I read of the passing of Norma Langworthy on
Gothamist this morning. Here is her
obituary in the NY Times. I loved walking down 11th Street and looking up to her window to check out Paddington Bear and what he was wearing. The townhouse itself stands out on the block as it is architecturally unusual...and anyone unfamiliar with the violent past of the address might not question how it came to be so different from its neighbors. For this reason, I like the Paddington Bear tribute, as history can be remembered and present, even in the smallest ways.
This is a photo I took of her house in 2008. Paddington is in the front left window.
For more information, see
Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.
And...
In a related note, here is a photo I forgot about where I was reading
Mel Gussow's account of what happened on W. 11th Street when Dustin Hoffman lived next-door. You can see the old facade in the photo in the book.
Thank you for this! I was so sad when I read about the townhouse owner's death - I walked by that window every day for a year, loving the way Paddington changed with the seasons and holidays. I vividly remember the Mel Gussow piece (it ran during that year when I was visiting Paddington every day) -- I'd had no idea of the building's history. So strange. Thank you, Paddington Lady, for adding quirk to my morning walk.
ReplyDeleteI hope the family keeps this tradition alive. I remember the news reports about when the bomb went off in that building, there's a good documentary about that and the Weather Underground, here's a link to it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343168/
What a nice tribute to her, Goggla, & I love that second photograph. I remember when those Paddington bears first came out. They were very expensive & I coveted, but never got one. But I still have a battered, four-volume set of Paddington stories my older brother bought me for my birthday when I was seven.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the death notice link. When it originally ran in the Times I'm sure I passed right over it. I'm glad I learned more about the Paddington lady.
ReplyDelete