by Richard Kavesh
With the season’s first dusting of snow covering the ground and temperatures here in Nyack not expected to rise above 39 degrees today, here are a few things you can do to warm up your Sunday.
From 1–3p today there’s a reception at the Valley Cottage library marking the opening of a fabulous photographic exhibit by Nyack photographer and restaurateur Matt Hudson. Many of Matt’s magnificent photographs were inspired by the Hudson River. The images captured at dawn and dusk over the river are particularly beautiful.
Closer to home (and what a home!), the owner of Pretty Penny on North Broadway, W. Graham Arader III, is opening his home at 235 North Broadway today from 1-6p to host a fundraiser to benefit Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw. Tickets cost $110 or two for $200.The Nyack Village Board recently voted unanimously that October 10th would henceforth be known as “Helen Hayes Day” in the village. October 10th is the birthday of the woman who earned the title of “First Lady of American Theater,” a woman who, as Mayor Shields has said, was among a few people who marched to integrate the Nyack YMCA when that cause was far from popular.
If you can’t make it to Pretty Penny, you can always benefit the hospital just by shopping right here in Nyack. More than 30 stores and restaurants in Nyack are offering discounts to shoppers today, some of whom will donate a portion of their sales to the cause as part of the “First Lady of Nyack Celebration.”
Hope to see you at one or both events.
Sources: Journal News, Nyack Chamber of Commerce
Photo Credit: Sothebys Real Estate
It’s a shame the photo of Helen Hayes’s home on North Broadway “Pretty Penny” included in the original article is not one that the average Nyacker would recognize anymore.
When we first moved to Nyack twenty years ago this historic home was a landmark in the village. Now it hides behind an 8ft high security wall and a phalanx of arbor vitae installed by a former owner who was more concerned about her own personal security than actually preserving one of Nyacks premier properties as Mrs. McArthur new it and loved it.
There is a concept in the lexicon of planning and civic art known as a public amenity. Pretty Penny certainly embodied this idea as a stunning example of Victorian architecture for everyone to enjoy as they transited North Broadway.
How the former owner ever got permission to increase the height of the wall to 8 ft instead of the 6 ft allowed by our code while at the same time dooming two 100 plus year old street trees to a slow death and replace them with a masking wall of evergreen is a testament to the venality of Nyack’s village government.
A condition I sincerely hope will change under the stewardship of the new Village Board.
This is clearly no reflection on the current owner of course. Mr W Graham Arader III has graciously opened his home for a worthy cause and should be applauded for his on going philanthropy.
At the same time I would seek to encourage him to consider restoring the viewscape which has been denied to Nyack since the advent of the ill considered renovation by another.
To paraphrase a past American President; “Mr. Arader, tear down this wall!” (please).
I’d also like to ask trustee elect White in her capacity as parks commissioner to look into fund raising to help Mr. Arader defray the cost of restoring the property to its former prominence as a public amenity and authentic piece of civic art.
JC Brotherhood
Nyack