You are currently viewing the stories for June, 2021

Sexual Frustration at the NYPD Police Academy

by 06/27/2021
Neighborhood: Co-op City

Most people see the “Police Academy” movies and laugh. I went through the real Police Academy, and felt nothing but pain. In May, 1975, CETA, a long-defunct government jobs program, announced that it was hiring people who had some college education.  It was the middle of a recession, and I remember standing on a long, […]

Mel Allen, Dads and Baseball

by 06/19/2021
Neighborhood: Bronx, Yankee Stadium

My ear remembers that voice, even as my hearing has grown dim. Mel Allen died 25 years ago, and time keeps on marching to the cadence of going, going, gone. But this isn’t meant to be morose. Mel passed away on a Father’s Day. Here we are again on that commemorative third Sunday in June about to […]

The Terrycloth Bathrobe

by 06/13/2021
Neighborhood: East Village, NoHo

The late afternoon, graying quickly, was sweet with surprising warmth. Days such as this wouldn’t come again for at least a month. A reward, it seemed, for surviving another dank and joyless February in New York City.  My birthday was in March, and even at my age, I looked forward to the day with a […]

Yorkville 1960s–A Neighborhood in Transition

by 06/06/2021
Neighborhood: Yorkville

Early 1960s, Yorkville. My block, 81st street between 1st and York avenues.  During my early years, I witnessed a predominantly working-class immigrant neighborhood of Irish, Germans, and Hungarians being replaced by new wealthier residents. The transition started with the construction of high-rise apartment buildings on the avenues. These characterless buildings were replacing the five-story walk-ups […]