Photo of the day: THE PHONE CALL
June 10, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, 7 train local, cell phone chatter, cell phone user on subway, Court Street Station, Hans Von Rittern, love talk on cell phone, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, subway, subway window, Sunnyside, transportation | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: THE WORLD WAR II VET
May 26, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 85 year old WWII veteran, Central Ave in South Orange, Hans Von Rittern, Memorial Day 2014, Memorial day memories, New York City, New York photo, old World War II veteran, Pennsylvania (Penn) Train Station, Photo of the day, photography, South Orange - New Jersey, subway, transportation, Veterans Day | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: “LET US DIRTY”
May 14, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: Anthony Alonzi, B train, Brooklyn, Cher ass tatoo, Cher Barclays Center 5-9-14, Cher concert, Cher mimic, club kid, cross tatoo, fashion, fixing your mascara on a subway, Hans Von Rittern, late night on a New York subway, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, subway, transportation | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: THE CAVEMAN’S PREGNANCY COMPANION
What’s a clueless caveman about to become DAD to do? After all, it’s tough carrying a child for nine months—for him as well as for her. He’s just not sure how to behave. But help is on hand, in the form of a reassuring (and hysterically funny) course for the totally perplexed. Along with a large dose of humor, it provides the father-to-be with all the know-how he needs to become a well-prepared, well-heeled partner who’s really ready to stand upright and embrace his new responsibilities…rather than cowering from them. Every cave-student will find out how to support his mate through this emotional time, cope with his own feelings, deal with baby-related projects, and perform admirably during labor and delivery. So whether it’s catering to his exhausted companion’s needs by preparing a nutritional and tasty meal or engaging in a snuggle session when she craves a little cuddling, with the help of this book a guy will become the proud Cro-Magnon caregiver he longs to be!” Book written by David Port and John Ralston.
April 10, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, A three-trimester evolutionary crash course to guide the prehistoric papa-to-be through the prenatal, David Port and John Ralston, fist time dad coping, funny read home on subway, Hans Von Rittern, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, man reading pregnamcy book on subway, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, pre-parental wilderness., Queens, subway, Sunnyside, The Caveman's Preganacy Companion | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: VANISHING VIEW
March 19, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, architecture, Chrysler building, Court Street Station, disappearing skyline, gentrification, Hans Von Rittern, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan skyline, MTA, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, subway, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
Postcard story of the Week – A DARK AND GLOOMY DAY IN 1906
Postcard story of the Week – A DARK AND GLOOMY DAY IN 1906
Description: 9054. A subway station in New York.
November 20, 8pm, 1906
To: Miss Mary Ostrander*
Home Farm
Wallkill, N.Y.
This is a dark and gloomy day,
Lisa
*Today there is a Ostrander Elementary School – 137 Viola Avenue – Wallkill, NY 12589.
The subway station is from the Wall Street area. Note: the .5 cent subway fare was on the honor system – you came down the stairs, bought a ticket and then handed it to the clerk.
Having checked weather patterns for November 1906 Manhattan, it was an unusually rainy month. So, is Lisa’s “gloom” referring to the weather or is the dank and dark subway station representative of some sort of sad news?
February 20, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 1906 postcard, antique Manhattan postcard, architecture, collecting postcards, Detroit Publishing Company, Hans Von Rittern, Manhattan, Mary Ostrander, New York City, New York photo, New York subway platforn, Ostrander Elementary School, Ostrander Elementary School - 137 Viola Avenue, Photo of the day, Postcard Stories from New York, Postcard story of the Week, subway, subway station, transportation, vintage postcard, Wall Street subway, Wallkill New York | 2 Comments
Photo of the day: HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY !
Photo of the day: HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY from the subways of New York City!
February 14, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: Hans Von Rittern, Happy Valentine's Day, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, subway, subway graffiti, Valentine from New York City, woman with mustache blowing kiss | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON – THE NO PANTS SUBWAY RIDE CONTINUES . . .
January 13, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: Bronx, Brooklyn, family and child with no pants, Hans Von Rittern, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, No Pants Subway Ride, No Pants Subway Ride 2014, NPSR, Queens, subway, Union Square | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE
January 3, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 1-2-2014 blizzard, 46th Street Sunnyside, 7 train, BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE, commuters on a train, first 2014 blizzard New York, Hans Von Rittern, MTA, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, snowy platform, subway, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens, transportation | 2 Comments
Photo of the day: HOW ARE YOU BRINGING HOME YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE?
December 18, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, bring home the Christmas tree in New York City, Bronx, Brooklyn, Christmas, Christmas tree, Christmas tree in a shopping cart, Christmas tree on the subway, Christmas trees, dachshund, Hans Von Rittern, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, old lady with dachshund and Xmas tree, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, Staten Island, subway, Xmas trees | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: SEEN AT MY SUBWAY BOOTH ~ A LESSON IN MANNERS
November 30, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, a lesson in manners, Hans Von Rittern, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, Statue of Liberty, subway, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: “NEVER FORGET” 5 POINTZ, COME JOIN US TODAY 11-23-13
Take the free shuttle bus from Queensboro Place. Get off Court Street stop. Walk following the rail line towards 5 Pointz.
November 23, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 45-46 Davis Street/Jackson Avenue, 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 5 Pointz support rally 11-23-13, 5 Pointz white washed, 7 train, arts, Court Street stop, David Wolkoff, Gerry Wolkoff, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Long Island City, Manhattan, Marie Flageul, New York City, New York photo, November 23, Photo of the day, photography, Pointz Graffiti Museum, Queens, Queensboro Plaza, Saturday, subway, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: REMEMBERING THE DAY – JOHN F. KENNEDY
November 22, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: Anny Cornelius, celebrities, day of rememberance, Forest Hills Queens tennis, Forest Hills Tennis Staium, Hans Von Rittern, hearing the news of Kennedy assasination, jacqueline kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, John Lennon, Lexington Avenue subway, New York City, New York Daily News, New York photo, November 22 1963, Photo of the day, photography, President John F. Kennedy assasinated, Queens, remembering John F. Kennedy death, subway | Leave a comment
Touching email from a German guest mourning the loss of 5 Pointz
From: karin.glietz@gmail.com To: hansvonrittern@aol.com Sent: 11/20/2013 6:23:53 A.M. Eastern Standard Time Subj: 5pointz
Lieber Hans von Rittern,anlässlich einer Kreuzfahrt mit der AIDA BELLA, besuchten wir New York, am 12.11.2013 hatten wir das Glück eine Stadtrundfahrt“Brooklyn komplett” mit Ihnen als Stadtführer zu unternehmen.Meine Sicht auf New York wurde durch Ihre liebevolle und kompetente Führung eine andere.Zum Ende der Exkursion führten Sie uns zum Graffiti Museum. Welch ein Anblick, eine Fabrik, in einer tristen Gewerbesiedlung, mit wunderbaren Bildern, in allen nur erdenklichen Stilarten und Farben.Begeistert habe ich soviel Bilder-wie möglich- fotografiert und zum Abschluss noch ein T-Shirt gekauft.Ich habe diese Fotos nach Hause getragen und weiter gegeben, ebenso das T-Shirt, welches sehr viel Freude bereitet hat.Nun habe ich durch Spiegel Online erfahren, dass die Bilder durch das Übermalen zerstört wurden.Das hat mich sehr traurig gemacht, mit mir viele andere Menschen, die diese Kunst lieben.Wir sind empört und fühlen mit Ihnen und den vielen Engagierten und Künstlern.Wir werden die Bilder- wie einen Schatz bewahren- und dafür sorgen, dass diese Kunstwerke immer wieder gezeigt werden, so weiterleben.Ich umarme Sie und wünsche Ihnen viel Kraft und Mut.Mit vielen lieben GrüßenKarin Glietz-Rothsprack
November 21, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 7 train, AIDA BELLA, architecture, arts, Der Spiegel, German tourism in New York, Germany reacts to 5 Pointz, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Harlem Spirituals Tours Brooklyn Tour, Karin Glietz-Rothsprack, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, subway, Sunnyside, tourists react to 5 Pointz | Leave a comment
Photos of the day: MODERN DAY HITLER VANDALIZES ‘DEGENERATE ART’ AT 5 POINTZ
Photos of the day: MODERN DAY HITLER VANDALIZES ‘DEGENERATE ART’ AT 5 POINTZ:
Tuesday November 19, 2013 is a day I will not long forget. It was a twist of events and cruel fate that brought many powers of good and evil together.
My dear friend and fellow tour guide Tom Orzo and I picked up 6 German tourist guests at the Queen Mary 2 at the Brooklyn piers for a 3 hour city tour. Normally Tom and I end our tour with a surprise visit to 5Pointz. Since we were coming from Brooklyn, Tom (doing the driving) insisted we make 5Pointz our first fateful stop. At 10:45 we were heading down Jackson Avenue when Tom kept calling out “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!”. I thought it was his over-reaction to a smaller building in front of the Graffiti Museum that was being torn down. My back was to the museum, I’m facing my German guests telling them how extraordinary a site they are about to see. Now I realize their faces seemed odd and puzzled, so I turn around to the shock of seeing men on high cranes slopping white paint all over the building, obliterating 12 years of spectacular intricate art. I quickly got out to see if I recognized anyone.
I ran back to the van and we sped to the main loading dock/entrance to the building. And there it was, a vandalized, obliterated work of art – 12+ years destroyed. I ripped open the door to the van and ran into the arms of curator Marie Flaguel and held her as tightly as I could. I cried deep from the gut. I couldn’t stop, I could not speak, I kept gasping for air. I was afraid to let go for fear of seeing Marie’s face. Finally I had to. “It’s all gone…” she said as tears streamed down her face. The owner Jerry Wolkoff, the same man who had asked the artists to paint the murals on his building, had hired non union thugs to destroy over 1,500 pieces of art outside and even throughout the entire inside of the building. Murals that would take your breath away now had erratic white brush strokes all over them. Oddly enough, the greater more powerful murals – had extra coats of white paint over them, it was deliberate, fearful, vindictive and hateful. How do you find words in a moment when you realize it was one of the greatest mass desecrations of art in the 21st Century. An art genocide.
As Marie was filling me in on what happened, one of my German guests, Andrea Pröscholdt-Krulich, ran over in tears. “Why?! Warum?!” she kept asking. She was quite shaken. You see – her son was a graffiti artist who had recently committed suicide. She had planned on this trip to New York to visit 5Pointz to pay homage to her son. She never thought that a ‘routine Manhattan city tour’ would have included our surprise visit here. Andrea and my guests were stunned at the amount of press around us and the unexplainable goings on. They looked on in wonderment – here they were in ‘free’ America’, in ‘progressive’ New York and they were watching Hitler-like tactics unfold before their stunned eyes. Some of my older guests were survivors of World War II. I had to get back on the coach and explain what was happening. Then I realized something. I was with a group of Germans, some of whom had been through a time in Germany when Hitler from 1936 to 1937 rounded up all “modern” art – “Entartete Kunst“ and declared it ‘degenerate’ and had it all destroyed. Over 5,000 works were seized, including 1,052 by Emil Nolde, 759 by Heckel, 639 by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and 508 by Max Beckman, as well as smaller numbers of works by such artists as Alexander Archipenko, Chagall, James Ensor, Matisse, Picasso and even Van Gogh. What Jerry Wolkoff did was no different!
But we were not there to mourn the destruction of the museum, their clock was ticking and I was there paid to give a tour. We continued with our tour, but every time we came to a red light or got stuck in traffic, the conversation always went back to the disbelief of 5Pointz. We dropped off our guests and I headed to a candle light vigil that was held at 5pm.
The vigil’s atmosphere was like a tomb, what had been vibrant was dead. At night the ‘white” was even more ‘deadly’ and eerie. People kept coming, looking up in silent tearful disbelief and anger. Poster boards were taped onto the building for us to leave our messages. The purpose of the posters is – we will never ever again grace his walls with a single piece of art, line, scribble name or even a dot. Wolkoff had the audacity to claim he too cried. He claimed he had done this so the artist wouldn’t have had the pain of seeing their art work torn down over a period of months. This scumbag reasoning is because he was afraid of the momentum we were gaining. On last Sunday’s rally, when 5Pointz was packed, Marie and Meres (co-curators) had gathered over 1,000 signed petitions in ONE day, to have the building land marked and saved. The owner Wolkoff cleverly erased the value of the building. Let us also not forget, the approval of the two twin glass towers that he plans to build on the same spot were approved by the weasel of a lying two-faced councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, the lowest form of politician there is: big smiling child like innocent face, with his hand holding a knife behind his back, ready to strike for his financial gain. Wolkoff and Bramer – greed is the intoxicant but karma is the bitch.
So joining the ranks now of Picasso, Matisse and Van Gogh are artists Onur Dinc, Esteban Del Valle, Meres One, Spidertag, Kidlew, Kkade, Rubin, Aka Shiro, Veronique Barrilot, Contort, Jekl and Dyzer5, Bisco, Bishop203, Just One, Leias, Zeso, and Zimad, Lord Roc, Bisc1, one of my favorites Carlos “See TF” Game and so, so many, many more. Who is anyone to say they aren’t the next Keith Harring, Basquiat, or Matisse? It is a knife in the soul of a fading New York.
November 20, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 2013, 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 5 Pointz white washed, 7 train, Aka Shiro, Alexander Archipenko, and Zimad, Andrea Pröscholdt-Krulich, architecture, art genocide, arts, Basquiat, Bisc1, Bisco, Bishop203, candel light vigil 5 Pointz, Carlos "See TF" Game, celebrities, Chagall, Contort, Councilman Jimmy Van Brammer, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Esteban Del Valle, Experiencing the destruction of 5 Pointz, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Heckel, Hitler degenerate art, inside 5 Pointz, Jackson Avenue, James Ensor, Jekl and Dyzer5, Jerry Wolkoff, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Just One, Keith Harring, Kidlew, Kkade, Leias, Long Island City Queens, Lord Roc, Manhattan, Marie Flageul, MARILYN Carlos "See TF" Game, Marilyn Monroe, Matisse, Max Beckman, Meres One, Meres Stand Here, Nazi Germany, New York City, New York photo, Onur Dinc, Photo of the day, photography, Picasso, politics, Queens, Rubin, See TF Marilyn, Spidertag, Sterling City Tours, street art, subway, Sunnyside, Tom Orzo, Tuesday November 19, Van Gogh, Veronique Barrilot, World War II Germany, Zeso | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: IS ELVIS DEAD?
November 2, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 1972 concert, Cher comeback tour, Day of the dead, Dia de los Muertos, Elvis Presley, Elvis spotted in New York, fat Elvis, ghost of Elvis, Hans Von Rittern, Is Elvis dead?, Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, Mexican Elvis, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, Spanish Elvis, subway | 2 Comments
Mondays on Memory Lane: DINING AT STOUFFER’S “TOP OF THE SIX’S”
Mondays on Memory Lane: STOUFFERS ‘TOP OF THE SIX’S’ RESTAURANT – As a child, “Top of The Six’s” meant a special occasion. You had done well in school or it was prom night or you were in love and wanted to impress with the sweeping view of the Empire State Building. The rooftop restaurant was located at the epicenter of the posh section of Fifth Avenue, between 52nd/53rd Streets, with a lobby fountain wall designed by Isamu Noguchi and easy subway access downstairs. Today it is but a postcard memory.
It all started in 1922 the Stouffer family opened a lunch counter on East Ninth St. in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. They sold sandwiches, dairy products and Lena Stouffer’s soon-to-be-famous deep-dish Dutch apple pie. By 1935 they expanded to six restaurants in the Cleveland area and in 1937 they opened the first Stouffer restaurant in New York City.
In 1946 Stouffer’s opened on Shaker Square and at the Westgate shopping center in the Cleveland suburbs. It was at the Shaker Square location that patrons began requesting takeout orders of items on the menu and the Stouffer foray in to frozen food began by 1954. By this time Stouffer’s had restaurants in Florida, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Detroit.
1958 – Opens restaurants at the stainless steel deco-like #666 Tishman Building (built 1957) located at 666 5th Avenue in New York City one on the 1st & below-street levels, the other on the 39th floor, at the time the highest public restaurant in N.Y. They went there, by the millions. In July 1973, about 15 years after it opened, the restaurant announced that it was about to serve its 10 millionth meal. Ominously, a review that month found the cuisine anything but haute.
They continued to expand, building a frozen food processing plant in Solon, Ohio in 1968 and they ventured into specialty casual dining eateries with names like Rusty Scupper, Cheese Cellar and the Grog Shop. In 1969 NASA chose Stouffer’s products for Apollo 11, 12 and 14 for astronauts to dine on.
But it was the Stouffer’s “Top of the…” restaurants that became the special occasion places to go. “Top of The Hub” in Boston, “Top of the Rock” in downtown Chicago, “Top of the Sixes” in New York City, “Top of the Flame” in Detroit and “Top of the Town” in Cleveland.
The view was terrific from 40 stories up, especially in those days long before the World Trade Center, when a restaurant on top of a skyscraper was a novelty. Prices were reasonable. Children liked the view, and so did young couples on dates. Men proposed to their wives there,” it was a time when going to ”the city” meant journeying from Queens to Manhattan. You didn’t necessarily go there for the food, it was that wonderful atmosphere.
On September 18, 1996, The New York Times announced the closing of this beloved rooftop gem. The new tenant would be the Grand Havana Room, a cigar temple that will bear as much resemblance to a smoke-filled parlor as, say, the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel. Right now I’d give anything for a mid-west cooked Stouffer’s meal atop of the Six’s. The best I can do, is to go to my rooftop, spread a tablecloth and open my microwaved Stouffers dinner – it’s just not the same.
What are your memories of “Top of the Six’s”?
October 21, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 666 Fifth Avenue, architecture, “Top of the Flame” in Detroit, “Top of The Hub” in Boston, “Top of the Rock” in downtown Chicago, “Top of the Sixes” in New York City, “Top of the Town” in Cleveland, Empire State Building, Hans Von Rittern, Isamu Noguchi, Lobby fountain wall designed by Isamu Noguchi, Manhattan, Mondays on Mmemory Lane, NASA space program food, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, Queens, rooftop dining, Stouffer's frozen foods, Stouffer's Restaurants, subway, The Tishman Building, Tishman Building, vintage New York nightlife, vintage New York postcard, vintage NYC postcard, World Trade Center | 11 Comments
Photo of the day: DESPITE THE GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN, THE FIGHT FOR LIBERTY CONTINUES BY MURALIST VERONIQUE BARRILLOT
October 1, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 7 train, 7 train Court Street Station, artist fights to save building, arts, Court Street Queens subway station, Court Street Station, Crane and Davis streets, Government shutdown, graffiti, grafitti art, Hans Von Rittern, Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mural art, New York, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, political art, Queens, Statue of Liberty, Statue of Liberty arm, Statue of Liberty head, Statue of Liberty mural, street art, street artist, subway, VERONIQUE BARRILLOT | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: COME INSIDE
August 15, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 166 N. 7th Street, Bedford Avenue, Bistro Cuisine, Brooklyn, Brooklyn dining, Hans Von Rittern, New York City, New York photo, old-world European train station café, Photo of the day, policewoman, Station Restaurant and Bar, street art, street mural, subway, subway mural, Williamsburg Brooklyn | 2 Comments
Mondays on Memory Lane: I REMEMBER SUBWAYS WHEN . . .
August 12, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: Hans Von Rittern, I Love Lucy, Julie Andrews, Manhattan, Miss Subways, MTA, New York City, new york city subway, New York photo, old New York subways, Omar Shariff, porcelain ceilng fans, porcelain subway handles, Radio City Music Hall, rattan subway seats, subway, subway nostalgia, subway tokens, The Tamarind Seed, transportation, vintage subway ad | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: THE MAGIC SUBWAY RIDE . . .
August 11, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 'Lady Charisma', 5 train, 7 train, Alice Tan Ridley, America's Got Talent, Antônio Carlos Jobim's "The Girl From Ipanema", free entertainment, Grand Concourse, Hans Von Rittern, magician on subway, Manhattan, mariachi band, Mass Transit Authority, MTA, New Yawka, New York City, Photo of the day, Rocky and Bullwinkle, street musicians, street performers, subway, subway musicians, subway performers, Sunnyside, the Bronx, The Saw Lady - Natalia Paruz, Times Square, transportation, you know you are a real New Yorker when... | 1 Comment
Photo of the day: “GREY GARDENS” BIG AND LITTLE EDIE ARE BACK IN GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL
Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (1895–1977), known as “Big Edie”, and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (1917–2002), known as “Little Edie”, were the aunt and the first cousin, respectively, of former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The two women lived together at Grey Gardens for decades with limited funds in increasing squalor and isolation. The house was designed in 1897 by Joseph Greenleaf Thorpe and purchased in 1923 by “Big Edie” and her husband Phelan Beale. After Phelan left his wife, “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” lived there for more than 50 years. The house was called Grey Gardens because of the color of the dunes, the cement garden walls, and the sea mist
In the fall of 1971 and throughout 1972, their living conditions—their house was infested by fleas, inhabited by numerous cats and raccoons, deprived of running water, and filled with garbage and decay—were exposed as the result of an article in the National Enquirer and a cover story in New York Magazine after a series of inspections (which the Beales called “raids”) by the Suffolk County Health Department. With the Beale women facing eviction and the razing of their home, in the summer of 1972 Jacqueline Onassis and her sister Lee Radziwill provided the necessary funds to stabilize and repair the dilapidated house so that it would meet village codes.
Albert and David Maysles became interested in their story and received permission to film a documentary about the women, which was released in 1976 to wide critical acclaim. Their direct cinema technique left the women to tell their own stories. The film went on to become an award wining Broadway Musical staring Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson; and then award wining film with Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.
After Big Edie died in 1977, Little Edie was forced to put Grey Gardens on the market. Edie was distraught when she found that most of the prospective buyers wanted nothing more than to demolish the home and build a brand new one on the beachfront lot; never one to waiver, Little Edie refused to sell the home to anyone that did not promise to restore the mansion to its former glory. Ben Bradlee, the former executive editor of The Washington Post, and his wife, the writer Sally Quinn, made that promise and bought Grey Gardens from Little Edie in 1979.
The home was fully restored, the gorgeous gardens were brought back to life, and a swimming pool was added. The home now hosts many parties and charity events yearly and has been featured in several architectural and home décor magazines. In the June 2003 issue of Town and Country, Sally Quinn says that her real estate agent initially tried to discourage her from buying the home; however, Little Edie was the ultimate salesman declaring, “All it needs is a coat of paint!”
So, it was to my great delight and surprise that perhaps “Big” and “Little Edie” aren’t really gone, they are just living in a grander home – Grand Central Terminal! I spotted the pair while rushing home and immediately was fascinated at the resemblance and fell in love with them.
Details/similarities to observe: They are homeless, the doubled Duane Reade bags are always a clue. They are enjoying some drinks people had left behind on other tables. Their luggage/belongings closely guarded nearby. Despite their homeless situation they are in good spirits and ‘impeccably’ dressed, oddly similar to the Beales. ‘Big Edie’ has the scarf over her head, matching all in black, the black nylons hide the swollen bandaged ankles, the diamond studded shoes make her feel pretty. ‘Little Edie’ matches mom in all black, with head band to match. Daughter dotes on mom looking lovingly into her over made face. Their desperate situation hasn’t robbed them of their grande style and their elegance, they are in their own world. I only wish that I had the time to sit nearby and overhear their conversation. I will look for them on my next visit to Grand Central ‘Gardens’…
The documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE7E4Flp8p4
The musical http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdh8EoYoAoM
http://www.greygardensonline.com/index.html
Grey Gardens today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqwuSFj7wMg
August 4, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: "Big Edie" and "Little Edie", Albert and David Maysles, Ben Bradlee, Christine Ebersole, decaying mansion, Drew Barrymore, Duane Reade bags, Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, Grand Central Station, Grand Central Terminal, Grey Gardens documentary, Grey Gardens film, Grey Gardens musical, Hans Von Rittern, homeless, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Jessica Lange, Joseph Greenleaf Thorpe, Lee Radziwill, Manhattan, Manhattan Mini Storage, Mary Louise Wilson, mother daughter ties, National Enquirer, New York City, New York Magazine, New York photo, Photo of the day, Sally Quinn, style, subway, subway advertising, Suffolk County Health Department, The Hamptons Long Island | Leave a comment
Mondays on Memory Lane: THE STORY OF THE MIRACULOUS TRAVELING CHAIRS !
I was told by a very delightful girl named Ali that they were donated by a woman who had had them for “many years.” My hand started going for my cell phone as I tried to walk calmly out of the store. I rushed across the street and speed dialed mom, “You’re not going to believe this, but I found your chairs!” Mom insisted I was clouded with romantic notions and that it just could not be. Maybe the back is different, different legs, different wood or seat, it just couldn’t be, not after 20 years! “No mom…it’s them!“ We agreed that fate had intervened and that despite the fact this was certainly not planned for in our budget, if these were truly, truly the chairs, I had to buy them! I recognized the nicks and dents we had accidentally put in them over the years – these were undeniably OUR chairs! Unbelievable! I offered Ali $400 which she warmly accepted. I told Ali the entire story as we both got the Twilight Zone chills and teared up and hugged. I rushed home to show mom the photos I had taken of ‘her’ chairs. “It’s them” she exclaimed, as she just kept staring at the photo in the camera.
July 29, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 111East 12th Street, 1960, 1960's, 1993, 61-61 Woodhaven Blvd., 7 train, Ali and Liz, American Design Foundation, Bloomingdales, Bloomingdales 1959 furniture ad, Christmas, Danish Modern Furniture, East Village, family celebrations and holidays, family events, fate, finding lost furniture, Ft. Meyers beach Florida, Hans Von Rittern, heat wave, hurricanes, interior decorating, interior design, Kipp Stewart, Kipp Stewart and Stewart MacDougal, lost furniture, Manhattan, Mayflower Movers, New York City, New York photo, Paul McCobb, Photo of the day, Queens, Stewart MacDougal, subway, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens, The CURE Thrift Shop, The Imperial, thrift shop find, Tucson Arizona, Ursula Von Rittern, vintage furniture, Winchendon American Design Fondation medallion, winchendon furniture, Winchendon Furniture Comapny, Woodhaven Blvd. | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: HOW TO HAIL A CAB ~ “TAXI, TAXI”
June 8, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, Art Fair - Queen of Angels Parish, black girl body painted, Hans Von Rittern, Local art fair and sale, Manhattan, Meet and greet Hans Von Rittern, New York City, New York photo, nude painted woman, nude woman in traffic, Photo display and sale, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, subway, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens, taxi cab | Leave a comment