In the author's 1960s working class neighborhood on New York's Upper East Side, Devil Dogs were a nickel, hydrants were often open, and the street game called Ringalario let boys put their arms around girls for the first time. Nuns slugged you for humming baseball beer jingles in class. Junkies scrambled up fire escapes with stolen TVs. And, like other fathers, Tommy's took him to saloons all day, and no one thought it strange.
In this funny and bittersweet portrait of his first 18 years, Tommy relives his adventures and misadventures-the day Yogi Berra stepped on his toe, the mystery behind Dad's vanished pants, and the airborne manhole cover that crushed Pete Palermo's cherished Patrician Green Thunderbird.
With ample photographs, the author revisits a world that echoes TV's "The Wonder Years"-just add taverns, subways and Checker cabs.
Thomas R. Pryor is a writer, storyteller, and photographer living in New York City. His work can be found on his blog: "Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts."
"Thomas R. Pryor has written a sweet, funny, loving memoir of growing up old-school in a colorful New York neighborhood. A story of sports, family, and boyhood, you'll be able to all but taste, smell, and feel this vanished world."
Kevin Baker, author of the novels "Dreamland," "Paradise Alley," and "Strivers Row," as well as other works of fiction and nonfiction
"Tommy Pryor's New York City boyhood was nothing like mine, a few miles and a borough away, and yet in its heart, tenderness, and tough teachable moments around Dad and ball, it was the mid-century coming of age of all of us. A rousing read."
Robert Lipsyte, former city and sports columnist, "The New York Times"
"Pryor could take a felt hat and make it funny."
Barbara Turner-Vesselago, author of "Writing Without A Parachute: The Art of Freefall"
"Pryor burrows into the terrain of his childhood with a longing and obsessiveness so powerful it feels like you are reading a memoir about his first great love."
Thomas Beller, author of "J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist""