Hudson Park

A big thank you from Hudson Park to the BBC for its $500 donation to support the library.

The Bedford Barrow Commerce Block Association celebrated 35 years of giving September 21st with a party hosted, gratis, by the Caliente Cab Company. During the event over $17,000 was given to neighborhood non-profits and institutions, including Hudson Park. Over the years over $300,000 has been given by this Village mainstay.

The BBC raises money with its popular Ye Olde Village Fair every May.

The BBC is a model for NYC block associations. Thanks again.

When I was a kid I learned a very important lesson about singing in public:

Don't do it!

Occasionally, my mother, overcome with some George Harrison vibe, would spontaneously break out in "Here Comes the Sun". Us kids (there were seven of us) would break out in sarcasm, ridicule and derision. We were merciless, as only children can be. I was young and impressionable and that was my first introduction to singing in public. I got the message -- Singing is for professionals only!

But at Hudson Park a tradition of singing during our children's programs dates back several years to Walter Minkel's ukulele-playing days. The tradition was continued more recently by Warren Truitt. These two children's librarians think that song is the best way to interest the very young children who frequent our library and get them started in language and books. The problem is, I think they're right.

The bigger problem is that neither of them are here any longer to lead the programs.

You would think I'd never dare to try leading the programs myself, but somehow, the show must go on. Cue "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and let it rip. We're singin' songs!.

What have I learned?

Singing for the kids isn't so bad.

It can even be fun!

And if you get them early enough, they won't even realize that you're singing off key. And, really, it is a great way to connect with young kids.

But many people are afraid to sing for an audience, so here are some things I've learned in the past few months that I'd like to share with you singing-phobic parents:  read more »

View Literary Pride March in a larger map
It's no wonder that the riot that started the worldwide gay revolution started in Hudson Park's neighborhood.

By 1969, the Village had long been a mecca for artist types -- writers, painters, actors and performers -- and for gays and lesbians. These were people who's worth was defined by their talent and creativity, not by who they found sexual attractive. They had pride, and pride is the key.

Pride is what calls people to demand dignity. Pride demands respect. Pride has led directly to the marriage equity fights of today. And pride said no to police harrassment 40 years ago.

And, really, who can live without pride? To do so is to have a miserable existence.

So a Literary Pride March is in order -- around the Village visiting the sites of the homes of gay and lesbian writers. This March includes a great beginning and ending (Jefferson Market and Hudson Park), a stroll through Washington Square, a swing by the location of the Stonewall Inn, and some of the prettiest streets in the Village (West Fourth, Bleecker, Grove, Bedford, and, of course, St. Luke's Place).

It includes some heartbreak too. Check the map for that.

And be sure to check out a book by your favorite LGBT writer at either end of your journey!

Last weekend I found myself in a truck stop in central PA with a fiendish problem. What to choose?

Louis L'Amour? A volume in an endless fantasy series? Or a grit-filled true-life testosterone-fueled story by a marine or a special-op or a terrorist fighter? Which book could I take to bed? What book could I count on to get me through the night when I found myself awake at 3 am?

This was my biggest book disaster in years. Love's has a bigger selection of ready-to-eat franks, wieners, hot dogs, cheddar wursts, brats, kielbasy, and smoked snausages, than books.

How could I have left home without something to read?!?

Then, behind Sand and Blood: Fighting for America's Freedom in a Godless Country*, I saw it. My salvation. Something I could read -- Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August. Okay, sure, it was about war. Not my favorite subject. But at least it didn't glorify war. I could read it. I could. The clerk at the counter said, "Great book!" I was set.

That night I hardly got through the opening materials (preface, foreword) but I was pleased to read this in the Author's Note:

"I should like to express my appreciation of the unsurpassed resources of the New York Public Library and, at the same time, a hope that somehow, someday in my native city a way will be found to make the Library's facilities for scholars match its incomparable material."

Thanks, Barbara. We're still working on it.

This story has a happy ending, but please, for your sake, visit the library before you travel and take out something good to read.

*Don't try to find this. Title made up.

In 1963 and 1964 two landmark children's books were published -- In 1963 Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day and in 1964 Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Both won the Caldecott Medal and both changed children's publishing forever.

The books could hardly be more different -- from the colors used, the artistic techniques, the style, the themes -- and the two protagonists -- Max and Peter.

Who's your favorite? Are you a Max person or a Peter person? It says a lot about your personality. Read the books and decide, then compare your results with your friends and family.

I'll tell. I love them both, but I'm partial to Peter.

The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation has sponsored a bookmaking contest for New York City school children for the past 23 years and this year the winners are on display at Hudson Park in our second floor children's room. The artistry and variety are amazing.

Come by Hudson Park's sunny and lively children's room and take a look at the work of book designers of the future! The books will be on display until May 15th.

Who are these people?

From Adela Lintelmann paintings

The work of Adela Smith Lintelmann (1902 - 1996) is currently on display in the Hudson Park Reference Room Gallery. Adela Smith Lintelmann's art career spanned nearly seventy years and she was a role model for both artists and feminists.

In her native British Columbia, she established herself as a mathematician and then, on attending a lecture by an established Canadian artist, she was inspired to paint. With her characteristic adventurous spirit and armed with only her degree, a teaching certificate and a course in typing, she left Vancouver for New York and the Art Students League. To support her dream she worked her way up at the New York Stock Exchange to become one of the first women stock brokers on Wall Street.

During her art career 'Linty', as she became known, studied with such luminaries as Kimon Nicolaides, Robert Brackman, Robert Phillip, Robert Beverly Hale, Xavier Gonzales, Daniel Dickerson and IIona Royce-Smithkin. She became a trustee of the American Fine Arts Society, a member of Artists Equity, Artists Fellowship, National Arts Club, American Artists Professional League, Salmagundi Club and the Pen and Brush.

Linty specialized in floral and still life arrangements but on display at Hudson Park are some fine portraits. Unfortunately the subjects of the paintings are not identified, so if you are a long-time Village resident or if you knew Linty, perhaps you can help us out. Come by and identify the subjects of our portraits.

Want to breakfast with Theodore Dreiser?

Grab a cup of coffee at Grey Dog Coffee or Out of the Kitchen and mosey on down to 16 St. Lukes Place.

Hey, you’re right across from the Hudson Park Library! And just down the street at 14 and 12 St. Lukes Place are the former homes of Marianne Moore and Sherwood Anderson. They all lived here in the 1920s.

View Greenwich Village Writers in a larger map
Use this map (I'll continue to add to it) to create your own coffee jaunt or late night crawl. You’ll be inspired by walking the streets of the literary greats. You might even write something! Or at least, stop by the Hudson Park Branch and take out one of their books, grab that coffee, and relax knowing that you’ve found yourself in the center of the world.