Manhattan. The Upper West Side. Zip code 10024.

A memoir of the author's early life from the ages of seven to thirty, when he lived in this rarefied air. The true star of the story, a New York neighborhood undergoing radical transformation, since repeated by the city's other four boroughs.

Born in 1938, the author remembers city elements lost to development: the schools, restaurants, parks, playing fields, stores, and the buildings themselves. "Broadway" was a cobblestone boulevard with trolleys. Indian Walk Shoe Store had a fluoroscope x-ray machine that let you see your toes wiggle inside your shoes. Egg creams were universally available. Lincoln Center was a slum.

You will appreciate this and other details of a bygone era in this

entertaining recollection of the life and the social history of one of New York's most famous and influential neighborhoods.