Category Archives: 50s

A GIRL AT HER BEST by Peter Nolan Smith

October 4, 2021 – 11:37 am

My introduction to baseball came on a warm Saturday morning in April of 1958. My older brother and and I was watching my favorite show, THE THREE STOOGES. Moe was slapping Larry and Curley. My father entered the living room of our house on Falmouth Foresides and shut off the Zenith black-and-white. “It’s too nice […]

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The Year Of The Crow

March 17, 2021 – 1:27 am

My grandmother traveled by ship from Ireland to Boston at the age of 14. One heel of her good shoes broke coming down the gangway. It was her welcome to America. Once on a visit up to Maine someone asked the year of her arrival and Nana responded, “The Year of the Crow.” None of […]

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Map for Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD

October 13, 2020 – 9:02 pm

This map from Jack Kerouac’s diary detailed his hitchhiking across the USA in 1947. His itinerary included more stops than the classic hit ROUTE 66 sung originally by Nat King Cole. New York City, Chicago, Davenport Des Moines, North Platte, Cheyenne, Denver, Laramie, Salt Lake, Reno, San Francisco, Madera, Fresno, Selma, Los Angeles, Prescott, Albuquerque, […]

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Slingshot Dragster 1954

April 8, 2020 – 12:45 pm

The other day an old nightclub owner was denigrating the influence of Islamic thought on civilization. “They really created nothing.” “What you mean nothing?” I didn’t mention that algebra succinctly meant ‘reunion of broken parts’ in Arabic. “No rockets, no telephones, no TVs.” “That’s all crap.” “Crap?” John and I liked to argue. “Yes, plus […]

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Johnny Romero PR Parisian

March 5, 2020 – 3:59 pm

In 1985 Johnny Romero owned les Nuages, a St. Germain nightclub frequented by James Baldwin and James Jones. I was living with his daughter, Candida. She was 17 and I was was 32. He said nothing about our age difference, but after hearing that I lived on the Lower East Side, Johnny asked, “Are there […]

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