New Brunswick, NJ Revisited

In July 2008 I wrote a journal entry about living in New Brunswick, NJ from 1974-76 just after graduating from the University of Rhode Island. In much of that entry I wrote about my social life as a Jewish single in the suburbs.  Today I revisited New Brunswick since I attended a professional meeting at Rutgers.

I was quite impressed at the way the downtown area was revitalized over the past 35 years.  There were several new high rise apartment buildings near the train station.  Back in the 70s that downtown area was nodescript at best.  The College Avenue campus of Rutgers looked pretty much the same. There was not all that much time to walk around the city especially since it was raining after the meeting. I think the Busch and Livingston campuses on the Piscataway side of the Raritan River expanded greatly over the years.  I remember visiting the Library of Science and Medicine.

I did not visit:

1. 9 Hartwell Street where I lived for the first 4 months in New Brunswick.  The landlord just kept pestering me.
2.  The Colony House on George Street where I lived for most of my New Jersey years.  It is a high rise building near Landing Lane Bridge.
3. Rhodia on Jersey Avenue where I worked.  A chemical engineering student at NJIT told me that the plant closed down in 2000.  I read that Rhodia was recented acquired by Solvay.

Reminisicing about my New Brunswick Years 1974-76

This is Part 1 or 2

When I left URI in January 1974 I did not have a job.  I had several interviews in fall 1973, but no job offers.  After being on my own for two years it was very difficult to move back with my parents in Queens.  I went to school for all those years and had nothing to show for it.  Since I was bored sitting around the house, I went to a temporary agency and got a clerical job at a bank.

 

 Finally, in May 1974 I got an offer from a chemical company called Rhodia in New Brunswick, NJ.  I will not discuss career issues in this journal entry.  As soon as I got the job offer I ran to New Brunswick to look for an apartment.  I found a temporary apartment in someone’s house in the Hungarian section of town.  New Brunswick has the highest concentration of Hungarians outside of Hungary.  However, my landlord was Polish and just wouldn’t leave me alone.  Finally in September, I found a studio apartment in a luxury building called the Colony House near the College Avenue campus of Rutgers.  Back then my rent was $245/month, but my salary was $12,000/year.

 

Anyway, let me move on to social issues.  Some of the people have unique names.  I don’t want them to find this entry by Googling themselves, so I will refer to them by initials.  In the 1970s people married much earlier than they do today.  It was very common for people to marry shortly after graduating from college.  Relatively few unmarried couples lived together back then.  It was tough for me to see many of my friends get married in 1973.  I lost most of then within a year.

 

It is tough to go it alone in a strange town.  At least this time I had a car.  It is natural to seek out people of your own kind.  In neighboring Highland Park there was a Jewish Community Center that had a singles group.  In spring 1974, it was fading away.  It seems that in singles groups everyone loses interest at the same time.  When they don’t find the person of their dreams they “move on.”

 

I met a guy in that group I will call MT.  He was about my age and also worked as a chemist.  He was a great enthusiast of outdoor activities such as hiking and camping.  However, he lacked common sense.  He once phoned me at 2:30 AM to ask me if I wanted to go hiking the next day.  He was tactless in his dealings with women.  He would talk with a girl for about 5 minutes, ask for her phone number and not call her for a month.  Then he wondered why the girl turned him down for a date.  In June 1974, I went with him to a singles weekend in Lancaster, PA.

 

The second man I met through that group was RL.  He was very good looking but just could not find himself.  He had a degree in history, but just didn’t know what he wanted to do.  He had a job as a janitor in a school, and hadvery low self-esteem.  Girls would just walk up to him.  His father got him a job as an assembly line worker for the General Motors plant in NJ.  We called him Deadbeat.

 

Back in those days there were Jewish singles dances aka “Meat Markets” where the meat was kosher.  They presented a very artificial and tense environment where you tried to pick up a girl.  There was an organization called the Dunham’s that ran Jewish singles dances.  Every year after Yom Kippur they would hold a dance we called the Annual JAP Festival.  JAP is an acronym for Jewish American Princess.  That is one expression popular in the 70s that died.

 

There had to be a better way to find a young lady.  We found out about a chapter of B’nai Brith specifically for singles.  B’nai Brith is a fund raising and service organization, but the people there were definitely looking to pair off.  We had some good times in that group.  I met a guy there AJB who became my best friend during my NJ years.  However, we were both frustrated together having problems finding the right girl and the right job.  I kept in touch with him after I left NJ in late 1976, but in 1978 he hurt me very badly and we went our own way.

 

 

My 44 Year Journey Ends on My Terms

My 44-year journey started in January 1974 as I left the University of Rhode Island (URI) with a master’s degree in chemistry and has ended today as I have retired as a Science/Engineering Librarian with NJIT.  There was successes, failures, peaks, valleys, and plateaus along the way.  I shouldn’t make this entry too long or nobody will read it.  To quote the song The Way We Were – “What's too painful to remember we simply choose to forget”.   Since I have an excellent autobiographical, it is often difficult to forget the bad experiences.

When I left URI, I had no job prospects.  I was sending resumes out to chemical companies all over the country seeking an entry level position.  In early March when I still didn’t have a job, I went to a temporary agency called OTI and applied for a job.  They placed me at Bank Americard now known as Visa and did clerical work for them.  It was very boring, but it was better than staying home. In May 1974 I landed a position with Rhodia in New Brunswick, NJ.

I moved to a temporary apartment there where the landlord was a real jerk and just could not leave me alone.  A few months later I moved to a permanent apartment nearby.  I worked in the development lab where we modified processes in the manufacture of bulk aroma chemicals.  To make a painful story short, the situation did not work out.  If you are interested in reading more about my New Brunswick days there are two previous journal entries:

• Part 1
• Part 2

In June 1975, I landed a position with UOP Fragrances in Long Island City, Queens.  I had a very terrible commute from New Brunswick to there.  My intention was to do that for a year and then move.  This job involved synthesizing new chemical substances at a small scale to be evaluated for perfume ingredients.  In early 1976 the company was sold to a Dutch company called Naarden.  Some months later, they eliminated the research department and let everyone go from the bottle washer to the research director.  So, I was out of a job again.

This job search was long and painful.  One company actually wanted me to work for them for two days as part of my interview.  I refused and didn’t get that job which was for the better.  After being unemployed for 6 months, I had to consider relocation.  I landed a job at Pfizer in Groton, Ct.

I moved to New London which is across the Thames River from Groton.  At Pfizer I worked under a Ph D chemist to synthesize new substances to be tested for analgesic activity.  Disaster struck here as I realized that I wasn’t suited to work as a laboratory chemist.  Also, Southeastern Connecticut was not the right place for me to live.  I stayed in that area for one more year and then moved back to live with my parents in Queens. 

I worked with an outplacement consultant to help me “get my act together” to find a new career path.  I decided to pursue a career as an information scientist who would research the professional literature on behalf of laboratory scientists.  Some people suggested that I pursue a degree in Library Science, but I decided not to do that at this point.  It was a difficult job search, but In June 1979 a landed a position with Schering Corporation in Bloomfield, NJ.

Again, this necessitated a long commute from Queens.  My job was to look for documentation in the literature for chemical substances that would either be intermediates or final products.  There was online searching back then, but it was very slow and primitive compared to the internet of today.  We had to use a telephone modem to search DIALOG.  Those were the days. While I was at Schering I obtained a masters in library and information science from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. That job lasted for 3 years.

From there I went to H.W. Wilson in the Bronx to become and indexer for the Applied Science and Technology Index.  I hated that job and left after 4 months.

From there I went to the New York Public Library Science and Technology Division which then (1983) was in the famous building with the Lions at 5^th Avenue and 42^nd Street.  It was one of the biggest STM Library Collections in the world.  It was difficult working with a closed stack collection.  Users had to submit a call slip to the librarian and then a page would retrieve the book or periodical and bring it to the patron. “On the table tops there are seat number, write down your seat number and we’ll bring you the item.”  They could understand nuclear physics, but not seat numbers.  The hard part was finding the physical location of the item that the person requested.  After 7 ½ years, I felt it was enough.

I wanted to become an academic librarian and obtained a position at St. Johns University in Queens.  I was the Head of the Science Division for two years and then moved on to NJIT.

I could probably write a book about my experiences over the past 25 years at the Robert Van Houten Library.  I know many of my colleagues read Bruce’s Journal so I won’t say anything negative about the university or any of the people.  Any job has its frustrations, I had my share.  I had the satisfaction of reaching out to the faculty and students and winning their respect.  NJIT has grown by leaps and bounds in my 25 years.  There are many more buildings on the campus and the student body has increase greatly.  Reference librarians have to “compete” with Google.  Instead of searching the library’s database to find information, students will do a Google search and report websites in their bibliographies.  My biggest frustration was to see the reference transactions and research consultations decline.  Interested readers can check out my librarians blog.

I should also add that I am proud of my accomplishments in the American Chemical Society and the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO).  I am also proud of my professional publications.

I was frustrated not to get a promotion for 25 years, but at least I had the satisfaction of leaving on my terms.  My career difficulties were early, before I was married and had a family.  Being on a career plateau was frustrating, but I wasn’t let go.

After 40+ years of working, and 25 years at the same it was time to retire at age 68.  I will be 69 in 4 more months.  Thankfully I am in good health and hope to enjoy my retirement years.

Reminiscing about my New Brunswick Days - 1974-76

Part 2 of 2

Let me talk about some of the young ladies that I dated during that time:

 

 I met JL at one of those silly singles dances.  She worked as a biologist for Hoffman-LaRoche a very prestigious pharmaceutical company.  I could never get a date with her on a Saturday night, so I suspected she was dating someone else.  That certainly was fair game.  One weeknight, I took her out to dinner.  When we got home, her phone rang.  She pointed to the TV and took the call.  She was on the phone for at least 30 minutes.  It must have been her regular boyfriend.  She was obviously rude to me.  She was my type, so I was disappointed that it ended.

 

I met EM through the Bnai Brith singles group.  She was a psychiatrist’s daughter.  I had several pleasant dates with her, but she dated several guys she met through that group.  I perceived it that by dating several guys at once, she prevented herself from forming an attachment to any one.  Boy, I was wrong.  My last date with her was in early June 1976.  By September, her engagement to another guy was announced in the groups’ newsletter.  She was difficult, but I was someone inexperienced at that time with dating relationships.

 

In 1976 another singles group formed at a synagogue in Highland Park.  I met LM there a few months before I left NJ.  She was a dentist’s daughter.  Her father did not run a radio message board.  Remember, there was no Internet in the 1970s.  When I first met her she said, we can get together during the week, because I see friends on weekends.  I smelled something fishy, but what to heck.  A had about 5 dates with her, and when I phoned all of a sudden she said, by the way, I’m kind of going steady with this guy, and I really love him.  She said it was difficult to tell me that.  It was better than getting the standard, I’m busy line.  Oh well.  These things happen for the better.

 

I wish the Internet were around when I was single and unattached.  I think I would have done well at initially meeting women.  Sustaining dating relationships was difficult for me back then.  The Internet could not have helped me there.

 

I said I wasn’t going to discuss career issues here, but I must relate two interview stories.  I interviewed at a family owned business called Research Organic Chemical Company.  They interviewed me for about an hour and even gave me a written test about chemistry.  They said that as part of my interview, I would have to perform a “lab test” by working for them for two days for no pay.  At first I agreed to do that, but after losing a night’s sleep I changed my mind.  I phoned them that morning and told them they would either hire me or not.  The risk to the employee in taking a new job is higher than that of an employer.  Some years later I found out that this company was put out of business since they dumped toxic chemicals in the sewer.  The owners of the company were convicted of a crime and thrown in jail.

 

I got another interview though an employment agency.  They told me not to arrive at the company until 5:30 PM since the company was going to fire the incumbent and needed an immediate replacement.  It turned out to be a wild goose chase.

 

Before I close, let me talk at little about radio at that time.  I was not much of an enthusiast back then.  AM radio was still king and I listened mostly to Harry Harrison in the morning.  My interest in radio was dormant, but came back some years later.

 

In December 1976 I left New Brunswick, NJ since I found a job for a pharmaceutical company in Connecticut.

 

This was a very difficult period in my life since I was frustrated in two ways.  Back in the 1970s people married much younger than they do today.  I really felt that being 27 years old and single, I was looked down upon.

 

I had difficulties back then finding the right job.  But if I had to flounder in my career, it was better to do it when I was younger without a wife and family.  I know a guy today who lost his job about a year ago and can’t find anything else.  He has a wife and a young daughter.

 

So Is life.

 

From time to time I have gone to professional meetings in New Brunswick.  The downtown area was really revitalized in the 30 years since I have left.  Rutgers University is bigger than it was back then.  I obviously lost touch with all the people I knew back then.

 

 

Remembering the Summer of 1974

Bob Radil tonight will be featuring the music of the summer of 1974 tonight.  Back in those days I listened to WABC which had a very tight playlist.  Some of the big hits of that summer were:

  1. Rock the Boat - The Hues Corporation (RCA)      
  2. You Make Me Feel Brand New - The Stylistics (Avco)        
  3. Billy, Don't Be a Hero - Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods (ABC)
  4. Rock Your Baby - George McCrae (T.K.)                      
  5. Sundown - Gordon Lightfoot (Reprise)                      
  6. The Streak - Ray Stevens (Barnaby)                        
  7. Band On the Run - Paul McCartney & Wings (Apple)          
  8. Be Thankful For What You Got - William deVaughn (Roxbury)

I am sure that Bob will feature many of the rarities of that summer that were not played on WABC.  Anyway when I hear the music of a specific time period, I go back and think of what I was doing at that time.  Many of the entries of this Journal are autobiographical.  In 2008 I detailed my time in New Brunswick, NJ from May 1974 - December 1976.  In this entry I'll focus on the Summer of 1974.

In the Spring after several months of job hunting I landed my first professional job at a chemical company called Rhodia which was the American division of a French chemical company called Rhone-Poulenc. It was involved in the manufacture of fragance chemicals. Some of my co-workers (I am only giving their first names) were Jack, Lou, Richard, Alexandra, Marshall, Karin and Joe.  It was dificult making the transition to industry as I had spent my entire life as a student.   In the previous journal entry I discussed my social life at that time.  In June 1974 I went on singles weekend at a dude ranch in upstate New York.  I also remember a Jewish singles group at the YMHA in Highland Park.  During that summer I lived at 9 Hartwell Street until the fall when I moved into a high rise building called the Colony House.

I found out that Rhodia abandoned the New Brunswick plant in 2000.  A few years ago Rhodia was bought out by a chemical company named Solvay.

I guess I will be thinking of the events of that summer as Bob plays the music.

Reflections on Bruce's Journal as it Approaches 4000 Entries Since October 2005

I am approaching entry #4000 of a blog that started on October 15, 2005 and just kept on going.  That article was a very short description about a football game at Hofstra University.  Most of my entries have been much longer than that.  I guess if an article is too long some people may not read it.  I can’t give a reason for keeping on writing it.  I am never certain of the impact that to made on people over 14+ years.  I am aware of a few regular readers, but it has gotten close to 600,000 hits worldwide. Perhaps some people look at an entry and think that I am a nut. Medical issues and very personal topics are never included.  Anyone can read what I put on the Internet, so I need to be careful.  Once I got in trouble when a pompous professor from Texas objected to something I wrote. I usually write two entries in three days.  I had two companion blogs that I stopped after I retired in December 2017.

• Commuting Blog
• Professional Blog

I can categorize my entries as follows:

• New York Mets
• Baseball (general)
• Sporting events that I attended
• Radio Broadcasting
• Bob Dylan
• Oldies music including Youtube videos of songs
• Museum visits
• Movies (I only critique a few movies that saw)
• Family activities including vacations
• Autobiographical entries
• Random Comments of the Day

I thought that I should look back at some of the significant entries that I have written over the years.

• Remembering Alan Berman  - I was friends with him from 2006 until his tragic death in June 2013.  This entry traced many of the events of our 7-year friendship.
• Remembering Lou Mintz of NYPL  - His son Gary found this entry and contacted me.  I joined his New York Giants (Baseball) Preservation Society
• Bruce the Mets Fan From Day 1 – and the rest is history
• Bruce, the Bob Dylan Fan – this was written in 2006.  Much has happened since then
• I’m Not There and Don’ Look Back – Two Dylan Movies with significance for me  - why I didn’t return to my former employer.
• Final Thought as a Retire and Leave the Profession of Librarianship – this was the final entry of my companion professional blog.
• It seems that out of sight out of mind supersedes keeping in touch  - My frustration with my inability to keep in touch with former colleagues
• Trying to Remember the Early Days Growing Up in Rego Park
• Reminiscing about my New Brunswick Days – Part 1
• Reminiscing about my New Brunswick Days – Part 2
• My 44-Year Journey Ends on My Terms

Bruce’s Journal is run on a platform called Blogger provided by Google.  It provides me with the list of the postings with the most hits.  Here are the top ten, many of which I don’t understand why they got so many hits:

1. TGIF  - this is a very short posting done on March 26, 2010.  I just can’t understand why it got so many hits.
2. The Tale of the Two-Dollar Bill – April 14, 2011 – I received a two-dollar bill and donated it to the local public library
3. Jeopardy and the Two-Dollar Bill -  November 22, 2011 – there was an answer on Jeopardy that required knowing that a president was on a two-dollar bill.  I thought there were better posts about Jeopardy that deserved more hits.
4. Congratulations to the Beach Boys on their 50^th anniversary – December 31, 2011
5. Jason Keller, Jeopardy Superstar- December 27, 2011
6. Mark Simone leaves WABC for WOR – January 3, 2013  Mark Simone became persona non grata as far as I’m concerned.
7. Bob Dylan – Forever Young – 50 Years of Song -Life Magazine  - February 23, 2012 – I think there are more significant posts about Dylan that should have received more hits.
8. Another Afternoon at CW Post – November 7, 2009 – About a football game there.  I don’t understand why it got so many hits.
9. WABC Rewound is Gone -  April 29 2010 – At this point WABC Rewound was no longer heard on 770 AM.  It is still heard yearly on Memorial Day on internet radio.
10. More Tsuris for the Mets – March 18, 2011 – Tsuris means aggravation.  This post discusses problems the Mets’ owners faced as a result of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

In general, I don’t understand why the above 10 entries got so many hits.  There were more articles that were more significant to me.

I will keep writing for Bruce’s Journal as I average about 240 entries a year, so in another 4 years when I reach 5000 entries, another analysis.

Failure to Launch (movie)

Today we walked over to the local multiplex to see Failure to Launch with Matthew McConaughey (Tripp) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Paula).  To make a long story short, Tripp is a 35 year old bachelor who still lives at home with his parents who use Paula to try get him to move out.  I don't want to get into the details of the movie here.  All those years ago, my situation was the exact opposite.  I did everything I could to leave my parent's house.  Here is a mini-biography:

January 1972 - I was accepted as a graduate student at the University of Rhode Island.  I left home for the first time.

January 1974 - I completed my masters degree in Rhode Island, but I hadn't landed a professional position and was forced to move back home.  The next few months were hell for me.

May 1974 - I landed my first professional position as a chemist at Rhodia in New Brunswick, NJ.  As soon as I got the job offer, I took off and looked for an apartment nearby.

December 1976 - I left New Brunswick since I had accepted a position at Pfizer in Groton, CT.  I moved to an apartment in nearby New London.

September 1978 - things just didn't work out in Groton/New London and I had to move home with my parents.  I really hated it, but my days in CT were the nadir of my life.

June 1979 - I landed my first job as a library/information scientist with Schering Corporation.

January 1980 - moved into my own apartment in Queens.

October 1983 - got married.

Maybe some day, I'll write the long biography.

 

A Non-Nostalgic Trip to New Brunswick, NJ Today

I have reminisced several times in this journal about my days in New Brunswick, NJ from May 1974 to December 1976.  New readers may want to click on the link to read about my adventures or mis-adventures there.

Today I went to a librarians meeting at the College Avenue campus.  I took New Jersey Transit (no delays, thankfully) and walked over the the meeting at the Alexander Library.  At the end of the meeting I stopped for lunch and took the train back home.  I did not want to stop by:

• 9 Hartwell Street
• 1050 George Street
• 297 Jersey Avenue

Another memory of my New Brunswick Days

About two years ago I posted about my days living in New Brunswick, NJ from 1974-76. Today on Facebook Trevor Dawes, a librarian at Princeton University, posted this article from the New York Times about the Delaware and Raritan Canal. Back then I lived at the Colony House right by the Landing Lane Bridge. The Delaware and Raritan Canal passd right by the building. I would drive to differents points on the canal and hiked for hours at a time. I often met my chemist friend Irv Rabinowitz for hikes. All those years ago we both worked at Rhodia. I last saw Irv at an American Chemical Society meeting in 1981.

Virtual Communities of Radio Enthusiasts are Becoming Real

I worte this article for a newsletter titled Decalcomania.  I thought I would post it here for the benefit of my radio enthusiast friends who are not members of that club

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virtual Communities of Radio Enthusiasts Are Becoming Real

Bruce Slutsky

Flushing, NY 11354

BruceS8852@aol.com

 

 I sent a message to the Decalcomania Yahoo group remarking that there are very few contributions to the newsletter.  Rich Appel certainly does a fine job with Hz So Good, but the publications needs more contributions representing different aspects of our collective interest in radio broadcasting.

 

I remember that I first used e-mail and accessed the Internet in the fall of 1992 when I came to my current position at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.  I discovered the Usenet group rec-radio that was moderated by the late Bill Pfeiffer.  Sometime in late 1992 I encountered Paul Richards who told me about Decalcomania which I joined.  In December 1993 we had a gathering at Bob Smolarek’s house in High Bridge, NJ. We traded airchecks and shot the breeze about radio. About a year later many of the same people met at Paul Richard’s home in Matawan, NJ.  There we planned the Decalcomania Convention that took place in July 1995 in East Brunswick, NJ. I remember visiting WRSU (Rutgers University) and WAWZ in Central New Jersey. The last gatherings of Decalcomaniacs that I attended was in August 1999 when Ken Hawkins invited the New York/New Jersey contingent to his sister’s home in Elizabeth, NJ.  I must congratulate George Greene who came from Ohio to all the gatherings that I have just mentioned.

 

America Online (AOL) had folders for enthusiasts of specific radio stations that were open only to AOL subscribers.  It was set up by Walt who grew up in New York but moved to Philadelphia.  We never had more than 6 or 8 regular posters we held gatherings in New York City in 2000, 2001, and 2003.  In our last meeting Lauren who came from Wallingford, Ct. taped the Dan Ingram show that turned out to be his last broadcast on WCBS-FM.

 

In June 2005 listeners were outraged at the abrupt flip of WCBS-FM to the hated Jack format.  Jeff from Union, NJ organized a rally by the Viacom building in Times Square.  I would have loved to be there, but I was on vacation in San Francisco at the time.

 

I arranged a gathering of oldies radio fans on June 3, 2006 the first anniversary of the dreaded format change.  It was held at Ellen’s Stardust Diner in Manhattan’s theater district where the waitresses actually sing   I originally anticipated a crowd of about 20 but over 60 came.  The guest of honor was former WCBS-FM personality Bobby Jay.

 

On December 3, 2005 talk radio WABC started a nostalgia show called Saturday Night Oldies hosted by Mark Simone.  In addition to the music played during WABC’s musicradio years (1960-82) the show includes interviews, old commercials, and calls from listeners.  There is also a message board affiliated with the show run by Allan Sniffen, board manager of the popular New York Radio Message Board.  A year later Frank, an avid listener, organized a one-year celebration at a deli in midtown Manhattan.  Over 60 people including Mark Simone and his producer Frank Morano came.  Photos of this event may be found at http://www.bill1820.com/sno.htm

 

In June 2007 WABC organized a cruise to celebrate the history of the station as both music and talk station.  Celebrities on the cruise included Cousin Bruce Morrow, Dan Ingram, Mark Simone, Curtis Sliwa, Mark Levin, Johnny Donovan, and comic Soupy Sales.  Photos from this event may found at http://picasaweb.google.com/Bigtownman/WABCCruise .

 

Finally, the latest gathering was held on December 1, 2007 for the second anniversary of Saturday Night Oldies.  Bobby Jay who now has a gig at Sirius Satellite Radio was there.  Photos may be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/Bigtownman/BensDeliDec12007

 

All of these events could not have taken place without internet technologies.  Sending e-mail is a lot easier and less expensive than making phone calls.  Maybe in future issues, there will be articles about other get togethers that have taken place over the years.

 

 

Some Memories about New Years Eve

• I remember that single girls were reluctant to be seen on New Year's Eve as they were "advertising" that they couldn't get a date.
• In 1968 my date got sick and had to cancel.  I went to a show at Radio City Music Hall with a friend.
• In 1970 I double-dated as we saw Love Story in a theater near Times Square.  The movie ended after midnight.  It showed on the way home.
• In 1975 when I lived in New Brunswick, NJ I went to the world's worst party.  The girls just wouldn't talk to us. They didn't have to pair off, but at least be a little sociable.
• This was in 1979 when Queens Bnai Brith Singles had a New Year party at somebody's house. Thirteen guys and no girls came.  They didn't want to advertise that they were not dating anyone.
• I can't remember doing anything special when I was married to Karen.  We either went to dinner at a local restaurant or a movie.

 

New York Public Library Revisited

I worked at the New York Public Library Science and Technology Division from 1983-1990.  That division was located in Room 121 in the famous building at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street now known as the Schwartzman Building.  I visited a few times in the early 1990s shortly after I left, but I hadn't been there for at least 25 years.

I wanted to do some research so I looked up the following books in their online catalog:

Thornley, Stew. 2000. Land of the Giants: New York's Polo Grounds. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

McGee, Bob. 2005. The greatest ballpark ever: Ebbets Field and the story of the Brooklyn Dodgers. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press

The Research Library is non-circulating so all books must be read there.  For now, I was more interested in Stew Thornley's book since I have contacted him through SABR and it was not available in a circulating library.  The McGee book is available through the Queens Library.

Sometimes, procedures don't change over the years.  It is still necessary to fill out a call slip and wait for the book to be retrieved from the stacks.  When I submitted the two requests, the clerk said that it would take about 30 minutes to get it.  It actually took 45 minutes.  I can understand that since there are literally miles of book stacks at NYPL and it must take time to retrieve the items and send it to the reading room.  I still remember that I had to cope with irate patrons who were very impatient about getting their materials.

I spent over two hours with Stew's book on the Polo Grounds and was glad that I found the information I was looking for about that stadium.  I glanced at the Ebbets Field book since I can get a circulating copy from the Queens Library.

The reading room was quite busy, but most of the people were using their own laptops and not accessing the library's resources.  One of the roles of a library is to provide a quiet study space, but NYPL provides access to resources not available at other public libraries.

After I finished my research I took a tour of the building to see how it had changed over the past 25 years,  There was a snack bar near the 5th Avenue entrance.  Room 121 housed the Milstein Division (local history and genealogy) since the Science Division moved to Madison Avenue and 34th Street in 1994 and renamed SIBL (Science Industry and Business Library).

I concluded my day by viewing the exhibit Peace Love and Revolution at the Library.  I offered many artifacts from the 1960s including a board with album covers from 1960s artists including Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and many others.  Visitors could press a button to hear various 1960s hits.

It was certainly a productive day.

My yearly visit to Rego Park

Thank goodness I was on vacation today.  There was a very serious power failure along the Northeast Rail Corridor between NYC and Washington.  New Jersey Transit trains were out.  the power failure occurred at 8 AM when I would have been on the train.

Once a year a take a walk around my old neighborhood in Rego Park Queens.

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/NEIGHBORHOODS/regopark/regopark.html

When I was two years old (1951) my family moved there from Brooklyn.  I stayed there with my parents on Saunders Street until 1972 when I went off to school at the University of Rhode Island.  I returned in 1974 when I didn't get a job immediately after graduation.  In May 1974 when I got my first job I moved to New Brunswick, NJ and from there to New London, CT.  Circumstances forced me to move back with my parents in late 1978.  In 1980, I got my own apartment on Wetherole St. a few blocks away from my parents.  Later in 1980 they moved about a mile away to Forest Hills.  IN 1983 when I was first married, Karen and I moved to an apartment on 99th Street in Rego Park.  In 1984 when my father-in-law moved to Florida we took over his co-op in Flushing which is only 4 miles away.  We have lived there ever since.

When I make my yearly trip to Rego Park (usually in May) I observe the retail establishments.  Only a few have remained since the 1960s.  The demographics of the neighborhood have changed.  It is not as Jewish as it once was.  Today, I observed several stores with signs in Greek.  I made it my business to pass by the three apartments where I lived over the years.

The biggest retail establishment was Alexanders Department Store which closed about 15-20 years ago.  That site is now occupied by 5 smaller stores.  I stopped by Circuit City where I resisted the temptation to buy an XM radio.  I can get the XM radio stations on AOL anyway.

Until next year.

 

 

My favorite Internet Radio

Since CBS radio flipped WCBS-FM to the Jack format I've had to look for oldies radio on the Internet.  REgular readers of this blog should hotice these on the header of each entry, but let me take this opportunity to summarize my favorites:

Breakfast with the Beatles http://www.bwtb.net - Dennis Mitchell plays Beatles songs not usually heard on the radio.

Sounds of the Sixties with Brian Matthew http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2  This show is played live on Saturday morning, but I listened to the archived version.  I only wish that I could have listened to Brian back in the 60s.  He plays a good mixture of British and American hits of that era.

WLNG http://www.wlng.com This station comes out of extreme Eastern Long Island.  Back in 1977-78 when I lived in New London CT I was able to pick it up over the air.  This is oldies radio the way it ought to be even though there are many announcements of lost pets.  Former WCBS-FM DJ Bob Shannon appears Tuesday from 11 AM - 3 PM.

Chicago's True Oldies Channel WZZN 94.7 FM http://www.947thezone.com/  If Chicago has an over the air oldies station on FM, why can't New York?  I like to listen to oldies legend Dick Biondi who can be heard for 10 PM - 1 PM EDT

WODS Boston http://www.oldies1033.com  The CBS radio jackasses who killed WCBS-FM kept the oldies station in Boston.  I especially like to listen to the Lost 45s on Sunday night with Barry Scott.  This show was syndicated for a while and was heard over the years on several stations.  This show features more 70s and 80s hits.

WOGL - Philadelphia http://www.wogl.com  Greater Media flipped their station in Philadelphia before Joel Hollander and the other CBS executives could kill WOGL.  I like the Elvis and Friends show heard on Sunday mornings.

WMTR - Morristown, NJ http://www.wmtram.com  I can pull in this station over the air from my GE Supperradio during the day.  Reception is poor overnight since the pattern changes after sunset.  Before WCBS-FM flipped, they played only pre-1964 hits.  Now they play oldies from 1955-72.

WNNJ-AM Newton, NJ which is in the Northwest corner of the state.  http://www.oldies1360.com  Former WCBS-FM personality Max Kinkel does the mornings there but he has been out since his automobile accident.

Breeze Radio Long Branch, NJ  http://breezeradio.com  Thie is an Adult Contemporary station which does play oldies.  Former WCBS-FM personality Mike Fitzgerald does morning drive while Bob Shannon has a weekend gig there.

WMGQ-FM - New Brunswick, NJ http://www.wmgqfm.com This too is an Adult Contmporary Station, but I listen mornings to hear former WABC and WCBS-FM personality Steve O'Brien.

XM radio - AOL subscribers can get 70 music stations.  I like the 60s on 6 especially on Friday evenings when they recreate a top 40 station of the 1960s.  I sample several other XM stations as well.

I am not counting Saturday Night Oldies with Mark Simone on WABC since I listen over the air.

 

 

 

Thoughts on Writing 5000 Posts for Bruce's Journal

It is hard to believe that I have reached 5000 journal entries since I started writing on October 15, 2005.  I made one entry and kept going.  I guess I express myself better in writing than I do verbally.  Back then AOL supported blogs, but later on I transitioned the journal to Blogger a service of Google, and got the domain bruceslutsky.com .  The entries range from the ridiculous to the sublime.  I don’t know the real number of how many people have read an entry.  The stats provided by Blogger indicate there were about 1,700,000 hits, but most of those must have come from robots.  The statistics also state that many hits are from China where I am a complete unknown.

I have written on topics including (in no particular order):

• ·        New York Mets
• ·        Baseball
• ·        Bob Dylan
• ·        Other Music – very often I post a song from YouTube.  Many of those videos have been deleted. I should try to replace them.
• ·        Jeopardy
• ·        Random Thoughts of the Day

According to Blogger, my most popular entries were

·        TGIF

• ·        The Tale of the Two-Dollar Bill
• ·        Jeopardy and the Two-Dollar Bill
• ·        Congratulations to the Beach Boys on their 50^th Anniversary
• ·        Jason Keller – Jeopardy Superstar
• ·        Mumbles was my Favorite Dick Tracy Villain

Those are certainly not my most distinguished posts.

My best posts IMHO were these two that were very personal

Remembering Alan Berman

Bruce and Karen (October 16, 1983 - February 16, 2021) Remembering the Good Times - Her Memory is a Blessing

Many posts were autobiographical.  The best way to find those is to go to the search box in the upper left corner and search for:

• ·        Rego Park
• ·        Forest Hills
• ·        City College
• ·        Rhode Island
• ·        New Brunswick

 

Readers can post comments on Blogger, but most of the comments I receive are on Facebook.

I got into “trouble” once when a pompous professor objected to something I wrote about.  This actually made it to the New York Times.  I challenge my readers to find the article.  Since that time I have been more careful about what I write.  I often use initials instead of a full name since people can Google themselves.

I wonder how much time I have spent over the years writing journal entries.  I don’t have to be concerned with editors or fact-checkers.

Thanks for reading.

 

Article in the Business Section of the Sunday New York Times

The article written Eilene Zimmerman titled Between College and That First Job caught my eye and brought back some memories. She suggested that recent graduate use that time to try to develop skills needed for employment and to network with people who can lead to professional employment.  That is much easier today with services such as Facebook and LinkedIn.  She also said that any job is better than no job in the interim.  There is always that "Catch-22" - I can't find a job since nobody will give me one because I am unemployed.  Believe me I know that experience.

Let's turn the clock back to early 1974.  I left the University of Rhode Island in January with a masters degree in chemistry and no job prospects.  It was hard to return to living with my parents after 2 years of being on my own.  In early March I got a temporary job doing clerical work for a bank making a few cents above the minimu wage.  Finally in May I was hired by Rhodia a chemical company in New Brunswick, NJ.

Recalling May 19th as someone else's anniversary

Back in the early 1970s I had a friend whom a will call AA who lived in Sunnyside, Queens.  We were the best of buddies as we got together almost every weekend.  Back in May 1972 I was a student at the University of Rhode Island and exchanged letters with AA.  On May 19, 1972 he went to a Cometogether singles dance at the Malibu Country Club in Queens.  There he met LK, a Jewish American Princess (JAP) from Long Island.  Back then the term JAP was popular term for a spoiled Jewish girl.  They started dating and really hit it off.  By October they became engaged and were married on May 19, 1973.

So they met 40 years ago today, and are now married 39 years.  After that point AA looked down on me since he was married and I was not.  Our friendship gradually faded but in the Fall 1974 when I was living in New Brunswick I phoned him to catch up.  He sarcastically said to me "When you get a girl, we'll be sure to come down there."  I was really hurt by that.  About a year later, I sent him a Jewish new year's card, but he didn't reciprocate.  Our friendship was over.  He rejected me because I was still single and did not even have a girlfriend at that time.

In this Facebook era, I never had the desire to reconnect with him although I became reacquainted with other friends of mine from that time of my life.  He is likely a grandfather by now.  I certainly don't wish anything bad for him, put I must remember him for the tactless way he rejected me.  We all must face rejection in our personal and professional lives.

Being Jewish at Christmas

You can read what is in the picture above or read what I have to say.  I always have that "funny feeling" of being left out at Christmas time.  We don't open up gifts on Christmas or have a large family gathering.  Many gentiles do forget the significance of the holiday as it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.

I remember back in the 1970s before I was married there was always a Jewish singles dance on Christmas Day or Eve.  It was your last chance to get a date for New Year's Eve.  In the mid 1970s when I lived in New Brunswick, NJ there was a group called the Dunhams that held such an event.  We called it a JAP Festival. (JAP=Jewish American Princess).  That expression and singles dances have become passe over the years.

I will take in a movie tomorrow, but pass on the Chinese food.  It will be nice to be off from work until January 2.

Thinking about Past and Present Presidential Campaigns

The passing today of Senator George McGovern caused me to recall some of the presidential campaigns of the past.  Yes, the presidential campaign of McGovern vs. Nixon was the most polarizing one that I remember.  Differences of opinion about America’s involvement in the Vietnam War created a lot of bad blood.  The issues of Watergate and its cover-up were revealed after the election.  It seemed that Nixon wanted to derail the presidential campaign of Edmund Muskie who would have been a formidable opponent.

The first presidential campaign I can remember is the Kennedy-Nixon rivalry of 1960.  I worked for the Democratic Club on Saunders Street handing our flyers for JFK.  Tricky Dick came close to winning.  The course of American history would have changed had he been elected in 1960.

Back in 1976 when I lived in New Brunswick, NJ I gave out flyers supporting Jimmy Carter.  It seems amazing that he came from being an obscure former Governor of Georgia to become President.

Then in 2000 there was the Florida controversy that led to the election of George W. Bush over Al Gore.

The current campaign of Obama against Romney seems very dull to me.  It seems that almost everybody has his mind made up.  With the election based on the Electoral College rather than the popular vote the candidates are campaigning only in a handful of battleground states.  For that reason I am in favor of abolishing the Electoral College.  Back in 2000 Al Gore actually had more popular votes than George W. Bush.

Spotlight on WMTR - Morristown and other NJ Oldies stations

I have a GE Superradio that can pick up distance radio stations.  From Flushing it can pick up WMTR (1250 AM)  in Morristown, NJ about 40 miles away.  I lose the station after sundown when the it must lower its power. When I first heard the station it was playing adult standards, but around 2002 it played oldies primarily from 1955-1963.  They must have been jumping for joy in June 2005 when WCBS-FM was hijacked.  Since at that point they were the only broadcast station in the region playing oldies, they expanded their playlist to include 1964 to the early 70s.  They have mained that format with local DJs until today when they adopted a satellite oldies format after 10 AM.  They had to let go their local disk jockeys.  The station's owners Greater Media also owns WCTC at 1450 AM from New Brunswick, NJ.  Until today they were a talk station including some local programming, but just took on the same satellite oldies music as WMTR.  At the same time WNNJ at 1360 AM  from Newton, NJ owned by Clear Channel adopted the syndicated True Oldies Channel.

The sad thing about this is that local suburban programming has been abandoned.  Several local radio personalities have lost their jobs.  These stations also webcast.  A few years ago former WCBS-FM overnight personality Max Kinkel did mornings at WNNJ.