Episode 444 of the Bowery Boys, New York's classic mom and pop shops with New York

Nico. Hey, it's the Bowery Boys. Hey.

Hi there, welcome to the Bowery Boys.

This is Greg Young.

And this is Tom Myers, with a rather unconventional setting for our episode here today.

That's certainly true.

Greg and I are sitting in Carroll Park in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. It is a lovely fall afternoon, and we are surrounded by children,

and swing sets and scooters, Greg.

A few dogs are walking around as well.

And we're sitting very near a 1921 memorial for World War I soldiers.

But Greg, why have you brought us here?

Well, one day we will do an actual show on Carol Gardens and Cobble Hill, I promise you all.

But today, we don't think of this particular park as historic, but it's actually Brooklyn's third oldest park created in the 1840s.

But we're here to talk about the two streets on either side of the park, Court Street and Smith Street, which are both

famous commercial streets known for their dozens of mom and pop shops which line them.

Yes, mom and pop shops, small independently run businesses, you know, often family run businesses.

They are the lifeblood of a New York community. We live in a world today

of chain stores and corporate-run franchises and, of course, online retailers that have really

made life very difficult for these kinds of stores and businesses, and have run them out of so

many cities and really made business difficult in New York as well.

But it's these types of mom and pop shops

that contribute to the health of a neighborhood,

...