Impressions of 1950’s New York

BY MARK DREISONSTOK, PM, EDITOR

Preface to A Washingtonian in 1950’s New York City at the heart of the teachings of Freema“…fugacious as time itself is a certain vast bulk of the population of the red brick district of the lower West Side… transients in abode, transients in heart and mind.” – O. Henry, “The Furnished Room” (1904) sonry. Photographs he took while in 1953 New York writing this piece as well as postcards sent to my mother in 1943 (which lay beside these pictures) accompany the following article. The recreation My father Erwin M. Dreisonstok was a lifelong resident of the Washof the scultpure/relief at Rockefeller Cenington, D.C., area, though he travelled widely in his life, living in ter suggesting the Grand Architect of the Hawaii, Korea, Japan, Bolivia, and Guatemala. Earl, as he was known, Universe with Compasses measuring his joined Bethesda Masonic Lodge #204 (Maryland) in 1943 at 21 years creation was painted by his granddaughof age. America was then in the midst of World War II, and he had ter, Cordelia Dreisonstok. W Bro. Dreisonstok (PhD) already enlisted in the United States Navy. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 94. He spent 74 years Labouring in the quarries of our A Washingtonian in 1950’s New York City Gentle Craft. A lifetime Washingtonian and a graduate with a B.A. by Erwin M. Dreisonstok from the District’s George Washington University on the GI Bill, he Behold! how swiftly the sands of the Hour-Glass run… always aspired to become a professional writer. He felt that studying English and Psychology were the perfect preparation to be a writer, New York on New Year’s Weekend was more than the narrow conas he found strong links between psychology and literature in works fines of a few streets in Manhattan usually seen by tourists. New York such as his favorite novel, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. was more than a play; a trip to Rockefeller Center; a visit to Radio My father spent most of City Music Hall; a sight of his career in a government fabulous Times Square. position in the Washington area, which rendered him unable to publish during his lifetime. Only in his 90’s did he publish remembrances of and humorous poems about Masonry in Masonic publications. On Sunday, New York was Unreality. A tremendous fog hovered over the boroughs, and the grisly outlines of skyscrapers seemed spectral in appearance. There was an ineffable quality that produced fascination and After Erwin M. Dreisonawe. stok died in 2016, I found in his papers a sketch he wrote of New York City which he wrote during a visit in the early 1950’s. My father had shown this piece to me a few years before his passing. At the time, I thought what a fine writer he was and what a shame it was he did not write and publish until the end of his lifetime. It was also of interest to me, as professor of English, I regularly teach a course on the presentation of the city and the rôle of cities in literature. New York was McSorley’s Old Ale House on East Seventh—McSorley’s wonderful saloon where in bold letters on a large stain over the bar is proudly proclaimed: “Good ale, raw onions, no ladies.” An elderly man plays on an accordion such tunes as “My Wild Irish Rose” and “East Side West Side.” It is the atmosphere of Duffy’s Tavern 1 , with sawdust on the floor, corned beef and cabbage cooking in the kitchen, and the bartender giving free advice to Photograph of 42nd Street by Erwin Dreisonstok. 1953 Only after his passing did I realize the full meaning of what my argumentative costumers. The customers are a heterogeneous group father had written and that it relates very closely to his life as a composed of Bowery derelicts, displaced persons of several counMason. In his description of life in 1950’s New York, my late father is tries, a small share of tourists, and people of the working class. And aware of the transience of life (a lesson realized in the Third Degree a glass of ale is still ten cents. in the Emblem of the Hour-Glass). I first comprehended the poignancy of this after the passing of the writer himself. There is also a focus here on the common thread of humanity within the diversity of New York, that diverse yet common human experience so much New York at another bar sees an intellectual bartender translating French for uninformed customers. In a hotel further on, a white and a black soldier from the same outfit are seen walking from a room

1Duffy’s Taver – radio show of the 1940’s and early 1950’s set in a tavern in Manhattan. For many listeners, the show epitomized life in New York City

Photograph of Rockefeller Center by Erwin Dreisonstok. 1953

Postcard of Harold Square, New York City. 1940’s

Letterhead upon which the above article was written

arm in arm with alcohol on their breaths, and good fellowship in their hearts.

At the Village Barn, the master of ceremonies asks for volunteers from customers who engage in inane contests for the entertainment of the tourists. One feels that the fun is contrived and unnatural. Once the village must have been natural. In the men’s room, a man waits with towel in hand to serve those who heed the call of nature. Operating under the assumption that turning on faucets and securing of towels is difficult, this company employee altruistically performs these services for a slight monetary fee. Across the street from the Barn, two youths lie face down on the sidewalk. Passers-by look at them just long enough to avoid steeping on them, then move on.

New York is an Eighth Avenue Subway at three o’clock in the morning where sweethearts make love unabashedly; where hobos stretch out on seats and sleep noisily; where night workers and late cavorters sit and read The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other periodicals. Wherever one looks, the ones who are not making love or sleeping are reading…reading…reading.

For some, New York is loveliness; for others loneliness, but no one appears bored. All hurry as though they were grasping frantically for the remnants of sand that slip away in the Hour-Glass of life.

Earl Dreisonstok, Passed, Raised, and Initiated in Bethesda Lodge No. 204 (Maryland) in 1943, was called to the Eternal East in June of 2016. This unpublished essay, written in 1950’s New York City and typed on Hotel Sanford stationery, was located among his private writings. 

Cordelia Dreisonstok, recreation in oil of sculpture/relief at Rockefeller Center entrance portal to the RCA building. Below the Masonic-like Divine figu e holding the Compasses is the inscription “Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of thy times.”

Erwin M. Dreisonstok, a student at GW, late 1940’s

Postcard of Empire State Building. 1940’s