Category Archives: NEW YORK

CHICKEN MESSIAHS by Peter Nolan Smith

Several years ago the media covered a story about rat-infested aGreenwich Village KFC. The stock for Yum Corp, which owns the fast food chain along with Taco Bell, dropped fifty cents on the NYSE with the negative news and I felt bad, because for several years I had been a quality control inspector for KFC […]

FOR THE LOVE OF HOCKEY by Peter Nolan Smith

My paternal grandfather had a saying about the seasons in Maine. “There are two seasons up here; winter and preparing for winter.” My early childhood contradicted this adage, for my five year-old senses recognized a very short and wet spring followed by a little longer and slightly warmer summer capped by a short and wet […]

11:39PM

A little before midnight. Five years ago I worked at the diamond exchange of 47th Street. There are no customers on the winter solstice. Only the rich have money, Richie Boy had sold several big-money items to his wealthy friends. $260,000 for a magnificent sapphire for an investment banker, $190,000 for a stunning Fancy Yellow […]

AN XMAS EVE TALE by Peter Nolan Smith

Nine years ago the holiday sales plummeted to near-zero in New York’s Diamond District 47th Street. The Greater Depression had robbed the middle-class of their imagined wealth and jewelry purchases had been sacrificed to pay mortgages and credit card bills. America as a nation continued to suffer from the banking debacle, the collapse of the […]

Times Square Redux

Since the onset of Covid in March 2021 New York has been cut off from the rest of the world and also the USA. Americans were scared by the reports of crime and foreigners were banned from flying to JFK, however in the last months the restrictions have been downgraded to allow vaccinated international travelers […]