Terms of Use
Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
Every oral history relies on the memories, views, and opinions of the narrator. Because of the personal nature of oral history, listeners may find some viewpoints or language of the recorded participants to be objectionable. In keeping with its mission of preservation and unfettered access whenever possible, BHS presents these views as recorded.
The audio recording should be considered the primary source for each interview. Where provided, transcripts created prior to 2008 or commissioned by a third party other than BHS, serve as a guide to the interview and are not considered verbatim. More recent transcripts commissioned by BHS are nearly verbatim copies of the recorded interview, and as such may contain the natural false starts, verbal stumbles, misspeaks, and repetitions that are common in conversation. The decision for their inclusion was made because BHS gives primacy to the audible voice and also because some researchers do find useful information in these verbal patterns. Unless these verbal patterns are germane to your scholarly work, when quoting from this material researchers are encouraged to correct the grammar and make other modifications maintaining the flavor of the narrator’s speech while editing the material for the standards of print.
All citations must be attributed to Brooklyn Historical Society:
[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
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Frank Santos
Oral history interview conducted by Sady Sullivan
September 05, 2008
Call number: 2008.031.5.019
0:03 - Introduction; his & family bio; father's trade & parents' immigration; childhood home razed for expressway, community response, area homes & businesses in 1930s & '40s
9:25 - '40s exodus from Heights; father's investment in Hicks St. mansion; father's bequest; Frank's siblings; family's woodworking trade at Bergen Co.; admiration for Bergen's Russian Jewish owner and Jews in painters' union
18:14 - Religious beliefs; Assumption School and PS 8; schooling of his & brother's children; children's careers & grandchildren; granddaughter's studies abroad and dancing
27:12 - Granddaughter's character and raising her in Brooklyn; daughter's spouses; critic of police
34:41 - Corrupt officers influencing election, traffic cops, fines, threat
44:27 - Starting community garden: team of Santos family, Green Thumb, neighbors, and convicts in work-release; stakeout for crook breaking into cars and failed arrest; technical glitch; stolen cars; abrupt end
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Frank Santos
One of six children, Frank Santos was born in 1927 and raised on Hicks Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. His parents had emigrated from the Canary Islands in the early 1920s. He and several siblings followed their father into the woodworking trades. As a child, Santos attended the parochial Assumption School in the Heights. A father and grandfather, he was also a Florida resident as of 2017.
In the interview, Frank Santos shares many of his and his family's biographical details. He tells of the disruption to the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood caused by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, as well as his family's relocation to a new Hicks Street home. Santos vividly recalls many features of 1930s and 1940s Downtown Brooklyn and Heights neighborhoods. He speaks of his schooling at the Assumption School, and then quickly moves into an overview of the careers of his children and grandchildren. Focusing on one daughter's challenges in a couple marriages to police officers, Santos expresses his criticism of the police in general and the New York Police Department specifically; citing encounters he experienced in 1959, the 1970s, and 2007. The interview ends abruptly due to an issue with the recording equipment. Santos was interviewed again, weeks later, and that interview is also within this series. Interview conducted by Sady Sullivan.
The Voices of Brooklyn oral histories: Our neighbors series features a broad range of narrators. Most are not well-known public figures but are well-known to their neighbors. This ongoing, extensive series focuses on Brooklyn history and the experiences of these narrators document national and international history as well. The interviews include people from diverse backgrounds making observations or sharing recollections about the growth and condition of several neighborhoods within Brooklyn. Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, and Fort Greene were heavily represented as of 2017. The oldest narrator in this collection was born in 1927.
Citation
Santos, Frank, Oral history interview conducted by Sady Sullivan, September 05, 2008, Voices of Brooklyn oral histories: Our neighbors, 2008.031.5.019; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Assumption School (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Bergen Cabinet (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Esposito, Diana
- New York (N.Y.). Police Department
- Santos, Frank
Topics
- Catholic schools
- Community development, Urban
- Community gardens
- Corruption
- Crime
- Elections
- Family life
- Housing
- Jews
- Police-community relations
- School children
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (New York, N.Y.)
- Downtown Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Florida
Finding Aid
Voices of Brooklyn oral histories: Our neighbors