Fire Latest Blow to NYC Area's Once-Thriving Pigeon Keepers
Rising rents and gentrification have left only about 100 pigeon keepers in the New York City area, down from a few thousand during the heyday in the 1940s, '50s and '60s
A Brooklyn fire that wiped out a pigeon keeper's flock of 500 birds last week was the latest blow to a working-class pastime that has dwindled from the days it was a passion of a young Mike Tyson and Marlon Brando's character in "On the Waterfront."
Rising rents and gentrification have left only about 100 pigeon keepers in the New York City area, down from a few thousand during the heyday in the 1940s, '50s and '60s.
"Years ago there was pigeon coops on every roof," said Paul Wohlfarth, whose family has been raising pigeons in Queens for three generations, part of a tradition that began with immigrants from Italy, Germany and Belgium.
"I learned it from my grandfather," Wohlfarth said as a few dozen of his birds circled overhead. "It gets in your blood. You go up there, you forget your problems. You watch the pigeons fly."
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http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NYC-Coup-Fire-Latest-Blow-to-Areas-Once-Thriving-Pigeon-Keepers-374573631.html
