I remember spending my summers at my grandparents apartment house in brooklyn . they owened all of it. The pushcart men would show up and fresh fruit was sweet. I must have been only 7 or 8 and would take the two buses to get there. It was safe going by myself then,and I had a brown sack with some cloths and I spent all summer there. My great aunts taught me to sew and gram was good at everything. That was in the late 40s and early 50s. Travel in new york was very differant than now. Kids could travel alone and it was safe.