“They should put ‘em in Greystone!” is what my Grams and great-uncles would say when someone was unhinged. Greystone Psychiatric Hospital, since demolished and its grounds turned into a public park, was an infamous mental hospital in Morris County, New Jersey. When it was abandoned, it became famous among urban explorers; now that it’s gone, it’s best known because Woody Guthrie lived there for years, when his Huntington’s disease was
Hey Thomas, long time no speak, hope you're well! I'm doing a series of pieces in June called Kissing the Earth, and will share another writer's piece every day. I'd love to share one of yours - this one? Or do you have another one in mind? Anything you like as long as it's for free subscribers. More info here & feel free to reply to this comment or email me satya@satyarobyn.com. Warm wishes from here!
One of my favorite places on Earth was Cafe Steinhof, a bar and restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn. They specialized in beers & foods from the lands of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Apparently Steinhof is a neighborhood of Vienna with a large mental hospital, so locals use "going to Steinhof" as the same way New Yorkers talk about "winding up in Bellevue" --- or Garden Staters vis-a-vis Greystone 😁
The grounds of that Viennese institution seems to be home to murders of crows, so the corvids in question were part of Cafe Steinhof's branding. Sadly, it did not survive the pandemic lockdown, and folded in 2020. Of course, in the big picture of pestilence, the closure of a single bar is small "kartoffels" -- but it still breaks my heart to think about.
A friend of mine recently moved to a place that puts Greystone on my route whenever I visit. I'm hoping to stop there and check it out with her soon. My one grandmother was a nurse and did part of her training there.
I visited the old Greystone building a while back. A friend of a friend worked there and she had a gazillion different keys to access different parts of it. It was really wild. There was a section that was still serviceable office space. Down a hallway and just beyond some plastic sheeting was the mess that the rest of it had become. It was like going from sepia Kansas into a decrepit, technicolor Oz.
One of my favorite places to visit is Pacem In Terris, which is a sculpture garden in Warwick, NY that features the work of Frederick Franck. I used to volunteer there, and it was a great place to spend a day catching up on reading and selling postcards to visitors (no pressure, lol). It's opening up again very soon and well worth a visit.
Hey Thomas, long time no speak, hope you're well! I'm doing a series of pieces in June called Kissing the Earth, and will share another writer's piece every day. I'd love to share one of yours - this one? Or do you have another one in mind? Anything you like as long as it's for free subscribers. More info here & feel free to reply to this comment or email me satya@satyarobyn.com. Warm wishes from here!
https://satyarobyn.substack.com/p/invitation-to-kiss-the-earth
Amazing photos of the fox!
One of my favorite places on Earth was Cafe Steinhof, a bar and restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn. They specialized in beers & foods from the lands of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Apparently Steinhof is a neighborhood of Vienna with a large mental hospital, so locals use "going to Steinhof" as the same way New Yorkers talk about "winding up in Bellevue" --- or Garden Staters vis-a-vis Greystone 😁
The grounds of that Viennese institution seems to be home to murders of crows, so the corvids in question were part of Cafe Steinhof's branding. Sadly, it did not survive the pandemic lockdown, and folded in 2020. Of course, in the big picture of pestilence, the closure of a single bar is small "kartoffels" -- but it still breaks my heart to think about.
A fortuitous fox encounter!
A friend of mine recently moved to a place that puts Greystone on my route whenever I visit. I'm hoping to stop there and check it out with her soon. My one grandmother was a nurse and did part of her training there.
I visited the old Greystone building a while back. A friend of a friend worked there and she had a gazillion different keys to access different parts of it. It was really wild. There was a section that was still serviceable office space. Down a hallway and just beyond some plastic sheeting was the mess that the rest of it had become. It was like going from sepia Kansas into a decrepit, technicolor Oz.
One of my favorite places to visit is Pacem In Terris, which is a sculpture garden in Warwick, NY that features the work of Frederick Franck. I used to volunteer there, and it was a great place to spend a day catching up on reading and selling postcards to visitors (no pressure, lol). It's opening up again very soon and well worth a visit.