Olga Bloom. Photo: Randy Duchaine

Olga Bloom, the founder of Bargemusic, the floating chamber music venue beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, died on Thanksgiving Day, aged 92. If anyone could be said to have lived a full life, it was Olga. When photographer Randy Duchaine and myself were planning our book about the men and women of New York’s waterfront, we knew without question Olga had to be a part of it. She exemplified to the fullest the spirit of the people we were looking for: those who threw up everything conventional in their lives to follow a vision. Meeting her, she was certainly unconventional, as well as charming, driven and uncompromising. It was a privilege to include her in our book and a privilege to have our launch party in the wonderful confines of her restored coffee barge. The Times has a brief obituary, and a recent longer article here. Fortunately for New York City and its waterfront, Mark Peskanov, her chosen successor, will continue to follow her vision as she would have wished.

Also while tooting my own horn, next month sees the publication of More New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the New York Times, edited by Constance Rosenblum, in which Children of Darkness, my profile of the men and woman who explore the city’s rotting infrastructure (sometimes naked!) is anthologized. Check out the book’s web site for details of upcoming readings from its contributors.

The event is being held at the Center for Architecture, at 536 La Guardia Place in Manhattan between 6pm and 8pm on June 2nd.  I’ll be saying a few introductory words about Elliot Willensky, the co-author of the original guides with Norval White, who was a good family friend and who gave me the best introduction to the city anyone could possibly ask for. (See my essay on Elliot on the AIA’s New York City chapter website eOculus.) Admission is free, but you need to RSVP with the Center first.

Elliot Willensky, doing what he loved best, 1979.

Jonathan Harford

Finally, after almost a year, a thousand cups of coffee and two computers later, the new website is up. A huge thank-you to Daniel Wiener, friend, neighbor and web designer extraordinaire, who helped me every step of the way. I wasn’t planning on writing a blog, but Daniel persuaded me that I should and suggested that if I call it a “Notebook” instead it wouldn’t seem so bad. So this is a note not a blog that you’re reading. Stand by for updates of when I brush my teeth and what I ate for breakfast.

The only section not up yet is “Film,” and I’m hoping shortly to post the five-minute demo of Bensonhurst Boys, the documentary that director Neal Slavin and I are working on (or recently off) together. It’s only an outline, shot pretty roughly in digital video, but it captures the inspired lunacy of Johnny Boy, Dorme, Eyeballs, Hamburger, and its other subjects perfectly. Any film financiers out there interested, please GET IN TOUCH. Don’t make me set the Boys on you. Kapeesh?