"In the evening the cares of the day were exchanged for the pleasures and relaxations of Broadway, then, when the day people went to bed, Greenwich Village came to life … Yes it was a typical night in the village too, but in the East Village, just a few blocks away, there was an entirely different class of people — real artists — writers, composers, who were making a true contribution to the new culture. We were the intellectuals, the elite. We weren't eccentrics like the others. We dressed comfortably and casually, and spoke the language as educated people do. Not the jargon of the immature rebels. We weren't searching for the truth, we'd found it. A couple of years ago, I was just like the rest of you conformists."