Tag: marjorie cohen

In the middle of October, I was dropped out of an airplane onto the sidewalk on West 43rd Street. Or at least that's how it felt. The real story

By Marjorie Cohen The members of a local history group think that the name of the area from 96th street to 110th, from the river to the park, should be known as Bloomingdale. They want to differentiate this piece of the island from the rest of the Upper West Side, ...

By Marjorie Cohen Of all of the extraordinary material that has been collected for the New York Historical Society's new exhibit, WWII & NYC (October 5-May 27) what I found most striking is the 22-minute film

When I started to research the Rice Mansion at 89th Street and Riverside Drive, it was the bricks and mortar that drew me to it. I was seduced by the looks of such a beautiful old mansion, one of only two that remain standing as a reminder of the glory ...

Let's take a look back to the Upper West Side of the 1930's and a building constructed just as the Great Depression began. For decades, it was part of a delightful and innovative business experiment, and on one day in the middle of the summer of 1933 it was the ...

This is the second article in our History Beat series --- columns inspired by materials about the Upper West Side from the library of the New-York Historical Society. This article references items from the library's manuscript and print collections. Many thanks to the librarians at the N-YHS for their help ...

By Marjorie Cohen I first heard about Chris Pelletierri from a student in his stone carving class. Intrigued by the idea of a stone carver working and teaching on the Upper West Side, I arranged a visit to Chris' studio. Chris met me on the steps of the Cathedral of ...

Editor's Note: This is the first in a monthly West Side Rag series by Marjorie Cohen. Each month, Marjorie will choose an object or document from the archives of the New-York Historical Society that references the Upper West Side and use it as a jumping off point for an article. ...

By Marjorie Cohen Get ready for some wonderful surprises when you enter the new and vastly improved New York Historical Society on 77th Street and Central Park West. After three years and $70 million dollars worth of renovations both inside and out, this venerable institution has let in the light ...

Two new columnists have started writing for the West Side Rag in recent weeks, and we thought we'd introduce them to you. Our columnists (now 10 of them!) are all Upper West Siders from diverse backgrounds, and they strive to make you laugh so hard you spit out your orange ...

For more than 20 years I walked past the neoclassical building at 206 West 100th Street, just west of Amsterdam Avenue, curious about both its past and is present. It remained just one more of those tantalizing New York mysteries that fascinate me until

By Marjorie Cohen Imagine I.M Pei designing a homeless shelter. Or Frank Lloyd Wright drawing plans for a community center. Not likely. But in the 1880's, when the women who ran the Association for the Relief of Respectable and Indigent Females, needed an architect for the charity home they were ...

By Marjorie Cohen What's the quickest way to get to an English country village? Take the 1, 2 or 3 train to West 96th Street. Exit the train, walk west for half a block on 95th Street, and there it is -- Pomander Walk, one of New York City's best ...