Category Archives: NEW YORK

THE BEST OF DAYS by Peter Nolan Smith

October 3, 2012 – 2:57 pm

Once a month Oilcan flew out of Logan to JFK for a weekly meeting at his investment firm’s main office. Traffic from the airport on the Grand Central was lighter than the previous month, which he considered another sign of the faltering economy. No wait at the Midtown Tunnel’s tollbooths was yet another signal of […]

By Peter | Also posted in 2000s, economy, family, semi-fiction | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Andre The Giant’s Posse

October 1, 2012 – 5:41 pm

Andre the Giant was a legend. His presence in the WWF gave the wrestling federation credibility. This man was bigger than big. The Giant was huge. One night I was working the ropes of Studio 54 and I spotted Andre at the back of the crowd. I opened the ropes and said, “Right this way, […]

By Peter | Also posted in 70s, Legend | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Oak Beach Inn

September 30, 2012 – 7:21 pm

In the 80s I would get on my Yamaha XS 650CC and drive out of Manhattan to Jones Beach. I’d avoid the gathering of sun-worshippers at the East Bathhouse and rode past the sand dunes bordering Ocean Parkway past West Gilgo and Cedar Beach to the Oak Beach Inn located across the inlet from the […]

By Peter | Also posted in 80s, Drinking, here-before, sea | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Flying For Fun PAN AM

September 26, 2012 – 8:38 am

Pan-Am was America’s airline, connecting the north and south continents, then island hopping across the Pacific to Manila and then straddling the Atlantic to London and Paris. I flew them often to Boston from New York back in the 1970s. The service wasn’t up to the fabled clipper class of the past, but they got […]

By Peter | Also posted in 70s, Travel | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Last Chances For the Island

September 23, 2012 – 12:02 pm

Governors Island lies offshore of Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Indians called it Paggank’, for the Dutch it was Noten Eylant or Nut Island. According to Wikipedia the island’s current name dated back to British colonial times when the colonial assembly reserved the island for the exclusive use of New York’s royal governors. The island served […]

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