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 entry for June 27, 1962, includes a sketch of the "solo" Coenties Slip, a 60 x 48-inch oil on canvas painting similar to the central panel of The Melville Triptych, but in color.

Below the sketch he mentions a trip uptown to see Boccaccio '70 at a new movie theater on Third Avenue and 60th Street. He describes the film as "great fun, particularly [the] billboard sequence, beautifully done by Fellini w/ Anita Ekberg. Mama Italia Loren an earthy raffle prize, and Romy Schneider, a cool sex kitten, speak’g German and Italian." Indiana also notes that Enrico Donati dominates the current art exhibition organized by the Staempfli Gallery.