Doo Wah Diddy

Never fails/checked in to my little hotel in G. Village, stressed out from Byzantine check points at Toronto airport, slept an hour, hit streets. Man! It's like plugging into another planet with double the chi flow. Ate at Chinese noodle shop, ended up talking to (and sharing dishes) with people sitting next to me AND it turns out one of them is Nancy Bass Wyden, proprietor (and descendent of founders) of none other than the.venerable Strand bookshop, the 5-story ages-old NYC landmark; we exchanged cards.

Then out into the streets to Washington Square, then random street walking, talked to this guy delivering food for Caviar (Elmer). Then to McDougal St., Cafe Dante now slick, but Cafe Reggio is same dark soulful noisy Renaissance good-vibes place it was when I first came to NYC in 1957 (and rented a room on Morton St. for $60 a week while working the night shift at the Durkee shredded coconut factory in Queens, waiting to take a ship to Europe for a 3-month motor scooter (Lambretta)/youth hostel tour of Europe.

I love it here, the city so energetically inspiring.