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New York Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
I Took 58 Walks in My 58th Year
It was an odd scavenger hunt, to be sure. Four of us wandered Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, searching for tombstones of notable New Yorkers. With every wrong turn on our way to Jean-Michel Basquiat or Leonard Bernstein, we consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we were increasing our step count. Bob, the resident comedian of our group, cried out for 'Lenny!' when the paper map his wife, Hope, held proved useless. Eventually Bob, as well as Hope, my husband, Jay, and I found our way to Bernstein's tomb. We snapped a few photos, declared victory and laughed our way to Industry City, adding a few more miles — plus some delicious Korean food — to our outing. The day — exploring, laughing and talking with friends — was exactly what I'd envisioned when I turned 58 and decided to take 58 walks with friends, each one at least 5.8 miles long. My dad had died suddenly, at 59, and our regular walks are a memory I cling to over 35 years later. As I approached a stage of life he never experienced, I wanted to honor him. But I had other goals, too. I hoped to pair two favorite activities — walking and talking — with small excursions around New York City, where I live, and during my travels elsewhere. Some walks went much farther than the 5.8-mile goal. Sarah and Tony, longtime walking buddies, organized a breathtaking 12-miler, traversing the Hudson River on the longest footbridge in the United States. Sarah brought fantastic chocolate chip cookies. As a bonus, I learned how to spell Poughkeepsie. I didn't hold others to the Sarah-Tony standard, though. A few people, because of injury or a lack of appetite for long walks, did their 5.8 miles in stages. Some were creative with the prompt: Patrick, an artist, took me to see a Käthe Kollwitz exhibit at MoMA, where we visited the fifth floor, found Gallery 8 and snapped a photo. I wanted to widen my circle, not limit it. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Man Who Made a Brooklyn Cemetery the Place to Be
Do you remember Roy Smeck, guitarist and banjo legend from the 1930s? 'We have him here,' said Richard J. Moylan the other day, in a cluttered office that looked about three weeks from moving-out day. It is a phrase Mr. Moylan — 70, with a robust head of white hair and a pleasantly chatty manner — uses often, or did until recently. Last Friday, he retired from Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, where he had worked for the last 53 years, first as a lawn cutter and since 1986 as president, and thus de facto mayor to the grounds' 570,000 permanent residents. Around the office were a half-dozen Roy Smeck signature guitars that Mr. Moylan had collected for the cemetery, along with books, CDs and artwork associated with other people interred there. 'We have Leonard Bernstein,' he said. Also F.A.O. Schwartz (toys), Eberhard Faber (pencils) and Samuel Morse (code). But of the filmmaker Jonas Mekas, who was cremated at the cemetery in 2019, Mr. Moylan lamented, 'I don't think we have him.' (It is a sore spot with Mr. Moylan that so many families choose to scatter their loved ones' remains rather than entomb at least some of them at Green-Wood, where future generations might gather to visit them.) Green-Wood, which sits on 478 rolling, tree-filled acres in a semi-industrial neighborhood that real estate agents call Greenwood Heights, occupies a distinctive place in New York City and in the development of American cemeteries. First opened in 1838, it was in the 19th century the second-most-popular attraction in the state, after Niagara Falls, and inspired the competition to design Central Park and Prospect Park. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
