2004-12-28 - 10:36 a.m.
Going down the BQE the other day, en route to Grandpa�s Christmas Eve �feast of seven fishes�, I thought I should set straight an incorrect Ramones mythology that I�ve always found particularly tiresome. Founding bassist Dee Dee Ramone acted as a sometime prostitute to fuel his drug habits. The song �53rd & 3rd� draws from this experience, with oblique lyrics about slicing up some john to �prove that I�m no sissy�.
But here�s the thing. For years, I�ve heard wannabe rock historians marveling that the corner where he�s �tryin� to turn a trick� is in the central business district of East Midtown. �Gee, it must have been so different in the early-70s.� Sorry, no. The 53rd & 3rd referred to is clearly in Brooklyn, not Manhattan.
Third Avenue runs beneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The area around 53rd St. borders on the industrial and warehouse space at Bush Terminal towards the water. It�s a depressing, burnt-out red-light district with a few lonely neon adult bookstore signs flaring on unfortunately-placed houses. The neighborhood, Sunset Park, has long had a seedy reputation (cf. Hubert Selby�s �Last Exit to Brooklyn�). It�s exactly where you�d solicit a strung-out male prostitute (not that I�d know, I�m just saying�).
I�ve never seen confirmation of this in interviews or online. Dee Dee is dead, along with most of the original Ramones. But it�s pretty obvious if you just look at the geography. I just wanted to get that out.
Oh, and belated merry Christmas, muthafuckah. Happy Hanukkah, krazy Kwanzaa, joyous Yule, et al.
� 2004 Geoff Gladstone
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