Going back in time has a lot of appeal right now with COVID-19 requiring us to be extra cautious about our environment. Dominic Ambrose’s 2012 book “Nickel Fare,” which limns a hero’s quest, is worth a look . We follow 21 year-old Nicangelo as he navigates the gritty streets of Staten Island and Lower Manhattan, as a youth just coming out as a newly-aware gay man. The swirls of sex and life and the magic of moonlight and stars are part of this walk down Memory Lane, which also includes a wander through the mean streets of the Meat Packing district, the porno palaces of 42nd Street prior to the Disneyfication of Midtown, and an odyssey to Puerto Rico. Nicangelo rides his thumb around the island at a time when hitch-hiking was how people got around. The time was simpler--and not. For younger readers, it is a clear-eyed view of a time that was more complicated in many ways and when there was a lot less support for being queer than there is today. The support that exists now is from Nicangelos (and Nicangelas) who were determined that Gay is Good, Queer is Here would rule the day, and this slice of life from 1971 reflects a very different experience than what we know and have today. Like any body of water, the river of time has surface currents and mysteries, as does "Nickel Fare." Check it out and take a trip from your beach chair or your arm chair, for a trip you will remember.