Rita J. KingThe 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…3 min read·Feb 26, 2023----
Rita J. King35: 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…6 min read·May 28, 2021----
Rita J. King51: 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…6 min read·Dec 29, 2020----
Rita J. King34. 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…7 min read·Nov 15, 2020----
Rita J. King4. Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital4. John Franklin Bardin was a nearly forgotten master of intense and imaginative psychological crime fiction. His masterpiece, The Deadly…5 min read·Nov 9, 2020----
Rita J. King63. 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…6 min read·Oct 31, 2020----
Rita J. King32. Bloomingdale’sPatricia Highsmith worked temporarily at Bloomingdale’s, 770 Lexington Avenue, during the Christmas rush in 1948. Her crush on an…5 min read·Oct 25, 2020----
Rita J. King60. 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…5 min read·Oct 18, 2020----
Rita J. King60. 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…5 min read·Oct 16, 2020----