SamPratt.com

Incline railway, Fishkill, 1905

The Mount Beacon Incline Railway or “funicular” in Dutchess County, with the Hudson River in the background, printed from a glass negative, via the “always interesting” Shorpy.

Making the rounds (4/1)

BEACON » Apparently it’s possible to rent out space for private parties at some New York State prisons. (Lady Gaga, call your office.) Just don’t let a knife fight break out, as described in this Washington Post article.

HUDSON » Catskill resident and NYC party planner Andy King is planning to open a nautical-themed bistro (with several hotel rooms for rent upstairs) in the former Moxie’s building on South Front and Union streets.

PITTSFIELD » Baba Louie’s, the organic pizza company with restaurants in Great Barrington and Hudson, is opening a third location on Depot Street, according to the Berkshire Eagle.

NYACK » The upcoming documentary film Megamall, which chronicles a battle over the troubled Palisades Center mall project, features Columbia County resident and author Roberta Brandes Gratz and Saratoga-based pundit James Howard (Jim) Kunstler as talking heads.

MANHATTAN » Gratz, best known to Hudsonites for her book Cities Back from the Edge which she co-authored with Claverack’s Norman Mintz, has a new book out this Spring about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, entitled The Battle for Gotham. She argues that the late ’60s decline of Robert Moses, coupled with “the drying up of big government funding for urban renewal projects allowed New York to organically regenerate according to the precepts defined by Jane Jacobs.”

EAST FISHKILL » The Associated Press reports that “a woman dressed as the Easter Bunny to promote a Hudson Valley candy shop was slammed to the ground by a man who then ran away.”

PALINVILLE » Plans to restore the Pine Grove House resort “to its former glory” were met with skepticism from the local planning board, says the Catskill Daily Mail.

SALISBURY » The Litchfield County Times fleshes out some details of the reported theft of a $200,000 antiques collection from a Kent home (formerly stored in Hudson), including “Dolce & Gabbana dresses, Azzedine Alaia jackets, Gucci pants and antique Venetian glasses from the 1880s.”