Neigborly Neighbors: Tony Boulware

Neighborly Neighbors is a series of posts in which we stop random people, ask them a few random questions, take their picture and posts the results here.

Tony Boulware
61 years old
We met Tony on a bench in Fort Greene Park, where he was listening to music on one of the hottest days of the summer with a large bottle of frozen water.

Where are you from?

I live in Clinton Hill on Washington now, but originally I am from Pittsburgh.

When did you move to Brooklyn?

I moved here in 2002 from [Washington] D.C. I had a buddy who lived here so I moved in with him for a year and then eventually got my own place.

Do you like living in this area?

I like it, it is nice and laid back.

What do you do for a living?

I am retired but my last job was working for Dolce & Gabbana doing consignments. Consignment means, let’s say you are Madonna and you send your stylist to our showroom to pick out outfits. I sign them out to you so you can take them to be photographed. When you bring them back, I sign them back in. It was an easy job. I liked it, it was good. I worked there for seven years.

Where did you work before that?

I did backstage work as a stage technician in [Washington] D.C.

Did you meet anyone noteworthy?

Sometimes I got to meet the stars. Some were nice, others were arrogant. I worked with Liza Minnelli once, she was real nice and down to earth. I worked with Irene Cara from the original “Fame”. She was a little crazy. Most of the older entertainers I worked with were just nice. Patti Labelle used to come in and cook for the stage crew when she was working there. It was a pretty sweet job.

What do you do with your time now that you are retired?

Well, I enjoy New York. I come to the park, go to the beach, go to the promenade and walk around. If you stay in all winter by time you come out in the summer time there are new buildings, new places to go and everything. I like theater a lot and go often. The last show I saw was “Motown” and I am planning on going to “Pippin” possibly tomorrow or very soon.

Do you enjoy retirement?

Yes. The first couple of months are weird because you are used to getting up and having a routine and having something to do. Well, the first few months it was easy. The second few months it got harder because you have less and less things to do. Now I have gotten accustomed to it.

How long have you been retired?

Three years.

Are you married?

I have never been married, have no kids and am not in a relationship. I’m okay with it. You reach a certain age and it is just like okay. You get to learn yourself and get to wonder if anyone can put up with that.