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# "Enough To Drive One Mad": Ditmas Park's 1930s Soundtrack
- URL: https://bklyner.com/enough-to-drive-one-mad-ditmas-parks-1930s-soundtrack-2-ditmas-park/
- Published: 2013-10-17T14:05:15.000Z
- Updated: 2014-10-03T18:32:17.000Z
- Author: Nora Whelan
- Tags: maps, the roaring twenties, #API-Imported

![ps 121 on avenue c and e 5th street via brooklyn visual heritage](/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/a03fbf3b013d43f9ce1a0b55f10c049eext11.jpg)

Ever wondered what New York life was like in the earlier part of the 20th Century? [The Roaring Twenties](http://vectorsdev.usc.edu/NYCsound/777b.html?ref=bklyner.com), a new collaboration between historian/[author](http://www.amazon.com/The-Soundscape-Modernity-Architectural-Acoustics/dp/0262701065?ref=bklyner.com)/[Princeton professor](http://www.princeton.edu/history/people/display%5Fperson.xml?netid=emilyt&ref=bklyner.com) Emily Thompson and [designer](http://www.adobe.com/devnet/edu/articles/scott%5Fmahoy%5Fqa.html?ref=bklyner.com)/USC program creative director Scott Mahoy, can at least give you a better idea of how it sounded.

Thompson and Mahoy plotted NYC noise complaints [from the 1920s until 1933](http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/what-new-york-city-sounded-like-in-the-1920s-1445950942/@maxread?ref=bklyner.com) on an interactive map, complete with hand-written documents and news reels when available. Sadly, there are no reels in our area–but there are a few remaining complaints and even documents from 1930 and 1931.

- **On January 27, 1930, Mr. Leroy W. Brooks complained about constant parties** late at night in his building at 522 Ocean Avenue (between Church Avenue and Tennis Court), calling neighbor’s laughter “enough to drive one mad.”
- **On May 12, 1930, Mrs. Fifi M. Wood complained about a loud radio** near her home at 95 E 18th Street (between Church Avenue and Tennis Court), without specifying its exact location.
- **On June 26, 1930, Mrs. B. Newman complained about excessive noise from a cleaning and dying shop** at 711 Church Avenue (between E 7th and E 8th Streets).
- **On March 27, 1931, Mr. Vincent M. Sozzi complained about a loud oil burner** in the rear of 205 E 17th Street (between Beverley and Albemarle Roads).

And you thought it was loud now! If you’ve got some time to [explore the map](http://vectorsdev.usc.edu/NYCsound/777b.html?ref=bklyner.com), see what other noise complaints were filed in our borough at the time, and check out news footage from Manhattan.

*Photo of old PS 121 on Avenue C and E 5th Street via [Brooklyn Visual Heritage](http://www.brooklynvisualheritage.org/old-ps-121?ref=bklyner.com)*