Educating A President

Monday, July 9, 2018

Hello?  Is my cousin Barbara out there?  Why do I ask?  Because, leaving a showing of "Three Identical Strangers", the fascinating documentary about triplets separated at birth, we saw Harry Belafonte in the  lobby of the movie theater.  Now 92-years old, he was gaunt and needed the support of a cane and the arm of his companion, but still elegant in his bearing.  

The last time that I saw him in person he was performing at Barbara's Sweet Sixteen party in April 1957, held at Ben Maksik's Town & Country Club, on Flatbush Avenue at Avenue V in Brooklyn, which billed itself as "The World’s Most Magnificent nite club" (sic). 

Belafonte was at the height of his popularity, with successful recordings, television appearances and movie roles, although circumscribed by the racial conventions of the day.  His album Calypso was the best seller for 31 straight weeks in 1956-57, with more sales than any previous recording.

My uncle Arthur was very generous and treated his daughter (the only girl among 7 cousins) to a lavish party.  Town & Country was supposedly the largest night club in the world and booked the top talent in the days before they were diverted to Las Vegas or massive sports arenas.  

Belafonte put on a great show, as I recall; most of his songs were already familiar to us and included that Brooklyn anthem Hava Nagila.    https://youtu.be/KTCmKmofaKA

Our group was entirely white, all Jewish except for Barbara's half-Jewish friend Michelle.  The rest of the audience was mixed, definitely some Italians.  The good old days.
. . .

My memory was not as sharp when I read in The New Yorker that "New York’s subway system now has fewer miles of track than it had in the nineteen-forties."  My quick mental inventory disputed that.  While I knew that the Fulton Street El wasn't torn down until after we moved to Queens in 1955 and the Third Avenue El still ran when I went to Stuyvesant High School nearby, I figured that the extension of the A train into East New York and acquisition of the Long Island Railroad's line to the Rockaway peninsula made up for the lost miles.  Also, I knew that the Sixth Avenue El had stopped running in the Thirties.

The Internet soon set me straight.  In 1940, when the IRT and the BMT were acquired by New York City, which already owned the IND (my regrets if these designations are meaningless to you), there was a Second Avenue El, a Ninth Avenue El, the Fifth Avenue [Brooklyn]-Bay Ridge Line, the Lexington Avenue [Brooklyn] line, the Culver Line, a different Myrtle Avenue Line, the World's Fair Subway Line (that existed from 1939 to 1941), along with the Third Avenue El and the Fulton Street El that I remembered.  The administrative integration of the transit system allowed the elimination of duplicative routes. 

If you are anywhere as nutty as I am about subjects like this, you certainly want to see a list of closed subway stations.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_closed_New_York_City_Subway_stations

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Professor Barry Seldes, CCNY '61, sends me this collection of Chinese restaurants established north of Chinatown, on the traditional lower East Side.  http://www.grubstreet.com/2018/07/the-best-cheap-eats-in-the-east-villages-chinatown-north.html 

I only know a few of them, most being quite new.  I'll try to plow through them and report for the sake of posterity.  My initial reaction is quite positive; from what I can tell, they generally seem to eschew the pretension that is inherent to many new downtown joints.  The dividing line is usually the willingness to operate in daylight, open for lunch as well as dinner. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Tom Terrific was able to join me for lunch while the sun was shining at Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles II, 648 Ninth Avenue, a tiny joint, seating 14 very close friends.  It never got crowded; most of its business was takeout or delivery.  The menu is built around 8 types of noodles, served in soup or dry.  Additionally, a few dumplings and vegetable dishes are offered.  We shared 8 pan fried chicken dumplings ($9.50) and a very large plate of beef and shrimp chow fun ($13.50).  Both were very good, but $3 or so higher than they cost at the Chinatown mother ship, 1 Doyers Street.   

Fortunately, we left a little room to warrant a stroll over to Gotham West Market, 600 11th Avenue, to ingest the handiwork of Ample Hills Creamery, ice cream at its finest.  A Chinese meal should always end with ice cream.  I had two scoops, Oatmeal Lace - dark brown sugar cinnamon ice cream with pieces of oatmeal lace cookies - and Chocolate Milk & Cookies - all-chocolate cookies and cream.

. . .

I got home in time to watch the second half of the Croatia-England World Cup match.  What intrigued me was the sight of enormous numbers of Croatian fans in the stands, distinctive in their red and white checkerboard shirts, appearing to be a vast undulating Italian restaurant.  I visited Croatia in October 2016 and got the impression that it suffered vast unemployment.  Tourism seemed to be the most dynamic part of the economy, but it was limited to the warmer months when the long Adriatic coastline attracted boaters, swimmers, water skiers, sunbathers and those serving them.  In fact, during our visit, many resorts and restaurants were closing or had closed for the season.

So, the average employed Croatian would be in the midst of his busy season right now and might be understandably reluctant to take off to Moscow to see a soccer game.  An unemployed Croatian, on the other hand, might be eager for the diversion, but unable to muster the financial resources to enjoy it.  Round trip airfare Zagreb to Moscow on Expedia, right now, is $1,724 non-stop and $692 one-stop.  For a bargain, you can bundle a non-stop fare and space in a hostel (a bunk bed in a 6-person dormitory room), starting at $1,884.  Additionally, the lowest price ticket in Luzhniki Stadium, on StubHub, for the finals on Sunday the 15th is $1,675.  In all, a hefty sum for Ivan Q. Javno (Croatia's John Q. Public).

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Mother's Day is behind us this year, but a little advance planning might be appropriate for next year's celebration.  Why not follow the example of Jared Kushner, that nice Jewish boy, and put millions in assets in a trust controlled by your mother to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest?  That allows you to wheel and deal freely on the international stage without you personally appearing to benefit from your actions.  For Mom, it's better than a scarf.

https://nyti.ms/2Je1TUx
 

Friday, July 13, 2018

On this propitious day, I decided that enough was enough with our current dismal political atmosphere.  I want light and bright and cheer, so I invited William Franklin Harrison to lunch.  As you know, I have been an early proponent of the candidacy of WFH for the American presidency in 2036, when he will be well past the constitutional age threshold.  It's with renewed optimism about the future of the American Republic that I contemplate WFH's ascendancy as the 48th President of the United States.  His very name says "Let's get going."
 

Not only will WFH be distinguished by his youth, but his (contemplated) career in computer graphics and digital cartoon creation will bring previously untapped skills to the White House.

As part of his preparation for the duties that will loom so large in his future, I took him to Chinatown for lunch.  We went to Wok Wok Southeast Asian Kitchen, 11 Mott Street.  As nominally a Malaysian restaurant, it combines the cuisines of China, India, Vietnam, and Thailand, bringing WFH closer to almost 3 billion people on Earth.  

We shared roti canai ($3.95), a lovely Indian crêpe served with a buttery curry sauce containing small pieces of chicken and potato; 4 deep-fried Vietnam spring rolls ($5.95); and Char Kway Teow ($8.95), flat rice noodles stir-fried with shrimp, sausage, squid, eggs, bean sprouts, and chives in a mix of soy sauce.  I considered lunch a foreign policy triumph.