BIRTHRIGHT, Dinner and Ice Cream (OR NOT)

After a meaningful morning at Services, we had plenty of time for a long cross-town stroll before we had to get to theater. Lee, the consummate tour guide, couldn’t help but point out some of the sites on the way. The one we found most interesting is pictured here, the iconic Cartier Building, the flagship store at the southeast corner of 52nd Street and 5th Avenue. As someone who has never been to a Cartier store and does not intend to ever be in one, you might wonder why I (and Karen) found Lee’s story of it’s history so interesting. Here is why.

The building, 6 stories of marble and granite, was built in 1905 as a Neo-Renaissance Neoclassical private residence for railroad magnate Morton F. Plant (he inherited 14 railroad companies and was also known as a Commodore of the Larchmont Yacht Club). In 1917, Pierre Cartier acquired the mansion from the Plants in exchange for a double-stranded natural pearl necklace valued at $1 million plus $100 in cash. Here is how.

The ultra-wealthy residents of Fifth Avenue were moving further north as high end business moved in on 5th Avenue. Mrs. Maisie Plant (30 yr younger than Morton) mentioned to Piere Cartier at dinner that she admired a rare, double-stranded natural pearl necklace at the Cartier store, which was valued at a staggering $1 million at the time. Cartier jokingly offered to trade the pearls for their home. Morton, had refused every offer to buy his home, but his wife wanted the necklace so a deal was struck. See the picture of Massie, which hangs in the Maisie Plant Salon in the Cartier Mansion today, in which she is wearing the necklace.

So, Maisie. Plant got her pearls, and Cartier got its mansion. In keeping with the agreement with Plant, the exterior of the building was not altered in any way. Amazingly, after Cartier's 1917 obtained the house, the interior went virtually untouched too. Morton Plant passed away less than a year and a half after the mansion sale leaving Maisie Plant single, and rich. Ironically when she passed away (2 more husbands later) in 1956, the pearl strands would sell for only $181,000, they had, in fact, fallen precipitously in value just a few years after Mrs. Plant was given them, thanks to Kokichi Mikimoto's introduction of cultured pearls in 1916, and their subsequent explosion in popularity. And the pearls? After having been sold at auction for a fraction of their original value, they appear to have vanished off the face of the earth.

Cousin Bruce Morrow was born in 1935 and has spent his life as an American radio performer as well as spots on TV, in Movies and wrote 3 books on Rock & Roll. He was THE Rock & Roll DJ at least from 1961-74 on WABC and subsequently on WNBC and WCBS-FM. He has never had a gap in radio work including 15 years on SiriusXM and for the past 6 yrs he has been back at WABC on Saturday night’s Cousin Brucie’s Saturday Night Rock & Roll Party.

Yes, Cousin Brucie has been working on the radio my entire life (and continues to) and is known by all New Yorkers born in the last 70 years. Maybe that’s why I was called Cousin Brucie my entire life growing up in New York. Did I like it …no, but it great to look back at such a NY icon and think everyone connected us. I met his mother Mina, who also lived in Flatbush, and came to my school one day. I remember her calling me Cousin Brucie and saying how proud I should be to have that name.

We had the honor of attending a performance of BIRTHRIGHT at the MCC Theater in NYC today. It is sold out for the remainder of the performance through August.

A 3.5 hour show on the Israeli program BIRTHRIGHT? Over 901,383 Jewish participants, 18-26 years old, have traveled to Israel for FREE for a 10-day journey. A diverse community of young Jewish adults and Israeli peers visit sites from Jerusalem to the Negev Desert to Tel Aviv to learn more about their identity, history, culture, and community. It is funded by 40,000+ donors annually. The story captured incredibly well in this show is about a reunion of 6 friends after a Birthright trip in 2006 and over 18 years, a story of the changes in their lives and their beliefs as well as high emotions and trying to stay connected. In many ways it reflected our times where personalities easily erupt between friends and family. In many ways they try to understand each other but seem to not be able to listen and try to understand each other’s opinion and being able to be sensitive to what to say. They start out as a tight loving group but difference pull them apart because it may not be enough. It was emotional, bringing many emotions to the surface as the play proceeds. (see the 2 reviews in footprint). We truly enjoyed this play and hope its time here is extended for many others to see.

Next up today was a trip uptown to visit Lee & Mollie's new apartment together. It was quite lovely and a great option for them to be able to live on the Upper East Side, a great neighborhood. We walked a few blocks, passed many good restaurants and stopped at a favorite of theirs, Bau Thai Ramen & Robata Grill. It was a great dinner as we sat out on the sidewalk table, getting a real NY Upper East Side experience.

A special treat to end the evening was a visit to a very "special" ice cream shop. UES Ice Cream (UPPER EAST SIDE) is a tiny, pink ice cream shop storefront with delicious, outsourced ice cream from Soco Creamery in Great Barrington, New York. That is all many customers of this delicious ice cream know. Sooo? Behind a wall of ice cream containers is a modern-day speakeasy! With a reservation, you can attempt to figure out the way into “the secret ice cream container wall”. Once opened, you go into up a roaring 20’s speakeasy bar called “Storage” and a very cool menu of drinks named after famed movies, shows and people. The unique cocktails kept us all busy with the menu for a long time until we narrowed down the choices and picked 4 distinct drinks.

“Who doesn’t love cocktails and ice cream? Something fun to do for all ages.” See the photos and descriptions of the great drinks we had ..they were all TASTY!Read more