923 Garden Street was a place where I had spent a lot of time and ruined many brain cells. It was all in good fun, which is what we call those explanations for our dissipated youth. Doris, Carla and Janine lived together in a first floor railroad flat. They had gone to school with Dolph, and Drew and Jorge. Some toothpaste college in upstate New York.

I first met Dolph and Jorge when we all worked for the same book publisher and I was soon drawn into their gravitational pull. There were a few planets and satellites that I became acquainted with. These fresh faced college graduates all hung out together and I found them to be welcoming and intelligent. They couldn’t afford to hangout at Maxwell’s so it was usually 923.

Dolph lived a block or two away with his sister who wasn’t too welcoming with a bunch of malcontents. One couldn’t blame her really. Dolph and his sister got along but butted heads quite a bit. Dolph soon moved to his own place with Drew, across from Maxwell’s at 1105 Washington St. It was a top floor abode which made the first floor of 923 all the more appealing.

I met Doris and Carla first, Janine was on the road, traveling. They were welcoming and funny. They all were actually and made me feel somewhat intelligent. Doris and Carla had clear notions about not succumbing to society’s ideas about beauty and rarely wore makeup or dressed according to what society dictated. They had brains that they used which could not be said about their contemporaries.

I kept hearing about Janine and how great she was. The hype was so great and when I finally met Janine I found she had surpassed all the praise thrust upon her. I am still friends with 2 of the 3 fates, though time and distance decides how often our paths cross.

Many hours I had driven down to Hoboken and double parked outside of 923. Someone always had an ear out for a honking car horn trying to get out with my car blocking them. It was a different time, over 40 years ago in Hoboken. We usually sat around the kitchen table smoking weed and watching a black and white television named Kid fuggin Devi. I remember the Aaron Spelling tv show Hotel was a popular and stoned choice.

Whippets were a gift given to me one year at 923 for my birthday. That was fun. Occasionally powders entered the picture and up the nose. That was a rare occasion though. The majority of us enjoyed the white powders and some preferred the yellow tinged sort. I wrote about that a few weeks ago.

I was moreover and more involved with the toothpaste set and having a good time. Through them I met their guitarist classmate, Leigh James, Paul America and Robert Hirsch as well as people who brushed their teeth with a different toothpaste, Doug and Kate from Louisville.

Back in reality, I decided that since yesterday riding the Path train was so crowded from 14th St, I walked up to 23rd St, the stop before 14th St. I thought, maybe, just maybe it would be an easier ride. I was woefully mistaken. The platform at 23rd St is very narrow and nervewracking. When the Hoboken train pulled in, it was crowded even more so than the day before.

Tomorrow I am due back in the bell of the fruit stand which is also the last stop as well as the beginning when going home. We’ll see how that works out.