the following year brought me to n.y.c. around probably 1951 or 52, I was guaranteed a job at the automat in Brooklyn and planned to go to pratt institute to study architecture....it turned out I got the job, but not the entrance to pratt, they wanted more academic background so I went to n.y.u. to further my studies, taking English, sociology, and psychology.....it was there I met ann grifalconi, now a life long friend, and it was ann who helped to get into cooper union, which was free at the time.....there I majored in architecture and after working on Madison ave, finally for an architect I went to mexico for a two week vacation......something of a prolonged dejeveu overtook me the moment I arrived there and a compulsion to return racked me until I did.......returning many times after that resulted in my dropping out of school abandoning architecture and my infant Madison ave. career ....I began to paint and luckily got exhibition space in the Mexican govt. tourist bureau when I was able to sell a few paintings and launch another trip to mexico...I began to bring things back with that fascinated me and rented a basement store on mac dougal st. in the village, which soon became the hub of the beatnick culture.....next store to john Mitchels gaslight café, home of the beat generation, across the street lay the rienzi café, and just down the block was Israel youngs music store..........n.y.c. was having something of a golden age.....low rents....job opertunities.....and a huge influx of talented people from all over the world.........I moved out of my 17.00 dollar a month apartment on prince st. into the store and faked it till I made it and over a period of a few years little si como no became one of those village fixtures and certainly a prototype for the many little individual craft shops that dotted the village side streets as well as 8th. st. and st. marks pl. ............
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 22:52:09 +0000