ONE-OF-A-KIND STORIES THAT CHRONICLE THE QUIRKY CITIZENS AND SURPRISING PLACES OF A MANHATTAN THAT IS ALMOST GONE.

• Learn how to buy fireworks in the back alleys of Chinatown from a 12-year-old entrepreneur named Yong Wo.

• Meet Mafia boss, John Gotti, enjoying a 2" prime steak at his favorite restaurant before he purported had his guest whacked under the vestibule (of the author’s favorite steakhouse) while he calmly paid the dinner bill.

• Visit Rosie, a sassy Puerto Rican waitress at a 47th Street diner, serve house-special greasy bologna omelets to two filthy-rich garment salesmen handling of a quarter-of-a-cent price rise on eight million yards of fabric.

• Listen to Bennett, a dignified, retired NYC court judge reminisce about his 60-year marriage to his beloved Fanny, now deceased outside of his home on Pippen Court, a 200-year-old patch of Federalist Houses, surrounded by midtown Manhattan skyscrapers.

To add context and enjoyment, the book’s 36 stories begins with original illustration created by the author.