Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts: Equinox Sunset in Yorkville

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Equinox Sunset in Yorkville

Equinox Sunset

Before air-conditioning, I spent entire Yorkville summers with the lights out in our 517 East 83rd Street apartment until it was pitch dark.

Mom could page a calendar in the winter and start sweating when June, July, August flipped by. Dad loved heat. He slept under a pipe in the Navy. Made for nice conversation.

One afternoon, I said "I'm going blind here!" I couldn't read my comic. Mom told me to go to the back window and use the sun light. This was one of my first openings to get her to let me play out on our fourth floor fire escape facing the backyard and 84th Street. I'd bring most of my stuff out there with me to play with. Eventually, Rory got out there to. I was afraid of heights and kept my butt glued to the stairs. Rory was not afraid of heights. He'd torture me by climbing over the fire escape to the outside, hang off putting his body in mid-air 40 feet over the concrete below and then he'd twist the knife, " Hey Tommy, look, I'm gonna fall and Mom is gonna kill you." I was frozen and he was right.

The roof was our oasis from the heat, we had many extension cords and hose extensions to get our stuff from fourth floor to roof, for water (had a baby pool), radio and black & white TV. Dad brought up a standing lamp once so he could see while he sketched at twilight. Mom wanted to kill him. She loved her lamps.
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Our next "City Stories: Stoops to Nuts," show is a beaut. Tuesday, July 10th @ 6pm @ Cornelia Street Cafe.

Storytelling by Tricia Alexandro, Julia Greenberg, Jim Hawkins, Lisa Kirchner, Thomas Pryor & Debby Schwartz.

Summer is lit, come down to the telling, $7 gets you in with a free drink, too. A nice wash on a hot night.