Doug grew up in Huntington, L.I.
The harbor aromas and its boats filled my senses, and the trees on every street. Playing ball, feeding ducks, and playing tennis at Hecksher Park were what made summers great. And, Crescent Beach was just a short bike ride from home. All that made it a great place of discovery for a kid growing up in the 50's and early 60's. Dad took me down 110 to Walt's birthplace, and we visited Sagamore Hill and learned about Teddy Roosevelt, and Huntington Village was full of books. Oscar's Bookstore, then the Book Revue, both on different ends of New York Ave, and of course Huntington Library where mom would drop me off when she'd go shopping. The books I remember most were the ones that Oscar Chudinowsky would shove into my hands when I was browsing in his shop. Leaves of Grass and The Snows of Kilimanjaro were two I remember Oscar "hand selling"! And of course, the discoveries at the Public Library like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Time Machine, and Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes. At home, mom had a copy of Dante's Inferno in folio size with its illustrations by Gustave Doré I would sneak peeks of - which was like my horror book of the time.