Rediscover the UWS's Main Street! |
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"West Seventy Today" introduces you to your business neighbors along West 72nd Street, from Central Park to Riverside Park in weekly installments.
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Meet your neighbors, NOW:
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Space for Creatives: Ripley-Grier Studios |
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By Claudie Benjamin
One day in 1982, Patricia Ripley, co-owner of Creative Energy Exercise Studios at 133 West 72nd Street and former manager of the Lotte Berk Method (an Upper East Side exercise salon) stopped in for a bite at Captain Nemo, a seafood restaurant located on West 72nd Street. She had moved to Manhattan in the early 70's from the Jersey Shore where she had attended Monmouth College, managed nightclubs and worked with Bruce Springsteen in Asbury Park. The manager of Capt. Nemo, Butch Grier worked there since riding his motorcycle up from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was a stuntman and actor.
Patricia noticed a motorcycle outside the restaurant and asked him "Is that your motorcycle out there?" He answered, "Yes, do you want to take a ride for a couple of days?" Whew! That was almost 40 years ago. They joined forces to build a relationship and a business of studio space rentals. When she split with her partner at the 133 exercise studio space she met a contractor on the street in front of 131 and asked him “what are you building?” He said "rehearsal studios." She said "What is that?" He asked her what her background was and then offered her a job and a place to teach her classes. When that contractor defaulted on the lease, Patricia and Butch negotiated with the landlord and opened the West 72nd Street Studios in 1987.
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They first lived in one of the fourth floor studios and then a second floor studio—they could not afford an apartment. They spent four years cleaning and running the business themselves. Since then, they have built a family business that now engages their son Shayne and his family as well as their daughter Jeannie, who just graduated from Hofstra University.
Back in the 80's the West Side neighborhood was rough and seedy in spots but filled with artists, musicians and dancers who needed practice space. West 72nd St. Studios continues to serve as a hub for professionals who need practice space larger than their apartments. KEEP READING
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Home of the "Digestible Brainy Diet" |
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In 1887, the 22-foot-wide brownstone residence at 131 West 72nd Street was completed. The handsome dwelling rose four stories above an English basement and boasted a three-story angled bay. It became home to millionaire Thomas W. Cornell and his wife, Catherine.
Cornell was the head of the Cornell Steamboat Company and president of the Delaware and Otsego Railroad Company. The couple maintained a country home in Rondout, New York. Cornell died there in April 1890 leaving an estate “valued at several million dollars,” according to The Sun.
In 1900 the Home for Incurables acquired the residence. West 72nd Street was still an exclusive residential neighborhood, and the facility did not move in, but leased it to upscale private families for additional income. But 18 years later, when Daniel B. Freedman purchased the property from the Home for Incurables, things had changed. Increasingly, shops were being installed in the lower floors of former mansions and others were being operated as boarding houses. Freedman’s purchase spelled the end of the line as a private residence for 131 West 72nd Street.
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Through the 1920’s it was home to the Brinkler School of Eating. The institution gave classes in proper nutrition, such as the “Digestible Brainy Diet” consisting of “solvent fruit.” It was touted to:
(1) Dissolve or disintegrate tumors, goitres [sic], gall stones, deposits of lime in joints. (2) Dissolve phlegm of mucus, remove the source of colds, catarrh, and consumption. (3) Correct liver and kidney troubles; headaches. (4) Dissolve Blood clots as in paralysis. (5) Dissolve the impurities which cause blemishes to the skin, as acne, eczema.
It was followed in 1931 by two related schools, the Bauer Butler School, and the Bauer Waitress School. As their names suggest, both trained men and women to be efficient domestic servants. Advertisements for the schools promised, “Positions secured.” KEEP READING
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72 Crosstown highlights the architectural and social histories of the buildings along West 72nd Street.
We are working on your suggestions -- if you have a building you'd like us to prioritize, or a business you think we should feature, let us know!
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See you on West 72nd Street again, next FRIDAY! |
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LANDMARK WEST!
45 West 67th Street NY NY 10023
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