So Long, Betty and Veronica

Traveling into the past can be exhausting. It can also be exhilarating. Preparation for this kind of travel may require spending years thinking about it, even agonizing over it. You ask yourself endless questions: Should I go? Why should I go? Was the past too long ago? What if I go and there's nothing there?

Finally I go, and I uncover a wealth of stories ... one major car wreck, small talk about sex, a tale of two guns, and not a hint of regret...

Woody Allen, Brigitte Bardot, Buddy Hackett ... and pop singer Neil Sedaka's mother turn up in these pages. And there's a confession about a theft connected to one of them.

So Long, Betty and Veronica recalls a dying Borscht Belt culture, ancient bungalow colonies, and burned-down hotels in the Catskills. It's the coming of age story of a New York City boy spending summers in the country.

The journey transforms lost experience and integrates it into the present. In a curious way, going back enriches the path forward. So Long, Betty and Veronica is a celebration of people whose wealth of character and generosity of spirit made the past possible.