Born in 2020 as a way to celebrate the strength and resiliency of New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center replaced the flags surrounding the plaza with crowd-sourced art for the first time in the Center’s history. The 193 flagpoles normally fly the flags of the countries recognized by the United Nations. Now, Rockefeller Center is putting out an open call for artists to submit artwork that reflects this year’s theme “Only One Earth.”
The wildly popular first edition of the Flag Project received over a thousand submissions for the 193 spots available. The two past editions featured flags designed by famous artists and designers like Jeff Koons, Marina Abromovich, KAWS, Christian Siriano, Elliott Erwitt, Tyler Mitchell, and Ryan McGinley, though the project is certainly not limited to renowned artists. Indeed, artists from all walks of life are invited to submit their work for consideration via Rockefeller Center’s website.
The Flag Project returned in 2021 and celebrated New York City through photography. It was presented in partnership with the non-profit Aperture Foundation and featured a lightbox exhibition with works by esteemed street photographer Jamel Shabazz in addition to the flags.
This year’s Flag Project will be presented by Tishman Speyer, the developer behind Rockefeller Center, in partnership with the Climate Museum and the United Nations Environment Programme. “Submit an original piece of art that shows us what the environment means to you, how you live sustainably and in harmony with nature, and the daily steps you take towards positive climate action,” the submission page states.
The winning designs will be created as eco-friendly, biodegradable flags that will fly from April 1st until May 6th and on June 5th in honor of World Environment Day. The flags will be a focal point of Rockefeller Center’s free public programming for Earth Day on April 22nd. Submissions are open until February 24th.
“We’re delighted to be partnering with UNEP and the Climate Museum to address the global threat of climate change this year with inspirational art by artists from around the world. The Flag Project has quickly become one of Rockefeller Center’s most beloved events. It’s an opportunity for artists of all ages, near and far, to share their visions for our one earth,” EB Kelly, Managing Director and Head of Rockefeller Center, said in a statement.
This year’s edition of the Flag Project coincides with Stockholm+50, an international environmental meeting that will be held in Stockholm on June 5th to discuss the UN’s Sustainable Development goals, including the Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda, and the post-2020 global Biodiversity Framework.
Day Into Night Into Day in the 138 St-Grand Concourse Subway Station Stairwell. Photo by Argenis Apolinario.
Inside the downtown stairwell between the mezzanine entrance and southbound platform at the 138th St-Grand Concourse Subway Station in the Bronx is Amy Pryor’s mosaic artwork Day Into Night Into Day. Presented by MTA Arts & Design, the four-part mosaic depicts the shifting hours of daylight and darkness over four seasons using a spectrum of colors. Its structure is uniquely based around a twenty-four-hour clock and pie charts. Overlapping the seasonal sunrises and sunsets are charts of stars rarely seen from the Bronx at night. The mosaic’s top left square depicts the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, while the top right represents the vernal equinox, the first day of spring. In the lower-left is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and in the lower right is the autumnal equinox, the first day of fall.
As Sandra Bloodworth, Director of MTA Arts & Design stated: “In many ways, Day Into Night Into Day parallels the daily journeys taken by travelers through the station to and from the Mott Haven neighborhood. Amy’s rendering of the rising and setting of the sun highlights the cosmic energy involved in determining the length of our days and nights. The sparkling surfaces of the mosaics bring a contemplative spirit into the station, reminding us that while the evening brings our day to a close, every morning provides us with a fresh start. The artwork captures our imagination and adds a burst of energy and a wave of tranquility to the beginning and conclusion of our travels.”
No Less Than Everything Came Together by Marcel Dzama at the Bedford Avenue Station. Photo by Kris Graves.
As an additional pop of color, the MTA has unveiled Queens of the Night and No Less Than Everything Comes Together, two permanent mosaic series inside the 1st Avenue and Bedford Avenue L train stations. Created by artist Katherine Bradford, Queens of the Night serves as a tribute to the creatives and essential workers who ride the L train daily. Located in the East Village at the 1st Avenue station, the ethereal figures in Bradford’s work come together to inspire viewers to consider the outward expression of their own interior vivacity. One of the most striking panels from Queens of the Night is “Superhero Responds,” portraying New York’s essential workers in the style of Superman.Situated in Williamsburg at Bedford Avenue, No Less Than Everything Comes Together features theatrical fairy-like figures under the sun and moon. Created by Marcel Dzama, scenes depicted in No Less Than Everything Comes Together are populated with elegant ballet performers, many of whom are adorned with the black-and-white costumes typically worn by NYC Ballet dancers. Scattered throughout the mosaic series are numerous characters representing infamous Brooklynites including Bugsy Siegel and Captain Jonathan Williams — the founder of Williamsburg.
Every One by Nick Cave at Transit Times Sq 42 St Station. Courtesy of MTA Arts & Design.
Inside the new 42nd Street Connector between Times Square and Grand Central is Every One, the first of a three-piece installation by artist Nick Cave. Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design, the installation was created as part of the 42nd Street Shuttle reconstruction and reconfiguration project, costing the city more than $250 million. The figures were made from recomposed source photos of soundsuits taken by James Prinz, which were then interpreted in glass for display on the subway station’s walls.
Every One’s design features a series of figures wearing colorful soundsuits — costumes that camouflage the shape of the wearer. Taking inspiration from African art traditions, ceremonial dresses, and haute-couture fashion, soundsuits are unique in that through covering the entire body, they conceal the wearer’s gender, race, and class, which eliminates audience judgment throughout the performance. Throughout the installation, the figures can be seen jumping and twirling along the wall, with their suits swaying as if moved by the wind. The other two parts of Cave’s installations, Each One and Equal All, will be installed next year at the new shuttle entrance and on the center island platform wall at Grand Central Terminal respectively.
A soaring Art Deco masterpiece and a National Historic Landmark, Cincinnati Union Terminal is also a museum and cultural center where discoveries await. Following a complete renovation, the building reopened to the public in late 2018. ANDY SPARBERG, LAURA HUSEY AND M. FRANK GOT IT!
FROM A READER
From Jay Jacobson But my folks left NYC in the middle 1960s to live in Rome. A few years later (about 1972, i think) my mother returned to New York. She moved into a room in our Mitchell Lama coop on the West Side until she could find a place to live with my dad when he finished up in Rome and came back to NYC. Somehow, my mother was able to rent a one bedroom apartment in the Century. It had the sunken living room, a fake fireplace, and no view at all of Central Park West. The interior garden of building was an unattractive sight of building materials, so looking out the apartment windows offered no views of anything.
When my dad returned, he joined my mother in the Century. She died in 1979, just before our son Dan’s birthday. My dad stayed on as widower, buying the apartment when the condo plan was offered. It was the last home he had, as he died in 2010, shortly after Pat and I brought him to an assisted living facility in Massachusetts to be nearer to us. We celebrated his 100th birthday with family coming from many parts of the United States with a huge dinner from The Great Wall, a local Northampton Chinese restaurant set out in the nursing home main activity room.
When it was clear that my dad would not return to the Century, it became my job to empty his apartment, to have it painted and to arrange for the sale. My dad had delayed selling for as long as he could. He had an idea of the value of the place well beyond reality. He had made friends with many of his neighbors, including one broker, who he trusted to do a good job for him. When I reported the results of the sale, he was disappointed. “How much did the lawyers get for a fee?” he asked. When I told him there was no fee he paid, he was mollified but still grumpy.
About a week later, visiting him in the nursing home, he asked “Who was the lawyer?” When I told him I handled the transaction, he looked at me and said, “Thanks”.
Sent recently from an iPhone transmitting near my home planet
JJJ
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated:
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
RIHS (C) FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
The massive 1909 Century Theatre (originally the New Theatre) was sold by the Shubert Brothers in 1929 to the Chanin Construction Co., headed by architect/developer Irwin Salmon Chanin. In fact, on May 28 the Chanin firm announced its intentions to purchase the entire block from 62nd to 63rd, and from Central Park West to Broadway.
Originally, Irwin Chanin announced that his Palais de France would occupy the site–a multi-use building that would include exhibition space, French-based stores, offices of the French consulate, a hotel, and additional office space for French firms. Chanin traveled to France to negotiate the sale of the site to the Government, but things fizzled. Instead of the ambitious Palaise de France, Chanin’s focus turned to a modern high-rise apartment building. At the time, Chanin’s Art Deco style Hotel Majestic was rising ten blocks north on Central Park West. Like that building, the Century Apartments (named in honor of the theater), would mark the Central Park West skyline with twin towers. The 30-story structure brought welcomed jobs to the Depression-crippled construction industry. On June 21, 1931 The New York Times reported, “At one stage in the steel construction thirty trades were employed simultaneously. The number of men at work has been 1,050, and at one time there were 1,400 workers.”
Chanin stressed vertical and horizonal planes in his Art Deco, or “modern American,” design. The completed building held 417 apartments, many with Hollywood-set-ready sunken living rooms and fireplaces. Residents had views of Central Park or the landscaped private garden within the U-shaped building.
Irwin S. Chanin was undoubtedly pleased with his latest project, since he and his family were among the initial residents.
An advertisement in The Princeton Alumni Weekly was entitled, “The Century Has Everything and Central Park.” It touted that the apartments included “such ‘Century Specialties’ as 3-room duplexes, 2-room and 4-room tower units with 3 exposures, 6-room tower suites with 4 exposures and 7-room corner solarium units facing the Park.” (Those “solarium units” featured imported glass from England that permitted ultra-violet rays to penetrate the interiors.)
Along with the expected bankers and businessmen, the Century Apartments quickly attracted residents from the entertainment industry. On March 9, 1934 The Sun reported that actress Sally O’Neill had leased a duplex suite. Largely forgotten today, she was a film headliner, appearing in more than 40 films with co-stars like Constance Bennett and Joan Crawford.
Another entertainer in the building was Ethel Merman, whose career was skyrocketing. When she opened in Girl Crazy at the Alvin Theatre in 1930, The New Yorker deemed her “imitative of no one.” Sharing her apartment were her parents, Edward and Agnes Zimmerman. (Ethel explained to The New York Sun, “Some people think I’m Jewish. I’m not. I’m Scotch-German. Mother is Scotch; father is German. And Merman was better for the stage than Zimmerman. So I dropped the Zim.”)
Ward Morehouse, The New York Sun‘s drama critic interviewed Ethel in her apartment shortly after midnight on November 6, 1936, following the opening of performance in Red, Hot and Blue. Agnes stayed up while he was there, possibly for propriety’s sake. He wrote, “The living room was a flower shop; it had taken three cabs to haul her first-night tributes homeward.”
The 28-year-old singer and actress had come a long way in a few years. Morehouse said, “It’s my impression that when Mr. [Vinton] Freedley hired you for your first show, he paid you $350 weekly, but that you now get $3,500 a week.”
In typical Merman fashion, she responded, “Something around that. It’s a percentage arrangement. So far it’s worked out all right. When Vinton told me he wanted me for Red, Hot and Blue I said sure, I’d like to work for him, but he’d have to pay me. Well, he did…We’re giving a swell show right now.” (Merman’s Depression Era pay for Red, Hot and Blue would equal nearly $64,500 per week today.)
In 1937 Rose Gershwin, mother of George and Ira Gershwin, moved in. George had purchased a house on West 103rd Street for the family, but following his death that year the house was sold. Rose was the sold beneficiary of his estate. (She died at the age of 71 in her apartment on December 16, 1948.)
Other entertainment figures followed. On August 30, 1938 The New York Times announced, “Among those reported as having taken space in the thirty-story Century Apartments, 25 Central Park West, were Graham McNamee, radio announcer, and Al Goodman, orchestra leader. The former leased a terrace suite on the twelfth floor; the latter a seven-room solarium, facing Central Park.” Al Goodman was one of the most sought-after conductors on Broadway, eventually directing over 150 first-night performances.
Film star Carmen Miranda took a duplex apartment in June 1939. And on the same day producer and stage manager Bernard Hart signed a lease for a duplex. Although Hart was overshadowed by his famous playwright brother, Moss Hart, he more than made a name for himself. Among the hit plays he would manage were My Fair Lady and Camelot.
Film sensation Carmen Miranda leased an apartment in 1939 after the filming of Banana da Terra. from the collection of the New York Public Library
Not everyone in the Century Apartments, of course, came from the entertainment field. In 1940 residents included F. Tirade, president of the Gulf Shipping Company of Mexico; Chester Gash, president of the A. Gash Olive Oil Company; and at least eight physicians.
That year author William March moved in. The former highly-decorated U.S. Marine was well-known for his parties. According to biographer Roy S. Simmonds in his 1984 The Two Worlds of William March:
It was here, in Apartment 30-K…that March gave the more flamboyant of his legendary cocktail parties. Findley McRae, one one occasion arriving early for a party, found in the refrigerator jugs of cocktails which had been mixed the previous day for the large influx of guests…Clay Shaw has also recalled those parties in the “tremendous living room” with its “marvelous view over the Park,” and the seemingly inexhaustible jugs of prepared cocktails.
Motion picture actress Elaine Ellis did some entertaining of her own. On May 13, 1941 Ward Morehouse reported that she “entertained at the Century Apartments for [film director] Jus Addiss and Hayden Rorke. Guests included Ruth Chatterton, Constance Collier, Shirley Booth, Whitford Kane, Ann Corio, Anthony Brown, John Colton, Alexander Kirkland, Tonio Selwart, Thelma Schnee and Barry Thomson.”
Surrounded by high profile residents, the Irwin Chanins led comparatively subdued lives. Their names appeared in the society columns, however, on June 3, 1951, following the wedding of daughter Doris Joy to Alan Joseph Freeman. The ceremony took place in the garden of the Chanin country home in New Rochelle, New York.
Abraham “Abe” Bennett Minsky and his brothers were famous for their risque burlesque shows. The city outlawed burlesque in 1939, essentially putting an end to their careers. Following Abe’s death in 1949, his widow Mollie Minsky moved into the Century Apartments. Active in Jewish charities and the treasurer of the Burley Amusement Corp., she was unapologetic about her husband’s shows. “Burlesque never hurt anybody,” she told a reporter, “Anyone who objects to burlesque, authorities or no authorities, doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Irwin S. Chanin was not the only architect in the Century Apartments. In 1966 architect Robert A. M. Stern and his wife, Lynn, moved in. In his Between Memory and Invention, My Journey in Architecture, he noted:
In a rental unit I could not make changes to structural walls, but I daringly did as much as possible to express my point of view, commissioning stage carpenters to build a platform over much of the “sunken” living room without damaging the underlying floor. The platform had the effect of transforming our Central Park-facing casement windows into “French windows” (without any safety rails!) and forming a conversation pit a la Paul Rudolph, focused on the fake fireplace that was building standard.
The renovated Stern apartment. photo by Hans Namuth via Between Memory and Invention.
Stern’s alterations earned a two-page spread by Barbara Plumb in The New York Times on January 29, 1967.
Theater architect Herbert Knapp lived here at the time. The chief architect for the Shuberts, he was responsible for the Hammerstein Theatre (now the Ed Sullivan) in 1925, and the 1928 Ethel Barrymore Theatre. He suffered a fatal heart attack in his apartment here on February 16, 1973 at the age of 86.
photo by David Shankbone
In 1976, Sylvia Schofler Chanin died. Twelve years later, on February 25, 1988, after having lived in his Century Apartments for more than half a century, Irwin Chanin died in his apartment at the age of 96. Astoundingly, he had gone to his office in the Chanin Building every day until suffering an injury a month earlier. Chanin had lived to see several of his buildings, including the Century, the Beacon Theater and the Chanin Building designated as individual New York City landmarks.
At the time of Chanin’s death, the residents and owners of the Century Apartments had been locked in a heated conflict for about five years regarding conversion to cooperatives. Then, on February 19, 1989 The New York Times headlined an article “At Last, The Battle of the Century Ends.” Journalist Richard D. Lyons began the article saying, “One of the longest, bitterest conversion fights in Manhattan apartment house history has ended with the imposing Century Apartments…becoming a condominium.” Of the now 410 apartments, 229 had been sold to their occupants at from one-half to one-third the market rate.
The landmarked building continued to attract celebrity residents. Over the years professional boxer Jack Dempsey, theater mogul Lee Shubert, actors Nanette Fabray, Joey Heatherton, Carol Lawrence and Robert Goulet, and television personage Bill Cullin lived here.
Classical clarinetist David Glazer and his wife, Mia, were residents in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, as were actor Kevin Conway and television soap opera star Eileen Fulton. And in 2010 Dorothy Lichtenstein, widow of the Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein purchased a two-bedroom apartment here. The sale prompted a headline in The New York Times on February 11, “No Need to Buy Artwork.”
photo via realtor.com
Irwin S. Chanin’s sleek and imperious Art Deco structure is an integral part of Central Park West’s skyline–the backdrop for so many tourist photographs and motion picture scenes throughout the decades.
STRAUSS MEMORIAL ON BROADWAY AND 103 STREET. THE STRAUSS’ PERISHED ON THE TITANIC
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
Sources
DAYTONIAN IN MANHATTAN
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia & Daytonian in Manhattan
In the last half of the 19th Century 23rd Street was the theatre district of Manhattan – opera houses, music halls, theatres and vaudeville houses lined the street from 5th to 8th Avenue. At the northwest corner of 23rd Street and 6th Avenue was Bryant’s Opera House – the home of the highly elaborate and popular minstrel troupe, Bryant’s Minstrels, perhaps most remembered for premiering the song “Dixie” and other Stephen Foster songs. When it was put up for sale in 1878, German-born Albert Bial and John Koster, who ran German-style concert hall and beer garden next door, took it over.
The concert hall of Koster & Bial’s — photo NYPL Collection
The newly-named “Koster and Bial’s Music Hall” included a closed 1200-seat vaudeville theatre and open-air beer garden. Because there was a law against selling alcohol in a theatre, the stage curtain was removed and a folding screen put in its place. And with that the music hall became a restaurant offering entertainment rather than a theatre offering food and drink. Moses King, in his 1892 Handbook of New York City referred to Koster and Bial’s as “high-class” and said that the “entertainments are of the vaudeville or variety order, like those given at the Alhambra in London and the Eldorado in Paris, with a burlesque to lead the programme…”
In 1886 Koster and Bial commissioned German architects Herman J. Schwarzmann and Albert Buchman to build a saloon and retail outlet for their beer bottling business a block north at the corner of 24th Street and 6th Avenue. Construction of the 4-story brick building with brownstone and terra cotta trim was completed on January 25, 1887. The saloon was dubbed “The Corner” and an exuberant metal cornice proclaimed the name as well as KOSTER & BIAL. On the 2nd floor corner of the building brownstone plaques carved with whimsical late Victorian lettering reading “The Corner,” doubled as street signs. Patrons entered through an ornate entrance of cast iron, stained glass and polished wood. The music hall and the saloon were joined so theatre-goers could enter either through the main entrance at 23rd Street or through The Corner building.
Koster and Bial’s Music Hall
Koster and Bial’s Music Hall was an important vaudeville theatre in New York City, located at Broadway and Thirty-Fourth Street, where Macy’s flagship store now stands. It had a seating capacity of 3,748, twice the size of many theaters. Ticket prices ranged from 25¢ for a seat in the gallery to $1.50 for one in the orchestra.[1] The venue was founded by John Koster (1844-1895) and Albert Bial (1842-1897) in the late 19th century and closed in 1901.
Trouble started when Koster and Bial offered more than food, drink and vaudeville. They also offered gentlemen patrons the paid favors of women. The New York Times, in a 1902 article reminiscing about former theatres, remarked “While Koster & Bial were in Twenty-third Street the notorious ‘cork room’ existed in their theatre. The walls of this room were covered with stoppers from champagne bottles, and the affairs that took place in the room in the late hours after show time would have astonished the churchgoers. In fact, what happened in the ‘cork room’ did finally become so well known that the affairs had to be stopped.”
The scandal of police raids forced John Koster to close the music hall on 23rd Street in 1893. Koster and Bial moved to 34th Street, partnering with Oscar Hammerstein I in the opening of a new Koster and Bial’s Music Hall.
The last Koster and Bial’s Music Hall originated when they moved uptown into the former Manhattan Opera House, a huge theatre built in Herald Square in 1892 by Oscar Hammerstein I in pursuit of his passion for grand opera.[citation needed] Quickly running into financial problems, Hammerstein decided to convert his theatre to a vaudeville format. He offered Koster and Bial a partnership under which he would manage the entertainment and they would manage the food. The new Koster and Bial’s Music Hall opened on August 28, 1893 and proved to be very successful. Hammerstein however quarreled with his partners and lawsuits ensued. Ultimately Koster and Bial bought out Hammerstein and operated the theater solely on their own.[4] The theatre finally closed in 1901 and was demolished to make way for Macy’s Department Store.[5]
The pictures were projected on a twenty-foot screen in an ornate gilded frame.
On April 24, the Times reported: Koster and Bial’s Music Hall.jpg EDISON’S VITASCOPE CHEERED. “Projecting Kinetoscope” Exhibited for First Time at Koster and Bial’s. …
The ingenious inventor’s latest toy is a projection of his kinetoscope figures in stereopticon fashion on a white screen in a darkened hall. In the center of the balcony of the big music hall is a curious object, which looks from below like the double turret of a big monitor. In the front of each half of it are two oblong holes.
The turret is neatly covered with … blue velvet brocade… The moving figures are about half life size. …a buzzing and roaring were heard in the turret, and an unusually bright light fell upon the screen. Then came into view two precious blonde young persons of the variety stage in pink and blue dresses, doing the umbrella dance with commendable celerity.
Their motions were clearly defined. When they vanished, a view of an angry surf breaking on a sandy beach near a stone pier amazed the spectators.
A burlesque boxing match between a tall, thin comedian and a short, fat one, a comic allegory called “The Monroe Doctrine”; an instant of motion in Hoyt’s farce, “A Milk White Flag,” repeated over and over again, and a skirt dance by a tall blonde completed the views, which were all wonderfully real and singularly exhilarating.
Walking past Macy’s between 6th and 7th Avenues, I passed this plaque commemorating Edison’s Vitascope first presenation on this site.
Placed on the wall with millions passing by daily. And, I stopped to read it!
Shakespeare’s Globe theatre opened in 1997 is a replica of the original Globe theatre in Bankside, England near the site of the original Globe Theatre. from Laura Hussey. Ed Litcher also got it right!
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
Wikipedia Daytonian in Manhattan
BROOKLYN MUSEUM New York City collection by Dior.Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum. There are never-before-seen sections from Dior dedicated only to the Brooklyn Museum. Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum. Marilyn Monroe’s The Last Sitting byBert Stern Y line dress worn by Dovima.Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum.
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
ENTERTAINMENT STYLES AND PERFORMANCES HAVE CHANGED OVER THE YEARS. WHAT WAS ACCEPTABLE IN THE 1900’S MAY BE CONSIDERED INAPPROPRIATE AND SEXIST IN THE 2000’S. JUDITH BERDY
Chorus Girls In the 1930s and ‘40s, New York was famous for its chorus girls. Paris had its Folies Bergère and London its Windmill (where nudity was permitted only when naked starlets stood stock still as living statues). But in film and in real life, nothing was like New York.
The New York chorus line had several godfathers. One was the English musical comedy which included (and largely depended on) a line of gorgeously attired of beautiful girls (referred to at the time as ballet girls). Impresario George Edwardes established the Gaiety Theatre as the spiritual home of musical comedy and his “Gaiety Girls” were soon world famous, setting the pattern all others would try to copy.
New York had seen women unclad on stage before. Before the Civil War, theaters offered tableaux vivant, women posing as figures in a mythological diorama (perhaps “Psyche Going To The Bath” or “Venus Rising From the Sea”), not nude but wearing a body stocking. Soon, the tableaux part fell away, and nude bodies (or at least bodies that appeared to be nude) became the main idea. These “artist models” soon became so common on New York stages that they became incorporated into productions, such as The Black Crook at Niblo’s Garden in 1866, considered the first Broadway musical.
Another ancestor was our more raucous burlesque. American burlesque also looked to England. The English genre had been successfully staged in New York from the 1840s, and it was popularized by a visiting British burlesque troupe, Lydia Thompson and the “British Blondes”, beginning in 1868. New York burlesque built on this and on the earlier tradition of minstrel shows, and consisted of songs and ribald comic sketches, acrobats, magicians, solo singers, and chorus numbers, all usually concluded by an exotic dancer or a wrestling or boxing match.
The transition from old line burlesque to striptease was gradual. At first, ladies showed off their figures while singing and dancing. Then they stopped singing. The borders between vaudeville (more family directed, no chorus girls), burlesque (risqué and lots of girls) and strip are blurry, and all coexisted in New York in the early 20th century.
Surely the most famous chorus girls in New York performed in Florenz Ziegfeld’s “Follies” – the “Ziegfeld Girls.” Crowds watched scores of beautiful young women dressed (really undressed) in risqué outfits — a nod to burlesque – whose headdresses frequently involved more fabric than their costumes. The girls didn’t dance or sing but sashayed and posed – and so chorus girl as a “showgirl” was introduced and became a staple in all shows.
Chorus girls weren’t the highlight of the show; initially, the girls were transitional entertainment and accessories. But audiences and hopeful “Stage Door Johnnies” scanned the line for the newest beauty.
Where did they come from? One article says that chorus girls generally fell into one of four types. First, the born trooper, the real chorus girls, mainstay of the crew, who took to the stage from the sheer love of acting; Second, the showgirls, matrimonial fisherwoman who saw the stage as route to snaring a rich husband; Third, the runaway, the girl who ran away from home imagining she was doing something exciting and romantic; and Fourth, the society girl from a wealthy family who took up stage work as a lark, who were darlings of the tabloid, and might be tolerated purely because of their publicity value.
I don’t know how accurate this is, but they were all turf for a lot of films. And surely many in the chorus dreamed for the chance in 42nd Street when the leading lady breaks her ankle and the unknown youngster from the chorus has her big moment
Chorus girls were obviously sexy – that was the point – and attracted newsprint, with headlines such as “Showgirl Miss Virginia Lee Engaged to Eleven Men.” And books, too, like Madge Merton’s “Confessions of a Chorus Girl”, Grace White’s “Fallen by the Wayside, or a Chorus Girl’s Luck”, Frank Deshan’s “Chorus Girls I have Known” which were eaten up by the public. Even the New Yorker paid attention to the line. (Peter Arno’s “Valerie won’t be with us for several days. She backed into a steaming potato”.)
And movies. From Ziegfeld to Busby Berkeley isn’t a very big step. Berkeley took Ziegfeld’s girls into a magic cinematographic world of unlimited space and unbelievable camera angles. These are chorus girls moving in military precision (Berkeley was much influenced by military drill) but not in military outfits in head-spinning routines. Many of the most famous Berkeley scenes are in Gold Diggers of 1933, 42nd Street, Footlight Parade and Fashions of 1934.
Chorus girls and night clubs. One thinks of small, dark places with three musicians and a couple of strippers – burlesque drifted here. But New York had night clubs for a long time, back into the late 19th century. Mostly illegal, they focused on liquor, gambling and sex. Many jazz clubs of the 1920s were closed by Prohibition (but see below) and the Big Bands of the 1930s required more space than New York clubs could provide.
The New York night clubs we remember best opened in the 1940s. One of the most famous was the Latin Quarter, opened in 1942 by Lou Walters, Barbara Walters’ father. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the Latin Quarter presented floor shows that featured chorus girls and can-can dancers, and headliners that included Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine and the Andrews Sisters. It rivaled the Copacabana, which had opened two years earlier, in attracting the rich and the famous of post-World War II New York.
What about Chinese restaurants? Weren’t there chorus girls in Chinese restaurants or is this something I saw in a noir film? Well, it’s true, there were Chinese restos with chorus girls. But not in New York City. In San Francisco, this became a thing. Patrons were promised “’a taste of China,’ but really, it was more China-by-way-of-Hollywood….The Chinese American chorus girls might make their entrance in modest cheongsams, but would quickly discard them to reveal sexy burlesque costumes underneath.” And it fits, as most film noirs took place in San Francisco. New York had more cop films.) The Rockettes? Wonderful, but not chorus girls.
Thanks for taking a trip with me on this snowy day
CHINESE SCHOLARS GARDEN SNUG HARBOR CULTURAL CENTER AND BOTANICAL GARDEN LAURA HUSSEY, MITCHELL ELINSON, GLORIA HERMAN AND HARA REISER GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
In the 1880s and 1890s, Staten Island was home to some of New York City’s wealthiest families, among them Vanderbilts and Roosevelts, who turned an agricultural community into a sportsman’s paradise, with clubs devoted to tennis, boating, hunting, and bicycling. Among the residents was a young competitive athlete named Alice Austen, the amateur photographer who brilliantly captured the relaxed luxury of the island suburb and much else in the Gilded Age city. In 1945, ailing and destitute, Austen was forced to leave her home and might have died unknown and unappreciated. But the Staten Island Historical Society (today Historic Richmond Town) rescued her photographs—7,000 negatives and prints—and, in 1951, the year before she died, the public finally learned of her work in the pages of Life Magazine. Due to this recognition, her family’s home was saved from demolition and today is a public museum. Alice spent the last 50 years of her life partnered with Gertrude Tate, and in 2017, the Alice Austen House was designated a national site of LGBTQ history.
In 1976, Ann Novotny published the only monograph on Austen, which is long out of print. Last year, the Gotham Center for New York City History, at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, granted me a Robert D.L. Gardiner Fellowship to complete a new biographical study of this pioneering figure. My work expands upon Novotny and will be published by Fordham University Press. One can preview my research and see over 100 photographs from this prized collection in a new digital exhibit just released by the Gotham Center and formally announced here in Untapped New York.
Ragmen and Cart, Twenty-third Street between Third and Lexington Avenues. Courtesy of the Collection of Historic Richmond Town
The first group of Austen’s photographs to attract the notice of historians were her “Street Types of New York,” an 1896 portfolio of working class New Yorkers, which immediately drew comparison with Jacob Riis’s and Lewis Hine’s contemporaneous works. All the more notable was that a well-to-do young woman from Staten Island had taken the photographs.
Trude & I masked, short skirts, August 6, 1891. Courtesy of the Collection of Historic Richmond Town
Trude and Alice grew up together. In this photograph, the two twenty-five-year-olds mirror each other, masked, with their hair down, wearing only their undergarments and stockings, and pretending to smoke cigarettes, looking vaguely like women of ill repute. They stand in Trude’s bedroom in the rectory of St. John’s Church, where Trude’s father was pastor. The church was around the corner from Clear Comfort, the Austen family home.
More recently, portraits showing Alice and her friends dressing in men’s clothing or posing as prostitutes have gone viral online. Not only do they upend Victorian gender norms, but they seem to foretell Austen’s lesbian relationship with Tate. Having had access to Historic Richmond Town’s Alice Austen Collection—now digitized and extensively researched by former curator Maxine Friedman—and a cache of letters written to Austen, which belong to the Alice Austen House, I place these images into the larger narrative of Austen’s life.
Austen was a conservative rebel, deeply attached to Staten Island’s high society yet very much a New Woman, physically active and fiercely independent. Born in 1866, she came of age when outdoor leisure activities were the lifeblood of Staten Island’s elite society, and she pursued social status as if it were a competitive sport, collecting her dance cards, newspaper mentions, and tennis scorecards. After a decade of what she called “the larky life,” she came to doubt its ultimate goal—marriage to a suitable man. In 1895, Austen met Daisy Elliott, a Manhattan-based gymnast, ardent feminist and lesbian with whom she had a romantic affair. In 1897, she met Tate, a Brooklyn-born dancing instructor, with whom she shared the rest of her life. When Tate moved to Austen’s Staten Island home in 1917, the women were perceived as middle-aged friends without the stigma that was then growing around lesbianism.
Austen’s photographs of her lifelong friend Gertrude (Trude) Eccleston illustrate her rebellious yet conservative nature.
Group of our party, self in it, August 10, 1888. Courtesy of the Collection of Historic Richmond Town
Alice was very close to the entire Eccleston family, and she often accompanied them on vacation, cameras in tow. In August 1888, she photographed the vacationers at a Lake Mahopac resort, where she was visiting for two weeks. In this sunlit group portrait, Trude and Alice sit in chairs at right. Family friend Charles Barton sits at Trude’s feet, holding her hand. They married twelve years later, but Trude was not interested in him at the time. Prior to Alice’s arrival, Trude wrote, “There is a great dearth of men up here and although every place is full of people they all seem to be old people or very young girls.”
[Trude, Mr. Gregg and Fred Mercer], August 9, 1891. Courtesy of the Collection of Historic Richmond Town
This Clear Comfort photograph shows Trude with her cousin Fred Mercer (at right) and Lieutenant John C. Gregg. Trude had met Gregg at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City in May 1890, while accompanying her sister Edith on a visit to Edith’s in-laws. Trude described their flirtation to Alice:
This morn. I went for a little stroll with him out to see target practice. He wanted me to fire off one of the guns but they kick so hard that I could not & finally consented pulling the trigger if he held the gun & took aim, this necessitated my embracing him somewhat, well the thing went off and kicked so hard his shoulder hit my cheek & nearly upset me in the arms of another officer. I wish you could have seen the performance, it was great.
Smitten by Trude, Gregg requested a transfer to New York the following summer, when this photograph was taken. During his visit, Alice took the photograph of “Trude & I masked, in short skirts.” Perhaps as relief from Gregg’s high-stakes wooing, Alice and Trude celebrated a moment of rebelliousness. In October, Trude accepted Gregg’s marriage proposal, and they remained engaged for three years until Trude broke off the engagement.
[Daisy Elliott carrying a bicycle], ca. 1895. Courtesy of the Collection of Historic Richmond Town
Alice met Daisy Elliott through her enthusiasm for bicycling, a national craze of the 1890s. Alice’s friend Violet Ward wrote the popular guide, Bicycling for Ladies (1896), and Daisy posed for the illustrations based on Alice’s photographs. Nine years older than Alice, Daisy and Alice had a rocky romantic affair. Her last letter, dated January 18, 1898, exemplifies their cat-and-mouse game: “My darling … You have made me believe in your love, you never made it more evident than to-day—and now I am willing to be set aside till you again have time for me.”
[Alice Austen and Gertrude Tate in the Catskills], 1897. Courtesy of the Collection of Historic Richmond Town
In 1897, on vacation with the Ecclestons at Twilight Park in the Catskills, Alice met Gertrude Tate. Alice was 31 and Gertrude 26. Recovering from an illness, Gertrude had lost her hair and wore a wig, which did not stop her from enjoying herself, as this photograph shows. (Gertrude wears a white shirt and dark skirt, Alice a tan, wide-brimmed hat.) After Alice left, Trude wrote to her about Gertrude, whom they had nicknamed “the Chipmunk”: “Hardly any one will be left here after Labor day—the Tates go then. I will miss them so much, we must keep track of the Chipmunk, she is a great girl. She sends lots of love to you & says she misses you more than she can say.”
[Alice Austen and friends], n.d. Courtesy of the Collection of Historic Richmond Town
Gertrude regularly visited Clear Comfort, and between 1903 and the outbreak of World War I, she and Alice traveled to Europe almost every summer. In 1917, Gertrude moved to Staten Island, where the two women lived contentedly until 1929, when Alice lost her inheritance in the stock market crash.
Alice remained close to Trude and other friends from childhood, as this 1930s photograph shows. Seated on the steps of the piazza at Clear Comfort are Alice (front right) and Trude (rear right), who by then had moved from Staten Island to New Jersey. It is likely that Gertrude Tate took the photograph.
Mosaic image of the Galapagos giant tortoise, an endangered species, one of the mosaics in the subway station at the Museum of Natural History at 81st St station on the C train line
HARA REISER, ANDY SPARBERG, LAURA HUSSEY, ARO EISENPREISS, M. FRANK, JAY JACOBSON, VICKI FEINMEL, AND GLORIA HERMAN GOT IT RIGHT
CREDITS STATEN ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY HISTORIC RICHMOND TOWN
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
In 1904 architects Herbert Spencer Harde and Richard Thomas Short designed and built the sophisticated West 85th Street apartment building called Red House. The upscale brick, stone and terra cotta structure was frosted with elaborate Gothic elements. Three years later they would outdo themselves with the even grander Manhattan Square Apartments. Portrait painter Walter Russell had by now added real estate development to his interests. He formed the Walter Russel Bond & Realty Co. and before the outbreak of World War I would be responsible for what The Sun called in 1914 “several buildings notable for size and attractiveness.” Among his first would be the lavish apartment building at Nos. 44 through 48 West 77th Street. The site was exemplary. It overlooked Manhattan Square where the New York Natural History Museum stood. Next door was the fashionable Manhattan Square Hotel. Russell, perhaps inspired by Red House, commissioned Harde & Short in 1907 to design his 14-story structure. The results were stunning. The architects created a soaring neo-Gothic fantasy of brick and terra cotta. As they had done with Red House, they dropped Gothic screens along the tops of expanses of windows and lavished the façade with tracery, trefoil carved balconies and a French Gothic tower. While Red House smacked of a great English estate; this new cooperative apartment building was cathedral-like.
On January 9, 1909 The New York Times remarked “In its architectural features the building represents a distinct departure from anything hitherto attempted in apartment house construction in this city.” The Sun said it “is considered among the finest specimens of Gothic architecture among city apartments.”
A sketch appearing in The New York Times on January 9, 1909 included both a stylish carriage and an automobile. (copyright expired)
There were just two apartments per floor, prompting The Times to say “It has been possible to provide rooms of a size seldom found outside of the largest private residences.” The living rooms, or “salons,” measured 18.5 by 27.5 feet and dining rooms were 15 by 20 feet. Residents could choose between “studio suites” of ten rooms and three baths, or nine rooms and three baths. In the basement, servants would find the “ironing room.” The Edison Monthly noted that “an electric iron, with separate outlet and meter, are provided for each tenant. Each outlet is provided with a lock and key, making it impossible for one tenant to make use of an outlet belonging to another.” The New-York Tribune mentioned that budgetary overruns. “The plans for the building were filed in March 1907, Harde & Short, the architects, estimating the cost at $750,000. The building, however, cost considerably more than this.” Even if it had come in on budget the expense would have topped $18.5 million in today’s dollars.
A postcard of the Manhattan Square Hotel (with red flag) also showed the Manhattan Square Apt. Across the street is the red brick Natural History Museum.
Before the first brick was laid Russell had made an agreement to sell the finished building. On November 19, 1909 the New-York Tribune reported that the title would be transferred “within a few days” to the Manhattan Square Apartment Association. The building quickly filled with a broad array of well-to-do residents. Because of their association with Walter Russell and the window-walled “studios,” several well-known artists moved in.
The “ironing room” of the Manhattan Square Apartments was a major convenience. Edison Monthly June 1909 (copyright expired)
Among these was eminent sculptor Karl Theodore Bitter who was one of the first residents. Following Joseph Pulitzer’s death in 1911 a competition was held to design an ornamental fountain in the open area in front of the Plaza Hotel which the publisher had envisioned. Bitter won the commission for the fountain’s figure of Pomona, while Thomas Hastings of Carerre & Hastings would design the basin. The project stretched on for several years; but Bitter would never see it completed. He finished his clay model of Pomona in 1915. Only a few days later, on April 9, the 47-year old artist left the Metropolitan Opera House with his wife around 11:30 p.m. They headed across Broadway to catch an uptown streetcar. “The street was filled with automobiles, picking up owners in front of the opera house,” reported The New York Times, “and Mr. and Mrs. Bitter threaded a dangerous way across the thoroughfare to the northbound car tracks.” Edward T. James was driving south and swerved to avoid a limousine turning away from the opera house. “The sculptor saw the danger and threw his wife to one side. He got her so far from the automobile’s path that, while she was struck, she was only tossed aside.” Things did not fare so well for Bitter. He was struck and dragged for 30 feet, “crushed between the pavement and the car.” Bitter suffered a fatal skull fracture. Marie Bitter’s grief was exacerbated when only a month later a 23-year old chauffeur objected to the probate of the will. Carl Bitter claimed he was the artist’s son; the result of a common-law marriage with Adelaide Omar. The untidy affair would play out in the courts for months.
In the meantime another well-known resident found himself in the courts. Dr. Otto G. T Kiliani, too, was one of the first owners. Born in Germany, he was Professor of Clinical Surgery at Columbia University and a surgeon at the German Hospital. Patients who could not afford to pay were offered free treatment at the hospital and such was the case in April 1912 when Jacob Weiss was operated on. Two years later he sued Dr. Kiliani, charging “that after operating on him they had sewed up two sponges in his abdominal cavity,” explained The Times on January 23, 1914. When the case went to trial, not only did Weiss produce “practically no evidence in support of his charge;” but “It was shown that Dr. Kiliani had not even been present at the operation.” Dr. Kiliani later told reporters “Suits like these are being brought constantly against physicians and surgeons and the plaintiffs are usually those who have received free treatment.” Also living in the Manhattan Square Apartment in 1915 was 70-year old former politician Theodore W. Myers. Myers had served as City Controller, was former President of the National Democratic Club, a member of the Chamber of Commerce and a partner in a banking firm Arthur Lipper & Co. The New-York Tribune estimated his worth at between $3 and $4 million. The wealthy Myers held memberships to the New York Athletic Club and New York Yacht Club. He was apparently well-traveled for he also was a member of the Automobile Club of America, the Automobile Clubs of France and England, and the Travelers’ Club of Paris. Several years earlier Rose Alixis Knight moved into the building with her mother. Rose was about 30 years younger than the widowed Myers, so their sudden marriage on February 10, 1915 was a shock to political and social circles. The New-York Tribune began its report of the wedding saying “Cupid has taken to politics and is playing queer pranks with the politicians.” The couple remained in Myers’ apartment where his noted collection of paintings and engravings was hung. They spent winters in Florida and on March 20, 1918 after just having returned to New York, Myers suffered a fatal heart attack in the apartment. His funeral was held here two days later. His young widow was left in grief; but considerably wealthy. Another well-known artist in the building was Samuel Montgomery Roosevelt. As war ravaged Europe and before the United States entered the conflict, wealthy New Yorkers often worked for war relief. On Sunday, March 26, 1916 at 9 p.m. Roosevelt and his wife hosted a musical recital “to aid widows and orphans of French soldiers,” as noted in The Sun that afternoon. Roosevelt would remain in the Manhattan Square Apartment for years. The cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, he was as much a member of the artistic world as high society. He was a member of the exclusive Knickerbocker, Lambs, Manhattan, New York Yacht, Tuxedo, and Larchmont Yacht Clubs, among others. A close friend of John Singer Sargent and James A. McNeill Whistler, he too painted society portraits like that of Theodore Roosevelt, Bishop James H. Darlington, Oliver Belmont and the Earl of Kintore. As with all wealthy New Yorkers, the newspapers followed the Roosevelts’ movements. On June 10, 1919 The Sun mentioned “S. Montgomery Roosevelt, 44 West Seventy-seventh street, will leave New York to-day for the Grand Cascapedia, Canada, for salmon fishing, and will be gone a fortnight.” A year later the coverage would be more shocking. The headline in the New-York Tribune on August 20, 1920 read “Samuel M. Roosevelt Drops Dead in Club.” The 64-year old artist collapsed on a staircase of the Knickerbocker Club. Before a doctor could arrive, he was dead of a brain hemorrhage. Another portrait painter in the building was Italian-born Francesco Paolo Finocchiaro. He had arrived in New York around the turn of the century and in 1910 was made a chevalier by the King of Italy. The artist married widowed socialite Florence Angell Mason in her Madison Avenue home on October 30, 1918. The Sun said “The bride has been identified with the summer life in Newport, where she has a home in Catherine street known as Wabun.” The newspaper noted that the newlyweds would be living in Finocchiaro’s Manhattan Square apartment. As expected, the couple remained socially active and hosted entertainments like the “reception with music” in the apartment on May 8 1920. Not involved in the arts was Robert Reis, the head of the underwear firm Robert Reis & Co. The wealthy businessman lived here with his wife, Sarah—their three children were all grown by now. In 1918, the same year that Finocchiaro and his new bride were getting settled, Robert Reis died leaving an estate of about half a million dollars. Sarah remained on in the apartment, enjoying her summers at Loon Lake in the Adirondacs through the 1920s. By the time of Reis’s death the United State was firmly entrenched in the European war. It would shape the lives of several residents, such as German exporter Engen Schwerdt whose offices were at No. 79 Wall Street. On Tuesday February 26, 1918 The Sun ran the headline “Wool Exporter Held as Leader in German Plot.” The newspaper explained that Schwerdt had been arrested for master-minding a plot to divert wool to the German army. “For the purpose of hoodwinking the Textile Alliance, which was organized for the purpose of preventing wool from falling into German hands, dummy concerns appear to have been employed by the plotters, and from evidence in the hands of the authorities it has been learned that the schemers became so bold as to store their wares in London.” The newspaper said “Schwerdt’s American wife is at her residence, 44 West Seventy-seventh street.” She pleaded to reporters “We are both for the Allies. I am as good an American as can be found.” At the other end of the spectrum was Marjorie Snare Mason. Her husband, Colonel Charles W. Mason, Jr., was in France with the 30th Infantry; her brother, Frederick Snare, Jr. was also in France with the 305th Machine Gun Battalion; and her father, Frederick Snare was commander of the Red Cross Base Hospital No. 6 at Bordeaux, France. With the men in her life fighting abroad, the 36-year old woman was alone in her Manhattan Square apartment. On January 19, 1919, she died in her home of heart disease. The building would become home to members of the theater, as well. Actress Selma Paley was living here in 1920 when she was sued by the wife of Oliver Morosco for, according to the New York Clipper on June 30, “alienating the theatrical man’s affections.”
Modernization streamlined the facade, removed the pinnacle and Gothic screens, and enlarged the upper floor openings.
Samuel Goldwyn had an apartment here at the same time, and throughout the decades it would become home to Erica Jong in the 1940s, and to actress Patricial Neal and her new husband Roald Dahl in 1954. At some point before mid-century the building lost the name Manhattan Square Apartment (possibly because of the 1922 building on West 81st Street that took the same name) and became known as The Studio Building. On September 28, 1939 The New York Times reported that “A forty-five foot studio living room is being constructed for the special use of Paul Trebilcock, portrait painter, in the building at 44 West Seventy-seventh Street.” It is possibly at this time that the windows of the top floor were stripped of their mullions and plate glass installed. Tragically, at some point a misguided attempt at modernization resulted in much of the Gothic ornamentation of the upper floors being stripped away and the marvelous gables, parapets and pinnacle were destroyed. The dripping Gothic screens, as well, were trashed.
The building would make a brief appearance in Tom Wolfe’s 1987 The Bonfire of the Vanities: A Novel in the line “Kramer had that vision comfortable in place when just up ahead, from the swell-looking doorway of 44 West Seventy-seventh Street emerged a figure that startled him.” Despite the vandalism of the upper stories, the building still has, for the most part, only two apartments per floor. Even in its decimated state, Harde & Short’s “distinct departure from anything hitherto attempted” is still an eye-catcher.
WEEKEND PHOTO
FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
FISHING BOATS AT SHEEPSHEAD BAY LAURA HUSSEY GOT IT RIGHT
SOURCES
DAYTONIAN IN MANHATTAN
Funding Provided by: Roosevelt Island Corporation Public Purpose Funds Council Member Ben Kallos City Council Discretionary Funds thru DYCD Text by Judith Berdy
Edited by Deborah Dorff ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT RIHS. 2022 (C) PHOTOS IN THIS ISSUE (C) JUDITH BERDY RIHS
Even in the cold, guys (and some women too) are out around the island fishing. Sometimes a couple of people, an outing. But usually, one person, a solitary fisherperson. But what’s down there, drawing them on?
Turns out there’s a lot of critters swimming in the water around here. A New Yorker article tells that that “as the water has become cleaner, the shad runs have slowly returned to the Hudson. A herring called the mossbunker swims in huge schools, and is caught by the ton, ground up, and fed to farmed salmon. There are four-foot-long stingrays down by the Rockaways and off Coney Island, and they’re hard to see when they’re flat against the bottom. A diver will be going about his business when he encounters a section of mud the size of a coffee table that suddenly—zooomp!—up and swims away.” Cleaner water and conservation efforts have led to much larger shoals of Atlantic menhaden, a dinner which has attracted humpback whales. But this is just background noise. In the East River, people catch flounder, fluke, bluefish, catfish, tautog, summer flounder, perch and porgy. But these are just incidental. The real game is striped bass. Morone saxatilis officially. That’s what the fisherpeople are after.
Tell us more. The striped bass is the largest member of the sea bass family, often called “temperate” or “true” bass to distinguish it from species such as largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass which are actually members of the sunfish family. (I didn’t say this was going to be easy.) Striped bass are silvery, shading to olive-green on the back and white on the belly, with seven or eight uninterrupted horizontal stripes on each side of the body.
Striped bass can live in both freshwater and saltwater environments. In coastal regions, individual fish may swim up streams as much as 100 miles inland to spawn. Some striped bass spend their entire life cycle in freshwater. Spawning begins in the spring when water temperatures approach 60°F. Typically, one female is accompanied by several males during the spawning act. Males are generally mature in two years, and females in three to four. Adults are piscivorous (fish-eating) and eat almost any kind of small fish as well as several invertebrates, particularly crabs and squid. Bluefish, weakfish, cod and silver hake prey on small striped bass. Adults have few predators, other than seals and sharks – and fisherpeople. Striped bass have a fairly long life, up to 30 years.
But most all, they can be big. Stripers may reach 10 to 12 inches during the first year and they’ve been known to grow up to 5 feet in length and 77 pounds. The time of year seems to matter as does moon phase and tide. In midsummer, here on the East River, they are smaller – 20 inches or so, while in the spring and fall, stripers not only are more abundant, but they also run 30, 35, and even 40 inches long. Striped bass are considered excellent for eating (though not those taken from the East River), but are overfished and, thus, are protected. Strippers over 28 inches can be taken, but most larger fish are returned to the river.
One can fine lots of photos on the internet of big East River striped bass caught and happy anglers.
Where do you catch one of these fellows? Their preferred habitat is inshore near structures such as rocks and pilings, but they can also be found in open water as well.
Striped bass aren’t the only big fish found in the East River. Bluefish, which most of us think of as Atlantic coast residents, can be taken as well. Bluefish are long, moderately stout fish, with distinctly forked tails. They are known for being fierce fighters on fishing lines. Bluefish are coastal migrants that travel in schools into local waters in the spring, following mackerel and bunker. They range in length from nine to 24 inches and weigh 12 to 15 pounds. Here’s a 19 pounder, which must have put up quite a battle, and another.
Since our Island lacks the old piers and structures that seem to attract the larger striped bass, catching a really big one is probably less likely. But, still, I’ve seen people reel in fish that looked more than 20 inches long. And that very big blue was taken just off Gracie Mansion. Who knew what was out there, just off our shores? Fish on!
COLUMBUS CIRCLE JAY JACOBSON, JOHN GATTUSO, ANDY SPARBERG, M. FRANK, CLARA BELLA, GLORIA HERMAN, LAURA HUSSEY, KIM BRUCE, HARA REISER, AND ED LITCHER CONTRIBUTED THE FOLLOWING: Columbus Circle, the monument for Christopher Columbus that had begun in 1842 wasn’t completed until 1905. It was at this time that the Circle began to become the cultural center it is today.
RIHS (C) FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
Emery Roth was a prolific New York City architect who designed many notable buildings in the 1920s and ’30s. He was renowned for elegant prewar Manhattan apartment buildings like The Beresford, The San Remo, Ritz Tower, and The Whitby. For much of his life, Emery Roth lived at 210 West 101st Street on the Upper West Side with his family. in the penthouse he designed. In 2014, however, the penthouse went up for rent, and this drew his descendants to visit the apartment and reminisce on the before and after.
Justin Rivers, Untapped New York’s Chief Experience Officer, interviewed Emery Roth’s grandsons Richard Roth Jr, his brother Emery Roth II, and his daughter Robyn Roth-Moise for a newly released video exclusive to our Untapped New York Insiders archive. In it, the Roths spoke about the legacy of their grandfather (and great-grandfather for Robyn). It revolves around their memories of the legendary architect, some of his greatest works, and Emery’s apartment on the Upper West Side that was in the Roth family for many years. Richard and Emery II, who goes by Ted, spent portions of their respective childhoods either living or visiting there. Robyn also remembers having select family holidays there.
Courtesy of the collection of Emery Roth II.
“This apartment was a part of our family history, it was an apartment that Emery lived in as well as my dad when he was young,” said Robyn in a separate interview with Untapped New York. “It stayed in my family, although [it] went to the Eisner side of the family (my dad’s mother). I was curious to see what changes they had made to the apartment. My dad, my uncle and myself all own items and furniture that Emery had designed and that resided in this apartment, so the connection remains strong so many years later.”
Courtesy of the collection of Emery Roth II.
Ted Roth compiled Penthouse Karma: A Scrapbook of Emery’s Penthouse, a scrapbook that told the history of the Roth family through the penthouse, based on the patriarch’s recollections, family photographs, and the memories of at least 11 others. Robyn recalls how the apartment had a private elevator entrance that opened into a vestibule, with a painting set into the wall. She loved the personal details and the architecture in the front formal rooms of the apartment as well. “I loved that apartment. I thought it was amazing, special and beautiful,” she said. “The terrace was to die for, as they say. Who else had a wrap around terrace with views of the city?
” Robyn noted that the last time she was in the apartment was back in the 1980s when her great Aunt Jane was moving out of the apartment. The neighborhood had gotten too dangerous and she had been mugged a few times. When she saw that the New York Times conducted a feature on the apartment titled “Emery Roth Lived Here” on January 26, 2014, she contacted the management company explaining who she was and asked if she could see the apartment. And certainly much had changed, although many of the original tiles, doors, and fireplace remained.
Courtesy of the collection of Emery Roth II.
In 2014, the three-bedroom two-bath apartment with a maid’s room, a large wraparound terrace, and a doghouse went up for rent for $15,500 a month. The 2,200 square-foot penthouse is “spacious and sunny,” according to the feature, with multiple windows and original details such as barrel-vault ceilings, elaborately carved woodwork, stained-glass doors, and ceramic-tile floors and wainscoting. The terrace includes a fountain at one end and a doghouse with an arched entry on the other. The building’s exterior is relatively plain with a brown brick facade.
While the kitchens and bathrooms received renovations, Roth’s legacy remains both in the penthouse and across the city. According to Robyn, who never met her great-grandfather, she is amazed by just how many Emery Roth buildings she’s walked by or lived near throughout her entire life not knowing they were Emery’s.
Courtesy of the collection of Emery Roth II.
“I was jealous when my best friend growing up [who] moved to the Beresford,” she recalls. “It was always one of my favorite buildings of his. I was most blown away, when I visited a friend at the Ritz Tower, whose parents owned a duplex in there. He knew how to layout an apartment. I do love looking at the details of the entrances and when possible the lobbies of his buildings.”
Courtesy of the collection of Emery Roth II.
Richard Roth Jr., in honor of his grandfather’s legacy, has continued the storied legacy of his family’s firm, Emery Roth and Sons, when Project X was thrown into his lap. It was slated to be a high-profile tower directly behind Grand Central Terminal that would change Park Avenue forever. The project would bring two of the biggest names in architecture together, Walter Gropius and Pietro Belluschi, and it was Richard’s job to make sure it all came together. The result was a building that set the tenure of a late 20th-century Park Avenue and a structure that still fascinates New Yorkers today: the Pan Am Building, now called the MetLife Building.
To see more of the details of the apartment go to:
LAURA HUSSEY GOT IT. ED LITCHER ADDED SOME HISTORY: Prospect Park War Memorial – This monument was dedicated to men of the 14th Brooklyn, the famed “Red Legged Devils”, who fought under the 106th infantry regiment during the war; who in fact, held garrison in prospect park before being reassigned to its parent unit in order to help enlist new men [3]. The 106th infantry regiment fought in France under Colonel Franklin W. War and its sister regiment was the 105th. They moved into the line on 25 June, 1918, relieving the exhausted British 6th Division stationed there. It participated in the Ypres-Lys offensive and the Second Somme Offensive, which finally cracked the Hindenburg Line. The regiment suffered 1,955 casualties, with 1,496 wounded and 376 killed in action.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
Sources
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
CHRISTIAN DIOR: DESIGNER OF DREAMS AT BROOKLYN MUSEUM
FROM UNTAPPED NEW YORK:
Today the new exhibition “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams.” opens at the Brooklyn Museum. “This is an exciting time,” Shelby White and Leon Levy Brooklyn Museum Director, Anne Pasternak says, “People wanted, and in fact, they needed inspiration. And really, what could be more inspiring than the designs of Christian Dior? Knowing New York needed some uplift, we will see that the team of Dior brought their very best with this extraordinary exhibition. In fact, New York owes Dior a very great debt.”
Each museum in New York is known to have its own personality — the upscale, larger-than-life presence of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the innovative classic style of The MoMA, the humbling and deeply enriching experience at the Museum of the City of New York. However, what makes each stand out from the other, and which one stands out the most from all the rest of these remarkable museums infamously known in New York City? The Brooklyn Museum has, indeed, its own unique personality. It introduces you to exhibitions of history rarely seen and brings light to art that surprises and moves the masses with not only the breathtaking candor of the structure of the museum itself but the dedication behind their installations to tap into another dimension.
Back in 1949, New York City exhibited the great Christian Dior for the first time in Two Centuries of French Fashion. It was a gift from France to New York of 49 displayed couture dolls to give thanks for America’s “service and participation during World War 2.” The Brooklyn Museum then became the first American museum to collect work from the house of Dior after collecting the great French couture doll. “Christian Dior is a breathtaking look at the history and legacy of one of the most important fashion houses in the world,” Anne Pasternak says. “I can truly say what the Dior team has done to transform this space has been one of the most thrilling experiences I’ve had at the museum. The team was 24/7 for weeks upon weeks working to transform this extraordinary space…I cannot say it enough Dior has been the most extraordinary partner.” Brooklyn Museum staff mentioned, “They would come in at 6 a.m. and be nonstop. They used their own equipment, everything.”
Curator of the exhibition, Florence Muller says, “This exhibition has had a number of iterations because it was first created in Paris in 2017 at the Museum of Decorative Arts. And then it went to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and then to the Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai. Perhaps you can ask yourself what is so special at the exhibition here at the Brooklyn Museum? First, I might say that two-thirds of the dresses that you might see, and not only the dresses but also the documents, the film, the photographs, were not exhibited before. And there are some entire sections that are created entirely for the Brooklyn Museum.”
Each section feels like falling into not only a fashion designer’s world but an artist’s evolutionary journey. This first section is dedicated to the relationship between Christian Dior and New York. In 1947, Neiman Marcus invited Dior for his first trip to the United States to receive the prestigious Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion. When Dior arrived in New York, it was love at first sight. He fell in love with the architecture of the city, the beauty of the city, and the style of the American woman. It was then he decided in 1948 to open Christian Dior-New York boutique in the Hecksher Building (Crown Building) at 730 Fifth Avenue.
Another famous black and white photograph is Dovima with elephants in a Y line, velvet sheath dress by Dior with an obi-style white satin sash taken by Richard Avedon. It sits in a glass enclosing as onlookers may pass by in awe. The name of the dress is titled Soiree De Paris and is a classic example of haute couture.
Y line dress worn by Dovima.Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum.
After Dior’s untimely death in 1957, his legacy in the house of fashion lived on. The House of Dior continued by “six highly talented artistic directors: Yves Saint Laurent (who had been personally chosen for his succession by Dior), Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferre, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and today’s leading lady, Maria Grazia Chiuri. They managed to re-enter the archives to create transformative designs that evolved the fashion house into what it is today. Their beautiful garments and masterpieces of haute couture are featured throughout the exhibition.
Dior was fascinated by the 18th-century fashion in women’s portraits . Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum. Another notable area of the exhibition is the collection of 18th-century inspired clothing. Dior and his successors drew much inspiration for feminine clothing from 18th-century portraits of women. The extravagant dresses are some jeweled, puffed shoulders and trim, long elegant waistlines or trimmed waistlines with intricate velvet-designed stomachers and puffed petite skirts that still embody a woman’s shape gracefully. They are inspired by the Versailles‘ Hall of Mirrors and the simpler, beaded, floral lace dresses are inspired by the last dress Marie Antoinette wore at her estate in Petite Trianon. Along this section is a dedication to Dior’s fragrance, which made a woman’s outfit complete.
Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum..
Miss Dior was developed in 1947, as a homage to Dior’s sister, Catherine, and became his first fragrance. She was a French Resistance fighter and survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, recently fictionalized in the novel Sisters of the Resistance: A Novel of Catherine Dior’s Spy Network. This perfume introduction became the first time a fragrance made it into a fashion house. A diverse collection of Dior scents is beautifully displayed in petite glass bottles. One, in particular, is tucked under a mini parfum stone gazebo. Others are encased in glass vitrines, and you can find a storyline on how the perfumes were born.
Miss Dior fragrance was dedicated to Dior’s sister, Catherine The “Colorama” section of the exhibition shows palettes of colors the House of Dior uses in accessories, gloves, handbags, dresses, hats, jewelry, shoes, and drawings from its conception in 1947 until present-day, 2021. The color palette of Dior represents completely strong hues on the fringe of spectacle that also align with softer, luminous tones that were popular in the eighteenth century, which Dior loved.
The section talks in intrinsic detail of the white, blue, pink, red, and orange palette. Blue represented the French Riviera and Portofino. “Pink is the color of happiness and femininity,” said Dior, and red is “the color of life.” Orange and violet were made up of Asian and Middle Eastern decorative objects in Dior’s childhood home. As a lover of gardening and nature, he adored green. White meant purity, the Dior toiles, and the seamstress’ mannequins. His favorite color of all, however, was black. According to Dior, every woman should have “a little black dress.”
Orange was a common color seen in Dior’s childhood home.Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum..
Another magnificent section that seamlessly follows after “Colorama” is “The Ateliers.” It is based on the Dior studios, also known as, workrooms, which are “the cornerstone of the fashion house,” this is the fundamental home of the seamstresses who spend countless hours working on a single design. The ateliers create test garments, also known as toiles, based on drawings by the artistic director or the designer. These sketches are the lifeline of every starting collection. Inhabited in a brightly lit oversized white room, a collection spectrum of haute couture dresses on bust forms are presented, stacked over one another until they reach a mirrored ceiling, each representing the three-dimensional toiles.
Haute couture dresses stacked high to a mirrored ceiling makes a transcending experience First: the volume and the lines of the garments are established and if approved by the designer, embellishments and adornments are followed. The toile creates a pattern for the rest of the “runway prototype” and then fabrics are selected. Here in this section, truly shows how haute couture collections are created and strictly kept in privacy by the ateliers.
Perhaps the most elusive, extravagant, and breathtaking section of all is the “Superstition and The Enchanted Garden.” Inspired by Dior and his successors’ love for flowers, this ode to nature brings the line of fashion into another realm entirely. Dior’s belief in superstition began in childhood after a fortune teller’s prediction and he remained in touch with his clairvoyant, Madame Delahaye. Chiuri used her fascination with the divining arts to create the Constellation dress, decorated with zodiac signs. The dress is behind the short film, Le Chateau du Tarot, where Chiuri envisions a young woman on a journey to discover her true self while discovering meaningful symbols along the way. Each of those symbols is represented by a dress displayed in the center of the room, which is synonymous with a specific tarot card.
The final section of the exhibition belongs to the stars, which is like entering into a dotted, blue starry night. In addition, there is a glass display of clips featuring movie stars that worked with Dior, along with television screens playing old film excerpts while their dresses are displayed.. It’s as if strolling through the end of a glitzy night. At the end of the exhibition, the journey ends with a poignant portrait mosaic of the great designer composed of intricate small graphic photos of Marilyn Monroe’s face and a heartwarming quote by Dior that reads, “My dresses make a princess of every woman.” Ultimately, after experiencing this spectacular exhibition, one can most definitely say, yes, yes, they do.
THE EXHIBITION CLOSES FEB.22 AND FEW TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE.
TAVERN ON THE GREEN RESTAURANT CLARA BELLA, ARLENE BESSENOFF, ED LITCHER, JAY JACOBSON, LAURA HAUSER, NINA LUBLIN ALL HAVE ANSWERED CORRECTLY TODAY.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
BROOKLYN MUSEUM
New York City collection by Dior.Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum. There are never-before-seen sections from Dior dedicated only to the Brooklyn Museum. Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum. Marilyn Monroe’s The Last Sitting byBert Stern Y line dress worn by Dovima.Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum.FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
On Saturday a surprise package arrived in the mail. What is the New-York Historical Society sending me? It was a wonderful surprise, a copy of “Scenes from New York City”. This is the story of the 130 piece collection of NYC art just donated to the New-York Historical Society by Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld.
I had heard that the collection was being donated and looked forward to seeing it. The book with the catalog tells the story of each piece and the artists. It was a wonderful read for a snowy day.
Yesterday, I visited the exhibition that takes up the two large galleries on the second floor of the N-YHS.
The paintings are grouped by subjects (not in date order). There are at least 5 pictures of the Queensboro Bridge, Roosevelt island and all are recognizable city sites. I recognized many artists that we have featured in this publication.
Take the F train and the B train to Central Park West and enjoy this trip thru our city. The show is on until February 22nd. (No B train on weekends)
Thanks Elie and Sarah sharing these treasures with us.
Judith Berdy
ALL IMAGES ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHTS ( C )
Bernard Buffet, Park Avenue View from the Pan Am Building (Park Avenue Vue du Pan Am Building),1989, framed print with glass glazing, measuring 11 x 14 inches. Enjoy New-York Historical Society’s Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld Collection at home with this exclusive reproduction. Printed with archival-quality inks to acid-free and lignin-free 230gsm coated fine art paper. The bright white base and smooth matte finish of the paper guarantee the color accuracy of the images. Hanging wire is in-set making this print ready to hang.
Bernard Buffet (1928–1999) was a French painter of Expressionism and a member of the anti-abstract art group L’homme Témoin (the Witness-Man).
Scenes of New York City: The Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld Collection, an extraordinary promised gift to the New-York Historical Society from philanthropists and art collectors Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld, celebrates a multifaceted and dynamic New York from the 19th century into the present day. The pieces date from the year 1818 to the 21st-century and are all centered on New York City’s defining landmarks, from buildings, bridges and parks, to the art movements that shaped the city’s culture. The artworks are created by American and European artists like Norman Rockwell, Keith Haring, Edward Hopper, and Raoul Dufy, showing the city through their distinctive eyes. On view October 22, 2021 – February 27, 2022.
William James Glackens (1870-1938) was an American realist painter and one of the founders of the Ashcan School, which rejected the formal boundaries of artistic beauty laid-down by the conservative National Academy of Design.
Adriaan Lubbers was born in the Netherlands in 1892. His early art career included exhibiting his works in March 1922 in Amsterdam. During that period he settled with others artists in a farmhouse at Vierhouten. There he met the painter Leo Gestel with whom he traveled to New York. At 33 years old, Lubbers produced his first drawings which depict New York landmarks in a realistic style.
Joseph Stella (1877-1946) was an Italian-born American Futurist painter best known for his depictions of industrial America, especially his images of the Brooklyn Bridge. He is also associated with the American Precisionist movement of the 1910s–1940s.
Marcel Gromaire (1892–1971) was a French painter. He painted many works on social subjects and is often associated with Social Realism, but Gromaire can be said to have created an independent oeuvre distinct from groups and movements.
Ernest Lawson’s, High Bridge Aqueduct, after 1928.
Enjoy New-York Historical Society’s Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld Collection at home with this exclusive postcard featuring Leon Kroll’s Broadway Looking South 1919. Measures 4 x 6 inches.
Leon Kroll (1884-1974) was an American painter and lithographer. A figurative artist described by Life magazine as “the dean of U.S. nude painters”, he was also a landscape painter and produced an exceptional body of still life compositions.
A SMALL SAMPLE OF THE WORKS
Red Grooms takes over a New York street scene
Four views of the Queensboro Bridge Miss Liberty standing proud
Laura Hussey got all of the buildings. Andy Sparberg, John Gattuso got some!!!
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ELIE AND SARAH HIRSHFELD COLLECTION SCENES OF NEW YORK CITY
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
