pigeon documentary

[levjoy]

Most of the folks here live on the west coast, but is there anyone who raises pigeons in New York? I'm starting up a documentary on pigeon fanciers and enthusiasts. Please let me know if you'd like to talk about pigeons!

[TAWhatley]

Hello and welcome to pigeons.com.

There are a couple of NYC area pigeon fanciers who are members here. Hopefully they will see your post and respond soon.

Are you interested only in talking to people who raise/breed racing pigeons and show pigeons or also people who just love pigeons in general? There are quite a few NYC area pigeon rescuers and rehabbers around also.

Terry

[pigeon george]

GUILTY I am one of i hope thousands of pigeon fanciers in new york would be happy to converse i also have a friend who has been heavy in the show end with burmingham rollars

[brotherstwoloft]

yo, just another gumba from brklyn n.y. now living on long island, would not mind to talk about the fanciers of the 5 boroughs.

[Yo Pauly]

Back in the day, there were probably more pigeon coops in our neighborhood than there were fire hydrants and traffic lights. On a spring, Saturday afternoon, the skies were filled with hundreds and hundreds of pigeons circling the rooftops. We used to call this type of activity "action." Whistles, shouts, and screams could be heard from blocks around. Long bamboo poles with rags tied at the end (used for "chasing") could be seen from the street. Anybody out there had a coop in Little Italy in NYC? Mott Street? Remember the days of "quarter-catch"?

Some Neighborhood legends:

Mousie (Mott & Houston Sts.)
Louie Eggs (Mott & Prince Sts.)
Jimmy Wilds (Mott & Houston Sts.)
Uncle (Kenmare & Elizabeth Sts.)
Little Pauly (Mott & Houston Sts.)
Sull-ivan (Mulberry & Houston Sts.)
Parente (Mott & Prince Sts.)

[brotherstwoloft]

yo pauly, where are you located now? where do you get your feed? i remember hanging out every sunday at the store and watching the old timers make their bets on catch keep and back then up to a buck for each bird. they use to call each other mutts ( guys that would not let their birds roll to far away from the loft) that name calling usually started off the betting and that same day we would go back to their lofts and watch the battle begin. yo nice hearing from a city boy. hope to hear from you soon.

[beaumontsonny]

I raised and flew pigeons in the Bronx, N.Y. from late 40's to the end of the 50's. It was a tremendously popular sport and I have many many tales to tell.
The "Arthur Avenue" section of the Bronx (totally Italian) was the meca. At 66 years old I still keep a flock of canadians and flights. Let's talk some more.

[Yo Pauly]

Hello 2brothers and Sonny, My friend Pauly (he died in '99 at age 93) had pigeons on our rooftop from 1928 until he passed on. He took over for my uncle who married and left the neighborhood. Little Pauly would have loved this site; he loved pigeons and kite flying. I used to call him the "rooftop guru." Toward the end of his life, he struggled to make it up three flights of stairs to the roof, and the winter was especially hard on him. Sometimes I used to help him clean the coop, but even at 93, he was still the master. Plenty of times I felt I was only in his way. Pauly had flights and "tiplets" (that's what we called them), but when was much younger raced homers. In the late '50s, a man with a flatbed truck used to come up the roof each week and take the homers to Wilmington, Delaware, where he would release them from their crates. The truck driver used to charge the pigeon owners two-dollars a homer. But, in the early '60s, Pauly gave up the homers for the flights and tiplets.
I remember on Saturdays up on the roof. There would be about ten of us. We'd all put up a dollar each and then choose a pigeon from the stock. Two guys would jump on a train to Battery Park (a distance of about two-and-a-half miles from the roof) and let the birds go. The guy whose bird won the race had to buy lunch for everybody. Then, a meatball sandwich was only fifty cents and a soda fifteen cents. So the winner still had some pocket change. Good 'ole days.

[Lin Hansen]

Hi Yo Pauly, and Beaumont Sonny,

Welcome, youse guys (LOL,) --- These are great stories about the "good old days" and I am sure many members would enjoy hearing about them.

Maybe you could submit them in our Stories sections or start a new thread (titled Good Ole Days, for instance) so they won't get lost in the shuffle.

Hope you will tell us more, I for one, am very much enjoying reading about how things used to be "back in the neighborhood."

Linda

[brotherstwoloft]

hey cuz, how are you guys doing, so b sonny i'm in the bronx from time to time i work for con ed, if i'm on arther ave and see a flock up there i'll use the air horn on my tanker for you to look down if you see a con ed truck that'll be me. we'll bull awhile and maybe grab a slice.
have either of you boys ever been japped? that's what we called it in brooklyn, when your loft was raided by someone in the night and you wind up with an empty loft. i was japped once we hit every pigeon store from queens to staten island and never found one bird.
what was the craziest bet you guys ever made? we had one guy bet another that he could not lift a 50 lb. bag of feed with his teeth and swing it around 3 times. the bet was for a 100 bucks well carmine did it and took use out to dinner that night. i wish i was still living in the old neighbor hood. yell at you latter.

[Yo Pauly]

I have a friend who works for Con Ed. His name is Frankie Arroyo. Great guy, but not a pigeon flyer.

Japped? We use to call it "tapped off" in Manhattan. In its hay day, our roof had three coops holding more than seven-hundred birds. One guy had tiplets, and another guy had flights and breeders. It was a six-story tenement with thirty apartments. Everyone knew each other well and most of the apartment doors were always kept open. There were some scary-looking guys living in that place. This is no understatement: it would have been easier to rob a bank than to break into one of the coops. Besides, most neighborhood thieves knew that serving a year or two in the pen would have been a lot more entertaining than dropping six-stories down a shaftway.

[Yo Pauly]

Taking Linda's advice (Hi Lin). Moved to the suburbs (stories). Tell the landlord apartment #4B is "for rent." Hope Big Bird doesn't mind me pasting this thread beneath his. I tried to start a new thread but couldn't. Youse guys are invited over for a house warming and drinks. See ya there.

[brotherstwoloft]

yo pauly, where are you living now, and are you flying? my name is frank. i'm shure you have a spot in your heart for flights. but living on long island and with limited space in the yard i'm raising yellow and isabella homers, i also have some whites. if you are flying what type of birds do you have? yo catch you later.

[Yo Pauly]

2Bros, you from Brooklyn. Well, once I bought pigeons at a pet shop on 69th street and 3rd avenue. The owner of the shop had a few screens in the store and a few in the back yard. Another time, from Manhattan, I took the "L" train and got off on Meeker Avenue (I think it was by the Italian section) and bought some pigeons at a petshop that was owned by an older lady. She had quite a few screens. Once, she had a screen filled with Canadians, but wouldn't let any go. She was probably holding them for somebody she knew well. Then, there was a pet shop on Flushing Avenue just off Broadway in Brooklyn. About ten years ago, I hopped on a train and headed to Flushing Avenue to bring back some flights for Little Pauly (He had gotten too old to make it down to the petshops. So, every now and then, he'd hand me a few bucks and I'd make a run for him). Well, When I got to that petshop on Flushing Avenue, it was padlocked and closed down for good. Anyhow, right next door to it was a chicken market. Out of curiosity, and just not wanting to go home empty-handed, I walked into the chicken market and was surprised to find four red homers caged. I gave the chinese owner fifteen dollars for them and took them back up to Little Pauly who was expecting me to return with flights or tiplets. When I got back on the roof and opened the small box and showed him the red homers, he said, "What'd you bring back?" "Here," I told him, putting one homer in his hands, "You just took these guys off death row." Surprisingly, the birds were young. Their year bands indicated that they were two-years old. But, apparently, they were too slow for racing. Whoever bred them must have known they weren't racers and dumped them, not wanting to waste any time or feed on them. However, the four did fit in on our roof. We used to fly them with the flights. They turned out to be very smart.

Frank, I'm out in Vegas now. No more pigeons--trying my hand at poker. But there is a guy who has a loft about two miles from me. For the past five years, I've said that I'm going to introduce myself to him, but I haven't. Maybe one day. His birds look like tiplets.

[brotherstwoloft]

yo pauly,the first store you mentioned is in bensenhurst,the store with the old lady was freddie's store was that the one right next to the b.q.e. at the meeker morgan exit? freddie also had a shop on metropolitan ave. sunday mornings were the best, there was enough bagels, rolls, cookies and yes gonoles to go around it was like going out for breakfeast!!!!!!!!!!
you should go and visit your neighbor, but before you do look in the yard and start deciding where you're going to build your loft. you know you'll get right back into flying, just like the good old days. don't be silly and convince yourself that you'll just build a little loft. and if so place it somewhere in the yard where there is room for exspantion. how about some tumblers or some canadian high flyers. or you can just get into the racing game. you know you want too, when i got back into them it was the best thing i did in a long time and what memories, and now my sons are learning every day. talk to you soon and remember that river card will get you every time unless they are drawing dead good luck.