New Yorker of the Month

I am grateful and proud that Ask a New Yorker named me April’s New Yorker of the Month.

Mid-March, I took a long walk through Yorkville with Kennedy Moore, the founder of Ask a New Yorker and it all came out.  My love for the neighborhood, the city, the people still here and those gone. The rich Yorkville memories block to block, up to the avenues then down to the river.

Our walk started at Lexington Avenue and 86^th Street, the center of Yorkville’s universe. We meandered the lower 80s and went up to the footprint of the old Ruppert Brewery. Stopped at the Isaacs/Holmes Housing Project, then over to Asphalt Green football field. We played in Carl Schurz Park, strolled the Drive and concluded our walkabout in front of 517 East 83^rd Street, my old home, where our journey ended.

I love our city and my warren, Yorkville.  Thank you, Ask a New Yorker.

Our next City Stories: Stoops to Nuts storytelling show is six days away, Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at the Cornelia Street Café.

Our sensational line-up: Slash Coleman, Kurt Gertsmann, Dave Lester, Susan Neuffer, Sherryl Marshall and Thomas Pryor.

Admission is $7 and includes a free drink. I guarantee a good time.

Rear wall of the Yorkville Casino ~ 85th St

Heidelberg

Old Timers

Mom in front of 519 E 86th St ~ 1961

East Side Settlement House cornerstone 

1903 drawing of East Side Settlement House

25 Years Ago Today, The Giants Taught The Broncos To Play

25 years ago today, the New York Giants beat the Denver Broncos 39-20. I was there, in the worst seat in the Rose Bowl on Jan 25, 1987. I couldn't have been happier. That day was perfect. My Giant misery was finally over at 32 years old. Go Giants! 

If it was 1973 by chance, and I was 19, I'd go to Paragon's on 17th & Bdway, buy new football equipment, go to the Asphalt Green on York Avenue, and start a tackle football game. Bet you I'd have 22 guys in an hour.

On the sideline the girls with the radios played Dancin' In The Moonlight & Bargain. 

I always liked listening to Keith Moon when we hit each other.

Dancing in the Moonlight

I love tackle football, always have, and encouraged it year round in Yorkville.

In my lifetime, I've played a tackle football game in every one of the twelve months. Many viewed this strange.

Finding a decent field to play tackle football in Yorkville was a challenge in the 1960s & 1970s. In Central Park you marked the sidelines on the rocky no drainage field by carefully placing your coats and bags in a row and making an end zone with your extra equipment. Nobody wanted to put there stuff far away from the action. It tended to walk off.

In 1973 the Asphalt Green opened ~ we played tackle football on our first authentic marked-off field. In March 1974, St. Stephen's of Hungary won the Championship.

Here's the Our Town newspaper article on that game and several photographs from 1973 and 1974.

At the conclusion of the "Pineapple Bowl," aka the "1973-1974 Yorkville PAL Football Championship" St. Stephen's celebrated on the sideline at 90th St & York Avenue. This song blasted on several radios, we rocked all day and danced in the moonlight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMc8naeeSS8&feature=related

I Don't Like the Eagles

I don't like any Philadelphia sports teams. The Eagles are not the Anti-Christ from Dallas, but serve the underlord well. Like the other lesser devils, the Washington Redskins and the San Francisco 49ers, the Eagles must die.

Great piece in today's NYTimes Fifth Down on the Giants/Eagles history.

Goooooooooooooooo Giiiiiiiiiiiiiants!

http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/

That's me running the football for the St. Stephen's/19th Pct. team against the Our Lady Of Good Counsel/23rd Pct. team in the 1974 Pineapple Bowl. The Pineapple Bowl was the Manhattan Eastside PAL Football Championship held at the Asphalt Green field on York Avenue and 90th Street. OLGC/23rd Pct. also served the underlord. St. Stephen's crushed the serpent 23-7.