Life Essentials - 50K Raised to Highlight a Love Supreme

Through a KickStarter program, with almost 400 backers, Life's Essentials raised their goal of $50K to create the cinematic story of the divine love of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.  I am eagerly awaiting the completion of this film which is sure to be a how-to for the relationship inclined and a history lesson for those of us who were too young to remember (or not even born) the tide of change during the civil rights era. 

Life's Essentials Video

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Bob Denver (Gilligan) New Rochelle Native

Robert "Bob" Denver was born in New Rochelle in 1935. Bob, or better know as his moniker "Gilligan" started out having a few supporting roles. His first recurring role was on the series The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis.  Where he is credited as bringing the first beatnik character to television. His next staring role was the one that made him a household name- Gilligan's Island.  As the title character, this bumbling crewman who was not only naive, but accident prone as well, kept us laughing for 25 minutes each afternoon. The show ran for 3 seasons and had a total of 98 episodes which ended in 1967. 

Giligan's Island became a staple in American households through syndication in the 70's & 80's and breathed life into the long forgotten sitcom.  Denver set out for his final voyage in 2005 and it goes without saying that for this trip, he was finally the skipper.  

Modern Pizza- Same Taste, New Location Coming Soon

There was never more of an oxymoron than the name Modern Pizza. This incredibly traditional Italian pizzeria located on Russell Avenue looks like it would be a haunt for members of the Rat Pack when visiting Frank Sinatra's old neighborhood. They began tossing dough way back in the 1920's and the yeast continues to rise. Staying close to tradition works for this brick oven pizza perfecter.

 Modern Pizza is in the process of moving from Russell Avenue to a spacious location on Huguenot street in the next few months. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they can move their classic white oven to the new location (pic below). The new space will allow Modern's devotees to enjoy a larger slice of the pie.

12 Russell Avenue New Rochelle, NY  10801 914.633.9479

Green Market Glory- Verdant Vegetation

Yesterday I took a leisurely stroll to the New Rochelle Library and found a Green market on the Green. Friday was the first day of this organic oasis and it did not disappoint. The vendors were out in full force armed with ice and spray bottles to keep the watercress from wilting and the swiss chard from charing. Alex's Tomato Farm, Acevedo's Farm, Meredith's Bread, Dagele Brother's Produce and Tierra Farms brought a rainbow of healthy locally grown fruits and vegetables at incredibly low prices. 

Get your RDA the healthy way and stop by Community Markets every Friday from 8-3. Do not miss out, because just like the warm weather, it will be gone in November. 

Spadaro - No Menu No Problem

Situated in a nondescript strip plaza on Main Street is a restaurant where Rome meets New Rochelle. Spadaro, a forty seat Italian dining room with photos of family,friends and favorite places adorning the wall, is simply belesimo. Rena and her sister had a restaurant in Rome before opening Spadaro in New Rochelle and it shows. The food is fit for Fellini!

What makes Spadaro exceptional is that they are confident enough to have a "NO MENU" policy and  pull it off. The servers recite the daily specials with such accuracy you wonder if they underwent a bootcamp training course in the Spadaro culinary army.  I adoro the antipasto. The branzino is bravo and you must mangia the marinara.  

Since they operate sans menu, you will not find out the pricing until the end of the meal. And I must tell you, you won't go broke when you eat baroque.

Spadaro 211 E.Main Street New Rochelle, NY 10801 914.235.4595

Modern Paint - Lustful Lacquer

Since 1923 Modern Paint has been supplying New Rochelle with a splashes of color to awaken the most dismal of rooms. Today, Living Social  is featuring Modern Paint in the Westchester  Home Channel deal of the day section. Just in time for summer solstice, Modern paint is offering a two hour in home color consolation with Bejamin Moore Paints, three free Benjamin Moore paint color samples and tree foam brushes - a $224 value for just $85. 

Maura McCosker and her family do more than just paints they are a hardware store as well. With tasks as simple as cutting keys to plumbing, electrical and equipment rentals, Modern Paint is the pace to be. Just steps away from the Metro North in downtown New Rochelle, stop in and get the the right hue on Huguenot.

Modern Paint 316 Huguenot Street, New Rochelle NY  914-632-8060

Jazz Festival - Toot Your Own Horn

The third annual New Rochelle Jazz Festival returns to the Library Green in downtown New Rochelle on Saturday, July 14th  & Sunday, July 15th. You can bebop from noon until dust when the final note will sound. This year we celebrate the return of Grammy nominated guitarist Gil Parris (Video Below).  Flautist Bobbi Humphrey (Video)  and trumpeter Eddie Henderson will  bring their talents to the stage. local favorite Brian Carter and his Trio and will chime in with a tune or two to get your fingers snappin. Carter and his    friend, professional sound engineer Ross May Jr. are responsible for bringing the Blues to the Green.

 

Gil Parris 

 

 Bobbi Humphrey 

Bobbi Humphrey Barbra (Bobbi) Humphrey was born in Marlin, Texas and raised in Dallas has a whole lot of soul going on. This Flautist and singer has performed her classical jazz sound for audiences around the world. Her big break came from performing in New York's Apollo Theater on Amateur Night. She regularly whistled her way through the city and even played with the legendary Duke Ellington. 

In 1972 she was the first female instrumentalist to record under the Blue Note Jazz label. She has played with George Benson, Lee Morgan and Stevie Wonder just to make a few. In 1976 she was named Best Female Instrumentalist by Billboard.

Eddie Henderson

The festivities will begin with Jazz Night In New Rochelle on Friday July 13th At the Backstreet Gallery @ 43 Lawton Avenue.

Community Farmers Market- Green is the New Black

On Friday, June 22nd, Community Markets will open the New Rochelle Farmers Market with the promise of an essential word: local. Throughout the season, shoppers can buy directly from farmers and food producers, who are all “local”, meaning they travel “to market and back in a day.”

The New Rochelle Farmers Market will kick off its 4th season with a ribbon cutting by community advocates at 10:30 am on opening day. Throughout the season, shoppers can explore a range of activities, including cooking demonstrations, kids’ events, music, and more. Some weeks will also feature the Community Table, a venue for local businesses and organizations to talk about their work in and around New Rochelle. For weekly market updates, stay tuned to Community Markets’ Facebook page or follow on Twitter @farmersmarket5.

Community Markets welcomes these vendors back to New Rochelle for the 2012 market season: Acevedo’s Farm, Alex’s Tomato Farm, Dagele Brothers Produce, Meredith’s Bread, and Tierra Farm.


Who: Community Markets, a farmers market operator based in Ossining, NY
What: The New Rochelle Farmers Market starts its 4th season on Friday, June 22nd
When: The market runs every Friday from June 22nd-November 16th, 2012; 8:00 am – 3:00 pm. Where: On the Library Green at Huguenot and Lawton Streets 

Matt Dillon - New Ro/ Flash Gordon Connection

If you have not seen the 2004 movie CRASH, add it to your Netflix queue this weekend and watch New Rochelle Native Matt Dillon light up the screen. In the film, Dillon gives a griping performance reminiscent of the LAPD officers embroiled in the Rodney King case. He got his start after being cast in a low budget film while cutting school. A few roles later, in 1983 he became everyone's ultimate bad boy when he was cast in the Outsiders and Rumble Fish. Both are S.E. Hinton Books about teenage gangs.  The Outsiders stared Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell and Tom Cruise just to name a few. Amongst all of those stars, Matt still shone through with his naturally cultivated New Rochelle talent. Now that is what I call home grown.

Alex Raymond was born in New Rochelle and  was one of the great cartoonists of our time. He was best known for creating the comic strip Flash Gordon that became a hit series in the 70's and made it to the big screen in the 80's. George Lucas sites Raymond's Flash Gordon character as the influence for Star Wars. By now you are wondering what the connection between Matt Dillon and Alex Raymond is. He was the great-uncle to Matt Dillon- star power does indeed run in the family.

College Town USA - A Triad of Tutelage

Bring on the Books! New Rochelle has another reason celebrate-boasting 3 colleges, New Rochelle get's an A for Academia!



Iona College - Founded in 1940, Iona College is a private, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of American Catholic higher education. The college currently has a $49.7 million dollar endowment.  The university is divided into two main academic units: a school of arts and sciences, and a business school. Iona offers degree programs leading to the Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting, marketing, and management. The school also has a fast track MBA program, which is geared toward people who want to gain an edge in their chosen field in 10 months.

The Iona Men's basketball team (Gales) is something to cheer about. The Gaels compiled the most victories of any MAAC team since the founding of the conference and have won a league record seven MAAC titles. During their history, the Gaels have participated in eight NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships compiling a record of 1-8.

The College of New Rochelle - A private Catholic College founded in 1904 with a $17.1 million dollar endowment. . Originally called The College of St. Angela, this first Catholic women's college in New York state in 1904, a time when women were generally excluded from higher education. The name was changed to the College of New Rochelle in 1910. Building on its original commitment to women, the college reaches out to those who have not previously had access to higher education. It places particular emphasis on the concept of lifelong learning.

Monroe College - With campuses in New Rochelle, the Bronx and St. Lucia, this proprietary college founded in 1933 was named after our fifth president James Monroe. The college’s New Rochelle campus features dormitory living, an award-winning culinary arts teaching facility, other unique learning environments, and an athletic center. It took only two years for the women's volleyball team to make the playoffs for the first time and in 2004 they finished 21-4 and played all the way to the Region XV Championship game. The women's softball team made the Region XV Championship game in just their second year of varsity play. In Men's soccer, the Mustangs have made two appearances in the Region Championship game.

New Rochelle Opera- Miss Chrysalis

Broadway comes to New Rochelle! More specifically the Ursuline School's Frank J. Auriana Theater & Mooney -Hancock Arts Center. For four nights, June 21st-24th, you can enjoy  Giacomo Puccini's masterful opera. If  you have never been to the opera, use Madama Butterfly as your introduction to operatic odeum. Tickets are as low as $25 if you pay in advance ($35 the day of) with special senior and group rates. This story of an American Navy Lieutenant and his arranged marriage to his young "Butterfly" is one that will resonate with  you long after the final curtain call.

Based on the short story by American writer John Luther Long, it was first published in Century Magazine in 1898, So, put on your Broadway best and head to the Opera in New Rochelle, for this memoir of a metamorphosized geisha.

 Stage: Camile Coppola
Orchestra and Chorus Conductor: Gregory Ortega


The Ursuline School:  1354 North Avenue New Rochelle, New York 10804
For tickets call: 914.576.1617 or 914.576.0365

Beanberry's - Weightless Delights

                                      www.beanberrys.com

Just few a steps from the New Rochelle Metro North Station, on the corner of Huguenot Street, you will find Beanberrys. If the name is any indication, this coffee/yogurt shop has the best of both worlds.  With yogurt in tantalizing flavors like, cake batter, alpine vanilla, pomegranate and raspberry, you can still eat kosher and calorie friendly. Since everything is weighed before you pay, you actually get what you pay for. The coffee drinks are simply delightful. Just try the iced macchiato and I am sure you will say bravo!

This Internet cafe has comfortable seating, FREE Wi-Fi and a view of the Library Green which serves as New Rochelle's personal concert hall. Stop in on Live Music Saturday nights and sip a smoothie while tapping your toes to the sounds of New Rochelle's finest. This is one Berrylicous cafe which used its Bean to do Berrything right.

Downtown Digs - New Rochelle vs. Willilamsburg Apt.'s

 175 Huguenot Street  Trump Plaza (above)  This 1200sq ft 2 bed 2& 1/2 bathroom apartment is in the Luxurious Trump Plaza in downtown New Rochelle. $438K

 You don't have to be a quantitative analyst to calculate the delta between New Rochelle & Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In New Rochelle, 1200sq ft will run you a megar $438K in the desirable downtown area. While over in Williamsburg, a little over 1000sq ft will run you about a cool mill. Both communities have an abundance of galleries, restaurants, farmers markets, landmarks and artist lofts. However, New Rochelle is clearly under the radar, making it the best kept secret in New York.  Evenly matched with a 30 minute commute via public transportation, The Trump has more of what matters- amenities and space! Boasting a screening room that Woody Allen would envy as well as a billiards room and indoor parking; the Trump trumps them all.

58 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn this 1082sqr ft.  2 bdrm 2 bathroom $989K

Young Professionals Networking - Rooftop (ad)Vantage Point

The Young Professionals of Southern Westchester; in partnership with The New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce, is hosting a poolside networking event that all  young professionals should attend: at the Residence Inn by Marriott on June 14th. The core of YPSW's message is mentoring. By providing an unbiased environment where young professionals have access to industry leaders, they can test their interview skills, refine career objectives and align themselves with like-minded young professionals in the area.

This rooftop event will provide spectacular views of New Rochelle 

$25 in advance/$30 at the door

6:30pm-8:30pm
Catering by New Rochelle's own Blackboard Pizza 

Register here: Young Professionals - Networking Event

 The guest speaker for the evening is esteemed author and business professional Ron Volper.  Ron has provided his expertize to countless television stations including Bloomberg Television, FOX, CNBC, MSNBC as well as various radio programs. He is also a fixture on Butler on Business in Atlanta.