Far Rockaway

Born in 1934, John grew up in Edgemere on the Rockaway peninsula in Queens, New York, where he attended Far Rockaway High School. His beachside childhood was filled with swimming, fishing, and the amusements of the boardwalk. Manhattan was only a subway ride away, and John was drawn to Broadway and Swing Street, where he listened to jazz spilling from the basement clubs—an early introduction to the world of entertainment that would shape his life.