Steve Campanella

Collector of 1950's and '60s memorabilia whose Bensonhurst home is known as the Statue House

Steve Campanella is the owner of what's known as "The Bensonhurst Statue House" on 85th Street in Brooklyn.  The private home is locally famous for his collection of "life size personalities" outside as well as collectibles inside the home and garage, including pop culture artifacts and 10 vintage cars. All evoke the 1950's era of Steve's boyhood years.  Steve is a lifelong Brooklynite who bought the house 20 years ago because it had a 12-car garage for his collection of cars.  "What's important to me is the memory it brings," Steve says of the memorabilia in his vast collection. Ninety percent of the collection pertains to Brooklyn or growing up in Brooklyn, and the other ten percent are things that he happened to like and fit into what he had in the garage. "One of those things where you say to yourself: I have to have it."