High Times, What's the Point?

So I have been continuing my quest to find something in visiting some sites in the NJ/NY area before I ultimately decide to leave. When I don't know. So I decided to take a run up to High Point Park in Sussex County located in the northwest part of New Jersey. At 1803ft above sea level, It is the tallest point in New Jersey. Not too tall but there you go.



The drive on Rt. 23 was direct and very pleasant, It stretched from Verona through busy towns, massive cloverleaf overpasses, through small mountains and along some pretty lakes while hugging mountain sides. A very good "Sunday drive" that was a treat in and of itself.



















When route 23 entered Sussex county. I felt like I went through a bit of a time machine, the roads had little traffic the scenery was pastoral and the businesses was old school. It was pleasant. I got to High Point Park, Paid the 5 dollars (Doing my part to stimulate the economy.) and drove up to the monument at the top of the hill.

















Unfortunately the monument was closed so I had to settle for the beautiful view at ground level. And the view is quite stunning. You can see the three states of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania from one point. I walked a thee mile trail that used part of the Appalachian Trail. It was a bit treacherous and rocky and a little too buggy but cool. I got a little displaced so my hike took a bit longer than intended.









While I was hiking I thought about calling my friend Al, who doesn't live too far away and who I hadn't seen in a little while. Plus, I was curious on what his life was like these days and I wanted to visit an area I hadn't been to in a few decades. When I called him and told him my idea of seeing him, He was surprised but wanted to see me. Now, I had to establish a place to meet because Al has still yet to get a cell phone. He suggested a mall called the Galleria at Crystal Run and I thought cool, that should be easy enough to find since it's a sparsely populated area.

Now, Al may not have a cell phone, I don't have any sort of GPS device. So I had to wing it to find this place. It was located outside of downtown Middletown but in a different direction and further out than I had expected. After circling around the area for about twenty minutes I finally asked for directions at a QuickChek. The girl in valley speak gave me directions that suggested she had no idea what she was talking about. Except she was very accurate and every road she told me about had no route numbers. I went off a different direction when I spotted lots of mall like buildings only to find it wasn't the Galleria at Crystal Run. So I backtracked, finally found the place, Once again the girl was accurate.

I was about twenty minutes plus late in meeting Al, But he was there and after some aimless wandering in the mall, He went about showing off his current lifestyle. Al teaches cartooning at Orange County Community College (OCCC) with an emphasis on the business of cartooning. His class is located on the lower floor and it was shades of art school again. He's very happy teaching because they have the enthusiasm of youth. Al showed me this beautiful mansion located on campus.

Finally we went to his favorite area comic store where we talked about our comic buying habits. I gave up buying Marvel and DC about twenty years ago and about twelve years ago I stopped going to comic book stores when several of the alternative comics I bought stopped publishing on a regular basis. So I did a little catching up. I bought a Love and rockets book, A Keith Knight book collection and a comic book by Peter Bagge called Apocalypse Nerd. Damn, They are all good and I need to catch up on my Bagge and my Hernandez Bros. Keith Knight's comic is available on line. Still his collection is great.




















Anyway, After having dinner at a diner, Me and Al spent almost an hour merely talking in the mall parking lot while holding our car doors. Filling in the gaps in our lives. It was fun, Very 80s like experience. I then drove home along the side of Greenwood Lake, A favorite route of mine.


Next, A visit to my folks and a shore disappointment.

A Dream Come True?

I have a week off of work and I am not going away on vacation. It doesn't mean I'm sitting at home the whole time, not when the weather is gonna hit the high 90s midweek. Global warming here we come.























I have took it upon myself to visit some places nearby I've never seen in my life, Some of which I waited decades to see. Flushing Meadows Corona Park was one of them.


Flushing Meadows Corona Park? Yep, Ever since I was a little kid when I saw an episode of the Flintstones where they go to the future to see the Worlds Fair I've wanted to see the place. That Worlds Fair took place in 1964 which was a few years before I was born. I was always fascinated by that time period and the fair seemed spectacular with its look at the future. Most of the remnants of the fair is gone but a few notable pieces remain. It thought it would be cool to see the park in its place. I remember loving seeing the site of the 1962 Worlds Fair for the first time when I first went to Seattle.

















Now when I was growing up and had some relatives living in Flushing, My family would drive by and I'd gaze at the Unisphere at a distance and wish we would go see it, but I couldn't drive so no go. When I lived in Manhattan I never got bored enough to pay a visit to Queens to see it. Heck I never even saw a Mets game in my four years at SVA.


Anyway, I like going into the city because the town of Union has nothing going on but rarely go outside Manhattan. So I thought I'd take the familiar 7 train to the Shea Field stop but this time I walked in the other direction to the site of the two Worlds Fairs. Now it's been 46 years since the last fair was there and the ride on the 7 has views of some of the most intense and ugly graffiti you can find strewn throughout every building in view. So I know at best when I get to the park I'll see the faded glory of time gone by.

Flushing Meadows Park is the second largest park in NYC. It's not the best maintained park with certain parts of it looking like a sad reminder of what was once a glorious place. However, The park is very well used with so much activity going on the unkempted fields. Every sport activity you can imagine was being played. Baseball, softball, football, futbol, volleyball and even cricket was being played. There was also some sort of skateboarding event going on so the park was strewn with sk8ter bois and goils.














My goal was to get close to the Unisphere and other left over structures from the 1964 fair and to see Panorama in Queens Museum. The Unisphere was spectacular with a fountain that full of people splashing around, Ignoring the signs in both English and Spanish not to do so.















I wandered around aimlessly (Anything to try to force myself to exercise) I saw the sad relic that is the former New York Pavilion. Unused, rusted and deteriorating to the point of sadness, It's hard to believe this registered landmark would be this neglected and rundown.























Another place from that era that has seen better days but still has a majesty to it is the "Terrace On The Park" a restaurant/banquet hall situated on a modernist pedestal. A great example of architecture of that optimistic era.




















But the highlight of the trip was going into the Queens Museum and seeing "Panorama" at the Queens Museum of Art. It's a spectacular model of the whole city of New York. It's done at 1/1200 scale which means the Empire State Building is about a foot tall. There is a walkway that runs the parameter of the map. You can get views of all the boroughs including Staten Island, Though you're actually walking on top of it. It has all the bridges going in and out and really gives you a unique perspective of where familiar places are in relation to other places that are well known.


















What was really fun that even an insignificant building like Sloane House (Where I spent 4 years in the dorms) was represented, It's the red building a little to the right of Madison Square Garden.























They do a good job of keeping things up to date replacing old buildings with new ones. I noticed at least two exceptions. One of course is the World Trade Center. I don't know what will happen when the new trade center opens up later this year but it's nice to still see it there. Another one was weird to me. Knowing that they updated buildings I looked to Yankee Stadium to see if it was the new one. Well, It looks like the old one with its 70s renovations intact with a small park at the location of the new one. I find this strange because on the Queens section, Shea Stadium is gone with Shea Field in its place. I guess they figured it would be noticeable that a building that is located a mere mile away in the very park the museum is located if is wasn't updated, Whereas New Yankee Stadium looks very similar to the old park especially at that scale and the location is more crowded.
















Anyway, After I left the museum I hung out with my friend Jim at the place that used to be Googie's in the Village and we both went to the landmark McSorleys near St. Marks Place and took in the ancient school atmosphere.




















Next up, My trip to High Point and a visit with my buddy Al.

New Pipe Dreams

Things That Annoy Me.

Okay, It's Sunday and on most Sundays I walk to a diner and have breakfast. If it's a real nice day, I'll walk as far as Millburn to eat and follow that with a walk on South Mountain Reservation. But most days the weather and /or my will only allows me to go a mile to either the Mark Train or the Huck Finn diner on Morris Avenue. I walked over to the Mark Twain and had myself a decent French toast meal. Afterward I walked back to my place.

Big deal, right? Anyhow, I like taking a circulus route home avoiding the main drags to instead take a less familiar street for scenic variance. So I'm walking on a sidewalk when a woman dressed to the nines comes out of a house and walks towards the church next door. She's walking at a slower pace than I am and even slows down a little down this narrow sidewalk. Since I wasn't in the mood and thought it rude to pass her and thought it would be intimidating to walk too close to her until she turned away, I walked around her via the church parking lot.

So what's the big deal? Well, after a few calls of "sir", "sir", "Sir" in my direction I turned around to find out what the heck she wanted.

Now, I'm a "mind my own business" kind of person. I don't like being interrupted when I AM minding my own business unless it's to be helped or to help someone. So, I'm like sighing when I turn to face her and say "yeah?"

"Did you park in that parking lot?"


"What, NO!" was my incredulous reply.

"Okay, Thank you, Have a Nice Day" was her sarcastic response.

Yeah, I was rude to her. I felt I was violated by being held in suspicion of doing something "wrong". And what evidence could she have? Did she see me come out of a car? Of course not. Did she see me put anything in a car or take anything out of a car? again, that would be a "no" because my car is in my OWN driveway ten blocks away. All I wanted to do was avoid interfering with her walking in what I thought was the most polite and least intrusive way, By walking AROUND her.

And what was this "crime" she accused me of in the first place? Having a vehicle occupy a space DESIGNED to occupy a vehicle? Ahhh, But there are rules and possible needs of payment who can park and where you can park. And again I ask "What is the crime?"

Think about it, I'm accused of parking my car in a parking lot of a church I don't belong to. Now, Even if I did do that and I walked away, flipping them the bird along the way, They can get my car towed at MY expense. Well within the rules of law but hardly a Christian thing to do. Think About it for a second, I don't think Jesus would be leading the charge to remove my vehicle if it wasn't interfering with anyone's safety or blocking anyone's progress. My fictional car did neither. Property and parking lot rights out of control in my estimation.

But it does point out my problem with many Christians. I grew up Christian and have kept many of the values I grew up learning from the church other than the belief in God and the belief that a man who lived 2000 years ago was the son of that God. Now a Christian is supposed to turn the other cheek, Supposed to embrace the Prodigal son.

In other words, Even if I were to go into the church, Grab a batch of holy water, Guzzle it down my throat, swish it in my mouth and spit it on the church floor. A Christian is supposed to observe this and say "God bless him!"

Otherwise you don't prove much in my eyes.

New Pipe Dreams

New Pipe Dreams

This Our Gang of ....

Jackie Cooper just passed away. He was a success in Hollywood as an actor and a director. He got his start as a child star including a short but memorable stint in the "Our Gang" comedy shorts. He starred in some of the earliest of the talking ones and with the exception of Jean Darling was the earliest of the surviving little Rascals. Not many are still alive. That's understandable since the Little Rascals ran from 1922 to 1944. Most of the big stars of the show have gone. Jackie was one of the last of the well known ones.

Still, there are about half dozen notable ones still alive. None as memorable as Spanky, Alfalfa, or Buckwheat. But all have contributed memorable moments in its history except for the one that probable had the most successful post Rascal career. And the one is Mickey Gubitosi.


The name's not familiar? Well, he is better known as Robert Blake.




As Mickey, He was an Our gang member in the last MGM years of the series. MGM totally didn't understand what made the "Our Gang" series appealing, And Mickey was representative of that. He was whiny, sanctimoniuos and totally obnoxious. He hung out with Froggie and an overgrown Buckwheat. As Robert Blake, He had a successful career in film and TV. He starred in "In Cold Blood" which led to his successful TV show "Baretta" Always in demand as a talk show guest, He had a troubled personal life that would eventually lead to his wife's murder with Blake being on trial for it. Like OJ Simpson, He was found not guilty in criminal court but losing in civil court. he's retired and in debt but still alive.



Jean Darling is the most senior member of the Our Gang. She was in the last of the silent ones. Most people probably don't know of her because they rarely show the silent Our Gangs on TV. She was the love interest of the male members such as Weezer and Joe Cobb. she had a head of blond girls and was the prototypical female of the Our Gang. Her post Our Gang career involved much stage work but the most part she was done with movies when she was still a kid.



Dicky Moore spent a year on the Our Gang series. He usually played Spanky's bigger brother in Spanky's earliest appearances. He was a very appealing character with a husky voice so it was shame when he left the series to pursue a moderately successful solo acting career in movies. He became noted for giving Shirley Temple her first on screen kiss. He has been married to noted actress Jane Powell for the last few decades.




Marianne Edwards didn't appear in many Our Gang shorts but had two memorable roles in two. In one she played a girl whom Spanky helped to pay for her costume by winning a contest after she gets stage fright. On another one she plays the new girl in town that is the object of attention from rivals Alfalfa and Spanky. In the end she goes for rich kid, Jerry Tucker. She was cute as a button whose acting career ended in childhood.



While Marianne Edwards was cute Jackie Lynn Taylor was beautiful. A striking blond who appeared in only five Our Gang shorts. She suffered from a growth spurt that made her quickly too tall for the shorts. She would sometimes be paired up with short guy Spanky during the Spanky/Scotty era, But she was better suited as the love interest of tow headed Wally but she tended to run off with rich kid Jerry Tucker.




Speaking of rich kid Jerry Tucker, He's still alive. He appeared in several Our Gang shorts usually as a background character. Sometimes he played a spoiled rich kid most memorably in the episode where he had a brand new store bought fire truck toy and challenged the gang to a race. The gang had a makeshift truck made form junk around town. I forgot who won the race but rich kid Jerry Tucker lost Jackie Lynn Taylor when she fell off the truck.



Finally, there's Sidney Kibrick, better known as "Woim", Butch the bully's freckled faced sidekick. Much like Tommy "Butch" Bond, He was in some shorts, left the series and came back with a different persona.