A hamish Christmas

I got the most wonderful Christmas/birthday gifts from my friend Doris this week. She's a wonderful seamstress, cook, and crafter.
She made me a couple of pot holders that can also double as trivets. One is white and one black, and they're backed with thick wool. I hung one in the kitchen and the the color scheme works well.





I also got a batch of Christmas cookies that are delicious, a mix of gingerbread and sugar cookies.



Lastly, she gave me an assortment of homemade jams, both savory and sweet: a tomato jam, a caramelized onion and apple, and a concord grape. I can't wait to taste those!

What a crock

I'm a big fan of crock pots. Especially when the weather turns cooler. It's the perfect time for hearty stews that are so easy to make in these contraptions. You just chop up the ingredients, throw it in the pot and 8 hours later you've got a great tasting meal.
The problem is that I didn't own one in the city. Until now.
I decided they were too essential to cooking and living on a budget not to have one in both homes. So I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond the other day (there's a huge one only 3 blocks from my apartment) and snapped up a nice one for only $35.
The next day I made a delicious beef stew with big chunks of stew meat, celery, onions, mushrooms, and carrots. All this marinates in the crock with a can of beef broth, a little bit of flour, some thyme, and salt and pepper, and-VOILA!-easy peasy dinner. It couldn't be easier. I'm gonna use this one a LOT this winter.

Venus or bust

I was walking to the grocery store late yesterday afternoon when I spotted a group of dining room chairs right there on the curb of 57th Street. Someone was obviously throwing them out. They weren't that attractive, a blonde wood Bob's Furniture kind of take on Windsor chairs, not for me. But sitting right on top of one was the amazing looking bust. I walked up to take a quick glance and it looked to be in good condition. It was so cold out I wanted to get to the store right away--I was only wearing a sweatshirt and it must've been around 30 degrees--and it's only one block away. I said to myself, "I'll quickly grab my groceries and if, on the way back home, the bust is still there, I was meant to have it." Sure enough, 15 minutes later there sat my bust. Because it was somebody's trash I thought it must be chipped, or badly cracked, why else would someone get rid of it? But no, it was in perfect condition, only slightly dusty. I stuck it under my arm and skedaddled up to the apartment. I cleaned it up with dampened paper towels and Q-tips to get into the crevasses and it looked good as new. At first I thought it would look good on the fireplace mantle but the base is too large. I ended up putting on the windowsill next to the bed and added one of my bandanas, a gray one, to add a little whimsy and to make it less formal to fit the style of the apartment.
I love it.
The big question is whether it's a bust of a woman...or a man? It could go either way, it's very neutral. I'm leaning slightly in the direction of woman because the hair looks like it's in a bow...but that's no real indicator. So with that I'm calling her "Venus". She's the new denizen of The Beautiful Wreck.

My "Digital Pochade Box"

Lately I've grown very fond of my iPad again.
I got to where I barely used it, I had stuck it in a drawer and forgotten about it.
But the other week I pulled it out and downloaded an update to a drawing app I used to play around with, Paper53. They had made several improvements to the function and it's really a joy to use now.
I noticed, though, that I didn't really love drawing on the pad when it laid flat on my desk (or lap). I really needed it to be tilted up for better viewing.
Well, necessity is the mother of invention as they say.
I decided to make my own iPad "easel", or to get really fancy with the description a "pochade box".
A pochade box is essentially a small box, usually made of wood, that has 3 unique properties:
--it has a hinged lid that acts as an easel and holds your canvas or board for painting on
--it has a palette contained within it
--it has a storage space for all of your brushes, paints, thinners, etc.

A typical pochade box

Now, this being the 21st Century and The Digital Age, i've got my palette and brushes contained in my iPad app, now all I needed was the easel part.
I sketched out a design and whipped it up in my handyman's basement at the house out of some scraps of old wood and nails. Sanded it, primed it, and painted it a nice charcoal gray to fit in with the apartment decor and--voila!--problem solved. It sits right on my desk next to my computer.
I'm pretty happy with it. The easel makes drawing so much easier. I even designed it to hold my drawing stylus to the side when it's not in use...making it a true pochade!
Here are some pics:

The port cochere: truly finished?

I was out of town for a couple of weeks and when I got back they were putting the finishing touches on the port cochere. I've written numerous postings about the painstakingly SLOOOOW process of re-doing this entrance to the front of the building and--I hope, I hope--this will be the last one.
By all accounts it looks to be finished...and it looks really good. The curb height issue has been rectified and they've even filled the triangular planter with shade plants, mostly large hosts, that look fine.
Here are a few snaps. Whew!!

The boys in the neighborhood

I've written several times about how my neighborhood has figured prominently in some famous Hollywood films.
Ever since I saw the film version of Mart Crowley's stage hit "The Boys in the Band" I've wondered about the location of the apartment where most of the movie's action takes place. It's indicated that it's on the Upper East Side and the exterior shots of the apartment building always looked very familiar. A lot of the early scenes take place on location in a roof terrace on top of a brownstone. The apartment used was owned by Broadway star Tammy Grimes who was friendly with people in the production. With some diligent internet sleuthing I discovered that the apartment in question is very near my building. It's on East 61st Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.

Here's a still of the movie and a closeup:





And here are some shots I took of the street today. Look at the building across the street from the scene.You can see the Baptist church that's still there and it's brick detailing on the left of the movie frame, there's no mistaking the shapes of the windows.



You can also see that the brownstones across the street haven't changed much, except for the colors!



Here's a shot of the apartment building from street level, you can still see the various aluminum vents off the side.





Compare them to the movie still:



In the movie the apartment belongs to the main character Michael. He's shown arriving and going through the street level front door. Here's a still of that scene:



This is NOT the building on East 61st Street. For this scene they used a different location, an exterior on East 65th street between 3rd Avenue and Lexington.
Here's how that building looks today, a lot has changed in almost 50 years. There's enough detailing here, especially around the windows, to see that it's the same location.



Coincidentally that East 61st Street block is also the street where the famous (and doomed) Hollywood star Montgomery Clift lived. You can read about that building here.

The Millers on 8

I ran across this cool photo of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller today. Perhaps it was around the time they lived in my building (on the 8th floor). If only their ghosts would tell me, I'll be sure to ask them if ever they're spotted ;)

The better the cushion

I went up to the roof terrace yesterday to just take it easy and enjoy the afternoon breeze and saw that the new cushions for the outdoor furniture had arrived (we had been given a heads up that they were being made). I think they're awfully smart looking, a white and taupe stripe, and a vast improvement over the mottled and faded floral pattern on the previous cushions. They weren't cheap; I think they cost several thousand dollars...so let's hope they last a very long time.

Where the sidewalk ends

This is a 'good news/bad news' post.
First, the sidewalk in front of the building has been FINISHED! At last! I guess they were able to fix the street lamp on the corner (freshly painted with a nice high-gloss black paint), so that enabled the completion of the sidewalk. Freshly poured concrete in front and to the side of the building. It looks very nice.





Now for the bad news: the port cochere is STILL under construction. But they're making progress. The "mold" for the new inside sidewalk has been formed, and it looks like they're taking no chances on it being perfect, especially with the height and depth of the curb since that what was the big boo-boo last time. It's got a plastic lining and looks to be ready for the new concrete any day now. So stay tuned for the final reveal. One of the porters told me this week that it's supposed to happen today (Friday), but I'll believe it when I see it!

The port cochere: slowly but surely

The redoing of the port cochere at the base of my building is proceeding v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.
The've now laid down a lot of plywood planks the look to be the 'mold' into which they will pour the concrete. I'm going away for a couple of weeks, I'm interested to see if anything gets done toward finishing this never ending project by the time I get back.
Here are a couple of photos of the 'progress' thus far:





And the sidewalk in front of my building is still a shambles. I'm not holding my breath for this one.

A murder on "Sutton Place" pt. 2

A few months ago I wrote about a sordid murder case that happened near Sutton Place. You can read about it here. I say "near" because the tabloids and internet say it took place on our favorite street, but it didn't. It happened on 59TH STREET. That ain't Sutton Place.
In any event, the smarmy details continue. The "jeweler to the stars" who was the legalized 'father' to the young man who committed the murder seems to have been an accessory to the deadly deed. He supplied bleach and paper towels to the murderers to help clean up the mess! No one involved in this story is going to end up with a happy ending. You can read all about it here. And if you're a writer on the TV show "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" take note, you can crib the whole thing for a future episode.




UPDATE: The murderer was found GUILTY! (that was a no-brainer, LOL) read about it here.

The people in your neighborhood

I stopped into my local grocery store that's only one block from my apartment today, a very nice Morton Williams. Actually, when I'm in the city I find myself going there practically everyday. Anyway, today I was in the produce section I noticed an extremely tall person out of the corner of my eye dressed completely (and stylishly) in white. It was a head-to-toe vision of Summer Coolness. I was going about my shopping and saw the person again two aisles over and it turned out to be none other than the famous Broadway dancer/director/choreographer (and fellow Texan!) Tommy Tune. I must say he lives up to his reputation for being one tall drink of water. He was in white Crocs and he towered over me. I was able to snap this pic.




After I got home I did a little Googling and found out he lives in a penthouse apartment on East 52nd Street just off Beekman Place, just five block from me. I love seeing famous people in the 'hood doing ordinary things. Now if I can just spot Sigourney Weaver...

The port cochere: shambles again

So they have now started the re-demolition of the driveway in front of the revolving doors in the port cochere. As I detailed in my last post on this topic, the curb was too steep to access so they have broken it up in anticipation of pouring new concrete with a lower curb 'lip'. I was told this would take a week. Yeah, right. We'll see.





In a separate problem, the sidewalk in front of the building is getting re-done at a snail's pace. While the sidewalks on both side of the building have been fixed and the requisite concrete poured, the last remaining piece, the sidewalk on the corner is not done. Before the new concrete can be poured for this section, the traffic light on the corner must be repaired AS IT IS ON THE FRITZ. OY!

The broken street lamp on the corner

This is under the city's prevue as well as the sidewalk but who knows when this will happen. So...all that construction mess in front of the building will stay there until further notice.

This is a saga with no ending...

Hollywood on Sutton Place

Ever on the quest to spot Hollywood movies that have been shot or have taken place on Sutton Place, I was watching the old noir thriller "Sorry, Wrong Number" the other day and, lo and behold, I found out that the apartment of rich heiress Barbara Stanwyck in the film is on our favorite street.



She's bedridden throughout the whole movie on a hot summer night when she overhears a plot to murder her on a phone call party line.



There are a couple of angles where you see an open picture window...and through that window you see a bridge. This can only be the Queensboro bridge as it's the only bridge in view of Sutton Place.



Therefore, based on this, her apartment must be in 1 Sutton Place South, probably the swankiest building in the neighborhood. This would make sense given the story's plot.

1 Sutton Place South

I read somewhere once that if you can't live on Park Avenue then the next best thing is this address. That would put her bedroom on the Southern exposure of the building on a high floor (maybe the penthouse?) Here's a picture of the top of the building and the bridge in the distance.



Now, I'm sure this picture was made on a Hollywood soundstage and La Stanwyck came nowhere near Sutton Place and the view through the window is merely a filmed backdrop, but it does look like the production designers got it right.

The port cocheré: CRASH!!

Just when you think the end of the saga with the front of the building is coming to a close you find out IT'S STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN.
The doormen told me that the entire driveway slope that leads down to the front entrance of the building, to the revolving doors, WAS DONE ENTIRELY INCORRECTLY. It needs to be ripped up and re-done STARTING FROM SCRATCH.
What happened?
Well, it seems that the construction company who did the job made the slope too steep and deep. They had raised it a few inches higher than the drive that was there previously, thereby creating a walking hazard. Mind you, none of this is detectable to me, but apparently an elderly tenant recently tripped and fell over the curb because of the steepness of the incline and she severely hurt her hip.
So here we go 'round the mulberry bush AGAIN. The front entrance will once again be closed and we'll have to enter from the side entrance on Sutton Place South.
My first concern was that we, the tenants, would have to pay for this overage, but the doormen are telling me that the mistake was made by the construction company so they'll have to eat the cost of the re-do since it was their screw-up. That's the good news. The BAD news is that all of this won't start until the sidewalk construction outside the building is completed. But it shows no signs of being done anytime soon. So I'm betting this new problem won't be finished TIL CHRISTMAS AT THE EARLIEST (if not later). OY!!

The walls have ears (and eyes, and noses...)

If you stare at something long enough you can see all kinds of images take shape...sorta like staring at clouds. You see a dog, a duck, an icecream cone.
The same thing happens when I stare at marble. I see all kinds of things in the marbling and swirls of the stone.
In my bathroom there are all kinds of faces staring back at me...here are few that stand out, see if you don't see what I'm seeing.
This one is the head of a tapir...



This one is one of the Spring sprites from Disney's "Fantasia", the little pixies that appear in the "Nutcracker Suite" segment...



And this one is kittenish chanteuse Eartha Kitt...



See what I mean?