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THE 12534

Hudson, NY 12534
the city of good taste & questionable repute

An irreverent opinionated compendium of what's interesting upstate.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Fez's Extraordinary Donkeys

Susan Orlean returns
to Morocco to explore
the stubborn animal's
central role in the life
of this desert kingdom.

Posted by North Fifth Street at 11/20/2009

Labels: Postcards On The Edge, Smithsonian, Susan Orlean

1 comments:

Anonymous said...: Wow, that was beautifully written, empathic and cinematic. Thanks!; November 20, 2009

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Welcome to
"The Friendly City”

HUDSON, THE FRIENDLY CITY, is a veritable trident of true Americana, having sailed through nearly three centuries of revolutionary history. The first leg of this titular tripod is Hudson, NY, our city; the second, its namesake, explorer Captain Hendrik Hudson; the third leg, the Hudson River - the source of pleasure, sustenance, migration, transport, and misdemeanor indecent exposure charges.

HUDSON, 1609 AD: "...The lands are pleasant with grasse and flowers and goodly trees as every we have seene, and very sweet smells come from them..." (spellcheck and GPS were invented a few years after Henry Hudson ran aground here...)

WE ARE TOLD THAT THE 12534 was once a Native American settlement, and that for reasons lost to history, in the lore of the Mohican ("Muhhekunneuw") tribe the region was known as "territory where old tomahawks, arrowheads, canoes, and papooses are traded, the teepees are cheap, and the comely painted squaws work for beads."

THE DUTCH PURCHASED THE LAND from the Native Americans in 1662 for 500 guilders in beaver, the first recorded reference to our legendary easy virtue, Hudson's illustrious commerce of ill-repute.

CHRISTENING THE AREA "KLOVER RACK," the Dutch were continuing Hudson’s established tradition of gratuitous sexual innuendo, which began with Hendrik's "Halve Moon" and the gross indecencies that landed with him. Historic "annals" detail that in 1805, Hudson became Columbia's much abused "County Seat", and also became an international "Port of Entry" in 1790, celebrating that position legally until 1815, and much more frequently illegally. These horrific crimes against nature are now protected locally; in 1980 New York State legalized sodomy under that vague right to privacy alluded to in our Constitution.

FORESIGHTED WHALERS from Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Providence, fearing invasion of their exposed ports by the British during the American Revolution, settled the 12534 in 1783 and adopted a civic charter (the U.S.'s first) in 1785; those fearless crossdressing settlers from Provincetown landed just a few years later. Those self-described “Proprietors” laid out a street grid, and the city grew rapidly as a bustling, beautiful upriver seaport, by 1790 the eighth largest city in the United States. Frequented by whaling ships carrying sealskins and sperm oil whose sailors celebrated their leave with a devil-may-care insouciance, Hudson earned a lawless reputation as upstate's emporium of prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging that it enjoyed all the way into the 1950's. You'd think there'd be a grocery store here by now.

WITH THE DECLINE IN POPULARITY of whalebone corset stays, spermaceti candles, Blubber Helper, Avon's Ambergris spray cologne, and whaling in general, the days of Hudson's North and South Bays as international ports of call were numbered. In 1845 the Hudson Whaling Company was abandoned, and our last whaling vessel, the "Martha" was sold. And she still hasn't forgiven our titular insult.

THE 315-MILE LONG HUDSON RIVER, by connecting the Erie Canal to the Atlantic Ocean, was America's first superhighway of interstate commerce. Actually an estuary, the Mohican tribe called the Hudson River "Muhheankantuck" - The River Which Flows Both Ways. Originating at Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondacks on the southwestern slope of Mt. Marcy, the Hudson River ends in a canyon 15,000 feet beneath the Atlantic ocean; the river's current changes direction four times each day from Troy to New York Harbor as ocean tides push saltwater upriver. Native Americans were prescient in calling the Hudson "The River Which Flows Both Ways" given the sexual proclivities of 21st century residents.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION and the "iron horse" led many other productive businesses to Hudson. One can easily locate the vestiges of factories for successful industries like cannonballs, cement, mushrooms, breetches, lab rats, rope, glue, pocketbooks, bricks, goldfish, shirtwaists, icepicks, matchbooks, corn huskers, dehumidifiers, and Section 8 housing.

ALAS, IN 1951 NEW YORK'S Tom Dewey (our then-governor and yeah, that "Dewey Defeats Truman" guy) instigated raids that lowered the boom on all historic Hudson's famed institutionalized vice. Coming from licentious Albany, this brief moment of moral crusading was a true anomaly.

DIAMOND STREET, HUDSON'S NOTORIOUS red light district, disappeared overnight, bulldozed and renamed Columbia Street. And Main Street, earlier renamed "Warren," was beset by the issues and problems typical of 20th Century America and upstate New York in particular – lamentable educational opportunity, closure of outdated local industries and the loss of their economic buttress, shortsighted urban redevelopment schemes, an intransigent Republican state administration, lack of access to modern dentistry, enthusiasm for men's combover hairstyles, and a relative lack of the necessary open space for big box stores, strip malls and drive-through fast-food restaurants.

THE WELCOME LATTER-DAY RESURGENCE IN DEPRAVITY (with its related economic stimulus package) began in the 1990's as enterprising newcomers landed ashore: boatloads of antiques-peddling butt pirates, historic-preservation fanatics, underage piercing-enthusiasts, wig-wearing degenerates, self-mutilating performance artists, aesthetically-sensitive Bard youths, stroller-shoving Williamsburgians, plaid-loving friends of Gertrude, lute-strumming sexaholics, tattooed skateboarding thriftshoppers, and Farrow & Ball-paintchip-wielding-Vuitton-carrying-hybrid-driving-bordeaux-swigging-cement-factory-battling-yoga-enthusiast-tchotchke-shopping-addicted-twelve-steppers.

HUDSON'S ANTIQUES DEALERS (yes folks, that's a euphemism) fronted the city's gradual renaissance of repute as a salon of commerce. As an antiques destination known for urban ultra-sophistication, Hudson today is nearly as celebrated as the Paris flea market. The antiques dealers were followed by settlers of every creative bent, talent, ability, gender and sexual orientation, and the urban canvas of a few decades ago is being repainted with broad strokes of music, poetry, art, laughter, and just a smidgen of real estate gossip.

THAT MOTLEY CREW has banded together to attack status quo, challenge convention, and restore Hudson's sordid Rococo renown. The Hudson Valley's geographic and conceptual link to Manhattan, the 12534 has the potential to be a model 21st century American community. While preserving and enhancing its natural and built environments, it is also engendering an active participatory civic life that nurtures individual and artistic expression.

HARBORING SCENIC BEAUTY, big city immorality & small town conviviality, and a whole lot of architecture galore, the 12534 is New York's showplace of sexy, sustainable new urbanism, Hudson Valley's green Gomorrah, its bucolic urban sensualism posited to be the axis of a new Loire or the next Napa.

T H E . 1 2 5 3 4 . L I N K S

Shopping

Warren Street's renowned shops generally are open Thursday through Monday
1st Dibs
Hudson Antique Dealers Association
Hudson Under $100
Martha Stewart: Antiquing Towns

Lodging

StayInHudson.com
Columbia County Lodging Association
Hudson Valley Lodging Association
446 Warren Street
Bungalow Hudson
Country Squire Bed & Breakfast
Casamia
The Croff House
Guest Cottage at Loomis Creek Nursery
Hudson City Bed & Breakfast
Hudson Honeybee
The Inn at Blue Stores
The Inn at Ca’ Mea
The Inn at Green River
The Inn at Hudson
Joslen Motor Lodge
Madalin Hotel
Mount Merino Manor
Rowdy Garden House
Silvanus Lodge
St. Charles Hotel
Stewart House Bed & Breakfast
Thyme In The Country
Union Street Guest House
Vintage East
Warren Inn

Restaurants

Beverages

(p.m.) The Wine Bar
Muddy Cup Coffee House
Spotty Dog Books & Ale
Strongtree Coffee Bar
Verdigris Art & Tea

Historic Sites

Cedar Grove
Clermont
Columbia County Historical Society Museum
Hudson Area Association Library History Room
Hancock Shaker Village
Hudson-Athens Lighthouse
James Vanderpoel House
Lindenwald
Locust Grove
Luykas Van Alen House
Manitoga
Montgomery Place
The Mount
Museum of Firefighting
Olana
Old Austerlitz Village
Robert Jenkins House
Shaker Museum and Library
Springwood
Staatsburgh
Val-Kill
Vanderbilt Mansion
Wilderstein
National Register of Historic Places: Columbia County, NY

Culture

Chatham Film Club
Club Helsinki
Columbia Festival Orchestra
Community Theatre
Fairview Cinema III
Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College
Ghent Playhouse
Hudson Movieplex
Hudson Opera House
Jacob’s Pillow
Mac-Haydn Theatre
PS/21
Spencertown Academy
Stageworks/Hudson
Tanglewood
Time & Space Limited
Upstate Films
Walking the dog Theater
www.PerformColumbia

Art

Art Omi
BCB ART
Carrie Haddad Gallery
Columbia County Council on the Arts
Carrie Haddad Photographs
David Dew Bruner
Davis Orton Gallery
Deborah Davis Fine Art
Dia:Beacon
Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College
Hudson River Sculpture Trail
Incident Report
J. Damiani Gallery
John Davis Gallery
Leo Fortuna
Limner Gallery
Marianne Courville Gallery
Marina Abramovic Foundation
MASS MoCA
Museum of the Imagination
Nicole Fiacco Gallery
Peter Jung Fine Art
Rose Gallery
Rural Projects
Storm King Art Center
Terenchin Fine Art
HudsonArtGalleries.com

Food

Columbia County Farm Stands
Beth's Farm Kitchen
Coach Farm
The Farm at Miller’s Crossing
Gigi Market
Grazin’ Angus Acres
Guido’s Fresh Marketplace
Hawthorne Valley Farm Store
Hudson and Saratoga Local Foods Blog
Hudson Farmers' Market
Hudson Valley Fresh
Local Harvest
Milk Thistle Farm
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York
Olde Hudson
Otto’s Market
Roxbury Farm
SlowFoodUSA.org

Beer, Wine & Distilleries

Brookview Station Winery
Chatham Brewing
Harvest Spirits
Hudson Valley Wine Country
Hudson-Berkshire Experience
Hudson-Chatham Winery
Paperbirch Wine
Tousey Winery
Tuthilltown Spirits

Wine & Liquor Stores

Fairview Wines & Spirits
Hudson Wine Merchants
Key City Wine & Liquor

Book Stores

Blackwood and Brouwer Booksellers
Hudson City Books
Main Street Books
Rodgers Book Barn
Spotty Dog Books & Ale

Literary

John Ashbery Resource Center
Hudson Valley Writers Guild
The Hudson Valley Poetry Calendar
Ledig House International Writers Residency
Friends of Edna St.Vincent Millay

Auctions

Carlsen Gallery
Copake Auction
George Cole Auctions
Stair Galleries

Parks

Burger Hill Park
Ferncliff Forest
Poets’ Walk
Stockport Flats Conservation Area

Outdoors

Above the Clouds Hot Air Balloon Rides
Atlantic Kayak Tours
Bash Bish Falls
Bike Hudson Valley
Catamount
Catskill Mountain House Site
Claverack Motocross
Fantasy Balloon Flights
High Falls Conservation Area
Hudson Cruises
Hudson River School Art Trail
Kaaterskill Falls
Lebanon Valley Speedway
Riverview Marine Services
Steiner’s Sports
Taconic Hiking Club

Inside

Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
Sadhana Center for Yoga and Meditation

Nurseries

Callander’s Nursery
Kerns Nursery
Loomis Creek Nursery
Maple Lane Nursery
Northern Dutchess Botanical Gardens
Phantom Gardener
Secret Gardener
Story’s Nursery
Sycamore Garden Center
Twin Ponds Nursery
Ward’s Nursery

Gardens

The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days
Beatrix Farrand Garden at Bellefield
Berkshire Botanical Garden
Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies
Fletcher Steele Garden at Naumkeag
Innisfree Garden
Landis Arboretum
Mountain Top Arboretum
Robert Irwin Garden at DIA:Beacon
Stonecrop Gardens
The Climbery
Wethersfield Gardens
New York Times’ slideshow: In Bloom Along the Hudson River
Hudson Valley Seed Library
AWayToGarden.com

Real Estate Resources

Columbia County & Northern Dutchess Multiple Listing Service
Realtor.com
Casa Cara Old House Blog

Realtors

Transportation

Amtrak
Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Local Organizations

Columbia Arts Team
Columbia County Bounty
Columbia County Chamber of Commerce
Columbia County Department of Tourism
Columbia County Film Office
Columbia County Habitat for Humanity
Columbia County Historical Society
Columbia County New York
Columbia County Real Food Network
Columbia County, New York Genealogy & History
Columbia Hudson Partnership
Columbia Land Conservancy
Historic Hudson
Historic Hudson Valley
Hudson River Heritage
Hudson River Maritime Museum
Hudson River Valley Greenway
Hudson River Valley Heritage
Hudson River Valley Institute
Hudson Valley Film Commission
Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center
Hudson Valley Ruins
Hudson-Fulton-Champlain 2009 Quadricentennial
Hudsonia
Our Hudson
Philmont Beautification
Riverkeeper
Save the South Bay
Scenic Hudson
Sustainable Hudson Valley
Walkway Over the Hudson

Useful Information for Hudson Residents

Columbia County Board of Elections Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Forms
Hudson Area Association Library

Community & Sustainability

Chatham Peace Initiative
Eco-Grid
Friends of Hudson
Hudson Valley Progressive Coalition
Kinderhook Neighbors for Good Growth
The Nature Institute

Politics

The Albany Project
Columbia County Board of Elections Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Forms
Alan Chartock
Columbia County Democrats
Conservative Party of Columbia County
David Mixner
Diamond Street
Hudson City Democrats
MoveOn.org
N.Y. State Assemblymember Marc Molinaro
N.Y. State Senator Steve Saland
Senator Charles Schumer
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
iPetitions.com

Media

Berkshire Home Style Magazine
C C Scoop
Chronogram Magazine
ColumbiaPaper.com
ePodunk: The Most Historic Small Towns
Here in Hudson
Inside Out Hudson Valley
Little Town Views
New York House Magazine
New York Spaces Magazine
New York Times Corrections
NYT Video: A Tour of Hudson, N.Y.
Preservation League of New York State: Seven to Save 2001, City of Hudson
Register-Star Newspaper
Roll Magazine
Rural Intelligence
The New York Public Library’s Hudson River Portfolio
Upstate Magazine
Virtual Hudson Valley
WGXC Newsroom
What’s Happening in Columbia County
Wikipedia: Hudson, New York
YouTube: City of Hudson, Volume 1
YouTube: City of Hudson, Volume 2
YouTube: Flag Day Hudson

Articles About The 12534, local people, and the upstate Region

BOSTON GLOBE, 1/27/08, Life On The River Blends Old And New In Hip Little Hudson
BUDGET TRAVEL, 4/06, The Coolest Small Towns In the U.S.A.: Hudson, New York
DWELL, 6/05, Escape From New York
GARDENS ILLUSTRATED, 2/06, Loomis Creek Nursery
THE INDEPENDENT, 5/11/03, The Hamptons? So Last Year, My Dear
NEW YORK MAGAZINE, 5/21/01, The Lands That Hype Forgot
NEW YORK MAGAZINE, 4/28/03, Into the Wood
NEW YORK MAGAZINE, 6/3/02, Cry Them A River
NEW YORK MAGAZINE, 11/3/03, Full Nest
NEW YORK MAGAZINE, 7/28/03, Head for the Hills
NEW YORK MAGAZINE, 4/2/07, I, Citiot
NEW YORK SPACES, Vol. 5 #1, Sleight of Hand
NYT, 10/21/94, Hudson Casts New Light on Its Red-Light Past
NYT, 10/10/97, Weekend Excursion; Beside the Hudson, The Lure of Art
NYT, 6/30/01, Good Company; A Town Turns Out With Dinner
NYT, 6/30/01, Town Immortalized by Art Is Divided Over Industry; Can Culture and Factories Coexist on the River?
NYT, 3/21/02, From Cottage to Toolshed, On the March for Takeout
NYT, 6/20/02, At Home With: Mark McDonald; Mr. Modernism Leaves Town
NYT, 8/22/02, In Upstate Hills, Modish Replaces Moo
NYT, 10/3/02, House Proud, “This Weird House”: Design School for the Nervy
NYT, 11/1/02, Havens; Weekender: Hudson, N.Y.
NYT, 12/12/02, House Proud; Signs of Wear as Signals of Taste
NYT, 12/26/02, Turf; Sanctuary By Any Name
NYT, 8/14/03, House Proud; In the Upstate Hills, TriBeCa Fields Forever
NYT, 10/17/03, Havens; Weekender: Germantown, N.Y.
NYT, 4/08/04, House Proud; Decorating Dream, Born in the Barn
NYT, 6/25/04, Journeys; Putting the Bloom On the Roses
NYT, 8/1/04, Habitats: Germantown, N.Y.; Real Estate as an Art Form
NYT, 12/19/04, The New Hudson River School
NYT, 2/25/05, Weekender: Hillsdale, N.Y.
NYT, 3/27/05, Life Above Their Store, With a Store of Memories
NYT, 4/8/05, Havens; Country Dinner Parties: Mind Your Manners
NYT, 4/22/05, Havens: Weekender, Catskill, N.Y.
NYT, 9/21/05, An Antiques Haven Updates Itself
NYT, 4/21/06, Away: An Architect’s Design for Weekend Living
NYT, 5/21/06, Brooklyn On The Hudson
NYT, 6/21/06, Whiskey’s Hudson Valley Revival
NYT, 8/2/06, Columbia County, N.Y.: Welcome to the Country
NYT, 10/13/06, This Old House Has Ghosts
NYT, 10/26/06, New Wave Musicians in an Old-Age Home
NYT, 10/21/06, Saxophone Colossus Strides Into a New Life
NYT, 10/29/06, Art: A Subtle Sense of Place
NYT, 11/3/06, Architectural Gems in an Antique Setting
NYT, 11/19/06, Columbia County, N.Y.: Venerable Fire Trucks and Sheep's Milk Cheeses
NYT, 4/6/07, Houses in River Towns; Going With the Flow
NYT, 7/6/07, Away: The ‘Great Love’ of a Collector of Old Mansions
NYT, 7/19/07, House Proud: The Classic Box, Well Rounded
NYT, 8/10/07, Escapes: In the Grove
NYT, 8/24/07, Day Trip: Martin Van Buren Slept Here
NYT, 8/31/07, Away: From a Single Plant, a World-Class Garden Grows
NYT, 9/7/07, Escapes: At the Home of F.D.R.’s Secret Friend
NYT, 10/7/07, Flavorful Ingredients, Grown Close to Home
NYT, 2/19/08, Learning From Tijuana: Hudson, N.Y., Considers Different Housing Model
NYT, 4/6/08, Seeking to Create a Timeless Space
NYT, 3/13/08, Now Rated R (for Resale)
NYT, 5/30/08, Travel: Foodies on the Hudson
NYT, 6/19/08, In the Garden: The Country Dream
NYT, 7/3/08, At Midlife, Called to a New Field
NYT, 7/25/08, Hudson Valley Views
NYT, 8/14/08, Away: His Sanctuary From Glamour
NYT, 1/2/09, Winter Weekends: Hudson’s Art and Antiques
NYT, 2/13/09, Escapes: On a Sheet of Ice and Under Sail on the Hudson
NYT, 2/26/09, Town of Chatham, N.Y.: Hudson Valley Meets Hollywood
NYT, 6/14/09, Our Towns: Two Rebirths, Miraculous but Unfinished
PLATED, Spring 2008, Dairy King
RURAL INTELLIGENCE, 4/30/08, Playing by the Rules: The Faulkner 14
TRAVEL & LEISURE, 8/07, Hudson’s Latest Act

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