Pitkin Avenue was the main street in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, which was the historic Jewish neighborhood in the borough. It was a few miles from where I lived in the slightly more upscale Bensonhurst, but I hung out with my friends in Brownsville. Herbie’s girlfriend Sheila lived off Pitkin on Hinsdale Avenue, so the two of us visited Brownsville quite a lot. 

The big attraction on Pitkin Avenue was the grand Loewe’s Pitkin Theater, an ornate movie palace where I went sometimes for the weekend matinees. Next to the theater and across from Ripley’s was a small triangular park known as Zion Triangle, because it contained a sculptured war memorial to local Jewish soldiers who died in World War I. This was always the meeting place when we came to the Avenue to see our friends.