Jackie: “She [Flerida] adopted her sister’s kids when she die. And She raised chickens. To pay for her children’s education.”

Me: “She always made sure her children got an education. She was ahead of her time.”

Jackie: Mamita would always say that if she had the opportunity to go to school she would of been a lawyer.

Jackie: “One time we were living in Ecuador,  and these freaking kids used to steal our stuff, the people from the neighborhood. You know you have shoes growing, and you have stuff and you would leave in hanging on the gate to dry because of the bud. And they would come by in the middle of the night and steal stuff! So she caught them one time and she comes out with her gunwale of a sudden we start hearing the pop sounds, and she’s cursing them out.she said, “Hjo de la gran Puta!!!” “You come to my house to rob!”And she comes out with a freaking revolver. I’m like “Oh shit.” *laughs* Here we are children.” “Don’t mess with her. Don’t mess with her she will shoot ya ass.” She was darker than all of her siblings.“That’s one of the reasons why she rejected her.” Wela rejected her as a child because she was darker.” Wela was really light skin.

Gramma: 

When I worked in the sugar factory You could make up to $1000 a week. In 80 to 200 hours you worked.But I never saw that money. My my husband will send money to his family his mom and friends.

Q: How old were you? 

A:19. Jackie and Ronald were little

Jackie: And I lived with the whole world.

Grandma: yes. 

Jackie:My dad would lose me.I would disappear laughs He was always cleaning the building because he was the super and I was alwaysFollowing him. I was like three years old and I ended up in the corner bodega By myself. So like I was telling you I like raise myself busy. Laughs 

Because they were like really youngAnd they were like oh yeah she can stay with this person. Are used to stay with this neighbor and that neighbor And that aunt and that uncle Because she worked 80 hours.When I was in the first grade she was still working And poppy would take me to school And she would work and get home late.

So they went to Miami  to get the paperwork and then on the way back They had to stop in Miami And show the paperwork. They got their green card which gave permission to live or work there. Papa never got his citizenship but she (Grandma Bexabeth) did.

To Bexabeth:

Q: How old are you when you started working in the garment factory on 133 Grant St. Brooklyn?

A: After we moved back to Brooklyn from hotel hopping in Miami, I started working in the factory when I was 35 in 1986.

Jackie: I was 15.

Q: Was the first product sold and manufactured in the factory Halloween costumes? 

A: We made costumes and tablecloth. 

Q: Who was the supplier? 

A: Rubies, https://www.rubies.com/about/ was the fabric supplier. And it was Canda who started it first, she started in her basement. And then they saved up enough money to open a video store on 3rd avenue. I went with Papi to Rubies in Jackson Heights and talked to the guy, and helped facilitate a contract deal.

Q: And you did that at 15?

A: Yup. Nobody else was gonna do it with him. I was it! *laughs* Everyone else was little. Nobody else can do it. 

Q: And they just rented the space on grand St? We lived in Apartment 1. And we just started buying the machines little by little.

A: It was a three bedroom?

Q:Barely a two bedroom. I slept with Ronald, or he would go to the sofa. Vanessa and Veronica slept on the same bed.

Jackie: So that was that, and I would help Papi write the checkbooks. And then you know once he got the hang of it. He was good. He spoke English, he always hustled. So there was a Ruby’s in Jackson Heights and Canda went to the one in Long Island to get there materials.

Q:And the best time of business was Halloween? 

A: Oh yes! But you started in the summer. The summer was busy. Because you gotta get all that done before Halloween. So the summer was always busy. Starting June and September. 

Q: How much did you pay people for working on the sewing machines and putting costumes together? 

Jackie and Bexabeth: 5 cents. 15 cents. Everything was paid by piece. 

Q: How much did you have to pay for the contract to start the business? 

A: You didn’t have to pay for the contract.

Q: But what about the materials? 

A: They gave you the materials. She didn’t even have to pay. Back in the day you didn’t have to pay nothing, they would give you… you would show them that you had a space and you showed them that you had machines and they would give you the materials. This was back in the 80s/90’s. It was just a piece of paper that said they were supplying you with materials and you show them a sample of your work and that was it. When the work has to be done, they would work day and night, day and night. She would be on that machine for hours. And I was in charge of making dinner, taking care of the girls. We all worked together.

Jackie: A lot of the machines you could rent them. 

Q: From where? 

A: There was a Jewish owned factory on Third Avenue.

Mama: One day Louis, (her brother) proposed that we buy a machine and I said: is it gonna work itself?  

Jackie and I: *laugh*

Jackie: So I would go with papi to rent the machines, and to repair them we’d go there to that warehouse, and to get sewing machine special parts for complex costumes. I sucked at sewing, they would kick me out, but I could manage things! And I could speak and I would get things done in other ways. I was very organized from the time I was a kid, so that’s why things worked. Everybody had to take a bath. Everybody did their homework.Everybody had dinner. Everybody went to bed.Everybody had something to do. I had control of everyone..And I did my homework and I did my shit. That’s why he (grandpa) got so pissed when I got married. Like: “Who’s gonna take care of us!” Well, it’s not my Responsibility to take care of everybody! I’m a kid! I was a kid myself! Both of them (grandma and grandpa): who’s gonna Take care of the girls? I didn’t give birth to them. You did! *laughs* At some point I had to go, right? No they expected me to stay there forever.Yeah so that was the 80s and 90s.I t was busy but we got it done.

Me: With no Internet nothing!

Jackie: Everything was by hand. I showed them how to keep all the receipts together, He wasn’t always the best he would always offer everyone coffee, Anyone who walked in.He would host everybody. And I would be like you’re not hosting you’re the boss.Yeah once in a while but not every morning.He didn’t manage himself well sometimes, Because he could’ve taken that and done something different.

Me: He could’ve invested that money.

Jackie: Yeah invested  could of sold everything and Invested somehow.

Jackie:There was a woman Theresa who would work and she would bring her baby and I would watch her While she worked.So I was watching the girls and Ronald and Teresa’s kid. I would babysit. I would bathe the kid and feed the kid for her.She had free daycare. *Laughs *And she would work there and she would start gossiping.And luckily I like kids he was a sweet boy he was like two years old.So here I go laughs taking care of someone else’s kid.Yeah she was there for a couple of years.

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SPANISH TRANSLATION:

Jackie: “[Flerida] Adoptó a los hijos de su hermana cuando murió. Y crió pollos. Pagar la educación de sus hijos.”

Yo: “Siempre se aseguró de que sus hijos se educa. Estaba por delante de su tiempo.”

Jackie: “Mamita siempre diría que si tuviera la oportunidad de ir a la escuela, sería abogada.”

Jackie: “Una vez que vivimos en Ecuador, y estos niños se robaban nuestras cosas, la gente del vecindario.”