I’m old–mid 60s, not ancient. But in the 1950s I spent lots of time on Ocean Parkway. My paternal Grandmother and her 3 sisters had adjoining single family houses on the east side of OP between Cortelyou and Ditmas. In the early 1960s they all sold out to a developer and then lived in apartments all on the same floor of the apartment building erected on the land until the late 90s.
I’m not that old to have seen the horse and buggies, but my father A”H often talked about hiring a horse and wagon in the 20s and 30s to move large objects/furniture. My father was born on 18th Ave in 1922, his father was born on Ft Hamilton Pkwy in 1882.
Brooklyn was a kinder, gentler place in my youth, truly a suburb, and yes I did see the Dodgers at Ebbets Field as a youngster