On January 22, 1964, I quit my job at May Company, withdrew my money from the bank, and put my thumb out. I was seventeen years, four months, fourteen days old. I am on my own.

Seven days later I am getting out of a car driven by an original hippie couple who had love birds in the back seat. I was allowed to stay with the guys sister, and artist on the East Side, but, I had to try to get a job at Man Power Inc. down the street. At 11:00 P.M. I am making my way thru Hell’s Kitchen to Yale Trucking on 12th. Avenue. I am put to work on ‘The Jam’. Can the kid handle the Jam?

Two months later, in the lunch room, a tough New Yorker calls me ‘The California Kid’. Not only could I handle the Jam – I mastered it. I…