I recently watched the pre-Godfather mob farce The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight—purely for professional reasons, I assure you—and had to resist the urge to fast-forward the scenes of gangster hokum and mafia minstrelsy.  Even with

a young Robert DeNiro as an Italian cyclist and Jerry Orbach as a bumbling hood (based on “Crazy” Joe Gallo), the film is painful to sit through.  But just at the moment when I was ready to call it quits, a short scene came on the screen depicting a Brooklyn house with pebble mosaics unlike anything seen to date.  

(the sound has been removed)

The sheer intensity of pebbles is remarkable for a private home.  Nine huge urns covered with stone, the balcony trimmed with pebbles in a demonstration of abundance and delight with this decorative tradition.  


But where is it?  In the previous scene, a character proclaims its “Ocean Parkway.”  But is it?  It’s hard to tell.  And if so, is the house still standing?

(grazie Lucia Grillo and Laura Ruberto)