THE COMMANDER
by Charlie Finch



My late father was a childhood friend of John Lindsay and worked on his New York mayoral campaign in 1965. When Thomas Hoving became Lindsay's Parks Commissioner, Dad would curse Tom at dinner nightly. "That bastard Hoving is ruining the tranquility of Central Park!" Yet thanks to Tom, I got to see numerous Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead concerts there, march in dozen of peace demonstrations, canoodle on Sheep Meadow with Chapin girls and enjoy the biggest outdoor drug market in New York at the Central Park Bandshell.

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