THEN AND NOW

 The western wall of the South Park, then and now.

2017

The photo shows barbed wire atop a fence separating the South Park's garden from the private garden next door. The incongruity of such a pairing led to the founding of the Strange But True series.

2025

Then one morning, while walking through the South Park we noticed the rusty wire coils were gone, though the fence and a pair of security cameras remain. Whatever caused the barbed wire to go up in the first place was just as mysterious as its demise. Any clues, anyone?

The original post, here.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

OBAMA Checks In

It began simply enough as a father/daughters overnight in New York City, and was slightly complicated as the father was Barack Obama, president of the United States.

Nonetheless, on July 17, 2015, he and daughter Sasha, 14, take the jet and are met in NYC by daughter Malia, 17. They have dinner at Carbone, then take a private tour of the Whitney Museum around twelve midnight.

For reasons unknown, they spend the night at the Hilton New York Grand Central, the original Hotel Tudor. Photo evidence comes from an Instagram post by Shoshanna Hecht:

The Secret Service used the back entrance to the hotel on 41st Street as the main entrance, adding some tents to jazz things up. The traffic flow on Tudor City Place was reversed, so Obama entered on 43rd and proceeded down to 41st Street.

The following day, the family and assorted friends make a quick visit to Central Park (above) followed by lunch at Upland. Then on to a matinee of the hip-hop musical Hamilton. After that, back home to Washington. 

Whew!

Tudor City on Film: PERSON OF INTEREST

This episode of Tudor City on Film zooms in on Person of Interest, a procedural TV series about a particularly modern kind of paranoia: fear of computer surveillance. 

The storyline centers around a crime-predicting artificial intelligence program developed by a mysterious billionaire, who recruits a former CIA agent to stop crime before it happens.

The show ran for five seasons on CBS, more of a popular hit (92% on the Tomatometer) than a critical one (66 metascore on Metacritic). It's now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Tudor City's bridge is the setting for a brief sequence in Season 2, Episode 6: "The High Road," starting at 7:32. 

The sequence begins with a couple in conversation on the Tudor City Bridge. 

They are old friends. The woman (Paige Turco) is aware that the man (Jim Caviezel) works for a billionaire with some kind of crime-predicting software.

Then, with little preamble, he produces a wedding ring and proposes marriage. 

In fact, he has an assignment in suburbia and needs a "wife," so it is a sham proposal!

She knows it's a sham, and wishes it wasn't. They depart for suburbia. 

Views from the Bridge: TRICK PHOTO Edition

The best of Tudor City on Instagram continues with these tricky nighttime views of 42nd Street made from the Tudor City Bridge.

Instagrammed by crxss.shot

By kojimero17 & silas_raseri

By  david_imageny & _dirklange_

By pointofviewimage

A Room with a View, Continued

Some beautiful pictures of Tudor City via our favorite Instagrammer, Lucas_D_in_NYC.

All photos were made from a room in the Beaux Arts apartment house on 44th Street. Opened in 1930, the Beaux Arts appears to share the same Fenestra casement windows as Tudor City.

Flowerpots with a view.

Window reflection, a favorite subject of Lucas'.

The Woodstock.

Crystal ball accurately depicting today's upside-down world.

Special CELEB SIGHTING Edition

Random celeb sightings in the colony, as documented on Instagram:

2006. Jay-Z encounters Instagrammer lweatherbee in the lobby of No. 45. The hip-hopper was in the building for a video shoot, details here.

Superhero The Tick moonlights as a dog walker for Instagrammer lionchohmelian, 2018. Backstory here.

2013. Actor Robert Pattinson selling cologne on the roof of No. 45. Instagrammed by hopemisterek, more details here.

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker on the Tudor City Bridge preparing for a scene from the 2018 film Here and Now, shot by Instagrammer liviyakraemer. More about the movie here.


Lots more celebs in Tudor City here.

DESIGN INTERLUDE

A pause to appreciate Tudor City's design details, otherwise overlooked in the blur of everyday living. All photos by our friend Garth Justice. Thanks, Garth!

Terra cotta ornament, North Roof of No. 45.

Door hinge, No. 25.

Haddon Hall window treatment.

Hotel Tudor facade (aka Westgate New York Grand Central facade).

Stained glass crown, heraldic symbol of empire, in a No. 25 window.

Sign Appreciation Day

Frankly, every day is Sign Appreciation Day on this blog, and to celebrate it today, here's a visual record of the sign's recent renovation. All photographs by Lucas_D_in_NYC, Instagrammer extraordinaire.

Before renovation, April, 2019.

July, 2019. Shrouded in netting and scaffolds.

New letters being installed, January, 2020.

Tudor City noir, January, 2020.

February, 2020. Shiny and new.

See more of Lucas's spectacular photos of the colony here. 

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Bonus photo from faithful contributor Garth Justice, showing the 'O' in progress.

Tudor City on Film: WE'LL TAKE MANHATTAN

This episode of Tudor City on Film examines We'll Take Manhattan, a 2012 British TV movie based on the true story of how model Jean Shrimpton and photographer David Bailey introduced America to the Swinging Sixties. 

Bailey and Shrimpton arrive in New York in January, 1962, on assignment for a shoot for Vogue magazine. The resulting pictures were a sensation, shaking up fashion photography, making stars of the photographer and model, and ushering in a new era wherein youth was king. 

We'll Take Manhattan opens with title cards that set the scene: 

In 1962, no one had heard of the Beatles.

No one expected to be famous, who was not born rich or titled. 

And there was no such thing as youth culture. 

But then David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton went to New York.

There are two Tudor City sequences in the picture, the first in the 43rd Street cul-de-sac, and the second atop No. 45's North Roof.

The film opens with some random shots of picturesque New York, including The Woodstock, above.

The first half of the movie details the couple's backstory. Later, in New York, Shrimpton poses for Bailey in the 43rd Street cul-de-sac against the backdrop of the United Nations.

The lady at the lamppost image will become the most iconic photograph of the session, and is treated as such by the filmmakers. . .

. . . from its hushed birth in the darkroom (above) to lingering closeups of its contact sheets, below.

The action returns to No. 45's roof, introduced by a shot of the sign. More modeling ensues.

By now, the photographer and his muse have fallen in love. Above, a tender kiss reenacted by actors Karen Gillan and Aneurin Barnard. 

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More on the actual Bailey/Shrimpton photoshoot here. 

This movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.