The Fear and Benefit of the UnknownI was asked to lead a session on Fear of the Unknown this past week for an organization experiencing the aftermath of layoffs. This post…Feb 26, 2023Feb 26, 2023
35: Spuyten Duyvil & the City of BonesWhen I started visiting all 78 locations on the literary map last October for READING THE CITY, I was taunted by the northernmost spot. At…May 28, 2021May 28, 2021
51: The Gramercy Park HotelFirst I will tell you what the map says about this location, and then I will tell you about the way it made me feel, all rose gold and…Dec 29, 2020Dec 29, 2020
34. 70 Fifth AvenueLangston Hughes was a leading exponent of the Harlem Renaissance. His first published poem was The Negro Speaks of Rivers in the June 1921…Nov 15, 2020Nov 15, 2020
4. Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital4. John Franklin Bardin was a nearly forgotten master of intense and imaginative psychological crime fiction. His masterpiece, The Deadly…Nov 9, 2020Nov 9, 2020
63. The Plaza HotelKay Thompson lived in The Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue at 59th St. also the home of Eloise, whose exploits Thompson chronicled in a series of…Oct 31, 2020Oct 31, 2020
32. Bloomingdale’sPatricia Highsmith worked temporarily at Bloomingdale’s, 770 Lexington Avenue, during the Christmas rush in 1948. Her crush on an…Oct 25, 2020Oct 25, 2020
60. The Chelsea Hotel60. Brendan Behan wrote this dedication to his Brendan Behan’s New York while living at the Chelsea Hotel, 222 West 23rd St. “To America…Oct 18, 2020Oct 18, 2020
60. 454 West 35th StRex Stout installed his “seventh of a ton” behemoth of a detective, Nero Wolfe, in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th St. Although the…Oct 16, 2020Oct 16, 2020
