philip j. schnitzer circa 1930smy pop-pop was an eastside tenement jew who started out life selling rags on the streets of new york city. then he met these two guys, jack and charlie. they became fast-friends and went into the business of running liquor from canada to the u.s. during prohibition.
soon after, jack & charlie opened this cool little place that eventually became the "21" club.
jack & charlie gave pop-pop the exclusive rights to sell their "21" brands of liquor in new jersey. i'm sure that was something right out of the sopranos. at the time we lived near my grandparents in south orange, new jersey. my father moved us away to maryland because the constant flow of black limos pulling up and down my grandfather's street freaked him out.
now i'm moving; moving to california and i'm selling almost everything of value--(frankly, i'm sick of lugging half of this shit around from place to place).
one thing that's not making the trip this time is a little sterling silver christening cup the "21" club engraved upon the occasion of my birth.
below the engraved famous "21" iron gate are the words jack & charlie's "21" and my name underneath that -- niki lee albert, june 9, 1959 8 Lbs. 1 oz.
after some soul-searching i realized that i had dropped the last name, definitely knew when my birthday was and was tired of polishing the god damn thing when it tarnished.
thanks pop-pop for going out their on the edge to save enough money from your slap-ya-on-the-back liquor days to give me this house and my life. i still miss you even though it's been 29 years.
