TOXIC III - Extended Family and the City

1965 - Manhattan

          The first few years of my life were still pretty memorable although there is much that has slipped between the cracks. But some of the things that I do recall from these very early years were permanently imprinted in my psyche. I started to become self-aware about the age of five and like most children with a fresh and empty brain I soaked in my experiences like a sponge. Television became a major part of my life as I was fortunate enough to experience its golden age but at such a young age my interest was in cartoons like Underdog, Looney Tunes and Spiderman or live action kid shows like Wonderama, Bozo the Clown, and Romper Room. It was these shows that would keep my attention in the living room of my grandmother’s home as I sat in a huge blue lounge chair usually with a big box of breakfast cereal in my hands as I scooped out handful after handful of Sugar Pops, or Froot Loops stuffing my face the delicious treats. The adults would be in the kitchen chatting away as I was entertained by the images on the black and white television tube. I can still smell the electric scent emanating from the glass enclosed vacuum tubes within the televisions console.

          We spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s home even though we had moved across the river from Manhattan to Williamsburg Brooklyn where our new home was located in a terraced apartment on the 14th floor high above Boerum Street. These visits to my grandmother’s house were quite frequent even though we lived a short distance away. I assume now that one of the reasons we went there so much was the fact that her household was full of children and that I would be occupied by the other adolescents even though they were older that I. This way Flo was able to step away from her motherly duties. So when I was not glued to the television I was in the company of my aunts and uncles that would accept me into their adolescent circle. My step mother came from a large family thanks to dear old grannie whom had been married several times in the past and so my aunts and uncles had different male lineages.

My uncles Steven and Albert were her last two sons from her recent marriage to they’re father Bernie. Uncle Frank and my Aunts Delores and Dorothy whom were twin sisters were the children from her second marriage and the oldest generation was Flo and her sisters, Aunts Diana and Helen whom were the offspring of her first marriage. My two older aunts had families of their own and we would not see them as often as we saw the rest of the family. They would visit occasionally but mostly we would only see them during special occasions. Nevertheless it was my two uncles’ that were in their early pubescent teens that were the most influential to me. Especially my uncle Albert who was a young intellectual obsessed with monster movies and science fiction novels an obsession that he passed on to me and one that I still have to this day. My uncle Steven was the more spirited of the two and had lots of games and toys that he liked to share with me, occupying my time with such classic as  Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots, Tonka trucks, and of course G..I. Joe, except in those days they were actual dolls with bendable joints that were twelve inches tall instead of the immobile four inch plastic molds of today. On the other hand my uncle Frankie who a few years older than both Albert and Steven wasn’t around very often for our visits. He probably was tired being around a bunch of children and was most likely hanging out with friends his own age. The twin girls were about two years older than my uncles and as far as twin sisters go their personalities were very much the opposite from one another. Dorothy had a quiet nurturing and sweet nature whereby Delores was more rambunctious and rebellious which she would often display later on in life but at the time their company was very welcome to a boy that was very often alone with just his step parents.

Not that being alone with Flo at home in our 'deluxe apartment in the sky' was a bad thing because Flo kept my young mind occupied with comics, coloring and puzzle books, matchbox cars and plastic army men. The apartment had two bedrooms, so I had a room of my own and being blessed with some artistic talent Flo had painted large murals on my walls, one was of humpty dumpty and the other was batman which was my new favorite television series. Adolph wasn't home during the day because he went to work doing whatever it was that he did and he would be home like clockwork around 6pm, with a fresh loaf of Italian bread in hand to go with whatever Flo had made for dinner. But then there were the nights when he would bring home 'Chinks' which was the way he referred to Chinese food and I remember the wonderful smells of lobster Cantonese, shrimp fried rich, and wonton soup emanating from the bag of take-out containers. Food was a big part of my upbringing especially being around Adolf’s side of the family which was also pretty large. How many people were actual relatives or just close gangland associates I still question to this day. However it wasn't just our visits to the relatives where the food was bountiful because the one thing about living in 'The City’ is that cuisine from all over the world could be found due to the diverse mixture of cultures all living within a few miles of each other. Of course at the time I wasn't an expert in fine dining but because of the people I was surrounded by I had a sampling of all types of interesting delicacies which in time gave me very distinctive taste. Nevertheless in those early years whether in the company of relatives or at home food was always present and in abundance just as it is today.

I was becoming a cultured little fella not only by relatives and food but by New York City itself. As Flo’s living doll I was dragged all over the five boroughs and being that everything was so new to me every place we went seemed to fill me with wonder. I had gotten a firsthand tour of Manhattan oblivious to the fact that I had been born in the greatest city in the world but in the 60's it wasn't the shining, capitalistic, touristy mecca that is today. Instead it was gritty, dark, and dirty a but to me it was just as exciting as any amusement park. The streets were narrow between brownstone, granite and brick buildings adorned with fire escapes and cloths drying on lines stretched across alley ways while garbage cans would sit out upon the sidewalks. In the summer months air conditioning was not very common so apartment window would be held open by large fan units to cool down the apartments and the tenants that occupied them. The streets were bustling with delivery trucks, yellow taxi cabs, dark green police cars and the occasional ambulance as blaring horns, sirens and the chatter of pedestrians filled the air an electrifying energy. This was New York and I was becoming a part of it as I was taken to another new place every day, or so it seemed.

One of the places I remember the most was Johns Bargain Store it was a local five and dime specializing in appliances and to most people just an average store to purchase in home gadgets like toasters, televisions and a variety of goods. We would visit it often and to me it was just as exciting as a funhouse as isle after isle filled my eyes with new shiny treasures but it was entering the toy department that I always anticipated as cheap plastic water guns, toy cars, board games and models enticed me with the promise of fun times ahead. Of course I always ended up with some new toy in hand but what I looked forward to the most was when we would exit the store and head over the small concession outside where they sold popcorn, cotton candy, hot dogs and the most delicious sweet corn on the cob that I had ever tasted. It was saturated in thick layer of butter and the smell alone would make my mouth water. To this day I don’t think I have ever had corn again that had a flavor comparable to the way it had tasted or the way it was prepared as it was at that concession. I would make a mess out of myself which isn’t too different from today but I looked forward to getting one every time we shopped at my favorite store. As was the routine for a short time I would eat my buttery treat on our way to visit step father at his place of so called work in little Italy in the back seat of a large checker Marathon yellow cab which were fairly new vehicles in those days. The back passenger seat was huge especially to a little guy like myself but I enjoyed being in the big yellow vehicle as we were driven down canal street and into ‘Llittle Italy’.