Blues, haints and bayous: snippets from the Deep South: Cliff dweller eyries and wee nests

Today, we are walking between the two parks: Central and Riverside, in the area called Upper West Side. We intended to visit the Museum of Natural History first but the crowds were so frightening, and it was all so congested on this Easter Saturday, that we could barely move. Visitors trying to get into the museum are in several queues up the stairs, thick throughout the building, and in queues all along the street.

So, we turned away and followed the man leading the dogs along Central Park West. This street, an extension of 8th Avenue, is lined with high-rises, and just about every owner or tenant in just about every building lining these parks must own a dog. We see, what appears to us to be hired dog-walkers, all with many dogs on many leads in just about every park we pass at any time of the day in this city. Dogs rule. And they poop. Luckily, unlike France, most people scoop.

A tall building stops us. It turns out to be the Beresford apartment complex overlooking Central Park. A pretty upscale building. We tend to notice odd things, though, like how there are ugly air conditioners hanging out of some of the frontage windows in this expensive building, and wonder how this can be. Given our experience in Australia with Body Corporate rulings we wonder what rules apply here. Different strokes for different folks, it seems.

Bodies Corporate are not the term they use here. They are called Boards in Cooperatives such as this. Apartments sell for anywhere between $3--$30 million apiece. Jerry Seinfeld bought one in this Cooperative in 1998, then proceeded to gut and renovate it. So extensive was this work, so time consuming, that the Board finally had to draw up a regulation, which was called the Seinfeld Rule, whereby any such construction going past its listed due date for completion must pay a fine of $500 per day penalty. Seinfeld was overdue his original date by many years. Which probably didn’t financially phase the man terribly, as rumour has it, he also owns another townhouse just around the corner, where he stores just 20 of his 50 rare Porsche collection. In case he might want to go for a quick spin around the block in one, I suppose. Or, he could offer one each to nineteen other friends, to accompany him, if he was so inclined. Imagine the insurance on them. And then the registration. I sometimes wonder what drives some folk, as some stuff just doesn’t compute for me. Whatever is the point?

Before these tall apartment buildings took over the streetscape in front of the park, there used to be more modest red brick and brownstone terraces,or row houses, owned by single families. These remaining three residences, each five stories tall, are the only ones not yet demolished from that earlier block, though new work is on-going on the one to the right, under the black screen. One of these three was bought for $15.5 million in 2006. By the niece of Walt Disney. It was, again, on the market as of 2010 for around $30 million, so the global financial crises has done little to affect the prices of homes facing Central Park. Their values continue trending high.

Again, we are drawn by Art Deco features and stop to look at the El Dorado coop, not far along the same street. Named after the legendary city of gold that explorers have been searching for since very early times the twin towers of this lovely building are lit with gold lights at night. A lovely nod to its name.

Turning west a few streets we come across the old Claremont Riding Academy, which was built in 1892 and operated for well over 100 years. It was the longest running stable in New York. Horses were stored up ramps over two floors and many of the Kennedy family undertook riding lessons from here, clip-clopping over into Central Park in order to practise their drills with more ease. It finally closed its doors in 2007 when it was sold for a goodly sum to a developer to turn into nine condominiums.

The Magnolias on Broadway deserve a mention. Along with the jonquils, daffodils and bluebells all surfacing this week. It is a little bit cooler here, than down in the deep south, so slightly later blooming. A local, out sweeping his frontage on this gorgeous sunny Easter Saturday, advised us to head further west to Riverside park to visit the Soldiers and Sailors monument, a tribute to New Yorkers who fought in the Civil War. So, off we went. We are not much into war monuments, truth be told, but we do love a great conceptualisation, and this one represents its subject matter beautifully. The impressive statue has twelve Corinthian pillars, one each for the regiments represented. With great carved eagles guarding the lot.

Riverside Park looks clear across to New Jersey. This seems to be the area where many of the wealthier Jews moved when they outgrew the tenements further south in Manhattan. Though there are some homeless folk here, too. Exhausted ones.

Further up Riverside Drive we found the Cliff Dweller apartments which rather tickled our fancy so we stopped to find out all about the complex. The name comes from places like the pueblos in Arizona and New Mexico. Cave dwellings set high on red earth cliffs. New Yorkers, too, are often called ‘cliff dwellers’ because of their tendency to live in high set apartments. Eyries. The designer of this building was a bit of an eccentric. He decorated the facade in south-western motifs. Accentuating the New York lifestyle.

Another interesting ‘body corporate’ rule surfaced in this complex, we discovered. The apartments are small. Many folk tend to need to buy two apartments to join up to create one larger living space. To do this a unique ruling has evolved, which allows existing owners first right of purchase if they wish to buy any apartment that might come up for sale in the complex.

On the way back to our metro stop we found a beautiful complex around what has been prettily called, Pomander Walk. A collection of private apartments were built around a tiny central straight walkway a little like an English mews development. The apartments even look a little ‘Tudor’ in their half-timbered architecture. Sadly, even the walkway is private, so we could only sneak a peek through the mews gate. Which was also locked.

Our last stop for the day was a house with a plaque on the wall identifying it as where eight year old Virginia O’Hanlon lived when she wrote her letter to the New York Sun, wondering if there really was a Santa Claus. Virginia, listening to her friends saying there was no Santa, asked her father if that was so. Her father must have been reading the newspaper at the time, for he said to Virginia in response, that she must ask the New York Sun, for if they said it was so, then it must be so.

The New York Sun editor wrote to Virginia via his paper. Probably one of the most famous responses in history. It has been passed down to several generations of children. Ours included. He replied:

“Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see...

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist...

Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would as dreary if there were no Virginias...

Not believe in Santa Claus! You may as well not believe in fairies!…”

Virginia believed. She became a teacher and passed this little truth on to her students every year. She died in 1971. At that time, the house where she wrote her letter was sold. It became a school for young children. All entirely fitting.