Abuzz Around New York, Inc.

08/13/2024

Tourists now don't book a guide...they have their heads down in their phones--
phones give directions but no fun stories!

08/13/2024

RICH & FAMOUS w/GILDED AGE tour-Sunday Aug. 18; 1pm
Join us for a scandalous stroll through the Upper Eastside's Gilded Age mansions and residences of the rich and famous. Meet at Cartier, Fifth Avenue & 52nd Street on Sunday August 18 at 1pm. Tickets are $100pp, payable by Venmo to [email protected]. Immerse yourself in the opulent history and juicy gossip of New York City's elite during this 3.5 hour tour.

08/11/2024

In Sunday's papers this morning: CENTRAL PARK UPDATE:
VISITORS FEAR FAMED GREEN SPACE AMID SOARING CRIME
by Georgia Worrell
Robberies and felonious assaults (muggings) are skyrocketing in Central Park, terrifying both tourists and life-long New Yorkers--thanks to a troubling mix of violent teen gangs, unhinged vagrants, and lawless illegal migrants roaming the famous "green space." So far in 2024, crime is up 222% in Central Park.
Central Park is a completely man-made structure and was built between 1858 and 1872; it's the only city park in the United States which has been declared a National Landmark because it inspired other cities to build parks. In addition to NYC Parks Department funding, Central Park receives funds from the State of NY and the Federal government in addition to billions raised privately by the non-profit CENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY which has been restoring the landscaping to it's 19th century appearance, removing graffitti, etc.

07/30/2024

Me and Lisa DiGiovine in Lisa's guest house in Los Angeles.

07/30/2024

The fabulous HIPPODROME Theatre, built 1905, demolished 1939; 5,300 seats....stood on Sixth Avenue between W. 43rd and W. 44th Streets. Notice the old Sixth Avenue Elevated train in the picture. Today this train is UNDER Sixth Avenue and is the B,D,F orange subway line.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Hippodrome

07/16/2024

William VanAlen, the eccentric architect of the CHRYSLER BUILDING seen in a Halloween costume with a CHRYSLER BUILDING hat! This guy was probably a RIOT.

07/13/2024

Here's a rare real estate listing: Broadway legend MARY MARTIN's penthouse has hit the market for $9.8 million! It's in the fabulous 1929 CAMPANILE on East 52nd Street. Other famous folk who lived in the CAMPANILE include GRETA GARBO, REX HARRISON, ETHEL BARRYMORE.

The two-bedroom, 2½-bath home at the landmarked Campanile, at 450 E. 52nd St., was once owned by the late actress Mary Martin.

07/08/2024

Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara) died this day in 1967 at age 53.
Thank you Skyler for the information. Sharing...

07/08/2024

We are in the middle of a July Heatwave now (at least 3 days in a row of 90plus)...

20 years ago we shot this ODOR EATERS TV commercial during the same kind of July heatwave. We were in an old studio on 54th St behind The David Letterman Show. The studio was stifling hot with old-fashioned air conditioning which you could HEAR on camera under the hot lights.
So we kept stopping and opening the doors/windows to let the studio air out and cool down...we did this every few takes (107 takes). I thought Jeanne Kammerer (the wife) and myself got it perfect after a few takes but we had professional UNION cameramen, grips, etc. and everybody has to justify their paycheck so we did it over and over, stopped to cool off and dry the sweat stains off our clothes and did it some more.
We would probably still be there but Jeanne had to drive her kids to summer camp and she kept asking the producer & director if we could please finish by lunch. So we did. And this commercial played for YEARS...on 60 Minutes, on OPRAH, etc. every day. Lots of residual payments which actors love.
When I got the job I wasn't very thrilled because I had done jobs for big companies like Coca Cola and Hasbro and Dannon Yogurt but my agent Ellen Manning was thrilled. She explained (as an agent does)..."Jim those big companies make new commercials every couple months....small companies like ODOR EATERS only make a new commercial once in a blue moon. This commercial will run for YEARS!" And she was right!

Jim D***s Odor Eaters Commercials -- Appeared Thousands of Times on Television

07/08/2024

Jeff Yablun is the new CEO of OTG Hospitality Services where Thomas was working as a bartender at LA GUARDIA AIRPORT. OTG runs the bars/restaurants at the airport btw.
Thomas took a few days off to help me after my ACHILLES TENDON Surgery. He called out every day and had a manager approve his absences...when he returned to work, he was dismissed by a low-level manager. The OTG manual says 'employees will receive several WARNINGS" yet Thomas didn't receive ONE WARNING. My surgeon at NYU Dr. Andrew Feldman took time to write a note to the OTG HR Dept. explaining why Thomas was needed at home. They still FIRED HIM.
If you know Thomas, you know he's new in this country from Denmark and is a good worker, clean, great personality, honest as the day is long and did not deserve to be DUMPED.
CEO Jeff Yablun is on FB- he needs to be sent a message. This is unacceptable. DOES OTG fire people for attending unexpected funerals? Do they fire women who take pregnancy leave or have a family emergency? This definitely a "family emergency."
I'm recovering now but Thomas Nielsen has been totally denied his job at OTG La Guardia by a CLUELESS and HEARTLESS H.R. Dept.
Mr. Yablun needs to be sent a message that Thomas should have his job back with a RAISE.

07/03/2024

https://jlcards.com/wr0Sk6

Please click the image to view your ecard!

06/24/2024

Jackie Kennedy Onassis lived at 1040 Fifth Avenue at 85th Street (and died there). She had a palatial apartment...15 rooms on the 15th floor.
Here are the blueprints in case you're curious. The apartment sold after she died in 1993 for $9.5 million...It has since been sold a couple more times and the value is now up to $20million plus.

06/24/2024

1107 Fifth Avenue- once the grand mansion of Cereal heiress Marjorie Meriwether Post (Post Toasties). She had homes all over the place...London, Boston, Washington D.C., Mar-A-Lago in Florida. Her Fifth Avenue house was 54 rooms with 17 bathrooms, 28 servant rooms, a room for gowns, a room for flowers, etc. She grew tired of the fumes wafting into her windows from the noisy street and she was also tired of paying all the new property taxes (not to mention income taxes). One day she hired Rouse & Goldstone architects and asked them to build a beautiful high-rise apartment building and on the top 3 floors to RECREATE her house. So they did.
Here are the blueprints.

06/22/2024

The DAKOTA- 1884- oldest apartment building on Central Park built before the streets were paved.
Designed by Henry J. Hardenburgh as German gothic for millionaire investor Edward Clark who owned Clark Thread and Singer Sewing Machines among other investments.
Today the DAKOTA is surrounded by buildings...Central Park is just to your right (out of frame). Today the DAKOTA is famous for all the celebrity residents including Lauren Bacall, Yoko Ono and John Lennon (killed in the entrance courtyard), Roberta Flack, Rex Reed, Rudolf Nureyev, etc.

06/22/2024

06/11/2024

Funny story I remember reading: John Jacob Astor immigrated to NY from Germany in 1783; he was an uneducated immigrant and with his brother worked as a butcher. He hunted furry creatures, skinned them and got into the fur trade, selling the furs and buying New York City real estate. At one point he owned one third of Manhattan and other real estate. His children married into "high society" and his son married Caroline Schermerhorn who became THE Mrs. Astor, queen of New York society.

When Grandpa John Jacob Astor I was invited to his granddaughter's debutante ball, while standing in the receiving line, he absent-mindedly wiped his hands on his granddaughter's white ballgown, shocking and appalling everyone. Oops...still an uneducated b**b but with MONEY.
Great-grandson John Jacob Astor IV died on Titanic.

06/08/2024

My new favorite guilty pleasure: THE GILDED AGE on HBO/Max. Written & produced by Julian Fellowes who is known for DOWNTON ABBEY. GILDED AGE could easily be called "the American Downton Abbey". It's a very detailed historical fiction series about life in 1880s New York City with the "old" money and the "new money" families. Vanderbilts, Astors, etc. are all depicted either by name or by suggestion. Many favorite actors including Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Nathan Lane, Kelli O'Hara, Donna Murphy, many others. Historically accurate but juicy and bitchy.

1h | 16+

06/04/2024

With Deborah Norville – I just made it onto their weekly engagement list by being one of their top engagers! 🎉

05/29/2024

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/theater/audra-mcdonald-broadway-gypsy.html

The six-time Tony-winning actress will play musical theater’s most famous stage mother in a production directed by George C. Wolfe.

05/25/2024

It's Fleet Week in New York City....soldiers & sailors & marines everywhere. Check out this group of sailors inside the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York checking out the famous painting of George Washington Crossing the Delaware.

05/16/2024

Typical NYC grand gilded age mansion on E. 66th Street, built by a Vanderbilt cousin, now the LOTUS CLUB for artists & writers. I was a guest here recently.

04/06/2024

I got the nicest "thank you" note from a California School last week (California).
I scanned it for you.
Jimmy: Thank you for providing our students and their families with an NYC experience they will cherish for a lifetime.
Your knowledge of the city has given young people a better understanding of USA history and how amazing this unique little place in America is....it has a vibrancy like no other city.
Gratefully,
Townsend Teachers and families

02/24/2024

Grey Gardens in Easthampton.
Once a grand country house (the home of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis' Aunt & Uncle), it fell into disrepair when the family fortunes crashed. A famous documentary was done "Grey Gardens" which shows the sad state of dilapidation of the house (and residents Big Edie & Little Edie). Later a movie, a book and a Broadway musical.
Later the home was finally restored to grandeur by Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn.

02/13/2024

Every New York street you walk down has old brownstones and townhouses lined up in rows...each house is a story....who built it? Who lived there? What was their life like? Well I just stumbled onto a story about 126 W. 71st Street between Broadway & Columbus Ave.
Built in 1884 as one of 5 houses in a row, it had several private owners before finally being bought in 1908 by a vaudevillian & Broadway star....the handsome bachelor David Montgomery of the song & dance/comedy team Montgomery & Stone (with lifelong friend Fred Stone).
Montgomery & Stone starred in the original New York stage production of The Wizard of Oz as the scarecrow and tin man, they starred in the acclaimed The Red Mill, Babes in Toyland and many other productions.
As I was reading about David Montgomery I realized we both have the same birthday-- March 21-- but he was born in 1870 in St. Joseph, Missouri. He never married, bought the house in 1908, and died at age 47 while on a vaudeville tour in the midwest. His funeral was held in the house on W. 71st. St. The house was sold by his sister in 1920 and became apartments.

02/13/2024

A wise person said:
If you're not liberal when you're young,
You have no HEART.
But if you're not conservative by 40,
You have no BRAIN.

02/04/2024

New York real estate folks are so clueless in why their magnificent apartments and houses aren't selling!
1. They are over-priced....WAY over-priced
2. People (especially the rich) are fleeing New York because of HIGH TAXES and HIGH CRIME currently.
3. Many of these gorgeous expensive properties are in CO-OP Buildings where you must be approved by the BOARD OF DIRECTORS (i.e. the neighbors) and they ask all sorts of personal, intrusive questions.
4. Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue are full of these gorgeous, empty 10, 20, 30 room "palaces"...too many rules! You can't make noise, you can't have loud parties, you can't re-decorate unless you follow the "rules" of the building, etc.
But mostly it's because they are WAY over-priced!

Sometimes, even the fanciest Manhattan apartments get no respect. These luxe properties have been on the market for much longer than the average apartment.

01/25/2024

https://nypost.com/2024/01/23/news/plans-for-the-tallest-building-in-the-us-are-underway-its-location-may-surprise-you/

Plans to build the tallest skyscraper in the United States are shaping up in an unlikely metropolis.

12/29/2023

For the last 25 years, homes, businesses and municipalities have been installing security cameras everywhere.
And it was always a common-sense law....mask-wearing in public was banned (except at Halloween). But during Covid when the government gave people permission to wear masks in public, I said to myself: This is not going to end well. Covid will end and people (muggers and shoplifters and professional protestors) are still wearing masks to disguise their identity making the millions of security cameras basically useless. Every day on the news reports, you see footage of criminals in face masks breaking into homes, shoplifting, stealing cars, etc.
Thank you to Covid and the government for allowing criminals to freely carry and wear masks!