Gonzalez, Luis: Sarita Daftary-Steel collection of East New York oral histories: NYU Special Collections Finding Aids

Scope and Contents

In the interview, Luis Gonzalez describes moving from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, living in the Ocean Hill section of the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn (which he refers to as East New York), relationships with Jewish neighbors, working as a youth, race relations and bullying at school, White flight from the neighborhood, the rise of drugs and crime, and his work as a New York City Housing Police Department officer and detective. The interview was conducted remotely by Sarita Daftary-Steel in Brooklyn, New York and Gonzalez in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

Biographical note

Luis Gonzalez was born in 1946 in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. His family moved to the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1953, before settling in the Ocean Hill section of the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn (which he refers to as East New York) in 1955. He attended PS 87 and East New York Vocational High School, where he specialized in aviation. Gonzalez resided in the area until 1964, when he left to serve in the U.S. Air Force. He returned to New York in 1968 and later worked as a New York City Housing Police Department officer and detective. He moved back to Puerto Rico in 2001.

Subjects

Organizations

East New York Vocational High School (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.); New York City Housing Authority. Police Department; P.S. 87 (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)

People

Gonzalez, Luis

Topics

Places

Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.); Brownsville (New York, N.Y.) |x Social conditions; East New York (New York, N.Y.) |x Social conditions; Ocean Hill (New York, N.Y.) |x Social conditions

Gonzalez, Luis, 2014 October 23, inclusive