Michael Davidow's Blog: The Henry Bell Project - Posts Tagged "the-cedar-tavern"
The City Scene
Thursday, September 28th, therefore found him at the northwest corner of 57th Street and Madison Avenue, staring from the sidewalk at a masonry monolith, dull grey stone, vintage beaux-arts.
The old MCA building still stands. I believe there are luxury goods on sale at street level, now. I don’t think Bell’s old office will ever be used again, though. Because there is no seventeenth floor at that address.
You could make a nice walking tour of New York City, following Bell’s footsteps-- Hunter College, Central Park, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the Graybar Building. You could eat well, too, if so inclined. The Plaza Hotel, where he asked a bartender for career advice; “21,” where he met with Peterson and Walton; The Grill Room at the Four Seasons, where he met with Walton and Pooch ("He turned his head and he stared at a dessert cart, then at the wood paneling behind it. They matched."); you can even still go to the Brasserie, his favorite midnight haunt for steak and fried potatoes (even if it has changed beyond all recognition), and the Shun Lee Palace, too, still serving its famous dinners on East 55th Street (between Lexington and Third). The Cedar Tavern is gone, though (Paula might miss it more than Bell); and a few of his other favorite places are also distant memories by now. You can’t eat lunch at Schrafft’s anymore; you can’t buy a tie at Rogers Peet; and you can’t find a dress on the sale rack at Peck and Peck, either.
Which is fine, in the end. Because Bell himself is gone, too. And those inclined to mourn him can start at East 29th Street, the Church of the Transfiguration, aka the Actor’s Church, aka the Little Church Around the Corner; where a certain young ad-man married his beloved. “She had arrived with a hat box and one plaid suitcase.” Possessions that sufficed, so long ago; and Episcopal rites, for propriety’s sake.
The old MCA building still stands. I believe there are luxury goods on sale at street level, now. I don’t think Bell’s old office will ever be used again, though. Because there is no seventeenth floor at that address.
You could make a nice walking tour of New York City, following Bell’s footsteps-- Hunter College, Central Park, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the Graybar Building. You could eat well, too, if so inclined. The Plaza Hotel, where he asked a bartender for career advice; “21,” where he met with Peterson and Walton; The Grill Room at the Four Seasons, where he met with Walton and Pooch ("He turned his head and he stared at a dessert cart, then at the wood paneling behind it. They matched."); you can even still go to the Brasserie, his favorite midnight haunt for steak and fried potatoes (even if it has changed beyond all recognition), and the Shun Lee Palace, too, still serving its famous dinners on East 55th Street (between Lexington and Third). The Cedar Tavern is gone, though (Paula might miss it more than Bell); and a few of his other favorite places are also distant memories by now. You can’t eat lunch at Schrafft’s anymore; you can’t buy a tie at Rogers Peet; and you can’t find a dress on the sale rack at Peck and Peck, either.
Which is fine, in the end. Because Bell himself is gone, too. And those inclined to mourn him can start at East 29th Street, the Church of the Transfiguration, aka the Actor’s Church, aka the Little Church Around the Corner; where a certain young ad-man married his beloved. “She had arrived with a hat box and one plaid suitcase.” Possessions that sufficed, so long ago; and Episcopal rites, for propriety’s sake.
