Princeton Magazine, Feb. 2015

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE

FEBRUARY 2015

P R I N C E T O N FA M I LY

FEBRUARY 2015

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DAVID REMNICK: THE NEW YORKER–PRINCETON CONNECTION SAVING ANIMALS AND AN HISTORIC HOME THE OLD PRINCETON HOSPITAL BAI DRINKS FOUNDERS BEN AND DANNA WEISS THE SOURLANDS: A PLACE OF REFUGE A WELL-DESIGNED LIFE

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CONTENTS

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..... HERE & THERE .....

..... FEATURES .....

BOOK SCENE

THE NEW YORKER–PRINCETON CONNECTION: DAVID REMNICK TALKS OF THE TOWN AND GOWN

BY STUART MITCHNER

Life, death, war, and The New Yorker

BY ELLEN GILBERT

The ties between Princeton and The New Yorker go way back

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ART SCENE

PRINCETON HOSPITAL: THE END OF AN ERA

BY LINDA ARNTZENIUS

BY ANNE LEVIN

Lambertville artist lends gravitas to Madam Secretary set

As the walls of Princeton’s old hospital come down, neighbors recall its place in the community

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR

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DINING GUIDE

BY ILENE DUBE

Bai beverage founders Ben and Danna Weiss 24

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THE SOURLANDS SHOPPING A well-designed life

A place of refuge at Princeton’s doorstep

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Resort wear 55

BY LINDA ARNTZENIUS

SAVING ANIMALS AND AN HISTORIC HOME BY GRETA CUYLER

The longtime Princeton animal shelter moves to Skillman 48

ON THE COVER: David Remnick photographed by Martin Schneider at The New Yorker Conference. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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FEBRUARY 2015 PUBLISHER J. Robert Hillier, FAIA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lynn Adams Smith CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jorge Naranjo ART DIRECTOR Jeffrey Edward Tryon GRAPHIC DESIGNER Matthew DiFalco

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Princeton Magazine is published 7 times a year with a circulation of 35,000. All rights reserved. Nothing herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher. To purchase PDF files or reprints, please call 609.924.5400 or e-mail melissa.bilyeu@witherspoonmediagroup.com. ©2015 Witherspoon Media Group

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| FROM THE editor

Princeton is such a literary town. Many successful writers have made it their home, due to the University or just because they want to live here. Our cover story, written by Ellen Gilbert, talks about the long history between The New Yorker and the Princeton community. It also includes an interview with The New Yorker’s editor, David Remnick. After graduating from Princeton, Remnick worked at the Washington Post before taking a job at The New Yorker in 1992. Remnick’s one time professor and long time friend, John McPhee, has been writing for The New Yorker since 1963. In past issues, we have featured McPhee, along with the magazine’s poetry editor Paul Muldoon and Jeffrey Eugenides, whose fiction appears in its pages. One of my favorite Princeton Magazine articles included a photo spread of Princeton homes that were once occupied by well-known authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and John O’Hara, who both wrote for The New Yorker. O’Hara published more stories in there than any other writer. The striking photo illustration on our cover was created by our Art Director Jeffrey Tryon. If you look closely at the buildings behind Remnick, you will see Nassau Hall and 1 World Trade Center. An interesting side note is that Condé Nast, the publishers of The New Yorker and other magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Architectural Digest, recently moved their headquarters to 1 World Trade Center, where staff members now have direct views of the 9/11 Memorial. Back in Princeton, we’ve all watched with amazement as the old Princeton Hospital has been torn down. The demolition has stirred up strong feelings in many people, and our feature article on the hospital will undoubtedly strike a sentimental cord for some. If you enjoyed reading Linda Arntzenius’s article on the Pine Barrens, be sure to check out her story on the Sourlands. As a hiker and nature lover, Linda has created an enthusiastic and informative feature packed with fun facts including the types of animals you will encounter, the names of boulders you can climb over, and the history of the area. You will also learn about the potential impact of the PennEast pipeline cutting through the heart of the Sourlands. Speaking of animals, Princeton’s long time animal shelter SAVE, is moving to Skillman this spring. SAVE acquired the James Van Zandt mansion and architect/dog lover Max Hayden oversaw the historical restoration and designed a bright and airy 10,000-square-foot shelter which sits next to the mansion. The property also includes a half-acre dog run providing plenty of functional space to exercise the dogs. The facility will be a huge improvement over the original property on Herrontown Road. This is a flip issue, so when you have finished reading the front of the magazine, flip it over to Princeton Family and learn about the Governor’s STEM Scholar program, Princeton Public Library’s multi-lingual story

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Photography by Jeffrey Tryon

Welcome to the first issue of Princeton Magazine in 2015.

time, the expansion of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and an interview with Brooke Shields, in which she discusses her new book, There Was a Little Girl, The Real Story of My Mother and Me. In closing, on behalf of the local merchants and artisans who participated in A Store by Princeton Magazine, I would like to thank all of the readers who purchased holiday gifts through our website. The online retail store is a permanent addition to our media company, with new products being added weekly. Princeton Magazine is looking forward to offering creative and fun gifts for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Graduation, Reunions and other special occasions. You can access the store from our website at www. princetonmagazine.com. Bob Hillier and I would like to thank you for all of your continued support and hope you enjoy this issue of Princeton Magazine.

Kind regards,

Lynn Adams Smith Editor-In-Chief

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(LEFT) Photo by Brigitte Lacombe (RIGHT) Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

1 World Trade Center

David Remnick

Talk of the Town and Gown “I have two words: John McPhee.” The New Yorker editor David Remnick’s (’81) explanation of what Princeton meant to him. BY ELLEN GILBERT

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(left) Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (right) Photo courtesy of Wikipedia (bottom) Photo courtesy of Daily Princetonian

Princeton University, Nassau Hall

“Y

our parents will remember your graduation almost as acutely, and with the same sense of wonder, as they remember the day you entered this world,” observed New Yorker editor David Remnick (’81) in his 2013 Class Day speech at Princeton University. “It’s an incredibly moving thing to see your child go into the word as a whole healthy person,” added the father of three. As proud as they were at the time, Remnick’s own parents apparently had to adjust their thinking after he entered Princeton. “I majored in comparative literature — what my father insisted on calling ‘fancy English,’” Remnick recalled in his Class Day comments. “My mother, anticipating a doctor or a lawyer in the family, announced, in her disappointment, that I would now surely be able to open a ‘comparative literature store.’” When you think about it, that’s not a bad description of The New Yorker, and Remnick’s mom might be reassured by the number of distinguished writers and artists like her son and his mentor, John McPhee, who have ties to both Princeton and The New Yorker, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this month. McPhee

Pulitzer-Prize-winning author John McPhee, who has been a New Yorker staff writer since 1963, was born in Princeton in 1931 and still lives here.

John McPhee

He graduated from Princeton in 1953, and is currently Ferris Professor of Journalism. “I grew up all over campus,” McPhee told Paris Review’s Peter Hessler. “I knew the location of every urinal and every pool table.” “A Sense of Where You Are,” McPhee’s first New Yorker profile, appeared on January 23, 1963 and was about, not surprisingly, a Princeton-centric subject: Princeton University basketball star and future senator Bill Bradley. A book-length version with the same title appeared two years later. Hessler points out that that first book “seemed to free McPhee. . . even as he continued to live in his hometown,” and, to be sure, McPhee’s subjects and locations since then have ranged far and wide. His 30 books—many of which originated as New Yorker essays—include Oranges (1967), Coming into the Country (1977), The Control of Nature (1989), and Silk Parachute (2011). Encounters with the Archdruid (1972) and The Curve of Binding Energy (1974) were nominated for National Book Awards in the category of science. McPhee received the Award in Literature from the Academy of Arts and Letters in 1977. In 1999, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Annals of the Former World. Literary Lights

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was from the class of 1917, and his papers—all 44 linear feet, 89 archival boxes, and 11 oversize containers of them—are housed in Firestone Library. His ties to The New Yorker are a little more tentative than some. “Fitzgerald’s work did not always meet with rejection

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(this page) Images courtesy of Condé Nast

from The New Yorker’s editors: between 1929 and 1937, he published three short stories and two poems in our pages,” the magazine reported in 2012. “The stories were brief and humorous in nature.” There’s more, though: the occasion for the 2012 look back at Fitzgerald’s contributions to the magazine was the publication of a recently discovered story he had written in 1936, “Thank You For the Light.” In his essay “My Lost City,” Fitzgerald remembers former classmate Edmund Wilson as “the shy little scholar of Holder Court.” Wilson (1895-1972) graduated in 1916 and later became a New Yorker staff writer. An early poem, “Disloyal Lines to Alumnus,” accepted by New Yorker editor Katherine Angell White, improvised on his Princeton experience: I, too, have faked the glamor of gray towers, I, too, have sung the ease of sultry hours — Deep woods, sweet lanes, wide playing fields, smooth ponds. Over his long, distinguished career, Wilson wrote for Vanity Fair, helped edit The New Republic, served as chief book critic for The New Yorker, and was a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. The author of more than 20 books, he was eulogized by Isaiah Berlin as “the most important critic of the twentieth century,” and writer Philip Lopate quotes New Yorker editor William Shawn describing Wilson’s prose as “’one of the half-dozen best expository and critical styles in the history of English.’” In a 2005 piece in—where else? —The New Yorker, Louis Menand described Wilson’s career as being based on the belief “that an educated, intelligent person can take on any subject that seems interesting and important, and, by doing the homework and taking care with the exposition, make it interesting and important to other people.” Menand quotes

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Wilson as saying that to “write what you are interested in writing and to succeed in getting editors to pay for it, is a feat that may require pretty close calculation and a good deal of ingenuity.” It’s probably no coincidence that writer John O’Hara (1905-1970) spent the latter part of his life in Princeton and is buried there. Fitzgerald-worship began early for O’Hara; he read This Side of Paradise as a teenager, and the first of his many short stories for the magazine began to appear in 1928 when he was only 23 years old. Brendan Gill, who worked with O’Hara at The New Yorker, ranks him as “among the greatest short-story writers in English, or in any other language,” and credits him with helping “to invent what the world came to call the New Yorker short story.” Alumni/Staff Writers

Writer John Brooks (’42) was a longtime contributor to The New Yorker who specialized in financial topics. Bill Gates called Business Adventures, a compilation of 12 of Brooks’s New Yorker stories published in 1969, his favorite business book (and claimed it was Warren Buffett’s favorite business book, too). Writing about Brooks, who died in 1993, New Yorker archivist Joshua Rothman notes that “he approached business in an unusual way. He had an eye for the technical details that mattered to insiders, but the sensibility of a broadminded cultural critic.” A New Yorker staff writer since 1960, Calvin Tomkins (’47) wrote his first fiction piece for the magazine in 1958, and his first fact piece in 1962. His 1962 New Yorker profile of Gerald and Sara Murphy, describing the lives of American expatriates in France in the years between World War I and World War II, became the well-received 1971 book, Living Well Is the Best Revenge: The Life of Gerald and Sara Murphy. An excerpt from Robert Caro’s (’57), celebrated multi-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson ran in The New Yorker, and he used a 1998 New Yorker piece, “The Man Who

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(LEFT) Image courtesy of Morven Museum. (RIGHT) Image courtesy of Condé Nast

(ABOVE) Carl Rose and E.B. White’s “It’s broccoli, dear” “I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it,” from 1929. (LEFT) WHAT IS SHE THINKING?: Painted in 1938 when she was 29, Virginia Snedeker’s self-portrait is a painting that asks to be read. Morven Museum, “Capturing the Spirit: Virginia Snedeker and the American Scene.” (BELOW-LEFT) June 10, 1939 cover of The New Yorker by Virginia Snedeker. (BOTTOM) Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick.

Built New York,” to describe how he came to write The Power Broker, a major biography of Robert Moses. VISUALLY SPEAKING

New Yorker artist Virginia Snedeker’s connection to Princeton is non-negotiable: her great-great-great-great grandmother was Annis Boudinot Stockton, who gave Morven its name. Snedeker made important contributions to the magazine including “spot art”—the small decorative drawings scattered throughout each issue—and a number of cover illustrations. In the catalog for Morven’s 2010 exhibit, Capturing the Spirit: Virginia Snedeker and the American Scene, curator Anne Gossen detailed Snedeker’s remarkable ability to capture the Zeitgeist of the ‘30s, ‘40s’ and ‘50s, and to respond to New Yorker editors’ request for art that spoke to wartime concerns. A reviewer observed that Gossen had “done a first-rate job of laying out the evidence for anyone who wants to see how things worked between the magazine and its artists.” New Yorker cartoons are enduringly, famously funny; most people have at least one or more favorites and can quote the Carl Rose/E. B. White classic depicting a mopheaded child dismissively answering her well-meaning, broccoli-promoting mother with the immortal words, “I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it.” Those with Princeton links include Whitney Darrow, Jr., who was born in Princeton, and whose father was one of the founders of the Princeton University Press. A member of the class of 1931, he had his first New Yorker cartoon published just two years later; he remained a regular contributor for 50 years. Unlike a number of his colleagues, Darrow, who often drew upper-middle-class suburban couples, wrote his own captions. “He is an environmental cartoonist, in that he goes on setting the scene in that misleadingly easygoing style of his until he is ready for a one-liner,” observed New York Times art critic John Russell in

1978. “And what a one-liner!” After his death in 1999, Darrow’s family donated over a thousand of his drawings to the Graphic Arts Department in Princeton’s Rare Books and Manuscripts section. Another regular New Yorker cartoonist, longtime Princeton resident Henry Martin (’48), made a similar donation to the Princeton University Library himself in 2010. “Henry never made fun of somebody,” observed graphic arts librarian Julie Melby at the time. “He was just funny. Some people are great artists. Some are great writers. Henry was both.” Now based in New York City, cartoonist Arnold Roth lived in Princeton from 1963 to 1984. In a 2012 interview marking the opening of a retrospective exhibit at the Princeton Arts Council, Roth, who was born in Philadelphia, said that coming to Princeton “was happenstance.” A random drive through town “in April, when everything was in bloom” enchanted the Roths; “we thought we’d give it a try and stayed for 21 years.” THE PRESENT

More recently, authors with ties to both institutions include Paul Muldoon, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Moy Sand and Gravel, whose new collection, One Thousand Things Worth Knowing, is just out. Muldoon holds a professorship at the University and is current poetry editor at The New Yorker, where his innovations include regular Poetry Podcasts of conversations and readings with guest poets. The NobelPrize-Winning author of Beloved, Toni Morrison, continued to contribute regularly to The New Yorker while serving as Princeton’s Robert F. Goheen Chair in the Humanities from 1989 until her retirement in 2006. Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides (Middlesex) is currently a faculty member at Princeton where he teaches classes in creative writing and introductory fiction. His byline has appeared in The New Yorker under short stories like “Find the Bad Guy,” an

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Remnick on McPhee and Princeton: “It’s a huge part of his consciousness, the landscape of life. It imbues what he thinks about and what he writes.” appreciation of John Updike, and an excerpt from The Marriage Plot. Another Princeton Creative Writing teacher, Gary Shteyngart, packed McCosh Hall when he appeared as the featured speaker at the 2014 Friends of the Princeton Public Library’s “Beyond Words” fund-raiser. The author of the novels The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story, was named one of The New Yorker magazine’s “20 under 40” luminary fiction writers in 2010. He’s a regular contributor now, with recent posts chronicling book tour experiences for his new memoir, Little Failure. MCPHEE AND REMNICK

McPhee looms large – very large – in Remnick’s life. “I have two words,” he responded in a recent interview when asked to describe what Princeton meant to him. “John McPhee.” “There are a number of writers and editors over the years who have been associated with Princeton, but the person who has made a life there has been John,” Remnick observed. “It’s a huge part of his consciousness, the landscape of life. It imbues what he thinks about and what he writes.”

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In addition to the model of a longtime association with Princeton, Remnick appreciated the pragmatic aspect of studying with McPhee. “If you study at Princeton you usually study with literary scholars,” he told Witherspoon Media. “The difference here is you’re studying with a practicing writer and learning all the processes that go into that.” Editor of The New Yorker since 1998 and a staff writer since 1992, Remnick has done no small amount of thinking and writing himself. His book, Lenin’s Tomb, won a Pulitzer Prize and his New Yorker pieces include reports on the Middle East and Profiles of Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Katharine Graham. Remnick, who was born in Hackensack but grew up in Hillsdale, is frank about his take on Princeton before he met McPhee. “At first glance it seemed like a country club: off putting and intimidating and too shiny to look at.” Returning to campus as Class Day speaker in 2013, though, he was still bemused but clearly appreciative. “Now I don’t love Princeton for the eternal Halloween of its school colors,” he joked. “What I loved about Princeton, and always will, was the real core of it: The learning, the fantastically varied company, the enshrinement of free thinking, the rigor.” Of McPhee, he humorously observes, “He was my teacher and now I exact my revenge by being his editor – and friend.”

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| BOOK SCENE

Life, Death, War, and

The New Yorker by Stuart Mitchner

I

grew up eating breakfast and lunch (and snacks) in the same room as a large threepart folding screen decorated from top to bottom with New Yorker covers. It was the only piece of furniture my parents owned that had no discernible purpose other than to be its own odd, cheery, colorful self. My Medievalist father, who was accustomed to working with illuminated manuscripts, had meticulously assembled and arranged it, making sure everything was precisely aligned. The screen, with all its vivid, amusing imagery reflecting our familial infatuation with New York City was a companiable presence at a time when my diet consisted mostly of open-faced peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, then and now the ultimate comfort food. It wasn’t until the Christmas week we spent in the city when I was ten that I began to understand why the name “New Yorker” meant so much to my parents, who had submitted numerous stories to the magazine over the years; now that I think of it, that may have served as a sort of surrogate journey, as if they were submitting themselves to New York through the New Yorker. Two of the plays they’d written together when they were courting had been bought by Samuel French, so they had reason to dream of leaving the midwest to live in the city and become a famous playwriting team. To make ends meet, my father would play piano in a bar, and my mother would be a stenographer. They settled instead in a college town where my father entered graduate school and my mother went to work in a law office. We did eventually get to live a year in the city when the Medievalist was busy “Englishing” a 15th-century encyclopedia in the vaults of Columbia University’s Low Library; we also spent two memorable summers in a house on Washington Square whose interior, we were told, had been used during the filming of The Heiress. It was around the time that we began to know the city as occasional residents that the New Yorker screen disappeared, although intact copies of the magazine continued to be a household presence. The covers on the screen dated back to at least April 27, 1940, that being the date of the one I know I saw there—a James Thurber vision of spring in all its naked glory, with pink men and women, boys and girls, and sheep and birds, all capering nakedly about on a soft green landscape under a yellow sky. Another image I’m pretty sure I saw there was William Steig’s four-panel cartoon-style kids-and-fireworks cover from July 6, 1940. Years later when I was a sales clerk at the Eighth Street Bookshop in the Village it was a treat to say “hi” to Steig himself, always my favorite celebrity customer, a chunky, friendly, grown-up version of one of his own cartoon kids.

This screen decoupaged with New Yorker covers from 1950-53 is a generation once removed from the screen described here

As subscribers for the better part of thirty years, my wife and I have enough New Yorkers scattered around the house to decorate a dozen screens. Set apart from the contemporaries are a number of special issues, the earliest from 1941, the latest from 1986. The only New Yorker my parents passed on to me is the November 22,

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Images courtesy of Condé Nast

THE PEARL HARBOR ISSUE

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Images courtesy of Condé Nast

1941 issue, with a Rea Irvin cover that shows a butler looking askance at a group of trick or treaters because the one in front is wearing a Hitler mask. On the top right of the cover my father has written, “This issue supposed to be full of warnings of the Pearl Harbor attack.” According to Ladislas Farago’s book The Broken Seal (Random House 1967), the coded ads, headed Uchtung! Warning! Alerte!, were for a dice game called The Deadly Double and contained numbers—XX 12 24 on the white dice, 0 5 7 on the black dice —informing enemy agents about the date, time, and place of the attack. The smaller ads (a column wide, 2 inches high) definitely have a suspect, sinister look (in fact, the film reviewed in the same issue is Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion). The first one, on page 32, appears between an ad for Levando gloves (“beloved by every woman who treasures fine things”) and a caricature of Eddy Duchin advertising his appearance at “the new informal Wedgwood Room of the Waldorf Astoria (cover charge ranges from $1 to $1.50). The other small ones are identical and appear with ads for Crosse & Blackwell marmalade, Keen’s English Chop House, and the Persian Room at the Plaza. The smaller ads direct readers to the main event, which runs the length of a single column on page 70. At the top is a black sky criss-crossed by air-raid searchlights and starred with explosions while in an underground shelter a group of smiling men and women are rolling dice. The text begins “We hope you’ll never have to spend a long winter’s night in an air-raid shelter,” and urges you to bring along the dice and chips of The Deadly Double. The FBI investigation, which involved a visit to the New Yorker offices, came up empty, and to this day the case is unresolved. While the coded ads give that particular issue a certain mystique, there’s pleasure enough to be had in simply turning the pages, still brightly, crisply substantial, reflecting the ambience of a great American magazine two weeks before Pearl Harbor changed everything. Of course if you own the CD-rom of the Complete New Yorker, or if you’re a current subscriber,

you can scan it in the archive, but to “be there” you need to be in touch with the real thing; the character of the magazine exalts the content, an archive in the making, living history, each issue part of a continum where Imogene Coca will always be playing at La Martinque, Benny Goodman at the New Yorker Hotel, Glenn Miller at the Pennsylvania, of course (just dial “Pennsyvania 6-5000”), and Leadbelly and Josh White at the Village Vanguard. SALINGER’S LAST?

Of the other older issues I’ve saved, three are Salingers, one from 1948 (“Just Before the War with the Eskimos”), one from 1955 (“Franny”), both with covers by Leonard Dove, and, most precious, the issue I’ve had since it came out in June 19, 1965, with one of Steig’s most most charming covers ever, man and woman kissing in a dream of spring, a pug-faced angel hovering overhead. Inside is J.D. Salinger’s last piece of published work, “Hapworth 16, 1924,” which runs nearly the length of the magazine (pp 32113). I’m among those who see great things to come in this much-misunderstood and under-appreciated letter from camp by five-year-old Seymour Glass, with its sublimely (or ridiculously, depending on your point of view) comprehensive list of books to be rounded up by “the imcomparable Miss Overman” at the “customary annex branch” of the library. And as always, there’s the pageant of art and life in the city that never sleeps, where Mose Allison and Sonny Rollins are playing at the Vanguard, Charlie Mingus at the Village Gate, Dizzy Gillespie at the Metropole; where two plays produced by Mike Nichols (Luv and The Odd Couple) are at the Booth and the Plymouth, Zero Mostel’s all over the stage at the Imperial in Fiddler on the Roof, and Barbra Streisand is Fanny Brice reincarnate in Funny Girl at the Winter Garden. CLOSER TO HOME

Two other issues I saved were dated December 18, 1978, the day my mother died, and April 14, 1986, the day my father died. In the course of writing this piece, I’ve seen a lot of New Yorker cover art, from the years of my father’s screen to the edgier Tina Brown era of the 1990s. The great majority of the imagery is peopled, active, humorous, cute, topical, satirical, rarely elegaic, which helps explain how I felt when I saw Eugène Mihaesco’s cover image of shafts of light beaming through the great windows of Grand Central, the view my parents and I saw on the day we arrived for that first Christmas week in the city. The convergence of the imagery and the date would have pleased my sentimental mother. Eight years later, Robert Tallon’s cover shows an empty chair in a barren room, just the sort of no-nonsense image my austere, unsentimental father would have appreciated. These images sealed the bond I feel with the magazine I grew up with.

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by Anne Levin

THE END OF AN ERA: As the walls of Princeton’s old hospital come down, neighbors recall its place in the community

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IMAGES COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER OF PRINCETON

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(LEFT) Signage for Princeton Hospital. (TOP-LEFT) 1922 Duotone photograph of Princeton Hospital. (TOP-RIGHT)1926 Architectural Rendering of Princeton Hospital by Sherley W. Morgan, Architect.

S

ince last September, contractors have been painstakingly demolishing the old Princeton Hospital to make room for a 280-unit development of rental apartments. The rambling complex that has stood for nearly a century at the corner of Witherspoon Street and Franklin Avenue, a beacon of Princeton’s Witherspoon/Jackson neighborhood, has been slowly disappearing amid the clanging, drilling, and dust. Watching it all from their windows and front porches are area residents, several from families that have worked at the hospital for generations. Many are now employed at the new hospital, known as University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. The gleaming facility on Route One is only three miles from the old hospital site. But to some residents of the neighborhood, it is a world away from “their” hospital, a safe haven that not only provided employment but stood ready to deliver their babies, set their broken bones, and treat their ailments. Kimbryl (Kim) Beasley, who grew up on Birch Avenue and works as an operating room assistant at the hospital, where he has been employed for 37 years, remembers getting hit by a car when he was ten years old. “I just went across the street and they took care of me,” he says. “You felt safe because you knew it was there if you got hurt. That’s just the way it was.” Among the hospital’s longest serving employees are sisters Hettie Dean and Daisy Hubbard. Ms. Dean, who wouldn’t reveal her age, has lived in the neighborhood surrounding the

old hospital since coming to Princeton from North Carolina a number of decades ago. Working first in the Center Supply department before moving to the recovery room, and more recently, the outpatient recovery room, she has weathered the move to the new facility with mixed emotions. “It’s different because it’s bigger. It’s a nice place,” she says. “The only thing I dislike is that you don’t get to see all the people you knew in the old place, who still work here. So I miss that. I like the old place, but I’m getting used to the new one.”

“The hospital generated a lot of opportunities for people in the neighborhood,” — John Washington, Birch Avenue Shirley Satterfield never worked at the old hospital, but she knew it well. “I got my tonsils out there when I was eight years old,” she recalls. “I remember I walked across the street on Easter Sunday, and had them out on Easter Monday. It was a big part of our community. All we had to do was go across the street. Einstein died in that hospital, and we knew that. A lot of our families worked there.” “The hospital generated a lot of opportunities for people in the neighborhood,” says John Washington of Birch Avenue. Washington’s late wife Jacqueline (who was Kim Beasley’s mother) worked at the hospital as a ward clerk for more than 40 years. “It

was definitely a focus of the community. Everyone knew each other,” Washington adds. “Now, it’s not the same. You had relationships. You said hello to everyone. But when a hospital moves like that, it takes it all away.” Others have made their peace with the transition. The hospital has been a part of Nancy Zorochin's life for as long as she can remember. She grew up on Chestnut Street, in Princeton's "tree streets" neighborhood, a few blocks north of the hospital. Zorochin is a community liaison at the affliliated Princeton House Behavioral Health center. "I was born and raised in Princeton. My grandfather was a co-founder of the Princeton Fire and Rescue Squad," she says. "We had so many ties to the hospital. My father was born there and he met my mother there. They had seven kids there." Zorochin remembers visiting her mother, who worked at the hospital, with her siblings. "We'd eat at the little cafe. They had the best hot dogs," she says. "We'd cut through there in the summer to get to the pool. I ended up going to nursing school there and then got a job at Princeton House. I've been there 34 years. I just moved to Ocean County and I commute. I would never leave. It's a very close-knit community. It was a small-town hospital, and that core group is still here. It was a wonderful opportunity for the hospital to grow, but I still feel connected because a lot of the same faces are still there." Victoria Meisel is a registered nurse in the Endoscopy department of the hospital, where she has been employed for three decades. Meisel lived on Birch Avenue before moving to

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(top) Young girl in front of Princeton Hospital, photo courtesy of Shirley Satterfield. (bottom) Hettie Dean and Daisey Hubbard, photos by E.J. Greenblat. (right) Kim Beasley at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, photo by Anne Levin.

Lawrence Township, and has kept close ties to the Witherspoon/Jackson neighborhood. “I go to church there, so even after I moved, I felt like it was still my home. And the hospital was always a big part of it,” she says. “It was a good experience working there, in the old building—like a family. My brother worked there, too.” Meisel admits to missing the camaraderie of the hospital in its former location. But she understands the motivation for the move, which took place in May of 2012. “I was sad in the beginning. I knew every part of that building, and all of its extensions,” she says. “But I think it was a good idea to move. We really did need a new building. The new one is state of the art, very bright and sunny. We get a lot of compliments from patients.” Princeton’s medical center began in two rooms on Witherspoon Street in 1901. By 1908, the small facility had expanded to a cottage on Bayard Lane with three rooms—one for the care of emergencies; the other two for in-patients. The cottage was soon outgrown, and in 1919, Mrs. Moses Taylor Pyne and Mr. Walter Harris gave five acres of land at the top of Witherspoon Street, on which a large house stood, to the people of

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Princeton for a town hospital. It opened with a staff of five doctors on November 24 of that year. According to documents at the Historical Society of Princeton, the doctors cared for 350 patients that first year. After another year, a house on Witherspoon Street was rented for a nurses’ residence. A maternity ward was added in 1923. Two years on, it was clear that Princeton needed a bigger and more comprehensive facility. More than 5,000 residents of the town subscribed $602,000 for the cause. The Princeton Hospital at Witherspoon and Franklin began serving the public on January 3, 1928. Some Witherspoon/Jackson neighborhood residents who work at the new hospital take the #655 NJ Transit bus to and from work each day. But it doesn't run on weekends or holidays, and that doesn't sit well with everyone. The hospital’s chief executive officer Barry Rabner says he knew that relocating would have an effect on members of the surrounding neighborhood. “One of the things we were sensitive to when trying to figure out the best solution to provide care in the community was the impact it could have on people who not only lived in the immediate vicinity, but those who worked at the hospital,” he says. “These are people whose families have lived in the

neighborhood for decades. Whole families had been working at the hospital—cousins, brothers, sisters. We have someone who has worked here over 50 years. Another extended family had 26 members working here. I discovered that at an employee recognition dinner.” The hospital held public meetings to explain to the local community the decision to move. “By the time we were done, there was broad consensus that it was necessary,” Rabner says. “Our employees were wearing two hats – they were neighbors and they were employees. But they understood. Whatever the hassles were, they saw over time just how dramatically better their work environment is. And the care is better. I’m not aware of anyone from the old neighborhood not continuing to work here because of the logistics. And that’s gratifying.” Rabner has fond memories of running into patients and staff members at the Hunan restaurant on Witherspoon Street, and walking down to Conte’s for pizza. “It was very, very nice,” he says. “But that's gone. We’re now on 171 acres. We’ve got this developing health campus. So there’s no denying that something’s been lost. It’s unfortunate in that way. And the facility is bigger, which has changed people’s interactions. The walking is over.”

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(top) Exterior view of University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. (below) Demolition of old hospital site, January 2015.

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WE’VE GOT

THE BAI BY ILENE DUBE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW WILKINSON

GOT RELIGION? Bai beverage founder Ben Weiss treats his brand like one. A shrine to Bai brand illuminates a niche just outside Weiss’s office. Encased in glass is the Book of Bai, “containing company secrets,” he says, “and a cryptic code for the civet cat.” Every year, the company elects its top five people. Five flags featuring their faces hang from the ceiling. “It’s all about the process of inspiring greatness in other people,” says Weiss, named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013 by the Princeton Chamber of Commerce. The five qualities the five possess: “They are audacious, authentic, tenacious, obsessive and great.”

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eiss, anna W Ben and D der. ofoun c d n a r founde

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WHY FIVE?

The company was started by five peopleenthusiastic employees now number more than 200—and the main brand is Bai5, with only five calories per serving. The product has made Teen Vogue’s “5 Drinks Every Beauty Girl Needs to Stock in Her Mini Fridge,” and the number is multiplying. Bai made Prevention Magazine’s 15 Best Foods You Can Buy at a Gas Station. Now distributed by Dr. Pepper, Bai brands is expected to reach $50 million in sales this year, says Weiss. It can be found on the shelves of such major retailers as Costco, Sam’s Club, Target, Whole Foods, and BJs. On the day I visited, a group of sales people were whooping it up as Costco’s Texas region was added. It’s a family affair. Ben’s wife, Danna, cofounded the company and is involved in marketing, social media, and developing a line of wearables the brand has just launched. She has helped to create flavors and labels, and to design the continually evolving office space. There are no cubicles or desktops, but black concrete floors, black leather sofas and laptops. There’s even a café. “We call the space coffee house casual,” says Ben, who dresses in faded jeans, sport coats, and shirts open at the neck. “I never wear a tie. I’m proud to say I have no idea how to tie one.” Ben and Danna came to Princeton in 2005 to be closer to his parents, who live in Skillman. Pat and Ray Schlaefer recently retired from working at Bai, although his mother says she can’t stay away and takes care of community affairs. During the initial growth spurt, Pat and Ray helped to hire staff and start the human resources department. “Those who helped Ben grow the company have become our extended family,” says his mother. “He’s raising us well.” The Weiss’s middle school aged daughter is a taste tester (Jamaica Blood Orange is her favorite) and Bai sponsors Bai5 Basketball—the team her older brother plays on. The drinks are flowing. When offered my pick from the refrigerated cases, I select Molokai Coconut, the most popular. It tastes like coconut water, only sweeter. The more I sip, the more I want. Bai—the name means “pure” in Mandarin—is sweetened with stevia, an herb in the sunflower family, and erythritol, a sweetener discovered in the mid 1800s that comes from plants such as beets and corn cob. The goal is for the two to balance each other for a flavor that doesn’t taste artificial and isn’t too sweet, according to marketing materials. What makes Bai “Bai” is its key ingredient, the fruit of the coffee plant. The coffee bean is actually the seed of the red fruit. The “cherry” surrounding the seed is a font of antioxidants. One reason the fruit hasn’t been marketed in the past is because it is highly perishable, but Weiss realized it could be sun dried and extruded into powder—a technology used to make ginger powder—for a healthy and flavorful beverage. And it’s all about flavor, the self-styled taste expert stresses again and again. “Taste is subjective,” says Weiss, “so we’re trying to achieve flavor. We want simple authentic flavors that feel exotic.” Bai’s flavors are named for the coffee producing regions of the world.

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The coffee fruit comes from Aceh province in Indonesia. Before its use as a beverage, the fruit was used in cosmetics. The surplus would be composted, fed to goats or discarded in rivers, where in large quantities it could cause pollution. By finding a use for the coffee fruit, Bai has created sustainable jobs and new economic opportunities, according to its website. Ben says most of what he learned about coffee was on the streets of New York. “Indonesia has volcanic soil which is best for coffee and coffee fruit.” Why is it that, in all the hundreds of years civilization has been producing coffee, no one ever thought to use the fruit? “I’m a persistent guy,” says Weiss. He attributes the 300 percent growth each year over the past five years to good business instincts. “I have a vision and am an innovator and can lead and inspire. I surround myself with people who are smart and passionate about what we do.” One day, while setting up a display at Whole Foods in West Windsor, Ben met a Bai drinker who would become his and Danna’s personal trainer. Now the trainer works with the whole team—Bai employee compensation includes fitness training, part of the overall healthy body philosophy. “We all love working here,” says Carolynn Caruso, Weiss’s executive assistant.

drinking Indonesian Nashi Pear, Bolivia Black Cherry, and Jamaica Blood Orange—all three are Bai Bubbles, a newer carbonated drink. “We have 10 flavors of Bai5 and seven of Bai Bubbles, for a total of 17 choices,” says Ben. Bai falls into the flavored water category of the beverage industry. “There are no artificial ingredients and only one gram of sugar.” When the company started in 2009, the beverage packed 70 calories. After taste testings, it was learned “everyone loved the taste but not the sugar,” and the stevia-erythritol combo became the sweetener. Bai is intended to appeal to health-conscious consumers, rather than diet drinkers, with the bonus of being low in calories. Sales of diet drinks are down, as theories proliferate about artificial sweeteners causing spikes in blood sugar and otherwise stimulating the appetite or the need for sweets. “Diet drinks have artificial empty calories—they offer no nutritional value and may be bad for you,” says Weiss, who’s drunk his own Koolaid. “Bai offers the benefits of antioxidants. In addition to coffee fruit, sweeteners, flavoring agents and essences, Bai contains a modicum of white tea for a slight caffeine boost (there’s no caffeine in coffee fruit) and additional antioxidants. “It makes you more alert than hyper,” says Weiss, “and adds to the taste, blocking the off notes of stevia, which can be hypersweet and taste artificial.”

A SUIT DIDN’T SUIT HIM

The company’s sleek new office space is in Studio Park, a repurposed mill building emblazoned with the words “Do what you love. Love w(here) you do it” at 1800 State Street, Hamilton. Bai is its largest tenant. Stylized line drawings of the coffee growing regions that are the names of Bai flavors decorate the walls. The company, bursting at the britches, is opening a warehouse in the former Ocean Spray facility in Bordentown. Ben’s office is enclosed in glass walls. A large, coffee-table-height stone-topped table sits in the center, with a fig tree and a large monitor in corners. Periodically, NJ Transit and Amtrak trains whiz by. Both Weisses begin their day with a cup of Joe, then switch to Bai. Sitting on one of the gray sofas, Weiss has three bottles open. He is simultaneously

So is he a businessman who stumbled on a moneymaking bonanza, or a health conscious guy with an evangelical mission? “It was never about the money, but creating something people liked and doing meaningful stuff. I wanted to fill a void. If you’re passionate about what you do you can have fun, and everything becomes a learning experience. I created Bai because I wanted to take coffee fruit, put it in a bottle and make it taste good. I didn’t set out trying to answer something, it was just a really cool experiment, and I stumbled on the answer to the epidemic of obesity and diabetes.” Weiss, who grew up on Staten Island, became interested in coffee in the early ’90s, when Starbucks and other coffee shops began spreading their caffeinated wings. After getting a degree in finance from Boston University, he worked at a bank for a year before deciding it didn’t suit him. He packed his bags and set off for Europe, exploring the world of coffee houses. “I was always entrepreneurial and thought about running a coffee shop. That didn’t work out, but I fell in love with the industry and spent 20 years creating and innovating.” He worked for Godiva, helping to develop the product Chocolixir, a frozen coffee beverage. Chocolixir enabled Godiva to sell chocolate during the summer, a slow time for chocolate sales. Ben and Danna first met in college—she was studying graphic design—and they reunited later in New York where she was working as director of visual imaging for Calvin Klein.

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President of BAI, Ken Kurtz.

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(RIGHT) In the coffee industry, civet cats are prized for finding the best coffee beans. After the civet cat digests the coffee bean—a process that is said to further enrich the bean’s flavor—it is washed and roasted to make Indonesia’s most prized, and expensive, coffee.

THE BIG ONE “Chocolates were a good ride,” says Ben, “but then I realized it was time for the next thing.” In 2009, he came up with the idea for Bai in his basement. At first it seemed like another of his many ideas—“I think all my ideas are billion dollar ideas”—but Danna says she knew “this was the one.” The initial beverage, with its 70 calories, came in three flavors: Tanzania Strawberry, Jamaica Blueberry, and Mango Kauai. Weiss and his father started knocking on doors: the Blawenburg Market, Olives, D’Angelos. Local stores were interested in the local startup. “They’re still great customers,” says Weiss, whose beverage can be found in markets up and down Nassau Street. From there he

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went to Whole Foods, Publix, and big box retailers. “The brand’s on fire!” “Ben feels passionate about the local companies for the opportunities it gave him,” says his mother. “That’s why Bai contributes product to and sponsors Princeton schools, sports teams and organizations such as the Princeton Education Foundation and Princeton Public Library, where we’ve been bronze and silver sponsors. We also support the Friends of the Library at the annual October fundraiser and help with the book sale. It’s important because Ben’s kids go to public school in Princeton and the library is the center of their community.” Bai also supports Jewish Family Services in Princeton. Coffee used to be bad for you, now it’s good for you and recent studies show that drinking three

glasses of milk a day can lead to bone fractures and death. People who drink whole milk have fewer weight problems than those who drink low fat. Woody Allen’s prognostications in Sleeper that everything we know about healthy eating will be reversed in the future has come true. Fluctuations such as these can play havoc on the beverage industry, and one study can have the effect of the Dean scream. Is Weiss prepared for a potential scientific study showing that drinking dried coffee fruit powder causes, say, dementia? (Note: As of this writing, a Google search of harmful effects of coffee fruit shows nothing.) “I got the Bai,” says Weiss. “The Bai will never change. I’m very confident of what’s in that drink.”

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| art scene Kelly Sullivan, Down by the Canal. (below) Kelly Sullivan on the set of Madam Secretary.

Lambertville Artist Lends Gravitas to Madam Secretary Set

S

by Linda Arntzenius

ituated on the western flank of New Jersey, the picturesque town of Lambertville draws art lovers from both sides of the Delaware River. The town itself and the bucolic landscapes that surround it feature in the work of numerous artists displayed in the town’s many private galleries. Kelly Sullivan’s studio is located three floors up above The Peoples Store at 28 North Union Street. The studio has its own entrance round the corner on Church Street and those who make the climb discover a bright airy space filled with scenes of the river valley. Sullivan’s paintings include landscapes, portraits, and still lifes, from small sketches of the towpath along the Delaware and Raritan canal to Delaware River and Bucks County scenes executed in oil on linen or canvas, as well as large studio pieces on canvas. Until 2006 the artist worked primarily in acrylic. Now favoring oil, she finds the more traditional medium adds considerable complexity to her work. Besides local scenes such as Autumn on the Delaware, and Down by the Canal, are images of the Snake River and the coast of Maine. If you have seen the CBS show Madam Secretary, you will have seen Sullivan’s work, and perhaps subliminally apprehended the subtle back-story her paintings convey about the show’s lead character. The political drama stars Tèa Leoni as Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord. Princeton’s own Bebe Neuwirth plays her Chief of Staff Nadine Tolliver and Keith Carradine is President Conrad Dalton, the man who hired McCord because of her ability to think outside the box, not to mention her profound knowledge of the Middle East and fluency in multiple languages. Said to be inspired by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Leoni’s character is a shrewd and determined woman. While driving international diplomacy and battling office politics, she is not averse to circumventing the usual protocols as she handles issues at home and abroad. Set designer Sheila Bock discovered Sullivan’s work when she was shopping for just the right elements that would speak to Leoni’s character. Her visit to Sullivan’s studio resulted in the purchase of nine pieces that now decorate the dining room and kitchen of the fictitious McCord’s Georgetown flat. The paintings, titled Peach Season, Under the Pines, Bucks Pasture, Bee Box, and Idaho Barn, among others, are clearly chosen to support a privileged lineage for the leading lady.

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In a recent interview, Sullivan wondered whether Neuwirth might have had something to do with Bock’s finding her. The famed Princeton-born actress had herself stopped by the artist’s studio just weeks before Sullivan was contacted by the set designer. Was Neuwirth’s visit the magic element that brought the artist to Bock’s attention? Sullivan likes to think so. “I am so flattered that Sheila chose my work to represent the personal taste of such a great character,” says the artist who was born and raised in Clinton, N.J. “It’s exciting to know that Tèa Leoni and her fellow cast members will be seeing my work on the set.” Largely self-taught, Sullivan began early—literally at her grandmother’s knee— when, at the age of five, her grandmother surrounded her with artist’s materials and urged her not to be “shy with the paint.” As a teen, she devoted hours to drawing favorite musicians, several of whom she’s since rendered in full-blown portraits, including Bruce Springsteen, John Lee Hooker, BB King, Pete Seeger, and Jimmy Rogers. Her first steps as a professional artist were taken at the Jersey Shore, selling pencil and pastel drawings in the 1980s. In 1993, she produced a multi-artist Montage show in Spring Lake Heights and discovered a talent for organization that led to further similar shows on the West Coast. Gradually her organized art events led Sullivan to create art in a collaborative format she calls “FingerSmears,” made by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of painters using no brushes but only their hands on a shared canvas. Since 1994, over 80,000 people around the world, including celebrities like The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Edie Falco, Carol Burnett, Harrison Ford, and Willem Dafoe, have participated in Sullivan’s trademarked FingerSmearsTM initiative, which has raised over $150,000 for charities across the United States. Currently, Sullivan’s studio includes the results of a recent FingerSmearsTM trip to Barcelona for a project called Mighty Fingers Facing Change (MFFC). Designed to connect and empower adolescent girls, MFFC works through existing organizations and so far Sullivan and her team have visited Guatemala, Wyoming, Canada, San Francisco, Haiti and Barcelona. Sullivan welcomes visitors to her Lambertville studio between noon and 5pm, Thursdays through Sundays, and at other times by appointment by calling 732.233.5614. She sells giclée prints as well as originals. For more on her FingerSmearsTM project, including a short video, visit: www.mightyfingersfacingchange. com. For more on the artist, visit: kellysullivanfineart.com.

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(left) Kelly Sullivan, Maine Coast 44” x 60” (right) Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress (1888-90), oil on canvas, 116.5 x 89.5 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (below) Herbert Stewart Pullinger (1878-1961), Village Hotel (Lumberville, Bucks County, PA), wood engraving on paper, H. 9 5/8 x W. 11 3/4 in., James A. Michener Art Museum. Gift of Ann and Martin Snyder.

From Madam Secretary to Madame Cezanne

The relationship between Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) and his wife Hortense Fiquet (1850–1922) is explored in a current show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. On view through March 15, Madame Cézanne features 24 of the 29 known portraits the artist painted of his wife and mother of their son, Paul Cézanne. They include two from the Metropolitan’s own collection: the unfinished canvas, Madame Cézanne in the Conservatory, painted in the Cézanne family home Jas du Bouffan near Aix-en-Provence in 1891, and Mademe Cézanne in a Red Dress, painted in a rented apartment at 15 quai d’Anjou in Paris between 1888 and 1890. The latter is one of four showing Madame Cézanne in the same shawl-collared red dress. Apart from the work itself, the exhibition is interesting for revealing aspects of the artist’s method as well as his relationship with Fiquet and the impact she had on her husband’s work, especially his portraiture. Fiquet was Cézanne most painted model. She was also the mother of his only son. And yet, as the Metropolitan exhibition points out, she was “often disregarded and frequently diminished in the narrative of Cézanne’s life and work.” Her expression in the painted portraits has been described as remote, inscrutable, dismissive, even surly. But by bringing portraits from its own collection together with others—most notably from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Berlin’s Nationalgalerie, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Yokohama Museum of Art in Japan, and Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts—and showing them alongside works on paper that include three watercolors, fourteen drawings, and three rare sketchbooks, the Metropolitan exhibition allows for a more nuanced interpretation of Cézanne and Fiquet’s lifelong attachment. The sketchbooks contain affectionate studies of Fiquet and the couple’s young son. Fiquet was working as a bookbinder in Paris when she met her future husband in 1869. At first, the artist kept his liaison with her under wraps and, even though their son was born in 1872, they did not marry until 1886. Cézanne had concealed his lover and their only child from his family, fearing the disapproval of his authoritative father. Apart from Cézanne’s work, there is little documentation of the couple’s relationship. Fiquet left few letters. Cézanne, makes frequent mention of her in his notes to their son. Exhibition curator Dita Amory suggests that Cézanne used his favorite model repeatedly to develop his own sensory perception rather than to capture her character. He had used Mont Sainte-Victoire in southern France in a similar way. Both were familiar and comfortable subjects for the artist.

Painted over a period of more than twenty years, the paintings, drawings, and watercolors of Fiquet reveal Cézanne’s affection for his wife. This is especially true of an 1885 rendering in which Fiquet looks directly at the artist and the abovementioned unfinished 1891 conservatory portrait. Among other highlights of the exhibition are the Madame Cézanne in a Red Armchair (circa 1877), Madame Cézanne in a Striped Dress (1883–85) and Madame Cézanne in Blue (ca. 1888–90). While visiting the Met, check out Thomas Hart Benton’s epic mural America Today. Benton (1889–1975) painted ten panels for New York’s New School for Social Research to adorn the school’s boardroom in its International Style modernist building on West 12th Street. A gift to the museum from the AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company in 2012, it’s a sweeping panorama of American life throughout the 1920s and ranks among Benton’s most renowned works. Benton’s America Today Mural Rediscovered runs through April 19. For more information, hours and admission, visit: www.metmuseum.org. AREA EXHIBITS Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton: Seward Johnson: The Retrospective, extended by popular demand to July 2015. Also Michael Graves: Past as Prologue celebrates the 50th anniversary of Graves’ design firm and its five decades of visionary work through April 5. For more information, visit www.groundsforsculpture.org. James A. Michener Art Museum at 138 South Pine St., Doylestown, Pa: A Sense of Place: Paintings by Ranulph Bye, more than 40 works by Ranulph de Bayeux Bye (1916-2003), the Princeton-born watercolorist known for masterful renderings of rural American landscapes, through March 1. Also Spirit of the Everyday: Prints by Herbert Pullinger, one of America’s foremost wood engravers, through through March 29. For more information, hours and admission, call 800.595.4849 or visit: www.MichenerArtMuseum.org. Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick: 2X: Paintings, Pairs, Twins, and Diptychs explores “the double” in art in the second half of the twentieth century. For more information, hours and admission, call 732.932.7237, ext. 610 or visit: www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu. Morven Museum & Garden at 55 Stockton Street: Hail Specimen of Female Art! New Jersey Schoolgirl Needlework, 1726-1860 continues through March 29. For more information, hours and admission, call 609.924.8144 ext.106 or visit: www.morven.org. Princeton University Art Museum on the university campus: The City Lost and Found: Capturing New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, 1960–1980 from February 21 through June 7. For information and hours, call 609.258.3788, or visit: artmuseum.princeton.edu/exhibitions.

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock.com

(ABOVE): Red fox, pileated woodpecker.

W

hen people are having the isn’tPrinceton-a-great-place-to-live conversation, the town’s proximity to Manhattan and downtown Philadelphia often tops the best features list. And while it’s a boon to hop on a train for an evening at Lincoln Center or take visitors to see the Liberty Bell, for many locals one of the biggest benefits of living in this historic town is easy access to the nature that surrounds it. Princeton sits between the Delaware and Raritan Rivers and boasts numerous places for outdoor recreation including The Institute Woods, Mountain Lakes Preserve and the towpath of the Delaware and Raritan Canal. And then there’s the Sourlands. Right smack in the middle of central New Jersey, the country’s most populous state, a rare ecosystem of forest, wetlands, and grasslands not only supports plant and animal life, it offers hikers, birdwatchers and bicyclists an escape to the great outdoors. The region has been called “central New Jersey’s last great wilderness” and is the largest contiguous forest between the Pine Barrens and the New Jersey Highlands. Rich in storied history, the Sourlands served as a refuge for George Washington and his troops and sheltered escaped slaves on their route to freedom via the Underground Railroad. It’s seen bootleggers and moonshiners and featured in one of the nation’s most notorious kidnappings and murders.

SOURLAND OR SOURLANDS?

But let’s start with the name. Is it Sourlands or Sourland, Sourland Mountain or Sourland Mountains? According to Hopewell resident Tom Seessel of the Sourland Conservancy, Sourlands is the name for the region and Sourland singular names the highest point in the area above sea-level, Sourland Mountain. “There’s no official explanation for the name but it probably goes back to the first Dutch settlers,” he says. It might be derived from “sorrel-land,” describing reddish-brown soil or from the 17th century Dutch “sauer landt” indicating land ill-suited to farming. Even today, the area remains relatively undeveloped because of a combination of hard rock, clay soil, steep slopes and wetlands in which it is difficult to install the wells and septic systems that are necessary for human habitat. Whatever you want to call it, the region is a place of renewal and inspiration. “The Japanese have an expression, ‘shinrin yoku,’ for the sense of wellbeing that people experience when they enter woodlands,” says local environmentalist Jim Amon. These woodlands give visitors the feeling of being away from it all even though the trails of the Sourland Mountain Preserve off East Mountain Road in Hillsborough is a short drive from Princeton. Like some of the boulders strewn on its wooded slopes, this area performs a balancing act of plant and animal life. At first all you see of the boulders is their size; a closer look reveals spatterings of lichen

and moist crevices. Weather-worn surfaces hold rain puddles that are a perfect habitat for amphibians. These vernal pools offer refuge from fish that would eat young newts and tadpoles. If you are patient, you may see spotted salamanders, wood frogs, and the gray treefrogs. In spring you’ll find trout lilies, wood anemones, and wild ginseng. Boulders make for perfect lunch tables or for stretching out in the sun. At different places along these trails you’ll meet birdwatchers, people hiking with their dogs, children scrambling over boulders, examining pools, and mountain bikers defying the terrain and sometimes gravity. “The animal life, the ecological balance, gives us a place for recreation,” says Rush Holt in a recent documentary film The Sourlands: A New Jersey Treasure, produced for the Sourland Conservancy. “It’s wonderful for biking, for birding, for getting out and enjoying the tranquility, and some of the rich history of the area as well.” Besides amphibians, the 90-square-mile wooded area between Princeton, Hillsborough, Flemington and Lambertville is home to threatened and endangered animals, including the pileated woodpecker, wood turtle, bobolink, Cooper’s hawk, grasshopper sparrow, savannah sparrow, upland sandpiper, and deep-woods birds such as scarlet tanagers and barred owls. Elusive bobcats, coyotes and red and gray foxes hunt at the edges of its meadows. FEBRUARY 2015 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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Migratory birds from Central America, as well as a number of other rare and endangered species, rely on this ecosystem—birds that fly between South America and the Arctic as well as forest birds migrating between Washington, D.C. and Boston. According to the Sourland Conservancy, an accident of geology saved the region from suburban sprawl. Sourland Mountain, the highest point in the area, is formed of a hard igneous rock. Hiking trails wind around great boulders of the stuff. At just 568 feet above sea-level, Sourland Mountain is less of a mountain and more of a ridge running 17 miles from the Delaware River by Lambertville northeast to Hillsborough. Over the centuries, particularly dramatic groups of boulders have been given picturesque names like “The Three Brothers,” “The Roaring Rocks,” “Devil’s Half Acre” and “Knitting Betty Rock.” Such names as “Pheasant Hill,” “Pennington Mountain,” “Mount Canoe,” “Baldpate Mountain,” “Strawberry Hill,” “Belle Mountain,” “Goat Hill,” “Mount Rose,” “Rocky Hill,” “Ten Mile Run Mountain,” and “Prospect Hill” speak to the region’s past.

A LITTLE HISTORY

It’s not clear when the first human beings settled here, although it’s thought that Lenni Lenape might have had small villages on the flanks of the Sourland Mountain/ridge for thousands of years. There’s evidence indicating the Delaware River

supported a settlement at the southern foot of the mountain where Lambertville sits today. They hunted deer and squirrels in the woods and their trails formed the basis for local roads. If you’ve driven from Princeton to Lambertville on County Route 518, you have crossed The Sourlands. But by about 1800, Native Americans had given way to incoming Europeans. In the first half of the 19th century, the Sourlands played a part in providing hiding places for escaping slaves. The Japanese have an expression, “shinrin yoku,” for the sense of well-being that people experience when they enter woodlands –JIM AMON

In 1929, Charles Lindbergh built his secluded home “Highfields” here, the site of the infamous kidnapping and murder of his baby son in March 1932. The famous aviator, it is said, had spotted the wooded area from the air. He and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh had chosen the region precisely because of its isolation and inaccessibility, a characteristic that had also drawn Prohibition-era moonshiners with their illicit stills. The Lindbergh’s former home on HopewellWertsville Road is now a residential youth rehabilitation center. Nearby on Province Line Road, overlooking the Hopewell Valley below, is the 1752 Hunt House, where General Washington

gathered his military leaders in the summer of 1778 and his troops encamped before further engagements with the British. Now a private residence, Hunt House is not open to the public. Besides Lindbergh, other notables who have been attracted to the area, at least for a time, include playwrights Eugene O'Neill and George Bernard Shaw, and painter George Bellows. At least one signer of the Declaration of Independence, patriot John Hart, hid from the British here. Since 2003, the Annual Sourland Music Festival has been preserving some of the region’s colorful history, also documented in New Jersey’s Sourland Mountain by T.J. Luce, published by the Sourland Planning Commission. Mr. Luce describes a rocky mountain culture with numerous tales of “Shady Characters,” as one of his chapters is titles. A memorable story tells of an illegal still producing run-off so potent that that pigs drinking downstream became tipsy as a result.

CONTEMPORARY THREATS

Continually under threat from new development on all sides, only about 40 percent of The Sourlands is currently preserved; the rest is either already developed or subject to future development, which would present even more stress to the ecosystem and the water supply. In 1986, the Sourland Conservancy was formed as the “Sourland Regional Citizens Planning Council,” to speak out for this special region on Princeton’s doorstep.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.com

(BELOW, CLOCKWISE): Wood anemone, spotted salamander, bobcat, barred owl.

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Photograph by Clem Fiori, courtesy of Sourland Conservancy

Images courtesy of Wikipedia


Maps courtesy of Sourland Conservancy

(ABOVE) Sourland’s region and PennEast pipeline parcel analysis (proposed pipeline shown in red).

Currently, the most pressing danger is the PennEast pipeline, says Seessel. “While the threat from development is always there, it has declined with the cooling of the economy and the fact that several counties have regulated lot sizes, but the pipeline would cut right through the heart of The Sourlands; it would fragment what has been called an ‘island of biodiversity in a sea of encroaching sprawl.’” PennEast, a division of UGI Industries, proposes an ultra-high-pressure natural gas transmission line and, according to the Conservancy, threatens to invoke eminent domain with landowners to achieve its end. To date, 14 municipalities have adopted resolutions opposing the pipeline. “The impacts of the PennEast pipeline, should it be approved by FERC, would be devastating on the fragile ecosystems of the Sourland Mountain region,” says Caroline Katmann, the Conservancy’s executive director, who pulls no punches when she describes the proposal as “death to one of New Jersey’s greatest treasures.”

DEADLY DEER Also threatening the future of the forest is the overpopulation of White-Tailed Deer. “It’s a challenge to explain to the public just how an environmentalist can be in favor of culling these

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beautiful animals but they are the second biggest threat to the forest,” says Seessel. “People rarely consider the detrimental effect they have on the forest. It is the Conservancy’s challenge to educate the public on this.” In some areas of the Sourlands, the deer population is 160 per square mile, about 10 times the sustainable level. “This is a critical issue,” says Amon, former executive director of the D&R Canal Commission. “The deer are so plentiful that in order to survive they must eat every new seedling that appears; as a result the forest is wide open to alien invasive species such as butterfly bush, Japanese honeysuckle, and Japanese barberry. That’s a problem for native wildlife which evolved alongside and rely on native plants. Invasives have different leafing-out and blooming cycles from the native flora that are so important, especially for insects and migrating birds. Imagine being a one-and-a-half ounce bird flying thousands of miles and needing nutrition and not being able to find it because it’s been destroyed by deer.” As Amon explains, “If you visit the forest in fall, what you see are plants with leaves on them untouched by any insect. This isn’t good at all. Canopy and shrub layers that are being destroyed by the deer discourage invasives that come from people’s gardens. Some of these plants are quite

attractive but they tend to encircle tree trunks and choke off the transport of nutrients from root to branch, thereby killing the tree.” As a solution, Amon suggests making it easier for hunters to take more deer from the forest. As it is now regulated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the aim is to maximize the number of licenses sold rather than deer control. Visitors to the Sourland Conservancy website may be surprised to find “The Venison Connection,” suggesting consumption of more deer meat. Small parks and access points make the Sourlands popular for hiking, mountain biking, hunting, and bird watching. Rock climbing is permitted in some parks such as Sourland Mountain Preserve. The largest park is the Sourland Mountain Preserve in Somerset County. Nearby is the Sourland Mountain Nature Preserve, located in Hunterdon County. For more information on the pipeline, visit www.stoppenneast.org. For the Sourlands Conservancy, visit: www.sourland.org. For a documentary film on the region, see Jared Flesher’s Sourlands, www.sourlands.com.

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SAVING ANIMALS AND AN HISTORIC HOME THE LONGTIME PRINCETON ANIMAL SHELTER MOVES TO SKILLMAN BY GRETA CUYLER

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(OPPOSITE) Architect Max Hayden and SAVE Executive Director Piper Burrows. (BELOW) Historic James Van Zandt house.

S

AVE, A Friend to Homeless Animals, will soon move from its longtime home on Herrontown Road in Princeton to a 10-acre property in Montgomery Township, complete with a new animal shelter and a renovated home for administrative offices. The plan is to move in early 2015, hopefully by March 1. It’s a project that’s been a long time in the making. “SAVE has been at its current location since 1941 and the buildings are literally crumbling to the ground” SAVE Executive Director Piper Burrows said “There is not enough space to adequately house the animals, let alone comfortably accommodate the staff and volunteers.” The new shelter will be able to accommodate 100 animals—up from 75—at the property on Route 601. That means the shelter can house up to 75 cats and 25 dogs. “The best thing is that SAVE will become a model shelter for the state of New Jersey and for the region and the project will also serve as a great incentive for other non-profit groups to do what we did—to invest in adaptive reuse for a historic building,” Burrows said.

RESTORING THE JAMES VAN ZANDT HOME SAVE acquired the James Van Zandt home and property in the Skillman section of Montgomery as a result of its merger with Friends of Homeless Animals. Both shelters had considered plans for more space, but Friends of Homeless Animals bought the Van Zandt property from the State of New Jersey in 2001. It cost $50,000 but came with a requirement that the home be restored with a minimum $1 million

investment, Burrows said. Built in 1854 by wealthy local farmer James Van Zandt, the home was owned by the State of New Jersey beginning in the 1930s. According to Town Topics, it was being used as low security detention center by the 1990s. “I’ll never forget walking into the Van Zandt mansion for the first time. I was practically in tears,” Burrows said. “It was such a disaster.” Local architect Max Hayden evaluated the house for the nonprofit in 2001. He said the building had “great bones” but had been abandoned for 10 years and unused for 20. Built in the Italianate-style of Victorian architecture, the three-story brick building has large eaves and windows and a large central spiral staircase that extends from the first to the third floor. “The basic plan of the house is equal sides of the cross and in the middle is a circular staircase,” Hayden said. “Until sometime early this century, there was a cupola on top full of windows and it let light into the middle of the house: the staircase was filled with light.” Decay and institutional use had damaged the elegant building. Hayden described multiple roof leaks, fire damage, pigeons living inside, linoleum floors, baseboard heat, rubber stair treads, metal doors and multiple coats of brown paint. Although he did an initial building assessment for SAVE around 2001, Hayden’s work on the project didn’t begin until several years later, after Montgomery Township had approved the mansion renovation and new animal shelter next door. Hayden has worked on multiple historical renovations, including Grover Cleveland’s former home, Morven farmhouse and a coach house at Drumthwacket, all in Princeton. He opened his own

firm, Max Hayden Architect, in 1991. Inside the Van Zandt home, Charles Donohue Construction and Twomey Builders stripped the building of its institutional look and transformed it into administrative offices for SAVE, plus a conference room for board meetings and a staff break room. The home is furnished with items willed to SAVE by a local resident and animal lover. Outside, just feet away from the Van Zandt building, Valley Contractors built SAVE’s new animal shelter, with approximately 10,000 square feet of space on two floors. Upstairs is a large meeting room for dog training, volunteer meetings and adoption day events. Downstairs is a reception area, adoption rooms, isolation rooms, veterinary care, a surgical suite, an on-site pharmacy, rooms for nursing dogs and cats, food prep, storage and laundry. There are also 10 interconnected rooms filled with cat cages and four rooms containing dog kennels. There is an abundance of natural light. Each dog kennel has a run and a view of the outdoors. Outside, there’s a half-acre dog run and plenty of land where volunteers can walk the dogs. “There will be a lot more room, it’s a lot cleaner and more energy efficient,” Hayden said. “The animals are kept as well as they can in the existing facility, but they don’t get a sense of light or fresh air.” As the project comes to an end, Hayden admits it hasn’t been easy. “Everyone’s been really helpful, but there’s a lot of red tape these days and everyone has a different responsibility and it’s a little like reinventing the wheel.” But he thinks it was worth it. “This is the only building of historic importance that remains in the Skillman Village area,” Hayden said. “I think it’s important that we save a piece of history.” FEBRUARY 2015 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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(TOP, BOTTOM-LEFT) Restored interiors of the James Van Zandt house. (BOTTOM-RIGHT) Architect Max Hayden and Executive Director Piper Burrows.

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(TOP) Dylan DiMeglio, Event Coordinator and Executive Director Piper Burrows. (BOTTOM) View to the new animal shelter.

A MASSIVE FUNDRAISING EFFORT The Van Zandt home renovation and the new shelter, along with associated site work (gas and water lines, new driveway, parking lot, etc.), cost approximately $4 million, Burrows said. SAVE launched its New Beginnings capital campaign in May 2011, with plans to raise $3 million on top of the $900,000 the organization had already raised in prior years. With about $300,000 still needed, SAVE recently received a three-year, $500,000 matching grant from The George H. and Estelle M. Sands Foundation that will run through Dec. 1, 2017. “For me, the fundraising is never going to end, because the new facility will cost more for us to run

because of its slightly larger capacity,” Burrows said. “I basically have to rebuild SAVE’s endowment.” The organization is offering naming opportunities at the new site—donors can name a cat cage for $1,000, name a dog run for $2,000 or buy into a pet memorial garden SAVE hopes to build. Donors may also make gifts online at SAVE.org, make gifts of stock or in kind donations.

THE FUTURE OF SAVE With a larger facility and more animals, Burrows anticipates she will add more employees to the current staff of 16, many of whom are part-time. She estimates adding one full-time and two

part-time employees. She also hopes to expand SAVE’s services and volunteer opportunities. The non-profit currently contracts with Princeton, Lawrence and Hopewell for animal control services. Burrows hopes the organization can partner with more, including Montgomery Township, going forward. “We are moving into Somerset County and we have never really tapped into those areas, it’s going to open up so many more possibilities,” Burrows said. Meanwhile SAVE’s property at 900 Herrontown Road is under contract in a private sale, Burrows said. The property, approximately three acres in an irregular lot, is currently zoned commercial.

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| CULTURAL EVENTS

MARCH 8

FEB. 27

M A R K YO U R

FEB. 10

CALENDAR

M U S I C | B O O K S | T H E AT R E | L E C T U R E S | S P O R T S

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 6PM Author Andrew Solomon reads from and discusses his award-winning book, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity. Part of the free Public Lectures Series at Princeton University. www.princeton.edu

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12 7PM Champagne for Lovers at Crossing Vineyards and Winery in Washington Crossing, Pa. Celebrate Valentine’s Day by learning about the world’s most romantic wine. www.crossingvineyards.com. 7PM Rutgers University mens basketball vs. Purdue at Rutgers Athletic Center in New Brunswick. www. scarletknights.com

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13 4:30PM Fintan O’Toole delivers the Robert Fagles Memorial Lecture on “Unspeakable Horror: How Ireland Fought the Great War.” This event is presented by The Fund for Irish Studies at Princeton University. http://fis.princeton.edu

7PM Princeton University mens basketball vs. Brown University at Jadwin Gym. www. goprincetontigers.com

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14 9AM Enjoy the Orchid Extravaganza at Longwood Gardens through March 29. It’s the perfect time of year to witness the conservatory’s rare bluepoppies and vibrant orchid meadow display. http:// longwoodgardens.org

11AM “Drawn with Spirit: Pennsylvania German Fraktur from the Joan and Victor Johnson Collection” opens at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This art exhibit examines fraktur, one of the most admired forms

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of American folk art. The craft of decorated German documents featuring brilliant color and whimsical imagery was transplanted to Pennsylvania by Germanspeaking immigrants (on view through April 2015). www.philamuseum.org

8PM Bruce Springsteen tribute, Bruce in the USA, a high-energy musical experience at the Sellersville Theater in Sellersville, Pa. www.st94.com

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15 7:30PM Westminster Choir College faculty perform Schubert’s [monumental] song cycle, Die schöne Müllerin, Op. 25, D. 795 at Westminster’s Bristol Chapel in Princeton. www.rider.edu/wcc

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16 8AM-6PM The Westminster Kennel Club’s 139th Annual Dog Show at Madison Square Garden (through Tuesday, February 17). www.westminsterkennelclub.org

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20 7PM Princeton University womens basketball vs. Dartmouth College at Jadwin Gym. www. goprincetontigers.com 8PM A Harp, a Viola, and a Flute concert at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Features musicians Bridget Kibbey, Jack Stulz, and Julietta Curenton performing works by Debussy (also on February 21). www.ias.edu

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21 10AM Opening of The City Lost and Found: Capturing New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, 1960-1980 at the Princeton University Art Museum (on view through June 7, 2015). http://artmuseum.princeton.edu

7PM Princeton University mens hockey vs. Yale University at Hobey Baker Rink. www. goprincetontigers.com

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22 8PM Multi-faceted entertainer Harry Connick Jr. performs at the State Theatre of NJ. Connick has earned three Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and two Tony nominations. He also spearheaded efforts to rebuild his hometown of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. www.statetheatrenj.org

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27 7:30PM Cabaret Cabernet featuring musician Sarah Donner and friends at the Arts Council of Princeton. The evening begins with a tapas reception and drinks provided by Mediterra. http://artscouncilofprinceton.org

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 11AM Opening of the 2015 Philadelphia International Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center (through March 8). http://theflowershow.com 11AM Maple Sugar Day at the Peace Valley Nature Center in Doylestown, Pa. Experience the way that maple sugar was collected and made into sugar and syrup during the pioneer days. www.peacevalleynaturecenter.org 7PM Carnaval Magic Fundraiser for West Windsor Arts Council. Guests will samba and swing while enjoying spectacular Brazilian fare, cocktails, and a silent auction featuring one-of-a-kind artwork and other prize packages. www.westwindsorarts.com 9PM Singer songwriter Diana Krall performs at Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, NJ. www.atlanticcitynj.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 6 6:30-9:30PM “An Evening in France” art workshop and soirée for women of all ages at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown. Guests will create wire figure sculptures inspired by Rodin’s artwork. The evening will also feature French treats and refreshments. www. michenermuseum.org

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FEB. 14

FEB. 14

FEB. 12 march 8

8PM Burt Bacharach performs at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. Bacharach has won three Academy Awards and eight Grammy Awards. A sampling of his greatest hits include “I Say A Little Prayer,” “Magic Moments,” “On My Own,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” and “Walk on By.” His music continues to set industry records. www. countbasietheatre.org

Sunday, March 8 4:30PM The Romantic Violin with Ruotao Mao (violin)

march 14

Saturday, March 14

Wednesday, March 25

Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!

1PM Tour Drumthwacket in Princeton, the official residence of the Governor of New Jersey since 1981 (repeats every Wednesday). www.drumthwacket.org

9AM Pie eating contest at McCaffrey’s in the Princeton Shopping Center. The contest is open to ages 4 through adults. Part of the Pi Day Princeton celebrations. www. pidayprinceton.com

11AM Einstein Look-A-Like Contest at the Nassau Inn’s Prince William Ballroom. Precocious kids of all ages are invited to impersonate the famous scientist. www. pidayprinceton.com

and Michiko Otaki (piano). The program will include Dvorák’s Romantic Pieces for Violin and Edward T. Cone’s Elegy for Violin and Piano (1946). Part of the PSO’s Chamber Series. http://princetonsymphony.org

NOON Ride the Dinky Train with Einstein. Trains depart

7:30PM Maroon 5 performs live at the IZOD Center in

Sunday, March 15

East Rutherford, NJ. www.meadowlands.com

9:15AM Philadelphia’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade begins

Tuesday, March 10

with a Commemorative Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in Center City. The parade route begins at 16th and JFK Boulevard. www.philadelphiastpatsparade.com

7:30PM World premiere of Baskerville, a comedy based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of Baskervilles (through March 29). www.mccarter.org

Wednesday, March 11 NOON Tea and Tour at Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton. Enjoy tea, tea sandwiches, scones, and fresh fruit while relaxing in the quiet elegance of Morven’s Garden Room. Accompanied by a docentled tour (repeats every Wednesday. Also at 2 p.m.). http://morven.org

Friday, March 13 8PM Grammy Award-winner Sarah McLachlan

Princeton Station beginning at noon through 1:11pm. www.pidayprinceton.com

4PM Cellist Zuill Bailey performs Sebastian Currier’s Microsymph in a concert titled, Soulful Reflections. Currier served as Composer-in-Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in 2013. http:// princetonsymphony.org

Friday, March 20 8PM The Institute for Advanced Study welcomes pianist Peter Serkin and cellist Fred Sherry for a performance of Beethoven’s last two cello sonatas, as well as works by modernist composers Babbit, Wuorinen, and Carter (also on March 21). www.ias.edu

6PM Rat’s Restaurant at Grounds for Sculpture presents Gastro Pub & Belgium Beer Dinner. The evening will feature a selection of artisanal Belgian beers and creative cuisine. www.groundsforsculpture.org

Monday, April 6 7:30PM David Sedaris’ annual Princeton visit has become a McCarter tradition. His bestsellers include Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, and his latest, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. www.mccarter.org

Friday, April 10 8PM Bob Dylan Tribute Concert at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton Township. Artist Michael Graves counts Dylan as one of his primary artistic inspirations. His exhibit, Michael Graves: Past as Prologue, just finished a 6 month run at the Museum. www. groundsforsculpture.org

Sunday, April 12 4:30PM Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s principal cellist Alistair MacRae performs with soprano Allison Pohl. www.princetonsymphony.org

Thursday, April 23 9AM-6PM Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. More athletes compete in the Penn Relays than the Olympics (through April 25). www.thepennrelays.com

performs at The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. McLachlan is known for her emotional ballads and impressive mezzo-soprano vocal range. www.atlanticcitynj.com

FEBRUARY 2015 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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| DINING OUT Mediterra Draws crowds for its extensive wine list and Mediterranean cuisine. 29 Hulfish Street. 609.252.9680

Chambers Walk Hearty, American cuisine using locally sourced ingredients. BYOB. 2667 Main Street. 609.896.5995

North End Bistro American favorites and comfort foods including multiple varieties of macaroni and cheese. 354 Nassau Street. 609.683.9700

HAMILTON Rat’s Restaurant French cuisine. Serving lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. Located inside of Grounds for Sculpture. Grounds for Sculpture. 609.584.7800

Peacock Inn Elegant cuisine and cocktails situated inside of a boutique hotel. 20 Bayard Lane. 609.924.1707

FLEMINGTON Matt’s Red Rooster Grill Restaurant Contemporary American eatery with flavors drawn from a wood-fired grill. 22 Bloomfield Avenue. 908.788.7050

LAMBERTVILLE Anton’s at the Swan Restaurant Romantic dining in downtown Lambertville. 43 South Main Street. 609.397.1960 Bell’s Tavern A Lambertville institution since 1938. Guinness certified taps. 183 North Union Street. 609.397.2226

PRINCETON Agricola Farm-to-table, community eatery serving locally sourced foods. Sunday brunch. 11 Witherspoon Street. 609.921.2798

PENNINGTON Avanti Authentic, home-style Sicilian cuisine. BYOB. 23 W. Delaware Avenue. 609.737.7174

Alchemist & Barrister Pub fare. Known as the “Cheers of Princeton.” 28 Witherspoon Street. 609.924.5555

Diamond’s of Pennington Steaks, seafood, and Italian cuisine. 25 Route 31. 609.730.1244

Blue Point Grill Extensive selection of fresh seafood and classics like New England clam chowder. BYOB. 258 Nassau Street. 609.921.1211 Conte’s Pizza and Bar A proud tradition of serving Princeton’s pizza lovers! 339 Witherspoon Street. 609.921.8041 Cross Culture Ethnic Indian cuisine. Restaurant and Catering. Princeton Shopping Center. 301 N. Harrison Street. 609.688.9400 D’Angelo Italian Market Fine Italian cuisine, deli food, pizza, and imported goods. 35 Spring Street. 609.921.0404 Despana Princeton Fine Foods & Tapas Café Tapas, paellas, and sangria mixes to eat-in or take away. 235 Nassau Street. 609.921.2992 Ivy Inn Pub menu and extensive draft beer selection. 248 Nassau Street. 609.921.8555 Mistral Exotic small plates, colorful salads, and textural desserts. 66 Witherspoon Street. 609.688.8808 Jammin’ Crepes Sweet and savory crepes, soups, and baked goods. 20 Nassau Street. 609.924.5387 Main Street Euro-American bistro and bar. 301 N. Harrison Street. 609.921.2779 Mamoun’s Falafel Restaurant High quality Middle Eastern food. Considered by many to be the best falafel in New Jersey. 20 Witherspoon Street. 609.454.5936

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Piccolo Trattoria Old World ambience. Classic Italian. (second location in Newtown, Pa.) Hopewell Crossing Shopping Center. 800 R. Denow Road. 609.7379050 The Taco Truck Fresh tacos, tortas, burritos, and salsa. Princeton Shopping Center. 301 N. Harrison Street. 609.580.1384 Teresa Café Trattoria serving gourmet pizza and fresh pasta. Open for brunch. 23 Palmer Square East. 609.921.1974 Tortuga’s Mexican Village Locally owned Mexican eatery with a focus on making great food! 41 Leigh Avenue. 609.924.5143 Tre Piani Italian and Mediterranean fare. Princeton Forrestal Village. 120 Rockingham Row. 609.452.1515 Winberie’s Restaurant & Bar A long-standing “Princeton Pub.” The casual atmosphere is reflected in the popular, friendly bar. One Palmer Square. 609. 921.0700 Witherspoon Grill Lively grill and bar. Voted best burger in Princeton. 57 Witherspoon Street. 609.924.6011 Yankee Doodle Tap Room Historic bar and restaurant located inside of the Nassau Inn. Wide-selection of world beers on tap and a roaring fireplace. Nassau Inn. 10 Palmer Square. 609.688.2600

LAWRENCEVILLE Acacia Restaurant Innovative American cuisine. Serving lunch and dinner. 2637 Main Street. 609.895.9885

HOPEWELL The Blue Bottle Café Italian-inspired fare in an intimate setting. BYOB. 101 E. Broad Street. 609.333.1710 Brick Farm Market Straight from the farm. Cheese shop, charcuterie, butcher shop, produce, bakery, and coffee bar. 65 E. Broad Street. 609. 466.6500 The Brothers Moon Eclectic American cuisine with a healthy slant. BYOB. 7 West Broad Street. 609.333.1330 Nomad Pizza Wood-fired brick oven pizza and salads. BYOB. 10 East Broad Street. 609.466.6623

KINGSTON Eno Terra Global cuisine and sophisticated cocktails. Wood-fired grill adds flavor to signature dishes. 4484 Rt. 27. 609.497.1777

ROCKY HILL One 53 American/Euro bistro cuisine and bar. 153 Washington Street. 609.921.0153

CRANBURY The Cranbury Inn 18th century inn serving lunch, dinner, and champagne brunch. 21 South Main Street. 609.655.5595 Zinna’s Bistro Family owned and operated ItalianAmerican bistro with carry-out. 1275 Cranbury South River Road. 609.860.9600

DeAnna’s Restaurant Decadent Italian food and a lively bar. Specializing in homemade pasta. 54 N. Franklin Street. 609.397.8957 El Tule Mexican and Peruvian restaurant. 49 N. Main Street. 609.773.0007 Hamilton’s Grill Room Grilled meat, fish and produce. Garden setting. 8 Coryell Street. 609.397.4343

STOCKTON Stockton Inn Historic tavern. Premium spirits, beer, wine, and American cuisine. 1 Main Street. 609.397.1250

YARDLEY The Vault Brewing Company Brewpub that models itself on a classic speakeasy. 10 South Main Street. 267.573.4291 The Yardley Inn Welcoming pub atmosphere serving brunch, lunch, and dinner. 82 E. Afton Avenue. 215.493.3800

PRINCETON MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2015

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RESORT WEAR Sunglasses: Prada cat-eye sunglasses, $450; Bergdorf Goodman NYC, 800.558.1855

Pareo: Hermès ‘Concours d’Etriers’ pareo, $550; Hermès Madison, 212.751.3181

Sunscreen: MDSolarSciences mineral crème sunscreen, $30; Nordstrom Menlo Park, 732.603.5000

Cosmetic case: Louis Vuitton Monogram Multicolore cosmetic pouch, $460; Louis Vuitton 5th Avenue, 212.758.8877

Watch: Michele ‘Park Jelly Bean’ watch, $395; Forest Jewelers Princeton, 609.924.1363

Sandal: Tory Burch bar logo suede sandals, $250; Neiman Marcus King of Prussia, 610.962.6200

Product selection by Gina Hookey

Bathing suit: Tory Burch logo one-piece bathing suit, $195; Bloomingdale’s SoHo, 212.729.5900

Bracelet: 18-Karat, turquoise, citrine and diamond bracelet, $7,200; Sidney Thomas Jewelers, The Mall at Short Hills, 973.379.5500

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