Theodore Dreiser, “My City”
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Category Archives: my city and neighborhood
Film Forum
As is true in general, which is to say of many aspects of New York — the arts, music, culture, entertainment, cuisine, etc. — no American city can match New York for film.
There is still one great bookstore left, the Strand, and we have, fortunately, very fortunately, Film Forum, which began in 1970 as a nonprofit showing independent films, with, as their website puts it, “50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget”
I started going there in the early or mid 1970s. It was a screening room in an ordinary building on the Upper West Side,
It has been at its current location on West Houston Street in Greenwich Village since 1990.
I have seen films there that are rarely screened, unavailable for all practical purposes. For example, the films of the great Japanese director/screenwriter Yasujirō Ozu; the documentary film Meeting Gorbachev, (2018), directed by Werner Herzog; Under The Sun, (2015), a documentary about North Korea directed by Vitaly Mansky. which I saw five times; and an unforgettable silent film, The Scarlet Letter (1920), directed by Victor Sjöström and starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
December 2025
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See also my posts:
on aesthetic and cultural appreciation of literature and film; my favorite directors
re Under the Sun (a film about North Korea)
post updated
taking the ferry (from Arthur Henry, “Lodgings in Town”)
taking the ferry (Arthur Henry)
Posted here:
an excerpt from Lodgings in Town
by Arthur Henry
New York: A. S. Barnes & Company, 1905
Arthur Henry was a friend of and collaborator with Theodore Dreiser.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
Inwood Hill Park
See Word document below, containing an excerpt from:
Elizabeth Barlow, “The Campfires of Inwood Hill” IN The Forests and Wetlands of New York City (Little, Brown and Company, 1969)
Elizabeth Barlow, Inwood Hiil Park
photographs by Roger W. Smith
— posted by Roger W. Smith
April 2024
views of early New York City
William P. Chappel (1801–1878), a tinsmith and amateur painter, depicted scenes of early nineteenth-century New York City. His oil paintings were featured in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Posted here are my photographs of same.
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a personal note:
My maternal grandmother’s great-grandfather, Captain Gamaliel Hart (circa 1791/92-1834), captain of the whaleship John Willis out of New Bedford, moved to New York City late in life, where he had a lumberyard. (The name Gamaliel is from the Hebrew, meaning God.) New York City directories from this time indicate that Gamaliel Hart’s widow Ann (his second wife) was living at 56 Centre Street shortly after his death, which may have been the residence of Gamaliel and his wife before he died; and, if not, it provides an indication of where they lived. It was probably not far from where City Hall is located today.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
July 2023
Adult Funeral Procession
Baker Pears in Duane Park
Baptism
Bathing Party
Berg’s Ship Yard
Bull;s Head Tavern
Buttermilk Pedlar
Chimney Sweeps
City Watchman
Fighting a Fire
Firemen’s Washing Day
Fly Market
Hot Corn Seller
House Raising
Infant Funeral Procession
Militia Drilling
Old Ferry Stairs
Strawberry Pedlar
Tea Party
Tea Rusk and Brick House
The Water Pump
The Baker’s Wagon
The Boot Black
The Dog Killer
The Garbage Cart
The Lamp Lighter
The Sewer
new post; Walt Whitman and Manhattan
taking the subway in 1914
‘Hunker Explores New York’s York’s Subway’ – NY Times 9-13-1914
‘Huneker Explores New York’s Subway’ – NY Times 9-13-1914
Posted here (see above):
“Huneker Nervously Explores New York’s Subway”
By James Huneker
The New York Times Magazine
September 13, 1914
James Huneker (1857-1921) was an literary, theater, and arts critic for the New York Sun.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
April 2023
the subway
L train, 11:35 a.m., April 18, 2023
Non-New Yorkers may think it is something that only people who have to take it endure … that it is unpleasant to take the subway.
Mostly I find it’s the opposite.
I thought about this while taking the L train from Brooklyn to Manhattan yesterday.
The subways are often not that crowded. I tend to be in a thoughtful mood (all of this is true of the buses, as well); enjoy the people, who by a large majority are polite and usually pleasing in appearance.
There are always a lot of young people, by which I mean mostly 20s and 30s. A large number of them are reading their cell phones or engaged in lively conversations. Some are reading books in which they usually seem engrossed.
I often catch up on the news on my phone or on Facebook posts.
And, sometimes I am lost in thought. The subway is peaceful enough to permit this.
I don’t have to worry going home if I have had a couple of beers, and I don’t have to deal with driving.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
April 19, 2023
The New York Public Library
I love the place, and I am not alone. It has been a refuge and a place for reading and learning since its founding over a hundred years ago.
Everyone is welcome.
The main library opened in 1911.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
March 2023
photographs by Roger W. Smith
Roger Smith's New York 