Watch-Blog
People, Their Passions and Buildings are a Large Part of What Defines a Neighborhood
By Claudie Benjamin Hicks Stone is a NYC-based architect and author of Edward Durell Stone: A Son’s Untold Story of a Legendary Architect (Rizzoli: 2011). Recently talking about the influences on his famous father's work, Hicks said, "Dad lived in the Torre...
Who or what is Gladys Glover?
By Claudie Benjamin Loopholes have been the name of the billboard game from the 1940s when government policy was enacted to limit this form of advertising within the city and along highways. But, although many billboards were not taken down in Columbus Circle, as one...
Ever-expanding and Kaleidoscopic Change
By Claudie Benjamin Columbus Circle has been a moving target for decades with its character and the geography of its traffic routes changing over time. In the early 1940s, artist Henry E. Schnakenberg (1892-1970) who then lived on West End Avenue, captured the...
Think Local First: The Ukrainian Cathedral of St. Volodymyr in NY
LW! Supports our Ukrainian Neighbors and Friends The ongoing aggressions in the Ukrainian region have underscored the interconnected nature of our lives and the fragility of our collective whole as humans. While headlines sometimes feel far away, there are always...
Joyfully Using American Sign Language
By Claudie Benjamin When Lora Heller's two sons who are now in their early 20s were only six months old, they were using American Sign Language to communicate. Neither one was Deaf or hard of hearing, but as a board-certified music therapist with a master’s degree...
Barsotti: Hero who Cared about Cultural Heritage
By Claudie Benjamin Christopher Columbus may have his statue up in the middle of Columbus Circle, but he is a myth, not a hero. The real man, as all school children have come to know, was horrific in many ways. Earlier generations were taught admiringly and...
Refresh: an Exciting Change of Environment
By Claudie Benjamin Almost 30 years ago, before coming from Seoul, Korea to New York, Mee Sook Jo (Michelle) was an artist. One of her framed metal works entitled “People” is hanging on a wall up front as you enter the dry-cleaning store she and her husband Hyung Nan...
Billionaire’s Cluster?
Silverstein Properties Buys, Holds, and Flips Following a competitive bidding war, and a July 2018 purchase with a 5-year sale/lease-back agreement with the Walt Disney Corporation, Silverstein Properties flips the ABC Columbus Avenue Campus for $930M without even...
Balancing UWS studio with Upstate Pig Farming
By Claudie Benjamin Celebration is the way Melanie Wesslock describes life. Her professional life as a portrait and event photographer involves her in many profoundly special celebratory moments. Take, for example, her images of a surprise proposal on Bow Bridge in...
What the World Needs Now: Laughter
Still image of Reisenweber’s at 58th and Columbus Circle ca. 1900, image courtesy New York Public Library By Claudie Benjamin That laughter has a healing quality has been well documented by patients and clinicians through the ages. Right now, more than two years into...
