In Memoriam

The sweet and lovable Lucy, who gladdened our hearts whenever we had the good fortune to meet up with her on a walk, died this morning. Lucy will be fondly remembered by all who knew her for the endearing way she wagged her tail as she pranced along beside her human and for her unabashed exuberance when she knew a treat was in the offing. For William and me, a big part of the joy of our forays about the neighborhood--the chance of encountering Lucy--has gone. Good-bye, sweet girl. You were greatly loved, and you will be greatly missed.    

Breaking News from The Valley Alliance

It seems that the City of Hudson may already own nearly half the property it has been negotiating with Holcim to acquire. Read more here: "Is Hudson negotiating with Holcim for the City's own property?"

This map appears on The Valley Alliance website.

See! Save! Celebrate! All Is Revealed

The time has come to reveal the locations of the architectural details in Gossips' observance of National Preservation Month 2013. First, however, we need to give recognition, thanks, and praise to the people who participated in the search and submitted their lists. 

Identifying all 31 architectural details correctly:

Alane Mazzacano

Team Perry: Patrice, Gillian, and Rob 

(who made the search a family project)

Identifying most but not all of the details correctly:

Dan & Kathryn Beilke 

(who identified 27 of the details correctly)

Lisa Durfee & Alan Hamilton 

(who got inspired to search late in the game but still managed to find 20 of the details in two hours while riding around town on bicycles) 

Here are the addresses of all the details.

Detail 1:  240 Allen Street

Detail 2:  555 State Street

Detail 3:  223 Warren Street

Detail 4:  27 Fairview Avenue

Detail 5:  448 East Allen Street

Detail 6:  52 South Front Street

Detail 7:  12 South Fourth Street

Detail 8:  232 Warren Street

Detail 9:  101 North Fifth Street

Detail 10:  119 Warren Street

Detail 11:  339 Allen Street

Detail 12:  338 Warren Street

Detail 13:  113 Warren Street

Detail 14:  445 Warren Street

Detail 15:  453 Union Street

Detail 16:  414 Union Street

Detail 17:  358 State Street

Detail 18:  236 Allen Street

Detail 19:  201 Union Street

Detail 20:  228 Allen Street

Detail 21:  318 Allen Street

Detail 22:  339 Warren Street

Detail 23:  122 Union Street

Detail 24:  331 Allen Street

Detail 25:  519 Washington Street

Detail 26:  502 Columbia Street

Detail 27:  7 Union Street

Detail 28:  29 Union Street

Detail 29:  7 Aitkin Avenue

Detail 30:  6 West Court Street

400 State Street    

June in Hudson in a Different Time

My curiosity to learn some history about 318 State Street, one of the properties sold at auction on Saturday, uncovered this story about a former resident of the house, which appeared on the front page of the Hudson Evening Register for June 30, 1941. Suitable for the season, it involves parking, street vending, and vegetables.

June Screenings at the Basilica

Basilica Hudson has announced its schedule of films for the month of June. All films begin at 8 p.m. Click here for more information. 

Thursday, June 6  
The Devil, Probably (1977) Directed by Robert Breeson

Friday, June 14
They Accepted the Pleasures of Morning
Followed by Q & A with the filmmaker, Basma Alsharif

Thursday, June 20
C'est Vrai (1990) Robert Frank
Look at This (2010-2012) Aaron Graham
Followed by Q & A with Aaron Graham

Friday, June 28
Towheads (2013)
Followed by Q & A with filmmaker, Shannon Plumb

"As My Whimsy Takes Me"

Dorothy Sayers' fans will recognize the title of this post as the motto emblazoned on Lord Peter Wimsey's family coat of arms, along with the "three mice courant" and "a domestic cat crouched to spring." This post doesn't have anything to do with the nobleman turned amateur detective, but it does involve sleuthing.

Back in 1867, an allegation that there were no good houses for rent in Hudson inspired the Hudson Evening Register to publish a two-part article entitled "Private Residences" that inventoried the best and most elegant houses of Hudson. Curiously, all the houses featured were on Warren Street or on the streets south of Warren Street. This led me to wonder about the north side of the city. So, using my favorite research tool, Fulton History, I decided to learn what I could about the buildings that once stood and still stand along Columbia and State streets.   

My first discovery worthy of sharing was this advertisement, which appeared in the Hudson Evening Register several times in late 1877 and early 1878--a decade after "Private Residences" was published.

Discovering the fate of this "nearly new and well constructed" double house required first figuring out where it was. The buildings on the east-west streets on the north side of the city were renumbered in 1889, as were the buildings on Warren Street and the streets to the south. This advertisement, which appeared in the Hudson Evening Register on February 9, 1888, for the services of Madame F. C. DeStafford, provided the needed clue.

  
Madame DeStafford, "the most celebrated clairvoyant card reader in this country," resided at 314 State Street, "one door above Fifth street." Today, the double house that was originally numbered 314 and 316 has the numbers 508 and 510 and is part of Phil Gellert's "Northern Empire."

Here's another change from the way things once were in Hudson. Back in 1888, Madame DeStafford could advertise her services in the local newspaper and promise "unerring valuable advice" on "all the affairs of life." Eighty-five years later, in 1973, the Common Council adopted Chapter 188 of the city code, addressing itself to "Lewd and Offensive Behavior." Paragraph 27 of that chapter makes it illegal to "use or pretend to use or have any skill in physiognomy, palmistry or like crafty science, or pretend to tell destinies or fortunes."
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

See! Save! Celebrate! A Reminder

Midnight tonight is the deadline for submitting your answers in the great Gossips of Rivertown observance of National Preservation Month 2013. Some entries have already been received, but there is still time to join the elite group of sharp-eyed observers who have identified the locations of all the architectural details.  

You can download a walking list with photographs of all thirty-one details here. You have today to locate them all and submit your answers electronically to Gossips by midnight. The locations of all the architectural details and the names of the people who identified them all will be published tomorrow.

The Outcome of the Auction

It was a full house at City Hall this morning for the auction of properties seized by the City for nonpayment of taxes. As many predicted, the bidding was brisk for 405 Warren Street, even though, as of Thursday, there were still tenants in place in what was described by one person who toured the building as not an apartment building but an SRO.

Someone opened the bidding for 405 Warren Street with the minimum ($264,041.87) but immediately dropped out as the price rose rapidly by modest increments of $1,000 and $2,000. It seemed at first that John Knott and Bill Better were competing bidders, since they appeared to take turns upping the bid of a woman in the first row. It turns out Knott and Better were bidding together for an entity known as Warren Hudson LLC, and the woman they were bidding against was Mark Greenberg's secretary, who was bidding on behalf of Galvan Partners. Galvan Partners ended up being the high bidder at $354,000, and another building will soon be added to the Galvan inventory.

When 318 State Street was first offered for sale, there were no bidders, so assistant city attorney Carl G. Whitbeck, who was conducting the auction, moved on to 209-211 Columbia Street. 

The minimum bid for 209-211 Columbia Street, rumored to have been a den of illegal gambling back in the day, was $19,309. The bidding started with a raise of $1, then $190, then increments of $1,000, until the price rose 70 percent to $33,000. The winning bidders were Knott and Better, Warren Hudson LLC.

At a minimum bid of $17,243.58, there were also no bidders for the vacant lot at 24 Tanners Lane either. So, as is customary, Whitbeck invited bids of any amount on the two properties: 318 State Street and 24 Tanners Lane. 

Joe Rapp opened the bidding for 318 State Street at $10,000. That was soon bid up to $37,000--almost the amount the City sought. The highest bid--$37,000--was made by Vincent Barral. Gossips wishes him well. There is a soft spot in my heart for this sweet little early vernacular house with a two-story bay, which was very likely added later.

The vacant lot at 24 Tanners Lane didn't fare as well. Someone bid $1,000 for it, and that was that. Since the bids for 318 State Street and 24 Tanners Lane are less than the amount of back taxes owed on the properties, the bids must be accepted by the Common Council. 

The City did all right this morning. The total amount they had to recoup from the sale of the four properties was $339,448.58. Even with the low ball bid on 24 Tanners Lane, the total of the high bids is $425,000.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Now You See 'Em, Now You Don't

After getting a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission on May 24 to cover the quirky stained glass mosaics at 613 Warren Street, the owners of Finch lost no time doing so. This was the scene on Saturday morning, June 1, as a painter puts the finishing touches on one of the panels.

The Bad Old Days of the Cold War

On Friday, June 7, at the Hudson Opera House, as part of the Speakers in the Humanities Project through the New York Council for the Humanities, Rod Edelman will present an illustrated lecture entitled "On the Waterfront and the Hollywood Blacklist." The announcement of the lecture, which begins at 7 p.m., indicates that "it will examine the climate in America that led to the House UnAmerican Activities Committee's (HUAC) ascent to power and will offer examples of the kinds of films that HUAC felt were subtle communist propaganda."

Word of this lecture at the Hudson Opera House inspired a reader to share the information that, in addition to the Hollywood Blacklist, which we have all heard of, there was a "Red List" of people involved in radio and TV on the East Coast suspected of having Communist leanings. A tract called Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television, issued by the right-wing journal Counterattack, names 151 actors, writers, musicians, broadcast journalists, and others believed to be somehow complicit in "indoctrinating the masses of the people with Communist ideology and the pro-Soviet interpretation of current events." 

The Red List, which can be viewed here, contains many familiar names--Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin, Arthur Miller, Dorothy Parker, Pete Seeger--and, if you peruse it carefully (and have been around Hudson long enough), you will discover the name of someone who, up until about ten years ago, owned a house on Willard Place.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK