You are currently viewing the stories for July, 2019

Riding the A

by 07/28/2019
Neighborhood: Washington Heights

One way or another, everybody needs to get on the A train. I’m leaning against the back wall of the car, in that tiny corner beside the conductor’s compartment, still managing to read despite all the other people crammed in around me. It’s the afternoon rush hour and you don’t need a watch to tell. […]

From New York to New Orleans

by 07/21/2019
Neighborhood: Manhattan, New Orleans

Wandering Two Cities, a Youthful Diary   Edward Hopper once said that he identified all the places he’d known according to their architecture.  I used to be the same way.  I noticed people as backdrops to overblown dramas in light and shade.  I looked past them toward ogee roof and filigreed transom; I marveled at […]

The World’s Most Developed Man

by 07/14/2019
Neighborhood: Flatiron District, Manhattan

  If 115 East 23rd Street in Manhattan’s Flatiron district rings a bell, you’re probably of a certain age.  From the 1930s through the 1960s, the address was plastered in thousands of comic books and magazines. The 12-story building, constructed in 1913, housed the offices of Angelo Siciliano, better known as Charles Atlas. It was at […]