The Bijou Theatre (later the Charles Theatre) opened in the fall of 1926. The Delancy-Clinton Realty Company commissioned architect Eugene DeRosa to build the Bijou at 12th Street and Avenue B in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It had 600 seats, 502 on the main floor, and 98 on the balcony. By 1937, they had […]
Proctor’s Palace Theatre opened on January 31, 1916 in Yonkers, New York. The 2,300 seat theater was designed by William E. Lehman who is also known for the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey. It was built for theater magnate F.F. Proctor. Lehman designed the auditorium with a mix of French, Flemish and Italian style architecture. He is quoted as saying, “I wanted […]
It’s easy to take great things for granted – especially if they’ve been the way they are for your whole life. Having said that, the idea that you can visit one of the world’s leading collections of art and not even have to pay an entry fee is pretty incredible. The National Gallery of Art […]
Named after Admiral Daniel Ammen, a Union Civil War hero and author, the Ammendale Normal Institute was built on property purchased by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools from Ammen in 1880. They were looking for a more rural area to relocate their religious order that had rail access to both Baltimore […]
The United Palace originally opened on February 22, 1930, as the Loew’s 175th Street Theatre. Located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, the building takes up an entire city block and was designed by famed theater architect Thomas W. Lamb. (Lamb’s work can also be seen in my posts on the RKO Hamilton Theatre also in Washington Heights, […]
A plain four lane bridge belies what crossed the river here before it was known as the “Kennebec”, when the flowing water was called “Sagadahoc”. Sagadahoc was navigated by canoes, rafts, horses riding in oar-driven ferries, and epic schooners built in the shipyards along the shore amidst the flowing tide and the seasonal ice floes. […]
I’ve spent a lot of time in antique stores – enough to distinguish that there are many different types, some of which are far more engaging than others. Some are primarily based around rustic décor, others are fully of kitschy tchotchkes, and many are just filled with random banal bric-a-brac that you’ll forget as soon […]
Built from 1935-1937 in a gorgeous Art Deco style, the Edward W. Bok School was named after a Dutch author and editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, which was noted as being one of the most influential publications in American domestic architecture of its time. The school was designed by Irwin Catherine, architect of dozens […]
It is good to know that all of the humor in the Medical Supply industry is not of the bedpan variety. It would be far too pungent.
Entertainment is a hard business. Some of the hardest-working entertainers are circus clowns. A dying breed, they must travel from town to town putting on the same show. They are trained and paid to look clumsy, unintelligent, and rude. Most of them are not. The athleticism required for pratfalls and other site gags goes […]
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