Bittersweet Pines: A Local Gem

If you are interested in old furniture, lamps, rugs--even copies of Country Living magazine--but can't afford antiques, this is the store for you. Bittersweet Pines is @ 4900 Rte. 233 in Westmoreland. The owner calls what she sells "Used Furniture." Or, more precisely, "Previously Enjoyed Furniture and Decor." I didn't see much that was priced over $250. And I saw some wonderful old dressers, tables, lots of rocking chairs...

This store is a gem.

Red Stairs, East Utica

June 2012

Walking Behind the Easter Bunny

Easter Bunny Cruises Sangertown Square, New Hartford

 

 

Apparently, he needed a little break from a hard day posing with kids---or Not (see left).

Upstate Writers: Phil Memmer Reads at The Other Side

William Welsh announcing the Reading

Phil Memmer Reading from his new book

The Other Side, the non profit creation of Kim & Oren Domenico of Domenicos, a venue for music, lectures, discussions and other events, has now started a reading series to showcase Central New York writers. Domenicos also sponsors a new literary magazine, "Doubly Mad."

Tonight Phil Memmer, poet, writer and Director of the Downtown Writers Center in Syracuse, read from his powerful new book of poems, The Storehouses of the Snow.  These new poems were written, according to Mr. Memmer, in a burst of creativity he had never experienced before, and in the form of "psalms, parables and dreams." 

Mr. Memmer chose to read from this book and two of his other books. His poems are accessible and often funny without losing any of their complexity and irony. A few of them appear in the latest issue of "Doubly Mad."

P.S. Yrs truly will also have a poem titled "My Own Country" in the June issue of Doubly Mad. Pick up copies at Domenicos the next time you get a cup of coffee.

Repost: Spring

The days portrayed in this wonderful photograph, which captures an Upstate spring perfectly, in which you can almost see the buds on the trees, the wind moving the clouds across a new blue sky and the sun-dappled fields--those days are coming. Spring is coming.

Thank you Patrick Yasu Huther, via a friend on Facebook.

Meanwhile, back at My Broken Down Upstate City, the blogger is not dead, merely discouraged. Does anyone give a damn about Utica? Or Central New York?

Let me quote:

If the land has a secret it is

that is has no secret.

Everywhere I see the uneven

and careless gardens,

crooked porches, abandoned cars

and washers, faded signs.

In the diners the talk turns

from the rain to cancer,

from cancer to the lotto.

The eyes look calmly,

tiredly out of the heads.

from "My Own Country" by Cindy Day 

That's the trick--NOT to get discouraged. Utica can be a discouraging place, depressed, behind the times, stuck. But I wanted to blog about where I live, good and bad. I wanted to celebrate the details of daily life here. Especially the people. The people and the food and the architecture and the landscape. So onward and upward! The one thing I may have learned about blogging is that you can't stop. Blogs prosper by staying current.

Wynken Blynken and Nod

At the bottom of Arlington Road in Utica this amazing boat--a play boat--caught my eye.

And the beautiful lines of the old house it sits behind.   

      

I wondered who lived in the house, now and in the past, and what lucky children got to play on the boat. And all of it reminded me of a nursery rhyme which turned out to be about sailing to sea in a wooden shoe (not to mention sailing off to sleep), but came close enough to the spirit of the place and the things I might have imagined when I was a child--if I had a boat in my back yard.

Wynken Blynken and Nod

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe--
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken, Blynken, And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in that beautiful sea--
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish--
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam--
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
'T was all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 't was a dream they 'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea--
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, And Nod.

Re-Utica: Orin Domenico's Passionate Essay

And now that I've alerted you to a new literary magazine in our fair city, I want to share part of an essay from the first issue of Doubly Mad.

The title is "Prayer for the Resurrection of Utica." The author is Orin Domenico, part owner of Cafe Domenico and The Other Side, and sponsor of many events and efforts to bring life back to our city, including the new magazine:

   "….One step to redeeming and rebuilding our cities is to re-imagine them as what American historian and social philosopher, Lewis Mumford, called them: “the greatest of all human works of art.” Cities are products first of human imagination and creativity. I return to James Hillman, who suggested that the “flowing imagination which founded the city in the first place can be re-found. It is planted in our midst always ready to flower—if we begin, not with the ‘problem’ of what needs to be changed, or moved, or built, or demolished, but begin with what already is here, still stands and sings of its soul, still holds the spark of the mind that initiated it.”

Kim Domenico, Wm. Welch & Orin Domenico

Kim and I didn’t move to Utica 22 years ago to address the city as a problem. Our approach in building the Café Domenico and The Other Side has always been to celebrate Utica as the cool place that it already is; to sing of and embrace the preservation of its great architecture and parks, its neighborhoods and small businesses, its bars, cafes and restaurants, its vibrant music and arts, its exotic mix of ethnic cultures, cuisines and people.

  A second step to redeeming Utica is to recognize that to love the soul of the city we must also come to know and love better the land on which it was built, this dark, damp, soulful river valley. The geography of Utica is not a “geography of nowhere,” such as Commercial Drive, with nothing to distinguish it from similar non-places across the continent. Cities—like cultures—arise in relation to particular places; they are unique expressions of the climate, the landscape, the soil from which they spring. Rejecting the sameness of globalization, we must remake Utica in the image of this place, build a local economy in relation to this land.

  Finally, we must ever recall that the driving force of redemption is sacrifice. If we would redeem Utica we must be willing to give our lives to it, to a future here for its children, without thought of personal return beyond the joy of living as if love matters. I finish with a few more words from James Hillman, who said, “I don’t believe love interferes with business or efficiency or the tax base or retail sales or any of the rest—at all. I think the city is built on human relations, of people coming together, and love would increase, if anything, the very things that are desirable in a city.”

 

Doubly Mad

The second issue of Doubly Mad is out and on sale at various locations, including Cafe Domenico. It is edited by William Welch.

In case you haven't heard:

"Doubly Mad is Utica’s own independent journal of literature, arts and ideas! Four years ago, Orin and Kim Domenico started a small publication which they hoped would be a forum for ideas in the Utica area. Now under new editorial leadership, Doubly Mad has returned! We are devoted to publishing fiction, poetry, essays, and artwork. You name it, we’d like to see your work! If you have somethin...g you would like to share with us and readers throughout the city, submit it to doublymad@gmail.com. We’re also looking for anyone who would like to volunteer. We need readers to help us with incoming submissions and people to spread the news about Doubly Mad throughout the region. Come double the madness in Utica!"


You can find this info and more at --  http://www.facebook.com/DoublyMad

Upstate Architecture: Whatever Happened to the Sherman House?

I've quoted my friend, Jeff Boehlert, on this blog before. He knows a thing or two about houses and is interested in local architecture.

He has come across some unanswered questions about a house that used to stand on Genesee Street during Utica's "golden" years. Back when the manufacturers hadn't left the area, when the elms lining Genesee Street hadn't died away from Dutch Elm Disease, when the population had grown to around 100,000 people, when the railroad station was central to both business and pleasure.

 

The above house, portrayed in both a photograph and a post card, belonged to James S. Sherman ("Sunny Jim"), Vice-President of the United States under President William Howard Taft. He was born in Utica, a Hamilton College graduate, a lawyer, mayor of Utica and Representative in Congress. Have you ever noticed all the Sherman Places and Sherman Streets in our city? Hmmm. Well, James Sherman was the inspiration. He had three sons: Sherrill, Richard and Thomas. But I can find out very little about them, or about his wife. They all went on to successful careers--so the brief internet bios say. Where are the Shermans today?

Meanwhile, "Sunny Jim," served his first four year term in D.C. and then, during the re-election campaign in 1912, succumbed to Bright's Disease, a kidney disease, and died a few weeks before the election. 25,000 - 30,000 people showed up in Utica for his funeral, including President Taft.

30,000 people, Vice-President of U.S.

So what did our city do to his beautiful house. Here's what Jeff found out:

"It was an outstanding house on Genesee St., unique, beautiful. Instead of our leaders fighting to make such a treasure a national landmark and/or museum, they allowed it to be torn down as if it had no historical significance what-so-ever. An A&P grocery store was built on it's site-- most likely in an effort to increase the city's commercial tax base. It's my understanding that it was torn down in the 1940's. I'd love to know why, who the players were and how such a horrible decision came to be. Was it public knowledge that the house was to be demolished, or were the people left in the dark?  How wonderful it would be to have The Sherman House here, both for us and for those who pass through our city from other parts of the country and from around the world." 

Thanks to Jeff's interest, I am planning to go to the Historical Society and see if I can find out why the house was torn down, as there is no information on the internet. I will post whatever I can find.

If anyone knows anything about this house or the Sherman family, please respond to this post. I would love any information.

Meanwhile, here is what the Sherman "lot" between Jewett and Clinton Streets looks like today. First, it was an A&P Market. Now it is the home of Rite-Aid, etc. And a parking lot.

Photo by Jeff Boehlert

And below is a photo that shows the house that stood next door to Sherman's. It can be seen in the old photographs of the Sherman house. 

Photo by Jeff Boehlert

Upstate Summer: Dog Days

Dogs of summer. The dog days. We found this guy in a little alley in Hamilton, waiting for his owner. Let sleeping dogs lie, as they say. 

Hamilton, NY on a bright July Sunday

Although citizens of the Utica area often say nothing is going on around here, I find walls like this one wherever I go, filled with event flyers, news of exhibits and shows, sales, etc. Maybe we need to ask ourselves how we define "nothing." Or, conversely, how we define "something."

Upstate Summer: Oneida Lake

You might enjoy a good gossip in the shallow waters of Sylvan Beach,

or get yourself a tattoo, wine, or some worms at the other end of the lake in Brewerton.

Opening Day at the Oneida County Public Market

It was overcast, of course, and the numbers small, some venders familiar, some just starting up. But the Utica Coffee was hot and good and the silence soon broken by acoustic guitar. We felt certain that we were witnessing another example of new life and hope for our broken-down Upstate city. We bought a quart of strawberries.

 

What's Wrong With City Hall

This morning I had to go to City Hall to get a permit for a garage sale. I forgot to take pictures, so I am using a standard photo from Google Image, but I will go back and take photos so you can see the plastic lawn chairs out front in Hanna Park and the uninspired fountain, not to mention the overall, overwhelming ugliness of the building and the parts in need of repair.

As if to provide me with the perfect metaphor, on the bench in front of the building a couple in jeans and dirty tee shirts were smoking and reading the classifieds.

When I went inside, the large lobby was virtually empty and in the city clerks' office several people were standing around expressing their opinions regarding a colleague, I assume.

What is wrong with Utica is exemplified by our current City Hall (see above) and our old City Hall (see below), which the city tore down in the 1960's. Why would any city officials destroy such a magnificent architectural treasure and worse, rebuild in its place this piece of utilitarian nothing that nobody will remember or want to remember. I'm sure they cited heating expenses at the time or parking problems or any excuse to explain why they had no foresight or vision for the city's future.

There would be no London or Paris if the citizens of those cities had torn down every building that became expensive to keep up. The architecture a city preserves will repay it many times over in the future--and that applies not just to great cities but small cities like Saratoga Springs, Cooperstown, and   Skaneateles, NY. to name a few.

But not Utica. My experience in City Hall this morning is what defeats me here, what leaves me, in spite of all the local efforts this blog has been noting of late, feeling hopeless about Utica. 

WONDERFUL NEWS: Brand New Downtown Farmers Market

A brand new farmers market in Utica, the Oneida County Public Market, beginning Saturday morning, June 25 through September!

With a goal of being open year round! Nearby newly renovated buildings, such as Doyle Hardware, and new restaurants and cafes!

From the Observer-Dispatch: "About 25 vendors will mark the first Oneida County Public Market on Saturday, setting up fresh produce, artisan foods and crafted local products at Boehlert Center at Union Station.

"The market will take place outside the long-vacant Railway Express Agency wing – the site of a $250,000 county capital project that eventually will allow it to be set up inside and possibly year round. It also will feature live entertainment.

"County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. said he anticipates a healthy crowd for the event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It continues every Saturday.

"He also hopes the event capitalizes on the seeds of transformation that have been planted around the Main Street neighborhood where developers have worked to rehabilitate 421 Broad St., the former Cobblestone Building, and the former Doyle Hardware building.

"The capital project will include new windows, lighting and general upgrades to a small portion of the wing, Picente said. As the market grows, more of the wing could be renovated."

Gourmet Utica: Chuck E Cheese

We finally caught up with our grandaughter, Amelia, who has been away for awhile, and her first request was to go to our house. Her priorities are right on. But her second request was to go to Chuck E Cheese, the mouse that roared for little children everywhere!

I had never been to Chuck E Cheese but Amelia knew the place like the back of her hand: all the rides, what to eat, the prizes, the looked-forward-to appearance of Chuck E himself, the little stage where kids can sing or dance or just plain show off. In short, a kid's paradise. Constant noise. Bright lights and colors. Pizza and candy galore. Rides in cars, on horses. Lots of other kids running around.

And that will be $35. please. For a cardboard pizza and tokens for the rides. I'll spare you a photo of the (so-called) pizza.

Not to mention the Flaming Finger and Extreme (has to be EXTREME) Hunting! Where if you look closely you can see the words "life like violence mild." An oxymoron if ever there was one.

Upstate Fashion Dept.: Party Pants

Forever Leather, New Hartford Shopping Center

For those of you who were wondering what to wear clubbing around here--or to make a big statement at back yard picnics--Forever Leather has put forth--literally (like on the sidewalk)--these form-fitting, metallic gold pants! Hurry. They may sell out before you get there.

With thanks to my fellow broken-down Uticans, Caitlin and her mother, Kathy.

Catch Up, Plus Good News for Utica via NPR

Little Italy

No, this is not East Utica! But the flavor is similar. It's Little Italy in Manhattan.

Warm greetings and apologies to my many followers, fellow bloggers, and cool people of Utica. My last post was May 17th, and one of the cardinal rules I have learned in the fleeting world of blogging is keep those posts coming or your blog will drop dead from lack of upkeep and interest.

I have been sick as a dog for most of this past winter, culminating in a horrible flu I acquired en route to Brooklyn, NY to visit my daughter. It began as a cough, then a sore throat, until it filled my chest and created a hacking cough and fever. I made it through two great dinners, an Israeli breakfast, a Circle Line cruise (my daughter, a true citizen of NYC, had never gone), and a visit to Little Italy, not to mention several climbs up and down her three-story building, before I collapsed on the way home a week ago Monday. Just got on my feet last weekend and I am more or less up and about today.

Which is when I came upon my neglected blog!!!

So let me begin to pick up the pieces with a piece that appeared in the Observer-Dispatch a few weeks ago regarding a program on National Public Radio (NPR) entitled "State of the Re:Union." Al Letson, the host, is doing a whole series of shows about forgotten and neglected cities and towns in the USA, and he gave Utica a pretty good review.

What really seemed to impress his producers was the acceptance here of the new mosque on Court Street. While the citizens of Manhattan were battling over the creation of a new mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero, the citizens of Utica were welcoming the Bosnian-Muslim community and its mosque.

If you haven't seen it, it's an old church transformed into something new and beautiful, a white mosque with gray accents.

The O-D article notes that people who listen to the NPR report on Utica (http://stateofthereunion.com/) will hear about the mosque as well as Rev. Maria Scates on her work to rehabilitate a drug-infested Cornhill neighborhood. "People outside of the area are noticing things here, and if we are smart enough to capitalize on this they can be trigger points for a much more prosperous future," said Gary Grates, executive with the independent PR firm, Edelman.

The "Re;Union" producers visited last January and spent a lot of time sampling the ethnic food on Bleecker Street in such restaurants as Thuy and the Florentine Bakery.

Gourmet Utica: She Delivers!

Check out "The Dish" this week, fresh, healthy meals delivered to your home or place of work. Including lemon bars! The menu and prices are on the website: http://www.dishesbytrish.com/

Upstate Architecture: A Genesee Street Gem

If you have seen any pictures of old Utica, particularly looking north or south on Genesee Street, you are aware of what a grand avenue it used to be, lined with tall arching elm trees and residential buildings in a variety of architectural styles. Almost all of those homes are now small businesses or doctors' offices. And the elms were lost to elm disease years ago. Still, I love to imagine how it used to be. If I squint a little, I can see the crowded downtown, trollies, even the carriages, and the families on their porches in the summer. 

Here's a classic I passed on a walk a few days ago; one I had never really noticed. It's been home to various businesses and is currently for sale, if anyone's interested.