Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn: Urban Trailer Park Minus the Trailers

Gerritsen Beach as defined by Urban Dictionary
1. gerritsen beach

"Gerritsen beach is a little community in the most southern part of brooklyn and its the only place in New York where there is more alcoholics than there are girls and you can find people partying everywhere if its in the bantry ,the dockside, The Tamaqua, Jims Marine in aka Jims ma, the park, and even in the weeds. Then when theres a keg party the age of drunk people goes from 11-23. When its time to buy beer its a rush to the chinese store on the corner to buy as much beer as u can. When u kill all your beers its time to go to the bantry and waste $100 on beer n liquor. When thats all done that is when shit goes down for example beating up three black kids from another neighbor hood."

Gerritsen Beach as defined by impolitesociety.com:
A racist Irish shanty town in the bowels of Brooklyn.



So why am I hating on the beach rats? I want my readers to get familiar with such a magical place for my upcoming epic blog about "The Creek" and myself and the kid Ricky want to do a documentary about the biggest event in Gerritsen Beach history (apart from burning down the house that the black doctor bought) the sad passing of Charley The Midget.


The following article appeared in the Friday, September 17, 1971 Daily News.

A Sad Goodbye to Charley

by Joseph Kiernan and Henry Lee

Light Demanded at Hit-Run Site



In anger as well as sorrow, Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, yesterday said goodbye to Charlie the Midget--by blocking all traffic from Gerritsen Ave., the only access to the peninsula.

A one-time circus performer, a friendly, outgoing little man known to hundreds of schoolchildren and their parents throughout Gerritsen Beach, Charley the Midget was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver at 11 p.m. Monday on Gerritsen Ave. at Avenue W.

All day yesterday, a crowd of about 150, most of them women, barricaded the wide avenue. Some brought baby carriages, others had chairs and many carried placards demanding a traffic light at the intersection.

"Don't Let Charlie Die in Vain," read one poster.

"We Need a Light for Charley!" proclaimed another.

Active in Community



Charley the Midget--50-year-old Charles Geary--was active in civic affairs in Gerritsen Beach and an enthusiastic member of Rev. J. Mathews Council, K. of C., at 2882 Gerritsen Ave.

Monday night, he helped out at a bazaar there, remaining afterward to clean up. Then, he started for his home at 3194 Avenue W. A Bachelor, Charley the Midget lived with a sister, Mrs. Mary Cunningham.

Mrs. Adelaide Farrell, owner of the monthly Gerritsen Globe, and her husband, John, heard what sounded like an auto crash outside their home at 2469 Gerritsen Ave. and ran out. They found Charley the Midget lying in the street.

A priest from nearby Resurrection Church at 2325 Gerritsen Ave. gave Charley the Midget last rites, and he was rushed to Coney Island Hospital. He died there an hour and a half later.



Racing Along Avenue

Angry residents, many of whom had known and loved Charley the Midget for more than a quarter of a century, said they had complained to the Sheepshead Bay station about drag racing along the avenue.

Detectives there, who were investigating the death, said that the hit-run car was believed to have been a 1963 Dodge sedan.

Today, Gerritsen Beach will say another, softer goodbye to Charley the Midget. There will be a Requiem Mass for him at Resurrection Church at 9:30 a.m. Then he will be buried at Resurrection Cemetery in Farmingdale, L.I.


Notice who Charley is shaking his stick at....a true beach rat. RIP