Baby Boomer Rewind

Russo Mario

Description

Mario Russo looks back at what it was like to live through Woodstock, Vietnam, a presidential assassination, social upheaval, and more as a member of the boomer generation.
This is the story of the Boomer Generation and what it was like growing up during the 1960s, arguably the most exciting and momentous time in our nation’s history.
Over 77 million Baby Boomers witnessed the Cold War, the threat of nuclear war, the moon landing, Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the sexual revolution and so much more!
Whether it was school air raid drills, a first kiss, surfing escapades, Italian Sunday dinners, Christmas Eve celebrations, visits to Brooklyn relatives, cross-country trips, high school proms, part-time jobs, college applications, sexual encounters, or family funerals, we all went through some variation of these adolescent experiences, all delightfully described in Baby Boomer Rewind in a series of entertaining stories.
There will never be another Woodstock, nor another Beatles. The author recounts these and other memorable events as well as his personal experiences growing up in the 1960s with amusing stories that reveal what life was like in those amazing times, and how different life was then from now.

Sujets

• Social History
• Histoire
• Escándalo Watergate
• Apolo 11
• Beatles
• Baby Boom Generation
• John F. Kennedy assassination
• Vietnam
• Watergate scandal
• Woodstock Festival
• Viêt Nam
• Long Island
• History
• The Beatles
• Watergate
• Brooklyn
• Woodstock
• Apollo 11

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 24 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665733717
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:
“… a captivating, original and thought -p rovoking work depicting the history of the Boomer generation interwoven with [the Author’s] personal experiences of it… engagingly written with a conversational tone that is capable of being at once amusing and sincere… Each historical event is explained in an interesting style and its impact on the psyche of a whole generation of Americans are made evi dent.”
—A Publisher
“ I felt like I was taking a trip down memory lane while reading his book . Mario Russo’s memories, observations and anecdotes are very relatable to anyone in the Boomer generation. Looking back at seminal moments in history… he paints an accurate picture of what it means to be a Boomer… Russo writes about his own experiences, but captures a world that most of us Boomers knew and reme mber.”
—AJerseyLady
“This book brought me back to the turbulent times of the 60s and 70s that I left in the rearview mirror years ago … Told with empathy and a lot of humor, the author captured the feeling of uncertainty, upheaval, social change and hope for better times ahead , with his personal accounts of the times. A great book for boomers and anyone wanting to know what those times were like.”
—Jan B
“If you have an interest in the history of the 60s and if, in particular, you lived through that time, this book is a fun, at times poignant and memory -f illed ride for sure… it won’t take long to read this book because you’ll keep turning the pages anxious to read and re -l ive what’s next.”
—Grandpa
“…a marvelous tour de force of the 60’s and early 70’s… a masterful job of making the reader see it and feel it through his own life’s experiences . So buckle up and enjoy this wonderful s tory.”
—Rog er S.
“Just loved every page of this book … have already passed it on to fri ends!”
—Jackie Doyle
BABY BOOMER REWIND
GROWING UP IN THE 60’S
 
 
 
MARIO RUSSO
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Mario Russo.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3370-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3369-4 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3371-7 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921196
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 05/30/2023
 
 
 
 




I have dedicated this book to my loving sister, who worked with me passionately to recollect the details of our family history in the months before her passing.

CONTENTS
PART ONE
Introduction
Chapter 1Roots
Chapter 2Goodbye Brooklyn
Chapter 3Hello Long Island
Chapter 4Welcome To Deer Park
Chapter 5Summer Camp
Chapter 6The Cold War
Chapter 7Sunday Dinners
Chapter 8Deer Park Geography
Chapter 9Summer Vacations
Chapter 10John F. Kennedy and Cuba
Chapter 11The JFK Assassination
Chapter 12John F. Kennedy Junior High School
Chapter 13Summer of ’64
Chapter 14Meet the Bed-Stuy Cousins
Chapter 15The Greenpoint Cousins
Chapter 16The Beatles
Chapter 17The 1964 New York World’s Fair
Chapter 18The Winds of Change
Chapter 19Deer Park High School
Chapter 20The Russian Dentist
Chapter 21Surf’s Up
Chapter 22The Day I Died
Chapter 23High School Jobs
Chapter 24The Vietnam War
Chapter 25The Draft
Chapter 26Christmas Eve Dinner, 1969
Chapter 271968, The Most Turbulent Year
Chapter 28The Mother of All Boomer Years: 1969
Chapter 29Spring Break
Chapter 30The Knicks Make a Key Move and Win It All
Chapter 31The Saxophone V. the Trombone 2.0
Chapter 32The Summer of 1969
Chapter 33The 1969 Mets
Chapter 34Apollo 11
Chapter 35The Charles Manson Story
Chapter 36The Summer of Love
Chapter 37Woodstock – Three Days That Changed Everything
Chapter 38Woodstock, Day 2
Chapter 39Bon Voyage
Chapter 40Welcome to Rutgers
Chapter 41The Longest Summer
Chapter 42My Sophomoric Year
Chapter 43Dog Patrol
Chapter 441972 - Another Epic Year for Boomers
Chapter 45On Becoming a Lawyer
Chapter 46The Watergate Scandal
Chapter 47All Grown Up
PART TWO
Chapter 48A Look Back
Chapter 49A Fork in the Road
Chapter 50The Greenpoint Cousins
Chapter 51The Police Investigation
Chapter 52A Brooklyn Funeral
Chapter 53Another Funeral Next Week
Chapter 54The Super Bowl
Chapter 55The Gia Game
Chapter 56Ain’t that a Kick in the Ass
Chapter 57Cutting Ties
Acknowledgements
PAR T ONE
INTRODUCTION
O k, I am a baby boomer and proud of it. If my parents’ generation, having survived the Depression and World War II, is known as “The Greatest Generation,” it should be acknowledged that the boomer generation, now in our 60s and 70s, should be viewed as the “Wow Generation,” raised during the most exciting time to live in the United States ever. Growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, I and other boomers witnessed the cold war, the threat of nuclear war, the moon landing, Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the sexual revolution and so much more. Much of this “boomer history” will be recounted in this book. It will be told, however, through the lens of my story of growing up on Long Island, New York during this time, in a second-generation Italian American family of modest means.
Deer Park, Long Island was and is largely a blue-collar community located about an hour east of New York City. It is part of the suburban sprawl that followed the end of World War II, drawing people from NYC, mostly residents from Brooklyn and Queens. Brooklyn and Queens are west of Long Island and on the way to Manhattan aka “The City.” I always thought that Brooklyn and Queens were part of NYC until my cousins, all of whom were from Brooklyn, educated me otherwise. Brooklyn was simply “Brooklyn.” If you wanted to cross the East River into Manhattan, you were heading to “The City.” Go figure.
Even though I, like almost everyone else in Deer Park, was born in Brooklyn, Brooklyn was a different world to me, largely unknown except for occasional visits to my cousins who lived in small apartments in lousy neighborhoods. Long Island, geographically, is both long and an Island, as one would expect. Therefore, surrounded by water. But there is no water anywhere near Deer Park as, on Long Island, the most affluent residents live near or on the water, and the progressively less affluent move toward the center of the Island. When you reach the center of Long Island, you find Deer Park. There are exceptions, of course, like Garden City, Old Westbury and Dix Hills, but, as a rule, the money flows away from the Island’s center and toward the “North Shore” and the “South Shore” off Long Island. The North Shore is bounded by the Long Island Sound to the North, and the South Shore is bounded by a bunch of really cool barrier islands like Fire Island, which adjoin the ocean. By the way, Long Island snobbery dictates that North Shore people—particularly those residing on Long Island’s fabled “Gold Coast”— generally turn their noses up at South Shore people. “Oh, you live on the South Shore?” Mostly, South Shore people consider North Shore people assholes, or at least entitled. Ever hear of the term “Locust Valley Lockjaw?” Really, it’s a thing.
Moving east from Nassau and western Suffolk counties, Long Island splits into two forks, separated generally by the Peconic Bay. “The Hamptons” are located about 90 miles from Manhattan on the “South Fork” of Long Island’s “East End.” The Hamptons are to Manhattan what Nice is to Paris. Glitzy, “Show me the money” and fantastic beaches—some of the best in the world. Beyond the Hamptons is Montauk, called “The End” because it is at the very end of Long Island. How clever. When I was growing up in the 60s, Montauk used to be a quaint little fishing village and the surfing capital of Long Island. Then it got “Hamptonized ” about ten years ago. The “The North Fork” of the East End has a completely different vibe than the Hamptons. With more wine vineyards, small villages, and farming, it is much more low-key than the Hamptons, although there is pressure to change. When I was a kid growing up in Deer Park, I never even heard of the North Fork. So that’s Long Island Geography 101, the backdrop to my world growing up.
One more thing and it is geopolitics, not geography. If you grew up on Long Island, chances are you were a Mets, Jets, Nets, and Islander fan. If you grew up anywhere in New York City other than possibly Queens, c