The local paper for the Upper er East Side A GUIDE TO CAMP
WEEK OF JANUARY-FEBRUARY
28-3
P.8 >
2016
CHURCH AWAITS WORD FROM VATICAN NEWS Our Lady of Peace on East 62nd Street on Jan. 24. The church was closed by the Archdiocese of New York on August 1. The chalk inscription to the left of the church doors refer to the three wise men who visited Jesus after his birth, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, and to 2016 A.D.
Our Lady of Peace parishioners near $500,000 fundraising effort as appeal on closure is heard BY RICHARD KHAVKINE
Nearly every evening
since August 1, people have gathered beside the stone steps of Our Lady of Peace Church on East 62nd Street and prayed the rosary. Friday night, ahead of a record snowfall, was no different. Five parishioners sat on folding metal chairs, huddled inside their winter clothes. They
prayed for nearly 30 minutes. Several others joined by conference call. “It’s important to us that someone is here every night,” Tami Ellen McLaughlin, a church parishioner for 15 years said following the rosary’s conclusion, as temperatures dipped to below freezing. “If feels really good. It’s important.”
Our Lady of Peace’s parishioners are in their fourth series of 54-day Rosary Novenas — uninterrupted sets of Hail Marys, the
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A TALL-BUILDING CAP ON THE EAST SIDE NEWS New zoning proposal seeks to thwart luxury megatower on East Side’s Sutton Place BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
Officials on the East Side introduced a zoning plan that would cap building heights in a seven-block stretch around the Sutton Place neighborhood at 260 feet, a plan that was formed in reaction to a luxury skyscraper development currently in the works that would rise 900 feet over East 58th Street and the surrounding community. If passed, the new zone would cover East 52nd Street to East 59th Street from First Avenue to the East River.
The plan is a direct response, said Councilmember Ben Kallos, to a skyscraper currently in development on East 59th Street between First Avenue and Sutton Place. The development, which was first reported by this newspaper last April, is as-of-right and is being driven by the Bauhouse Group. A new community group called East River Fifties Alliance, comprised of elected officials, local residents and condo and co-op boards, is spearheading the zoning plan, which was submitted to the Dept. of City Planning Jan. 21. According to ERFA, which incorporated recently as a nonprofit, Sutton Place is one of two residential neighborhoods in New York City that is subject to “an outdated, 1960s era R10 zoning designation,
which sets no specific height limits on apartment buildings.” Buildings in the zone would be capped at 260 feet, or about 25 stories. The plan would also require 25 percent of new units in the zone to be affordable. Members of ERFA include State Senator Liz Krueger and councilmembers Kallos and Dan Garodnick, who are co-applicants on the zoning proposal sent to city planning. “Today we say enough is enough with mega supertowers that are wildly inconsistent with the surrounding area,” Garodnick said. “The community is striking back with a thoughtful plan that can serve as a model for future contextual rezoning efforts,
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ART
LIVES HERE
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A rendering of the Bauhouse Group’s proposed Sutton Place tower, at 428432 East 58th Street, which would be among the tallest in Manhattan.
Our Take HAPPY LITTLE SNOWFLAKES Remember Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first winter in his new job? What a difference a couple of years makes. Hit with a snowstorm shortly after taking office in 2014, the new mayor fumbled in a way that would come to define the first half of his term. Potholes went unfilled. Official warnings on the storm’s severity were muddled. Residents in neighborhoods that didn’t vote for de Blasio complained that their streets weren’t being plowed -- a suspicion that was later proven out by sanitation-truck GPS data. This time around, an entirely new de Blasio seemed to be in charge. Before the storm, he was forceful, but not panicked. Instead of jumping the gun and closing subways or schools, he waited for the storm to develop, then acted decisively. We even detected a sense of humor in it all. We don’t want to give him more credit than is due, but there was something about this storm that seemed to bring out the best of New Yorkers, not stoke their cynicism. There were pockets of discontent. Queens residents, for instance, felt that the plow trucks somehow bypassed them. But considering we had endured the second-biggest snowstorm in our history, it was a lovely little chapter for the mayor. Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday January 29 – 4:51 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com.
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WHAT’S MAKING NEWS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD CITY’S PENSION SYSTEM AT RISK The city’s pension system is susceptible to “operational failure,” according to The New York Times, which cited a report commissioned by the office of city Comptroller Scott Stringer. The nearly 400-page report, by a Michigan firm, said the system, which contains $160 billion in retirement funds, is burdened by understaffing and outdated tools, such as fax machines. More internal controls are also needed to safeguard compliance by individuals, The Times reported. The firm, Funston Advisory Services, did not uncover any bungling that might have led to a loss of money, but pointed to several potential problems that could cost the fund, the paper reported. “Operational risk is very high and an operational failure is likely,” The Times quoted the report as saying. The paper noted that Stringer, who oversees the pension funds, said that parts of the system were “hanging by a thread” soon after he took office in 2014.
POLICE IMPERSONATORS TAKE CASH FROM WOMAN A pair of thieves dressed as police officers stole money from a woman sitting in her parked car early on the morning of December 12, DNAinfo reported. The two men approached the 23-year-
old woman, who was parked outside 159 West 29th St., shower her a police badge and told her they were narcotics officers and needed to search the vehicle. When she complied, one suspect took money from her wallet while the other used his cellphone to pretend to call in the incident. Both men fled and are yet to be found. Working from security footage, police describe the two as about 30 years old, 6 feet, 1 inch tall, wearing neutral colors with one weighing about 185 pounds and the other weighing about 170 pounds.
MAN IN BLUE JUMPSUIT ROBS 4 EAST SIDE BANKS Police are looking for a suspect wearing a blue jumpsuit who has made attempts at robberies in at least four banks between November to January, DNAinfo reported. The suspect, caught on camera with the jumpsuit and bandages across his face in at least two incidents, has been demanding cash from the teller and fleeing with an undisclosed amount of money. He robbed a Chase bank at 611th Sixth Avenue on two separate days, Nov. 24 and Jan. 12, and also targeted three different banks on Jan. 22nd, making off with money at another Chase branch and an HSBC branch. He left a Wilshire Bank branch because the teller, who was not a native English speaker, could not understand what he was saying.
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JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG
WOMAN SLASHED ON 6 TRAIN The NYPD says a 71-year-old woman is in stable condition after she was slashed on the face while riding a subway train in Manhattan. Police say the southbound 6 train was approaching Bleecker Street around 7:15 a.m. Monday when a man sitting across from the woman got up and slashed the left side of her face with an unknown object.
They both got off the train when it stopped. The suspect fled on a southbound train and is still being sought. The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
MAIL FAIL Two incidents of checks being intercepted in the mail and altered to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars over the holiday season. On December 15, a 62-year-old man living on Riverside Drive wrote a check from his Chase account payable to his attorneys. He mailed the check using the mailbox on the northwest corner of West 100th Street and West End Avenue. A few weeks later, he was notified by his bank that
someone had tried to cash the check and that the check had been forged, deducting $60,000 from his account. On December 23, the 42-year-old female owner of an Amsterdam Avenue restaurant mailed her business rent check to her landlord using the mailbox located at West 93rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. She later told police that the landlord never received the check, and the check was deposited into a fraudulent TD bank account. Jonathan Kane, 28, was arrested on January 18 on a charge of grand larceny. The amount of that rent check was $31,754.67.
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th Precinct for Jan. 11 to Jan. 17 Week to Date
CLONE MOAN And the ID thefts keep on coming. A 53-year-old woman living on West 94th Street reported on Dec. 18 and 19, someone had cloned her Capital One credit card and made purchases totaling $26,417.64 at an Apple store, Bloomingdale’s and Best Buy.
SHADY PERP Sometime between 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday,
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2016 2015
% Change
2016
2015
% Change
Murder
0
1
-100.0
0
1
-100.0
Rape
0
0
n/a
0
1
-100.0
Robbery
1
4
-75.0
3
5
-40.0
Felony Assault
1
4
-75.0
2
5
-60.0
Burglary
6
2
200.0
10
2
400.0
Grand Larceny
27
25
8.0
58
56
3.6
Grand Larceny Auto
0
1
-100.0
1
4
-75.0
January 12, someone entered the parish office in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew at 263 West 86th St. and took a laptop from the office desk. The director of the church told police that church personnel were very busy that evening holding meetings. She last saw her laptop at 5 p.m., and the door to the office had been left unlocked. A search of the
Feeling Your Best Shouldn’t Be Your Last Priority.
Year to Date
building revealed nothing except a pair of sunglasses left behind on the office desk, apparently by the perpetrator. The stolen laptop was a Dell Vostro 14 3000 series valued at $2,000, along with a power cord priced at $50.
CHECKS FORGED
old man living on Columbus Avenue reported to police that someone had written unauthorized checks from his Citibank checking account and cashed the checks at unknown locations. He said he did not believe that any checks were missing from his checkbooks. Two forged checks were written totaling $3,725.
On Jan. 12, an 84-year-
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JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct
153 E. 67th St.
212-452-0600
159 E. 85th St.
311
FDNY Engine 39/Ladder 16
157 E. 67th St.
311
FDNY Engine 53/Ladder 43
1836 Third Ave.
311
FDNY Engine 44
221 E. 75th St.
311
FIRE FDNY 22 Ladder Co 13
CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Daniel Garodnick
211 E. 43rd St. #1205
212-818-0580
Councilmember Ben Kallos
244 E. 93rd St.
212-860-1950
STATE LEGISLATORS State Sen. Jose M. Serrano
1916 Park Ave. #202
212-828-5829
State Senator Liz Krueger
1850 Second Ave.
212-490-9535
Assembly Member Dan Quart
360 E. 57th St.
212-605-0937
Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright
1365 First Ave.
212-288-4607
COMMUNITY BOARD 8
505 Park Ave. #620
212-758-4340
LIBRARIES Yorkville
222 E. 79th St.
212-744-5824
96th Street
112 E. 96th St.
212-289-0908
67th Street
328 E. 67th St.
212-734-1717
Webster Library
1465 York Ave.
212-288-5049
100 E. 77th St.
212-434-2000
HOSPITALS Lenox Hill NY-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell
525 E. 68th St.
212-746-5454
Mount Sinai
E. 99th St. & Madison Ave.
212-241-6500
NYU Langone
550 First Ave.
212-263-7300
CON EDISON
4 Irving Place
212-460-4600
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POST OFFICES US Post Office
1283 First Ave.
212-517-8361
US Post Office
1617 Third Ave.
212-369-2747
HOW TO REACH US:
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SOCKED IN, DIGGING OUT A wild snowstorm on Saturday -- the second-biggest dump in the city’s history -- was followed on Sunday and Monday with some of the nicest winter weather of the year. Our readers captured all of it in photographs. To submit your own, go to our web site and click on Submit Stuff or email us news@strausnews.com.
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Primary and Multispecialty Care on the Upper East Side
Out & About More Events. Add Your Own: Go to ourtownny.com
Thu 28 Fri 29 COMMUNITY BOARD 8 COMMITTEE
ECSTATIC MUSIC FESTIVAL: MAN FOREVER AND TIGUE
Marymount Manhattan College, 221 East 71st St., Regina Peruggi Room, 6:30 p.m. The board’s Small Business Committee discusses Business Improvement Districts, including their missions, implementation and impact. 212-758-4340
Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th St. 7:30 p.m. $20. Man Forever teams up with the avant-pop band Tigue to premiere new collaborative works for percussion and voice inspired by the 1971 album “Moondog II.”. 212-981-5162. www.
Mendelssohn and Liszt. Sara Sherman - piano. 212-663-6021. www.bsmny. org/concerts/month-view. php?month=january&requested_ year=2016&page=2
Sat 30 SHAKESPEARE AND CERVANTES: JUILLIARD415 WITH JORDI SAVALL ► Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street 7 p.m. $75.00 (bring the kids for $1) Juilliard’s flagship early music ensemble, performs music from around the time of the Spanish Armada and the Anglo-Spanish War to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the deaths of two literary giants. 212-535-7710. www. metmuseum.org/events/findevents
“THE NEW WORLD SYMPHONY: DVORAK IN AMERICA” Exceptional and comprehensive care for all your medical needs, in your neighborhood: 234 East 85th Street
Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd St. Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.; Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre’s play chronicling the American years (1892-1895) of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, during which he produced a flurry of “American” works. 800-838-3006. dvorak. brownpapertickets.com
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96th Street Library, 112 East 96th St. 2 p.m. Free S. Sylvan Simon’s 1943 feature about an actor who plays ‘The Fox’, a radio detective, who is suspected of murder and chased by cops and robbers. 212-289-0908
234 East 85th Street New York, NY 10028 www.mountsinai.org/east85
Sun 31 kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/ event/ecstatic-music-festivalman-forever-tigue/
MUSIC, MASQUERADE AND MAGIC Bloomingdale School of Music, 323 West 108th St. 7-8 p.m. Free An evening at the magical, musical masquerade Music of Khachaturian, Schumann,
BOROUGH PRESIDENT GALE BREWER’S STATE OF THE BOROUGH The New School — Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Ave. 2-4 p.m. Free Community event featuring panel led by Borough President Brewer on Manhattan’s future. 917-960-1187. www.eventbrite. com/e/state-of-the-boroughtickets-20528242526
JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
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MARBLE’S JAZZ INSPIRED WORSHIP
FRIDAYS
AT
6:30PM
The Marble Loft (274 5th Ave)
“LOST IN THE STARS�
TRIALS AND ERROR
Peter B. Lewis Theater, 1071 Fifth Ave., at 89th Street 7:30 p.m. $25-$30 excerpts from the Washington National Opera’s production of Kurt Weill’s ďŹ nal work for the stage, with book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. 212-423-3575. worksandprocess.org
92nd street Y, Buttenwieser Hall, Lexington Avenue at 92nd St 8:15 p.m. from $32.00 A discussion with Mark Fainaru-Wada and Christopher Seeger on concussions, the neurological consequences of football and the NFL’s responsibility to its players. 212-415-5500. http:// www.92y.org/Event/Trials-andError-The-NFL-ConcussionSettlement
Mon 1 19TH PRECINCT COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Wed 3
153 East 67th St., third oor. 7 p.m. With guest speaker Rebecca Dunnan, assistant district attorney, whose discussion topic 135TH KNICKERBOCKER is “Arrest to Sentence.â€? 212-452-0615
MYSTERY MONDAYS: BOOK DISCUSSION 67th Street Library, 328 East 67th Street 4 p.m. Registration required. “The Drowned Boy� by Karin Fossum 212-734-1717
Tue 2 “MAURICEâ€? FIAF, Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. 4 & 7:30 p.m. $14; students, $7; Members, $3 in advance; free, day of. James Ivory’s 1987 adaptation of E.M. Forster’s posthumously published tale of forbidden love. Q&A with Ivory following the 7:30 screening. 212-355-6100. www.ďŹ af. org/
GREYS WINTER REVIEW The Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Ave., The Wade Thompson Drill Hall 6-8 p.m. 212-585-1881. knickerbockergreys@gmail.com
CELLO QUARTET FROM MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street 2:30–3:15 p.m. Free with museum admission Student cellists from the Manhattan School of Music in a program of classical music written or arranged for cello quartet. 212-535-7710. www. metmuseum.org/events/ďŹ ndevents
Great Music. Great Spirit. A perfect blend of jazz and the Word.
1 West 29th Street / New York, New York 10001 / 212 686 2770 / MarbleChurch.org
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JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
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CAMP GUIDE
2016
CAMP UNPLUGGED: CUTTING THE DIGITAL CHORD Camp should be one place kids aren’t glued to their screens BY CHRISTOPHER A. THURBER
Young people between eight and eighteen spend an average of 6.5 hours a day absorbed in media — much of the time is solitary. Electronic technology has done a lot to make life more convenient. Sadly, the 1950s dream of having robots and computers do most jobs so that adults could work 15-hour weeks never came true. In fact, the seductiveness of new technology probably contributes to most Americans’ working longer than 40 hours per week. For many people, checking their e-mail outside of work hours is habitual. Others keep their cell phone handy to make and receive calls during time off. This summer, I regularly saw parents “on vacation” at the beach checking their e-mail on handheld devices while their children splashed in the ocean.
Sure, these gadgets are convenient, but they easily blur the lines between work, play, and family time. Electronic technologies also provide a mixed bag — sorry, stream — of media. Television programs, DVD movies, Internet sites, and video games are entertaining, often educational. On the other hand, unsavory content and time absorption are the two most frequently cited problems associated with these media. Research last year by the Kaiser Foundation concluded that young people between eight and eighteen spend an average of 6.5 hours a day absorbed in media. Most of it is electronic and much of the time is solitary. So parents can be drawn into more work; children into more isolating, unwholesome screen time. Sound familiar? Probably. These are becoming such trendy laments in 21st century America that some of you may be tempted to stop reading here. But don’t, because the
rest of this article is about solutions. Not pro-technology or anti-technology, but pro-children, pro-camp solutions.
Password: Thoughtful Use Can there be any way out of the technology trap? Can there be uses of technology that connect, rather than disconnect people? What can save children from the (de)vices of the modern world? The answers, of course, are: Yes, yes, and camp. Is it really that simple? Indeed. All it requires is thoughtful application of intentionally selected technologies. Whatever the technology, it must meet one of four criteria: efficiency, connection, education, and entertainment. Electronic technologies are particularly welcome when they save us time, nourish our relationships, teach us something, or amuse us in healthy, wholesome ways. If your next use of a cell phone, computer, digital music player, or handheld hybrid meets one of these criteria,
without noticeably eroding one of the other criteria, then it has passed the “thoughtful” test. These days, every camp uses electronic technology of some
sort, from telephones to toasters. Even the most rustic and isolated camps use electronic technologies for safety (e.g., GPS units, walkie-talkies,
satellite phones) or publicity (e.g., Web pages). Evaluating a camp’s appropriate use of
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CAMP UNPLUGGED CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 technology no longer involves questioning whether it uses new technology, but how.
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dwightsummercamp.org | 917.551.6430 2116 First Avenue, New York City director@dwightsummercamp.org
Camp y a D e A mplet As Co leepAs S y! Awa
Every family has different values and a different history with technology. For some, what camp offers is welcome relief from the burdensome yoke of electronic technologies. For other families, camp might offer tools that truly enhance interpersonal connections. As you consider each point, ask yourself what makes the most sense for your circumstances, your own family’s values and history, and your child’s development. • Telephones. Telephone calls are inexpensive, simple, and instantaneous. Nevertheless, some camps have a “no phone/ no call” policy because they recognize that telephone calls exacerbate homesickness and erode children’s independence. Although parents and camp directors may have phone contact, campers are not typically permitted to make or receive calls. (Exceptions are made for family emergencies, of course.) Some seven- or eight-week
JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016 camps allow scheduled weekly phone calls. Again, this policy reflects the belief that phone contact is not a treatment for homesickness, nor should it interfere with the growth in self-reliance most camps seek to promote. • E-mail. Many camps allow parents to send e-mails to their children which are sorted and distributed with the regular mail. Like phone calls, these e-mails are inexpensive and simple, but unlike a call, children and parents don’t hear the sound of each others’ voices. As tender as real voices are in other contexts, such immediate contact while children are at camp reliably flares campers’ homesickness (and parents’ “kid-sickness”). By contrast, e-mails have the advantage of being more like a traditional letter. They are written, not spoken, so they can be handled and reread at will. And until recently, campers replied using traditional letters — most still do. • Facsimile. Faxes used to be the ugly duckling of the tech world. Today, plain paper faxes resolve images almost as well as photocopy machines, and some camps are using faxes to send campers’ handwritten letters to their eager parents.
Potentially, a parent could send an e-mail to their child in the morning and receive a faxed reply in the afternoon. Potentially, this also creates an unnecessary burden for parents, children, and camp staff. • Photographs. Since the 1920s, some camps have published photographic yearbooks. Of course, families had to wait until Thanksgiving to receive a copy. The advantage of such a long wait was that it forced children to recreate a verbal narrative of the experience. These narratives not only helped parents understand their child’s camp experience, they also helped children comprehend it, especially the parts that may have been challenging or confusing. Today, such narratives may be bypassed because camps are posting hundreds of digital photographs a day on their Web sites. Parents at home or at work can instantly view, purchase, and download photos of their child at camp. Of course, this can also create undue anxiety when your child is not photographed on a certain day, or appears not to be smiling in a certain snapshot. • Video Streaming. You thought photos captured the camp experience on your desk-
JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016 top? What about live digital video using Web cams placed strategically around camp? Whereas some camps see this as the ultimate way to give parents a window into their child’s world, others see it as the ultimate way to rob children of an experience all their own. Even more so than the provision of photographs, this medium may create more anxiety than it was designed to quell and encourage children to bypass a truly interactive, personal narrative with their parents. Why write during camp or talk after camp when mom and dad already saw it all on their laptop?
Run the Diagnostics In your search for the camp that best matches your child’s interests and abilities, consider that the thoughtful application of electronic technology requires two things. First, it must meet one or more of the criteria of efficiency, connection, education, and wholesome entertainment without eroding any of the other criteria. Second, it must be in accord with the camp’s stated mission. If a camp hasn’t applied technology thoughtfully, consider other camps that have. Any camp that passes these diagnostic tests must now pass two tough parent tests: First,
does the camp’s application of technology match your value system? For example, the camp may provide live streaming video, thus providing a kind of connection and entertainment that is in accord with its stated mission of inviting parents to witness camp as it happens. But does this match your value system, which may include affording your child an opportunity to independently explore a new place and new relationships? Are you comfortable that someone could hack past the camp’s Web site password and view camp activities, or does that threaten your sense of safety and privacy? If the camp’s technology passes your values test, the second test is this: Does the camp’s application of technology give you an opportunity to take a break from full-time parenthood? As much as parents and children might miss one another, both say their relationship is stronger when they’ve had some time apart. However, if the camp’s use of technology makes more work for you, it diminishes one of the benefits of time apart: respite for you.
Worth the Wait Remember that camp is not the stock market or a breaking news story. It’s community liv-
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com ing, away from home, in a natural, recreational setting. Nothing needs to be transmitted at the speed of light. Plus, children are exposed to electronic technology all year. It’s nice for them to have a break during the summer. It’s also healthy for children and parents to talk with each other about their experiences after spending some planned time apart. Technologies should not crowd out the necessary psychological space for dialogue. The artificial needs created by new electronic technologies — to see and hear everything the instant it happens — are not always developmentally appropriate needs for our children. To wait a few days for a traditional letter to arrive, for example, gives parents and children alike the time to reflect, form new relationships, solve problems independently, and understand their emotions. In these ways, unplugging the digital umbilical promotes healthy growth and self-reliance. Christopher A. Thurber, a boardcertified clinical psychologist, is coauthor of The Summer Camp Handbook. Originally printed in CAMP Magazine, reprinted by permission of the American Camp Association
AMERICA’S OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY RUNNING CO-ED CAMP!
Affordable rates, 2,4,6 & 8 week sessions available. Beautiful 700 acre property with mile long private lake
SLEEPAWAY AND DAY CAMP PROGRAMS AVAIABLE FOR CAMPERS AGED 5 TO 15. LOCATED IN BEAUTIFUL COASTAL CT.
Many activites to choose from including; Sports, Arts, Ceramics, Woodworking, Music Ropes Course, Culinary Arts & Waterfront options.
Spring open houses and tours available. Contact us for more info and a brochure. www.incarnationcamp.org - info@incarnationcamp.org - 860-767-0848
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A CHECKLIST FOR PICKING THE PERFECT CAMP
LIVES HERE
Considering a summer camp, but how to choose? There’s a camp that is ideally suited for every child, providing a summer of growth and fun whether your child attends a day or overnight camp, a specialized or traditional camp. With a little help from the camp professionals at the American Camp Association, here’s some sound advice that helps parents sort through the choices and beneďŹ ts that camp delivers. As spring approaches, parents and children can look forward to planning for the future—a future that includes the opportunities for exploration and discovery that arrives with summer camp.
How to Decide When Your Child is Ready for Camp Children are ready for new experiences at different stages. Parents know their children best and these questions can help gauge whether this is the
summer your child will start camp. What is your child’s age, and what is your perception of his or her readiness level? Children under 7 who have not had overnight experiences may do better with a day camp as their first camp experience. If you think your child might not be ready for an overnight camp experience, consider the day camp experience to prepare him or her for future overnight camp. How did your child become interested in camp? Does your child talk about camp on a sustained basis? How much persuasion is necessary from you? Has your child had positive overnight experiences away from home? Visiting relatives or friends? Were these separations easy or difficult? What does your child expect to do at camp? Learning about the camp experience ahead of time allows you to create posi-
tive expectations. Are you able to share consistent and positive messages about camp? Your confidence in a positive experience will be contagious.
A Camp for Every Child—The Perfect Fit Camp can last for just a few days or stretch to all summer long. It’s well worth the trouble to investigate the variety of choices offered by camps before your child packs a backpack. These questions help you consider the options. Near or Far? Where do you want your child to go to camp? Locally or far away? While each camp experience has something unique to offer your child, this is an opportunity for families to assess what they value for their campers. BeneďŹ ts of Camp Nearby Easier to evaluate and visit
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JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016 Friends and family are likely familiar with camp Minimal travel costs Likely contact with classmates or children from same region Benefits of Camp Far Away More choices Different experiences, different geography, e.g., mountains or oceans—even different languages Promotes independence, particularly for early and late adolescent campers Diversity of campers Chance for family to visit and vacation at close of camp
Session Length Offers Another Choice Camps offer widely varying options to help parents and children reach their goals for summer fun and exploration. Talking with your child about the goals you both share helps determine which choice is right for you. Benefits of Short Sessions (onethree weeks) First-time or younger campers have a chance to learn new skills Bonds develop with other campers and staff Great exposure to camp experience with less expense Minimizes homesickness Benefits of Longer Sessions (fourtwelve weeks) Strong sense of belonging to camp community Chance to learn new skills Development of specialized skills
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SUMMER CAMPS los angeles
MANHATTAN & BROOKLYN CAMPUSES!
filmmaking
Multiple opportunities for learning and enrichment Lifelong friendships Opportunities to contribute to camp culture
Boys Only, Girls Only, or Co-ed? Now may be the opportunity to explore the choices and benefits of all boys, all girls, or coed camps. Benefits of Single Sex Camps Breaking gender stereotypes—girls interact with women in position of authority and boys interact with men who act as nurturers More opportunities to “be yourself” without impressing or competing with the opposite sex Camp philosophy may be tuned into gender strengths and weaknesses Brother or sister camps may share activities Benefits of Co-ed Camps Breaking gender stereotypes—girls interact with
Chelsea Piers is home to 15 specialty sports camps for children and teens ages 3 to 17. For the past 20 summers, campers have enjoyed world-class facilities, expert instruction and the most exciting sports curriculum available- without leaving NYC! Camps include: Sports Academy (soccer, basketball, baseball & more), Elite Soccer, Basketball, Gymnastics, Golf, Performance Golf, Ice Hockey, Acceleration Hockey and Urban Adventure for teens (rock climbing, sailing, kayaking & more). For preschoolers, there are half-day Gymnastics and Ice Skating camps. Lunch is provided for all full-day campers. Transportation is available from major residential neighborhoods in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. An After-Care Program is offered from 4:30 – 6:00pm. Camps run June 20 through September 2, 2016. Campers may enroll for one, two or more weeks. Sign up by May 20th for Early Bird Pricing and save!
women in positions of authority and boys interact with men who act as nurturers Mirrors and prepares campers for everyday living in a coed world Allows families with a boy and a girl to attend the same camp Offers diverse points of view Breaks through rigid divisions set up in school when campers participate in equal footing
! Ages 13-18 ! Day or Residential ! 1-6 Week Camps
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new york city
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SUMMER CAMPS 2016
SESSION SESSION SESSION SESSION
NYC Residents Get
Learn a language abroad! EF’s fun and interactive language immersion courses offer students and adults the chance to explore 12 of the world’s greatest cities. Flexible length courses start every Monday allowing you to make guaranteed progress in your studies with EF’s innovative learning method and personalized classes. From springtime in Paris to summer in Singapore – the choice is yours. After class, get to know your destination through unique culture activities and weekend excursions. Catch a local football game in Madrid or learn German slang in Berlin as you work towards fluency in a new language. Reside with a screened local host family or stay at EF’s international residence. Summer Camp (ages 13-15), Language courses (16 to adult), and Gap Year Programs (16 and up) are available. Learn more at www.livethelanguage.com
1: 2: 3: 4:
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Benefits of Special Needs Camps Activities geared to campers’ abilities Knowledgeable staff with expertise to understand campers’ strengths and challenges Supportive and fun atmosphere to share with others For more information about child development and the camp experience, please visit our family-dedicated Web site, www.CampParents.org or call our toll-free number, 1-800428-CAMP (2267).
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THE WORLD IS WAITING LEARN A LANGUAGE ABROAD See the world, experience a new culture, make friends from 100 countries – and prepare for your global future. Start any Monday and study from two weeks to a whole year. t EF Summer Camp students 13-16 t &' -BOHVBHF $PVSTFT "CSPBE students 16 to adult t &' (BQ :FBS 1SPHSBNT students 16 to adult www.ef.com/language World Leader in International Education
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FIRST TIME AT CAMP? Prepping your kids for what to expect BOB DITTER
Sending your child away to camp for the first time is a major milestone for most families, one that is often marked by excitement, anticipation, and perhaps even some anxiety. Though camp is certainly about making friends and having fun, it is also about being on your own and being a part of a community. One of the most important things you as a parent can do to help prepare your child for both these aspects of camp is to talk with your child about it before he/she goes. In fact, it may be better to have several occasional, shorter talks rather than one long conversation as children often absorb more when there is less to think about at one time. I also find that children do better with this sort of conversation if it is part of a more general conversation and if it is part of a pattern of talking, either at the dinner table or while riding in the car doing errands. The following will help prepare your child emotionally for their big adventure:
60 years of experience The very best of 92Y’s renowned programs brought to the great outdoors daily.
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Sign up your child today!
Camp is not anything if it is not about making new friends. If you are shy about meeting new kids, then learn to get to know others by being a good listener. Remember also that not everyone in your cabin, bunk, or group has to be your friend, and you don’t have to be everyone else’s friend. As long as you treat others with respect and they do the same with you, then having one or two friends
at camp is fine. If you have more, then that’s great!
Activities There are many exciting things to do at camp, many of which you may never have tried before. If your child tends to be a bit homesick or worried about being homesick, remind him/ her about the excitement of going to camp: Remember, when you first decided to go to camp, what made you so excited? You may not like all the activities, or you may be better at some than others. That’s normal. I, however, hope you are willing to try. The more you put into camp, the more you will get out of it!
Cooperating You, like every other camper there, will be part of a cabin, bunk, or group. As your parent, I hope you will cooperate with others and help out. That’s part of what makes camp so special — kids helping each other out. Most kids will help you if you are friendly and help them. Give yourself time. One thing about camp is that almost everything is new — the kids, the activities, the routines, the bed you sleep in, the bathroom. It takes a few days to get adjusted, so be patient with yourself. Most of the time you will be having so much fun you won’t mind all the changes, but if you do, remember that you will get so used to things that by the time you come home you will miss all those things!
Helping out Camp is about fun, but it also requires that you help out. Clean-up is part of camp. You do it every day! As your parent, I hope you will cooperate!
Getting help Everyone has good days and
bad days. If you are having a problem, your counselor is there to help you! You don’t have to wait to tell us if you are upset about something. After all, if your counselor doesn’t know what might be troubling you, he/she can’t help you. Be honest and ask for what you need. If your counselor doesn’t seem to be concerned or doesn’t help you, then you can go to the unit director, head counselor, etc. Parents should know who these “back-up persons” are and how their child will recognize them if they need to.
Being positive It’s a great thing to remind your first-time camper about his or her strong points. I would focus not just on what they do well, but their positive qualities as well, such as what makes them a good friend or the type of person other kids would want to know. Helping children identify their strengths can help them when they are having a setback — one of those inevitable growing pains all children have from time to time. Talking with your child about these kinds of issues is a great way to show support as your child gets ready to take this important step on the road to being more resilient and selfreliant. For you as a parent, it can give you more peace of mind as you allow your child to participate safely in a broader world. Bob Ditter is a child and family therapist living in Boston who consults extensively with people who work with children. Originally printed in CAMP Magazine, reprinted by permission of the American Camp Association
JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
SWIM
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SPORTS
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REGISTRATION OPEN. CAMP STARTS JUNE 29! UPPER EAST SIDE
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asphaltgreen.org • 212.298.7900
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JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
Asphalt Green Summer Day Camp 2016 Get ready for the best summer ever!
CAMP PEMBROKE -- FOR GIRLS Camp Pembroke welcomes girls 8-16 to spirited, Jewish sisterhood near Cape Cod! Give your daughter an outstanding, independent Jewish camp – and a special world just for girls. Since 1935, Camp Pembroke is New England’s only such camp, ďŹ lled with fun, sun, visual arts, performance, sports, and Jewish living, and totally devoted to nurturing and empowering each young woman. Girls gain the freedom and self-conďŹ dence to be themselves, try new things, and cheer on others – on the water, ďŹ eld, court, and stage. Specialty programs include horseback riding, ice skating, and golf. New for 2016: two-week option! We are one of three Cohen Camps, led by three generations of steadfast family leadership, and capped by Dor L’Dor, an Israel leadership program for Cohen Camps teens. Sibling discounts and ďŹ rst-time camper grants available. ACA-accredited. Kosher. Tours all year. Just south of Boston; 4 hours from NYC. Airport pickup available. Learn s’more: CampPembroke.org 781.489.2070
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The School of Creative & Performing Arts (SOCAPA) offers teens ages 13-18 summer intensives in Filmmaking, Acting, Music, Dance, Photography and Screenwriting with exible course-lengths of one to three weeks. SOCAPA gives students who join us from across the country and around the world the opportunity to learn and grow as artists. Campers of all experience levels are challenged to advance their craft through hands-on learning with teachers who are leaders in their ďŹ elds. Our campuses in New York City, California, and Vermont each give students a unique experience of learning with other artists in a state-of-the-art setting. Along with the hard work of students and staff comes the best of summer—SOCAPA schedules activities each night and weekend to give students the chance to enjoy time with friends and the wonderful sites surrounding our campuses. Please join us this summer!
800.718.2787 ibidPREP’s Brain Camps are a fun way to keep your students’ minds active and engaged during the summer months. Our classroom camps pepper kids with riddles, games and other mental challenges that teach them how to read better, think laterally and Remain Clam! under time and test situations. For older students, we offer SHSAT Intensive Summer Courses in addition to our Spring/Fall and Fall Intensive SHSAT Courses. All students are also invited to sign-up for our special one-onone summer packs. Skype sessions are always available - so take your tutor with you to the beach, mountains or on that European vacation!!
2328 Broadway at 84th/85th Sts. 212.787.0374 | info@ibidprep.com | ibidprep.com
socapa.org
Middlebury Interactive’s Summer Language Academy for rising 8th-12th grade students is the perfect opportunity for teens to gain tangible language skills in Spanish, French, Chinese, German or Arabic. With locations in Vermont and three abroad in Beijing, Granada and Quebec City, the Academy offers a full-immersion environment for teens. Students speak their target language 24/7 throughout the four-week program, resulting in tremendous language acceleration. The Language Academy is an enriching summer program for motivated students who want to accelerate their language skills, while enjoying a pre-college summer camp experience with other like-minded teens. Besides language growth students will make lifelong friends, gain maturity and independence and become prepared for college and beyond. Whether you are an absolute beginner or advanced language speaker, you will dramatically improve your language skills at the summer Language Academy. Visit middleburyinteractive. com to learn more about this unique summer experience or to apply today.
CAMP RAMAQUOIS Camp Ramaquois, “A day camp as complete as sleep-away campâ€?, situated on 44 acres in nearby Rockland County. Only 30 minutes from the George Washington Bridge, via the Palisades Parkway. From adventurous activities to creative arts to athletic activities, boys & girls, ages 3-15 experience a traditional day camp program ďŹ lled with a variety of stimulating activities. Facilities include group bunks, a 5-acre crystalline lake, 9 heated swimming pools, a splash park, aerial adventure park, tennis, basketball, volleyball & pickle ball courts, hockey rinks, ball ďŹ elds, soccer ďŹ elds, nature area with petting zoo, horseback riding, special events & much more. Optional Adventure Trip Program for grades 3-10. 10th Grade Leadership Program. Many air-conditioned buildings Ramaquois is a magical camp where children experience a sense of adventure, meet new challenges, create wonderful memories and make lasting friendships. Tuition includes Air-Conditioned Door-to-Door Mini School Bus Transportation, Hot Lunch (Nut Aware), Towel Service, 2 Camp Shirts, Snack, Camp DVD & Group Photo.
Visit us at www.ramaquois.com or call 845-354-1600 for a personal tour. Accredited Camp, American Camping Association.
JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
Dear Parents and Guardians, The Vanderbilt YMCA welcomes all of our returning and new campers to our 2016 Summer Camp Programs. We are excited to embark on another summer of fun and learning with you and your children. From sports and swimming to arts and culture, Vanderbilt Y camps span a broad range of interests, while focusing on developing young minds and bodies. In 2015, the YMCA of Greater New York served over 12,000 campers in communities throughout New York City. We are proud that in Midtown East, the Vanderbilt YMCA is able to engage your child in a summer of new friendships, skills and exploration. Thank you for choosing our Y summer camp. We look forward to getting to know your camper! Sincerely, Robin Nathaniel Summer Camp Director YMCA of Greater New York Vanderbilt YMCA 224 East 47th Street New York, NY 10017 Phone (212) 912-2500 Direct (212) 912-2559 Fax (212) 755-7579 rnathaniel@ymcanyc.org www.ymcanc.org/vanderbilt
Dwight Summer Camp “ignites the spark of genius in every camper!â€? With a wide range of age-appropriate and customizable programs, Dwight offers fun, creative, action-packed activities and adventures for children ages 4-12. Campers make friends and enjoy well-rounded experiences in sports, the visual and performing arts, technology, and more. Campers can focus on one specialty in Spark Camps to develop a passion or ďŹ nd a new one. With daily swim instruction, great trips, theme days/weeks, and color war, the fun never ends! Choose from one to ten-week sessions; mix and match Spark Camps with Day Camp weeks to customize the experience for your camper. The more weeks your child attends, the more you save. Chaperoned bus transportation above 59th Street and below 125th Street on the East and West Sides of Manhattan is available, along with extended day options. Register at www.dwightsummercamp.org with code NEWS16 to receive a 10% discount.
Dwight Summer Camp 'JSTU "WFOVF /FX :PSL /: t 1IPOF &NBJM EJSFDUPS!EXJHIUTVNNFSDBNQ PSH t XXX EXJHIUTVNNFSDBNQ PSH
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Bernie Wohl Center Camp (647 Columbus Avenue) offers 3 core activities: Yoga, Chess and Storytelling plus a variety of electives. Ages 6-10. Two sessions: 7/5/16-7/29/16 and 8/1/16-8/18/16. Sliding Scale Fees $750-$2,000; Info: 212-799-9400; mashe@goddard.org. Beacon Camp (154 W 93rd Street) offers youth activities in the performing arts, visual arts, STEM, business and sports. Community service stressed. Incoming 8th graders receive SHSAT exam prep and help with art portfolios for HS. Grades 6-9/Ages 11-14. 7/5/16-8/18/16. FREE. Info: 212-866-0009 or beacon@goddard.org. Performing Arts Camp (26 West 84th Street-*pick up application at 647 Columbus Ave*) will offer an exciting program of dance, vocals, music and theater arts. Local theater trips, sports, and outdoor activities included. Ages 8-13. One session, 7/5/16-8/18/16. Sliding Scale Fees $750-$2,000; Info: 212-799-9400; mashe@goddard.org.
647 Columbus Avenue 212.799.9400 http://www.goddard.org/
Located in coastal Connecticut, on 700 wooded acres surrounding a mile long private lake, Incarnation Camp is the country’s oldest co-ed camp. Since 1886, we have provided a fun-ďŹ lled, traditional camp with hands-on learning and group living in the great outdoors. Our camps are amazing places to spend your summers – there is nothing quite like the bonds you build with your camp friends as you experience the adventures of summertime together. Campers participate in well-rounded and adventurous programs that develop an appreciation for nature and celebrate the uniqueness of each individual.
THE A.C.T. SUMMER CAMPS The A.C.T. Summer camp is one of the few in the ďŹ ve boroughs where campers enjoy spacious grounds, extensive indoor and outdoor facilities, an eight-week program, extended hours, themebased programming and a diverse community. Engaging ACTivities include trips, arts & crafts, sports, performances and entertainment. No need to bus your child away from your neighborhood for sun, shady trees and open spaces! Centrally located near public transportation, our 11-acre oasis in Manhattan brings the country to the city and allows children to: t (BSEFO NFFU PO UIF MBXOT QMBZ PVUEPPST t &BU VOEFS UIF TIBEF PG NBQMF USFFT BOE FOKPZ TOBDLJOH BU PVS DBOUFFO t 1MBZ JO UXP HZNOBTJVNT UXP PVUEPPS QMBZHSPVOET BO JOEPPS BSFOB BOE (B(B #BMM 1JU t $SFBUF BSU JO PVS TUVEJPT XIJDI BSF MP cated in various locations on the 11 acre property of The Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Call for a Tour & Brochure 212.316.7530 www.actprograms.org
Each year, Interlochen Arts Camp hosts 2,500 international students who come to study music, theatre, visual arts, creative writing, motion picture arts, and dance in the Michigan sun. The sprawling 1,200 acre campus includes 120 cabins, three cafeterias, two sandy freshwater lakes and over a dozen performance venues. Campers learn from amazing guest artists and industry-seasoned educators, and, working and living in age-appropriate divisions, they create projects with other students who share their passion for the arts. While at Interlochen, campers participate in and enjoy performances, concerts, readings and art exhibitions each week, and participate in traditional camp activities like swimming, canoeing, team games and crafts. With no classes on Monday afternoons, offcampus ďŹ eld trips to sights like the Sleeping Bear Dunes are camper favorites. Getting ready to start its 89th summer, Interlochen Arts Camp is a place to build friendships, create memories and ignite a lifelong passion for the arts.
campinterlochen.org
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SUMMER CAMP WHERE KIDS GO TO GROW Summer is growing season at YMCA Camp. Kids develop core values, learn new skills, make new friends and have loads of fun in the process. Register for Vanderbilt Y Day Camp today. It’s where kids grow as much on the inside as they’re growing on the outside. We offer a variety of day camp programs for youth. Programs are offered at the Vanderbilt Y, located at 224 East 47th Street, New York; and the Julia Richman Complex at 317 East 67th Street, New York.
QUESTIONS? Robin Nathaniel | rnathaniel@ymcanyc.org | 212.912.2559 Lisa Garcia | lgarcia@ymcanyc.org | 212.912.2520
CAMPS OFFERED EARLY CHILDHOOD CAMP Ages 2-4 KINDER CAMP Ages 4-5 TRADITIONAL DAY CAMP Ages 5-11 TEEN CAMP Ages 12-14 LEADERSHIP TRAINING CAMP Ages 15-17 BASKETBALL CAMP Ages 9-11 DANCE CAMP Ages 6-8 SWIM CAMP Ages 5-11 SPORT CAMP Ages 5-11 For dates, rates and full descriptions of our camps, please view our Day Camp Guide.
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JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
Voices
Write to us: To share your thoughts and comments go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a letter to the editor.
My Story
EAST SIDE ENCOUNTERS
RIDING DOWN THE AVENUE BY ARLENE KAYATT
Cold case - still waiting: Full House Antiques on 3rd/80th may be long gone and replaced by City Row (there’s a big turnover at this corner space), but its trail of unhappy local customers still remains. In the February 18, 2014 issue of Our Town, it was reported how Full House Antiques, a high-end furniture consignment shop, closed without either returning clients’ merchandise or splitting the proceeds of any sale, and how one customer received notice that his belongings were in a warehouse somewhere in Riverdale. No address was given. It’s now two years later and still no resolution - no furniture, no proceeds. At the time, the property’s landlord, David Kriss, said that the co-owner of the store suffered quadruple bypass heart surgery and couldn’t keep up the high rent. Mr. Kriss advised that those concerned about their property contact the Dept of Consumer Affairs. Not very helpful, Mr. Kriss. Customers don’t get damages from Consumer Affairs and there’s no more business. After the Our Town article appeared, Win Robins, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, wrote to the paper (the letter was published in October 2014), that he, too, was ripped off. Still nothing happened. Maybe the property’s landlord has a real resolution - besides going to the Dept of Consumer Affairs - for local customers who suffered losses because one of his tenants walked away from his obligations. Something old is news to me: Just seeing the name brought back pleasant memories. Dempsey & Carroll - that venerable stationery store for fine personalized engraved stationery -- is alive and well on Lex/7576. The East 57th store is long
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
gone and now home to Jacques Torres aka Mr. Chocolate. The Lexington Avenue location may not be new but I first noticed it when I was riding downtown on the M101. Quite honestly, I’m not too unhappy that it’s no longer de rigueur to have engraved Crane’s ivory letterhead stationery. But it’s nice to know that Dempsey & Carroll’s is still here. And to remember the days when it mattered. Staples just doesn’t do it. Hot water blues: Corner Café, 3rd /92nd, has been, or at least was, doubling take-out cups for tea. Sounds good because the cups are sometimes too hot to handle when filled with hot water waiting for a tea bag. However, as Clare Booth Luce, Oscar Wilde, or my ex-husband might opine, “No good deed goes unpunished.” In its effort to protect the public from too-hot water in a single cup, the café put the tea bag between the cups. Too bad the string isn’t long enough to insert the tea bag into the hot water without removing it from between the cups. Trust me, trying to remove the tea bag while holding or putting the cup down would be calamitous. What came to mind was the 1990’s McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit when a 79-year-old woman suffered third-degree burns scalding her thighs and other parts of her lower body when she accidentally spilled hot coffee in her lap while in the passenger seat of her grandson’s car, which didn’t have cup holders. The incident led to all kinds of arguments about what temperature is too hot for water; whether the business owner should raise or lower the temperature. I’ll stick to the double cup/tea bag problem. Keep the double cup double and keep the tea bag separate. A two-handed transaction. And a good deed won’t get punished. Looking up: Riding the bus down 5th Avenue - or any other avenue or cross street - is not an inspiring experience. On 5th Ave, however, if you look to your left you’ll see the towering buildings. If you look to your right, there’s NY’s jewel, Central Park. If you would
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like some inspiration on this bus route - M1, 2, 3, 4 - when the bus approaches the stop at 65th and 5th, look to your left at the building at 838 5th, opposite Temple Emanu-El on the southeast corner. The 11-story limestone building, a condo since 1999, has inscribed on its facade, starting on the 65th Street side and ending on 5th Avenue the words: DO JUSTICE LOVE MERCY WALK HUMBLY WITH THY GOD LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF. No quotations. No commas. No periods. No exclamations. Just words to live by. 838 5th was built with 10 stories in the 1950’s for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and was known as The House of Living Judaism. Hence, the inscription. When the office building was converted to a condo, it gained a story or two. Without knowing the history of the building, it seemed odd that a luxury residential condo building on 5th Ave would have this kind of inscription on its facade without the condo board weighing in. Unless, of course, the inscription was grandfather-ed or landmarked in. Or Hashem trumped the condo board. When take-out’s a no no: The delightful new Fika on Lex/8990 is a great addition to this Upper East Side block. Part of a Scandinavian restaurant chain, it has an excellent brew of coffee - at $2.50 a cup with refills, it can’t be beat. In Sweden, “fika” means ‘having a coffee break.’ Here you can have it with fresh pastry, a sandwich, salad, or one of the daily or weekly soups. Fika encourages calling ahead to find out the choices. Fika’s spiffy, simple, clean, and very welcoming. One gripe. A staffer was having a coffee break behind the counter with food from the outside. I doubt that’s what the Fika brand has in mind for coffee breaks. Staffers should either eat what’s in house or take a fika elsewhere. Arlene Kayatt’s East Side Encounters runs bi-weekly in Our Town. Know of something she should include in the column? Email her at news@strausnews.com
Associate Publishers Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth Regional Sales Manager Tania Cade
HELPING WITH THE BIG DIG BY BETTE DEWING
About those “worth a thousand words” photos, well much as I love the look of snow, and “nature appreciation,” it’s not those scenes we need to “get out” there nearly as much as people helping others in this Big Snow and now the massive dig out. (Of course we need photos of people helping people in general and not only in emergency situations.) My neighbors Susan E. and Susan S. photographed this all too typical one man “dig out” - removing a veritable mountain of snow from his car parked on East End Avenue. Four hours later, there’s still a way to go.
Gristedes always helps out And you think of all the able-bodied people living all around him and how we are so conditioned not to offer a helping hand. Susan E. also photographed Gristedes longtime comanager Joe shoveling out the 81st and East End crosswalk entrances. I might add that Joe and comanager, Ellen, and other longtime staff, always go the second mile for their customers and the neighborhood. And as most locals know, the six-story rental apartment building which also houses an open for breakfast, lunch and dinner restaurant, has been sold…if ever protests were needed to stop what many of us feel are unnatural disasters, disastrously affecting all five boroughs but especially the Upper East Side with the advent of a Second Avenue Subway.
Kids help with the dig-out etcetera Sort of got sidetracked, didn’t I, but it’s always on my mind, along with the employees of the endangered small stores and eateries which meet our everyday needs. But to stay with the shared Big Snow dig-out, I have a dream where say, those early teen boys who do skateboard stunts on the sidewalk instead of the park, would pick up a shovel and help the great dig out. Say, such thoughtful actions might help their acceptance at the school of their choice. But that’s rather cynical when so little in today’s culture is about “helping one another,” and so overwhelmingly much is about “selfie” devices and devotions. Dare I also say “sports”?
Emergency quarters needed Again, I got sidetracked, but it does relate. And during the storm I was reminded how most apartment house staff members don’t live in Manhattan, and how their work places should have comfortable
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quarters for them to bunk in times of need. These people who do so much to make life safe, secure and neighborly for their residents, especially, but not only elder ones living alone, could not be more deserving. This also applies to those who have long worked, but don’t live in the nabe, like home-care workers and housekeepers, and longtime neighborhood store staffs like those at East End Gristedes – quarters might be found for them as well.
Lessons for everyday times I might add that the Big Storm made many TV stations fit to watch, you get the picture. And there are so many lessons for everyday times to adopt. Maybe first, we must remind the electeds and wannabees about neighbors helping one another so basic a need, and not only in emergency times. (Their most needed emergency advice did speak to that). I’d vote for anyone who… And those related photos need to get out there. It can be done if enough of us try. dewingbetter@aol.com
Block Mayors Ann Morris, Upper West Side Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side
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Our T Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
DENIM THROUGH THE AGES The Museum at FIT traces its history, from work pants to the runways BY VAL CASTRONOVO
WHAT: “Denim: Fashion’s Frontier” WHERE: The Museum at FIT, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street WHEN: through May 7 www.fitnyc.edu/museum/
Claire McCardell, “Popover” dress, denim, 1942, denim, 1942, USA, gift of Bessie Susteric for the McCardell Show. Photograph courtesy of The Museum at FIT.
In 2000, Time Magazine crowned Levi’s 501 blue jeans the “Fashion Item j of the 20th Century.” The sturdy denim fabric, a cotton twill textile, has clothed California gold rush miners, prisoners, cowboys, sailors, actors, hippies, presidents (remember Barack Obama in “mom jeans”?), Brooke Shields j and, hilariously, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake on the red carpet at the 2001 American Music Awards. “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing,” a 15-year-old Shields purred in that racy Calvin Klein ad in 1980. Klein was matterof-fact about the campaign: “Jeans are sex,” he said. “The tighter they are, the better they sell.” The ad appears on a small video screen here and, along with the famous jingle for Jordache Jeans j (“You’ve Got The Look”), functions as a kind of white noise at this very blue show, “Denim: Fashion’s Frontier.” The exhibit pays homage to the ubiquitous fabric’s history, while underscoring its high-fashion appeal and endless capacity for reinvention. “It is not just a history of blue jeans,” curator Emma McClendon said in an email, referring to the textile’s versatility. Inspired by research for a recent show on ‘70s fashion, when denim ruled, McClendon opens with a pair of classic Levi Strauss 501s from the ‘50s — the style of the company’s original,
patented, five-pocket riveted denim “work pants” from 1873—and concludes with couture riffs, such as Tom Ford’s $3000 feathered trousers for Gucci and Junya Watanabe’s evening gown for Comme des Garçons. In between there’s a decade-by-decade parade of cultural markers in the form of work shirts, walking suits, jackets, vests, uniforms, poodle skirts, jumpsuits, leisure suits, embroidered jeans, patched jeans, distressed jeans, bleached jeans, stonewashed jeans, photo-printed jeans, tight jeans, baggy jeans, short jeans, flared jeans, and denim bathing suits and clogs. Name a historical period from roughly the mid-19th century on and denim was there, adapting to, and reflecting, the times. McClendon, author of a forthcoming book on the subject due out in April, presents more than 70 outfits that reflect on the culture and symbolize aspirations, some lofty, some not. “One detail I hope visitors remember is that denim did not begin as a menswear textile only, and has in fact appeared in women’s clothing since the 19th century,” she said, referring to the 1850 woman’s work jacket at the beginning of the show. Fast-forward to the next century and to the war effort in the 1940s when some three million women went to work in factories and shipyards and wore denim jumpsuits (cue “Rosie the Riveter”). American designer Claire McCardell created the sensible “Popover” dress in 1942 for fashionable stay-at-homes, who did their own house-
Comme des Garçons (Junya Watanabe), dress, repurposed denim, spring 2002, Japan, museum purchase. Photograph by William Palmer. work and needed a practical, durable garment. The dress, with oven mitt for Mom, was advertised in “Harper’s Bazaar” with the slogan, “I’m doing my own work.” See it here. In the ‘50s, denim came to symbolize rebellion and delinquency — think Marlon Brando in “The Wild One” and James Dean in “Rebel Without A Cause.” Many school districts banned jeans as a consequence, and the industry responded with the formation of The Denim Council, which produced ads (“Right for School”) to counter the negative stereotype. In the next decade, denim was embraced by the counterculture, becoming an emblem of the hippies, who wore bell-bottomed “preowned” jeans with hand embellishments and antiestablishment defiance. The fabric morphed in succeeding years, representing the culture of consumerism (enter designer labels), punk, hip-hop,
prison, gang and luxury — more of it, in the 2000s. One of the most important developments in the industry over the last 30 years, the curator said, has been the introduction of “finishing” treatments (stonewashing, acid-washing, distressing and the like) and the subsequent “environmental fallout of these processes during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and then the search for more sustainable ways to create the same effects (through the use of lasers, ozone gas, etc.) in the 21st century.” Two of McClendon’s favorite pieces from the show: “Two pairs of jeans given to the museum by Francois Girbaud. One pair dates to approximately 1985, and the other is from about 2010. The earlier pair is stonewashed — a technique Girbaud was known for pioneering in the 1980s. The later pair is distressed with a laser.” Anthropologists Daniel Miller and Sophie Woodward have posited that almost half the population is wearing jeans each day. But the popularity of athleisure (sports wear that doubles as leisure wear) begs the question: Can denim survive the competition? The curator acknowledged the “challenge” for the domestic market, but maintains, “Denim has a cultural legacy … which athleisure cannot compete with. I also think denim has a global reach far beyond athleisure, to virtually every country and culture in the world.” Her hope is that visitors “will see both pieces they recognize and relate to, but also be surprised and learn something new.”
5 TOP
JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org
FOR THE WEEK BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO OUR ARTS EDITOR
GALLERIES
“AMERICA: THE LEGACY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLIC SERVICE”
MUSIC
MUSEUMS
ARTURO O’FARRILL AND THE AFRO LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA
PETER FISCHLI DAVID WEISS: HOW TO WORK BETTER
Led by pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill, the son of composer Chico O’Farrill, the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra debuts new compositions by O’Farrill, the orchestra’s founder, in tribute to the many musicians whose names might not sell tickets but who helped make music with celebrated Latin jazz artists. Jan. 29-30 Symphony Space Peter Jay Sharp Theatre 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street 8 p.m. Tickets $20-$40 To purchase tickets, call 212-864-5400 or visit symphonyspace.org
The retrospective of the joint work of Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss, who started creating together in 1979, reveals how the pair explored common elements of daily life. Included in the presentation of more than 300 sculptures, videos and other works is the early “Sausage Series,” a collection of artfully-composed photographs of deli meat. Feb. 5-April 20 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum 1071 Fifth Ave., near 89th Street Museum hours: Sunday-Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.7:45 p.m. Admission $25 For more information, call 212-423-3500 or visit guggenheim.org
Bang on a Can’s series at the Jewish Museum continues as Mivos Quartet performs works by composer Steve Reich. The performance includes Reich’s “Different Trains,” which was inspired by his repeated cross-country train trips many decades earlier to visit his parents during World War II. The Mivos Quartet Thursday, Feb. 4 Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Ave., at 92nd Street 7:30 p.m. Tickets $18 For more information, call 212-423-3337 or visit thejewishmuseum.org
NEW YORK CITY
Friday Focus—William Ivins’s Legacy in Prints
FRIDAY, JANUARY 29TH, 4PM Metropolitan Museum | 1000 Fifth Ave. | 212-535-7710 | metmuseum.org Gain appreciation for William Ivins, the curator who created the Met’s Department of Prints, in this lecture about the man and the development of his collecting style over the decades.(Free with museum admission)
Washington National Opera: Lost in the Stars by Kurt Weill
Curated by the NYC Parks Ebony Society, “America: The Legacy of African American Public Service,” includes the work of 14 artists, with pieces that range from textiles to photography, and features a selection of comic books that depict civil rights leaders as superheroes. “America: The Legacy of African American Public Service” Now through Feb. 26 Arsenal Gallery Central Park Fifth Avenue at 64th Street, 3rd floor Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. FREE For more information, call 212-360-8163 or visit http://www.nycgovparks.org/art-and-antiquities/ arsenal-gallery
THE MIVOS QUARTET
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THEATER “YOU ARE PERFECT” In White Horse Theater Company’s “You Are Perfect” about Charles Manson follower Susan Atkins, Atkins sits in her jail cell during the murder trial, struggling with whether or not to testify against her leader. Feb. 5-20 312 West 36th St., near Eighth Avenue Assorted show times To be included in the Top 5 go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 31ST, 7:30PM Guggenheim Museum | 1071 Fifth Ave. | 212-423-3500 | guggenheim.org Lose yourself in Lost in the Stars, and some of Kurt Weill’s most haunting music, in this performance of excerpts from the musical by the Washington National Opera, accompanied by remarks from the director and the cast. ($40)
Just Announced | Secret Science Club North: What’s That Smell?
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH, 7:30PM Symphony Space | 2537 Broadway | 212-864-1414 | symphonyspace.org Regular subway riders probably will not be shocked to discover that humans can perceive more than a trillion different scents. Neuroscientist Leslie Vosshall explains how she discovered this number (it’s far more than previously thought) and runs down the latest in smell knowledge. ($20)
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
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Lords Prayer and the Gloria Patri hymn — the ďŹ rst of which began the evening the doors to the nearly the 100-year-old Catholic church were locked shut by the Archdiocese of New York. Officially, Our Lady
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and it deserves the Department of City Planning’s serious and careful attention.� The Bauhouse Group, through a spokesperson, indicated it is unconcerned about the proposed zoning change. “We are moving forward with our project on an as-of-right basis and have already begun demolition,� said the company in a statement. “Our project will be nearing completion by the time any rezoning would be heard.� Kallos, however, said the process of rezoning a neighborhood, which can take as long as 18 months, can be shortened due to the support this particular proposal has in the city council. Both Garodnick and Kallos will be voting in favor of the plan, and votes in the city council typically sway towards the wishes of the city council member or members in whose
of Peace had merged with St. John the Evangelist Church, on East 55th Street, to create a brand new parish, with St. John’s designated the parish church. But the congregation has been steadfast in its efforts to reopen the church doors. McLaughlin likened the evening prayers to “a vigil.� A decision on the congregation’s appeal to the Vatican’s
Congregation for the Clergy, pushed back three times already, could come as early as mid-February. A cornerstone of the appeal has been a fundraiser, with parishioners trying to raise $500,000 by next month, an amount that would pay church expenses for 10 years, said Shane Dinneen, the president of Friends of Our Lady of Peace, the nonprofit administering
district a project or proposal is located. “We’re expecting broad support in the body,� said Kallos in an interview. “I’m hoping to see a neighborhood rezoning in the next couple months.� Kallos said progress now rests on how quickly they can get the Dept. of City Planning to certify the application. “That’s the only thing standing in the way,� he said. After that, the proposal would be subject to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, a public review process that gathers input from community residents, the local community board (CB6 in this case), and elected officials. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has indicated her support for the zoning proposal. According to Kallos, Bauhouse has to demolish by hand three buildings it bought at 428- 432 East 58th Street, which form the job site, due to concerns from Charles Fernandez, a resident of 426 East 58th
Street, that the work would damage his home. Kallos added that anything the developer does during construction that affects Fernandez’s building, which sits flush to 428 East 58th Street, would trigger a stop work order from the Dept. of Buildings. In addition, Kallos said, Bauhouse is still seeking investors to fund the project and even after the demolition is complete, the developer must dig a foundation that would support a building of that size and pour it. “And all of this somehow as the economy stays strong, funding doesn’t dry up and there’s somebody that wants to buy in a neighborhood that doesn’t want them,â€? he added. The Bau hou se Group’s spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions regarding the obstacles laid out by Kallos. More information on the East River Fifties Alliance can be found at www. eastriverďŹ ftiesalliance.com.
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS
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Eastsider
The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml. Hotel Carlyle Employee Cafeteria
35 East 76 Street
A
Hunter Deli
966 Lexington Avenue A
Pyramid Coffee Company
535 East 70 Street
A
Laduree
864 Madison Avenue
A
Maison Kayser
1294 3 Avenue
A
Crusty & Tasty Bagel
1323 2Nd Ave
A
B Cafe
240 East 75 Street
A
Subway
1427 York Ave
A
La Crosta Restaurant
436 East 72 Street
A
Bagel Bobs On York
1641 York Ave
Not Yet Graded - No violations were recorded at the initial nonoperational pre-permit inspection conducted on 01/06/2016, or violations cited were dismissed at an administrative hearing.
Beyoglu
200 East 81 Street
A
JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016 the fund. Nearly $400,000 has been collected so far, with Dinneen, a parishioner at the church for nine years, having contributed the first $250,000. The Archdiocese, as it did when it shuttered and merged dozens of churches in the city and across the region last summer, cited declining attendance, shifting demographics, financial constraints and a shortage of priests for the closure. Parishioners have disputed the Archdiocese’s rationale since November 2014, when the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, released a statement announcing the mergers. Dinneen and others have sent the Congregation for the Clergy, which has the power to rescind the Archdiocese’s decree, several volumes of documents, including financial records, in the hopes of persuading the Vatican that the Archdiocese acted without merit. “We know attendance is increasing,” Dinneen, citing what he said were audited collection figures, said of Our Lady of Peace. He and other parishioners have said the church has no debt and no liabilities. “The building is owned outright,” he said. “The parish didn’t cost the diocese anything.” Dinneen said the church, by way of the annual Cardinals Appeal, has in the last five years contributed more to the Archdiocese than it has received. “We’re not a burden on the
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com nion at Our Lady of Peace in 1959 and held funerals for her parents and one sister there. “Our Lady of Peace was more that than church for many of us; it’s also in its own way our memory book,” she said. Should the Congregation for the Clergy let the Archdiocese’s decree stand, the parishioners said they would challenge the Archdiocese’s decree before the Vatican’s Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Catholic Church’s highest judicial authority. A spokesman for the Archdiocese, Joseph Zwilling, said he could not discuss Our Lady of Peace’s appeal, but said Archdiocesan officials have been in touch with the Vatican. “We are responding to the appeals,” he said. “We are in the process of doing so.” For now, the Archdiocese has assured the church community that the building is being heated and otherwise cared for, Dinneen said. Dinneen, who said he would match further contributions toward the $500,000 goal, has attended services at a few other churches since Our Lady of Peace was closed, including, most recently at St. Francis Xavier Church, on West 16th Street. Although that parish has been welcoming, he said, “I still feel more at home on the steps of Our Lady of Peace.”
Archdiocese, we’re a resource for the Archdiocese,” he said. Despite the church’s closure, parishioners have continued their acts of mercy and other works, organizing a food drive, a coat collection and a toy giveaway. “We try to keep up with everything we did,” McLaughlin said following Friday’s rosary. On Sunday, dozens of parishioners commemorated the Jan. 24 Memorial Feast for Our Lady of Peace, one of the titles of Mary, the mother of Jesus, with a prayer service. They did so by teleconference. As on other special occasions since Our Lady of Peace was closed, parishioners asked the Archdiocese to open the church for the service. Archdiocesan officials, as they have several times since August, denied the request, parishioners said. (Officials did open the church earlier this month for a longtime parishioner’s funeral.) Jessica Bede, who has worshiped at Our Lady of Peace for more than 50 years, said the prayer services and the community works preserve the parish’s vibrancy and keep the congregation from being “splintered.” “That’s the kind of things we’ve done to bring the community together in prayerful resistance,” she said. “It’s helped us. It’s been rather rewarding.” Bede had her first commu-
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
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HARMONIC CONVERGENCE Crooners and rockers lay down tracks at Upper East Side recording studio BY ANGELA BARBUTI
Theresa Scotto never thought she would be running a music studio. But as fate would have it, her teenage daughter Gabriella started taking vocal lessons and, as Scotto sat waiting for her in the studio, she realized it would be the perfect setting for children’s birthday parties. Within just a few weeks, the company was running as a pop-up in Midtown. The response was overwhelming. “I would get calls every day. ‘My daughter can sing.’ ‘My son can play the drums. Do you have lessons?’” Scotto explained. “And the answer was always, ‘No,’ because I was just renting space.” That all changed after Charlie Walk, executive vice president of Republic Records, had Scotto host his daughter’s birthday party. “You need your own studio,” he told her. And with that, The Chord Club by Billboard was born. The state-of-the-art Upper East Side facility is complete with a recording studio. “The way I built it, Mariah Carey can come in and record an album. So this is a real, working studio. This not just a kiddie place,” Scotto explained. The studio is open to both children and adults, and offers everything from vocal coaching and DJ classes to drum lessons and songwrit-
ing instruction. Scotto still hosts her signature birthday parties, where kids are made to feel like real recording artists as they work with an engineer in the control booth and record a track using their own voices. She hadn’t anticipated that adults wanted in on all the fun too. “We’re getting a tremendous amount of interest now for adult parties, which we didn’t even factor in,” she said. They now throw not only birthday parties, but corporate team building events and bachelorette parties for that demographic. Besides the satisfaction she gets out of seeing her clients’ enthusiasm, Scotto finds joy in watching Gabriella learn the business alongside her. “I would have never been in this if it wasn’t for her. So on the nights that I’m working late, I do blame her for my being at the studio at 52 years old. But it’s all worth it.”
You started this business because of your daughter. At the time, Gabriella was 14 and she came to me one night and said, “I can sing. I want vocal lessons.” And my response was, “I’ve never heard you hum, nevertheless sing.” That year, I had done a benefit at her school, Sacred Heart, and someone had donated a recording session. So I contacted the girl who had given it, who’s a friend of mine, and she told me it was from a friend of her father who owns a studio on 26th and Park Avenue South. I
called him up and asked, “Can I bring her in and can you just tell me if she can sing? I don’t feel like spending money on lessons.” Long story short, I took her in and she came out, and he said, “She can sing.” So for seven weeks, I would take her to the studio once or twice a week and she would go into the booth and I would do my work. I’ve been selling corporate insurance for 25 years. One day, I said, “Imagine doing birthday parties for children in a recording studio.” I literally started it on a shoestring, and within three weeks, it was up and running. We called it Pop Star Parties. And we were sold out. So it’s all because of Gabriella. And she can sing. She writes her own music, performs at The Bitter End and wants to go to college for music.
How did your partnership with Billboard come about? Charlie put me in touch with Ian Behar, who is my partner now. And Ian is really quick when he thinks something is a good idea. So we met and he started looking for a space. In the interim, he happens to also be friends with the president of Billboard, John Amato, and we had all been out to dinner one night, and John heard what we were doing and was like, “This is such a great idea for Billboard to get their name out to the younger audience.”
Describe what goes on at a typical birthday party. For children who are seven and up,
Theresa Scotto runs an Upper East Side recording studio. Photo: Chris Macke we do a recording party. We give out welcome kits with VIP passes, glasses, glow rings. And then there’s a Step and Repeat that they take pictures in front of which has our logo and well as Billboard’s behind it. Our party counselors, we call them “Chord-inators,” take them into the recording studio. There’s an engineer in the control booth who works with them. They get headphones as if they were recording artists. We have dropdown screens so the words come down for them. They’re recording to a track, but it’s their own voices. And the birthday child gets to sing a solo. We have a great party space in the back where we can accommodate up to 80 people.
What’s the demographic of the adults who take classes there? We’re seeing that 29- to 42-year-old group come in with four to eight people and all do a class together. Then we’re seeing that younger market, which is more like 18 to 26. Everyone thinks they’re going to be the next Avicii. They’re coming in and they want to do this for a living. And the younger kids- the boys go crazy with the DJ-ing. And it’s so funny to see the difference. With the girls, it’s all about singing and with the boys, it’s all about DJ-ing and the Pro Tools.
Your husband Anthony Jr. owns Fresco by Scotto. What are the pros and cons to being the wife of a restaurant owner? We’re married 21 years, which, in this day and age, is pretty great. And we still really like each other. And we have two really cool kids, Anthony will be 20 in two weeks and Gabriella
will be 17 in April, who love to be with us. My husband Anthony works very long hours. He’s at the restaurant by 8 or 8:30 in the morning, and when he first opened, he would close and wasn’t home until 12 o’clock at night. So when we started having kids, one of the deals we made was that the kids and their schooling would fall on me. And it was my way or the highway. And he’s been really good with that. I’m sure there have been times when he wanted to question my decisions, but he never did. And I thank God that they turned out pretty good. But the business definitely has its pros and cons. It’s long hours, holidays. Christmas Eve it’s open; Thanksgiving it’s open. Fresco is a very well-known restaurant and he’s been there 23 years now. It’s a tough life, but Anthony loves the business. To me, he’s the best restauranteur there is in the city. It’s a lot of hours and a lot of being on. And you really have to love the business to be on that much. And he really does; it’s in his blood. It’s all he’s done since he’s 17 years old. The perks to being married to Anthony Scotto are pretty cool too because the restaurant is really well known. It’s a lot of good press because the restaurant is so great and they’re such a good family and he’s such a good guy. For more information, visit www. thechordclub.com
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JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3,2016
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