Tag Archives: diamonds 47th street new york jewelry

An Artist’s Fast Fingers

November 21, 2023 – 11:26 pm

My boss Manny started selling jewelry on Canal Street in 1954. He says that he didn’t sell his first diamond until a year later. “Back then all diamonds were white. We didn’t know any better and better still neither did the Gs.” Manny’s speech is colored by hundreds of diamond selling terms interspersed with Yiddish. […]

By Peter | Posted in 80s, Art, Bet On Crazy, Diamonds, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Comments (0)

BET ON CRAZY 4 / FIRST SALE by Peter Nolan Smith

May 31, 2023 – 1:39 pm

The day after Super Bowl XXIV, I paid off two months?rent with my winnings. Everyone in the exchange was richer thanks to betting the other way from Manny. They ribbed him relentlessly for having lost yet another bet on the NFL championship game. I said nothing since Manny had confided that he had bet on the […]

By Peter | Posted in Bet On Crazy, Diamonds, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Comments (0)

TOUGH GUYS / BET ON CRAZY by Peter Nolan Smith

April 30, 2023 – 5:01 am

Brownsville has always been a tough section of Brooklyn. The one-mile square neighborhood was actually tougher than tough. Its unofficial motto “Brownsville! Never ran, never will!” guaranteed Kings County Hospital the title of the most gunshot victims admitted to a E.R in the USA. The US Army even set up a training program called the […]

By Peter | Posted in 2000s, Bet On Crazy, Diamonds, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Comments (0)

Snow in Spring NYC 2010

March 20, 2023 – 10:58 am

JoJo, the security guard at the diamond exchange, was a betting man. He gambled the left-overs from his monthly NYPD pension on baseball, basketball, and football. His losses outweighed his wins. JoJo also wagered on odd parlays and at the beginning of March in 2010 I said that there would be another snowstorm. It was […]

By Peter | Posted in Bet On Crazy, Drinking, NEW YORK, semi-fiction, weather | Comments (0)

50 States of Hell

September 25, 2022 – 7:25 am

Hawaii is the happiest state in America. New York ranks as the unhappiest. It is my state and I wish that I could be with my children in Thailand. Holding my son and daughter is paradise for me. Maybe I can fly to Asia in two weeks. One good sale would pay for the R/T […]

By Peter | Posted in america, Bet On Crazy, Heaven, holiday, semi-fiction, Traditions | Comments (0)