From the Madeline Murals at the Carlyle, and foie burger at Minetta Tavern, We Love New York. 

A stroll through the Modern

buying clocks with big numbers at the gift shop. Sharper Images.

We Love New York!

With euphoric recall we remember the Days of Comedy Clubs and “Arthurs“ jazz club , two drink minimums, laced with “sunshine and sodas and beer.” Oh the crunch of multi colored leaves as we strolled across the park in Autumn to have lunch at The Boathouse. No, it’s closing.

Ah, yes NYC. 

From Drinks at the bar at The Four Seasons before the variegated visuals of the flowers and soufflés at Grenouille, we Miss our Golden New York. Memories of dancing at El Morocco and Le Club before backgammon in the backroom at Cavalleros, priceless. We closed the night before with an early breakfast at The open all night Brassiere. How about the days of sitting on an auxiliary seat in the back of yellow cabs with leg room, en route to an underground Allen Ginsburg poetry reading in a dive on Astor place near Tompkins Square Park. Run on sentence counters, I know. ”I took a deep breath and listened to the bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.” Poems by Sylvia Plath inspired us to walk down to the Hip Bagel. An infamous, artistic guy named Shelly Fireman had a vision we jumped onto. We heard about him and his multifaceted interests. A perfect panoply of his Peter Max Art, knowledge of herbal cures i.e. Dr. Giller and his cocktails known as ACE (adrenal cortex extract) and the smoked fish from Barney Greengrass. We couldn’t help but prophesize that he would find a unique recipe for success through the perfect antipasto in the most lyrical of neighborhoods. He would breathe garlic into locations housing music, art and the sounds of Placido Domingo. Good guess, indeed. Moving on now to the long ago delights of Steak Diane at Quo Vadis before it became The Post House. A little black jack and throwing dice at a private after hours gambling joint in a townhouse on 72nd and Park. Brass, red carpeting and pink walls added to the late night fantasy of downing Harveys Bristol Cream. Bromo- seltzer set up on our nightstand could have served as the back drop of an Andy Warhol painting. B. Altman’s, Rita’s Blue Tent Dress Shop on Madison Ave and accessories and Mini Dresses at Bendels was our idea of a perfect Saturday shop around before lunch at Yellowfingers or Daly’s Dandelion. Sunday Mornings of counting Ninas on the cover of The Sunday Magazine section through the distinct brilliance of Al Hirschfeld, was the precursor to lunch at Maxwell Plum’s. Oh those Eggs Benedict and mimosas under the kaleidoscopic stained-glass ceilings imagined and realized by Warner LeRoy. Pre- Tavern on the Green. What a treat before grabbing the latest Woody Allen film at The Paris Theater on 59th Street. In the way, way back of the memory bin, the Pate at Brussels, anything at Le Bernardin- and the pasta at Joe and Rose (favorite of the Kennedys) were all pieces of our we Love New York Days. Everything and Anything prepared at Christ Cellas on East 44th Street- no menus and house charge ready.

So just for today, we will brush off our blue suede shoes, pick out a paisley blouse, grab an old hermes belt, add a touch of Shalimar and dream of the Date-nut bread sandwiches at Chock Full o’ Nuts. Make it a memorable “Monday Monday.”

Definition of Recidivism-a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior; especially relapse into criminal behavior. Is there a fine line between addiction and recidivism? Let’s consider how popular prison romances are and seem in no danger of dying out. One theory is that prisoners create a literal wall against closeness. Conjugal visits preclude hanging out Sunday morning with Russ and Daughters and The New York Times. They certainly eliminate variegated activities i.e. strolling through The Whitney and eating french toast at Bubby’s in TriBeCa. Delving into a veritable pantheon of theories that depict the profile of personalities enraptured by the incarcerated is a thesis unto itself. Far from the cover for every pot concept. We recently viewed for the second time Jacob Ephron’s documentary on his mom Nora Ephron. Oh, Nora you hated your neck but we loved you. We so related when Harry met Sally and they were “Sleepless in Seattle.” We followed as Julie and Julia “Got Mail.” When your character Rachel Samstat, a successful cookery writer found out her husband Mark was having an affair -we too got “Heartburn.” Your self deprecatory humor was comforting and relatable. And I quote “when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” The converse rings ever so true. When you understand that burnt pot roast doesn’t necessarily taste good, negating that we grew up eating it, you throw it out and start again. Sensibility does not kick in by chance. Don’t wait for the next ship to come in to carpe diem.” Seizing opportunities and disregarding discouragements our modus operandi.

I know cliche counters, it is one of those self help days. Nora Ephron we were “Bewitched” by you. Make it a cool Sunday.

You’re Not Gonna Believe This! T.S.

With two silver wings
on either side.
He blow dried and sprayed it
himself.
Woody Allen frequently cast
him.
His Black Velvet Track suit a
look in itself.
As chief henchman to Tony
Soprano.
Paulie Walnuts clearly had clout.
A germophobe, whose aunt was
his mother.
With a pillow he snuffed her
friend Minn Matrone out.
He claimed he saw the
apparition of The Virgin Mary
one night.
The famous Bada Bing was the
sight.
Tony ran it by Dr. Melfi and
asked Carmela her take.
She called out his name so
familiar,
And told him she thought it was
fake.
David Chase cast him as “Paulie
Walnuts Gualtieri.”
Cause nuts fell off of a truck.
His t.v. chair was covered with
plastic,
When he got up he often got
stuck.
The resemblance between fact
and fiction.
Was so absurdly dead-on.
Tony Sirico had lived his
character.
Early
in life he did “stuff.”
Not everything was always real
kosher.
Hence Satriales Meat Market,
The infamous scene of the
crime.
Paulie Gualtieri beat Shlomo
Teittlemans son-in-law.
In a room on the upper floor,
shot from behind.
As we binged all 86 episodes.
We really got to know why,
He threw Christopher Moltisanti
out the window.
And ate a ketchup pack in The
Barrons of Pine.
Known for cracking jokes at just
the wrong time.
RIP-Paulie Walnuts, so salt
peppered with flare.
Your character was ever so
compelling and one we will hold
ever dear.

Time sprints…

It seems as if watermelon and new keds sneaker season lasted ad infinitum. Brand new blue loose leaf folders, colored tabs to divide social studies from algebra and colorful pencil holders already? Do you remember new commercials for Fall tv shows advertised in July? Did Ginsburgs and Wechslers sport alpacas and madras blouses in July? Do the street lights go on so much earlier now than they did back then? Father Time, slow down dude, we need to take a breath and “relish” (hello Rutts) every last barbecued hot dog,

We wonder when self help books turned into “recalibrating the soul” GPS style. Zoom class your way out of persistent mishegas? Peloton, Pilates and “we”ll stretch you” stretch clinics now replace Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons and Jazzercise. Lululemon and  Sweaty Betty updated Danskin leotards and leg warmers. Hot rock massages, bikram yoga and acupressure lead the way to mojitos, Sweetgreens Guacamole Green Salad and red velvet cupcakes. Vic tanny vibration exercise machines- what?

I wonder where the days of climbing the monkey bars, wearing very tight white rubber bathing caps to ward off the chlorine effects when we swam and ring dings went? 

If the line was busy you called your friend back to tell her about the new colored bangle bracelet and lady bug pins you got to match your new outfit to wear to Temple for the holidays. 

So let’s hold on tightly to July. Treadmill our carvel dipped ice cream cone calories off and cherish our yesteryear memories.

We know we are blessed to have had foundations where Sly had “hot fun in the summertime,” and when the sun beat down and burnt the tar on the roof- we could go “Under the Boardwalk,” and be confident that the Lion would sleep tonight. Have a fun Sunday!

Grab another Drive-ins on Friday
Night Moment -feel good repost!

When the leaves were orange and the living was easy. What does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth? Why are the people in the front of the picture so much bigger than the people toward the back? Out of the mouths, when life was oh so mellow.

We bought our first pair of silk stockings which were to be held up by a stretchy pink and white striped garter belt. The days of Ozzie and Harriet, Susan Lucci and Soupy Sales.

We re-dialed after our friends line was busy the first time and screeched with excitement, Conrad Birdie style, over our anticipated coed- girl/boy party that evening. After we sat under a hot dryer with beer can sized rollers in our hair we brushed away the fumes from our eyes left by aqua spray. The decision to curl our hair rather than iron it straight was a good one, our hair came out just right. Getting ready “Was” the excitement. Our new madras blouse and alpaca sweater hung prominently in the front of our closet right above our shiny, new cordovan colored weejuns. Bright, new Penny, dated 1967 heads up in place.

A touch of revlon blush, a glimmer of light pink lipstick proceeded a spritz of Ambush and we were on our way. With dejavu on my breath I can still recall euphorically how it felt when I unbuttoned the wooden clasps that kept my new Pea Coat in tact. The boys gathered on one side of the room as the girls sifted through the 45’s on the other. At this point there was no bottle to spin in sight. Would the Angels sing tonight as our soldier boys danced under the Blue Moon?

The specialty years of pre-teening had a wonderful life of its own. We made room for our daydreams laced with Johnny Mathis lyrics. Our Barbie and Ken’s were repositioned and left to fetch for themselves in the back row of our minds. In the still of the night I hold tightly to the memories that Jay and the Americans knew were those Magic Moments. Make it a great Friday!

Raw end of the stick or right end of realty? Go over there and put your excuses in the “Doesn’t hold water bucket.” It contains and I quote – I couldn’t find your number, I lost my phone, I already found a 4th, 5th or 6th for the game, I thought it was Sunday and made another plan. I over booked my week lol and so on. The victims club has closed membership. The numbers of people who signed up exceeded the space limit. You’re not my cup of tea, I prefer not to sit at your table, you press the wrong buttons in me. “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now. From up and down and still somehow. It’s clouds illusions I recall. I really don’t know clouds at all.” Oh, Judy Collins, both sides now, indeed. Lessons come wrapped in perfectly sealed, beautifully ribboned packages, we think not. Too little, too late, no worries. Once burned adages streaming in double digits. Option “Turn it off”- thank you Elder McKinley. The song from Book of Mormons. ” I got a feeling, that you could be feeling, a whole lot better than you feel today. You say you got a problem, well that’s no problem. It’s super easy not to feel that way!”

By the way next to the bucket that holds no water, there is a “forgive everyone everything line.” Our world is in an inflammatory state of tragedy and horror. Hold on tightly and give tzedakah because you want to, not because you have to do. Have a good Wednesday!

Eddie Redmayne won an academy award for portraying Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everythingin 2014. The movie, captivating in its portrayal of the brilliant and funny Stephen Hawking, the physicist who made landmark advances in physics and math. His career spanned 50 award winning years. Amongst the prestige of his awards was The Albert Einstein Medal in 1979 for his scientific findings. The keeper of odds beat his for 51 of his 76 years of a five star life. He was diagnosed at 21 years of age with ALS, an extreme deleterious motor neuron disease. His body and voice, although physically bound and compromised never got in the way of his mobility or his Voice. He never allowed his limitations to get in the way. He knew the thrill of discovery has no mate. This was his fate and he never bemoaned it. He finished the marathon of life even if it was after dark and amongst the last of the racers up first avenue.

On any given day finding an excuse to hang in bed, binge watch a  Netflix series and order in food is often too close at hand (not an easy feat for those in the know.) I can only imagine even Stephen Hawking couldn’t count the number of days he allowed himself one of those. A favorite and meaningful quote of his was “it would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.”

So on Pi day we say good-bye Stephen. Wondered if he planned it that way or was it just the “odds.

When guns have more rights than women.
We march to gain control.
Our bodies, ourselves, our credo.
We stand united and determined and yell.
Overturning our dignity.
The fire, the fury, the horror.
We beg to know the “why’s.”
We sit and wipe our sorrow.
Children shot dead in Uvalde.
Our constitutional rights dispelled.
In a huge destructive hand-basket,
Our world has gone to Hell.

And then one day the sky fell down.
No chicken little warning- the house fell on the witches legs and just like that the emperor had no clothes. Cinderella lost more than her slipper and the three blind mice could no longer run. Mother Goose stopped singing nursery rhymes to her grandchildren- and stood by as women prisoner’s exercised around the “mulberry bush.” There were no rainbows and cloudy days were here again. Severus Snape knew that “the dark arts are varied, ever- changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many- headed monster, which each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before.” Even though Tom (Tom and Jerry) was the antagonist, all of us felt for Tom. “After all what good is a cat if he can’t get the better of a rat.” From our own little corner in our own little chair- uh! oh! we spied with our little eye a black cat crossing our path. And to quote Elmer Fudd in his garden of evil- “Shhh. Be vewy, vewy quiet. I’m hunting wabbits. Only in that case, the hunter gets hunted always. And then we ran into Mary Poppins who offered us a spoon full of sugar. It helped the medicine go down. We began to believe again and just like we know pruning our flowers helps them to grow bigger and brighter the prince of tides helped our ship sail in. We turned the beat around, stopped playing victim, ran from villains, and got behind the literal wheel to claim our power back. If you believe in magic, follow toto down the yellow brick road, and know that somewhere between a curtain and the wizard is a place called Home.

Back to the Future!

No Rhyme-All Reason. Landlubbers, drindl skirts and bell bottoms. Tennis sweaters, weejun penny loafers and madras blouses. Typewriters, wax dipped monogram letter seals and loose leaf notebooks. Bon Bons- jujubes, chuckles and double bubble. Chocolate yoo hoo’s, dairy queen sundaes and red licorice strings. Dave Clark Five, Connie Francis and Charlotte Russe . Dobie Gillis, pink erasers, papagallos. Loden pea-coats vinyl jackets, mary jane patent leathers, and white shoe polish for ked sneakers. Apple Brown Betty in Swanson tv dinners, buitoni ravioli in the can and potato sticks. Sewing class, emenee toy trumpets and the morning show “Just for Fun.” The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance and Flower Drum Song. Won-ton soup, chopped suey and egg foo young. Peanut Butter and Jelly on Ritz Crackers with Campbells tomato soup. Spaldings, Jacks and 45’s. Army, Navy Stores, Kresge’s Dept. Store and Alexanders. Mohair sweaters, shift dresses, mini and maxi skirts, baby doll dresses, colored tights- stirrup pants. Science projects on Oak Tag, pencil sharpeners and No. 8 pencils. Revlon Rum Raisin lipstick and Mary Quant make-up. Shalimar, Joy, Ambush, jade east, english leather and Old Spice. Po-ke-no, parchessi and Simon. Bonanza, Gunsmoke and Wagon Train. Make it a throw back Thursday!