David Scully In New York City

 
My high school was across the river from Wall St.
The summer after high school, I worked on Wall St.
I stayed on the train for two more stops
to The Financial District where I worked.
My father took that commute for 47 years.
He worked for the phone company there.
What a location to have such a long career!
He worked there from 1928 to 1975, while
The Empire State Building
was built on 34th Street from 1930 - 1931,
and for all those TickerTape Parades!

I worked and lived in Manhattan a bit
for a few years after high school.
The next summer I worked at Avco Embassy Pictures
on 6th Ave at 52nd Street.
I drove a taxi twice for two different companies
- one in Midtown and one in The Bronx,
worked in a restaurant, had messenger jobs
in Midtown, one as a bicycle messenger,
lived in SoHo and the East Village for several
months each, practiced karate in Chinatown.
 

  
AERIAL VIEW OF MANHATTAN
from bottom of photo, you are at 110th St, Uptown, at the top of Central Park,
LOOKING DOWNTOWN.

In the middle of the photo - where Central Park ends - that's 59th Street.

Near top center of photo, looking up past 59th Street, is the tip of Manhattan.
That's The Financial District (Wall Street)
where Freedom Tower stands.
Scroll To Financial District and Freedom Tower

  

 

To the right (to the West) is The Hudson River.
If you cross the Hudson River there
at the tip of Manhattan (The Financial District)
you'll be in downtown Jersey City, NJ,
about 4 blocks from where I went to high school.
If you crossed there a half century ago,
you might have been lucky enough
to join me for lunch, for often
we'd skip off St Peter's school grounds
and walk 4 blocks to eat our lunch on the docks,
directly across from Wall Street.

One day my friend and I watched as
The Queen Mary superliner sailed to the ocean.

That's where I went to high school,
but we lived in Newark, 10 miles west,
and later moved a few blocks to South Orange.
We could see The Empire State Building
from my friend's roof.
It took almost an hour by bus and train
to get to high school every day.