A Writer’s Diary Entries From Late November, 1985 | Thought Catalog

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Late November, 1985 | Thought Catalog

Richard Grayson's "WEST SIDE SUMMERS" Now Available as Paperback or eBook on Amazon Kindle

This week Superstition Mountain Press published Richard Grayson's West Side Summers. It is available in a 314-page trade paperback edition for $15.99, as well as an Amazon Kindle edition published by http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifArt Pants Company for 99 cents.

The promo stuff says in part,

Richard Grayson started writing a daily diary in the summer of 1969, when he turned 18, and has compiled daily entries since then. In the six volumes of THE BROOKLYN DIARIES (SUMMER IN BROOKLYN, AUTUMN IN BROOKLYN, WINTER IN BROOKLYN, SPRING IN BROOKLYN, MORE SUMMER IN BROOKLYN, and A YEAR IN ROCKAWAY), Grayson published selected entries from 1969 to 1980.

Now, in WEST SIDE SUMMERS, the second volume of THE EIGHTIES DIARIES (following SOUTH FLORIDA WINTERS), Grayson describes his summer days living on the Upper West Side from 1984 to 1987. Already a published author, Grayson records his days and nights prowling the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn, alone or with fellow writers and other friends, with side trips to his grandmother's beachfront co-op in Rockaway and a stay at the artists' colony that was the estate of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Celebrities like Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Isaac Bashevis Singer and a not-so-famous Harvey Pekar often cross Grayson's path, and he recreates the scene on the Yuppified Upper West Side and the grittier world of the Lower East Side.

Shakespeare in the Park, Sichuan restaurants, a decidedly seedy Times Square, hip coffee shops, Zabar's and H&H Bagels, literary readings, elderly Jews on the boardwalk, the panic and terror of the AIDS epidemic, homeless beggars, nights with ex-lovers, graduate classes in computers, gay pride parades, the Statue of Liberty centennial, cash advances at ATMs, Wall Street insider trading indictments, giving and getting interviews, soaring ambitions and crushing self-doubts: this is Grayson's world in the exciting long, hot summers of a Manhattan in the middle of the flashy 1980s.

It will also be available on Scribd and Lulu for free online reading.

Early Monday Morning at the WIlliamsburg Waterfront: Mayor Bloomberg Inaugurates Launch of East River Ferry Service

We were at the Williamsburg Waterfront -- specifically at the new pier at North 6th Street -- for the inaugural launch of East River Ferry service,

with Mayor Bloomberg,

other dignitaries and lots of media aboard for the event.

It was great to see off this wonderful new transportation service linking downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Long Island City and Manhattan. That's right, "see off."

As we told News 12 Brooklyn, "You're not getting me on that thing. I'm old enough to remember Gilligan's Island."

People around here may live on The Edge, but not us.

Having endured seasickness on the ferries to Staten Island and Fire Island, we long ago vowed never go on a boat again. We're hoping for a bridge to Governor's Island someday.

But the new ferry service should take some pressure off the rush hour commutes for us subway-taking landlubbers in congested north Brooklyn.

And it's always great to see Hizzoner,

Mr. Bloomberg, lost amid a sea

of much taller pols and media types.
Our friend Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was on hand, too, natch.

We overheard him complaining about his constituents in Coney Island who hate music concerts and "don't want them anywhere."

People are really enthusiastic. These neighborhood kids have started a new gang and are aiming to become today's Leo Gorceys, Huntz Halls, Bobby Jordans and (sigh) Billy Halops.

Anyway, there had to be at least a couple of us to shout "Bon voyage!" and throw confetti to those boarding the gangplank.

This little blond child was the last to board, presumably so that he and his life jacket could be the first off.

This guy actually did said say, "All aboard!" before raising the gangplank (disappointingly, without any community board member being asked to walk it).

We waved goodbye to the Greenpoint-bound boat. The ferry at first looked like it was going the wrong way, but the guy next to us said it probably had to go out a certain distance before turning east.

Presumably it made it to India Street for the scheduled arrival five minutes later. As we recall, Christopher Columbus thought he was sailing for India, too.

And with Mayor Bloomberg aboard, in the event of a hometown emergency, the ferry might have to suddenly set sail for Bermuda.

Anyway, we're seriously grateful to NY Waterway for providing hipsters with a new way to leave Brooklyn.

Friday Morning in Chelsea: Breakfast on the High Line

This morning we got up early and took our breakfast up to the High Line to enjoy a rare non-rainy start to a great day.

Because of the holiday, or quasi-holiday, the L train was running slow.

On such days, one should always have something sensational to read in the train. Lacking Oscar Wilde's diary, we did the best we could.

But once in that beautiful park above Chelsea, who could read?

Starbucks oatmeal tastes better the higher up you are.

It was a delicious morning. We love the High Line.

It opens at 7 a.m., so if you get there early, you can beat the crowds.

Richard Grayson letter in The New York Times: "Ban Cars, Not Carts, On New York Streets"

Richard Grayson has a letter in the New York Times today (June 11, 1998), "Ban Cars, Not Carts, On New York Streets":


To the Editor:

Fred I. Kent 3d and Andrew G. Schwartz (Op-Ed, June 6) argue that street vendors in New York should be encouraged because the decline of street-level coffee shops, bars and cafeterias has made a quick, cheap lunch hard to find in parts of Manhattan. But these establishments have largely been replaced by fast-food restaurants like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Pizza Hut, which have locations all over Manhattan. Moreover, many delis and grocery stores feature takeout salad bars and sandwiches.

Street vendors may be an asset to New York, but they are hardly the only purveyors of quick, cheap lunches.

RICHARD GRAYSON
Mesa, Ariz., June 6, 1998

Richard Grayson wins West Side Spirit's "The Word Is Manhattan" Fiction Contest

The West Side Spirit today (September 11, 1988) annnouced that Richard Grayson has won the fiction prize in the newspaper's Second Annual Fiction and Poetry Contest. This year's theme was "The Word is Manhattan" and Grayson's winning story, "Things Are Closer Than They Appear," is published in the latest issue.