Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Plaza Hotel, c. 1964

This part of Manhattan reminds me of the movie "Sunday in New York." It was a nice walk up from West End Ave., where I grew up, to this part of town. Many Sundays were spent in Central Park, opposite the hotel and out of sight in this picture, on the north side of 59th St. Seeing the horses and hansom cabs held a kind of enchantment for me as a child. Now I see it with different eyes and would be happy for this tradition to end, so the horses can finally rest.

My sisters and I gathered outside the Plaza with other kids when The Beatles visited in 1965. We stood behind barricades near the fountain and screamed our heads off.

Looking south across the fountain is the Paris movie theater, where I saw the Jacques Tati-inspired cartoon, "The Illusionist," last year. And the fountain is where legend has it that F. Scott and Zelda frolicked one boozy evening in the 1920s.

2 comments:

  1. Your description really brings this spot to life. Oh, to have seen the Beatles there!

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  2. Well, we thought we saw their mop-tops at the window of their suite, but who knows? It was fun just being there.

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