Ferry Dust

Alright, so apparently I didn't catch Jason Trachtenburg in his proper element. I'm supposed to see the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players to understand what it's all about. A family trio traveling the countryside in a wacky van playing songs dedicated to old slides they pick up at estate sales & such things. Well okay, fine.

Took the ferry to Staten Island. Kept getting asked for directions by tourists. Evidently I look like a hardcore New Yorker. Staten Island was much more dull & suburban than I'd expected. I was hoping for lighthouses & nautical themes. Didn't see a single lighthouse though I understand there are some around. Didn't find the abandoned Women's Ward Pavilion of the Seaview Hospital either, though I wasn't looking very hard. Rode around on a bus trying to get a general gist of the island. Stopped for lunch at White Castle - don't laugh, I hadn't been there since I was about six & I was curious. Tasted like liquid hamburger. Plus there wasn't really anything else around.

Another feature of Staten Island is La Tourette Golf Course, which undoubtedly got its name from the obscene tirades of frustrated golfers. In old radio thrillers there always seemed to be a sinister beach house on Staten Island where our heroine is stalked by a mysterious assailant. I found no such sinister beach houses. Instead I found a lot of very un-sinister driveways with basketball hoops at one end.

Went to the Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden in Astoria with a comrade. A very Oktoberfestive atmosphere. It rained but we were dry under a tent so what did we care. Cheap pitchers of beer & kielbasa sausages. The last remaining biergarten in the New York area, or so they claim.

Getting a lot of reading done on the subways. Finished Middlesex, which I started in Boston but was interrupted. Now I'm delving into The Most of PG Wodehouse - which, being short stories, is of ideal subway length.

Forgotten NY is my new favorite website. A veritable treasure trove of history. I'm becoming obsessed with the idea of visiting the original City Hall subway station, with its chandeliers & vault lighting, though it has been closed to the public since 1998 for security purposes. Someday maybe.