By Caitlin Hawke

On November 1st, BAiP held its second volunteer appreciation event with 130 neighbors attending.  All volunteers were feted and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer proclaimed that the day be named for BAiP. It was a special moment for our neighborhood and for our Block Association because this year's honoree is one of our own:  our board member and co-treasurer Dorothy O'Hanlon received BAiP's Sands Award for "her gentle touch while riding herd over her flock as a BAiP group leader, for her dependability and grace while wearing many hats within BAiP, and for her ever-generous spirit and capacity when it comes to volunteering in her community whether by way of her vital role as a BAiP building representative or her devotion to the W. 102nd & 103rd Streets Block Association."

​So here's something to give thanks for: a wonderful colleague who devotes her talent to her neighborhood!

By Caitlin Hawke

It was a simple concept just a year ago.  Take one great neighborhood -- Bloomingdale -- with lots of community-minded neighbors.  Add three anchor community organizations -- BAiP, West 104th Street Block Assocation and us. And you get TriBloomingdale. The idea behind the three organizations joining forces from time to time was to bring a broader group of neighbors together to pursue common interests. We've always collaborated loosely on neighborhood events like the Halloween parade or the two annual yard sales.  And BAiP was the brain child of leaders from both block associations.  So it is natural to pool efforts so that members can find ways of getting to know each other.

Thanks to the TriBloomingdale initiative, if you are a member of one of these groups, you can join other members for the Sunday morning walking group where members walk at a very brisk pace.  As of January, TriBloomingdale will add an ice-skating group that will go for an occasional skate at the ice rink in northern Central Park -- all ages welcome.

​Going strong, too, is the monthly "Networking in the Neighborhood" group led by Harriet Hoffman for sole proprietors running businesses from their homes.  The monthly morning meetings are a great way for local entrepreneurs to share resources and best practices. It's also a great way to get the word out about your business.

If you are a member of BAiP, the W. 104th Street Block Association or this block association, contact me for more information at chawke@bloominplace.org and make sure to specify which TriBloomingdale activity is of interest.


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By Caitlin Hawke

Neighbor Gil Tauber recently offered a walking tour of the latest segment of Riverside Drive to receive landmark status.  The tour ended with the Schinasi Mansion on the northeast corner of Riverside Drive and West 107th Street.  Constructed in 1909 for an illiterate tobacco barron of Turkish birth, Morris Schinasi, the house still stands and sold just two years ago for $14 million.  Not to speculate, but it seems an equal sum has been poured into the renovation and restoration of this 12,000 square foot marble manse now nearing completion with gleaming balustrades and a traffic-stopping blue-green ceramic tile roof.

Among the tidbits of lore that surround this stately residence is the fact that it was designed by the architect of Carnegie Hall, WilliamTuthill.  But juicier is the rumored tunnel beneath it supposedly stretching under Riverside Drive all the way to the Hudson for rum running.  The money that Morris used to commission his home was earned in his business at 120th and Broadway where he pioneered the automation of cigarette manufacture thanks to his patented machine to roll cigarettes.

h/t to Gil Tauber for some of the information above.

By Caitlin Hawke

Here's a map, a scant 10 years before LBJ might have taken the IRT down to 4th Street, USA.  When he'd get there, what would he see? The tubes of America, all jumbly!

Apologies to Gerome Ragni and James Rado.  

But today we barely recognize this map.  Red is the new blue.  Green is the old blue. Blue is red. HeLp?! And what's with all this IRT, IND, Broadway line stuff? And why does Manhattan look like a hamsteak.

As the youth say today: #<3.  Or flames!

Now, try to find Bloomingdale!