Category Archives: La Familia

Fifty years ago today, I began my adventure with the U.S. Army. We were at war. I was escaping the neighborhood. It was an exciting time in my life. My Mother accompanied me to the Woodlawn station. She was unusually … Continue reading →

The Summer of 1962: I was visiting relatives on the outskirts of White Plains. I had a hot, passionate affair with a neighbor boy that summer. We tricked in the woods behind the house. One day Uncle Carmel stumbled upon … Continue reading →

1964: My mother taught me how to drive. She sat close to me on the big bench seat of her ’61 Impala. Every time I made a mistake, she smacked me. Pam, my sister, says from the back seat, “how … Continue reading →

I was the youngest entrepreneur I knew.  The old Italian men in the neighborhood would pay us kids twenty-five cents if we brought them pigeons (squib), mostly roadkills.  For my birthday, circa 1959, I got a badminton set.  I remember … Continue reading →

I grew up on Dobbs Ferry Road, half way between White Plains and Yonkers.  Our stretch of road was fairly steep.  On a snow-filled winter day around 1956 I discovered that if I rushed to the edge of the roadway, … Continue reading →

Imagine: Greenburg, NY, circa 1954. I’m heading into the backyard with a length of rope. As I head out the door, I announce that I’m gonna try a circus trick I saw on television. My mother turns to my father … Continue reading →

When I was a child, I thought I could do anything. One day I decided that the way to get to the Moon was to just stack crates atop each other till I got there. I got about ten feet … Continue reading →

Before Poppy, my father, died in 1976, he visited me in L.A. My favorite memory of that last visit was Tony Lopez’s birthday party. Tony was seeing a man influential in the film industry, who threw a huge party at … Continue reading →