Great uncle Sal photographed a lot on Canal Street in Chinatown he has some secret hangouts there he told me he would go there to smoke some opium every once in a while I cropped this image out of one of his large format negatives I like it I myself also spent seven years photographing on Canal Street

Some pretty cool stuff 1949 Sal was pretty much running the company, The world of mirth a bizarre traveling carnival Sal was the organ player, mind reader, and hypnotist, he also made all the masks for them and did all the photos he had some amazing perks with that job he got to sleep with the midget clowns and the burlesque girls sometimes all together we’ll talk about those mask parties at another time I’ll leave it at that, he told me some pretty crazy stories there’s also a section on this website called world of mirth check it out

My dad and Woody Strobe from Spartacus In 1979 they filmed my grandfathers movie Woody Stroube was my grandfather’s first mate in the movie with Stuart Whitman, Robert Vaughn, Michael Gasso from The Godfather William Saint Jacobs, Monte Rock, Karen K And a whole bunch of other stars I was even in it as a Navy seal technically I was the most seen dead man in the movie You could rent it assignment kill Castro boy did that movie bomb but as usual the captain got paid a lot

I always speak about that famous nightclub that Sal performed at doing his mind reading and piano playing and then on his break he would take pictures of all the famous people that hang out there This is Mark Spitz he won five gold medals in the Olympics for swimming he used to hang out with Donald Trump at that club Early 70s

My great uncle Sal had four sons just kidding these are the actual midgets that were in the Wizard of Oz in 1939 ten years later in 1949 Sal got them in at the World of Mirth the bazaar traveling Carnival that Sal worked for Sal also did all their portfolios some pretty funny stuff it will be in our book

I spent so many years on the streets of New York City, I would always know when A photo shoot was going down, the umbrellas set up a big dressing room truck and some security people, this was a photo shoot for Victoria secrets ready to go down I waited patiently but not right on top of them as soon as the dressing room door open that they came flying out I got my one shot

In 1969 great uncle Sal had his mask photography studio above his brothers bar Captain Tony’s saloon in Key West he made a bunch of pirate masks over 50 years ago and put six of them in the bar of course he put special ingredients in the papier-mâché mix since the bar was a morgue in the 1800s he got a hold of some old bones that my grandfather found when they were digging up the pool room there’s still an actual skeleton hanging behind the bar, Sal didn’t use just bone shavings he had pyramid scrapings from Egypt, Haitian voodoo dust, and secret potions from around the world all this stuff went to the papier-mâché mix, I know all about them I have 65 of his mask dating as far back as the late 30s this one you’re looking at, I took this picture in 1977 the funny thing out of all the mask that were there this one is still there it’s in the pool room check it out

My 60th birthday four years ago Four shots of Petrone half a line lotta ice the leaf colored bud in my hand a very rare growth of weed it’s been totally dried and there is purpleish resin buds in the middle I was handing is all over to my friend I don’t do stuff like that

Nothing like the Jersey shore beautiful long beaches, great food on the boardwalk, rides and at times these spectacular waves I spent alot of my childhood every summer on the Jersey shore since my mom had 12 brothers and sisters there you know those loud funny Italians that’s us, I ended up leaving Key West in the mid 80s I knew there were two projects I wanted to photograph the Jersey shore an New York City I spent 30 years in New York, but I went to the Jersey shore a lot ended up publishing a lot of postcards, brochures, even did a great poster from point Pleasant Pier, this photo right here was last September 21 my youngest son’s birthday I came up from Orlando to celebrate with him we stayed on the Jersey shore I took this photo of this massive wave it shook the ground when it hit the beach We ended up going for a swim the next day the waves were massive we had to be very careful back when I was a young man and in shape I could help maneuver these waves no I gave it a second thought

There’s a bunch of stories between my grandfather and Jimmy Buffett they both really respected each other jimmy even wrote a song about him, The last Mango in Paris Wayback in the day my grandfather would let Jimmy jump on stage sing a couple of his songs, my grandfather knew a lot about good entertainment his two brothers were entertainers and his dad when I first moved to Key West from New Jersey I was a rock and roller Black Sabbath, Deep purple loved Pink Floyd and of course the Beatles Didn’t like that Jimmy Buffett, Grateful Dead music at all, I got to meet Jimmy Buffett a bunch of times when he came to visit my grandfather at the bar one of the most memorable was when Jimmy pulled up in front of the bar with his party bus 1976 He invited my grandfather and my grandfather let me come with him that was the first time I smoked weed with Jimmy Buffett and my grandfather I remember one of the bandmembers gave me a Budweiser if it wasn’t for Jimmy Buffett my grandfather would’ve never been elected in as a mayor of Key West