Where is Maanhuttaan?

The biggest problem that Latvian immigrants had in New York City in the 1950s was that the older generation in families the grandmothers and grandfathers often had a most difficult time with English. Mostly they managed by going outside with other family members, babysitting for their grandchildren who picked up English real quick, or just socializing with other Latvians. Well, one grandpa took himself and his wife on a great adventure one fine day.

After everyone had left for work and school he had a discussion with his wife and learned about her desire to see where her daughter and son-in-law worked and to see some of the stores with all those amazing things for sale that her daughter had told her about. They had all of the day ahead of them and as the weather was fine they were ready to go. His wife had no idea about where they had to go because she kept forgetting what the place was called where her daughter traveled to every day.

On the other hand, her husband was quite sure it was called Maanhuttaan or something to that effect. They lived in Brooklyn. The one thing that both of them knew for sure was that you had to take the subway. Well, when his wife discovered that the subway was underground she wanted to know if they could get to the place any other way. Her husband had written down the name of the place on a paper and proceeded to stop people and show them the paper.

No one could figure out what he had written until one man asked if he meant Manhattan and he nodded. The name didn’t sound familiar but maybe this man knew what he was talking about. Again he pointed to the subway but the woman kept shaking her head. He realized that they had never been on a subway before. Try and explain to two old people that Manhattan is an island and you need to travel through a tunnel or over a bridge. Finally the old man figured out what island meant when the kind man explained by gestures.

In the 1950s down by the docks in Brooklyn, there were still places where you could get a ferry over to Manhattan you just had to make sure you didn’t wind up in Staten Island. Well, he took his wife and they went to where the ferries were. She was glad to see that they didn’t have to go underground. The next problem was that they had no idea what they were telling them down at the docks. They paid the fare and off they went and wound up in Staten Island. Never having been to Manhattan his wife was surprised not to see any of the tall skyscrapers that her daughter had been telling her about. Suddenly her husband pointed and they looked over the water and saw the skyscrapers. Back to the ferry and this time they were escorted straight to the pier in Manhattan.

Needless to say, Manhattan doesn’t have just one place where people work. Luckily the man’s wife had the address of her daughter’s workplace in her pocketbook. They showed the address to a policeman who took them to the building and even as far as to the offices. Their daughter was surprised to see them and a bit frightened at the risk they took. She had them wait for her in the office lunchroom and then both she and her husband took them home on the subway. The following day Grandma and Grandpa wanted no other adventures and were content to walk the neighborhood streets and sit in the nearby parks. That was adventure enough for them. In fact, Grandma discovered that she could bargain quite well in the small butcher, baker, and grocery shops. Soon they were well known in the neighborhood and it was just like being back home in Latvia where everyone knew them where they had lived.