Going to see Barbie Pins this morning, have to get out of here. Barbie Pins is my Uncle Mommy’s youngest sister. I’m bringing a recorder so we can tape our conversation when we go traveling in the Wayback Machine.
Barbara loves pretty pictures so I’m putting up five today.
I wrote a column about Barbara in Our Town andThe West Side Spirit.
Starts like this...
“Barbara, Kronks!” I said, turning to mom’s youngest sister working the stroller and me down the long York Avenue stoop.
It was June 1958. Barbara was 19 and I was 4. Barbara loved me better than a sandwich loaded with mayo, but she had a second reason for taking us gallivanting: Teen boys loved teen girls pushing carriages. I was bait. To get Barbara’s attention, the guys had to go through me, and these were rough nice guys on the corner of 87th Street and York Avenue. In Kronk’s Soda Fountain, I’d get pretzels and egg creams on the cuff while the boys tried to impress Barbara.
The other reason I loved Kronk’s was the music. Not only for the jukebox, but the teen boys who sang fantastic a cappella. I was already a connoisseur of fine music thanks to my first 45, “I Told the Witch Doctor.” Its harmony knocked me out, and so did the Yorkville Melodies.
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