I love to uncover incidental history. There’s a big piece of it at the intersection of Lafayette, East 8th and Astor in New York City. I’ve always known it for the Starbucks I frequented, where I’d sit with my coffee at an outward facing window, gently mocking south-bound commuters as they hurriedly/exhaustedly exited the Astor […]
My brother Luis and his friend Jerry decided to go on a camping trip in late 1997. Luis had been camping several times and could be considered somewhat experienced, especially among the non-hardcore outdoorsy types (and especially for a New Yorker). He and Jerry planned it all through September leading up to October. I wouldn’t […]
OK, this one isn’t about long ago days in Hollywood or about growing up (finally) in New York. This one is a little bitter, maybe even caustic. It’s time to vent. I vent because some people think they can make you care, and….despite their cloying efforts, you just don’t.
There’s a store in Marietta, Georgia. It should be called a warehouse really; it’s bigger than it probably has a right to be. Perhaps conscious, or self-conscious of this fact, a few years ago store planners built additional walls ranging from 20 to 100 feet inside the originals, making effectively a store within a store, […]
Whether in a bookstore or a restaurant; or even SPEEDING ALONG on the highway, we are nowadays usually face down in a cell phone or tablet, typing out or dictating messages. Though often delivered without much forethought; intention is ACTUALLY EVERYTHING in messaging. This is because intention has always been everything in writing, and messaging is […]
This March my quixotic quest to regain entry to the courtyard of the Villa Elaine (an apartment building in Hollywood I lived in for less than a year in 1982) came to a sudden and surprising fulfillment. The building has always had a security gate but in my attempts to access I was mostly hindered […]
I love those websites that show a picture of an intersection, maybe on a street that’s familiar, from a long time ago and then one of now. It reminds me of those drawings I used to look at in magazines, 2 identical cartoon images side by side, the same but with a few differences. The […]
I’m still sad. One week past Labor Day weekend and I’m already jonesing for the next DragonCon. DragonCon is the best fan-centered large sci-fi and fantasy convention there is. Spread over 5 hotels in downtown Atlanta, cosplayers, goths, gamers, geeks, writers and watchers converge on the Thursday before Labor Day to stand in a registration […]
One of the best theoretical questions out there is this: “If you had a one-time-only use of a time machine, when and where would you go?” Of course this query should invoke a seriously wide variety of responses, all of which, however, would fit into only 3 categories: 1) “I want to go back and […]
Brooklyn is known nowadays for its growing population of Indie Label elitists and baby stroller pushing moms and nannies. It used to have more of an edge, even as recently as when I lived there in the ‘90’s. Ask any old timer and you’ll hear that Brooklyn was the home of New York’s schemers and […]
As this week is National Self Indulgence Awareness Week, I thought I’d take the time to switch gears and talk about a good cause. The Water Tank Project (hey they’re really called Water Towers, but to each his own) kicks off at the beginning of August to raise awareness about many of our worlds regions’ […]
The morning of March 17, 1985 was a Sunday. Because of that we had to wait an extra-long time for the K Bus to take us to downtown Miami and our destination, the Omni Mall. It was about 9 am but it was already hot as we stood out on Washington Boulevard and 10th Street. […]