My favorite time in New York City was every Sunday morning, when I would get up and head down to the Battery and the Staten Island Ferry. In the early seventies, I was living in an illegal loft in the SOHO district and money was in short supply…so any entertainment I could find had to be cheap. Walking down Broadway past all of the shops and restaurants, some of which were no more than three stools and a counter, gave me a sense of freedom from the 9 to 5 routine that I was stuck in during the week. When I got to Battery Park, depending on the season at the time, there were vendors selling roasted chestnuts in the fall or big soft pretzels and hot dogs the rest of the year. My greatest enjoyment came when I could board the Staten Island Ferry. There’s a line in a Bob Dylan song that goes “If you got a lot of money you can make yourself merry, if you only got a nickel it’s the Staten Island Ferry.” Well, prices have gone up since then, but to me that twenty-five cent ride was best deal any where. It’s cheaper than a New York water taxi, but just as good. It didn’t take long to get out into the harbor and to start taking in the scenery. There was the Statute of Liberty on the right and so was Ellis Island. As the ferry boat approached Staten Island, you could see the Verrazano bridge. It didn’t matter what time of year it was or what the weather was like the sight of the New York skyline from the ferry boat brought me twenty five cents of happiness, every time.
