Goings + comings

 

• It was unusually sad to hear from friends last month of the passing of Donald Blasko, the legendary co-proprietor since the 1970s of The Turnpike Inn. The last time I saw Don (while picking up one of Mady Blasko’s excellent pizzas), he seemed in poor health but great spirits—doing a spirited shuffle behind the bar to some tune he was humming. Now there was a life well-spent.


• Historical Materialism, which began many years ago on Crosby Street in Soho and has graced the corner of 6th and Warren in Hudson for roughly a decade now, is moving on—and Regan & Smith are said to be moving in, from across the street. Hudson really will miss what (I suspect) is the only antiques store in recorded history to be named after after a Marxist concept.


• In another switch, Mix has completed its move out of Hudson’s 400 block. A sign in the window cryptically announces “Coming Soon—George!” Is President Bush getting into the furniture business, or Ihlenburg Plumbing opening a storefront office?


• Two friends and I had a truly well-balanced supper the other night at Crossroads Food Shop in Hillsdale, which appears to be hitting its stride. Big hits were the parsnip soup, a hake and clam stew, a leek-mushroom-endive quinoa, and three spoons for the panacotta dessert. The cooking was smart but understated, sophisticated without getting flashy, with attentive but not smothering service.


• An observer reports that former chair Tom Swope appeared before Hudson’s Historic Preservation Commission recently as an applicant, in his new capacity representing developer Eric Galloway... but left in something of a snit when informed that the photographs he’d brought regarding a change to a roof were inadequate for a decision to be rendered. (He’ll be back.) The Commission is also looking for a new preservation architect to fill its ranks.


• When last I checked, the City still had not submitted its Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (LWRP) to the State for approval—despite being passed by the Common Council last October amid great controversy. It’s not known exactly why, but the State presumably would want to see the land deals with Holcim finanalized before reviewing a hypothetical plan. Or it could have something to do with this.


• Lonely Planet named the Hudson River Valley as its #2 U.S. travel destination for 2012, writing that our “leafy drives, wineries and plenty of farm-to-table foodie options [...] draw even spoiled-for-choice Manhattanites away from the city.”