Just a Kid from Hell's Kitchen - In Remembrance of TC Murray

ALL AROUND THE TOWN
To my mom, it seemed that 4861 Broadway was getting ever too small for an evergrowing
Tommy. We needed our own space – and distance - away from Aunt Mary and
Uncle Buddy. A situation arose whereby Uncle Buddy was relocated to the Municipal
Court in Far Rockaway. The net result was that Aunt Mary and Uncle Buddy moved into
a one- bedroom apartment on Beach 115 Street in Rockaway Park. This move was a
diplomatic solution to our problem. Now we could move too, and without any hurt
feelings.
Mom, too, followed in the footsteps of Aunt Betty and found a job as a chambermaid in
the fashionable Hampshire House on Central Park South. The upscale hotel of postcard
fame was dedicated to yesterday’s charm and tomorrow’s convenience.
So the search was on to find a low rent apartment in midtown Manhattan. With a little bit
of luck, mom found a one-bedroom apartment in a late, nineteenth-century, four story
walkup at the northeast corner of 57 th Street and 9 th Avenue. We would move into 363
West 57 th Street, our new home for two, in October of 1938 and would remain in
residence in Apartment 3D until October of 1959. Now mom could walk to work while I
was in the capable hands of the Dominican nuns at the nearby St. Joseph Day Nursery on
west 57 th Street.
ONE BEDROOM, ICEBOX INCLUDED
Our third floor walkup was a two-room apartment. Upon entering, a fifteen-foot hallway
would lead you into the kitchen, dining and living area. This rectangular room measured
about 15’ by 7’. This area would be occupied by my mother and would be furnished
rather sparsely with second hand furniture including a small dining table replete with an
oilcloth cover, two chairs, a studio couch and a dresser. The floor covering was linoleum
and the purchase of a throw rug was in order to place between the couch and the dresser.
A window at the end of the room fronted an alley that separated 363 from a similar type
four story building on 58 th Street. Between the foot of the couch and a closet was the
entrance to the bedroom. Although not commodious, it was big enough, measuring about
12’ by 10’ with one window leading onto a fire escape facing noisy Ninth Avenue. A few
sticks of furniture from a local used- furniture dealer made this a bedroom fit for a king
and my domain for some twenty-one years.