By Peter Davis 8/17/12 3:00pm

As Seen in SCENE

Illustration by Jason Katzenstein

Peter Davis’s School Daze: Beach Club Blues

Sixth grade was dunzo! I snatched my skateboard, stashed in a bush outside Barclay School, and hit the sidewalk with a slap and roar of joy. After narrowly avoiding prison, aka Grace Farm, that boarding school for “troubled youth” in the boondocks of Maine, I celebrated the start of summer with eight packs of Pop Rocks, all shoved in my mouth at one time. Each sugary snap created a chorus of freedom ringing down East 74th Street.

My parents love “the country,” meaning Southampton, but I way prefer the city unless it’s summer when I can boogie board. So I quietly sat in our green station wagon with my headphones on as my parents drove the two hours to Southampton. My punk rock playlist drowned out most of their annoying conversation, which centered on some “ghastly” (my mom’s favorite word for anything she didn’t like from people to someone’s shoes) divorced woman who had been black balled from the beach club where I basically spent every day all summer. Read More

By Peter Davis 5/10/12 10:00am

As Seen in SCENE

Charlie Campbell

School Daze: Centerfolds for Sale

After my mini-porn theater was shut down, heaven sent me an angel by the name of Chin Ho; an always grinning Korean guy who ran the newsstand on Lexington and 73rd Street, a convenient block and a half from my parents’ apartment. One afternoon, after stocking up on my daily supply of gummy worms, comic books and Mad magazine, I slipped in a Playboy, just for a fast thrill. Chin Ho wagged his finger at me, and then whispered conspiratorially, “This is our secret.” Read More

By Peter Davis 3/02/12 8:30am

As Seen in SCENE

Charlie Campbell's gambling games. (Camille Shimshak)

School Daze: Campbell’s Casino

“I demand that your son return my wife’s diamond necklace,” shouted Mr. Tomesen as he commanded the front hall of my parent’s apartment on East 72nd Street. My mother and father were mid-dinner party and their guests—which included the flamboyant gay walker and gossip Swizzy Ziegler, rail-thin fashion plate Nony Martin and fashion editor Divina Fields—watched in horror and amusement as Mr. Tomesen tried to shove his way past my father who mumbled and wobbled in his brown suede Belgian slippers. Read More