Last weekend, as part of the New York Public Library’s America 250 program, I taught a workshop called Writing the New York Neighborhood. I read a page from my novel, One Way to Whitefish, about an immigrant family living in mid-century Yorkville.
The goal was to get participants to use sensory details in order to bring a New York experience to life, adding characters at the end that resulted in a story sketch. Or at least the beginning of one.
New York in the summer is a treasure trove of small moments. Right now, for example, I am sitting in a West Village park, about to have dinner with a friend. The heat of the day has abated and there is a lovely breeze. Birds accompany a young conversing couple. The best part? A tree grows in front of a an old-school sign for a drug store from yesteryear, Avignone Pharmacy, with my favorite type of telephone number: CH 2-3033. Francis and Horton Avignone, Italian immigrants, ran the pharmacy from 1929 through 1956.
I’m sure there were many stories there. They are everywhere.