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.
