HarperCollins
ORDER from Amazon: paperback or hardcover
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| FORGOTTEN NEW YORK HarperCollins ORDER from Amazon: paperback or hardcover |
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| A couple of times a year, your webmaster schedules "Forgotten Fans Phun Fests" at which about 5-10 of us descend on a local joint and rip it up for a few hours. Thanks to publisher HarperCollins and the management of Chumley's on Bedford Street in Greenwich Village, on September 28, 2006 we had the biggest Phun Fest to date to celebrate the release of Forgotten New York, the book... | |||||||||||||||||
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| Linda Mena keeps an eye on the Forgottenbooks that were ready for signing. | Your webmaster greets Forgotten Fans. | |||
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| Your webmaster and HarperCollins Associate Director of Publicity Gretchen Crary greet Forgotten Fans. | Brian Black, in his wonderful ice cream suit, and Gerry Sankner have been associates of your webmaster since 1975. | |||||
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| Amy Langfield, Francis Morrone, Vinny Losinno, Lex Robie and Corie Trancho-Robie gather by the phone. | Brian and Eric Weaver | |||
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| Scott Brown, Mary Beth Henry, Jane and Gerry Sankner, and Brenda Becker.
I was so busy working the crowd that I never did get to eat any of the calamari and hamburgers Chumley's spread out for us (I had plenty to drink though). But it seems as if Christina Wilkinson, the Queen of Queens, found a good use for hers! Actually I'm told the cuisine was marveloso! |
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| Forgotten Fans Mary Ondrejka, Laura Moore, Larry Steller, Irene Orlowski, Nigey Lennon and Neil deMause greet your smilin' webmaster. | Jane and Gerry Sankner | |||
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Dawn Eden and Andrew Cusack greet Forgotten Fans as do Lex and Christina. Aww, D, the smudge on the lens is right on top of you! Here's Dawn's actual appearance.
While your webmaster wipes the dirt off his camera, it's time to provide a little background information on our venue, Chumley's... |
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| Like its contemporary, "21," Chumley's was once a speakeasy that has survived to the present day. 86 Bedford Street has been there since 1820 and began life as a blacksmith's. The property was purchased by Leland Chumley in 1926; Chumley, an International Workers of the World member, held meetings upstairs while running the speakeasy on the ground floor. It gradually developed a reputation as a gathering place for the West Village's literary demimonde, with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, especially, as regular patrons.
After Leland Chumley's death from a heart attack in 1935, his wife Henrietta assumed the newly "legitimate" bar's operations, and continued in that role until 1960: she was a nightly fixture at her favorite table, which had earlier been the Fitzgeralds'. It was Henrietta Chumley who began the bar's unique practice of displaying the dust jackets of books published by authors who drank there. The list is illustrious: it includes Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O'Neill, Norman Mailer, John Steinbeck, Allen Ginsburg, and virtually every major literary figure of the 20th Century. |
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Chumley's has also been a gathering place for firefighters, especially the local firehouse, Engine Company 24, ladder Company 5, who lost eleven men on 9/11/01. A plaque in the back room is dedicated to the firehouse.
Hundreds of portraits of authors and book jackets, as well as historical photos, have been hung on Chumley's walls. In 2006 it celebrates its 80th year in operation, under its long-time owner, Steve Shlopak. According to legend, the term "86" meaning to quickly escape, comes from 86 Bedford. During Prohibition, cops would magnanimously telephone Lee Chumley to announce a raid; Chumley would holler out "86!" to patrons, indicating they should leave by the front door. |
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| Chumley's features locally brewed beer and ale. Changing a keg requires opening a trap door in the floor and lowering the keg on a pulley to the cellar. Eric Weaver | |||||||
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| (LEFT) Linda and Mary Beth display their Forgottenbooks, while Mary and Laura have theirs too. | ||||
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| Mary, Gerri Guadagno, David Martinez | ||||
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| Your webmaster, Larry and Steve Garza. | ||||
| Mike Walker, Brian and Marge Black | ||||
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| Andrew, Laura, Mary, Irene, Larry, Steve, Nigey, Christina, Neil, David | ||
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| Linda, Steve | Neil, Paul Lukas | |||
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| Jean and Howard Siegel | Amy, Francis | |||
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| Hey, what happened to your webmaster's blown-up Time Out New York cover that was in the chair?
I have it at home! |
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Thanks to HarperCollins senior editor Matthew Benjamin, Associate Director of Publicity Gretchen Crary, photo editor Jessica Paskay, book designer Emily Taff; as well as my cousin Jim King and wife Kathleen, who were here as well, Time Out NY Features Editor Soren Larson, and most of all, Joe Tessitore, President of the Collins division at HarperCollins in which my book appears.
Chumley's owner, Steve Shlopak, informed me that my signed Forgotten NY book jacket will take its place in the Chumley's pantheon besides Ernest, F. Scott and all the rest. I'm overwhelmed! ©2006 Midnight Fish erpietri@earthlink.net |
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| FORGOTTEN NEW YORK HarperCollins ORDER from Amazon: paperback or hardcover |
LINDA'S GOT ONE!
Why don't you get one? |
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