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Featured Stories
Whatever Became of Those Children?By Gwen Gilyard
By Gwen GilyardGwen Gilyard originally researched and wrote about the Grinnell "children" in an article for the March 1999 edition of The Grinnell Gazette, an in-house newspaper that appeared periodically between 1998 and 2000. She has updated her article for The Grinnell's Centennial Year celebrations and will continue adding information as she gathers it during the centennial year. If you have information to share about young people who grew up at the Grinnell, please send it to info@TheGrinnellat100.com.
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Our Stories: Oral History from the Grinnell
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The Grinnell at 100.com is sponsored by AudubonParkNY.com, an online walking tour of the Audubon Park Historic District.
Miss Moore Remembers Early Days at the GrinnellBy Jaundine Moore
By Jaundine MooreMiss Jaundine (Geraldine) Moore lived at the Grinnell, in Apartment 2F, from
July 1937 until her death in September 2004. As a girl, she moved to the Grinnell
with her mother and aunt and attended school at St Catharine's Academy on
West 152nd Street (the school and building still exist). Although Miss Moore was
a fount of information about the Grinnell and its surrounding neighborhood, and
had known many of the original residents, she was a private person and shared
information in bits and pieces. Once, however, in response to a request from a
curious neighbor, she typed a sheet of Grinnell memories, random thoughts that
evoke visions of a long-lost era. She entitle those memories "Grinnell Tidbits."
Grinnell Tidbits
When we came to the Grinnell, we were told by one of the tenants that in the early
days the management gave dances for the tenants. Dances were given in the late
spring and early summer. Dances were held on the roof; live music was provided.
The dances were free.
There was elevator service for tenants and workers around the clock. One elevator was
for the tenants; the second elevator was for the building's workers and for the servants of the tenants. (continue)
Remembrances of Late 19th Century Washington Heights: Maximilian Waldau by Roy Waldau
My father was born August 22, 1877, several blocks north of the Grinnell’s location. The family’s apartment faced uptown, he recalled, where small farms abounded. My father remembered raucous barnyard feeding times. There was always, however, plenty of fresh eggs and goat’s milk—excellent for making cheeses like “sikker” and “kochkäse.”
Dad also recalled that during winters, the Hudson River often froze solid, when he, along with brothers and cousins, joined gangs who felt compelled to protect their turf against tough, invading “Ho-buccaneers” crossing the ice from Jersey. The weapons of choice were slingshots (see David vs. Goliath) for which projectiles ) such as broken paving stones, were harvested.
As a boy, my father held a number of part-time jobs to earn pocket money. One of the more bizarre was hiding behind a monstrous turbaned-Turk marionette called Ojeeb the Magnificent that was located in Greenwich Village. Ojeeb’s task was to play chess against all comers. If Ojeeb won, Dad collected a dime; if Ojeeb lost, payment was zilch. A younger brother, my uncle August, was hired to shill for this faux Arabian-Nights wonder, until Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt clamped down on truancy when Dad and Uncle Aug were hauled back to school.
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The Struggle to Save the GrinnellBy Mark Gordon
By Mark GordonMark and Barbara Gordon lived at the Grinnell from 1970 to 1996, witnessing some of the most dramatic changes in the building, from the days of landlord neglect to the 7A Administratorship and into the first fifteen years of co-oping. Besides raising their two daughters at the Grinnell, the Gordons were active tenants: Barbara served as hall captain in the West Wing, Mark established a stamp club for the Grinnell youth and involved many of the Grinnell youth in a group named Children for Worldwide Peace.
From California, Mark sends his greetings to the Grinnell and shares his memories of those turbulent days before co-oping.
Barbara and I moved into apartment 5-I in the Grinnell with our baby daughter Danielle in February 1970. I was 29 years old. (You can figure out how old I am now.) 5-I had been occupied by friends, the Beinarts, who had moved to 5H. We could not believe how lucky we felt to have such a wonderful apartment, and to have such wonderful neighbors. Our daughter Eve was born the next year. Almost immediately we were involved in protests against the landlord, someone named Breitbart, because of reductions in services. A rent strike soon followed.
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Who Remembers Gloria?By Ki Innis
By Ki InnisKimathi Innis, artist and filmmaker, has lived and worked in Tokyo for the last five years, but continues strong ties with the Grinnell through his mother, Doris Innis, and through his many memories of growing up at 800 Riverside Dirve. Here, he offers an online tribute to Gloria, the first of many films and TV shows shot at the Grinnell.
As I remember it, it was the summer of 1979 and Hollywood came to Riverside Drive. 800 Riverside Drive, The Grinnell, in fact. My home.
I all but 8 years old at the time. No, I don't remember the day Gloria Swenson (Gena Rowlands) iced four Mafia creeps outside the Riviera, 790 Riverside Drive, but what I do remember was a lot of hullabaloo around the Grinnell, 800 RSD....that I couldn't go certain places during the day and that my summer mischief was rudely being disrupted by these people with film equipment. (continue)
The residents of 800 Riverside Drive celebrating community, a unique sense of place, and an architectural gem
