Robert Indiana kept a series of illustrated journals during the late 1950s and 1960s, in which he discusses the development of his work as well as his daily life on Coenties Slip.

Indiana's journal page for June 2, 1962, includes a sketch of the four circles in the painting The Triumph of Tira, and a note that he gave the painting The Sweet Mystery another coat of cobalt blue.

Indiana then describes a trip uptown to Macy's to look at bikes, and his walk back to Coenties Slip. He notes that having a bike might make the summer more bearable, and that storing one would be "no great problem." He records that his friend Norman (Fisher) came over that evening to sew with J. (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss), and that he gave them the dirt on an artist friend, Stevenson.    

Indiana also details the construction taking place in the neighborhood, recording that the last of the asphalting had been done on Water Street, in front of the painter Bob Mitchell's loft, making the new vista look like "a real boulevard now."