My first time in New York City was in February of 1972 (Presidents Day weekend) in honor of my younger brother Nathan’s tenth birthday. I was 11-and-a-half, and our sister Mardi was only two-and-a-half, so she stayed home with our mother, Jody. We took the train with our dad, Barry, from Washington, DC, where we lived. I took notes, which are neither very deep nor descriptive, but I share them here verbatim, with a few bracketed explanations. Pictures of the diary follow the transcript.
Diary of New York Trip.
Sat. February 19, 1972
AM 7:15 – We have
boarded the train. Barry forgot the book on N.Y. and the map and schedule.
Anyway we were lucky to catch the train. We thought there was going to be a
blizzard the night before. The news said 6-12 inches of snow. In the morning it
said 2-6 inches. Anyway it is snowing hard.
Later\\ (8:30 ? 9:20)
We went to the Snack Bar. Nathan stayed at seat. Barry got a coffee, and Nate
and I got Cokes and Yankee Doodle cupcakes. I finished The Phantom of the Opera and read “The Magician”, from the book Ghouls.
\\ We’re in the hotel now. In room 1240 and floor 12. It
has 2 baths, 2 small beds, and a foldout couch – which Barry is sleeping
on.
\\ 10:00 now The first place we went to was Polk’s Hobby
Shop which we walked to from our hotel (Penn-Garden). Nathan got a B-24, a B-17
Flying Fortress, and a Lockheed SR-71. I got a B25B and a Tiger Shark [probably
Revell plastic model warplanes]. Then we took a bus to FAO Schwarz. Then we
went to a restaurant and had lunch. We walked to Lincoln Center. We saw a movie
theater before (Paramount) and the movie was Patton. We decided to see the 7:00 show. After Lincoln Center we
took a subway to 42nd St. We saw a lot of theaters. There was a
movie called The Return of Count Yorga
but we went to Playland [arcade of pinball, pachinko, animatronic
fortune-tellers, and other pre-computer games] instead of it. We went to two of
them and had a lot of fun. Then we went to see Patton. It was real good. Then we took a subway to the Hotel and
ate in the Coffee Shop. Then we went to bed.
Sunday, February 20, 1972
We’ve checked out today. We’ve packed up. For breakfast I
had an egg, toast, and grapefruit. Then we walked to the Empire State Building.
It has 102 floors. [We did go to the observation deck.] Then we took a Taxi to
South Ferry, where we took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. [We did climb up
to look out of the crown.] When we came out I tripped and hurt my knees. [Snow
was covering a short curb.] It hurt my right knee all day. Then, after we took
the ferry back, we took the subway to 42nd St., then walked to
the U.N. We took a 45 min tour there. We had a sundae in their Coffee Shop. We
took a Taxi to 42nd. We watched a movie called Murders in the Rue Morgue. They did a
lot of head-chopping. Then we took the subway to Penn Central Station. I had a
hot dog, french fries, and a Coke. The 7:30 train came at 8:22. Good night.
\\\\ It’s 11:45 or something like that. Pretty
soon we’ll be home.
\\\\ It’s 1:30 now. The train didn’t get home till
12:30. I’m home now and I’m going to sleep. Bye-Bye
THE END
[Actual photos of diary follow]
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