Oct 18, 2019

I grew up on 11th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. It was a really lovely area to grow up in. Dustin Hoffman lived in my building- And until the Weathermen came and blew up the townhouse across the street, we all got along pretty well. But at that point, when the Weathermen blew up the townhouse … They were terrorists group. They were called the Weathermen. They were a terrorist group. That’s when Dustin Hoffman moved out of my building, and we still stayed on 11th Street, and it was a beautiful area except for the Weathermen. But it was actually a beautiful place to grow up. And, my mother was a commercial artist. She used to do full page ads in the New York times for B. Altman and Company, which at the time was a beautiful- Upscale, very upscale department store on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue. 

Did the neighborhood look different from what it is today?

No, I think it’s still an area of the brownstones and small apartment houses, but I spent my life traveling the world. I went around the world first class and came back on the Concorde because at one time I worked as a travel agent for American Express. So they said, “If you’re going to sell the Concorde, you better experience it.” So they sent me around the world first class and I stopped in Jakarta and stayed at the Amandari Resort, which was a beautiful resort. So, I walk into the building and I decided that I should change my clothes to warm, because I had been traveling, get rid of my heavier clothes. And so I changed. I started to change and with that the lights went out, and all I could remember was that they were across the bottom of the living room there was the bathroom. The tub was there. And, I’m crawling around the floor because I don’t want to fall first into the bathtub. So, I’m crawling around it. I finally find the bed, and with that, the lights went back on. But I thought to myself, “Here I am, paying $700, as the travel agent, for an apartment and I’m crawling around on the floor.” I just thought it was very strange and very funny, truthfully.

But, I did travel. They sent me around the world first class and I came back on the Concorde. So, it was a very nice experience and I have … My mother, when I was a child, took me all over this country because she loved to travel, and when I was an adult, I took her all over the world. I’ve been to Japan 19 times. Because, I grew up eating sushi, which I really liked eating and I still eat it. I like it.