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Chapter One
The 60s began with the election of John F. Kennedy and Camelot came into being; it was the best of times. Jack, Jackie, Caroline and John John are our national heroes. We Americans share in their lives moment to moment and love them all the more for it. Still ringing in my ears, all these years later is the phrase,
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Americans are proud of our President and country; and that pride shows in our eyes.
When President Kennedy spoke we all listened with pride and rapt attention. We knew he meant what he said and he fiercely loved this country. The question of any citizen giving his or her lives for our country was never a question of if, but rather a question of when. We all knew our President stood proudly beside us, as an equal. No one expected him to be the first to go. Though his days with us were few, his impact was mighty. Every president since has been measured to the standard Jack Kennedy set and they have been found wanting. The Phrase
“You’re not Jack Kennedy, sir.” has been uttered in every Presidential election since John Kennedy was murdered.
When they took Jack away it was the worst of times. This country plunged into a national depression of immense proportions. No one who lived through those days will ever forget John John’s salute.
By the mid Sixties it was a time to work hard and remember the spirit of Camelot. Then you knew who you were and why. It was a simpler time, when life was not a mystery and a man of his word had something to be proud of. When I wanted to know about the rest of the world I bought the New York Times. The local newspapers told me all I wanted to know about my neighbors. In those days people actually worked at their jobs with pride and dedication. Starting out like everyone else, I needed a plan, some direction, and a job just to get along. As Americans, we lived through a lot that decade and deserved some good times. But first we had to pay the toll. A good job and hard work was our toll and we showed the world how it was done. With a smile and a determined step we Americans paid our toll into the future.
Now I want to show you that world, of hard work and pleasure first hand.
By the way, as your tour guide my name is Angelo Cataldo, but you can call me Angy. I grew up in a little town called Revere, which is just north of Boston. At five foot nine and one hundred and thirty five pounds, I’m kind of average, but my willingness to learn is my best attribute. At seventeen years old I’m not very precocious, but I am hard working and always try to do the right thing. Well most of the time anyway.
So, hang on tight, it might get a little bumpy as my friends and I take you on our tour. Next stop Boston, 1964.
Some jobs are great. Working with happy, friendly people, especially when they’re having fun, is fantastic. For a while I thought I had the perfect job. Doing work I loved, and being wined and dined while I did it was just too good to be true. But, running as fast as my little legs would take me I could only do two, maybe three weddings a weekend and that was just not enough.
After high school I gave up the fun an games of wedding photography and had to find a real job. The list started out:
It has to be easy to do or learn.
It cannot have babies sitting on tables. Although I love babies, photographing them can be harmful to your ears in every way.
It has to be cheap to buy or get into.
It cannot be owned by anyone I’m related to.
It has to be close enough to commute to.
And, last but not least it must make money. A lot of money.
Eventually, the idea of a submarine sandwich shop became my immediate solution for the future. My personal love for sub sandwiches led me to buy a sandwich shop in Spring Hill MA
The first few months in the shop, every store around me got robbed by gunmen walking in and sticking them up. I decided to protect myself with a gun of my own. I got a police pistol permit to carry a firearm for protection. To this day, I’ve never shot the gun in anger but it’s nice to have when you’re walking down a very dark and lonely street. The biggest danger was when moving the receipts to the bank at the end of the day. I first had to apply to the local chief of police in Spring Hill and, I had to approach the Massachusetts State Police for the permit. In MA they handle all pistol permits. During the permit qualification process, I met and became friendly with Sergeant Robert Long of the Watertown State Police Office. After this meeting I bumped into him again at Russo’s Pizza on Revere Beach one night; we talked and discovered we shared tastes in food and many other things. Sergeant Long informed me that he would be more comfortable if I addressed him as Bobby. Bobby is still a friend to this day. We both loved Russo’s Pizza and go there for a slice whenever we can. We grew up in adjoining Winthrop and Revere and actually had several mutual friends. Also, we both spent a lot of growing up time on the beach enjoying the little blond girls swimming and frolicking. Bobby and I have made it a point to get to Revere Beach about four times a year.
I don’t consider getting a pistol permit a good thing, but meeting Bobby, who became a lifelong friend, certainly was a good outcome of a bad thing.
Unfortunately, crime in the restaurant business, or, for that matter any business, was a daily concern and protecting one’s self was an absolute necessity. As an advertising strategy I convinced the shops around me to allow their business names to be used in an advertising campaign under the heading Shopper’s Corner. There are five of us under this heading. Collectively we presented a stronger entity in complaining to the police about the crime in our area. Our new position encouraged the police to increase the patrols in our area both in cars and walking. This intense police presence effectively stopped the crime spree we were enduring.
It took a little time and effort, but the sub shop finally became a busy and successful place. After hiring a great manager in Jack Callahan, I had time to talk to customers and observe the process of my business, something I never had time to do before. I was also able to take short breaks away from work.
From the time I took over the shop, local girls my age would hang around and, much to my surprise and delight, some were even brave enough to hit on me. One memorable night it was slow and Jack was handling everything fine, so when one of the girls, Peggy, asked me, after an hour of flirting, if I’d like to see her new kitchen furniture at her apartment around the corner, I said,
“sure why not.”
For weeks before this, Peggy would come in, buy a coke and flirt for hours. I loved her bubbly personality and sweet innocent face. When we got to her apartment, Peggy proudly guided me though showing her new purchases with pride and pleasure. We talked for what seemed like minutes, but were really hours. I spent the night at Peggy’s apartment and I was in love.
When I woke the next morning, she was still asleep. So, after standing and watching her sleep for a moment, I snuck out, not wanting to disturb how peaceful and beautiful she looked.
As I arrived at work my smile was so big, it rivaled the sun. Everyone at work noticed I was smiling too much. Dancing on clouds as I went about my day as usual, the help speculating that at the very least insanity had taken me prisoner. In the late afternoon, I went out to pick up some fruit for later that night. And while I was gone, Peggy came in and left me a note. She must have been watching the shop for me to leave because, when I left she entered. When I got back and read the note, I couldn’t believe it.
“Dear Daniel, Angy (the note is in pen she crossed out the name Daniel with pencil)
I’m awful sorry for the way I acted last night. I shouldn’t had let you make love to me. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. But I guess you don’t want anything to do with me.
Peg”
All day long I was dancing around the shop thinking what a stud I was. I guess my lady love thought I was more a Dud. I could feel every molecule of the blade as it plunged through my heart, making me suicidal. I never did find out why Peg dumped me, I never saw her or talked to her again.
Affairs of the heart obviously are not my thing. My knowledge of these things is so abysmal; I was actually staring life-long bachelorhood in the face. At least it wouldn’t hurt as much as this!
Sometimes, when things go bad, they seem to trigger bad times. Two years after I took over this business we were doing great business and the next thing I knew we were being sued by suppliers of the former owner.
What happened was that the former owner was being sued by everyone he dealt with. The former owner lied and told each of his creditors I bought the entire business and was suppose to pay the back bills. When these creditors saw I was doing good business they decided to take it away from me if they could. Once we got into court the lawyers introduced the original Bill of Sale for the business and the case was thrown out, but, that didn’t mean anything to the next group.
Soon after losing Peggy and fighting a few of the pending battery of law suits, I decided it was time to sell out. The heart went out of me and the fight became more than I could handle.
The deal I made with the new group gave Jack a long term job if he wanted it. I also left with a substantial check that made my future better.
Frankly, if I had known the amount I could sell the business for before I started defending the court cases I would have sold out sooner.
Now that I have time and a few bucks in my pocket I think I’ll head for college and find something I can get my teeth into but with less hard work and less long hours.
Chapter Two
Fresh from selling the sub shop; still crushed from getting my heart handed to me, and for the first time in my life not sure what I wanted to do, my wandering brother, Pat arrived home. I always looked up to my brother. At ten years older than me, everything he did was new and exciting to me. Pasquale, Pat just got back from college in California. He loved it out there and he couldn’t stop talking about it.
Pat is darkly handsome and very Italian looking. His wavy hair and cavalier style make him a favorite of the ladies and men alike. While he was in California he attended the University of California Law School at the Los Angeles Campus. During the time he was there the school sponsored several publicity events a semester that brought students and local celebrities together. I’ve seen pictures of Miss Jane Mansfield in the middle of a group of law students, including my brother, many times.
He talks endlessly about studying at the pool with all the young actors, and actresses running around dressed in outfits every man on the planet would appreciate. At this, he piqued my interest, and had me investigating California schools for my college of choice. And, specifically his constant references to Las Angeles made me concentrate my search there. I came across an internationally renowned video photography school. This could be exactly what I’m looking for. The photography school is named Brooks Institute, and the more I read about it the more interested I became. I wrote to them and opened a dialogue which resulted in an application from me, which they accepted. If I stay for two semesters, I will have established residency and the classes are almost free for the year as well.
The general plan is to arrive in Los Angeles May 1, and find an apartment and then set myself up with whatever I need and when the summer semester starts in June, I will already be there. I think this will be an easy transition from still photography to video.
The money from the sale of the sub shop will make all my future plans easier. Looking at the Brookes Institute of Photography I’m finding a great opportunity and the type of college I think I can enjoy.
I’m excited about the move to CA. The more I hear about CA the more excited I get. After I applied to Brookes the first thing the school did was post my pictures and a profile from my application to the school. In Boston, my home territory, I couldn’t get a date no matter what I did, or so I thought. Before I left Boston I got three letters from CA girls wanting to meet me when I arrived. They saw my picture in the new students section of the school paper and were interested. This graphically showed me some unspoken cultural differences between up tight Boston and jumping LA. In Boston the girls wait for an official certification from on high, before showing any interest in a fellow; as shown by the letters from Ca, the girls out there let their eyes do the certifying. That is a very big difference for a shy guy like me.
While I was signing papers for the sale of the sub shop at my lawyer’s office I met one of his assistants, Ben Sturgis. Ben is from San Francisco and is handling all the paper work. While we transacted the sale, we had a conversation about the differences between Boston and San Francisco CA.
“So, Ben, you grew up in San Francisco California?”
“Yes, Mr. Cataldo, I did.”
“Please, call me Angy.”
“Sure, Angy;”
“What do you think is the most important difference between people in Boston and people in San Francisco, Ben?”
“Well, you need to begin with San Francisco natives, they love their city. They’re always making excuses for stupid stuff done by their politicians or their police, but, at the heart of everything they love their city, and that attitude is behind everything else. The overriding truth is Californians love their state.”
“OK, but I don’t know what that means. I love Boston and I know other people in the city who feel the same, but they don’t act like San Franciscans. In Boston, if you ask a native Bostonian whether he has been to the Paul Revere House or to the Old North Church most people answer no. They figure they have their entire lives to see these things which are right around the corner and they don’t want to take the time.”
“San Franciscans go out of their way to make the time for things like that. In San Francisco, you will never hear a true San Franciscan bad mouth the city. I mean in other cities, you hear the people complain about small stuff, all the time, but there you don’t.”
“None, and people are proud of how clean their city is. There would never be a garbage strike there because the people would clear the garbage themselves. It’s called civic pride; California has it better then anyplace else.”
“But Ben, you have to admit the people are flakes to say the least. Well, maybe it’s just my opinion, but, jeez they sure are different from Bostonians.”
“You can say that about any city if you only listen to the odd balls and expatriates. When you get to talk to the regular Joes and Jane’s you see they’re not that different.”
“Well I’m glad they’re different, I would love to visit California and I look forward to doing just that very soon. I’ll enjoy the differences. We are a large country and as we grow we mature and change. It’s not impossible for that growth and change to be different than the same growth and change in Boston or Miami.”
“Californians are open to new things, like computers. Silicon Valley is just starting out but it won’t be long before some genius will have a computer that costs less than millions of dollars. I keep hearing about guys working in their garages and coming up with stuff that works. It’s only games right now, but who knows about tomorrow. Hewlett Packard is an enormous company in the Silicon Valley and has been producing test equipment for years. In 1968 they produced a calculator that works almost like the IBM computers. This piece of equipment is being billed as a calculator because it doesn’t have an alphabetic keyboard. HP produces a computer, as the HP 2100, which is considered a mini computer to IBM’s full computers. Steve Wozniak designed the APPLE 1, while working at HP and offered it to HP under the first right of refusal regulation. Their policy at the time was they were to have First Right of Refusal on anything invented while a person worked for them. They refused because they wanted to stay in Scientific, Business and Industrial Markets. Who knows where the Apple Computer will go from here.”
“California has another area where it is huge and getting bigger. That is the farming segment of the state. Napa Valley is a huge wine growing area, and is producing many fine table wines. They may be far behind Europe now in the 1960s, but in the 1970s, who knows what they can accomplish with the determination they have shown in everything else. I wouldn’t be surprised if they became competition to many European wine makers. After all, wine takes many years to perfect a good vintage in a new vineyard. With the right climate, a good balance between the amount of sun and rain and the proper soil mix, anything can happen. Companies like Ernest and Julio Gallo are selling as much wine as some of the top European companies, even if it is only table wine, it must be good or it would not sell. I think a new American attitude about wine origins and some of the other European restrictions to American wine will help our wine compete in the world market.
Californians can produce competitive products even in this strict atmosphere of Appellation Rules, and the like. Remember, once Americans set their minds to do something they usually do it well.”
Chapter Three
The sub shop is gone, I’m feeling flush, and all this money is burning a hole in my pocket. I’m making all kinds of promises to myself about not spending it, but I’m talking myself into buying a new car. I’ve always loved T birds and I’m going to look at one now. I know that once I see this beautiful 1966 T Bird, I won’t be able to resist buying. It didn’t take long to break my promise to myself, not to spend the money.
I knew it; I couldn’t get past the Ford dealership. In the middle of a major February snow storm in Revere, I told the salesman at the dealership I wanted to see convertibles. At first they thought I was kidding and didn’t move, but when I insisted they showed me the only 1966 Thunder Bird Convertible they had. In order to show me the car, they had to drive me to it because of where it was garaged. This dealership had a strange location.
The main show room was on a major artery from Boston to the north shore which is a very visible and prominent location. Its repair shop and storage garage were a half mile away on a back road across the MA Transit Authority tracks. The Transit Authority is the local Boston rapid transit.
The car they showed me had just arrived from the plant and still had all the road dust and grime from being shipped over the road to them. I insisted on driving it and the salesman agreed, but he had to ride along. He also limited the route so that I basically went around the corner near the dealership and back again. When we got back I complained to the manager that I was not treated seriously and he said;
“Why, do you intend to buy the car”?
I said Yes, over my shoulder as I walked out, but not from you. As the door was closing behind me, he came running out.
“Wait, we can fix this.” He was yelling.
“I’m sure the salesman didn’t mean to be insulting, but he’ll apologize and make you a deal you can be happy with.”
I said
“Try me”
At $4,900.00 it turned out to be the best car deal of my life! This brightened up my day, and even my month. I later learned that my car was the only car that dealership sold during the three day snow storm. Who knew at the time that no car company would come out with a better looking car even many years later? My T-bird had Amber Glow paint and a white leather interior. Amber Glow was a new color in 1966; it was supposed to look like the red hot coals of a wood fire. The white interior was perfect against the Amber Glow exterior. When I put the top down people would stop and stare, as the entire back of the car would rise up vertically and the canvas top would curl into the nest the back revealed waiting. When the back was again in place the car looked miles long. No car since has ever made me feel quite the same. Pride, excitement, on the tip of my toes anticipation, just like a five year old on Christmas morning, that's how excited I was.
This kind of screws up my plans for CA but, hell I’ll have the best looking car in Ventura. I’m having a small bout of post purchase depression. I hope the girls out there like convertibles. I’ll need to get a job now just to pay for the gas. Maybe, I can be a wedding photographer while I’m learning to be a movie photographer. I’m sure I’ll find something. LA is a big town and there are tons of jobs I could do.
The important thing here is to be financially prepared and that way I can go in whatever direction I need to for the classes they give me.
The State House Steps Boston Massachusetts.
“The Massachusetts State Police today honored 18 state and local police officers and 3 civilians for contributions to the safety of the public above and beyond the normal call of duty. The awards ceremony, held at the Grand Staircase of the State House, was led by Secretary of Public Safety and Security Mark H. O’Rourke, and Colonel Kevin P. Shanahan, Superintendent of the State Police.” Article in the Boston Globe
“Sergeant Robert L. Long of the Framingham office was honored today for valor above and beyond the normal call of duty, for his bravery in apprehending Interstate serial murderer and escaped prisoner Ned Monday.
Sergeant Long risked his life to apprehend this dangerous criminal. While Sergeant Long was on duty at the Toll Booth in Framingham MA, Sergeant Long recognized the car of escaping prisoner Ned Monday as it approached the toll booth. Mindless of his own safety Sergeant Long stood in front of the escapee’s car and ordered him to halt. When the escapee attempted to run over Sergeant Long, the Sergeant jumped into the escaping car through the passenger’s open window. Half in half out of the car, sergeant Long managed to subdue the escaping prisoner and take him into custody.
It will be remembered that the criminal Monday is one of the FBI’s most wanted Criminals. Monday is allegedly the perpetrator of a string of Serial Murders against unsuspecting young women from Seattle Washington to Miami Florida and states along this route. It is believed Monday is guilty of 19 murders. He was finally captured in Florida and after a lengthy trial was found guilty of two murders committed there and sentenced to death. During his transfer to a psychological observation unit for study, which Monday volunteered for, he escaped from his captors and has been on the run ever since.
He’s suspected of several additional murders along his route from Florida to Massachusetts. Monday is considered the very model of a serial Killer.
The local and State Police have been on the lookout for Monday since his escape. It was suspected he intended to head for Canada.” Article in the State Police News, Framingham Massachusetts.
“Sincere congratulations Sergeant Long, I expect the Sergeant designation will not be for much longer, I hear the Lieutenant bars are only days away. We in the Fraternal Brotherhood of State Police are proud to call you brother.”
“Thank you Captain Healy, coming from you that is high praise.”
“You are having a proud and distinguished career Sergeant and are a good example to our new recruits. We in the Massachusetts State Police need more men like you. Let me shake your hand.”
Captain Healy shakes Sergeant Long’s hand and they briefly embrace. Captain Healy then moves on to the next honoree and Sergeant Robert Long continues off the dais to his waiting family.
“Bobby that was wonderful everyone is so proud of you, my heart is bursting with pride.”
“Mom, on a day like this that's exactly what your heart is supposed to do burst with pride;
Calley, as my younger sister you are growing to quickly into a real beauty, thank you for taking your to time to come to this.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Like Mom, I’m very proud of you today, but I have always been proud of you big brother from your distinguished military career to your now exemplary police career.”
“Ok, that’s enough gushing you’ll make my head to big for my hat. I say, it’s time for lunch and I’m buying.”
“Not this time Bobby, it’s your mothers turn to buy. Now you follow me.”
At this the family heads to the parking lot and their cars to drive to a local restaurant frequented mostly by police.
Chapter Four
The offices of Cataldo Food Distributors Boston Mass.
“Hi, is Salvatore here? Tell him Robert Cimino is asking for him.”
“Certainly Mr. Cimino, have a seat I’ll tell him you’re here.”
Less than five minutes later Robert is escorted into the main cooler where Mr. Salvatore Cataldo, Angy Cataldo’s father, is busy directing his crew.
A heavy built fellow, with a constantly moving cigar hanging out of his serious red face, is in the middle of the refrigerated meat locker barking orders at his crew.
“Hi Robert, how’re you doing? Have you seen Angy lately?” The serious red face barks, his cigar bouncing uncontrollably and his hand extended in the classic handshake greeting.
“Sure Sal, I saw him yesterday.” Answered Robert as they shook hands;
“That’s why I’m here. I’m looking at a night club I want to buy and I want Angy to come and run it for me. It’s a great place, it was called the Executive Suite when it was open, and I’m thinking of making it into a Dixieland Club. But, before I offer it to Angy I want to make sure I’m not upsetting any of you or your wife’s plans for Angy. I know he wants to go to school in California, but I think this would be better for him in the long run.”
“You’re taking me by surprise, I know Angy wants to go to California but this is the first I’ve heard about the night club. Can he do it Robert? He’s very young.”
“Sal, I don’t have a doubt. Your son is smart; you and your wife did a good job. And, I’ll be only a few blocks away all the time. I intend to haunt the club at night. It will save me a lot of money that way, my not spending in other clubs. You know, I go out all the time anyway.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that. I know he’s smart, but it’s difficult for me to get him to follow directions.”
“Sal, rebelling against their parents, is the way kids are built today. But in this case it will be good for him and me. He wont rebel against me and this’ll make him grow overnight.”
“Well Robert it sounds good. If there is anything I can do, don’t hesitate to let me know. But for God’s sake don’t tell him I’m helping him in any way.”
“Thanks Sal, I’m glad I spoke to you. Angy is a good kid and will do very well. This is the type of business where a person can grow along with it.”
At this point no decision has been made, Angy still plans to head off to California.
My family and friends all know my plans. Some are as excited as I am about the move, others, like my mother, not so much. However, before I have a chance to get away, a friend has made me a proposition. He wants me to run a night club for a month or so in Boston. But we must move right now and I need to decide immediately. Lucky for me I have three months before my classes start in Ventura.
The bank is hovering over the building and if someone doesn’t act now the bank will foreclose and sell the building stripped of all its restaurant equipment and great antiques, like the second floor bar or the great new kitchen fully equipped. Robert gave me a quick tour of the night club.
I’m too invested in Robert’s proposition because I love the building. My family has been in the food business all my life and I’ve seen restaurants with half this much ambiance and atmosphere succeed wildly. Now, if only Robert can tailor the deal to our advantage, we can have a business home here.
The deal is my friend Robert must give the former owner money, or a promise of, future money and give the bank enough cash to bring the mortgage up to date and then some. This is a lot of money to lay out with almost no guarantee of anything except more risk.
After I agreed to work with him, Robert gave this guy, Jacob Melvin, a paper job at one thousand a month. He is not expected to do anything, but he’ll get paid as a way to buy him off and take over the business. Written in the contract is the condition that in order to fire him Robert must give him ninety days notice with pay. There is a problem with the last condition. This guy, Jacob Melvin, is a first class jerk. An example of his class and business acumen is the fact that his girl friend’s broken arm was a result of his pushing her down the night club’s stairs in a drunken fit. She’s a very attractive, thirty one year old bookkeeper, who is half his age. When I first saw her, I thought of a little pouting girl who cried all the time. She has that type of face, pretty but hurt by someone. They met when she came to work for him. Both being alcoholics, they drifted together as a couple out of convenience. They were drinking on the second floor totally alone one night and decided to go out to eat at another restaurant. As they were drunkenly staggering down the stairs he lost his footing. Falling uncontrollably, he pushed into her to save himself. Because she was on the lower step in front of him she kept going all the way to the bottom of the stairwell breaking her arm in the process. He, on the other hand, dropped straight to the stairwell and did not move.
Another time, before they renovated the building, this floor didn’t have the hat check room which closed off the stairwell all the way to the first floor. One night, again totally drunk, he staggered down from the kitchen. When he got to the top of the open stairwell he saw his girlfriend talking to a young guy at the bar. In a drunken fury this asshole, a former police sergeant, pulled his gun and started shooting at them.
Good thing he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, or she and the guy she was talking to, would have died that night. Enough about the asshole Jacob Melvin, lets get back to the deal. Robert is good at negotiations, and Melvin is only interested in free drinks.
Robert also paid the bank ten thousand five hundred up front, to catch up the mortgage. He feels that with a little time he can interview managers and find one that will work for him. By then I can leave and he’ll pay me $2,000.00 dollars for this, in addition to the weekly pay he’s giving me, along the way. It’s a good deal for me and the timing works great.
Robert is getting a six hundred thousand dollar building for twenty thousand down and a mortgage of two hundred fifty thousand. Half price is always good for a real estate deal I think.
My friend is Robert Cimino and he’s a little older than me. I met him while I was photographing a wedding he attended several years ago. At the time he asked me to do some formal and candid photographs of one of his girl friends, and we have been friends ever since. Robert is twenty six years old and apparently handsome enough to attract any woman he looks at. He has that bad boy look that many women find interesting and irresistible. Robert has a successful wholesale meat company which he runs day to day. This is the reason he wouldn’t have the time to run the night club himself. Robert’s meat business is too successful to try something as risky as the night club himself and take a chance on hurting the meat business, his real bread winner.
Robert finished Law school but never took the bar because he felt he had learned enough law to protect himself in business. Not that he is or wants to be a criminal, but in business he sometimes walks a very thin line. In America’s litigious society, having a working knowledge of the law is a major advantage.
Not that Robert is conceited, (a little irony here) but he can never get enough of himself. One day we were walking in the Boston meat market area heading to a lunch room near his office. I managed to drag him away from the business telephone, his day time lifeline. Robert looked up at a building near us and saw a woman leaning out of a top floor window, Robert started yelling,
“Don’t jump lady it is right here don’t jump.”
Then he started un-zipping his pants and laughing his head off, as if all women couldn’t get enough of him.
He always has several steady girl friends who think its time to start planning their wedding with him. He can be sitting in a restaurant with the most beautiful woman in the world and still flirt with every other woman in the room. As long as his date’s back is turned. When asked about his lack of loyalty, his answer is always;
“What’s the Problem? What they don’t know won’t hurt them”.
He once dated a legal secretary and they slept together on the first date. The following day she was out pricing wedding reception halls and he was interviewing a new girl friend. This one almost made trouble for all of us; she was my lawyer’s secretary and couldn’t understand why Robert wasn’t going to marry her. After all, he said he would and they had sex.
Women find him very convincing and believe every word he says, and men find him fascinating because of his prowess with women. He exudes such an air of confidence that people listen to him when he talks about anything. I’ve never understood the thing about believing everything he says. Me, I’m different. Girls look at me as if I’m lying when I tell them my name.
Robert used to sell Wear Ever aluminum pots and pans and the first year he became the top salesman in the entire East Coast USA. He kept his sales record for as long as he worked for Wear Ever which was several years. On a visit to his apartment I discovered what he did to be so successful. I was there for dinner and saw, next to his desk, an extensive script. It turns out he only sells to women, and every word he says is already written down and extensively rehearsed, when he calls them.
Every year he has at least one new fiancée and one new Chevrolet Corvette, I don’t know which is more important to him the girls or the car. I suspect the car is more important, after all he can always get another woman. The car he has to pay for.
Chapter Five
In our quest to purchase this club and successfully open it I have been studying every similar operation in town. Some, like Players Club, I have surreptitiously scouted, both for prime employees and good working habits managing the business. Players Club is a unique example, for it is very successful and a closed operation. They have their main branch in Chicago and a dozen other clubs around the country. Every ruling from Chicago is written in stone. The girls are treated well for the most part, but they are under the gun when it comes to local management. If a girl has a disagreement with the local manager, she is fired. It doesn’t matter who is right or wrong. The club has been open for a very short time here in Boston and they already had to fire a large group of girls. One girl refused to date an assistant manger, he took her off shift and other girls sided with her and told management about the reasons behind the move. Instead of firing the assistant manager as they should have, they fired all the girls involved. This made the remaining girls start looking around for other jobs. The problem is no other night clubs are as successful, and the girls can make crazy money at Players Club.
I knew the first girl and thought they overreacted. But, Chicago has the last word and the local manger is god, with a little g.
Other clubs I’m watching are run very differently. The Tic Toc Lounge is one of these other Clubs and I like the way they manage their business. The club is locally owned and operated. The manager is a local man who lives here in Boston and has for years. He’s been at the Tic Toc for eight or nine years. He gets along very well with the girls. Actually sometimes he gets along with them too well, if you know what I mean, but the girls love it. So, every chance I get I spend some time there studying the correct way to do things. Not only did they teach me how to manage but they also introduced me to one of my favorite people, Janet Lally.
The Tic Toc Lounge is located two doors from the Players Club, in Park Square Boston. The two clubs are close enough so I don’t need to worry about getting lost walking from one to the other. The Tic Toc Lounge has a long narrow bar that has an entrance on Boylston St at one end; and another entrance, at the other end of the bar on Park Square. I started going in there to see how they ran their place. At the time the Tic Toc Lounge was actually a Go-Go bar, which is a little different from a night club or a bar. In those days a Go-Go bar was a place where they had pretty girls dancing on a stage in skimpy outfits, usually behind the bar with enough distance from the customers that the girls were not afraid of being accosted by the drunks. The Tic Toc had a small dancing platform right behind the bar, with stairs alongside of the platform for the girls, and all well away from the patrons.
After spending several nights watching the operation I noticed a particularly pretty dancer who seemed to notice me as well. On a slow night, I waited until she was on her break and bravely, sent her a drink along with my Torch Light business card. Actually this was a first for me; I had just turned twenty one and was a novice at picking up girls in bars. As you know, I committed myself to a life of celibacy and bachelorhood.
She came over to my table with the drink and asked me;
“What am I supposed to do when someone sends me a business card?”
My brilliant reply and my first ever line;
“The drink was to thank you for doing such a great job dancing and looking so beautiful up there. I would love it if you would sit and enjoy the drink with me. The card is just to let you know who I am.”
She smiled and sat down next to me.
“My name is Janet and I’m glad to meet you.”
“Woo wee!” This was in my head not out loud, for a change.
“As you can see by my card I’m Angelo Cataldo and I’m very pleased to meet you as well. Please call me Angy.”
Janet is one of those women that all men love. At five foot two inches tall and a hundred and ten pounds, she has the prefect shape. Her bubbly personality and happy smile make everyone who sees her want to know her. Men and women find her attractive and she is always in the middle of a group of admirers. Janet’s most endearing quality is she doesn’t know how wonderful she is. She thinks people are being nice when they say nice thinks to her. I think it is the only time they are truthful to her, especially the men, present company excepted of course!
Janet told me she just moved from Cincinnati Ohio and this is her first job in Boston. She’s living with a roommate on Newbury St. which is right around the corner from the Tic Toc. The next two hours we got to know each other much better. Between her dancing sets she sat next to me and we talked. By the time we left the Tic Toc (I drove her home) we both had too much to drink and could barely stand. But both of us were happy enough to not even notice our condition.
Her apartment was luckily on the first floor, and we went straight in. She said her roommate would be in much later so, stripping as we went, we were both naked by the time we got to the couch. The sex was incredible. There were times I couldn’t tell where all my body parts ended and hers began. It was wonderful exploring and experimenting.
Actually I think I discovered body parts I didn’t know I had, she had, or well at least someone had. I’m living my favorite fantasy. To this day I still don’t remember who was on top or in fact where either of us actually was. I don’t know if it was the liquor, the couch or the girl but it was simply the best sex of my life. I liked to think it was the girl. (I didn’t know it at the time but we would do this many more times over the coming months and it was definitely the girl.)
The next morning she had coffee for me as I awoke. We sat and watched her roommate, naked and coverless ten feet away on her rollout bed. Janet said,
"It was a good thing we were asleep when my roommate got home or she would have attacked us. She’s into three ways.” Janet’s bisexual roommate would be a carnal fantasy for another day. At this thought I figured I died and went to heaven.
Leaving quietly not to disturb the roommate, I went to find my car. Thinking as I walked, I better not enjoy this too much, remember what happened last time. I didn’t have far to walk unfortunately, I parked on the sidewalk the night before. So, with six $30.00 parking tickets hanging off the windshield wipers, (the cost of drinking all night), I drove away.
When Janet and I first met, the Torch Light Club had not opened yet and sometimes Janet would come into the Club with me on her days off. The first night, I hired Janet to dance at the new club as soon as it opened. She liked to practice dancing on the bar and the tables trying different techniques to see what worked best. Working with her like this, she and I perfected the, “dancing on the tables” act that the girls later used for years. We determined that the customers had to put their drinks on the floor and hold the table with both hands. Also, the girls had to wear rubber or soft soled shoes or they might slip off the table. We were in the Club for years with not one single accident, table and bar dancing. Working this way Janet and I quickly became more than friends. By the way, I use the word “We” very loosely here. Janet is the dancer not me. I stood by, at the ready, in case she fell, I would catch her in my arms, and enjoy every second of it. Usually after these sessions we would head upstairs and make love on the cot in the back office. At these times we only had a few drinks and were the most sober of any of the times we made love. But, that didn’t matter; we enjoyed ourselves so much together we literally could make love for hours. Later, we would get about an hours sleep and I would drive her home, where we would begin again making love. Her roommate never stayed if she was there, when we arrived she left. I suddenly realize we made love sober many times, but always like now, after a night on the town and with a little rest in between.
When we first met, Janet offered her roommate to me as a threesome cavalierly, but frankly, I enjoyed Janet too much to bring someone else into our relationship.
At first my fantasy world got all excited at the thought, but the reality of it turned me off. The thought of the roommate, no matter how great in the sack she might be, paled, in comparison to what Janet and I had now.
I know Janet was proud of my attitude about the threesome, it made her and I a real couple, not the new age experimenters the threesome would create of us.
Janet and I are great together. There’s no doubt about that and right now there is nothing in our way. I like that I can count on her to stand by my side.
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