We would sometimes take the trolly Buses to the 69th St Ferry,..I went over the Verrazano bridge first day with the folks......it was the beginning of the END of Staten Island....my aunt lived on Shore road facing the Hudson......my Uncle was a pro photographer and took pics every night right out their window from the first day of construction and put them in an album till it was finished.
After the mass Exodus from Bklyn in the mid 70's it's never been the same ......all Russian & Korean Now have migrated there....I bought my first house in S.I. but when I saw what was happening it was time to flee asap....happy I made that move with my family down the jersey shore no regrets..
S.I. became Brooklyn for a little while but now a very crowded melting pot wasteland....so sad.