A new episode from  Michael D. Nolan’s Brooklyn Memoir:  Proximity: What can happen when we live, work and love close together.

I walk by elementary schools these days and see parents waiting in double-parked cars to fetch their kids. It was not ever thus. P.S. 99 was and still is located on East 10th Street, between Avenues L & K, in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. I lived just down the block and across the street at 1181 East 10th Street, a semi-detached 2-story stucco-clad home which my parents bought in 1948.

I went home for lunch and my mother made it. Wow. A winter-time favorite was a grilled cheese sandwich dipped in tomato soup. "Ma, make it for me just one more time."

I never thought of myself as particularly smart or popular. But my teachers and classmates declared I was. I got A’s or 90% + on my report cards in every subject. Still have the original records to prove it.

Woody Allen graduated from P.S. 99 six years before I did. I never met him (Alan Konisberg) but my Mom would run into his mother at Waldbaum’s supermarket on Coney Island Avenue. In Woody’s 1983 film, "Zelig", the psychiatrist portrayed by Mia Farrow is named "Eudora Fletcher." Eudora Fletcher was the principal of P.S. 99 in Woody’s era and mine.

The tougher kids, as would befit the stereotype, were Italian. There were the Sirico brothers, Junior and Tony, who would shake down Jewish kids on their way to school. Their parents owned a popular candy store on Coney Island Avenue. Today, Tony Sirico plays "Paulie Walnuts" on the Sopranos.

As we entered the 8th grade, some friends suggested I run for President of the graduating class. I agreed. Running on the Blue & Gold ticket with Ellen Rather as my VP running mate. We won.

In June of 1955 at our 8th Grade Graduation in the Vogue Theater, I addressed the student body in my role as President: "It is with a heavy heart I greet you today…" Words composed by my speechwriter Miss Reilly, an elegant 8th grade teacher. My classmates also voted me All-Around Boy and Boy Most Likely to Succeed. Did I peak too soon? I’d like to think I’m still trying to fulfill the expectations of my fellow students.

50 years later, I helped convene my 8th Grade class for a reunion at our P.S. 99 alma mater. I contacted Woody’s agent to see if he might join us. He was filming "Hannah and her Sisters" in London and couldn’t attend, but appreciated the invitation. Tried to get Tony Sirico through his younger brother, a priest in Michigan, but it seems he’s shy off camera. Or maybe a few of the Jewish kids would like to have a word with him.