Carroll Gardens has always been a predominantly Italian neighborhood. Innumerable stories and personal histories line the streets and fill lazy afternoons at the area’s social clubs. But many of the families who lived in these narrow blocks have now moved away. Those who remain remember times when folks shared stoops, and mothers baked fresh bread and pasta while men worked on the docks nearby. Though mom-and-pop shops survive, some owners are struggling to pay rent.’Old-timers’ don’t mingle in the streets as often as they used to, and new transplants prefer trendier restaurants that have sprouted up along Court Street. A longshoreman community center erected in the late 1950s was torn down in April of 2008 to make room for condominiums, and upset community members when no part of the building was preserved and nonunion workers were employed for its demolition.