You begin to interest me…vaguely
This is a short hike mostly along the floodplain of Jacob’s Creek in Hopewell Township, New Jersey, managed by the Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space. It was just damp and leaf-covered today, but the creek can flow powerfully through here after a rainstorm.
What was going on in the world in 1961? A lot of eeriness, a lot of confused, threatened, concealed or failed aggression
Ben Ratliff
Taking inspiration from Coltrane’s two weeks at the Village Vanguard almost exactly 60 years ago, Ben Ratliff in the Washington Post riffs on John Coltrane and the Essence of 1961.
So here was a tendency: self-immersions, burials, entrapments, irritating provocations, projects with a built-in self-destruct button, all in the name of asking a better question. But whenever one proclaims a tendency in culture, one had better be prepared to find the opposite tendency at the same time. Sure enough, one could: plenty of joyous, communal, repetitive music, but similarly intense, and similarly resisting the concept of a leader, or a hero.
Ben Ratliff
Also mentioned: The previously unreleased recording of a live performance of A Love Supreme in 1965.
Previous views of Health and Ag. More about the buildings at Preservation New Jersey.
Before it was a compact pickup truck, the Ford Maverick was an import-fighting’ vinyl-clad compact car. Introduced in the late 60s, original colors included Anti Establish Mint, Hulla Blue, and Thanks Vermillion.
How else are you going to get to Christmas Island?
A free online talk from the The Royal Museums Greenwich will educate you about 400 years of celebrating Christmas afloat. The Zoom lecture is Tuesday 7 December, 5.15pm – 6.45pm (I presume that’s Greenwich Mean Time, so check your time zone).
Christmas at Sea: 400 Years of the Festive Season Afloat
Focusing largely on British ships, our panel of experts will discuss the experience of spending Christmas at sea from 1600 onwards.
What did sailors and passengers do to mark Christmas? How did eating, drinking, socialising and worshiping differ when done at sea? How did events such as the Interregnum and the Second World War, as well as changing understandings of Christmas, influence the festive season afloat? Was spending Christmas at sea better or worse than spending it on land?
Our panelists include:
Each panelist will give a short presentation on the experience of spending Christmas at sea in a specific era, before taking questions from attendees. Covering Stuart sailing vessels to warships of the 1940s, this seminar will put the tide back in yuletide.
Featured image (which has no relation to the museum talk): Santa Claus and two assistants in Sarasota, Florida. Photo by Joseph Janney Steinmetz, 1965. www.floridamemory.com Florida State Library and Archives.
The American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, is the brightest museum I’ve ever been in.
From 1901 to 1940, the Johnson “Fast Line” electric trolley (a.k.a. the Trenton-Princeton Traction Company) carried passengers from Trenton to Princeton.
So far, only about three miles of the former 15-mile-long route has been turned into a bike and walk path. The trail is currently split into two sections, bisected by Interstate 295, with no good way to get over it on foot or bike. Perhaps in the future the two segments will be connected.
The southernmost section is riddled with large holes and uneven surfaces, with wetlands and woods on either side. Even though warehouses and parking lots are nearby, it feels more wild. Traveling north, the trail becomes more civilized before petering out near the athletic fields of Rider University and the highway.
North of the interstate, the trail runs through suburbs before entering Lawrenceville. Here, it crosses, but is not part of, the Lawrence-Hopewell trail. At the end of the Johnson trail is the former office of the Johnson Ferry, which has been restored (with reproduction signage).
Recently we visited Manitoga, a National Historic Landmark that is the studio and home of industrial designer Russel Wright. A prime advocate of what has been called “Livable Modernism,” Wright, with the aid of his wife, Mary, became one of the most influential and well-known designers of the 1930s to 1950s. His pottery, tableware, and furniture brought Modernism to the American masses (quite literally: his most popular line of pottery and one of his furniture lines were both named American Modern).
Together, they wrote the 1950 manifesto Guide to Easier Living which promoted radical ideas like “buffet suppers, one-pot meals, portable seating and lots of double-duty storage…They may be the inventors of modern grad student storage: wooden shelves on cinder blocks hidden behind a curtain” (Alexandra Lange, “Easier Living, By Design”, The New York Times July 23, 2010).
Manitoga came later in his career. He and Mary purchased the land in the Hudson Highlands north of New York City around 1942 and spent many years modifying the landscape, including turning an abandoned quarry pit into a swimming pond complete with a waterfall.
They lived in a cottage (still standing, but not part of the Landmark) next to the quarry. It was not until several years after Mary’s death in 1952 that Russel began building the house and studio (designed with architect David Leavitt). It was completed in 1960 and Russel lived there with his daughter Annie and her governess/housekeeper until his death in 1976.
Dragon Rock is a rare instance of Mr. Wright contradicting his theory of “easier living,” — his daughter, Anne, recalls arduous hours spent vacuuming the rocks and keeping all 11 levels in some semblance of order.
Richard Horn, “Collecting Russel Wright” The New York Times August 23, 1979.
A warm October day in Asbury Park. The fog burned off in the morning, but then came back.
Featured image: Asbury Park Casino and Steam Plant.
If this 54 room home looks a little bit small for something with both “Vanderbilt” and “Mansion” in its name, maybe it’s because Hyde Park was just one of several houses Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt owned. They also had a New York City townhouse, of course, and at various times, a Newport, Rhode Island mansion (Rough Point, later owned by Doris Duke), an Adirondack camp (Pine Tree Point), and a Bar Harbor, Maine mansion (Sogonee, later owned by radio tycoon A. Atwater Kent).
Construction began in 1895, the same year that Frederick’s kid brother, George Washington Vanderbilt II, completed his modest 250-room summer house, the Biltmore Estate.
