Destination: New York City, New York

Book: Charming Billy (1998) by Alice McDermott

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  Naturally, Music Road will have some great Irish music for our road trip today.

This passage is from an NPR NewsHour interview just after Alice McDermott won the National Book Award for Charming Billy. McDermott said:

Being Irish-American, myself, Irish-American material is readily at hand to me. I know Irish-American people. I know what their homes look like. I know what they have for dinner. I know how they turn a phrase. And so since it was readily available, it saves me lots of research time, and I can spend the time instead trying to develop the things that I think are important in fiction, and that is the inner life of the characters.

The story of Charming Billy starts at the wake in the Bronx for Billy Lynch and spirals backward through time with the stories of family members and friends.  Although the story goes back to the early 20th century, the narrator, child of a World War II veteran who is Billy’s best friend, carries us into the twenty-first century.

Dialogue is uncanny, as McDermott  uses the ritual clichés people pronounce, like “its unbelievable still” or “it’s a terrible thing, Father” about the death. People talk about the differences between Protestants and Catholics (Protestants use the lord’s first name) and the coarseness of Midwesterners (because they’re around farm animals.)

McDermott’s sentences  feel just right. “The narrow house was a gallery of Billy’s life that evening–how could anyone help but think it?”

These lines play out against extraordinary observation of ordinary details. One widow marries a second time because the husband-to-be owns a house.  By marrying him, she has the luxury of being able to set up her ironing board and leave it up, instead of sharing space in a crowded apartment basement. She now has the luxury of closets to hang clothes in.

Irish lace doily

Doilies on the tables, the framed cross-stitched Prayer of St. Francis,  the cement steps out front or the peeling paint on wooden steps or the marble steps of slightly more prosperous homes all denote Irish-American life in the Bronx.

Dialogue rolls poetically, echoing earlier thoughts, as when Marie, wife to the alcoholic Billy and daughter to an alcoholic father repeats her fatalistic, “It doesn’t make a difference.”

These are people who never stray far from the teachings of the church, their thinking framed by nuns and priests even when they question whether religion is merely fairy tales. And if those illusions help get them through life, then what other illusions do individuals depend on? Finally, we are asked to consider whether truth is important at all?

McDermott has written a small miracle of a book.  I felt that I had attended Billy’s wake myself, met the reliable Dennis, plain Marie, Eva and Mary, the girls from Ireland who worked as nursemaids. I vividly saw a part of New York City that is new to me, since, like most visitors, I stick to Manhattan.

McDermott has published six novels–the latest, After This, in 2008. She sticks strictly to the Irish American families, for reasons explained in the interview referenced above.

As for our Great American Road Trip, I confess to a slight cop-out when it comes to New York state. In my mind, New York City practically constitutes a separate state, so on St. Patrick’s Day I chose to feature a book for the Irish there. Next week, we’ll return to New York State, to the city of Buffalo. (Click on the photo of the Irish lace doily to learn more about the photographer)

Read about Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day,HERE: Music for the Traveler to Ireland, Blasket Islands, DuMaurier book, and McCarthy’s Bar.

ELSEWHERE:

Listening to music in an Irish pub

Irish music and landscape

Win a sterling silver shamrock

A family vacation in Southern Ireland Part I

A Family vacation in Ireland Part II

Have you visited other boroughs of New York, other than Manhattan? What took you there?

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Last year I talked about my favorite romantic city, romantic book and poetry, hotel, restaurant, etc. in this post. Please take a look because I have not changed my mind. And read on for two East Coast suggestions for this Valentine’s Day (if you can get there through the snow).

Happy Valentine’s Day

Unfairly, last year, I told you about a hotel experience that you cannot have because it does not exist any more.  But you CAN go to the Kimpton Hotel in Boston, Nine Zero.

A toast

Are you ready for this? The package is called “Rub the One You’re With.” It includes a one-night stay, a massage lesson for the two of you by a masseuse, champagne, take-home package of lavender and lemon oils, salts and candles, and for the practical in you–free overnight parking. $414 for a View Room in Boston on the night I checked, but the rates vary by date and city. (If the web site does not show availability when you want to go, call the 800 number.)

Since I stayed at the Nine Zero, I can tell you that if you are not satisfied with the contents of your overnight bag–or you just decide to go on the spur of the moment sans luggage, there are hangers in the closet with sexy little nothings, and lovely robes and slippers–all available for you to buy.

Actually most Kimpton hotels offer these packages, but I have stayed at the Nine Zero and can vouch for the fact it is special. Please check the Kimpton site to see where all the hotels are located and for all the fine print that accompanies the offer.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Like most writers, my mail box gets clogged with promotional pieces around holidays.  Here’s a P.R. release that caught my eye, and I just wish I were going to be in New York City on Valentine’s weekend, to take advantage of this good deal. (Are you reading this, Ken?) I’m presenting the press release, pretty much the way it came to me.

Take a Trip on the Love Bus: Gray Line New York’s Valentine’s Day Deal

New York Greyhound Bus Tour

Tired of the same old teddy bears and chocolates as gifts on Valentine’s Day?  Treat your special someone to one of the most stunning and romantic treasures you might have overlooked: a star-filled, skyline-topped late night ride throughout New York City – a quintessential New York City moment on a double decker bus.

Gray Line New York is offering a special Valentine’s Day bus tour where customers will receive a $25 Gift Card from Restaurant.com to use at one of NYC’s choice restaurants such as 5 Ninth or Circle Rouge with the purchase of two Gray Line New York’s world famous Night Tours tickets*.

This special Valentine’s Day promotion must be purchased online only.Tickets can be redeemed at the Gray Line Visitors Center located at 777 8^th Avenue (between 47^th & 48^th Streets) prior to the tour.

Night Tour tickets cost $39 per adult; departure times and locations of tours are as follows: 6:00 pm, 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm from 777 8th Avenue and 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm from Times Square.

*Tours are valid for travel only on Friday, 2/12, Saturday, 2/13 and Sunday, 2/14. The Gift Card has no cash value, and may not be substituted for another item or tour.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

What are you hoping for on Valentine’s Day? Or do you wish it would just go away? Where would you like to go? What would you like to read?

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Travel Tuesday: NYC

Warwick Night View

Destination: Manhattan

Hotel: The Warwick

William Randolph Hearst, the Donald Trump of his day, made money in the early twentieth century as a media king and a property developer. He collected glamorous friends and stirred up equal parts of envy and admiration. In 1927, Hearst spotted property on the Upper West Side of New York that had not been touched by the building spree that had transformed the Upper East Side. He bought several lots a few blocks south of Central Park where he and Florence Ziegfield built a Ziegfield theater. Across the street he constructed a luxurious apartment hotel to accommodate his Hollywood pals and business partners who needed a convenient pied a terre in the city. His hotel, the Warwick, boasted unobstructed views of Central Park and the Hudson River. One whole floor was reserved for his mistress/sweetheart Marion Davies.

Sax in the Park

You can’t rent a whole floor, but if you are lucky, you may snag one of the suites with a balcony hanging over 54th Street or 6^th Avenue at the Warwick. For twelve years Cary Grant’s movie studio reserved an apartment for his trips to New York. A balcony wrapping around his corner living room on a high floor could have starred in a movie itself. To get a look at his suite, and other features, go to their virtual tour feature.

Over 78 years the Warwick Hotel has seen plenty of brash newcomers come along, blocking its views and dwarfing its 36 stories. But the location still can’t be beat.

Most New York hotel rooms tend to favor thin people who can squeeze between a bed and a TV set. Not so at the Warwick. High ceilings and tall windows make even the smallest double-bed rooms light and airy as well as extraordinarily large. On the other hand, the lobby is small but posh. The Beatles liked the Warwick for just that reason—mobs of fans could not lay in wait for them at the bottom of the elevator.

Sir Walter Raleigh Landing at Virginia

Across the lobby from the bar, a restaurant lined with murals pays tribute to Sir Walter Raleigh. Although museums would like to acquire the murals, the owners believe they belong right where they are. Pre-eminent American illustrator Dean Cornwell painted them in 1937 and 1938. At some point a tiff developed over the amount of money being paid for the paintings, and the artist got even in a novel way. He added a number of obscenities to the paintings that would have insulted even Hearst’s freewheeling friends. Hence for forty years draperies hid the worst of the artist’s revenge (note the Indian mooning the viewer in the inset picture).

Uncovered and unburdened of layers of cigar smoke, the murals now shine in the  Murals on 54 restaurant. Diners can amuse themselves by trying to spot how many ways the artist had the last word—or in this case brush stroke—in the argument. A Native American bends over with his very bare bottom pointed at the viewer. These small obscenities are woven into the complex and well done painting in such a way that it takes a moment for the reality to sink in. But never fear, the waiters at Murals will be delighted to point out the details.

In a world of gimmicks and plain vanilla chains, the historic Warwick provides a grown-up’s hotel and restaurant art with a sense of humor. Thank you Mr. Hearst and Warwick International.

*This originally was written about five years ago, so please forgive anything that may have changed. The hotel did give me a slight reduction in price and upgraded me to a suite at that time. But I have to be honest– I totally loved that hotel and heartily recommend it, even at full price.

The top two photographs were taken by Vera Marie Badertscher, all rights reserved. The Sir Walter Raleigh Picture is from a Warwick site, and you can click on the image to see more pictures of the Raleigh murals.

Do you have a favorite hotel in NYC? Share. Tell us why you love it.

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Everyone who has entered the daily drawing has a chance at one of four grand prizes. The second:A Book cover and light like the one in the Passport With Purpose raffle. (Giveaway January 25–3 extra chances if you subscribe to A Traveler’s Library by e-mail.)

Algonquin Hotel, NYC

Destination: New York City

Book: A Journey Into Dorothy Parker’s New York

This is another in that wonderful series of travel books based on literature and arts that we have talked about with Flaubert’s Normandy, Walking Boston, and the A Journey Into the Transcendentalists ‘ New England.

I learned a lot about Dorothy Parker by reading Dorothy Parker’s New York by Keven C. Fitzpatrick. The Dorothy Parker portrait of New York has seeped into the bones of everyone. Skeptical, witty, cynical, smart, fashion conscious and status obssessed–it is hard to know whether Dorothy Parker accurately reflected New York City, or created our image of New York City.

I already knew that travelers following her trail should visit the Alqonquin Hotel (now a literary landmark) where the famous and witty writers known as the Round Table hung out.  I didn’t know that she lived most of her life in Manhattan, within walking distance of Central Park. I didn’t know that she moved a lot, and many, many of the buildings she lived in or worked in are still there.

Her witticisms fill pages of  books or web sites devoted to quotations. A born writer, she wrote theater reviews for Vogue magazine when when she was twenty-five years old and earned her reputation as the sassiest voice in New York.

Her forte was short stories, poems, articles. What a great twitterer she would have been. The building where she worked for Conde Nast still stands at 19-25 45th Street, although the company later moved.  You can even sleep at the Algonquin, but hopefully you will not be quite as bleary and alcohol-fuled, or as busy with the affairs that kept Parker bed-hopping. The take-no-prisoners wit came from an emotionally fragile soul whose life in retrospect looks anything but cheerful.

Parker’s early stories abounded in satire and sharp portraits of the society she grew up in. However in her later years, she turned to writing more serious pieces. Her interests in life became less frivolous, as well.

That is why her ashes and memorial plaque are in Baltimore instead of in NYC where she spent her life.  A passionate supporter of civil rights, she left her estate (the rights to all her works) to Martin Luther King. When he was assassinated ten months later, the estate reverted to the NAACP, whose headquarters are in Baltimore.

This book, which is packed with very good maps and pictures,  would be a good guide to New York, and to the free-wheeling age of the twenties, even for those not interested in Dorothy Parker.

Have you read Dorothy Parker? Have you stayed at the Algonquin? Tell us about your experiences. (And don’t forget to sign up for e-mail delivery of A Traveler’s Library–for a few more days it gets you three chances on the Grand Prizes, as well as all these juicy travel and book and movie tidbits at least four days a week.)

Today’s prize in the Great Big Travel Literature Giveaway, written for children, can please every age group in the family. If the World Were a Village by Shelagh Armstrong, brings all those pesky geography statistics into an understandable form by reducing them to a village of 100 people. For instance, 21 people speak Chinese, 33 are Christians, 76 have electricity. Leave a comment anywhere on the blog, or see the rules for how to enter with Twitter.

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Reading quotes like this, “My main advice to a first-time traveler would be to read something from, or at least set in, the place they’re going.” and “The books that are most compelling to me have always been books that transport me to another place or time…”, it is all I can do to stay chained to my computer chair instead of flying directly to JFK.  But before going to Manhattan, according to DelVecchio, I need to read…” Bartleby the Scrivener and Washington Square, which are both set in the 19th century of course, and Three Bedrooms in Manhattan, a Simonen book from the 1940s that has a very Hopperesque feel to it. Enemies, A Love Story is another great book, also set in the ’40s.”

And besides, I can, if I don’t mind skipping the tactile and olfactory  joys of a bookstore, shop at Idlewild on line.

I encourage you to stray away from A Traveler’s Library and read the interview with Del Vecchio. The Book Slut’s introduction reveals that she is one of us, also. “My preferred way of learning about any subject is through reading literature,” she says.

Thanks goodness for places like Idlewild Books.  Here are a few more bookstores for travel literature:

• Get Lost Books , San Francisco
• Globe Corner, Cambridge MA
• The Complete Traveller, Antiquarian Bookseller, NYC

Do you know of another wonderful store that understands that travelers need more than guidebooks and maps?  Please share.

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