Turtle Bay News A Publication of the Turtle Bay Association Spring 2007 Vol. 50, No. 1 TBA Celebrates 50 Years: A Look Back in History ike the honey locusts and London plane trees that grow along Since he’d first taken office in our streets, we too hope to take firm root,” James Amster told early 1956, Hulan Jack had Lthe Turtle Bay community back in the early 1960s, just a few been promoting the idea years after he and a small group of his neighbors formed the East of widening several cross- 49th Street Association to fight for local causes. town streets by up to six Today, Mr. Amster surely would be proud and pleased to know that feet to create another traffic the organization he founded, now known as the Turtle Bay Associa- lane. He proposed tearing up tion, has indeed taken “firm root,” with a membership numbering three feet of sidewalk on each side close to 2,000 and a 50-year history of successes in making Turtle of the street, uprooting well-established shade trees in the process. Bay an increasingly better place in which to live. Mr. Jack initially wanted to widen all the narrow crosstown streets between 23rd and , but the city’s Board of Estimate, re- An Evening in 1957 sponsible for land use decisions at the time, narrowed the list to only It all began on an evening in the late fall of 1957, when “Jimmy,” five: 49th and 50th Streets, as well as 35th, 36th and 37th Streets. as James Amster was known to friends and colleagues, invited a Preserving the Street small group of local residents to his home at on East 49th Street. He was concerned about news reports that the Manhat- Jimmy Amster, a successful interior designer, some ten tan , Hulan Jack, was pushing a plan to broaden years earlier had transformed a cluster of old buildings at 211-215 several midtown cross streets. traffic had reached seem- East 49th Street into the charming Amster Yard, an enclave of ingly intolerable levels, as American cars grew wider and longer, homes and offices surrounding an inner courtyard. Jimmy lived and more of them were crowding Manhattan streets. in one of the houses and his business was in another. He decided something must be done to preserve the street. So he and Mabel Detmold, manager of the twenty houses that formed the Turtle Bay Gardens complex directly across 49th Street from Amster Yard, gathered residents together to strategize on how to squelch the widening plan. They were a determined group. Among them was Mabel Detmold’s son Peter, a young Cornell University Phi Beta Kappa and World War II veteran who was in the real estate business, specializing in the many old 1850s brownstones lining Turtle Bay’s streets. Forming an Association Early on, the neighbors decided to form the East 49th Association. A formal entity, they believed, would give them more clout in dealing with city officials. Jimmy Amster was named chairman. Within a few weeks, the city had decided to In this issue: start the widening proj- TBA pressing for community ect with 36th and 37th coordination of parkside Streets, tearing up many construction sites...page 3 of the blocks in the Murray Hill area. These streets were considered a priority since they were directly in the traffic flow between the Lincoln and Midtown tunnels.

TBA founder Jimmy Amster in his garden oasis, Amster Yard, in the 1970s. Jimmy Amster knew that if the city’s plan was allowed to go forward Photo courtesy: Robert Moyer continued on page 6

TBA•224 E. 47TH ST. NYC 10017•212-751-5465•FAX 212-751-4941• WWW.turtlebay-nyc.org •[email protected] Mark Your Calendar Turtle Bay Retains Good Safety Record n Sunday, May 6 urtle Bay’s long-time reputation as a crime prevention officer for the 17th Pre- Turtle Bay Street Fair safe community continued last year, cinct. The absolute number of robberies Second Avenue from 43rd to 53rd with total crime in the 17th Precinct last year, including both street robberies and 212-751-5465 T decreasing slightly from 2005, and down 65 store robberies, was 98. n Saturday, May 12 percent compared with 1995. Crime since Katharine Hepburn Garden Party Total year-end crime statistics for the 17th (Marking 100th Anniversary of her Birth) 1993, when the New York Police Depart- Precinct, which covers roughly 30th to 59th 1 p.m.-3 p.m. ment began its current reporting system, is Streets from to the East Dag Hammarskjold Plaza down 72 percent. River, are listed below: 212-629-2003, 212-751-5465 Of the seven major crime n Sunday, May 13 categories that are tracked, 2006 2005 %CHANGE 17th Precinct Street Fair robberies and grand larcency Lexington Avenue from 42nd to 57th Murder* 2 0 -- 212-826-3228 of automobiles showed the Rape 12 14 -14.2% greatest year-over-year decline Robbery 98 127 -22.8% n Saturday, June 9 in 2006, down 22.8 percent and Outdoor Art Show Felony Assault 74 79 -6.3% High School of Art & Design 24.4 percent, respectively. Burglary 213 197 +8.1% Grand Larceny 959 935 +2.5% 10 a.m.-3 p.m. “The downswing in robberies Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Grand Larceny/Auto 34 45 -24.4% 212-629-2003 is a good indication that the Total 1,392 1,397 -0.3% neighborhood is safer,” says *The two murders reported in 2006 were both domestic-related. n Saturday, June 23 Police Officer James Meury, Empire Autorama Classic Cars on Display 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Dag Hammarskjold Plaza 646-932-0421 Members Hear Updates at Annual Meeting

n Last Tuesday every month Elected officials, local 17th Precinct repre- Garodnick, representing the District 4, and 17th Precinct Community Council sentatives and TBA officers briefed some Councilmember Lappin, District 5, both Open Meeting, 6 p.m. 100 TBA members attending the organiza- updated members on their efforts on behalf tion’s 49th Annual Meeting last fall. 225 East of the community. “I am lucky to have an 212-826-3228 Manhattan Borough President Scott String- organization like the TBA in my district… (No meetings July, August, er, State Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, and with dedicated volunteers willing to pitch in December) City Councilmembers Dan Garodnick and to continually help make our community a n Second Wednesday every month Jessica Lappin each spoke at the November better place to live,” Ms. Lappin said. Community Board 6 14th meeting, addressing issues and con- Full Board Meeting, 7 p.m. The TBA thanks Grey Advertising for host- NYU Medical Center cerns affecting the Turtle Bay community. ing the meeting at its auditorium at 777 550 Precinct officers reviewed the area’s safety 212-319-3750 and for refreshments served record and crime statistics. (See story after the meeting. TBA Contacts: above.) Phone: 212-751-5465 Fax: 212-751-4941 Mr. Stringer talked of his Community Board E-mail: [email protected] reforms, which he said are intended to “em- Renovation Update Web Site: www.turtlebay-nyc.org power Manhattan’s Community Boards The big $1.9 billion United Nations Check our Bulletin Board: in unprecedented ways,” and his recent renovation project is in the final planning East side of Second Avenue, transportation conference which he said stages. As reported previously, renovation between 48th and 49th Streets, “launched an urgent debate on the future of the Secretariat will be done in phases, on outside wall of the supermarket. of the transportation crisis in Manhattan.” ten floors at a time, with displaced office Assemblyman Bing pointed to his many ef- staff moving temporarily to rented offices Turtle Bay News forts on behalf of the community, including in East Midtown and Long Island City. To house conference needs during renovation, Editor: Pamela Hanlon interceding in the last year’s park conces- Contributors: Terri Heveran, sion issue at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, a two-story temporary building will go up Olga Hoffmann, Bill Huxley, and efforts to successfully resolve issues on the grassy area of the U.N. North Lawn. Millie Margiotta, Patricia Q. McDougald, concerning the location of the city’s water Currently, it is expected that construction Bruce Silberblatt tunnel shaft and the MTA’s utility tower on of the “big box” will start in the fall of this Photography: Vivian Gordon, Jennifer Flaherty East . (Fall ’06 and Winter ’06 year, with the building coming down on Turtle Bay News) City Councilmember completion of the project in 2014.

2 Turtle Bay News www.turtlebay-nyc.org Planning Paramount at Parkside Sites BY BRUCE A. SILBERBLATT urtle Bay really doesn’t have too many parks, but the few it has All four projects appear to comply with the zoning resolution and have drawn the attention of developers far and wide. There’s are “as-of-right.” Tnothing like a park view! Four projects overlooking Dag Ham- At 865 U.N. Plaza, a block north of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, an marskjold Plaza and are in the works. alteration from rental to condominiums is underway. The building The most prominent of the group will replace the soon to be razed will stand as before, but within, those tenants whose homes were at ADL Building, 823 United Nations Plaza at 46th Street. The demoli- so-called “market rent” had to move or buy in. The vacated units are tion will be in two stages, first the upper nine floors, then the two- being renovated into condominiums. The remaining stabilized and/or story base. The developer is the Macklowe Organization, whose controlled tenants can stay, but at a cost – surviving major construc- last venture in our neighborhood was 310 East . Unlike tion work all around. Once again, affordable housing loses out. that site, the zoning here permits a sheer tower which TBA thinks Construction and Safety Problems can rise 40 stories. Plans, however, have not been disclosed or yet submitted to the Department of Buildings for approval. Needless to say, there are construction and safety problems unique to building next to active parks. Where new foundations are needed Further down the block, at 313-315-317 East 46th Street, three – at 313-317 East 46th and possibly at the ADL site – great care must five-story walk-up buildings have been demolished. Coming is an be taken not to undermine the park. Sheathing and underpinning, 18-story condominium with ground floor retail and 73 apartments. both costly, may be needed. During demolition and façade removal, Next door, 305 East 46th Street (the 16-story Albano Building) is the parks and the public need to be protected from the inevitable undergoing conversion from lofts/offices to apartments. The archi- dust and falling debris. These measures, of course, continue as the tects for both jobs are a husband-wife team, Cetra/Ruddy, which buildings rise above ground and are enclosed. has designed high-rise apartments elsewhere in the city. As an example of what can go wrong, during the very cold week of West of Greenacre Park February 5 the Albano Building suffered interior flooding; the water Just west of Greenacre Park, 211 East 51st Street, an existing 14- froze solid on its rear wall and then, with milder weather, thawed. floor apartment house, is being stripped to its structural frame and Heavy ice shards crashed into the unprotected Hepburn Gardens reconstructed into condominiums. An extra seven stories will be portion of the Plaza, causing extensive damage to the fixtures and asymmetrically set atop the west end, furthest from the park (this plantings. Fortunately nobody was injured. peculiar plan is due to the site straddling two different zoning The Turtle Bay Association is pressing for a community coordina- districts, low-rise residential to the east, high-rise commercial to tion committee, which would have representation from the Friends the west. The latter, as things turn out, is the only portion of the of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and the Greenacre Foundation, the existing building where one can go higher). There will be medical Parks Department, elected officials, and, of course, TBA. This was offices on the first two floors and 85 apartments above. Render- done successfully when the went up several ings by the architect, Meltzer/Mandl, reveal a masonry and glass years ago. Such a committee would address community complaints, façade, including large windows replacing the present blank wall monitor construction, and make certain that the builders do their overlooking Greenacre. work in a professional, safe manner.

Newsworthy Notes

Outdoor Café at the Plaza. The new is underway for a film festival of some of her the book, published in 1952, at his duplex concessionaire at Dag Hammarskjold most famous movies, to be held this sum- at 229 East 48th Street. Plaza, the New York Milkshake Company, mer at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza near the Renew Now. If you haven’t already done will offer outdoor seating as soon as the Katharine Hepburn Garden. Details of the so, please send in your TBA membership weather warms up. Owner Scott Marcus event, to be co-sponsored by the Friends renewal coupon. Coupons were sent to all says he has applied for a liquor license of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and the Turtle current members earlier in the year. For and hopes to be serving cocktails by late Bay Association, will be mailed to members more information, call the TBA office at 212- spring, when the café will also offer live when finalized. 751-5465 or e-mail tbaoffice@mindspring music on certain evenings each week. Charlotte’s Web. The book on which the .com. And remember, if you sign up a new Once the schedule of music performances recently released children’s movie, “Char- member, you’ll receive an “I T Turtle Bay” is finalized, it will be posted outside the lotte’s Web,” is based, was written right T-shirt. Call the TBA office for details. glass house at the east end of the Plaza. here in Turtle Bay. Author and essayist E-mail Reminder. If you are not currently Film Festival at the Plaza. This year E. B. White, who lived in Turtle Bay Gardens receiving e-mail reminders about TBA and would have marked the 100th birthday of in the 1940s and 1950s, came up with the other community events, please e-mail the Katharine Hepburn, long-time Turtle Bay idea for the tale of a spider and a pig while TBA office ([email protected]) resident. To mark the occasion, planning at his farm home in Maine. But he wrote with your name and e-mail address. www.turtlebay-nyc.org Turtle Bay News 3 20th Annual Toy Drive Tops All Others TBA Board at Work The TBA Annual Holiday Toy Drive and toys from neighbors in their building at 349 The following is a summary of issues Party was the most successful ever in the East 49th Street, arriving at the Party, held and activities addressed at recent 20 years the organization has been spon- at CK Restaurant on Sunday, December 10, TBA Board meetings, as reflected in soring the event, bringing in more toys and with carts of toys for the youngsters. Many, the meeting minutes. The TBA: children’s clothing for needy youngsters many thanks to Dottye and Allan for their n is monitoring, with Community Board in the New York metropolitan area that kindness and enthusiasm. 6 and as part of the East Midtown in any previous year. Hundreds of dolls, Coalition for Sensible Development, stuffed animals, scarves and gloves were The cash contributions were presented to plans for the Con Ed Waterside contributed, along with some $2,500 in cash Northside Center for Child Development, development and United Nations contributions. Of particular note was the God’s Love We Deliver and the Senior Center renovation project. very generous support of Dottye Howard at St. Peter’s Church, and the gifts to North- n has joined other neighborhood inter- and Allan Hunter. They collected scores of side Center for dispersal to the children. ests in opposing MTA’s planned utility building on East 50th Street, which has now been modified. n is closely watching neighborhood construction sites for safety and other concerns. n has joined with other neighborhood groups to demand stronger laws re- garding newsrack placement on City sidewalks. n continues to work to beautify the neighborhood through the TBA Tree Program and support of the Turtle Bay Tree Fund. n has sponsored or supported neigh- borhood events, including the recent Holiday Toy Drive and Party and Val- entine’s Day Dinner Dance. Events upcoming include the Turtle Bay Street Fair and Katharine Hepburn Garden Party and Film Festival. n produced a pocket guide and walk- ing tour of Turtle Bay historical and architectural sites. Joining neighbors…and toys…at the annual charity event were, top row, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, shown here with Bunny Blei. Dottye Howard, far right-hand corner, contributed many of the items at the Toy Drive, collected from residents of her apartment building at 349 East 49th Turtle Bay Association Street. Bottom row, left to right, are Zoe Segal-Reichlin and City Councilmember Dan Garodnick, President: William E. Curtis Meredith Ballew and Assemblyman Jonathan Bing; Colleen Curtis, Community Board 6 Chair Lyle Frank, and TBA President Bill Curtis. Vice Presidents: Millie Margiotta, Dolores Marsh, Bruce Silberblatt Treasurer: Francine Irwin TBA Thanks a ‘Good Neighbor’ Eatery Secretary: Barbara Connolly The TBA thanks CK Restaurant for its of the Ki brothers – Kevin, David and Shing Directors: Jed Abrams, hospitality in hosting the TBA’s Annual – but they have had restaurants in White Ethel Bendove, Bunny Blei, Holiday Toy Drive and Party. Opened just Plains and for many years. Orin Buck, Meryl Brodsky, three years ago, CK – located at 936 Second Barbara Connolly, William E. Curtis, Open from 11 a.m. to midnight for lunch and Denise Hamilton, Marie-Louise Handal, Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets with dinner, CK Restaurant is also available for an enclosed sidewalk café – specializes in Pamela Hanlon, Olga Hoffmann, private functions of up to 70 people, cater- Bill Huxley, Richard Irwin, Cantonese and Szechuan cooking. The res- ing for nearby parties and also offers a take- Millie Margiotta, Dolores Marsh, taurant is the first Manhattan establishment out menu for pick-up or free delivery. Patricia Q. McDougald, Francine Irwin, Michael Resnick, For neighborhood information and events For more information, see CK’s web site, check out our web site: Carol Rinzler, Jeannie Sakol, www.ckrestaurant.com, or call the restau- www.turtlebay-nyc.org. Helen Shapiro, Bruce Silberblatt rant at 212-838-6668.

4 Turtle Bay News www.turtlebay-nyc.org Neighbors Bring Smiles and Spirit to Valentine Party

Sharing smiles at TBA’s Annual Love Thy Neighbor Valentine Party held on Febru- ary 12 were, top row, left to right, Sharon Lee and Dorothy Kay; Felicia Stein and Sira Kalajian; Richard Doyle and Elaine Downey; Denise Hamilton. Middle row, left to right, Helen Shapiro and Thomas LaBarbera; Betty Lupton and Eileen Devlin, standing, Robert Casanovas and Shirley MacLeod, seated; Meryl Brodsky and her cousin Robert Brodsky; Gary Papush and George Vellonakis. Bottom row, left to right, Dolores Marsh and Jessika Kifer; Lenore Setzler.

Turtle Bay Happenings Art & Culture Briefly in Business: n The TBA thanks the following busi- Turtle Bay Music School. “Choco- Community House, 109 East 50th. nesses that contributed door prizes late Chip Chamber Music,” Saturday, For times and tickets, 212-378-0248; for the TBA Valentine Day Party: Af- March 24, 11 a.m. Interactive concert for www.members.aol.com/bartsweb. finia Fifty Hotel, Beekman Liquors, Country Bank, La Spafumerie, Sa- children 2-6 years old, with parents. Free. Japan Society. “Awakenings: Zen lon Amici, WCBS AM Radio, WFAN 244 East . 212-753-8811 for Figure Painting in Medieval Japan.” Radio, Zoran Salon. reservations; www.tbms.org. Major exhibit of loans from rare pri- n Reminder: The Vanderbilt YMCA, a Art at German House. Paintings by vate collections and museums. March TBA business member, offers TBA contemporary Berlin artist Daniel Sambo- 28-June 17. $10, $8, seniors. 333 East members a 20 percent discount on Richter, March 21-April 13. Free. Lobby . Information: 212-832-1155; annual YMCA membership, normally level, 871 United Nations Plaza. Infor- www.japansociety.org. a $1,056 value. Call 212-756-9600 for details. mation:www.german-info.org/newyork; Instituto Cervantes. “Granada by Joan n Murphy’s Pub and Restaurant, 212-610-9719. Hernandez Pijuan.” Exhibit of expression- located at 977 Second Avenue, is St. Bart’s Players. “The World Goes ist drawings. Through April 17. Free. For a new TBA business member and ‘Round-The Songs of Kander & Ebb,” a hours and information: 212-308-7720; offers all TBA members a 10 percent musical revue to “razzle dazzle.” April www.cervantes.org. discount. 19-29. $25; $23, seniors. St. Bart’s - compiled by Rita Rowan www.turtlebay-nyc.org Turtle Bay News 5 TBA Marks 50 Years munity, was a strong right hand. Together, strides that have shaped the neighborhood. continued from page 1 they soon were leading other crusades in (See box below.) the community, taking on zoning and land on 36th and 37th Streets, his street would Jimmy Amster died in 1986 at 77. Earlier, use issues, safety and security, and working be next. So he and his colleagues took up Peter Detmold was killed, tragically, in 1972 to form a joint council of other East Side the fight to save Murray Hill’s streets. Dur- at the age of 48. Jimmy remained as TBA’s residential associations. They began tree ing the next two years, they joined Murray chairman until his death. Shortly after Peter planting programs to beautify the neighbor- Hill neighbors in repeatedly appearing Detmold’s death, Bill Curtis was named As- hood. And they also started a tradition of before the Board of Estimate to protest the sociation president. plan. The meetings were heated and rau- social get-togethers, often at Amster Yard or cous. Newspaper reports called it “verbal in the Turtle Bay Gardens in the early days, “Jimmy’s and Peter’s leadership during warfare” over whether “Manhattan’s future “to bring community spirit to this part of the Association’s formative years is still would be traffic or trees.” Manhattan,” they said. felt within the organization today,” Bill Meanwhile, Jimmy had become convinced New Name Unveiled Curtis says. “It is in large part because of their early vision and commitment that the that there was an alternative way of solving By 1965, the association’s membership Turtle Bay Association celebrates its 50th traffic tie-ups on the cross streets. He turned had spread to blocks far beyond the street anniversary this year as one of the strongest to Peter Detmold to help prove he was right. for which it was named. And so early that civic organizations in Manhattan.” Peter and some neighbors formed a commit- year a new name, Turtle Bay Association, tee to monitor traffic. They monitored traffic was unveiled. Over the years, the group Yes, Jimmy Amster, the Association did on East 48th, 49th and 50th Streets between tackled many issues and made significant indeed take “firm root.” Second and Third Avenues. Their very thor- ough and precise study – they accounted for hrough the years, the Turtle Bay Association and its leaders have taken on a mul- the parking status of 922 vehicles between titude of critical issues that have helped to shape the neighborhood as we know it May 15 and June 13, 1958 – showed that if Ttoday. Just a few of them include: parking regulations were properly enforced, traffic could flow satisfactorily and there n In the mid-1960s, they fought to stop the building of a big municipal parking garage at 48th would be no need to widen the streets. Street and Second Avenue, and successfully worked to minimize a mammoth expansion of U.N. offices and support buildings that would have taken over residential areas. What He Surmised n In the 1970s, in what many consider one of their greatest achievements, they stopped That’s just what Jimmy Amster had surmised. a huge Long Island Rail Road passenger terminal planned for the northwest corner “We have demonstrated that our streets can of 48th Street and Third Avenue. They also fought to keep helicopter service, noisy handle all the traffic required,” Jimmy told and considered dangerous, from continuing atop the nearby Pan Am Building. in May 1959. “Thus at what cost to city and resident alike do we n In the 1980s, they were instrumental in the successful effort to limit building heights contemplate turning our streets into glorified in the area by downzoning the district and Turtle Bay midblocks parking lots and truck causeways?” between First and Third Avenues, and led the drive to redesign and refurbish Peter Detmold Park. Within a few weeks, after many delayed votes, the Board of Estimate rejected Hulan n In the 1990s, they fought for the reopening of the 48th Street ramp to the FDR Drive Jack’s proposal to broaden 36th and 37th and, importantly, spearheaded the rejuvenation of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and open- Streets. And while Jimmy Amster warned ing of the Katharine Hepburn Garden, adding an oasis and centerpiece the community neighbors that the “old demon street-widen- had long lacked. ing” could remain a threat for some time to come, it was never implemented, and only once – in the mid-1960s – was it ever seri- Yes, I want to join the Turtle Bay Association and help support our community’s quality of life. ously discussed again. Annual Membership Dues The issue had put the East 49th Street q Senior $10 q Individual $25 q Family $30 Association on the map of high-powered q Business $40 q Benefactor $100 q Pacesetter $250 community activists. Soon other residents Name______. of the area – notably those on East 48th Address ______Apt______Street and East 50th Streets – were joining City ______State ______Zip ______the East 49th Street Association. Home Phone ______Work Phone______The energetic and charismatic Jimmy Am- ster found it easy to attract loyal volunteers E-mail ______to help with neighborhood causes. And he q I would like to become more involved in TBA activities. increasingly realized that Peter Detmold, Please make your check payable to Turtle Bay Association. th with his intellect and dedication to the com- Mail to: Turtle Bay Association, 224 E. 47 St., New York, NY 10017

6 Turtle Bay News www.turtlebay-nyc.org