Prospect: A Year in the Park

Grounded

Well, it has been awhile since I rode on the World's Best Carousel. But Spouse and I went for a spin over the weekend, and I was crushed when the ever-cordial Lucio (the longtime master of this painted stable, and one of its restorer-craftsmen) reluctantly informed us of a new rule: Jumpers for adults only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What? I mean, what? Racing through the forest of steeds on the platform before it grinds into motion, picking out the most impressive jumper...that's half the fun! What happened?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucio explained that three people had piled onto a single horse and busted the turning mechanism up top. Idiots. And after what must have been a costly repair to this priceless, meticulously restored gem, I guess "legal" decided that the only guarantee against a repeat was this draconian rule. But...damn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My suave stag is just one of many excellent stationary guys on the Prospect Park Carousel, and there is still so much to love: the way the green park outside flies by in a blur, the gorgeous decorations, and of course the mighty Wurlitzer band organ* thumping away. (Plenty of carousels use awful recorded music or worse yet, none.) The melody that greeted us on start-up? "Welcome Back," followed by a slightly wonky rendition of "Lara's Theme." (See below for why band organs have that delightfully off-kilter sound.)

But here's a big Brooklyn raspberry to the idiots who spoiled the jumpers for the "grown-ups," a term we must use loosely.

* From the park's sign outside the Carousel: The Malkin Band Organ is a Wurlitzer Model 153 Band Organ. The organ was originally manufactured circa 1916 by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company in North Tonawanda, New York, and completely restored by the Prospect Park Alliance in 1990. Expert craftsman Tim Westman rebuilt the internal mechanism, while the series of paintings on the outside of the organ were rediscovered and completely restored by artist Will Morton VIII. The Malkin Band Organ has a duplex roll mechanism, 16 bells, 141 pipes, 2 drums, and a cymbal. The organ functions via a pressure pump, which supplies air, and a vacuum pump, which turns the roll. The original Wurlitzer music rolls were made of cardboard and covered by a unique wax craft paper that is no longer manufactured. A distinctive feature of these band organs is that they are non-chromatic and lack certain notes, such as D sharp. Experts estimate that there are about 50 Model 153's remaining in the world. 

A big glass box full of happiness

That is how I would describe Jane's Carousel, the restored 1922 gem that sparkles at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. It's the undisputed star of the DUMBO Art Festival, making all the latest, ironic "interactive installations" look drab and contrived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They heart DUMBO, and each other:

A wedding party (Russian, we guessed) took a romantic spin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The groomsmen took care of the handheld electronic devices, along with a smuggled-aboard open champagne bottle (not shown). Jane's Carousel is the only one I've seen where people compulsively take pictures from inside looking out, as the Manhattan skyline whirls past. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Everyone is a kid again, including dads...and other grown-ups.

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In fact, carousel magic might even be more potent for the young at heart...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...than the young in age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PHOTOBOMB OF THE DAY

Poor fellow, in his official Festival regalia. He's not Moby, and he's not being taken seriously.

Water colors

The problem with the DUMBO Arts Festival is that the artworks...or installations, or performances, or whatever...get so outrageously upstaged by Brooklyn Bridge Park, our guest park of the day. The "art," like this golden waterlily, tends toward the quirky and trivial, while some of New York's most iconic views rise up in the background and remind you that great design, and real life, kick butt without pretense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spouse is a much better audience for this sort of thing. He gamely peered over a canvas in the roofless Tobacco Warehouse...

 

...examined the backpack "galleries" of these inventive young strolling artistes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and wandered into "Silhouettes of Us," which, according to the inevitable Artist's Statement, "explores what personal space means in an urban environment." (The clotheslines "act as a transcendental ever-changing canvas that plays with light, scale and perception," it also said, and it went on from there but I didn't.)

 

 

After a brief downpour, kids and parents re-populated the "Art Village" to make a "Skyline String Installation" and paint a mural.

 

 

 

   

 

 But in this park, the skyline is the mural, and vice versa.

Tomorrow: Some shots from DUMBO's one masterpiece "installation," Jane's Carousel.

Turbo-spring

Two weeks of late May mysteriously land in the middle of March, and I manage not to get over to the park more than once or twice. The reason: My own garden has been bursting out and yelling at me to perform every manner of service for it. A dozen rosebushes alone have been screeching to be pruned, and without the excuse of being miserable in the cold, I have been their slave.

But I've got to get over there because all sorts of stuff is going on. From my front porch, I can see that the trees are greening up, smudged with verdant pastel, a full month ahead of schedule. And that's not all.

* The Lakeside project is shaping up to be pretty damn amazing. Here's the Animated Architect Sketch; I love the snowy part, and the part where the trees drop down magically on Music Island. And the part at the very beginning where the Robert Moses crap building just disappears. (Thanks to the Q at Parkside blog for the heads-up.)

* The "Googa-Mooga" festival is stirring wild interest among the hip; it's some sort of food and music fest on May 19 and 20 that mysteriously, while "free," requires a ticket of extraordinary scarcity. Spouse has managed to acquire at least one of these prized tickets, which has him very excited even though we have yet to learn what bands are playing. Oh well: The festival's website proclaims that "food is the new rock," so we can dance along to the artisanal pickles.)

 
  * And on March 31, the Carousel reopens for its hundredth anniversary. It's been given a nice tune-up by Todd W. Goings, a carousel doctor (what a dream job!), nicely profiled here. (Photo, right: Chester Higgins, New York Times)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* At the Prospect Park Zoo, the Golden Tamarins have a wee baby riding around on their blond backs. (Photo: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS)

 

 

Meanwhile, check out a nicely researched gem on the park's mysterious Vale of Cashmere at the wonderful history blog of the Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklynology. This is the long-gone "Children's Shelter." The Vale, that haunted and troubled gem, looks very different than the playground envisioned by Vaux and Olmsted. Time to get over there and see for myself.

Sea-change carousel, rich and strange!

The first crazy-warm day, and news pours in to fuel my raging carousel obsession.

First: The Prospect Park Carousel, surely the world's most utterly perfect (here's why), re-opens Saturday, March 31 from 12 noon to 4 pm, and celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. (After April 1, it's open Thursdays – Sundays and school holidays, 12 to 5 p.m.; rides are $2 each or $9 for a book of five tickets, and if you only joined the Prospect Park Alliance for the unlimited free rides, that would be reason enough.) The 1912 masterpiece of legendary carousel designer Charles Carmel, it dwelt in Coney Island from 1912 to 1952, and the Alliance restored its delights in 1990. Note: It has a real Wurl band organ, not cheezy piped-in Muzak!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GUEST PARK ALERT:

NEW CAROUSEL OF MIND-BENDING AWESOMENESS

PLANNED FOR BATTERY PARK

This has come to my attention: "Sea Glass," an aquatic fantasy-themed carousel unlike anything in the known universe, is scheduled to open in Battery Park this fall. Yes, I love every sacred, carnival-esque gaudy detail of traditional carousels, but this new take looks brilliant. Evoking the long-ago aquarium at Castle Clinton on Manhattan's tip (and perhaps even linked to the current Coney Island Aquarium by a ferry), the new herd will consist of translucent, glowing angelfish and seahorses, turning dreamily inside a chambered nautilus with trippy projections of marine life. Engineering marvels abound, as described here. The animated rendering below, Debussy and all, brought tears to my eyes. Plus, if you have lots of money, you can sponsor a fish, which I would totally do if I were rich. Can you tell I am just a little excited about this?

 

 

Finally, here's a great wrap-up of all the carousels, operating, planned, and under renovation, in the city. How cool would it be to have a marathon that connected all of them and demanded that runners ride each one before continuing onward! I was shocked to note that there are some I have not yet ridden, a deficit I plan to remedy shortly. I am also reminded of how grateful I am that, despite suffering from embarrassing vertigo, I can still ride carousels without triggering it. Get spinning!

Market morning, elegant evening

  At this morning's Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, folks lined up for a free tote bag full of daffodil bulbs, if they promised to plant them in a needy public place. Most asked cagily, "Can I plant them in my yard?" Duh, no! Go here to learn more about the Daffodil Project, run by "New Yorkers for Parks." 

 

I bagged a Kabocha squash, "German Butterball" potatoes, some bluefish, and Concord grapes, which will furnish the Concord streusel pie that I make once a year. Family wasn't along today to help me haul, but I still managed to bring you a particularly fine...

GREENMARKET DOG OF THE WEEK

Do not look into the eyes. Too late! One glance and I am groveling before Kugel, a "lemon beagle" (no black coloration). Only 5 months old, Kugel grooved onto his human's lap for some curbside snoodling. Look closely at the ears. No matter how silky they look, they feel even silkier. Mommy, I want a puppy now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPECIAL TO AYITP: BLOGGER AT THE BALL

Tonight, I dropped by the Prospect Park Ball, a fundraiser for the Prospect Park Alliance and its good works. I've worked as a journalist for 30 years, but never as either society reporter or photojournalist, and I'm still shaky on giving my media credential as "blogger."  So, hiding my imposter syndrome under a Fran Lebowitzy black jacket and pants, I sailed into the festive tent next to the Carousel on this crisp evening.

 

 

 

The cocktail tent was beautifully lit and full of guests perusing the Silent Auction. There were a few bare shoulders and long gowns, but mostly restrained finery. I didn't get this gal's name, but she was my pick for belle of the ball: Gwyneth hair, classy little black dress, and air of cool detachment.

 

 

 

 

 

An adjoining tent was set up for dinner under phantasmagoric bird sculptures covered in faux autumn leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guests had free rein on the Carousel. Hilda Cohen and Nathan Brauer (left) and Kim and Andy Wiley-Schwartz (right) availed themselves of a ride. I joked, as I took the shot, that I was "doing a Bill Cunningham."

 

Then...there was the real Bill Cunningham. The legendary New York Times society photographer hopped aboard the carousel and snapped some shots, the embodiment of a gentler bygone era right down to his non-digital camera. I stammered my admiration for his work—he can turn a photo essay on, say, leopard-spotted coats into a richly observed and wry tapestry of storytelling. "Oh, just doing my job," he said breezily. There we were, Bill with his pro camera and me with my taped-together point-and-shoot, just doing our jobs.

After that, I went home. Sometimes you just know when things can't possibly get any better.