Saratoga Updates, Nov. 2007
Five New Things, Five Old Reliables, & Five Goodbyes
When I was a kid in Ravena, NY, my dad religiously read at least three newspapers every day: The Times Union (still there), The Knickerbocker News (long defunct), and The Daily News (tabloid from NYC). In the latter, there was an interesting column that used to run called “The Changing Face of New York City” which chronicled, in pictures, which buildings were being torn down, and what was going up in their place. Since Ravena didn’t have .01% as many buildings as Manhattan, and no more than 2 new buildings in the 19 years my family lived there, I was fascinated with the historical changeover of prominent urban sites.
Since living in the Saratoga area for 30+ years now, I am similarly fascinated with how the landscape and streetscape is changing as well. This column attempts to occasionally acknowledge such changes…both in the human landscape, and the architectural.
The New…
1. Phinney’s Phabulous Gateway to Beekman Arts District
At the corner of Grand Ave and Beekman Street, at the heart of old Dublin on the Westside, an architect named Phinney created a unique 3-story masterpiece with his own studio/quarters on top of a 2nd floor restaurant and a first floor neighborhood Irish Pub called The Local. We stopped in recently on a November night and it felt like a ski-lodge in the middle of the City—quite a comfortable place.
2. The Westside Stadium Café
When I first moved to town, and for a decade or more later, this building housed one of the least-appetizing butcher shops you could imagine—with a moniker that would’ve been more appropriate to the East Village of NYC—“The S & M Market…” Thankfully it now bears zero resemblance to its past—thanks to Chestwood Remodeling Co. who salvaged this linchpin of the Westside at the corner of Congress Street and South Franklin. It is now the highly successful home of The Stadium Café II on the ground floor and offices above.
Even on late fall weeknights I have noted that it seems busy and animated in there when I drive by on my way home, a beacon of activity, now augmented by The Local a block away.
3. Transformation of West Ave at Church
Some logging company recently made out good, at the expense of a great pine grove which used to surround the defunct Country Club Motel, and framed the western boundary of the City from West Ave heading in toward the Hospitalneighborhood. Why was such a drastic change of the landscape necessary?
The answer is: there are more condos to come.
There will reportedly be an L-shaped building wrapping around this long-For-Sale commercial lot, with first floor retail, residential condos above (supposedly more affordable than downtown’s versions) which will overlook the grounds of The Saratoga Golf & Polo Club across the street. Even though it is not a Sonny-Bonacio-Production, his experienced local crews will be doing the framing phase of construction, I’m told. There will be plenty of on-site parking, presumably in the rear of the structure, which is not the case in any of the downtown condos where there are only one or two parking allotments per unit, if that. Price range is slated to be in the sub-$500K. range.
This corner has been a “countrified” entrance to Saratoga since time immemorial… but soon it will be another steel and brick and mortar monument to Saratoga’s built-out and in-filled popularity.
4. Adirondack Trust’s New HQ Building
The most powerful locally-owned bank in Saratoga Springs does not need me to provide free advertising for it, but I do admire the new buildingthey have created a block or so from our real estate office, on Church Street at Woodlawn Avenue. The block between Division Street and Church along Railroad Place ends up looking right at this handsome new four-story edifice, with first floor retail, and executive offices above. It balances the concrete canyons of Franklin Square’s condos and The Lofts at 18 Division with a substantial brick structure of similar vintage. Although I have a slight nostalgia for the ramshackle skinny brick building which housed a seedy bar called THE HUB for years on the back left of this site, I admit in this case that the bank’s new headquarters are an improvement over the tenement that pre-dated Charles Wait’s dynamic vision for the new century.
5. The New YMCA
So expansive that it’s hard to get the whole building in a camera frame without being a hundred yards away, the new YMCA features the columned look of a sports acropolis, and the parking, compared to the former downtown Broadway location, is a piece of cake. Students at the High School can walk over easily from the school grounds and for adults it is readily reached from West Avenue, Route 50, or Congress Avenue. The pool and the gym are far superior to the previous building, and the 2nd floor indoor track and the humungous, well-equipped workout room are incredible improvements. I was told that membership increased somewhere between 5000 and 7000 in the first few months of operation at this new location. Kudos to the Grande family—who “donated” the land at far less than actual market value; to local architect John Muse for his distinctive and ambitious design; and for the City for expediting the plan.
The Reliables…
1. Spring Street Market
This is a building and a business that I have many fond memories of…although it has changed ownership a couple of times since I lived in the neighborhood two decades ago, it remains just as vital a part of the eastside as it was when when it was run by a great lady named Ellen, whom I lovingly dubbed: “The Doctor of Soup.” She kept me alive during my bachelor days back in the ‘80’s, and I’m sure the crew of young guys who run the place now are keeping a lot of people alive the same way. It is located at the corner of Spring Street and Court Street (the excellent restaurant Little India relocated to 60 Court Street, next door), just a block up from Congress Park, and a block north of Union Ave. The sandwiches, tacos, pizza, specialty items, and YES, SOUP are all superb, and the informal old-school setting is a relief from Broadway’s fancier (and pricier) interiors. Just be careful not to go near the end of the school day because the high school crowd has discovered it too, and they take over every seat in the house.
2. Sunnyside Farms
On Church Street Extension (also known as Rte. 9N) headed out of town just over railroad tracks, the visuals of harvest time are on full colorful display each year up untilHallowe’en, after which it seems a switch is pulled and there is no more color or life at this site until their Christmas trees are put on sale a month later. This place forms one of the scenic entry points to those entering Saratoga from the west or northwest side, and I was glad to be wrong about a rumor I related a year ago about condominiums being contemplated on this huge parcel. May the produce and flowers continue to proliferate here for years to come—along with the greenhouses, the tractor rides, the haybales, the pumpkins, the mini-train, and the great giftshop—there are plenty of other places forcondos to go, and the traffic getting in and out is hard enough to deal with as it is.
3. Last Vestige Music
Right in the core of Saratoga’s downtown strip, on the Westside of Broadwayacross the pedestrian walkway from The Putnam Street Market, this classic old-schoolrecord store truly is a remnant of the 60’s/70’s/& 80’s that defies the march of time. WhileTower Records and a host of other vinyl-LP-based emporiums have shuttered their doors, this independent gem seems to be thriving and surviving despite featuring exceptionally reasonable prices on its products, and despite the looming presence of Border’s a half-block away. I recently spent an enjoyable hour in there, browsing and reminiscing about musical groups and individual artists that you don’t find too readily on iTunes or hp music or upstate radio stations. The name says it all—if a store like this ever fades into oblivion, part of the Bohemian core of Saratoga, and several musical eras of the last half-century, would disappear as well. Spend some money there to keep that from happening—the chain-stores will always be there, but this place is unique, and critical to our diversity.
4. G. Williker’s on Broadway
Consistently among the most beloved stores in the hearts of kids and locals, it features the best decorated storefront windows in a downtown with dozens of competitors in that category. It’s the kind of place that makes you wish you were a kid again, or else makes you want to lavish gifts on the kids that are in your life. This used to be the site of a shoe-and-clothing store named Grossman’s, for those of you with memories from more than 20 years ago, and was a great utilitarian store in its day, but is far more colorful and distinctive now. They aren’t paying me to say this, but please spend a lot of Holiday and Birthday money there to keep this unique place part of the Saratoga Streetscape for years to come.
5. The Arts Center in Congress Park
For the first two decades that I lived in this town, this building served as the Public Library, at the historic cornerof Broadway and Spring Street, where town founder Gideon Putnam’s first Inn once stood, about 200 years ago. While quaint and cozy as a library, the City’s needs outgrew the place, and the “new” library has now been at its Putnam Street location, 2 blocks away, since about 1997. This building has been adaptively re-used in a great way, with Art Gallery space and the Dee Sarno Theatre (also home to The Saratoga Film Forum) on the main floor, plus music, art, sculpting, acting, and quilting studio spaces on the lower level. With its views of and easy access to the beauty and grandeur of Congress Park, it preserves Saratoga’s past, and inspires its future, sustaining many creative people and impulses in a Town that encourages the Arts as fundamental to its core.
On a personal note, I was reminded of what a cool place it was during the past year when my younger son was part of two youth-oriented performances that took place in the Dee Sarno Theatre, under the excellent direction of Michelle Summerlin, who runs the company Stages of Play, featuring acting classes and productions. Stop by to see all that this place offers.
The 5 Goodbyes….
1. Valerie Keehn, as Mayor
I’ll have more to say on this subject in my December 2007 Waynesword, but suffice it to say that it’s refreshing to know that Saratoga still has the capability of electing a true populist and an enlightened, passionate idealist to political office, even though it may have been for just a brief window of time (2005-2007). Valerie was in favor of open space, open government, and not afraid to ruffle a few feathers along the way. Although many proponents of Saratoga’s growth, and some of the entrenched old guard, didn’t care for her style, she was unabashed about trying to bring new ideas to the forefront in her 2-year term. She claims she will be back on the political scene in the future, so don’t count her out.
2. “The Pink Palace” on Union Ave.
How many eager college boys have peered longingly at this building over the past 50 years, or traversed its hallways in feverish pursuit of Skidmore co-eds? This longtime freshman dorm for the local college on the North Broadway campus has been an anomaly on Union Avenue for generations—admittedly one of the ugliest buildings of an undistinguished era of architecture—it was built in the vicinity of the original early-1900’s Lucy Skidmore-founded School for Women whichpredated her namesake college, now one of the most prestigious liberal arts schools in the country. As of the 1970’s, however,when the new campus was built a mile and a half away, shuttle buses were necessary to connect the resident students with the classroom buildings, and it’s kind of surprising the Pink Palace was maintained in that fashion for three decades or more.
But now it faces the wrecking ball, doomed by its unredeeming architecture to be knocked down in favor of neo-Victorian Townhouses and Condos to be erected by a nationally-active development company. Go by slowly and take a gander at this garish edifice one more time before it comes down—the huge plate-glass windows that used to house the goldfish-bowl dining room now tell the story of the new complex to come.
3. The Old YMCA Building
This building has already been reduced to rubble and dust by the time I write this, joining the pantheon of large Broadway monoliths that have fallen—including the fabled Convention Hall on this site that burned down in the early 1960’s. The masonry blockade style of the old Y was not notable enough to miss, and the interior was antiquated in many ways—but I enjoyed many years of watching and playing basketball there, coaching my son and other kids there, playing manic games of racquetball there (which can’t be done in the new YMCA, unfortunately), and hanging out dripping with healthy sweat in ye olde steam room & sauna…. alas, it’s part of history now. My kids had a great time swimming in its chlorinated-pool waters, and we haven’t even tried to more sterile environment of the new Y pool yet.
In what’s becoming a constant refrain—the building was torn down to make way for a new high-rise condo complex, with the admittedly splendid backdrop of Congress Park being a key part of the downtown-appeal. The new structure will be more impressive and modern than what it replaced—but will it ever be as much fun? Depends how much money you have, or conversely, how many athletic or social memories of the past YMCA one might have.
4. Matt McCabe, Finance Commissioner
How many cities in America have ever had the proprietor of a successful Guitar Shop as their elected Commissioner of Finance? This musician-cum-businessman—who was also president of the Downtown Business Association at one time not too long ago—is one of the savviest and most sensible artistic types I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with (as a former real estate client, before his political career took off). But now he returns to private life and the less-controversial world of music, and I wish him well in his transition after a well-respected couple of terms as an Independent member of the contentious City Council of Saratoga Springs.
5. The Back Wing of the Rip Van Dam
I have no particular fond memories of this building, other than the fact that it has always formed the backdrop to the left as one travels down Washington Street toward Broadway, and it’s going to be a bit disconcerting to see an open area there instead of a massive brick, windowed wall. One by one the decrepit traces of the pre-existing facades of Saratoga’s past are falling…and in this case it’s an improvement, especially for those who frequent the back courtyard of the classic Adelphi Hotel, just north of this site. For the short term at least, there will be considerably more daylight cast into that courtyard next summer, and no chance of falling bricks raining down on the denizens there. I side with the long-suffering owner of The Adelphi—Sheila Parkert-- in saying good riddance to a decayed part of the past, and for once will agree with the developer/owner of the Rip Van Dam in his efforts to improve the streetscape of Saratoga by process of elimination.
Thanks for reading my opinionated and highly subjective list of changes to Saratoga’s landscape in 2007 and beyond. I certainly haven’t covered them all, or reiterated how many great existing businesses and scenic spots of our City remain as they were, but you get the idea. It’s a dynamic place, full of exploding growth and ghosts of history both. Keep tuningin to this website, and I’ll try to keep you posted as best I can.