Girl of the Hour || Patti McGee
21/06/2012 § 1 Comment
Skating above, 19 year-old California girl Patti McGee, who was the first National Girls’ Skateboarding Champion in 1965 and the first female pro skateboarder. She was sponsored by Hobie (owned by the orange juice company Vita Pak) and appeared on the cover of Life Magazine. Patti actually started out as a surfer in San Diego but took up skateboarding when it became popular in the mid-sixties (Life actually called it a “craze”). I’m not sure what I admire more, the fact that she skateboarded barefoot or the fact that she maintains that impressive platinum beehive while doing it…
A few gems I discovered:
Patti on What’s My Line, one of my very favorite gameshows.
I love what she’s wearing, and how flummoxed the host appears.
A girl skateboarder AND an extension phone?!? Amazing!
Happy Go Skateboarding Day!
Photos taken by Bill Eppridge, via Time & Life.
Drawing Dad
15/06/2012 § 7 Comments
In honor of Father’s Day, a little something I found in the Life Archives…
One morning in 1949, the Kindergarten class of Ms. Doris Morcom at Sedgwick Elementary School in West Hartford, Connecticut, all drew portraits of their dads from memory for an upcoming Fathers’ Night at the school…and here we can compare the portraits with the subjects themselves, in photos taken by Al Fenn. Aside from some startling accuracies, I love how these photos also give us a look at men’s style as the 1940s were giving way to the 1950s.
If you’d like to read the original article, which appeared in the December 26, 1949 issue of Life Magazine, you can find it here.
For fun, the fathers drew Ms. Morcom for their children.
Happy Father’s Day!
All images via the Life Archives.
Woman of the Hour: Margaret Bourke-White
14/06/2012 § Leave a comment
Today is the birthday of photographer Margaret Bourke-White. Born in 1904 in the Bronx, Bourke-White was one of four original LIFE Magazine staff photographers and an accomplished photojournalist. She holds a number of notable “firsts” to her name — my favorites include the fact that she was the first woman war correspondent and was the first woman allowed to fly on combat missions (both during WWII) — and created an exceptional, varied body of work.
I frequently come across Bourke-White’s photos and portraits in the LIFE Archives, but the one you see above is one that I hadn’t seen before today. She stands on the scaffolding of the still under-construction Chrysler Building in 1931. She is 27. She hasn’t yet been to war. With her slickly bobbed hair, leather jacket and massive camera, she is outfitted for an adventure. The look on her face tells you she won’t stop until she finds one. I love this picture. Full stop. But I also love pictures like the one below, of Bourke-White in Algeria in 1943, in front of the Flying Fortress bomber in which the photographed the US attack on Tunis.
If you’d like to see some of Bourke-White’s most iconic work, the LIFE blog has put together a lovely portfolio in honor of her birthday. It’s a must-see if you admire this amazing photographer as much as I do. Find it here.
Images via Time/LIFE Inc.
A Day at the Races: Belmont Park in the 1910s
08/06/2012 § 3 Comments
In case you hadn’t heard, I’ll Have Another has withdrawn from the Belmont Stakes in New York this weekend due to a tendon injury. I’m a bit sad that the chestnut 3 year-old colt won’t be making a run at becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, but of course it is for the best.
Since I’m left without a horse to back – I’ll Have Another actually won me a pretty penny on Derby Day – I decided to see if I couldn’t find us some photos from race days past at Belmont Park. The Library of Congress delivered in a major way with wonderful images dated between 1910 and 1915 of the track, Mr. August Belmont, Jr. and his wife, a couple of lady Roosevelts and anonymous racegoers dressed in their finest. I love how some of these look like the streetstyle photography so popular today. Perhaps we should get Scott Schuman a time machine…
A sea of straw boaters…
Paul Drennan Cravath (of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, for the law nerds)
with August Belmont, Jr.
Mrs. August Belmont, wearing a rather rad hat.
Mrs. Edith Roosevelt
(Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and former First Lady)
Eleanor Butler “Bunny” Alexander-Roosevelt
(Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.)
I feel as though this picture must be labeled incorrectly.
This woman looks nothing like Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, or is it me?
All images via The Library of Congress.
About Last Night || Celebrating Tomboy Style at Rugby Ralph Lauren
08/06/2012 § Leave a comment
Last night, I was very pleased to celebrate the release of Tomboy Style by the exceptionally lovely Lizzie Garrett Mettler at the Rugby Ralph Lauren store on University Place. It was a such a lovely party, I couldn’t help but snap a few pictures to share with you…
So great to see Lizzie on the east coast!
Was hoping to kidnap her and make her stay, but I was unsuccessful.
Loved how Rugby styled four of Lizzie’s Tomboy archetypes:
(from left) the prep, the naturalist, the sophisticate, the rebel.
With my gorgeous friend Marisa Zupan, Managing Editor at Rugby Ralph Lauren, blogger at The Significant Other, and all around awesome lady. I’m especially loving her new bangs.
Haven’t yet picked up your copy of Tomboy Style? What are you waiting for?
And if you are in Boston this Saturday, be sure to stop by the Rugby Ralph Lauren store on Newbury Street between 5 and 7pm to meet Lizzie and get your book signed! Rugby is also sponsoring an awesome Tomboy Style giveaway, which you can find out about on Lizzie’s blog here.
I’d wish you good luck, but you know I’m hoping to win, natch…
Movin’ On Up.
04/06/2012 § 10 Comments
I don’t frequently talk about my day job, I realize (I work for a political risk consulting firm), but today is a very special day because we open our doors in a new location. As I packed up in preparation for the move, I came to realize that in the five years I have been in New York, I have only worked in one very small slice of Manhattan. Namely, the patch of midtown between 40th and 45th Streets and 7th and Madison Avenues. Every morning I said hello to Grand Central, Bryant Park, Times Square, and the New York Public Library. The not so distant pinnacles of the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and Rockefeller Center, grandly scraping the sky as I skipped off to grab coffee. And while I am excited to settle in to a new area — our shiny new office will be in the Flatiron District now — I couldn’t help but already be a bit nostalgic for my former digs. And so, in honor of the move, I wanted to share a few of the many pictures I’ve taken over the years.
Onward, upward (and 20 blocks downtown) I go!
(clockwise, from top left) The Morgan Library,
Bryant Park in spring, Lord and Taylor, our former office’s front entrance.
The New York Public Library, in fog, spring, and snow,
and the grand reading room with its paneled ceiling.
The Bank of America tower, northbound on Madison Avenue,
the constellations inside Grand Central Terminal,
the bar at the Campbell Apartment.
Bryant Park: the carousel, the Bryant Park Hotel,
summer movies on the lawn, ice skating in winter.
The Library Walk tiles, the steps to the library at night,
the counter at the Grand Central Oyster Bar,
and a very curious lion (?) I passed every day on E. 41st.
The Knox Hat Building, Times Square at night,
Grand Central in the morning, Fifth Avenue parades.
My morning coffee pit stop, the amazing fashion newsstand Around the World,
and two views from our office terrace.
One thing I will definitely miss: our amazing terrace overlooking Fifth Ave.
A few pictures from the last hurrah.
Tending Bar: The Seven Year Itch
28/05/2012 § 2 Comments
While I may not be much of a cook, I do quite enjoy tending bar. With an exceptionally warm Memorial Day Weekend (what thunderstorms?!?) and friends visiting from out of town, I took the opportunity to make my first pitcher cocktail of the season. A bit bubbly, a bit tart, and completely refreshing, I’m calling this gin-based concoction of mine The Seven Year Itch. To make it, you’ll need:
- 1 1/2 cup of gin. I used Brooklyn Gin.
- 1/2 cup elderflower liqueur. I used St. Germain.
- 1 cup club soda
- 1 large handful of fresh raspberries
- 1 handful of fresh mint, additional sprigs for garnish
- 1 lime
- 1 lemon
- ice
- large pitcher, wooden spoon or muddler, cocktail glasses
First, take all of the fresh ingredients and add them to your pitcher.
Take care to wash everything and slice up the lime and lemon.
Muddle, muddle, muddle.
Next, add a good amount of ice to the pitcher, and then pour the liquors and the club soda over the ice. Serve immediately to avoid the club soda going flat and the ice melting.
Voila! Garnish with a raspberry and a mint sprig.
So, what’s with the name?
One of the most iconic Marilyn Monroe movies — yep, the white dress/subway grate one — The Seven Year Itch was directed and co-written by Billy Wilder and was released in 1955. Featuring an exceptionally hot summer in New York (ahem), the story details the overactive imagination of publishing executive Richard Sherman (a role that Tom Ewell originated on Broadway), who has been left to his own devices in the city while his wife (yep, of seven years) heads off to Maine for the summer with their son. Settling in for a long, hot few months, Mr. Sherman is surprised to find his upstairs neighbors have sublet their apartment for the summer to a model (Monroe). Proper Wilder-esque hijinks then ensue. It’s a lovely little film and one of my very favorites. And when I thought about what I wanted to call my cocktail, I immediately thought of Marilyn’s dress, crisp and fresh in the hot city night. Perfectly fitting, no?
Cheers!
Improper Bostonians
22/05/2012 § 5 Comments
I’m off to Boston for a few days on business, and I thought it would be the perfect time to share this set of photos I discovered in the Life Archive. They were taken in 1949 at the original Filene’s Basement, then called the “Automatic Bargain Basement” for the automatic schedule of its discount percentages (pegged to the number of days the item had been on sale). Created in 1909 in the basement of Boston’s flagship Filene’s department store, Filene’s Basement was eventually spun off as its own entity and outlived the department store until it too became defunct in 2011. Fun fact: it’s actually where the term “bargain basement” originated.
Sadly the gorgeous original flagship store at Downtown Crossing in Boston, built in 1912 and where these photos were taken, was largely demolished in 2007 after Filene’s went out of business. Because only the building’s facade was landmarked, developers were free to gut the interiors of the building, which also dated back to 1912. When those developers lost funding, the building was just left gutted — a huge, gaping hole with the facade looming like the ghost of sales past. (I haven’t been to Downtown Crossing lately to see if anything has changed at the site — has anyone?)
In these photos, Life photographer George Silk captured the annual $11 suit and topcoat sale at Filene’s Basement. Just like today’s sample sales, customers started forming a line for the 8:30am sale at 6:30am, and made a mad dash as soon as the doors were flung open. In less than three hours, 5,000 garments were sold. In the article, entitled “Improper Bostonians” (which you can read here), Life delightedly informs us that a 200-pound woman fainted and had to be carried away, a blind man was nearly trampled and a man posed as a salesman and swiped someone’s $11!
Nice to see sample sales haven’t really changed all that much in over
60 years, even if the customers do look a little more refined!
Taken by George Silk for Life Magazine, via the Life Archive.
Rabbit Hole || Vogue Spain Archives
17/05/2012 § 7 Comments
A newly released cache of vintage beach photographs taken for Vogue Spain?
Don’t mind if I do…
Hop further down the rabbit hole here.
Field Notes || Brimfield Antique Show
13/05/2012 § 1 Comment
Had a lovely time visiting the Brimfield Antique Show on Friday with Lani! Luckily, we had lovely weather to match. Unluckily, the week’s rain had kept away a lot of the other antique hunters for the better part of the week, resulting in a very crowded and lengthy drive in, but we didn’t let that get us down!
As to be expected of the Northeast’s (and perhaps the country’s?) largest antique show, Brimfield doesn’t really offer many deals. The Brimfield dealer is savvy, picky even. They know that somewhere, someone is wandering around in the fields that would be willing to pay their inflated prices, either because they don’t know any better or because they just don’t care about the cost. And for good reason, as the creative services and design teams of some of the biggest mainstream Americana brands (Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie and Fitch) regularly sweep through Brimfield looking for inspiration (and pay top dollar for it).
That said, going to Brimfield is still a lot of fun — there’s great food and even better people watching. There’s also some truly weird stuff out there. It’s definitely my favorite Brimfield pastime to play “Didn’t you tell me you needed _______?” In which the blank is filled in with the weirdest thing within sight, e.g, a Liberace pillow, a 5 foot-tall tea kettle, and the like.
Canadian yacht club plaques from the 1930s.
My Brimfield kit included:
wellies, a waxed cotton parka, and a Boat and Tote bag
The fonts! So good!
Butter dishes and Somersize. Best product placement ever.
Lani is excited for…
…some amazing lobster rolls.
Love my new leopard and zebra!
They join a thrifted elephant in my burgeoning apartment menagerie.
Quite Continental 