As a young boy, the two ram reliefs on top of the front wall of 427 E. 84 St. always caught my attention in late afternoon on a sunny day. My father told me the guy who owned the building was a ringmaster in the circus and the rams were his pets, Joe and Shmoe. Thereafter, I kept looking for the owner on the stoop in his Claude Kirchner outfit or at least catch a glance of his sidekick, Clownee.

"City Boy" my solo show,
This Saturday, November 19 @7pm
@ Ryan's Daughter.
Come on down to 350 E. 85th Street.
FREE SHOW

Thomas Pryor's "City Boy" is a love letter to street life in the 1960s working class Manhattan neighborhood, Yorkville. Devil Dogs were a nickel, Spaldeens flew, and the capture game, Ringalario, let boys put their arms around girls for the first time. Nuns slugged you for humming baseball’s beer jingles in class. And, like other fathers, Tommy’s took him to saloons, all day, and no one thought it was strange. In this funny and bittersweet portrait of family and life, Pryor echoes TV’s “The Wonder Years” - just add in taverns, subways and Checker cabs.

Thomas Pryor's work has appeared in The New York Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and other periodicals. His memoir, “I Hate the Dallas Cowboys - tales of a scrappy New York boyhood,” was published in 2014 (YBK). His short stories are found in Thomas Beller's, "Lost and Found: Stories from New York," Three Rooms Press, “Have A NYC 2,” and Larry Canale's, "Mickey Mantle - Memories and Memorabilia." Pryor’s blog: "Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts," was chosen by The New York Times for their Blog Roll in 2008. Thomas appeared on PBS's "Baseball: A New York Love Story," NBC’s "New York Nonstop,” “This American Life,” and TV’s “Impractical Jokers.” His newspaper column ran in Our Town and The West Side Spirit and his weekly radio show was featured on the Centanni Broadcasting Network. For five years, Thomas curated a monthly storytelling show, “City Stories: Stoops to Nuts,” at the Cornelia Street Café that Time Out Magazine, The New York Daily News and CBS News praised. His photography portfolio, "River to River - New York Scenes From a Bicycle," was published in 2012 (YBK). Cornelia Street Cafe hosted an exhibition of his photography. NBC TV, New York Press/Our Town Downtown and NY 1 TV highly recommended the exhibit and his portfolio. His passion is preserving the history of Yorkville and the Upper East Side through storytelling, writing and photography. His multi-media show about the neighborhood, “City Boy” previews tonight. You can view and purchase his New York City prints online at Thomas R. Pryor Photography.