and you'll be fine. Got to the house
and then she--everybody was there. I was on my way to the house just by pure
coincidence. But all my brothers were there. And she suffered a massive heart
attack. The first time and then one of my brothers who is the chemist who worked
at Lincoln Hospital manages to do CPR, brought her back. Ambulance was on the
way and she went into another one and couldn't save her. And I got to the house
when I turned the corner I saw all the police and ambulance and my brother
sitting there and I knew something happened. So, me being logical
01:15:00right, I was living with these guys in Manhattan. I said to my brother, so what
happened, why did--oh she went to this that and the other, and she was this that
and the other and somehow they missed something. I says okay, I went to my
office and I spoke to somebody there and one guy says listen, I think you should
get an attorney. You know just look into it make sure to do an autopsy. I say
okay, he said I have a friend, he's an attorney out of White Plains. I says you
know what I'll call, set up an appointment and they says okay we'll take the
case. And this is still while we were making funeral arrangements and I said
well the first thing that we all need to do is start writing down--because my
brothers lived there and all that and yellow pads to give to the attorney and we
built out the story and then we sued Lincoln Hospital and and we
01:16:00settled with them--I think that the time was like two hundred and fifty three
hundred thousand dollars. Yeah. For wrongful misdiagnosis at the time so yeah.
So it was again just logic and saying I think we need an attorney. I have one.
Let's just do this. It's not going to cost us anything. So that was that. Yeah. Yeah.
Amy Starecheski: When you moved here as a kid, did did your mom talk to you
about what you were seeing around you, like about how to--
Samuel Brooks: No, no.
Amy Starecheski: like how to handle yourself?
Samuel Brooks: Because remember I had five older brothers. I was the youngest. I
was the youngest. My older brother at the time when we got here, he was probably
like 19. So we had an army--we had a self-sustained army you know. So they all
they all knew where we were you know--oh they just came from Central America,
they speak Spanish and you know we integrated right away because we
01:17:00came into a culture that the language wasn't a barrier and we just you know and
we knew right from wrong. But we had respect and we didn't get involved in
things that we knew were just--we didn't know drugs I mean why I didn't even
smoke or anything like that much less staying out breaking night we used to call
it. All my friends used to say yeah we stayed out until 3:00 in the morning you
know. But I couldn't do that. You know the other two that were ahead of me. Are
you kidding me--you know so we self discipline us you know no arguments among
us. There was nothing no blood no bad blood because we came from a from a
culture back home that we were all close you know as far as relatives and family
members--you come to the United States, you comin' to do something not to
sidetrack. And you know we used to go to church every Sunday. Church
01:18:00on Southern Boulevard. Evangelical church. So you know we were still young but
connected to the church. And then you start getting older and then that you know
it's sort of like goes that way. But so we had again discipline, pretty good
discipline as a child so it wasn't like she would sit up I say okay see what you
saw at the corner saw the guy die and you see all the money you see--she didn't
have to go through that process so to speak. You know stay away from. We knew
who the bad people were we knew who just came out of jail, we knew who was going
into jail, we knew who killed who and that kind of thing. But that's just the
way that was. And we happen to just be living in the midst of it, more than
partaking so to speak if that makes any sense.
Amy Starecheski: It does make sense. Can you tell me more about what
01:19:00it was like to live through the fires?
Samuel Brooks: I think I mean the fires--believe it or not before our building
burned down, you know the thing to do we still do a lot of fire watching. You
know every time there's a fire everybody runs to the roof and try to guess--that
was the game, where do you think that is? Oh that's by Linc--no that's not you
know that was that was also a game. Literally fire watching. If it's not your
building on fire, you'll run up to the roof and try to identify where it is and
then go the next day. Yep. That's what I told you. Yep. You can still smell it.
You know. We used to sometimes go into the buildings and use the scrap metal
that we used to get out of the building or the bathtubs. Right because by a
Bruckner there was a scrap metal yard. So go with these two other guys older
than me of course and we go every apartment was the bathtub was was
01:20:00exactly that--we used to go with sledgehammers and break them up. And bring it
out and we used to sell scrap metal. That's we used to get money. Every
apartment had one. Think about it.
Amy Starecheski: Yeah. No I have one, those big heavy bathtubs (laughs) those
cast iron ones.
Samuel Brooks: And the radiators as well. And that's what we used to sell.
Radiators and the tubs and the sink sometimes depending upon what it was. And in
retrospect I would just say to myself Oh my God if I only knew right. But you
know I was I was still a young man so.
Amy Starecheski: You mean if you only knew how valuable those bathtubs would be
like now today?
How valuable or how the people that actually owned the building had an
opportunity to sell them, and the city was giving them away and that kind of
thing. But we were all red lined. There was no way we were going to be able to
get a mortgage or a loan. If you did it was a predatory one in the
01:21:00'70s or in the '80s to try to buy even a home--yeah it was, it was it was
difficult as a culture here in the United States of course. And that's where you
had the privileged folks who had access to capital. And then you had others who
were relegated to apartment buildings. And you had a job of course but it wasn't
enough to carry you through to walk into a lending office or--and sit down and
tell me about your credit history and--it's just non-existent. You know that's
why we didn't accumulate and those who did were those African-Americans who
either lived in down south and owned property for hundreds of years and they got
educated there they would come in and buy into Harlem or the Puerto Ricans who
lived in Harlem back then who knew you know. But it was it was rare. And then
you had foreigners. Came from countries like where we came from Latin
01:22:00America, South America, Africa. Had a little bit more resource and was able to
do things you know like buy their own property but for the most part that was a dream.
Amy Starecheski: Tell me about how you first got into buying and flipping houses.
Samuel Brooks: Well that came out of an opportunity because at the time I was
not--at the time I was I was working for I think it was Morgan Stanley because I
mentioned I left Citigroup in the late '90s, '96. I went to Morgan Stanley for
about two years to a more expansive role and then they started doing downsizing
in 2000, 2001. So there my colleague and friend and college alumni fellow
alumni. He was working--he remained at Citi and says--and we partner up with
another Colombian gentleman. Says why don't we start looking to buy property in
the Bronx. I will go find them, say this is it and they'll provide
01:23:00the financing and you will buy it. And we read it like any other business--we
had a strict model that we built, we would buy it at this price point--not a
dollar more than a dollar less. I mean not a dollar more.
Amy Starecheski: A dollar less is fine! (laughs)
Samuel Brooks: Yeah--this is what we're going to put into it, and we'll find a
buyer and we just sell it not to speculators, but to families you know. To this
day, the property that I ended up buying was the property that I bought the
first time for $125,000 as part of the portfolio that we were buying bought that
for 125 with him and refinanced and then what we ended up doing is--there was
there was a note on the property and we tried to sell it for I remember that
clearly we wanted to sell that one for 250 brokers caved, people
01:24:00caved, said nah that's too much money. And I said oh wow. So we had a college
friend of ours who--she was looking for a place to stay with her kids. We said
well the rent is cheap, the rent is the value of the mortgage. And she says yeah
of course I'll move in. And she lived there for about two years, and then she
said it was just too much house for her and her two kids and that she wanted
something much smaller. So I thought about it, I said you know what let me buy
it out of the partnership. And that's when I bought it as my as my home. So that
was a deal that I that I that I did I bought it with no money because we knew
all the mortgage brokers, they arranged all the financing and in no money down
litterally for me in that case. So that's how I ended up with it.
Amy Starecheski: Who--who were you buying houses from when you were doing that
at first? People or banks or--?
Samuel Brooks: No--so we never we never we never we were we're
01:25:00probably buying two houses--two to three houses a year. So it wasn't like you
know let's just do this. We were buying homes from investors who had acquired a
much cheaper price--they either bought them at an auction like you were buying
it from them for 150 so they probably got it for like 80 and they had so much in
their portfolio that the rate that it was going they were doing it--I mean these
guys, I remember them--he would go to prison and talk to inmates who had
property who were doing time. That's how that's how they used to do it. You
think about it. And they say sure there's the address, I'll sell on the deed
what you want to give me. Give it to my sister, my girlfriend and I'll sell you
the house. Others had leans that day they just couldn't pay taxes and everything
else will be auctioned off. They used to buy their portfolios. So we
01:26:00used to buy it from them, and then the proliferation of mortgage brokers--the
financing it was always there. I remember one of the better deals that we sold
for 380--large house, almost on two sides of the street on Bathgate Avenue.
Family still lives there, every time I go there to have big parties say this is
the man that made this possible. The house is worth substantially more--but
that's the kind of thing we did it was make some money but it's not too truly,
it wasn't necessary. Not not not at all.
Amy Starecheski: Was redlining still an issue at that point?
Samuel Brooks: No because that was early 2000s. So. And you know, we worked in
finance so we had some track level traction in that regard. The true true friend
of ours was my colleagues, my colleagues landlord in Brooklyn. He was
01:27:00from Columbia on quite a lot of buildings in in in Brooklyn--5th Avenue, Park
Slope and became very good friend. We all became extremely good--he passed away
a few years ago, he multimillionaire. So he used to underwrite quite a couple of
things there. So yeah. No we don't. The only time we would have been when he
bought his own townhouse on Jefferson Avenue. That was the extent of it. But
it's not--we didn't have a need to to get traditional funding. It was just
straight up transactional because it wasn't that well--it wasn't that much,
because we could've take it from one side of the ledger to apply it to the
other. So.
Amy Starecheski: Did you--did you feel like at that point there was any risk in
investing in this neighborhood?
Samuel Brooks: No. Again we 15 20--we knew already that the people
01:28:00that--we we started hearing Harlem is becoming expensive 20 something years ago.
30 something years ago--like here--you could have got anywhere in Harlem. I mean
I remember seeing people buying townhouses $140,000, 160--beautiful homes. That
was like 30 years ago. And then all of a sudden, that stopped and then all of a
sudden the wave went back up again and it was a cyclical market. You had your
period that nobody wanted anything there. And now here they discover what I
mean--If you go if you have a tall enough building you can see it, you could see
Harlem. And that's when this flood gates just started bursting and then the
luxury apartments that they're building now and now the rentals. I mean a
one-bedroom apartment for $2600 and you have to pay your own utilities so you're
still coming out at like $3100. You know you need to be earning at least
$140,000 to be able to live comfortably without compromising your
01:29:00lifestyle. I mean that's just the way it is. And you have people that are doing
it you know they had the means to do it. They go for it you know because I've
always told people in meetings know friends of mine and those who we had this
gentrification conversation--I don't call it an argument, I always says you work
on 58 Street, as an example, and you leave your office to go grab lunch you have
such choices. But you live in the Bronx. You live further up but you don't have
that many choices. Why is that? You know why can't you convince other people
like you to to just become business owners and somehow and start opening up
trendy cafes, trendy bars--again just because somebody opens Mottley as an
example you know--who am I to say anything other than congratulations. Now I
don't have to really walk that far, I can literally cover my sandals
01:30:00in five minutes. I have a choice of La Morada, I have a choice of Mott Haven Bar
and Grill, Gun Hill Tavern. The list goes on and it grows every week there's
some new thing opening up you know. And that's just the way it is. You know I
can't stop it. I cannot.
Amy Starecheski: Tell me more about your block. Like when you first bought
there, what was 140th like?
Samuel Brooks: Now you have to remember when I first bought on 140th, 18 years
ago 16 18 years ago. I mean I knew everyone I literally knew all of the people
that I that I that either went to school with--they didn't live literally in
these townhouses. So it was predominantly Puerto Ricans that owned the houses
and a few African-Americans. But for the most part yeah I guess--Yeah
01:31:00wow yeah. I think I was probably the second second on my side of the street
across the street. There was probably one or two and that was the extent of it.
Everybody else was Puerto Rican, that had been living there when I was a kid and
bought these houses in the '70s for like twelve or thirteen thousand. So the
block was relatively quiet. It had always been because I used to have a
conversations with some of the people who'd been living there for 50 something
years who'd never lived on 140, but the thing about 140 is that all the bad
things that used to happen in the 70s happened on 141 and 143rd up the hill on
Cypress. But 140 was always a safe ground. You come in there. The people who
were dealin' and the bad people would always say we're going to protect this
block between Willis and Brook Avenue on 140th. That's why you see what you see
is intact. You think about it. It's--it just everything that you see
01:32:00there remain intact with the exception of the 29 other townhouses on both side
of 139 and 140th that were torn down in the 60s to make way for the school and
the park. But yeah it's a it's always been a safe haven. It was very quiet,
because again I I speak the language right. So again and I have history and I
was I've been connected to that 30 years earlier you know as a little kid I used
to run up and down I just didn't know--I would look at these things and they
look like large buildings you know. And that's just the way it was there was a
lot of single room occupants. So the owner would live in the garden level and
they would rent out rooms--that's what the predominate--every, if you want to
room you go to 140th. The little houses always had a room. My home had 18
rooms. This Cuban lady used to literally sit in the front, when you
01:33:00come to the first door she used to have a desk and she had 18 rooms including
the basement itself. And supposedly she made quite a good living at it. And
everybody else had rooms with much more conservative spaces. But she she killed
it. And in the last 12 13 years now you started seeing the people that are
coming in, people that have professional jobs. They started buying the
townhouses, they started doing massive renovations doing decking, and changing
mechanics, doing exterior work. I mean I would say in the last 7 years, a lot of
the homes you will notice that--they used to be very colorful. And people now
realize wait a minute, you know we've got to strip, let's get to the original
brick and start doing so you started seeing the changes. Started seeing the
sidewalks more cleaner-- because everybody knows responsible when it
01:34:00snows everything gets picked up collectively because everybody does their part.
So everyone that's there now is an actual homeowner. There is no person there
that's just a complete rental--probably one, probably, but no for the most part
everyone that lives there owns there and lives there. So that is probably the
most radical change because they truly and finally understood the value of what
they've acquired earlier in the last 12 years that they say wait a minute now
everybody wants to come here, so they're staying put. I remember the doctor when
she bought her house across from me. She bought it from a gentleman who was. A
U.N. a U.N. ambassador. Not an ambassador a diplomat. He bought the
01:35:00house that the doctor is now living in from a lady that he befriended, bought
the house for $100,000. Which is a steal. And she gave him all of the contents
of the house, amazing antiques. He had is his house a couple of doors down. He
sold the house put it on the market for $200,000, the doctor bought it for 205.
The doctor wanted to then flip it for like 300 or 250 or whatever I remember
making that phone call and calling her at the time and she wanted to just leave
because at the time the neighborhood was still you know I guess she didn't
understand what she actually had and then eventually said well wait a minute,
I'm not going anywhere. So those are the kind of stories of the people who just
come in. Then you have others that have come in the last two years three years
that want to you know lay down rules and regulations and things of that nature
says characters now that are homeowners. That want to--I say no,
01:36:00sometimes you see those people across the street by the church sitting there,
you gotta get up and say hello to them because as I mentioned when all these
deliveries that are being sent with Amazon and all those things when they leave
your things on your steps you know that's the person who's going to say leave it
there I'll are sign, because I'm here all day and I know what time X comes in.
And that's just the way it is now you know.
Amy Starecheski: What kind of rules and regulations?
Samuel Brooks: Mean you could see that you know it's it's live--there's one or
two of them, that little flavor of arrogance you know oh I've got this I paid
this much money, I put in this much money into the house now it's a beautiful
home and I just want to invite a lot of my friends to come and enjoy wine with
me in the yard. That kind of thing is you know it's--things like that are not
necessary because you learn the lesson the hard way. You know at the end of the
day, there's still going to be people walking up and down that have been in this
neighborhood for before I even got here. And you're always gotta keep
01:37:00that conscious of mind you know. But I do see the effects of gentrification by
by virtue of the prices of the units, the rental units because most people are
now using the garden level as as separate unit even though it's still a one
family. Some of us are turning it into a short-term rental with tremendous
income potential there. So you asked the question right, so does that mean that
you're displacing some market rate apartment or an apartment that could have
gone--so that's a that's a moving target if you ask me. Right. Because I lived
there for 16 years with no one living in my house. The downstairs all I had was
a bathroom and a big TV room. That's the place where most of my friends will
come in watch football game, parties, and what have you. And that's what it
became, and after a while my two kids you know they're upstairs in
01:38:00their room and they abandoned the place. I say wait a minute you know because
most of the people that had that that came in in the last 13 years immediately
they turned that into a separate unit to help with the mortgage because they
bought at a higher price point than I did. You still got to make the payment
but--so I never even contemplated turning that into a one-bedroom apartment
because most of them didn't and back then the rent was probably about nine
hundred, eleven hundred--now some of them again in twenty three hundred dollars.
And others are just doing the short-term staying and making a lot more than
that. So it's just it's just how you choose now to--and even if you had it on
the market, the people who would come in and move in there are not the same
people who've been in the community for that period of time because you're not
going to rent it out for five hundred dollars like 1998 prices. It's
01:39:00not going to happen you know unless you just into charity and that's what you do
and that's the way you want to live it and that's fine but a setup like that is
virtually impossible. It is virtually impossible.
Amy Starecheski: Can you tell me--like walk me through like your daily routine
and like say it's a lovely Saturday or Sunday in June--what is life like
spending a day on your block?
Samuel Brooks: What happens now with the with the addition of of Motleys
Kitchen, typically--I tell you a typical Sunday in the summertime the last five
years as an example because of the work that I do with the historic preservation
I partnered up with the tourism company by a person from Ecuador who came here
as a child as well in '71 and she started this Bronx historical
01:40:00tours. So at about 11:00 when she begins her tours on 130, a very small group
anywhere from two people to four or five people she by about 11:00 she starts
coming onto 140th--and I'm always waiting because when they come in, I get
introduced to them and then I just talk to them about you know 140th and how
long I've been here, not only as a homeowner but about the neighborhood, and the
change in the community and so on--it's like about a 10 minute conversation. And
then I just sit on the stoop and just do a lot of people watching. Believe it or
not just sit there. I may have one of the guys--Walter--that you that you knew
from from the church or Johnny. They may sit with me and we'll have some Coors
Light and just people watch and then you start seeing the tour the other the
tour that I did on Thursday. I tell everyone-- it was 30 about 38
01:41:00people. All right. And I tell them 140th, you know I call it the whiplash block.
And they would say what do you mean. Well we will coming into 140th from Willis
after we did Alexander Avenue. Says okay before we go into 140 stand right here
until the light changes, we'll cross over, take a look down the block and
everybody says wow this is a gorgeous block and I say exactly, so anytime
somebody drives up or down Willis or is on a bicycle they come in and take a
gander and they look at all and then you see them turnin' back around and it
coming on the block and those on bicycles break because you don't you don't
expect it. You literally don't. And then now you start seein' them on Saturdays
now and on Sundays--now there are two abandoned front--not abandoned but boarded
up properties for 427 and 415 and everybody's wondering who owns that. Wow. You
know it's like can I just have it, what's going on here. And with the
01:42:00addition of Motley Kitchen out there, there's a lot more activity it just people
just literally just it's just people and you could tell that they're not from
the neighborhood. They don't live in the Bronx for the most part. If they do
they're probably teachers. But there's just Ubers coming to, people going into
the coffee shop, sitting there for hours and there's no traffic. You know, you
could be sitting there and you could see a white person two three four five six
of them walk up and down something you never saw 10 years ago. Like individual
just walking--and they're just walking comfortably which is which is a
difference right. There is no threat. You know they know that maybe something
dubious is happening if you cross through the park and go there you know but you
just. But you could literally tell you could tell. That's why I wake up early in
the morning and I just sit there my legs crossed you know and I just sit
there read my magazines or read my times on my phone or whatever just
01:43:00to people watch. And you can see them in their minds looking at the homes and
all that kind of stuff. So. I find that fascinating actually. And then in the
evenings I go to my local bar--gets the best happy hour there and so it's a
typical Saturday, typical Sunday.
Amy Starecheski: Which bar is your local bar?
Samuel Brooks: I actually like Mott Haven Bar and Grill because they--I
obviously know the owner well, they were sort of like the spark. But before it
was called Bruckner. And but that was in the early beginnings and now when she
came in six years ago that's when the whole thing started and it became a
teacher's Friday's is always crowded and they have by far the best happy hours,
like 50 percent off. And Mondays and Wednesdays it goes till 10:00, Saturdays
and Sundays from 8:00 to 10:00 at night. So think about it. And then
01:44:00you have new ones that are popping up everywhere now, you have a diversity, now
you could go from a Cetay, to a steak house, to a pub, to a brewery to--always
just the list is going on and on. There's two more that are supposed to open by
August on Bruckner Boulevard. There's a new Smokehouse that's come in on
Alexander Avenue. There is a gourmet next to the Lit Bar, we got a bookstore.
You know it's just like watching this in real time. I mean to see that
accelerate so quickly, it's just it's just crazy. I mean and now the addition of
the park that just opened last week, I mean these kids are having a blast and
I'm just hoping that the adults the young men who sit there and do what they do
could at least have some understanding that their cousin, or you know their kids
are actually enjoying that part of the park. And just hands off as
01:45:00far as vandalism--not that that happens now because the one thing everyone is
learned--there are cameras everywhere. Cameras everywhere. So every time you see
a crime is committed in a subway right or somebody does something on the street
and you see them runnin'. Right. And you would think rarely if you into doing
that kind of crime and you see it on TV all the time, but yet you're it the next
week or whatever and you know you would think--subways especially, running
through the token booth. There are cameras everywhere, everywhere. Yeah I mean
it does curb crime of course. But there's a lot of cameras now that a lot of
homeowners have put out--it's like any time something happens the just, the
police know exactly who has them and they go they review videos, pull videos,
and not just of the homeowners but the store owners around the corner, the
street lights that have camera, it's just surveillance top and down,
01:46:00left and right.
Amy Starecheski: I know we're almost out of time, I have like two or three more
questions. You're married, right? Tell me like how did you meet your wife, when
did you get married. We've left out your family a bit, obviously your kids
you've already mentioned.
Samuel Brooks: Yeah yeah, my youngest is twenty three. She just she so she for
the most part she obviously spent 17 18 years so she spent she came in
relatively young and my son is 20 28. So they spent a considerable amount of
time growing up in that house. They've always lived in the Bronx. So my sister
is very good friends with my wife's older sister. They go back. We all go back
from our times in Central America, Honduras. So my sister and her older sister
are very best--they were the best friends as little kids and everything. My wife
and her family moved to Bathgate Avenue back in the 60s--they were
01:47:00the first homeowners that bought property on Bathgate and bought the two lots
that were next to. So anybody that came to the United States in the 70s every
Sunday that's where you would go congregate. I've always had sort of kind of
like girlfriends and all that stuff that I had from the college or because I
didn't live among them I was always traveling somewhere and what have you. And
when I was in my thirties, I started saying you know what I think I'm getting a
little bit tired, so let me figure something out here. So I went out on a date
with her--you know because they all knew each other, would say oh I think that's
a good match for you. I said okay. And that was it. I say you know what. Enough
is enough. Now when I bought the house I say I got it, we got a good deal on it,
she did not--she just say oh my god, the house oh it was just a
01:48:00wreck. And I said it has potential. No I don't like it here, this and that, why
did we come--you know is this like one of those kind of things, I said just give
us some time. And that was it. So she also she is in banking as well. She worked
for Citi, she's worked for Chase for a number of years but she works out of the
retail branch in Mamaroneck. And my kids all went to--they went to Catholic
school since kindergarten all the way up until they both went to Spelman. And my
son went to graduated from Lehman and my daughter. graduated from City College
and she's been athletic and all of that kind of stuff. And my son he wasn't into
that and now they you know they radically just buying their time now and he's
looking for an apartment and realizing how expensive it is. Says you
01:49:00got all the space you want here. Well you know they're at that age now they
wanna do--my daughter has the same thing now that she's finished she's waiting
for the open exam for the NYPD. So she's always wanted to do law enforcement,
because she also figured out if I could put in 20 something years I'd still be
young in my 40s and then figure out something else. So that's her logic and
that's it. I mean we're very simple we mean I I I think that--they said the
other day you know you're the social person, you don't spend time in the house,
you're always go into events and I say well you know it's part of being a
community person kind of a thing. So you'll always see me going at some new
opening or something or giving a tour or speaking to someone or walking somebody
through the neighborhood or doing an interview and what have you--it's just what
I do you know. So the plan is to wait it out another 10 years and at
01:50:00that time, we'll have a lot of choices in terms of you know downsizing in terms
of lifestyle and giving everything away and just get a small space somewhere
that's warm that allows us to go anywhere real quick. So that's the story and
I'm sticking to it.
Amy Starecheski: Does your wife like hang out on the block?
Samuel Brooks: No she she she drives to work so she she drives to work. Comes
back in the evening, because of the traffic and what have you. She may in the
summertime, stop by Bathgate see her mother spend some time there come to the
house six seven. I when I get out of work, I either go across the street with
some colleagues and you know--or just come to Mott Haven and meet somebody there
or go to another one of bars and by about Seven thirty, eight o'clock, I'm
normally home on this I'm hanging out with someone weekends. I try to
01:51:00you know stay home during the day then go outside of doing something figuring
something. And then it is like an activity or a party that we that we would go
to I would do that. But no. For most I am always hanging out but it's always
local. I could get home within minutes if I have to.
Amy Starecheski: Did you worry about raising your raising your kids here. Did
you have conversations with them about like what to get into and not to get into?
Samuel Brooks: No because again they were very isolated in that regard you know
because they were my daughter and son and my wife she would drive them
to--because they went to Spellman High School, but when they got to Spelman they
were able to go on their own. But before that they went to Mount Carmel on
Bathgate Avenue. So it was always a controlled environment for them. They spent
a lot of time on Bathgate as they were growing up and at night we
01:52:00would all meet and come back to 140th. So they did not hang out on a 140th. They
know you know the same people that you know like Walter you know the regular new
homeowner because they all know what my kids look like. They just go to work or
school when they did and come home so their friends would come to the house,
their friends but not like somebody from across the street or anything and they
never do.
Amy Starecheski: Can you tell me about your house like, what--you said it was a
wreck when you bought it. What was it like when you bought it and what is it
like now?
Samuel Brooks: Well it was a wreck when I bought it but it had great bones
right. So the first thing after a couple of months there and saying listen this
is this a huge space you know we never had space like this. So on the parlor
floor we had a lot of the original moldings and what have you but they were
thick with paint. So I would say let's begin to strip and lets invite
01:53:00friends. We used to have people come over, we used to hang out and we used to
strip. I think I spent like six years just stripping. So the first major thing
we did was the way the top floor was configured. It was four bedrooms and the
toilet was separate from it. It was just a mess. So we demo'd the whole top
floor and at the time I was using people that I that I knew that used to do work
with some of the homes that we used to go in and out. So the work was in like a
contractor type but it was very good work. But I just had the Mexican friends of
ours who we used to help write contracts when they used to get other jobs and
that kind of thing. So it was almost exactly that. So we redid the entire top
floor, so the front became the master bedroom with a walk in closet and they
middle room became my daughters with a big skylight and the back room
01:54:00became my son's and then we'd modernize the electrical and that have you. And
then then downstairs the garden level it was very very simple. So I then decided
the easiest thing to do is knock all the walls down and just turn it into an
open box. Which we did and we hung out there for a good 10, 12 year run, just
people just to hang out. Every New Year's Eve party was there anybody says Sam
anybody gonna use that--it became what it became. And then after a while the
kids had their on TV, their own friends, their own laptops and then the
frequency of going downstairs to sit and watch something it wasn't an appealing
to them anymore. So then I said to my wife well I think we should do a short
term rental or something so you know let's just do that. So then we made another
investment and upgraded downstairs of course. Had to re-do the flooring and put
in a kitchen, open kitchen concept and the old yard, the backyard we
01:55:00needed to spruce it up you know lay down pavers, build a deck and the whole
works. So that happened. The next thing that that will get done now is the
parlor floor even though the wood is all natural. Now is the kitchen. You know
we're just going to demo the kitchen and do a new kitchen because you've had the
same starter cabinet on purpose just there--but it's because it's so huge you
know talking about 17 by 20. So what do you do with that space and then put a
deck and I think we'll be done by then and just enjoy that for a few years and
then. See what the next chapter brings. So I mean we take pride I mean I've been
painting my real is as you probably saw--I started that nine years ago when I
was inspired and motivated and I went through a dull period of about nine eight
and a half years and three weeks ago I said you know what I'm going
01:56:00to go to Home Depot--I'm going to take this project up again.
Amy Starecheski: Is there anything that you had on your mind to talk about that
I haven't asked about anything, or anything you want to chat about?
Samuel Brooks: No it's it's because I obviously I got a sense of of listening to
the others. So I sort of--and I read the PDF. So I sort of got a sense in terms
of where I was. Saying when I first got here and then different pieces you know,
personal and professional and social. So that was part of what I expected so it
wasn't bad.
Amy Starecheski: Good, I'm glad it wasn't bad. Oh can you can you say like "my
name is Samuel Brooks", Sam Brooks, just so I have it on tape.
Samuel Brooks: My name is Samuel Brooks.
Amy Starecheski: Thanks. Anything else?
Samuel Brooks: No, unless a story comes to mind or something.
01:57:00
Amy Starecheski: Yeah we could always do more, I mean this is easy--it looks
like a big rigmaroll of equipment, but this is easy to set up so we can always
add more.
Samuel Brooks: Yep.
Amy Starecheski: Yeah. Thank you so much.
Samuel Brooks: No no. Thank you. I mean I've been promising to do it so--
Amy Starecheski: No it was really great to get to hear your stories and I'm
excited to work with them.
Samuel Brooks: Nice.
Amy Starecheski: Yeah. Any time you want to add more, just let me know. Very
good. I think I'll turn it off.