Weird New England: New York Edition

It's been a long while since we checked in. We were abducted by aliens, or were they camp counselors??

Anyway, we decided to take the weirdest, most disturbing, most macabre summer imaginable south to the charming village of Mannahatta, partly to celebrate the ninth birthday of one Louis Chiasson. First stop, the Evolution Store on Spring Street in SOHO. This store sells all manner of petrified dung, penis bones, coelocanth teeth, stuffed monkeys, mice, snakes and hamsters (110 dollars for a taxidermy hamster; 15 dollars for a real one at Petco). Please note that human skulls are for sale to the trade only: you must present a medical certificate of some kind.

Nicholas: "Oh, SNAP!"

Louis: "It's ALIVE!!"

Louis: "Intagram dat joint."

Nicholas: "To be or not to be."

The guys in front of a case full of bones, skulls, and stuffed predators. What to buy??

All those dead animals whetted our appetite for: SUSHI!!

(Blue Ribbon Sushi, Sullivan Street)

Nicholas: "Nobody calls Marty McFly chicken."

Louis: "To fight monsters, we created monsters."

Two of the scariest things about "The Jekyll and Hyde Club" on West 44th Street are the food (not shown) and the people eating the food (also not shown): we took a pass on eating there and explored the hidden door to the mens' room.

Nicholas: "Play it again, Sam."

Louis: "Heeeere's Johnnny!!"

Then it was on to the Strand, Third Floor, Rare Books Room, home to some excellent air conditioning, several intriguing volumes, and these cozy library chairs.

Then it was onto our favorite haunt, Cafe Loup, for some cool jazz and bivalves!

Nicholas: "Redrum."

Louis: "My brother is CRAZY!!"

Speaks for itself: Happy Birthday, Louis.

Louis: "I did not draw that."

Nicholas: "He did not draw that."

~

Thursday, 6/20: The MGH Mummy and Ether Dome

We trained it into Boston today to see some other local oddities. Our intention was to see the skull of Phineas Gage:

Phineas lived twelve years after a large iron rod went into his skull under his left eye and came out the top of his head. I can remember seeing the illustration in Ripley's Believe it or Not, one of the five books I obsessively reread for years in my childhood. Unfortunately Phineas resides *not* at MGH, as I thought, but at the Harvard Medical School. So Phineas would have to wait for another day.

But we *did* find the 2500 year-old Theban mummy, Padihershef, who has resided at Mass General since 1823, and is often thought to be the first mummy to be exhibited on American soil.


A comely lad: one of the beautiful people.

These lads were impressed.

Sketching.

Apollo and one of his priests.

Friday, 6/14: Part II

Now some weirdness was in order. First stop, the spite house across from Copp's Hill Burial Ground in Boston. This is an eight-foot wide house built by one brother to spite another, blocking his view of the harbor. It has been a regular part of our lives since 1997 when in a fit of real estate mania I tried to convince Annie that we should buy it (it was on the market for a very low price; in addition to being narrow, it was a dump.)

The custom has always been for the owner of the house to control the ring of keys that opens and closes the enormous wrought iron cemetary gate across from it. Being a fan of the Smiths and a generally morose/morbid person, this appealed very much to me. Here are some moments in the graveyard:

Black Cat: in his element.                                                              A relative?

Friday, June 14: Part I

A beautiful day in Wellesley: we decided to make our way into Boston and find something, anything, remotely even somewhat weird in order to justify the lunch we were determined to eat, at Neptune Oyster on Salem Street in the North End--our current favorite Boston restaurant. Louis helped us polish off a big plate of the most briney and delicious oysters imaginable, from ports of call in Martha's Vineyard and the North Fork of Long Island.

Annie looking happy: best cioppino ever!

Nicholas went with the burger; it comes topped with fried oysters.

June 12

Day one of Summer '13 and we decided to head west to the immortal village of Belchertown, MA, where, among many other attractions, you can get excellent corned beef hash at The Roadhouse. This is a tiny improvised extablishment with delicious food, unchanged for at least 20 years since my college friends and I first discovered it. The guys both went with the hash--"yum" says Louis; "yum" says Nicholas. When asked, just now, for a quote about the restaurant, Nicholas replied: "Elementary, my dear Watson" and Louis replied "May the force be with you." Both are assuredly quotes.

Next we hit Plimpton Dormitory at Amherst College, where we scaled the rear fire escape and hung out on the roof. This shot suggests the philosophical mood prompted by the long vistas visible from the roof and the sense of passing time prompted by returning to an old haunt. Nicholas's quote: "They're always after me Lucky Charms"; Louis says "Geicko--fifteen minutes might save you fifteen percent on insurance." Again--technically both are quotes, though not relevant quotes.

Finally, though both kids object to classifying it as "weird," we hopped over to the Emily Dickinson homestead and museum. This place is remarkable, particularly the "other house," Evergreens, which remains in the exact state it was left in twenty years ago when the last Dickinson to live there died. Very creepy and affecting to see the victorian playroom of young Gib Dickinson who died so young, with all his toys and things untouched since that time. 

That's all for now. We head next to the nearby Norumbega Tower, where a daft Harvard professor "dicovered" a Viking settlement in Weston, MA.

First Stop: Gi-Normous Globe, Wellesley, MA

We stayed local but acted global for our first stop on the Weird New England Tour. This is not the biggest rotating globe in the world. Oh, and by the way: it no longer rotates. But it is certifiably the Onetime Biggest Once-Rotating Globe, erected in 1955, now surpassed by Big Rotating Globes in places like Oklahoma, Maine, and Pesaro, Italy. No matter. This Onetime Biggest Once-Rotating Globe is ours. And it IS sort of rotating, by virtue of the fact that the Earth on which it is propped is rotating. You have to admit, that's a good point.

Enormous Globe, Babson College. Nicholas
doing his Atlas impression; Louis showing the page
of "Weird New England" where this globe appears.

Greetings.

Dighton Rock. The Dover Demon. Melon Heads, Frog People. The Norumbega Tower. The Devil's Slide. Fried Clams. See Live Deer--Free. Carlton Nash's Dino Land. Fried Clams...

As Jonathan Richman put it:  "I've been around the world/But I love New England best./I might be prejudiced/But it's true, I love New England best."

This blog will record, in order of priority:

1) Lunch spots visited in Summer 2013;
2) Roadside oddities, haunted places, abandoned buildings, weird stone outcroppings visited Summer 2013;
3) Miscellaneous swimming spots near 1) and 2)

Join the fun!