Don’t know whether they still exist–“Working Papers”. This document confirmed that you were at least 14 years old, thus making it legal to work at a job. In the Rockaway Beach of HG’s early teen years (Rockaway is where HG’s family summered), this law (to prevent child labor) was not observed by employers. HG began working at 13. First job (at the Woolworth store on B.116 Street) was carrying and unpacking big (heavy) cartons from trucks. Hard, muscle building work.
Found easier work when HG was 14–shucking oysters and clams, cleaning shrimp at the Harbor Rest restaurant (perched at the edge of Jamaica Bay). When working at Woolworth, HG ate lunch at the store’s restaurant counter–and HG’s favorite was fried fish cakes served with soft spaghetti in a pallid tomato sauce. Not a gourmet at 13, young HG relished every forkful. As the years rolled by, HG consumed hundreds of fish cakes in New York, Fire Island, London, Paris, Prince Edward Island and Nantucket. The best fish cakes were served at Nantucket’s Downy Flake eatery where they nestled in a lush egg sauce. Runner up fish cakes were the splendors cooked by BSK and gifted daughter Lesley R. Last night, BSK bought fish cakes at two prominent seafood stores and served them for dinner. They were expensive and awful—dry and tasteless. Obviously, fish cakes have to be cooked at home or eaten at restaurants–but never purchased at stores. Supper was saved from the fish cake disaster by BSK’s delectable pot of orzo and a melange of vegetables, herbs and spices in a lush sauce. Orzo to the rescue.
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