Feb 26The 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 includes some of my notes in case they might be helpful for others. The unknown gives us a chance to question what we think we…Creativity3 min readCreativity3 min read
May 28, 202135: 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 the time I only visited locations I could reach on foot during masked walks. I had no idea how long it would be until I…Reading6 min readReading6 min read
Dec 29, 202051: 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 silver armor. Welcome to Reading the City. 51. S.J. Perelman was a popular humorist like Dalí was a landscape painter. His…Reading6 min readReading6 min read
Nov 22, 202013. 400 East 59th St.John Cheever moved his young family into an apartment at 400 East 59th Street. His daughter Susan reports that each morning he would put on his one good blue suit and ride the elevator to the basement where there was a small storage cubicle he used as a work space…New York7 min readNew York7 min read
Nov 15, 202034. 70 Fifth AvenueThe Tower, Rivers and the Soul Langston Hughes was a leading exponent of the Harlem Renaissance. His first published poem was The Negro Speaks of Rivers in the June 1921 edition of The Crisis Magazine edited by W.E.B. DuBois at offices in 70 Fifth Avenue. …NYC7 min readNYC7 min read
Nov 9, 20204. Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital4. John Franklin Bardin was a nearly forgotten master of intense and imaginative psychological crime fiction. His masterpiece, The Deadly Percheron, published in 1946, features very large horses, ersatz leprechauns, and a harrowing visit to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital at First Avenue and 30th St. Welcome to Reading the City . …NYC5 min readNYC5 min read
Oct 31, 202063. 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 books that filled generations of precocious six-year-olds with the desire to grow up quickly and become New Yorkers. …Writing6 min readWriting6 min read
Oct 25, 202032. Bloomingdale’sPatricia Highsmith worked temporarily at Bloomingdale’s, 770 Lexington Avenue, during the Christmas rush in 1948. Her crush on an attractive patrician woman customer inspired Highsmith to write The Price of Salt, her one and only pulp romance novel. …Writing5 min readWriting5 min read
Oct 18, 20206. The Chelsea Hotel6. Brendan Behan wrote this dedication to his Brendan Behan’s New York while living at the Chelsea Hotel, 222 West 23rd St. “To America, my new-found land: the man that hates you hates the human race.” Welcome to Reading the City. Water poured from the scaffolding around The Chelsea Hotel…NYC5 min readNYC5 min read
Oct 16, 202060. 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 precise location fluctuates from book to book, there is a plaque at 454 honoring Wolfe and his faithful operative Archie Goodwin. Welcome to Reading the City. …Writing5 min readWriting5 min read
