Wednesday, October 4, 2017, at 6:30 p.m.
By Caitlin Hawke
You've stumbled on wet-behind-the-ears and heavily-back-packed Europeans wandering out of the W. 103rd Street station trying to figure out whether to go left or right down the side street, desperately in search of "the hostel." I quickly approach them and say with big eyes and nodding head: "Youth Hostel? Is that what you are looking for?" Often they are relieved, sometimes shocked that a New Yorker has broken the fourth wall. But I remember my days of hostelling, juggling backpack, map, and new-city angst.
But how many of us have actually wandered the halls of this landmarked building, currently inhabited by Hostelling International? How many know the story of its preservation after a spectacular fire gutted it in the mid-1970s? And who knows its place in neighborhood history?
You've stumbled on wet-behind-the-ears and heavily-back-packed Europeans wandering out of the W. 103rd Street station trying to figure out whether to go left or right down the side street, desperately in search of "the hostel." I quickly approach them and say with big eyes and nodding head: "Youth Hostel? Is that what you are looking for?" Often they are relieved, sometimes shocked that a New Yorker has broken the fourth wall. But I remember my days of hostelling, juggling backpack, map, and new-city angst.
But how many of us have actually wandered the halls of this landmarked building, currently inhabited by Hostelling International? How many know the story of its preservation after a spectacular fire gutted it in the mid-1970s? And who knows its place in neighborhood history?
From the digital collections of the NYPL
In the latest issue of the Block Association newsletter, I wrote about the building and its current community-minded owner, HI NYC -- a neighbor that with luck we'll all get to know better and better over time.
The Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group is going to jump-start us on that with its October 4th panel. All the info is below and more in the newsletter article above.
So, on Wednesday, come on out and say hello to the folks at HI NYC.
And keep marking your calendars because BAiP's art groups will be having a clothesline show of their work depicting the neighborhood on October 14th from 2-4 p.m. I'll post the flyer for that shortly!
The Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group is going to jump-start us on that with its October 4th panel. All the info is below and more in the newsletter article above.
So, on Wednesday, come on out and say hello to the folks at HI NYC.
And keep marking your calendars because BAiP's art groups will be having a clothesline show of their work depicting the neighborhood on October 14th from 2-4 p.m. I'll post the flyer for that shortly!
RSS Feed
