You can always sleep up in Central Park during the daytime, although the muggers come out to play at night. Free night crashing can be found in the waiting room of the Pennsylvania Railroad station, 34th St. and 7th Ave. The cops will leave you alone until about 7:00 AM when they kick you out. You can put your rucksack in a locker for twenty-five cents to avoid it being ripped-off.
The Boys Emergency Shelter, 69 St. Marks Place, (777-1234) provides free room and board for males 16-20 years of age. The Living Room can be found on the same block. It’s a heavy religious scene, but they will help with room and board. Their hours are 6:30 PM to 2:00 AM, phone 982-5988. Also on the Lower East Side is the Macauley Mission at 90 Lafayette St.
On the West Side, there’s a poet named Delworth at 125 Sullivan St. that houses kids if he’s got room. The Judson Memorial Church, Washington Square South always has one or more housing programs going. If you’re really hard up, try the Stranded Youth Program, 111 W. 31st St. (554-8897). Teenagers 16-20 are sent home; if you don’t want to go back but need room and board, give them phony identification.
The Graymoor Monastery (CA 6-2388) offers free room and board for young people in the country. They provide transportation.
FOOD
Hunt’s Point Market, Hunt’s Point Ave. and 138th St. in the Bronx will lay enough fruit and vegetables on your family to last a week or more. Lettuce, squash, carrots, cantaloupe, grapefruit, even artichokes and mushrooms all crated. You’ll need a car or truck and they only give stuff away in the early morning. Just tell them you’re doing a free food thing and it’s yours. Outasight!
The large slaughterhouse area is in the far West Village, west of Hudson and south of 14th St. Get a letter from a clergyman saying you need meat for a church-sponsored meal.
The fish market is located on Fulton and South Streets under the East River Drive overpass in lower Manhattan. You can always manage to find some sympathetic fisherman early in the morning who will lay as much fish on you as you can cart away.
If you pick up on a car, take a trip to Long Island City. There you will find the Gordon Baking Company at 42 -25 21st, Pepsi Cola at 4602 Fifth Ave., Borden Company at 35-10 Steinway St. and Dannon Yogurt at 22-11 38th Ave. All four places give out samples for free if you call or write ahead and explain how it’s for a block party.
Along 2nd and 3rd Avenues on the upper east side are a host of swank bars with free hors-d’oeuvres beginning at five. All Longchamps are good, as is Max’s Kansas City.
For real class, check the back pages of the New York Times for ocean cruises and those swinging bon voyage parties. If you look kind of straight or want to disguise yourself and see the other half at it, sneak into conventions for drinks, snacks and all kinds of free samples. Call the New York Convention Bureau, 90 E. 42nd St. MU 7-1300 for info. You can also get free tickets to theater events here at 9:00 AM on weekdays.
Other free meals can be gotten at the various missions.
• Bowery Mission—227 Bowery (674-3456). Pray and eat from 4:00 to 6:00 PM only. Heavy religious orientation.
• Catholic Worker—36 E. First St. Soup line from 10:00 to 11:00 AM.
Clothes for women on Thursday from 12:00 to 2:00 PM. Clothes for men after 2:00 PM weekdays. Sometimes lodging.
• Holy Name Center for Homeless Men—18 Bleeker St. (CA 6-5848 or CA 6-2338) Clothes and morning showers from 7:00 to 11:00 AM.
• Macauley Mission—90 Lafayette St. (CA 6-6214) Free room and board.
Free food Saturdays at 5:00 PM. Sometimes free clothes.
• Moravian Church—154 Lexington Ave. (MU 3-4219 or 533-3737) Free spaghetti dinner on Tuesday at 1:00 PM.
• Quakers—328 E. 15th St. Meals at 6:00 PM Tuesdays.
• Wayward—287 Mercer St. Free meals nightly.
The International Society For Krishna Consciousness is located at 41 Second Ave. Every morning at 7:00 AM a delicious cereal breakfast is served free along with chanting and dancing. Also at noon, more food and chanting and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7:00 PM, again food and chanting. Then it’s all day Sunday in Central Park Sheepmeadow (generally) for still more chanting (sans food). Hari Krishna is the freest high going if you can get into it and dig cereal and of course, more chanting.
The Paradox Restaurant, at 64 E. 7th St. is a neat cheap health joint that will give you a free meal if you help peel shrimp or do the dishes.
MEDICAL CARE
The latest dope on family planning and the new abortion law can be obtained from Planned Parenthood, 300 Park Ave. (777-2015). They provide a free directory on city-wide services in this area. The Black Panther Free Health Clinic on 180 Sutter Ave. in Brooklyn is radical medicine in action. If you ripped off this book, why not send them or another group mentioned in this book a check so they can continue serving the people. Two fantastic clinics on the Lower East Side are the St. Marks People’s Clinic at 44 St. Marks Place (533-9500), open weekdays 6-10 PM and NENA at 290 E. Third St. (677-5040) which also functions as a switchboard for the area.
The Beth Israel Teenage Clinic at 17th St. and 1st Ave. 673-3000 ext. 2424) services young people. Millie at the Village Project, 88 2nd Ave. can arrange for free glasses. The New York University Dental Clinic, 421 First Ave. will give you the cheapest dental care in Gotham. Stuyvesant-Poly Clinic, 137 Second Ave. (674-0232) has an emergency day clinic with the quickest service. Dial-a-freakout is 324-0707. Ambulance service is at 440-1234. You ought to know the cops accompany ambulance calls. The following is a list of the New York City Health Department Centers. They provide a number of free services including X-rays, venereal examinations and treatment, shots for children’s diseases, vaccinations, tetanus shots and a host of other services.
• Central Harlem—2238 Fifth Ave. AU 3-1900
• East Harlem—158 E. 115th St. TR 6-0300
• Lower East Side—341 E. 25th St. MU 9-6353
• Manhattanville—21 Old Broadway MO 5-5900
• Morningside—264 W. 118th St. UN6-2500
• Washington Heights—600 W. 168th St. WA 7-6300
• Morrisania—1309 Fulton St. WY 2-4200
• Mott Haven—349 E. 140th St. MO 9-6010
• Tremont-Fordham—1826 Arthur Ave. LU 3-5500
• Westchester-Pelham—2527 Glebe Ave. SY 2-0100
• Bedford—485 Throop Ave. GL 2-7880
• Brownsville—259 Briston St. HY 8-6742
• Bushwick—335 Central Ave. HI 3-5000
• Crown Heights—1218 Prospect Place SL 6-8902
• Flatbush-Gravesend—1601 Ave. S NI 5-8280
• Ft. Greene—295 Flatbush Ave. Ext. 643-8934
• Red Hook-Gowanus—250 Baltic St. 643-5687
• Sunset Park—514 49th St. GE 6-2800
