New York, New York

If You Can't Get It There, You Can't Get It Anywhere, New York, New York

Growing up I was always going to live in New York City when I got old enough. Growing up in metropolitan New York you tend to think you are the center of the world. OK, maybe everyone thinks that of the place where they live while they are growing up. The difference is, a New York City area person never stops thinking that way. They see everyplace else as somehow lesser. The title of this piece is not likely true but it's said that you can get everything in New York, and we all believed it was true, at least for anything worth having. Thanks to the Air Force I got the opportunity to live in other areas of the country and I found out that overall I actually liked the West Coast better.

We were fortunate in that although we lived in the suburbs my parents liked going into the city. We would go in multiple times a year. We'd eat at the Automat, an early type of fast food restaurant. It had a wall of little windows with food behind them. There was a slot to put in your coins and when you put in enough the window would open and you could pull out the plate behind it with the food on it. My sister and I loved this. We were given some coins and we could get whatever we wanted as long as one qualified as some kind of vegetable. I always got the macaroni and cheese. After that we would get some coins to get dessert. I would normally get another macaroni if I had enough or a hot dog if not. I've always liked the dinner food better than dessert. We would often visit one of the museums, sometimes the park, and once in a while the planetarium, which was my favorite. Around the holidays we sometimes would go in to see a movie at Radio City Music Hall and look at the Christmas decorations in the store windows. Going into the city was always a special outing and it was often a last minute decision by my parents to go. It was like a special surprise. Some of my fondest memories of my childhood is of us all going into the city. When I got older I would go in with my friends and at least initially, I seemed to be the only one who knew much about the city. I was lucky my parents exposed me to all that.

My brother is almost 10 years younger than I am. When I left for college he had just turned 9 and when I left for the military he was 10. So, I only knew him as a youngster and he knew me more as a grownup. Sure I would see him when I returned for short visits but I was in and out a lot. He was just a kid albeit a very generous one. All the kids in the neighborhood knew when his allowance day was. They would all come down to see him because he would spend his allowance on candy for them. One time one of the kids came after the allowance was already spent so he talked my brother into steeling something for him, I think it was gum. My Mom got wind of it and made my brother go see the store manager and pay for it. Pete was a happy, super high energy kid and was always eager to do things for you. He once heard me telling someone that I wanted to get my bike painted. My Dad happened to be painting the house at that time so once I went off with my friends he got some of the paint my Dad was using and painted my bicycle with it. The whole bike, frame, spokes, seat, wheels and handle bars. When I returned he was covered head to toe with the paint and he proudly showed me how he had painted my bike. He was probably about 6 at the time. The bike was basically ruined. I must admit that I failed to show proper appreciation for his effort. But that was Pete, he was always ready to do something for you. When you got back from the store he'd be right there to help you carry in your packages, or come out to open the garage door for you. If you were doing something around the house he would be be right there to join in. If you lived with Pete and he moved out you would notice he was gone because that guy to greet you and help you out would be missing.

When he was about 18 Pete came out to visit me in Eugene for a week. I was still going to the U of O but it was summer time so I had plenty of free time. We got to know each other a bit and learned we liked a lot of the same things, had the same sense of humor. It was a good visit but I was the older brother and Pete of course looked to me to be in charge. One day Pete showed up where I was working with my truck. He told me my truck was outside but I probably would not recognize it because he had cleaned and washed it so it was now back to it's original white color. I was just relieved that he'd refrained from painting it.

In 1980 Pete decided to move out to California with me. We started hanging out together and developed a group of friends that we did things with. I was still Pete's big brother, still someone he looked up to. Now that was great but if you are going to be friends you really need to be on equal footing and he always deferred to me. I started trying to push him on some things to get him to back me off. His roommate Frank saw this too. Finally one evening the three of us are eating in his living room and I start suggesting or maybe even insisting on something. Finally Pete just has had enough and raises his voice and strongly objects. Frank and I look at each other and throw our hands up and cheer like we just watched our team win a playoff game. Pete then really got upset but from then on I was just another guy, or at least he no longer felt obligated to go along with everything I said. We had broken through and were real, on equal footing friends.

We would get together regularly and go out. Sometimes to hear music but frequently to some local bars or clubs, but we pretty regularly went to a nearby bar called PJ's. Pete's a good looking guy and often received attention from women wherever we went, but the rest of us got at least some attention as well, and in my own mind I always thought I was a draw. There were about 5 of us in the group. I found out that maybe I was perhaps not seeing things clearly. I was at PJ's with our friend Jack. I had a couple of women come up to talk with me at different times. They each started the conversation asking about my brother. After the second one left Jack asked me if I ever got tired of women using me to find out about my brother. I looked at him and said is that what they were doing? I thought they were using the questions about my brother as an excuse to come talk to me. As Kris likes to tell me, I seem to have little trouble thinking everything is about me....

It was the 80's but the Micro Beer movement had started and we were into it. We would check out all the micro beers and the few brewpubs that existed in the Bay Area at that time. One of them was Anchor Brewing in San Francisco. We did the tour, probably a couple of times. Each year they would put out a special Christmas/holiday brew. It was a different recipe every year. We would always get some and drink it together. By the end of 1987 Pete decided to go back East and go back to school. I was sad to see him go but knew I was lucky to have those years with him.

In January of 1988 I married Kris and we moved to Sacramento. Later that year we decided to go back East for the Christmas holidays. I started looking around for the Anchor Holiday brew to take back with us. I could not find any in Sacramento. I finally had to go to Bay Area to get it, which was not too bad because I was still going back to San Francisco to play softball on some Saturdays. I could only find it in 12 packs. So I bought a 12 pack and lugged it on the plane all the way to New York. The day we arrived we decided to go into NYC to meet up with some friends after work. We planned to meet up in the South Street Seaport area. Pete, Kris and I got there a little early so we looked around for a place to get a beer while we were waiting. We found a place that looked like it had some micro-brews on tap. We went in and asked what they had on tap. They listed the beers off and one of them was Anchor's Holiday Ale! Couldn't find this in Sacramento, about 75 miles away from brewery, but it's in the first place we hit in NYC, about 3000 miles away. I guess it's true, you can get everything in New York, but I'll still take California...