It was 48 years ago that our family left WV for NYC. I was in high school and my brothers were at Brown University. Dad got a job at Pearson Keating Consulting as a head hunter. Mother got a transfer to Travellers Insurance Co. on 42nd street. We rented a lovely apartment at 89th and First Ave in Manhattan. I interviewed at several upper East-side schools but decided to attend Rhodes School on W 54th street. Or perhaps my parents decided on it. Why? Because the building was a Stanford White -designed residence. The school left that building a decade or so after I graduated then it closed. I happened to google the address (11 W 54 Street) and found it was on the market for $59 million.
"The neo-Georgian limestone and brick residence was designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White known as the pre-eminent architects of their day responsible for the finest New York landmarks, including the University Club a few doors down and the New York Public Library. The residence was built in 1896 for James J. Goodwin, a cousin and business partner of JP Morgan. Most recently the property housed the headquarters of the US Trust Company. The building was designed as a double house with a three-bay residence at No. 11 and a two-bay residence at No. 9 with the entrance to No. 11 centered creating one symmetrical whole facade. The palatial property included eleven master bedroom suites, eleven additional staff bedrooms and twelve fireplaces."
Granted, the rooms did not look quite this good when I was there but the basics were there like the paneling, the fireplaces, the staircases, etc. The great rooms on the parlor floor housed the administration offices. But all the other rooms were classrooms. I spent a lot of time staring at the woodwork and the windows. The school itself was quite enjoyable. The teachers were much better than the ones I had in Charleston. It was a fairly liberal philosophy with many international students. They were the only school who would allow me to be a year ahead in math and a year behind in Latin. The other schools wanted me to go back a year to which I would not agree. I ended up graduating after my junior year by taking senior English and American History during the summer. I had a sufficient number of credits due to my time in WV. Commencement exercises were held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
I took two city buses to go to school and to return in the afternoons. I really enjoyed looking out the bus windows onto Central Park on the way down and all the store windows on the way home. I would get off the 86th street crosstown bus at First Ave and walk up the 3 blocks on the way home. I'd usually stop at the German Bakery for some fresh crumb cake to nosh on til Mother got home. I would then look out our windows on the 18th floor at all the city lights coming on. It got dark early in November in NY.
I made a few friends: Gail Klerman from Valley Stream, Nancy Andriani from West Village, and Mary Livadas from 88th and York. Mary and I sometimes rode the bus together. Gail died of an aneurism her freshman year at college. I don't know where the others are today. I likewise do not know where my teachers are now. My math teacher was a hunk and dapper dresser; my English teacher looked like Julie Christie and had us reading Malcolm X in place of Silas Marner; and my Latin teacher was most avuncular. Most of the yearbook notes written to me related to my going to be a star of stage and screen. Every Wednesday I would buy a copy of Variety to keep up with the biz. Well that didn't happen, but I had my moments in the PALS plays at ML's school!
 |
| Mary L. and me changing classes in the main reception area |
