Tag Archives: diamonds

11:59PM – bet on crazy

December 21, 2022 – 8:04 am

The Friday before Christmas was the Winter Solstice. I stopped by the diamond exchange on 47th Street. There were no customers in sight. Only the rich have money and the vast majority of the .00001 had fled south for Palm Beach or St. Bart’s. Richie Boy was working with a wealthy friend, asking $260,000 for […]

By Peter | Posted in Diamonds, semi-fiction | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

A BARK BETTER THAN A BITE by Peter Nolan Smith

November 24, 2022 – 1:24 pm

Every diamond shop on West 47th Street was open seven days a week from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve. Sales people, guards, elevator operators, schleppers, cutters, setters, polishers, and even Lennie the Bum slaved throughout the holiday rush in hopes of scoring enough cash to buy presents. Stores extended their normal hours to entice late-night shoppers. […]

By Peter | Posted in 60s, animals, Bet On Crazy, boston, family, holiday, semi-fiction | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

QUEEN OF THE PLAZA by Peter Nolan Smith

March 17, 2022 – 7:46 am

St. Patrick’s Day promised to be another disaster for the Retail Collection of the Plaza Hotel. Hordes of green-clad spectators streamed down the escalator into the basement. Their eyes averted the luxury goods on offer, as their destination was the hotel’s public bathroom. Within the first hour I had given directions to the toilet over […]

By Peter | Posted in 2000s, Bet On Crazy, ireland, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre / BET ON CRAZY by Peter Nolan Smith

February 14, 2022 – 4:18 am

Every Valentine’s Day diamond dealers and jewelers on 47th Street anticipated a winter spending spree by lovers for their loved ones, but each year of the 21st Century the sales numbers dropped drastically, as the economic downturn cut into everyone’s surplus, but the rich. Valentine afternoon in February 2011 shoppers crammed the chocolatiers along 5th […]

By Peter | Posted in Bet On Crazy, Diamonds, Love, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

HAPPY HEARTS by Peter Nolan Smith

February 14, 2022 – 1:30 am

Every Valentine’s Day diamond dealers and jewelers on 47th Street anticipate a mid-winter spending spree by lovers for their loved ones, yet year after year sales numbers have fallen by double-digits, as the economic downturn cut into the income of the middle-class. Diamonds might be a girl’s best friend, but not this year. Yesterday the […]

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