Rose Hartman

By Adam Kluger

To say that Rose Hartman is a native New Yorker is not just stating the obvious, since she was born on 9th Street, in the east Village She is also a native New Yorker in character, passion, humor, resilience and, of course, talent; one of those very particular residents of the city that know how to mix things up. One minute she is at some very fancy party surrounded by socialites, celebrities and models, and the next she is in the 2 train going home to the West Village. She can be seen almost every day having lunch at Sant Ambroeus or swimming at Equinox, and later just enjoying the sun and a copy of the NY Post in her stoop, in the same building in Charles Street where she has lived for the past 60 years. Her career is, using a word she is often associated with, incomparable. Inspired by the pages of Vogue she used to read as a teen, she took her camera and off she went to photograph generations of the most glamorous, creative and beautiful people in the city. Her most famous picture is of Bianca Jagger on a white horse celebrating her 30th birthday in Studio 54 in 1977. Then came Andy, Halston, Liza, and later Linda, Naomi, Christy, Claudia, Kate and almost any gorgeous woman you can think of. But her eye doesn’t stop there. From media moguls to rock stars and artists, her portfolio is vast and impressive, and has been published and exhibited around the world. She admires her subjects, and maybe that’s the reason why everyone looks so good in her pictures. Her intent has always been to show the most beautiful face the world has to offer, and, no doubt, she has been very successful at that. Rose Hartman: Femme Fatale Photo Exhibit TW Fine Art Gallery 256 Worth Ave., Palm Beach Jan 8-Feb. 13, 2022

For further information, contact Lindsey Solomon at 516-557-3249

A HELPING HAND UP A CONVERSATION WITH HENRY BUHL

By Jadan Horyn & Margaret Luce

For most New Yorkers the ubiquitous sight of people in red ACE shirts cleaning our trashridden streets and public places provides a welcoming sense of normalcy against the background chaos of this metropolis we call home. The helping hand each ACE client provides to our shared city came from a helping hand up provided by one humble man: Henry Buhl, who instead of giving a homeless man twenty dollars, got the man a job instead. An action that became an organization and a movement that continues to resonate across our city today. One that could provide an obvious solution to the homeless crisis gripping urban America.

His inconspicuous home is on a cobblestoned street in Tribeca framed by designer stores and replete with lululemon clad, latte clutching, twenty-somethings chattering incomprehensible unNew York jargon. A different tribe frequents this neighborhood than the one in which Henry recognized a self-evident need so many years ago.

I enter and stride to the elevators, a bit sweaty from the sunny day and collect myself on the ride up. I knock and am asked who I am. “Jadan Horyn - with Metropolitan Magazine, Margaret Luce our Creative Director and a friend of Henry’s sent me.” A brief discussion behind the door, then it opens. Henry greets me with a smile and a look of bemusement. “Another reporter?” he asks. “Margaret sent me.” I say and he lights up, “Oh, yes, yes.” Henry is advanced in age and moves with the slow gracefulness of someone who has much to do but is fighting the limitations of the years. His mind is no less sharp nor are his observant eyes. He sizes me up. “Margaret said you are smart. Margaret is so lovely.” I nod. “I was just with her in the Hamptons,” he says quickly, “is she not in the city?” I smile and say, “No, she’s back down in Jupiter” He seems disappointed but recovers quickly. I explain to him that I typically write long-form pieces on interesting people. He gives a knowing half-smile and says am I an interesting person? I say well I googled you and Margaret says you are. He laughs heartily, and I laugh saying well you lived a long and interesting life and have done a lot with ACE - The Association of Community Employment.

“ACE takes homeless men and women who are currently living in shelters all over New York City and works with them with the objective of obtaining a full-time job and finding permanent housing.”

His eyes immediately narrow and he without prompting recounts the origins of ACE like muscle memory. No doubt he has done this countless times. The story begins in 1992 while Henry was still a famed photographer. He had created a burgeoning business in SoHo with twelves photographers sharing the studio that summer. “When a street cleaner asked Henry for $20 bucks. Buhl had noticed the man sweeping Greene Street in the mornings and was often sleeping in a door well after lunch. Buhl asked why he should give the man $20 since he had a job. The sweeper told Buhl that he had just been fired and was homeless.”

What occurred next was understanding the basic economics behind how stores and businesses fund street cleaning along with how the slammer to streets cycle leads to chronic homelessness and a glaring gap in the support system for humans in need. The issue is that men and women who are released from prison may head to a program that feeds, clothes them, and provides medical care but the government assistance expires for each after two years and many migrate to the streets and become homeless because their criminal records make them unhirable by most employers. This leads to recidivism and cycles of homelessness and incarceration.

To break the cycle and provide a meaningful job for the men and women who paid their time and were looking for an opportunity, Henry founded first the SoHo partnership, which spawned the Tribeca Partnership, Hudson Square, Lolita, NoHo, and many others. In 2010 Henry consolidated them into ACE. “Today, ACE has grown to serve more than 600 people each year with workforce development, Adult Basic Education and job readiness/life skills training in our vocational rehabilitation program, Project Comeback, lifetime support services and opportunities for career growth in our aftercare program, Project Stay, and access to affordable housing through one of our most recent initiatives, Project Home. Since 1992, we have helped over 3,000 New Yorkers overcome homelessness, incarceration and addiction to find full-time jobs and start new lives.”

“Its cause is noble,” I say to Henry, but I am interested in a man that lives a colorful life yet gives back so completely to others who most simply ignore or pity. He looks at me and matter of factly states “the man asked him for money and it would be better for him to work than to beg.”

Opportunity, agency, dignity, and independence. That is what Henry Buhl has given to countless otherwise forgotten men and women in New York City.

He grabs a beautiful book from the table and opens to a blank page. He tells me to put my hand on the page. He takes out a pen and traces the outline of my hand. He says to me solemnly that hands tell you about a person. He signs his name on my hand and dates it. I close the book, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from the Buhl a pictorial compendium of the works in his hand collection that he donated recently to the Guggenheim. Henry has clearly spoken with his hands, we should all take note.

Anyone wishing to help NYC’s homeless men and women reclaim their lives and are grateful to ACE for keeping SoHo clean may donate to ACE. Contributions may be mailed to ACE, 598 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10012. Additional information may be found on the organization’s website, acenewyork.org