Hill author’s latest novel finds old neighborhood bleak

Posted 3/5/20

Chestnut Hill author, musician and storyteller Ted Fink’s poignant and gripping third novel, “The Incident at Parkside,” will be the subject of a book signing event at Mermaid Inn, 7673 …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Hill author’s latest novel finds old neighborhood bleak

Posted
Chestnut Hill author, musician and storyteller Ted Fink’s poignant and gripping third novel, “The Incident at Parkside,” will be the subject of a book signing event at Mermaid Inn, 7673 Germantown Ave., on Sunday, March 15, 3 to 5 pm. (Photo by Janet Gala)

by Len Lear


In Chestnut Hill author Ted Fink’s poignant and gripping third novel, “The Incident at Parkside,” 77-year-old Melvin Kappernick does something unexpected; instead of retiring to a gated community in Florida, he moves back to the neighborhood of his youth in an attempt to recapture some of the mystery and magic he knew as a boy.

But the area has completely changed, and Kappernick finds himself helping an 11-year-old girl escape the clutches of a pimp who is trying to offer her to pedophiles. “The Incident” is about the violence that takes place as a result of Kappernick’s decision. (Fink is hosting a book signing event at Mermaid Inn, 7673 Germantown Ave., on Sunday, March 15, 3 to 5 pm.)

Fink, 80, literally built the Chestnut Hill house he and his wife of 49 years, Ruth, have lived in for 37 years. However, he grew up in Parkside, a section of West Philadelphia that has, like so many other urban communities, seen a serious decline over the last 50 years or so, which is the cauldron out of which Fink’s new novel has bubbled up.

“I grew up at 42nd and Parkside,” Fink told us last week. “My mother had a little corner store, a lady’s shop, there. Our family lived in the back of the store. I only have good memories of those days. Memorial Hall, Whispering Walls, Horticultural Hall, the park, the abundance of kids. Everybody knew my name. I couldn’t act out. Shouts of ‘Teddy, I’ll tell your mother!’ kept me in line. It was a true ‘shtetl’ (a small Jewish town or village in eastern Europe). Leidy Elementary School was a block away. We lived in that neighborhood until I was 12. 

“A couple of years ago I drove through the neighborhood. The buildings along Parkside avenue were just a façade hiding the severe devastation behind them. It was heartbreaking. Many of the houses had been boarded up or knocked down. The mom and pop stores that lined a single block of 42nd street were gone. I started to think what it would be like to live there now.”

The prolific author has yet another novel that is finished, “Pebbles in the Fire,” that will be coming out sometime next year. It’s a story that is inspired by Operation Smile, about a father who tries to walk with his three-year-old son to Managua to have visiting surgeons repair his boy’s face. And presently he has finished about 200 pages of a book about white supremacists and racism.

Fink’s family moved to West Oak Lane when he was 12. Ted went to Wagner Junior High, Germantown High, Temple University and Miami University. He has a BA in creative writing and a Master's Degree in educational administration.

Ted also has an extensive restaurant background. Every summer staring in 1953 he worked as a busboy at a 20-room hotel in Atlantic City, and starting at age 16 he worked weekends as a banquet waiter in Philadelphia hotels — the Bellevue, Warwick and Sheraton. “In 1958 I was making more money as a banquet waiter on weekends than my father was making working 40 hours a week as an electrician.”
In 1964, Fink built The Rib Ranch Restaurant on North 22nd Street, three blocks from the old Connie Mack Stadium. He took over La Terrasse on Penn's campus in 1972, and in 1989 he opened Crickets, a rock 'n' roll night club, in Woodlyn, Delaware County.

Many people in Northwest Philly also know Fink as a singer/songwriter and storyteller. He has written and recorded many songs and created and hosted the Chestnut Hill Singer/Songwriter Slam for four years. He has played theaters, clubs, private parties and cafes. A few years ago he did a one-man show at Stagecrafters in Chestnut Hill for two nights that drew about 300 people. He has been a professional storyteller since 1981. His first tale was an eight-minute story about drug addiction in rhyme called “Lost In The Ooze.”

If Ted could meet and spent time with anyone on earth, past or present, who would it be and why? “What a great question. The first person who comes to mind is Edgar Allan Poe. A great writer, great poet and mysterious character. I’ve gone so far as to write a song about him that I play all the time. Poe is considered the father of the short story, as well as the mystery and detective genres. His stories have always thrilled me.”

Ted and his wife have a daughter, Juliet, 42, who has three sons, 6, 4 and 2; and a son Matt, 36, who is a city solicitor.

For more information, visit tedfink.com. Here is a link to a short video about his latest book:

https://youtu.be/MnD3gUjsM1k. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com

arts