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Life at the Dakota, New York's most unusual address, Stephen Birmingham ; cover design by Angela Goddard

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Life at the Dakota

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Stephen Birmingham ; cover design by Angela Goddard

New York's most unusual address

A riveting history of Manhattan’s most eccentric and storied apartment building and the famous tenants who called it home When Singer sewing machine tycoon Edward Clark built a luxury apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the late 1800s, it was derisively dubbed zthe Dakotay for being as far from the center of the downtown action as its namesake territory on the nation’s western frontier. Despite its remote location, the quirky German Renaissance–style castle, with its intricate faðcade, peculiar interior design, and gargoyle guardians peering down on Central Park, was an immediate hit, particularly among the city’s well-heeled intellectuals and artists. Over the next century it would become home to an eclectic cast of celebrity residents—including Boris Karloff, Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, singer Roberta Flack (the Dakota’s first African-American resident), and John Lennon and Yoko Ono—who were charmed by its labyrinthine interior and secret passageways, its mysterious past, and its ghosts. Stephen Birmingham, author of the New York society classic zOur Crowdy, has written an engrossing history of the first hundred years of one of the most storied residential addresses in Manhattan and the legendary lives lived within its walls

Cover Page -- Praise for the Writing of Stephen Birmingham -- Title Page -- Contents -- Introduction -- One "Clark's Folly" -- 1 "An Era of Upholstery" -- 2 "But Not for the Gentry" -- 3 Clark and Singer -- 4 The Architect -- 5 East Side, West Side -- 6 Snobs in Reverse -- 7 Class vs. Cult -- 8 Spooks -- Two The Christmas Crisis -- 9 The Panic of 1960 -- 10 The Rescue Team -- Three Co-operative "with Others in a Common Effort" -- 11 After the Crisis -- 12 The Old-Timers -- Four Boys and Girls Together -- 13 Nuts and Bolts -- Five Problems and Solutions -- 14 The Park -- 15 Dust16 Winnie's World -- 17 Old Guard vs. New -- 18 The Palace Revolution -- 19 "High Noon" -- 20 Deals -- 21 The Bottom Line -- 22 Faith -- Image Gallery -- Index -- Acknowledgments -- About the Author -- Copyright Page