Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash

The Dakota in New York City is a magical place and for Anton Winter it is home. After narrowly escaping death from a stint in Africa with the Peace Corp Anton returns to his childhood home and the crazy goings-on of his family and other inhabitants of the Dakota.
Superbly crafted, Tom Barbash weaves in the fictional Buddy Winters and family with anybody and everybody famous in the late '70s and early '80s. Anton is floundering at home but takes on the tough job of reuniting his comedian host dad with late night TV. This is made much more difficult by the fact that Buddy had a breakdown on his live show which is the equivalent of career suicide. Anton is such a likable narrator. It was like taking a sweet trip down memory lane with all the news, music, and movie references. There are so many stories that you find yourself laughing thinking "oh no, he didn't" but you aren't quite convinced that maybe it did happen. THE DAKOTA WINTERS is a love song to the magic and madness of New York with an acapella solo to the craziness of L.A. in the '70s and '80s.