Rochdale – Syd Stern©2020 Brian H. Lumley, photos by Alex Mac Donald I was working in the Rochdale maintenance department the day Syd Stern moved into Rochdale. It was the early spring of 1971, he was 50 years old, a sharp dresser wearing a very well fitted suit. That first meeting lasted probably less than half an hour; Karen Johnston in the Rentals Office liked Syd and asked me take him to his room. I was under the impression he was just recently divorced and wanted to have fun. He liked what he saw as we walked and rode the elevator through the building and I showed him a room. His reasons for moving into Rochdale were very much the same as mine, he saw the youth movement of the 60s and 70s as a next step in our culture’s growth. Syd and I just plain got along as people; he was jubilant, excited and delighted to be accepted into the community. I just thought it was neat that this older, well dressed, straight looking guy, that in my mind had already had a full life, was thrilled to be among us. I believe his apartment was a Kafka but I can’t remember the number. He walked through the door into his new apartment a very stylish middle aged man dressed very sharp and straight, when he came back out his door he was dressed like a hippy in jeans, a collared casual shirt and a vest, the Syd Stern we got to know. I did not hang around in any of the circles within Rochdale; because of my job I had to mix with everybody. I made no secret deals with anyone, which annoyed some residents but I owed no one anything so my services were fair and legitimate. This proved to be a point of trust with Syd and we always met as open, unattached friends, with the building as the connection. His was unique. Syd definitely did have a full life before he got to Rochdale and it very quickly became his show card. He had a psychological swing that was astounding to all of us. Within a couple of months of imbibing in the pleasures and displeasures of Rochdale, Syd had a philosophical slant to his rap and patter. He was the Pied Piper in very many ways. He could adjust the tone and slant of his philosophy to suit many ears. He soon had a group of followers and knew where the money and action was in the building. You could find him at any card game that was going in Rochdale. Syd was good at sizing people up; he would pick and choose between who was who and what was what and not let himself fall into the limelight until he was in a good position. The only people he didn’t get along with were those he felt were dishonest and abusive. In a street society like Rochdale’s there was more than one of each. He would not let himself be taken advantage of and he would stand up for weaker individuals he felt were honest or had a good heart. More than once I saw him stop something going down where somebody was being unfairly taken advantage of. He freely promoted calling out legitimate complaints and advocated for those that did not know how to defend themselves. He had a heart for the underdog and would give them a hand. I felt Syd introduced an air of legitimacy to the building; there are those who would disagree with me but I never did trade with him. We were friends not business acquaintances. We talked about our experiences and how we saw things. Syd was aware of the bullshit that most of us were trying to comprehend. This was the generation of saying no to the established attitudes of the day. We opposed the drug laws of the day because we could see the corruption they caused. The environmental issues were starting to manifest and a new group of researchers were just starting to raise the alarm. But many of us didn’t know how to pull the pieces new philosophy together so things made sense. Rochdale was full of confusion, young people finding their way, Syd understood this very well so he would ply us with questions that would make us think. He would then ask some of the questions again a couple of days later to see if people were thinking or if he had wasted his time. These would be relatively short conversations, perhaps over a joint or two or just hanging around the 2nd floor elevator lobby. Here is some personal information I gleaned from Syd during some of these exchanges in the elevator lobby -- Military duty -- Most men Syd’s age enlisted for WW2, some were drafted. He told me his story of how he got himself kicked out of the army during the war; you had to prove yourself incorrigible. He was not sucked into the glory of war and waited to be drafted. He let them know immediately that he had no intention of risking his life so somebody else could get a medal. He was deemed unfit for combat duty very early in his training and funnelled into kitchen duty. The final straw for him was in boot camp when he was ordered with the other men in his squad to stand in a circle around a haystack. Each man had a bat and the plan was to kill a rabbit that was hiding in the stack as it tried to escape. The sergeant hit the stack, the rabbit ran out heading straight for Syd, he threw his bat in the air and ran in the other direction. Everybody laughed, he was deemed unfit for duty and his discharge papers were written up. He went back to doing business on the street. |