About
James Lotker is a standard issue Baby Boomer.
On May 26, 1954, James was born a curious and impulsive Gemini in Mineola, New York. He has two older sisters. His maternal grandmother lived in Bangor, Maine and he spent his summers there at the family cottage on Pushaw Lake. In 1963, James transitioned to spend more of his summer time at Camp Highfields in Maine.
James was educated in the Port Washington school system and graduated high school in 1971. He declined early acceptance to Rochester Institute of Technology in order to hitchhike throughout New England and Canada for several years. Finally, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) started James on a passionate career from which he did not waiver. Upon graduation from the CIA, he accepted a position at the newly opened Rainbow Lodge in Houston, Texas.
He worked at the lodge for two years, when suddenly a life changing event occurred. James was the victim of a hit and run driver while riding his bicycle to work in the Memorial section of Houston, Texas. He was further victimized by his pill-mill-lawyer-doctor (Juris Doctor), which resulted in James returning to Port Washington, New York to live with his parents. Now at age 26, James checked into a nine month rehab program.
Upon completion of rehab, James took a position as a food service manager with the New York Racing Association (NYRA) at Belmont, Saratoga, and Aqueduct Racetracks, where he met his future wife, Lise Cecile Bellocq. They were married in 1984 in Upper Brookville, New York. They had two offspring: Zachary in 1987 and Cassandra in 1990. Zachary and Cassandra both live in New York.
Meanwhile, after three 4 year stunts at country clubs, James settled in at The Metropolitan Caterers in Glen Cove, New York. There, under the mentorship of Billy Long, along with the style of his wife Anita, James parlayed the next thirty years to be able to put pen to paper and write.
Lise passed away on December 1, 2018. James lives with his partner, Leslie, on Long Island. Upon retirement in 2024, he started writing his memoir. The website, www.coffee-noise.com, comes as an offshoot of these memoirs.