JR Moehringer (pronounced Mo-Ringer) is a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. A 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner, Moehringer reads from his best-selling memoir The Tender Bar at The King’s English on Monday, Aug. 14 at 7 p.m.
nnYou grew up in Manhasset, the backdrop for The Great Gatsby. Could you relate to F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s portrayal of your surroundings?
nnI found out when I was a young teen that I came from Gatsby’s milieu, and I read the book immediately, and loved it, and I’ve been reading it over and over, ever since.
nnYou would sometimes peek into other people’s living rooms to see how they lived. Why?
nnBecause I didn’t have a home, so I was fascinated by these glimpses into other homes.
nnWhat comes to mind when you recall your childhood home?
nnWhat my family called the Bicentennial Sofa, a monstrosity from Sears, upholstered in a hideous design: faces of the Founding Fathers, bald eagles, liberty bells. More than any item, the Bicentennial Sofa represented the overall ugliness and shabbiness of the house I grew up in.
nnThe only access you had to your father was listening to him as a deejay, or “The Voice,” on the radio. What was your fondest memory of listening to him?
nnListening to him was “exciting” at times because that was my father, after all, but I have no fond memories of The Voice, only a recollection of aching and longing.
nnHow did growing up in a bar inspire you to excel as a professional journalist?
nnI learned in the bar to love storytelling, and journalism was the only way I could find after college to tell stories for money.
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