Ahh, civilization! Hurray! I'm back in Manhattan!
I love exiting a city building's doorway, taking to the sidewalk, and entering the pulsing bloodstream of New York's energy and determination and brisk purpose. For 27 years, that portal would have been the front door of my New York apartment building. Today, when I visit the City, I stay in a hotel. For all those years I had never needed—nor stayed in—a Manhattan hotel room. I always was a poor source of advice for acquaintances seeking the right lodgings.
Today, we stay in the Hotel Beacon on the Upper West Side. Best of all, it is in a residential neighborhood, not predominantly tourists. There are good markets across the street: Fairway and Citarella. Restaurants abound. The Express subway stop is a couple of blocks south. And the George Washington Bridge is a quick (congestion charge free) drive north—especially easy at 4:00 am, when we typically head-for-home. Shown above, the view out our hotel room window. On some stays we face West, to the Ansonia and the Hudson. On other occasions, we face East, towards Central Park.
We're here in the City for a handful of reasons. Top of the list is to attend the opening of the New York City Ballet Spring Gala tomorrow night. My husband, Robert Perdziola, has designed the costumes for the new piece by principal dancer-choreographer, Tiler Peck. I'll sit-in on the final dress rehearsal this afternoon and attend the premiere tomorrow night.
We also have to see the Raphael exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is billed as a once-in-a-lifetime assemblage of works by this stupendous artist. I'm heading West, across Central Park, towards the museum, as I shoot these pictures.
Then, on the weekend, we head to London for a little antique shopping, some visits with opera directors, a few meals with friends, and (of course) taking-in more art.
Central Park is a never-ending wonderment to me. Every time I cross the park—even though I usually travel the same (general) route—I always see new things, new prospects which I had never seen before. In truth, the old vistas continue to impress me, too. Here is a view across Turtle Pond. What I love most about Central Park is its wonderful "enhanced naturalism." Clearly, the park's topography and "landscape architecture" was highly manufactured. Or, at least, nature was sculpted by man and "revealed." But its masterminds, Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, knew how to tap into mankind's primal desire to be surrounded by Nature (while allowing busy New Yorkers to be get back in time for a coveted dinner reservation). I never tire of seeing a vast wilderness or enormous field—and a row of Art Deco buildings just peeking-over the distant treeline.
On my way to see another artistic genius, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.