Historic LGBT homes recognized
BY GABE HERMAN
Two former Manhattan residences
of legendary American artists
have been added to a nonprofi t’s
registry of city sites with connections
to the LGBT community that have historic
social signifi cance.
The nonprofi t NYC LGBT Historic
Sites Project, which looks to increase
awareness of extant sites with LGBT
connections, and protect such sites,
added the former homes of artist Georgia
O’Keeffe and author Patricia Highsmith
to its website.
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) was
famous for modern paintings of fl owers,
Southwest landscapes and New
York skyscrapers. The nonprofi t has
added 525 Lexington Ave., between
East 48th and 49th Streets, to its website
of historic sites, based on O’Keeffe
living and working there in suite 3003
at the Hotel Shelton (now the Marriott
East Side) from 1925 to 1936.
The nonprofi t noted that although
O’Keeffe was married to the photographer
and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz,
she also had relationships with women
throughout her life.
“Georgia O’Keeffe’s 30th-fl oor suite
factored heavily into the artist’s work,“
said Amanda Davis, project manager
for the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.
“It’s especially powerful to see
O’Keeffe’s paintings of her view from
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
Author Patricia Highsmith lived at
48 Grove St., at Bleecker Street,
from 1940-42.
the Hotel Shelton, to understand the
City as she perceived it from atop, then,
the tallest hotel in not only Manhattan
but the world.”
O’Keeffe made several paintings between
1925 and 1929 that featured the
building and the view from her suite.
The nonprofi t noted a 1928 quote from
O’Keeffe about working high up in a
hotel.
“I know it’s unusual for an artist to
want to work way up near the roof of a
big hotel, in the heart of a roaring city,
but I think that’s just what the artist
of today needs for stimulus,” O’Keefe
said. “He has to have a place where he
can behold the city as a unit before his
eyes but at the same time have enough
space left to work …”
Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995)
wrote short stories and 22 novels, including
“The Talented Mr. Ripley” and
“Strangers on a Train.”
The nonprofi t has added 48 Grove
St. in the West Village, where Highsmith
lived from 1940 to 1942 while
studying at Barnard College. Two of
her novels, “Edith’s Diary” and “Found
in the Street,” featured Grove Street in
the story.
Greenwich Village would infl uence
her later work, and Highsmith often
visited the area’s piano bars and lesbian
bars, according to the preservation
group. Her 1952 novel “The Price
of Salt” featured a lesbian romance and
was based on the author’s encounter
with a woman while working at Bloomingdale’s.
“Patricia Highsmith’s time at Barnard
shaped her as an emerging writer,
and it was there that she fi rst started
to write fi ction,” said Sarah Sargent, a
historic preservationist and researcher
who consulted with the NYC LGBT
Historic Sites Project on the Highsmith
and O’Keeffe sites. “Highsmith also
served as editor of the Barnard Quarterly,
a campus literary magazine, and
it was during her junior year at Barnard
that she met artist Buffi e Johnson and
the two had a brief romantic relationship.”
More information can be found at
nyclgbtsites.org.
Big donation has FDNY ‘Fired Up’
BY GABE HERMAN
Just in time for the holiday giving
spirit, 9/11 healthcare advocates
presented a generous check to support
fi refi ghters who have been diagnosed
with cancer.
The $100,000 donation came from
an anonymous donor and will go to
the FDNY Foundation’s Fired Up for a
Cure program, which supports current
and retired fi refi ghters diagnosed with
cancer, and their families. The donor
is a retired FDNY fi refi ghter who survived
a 9/11-related cancer, and wished
to stay anonymous.
The donation will fund transportation
to medical appointments, doctors
and nurses with the FDNY’s oncology
unit, a contribution to the American
Cancer Society, and other services for
FDNY members.
The check was presented by 9/11
healthcare advocates Michael Barasch
and Richie Alles in a Nov. 21 ceremony
at the FDNY Fire Zone at Rockefeller
Center.
Barasch’s fi rm, Barasch & McGarry,
represents over 15,000 people in the
9/11 community, including thousands
of fi refi ghters who have been diagnosed
The check presentation at the Nov. 21 ceremony.
with cancers or other illnesses.
Alles is a retired FDNY Deputy Chief
who worked at Ground Zero following
9/11.
“This donation refl ects the extraordinary
commitment of FDNY fi refi ghters
to the 9/11 community,” said Barasch,
who also donated $10,000 to Fired Up
for a Cure. “Thanks to the FDNY Foundation,
fi refi ghters and their families
who are battling cancer have a trusted
friend to support their survival.”
COURTESY BARASCH MCGARRY
Alles said the anonymous donor’s
gift illustrated FDNY fi refi ghters’ ongoing
commitment to each other. “Firefi
ghters understand their responsibility
to protect each other in times of crisis,”
Alles said. “When we learn that our
brothers or sisters have cancer, we mobilize
to help them, just as we would in
an emergency.”
More information about the Fired
Up for a Cure program can be found at
fi redupforacurefdnynyc.org.
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