Update 3-24-15

 

Hi,

 

Lots of mainly short notes this week.

 

First, from Ed and Ginny Ressa Schmidt:  Best wishes to all for a happy class reunion.  And “hi” to Peggy.

 

Next, from Barnet Kellman:  Wow.  I gotta say I loved Irene Saunders Goldstein's true life love story!

 

And from Irene:  I was so inspired by that nice love story you printed last week that I now plan to bring my fiancé to the reunion.

 

Related, from  Louise Wiemer Beckert:  Sorry, but as it turns out I will not be able to attend the reunion.  I will be in York, Pennsylvania, that weekend, to attend a memorial service for a very dear friend.  However, I look forward to hearing all about the reunion via the weekly updates.  Kind regards to all.

 

Also related, from Mary Sipp Green:  What time does the dinner, or even just meeting on the Saturday night of the reunion, start at the hotel?

 

[Rich – I plan to be at the gathering point – the restaurant just off the hotel’s main lobby – from 5:30 PM on, both Friday and Saturday evenings.  There’s a chance some people may decide to break off later into groups, to go to another restaurant or restaurants for dinner before coming back to the main group at the hotel.  But I’ll stick around the hotel restaurant until at least  midnight, eating, drinking, and sorting traffic.
    I’ll also give everyone my cell phone number and a couple of other people’s numbers as back-ups, in case my phone doesn’t work inside the hotel.  And I’m sure other people will share numbers to help coordinate this floating party.  Hope that information helps.]

 

Next, unfortunately, sad news, from Peter Rosen:  My mom died peacefully March 5th at 95.

 

[Rich – I wrote Peter, but I’m sure he’d be happy to hear from other friends, especially those who knew his mother.  I only met her once, at a small, informal, wedding party.  She was a close friend of the bride’s mother, and the groom was one of my cousins.]

 

Unrelated, from Barbara Blitfield Pech:  From my Facebook post – Attention all Valley Stream and immediate area friends.  The Valley Stream Cancer Connection group has been formed for past and present Valley Stream residents to document cancer diagnoses.  This is a closed group, so only members can see our posts.
    In order to help one another, we need to be as specific as possible with information, to see if people share in common areas of work, lifestyle, etc.  Our goal is to see if there’s reason to do a study of our area, to explain a possible high rate of cancer.  If there are enough documented cases, we may be considered a Hot Spot.
    Please let me know if you or any family members are affected and are interested in participating, and please contact me through Facebook to join the group.  Thank you.

 

Back to happier news, the reunion count now stands at 34 class members, 7 spouses, and at least one guest.  The updated list:

 

Joan Aires Cleven                       Friday to Sunday             Hotel 
Alison Altman                            Saturday to Sunday         Hotel 
Jay Berliner                               Saturday night 
Stu Borman                               Friday & Saturday                             and wife Elize 
Barbara Brill Frohman                 Saturday & Sunday 
Carol Bunim Okin                       Friday &/or Saturday       Hotel          and husband Bob 
Peggy Cooper Schwartz             Friday to Sunday             Hotel          and husband Les
Rich Eisbrouch                          Friday to Sunday             Hotel

Ellen Epstein Silver                    Friday to Sunday             Hotel
Mary Ferranti Khan                    Friday & maybe Saturday Hotel          and husband Bashir
Alan Finder                               Saturday & Sunday          Hotel 
Henry Gabbay                           Friday & Saturday night 
Peggy Galinger Menaker            Saturday to Sunday          Hotel 
Les Glasser                              Friday & late Saturday 
Neil Guberman                          Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Art Halprin                                Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Marilyn Horowitz Goldhammer    Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Stu Kandel                               Friday & Saturday 
Ira Levy                                    Saturday & Sunday           Hotel 
Laura Littner Fulton                   Friday & maybe Saturday

Roz Minsky Hahn                     Friday & Saturday                            and husband
Martha Morenstein                    Saturday to Sunday          Hotel 
Allen Moss                               Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Valerie Nelson Gillen                 Friday to Sunday
Dennis Pizzimenti                     Saturday & Sunday          Hotel        and wife Benette

Peter Rosen                             Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Larry Rugen                              Friday & Saturday 
Irene Saunders Goldstein           Friday to Sunday              Hotel       and fiancé Jerry
Bernie Scheidt                          Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Dennis Shapiro                         Friday to Sunday 
Ray Sinatra                              Friday (maybe) & Saturday

Mary Sipp Green                      Saturday & Sunday 
Danny Stellabotte                     Friday to Sunday

Jay Tuerk                                 Saturday to Sunday           Hotel

Finally, after a several-week delay, back to another section of that continuing Green Acres history:

 

    By 1936, the Chanin Companies had taken control of the site.  Architect and developer Irwin Chanin is known for his construction of the legitimate theaters in Times Square, including the Richard Rodgers, Biltmore, Brooks Atkinson, Golden, Royale, and Majestic.  He is also the architect and developer for both The Century and The Majestic apartments on Central Park West, and, most famously, the Chanin Building, an ornate office building near Grand Central Terminal.  It was the tallest building in midtown Manhattan when it was finished in 1928.   Today, the Chanin Building is a New York City Landmark.
    Chanin and his team planned for a development of 1,800 single-family houses for the Green Acres site, about 40 percent the density of Stein's plan.  Ground was quickly broken on May 22, 1936.  At that time, work began on 24 houses, but 400 houses –  a diverse mix of brick capes and colonials – were built before World War II.  It was subsequently referred to as Green Acres Phase I, but today is known by locals as the "old section."
    It is clear that Chanin's site plan, and ultimately his marketing approach, presumed that residents would have cars.  Nevertheless, the pedestrian network was a major selling point.  Every street in the “old section”, except for the primary access roads, was a cul-de-sac.  This guaranteed slow automobile traffic, but more important, it created an opportunity for an off-street pedestrian network.  At the end of each cul-de-sac, a small path connects the road with the green space.  The backyards empty into this network of linear parks and walking paths that circle the community, and it was understood, as in Sunnyside and Radburn, that the park land was shared public space and a treasured resource.
    The October 1936 issue of Architectural Record published an article about Green  Acres's unique planning characteristics.  "About 90 per cent of all homes in the community will front on cul-de-sac lanes.  From the head of each cul-de-sac, a short concrete footpath leads into the general park system.  These footpaths are so arranged, in turn, that the shortest and most direct route between points on its borders is by way of the footpaths."

 

The class of '65 50th Reunion:  Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26, 2015, Hyatt Regency, Hauppauge.

To make a hotel reservation:  Go online to hyatt.com, click on reservations, choose Hauppauge, and enter the reunion dates.  With an AAA card, an AARP membership, or using several other organizational connections, you can get the lowest price.  You can also cancel some reservations if you need to.

The South '65 e-mail addresses:  reunionclass65 . blogspot . com  (please remove the spaces)

The South '65 photo site:  picasaweb . google . com/SouthHS65  (ditto)


Rich