Retracing my first steps and recalling a few stumbles Upon arriving in Manhattan, I checked in at The Chemists Club in Midtown. Basically a hostel for businessmen and scientists, The Chemists Club’s members included my father. When I left Cincinnati for New York in February 1981, with a headful of writerly dreams, he generously frontedContinue reading “Entry Level NYC 1981”
Tag Archives: NYC
Onboarding NYC: 1981
A New Introduction To An Old Story Returning from work on a humid July evening in 1981, my first season in New York City, I wandered through the palpitating heart of Greenwich Village and paused on Carmine Street. I was in no hurry to return home to my humble-ain’t-the-word abode. After browsing esoteric disco recordsContinue reading “Onboarding NYC: 1981”
Book Review: Paging Dr. Mueller
Walking through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black: Collected Stories by Cookie Mueller “Firstly, you’re right about my mind being open, in fact it’s so open at times I feel the wind whistling through it.” — Cookie Mueller, “Ask Doctor Mueller” column, East Village Eye circa 1983 During her attentuated forty years on earth, the inimitableContinue reading “Book Review: Paging Dr. Mueller”
“It’s The Cobblestone Streets That Send Me Back”
Working in an office next door to my second NYC apartment - thirty years later Comprehending the pre-COVID makeover of Manhattan from grunge to gleam requires a deep dive into the recent past. Nothing captures the transformation of New York City in the 21st Century better than a walk on the High Line, an elevatedContinue reading ““It’s The Cobblestone Streets That Send Me Back””
A Sort of Mentor
Jeff Reidel was the strangest person I’ve met in NYC, then or now, and almost 40 years later I finally realize how much he taught me Moving into 78 Washington Place, during early spring 1981, didn’t take long. My possessions consisted of two suitcases, briefcase, clock radio, electric typewriter. Apartment 3C came furnished. The metalContinue reading “A Sort of Mentor”
When AM Radio Wouldn’t Shut Up
A dusty paperback novel conjures up the heyday of late night talk jocks My stack of library books depleted, I recently combed our overflowing shelves for something to read during these long housebound days. A dusty paperback from 1972 caught my eye: The Dick Gibson Show by Stanley Elkin. The author was a well-regarded dispenser of serious literary fictionContinue reading “When AM Radio Wouldn’t Shut Up”
Truth or Dare
My first job search in New York City resulted in a surprise lie detector test Desperation inspired me to answer a generic calling-all-college-grads type of ad, for a “junior management position in retail.” Since I’d worked for two years at a record store while obtaining my useless social science degree, for the first time inContinue reading “Truth or Dare”
Mark Coleman 