1957: Broadway at West 91st Street By Caitlin Hawke
0 Comments
Celebrating a Local Centennial By Caitlin Hawke Even if it means repeating an image I've posted, there is no better Throwback Thursday than one where I can deliver news of a local organization paying tribute to the neighborhood's past. In fact, the organization will be commemorating a commemoration of a world tragedy: the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. She was bound for our city on that maiden voyage and aboard were illustrious New Yorkers including Bloomingdale residents (2747 Broadway) Ida Straus and her husband Isidor, an owner of Macy's. That fateful night, Ida chose to remain behind and stay aboard with her husband when she was offered a seat in one of the lifeboats: "I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die, together." And so they did. Three years later, the city dedicated Straus Park to their memory (below). Looking back and reading contemporaneous accounts, I get the feeling that the memorial was as much in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Straus's mutual devotion as it was in defense of New York's successful men who were seen as "grasping and lack[ing] a spirit of sympathy and social service" according to a New York Times piece. Interestingly this was also the time of the Revenue Act of 1913 reinstating the Federal Income Tax, which would have considerably hampered "New York's successful men." But I digress. Fifty-nine designs were submitted, with the winning submission receiving $10,000. Architect Evart Tracy and sculptor Augustus Lukeman won the competition to design the Straus Memorial. Evart said: "we have sought to make the peaceful spirit of the monument and the tiny pool in front of it the one dominating note—an eternal peace that runs through the spirit of the world deeper than its turmoil." I'd say they fairly well succeeeded! And so have Friends of Straus Park who now maintain plantings and support gardening of this park in the spirit in which the park was designed. It is thanks to the Friends of Straus Park that a centennial fête for this triangular oasis will take place on Saturday, October 3rd. It's an all-day affair called "Art in the Park." From 10 am to 5 pm, there will be art of all sorts (think jewelry, photographs, paintings...). There's also music and food planned. And at noon, neighbors will commemorate this park's centennial. When you are done here, amble down West End Avenue to West 104th Street for a rollicking good yard sale put on by our friends at the West 104th Street Block Association. It's bound to be a beautiful day in the neighborhood. And we have our very own peaceful park in which to contemplate it. 1920 & Present: Broadway at West 96th Street By Caitlin Hawke
With a h/t to the West Side Rag, the Museum of the City of New York and photographer Arthur Hosking who shot the top picture in 1920 or 1921. The West 90s Gets a Shout Out for Livability and Charm
By Caitlin Hawke
1925: West End Avenue and West 102nd Street By Caitlin Hawke In 1925, 865 West End Avenue was constructed replacing town houses on the west side of West End Avenue which may be seen here. On the southwest corner of the intersection of West 102nd Street is the "Standoche" or "St. Andoche" shown below with fetching awnings. Bring them back! The Ginkgo is Dead. Long Live the Ginkgo. By Caitlin Hawke
As often is the case this time of year, my thoughts turned from summer to fall one August day. Usually triggered by a certain crispness in the air or the perception of a slight change in the sun's angle, this pre-autumnal premonition is linked to a back-to-school wistfulness for me. "Summer's over, get back to the grind," Mother Nature calls out sternly. But this time, the feeling had neither to do with dry, cool air, nor with a lowering of light. It was a shabby carpet of leaves, brown and yellow, littering the pavement in front of 878 West End Avenue. "Fall is here," they screeched as I kicked through them on my way home. But a month too soon. And then I stopped. Looked up. And realized. Not at all, chump. It is still summer. But we've lost the tree. You know the one. The ginkgo that when all is said and done will have been felled violently yet in slow motion. Begun by an axe to the trunk early this past spring, the end will come with the city grinding out the stump sometime one full orbit of the sun later. And in between we will watch this stressed tree wither and die and stand there as atrocious punctuation. This year, the vandal will not smell the ginkgo berries. This year, we will not behold a fiery yellow and orange canopy. This year, instead, out will come an adolescent killed before its prime. And, if we're lucky, next year in will go a twin. Perversity dictates that it be a fruit-bearing ginkgo. A before and after for your consideration below. But what about us, before and after, neighbors? Circa 1909: Amsterdam Avenue at West 103rd Street By Caitlin Hawke From about 1908 to 1965, the Hotel Clendening was located at 202 West 103rd Street, taking its name from a nearby estate owned by John Clendening. Found on the southwest corner of the intersection, the hotel had a "superior" Table d'Hôte, or so the 1908 ad below claims. Another feature was that it was "200 feet" from the subway entrance. The entire area was known as Clendening Valley, a hat tip to the eponymous Irish landowner. 1912: A Wonderful Old Map Showing Our Neighborhood By Caitlin Hawke
There's a lot to note here, and unfortunately these are hard to read. But 300 Riverside is a big mansion, The Master Apartments do not yet exist, and check out that lot on the NE corner of West 103rd Street and Broadway. No 315 Riverside and no 320 Riverside, either! 1891: West End Avenue at West 103rd Street By Caitlin Hawke
1915: West End Avenue at West 106th Street By Caitlin Hawke
1930: West End Avenue and West 96th Street, Looking North By Caitlin Hawke
1904: Broadway and West 103rd Street - Subterranean By Caitlin Hawke
1940: Riverside Drive and West 100th StreetBy Caitlin Hawke
1930: Broadway and West 104th Street By Caitlin Hawke The Board of Bloomingdale Aging in Place Pays Tribute to a Founder: David L. Reich By Caitlin Hawke
In the June 2015 issue of our newsletter, neighbor Lydia Dufour has a wonderful piece about a former leader of this block association and one of the primary founders of Bloomingdale Aging in Place: David L. Reich. BAiP has been a dynamo of community building these last six years, and its backbone has been its technological structure and the administrative framework meticulously laid down by David Reich. It is fair to say that BAiP is absolutely soaring with over 1000 meet-ups each year, 100 volunteers to make all the activities and services available to neighborhood adults, and new blood and fresh ideas pulsing through the organization every day. All this was accomplished under David's leadership -- at first with a dedicated steering committee and then alongside a very roll-up-your-sleeves board that is going strong today. David is, quite simply, a force of nature when it comes to neighborliness and getting things done. He may find purpose and meaningful engagement in all that he has taken on over the years in our neck of the woods, first with this block association and now with BAiP. But we are all the beneficiaries of his efforts. The mark he continues to make on this neighborhood ought be proudly and loudly noted. And so it was, on April 9th, when all of BAiP's current and former board members gathered to thank David as he passed the presidency of BAiP over having come to the limit of his term. Thankfully, for BAiP's sake, David will continue serving on the board AND leading BAiP's ping pong group. To quote Lydia, all BAiP's board members including me "count our blessings that he so successfully transplanted to our corner of Manhattan and will continue to be a vital member of the BAiP board as well as an active community and activity volunteer with the organization." In honor of his unparalleled work within the organization, the Board of Directors of BAiP presented him with the following commendation. To learn more about BAiP's opportunities to get involved, please email: [email protected] or call (212) 842-8831. A Bloomingdale Cheer to Our Neighborhood Businesses and Neighbor Bakers This is a heartfelt shout-it-from-the-rooftops word of thanks to our treasured local businesses who supported the Block Association's Spring Bazaar. You gave food, you discounted your products, you sent in gift certificates for our silent auction, you schlepped things, and you came out to show your 10025 allegiance proving your bona fides. Community is laid down in many layers, and for the Spring Bazaar you were the layer of icing on the cake! (Also, from our bakesale table organizers: a big word of thanks to our cake icers and cookie bakers, listed below). With our appreciation for your investment in what we are doing, our thanks go to you all, big, small and hyper-local businesses of Bloomingdale! And bakers of 10025! Silent Auction & Spring Bazaar Donors 107 West Restaurant A to Z .99 cent Store Aangan Indian Restaurant Bank Street Bookstore BE FIT NYC Blondi's Hair Salon Book Culture Broadway Pizza Buchetta Brick Oven Busters NYC Café du Soleil Camile Colon Carol Bowen Studios Dive Bar Dog Days of New York Festival Chamber Music Society Grape Collective Hedy Campbell Liberty House Long Teng II Massage & Spa Martin Brothers Metro Diner MP Fitness NYC Paris Frameworks Patricia Moore Petqua Riverside Liquors RoboFun Studio Symphony Space The Abbey Pub The Ellington The West End Lounge Toast Wang Chen Table Tennis Club Bakesale Donors Hedy Campbell Susan Dessel Cheryl Dresner Carolyn Fitzpatrick Kerstin Hasenpusch Deborah Lott Sue Maderer Lisbeth Mark David Reich Nancy Wight By Caitlin Hawke Late 1880s: Riverside Drive and West 108th Street By Caitlin Hawke These are two views of the Riverside Drive and W. 108th Street mansion of Samuel Gamble Bayne (1844-1924), founder of Seabord National Bank, a precursor of JP Morgan Chase. An original director of the Bankers' Trust Company and the Columbia Trust Company, the Irish-born Bayne was likely a billionaire by the turn of the century. Hats Off to You All! The Annual Yard Sale has come and gone in its new guise of a Spring Bazaar--still serving up something for everyone. Mother Nature toyed with the organizers, keeping forecasts all over the map culminating in a knuckle-biter of an 8 a.m. downpour; but ultimately she whispered a springtime "go for it!" to the Block Association's team of planners. And the event came off last Saturday in full regalia--with just a little sprinkle midway for good measure. A huge rainbow arch of balloons heralded the spirt that West End passersby would find if turning west off the avenue onto 103rd Street that day. And turn they did. Neighbors and bargain-hunters, moms, dads, kids itching to get their faces painted, old-time residents remembering the ghosts of sales past, and the newly arrived realizing they've moved into a true neighborhood: they all came to check out this communal event. Really, truly, to tell it like it is: I am a sucker for it. I might grumble at the thought of having to staff an outreach table or schlep supplies. But in truth, I heart this annual ritual of our community pouring into the street. I delight in old time stories of sales past. Like the one Neil Borrell told me about W. 103rd Street old-timer and brownstone resident, Len Tredanari. Len died over 10 years ago and sadly we lost his widow Cherie this year. But the memory of Len barbecuing in a home-made, yet precariously-laid brick hearth shines still. As does that of his homemade wine. Then there's the story of Len taking a hose to a parked car whose owner flouted the no parking signs. Story goes he filled that car with water. So to our neighbors who "forgot" to move cars this year, you sure got off easy! But I digress. I am in awe of the devotion of the relatively small Block Association core team that pulls it off year after year. So first a big hat tip to people like Übermensch Bob Aaronson who runs the show; to Anthony Bellov who jigsaws the street into slots so that vendors have a spot from which to hawk; to Hedy Campbell, Debi Cohen, Deborah Lott, Sue Maderer, Dorothy O'Hanlon, and Jane Hopkins who planned, stocked, and staffed various concessions, rummage and silent auction booths; to Bruce Cohen who directed the music stage in front of Gershwin House with a full program of sets from volunteer musicians; to Cynthia Doty, to Terence Hanrahan, to Celia Knight, to Ginger Lief, and to the others I am forgetting who dealt with the authorities, helped clear the street of cars, sold raffle tickets, schlepped, swept, fretted and toiled. This hat tip is for you all. Special thanks go to teams from St. Luke's who provided merry muscle and more to pull a lot of this together. And a big shoutout to to BAiP members and to David Reich -- whose name is synonymous with both the Block Association and BAiP -- for constant help and contributions of rummage items. For the weeks leading into the event, every hand on deck was needed. To this corps of volunteers who came, saw and conquered our beloved Spring Bazaar: Hats off! Until the next newsletter piece covering this event comes out, I leave you with some images of the great one gone by. By Caitlin Hawke 1910: West End Avenue between W. 102nd & W. 103rd Streets, West Side of the Street By Caitlin Hawke
|
Categories
All
Archives
October 2022
|