Our Town at 50

On the radio - Hear all about it ... Cindy Adams is coming to the ear waves so you no longer have to wait to read all about it in her Mon. -Thurs, column in the NY Post. Starting Sun, Apr 18 from 3 to 4 p.m., you can listen to her new weekly WABC radio show. First show’s the week before the Oscars, so she’ll be dishing movies with the Post’s movie critic Johnny Oleksinski and then talking COVID with Dr. Michael Baden, the noted NYC former coroner, and maybe celebrity deaths. And lest we Our Town’ers forget, Cindy’s column, Cindy Says, appeared in Our Town for six years until she had an offer from the NY Post. The Post agreed that she could continue writing for Our Town. Ed Kayatt would have none of it. Either the Post or Our Town, he told Cindy, or, as Cindy’s friend, Donald Trump might have said, “You’re fired.” Alas, Cindy gave up the $5 she got weekly from Our Town. And the rest is history.

Our Town @ 50 memory time - In 1977 the open seat for the coveted NY County Surrogate Court’s seat was hard-fought and vigorously contested, first in the Democratic primary and then in the November election. Our Town endorsed the winner in both, Marie Lambert. In the same year, I was the losing candidate in the race for Carter Burden’s City Council seat, and Andy Stein was elected as Manhattan Borough President. Although Lambert’s primary opponent Arthur Blyn had been appointed interim Surrogate by Gov. Carey and was supported by Lt. Gov. Mary Anne Krupsak, Lambert won the Democratic Primary and went on to win the general election. In a Nov. ‘86 issue of Our Town, there’s a photo of Lambert being roasted by “65 of her closest associates,” including maybe several former adversaries. Her son Greg, who had graduated from law school in ‘77, was counsel with the Congressional Merchant Marine Committee in the US Congress.

These days Greg Lambert serves on the Executive Committee of the Tilden Democratic Club, is a gay activist, and committed liberal. This year he’s eager to see Brad Hoylman elected as Manhattan BP and Scott Stringer as mayor. Back to ‘86. Marie always loved Cindy and considered her a dear friend. So Cindy and Joey Adams were front and center at the roast which was held at Campiello’s restaurant on Second Ave in the 70’s. And that happily brings us to the present - Campiello’s may still be around. It may have been closed during the pandemic.