The Write Angle: Man, They Were Out of Sight

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Man, They Were Out of Sight

(Originally published 12/6/19)

Man, they were out of sight. They, of course, were Dune Buggy Wheelies, by Remco, a popular toy manufacturer once upon a time. I was the elated owner of one in 1970, when Richard Nixon was president. I distinctly recall playing with my favorite Christmas present of that year on my grandmother’s dinette floor. If memory serves, two D “flashlight” batteries were all one needed to get this modest vehicle hopping, including performing rather extraordinary wheelies. The remote control sprouted two wires, I believe, which were attached to the Dune Buggy Wheelie. I could steer the thing and make it go either forward or backward. What more could a 1970 kid want?

As with many cherished Christmas gifts from my youth, I have often wondered—looking back now all these years later—how long it physically lasted and whether my interest in the Dune Buggy Wheelie waned before this battery-operated toy’s inevitable death knell? Did the Dune Buggy Wheelie make it until the following Christmas? Somehow, I doubt it.

Leave it to a Mockingbird in Manhattan to pose for a Christmas picture.

Wall Street's got the Christmas spirit.

I must disagree. The best way to see New York is on foot.

Or, by air, if you have the wings for it. Riding a bicycle on the mean city streets is not for the faint-hearted.

When the Abominable Snowman isn't available...

This is how you place a star atop a big Christmas tree. By the way, this is the New York Stock Exchange tree, which takes a back seat to the one at Rockefeller Center. Yesterday was the 96th annual lighting. It's actually a better decorated Christmas tree than the one in Rockefeller Center, which only has lights.

From what I've read, there are a whole lot of tourists in New York City at this time of year. More than ever before. I remember walking on the Brooklyn Bridge and getting chided by a bicyclist for being in the bike path. Last weekend the bridge walkway and bike path were overrun with Homo sapiens from all over the world.

No matter the time of year nowadays, the bridge is teeming with tourists and peddlers alike. I'm happy, at least, that the Circle Line has somehow endured the vicissitudes of time. Its nautical cousin, the Day Line, which ferried passengers to West Point and Bear Mountain, is only a memory.

A helicopter tour of Manhattan Island is, from my perspective, a viable alternative to taking an overly crowded boat to Liberty Island. Of course, it'll cost a tad more than $18.50 for the privilege.

Sit on it, Potsie, he said, and not a Millennial in earshot knew what he was talking about.

They certainly have changed the place and, at the end of the day, not always for the better.

New York City neighborhoods used to have real character with mom-and-pop businesses able to survive and thrive. The hot dog vendors, at least, are still around. But I suspect their cost of doing business is—not unlike the Dune Buggy Wheelie—out of sight.

Fifth Avenue isn't the same and neither is Ninth Avenue.

This is known as modern art. If you can make a roll of packing tape something other than a roll of packing tape, you've created a masterpiece worthy of a window on Ninth Avenue.