The Brooklyn Section of the Sunday News
The Brooklyn section, which by 1946 also covered Queens and the two suburban Long Island counties, was a profitable News innovation. It was largely an advertising supplement. The big news stories from the region were in the main section of the paper. The Brooklyn section contained softer features along with event announcements from local organizations like the Knights of Columbus, Sodalities and Jewish Centers, the American Legion and the VFW, as well as news items from suburban town governments.
The section's front page followed the same format as the main news section, a headline accompanied by often unrelated photos. The stories could be found inside. On April 14 the front page headline story was about a local builder protest over the recent government-mandated curbs that virtually put a kibosh on constructing anything but single-family homes. An industry spokesman said that the first priority for most returning vets was to find a job and then an apartment. Buying a home could wait. But government had put a priority on home ownership, throwing veterans in the construction industry in the city out of work. This mandate, they warned, encouraged large-scale developments of cheaply built, overpriced bandbox “GI cottages" when apartments were what was needed most. The article reported that some suburban zoning boards were worried about the effect that these new developments would have on their communities.
A page one photo showed empty beer kegs in a Brooklyn warehouse. A beer drought was expected this summer due to Truman's 30-50% cutback on grain deliveries to breweries. Normally beer consumption doubled during the summer months, according to the accompanying inside article. In a related news item, the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of the Rockaways, aka "The Irish Riviera," predicted that hot dogs would be plentiful at the local beaches but, thanks to sugar and grain rationing, beer and soda to wash the wieners down would be in short supply.
Former Marine Margaret Grennan of Rosedale, who was forming an all-woman American Legion Post, also made page one. She said she thought women veterans would prefer to have their own post rather than invade previously all-male outposts. The third front page photo was of a public health nurse weighing a baby at the Corona Health Club as Public Health Nursing Week came to an end.
Among the more interesting inside stories was one about the barracks of the former Coast Guard station in Manhattan Beach that was now housing the families of 200 wounded war veterans. As a safety measure,The city fire department had insisted on the removal of much of the wire fencing that had surrounded the compound. But then the resident families complained that outsiders were bringing in loads of laundry to the communal washing machines and sightseers were wandering the grounds, even peering in through windows. To address these complaints, the City Housing Authority replaced large sections of the fence and installed gates in an attempt to find a balance between safety and privacy.
Rabies was an issue at this time of year. The News reported that the police had grabbed 28 rabid dogs in the Rockaways and the adjoining area between Inwood and Hewlett so far this spring. A public hearing was scheduled in Cedarhurst for Monday night to consider on amendment requiring rabies examination of all unleashed dogs in the community.
In other local news
The Long Island State Park Commission was seeking bids for the construction of bridges on the nine-mile extension of the Northern State Parkway from Union Avenue in Westbury to Route 110 near South Huntington.
A photo showed Milton Solomon, the Exalted Ruler of the Brooklyn Elks, signing a contract for the appearance of 20 prominent jazz musicians at the borough swing contest to be held at the Academy of Music on April 23.
Albert Stacey, 26, of Sheepshead Bay and a friend were sentenced to 30 days in jail and a $100 fine in Orange County, NY, for illegal night netting of fish.
The chairman of the Citizens Transit Committee was addressing the Jamaica Estates Associations on the proposed subway fare increases.
Hicksville was celebrating the 298th anniversary of the Great Plain purchase that included the area where Hicksville was situated.
A little theater group had formed in Richmond Hill and was holding tryouts for their production of the recent Broadway drama "Guest in the House." Harriet Anderson, a secretary who hoped to become a playwright, was the president of the group. The five initial members of the group included Marie and Ethel Simmons, Patricia Zeis and Joseph O'Connell. All had clerical day jobs- one with a laundry, one at a book club, one with an oil company and the fourth with a bank.
The Cedarhurst baseball club, “a crack semi-pro outfit," had opened its season at Village stadium.
Reverend Philip B. Dobson of the Crown Heights Labor School was speaking Tuesday night at St. Michael's in Flushing. [The Labor Schools were a Jesuit innovation meant to combat the influence of Communism among the working class.]
The Hempstead adult education program had added a buildings trade course for apprentices currently employed in the carpentry industry.
The Queens Society of Arts and Crafts in Woodhaven was hosting a talk on advertising art from former president Salvatore Catagnoto.
Brooklyn's famous Easter lily crosses were on display to visitors at the Prospect Park Exhibition greenhouse.(Torn down in 1955 when Parks Commissioner Robert Moses denied the funds needed for repair)
A motion picture preview at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn Heights would kick off the 1946 Brooklyn Week for the Blind on May 7, which also had been designated as Catholic Day. Mrs. Edward J. McEvoy was the Catholic chairman. May 8 was Jewish Day, chaired by Mrs. Mortimer Coleman, while May 9 was Protestant Day, chaired by Mrs A.L. Marks.
The Queens American Legion was holding its annual Americanism rally on May 1 at the Lost Battalion Hall in Elmhurst. Borough President James A. Burke would welcome WW2 veterans
The Jewish War Veterans were building a new cultural and patriotic center on East 14th Street nears King's Highway in Brooklyn to memorialize war hero Sergeant Meyer Levin. They were holding a benefit dinner May 15 at Hotel St. George. Levin had been a bombardier in Captain Colin P. Kelly's B-17 thought to have struck the first blow in WW2 against the Japanese by mortally wounding a battleship off Philippines soon after Pearl Harbor. Kelly, whose wife's family was from Brooklyn, died when his plane was hit by enemy fire. Levin bailed out and made it back to base, becoming a local hero in Brooklyn. He was killed in action Jan. 7, 1943.
The Blessed Virgin Sodality of the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette was honoring servicemen with a victory dance in the church auditorium in Bay Ridge. Miss Olga Ficurra was the president.
The Brooklyn Red Cross was appealing for volunteers to sew garments at home or headquarters for overseas and domestic relief