Westside Story.

I). Baghdad on the Hudson. After my military experience, I was headed for either Harvard or Stanford Law school. (Why I wanted to go to law school I'll never know!) My close friend, Donald Teagarden from Princeton Ivy Club called and said. "We are going to 'Baghdad on the Hudson', the city of eternal light, magic and charm." I said."What? Where?”

II). “Academia”. I attended both law school and business school at Columbia. (During my junior year a good friend of mine John Boone, ( Phi Beta Kappa, Columbia undergrad and from hillbilly family, North Dayton) suggested we talk to the business school creating a joint program with the law school. We succeeded. Law school professors were excellent, although most outspokenly liberal. This best course ever was called The Development of Legal Institutions. It described how English constitutional law, starting with the Magna Carta, developed through the establishment of property rights. Courses all three years were challenging. I managed to be in the upper half of the class. Business school was easier, but I flunked accounting. I chose not to go back for an additional semester and try to pass it again. Mission impossible. Diversity. My class in all of the school had 312 members on the first day. Graduated about 250. There were no more than 25 women. There were two black students. (One, Frank Thomas, a couple years older. Nice guy, first black captain of Columbia basketball. Later, head of the Ford Foundation. The other black, good friend, Mario Brian. Mario had been coxswain of the Harvard crew at Henley. He was from St.Thomas, Virgin Islands. (See my great adventure to St. Thomas and his help through his sister.) Little diversity in business school. Ethiopian’s Emperor Haile Selassie’s nephew was in my class. He was an Oxford grad and spoke perfect English.

III). The Turf. Freshman year, my Princeton friends, Donald Teagarden and Frank Bonsall, first semester, and Dick Scribner, second semester lived at 123rd St. and Morningside Drive, two blocks from 125th St. the center of Harlem. The area was not entirely safe. West Siders with any money did not live above 85th St.. Morningside Park was light years from Greenville Park. Total cultural change. A few stories.

A). The First Day. The first afternoon at our apartment, a young black man knocked over an elderly white lady, snatched her purse. I chased him down Morningside Park but couldn’t catch him. I returned to help the elderly lady. A young police officer was attending to he. He had been with me in basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. Small world! I apologized and said that I was sorry but I couldn’t catch the guy. He says you’re the lucky one....if you had he would’ve killed you.

B). November Blast. Late one night we heard shots coming from the street. Went down the elevator out the front door. Two dead women were on the front steps of the building. Police said they were prostitutes and had been murdered.

C). Harlem Nights. Teagarden and I would have an occasional date. We would take our dates to the Club Prelude, underneath the Broadway subway overpass and 125th St. Great music. The bouncer would walk us up 123rd Street.

D). Teagarden was fearless and I wasn’t too smart. We would get up early in the morning and jog through Harlem, actually for us, quite safe. At night we would throw beer bottles out our back window into the alley to try to kill the feral cats. Fearless!

While there are many other stories to tell, Harlem was not that bad. The locals were very nice, but one had to be “street smart”.

E). 100th Street and Central Park West. Sophomore year we moved to an apartment overlooking Central Park. New venue. Again, not entirely safe.

F) Two Stories. One night, our cheerful doorman was drinking at the bar in our block. He walked outside and was robbed and killed. Second story. I was walking home late at night from Columbia. A Puerto Rican woman came screaming at me. Could barely understand her. She said her daughter was being accosted by a man in their apartment. Again, (not the brightest decision) I followed her to the apartment. The guy ran. I asked the woman why she came to me when she was ½ block from the neighborhood police station. She said “No police! No police!”.

II). The West Side and the rest of New York. The best of all times. Enjoying all sections of New York. From all of Broadway to Greenwich Village. Brooklyn, to Chinatown. Upper Broadway was very fascinating. Argentine restaurants, Jewish delicatessens, a great experience. We could get wonderful schnitzel in the German section in the East 80s. After “inexpensive meals", 3rd Avenue area, law students would meet for a few drinks at the Oak Room Bar at the Plaza Hotel, affordable.

III). Married Life. Married Carol in the summer following my sophomore year. I went to business school that summer and for two semesters after graduating from law school. We had a wonderful group of married friends. Again, New York was so affordable. We lived in an apartment on the ground floor, Kapok St. in Riverdale overlooking the Harlem River. We had a 10’ x 3’ garden. Very different neighborhood.

IV). Friends. The outcome of the total experience, Harlem, crime, feral cats and the pressure of law school was where I made three of my best lifetime friends: but three different destinies.

A). Frank Bonsal. Ivy Club, close friend. Was setting at Columbia School of International Affairs. Never opened a book, only chased the girls on the East-side. Married beautiful, wonderful Helen. Frank returned to Baltimore and worked for the investment banking firm of Alex Brown. Later, he was founding partner of NEA. We shared an office when it was founded and bought his office building together. Lifetime friend.

B). Donald Teagarden. Also, close Ivy Club friend. From Philadelphia mainline, but real tough guy. In law school he evidenced odd behavior. He married a wonderful woman, Bobbin. In late 30's developed schizophrenia. Divorce. Saddest of stories.

C). Dick Scribner. He was a year ahead of me at Princeton. Took Bonsall’s place as roommate. Freshman year he won constitutional law prize. Married beautiful, wonderful Inez. After law school he had a great career. VP American Stock Exchang,. House Counsel Salomon Brothers Investment House. And then chairman of large charitable fund in Princeton, New Jersey and on the board of Princeton University. Still a wonderful friend.

V). Sidebar Stories

A). Often wondered, if I had not married and took up Granddad’s offer to explore buying huge timber land in the Amazon, Brazil, how my life might’ve worked out.

B). Mother’s favorite cousin, Bill Patty, Greenville High School, Princeton Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard Law Review. At Mother’s request, Bill would see me from time to time. Upon graduation he called me to his office. He was managing partner of New York’s largest law firm, Sherman and Sterling. He offered me a job. He showed me a paper I had written in law school for his partner, who had given the course. His partner had written on the paper, “You should be a stream of consciousness writer”. Most damning comment for a “want to be” lawyer. He said I'd be better off to go to Florida and become an entrepreneur with Granddad Coppock. Best advice I’ve ever had.