Flashback to When I Worked at The Boathouse and Schaefer Music Festival in New York’s Central Park in 1970
I was 15 as the summer of 1970 approached. Woodstock took place the summer before, but I was too young to participate in the hippie convergence 100 miles north of where I lived in The Bronx.
One of my friends, Richie Fleishman, told me and a few others about jobs we could get at The Boathouse in Central Park that spring. The Loeb Boathouse is just north of the Bethesda Fountain, a major hang-out spot near 84 St. where drummers pounded out incessant beats. Then, The Boathouse was what we’d call a “greasy spoon” — a hot dog and burger joint right in the middle of the famous park. The same Boathouse that recently announced its closing.
Richie, another friend Rick Stangel and I worked there on weekends. I was initially stationed at one of the grills. I didn’t care for that and volunteered to take a food cart out instead, The Boathouse, run by Restaurant Associates, had hot dog, ices and balloon wagons. I did all three. That kept me outside The Boathouse and in direct contact with the hippie horde that had taken over the park that summer. When I had the ices wagon and colorful people would ask for free scoops, I’d plop a scoop right in their open hands. At the balloon wagon, hippies geeked out on inhaling the gas and their voices getting high (it…
