I asked Mr. Cohen to come along, predominantly because he was cited in the book as the knowledgebase for much of the factual info in the book. The guy has an amazing wealth of knowledge that he seems to recall like it was yesterday. Frankly, I was honored to have him show me around.
One of the sadder things is that he lived in Bridgeport in its' heyday. He looked depressed as we drove through the ragged streets.
He pointed out where the trolleys ran; "There were two tracks over there!", "I used to sit on the bleachers over there and watch different trolleys roll by every few minutes.", "I used to ride this trolley line all the way to my house on that street over there....".
His heartache was almost palpable. Jim's boyhood home had fallen so far from grace, he speculated what his grandfather from Poland would have thought, having just spent one day in the modern Bridgeport.
But he did start to perk up as we approached the Ives areas. And there is a ton of trolley stuff still left in Bridgeport and New Haven. You just have to know where to look.
M
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