The Classic New York of Mame Dennis

Patrick Dennis, a pseudonym for writer Edward Everett Tanner, gives the straight and narrow an alternative role model with his witty 1955 bestseller, Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade. When young Patrick arrives at Beekman Place, the door opens to his aunt's unconventional bohemian life in the glitzy New York of the Jazz Age, and, by example, to a different way of being. A party is in progress: "They all used funny words, like 'batik' and 'Freud' and 'inferiority complex' and 'abstraction.'"

Patrick soon grows accustomed to his aunt's nocturnal habits (where 9 a.m. is "the middle of the night"), her glamorous theater friends, her preference for Bauhaus decor, and the experimental schools, psychotherapy, and all matter of fads and crazes (all of which Mame tries). Beekman Place is no place to be square.

Busted for placing Patrick in an experimental school (where all children were stripped of their clothes and expected to make their own fun), Mame loses her grip over her nephew when his furious trustee places him in a boarding school. Worse, she loses her wealth in the crash of 1929. Forced to leave her posh apartment for a carriage house in undesirable Murray Hill, she tries to support herself through jobs for which she is intellectually but not practically equipped. She runs through brief "careers" in literary publishing (loses a valuable manuscript), interior decoration (defies the client's orders for French Louis XV and delivers instead "Bolshevik barbarism"), entrepreneurship (her own moderne store on E. 54th is a hit, but she forgets to mail in insurance forms after it burns down), a saleswoman at Henri Bendel (10 west 57th, but since 1990, at 712 Fifth Ave.) a speakeasy operator, a personal shopper at the Algonquin (59 W. 44th St.), and then, in a hilarious ill-fated turn, an actress in one of Vera Charles' plays.

Finally, Mame takes a Christmas retail position in the toy department at Macy's, selling roller skates. Not easily trainable, she remembers only how to write up sales slips as C.O.D.'s. Those who know the story will recall that she's fired when she lets a customer help her make out the necessary cash sales slip. The customer, happily, is her future wealthy Southern husband, one Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, of Georgia.

Sweeping her off her feet, Burnside moves Mame to ten rooms at the St. Regis Hotel (2 E. 55th St.) and encourages her to resume her old spending ways. On their first anniversary, he buys her "a big old mansion" on Washington Square (for me, a noticeable and impossible slip in an otherwise good make-believe). In the movie version, the two travel to Europe where Burnside dies after falling off a mountain in the Alps. In the original book, though, the day of their housewarming party on Washington Square, Burnside dies after being kicked in the head by a horse in Central Park. Alas. Mame becomes a very wealthy widow.

Mame's New York is the classic New York of Depression-era fantasy – the room service, hatboxes, dressing gowns, perfume, after-theater dinners, gloved doormen and bellhops, glamorous show-biz friends, witty repartee and liquor. The fantasy regenerates in postwar 1950s New York, the time of the book's publication (think, too, of Capote's Holly Golightly).

Visiting the places of Auntie Mame – the classic hotels (Algonquin, St. Regis, the Plaza), the legendary department stores (Macy's, Henri Bendel, etc.), and the nightlife (21 Club at 21 W. 52nd St., etc.) would make a fine walk, don't you think? I think so. Over the next few days I plan to seek out this classic New York fantasy and report back on my findings.

Auntie Mame would never take such a walk herself, by the way. Mame owns a Rolls-Royce.

Image: New York, New York, Macy's department store at Herald Square. September 1942. Marjory Collins, photographer. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, LC-USW3-007681-D DLC (b&w film neg.).

See related posts:
Classic New York: A Walk, and a Map
The Classic New York of Mame Dennis: A Coda, on Bank Street
Classic New York: 59th and Fifth: A Slideshow
Classic New York: The Algonquin
Classic New York: Times Square
Classic New York: A Visit to Macy's, in April
Classic New York: Henri Bendel
Classic New York: The King Cole Bar at the St. Regis
A Walk in Turtle Bay: Beekman Place, the U.N., Tudor City, and E. 42nd St.
The Liberation Theology of Mame Dennis
Grand Central Theatre, and A New Walk Begins

Orphan Film Symposium: Moving Orphans, Itinerant Filmmakers, and Pancho Villa

Last night at the Orphan Film Symposium, we gathered for dinner inside the historic Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South. Making the most of the "on location" feel for the symposium, most of the events take place in and around Washington Square Park.

Ever since it was announced that the symposium was moving to New York, some people worried that the southern grit flair established in South Carolina for so long would be lost in translation. I worried about this myself, but on balance, just after the opening couple of days, I don't think there's anything to worry about now. Wednesday night's tribute to the late Helen Hill, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, and with it, the presence of family and friends from South Carolina, made an effective and moving transition for the symposium's segue to New York. In addition, the friendly humor that developed among earlier participants is still alive and well here, and maybe even funnier. The food is still good, and all the films are remarkable.

Last night I attended Mexican filmmaker Gregorio Rocha's presentation and screening of the restored La Venganza de Pancho Villa (ca. 1930-34) by itinerant filmmakers, Felix and Edmundo Padilla. Rocha's discovery of the famous lost reels of Pancho Villa in the archives at the University of Texas at El Paso was a breaking news story announced at the second symposium in 2001. The Padillas, operating as itinerant filmmakers along the US-Mexican border, put together this thrilling tale, combining fictional recreations with actual footage of the real Villa and his army.

Growing up in Texas and living in Austin, I met several Texans from the border area who had their own stories of Villa's raids on their ancestors' haciendas. They couldn't decide if they loved Pancho Villa or loathed him (their grandparents hated him), and the film that Gregorio showed the audience was equally ambiguous.

I've spent most of the day running errands - buying flowers, beverages, cheese and crackers, all with the aim of hostessing the orphanistas, as we are known, with le know-how, the French translation for je-ne-sais-quoi.

Images: above, gathering for dinner at the Judson Memorial Church, and below, flowers at W. 3rd and Thompson St. I brought home the red carnations.

For more on Gregorio Rocha's Pancho Villa, please see the related post at the Orphan Film Symposium blog.

Orphan Film Symposium: The 1961 Folk Singer Protest in Washington Square Park, and Emile de Antonio's America

At the beginning of each Orphan Film Symposium, I like to scan the schedule and make note of the films I can't miss. The registered participants see all the films together as well as talk over organized lunches and dinners. The screenings start in the morning and continue through the evening, so the collective experience is intense. Though I take care of minor behind-the-scenes tasks, I like to attend most of the screenings.

I put today's early afternoon session at the top of my list – films that documented protests held in Washington Square Park in the 1960s, and a couple of presentations on maverick documentary filmmaker Emile de Antonio.

Dan Drasin was a burgeoning 18-year-old filmmaker when he took his cameras and some black and white film to document a protest by folk singers in Washington Square Park in 1961. Reacting to the passage of an ordinance that prohibited singing in the park (folk singers attract unsavory elements, don't you now?), the active folk music community brought guitars to the park and sang songs of freedom. After the singers dispersed, policemen beat up some of the spectators. Drasin's 17-minute film captures that gritty determination of New Yorkers at the beginning of the 1960s, and many consider Sunday to be the first protest film of the 1960s.

Other films from the session included selections of footage shot in Washington Square Park from 1966 by Bob Parent, an artist known mostly as a still photographer, and an NYU surveillance film from 1968 of students protesting Dow Chemical's role in the Vietnam War. Ross Lipman (UCLA) presented a PowerPoint show on the restoration of Emile de Antonio's Point of Order (1963), focusing much on the usage of the word "spectacle."

Andrew Lampert of the Anthology Film Archives recently found a 1967 interview with de Antonio filmed in Leipzig, Germany. With Point of Order, his edited film of the 1954 Army-McCarthy televised hearings, De Antonio explains that he didn't set out to make a movie about his opposition to Sen. Joe McCarthy but to make a movie about the aspects of America that created the conditions for McCarthyism. De Antonio, by the way, promoted and distributed Drasin's Sunday protest film.

After sitting in the dark film theater and seeing the sights and hearing the sounds of Washington Square Park in the 1960s, walking back through the same park in the rain on my way home was a bittersweet experience. The fountain area is torn up now as part of an extensive multi-year renovation. The sincere voices and strumming that accompanied the well-preserved black-and-white moving images of protest seemed fresh, but the sounds of "This land is your land, This land is my land" grew faint as I looked around the park in it's current state of disruption. I am full of hope, however, that variations on these melodies will return one day back in full force.

Images: above, NYU surveillance film of Dow Chemical protesters; below: de Antonio.

Openings and Overtures: The Orphan Film Symposium

Yesterday's weather of warming temperatures, clear skies, and abundant sunshine in New York provided clear sailing for the arrival of guests at the Orphan Symposium. The twilight that followed provided a stunning glow for the opening reception. Here you see the celebrated film accompanist, Dennis James, providing the sounds. The skyline, even more glamorous than usual, made a too perfect backdrop for a conference devoted to film.

I had a great time at the reception. I saw many friends I haven't seen since Orphans 5, and I introduce several people to one another. In point of fact, I think this is my most important role in the symposium. Making new friends, discovering new potential colleagues, and establishing the groundwork for future relationships is what it's all about. After the reception, the participants strolled across Washington Square Park toward NYU's Cantor Film Center to take their places for opening remarks and the special tribute night for the films of Helen Hill.

The evening screenings at the film center kicked off with imaginative Bill Morrison's special trailer for Orphans 6. Created in his signature style, one that calls attention to the frailties and beauties of the material of film, the trailer incorporated clips from upcoming screenings that showed people arriving at a new place - debarking from airplanes and so forth. While watching the extraordinary short animated films of Helen Hill that followed, I continued to be moved by how her vision was so innovative, loving, avant-garde and full of childlike wonder. No one else I know can be described as a cutting-edge and experiment saint, and so, she is sorely missed.

Image: March 26, 2008. Dennis James at the piano. New York, New York. by Walking Off the Big Apple.

University Place: Pedestrian, Yes, But in a Good Way (Slideshow)

University Place, a relatively short street in lower Manhattan, links Washington Square Park to the south with Union Square to the north. A thoroughfare frequented by NYU students, neighborhood residents, and office workers, the street enjoys a democratic mix of bars, coffee shops, diners, restaurants, boutiques, laundries, shoe repair shops, florists, and even a bowling alley. A few haunts of old New York can be found along in here - the Knickerbocker Bar & Grill, a favorite of the late Brooke Astor, and Patsy's, one of Frank Sinatra's preferred stops for pizza pie. Residents try to keep straight three similarly-sounding places - Café Spice, Space Market, and Spice.

University Place is pedestrian in both senses - it's an ordinary street, nothing to write home about, but it's also a good place for walking. I frequently walk up University Place to shop at the green market on Union Square, but sometimes I like to just stroll up the street for no good reason at all. Many of the eateries provide seats at the counter facing the street, the perfect place to sit and watch everyone walk by.

A few changes are afoot, as they say. At the intersection of University Place and 8th Street, Joyce Leslie, an inexpensive popular clothing store for women with bodies and tastes unlike like my own, is relocating to Broadway. Across the street, on the east side, the bbq restaurant, where I often enjoyed watching people drink gigantic frozen margaritas in the summertime, has left the building and will now be the home of a bank. No fun. I hope the rest of the street stays its sweet pedestrian self.

Photos by Walking Off the Big Apple. March 5, 2008

Scenes From the Snowstorm: Washington Square Park, February 22, 2008 (A Slideshow)

Quick, before it melts! Washington Square Park turned into a temporary sculpture park today. The most brilliant artistic turn was the appearance of a chubby snowman on one of the park's benches.

FOCUS on POTUS: The Two Washingtons of the Washington Square Arch

Officially, it's still called Washington's Birthday, though President's Day has become the accepted name, mostly as a way to include President Lincoln.

The day's meaning usually signifies a break from work or school or the arrival of a sale. In the United States Senate, however, there's at least one formality. One senator is selected to read Washington's Farewell Address. The practice began in 1862 as a way to cope with the dark days of the Civil War.

This morning I visited the statues of the two Washingtons - the military George and the civilian man of peace that grace the north side of the Washington Square Arch in Washington Square Park. Sadly, in the ever increasing disruption caused by the renovation of the park, the arch itself is now inaccessible behind a metal fence.

The arch served to commemorate the Centennial of Washington's Inauguration, an event that took place downtown. The pier statues were added later -"Washington at War" on the left of the arch by Herman MacNeil in 1916 and "Washington at Peace" on the right by Alexander Stirling Calder in 1918. Yes, Calder was the father of the famous mobile artist, Alexander Calder.

While it's not surprising that two different sculptors should interpret Washington differently, especially given the separate tasks, I'm struck how the civilian Washington, the one by Calder, presents the tougher image. While MacNeil's warrior George seems to retreat behind all those formal clothes and hat, Calder's peacetime George is bold and struttin' his stuff. Casually resting his left hand on the pedestal, his massive strong right hand shows off serious knuckles. This POTUS has got some legs, and I'd be afraid of that extra muscle he's got behind him.

Images of "Washington at War" by Herman MacNeil (1916) and "Washington at Peace" by Alexander Stirling Calder (1918) by Walking Off the Big Apple, February 18, 2008, Washington's Birthday.

The New York of Raymond Hood, Architect: The Radiator Building

After architect Raymond Hood finished the renovation of Mori's restaurant in Greenwich Village in 1920, he found success designing radiator covers for the American Radiator Company. The income allowed him to move with his bride and growing family to an apartment on Washington Square. In 1922 John Mead Howells invited Hood to join him on a design competition for the Chicago Tribune Building, and when they won the $50,000 award, Hood finally emerged out of debt.

Winning the prestigious Tribune competition allowed Hood to secure his first important New York commission - the new building to house the American Radiator Company at 40 West 40th Street. In designing a tower that would symbolize the company, Hood designed several unusual features, including the use of black brick. He didn't want anyone to work after dark in the building, thinking that the illumination would disrupt the overall impression of mass and solidity. He couldn't control the workforce, of course, and George O'Keeffe (see related post) made the building famous by painting it at night.

After the building was completed in 1924 Hood moved his offices into the building's fourteenth floor. He partnered with J. André Fouilhoux, a French engineer, and Frederick A. Godley. The firm also designed the National Radiator Building in London, also a structure of black brick.

Increasingly successful in a time that coalesced with the national building boom of the 1920s, Hood enjoyed a long four-hour lunch every Friday at Mori's with Viennese designer Joseph Urban, his best friend and architect of the Ziegfeld Theater, and architects Ely Jacques Kahn and Ralph Walker. Among them they built a significant part of the famous New York skyline.

For Hood, after the Radiator Building, he would soon leave his Gothic designs in favor of sleeker and less ornamental work. The Daily News building provided reasons to move on to something more modern.

Image: The American Radiator Building, 1924. The carousel in Bryant Park is in the foreground. photo by WOTBA. 2008.

See also:
The New York of Raymond Hood, Architect
Raymond Hood Designed My Duane Reade, Well, Sort Of
The New York of Raymond Hood, Architect: The News Building
The New York of Raymond Hood, Architect: The McGraw-Hill Building
The New York of Raymond Hood, Architect: Rockefeller Center
The New York of Raymond Hood, Architect: Final Thoughts
The New York of Raymond Hood, Architect: The Walk

Weekend Frivolities: Spring, Says Chuck, the Staten Island Groundhog, and More Signs of an Early Spring

We have some exciting days ahead in the big city. Today, the New York Giants play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. On Tuesday, another Super day, New York voters will go to the polls and pick their party favorites. And today's weather forecast calls for clear skies, calm west winds and temps in the low 50s.

"Well, he's a New York boy so he's going to be hardcore and real, and he seemed happy and that definitely means spring," said his handler Doug Schwartz.- from NY1 Top Stories, February 2, 2008.

Chuck may be right. Spring is near. That's not to say that New York won't see a serious snow storm around Lincoln's birthday. Many of the largest snowfalls in New York history have arrived in February, especially in the February 11-14 period, so I wouldn't be surprised to see several inches of snow again here in a couple of weeks.

Still...Chuck, the groundhog in Staten Island (if he lived in Manhattan, he'd be named Charles, in Brooklyn, Charlie, in the Bronx, Carlos, or in Queens, Charlene), has been accurate 23 out of 27 times. Phil in Pennsylvania has an estimated accuracy of 40%, so it's best to go with the opposite of his forecast. Yesterday, for example, Phil predicted six more weeks of winter, so I think it's safe to side with Chuck.

Other signs - This morning, chirping birds woke me up too early, and I detected some spring voices in their cackle (mostly starlings, not grackles). A pair of cardinals alighted on a nearby tree and stared at me through the window.

The forsythia is in bloom in Washington Square Park, or it was when I saw it a week ago. I may not find it again, thanks to the killjoys who've insisted that the fountain and surrounding area be torn up and moved. Do NOT go to Washington Square Park right now and expect to be uplifted in joy. And while I'm bringing us all down now, I'd be more overjoyed about an early Spring if I didn't think so much about global warming - mosquitoes, drought, floods, and the End Times on this paradise island.

My own spring awakening, which usually begins in early March, is often accompanied by a daily dose of Loratadine. Not this year. I'm already on Day 5.

I wish I could predict the Super Bowl and the outcome of the Super Tuesday races, but I'm feeling bullish about Spring.

Coming up on Walking Off the Big Apple: Further evidence of spring awakenings, NY party food, election coverage, more Raymond Hood buildings, Jasper Johns' favorite color, checking in on Chelsea, a NY Valentines Day chocolate breakdown, and more.

Image: Loratadine, one of my favorite things.

Fifth Avenue & The High Road to Taos: Mabel Dodge Luhan, Georgia O'Keeffe, and New York City (A Walk)

See the complete walk on a new page.
Introduction

Years ago, in the plaza of Taos, New Mexico, my mother and I struck up a conversation with a guy who ran a sandwich stand. He told us he was a New Yorker, a former business executive who decided on a whim one day to move out west. While stuck in traffic for hours on the Long Island Expressway, he decided to go home, collect the wife and children, and leave New York for good. He said he never regretted the decision, and he was happy selling sandwiches on the Taos plaza.

Mabel Dodge (1879-1962), the wealthy heiress at 23 Fifth Avenue, and Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), the famous artist whose first exhibit was held at 291 Fifth Avenue, could have lived out the rest of their lives in New York. In 1917 Dodge married painter Maurice Sterne and had her eye on a new apartment at 23 Washington Square North. In April of 1917 Alfred Stieglitz exhibited a series of O'Keeffe's watercolors at his 291 gallery, and soon the two would be living together. They married in 1924.

After a series of nervous ailments, Dodge decided her future was in the west. In December 1917 she moved to Taos, New Mexico with her husband and their friend, Elsie Clews Parsons. Twelve years later, in the summer of 1929, O'Keeffe traveled to New Mexico with her friend, Beck Strand. The two stayed at Mabel's ranch. Mabel had divorced Sterne and married Tony Luhan, a Native American. For O'Keeffe, the visit presented a new palette, not just for her art but for her life. Upon returning to New York her art career blossomed (so to speak), but in 1932 and 1933 she also suffered from bouts of psychoneurosis. In 1934, still recuperating, she returned to New Mexico and found her ranch.

New York can be beautiful, but not in the way that New Mexico can be beautiful. I think New Mexico will continue to hypnotize those of us who live back east. When I get sick of the city, I sit on my terrace and look west. I imagine the Sangre de Christo Mountains in the setting red-orange sun and cow's skulls with white calico roses descending over the azure sky. I think then, "How much longer can I take this? What Ghost Ranch waits for me?"

A walk up Fifth Avenue continues with Ladies of the Canyon

(top) Mabel Dodge Luhan. Photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1934, and (bottom) Georgia O'Keeffe. Photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1950.

Dining Near Washington Square Park

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Visitors to Greenwich Village may enjoy some of these food options around Washington Square Park. The list of places is particularly suited for visiting NYU. In 2008 the park underwent major renovations, and so dining near the park may be more enjoyable than staring at a construction site. I still cherish small eastern sections of the park that are set aside for later renovation.

As someone who lives near Washington Square Park, I've enjoyed many of the nearby cafés, tiny eateries, bakeries and restaurants. This map points to places that range from very expensive to everyday fare. While finances don't allow me to frequent the high end places like Blue Hill, Il Mulino, Cru, or Babbo, they come highly recommended. I'm trying to keep this list confined to a few blocks from the park. Still, I am tempted to add a couple of places just a block or two farther away - Jane's on Houston and Bellavitae on Minetta, for example, my two reliable favorites for special dining.

I regularly visit Marumi for excellent sushi, La Lanterna for pizza and desserts, Think Coffee and Joe for coffee, Leela Lounge for Indian, and Sam's Falafel. For brunch, I always enjoy North Star, the restaurant associated with the Washington Square Hotel. Order the "sampler," with eggs, chicken apple sausages, potatoes and pancakes. Their bread basket is beautiful. Try to make reservations for jazz brunch.

A Nice Afternoon in New York, Never Mind the Park

The historic Washington Square Park in currently undergoing a major renovation, and access to the fountain and other sections of the park is restricted. For many of us who live near the park, we'll still go there on a nice afternoon and sit on any available park bench, no matter what.

Images: Washington Square Park, January 8, 2008.

Two-Mile Walks, Mostly in Manhattan

• THE HARBOR: I often walk south on Broadway to Battery Park, passing by City Hall Park, the Woolworth Building, Trinity Church, and the Customs House (Museum of the American Indian). Sometimes I'll stop for a minute in the small Bowling Green Park. From the intersection of Broadway and Bleecker, Battery Park is about two miles away, and the walk takes thirty-forty minutes, depending on traffic. I catch the subway back.

• THE BRIDGE: One inter-boro walk I recommend: From City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to Cadman Plaza, visit Brooklyn's World War II memorial and then walk over to Henry St. Wander around Brooklyn Heights for the second mile. Or start in Brooklyn Heights and walk over to Manhattan. The walk feels like it has a solid beginning, middle, and end, and the views are spectacular. Henry Street has several nice small cafés, but if I've got some weight loss goals on my mind, I try to avoid cafés as a destination.

• THE VILLAGE: From the Arch in Washington Square Park, walk north along Fifth Avenue and turn west on 11th St., cross Sixth and Seventh Avenues, keep on W. 11 to the Hudson River. Return to the park via Barrow Street (a few blocks south) and Washington Place. A couple of things along W. 11th St. worth contemplating - the townhouse at 18 W. 11th St. that the Weather Underground blew up (there's a reference to the "bomb factory" in Across the Universe, Julie Taymor's transatlantic Beatles movie) and Julian S.'s pink palace at the far west end (more an electric rose color that I've come to love and cherish. JS can't help it. He was raised in Brownsville, Texas. He makes good movies. We should leave him alone).

• THE CATHEDRAL: Begin at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Riverside Park and walk north through the park. Turn at 116th St. and walk east through Columbia University and back south on Amsterdam to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

• THE MUSEUM: On hot days, cold days, or any other day, walking through the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a thrilling experience. One of the high points of 2007 was the opening of the new Roman and Greek galleries.

• THE PARK: From the American Museum of Natural History walk east through Central Park to Belvedere Castle. Walk through the Ramble and south along the western paths of the park until Strawberry Fields. Then walk east to the Bethesda Terrace. Walk south along the Mall to 59th Street and then back west to Columbus Circle. Walking along the Mall in Central Park is one of the great urban experiences. It's not at all like walking other malls.

• THE LIBRARY: My most straight-forward walk. From the Arch at Washington Square Park, walk north on Fifth Avenue past the Flatiron (@23rd St.), the Empire State Building (@34th St.) and then to Bryant Park and the New York Public Library. Walk around Bryant Park and find some place to sit.

When I hear someone say, "New York is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there," I'm tempted to reply, "Tell me about your parks, museums, libraries, cathedrals, neighborhoods, harbor, rivers and bridges."

Image: A little woozy sketch of Raymond Hood's Radiator Building from Bryant Park.

The Hot Tamales of Avenue A

Having grown up in Texas, I am accustomed to the tradition of Mexican tamales at Christmas time. So I decided to walk out the front door of my building in Nueva York and search for some. Labor-intensive in their making, these pockets of masa, lard and meat (pork, chicken, beef, etc.), hidden in corn husks, are best served steaming hot and accompanied by red and green salsa. I could have traveled to many far-flung neighborhoods of the city in search of the great hot tamale, but I don't like tamales well enough for them to require multiple forms of transportation.

After some internet research, I headed out to the upper reaches of the East Village to Zaragosa, a Mexican deli (215 Avenue A, between E. 13th and E. 14th St.), and hoped they had some tamales. I didn't even call first. I needed the walk anyway, as I had veered out of dietary guidelines with respect to daily gingerbread consumption. And, yes, they had some tamales that day, but just of the chicken variety. After I sat down and tried one, I brought home ten more hot chicken tamales for the colonel and company. The home-made tamales at Zaragosa are large and caliente, especially with their home-made green and red sauces. The owners are from the large city of Puebla, the birthplace of mole poblano.

The round-trip walk from Washington Square Park (not pretty right now with all the construction) to Zaragosa is about 2.5 miles. Winding my way through the streets I thought that parts of the East Village were funky enough to stand in for my memory of South Austin.

Image: Frida and tamales from Zaragosa in the East Village, now at home in Greenwich Village. By the way, I recommend the cookbook, Frida's Fiestas: Recipes and Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo by Marie Pierre Colle and Guadalupe Rivera (Clarkson Potter, 1994), if only for the photos of Frida and Diego's kitchen.

Coming Up on Walking Off the Big Apple: SoHo Without Euros, Tour de Bears, Tamale Search, and A Walk to McSorley's

Let me review the busy week before I list the coming attractions. And what a busy week this was.
What are the life lessons learned since Monday?
A list:
• The New Museum likes to mix and match chairs and make visitors comfortable.
• The New Museum likes artwork by young people who find things.
• Museum membership includes not standing in line.
• The New Museum is New but not with respect to its sketching policy. Its sketching policy is eerily like MoMA's.
• Walkers and flâneurs require different gifts.
• Washington Square Park will survive, but I'm glad I took the pictures of the park in pristine snow the week before.
• Michele Asselin's photos of Mike Huckabee for the New York Times make him look hot.
• Robert Henri is a rock star.
• The We Are Ellis Island commercials make me cry.
• I want to recreate Art Ford's TV party in my own place.
• In an uncharacteristic act of website organization, I gathered all the printable maps in one place.
• Cookie cutters are for the cookie-cutter dependent.

Those are some powerful lessons. And come Monday, and for the many days after, look for the following posts:
• Shopping without Euros in SoHo, and A Ho-Ho NoHo Holiday on Ice
• Washington Irving's Solitary Walk Through Christmas
• Ashcan Artists Walk to McSorley's
• A Walking Tour de Bears in Central Park
• The New York Christmas Tamale Search
and many more lessons and carols.

Farewell to Asymmetry: The Remaking of Washington Square Park has Begun

Yesterday, while walking through Washington Square Park, I heard the sound of an accordion playing a tune in a minor key. Romantic but mournful, the song sounded like the soundtrack of a European postwar movie. Rounding the statue of Garibaldi, I saw the musician playing this sad song, and then I saw them, the crews unloading the barricades for the long-delayed and much-litigated renovations of the park. I'm glad I had an appropriate soundtrack for that moment.

Washington Square Park is my park, as many New Yorkers have adopted a park as their own. It's where I walk my dogs, where I met my first friends (in the dog run, of course), and where I start my walks. It's where I've heard the best free music and where I took students first to learn about New York.

So for the sake of symmetry, the fountain will now be shifted to bring it more in alignment with the Washington Square Arch. The fountain will get new plumbing. Other renovations will follow over the next two or three years. It will be sad for me to see the park torn up like this. I hope the accordion player comes back.

Walking in Inclement Weather

New York is currently under a wind advisory, and I can attest that conditions are not ideal for a stroll in the park. I've been out walking anyway, just because I needed to get out, and I took the dogs with me, because they had their own reasons for getting out. The effort seemed thrilling for the first ten minutes, but then the walk turned frightful. The wind was gusting to 50 mph, and I thought my terrier was going to rise in the air like a Thanksgiving Day parade balloon. We turned around and walked home.

I like to walk every day, but when bad weather arrives, I find little pleasure in the alternative of walking on a treadmill in a gym. I'm a flâneur, not an athlete, and so I need the intellectual stimulation of the street more than I need to watch myself in the gym mirror walking nowhere and squirting water in my mouth from a sports drink bottle.

I don't like to let inclement weather stop me from walking, so I will bundle up in a parka that makes me look like the Michelin Man and then head out into the elements. Walking in inclement weather allows me to pursue my flâneur agenda, but I can actually burn more calories under rough conditions. After a walk in the snow or wind, I may feel exhausted, but at least I will have seen the windows on Fifth Avenue or the comforting fireplace at a cozy West Village café.

I'm not stupid, though. I always bring extra money for a cab.

Image: WOTBA upended at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Washington Square North while walking in the brisk breeze blowing in from the west.

The Intrinsic Beauty of Gotham in the Falling Snow

I can usually sense when snow has started to fall overnight, because snow seems to suck any noise out of the air. The silence of last night, though punctured in the wee hours by shrills of the late night revelers, indicated that the first serious snow, the kind that sticks, had arrived.
New York looks fabulous dressed in the first coats of shimmering white, so photographers are encouraged to make haste before the pristine flakes turn to the familiar mushy mess.

Those looking to make gifts for the holidays can do no wrong with presents of images of New York covered in snow. Digitally remove all the color, and voila!, your own classic, no matter how mundane the particular shot. New York. Snow. Picture frame. You're done.

Images: Washington Square Park. December 2, 2007

Writer's Guild of America Solidarity Rally in Washington Square Park Today

Members of the striking Writer's Guild of America, East rallied in solidarity with other unions today at noon in Washington Square Park. Speakers included labor union leaders, actors Danny Glover and Tim Robbins, NY Congressman Jerry Nadler, Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi, and Senator John Edwards. The senator was the most well-dressed of the speakers, appearing in a handsome full length black coat. He scored some points with the crowd just by showing up, but he also drew applause when he said he would skip out on a scheduled televised Democratic Party debate in December should the workers from CBS stage a walkout. He also said he has canceled appearances on The View and Ellen in support of the current strike.

The speakers presented a coherent case on behalf of the strikers, arguing that the writers were not spoiled billionaires, as some would characterize them, but members of the middle class trying to stay that way.

The band that accompanied the rally played a nice rendition of Boz Skaggs's "Lowdown" at the outset to get everyone going.

Image: Presidential hopeful Sen. John Edwards (at the podium, if you can see him in this picture) addresses the crowd in Washington Square Park. November 27, 2007.

Favorite New York and Texas Novels

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. - Ecclesiastes 7:4

This week, The New York Times publishes their 100 notable books of the year, and I always select items from the annual list to pass on to others for the gift-giving season. This way I get something more than dog calendars.

While I try to read new fiction, I am often inclined to explore a classic or some oddity outside the canon. For this holiday, I'd like to pass along the titles of the novels I love dearly, the ones set in the two places that will always hold the power to inspire my imagination and equally to break my heart.

Walking Off the Big Apple, or WOTBA, often a fiction of my exaggeration, is like Lily Bart (The House of Mirth) searching for status on the Balcones Escarpment, or Letty Mason Hightower (The Wind) looking for love on Bleecker Street.

The two lists that follow fall into the category of classics, to be sure.

NEW YORK NOVELS

Winter's Tale (1983) by Mark Helprin
The House of Mirth (1905) by Edith Wharton
Underworld (1997) by Don DeLillo
The Sketch Book (1819) by Washington Irving
Jazz (1992) by Toni Morrison
The Bell Jar (1963) by Sylvia Plath
Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) by Stephen Crane
Manhattan Transfer (1925) by John Dos Passos
Sophie's Choice (1979) by William Styron

(Ed. note: I haven't yet read The Alienist by Caleb Carr, so if this is one of your favorites, them I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.)

TEXAS NOVELS (for the Curious New Yorker and others)

All the Pretty Horses (1992) by Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West (1985) by Cormac McCarthy
The Gay Place (1959) by Bill Lee Brammer
Horseman, Pass By (1961) by Larry McMurtry
Pale Horse, Pale Rider (1939) by Katherine Anne Porter
Lonesome Dove (1985) by Larry McMurtry
The Wind (1925) by Dorothy Scarborough
Strange Peaches (1972) by Edwin "Bud" Shrake
Armadillo in the Grass (1983) by Shelby Hearon
Gates of the Alamo (2000) by Stephen Harrigan

Image: Everett Shinn (1876-1953) Washington Square, 1910, pastel on paper.