SUMMER 1968: _________ UNDER CONSTRUCTION_________Now THIS was a relaxing Summer. I forget if I flew back or took a bus back. I know I shipped my stuff via Greyhound. But I was doing regular flying now. My parents were back in Astoria, NYC and thats where I stayed that Summer. But we did take visits to the house in York,Pa. I recall that as I used to watch the Tv show "The Prisoner" on the third floor when we'd visit and they had an Oldies show on WSBA I used to listen to. I spent the Summer doing NO work and every day I would sleep as late as i wished and I would then stroll down 21st Street under the triboro Bridge and buy a NY Daily News at the Astoria Square "Towne Square Shoppe" in order to follow baseball ESPECIALLY Denny McLain's run for 30 games and the Tigers and AL KALINE FINALLY taking the pennant.,,,,,, Some time during this Summer of 1968 I finally went to the hospital about my bad stomach pains. I wound up going to the hospital just past STEINWAY STREET near BRYANT HIGH SCHOOL where my mother took Accounting courses in Summer 1963 and where most of the people from Steinway Junior High went when I got stuck going to LIC HS in Fall 1965. I would take the bus down 21st St under the Triboro Bridge while both my parents were working and Id get off some blocks down where there was another main street. It wasnt Broadway. I would then transfer with a crowd of people. I had never realized that intersection was so important. It had only a couple of small stores yet was a major transfer point that I passed every day in high school 64/65. I then got on (using a transfer was unusual to me) and Id go a bunch more blocks to where that avenue crossed Steinway stret and another third street came in at an angle behind it and stopped at the intersection. So there were five streets instead of four. At that triangle was that restaurant that served both inside and out which had the GREAT char-broiled bugers I ate in Summer 1963 while seeing the eye doctor. I would eat there either before or after I went to the hospital. I think I was there more than once. I recall I was told to not eat anything at all for a long period of time until coming in for my GI series (Gastro-Intestinal) the next day. So I went there, starving, like any other lanky 18 year old and I had to put on a hspital gown and wait. Of course, it all took a very long time. I was sitting there and I suddenly remembered I wasnt wearing anything under my gown and my legs were open so I closed them in embarrassment. I went into the X-ray room and the guy had me drink a BARIUM milkshake and he put me on the cold slab. I think the guy was a bit weird as he was handling my rear under the gown. Then he complained about the barium going through me too quickly. Well, what did he expect? I had no food in so long and I wasnt a 60 year old. Guess he was used to only 60 year olds having possible ulcers. So he gave me a SECOND helping of Barium and i was a bit nervous to consume TWICE as much radioactive material. I eventually got out of there. I walked down to across the street from the restaurant (I proably ate there right afterwards as I had been so hungry). I stood not on Steinway but on the street crossing it, on the north side looking at the diagonal street going into the 5-street intersection. That street was where my father and I saw that lady squatting back around 1960,1961. Behind me was the corner smoke shop/gift shop that had always been on that corner. I get on the bus, pay my fare, and glance into the mirror. My God! There was crud all around my mouth from the Barium that looke just like that weirdos mouth at the Port Authority bldg when I got off the bus from York in 66/67. So I wiped it off. It kept coming back!! I might have even wiped it off once before getting on the bus. So I go to 21st St, transfer and go home to await the results. ,,,,,, I hung around with Gary, Dale's younger brother. We went to Times Square or near it to see 2001, A Space Oddessey. We had to dress up in coats and ties as it was a really fancy movie house. We go in and inside each entrance from the lobby to the theatre has a wooden bridge going over a stream! Inside the movie house! The seats were all separate from one another and you could move them in all directions. The screen was HUGE, even bigger than the regular huge screens of the day. The movie was great and on a wrap around screen with wrap around music. We were also given big glossy magazines to go with it. At intermission we went outside where they were serving alcoholic drinks in the lobby!!! Then we went home,,,,,, We used to go to PALISADES PARK together. He knew how to get there and showed me. All the way over the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey. We'd win and win for some reason. And even when we'd just walk in the girls moved on us there. It was nothing like NYC. Once we barely got in and two girls immediately told us when they were getting off work and all we were doing was walking past hem as they worked in a booth. Young and pretty. Another time some guy tried to win one of the huge things I won. There used to be one booth in particular that had a wheel with numbers and Id watch the wheel for a while and then Id go in and bet on what looked like it would come up next and, bang, Id win! It was amazing. But I learned never to do it when the wife was there as she'd only give the small prizes while her husband gave the big ones. The park also had the worlds biggest pool of some kind and it had the CARDIFF GIANT that I had read about. A big stone man that PT Barnum tried to pawn off as a petrified ancient man and thus got famous in its own right. I did not know that Cardiff was the capital of Wales then. It was just an eerie name to me. I recall being in the bumper cars there. ,,, 1-24-00: This was my LAST Summer in Astoria, Queens and my LAST time as a New Yorker. What had started on July 13, 1964 when my relatives showed up for the Worlds Fair would finally come to a close when my parents moved out of Astoria in November 1968. Thats four-plus years moving. ,,,,, Day after day Id go on the Elevated Train over to the other bouroughs and day after day Id come back the same way. I recall thinking over and over while turning off Hoyt Avenue along the Triboro Bridge and crossing over to the triangular 'Cheesebox' concrete park how I had made that turn over and over and over again since I was nine and now I was still doing it more than ever. Those thoughts and the view at that turn are burned into my brain. It seemed that I had made that right diagonal turn forever and that Summer I made it 100+ more times. Day after day. It still seems like the times I did it lasted vastly longer than the time from then until now. I did it from 1959 to 1968 and those 9 years took far longer than the 32 years since. Its like I did them forever and ,bink, suddenly its 32 years later. 1-24-00, ,,, In Summer 1968 I was in the living room and there was a live show from Berlin. Was it the president going there? I knew German well enough that I could actually easily understand what the Germans were saying. I was lousy in memorizing whether a word was male or female and all the silly endings BUT I had no problem with the words themselves when I was just listening,,, 1-24-00,,
_____JUNE 1968:______ SATURDAY JUNE 1, 1968: CALCULUS FINAL 745am to 945am,,,,, I recall showing Grant something I had wrapped up to shipo to NYC as I had way too much to carry back and I was on my bed along the wall by the door (We switched places sometime in the second semester) and he said "Better wrap that up like a mummy, man" Becaus eof the way they abuse everything. Well, I gave it extra wrapping and shipped it via Greyhound. Then Greyhound LOST most of my packages I was even invited to go downstairs at the PORT AUTHORITY TERMINAL to search the huge room. And on one shlf on the end I saw my GERMAN BOOK which I took. But most of my books and souvenirs were gone forever!! Inclding my very first ASTRONOMY BOOK with all my notes in it. Unlike most males Im the very nostalgic type and wanted to save a lot from my first year in college BUT between my wallet being stolen out of a locked locket next to an open one and greyhound losing my boxes I lost almost everything!! And the little I got back was broken. Including a plastic bottle of shampoo they somehow managed to break all over everything else. I then struggled with the Greyhound bureaucracy all Summer and then into my Fall 1968 semester in Briscoe when i recall vividly still writing them letters in the lunchroom and filling out forms. So much clothes gone as well.!!! I think I flew back into NYC in June 1968 but Im not sure.,,,,, I know that soon after i got back my parents and i went to a new Gimbels in Queens which shocked me as I had always thought of there being just one Gimbels by 34th Street that I went to all the time. (Or was it a Gimbels? It was a big brand new dept store in Queens). I still have mental images of walking thru it especially on the forst fllor roght towards the doors for some reason which I did repeatedly. I bought an epee there that I would later hang above my bed with tiny metal chains that came in plastic eggs from vending machines. I recall leaving via the back to where our car was parked in a huge, huge lot. I recall carrying a game out once as well. Was it a new Clue game? Lie Detector Game?,,, 12-16-99,,,,_____________ ____________ _____June 3, 1968 Andy Warhol shot,,, _____ JUNE 4: RFK beats Eugene McCarthy in California Primary,,, _____JUNE 5: RFK shot!, First Anniversary of 6-day War, Arabs on strike in Israel,,, Denny mcLain beats boston 5-4, now 9-1,,, _____JUNE 6: D-Day: RFK dies!, I think that I didnt even know he was shot until I got up on this day and my parents may have told me. I then recall being in a car for some reason going by the RFK national HQ in Lower Manhattan and seeing his supporters out on the sidewalk stunned,,, age 18,,, 1-21-2000,,, US Scorpion sub presumed lost,,, _____JUNE 7, 1968 : France A-Bomb atmospheric test, RFK body in StPatricks, NYC,,, _____JUNE 8: ML KINGS alleged assassin James Earl Ray arrested in London, Ted Kennedy gives "Some see things as they are... " speech, (Numerous things happening in VIETNAM all Summer and US and USSR keep launching satellites and doing underground nuke testing))),,, _____JUNE 14: Egypt and Israel fire shells across Suez Canal, Dr Benjamin Spock convicted of violating Draft Laws,,, _____JUNE 15: Gene Mauch out as manager of the Phillies. So much for the 1964 flopper _____ JUNE17: Senate passes law making it a federal crime to harm flag,,, JUNE 18: US Supreme Ct rules illegal to discriminate for selling or renting homes,,, _____JUNE 19: LBJ signs OMNIBUS CRIME BILL, Thieu signs GENERAL MOBILIZATION order,,, _____JUNE 20: mcLain beats Boston 5-1, now 12-2,,, WARSAW PACT holds military exercises in Czechoslovakia,, US deaths in Vietnam over 25,000, ((( Students rioting all over the world in Summer 1968))), ((( Israel and Egypt shell each other all Summer 1968))), _____JUNE 24: McLain beats Cleveland 14-3, now 13-2,,, House passes bill making it a crime to harm flag, _____JUNE 25: TRUDEAUS liberal party wins big victory,,, Over half of the Red Chinese Central Committee of 1965 have been purged,,, Ralph Abernathy sentenced to jail,,, _____ JUNE 26: Poor Peoples Campaign caravan mules impounded,,, ((( satellites and nuke tests still going on with USA and USSR))),,, _____JUNE 27: Confirmed that US troops leaving Khe Sanh (Balt Sun 6/24), LBJ wants CONGRESS to approve lowering voting age to 18. Const. Amend.,,, _____JUNE 30,1968: My dog Majors birthday.Got presents. Age 9,,, DeGaulle wins huge election victory,,, USSR forces down US airliner near USSR north of Japan...,,, I was still really into the "probability and statistics' kick I was in since late 1965 with baseball stats. I could focus mentally on them for hours for some reason yet nothing else. Somehow the combo of math and reality worked wonders. The math actually represented something I could see form,,, I was really following Denny McLains try for 30 wins. Each morning Id walk from home down 21st St under the TRIBORO BRIDGE to ASTORIA SQUARE, buy a NY DAILY NEWS at the TOWNE SQUARE SHOP and check all the baseball, especially if he pitched,,,,, Little did I know that the next Fall Id meet the best collection of friends I ever had,,,, We would go to York,Pa to be at the house there and visit my fathers relatives quite often. It was 200 miles exactly. No US 30 then, though. Went by way of either Easton or Trenton, I forget which, except that right before getting to the city on the NJ/Pa border we had to go in a big circle to it. Then we'd go across to Harrisburg and down. Later on my uncle? told my father a better way which may have had something to do with US30 creeping closer from the east. I also always recall making a turn where a factory had a turning sign which switched from cow to milk carton to bread. But we'd return to the empty furnishe dhouse frequently and I always looke dforward to it,,, In York I'd listen to WSBA while on the third floor all alone and I had an old radio on the floor in the room with the bay window to pick up the station better. I think I may also have had a TV up there that would barely get some stations without a roof antenna. On wsba i waited for the oldies show as I was just learning what I had missed in the early 60s,,,, age 18,,, When Id go to my aunts house she was her normal rude self and Lora was rotten to me as always. I was too young and experienced to know what she was yet,,, 1-21-2000,,, 2-21-00: Was it in June or July 1968 that I was in Dales mothers new car and a bunch of us went to New Jersey to visit Jimmys new home there? I recall that 'Tallahatchie Bridge' song and the Jeannie C. Riley song from a movie starring Barbara Eden were big. I recall vividly being in the car going over the skyway in New Jersey on a very bright Summer day. Jimmy was into that new black comedian that was big then and his 'Noah' comedy record. Cars then were all big American ones, not Japanese,,,, 2-21-00,,, Ah! The black comedian was BILL COSBY and the song was HARPER VALLEY PTA and it was an AUGUST 1968 song so it was later that we went there. Had to be one of the four weekends in AUGUST 1968!!!,,,,
JULY 1968:,,, I dont recall July 4th, 1968,,,--------________ JULY 1, 1968: 62 nations sign nuke non-proliferation treaty,,,, Che Guevaras diary published,,, Canada free medical starts,,, JULY 2: ((( BIAFRAN WAR going on all Summer1968))),,, Carl Albert (D) against all gun control bills,,, RAMPARTS mag publishes Che diary,,, JULY 3: McLain now 15-2,,, Sniper slay in Central Park causes LBJ to call for gun control,,, JULY 4: France announces tests of its ICBMs,,, HHH heckled by anti-war 42: ,,, July 5: July 6: July 7:McLain now 16-2,,, July 8: July 9: July 10:, July 11: July 12: McLain now 17-2, July 13: July 14: July 15: July 16: McLain now 18-2,,, July 17: My mothers 41st Birthday,,, July 18: July 19: July 20: McLain now 18-3,,, July 21: July 22: July 23: McLain now 19-3,,, July 24: July 25: July 26: July 27: McLAIN NOW 20-3!!, July 28: July 29: July 30: July 31: McLain now 21-3 1-24-2000______________ __________________ _______________ I dont know if it was JUly 1968 or August 1968 but: Somehow I heard that some place up in a bldg near Macys/Gimbles was selling tens of thousand sof old comix in an upstairs warehouse. I had never even thought of what they had up in those places. I went up there and it was like a block long of zillions of comix on metal shelves to way above my head. I got a few oldies really cheap. The guy up front told me that the old DCS would be worth money someday but the MARVELS would never be worth anything so they were simply going to destroy whatever comix they didnt sell including all the original Marvel comix,,,, I went into an AUTOMAT, perhaps the last one left, near Macys/Gimbels and put in coins for a coffee. I forgot you have to put a cup undeneath first! The coffee came out straight into the drain and I panicked. I stupidly, instantly tried to stop it by putting my hands under it!! Stupid Polak! All I did was scald my hands. That was my last trip to an Automat because they were gone by the next time I returned to NYC,,,, I still followed McLains quest for 30 every day by walking to Astoria Square under the bridge and back,,,, Still went to York,Pa in July and August. Same route. Visited mean relatives,,, Listened to wsba in York,,,,And I discovered THE PRISONER that Summer. It was my first LIBERTARIAN INDIVIDUALIST show and i couldnt wait to see it whenever we returned. I could get it in on the third floor barely. And I even taped the theme song on that huge tape recorder I had,,,, Still into 'probability and statistics' in regard to baseball history. trying to locate old time stats. there was no big encyclopedia with all of them in those days,,,, 1-21-2000, 446pm,,,
AUGUST 1968:__________ ... I went to YANKEE STADIUM in the Summer of 1968. I think it was August. I actually PAID for a ticket for the first time in my life. I may have gone to more than one game but I think it was just one. I was going to get GENERAL ADMISSION and thus have plenty of money for food and a scorecard. Then I looked at the prices and decided to get the next highest one which left me very little money for spending. And then when I got to the front (only a couple of people ahead of me. It was a day game and the Yankees stunk in 1968 and their fans were mostly front-runners) the ticket seller told me that if I went up ANOTHER step I could get a great seat as almost noone was there. So I did it and I had no spending money left. But I did see MICKEY MANTLE play one last time. He didnt do anything of note, though. I dont know what day it was and I believe he just pinch-hit in a meaningless game with the TIGERS way ahead,,,,, Across from YANKEE STADIUM I discovered MANNYS BASEBALL LAND which was a huge warehouse with a tiny room inside. I was REALLY into baseball history then and I bought what I could afford. I think I looked at a list and he went back to get it all out of the back. No one lese was into that stuff in 1968 so I got the stuff really cheap and wished I could afford a lot more. But I got a bunch of good stuff I still have. Once I asked for photos of Mantle and Snider and he brought them out. Sniders was in black and white and I asked if he had a color one and he said, "Are you kiddin'?". He also advertised in the comics and mags for mail orders. I remember being on the elevated train going from The Bronx to Manhattan all alone in the 'subway' car wondering why other baseball fans never had any interest in this stuff. (Then they went nuts in the late 1980s). I went there a number of times without going to the games across the street. I recall a sheet of stickers of the 1943 Yankees was one thing I got,,,,, I played BATTLE OF THE BULGE with Gary and I had won every war game I had played against everyone since 1963. I finally agreed to get rid of a lot of rules to give him a bigger and bigger chance and he finally won. He then ran into the kitchen to brag to his parents that he won. Good for him. Must have been miserable to keep losing. He later became a US Marine like his brothers and was assigned to Shirley Temple Blacks embassy bldg in Africa,,,, In Aug 1968 the weird soap opera 'Dark Shadows' debuted but I had no interest in it,,,, During the Summer of 1968 I spent a lot of time pitching a Spaldeen under the Triboro Bridge. I started at the handball courts but then I went to the farthest concrete park area under it where the actual abutments were and I drew a strikebox against one so i could stand farther back. I was under there often including a couple of times when it rained but I was dry under there.,,,, age 18,,,: 2-21-00: Aha! ODE TO BILLY JO was August 1967! while HARPER VALLEY PTA was August 1968! So could I have gone to New Jersey BOTH Summers in the Mellinger's car to see Jimmys family? I was in Astoria BOTH Summers so its possible,,,,, : 2-21-00,,, _____ ______ ______ ______ _______ ________ _______ AUGUST 4, 1968: McLain now 22-3, Statue to Stan Musial unveiled outside Busch Stadium, 1-31-00 ,, August 8, 1968: McLain now 23-3,,, August 12, 1968: McLain now 24-3,,, AUGUST 14, 1968: August 16,1968: McLain now 25-3. I believe I was in the Mellinger car turning the corner off 23rd Street to home at night when I heard this. August 20,1968: McLain now 25-4,,, August 24, 1968: My fathers 43rd birthday, McLain now 25-5 after losing at Yankee Stadium where he may have been working,,, August 28, 1968: McLain now 26-5,,, 1-24-2000,,, _____ ______ _____ I WAS STILL IN ASTORIA, NY IN EARLY SEPTEMBER 1968: ... SEPTEMBER 1, 1968: McLain now 27-5,,, SEPTEMBER 6, 1968: McLain now 28-5,,,