Memories of Bayside

A funny thing happened to me in the children’s reading room of The Windsor Park Community Library in Bayside a few summers ago.

The librarian asked me to contribute articles to the library’s newsletter and the result was "True Love," a series of stories that chronicles a momentous year that I lived through, each story leading back to my childhood growing up in Bell Park Gardens in Bayside in the 1950’s.

On that splendid day in the summer of 2008, I was drawn back to my childhood library by the dappled leaves bouncing off buildings and streets and shimmering magically through the air in Manhattan where I live. Bourne back to the dappled leaves of summer days growing up in Bayside, I found myself sitting in my childhood library, as if in a dream.

From that dream was born the stories that form "True Love." On these pages, I will share memories of those halcyon days as Bayside was waking up to embrace the waves of returning veterans who were seeking a green and pleasant oasis for their families.

This hilarious photograph of me, my sister and three little friends was taken on 73rd Avenue between 218th Street and Springfield Boulevard in the mid 1950’s.

There's more to come in my future installments from "True Love."