Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Al Sharpton Share a Moment in NYC

Before President Obama delivered his tough talk to Wall Street Thursday, several executives had to wait patiently, with no VIP holding section in sight, while security teams swept the Cooper Union auditorium and waited for the president to arrive.

The CEO of greatest interest to the assembled press, of course, was Lloyd Blankfein, the top man at Goldman Sachs. He will be on Capitol Hill next week to explain his firm's role in the 2008 financial meltdown (not to mention the fraud charge the SEC handed down last week for a junior executive there.)

Like the other titans of the Street, Blankfein had no choice in his 90 minutes of free time but to be greeted, pushed, pressed and questioned by whomever approached him. After telling me he'd really rather not do an interview, and eventually pleading "Let me just go," Blankfein sought solace in some small talk with Rev. Al Sharpton, the media staple who had arrived two-and-a-half hours early and spent most of his extra time posing for pictures with starstruck Cooper Union students.

After awkwardly smiling for photographs, the unlikely duo struck up a conversation, only to learn they grew up blocks from each other in working-class Brooklyn. By the end, Sharpton seemed to have some reluctant affection for his old neighbor.

Blankfein: Where'd you grow up?

Sharpton: I grew up on East Flatbush.

Blankfein: Linden Projects (speaking of himself).

Sharpton: Really? No.

Blankfein: Yeah. Really.

Sharpton: You were middle class though, in Linden Projects.

Blankfein: No....That was only the Boulevard. If you made $90, you lived in Linden Projects, if you made $92 you had to move.

Sharpton: That's true, that's true. You know what you're talking about...I never knew that about you.

Related: Obama to Wall Street: 'Join Us' on Financial Reform