...at least in SPIRIT.

At 12:35 p.m. this afternoon, I dropped my Wife off at Belmont Racetrack because she had a training seminar at the Daycare Center there. Since we live in the Hudson Valley and couldn't return home, I figured I had a good four hours to kill and decided last night to head to Brooklyn and search for the ghost of Woody Guthrie.

Earlier in the morning I packed my Mermaid Ave and the Smithonian Moses Ashe CD's, a map of the five boroughs, and a digital camera. I had visions of driving through Coney Island and seeing Folksingers on stoops playing and singing away the hours. I had hoped to walk in the Footsteps of Woody Guthrie.

Well, I drove down the Belt Parkway about 20 minutes (really neat with Hoodoo Voodoo playing loud) and got off at Ocean Parkway and continued towards the shore. At Surf Ave I made a right turn (while listening to One By One) and sped my way to Astroland, the original Nathan's hot dogs and Beach 31 (thanks Arlo!). I drove past the buildings that "grace" the cover of Billy Bragg & Wilco's "Mermaid Ave" and started to get that feeling of perhaps turning a corner and bumping into a Legend. I then drove to the approximate location of Woody's Home:

Ten of Woody Guthrie’s Songs
25 (cents)
Book One
With an introduction by the author
April 3rd, 1945
Copyright 1945 W. Guthrie
3520 Mermaid Ave., Brooklyn,24, New York

But HE wasn't there, (Another Man's Done Gone) and in it's place were small apartment buildings, in what I would consider the style of being built in the 40's yet these were only about 5 years old. I swung around and back-tracked to 29th street and again headed towards the shore. I found a parking spot nearby and walked towards the Boardwalk. I haven't watched "Man In The Sand" recently but I knew that I was nearby where Nora and Billy were frolicking on the beach. I stood and wondered if Woody stood here, did he sit on this bench and strum his guitar, was this Boardwalk here, is this the sand that he walked on? But, no answers. I then walked up 32nd St. through the Housing Projects and made a right back onto Mermaid Ave., hoping yet again to find the Legend sitting on a stoop singing "New Country" or "Ship In The Sky" or something.

I didn't find anything that embodied Woody Guthrie on this 2HR trip, however I will not judge the people or the community living there as I'm sure there are many that live here who are: passionate, creative, reactive, loving, rambling, cussing, talking, kidding, jokeing, singing, strumming, doodling, political, mythical, mystical, magical, electrical,... Some have some of these qualities, but only one had ALL of these qualities. WOODY GUTHRIE

I didn't have to go to Coney Island to touch him, but I'm glad I did.