BLOCK ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER APRIL 5, 2010 Celebrate 40 ... · to Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s...

West 104 Newsletter April 2010 1 www.bloomingdale.org

40th Anniversary Year

West 104West 104West 104West 104thththth Street Street Street Street BLOCK ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER APRIL 5, 2010 Editor: Nancy Lian

How it All Began

The setting: W 104th St., April 1970, 4:30pm. Enter: Carol Goodfriend of 309, 5 months pregnant with her first child, returning home from the library. As she passed the gaggle of teenagers sitting on the cars at the top of the block, she waved because although a rough and tumble crew, they seemed to watch out for the block, and she knew them all. As she entered the anteroom of her building, she heard two voices behind her say: ‘’Give me your money!” She turned to find two unknown teenagers, one with his hand in his pants pocket as if holding a gun. Screaming, she ran toward them, through them, back out the door and up the block toward the teens she knew, who immediately chased the two muggers into the park and sat on them until the police came. When word of the mugging spread, neighbors Rennie Browne, also pregnant, her husband, Aldis and two other friends came together and chipped in immediately to hire an unarmed security guard. They went door to door to ask others on the block to contribute. In March of 1971 they formed an official Block Association. They approached the owner of 320 Riverside for permission to hold a Holiday Fair in his basement in order to raise much-needed funds to continue paying the security guard. “I believe we were the first block association on the Upper West Side,” Carol says, “but it never would have happened if it weren’t for the sense of community we had already built.” Cont’d on p 6

Spring Fling is Here Don't discard, donate! Your block association is having a 'What Not/What a Bargain' sale, Sat. June 5 10-5, rain date, Sun. June 6. We can use books, CDs and anything else saleable, but no clothing or incomplete items.. Deliver between May 25 and

June 3. Books to doorman, 320 RSD marked for Gary Waskow. What-a-Bargain items to doorman, 895 WEA marked for Alex Grannis. Watch for signs for 50/50 Raffle ticket sales at Lobby Sits in 309 4/7, in 308 4/20, in 905 4/21 and at other times and 6/5 before the afternoon drawing June 5.

Celebrate 40 Years of Your Block Association

Over the past almost 40 years, the block association has become an important organization - not only for our safety, but for the vibrancy of our community. As I have had to step away from active participation in the block association due to business and health reasons, I am enormously grateful to all the people who have made this a continuing vigorous organization. My dream is that many more people

who live here will find a way to contribute. Our block appears to be safe, but you can never depend upon that, especially in this time of recession. You just never know. This volunteer organization is fundamental to our everyday lives and does so much more than people realize. I know I’d hate to live on this block without the Block Association. Frankly, while we need more folks to lend a helping hand in terms of time, we also need more of us to contribute annual dues, as those important dollars lessen the burden on the handful who keep it going. I, for one, am very grateful for the efforts of all those who have helped to make the 104

th St. Block

Association such an outstanding community asset. Carol Goodfriend, First Block Association President

Save the date Sept. 25

21st W. 104th St. Yard Sale

INSIDE Financial report p 2 Residents Remember p 3 Remembering the Neighborhood p 4 Good Reads p 7 In the Spotlight: Susan Feingold p8 Calendar of Events p9


Ruth Bernstein Spring – Coming Soon to Riverside Park Theater Outing April 10 The W. 102nd & W. 103rd St. Block Association hosts an excursion to Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s Ching Chong Chinaman, a comedy about a Chinese-American family whose lives are touched by a stranger from China. Written by Lauren Yee and directed by May Adrales, it is an “incisive, hilarious look at assimilation and identity.” Join neighbors at 3 pm and a post-performance discussion. Contact Camille Colon (646-345-5209 or [email protected]) to reserve a ticket ($35). West End Theatre, 263 W. 86th St., in the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew on the second floor.

WEST 104 STREET BLOCK ASSOCIATION FINANCIAL REPORT MARCH 2010

Opening Balance (3/01/10) $25,412.65 Income Dues: $4620.00 Advertising sales 90.00 Interest 5.80 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,715.80 Disbursements Guard service: $2642.09 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.642.09 Closing Balance (3/31/10) $27,486.36

The City of New York has promised us a Pin Oak by May 15 to replace the Linden which was removed from the tree bed near WEA on 104

th St., north side.

Contributors to this issue: Ruth Bernstein, Barbara Boynton, Barbara Bryan, Gary Dennis, Bonnie Dry, Fermin Fernandez, Carol

Goodfriend, Sari Goodfriend, Michael Graves, Joan Harris, Nancy Lian, Joyce Mann, Joan Paylo, Margaret Sloan, Gary Waskow, Sharon Waskow and many residents..

PLEASE REMEMBER TO CLEAN UP AFTER YOUR DOGS. KEEP OUR SIDEWALKS CLEAN FOR PEOPLE. MANHATTAN DA SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM The Manhattan District Attorney's Office invites High School students to apply for the 2010 Summer Internship Program. To apply, students must reside in Manhattan. Qualified students should send a résumé and essay explaining their interest in law postmarked no later than Friday, April 16, 2010 to: Community Affairs Unit, New York County District Attorney's Office, Attn: Ms. Carol Ragsdale, One Hogan Place, Room 824, New York, NY, 10013. Interviews are scheduled through April 30, 2010. For more information, call (212) 335-9082.

Calling all Volunteers to Plant Spring Pansies It’s time for planting during the week of April 5-10. Please contact Bonnie Dry at 212.222.2102 or

917.544.5367 if you can volunteer, or just show up Saturday morning at the corner RSD and 104th St.

Neighborhood Spring Yard Sales May 15 102/103

rd St. Block

Assn. Annual Yard Sale on 103rd

St. between WEA and RSD. 10-5. Rain date May 16. May 22. 100

th St. Block Assn.

Annual Yard Sale on 100th

St. between WEA and RSD. 10-5. Rain date May 23

Editor’s Note: Special thanks to interviewers Joan Harris, Joyce Mann and Joan Paylo who bring us the memories of so many residents.

West 104th

Street Block Association Board President Gary Waskow 320 RSD 212.932.9082 VP/Secretary Nancy Lian 320 RSD 212.316.6112

Treasurer Barbara Boynton 905 WEA 212.864.1011 Members Barbara Bryan 315 RSD 212.864.5663 Bonnie Dry 315 RSD 212.222.2102 Trudie Grace 308 W 104 212.222.2303 Alex Grannis 895 WEA 212.316.1644 Sid Herzfeld, Emeritus 895 WEA 212.749.0085 Jeff Howitt 315 RSD 212.866.5569 Joyce Mann 309 W 104 212.721.6341 Lynn Max 315 RSD 212.666.3129 Phyllis Sperling 315 RSD 212.595.8981 Steven Zirinsky 315 RSD 212.866.6732


Residents Remember….. Muriel Manning, a resident of 309 for 45 years, had this to say:

• This was always a nice block to live on, but I don't remember having trees, and we didn't have the lovely street lamps we have now.

• Lots of musicians and theater people lived here. • People in the building and in the neighborhood were always

friendly. • The Block Association's formation matured people, and then

people definitely became more involved. • Block is definitely more environmentally friendly and

attractive than it was years ago.

Memories of the Neighborhood in the 1950's from an anonymous resident who grew up in this neighborhood:

• More sense of community and "street life" along Broadway • More "mom-and-pop" stores and small businesses and fewer

chain stores • More motion-picture theaters -- 7 at one point • Double-decker buses • Fourth of July fireworks over the Hudson River • Tokens instead of Metrocards • More payphones • More newspapers • Taxis with jump seats • Local markets with superb delicatessen counters (bagels,

cream cheese, lox, whitefish, etc.) • More maritime traffic on the Hudson River • Street entertainers/vendors including:

♦ Organ grinders with monkeys ♦ Children's photographers with ponies ♦ Scissor/knife sharpeners (still occasionally seen)

• Sounds not heard as much (or at all) now: ♦ Church bells ♦ Small, private airplanes ♦ Fog horns ♦ Air-raid sirens being tested

MemoriesMemoriesMemoriesMemories - The block newsletter’s been around for forty years and memories abound among building residents who’ve been living here long enough to remember the 1970s and earlier. Here’s a sprinkling: Daisy Obadiah’s been on the block since 1946 and wins the totally unscientific ‘Who’s lived at 320 Riverside Drive the longest?” survey. Her late husband, Charles, was a British security officer during World War Two – but for about a quarter of a century, the family of four had no security worries in the doorman-guarded building. She says they never locked their front door - even at night. During hot summer evenings, Obadiah remembers getting the air circulating by using a bridge chair to prop open the front door. “We were never afraid,” she says, “We left [the door] unlocked. Today I lock it twice.” Lore Taussig, who moved into the building with her family in 1951, says that it was a family building, curtains at the inside front door and two elevator men, John and Dominick, in wainscoted cabs, each with

Your Block Association Wants to Know… Are you bothered by noise on the block? If this is a quality of life issue for you we would like to know. We are not referring to the kind of noise most city dwellers experience living in close proximity to others such as stereo playing, musical instrument practice, noisy neighbors. These are more suited to a personal intervention. Instead, we want to know if you experience any of the following as very bothersome in our community: car idling, building construction, un-baffled large air conditioning units, fuel deliveries or other persistent noises that affect your quality of life on 104th St. You can help us with this survey by letting us know if you are repeatedly bothered by this type of noise on our block, and if so and what remedies you may have tried. Please send responses to [email protected]. We will report the survey results in the next newsletter.

a tufted leather bench. This was changed for self-service elevators. Taussig, whose late husband, Walter, was an associate conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, recalls that men removed their hats if there was a lady in the elevator. ******* Warning: The seventies was a time of experimentation for many and this anecdote comes with an “R” rating for mild drug content. A resident who wishes to remain anonymous recalls a party she threw in the early seventies after getting divorced. The menu consisted of Mallomar cookies stacked in a pyramid on a paper plate with marijuana joints sticking out of the crevices, plus large bottles of white jug wine that sold for five bucks each in those days. She says,”I got the worst case of the munchies, OD’d on Mallomars and wine Cont’d on p 4

POSSESSION PLACEMENT PLANNINGPOSSESSION PLACEMENT PLANNINGPOSSESSION PLACEMENT PLANNINGPOSSESSION PLACEMENT PLANNING

Organizing your Home/Office with Creative Flair!Organizing your Home/Office with Creative Flair!Organizing your Home/Office with Creative Flair!Organizing your Home/Office with Creative Flair!

Assistance with sorting, rearranging and recycling any and all items in your home…

Reasonable Fee

Natalie Weinstein, Home/Office Organizer Natalie Weinstein, Home/Office Organizer Natalie Weinstein, Home/Office Organizer Natalie Weinstein, Home/Office Organizer Home Tel. No.: (212) 724 Home Tel. No.: (212) 724 Home Tel. No.: (212) 724 Home Tel. No.: (212) 724----9391939193919391 E E E E----Mail Address: [email protected] Address: [email protected] Address: [email protected] Address: [email protected]


More MemoriesMore MemoriesMore MemoriesMore Memories cont’d from p 3

********** and had such a case of indigestion -- worse than any hangover -- that I haven’t smoked since….much.” Sol Geldzahler, who moved into 320 with his family in 1960, remembers a ‘handsome’ Chinese poet/writer in the building – recalling him as very thin and frail-looking, with a long, wispy, white beard and always dressed in white. Doorman Fermin Fernandez (who arrived in 1968) says his name was Mr. Chen. Chen was a teacher of martial arts teachers. “He was a great kung fu artist,” says Geldzahler and had at least two devotees who followed him around. He recalls that one of them was a forbidding bald man who looked like a young Yul Brynner. Both men remember the day in 1969/70 when the superintendent at the time, Joe Velle, made some sort of “fitness” bet with Chen, which took place in the basement. To hear Geldzahler tell it, “Chen simply lifted his hand, and somehow or other the super landed on the other side of the room – we don’t know how he got there. The super had come at him. They must have had like a joust. He used the energy of the super to flip him. The way the super told me the story, he said: ‘I never figured out how I ended up on the other side of the room.’” Geldzahler also remembers Pete Jackson, one of the doormen at 320 RSD. “He was African-American, and came from St. Croix.

Peter Jackson and Joe Ratcliffe, former 320 doormen

He had a wonderful singsong accent. Very spiffy, always dressed in a coat and a tie – there was an elegance about him.” Fermin Fernandez remembers Pete would think nothing of saying, “Wipe your feet!” to incoming residents. And Geldzahler recalls that Pete was very good at his work. If he didn’t know you, “ . . . he wasn’t rude . . . but he would stop you dead in your tracks.” After Pete died suddenly in the mid-seventies, the little green patch on the northeast corner of 104th street between RSD and the service road became known as Pete’s Park. Fernandez also remembers that garbage was collected in metal cans with nothing recycled. Lynn Braswell, who moved into 320 RSD in 1968, collected money for a Pete Jackson Memorial Tree in that park – a crabapple tree that’s still there. She remembers going to the Abbey Pub one evening in the early 1970s, meeting a “very nice” guy, who walked her home. After getting into the elevator, she was disappointed to realize he hadn’t asked for her phone number. So she was surprised when he called her up the next evening. She asked how he’d gotten her number and recalls him saying that after he, too, realized he’d forgotten to get it, he asked Pete the doorman for her last name. Pete replied that he never divulged tenants’ last names. However, after he slipped him five dollars, Pete said ”Braswell” under his breath. On hearing the story, Lynn recalls telling her beau, “I think

my last name’s worth at least ten bucks!” (They dated for “a bit, but nothing came of it.”) Over the years, stores come and go, and it’s often impossible to remember past incarnations, especially ones from forty years back. Some residents remember Cakemasters on Broadway and 100th, one of many stores in a popular bakery chain that lasted through at least the seventies, where you could get great muffins, cakes, and cinnamon rolls. Many recall the Horn & Hardart automat where the Rite Aid pharmacy is now – as well as the Great Shanghai Chinese restaurant on 102-103rd where a Duane Reade currently exists. Lucy Geldzahler has memories of a hair salon where Henry’s restaurant does business today. And everybody recollected the plethora of movie theaters that dotted this part of Broadway during the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, including the Edison theater, where Janovic paints is now; the Midtown theater on 100th where the empty Metro theater languishes, as well as the Carlton Theater right across the street; the Riverside and Riviera theaters on 96-97th streets; the Yorktown on 89-90th; and the Olympia on the northeast corner of 106-107th, next to (yet) another Duane Reade. A Japanese food market became Santorello Restaurant and later Metisse. The Met Food Store turned into a furniture store long before it became Carne and then Toast. And who can forget Gregory’s, which is now Café du Soleil? What was it like to live on West 104th Street 40 years ago? In some ways, not much has changed, just morphed a bit, like the height of the sycamore trees on the promenade in the park below. The sunsets were every bit as stunning. The grinding of the garbage truck bounced off the buildings, leaving no need for alarm clocks on pick-up days. At the base of 120th St., Riverside Church bells marked the quarter hours for players on the hard green tennis courts where weeds grew in cracks under the nets. Permits cost less than $30 for an eight-month season, and you could arrive at 8:45 to grab a court at 9 a.m. We "long timers" reminisced about people who died or moved away, their once-familiar names now melding in memory: faithful doormen whose retirements brought tears to our eyes and a rougher breed of super, like the one who stationed his guard dog in the basement after 10 p.m. It was a time before the scourge of AIDS, when too many friendly faces on our block turned gaunt and faded away. There were the children who grew up and left. You would just stumble upon that precious moment as they stood on the threshold of their future, asking you to please hold the elevator door as they lugged their stuff off to college. I remember the elderly, retired teachers or professors or housewives who eagerly shared their histories and bragged endlessly about their children who were mothers or mezzo-sopranos or diplomats living far away. "104th Street is very much part of that Upper West Side personality," said Ursula ("Teddy") Strauss, who's been living at 315 RSD since 1960 and can often be seen dashing off to a concert or stage performance. "There's something about this neighborhood. We're a different breed. There's music everywhere. More people carry violin cases. You walk up the block from the park and someone's singing pours onto the street through an open window, or there's a piano, a horn, even drums." Cont’d on p. 10


Remembering the Neighborhood

Were the early 1970’s a grittier time, or am I just imagining things? Certainly there was more crime back then. There was a retired cabbie, Mr. Green, an old tenant in my building on 103

rd street who bought an illegal gun in a bar on 103

rd St,

then used the gun lethally in self-defense during a robbery in his apartment (this story was supposedly the basis for the book& motion picture Death Wish).

There were places like McBride’s Bar and Grill on 101st,

which had a constant odor of cigarettes and beer emanating from it. The father of my friend Mark Lutz from PS 145 worked the dayshift at the bar that is now Petland (it was in this bar that Mr. Green purchased his gun). The Broadway Dive was called “Tavern” -- that’s it, just Tavern, and the Abbey Pub was called “Fels.”

On the stretch of Broadway between 103rd

and 102nd

there were retail and gastronomic offerings surpassing any mall in the United States. There was Nedicks Pizza, a Horn & Hardart retail outlet, the ever-classy Manhattan Shirts (with “Manhattan” blazing in reddish neon). There was Nova furniture offering the best in plastic covered sofas (this was an option of course) in the old village of Bloomingdale. There was Lamston’s, a lesser Woolworth’s but just as important. On the west side of Broadway there were two major spots. First, the Daitch Shopwell Supermarket, where Charlie the manager would exhort over the loudspeaker, “Send ‘em home checkers, send ‘em home.” And then there was the garden spot of all that was Mandarin, The Great Shanghai, housed in a not too redone former nightclub. That nightclub is important historically for other reasons, but that is for a different issue of the Newsletter.

The Edison was still a Spanish Language theater and every now and then showed “todos las peliculas de Cantinflas.” The Metro was an “adult” venue called the Midtown, and the former Carlton Theater was still a ballroom. The big beautiful Riverside and Riviera Theaters were still standing on 96

th

street and Broadway. Those two theaters have great importance in New York City theater history. Bette Davis’s first appearance in a house on Broadway was at the Riviera and Sarah Bernhardt did play The Riverside.

Many pictures come to mind that capture New York in the 1970s. Movies such as The Taking of Pelham 123 and The French Connection are great examples. So are The Seven-Ups and Madigan, which both include scenes filmed in our neighborhood.

So for a neighborhood that was still reeling from the loss of the Heins & LaFarge 1904 IRT station house in the middle of Broadway and 103

rd street, we are well represented on

celluloid, and we have come a long way. I have lived here for 48 years, and although I threaten every now and to leave New York, as Dorothy says, “There is no place like home”. She’s right. By Gary Dennis

RIVERSIDE HAIKU Crystal chandeliers Hanging from white trees: Zefferelli's in my park! MIchael Graves

Feb. 26, 2010 New York City Snowstorm

10 % off when you present this ad


How it all Began, cont’d from p 1

She explained that in 1968, when she and her husband, Jim, first moved onto the block, this area was quite dangerous, with muggings and drug dealings a daily occurrence, especially since 104th was an easy through street to Riverside Park. A woman who lived in one of the upper floors of 308 was a night owl who sat in her window watching the street after dark. If she saw anything suspicious, she would blow a whistle loudly, and “Windows would fly open all up and down the street. and all the residents would start screaming and yelling to scare away the intruder while someone called the cops, who always came right away, thank goodness. That was the beginning of a real sense of community on 104th St.” With that as background, Carol Goodfriend, George McMillan (“a phenomenally meticulous guy”), and countless other neighbors set about organizing the 1971 Holiday Fair, which took place that December in the basement of 320 Riverside. Carol said she distinctly remembers lying on her bed nursing her daughter while making “endless” phone calls to block residents to organize the fair. “We asked people to contribute all kinds of items, crafts, clothes, food, or money. I would walk with my new baby up and down the block with her in my front pack pigeonholing anyone I could get to help in any way. During the days before the fair I’d stop cute young guys walking by and ask them to help haul chairs and tables down to the basement of 320.” The headline of the one page newsletter dated December 10, 1971, read “Holiday Fair an Undreamed of Smash!” The Block Association netted $1700 from people’s efforts. “

In those days, of course, that was a HUGE amount of money” Carol remarked. The newsletter continued: “People bought old clothes, new jewelry, handmade gift items, home-baked goods and toys. The Ladies Handwork Co-op added a touch of class, and the White Elephant table wasn’t so classy but turned a tidy profit. They

gobbled up Gilda Friedlander’s noodle pudding at 50 cents a portion, and Batya Bauman sold more books than Brentano’s on Christmas Eve. There was also an auction of bigger-ticket items that netted an additional $812.” Soon after, following the great success of the 104th St. Block Association, other block associations began to spring up all around the Upper West Side. “Ironically, “says Carol, “once the area became safer, landlords began co-oping what had been mostly rental buildings, and that’s when the area began to gentrify. You must remember that in those early days no one who lived here was rich . . . we were all artists, teachers, musicians, dancers, theater people, small business owners and workers – no doctors or lawyers or corporate types. Everyone pitched in and helped.” Carol and Nancy Lian of 320 were early members of a community babysitting pool that involved families from 101-106th streets. Upon joining, you got tickets each worth one hour of time. If you gave two hours of free babysitting to someone‘s child, you got two hours back. “It was great,” Nancy said, “because it was always an adult who came to baby-sit.” During these same few years eight women of the neighborhood organized and ran a fresh fruit and vegetable co-op, which ran until most of the women went back to work. Clara Weinberg, another resident of 309, organized the Riverside Park Improvement Fund to reclaim Riverside Park’s playgrounds for the local children. “In those days, you could not venture safely into the 2nd and 3rd levels of the park,” Carol explained. “Only the Riverside Drive level was safe. Clara’s determined work changed all that. She was a phenomenal woman. She wasn’t budging until she got exactly what she wanted. In later years her committee expanded to become the foundation of the current Riverside Park Conservancy. “

By Joyce Mann

Suba Pharmacy, Home and Health Care SuppliesSuba Pharmacy, Home and Health Care SuppliesSuba Pharmacy, Home and Health Care SuppliesSuba Pharmacy, Home and Health Care Supplies

Suba does compounding Suba does compounding Suba does compounding Suba does compounding

for you and your petsfor you and your petsfor you and your petsfor you and your pets Visit us for all your shopping needs and gifts at verVisit us for all your shopping needs and gifts at verVisit us for all your shopping needs and gifts at verVisit us for all your shopping needs and gifts at very competitive pricesy competitive pricesy competitive pricesy competitive prices

Special orders filled on request. We deliverSpecial orders filled on request. We deliverSpecial orders filled on request. We deliverSpecial orders filled on request. We deliver

Phone 212.866.6700 Fax 212.866.7129Phone 212.866.6700 Fax 212.866.7129Phone 212.866.6700 Fax 212.866.7129Phone 212.866.6700 Fax 212.866.7129 Hours: Mon-Fri 9-8; Sat 10-7; Sun Closed

Pharmacy at the Corner of Broadway & 104Pharmacy at the Corner of Broadway & 104Pharmacy at the Corner of Broadway & 104Pharmacy at the Corner of Broadway & 104thththth St. for 100 years St. for 100 years St. for 100 years St. for 100 years


Good ReadsGood ReadsGood ReadsGood Reads

The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman.

The Great Freddie, an exGI and a lousy ventriloquist, is inhabited by a dybbuk, the Jewish spirit of a 12-year-old Jewish boy killed

in the Holocaust. The dybbuk takes over Freddie’s act, and with his snappy dialog Freddie’s act becomes wildly popular. But the dybbuk has a mission: to seek revenge on the Nazi who murdered him and to bring focus to the abuse of millions of Jewish children. Though the book contains horrific factual details of Nazi brutality, the message is about bearing witness, friendship, and hope. Recommended for readers Ages 9-14.

Block Bulletin BoardBlock Bulletin BoardBlock Bulletin BoardBlock Bulletin Board

Lee Lowenfish will read, discuss, and sign the new edition of his pioneering book, The Imperfect Diamond: A History of Baseball’s Labor Wars, Tues April 6 at 7pm at Book Culture, 536 West 112th Street (the former Labyrinth), east of Broadway next to the post office. Refreshments will be served. Lee is also the author of the award-winning biography Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman, both books published by the University of Nebraska Press."

Meet a Visitor from Germany in July My name is Matthias Gernholt. I am 16 years old and come from a little village in Germany named Schoneberg. Nearby is the famous medieval city of Soest in Westphalia where the original "pumpernickel" was produced.

I will be visiting my grandmother's sister Armgard and her husband Gil Tauber from July 19 to August 15. They live on 104th Street at 320 RSD. I would love to meet a young American my age to really get a taste of American culture and learn more about New York. This will be my first trip to the US and also my first big trip without my parents or my 14-year-old sister. Outside of school I am interested in judo, meeting friends, and listening to music. I like Metal, Gothic, and Medieval Rock and especially like such bands as Saltatio Mortis, Subway to Sally, and Steinkind. You can e-mail me at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you. Matthias Gernhold, Im Krimpenland 7, 59510 Lippetal Schoneberg, Germany

James Perez

Senior Vice President/Associate Broker ________________________________________

Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales, LLC 1926 Broadway, New York, NY 10023

www.brownharrisstevens.com

Tel 212.588.5656 Cell 917.902.7193 Fax 12.418.9763

Email jperez@bhsusa


I In the Spotlight

Susan Feingold

Susan Feingold has lived on 104th Street in the same apartment for nearly fifty years. She was born in Germany

but was sent to England in 1939 as part of the Kindertransport, a rescue mission to save Jewish children from Nazi persecution.

After the war she wanted to be an actress, so in 1948 she immigrated to the United States in order to study acting at the New School’s Dramatic Workshop in New York, where she met her husband, director Lester Feingold. After a decade-long career in theater, during which she toured with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, she shifted her focus to early-childhood education and became the executive director of The Bloomingdale Family Program, a Head Start Program on the Upper West Side that serves over two hundred families. The interview took place in her welcoming apartment, filled with artwork, family photographs, books, and mementos.

Q I gather that this is not your first interview. Why have you been interviewed in the past? Well, I spent some years in the theater, and sometimes there were occasions when I was interviewed. I remember one at Top of the Mark in San Francisco when I was touring with the Lunts many years ago. And then I was frequently interviewed again when I changed professions and became director of a Head Start program. I was a founder of that program. In 1962, when my daughter was two years

old, I found this little multicultural group of mothers who wanted a free integrated play school for their children. At that time I had no experience in early-childhood education, so when I joined that group, little did I know that I would be there until I was eighty-three years old. I was its executive director for forty years. Q And how did the connection between that play school and Head Start come about? Just before Head Start was launched, the Feds sent a group of educators to look at our program and see what we were doing. They wanted to know how all these parents had come together and stayed together for a number of years. That was in 1965, and the group had been together since 1960. Nobody was paid; everybody was there for love and for ideals of social significance. But in 1968 I wrote a Head Start proposal, and we got year-round funding. A lot has been written about us, and I have spoken and written in many places about Head Start. When the Feds came to look at us, they discovered that there were two elements that were significant. One was parent involvement and the other was family services. And at that time we were really ethnically and culturally integrated. We were a group of people who normally would never meet, but we began to talk together and to know each other, and it was all very spontaneous, and there was tremendous idealism behind it, I think. There certainly was for me. I was a refugee from Germany and had lived in England during the war, and my parents died in a concentration camp. Q Were you part of the Kindertransport? Yes, after Kristalnacht. I was fourteen. I was very fortunate, I came to a wonderful family, I could not have been luckier. For about the first three months I was in England, my parents and I could write to each

other. But then the war broke out, and we could only send thirty-word messages for a short time, and then it stopped. And they were deported to Treblinka, and that’s where it ended. I went to high school in England and graduated and then went to work when I was seventeen. So, when I came to this country . . .Well, in Germany we were persecuted and I was the victim, but when I came to this country, I discovered that there was an ethnic group that was victimized here. And it really drove me to do something about it, and that realization became a big part of my life. Q. So your group was a model for the original Head Start concept? Yes, when Head Start was launched, it included these two components: parent involvement and family support services. So we became a model, even inter-nationally; we have been visited from all over the world. In 1973 the federal government wanted us to integrate handicapped and non-handicapped children, and that was sort of natural to us, because we believed in accepting everybody as they came to us, with no preconceived notions, and we would take it from there. So we became a program model for mainstreaming. I went to Washington and made presentations for our program based on the idea of one-to-one work with the handicapped children. I enlisted twenty Vista volunteers, because it required skilled manpower to work with handicapped children. We would visit the home, do assessments, and then we would develop an education plan for the child. In some instances, the children were not ready to be mainstreamed in a setting with maybe seventeen


other children, so the child would be worked with on a one-on-one basis until the he or she was ready to participate in the program. And that worked miraculously well. Q How did you originally happen to come to the United States? The reason I came to the United States is that I was unable to go on the stage in England. I was still an enemy alien. All the years that I spent in England during the war didn’t count! In order to become a citizen, you had to start all over again. And by the time that might have happened . . . well, I would have had gray hair. So I decided that was impossible -- I wasn’t going to wait for that, so I decided I would go to the United States. My brother was there, first in Boston and later in Washington. He was a very fine pianist and played in the White House while Eisenhower was President. He was able to get me an affidavit that guaranteed that I wouldn’t be a burden to the state. The man who gave me the affidavit made me swear that I wouldn’t be a burden to him, and I never was. Q When you came to New York, did you live on the Upper West Side? No, I started on the East Side in a cold-water flat when I was going to acting school at Erwin Piscator’s Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research. He and Max Reinhardt were luminaries of the German theater. Piscator had worked with Brecht. When he came to the United States, he was a communist, and eventually he had to leave under McCarthy. But quite a while before that, in 1948, I got a scholarship and began my acting career. The theater was always my dream, and singing – I was a coloratura -- and my mother was a singer. So I embarked on a moderately successful theater career. (Laughs) I did quite a bit of television and off-Broadway, and eventually on Broadway with the Lunts. But I always felt that there

was something that I needed to do that I hadn’t found yet. Q So you were working in the earliest days of television. What were you doing? I played French spies! (Laughs) With a French accent! Q On what program? It was “Mr. and Mrs. Mystery” on Channel 9. I remember the first television show I did….this was in 1952. You used to play scenes practically on top of each other you were so close together. In love scenes your partner was almost in your face. Q Because the screens were so small? Don’t ask me – I was doing the acting! But then it got better. The first good program I did was with the pioneering African-American actor Canada Lee, who did improvisations on television. He had a group of actors, of whom I was one, and he set up improvisational material, and then we would act it out. It was totally spontaneous. And what was hilarious was that during intermission, Yul Brynner played the guitar! Q And after that you toured with the Lunts? With the Lunts I went all over the country. We went to the West Coast . . . We played long runs, which were great: six weeks in LA and four weeks in San Francisco. And St. Louis, Kansas City, Maine, Boston . . . we went all over the country. The play was called “The Great Sebastians.” It was a fabulous piece for them. They played a couple that did magic, set in Communist Czechoslovakia, and I was a nasty little Communist spy. (Laughs) I got typecast a lot because of my accent. And my accent also prevented me from getting certain parts. I absolutely loved the theater, and my husband and I had a wonderful time in it. But my real life began later, when I came into this group of families, which eventually became The Bloomingdale Family Program.

Susan Feingold retired from the Bloomingdale Family Program in 2008. In 2009 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Bank Street Program. President Elizabeth D. Dickey noted that Feingold understood early in life what it meant “to a child to be homeless, stateless, orphaned, discriminated against, and poor,” and always fought discrimination of any kind. By Margaret Sloan

Selected Calendar of EventsSelected Calendar of EventsSelected Calendar of EventsSelected Calendar of Events 4/1-18 Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, presented by NY Classical Theatre and arts> World Financial Center. Performances are at 7 pm daily except 4/4, 4/5, or 4/12. Meet at the World Financial Center Courtyard. Be prepared to follow the actors. To learn about theater indoors, go to newyorkclassical.org. Free. 4/1-8/1 Curious George Saves the Day. 80 original drawings for books by Margret and H.A. Rey. Jewish Museum, 5

th Ave at 92

nd St.

Admission free on Saturdays 11-5:45. cont’d on p 10


Selected Calendar of EventsSelected Calendar of EventsSelected Calendar of EventsSelected Calendar of Events Cont’d from p 9

4/6 Lee Lowenfish reads, discusses and signs the new edition of his pioneering book The Imperfect Diamond: A History of Baseball’s Labor Wars. 7p at Book Culture, 536 W 112 (formerly Labyrinth). Refreshments served. Lee also authored the award-winning biography Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman. 4/10 Medieval Arts Children’s Workshop. Children carve a block of limestone, create medieval illuminated letters, design gargoyles. Ages 4 and up. Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 10am to noon. $6 per child with accompanying adult. Register at 212.932.7347. Repeats 5/22. 4/12-14 Bach and the Baroque. Benjamin Hochman plays keyboard Bach Partitas on three successive days. Columbia Philosophy Hall, 12:30 pm. Free. 4/16 Contacti, the new music series, New York Philharmonic. Alan Gilbert conducts new works by Sean Shepherd, Nico Muhly and Mattias Pintscher. Symphony Space. 8 pm. Tickets $24 in advance, $28 day of show. 4/17 All the King’s Horses. Learn about horses of the Middle Ages and see images in artworks at The Cloisters. Meet in the Main Hall at 1 pm. Free with museum admission. 4/19-21 Bach and the Baroque. Alisa Weilerstein plays Bach Cello Suites on three days. Columbia Philosophy Hall, 12:30 pm. Free. 4/21 Stay Well Exercise Session. Low impact exercises for all ability levels. No special clothing or equipment. For adults 50+. 2 pm. Bloomingdale Library, 150 W 100 St. Call 212.222.8030 for more information. 4/25 Hippo Playground Spring Fair, 91

st St. in Riverside Park.

Activities include a jumping castle, pony rides, petting zoo, maze, face painting and more. 10 to 4. 4/25 Annual Poetry Reading on the island on Riverside Dr.

between 102nd & 103rd

at 1:30 pm. In case of a weather problem, meet at 310 RSD Lobby. All welcome to read poetry, prose, or listen & have a good time. 4/28 Game On @ Bloomingdale. Show you skill with Wii remote and challenge your friends to a game in the library. Also tournaments. For ages 12-18. 4 pm. Free. Bloomingdale Library, 150 W 100 St. Call 212.222.8030 for more info. 4/28, 30,5/2 Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart, Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater. Wed/Fri 7:30 pm, Sun 2:30 pm. Borden Auditorium, 122 St. & Bwy. Tickets $20 adults, $12 seniors/students. Call 212.749.2802 for information. 5/1 American String Quartet plays Schubert, Webern, Berg and Schubert at Merkin Hall, 129 W. 67 St. 8:30 pm. Tickets $15 adults, $10 seniors and students. Call 917.493.4428 for information. 5/2 Broadway Bach Ensemble plays Mozart Don Giovanni Overture and Horn Concerto #2, Schubert’s Symphony #8 and Beethoven’s Leonore Overture.Bway Presbyterian Church, 114

th & Bwy, 2 pm. Free.

5/8 Fancy Nancy by Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet. Symphony Space, 12 pm and 2 pm. Call 212.864.5400 for ticket information. 5/11-13 Godspell, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Manhattan School of Music Borden Auditorium, 7:30 pm. Tickets $15, $10 seniors & students. Info at 917.493.4428. 5/15 W 102/103 St. Block Assn Yard Sale. 103

rd WEA to RSD. 10-5.

Rain date 5/16. 5/15 Wall to Wall: Behind the Wall. 12-hour marathon concert at Symphony Space 11am to 11pm. Music of Eastern Europe between 1918 and 1989, with St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic and Poland’s Silesian String Quartet. Free. 5/22 W. 100

th St. Block Assn Yard

Sale. 100th St. RSD to WEA 10 am

to 5 pm. Rain date 5/23.

9/25 21st Annual W. 104th St. Yard Sale Memories cont’d from p 4

Strauss looks back fondly at the mom and pop stores that lined Broadway

before 1980. In the 1970s there were no banks between 106th and 96th; the nearest Duane Reade was at 57th and 8th. Locksmiths did a booming business where now nail salons and wireless stores proliferate. It was legal for Mr. Softee's siren song to drift over Riverside Drive. "There were many small shops that would deliver," Strauss remembered. "The Daitch Shopwell was a real dairy shop with a huge block of butter and separated eggs to use in baking. You could order a custom cake at Cakemasters and rely on Oppenheimer's butcher shop." Sid Herzberg of 895 West End remembered that when he arrived in 1960, mail was delivered three times a day and postage to Brooklyn cost two cents. "Stores on Broadway were independently owned, except for Horn and Hardart at104th. Mid-morning, it was filled with widows and ladies. Afternoons, Italian and Greek taxi drivers stopped by for coffee. It served good, clean food." Tom Tierney of 315 RSD remembers the limited selection of restaurants, including the Abbey Pub with its tin ceiling, a plethora of mostly Cantonese restaurants, and a few China/Criollas spots. "Things have gotten better and better," he said. "The idea of a Domino's or Papa John's was unimaginable," said Jeff Howitt, a retired publishing executive who also lives at 315. "There was more of a connection to the first part of the 20th Century. Local antique shops were filled with treasures of the pre-war era that European immigrants had brought with them. The stock and decorations of each store reflected the personalities and backgrounds of the proprietors." He recalled the abundance of movie theaters you could pop into on a whim – the Olympia at 106th, the Edison at 104th that carried Spanish films,


the Riverside and Riviera at 96th, Cont’d on p 11 Memories cont’d from p 10

and at 95th, the Symphony and of course the Thalia's double features, where he learned about Bergman, Fellini and Truffaut. Howitt was living near Columbia. Like many longtimers, he heard about a vacant apartment on the block from a friend and grabbed it. There were no co-op board interviews, tedious baring of financial history and then a year-long wait while the apartment was gutted and renovated. You visited the current tenant, checked out their closets and cabinets, asked if the water was hot, and moved in the day they moved out.

There were, however, babysitting and trendy food co-ops. Fred and Yvonne Wong and Jerry Mendlowitz moved here because the large apartments accommodated growing young families. Mendlowitz' two daughters babysat in the co-op that included the Wongs, Edvin and Nancy Lian, James and Carol Goodfriend, Alex Grannis and others. About ten families rented a room on 103rd Street where the Children's Learning Center is now, and they held a daily playgroup for the pre-kindergarten set. "We belonged to a wholesale food co-op that met on 105th Street," Yvonne said. "We'd get together and discuss what kinds of food we'd need. We'd take turns going up to Hunt's Point market, and we'd get together again to divide up the food. I think it died out because we all bought more than we could use and we wasted a lot." Robert Randall moved to 320 RSD from 105th St. because his growing family needed more room. Randall, who has served on the boards of both 320 and 315 RSD during periods of major construction, even moved to San Francisco several times, but

moved back to our block last year. "One of the biggest changes has been in the park," he said. When he and neighbors began gardening on the service road strip outside 320, Dina Levitt, whose husband Saul won an Emmy and a Peabody for The Andersonville Trial, suggested they apply for a permit. "But the Parks Department wasn't paying attention to things like that," Randall said. They held gardening parties and people contributed money to buy flowering pear trees and other shrubs. "We planted a crab apple tree to honor Peter Jackson, a former doorman at 320," he recalled. Memories of West 104th Street would be sugarcoated if they didn't mention crime. The access to Riverside Park at 104th Street made it a thorough-fare for addicts and dealers. Almost everyone can tell of a time they were mugged and/or robbed on the street, even two or three times. Tierney remembers that doormen gave up-dates, such as whose purse had been snatched the day before. Block associations sprang up to raise money to hire security guards. Longtimers contrast major blackouts. In August, 2003, amiable crowds thronged Henry's and Carne (now Toast) before dark to drink wine and beer getting warmer by the minute. In July, 1977, the sounds of agitated mobs and breaking glass from Broadway shops drifted up the block on the close, humid air. In November, 1965 people directed cars when the traffic lights didn’t work. "I was mugged after work leaving the subway on Broadway," said Howitt. "They took my wallet, pushed me to the pavement and ran down 104th St. The cops drove me around the neighborhood to see if I could spot anyone. They told me there was a 24-hour drug supermarket at the base of Merchant's Gate on CPW. We got out there and you could hear vials cracking under your shoes." Today, that hill is a peaceful place to see cherry blossoms. It's embarrassing to talk about now, but that's the way it was," Jeff said. "The

park was beautiful for watching the change of seasons, but you were advised not to go alone. If you brought the Sunday Times it was hard to find a bench that hadn't been vandalized and you had to keep one eye on your surroundings." Gil Tauber of 320 RSD credits the 24-hour Korean groceries with helping stabilize the streets at night. "Forty years ago, the stores didn't stay open in the evening. Broadway was closed by 7 p.m. People didn't feel safe," he said. "Now, people make more use of the parks and public spaces. Just look at Straus Park. You did not want to go near it before. It was crawling with unfriendly types." What will 104th Street look like in another 40 years? Tauber, a well-known urban planner and historian, allayed any fears of metal and glass high-rises replacing the "spectacular" Masters Apartments or the "elegant" 315 that in his opinion deserves to be landmarked. The buildings could last another century as long as they stave off moisture penetration, he said. "As a practical matter," Tauber said, "It would be extremely expensive for a developer to get the consensus necessary from every condo or co-op owner. He'd have to buy all the people out, and that would be prohibitive. So in terms of preservation, I'd say our block on 104th Street will look about the same." Finally, as we begin the fifth decade of the newsletter, an alert to residents up and down the block: preserve your memories and photos in preparation for the fiftieth anniversary issue of 2020! It’s right around the corner!!


Neighborhood Services Needed or for Hire Personal Concierge and Home Organizing Service. Maximize your time, your living space, and your efficiency with the team at Taking Care of The Details. Let us do your errands; or we can de-clutter and re-organize a room or your whole apartment. For block residents, we will donate a portion of our fee to the W. 104

th St. Block Assn. in your name. Call Kenny

Weinberg (320 RSD) at 646.207.7045 M-F, 9-6 and check us out at www.takingcareofdetails.com. Petsitting. Experienced, responsible, caring petsitter. I take care of your pets like they are my own! Dogs, cats, small animals, birds, reptiles, fish. Very reasonable rates. Call Tova at 212-662-5143 or email me at [email protected]. ESL Tutor. Help With: Composition, Writing, Conversation, CPE/ACT exam. Reasonable rates, flexible hours. Marsha 212.203.2894. Computer Consultant/PC Doctor - Computers repaired, maintained, viruses removed, junk mail controlled. Advise to repair or buy depending on condition of machine and your pocketbook. I do Windows!! Call Greg Williams, block resident, at 212.749.2398. Piano and/or French Lessons. Beginner to advanced, child to adult, by congenial, multi-degreed professional. Call Irina at 212.749.1193 Your Neighborhood service publicized - free! Publicize your neighborhood service (babysitting, dog walking, apartment cleaning, etc.) free in the newsletter and on our web site for one year, renewable. To submit an ad, fill out the form on http://www.bloomingdale.org Neighborhood Services for Hire or mail/deliver this information to Nancy Lian, 320 RSD. For our records: your name and mailing address Placement: newsletter, website, or both For publication: your name, contact method (phone # or email address), description of your service.

2010 Dues, 2nd

Quarter Please allocate my contribution to: Amount of check: ____________ ___ Security ___ Beautification ___Social ___Newsletter ___Board Decision (Suggested amount: $35 per quarter or $140 per year )

Name ______________________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________ Apt. No. _________ E-mail Address _______________________________________________________ (For internal use only. The Block Association will not sell, exchange, or lend your e-mail address to any outside parties) Suggestions for the block: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Make checks payable to West 104

th Street Block Association Inc.

Mail to our treasurer: or drop off at

Barbara Boynton, 905 WEA, #71, NY, NY 10025 895 WEA: Herzfeld, Apt 5D, 320 RSD: Waskow, Apt. 8G 315 RSD, Howitt: Apt. 8C, 309 W. 104: Mann, Apt. 3A

www.bloomingdale.org 4 West 104 Newsletter February 2010

BLOCK ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER APRIL 5, 2010 Celebrate 40 ... · to Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s...

Documents

Transcript of BLOCK ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER APRIL 5, 2010 Celebrate 40 ... · to Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s...