Hello my dear friends...
Well.... how could I let the fact that “Pitchers and Catchers” reporting to spring training by the Yanks and Mets in only a couple of days go by... without a little nod to "OUR INWOOD" and to our days in the Inwood LL and the Dyckwood Junior League....
I would imagine that mentioning in addition to the Inwood Little League that mentioning the Dyckwood Junior League is going to date myself....
Moreover, perhaps narrow the prospect as to just who is "IG"?...
But I really had to write this morning about our days of being the "Boys of Summer".... err, “...the boys of early Spring”.... “...no, the boys of late Winter”.... yeah, that's it.... “The Boys of Late-Winter”.... for getting ready in February & March to be standing on the field in early April... at Inwood Hill Park or down at the Henry Hudson Ball fields was most definitely what makes us all... "The Boys of Late Winter"....
Nevertheless, as my good friend "Eddie Gray" would be.... and probably is... saying somewhere....
"... Put me in Coach, I'm ready to play!"....
Our true Winter days were spent in anticipation of getting out there.... gloves that were prepared with a healthy dose of Neat’s-foot Oil.... wrapped shut with an old ball.... and placed under the bed for safe keeping were brought out and opened for the "season"....
The big diamonds (#1 and #5 at Inwood Hill) were packed for tryouts for the sponsored teams and the outfields were used as makeshift fields... GSS, St. Jude's, American Legion, Settlers Club, Dyckman Democratic Club, AAMRO.... just to mention a few.... and cuts were made quickly.... after all there would be minor league managers waiting (in a week's time) on the side diamonds #2,3 and 4.... and then we would be off and running.... bases that are....
Ahh, my friends.... those Saturday mornings were cold.... but they were soon followed by warmer days... and then even blistering hot days... but the desire to make that major league team was always red-hot.... even though the best games (I think) were played at the minor league level...
I still say.... in my wink, blink, and nod.... where "Inwood Guys" take the field for the best sandlot baseball that Manhattan ever saw....
"Put me in Coach... I'm ready to play, and play and play..."
Peace,
Inwood Guy
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Store Run... and a half-a-buck at the finish line...
Remember those runs to the store... for your grandparents... post your memories too... enjoy!
Hello my friends,
I can remember going on my afternoon run for my grandfather... the list was always the same... a quart bottle of Ballantine Beer or Ale... "Don’t get anything else... if they don't have Ballantine they're useless!"... he would say...
In addition, I had to get all of the newspapers...
And back then, we are talking about...
The Daily News, the Daily Mirror, the Journal American, the Herald Tribune, the New York Times and the Chief... now I have to tell ya... I absolutely dreaded that run on a Sunday! There I was carrying a large brown paper shopping bag in one hand... containing the two quart bottles of Ballantine... and I only got that because I had a note from Grandfather... and Connie (of Connie’s Deli knew my family and knew also that I was on the up & up as he would say...) and balancing all of those newspapers under my other arm....
The Old Man was the best "read guy" in town... no doubt about it... he was up on all local, city, national and international events... and then of course, I would have to stay and listen to him read out loud from the newspaper... but, I loved every minute of it!
Also, in addition to the quart of Ballantine Beer or Ale depending on what the deli had... no cans mind you, only in a bottle... Grandpa would always say "...don't want to ruin the taste boy... beer is never colder than it is in a bottle... always remember that... when your time comes" (and of course as I started to get older I wondered all the way to Connie's and back -- just when would my time come?).... I would also have to get Bugle Boy or Granger Tobacco and a pack of rolling papers... and occasionally... Prince Albert in a can... at Christmas time it was a box of Dutch Masters' Blunts.... thank God - Eli at Eli's Soda Fountain on the corner of Thayer Street and Nagle Avenue knew me and the family well... no questions were asked (like at Connie's) when buying the tobacco and papers...
Ahh, those were the days my friends... because at the end of my little sojourn to the stores on Nagle Avenue and to the news stand on Dyckman Street was a big bright and shiny .50 cent piece... old Ben Franklin himself right there on a half-a-buck!...
Man... I was rich... I mean I was rolling... I could buy one, two, no maybe even three Dad's Root Beers.... I could go to the Loews Inwood... the Alpine or...
yep, you all know me by now... to Schillingmann's for an ice cream soda or a cup of hot chocolate with the little cookie! I will never ever forget that little cookie I always thought it was the height of elegance!
Ahh, the memories come flooding back... the sunshine is bright upon all of "OUR INWOOD" and we're all together making a run for Grandpa or Grandma... and the future ahead is as bright... as a new half-a-buck... and full of...
Peace,
Inwood Guy
Hello my friends,
I can remember going on my afternoon run for my grandfather... the list was always the same... a quart bottle of Ballantine Beer or Ale... "Don’t get anything else... if they don't have Ballantine they're useless!"... he would say...
In addition, I had to get all of the newspapers...
And back then, we are talking about...
The Daily News, the Daily Mirror, the Journal American, the Herald Tribune, the New York Times and the Chief... now I have to tell ya... I absolutely dreaded that run on a Sunday! There I was carrying a large brown paper shopping bag in one hand... containing the two quart bottles of Ballantine... and I only got that because I had a note from Grandfather... and Connie (of Connie’s Deli knew my family and knew also that I was on the up & up as he would say...) and balancing all of those newspapers under my other arm....
The Old Man was the best "read guy" in town... no doubt about it... he was up on all local, city, national and international events... and then of course, I would have to stay and listen to him read out loud from the newspaper... but, I loved every minute of it!
Also, in addition to the quart of Ballantine Beer or Ale depending on what the deli had... no cans mind you, only in a bottle... Grandpa would always say "...don't want to ruin the taste boy... beer is never colder than it is in a bottle... always remember that... when your time comes" (and of course as I started to get older I wondered all the way to Connie's and back -- just when would my time come?).... I would also have to get Bugle Boy or Granger Tobacco and a pack of rolling papers... and occasionally... Prince Albert in a can... at Christmas time it was a box of Dutch Masters' Blunts.... thank God - Eli at Eli's Soda Fountain on the corner of Thayer Street and Nagle Avenue knew me and the family well... no questions were asked (like at Connie's) when buying the tobacco and papers...
Ahh, those were the days my friends... because at the end of my little sojourn to the stores on Nagle Avenue and to the news stand on Dyckman Street was a big bright and shiny .50 cent piece... old Ben Franklin himself right there on a half-a-buck!...
Man... I was rich... I mean I was rolling... I could buy one, two, no maybe even three Dad's Root Beers.... I could go to the Loews Inwood... the Alpine or...
yep, you all know me by now... to Schillingmann's for an ice cream soda or a cup of hot chocolate with the little cookie! I will never ever forget that little cookie I always thought it was the height of elegance!
Ahh, the memories come flooding back... the sunshine is bright upon all of "OUR INWOOD" and we're all together making a run for Grandpa or Grandma... and the future ahead is as bright... as a new half-a-buck... and full of...
Peace,
Inwood Guy
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Super Bowl... remembering when...
Well hello my friends…
I thought I would post something new… err, wait…, no… its old… its nostalgic…
Its here!... Super Bowl Sunday….
Well, golly! Whadda ‘ya know… the Saints are play’in the Colts… stay tuned… don’t miss a moment of the hoopla… the excitement… the television commercials… and it all begins at 6:15 pm!
Well, my friends…. long before there was a televised super bowl and long before there was an endless string of television commercials… there was Saturday and Sunday Football… our own versions of Super Bowl Saturday… and Super Bowl Sunday… long before the Bud Commercials and the “magical icebox”… there were iced-down chests of product from the F. & M. SCHAEFER BREWING COMPANY… our own version of the king of beers… in cans, bottles, quarts, nips, you name it… we had it… and we drank it…
Inwood had its Redskins… its Colts… Washington Heights had its Rebels… JUST… to mention a few (I invite you to name others)…
Organized sandlot football… great games, great guys, and even greater girls there to cheer us along… long before a “Cowgirl Cheerleaders”…
There we were traveling to the Dyckman Street Ball fields… Inwood Hill Park… and GW High Stadium… there was a game to be played… and a neighborhood honor to be defended… those games were beyond super… they were splendid examples of teamwork, of friendship and yes… do I dare say it… err… write it… a “mutual love”… between guys…
Yes, guys… (teammates)… who would throw a block that would rattle the another neighborhood’s back teeth… guys who would run through a goal post rather than break a play-pattern… folks… err, my friends… THIS WAS FOOTBALL!
Tonight… America will sit down to America’s Game… and New Orleans Saints stand in the way of the Indianapolis Colts… I hope that the best team wins… But what is really good… what is really huge… can be found in a wink, and a blink and a nod… on a cold and windy field in “OUR INWOOD and WASHINGTON HEIGHTS” it can be conjured up right now…
Because when our trip back to those games that were super long before the NFL’s is over… I guarantee that you’ll be happy… because you were young once again… for just a moment… and you broke that tackle… threw that block… ran that post pattern… and scored that touchdown… and with that memory will come…
Peace…
Inwood Guy
I thought I would post something new… err, wait…, no… its old… its nostalgic…
Its here!... Super Bowl Sunday….
Well, golly! Whadda ‘ya know… the Saints are play’in the Colts… stay tuned… don’t miss a moment of the hoopla… the excitement… the television commercials… and it all begins at 6:15 pm!
Well, my friends…. long before there was a televised super bowl and long before there was an endless string of television commercials… there was Saturday and Sunday Football… our own versions of Super Bowl Saturday… and Super Bowl Sunday… long before the Bud Commercials and the “magical icebox”… there were iced-down chests of product from the F. & M. SCHAEFER BREWING COMPANY… our own version of the king of beers… in cans, bottles, quarts, nips, you name it… we had it… and we drank it…
Inwood had its Redskins… its Colts… Washington Heights had its Rebels… JUST… to mention a few (I invite you to name others)…
Organized sandlot football… great games, great guys, and even greater girls there to cheer us along… long before a “Cowgirl Cheerleaders”…
There we were traveling to the Dyckman Street Ball fields… Inwood Hill Park… and GW High Stadium… there was a game to be played… and a neighborhood honor to be defended… those games were beyond super… they were splendid examples of teamwork, of friendship and yes… do I dare say it… err… write it… a “mutual love”… between guys…
Yes, guys… (teammates)… who would throw a block that would rattle the another neighborhood’s back teeth… guys who would run through a goal post rather than break a play-pattern… folks… err, my friends… THIS WAS FOOTBALL!
Tonight… America will sit down to America’s Game… and New Orleans Saints stand in the way of the Indianapolis Colts… I hope that the best team wins… But what is really good… what is really huge… can be found in a wink, and a blink and a nod… on a cold and windy field in “OUR INWOOD and WASHINGTON HEIGHTS” it can be conjured up right now…
Because when our trip back to those games that were super long before the NFL’s is over… I guarantee that you’ll be happy… because you were young once again… for just a moment… and you broke that tackle… threw that block… ran that post pattern… and scored that touchdown… and with that memory will come…
Peace…
Inwood Guy
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Christmas Promise
"Christmas Promise".... was posted on Christmas Eve 2009... I hope that you enjoy it...
Hello my friends,
Well this is Christmas… and as the song goes “… what have you done? - another year older…” ahh, you remember the rest…
The point is this… as I have been in touch with so many of “OUR INWOOD” brothers and sisters… I have come to realize that many of you have done great and wonderful things… you have fulfilled… whether you realize it or not…
“The Promise of Inwood”…
Yes, the promise of Inwood… that your grandparents and parents ordained for you… that you were to be born and raised in a wonderful neighborhood and that you would achieve… greater and better things than they did…
I congratulate you all… at Christmas… for fulfilling the promise… and as we all grow older together… I ask you to pass “The Promise of Inwood” onto your children and yes, grandchildren…
I also cannot avoid a wink, blink and nod… this Christmas Eve afternoon… as I have finished trimming the tree… traced down a short in the wire leading to Frosty the Snowman… and await our daughter’s Christmas Eve date to finish wrapping the last of her gifts…
And the wink, of course, takes me back to an Inwood apartment…
The wink never fails… the corner of the living room which yesterday was bare… is now adorned with the biggest Balsam Pine that you would ever see… it has to be the one that you were eyeing every afternoon in front of DiMeglio’s on Dyckman Street… you remember how you would move closer to the curb and the line of trees… to inhale those vapors of Balsam, Douglas Fir and Scotch Pine…on your way home from school… or on Saturdays before Christmas to look at those toys in the window of Weiss’ Toy Store, especially that model of the USS Saratoga that you intend to glue together and add to your bathtub-fleet… after all the fleet needs an aircraft carrier… last Christmas you added the USS Nautilus… so, your underwater warfare is covered…
The blink also delivers a Christmas treat of walking into Schillingmann’s Ice Cream Parlor… sitting up at the counter and asking Hans for a hot chocolate and an English Muffin… the cup arrives with the hottest of chocolate and real whipped cream oozing over the sides and down onto the little cookie that always placed a Schillingmann’s hot chocolate apart from the competition… the cookie is the memory… buttery and fresh… it was the epitome of class… the English Muffin just added to the holiday atmosphere… and of course, it was the ever present graciousness of Mr. & Mrs. Schillingmann that always furthered the Christmas cheer!
The nod… ahh, my friends… the NOD…
Well you knew it was coming… you just knew the NOD would be saved for last… and you also know… if you’ve followed these annual posts… that something big and beautiful is happening in “OUR INWOOD” and it happens every Christmas Eve…
Dyckman Street is awash in lights… the poles that line the street from Nagle Avenue to Broadway are strung across in red, green, gold and white swaged strings of lights and garland … the stars, the bells and the snowflakes that heralded the coming of Christmas… now shine and glow... for its…
Christmas in Inwood… and the snow is falling…
The window of Barone’s is steamed and foggy with the joy of the evening as bottomless bowls of pasta, warm bottles of wine and the camaraderie of good friends and family celebrate the eve…
Jack’s Pants is now closed… the last pair of gloves and tie and tie clasps have been sold… and now sit wrapped under a handsome tree in a home on Post Avenue…
The little Christmas tree in the window of Tony the Shoemaker on the corner of Post Avenue and Dyckman Street is still lit… and tells everyone passing that good will and good times are his wish to all…
A glance back down the street shows that Regina’s Bakery is selling out the last of its sliced rye’s… and coconut custard pies… Rite Way Fruit has finished selling all of its pears, pineapples and oranges… its snowing harder now… and Inwood is growing quieter as the snow under foot softens the sounds of the traffic…
The LOEWS Theater is showing a holiday flick… As the snow is falling and getting deeper now… It’s Christmas in Inwood and the snow is falling ... it’s a very special time of year…
The clock out in front of Sarafin’s Jewelers can still be seen and it tells all that it’s 9:30 p.m. … just enough time to finish this winter’s trek up Dyckman Street… stop into the HI-HO and buy an Egg Roll... get home… get dressed… and make it over to your favorite girl’s house to wish all a very Merry… and go to Midnight Mass… at OLQM… Good Shepherd or St. Jude… the stop at the corner of Dyckman and Sherman shows that Horn & Hardart has sold its last Rice Pudding, Spaghetti & Meatball Dinner and Health Salad…
A quick glance over the shoulder shows that Barry’s Lounge is jumping… the Chase Manhattan Bank has closed its last Christmas club account… and yes, the T.V. which is still on in the window of Whalen’s Furniture Store shows that the Yule Log still burns with its electronic crackle and pop… which is helping to warm a frigid Dyckman Street… and on the way back from Midnight Mass and a few very warm and very merry Christmas kisses… you’ll see that Ralph still loves Alice and Norton and Trixie feel the same way about each other…
Now you’ve reached Broadway… the snow is absolutely a Blizzard… everything has shutdown and this Christmas snowfall will be a thing of legend… to be nostalgically reminisced about by some guy who attached Inwood to his moniker and who on occasion goes on far too long on a future thing called the internet and on a great site called "Inwood Guy's Blog"…
The winks, the blinks and the nods… take us to a place where heroes came to live… where the dream of a bright future and promise to fulfill that future was formed… where grandparents and parents worked two and three jobs to give us the best possible start of fulfilling that promise… their only ask… was that we do better than they did… in hindsight… they still did better than we did… they started it all… in a beautiful place called Inwood… and still to this day… in a dream full of snow… it still brings us…
Peace,
Inwood Guy
Hello my friends,
Well this is Christmas… and as the song goes “… what have you done? - another year older…” ahh, you remember the rest…
The point is this… as I have been in touch with so many of “OUR INWOOD” brothers and sisters… I have come to realize that many of you have done great and wonderful things… you have fulfilled… whether you realize it or not…
“The Promise of Inwood”…
Yes, the promise of Inwood… that your grandparents and parents ordained for you… that you were to be born and raised in a wonderful neighborhood and that you would achieve… greater and better things than they did…
I congratulate you all… at Christmas… for fulfilling the promise… and as we all grow older together… I ask you to pass “The Promise of Inwood” onto your children and yes, grandchildren…
I also cannot avoid a wink, blink and nod… this Christmas Eve afternoon… as I have finished trimming the tree… traced down a short in the wire leading to Frosty the Snowman… and await our daughter’s Christmas Eve date to finish wrapping the last of her gifts…
And the wink, of course, takes me back to an Inwood apartment…
The wink never fails… the corner of the living room which yesterday was bare… is now adorned with the biggest Balsam Pine that you would ever see… it has to be the one that you were eyeing every afternoon in front of DiMeglio’s on Dyckman Street… you remember how you would move closer to the curb and the line of trees… to inhale those vapors of Balsam, Douglas Fir and Scotch Pine…on your way home from school… or on Saturdays before Christmas to look at those toys in the window of Weiss’ Toy Store, especially that model of the USS Saratoga that you intend to glue together and add to your bathtub-fleet… after all the fleet needs an aircraft carrier… last Christmas you added the USS Nautilus… so, your underwater warfare is covered…
The blink also delivers a Christmas treat of walking into Schillingmann’s Ice Cream Parlor… sitting up at the counter and asking Hans for a hot chocolate and an English Muffin… the cup arrives with the hottest of chocolate and real whipped cream oozing over the sides and down onto the little cookie that always placed a Schillingmann’s hot chocolate apart from the competition… the cookie is the memory… buttery and fresh… it was the epitome of class… the English Muffin just added to the holiday atmosphere… and of course, it was the ever present graciousness of Mr. & Mrs. Schillingmann that always furthered the Christmas cheer!
The nod… ahh, my friends… the NOD…
Well you knew it was coming… you just knew the NOD would be saved for last… and you also know… if you’ve followed these annual posts… that something big and beautiful is happening in “OUR INWOOD” and it happens every Christmas Eve…
Dyckman Street is awash in lights… the poles that line the street from Nagle Avenue to Broadway are strung across in red, green, gold and white swaged strings of lights and garland … the stars, the bells and the snowflakes that heralded the coming of Christmas… now shine and glow... for its…
Christmas in Inwood… and the snow is falling…
The window of Barone’s is steamed and foggy with the joy of the evening as bottomless bowls of pasta, warm bottles of wine and the camaraderie of good friends and family celebrate the eve…
Jack’s Pants is now closed… the last pair of gloves and tie and tie clasps have been sold… and now sit wrapped under a handsome tree in a home on Post Avenue…
The little Christmas tree in the window of Tony the Shoemaker on the corner of Post Avenue and Dyckman Street is still lit… and tells everyone passing that good will and good times are his wish to all…
A glance back down the street shows that Regina’s Bakery is selling out the last of its sliced rye’s… and coconut custard pies… Rite Way Fruit has finished selling all of its pears, pineapples and oranges… its snowing harder now… and Inwood is growing quieter as the snow under foot softens the sounds of the traffic…
The LOEWS Theater is showing a holiday flick… As the snow is falling and getting deeper now… It’s Christmas in Inwood and the snow is falling ... it’s a very special time of year…
The clock out in front of Sarafin’s Jewelers can still be seen and it tells all that it’s 9:30 p.m. … just enough time to finish this winter’s trek up Dyckman Street… stop into the HI-HO and buy an Egg Roll... get home… get dressed… and make it over to your favorite girl’s house to wish all a very Merry… and go to Midnight Mass… at OLQM… Good Shepherd or St. Jude… the stop at the corner of Dyckman and Sherman shows that Horn & Hardart has sold its last Rice Pudding, Spaghetti & Meatball Dinner and Health Salad…
A quick glance over the shoulder shows that Barry’s Lounge is jumping… the Chase Manhattan Bank has closed its last Christmas club account… and yes, the T.V. which is still on in the window of Whalen’s Furniture Store shows that the Yule Log still burns with its electronic crackle and pop… which is helping to warm a frigid Dyckman Street… and on the way back from Midnight Mass and a few very warm and very merry Christmas kisses… you’ll see that Ralph still loves Alice and Norton and Trixie feel the same way about each other…
Now you’ve reached Broadway… the snow is absolutely a Blizzard… everything has shutdown and this Christmas snowfall will be a thing of legend… to be nostalgically reminisced about by some guy who attached Inwood to his moniker and who on occasion goes on far too long on a future thing called the internet and on a great site called "Inwood Guy's Blog"…
The winks, the blinks and the nods… take us to a place where heroes came to live… where the dream of a bright future and promise to fulfill that future was formed… where grandparents and parents worked two and three jobs to give us the best possible start of fulfilling that promise… their only ask… was that we do better than they did… in hindsight… they still did better than we did… they started it all… in a beautiful place called Inwood… and still to this day… in a dream full of snow… it still brings us…
Peace,
Inwood Guy
Remembering my friend... Kevin
Kevin McGuire was a friend to all who knew him and loved him... he was a true "Inwood Guy"... below is my remembrance of Kevin... we will all miss him dearly...
Hello my dear friends…
The “Fun” in remembering our days in “OUR INWOOD” will never be spelled with a capital again… no, it really won’t… for you see the “FUNNIEST GUY” and one of our best childhood friends has left us much too soon…
Kevin McGuire was MY FRIEND (as I know he was yours)… we’ve been together in friendship since the 1st grade… we took our grammar-school lumps and heartaches together… he was at my wedding… and even though the years had separated us and we took different paths away from “OUR INWOOD”… every time we got back together for lunch… or at Patrick’s for a quick beer… or at the Park Gate Reunion down the river… the first thing that Kevin would say was... “Ya, know we always made each other laugh…” I would answer... “Yeah, Kev... we always did…” and his response would be “Yep, it was something special.”
That was the essence of Kevin McGuire… to everyone who was blessed to know him… he was “something special”… quick of wit… and just as quick to realize when a friend needed someone to talk to… and yes, even cry with… for me, it was a FRIENDSHIP from the very first day of the 1st grade that never died… it was separated yes… by year’s and moves to new places… but, it never, ever, and will never die… for having known an “Inwood Guy” like Kevin McGuire... was the chance of a lifetime... and was indeed “something special…”
Back in the old days… Kevin would kid me about my participation in local Democratic Party politics (we were really closet Republicans together– but there were not any Republican primaries in the city – and even Kevin would say, “that you win or lose the city in the primaries”)... yes, my friends… Kevin was an astute political observer… It was not that Kevin did not agree with whom I was supporting… he just thought that we could use our time to better and more young gentlemanly pursuits… like having more time for a beer or two at the Park Gate, Patrick’s, Freehill’s or The Sloop… or enjoying a good cigar... or a pipe-full of Cherry Blend... sitting on a bench outside of Fort Tyron Park…
One day I talked Kevin into taking a re-election banner for the local assemblyman and got his promise to hang it from his apartment fire-escape that overlooked Broadway… well, Kevin did as he promised… and dutifully hung the banner out for all passers-by on Thayer Street and Broadway to see… and as I walked across Riverside Drive one afternoon I looked up in horror... to see that the banner no longer read “Re-elect Jack Walsh – Assemblyman”… no… to Kevin’s enjoyment and immense delight… the banner now read: “Re-elect Jack Walsh – Soothsayer!”…
That was Kevin… truly one of the funniest people I ever met…
He was a great friend and buddy to all who knew him... and loved him…
I know that we will all miss him dearly… I will miss those occasional phone calls that started with “McGuire here… how the hell are you doing?”… and then we would talk and laugh for an hour or more… I will miss those lunches in Little Italy and in Chinatown… I will miss his call telling me that our cigars smoked together at the Park Gate Reunion were “superb!”… I will miss not seeing him at the curbside south of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saint Patrick’s Day as I march up the avenue…
But, if our faith is indeed true… we will all see his face again one day… and we’ll laugh once again for hours on-end… and we will all be young… and every day will be beautiful… and full of what I wish for my dear friend Kevin to Rest-in-Forever…
Peace,
Inwood Guy
P.S. This is the original posting that was inexplicably changed by the Administrator of the Manhattan Board when whomever it is at the MB changed my name to another... and is the reason why I will never publish a nostalgic posting on the Manhattan Board again...
Hello my dear friends…
The “Fun” in remembering our days in “OUR INWOOD” will never be spelled with a capital again… no, it really won’t… for you see the “FUNNIEST GUY” and one of our best childhood friends has left us much too soon…
Kevin McGuire was MY FRIEND (as I know he was yours)… we’ve been together in friendship since the 1st grade… we took our grammar-school lumps and heartaches together… he was at my wedding… and even though the years had separated us and we took different paths away from “OUR INWOOD”… every time we got back together for lunch… or at Patrick’s for a quick beer… or at the Park Gate Reunion down the river… the first thing that Kevin would say was... “Ya, know we always made each other laugh…” I would answer... “Yeah, Kev... we always did…” and his response would be “Yep, it was something special.”
That was the essence of Kevin McGuire… to everyone who was blessed to know him… he was “something special”… quick of wit… and just as quick to realize when a friend needed someone to talk to… and yes, even cry with… for me, it was a FRIENDSHIP from the very first day of the 1st grade that never died… it was separated yes… by year’s and moves to new places… but, it never, ever, and will never die… for having known an “Inwood Guy” like Kevin McGuire... was the chance of a lifetime... and was indeed “something special…”
Back in the old days… Kevin would kid me about my participation in local Democratic Party politics (we were really closet Republicans together– but there were not any Republican primaries in the city – and even Kevin would say, “that you win or lose the city in the primaries”)... yes, my friends… Kevin was an astute political observer… It was not that Kevin did not agree with whom I was supporting… he just thought that we could use our time to better and more young gentlemanly pursuits… like having more time for a beer or two at the Park Gate, Patrick’s, Freehill’s or The Sloop… or enjoying a good cigar... or a pipe-full of Cherry Blend... sitting on a bench outside of Fort Tyron Park…
One day I talked Kevin into taking a re-election banner for the local assemblyman and got his promise to hang it from his apartment fire-escape that overlooked Broadway… well, Kevin did as he promised… and dutifully hung the banner out for all passers-by on Thayer Street and Broadway to see… and as I walked across Riverside Drive one afternoon I looked up in horror... to see that the banner no longer read “Re-elect Jack Walsh – Assemblyman”… no… to Kevin’s enjoyment and immense delight… the banner now read: “Re-elect Jack Walsh – Soothsayer!”…
That was Kevin… truly one of the funniest people I ever met…
He was a great friend and buddy to all who knew him... and loved him…
I know that we will all miss him dearly… I will miss those occasional phone calls that started with “McGuire here… how the hell are you doing?”… and then we would talk and laugh for an hour or more… I will miss those lunches in Little Italy and in Chinatown… I will miss his call telling me that our cigars smoked together at the Park Gate Reunion were “superb!”… I will miss not seeing him at the curbside south of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saint Patrick’s Day as I march up the avenue…
But, if our faith is indeed true… we will all see his face again one day… and we’ll laugh once again for hours on-end… and we will all be young… and every day will be beautiful… and full of what I wish for my dear friend Kevin to Rest-in-Forever…
Peace,
Inwood Guy
P.S. This is the original posting that was inexplicably changed by the Administrator of the Manhattan Board when whomever it is at the MB changed my name to another... and is the reason why I will never publish a nostalgic posting on the Manhattan Board again...
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