Tag Archives: 1960’s

The Green Coat

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  Shopping in 1939, before my time: Union Square, Manhattan. S. Klein’s On The Square   I mentioned in another post that I grew up on East 14th Street in Manhattan and that I am admin for a group of over 1200 nostalgic former Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village kids who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. This blog post on shopping and the stores in our neighborhood reflects a post series I began on this area: The Automat, Union Square (restaurants and stores). S. Klein article [ And, I just realized, that the author of the article was … Continue reading →

33. Whole Foods: Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get

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While walking down the produce aisle at the Whole Foods Market, (a food store that specializes in supposedly healthier food, some organic, and decidedly higher priced than regular food stores) my Cerebral Jukebox honed in on soul music playing in the background, Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get. I was happy.  I felt like dancing.  I flirted with the produce guy over a bunch or cilantro, I boogied over to the radishes.  I looked at faces staring intently at the ears of corn and white peaches.  No one else was on planet 60’s with me. I decided to make gazpacho. I … Continue reading →

194. Poetry reading: (Part 2) Soldier Boy

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    It’s the summer of 1960, and your new transistor radio is in your hand. ***** **** It would be helpful to read the  introduction in the preceding blog before reading the poem. Part 1 Soldier Boy ©2/4/08 by the author, all rights reserved   **** The transistor radio was ready with fresh batteries; I got it in 1960 when I graduated from P.S. 61. My dad brought it home; it was red and had a brown leather case, there was a cut out on the side to access the knob to tune the dial.  Then the stick marker … Continue reading →

136. Poetry Series: Harlem On My Mind: 4. Theft

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Shepard Hall, The City College of New York 4th in the series, Harlem On My Mind It was spring, it was warm, the weather was kind; events were not. Theft April 1968 Someone stole the gold Cross pen from atop my notebook.  It was the beginning of a period of suffering and transition.   Soon after, it was announced that The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King had been killed; we filled the mazes of corridors of Shepard Hall; it crowns the North Campus, the building that looks like a huge, regal, fortress of dark-bricked, chocolate cake, adorned with drips of … Continue reading →

128. Poetry: Series: Harlem On My Mind: 3. Hail Mary

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Shephard Hall, The City College of New York This is the third poem in my series, Harlem on My Mind.  Harlem is a black community in the upper middle section of Manhattan.    Series: Harlem on My Mind 1. Skin 2. Take The “A” Train I graduated from High School a term early;  I was in a rush to start college and get my life going.  I attended graduation ceremonies on a cold January night and the next day began my life as a college student at The City College of New York, in Harlem.  I was 17 years old, … Continue reading →

121. Poetry: Series: Harlem On My Mind: 2: Take The A Train

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Part 2 of a series. original poetry It was 1966 and I was a college student in New York City, at the City College Of New York, in Harlem. ! was dependent on public transit. And on my parents.  I was about to grow up.       Take The  A Train ©3/23/02srk all rights reserved 1966 My dad left me on the platform of the A train on my first day of classes.  My mother told him, “Jack, take her.”  The truth was I had never traveled on the train myself. It was early in the morning when the … Continue reading →

110: Poetry: Series: Harlem On My Mind: 1. Skin

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Harlem Parade: Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Passing in a Car Joseph Delaney, 1971   Collection of The Museum of the City of New York This 1964 Harlem parade honored U.S. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who later served as chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor under President Lyndon Johnson. Delaney expressed how the Harlem community felt about Powell by scrawling “Baby, I love you” across the upper left area of the canvas. Memories linked to the black community of Harlem in the 1960’s when I was a college student at the City College of New York. Sometimes … Continue reading →