The Discovery of New York

This chapter details events following Gaspar's arrival in New York. In the summer of 1954, Nick Corby gave Gaspar a one-way Greyhound bus ticket and five dollars and told him they would meet up in New York City. After three long days and nights, Gaspar arrived in Manhattan. What a sight it was! He'd never seen anything even remotely like it. Long, wide corridors of concrete and glass extended out in every direction, thickly channeled with noisy, car-choked avenues. At a time when Tijuana had around 100,000 residents, Manhattan contained almost 2 million people. Gaspar got out between Eighth Avenue and Broadway and wandered around the station for thirty minutes, looking for his local contact and new trainer, Hipolito “Happy” Rodriguez. The next day, Happy took his new charge to Stillman's Gym to start his real education. Here Gaspar received the biggest shock yet. He was already scheduled to fight at what boxing fans called the Center of the Universe. He had a match in Madison Square Garden in just three weeks.