Rooms With a Viewfinder
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: June 6, 2008
WHEN Catherine Chalmers was preparing to film her video “Safari,” which documents the journey of a cockroach through a mini-tropical
landscape, she turned to animal breeders to buy her exotic cast of creatures, which included a poison dart frog and a pygmy chameleon. Even
the cockroach came from a lab. But there was something missing, she felt — she wanted more bright color.
HAVENS | BERKELEY SPRINGS, W. VA.
A Mountain Town Where Mineral Waters Flow
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: February 15, 2008
WHEN Zoe Burger first started spending weekends in Berkeley Springs, she was curious about the legendary healing powers of the warm
mineral waters the region is named for. So she headed to Berkeley Springs State Park in the center of town, where public bathhouses offer a
good soak for $20.
Where the Music Surrounds Him
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: November 23, 2007
IT had been a whirlwind couple of weeks for the trombonist Roswell Rudd: a performance in Berlin, a recording session in Brussels and, just
hours after he got off the plane in New York, a master class and concert in western Massachusetts. At the end of it all last month, he retreated
to his second home in Kerhonkson, N.Y., at the southern edge of the Catskills.
“This is where I feel sheltered, protected,” he said. “It was so good to come inside, have a hot bowl of soup, get in bed. I can hear the birds, the
wind in the trees. The stars are easily visible. It feels safe.”
THE VIEW | FROM NEWTOWN
Once Thriving, Post Office Seeks New Life
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: October 28, 2007
THE wooden steps leading up to the Hawleyville Post Office are rickety and splintering. The pink paint is peeling. The inside is not much bigger than your average
A.T.M. lobby.
But the patrons, who hail from the western Connecticut towns of Newtown, Bethel and Brookfield, adore their old jalopy of a post office, for the community spirit and
warm customer service they find inside. And ever since the Postal Service began reconsidering the post office’s future, they’ve been deeply worried.
read the entire article here
The Principle of 2nd Home, 2nd Vote
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: June 22, 2007
MOST people who buy a second home are seeking refuge, a place to recharge their psychic batteries, to leave the worries and trivia of their jobs and hometowns
behind. The last thing on their minds, generally, is to get sucked into the whirlpool of local politics.
HAVENS | KINGSTON, N.Y.
A Historic River City Is Losing Its Backwater Reputation
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: April 20, 2007
APHRODITE CLAMAR-COHEN used to spend weekends at a home on seven wooded acres in the Catskills in Bearsville, N.Y. She loved to
get away from Manhattan, but she didn’t like the isolation of country life. She was used to walking places and seeing people, and she wanted
the same lifestyle on the weekends.
The Quest for the Perfect Birth
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: April 25, 2004
ON a recent Saturday morning at Yoga Haven in Tuckahoe, 15 pregnant women settled onto rubber mats and greeted one another with questions about how they
were feeling and when their babies were due. Then the instructor, Reyna Gonzalez, guided them through a prenatal yoga routine.
''Breathe into the baby,'' Ms. Gonzalez coached. ''Note how the baby responds.''
In Cramped and Illegal Quarters
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: December 21, 2003
FOR two years, Gilda Gentle and her five children lived in a basement apartment in Yonkers. At $690 a month, the apartment was one of the few places she could
afford, so she put up with an unusual situation: nearly every day, tenants from the three floors above her knocked on her door, asking if they could get inside to flip
a switch in the fuse box or to pour water into the steam boiler, both accessible only from her apartment.
Mom and Dad! I'm Back Home
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: February 8, 2004
WHEN Darsha Leslie, 44, left Fort Wayne, Ind., last year to move back to Westchester County, she had to give up her $440-a-month two-bedroom apartment.
In White Plains, her hometown, she found that a one-bedroom apartment for herself and her two teenage children would cost $1,200, almost three times as much,
an unaffordable prospect on her $28,000-a-year salary. So she moved her family into her mother's one-bedroom apartment on Harmon Street.
''She gets the bedroom,'' Ms. Leslie said. ''We are all in the living room. It's rough.''
Chronicling a Village's Past, Brickyard by Brickyard
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: February 15, 2004
HAVERSTRAW, overlooking Westchester from the Rockland County side of the Hudson, was once known as the brick-making capital of the world. By the turn of
the 20th century, as many as 42 brickyards operated in the area, churning out millions of bricks a year from the abundant local supply of Hudson River clay.
Despite Aid, Home Buying Proves Elusive
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: February 15, 2004
NATHANIEL GOLDBERG, 63, and his wife, Adrianna Goldberg, 36, began their search to buy a home with what they thought would be a big financial boost: a
$25,000 down payment, an assistance grant from Community Housing Innovations, a nonprofit housing services agency based in White Plains and Patchogue.
Three months later, the Goldbergs, who rent a two-bedroom apartment in Cortlandt Manor for $1,100 a month, still couldn't find a place they could afford.
When You Need a Rental Car, Fast
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: November 23, 2003
ZIPCAR, the rental car club that provides funky cars like Volkswagen Golfs and Mini Coopers by the hour, has arrived in Westchester County.
More are Grabbing a Piece of Real Estate Pie
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: November 30, 2003
LIKE any number of people in the corporate world, Peter Olsen of Cortlandt Manor had a soaring career that hit a patch of turbulence two years ago. He was forced
into early retirement from his job as a vice president at Deutsche Bank in Manhattan after the company bought Bankers Trust. He tried consulting, but work dried up
after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. So Mr. Olsen decided to turn his gaze from the misfortunes of the city he had worked in for more than 20 years
to the booming housing market in his own backyard.
After Abuse, a New Crisis
By LISA A. PHILLIPS
The New York Times
Published: November 2, 2003
WHEN Maria Melendez decided to leave her abusive husband, she thought of nothing but getting herself and her two children to safety at a domestic violence
shelter. But then, months later, she faced a prospect that was nearly as frightening: finding a place to live in a county where housing prices have skyrocketed.
''It was awful,'' she said. ''I felt like I'd made the biggest mistake. I felt like I should have just stayed and tolerated the abuse.''
Time Out New York Kids
First Resorts
By Lisa A. Phillips
Time Out New York Kids
Issue 26: Nov 19–Dec 31, 2007
Plan for activities both on and off the mountain so your winter getaway doesn’t go downhill.
Ski vacations can be tricky when you have children who may not be ready to spend long days—or any time at all, for that matter—on the slopes. To stave off a
meltdown (which would, after all, be bad for the snow), choose a mountain like Belleayre in the Catskills or the Berkshires’ Jiminy Peak. They both offer not only
great skiing but also child care, kids’ lessons and enticing side adventures.
Orange Crush
By Lisa A. Phillips
Time Out New York Kids
Issue 24 : Oct 1–31, 2007
Boost your trick-or-treater’s seasonal spirit—as well as your own—at one of these nearby gourd gardens.
As Linus knows only too well, pumpkin patches don’t always yield something Great. On October weekends, suburban pick-your-own farms tend to be crowded and
noisy, with diesel fumes from tour buses ruining any hope of fresh country air. But you needn’t, er, squash your child’s dreams just yet: We found three appealing
alternatives to the typical harvest hell, all within two hours of the city.
The Manny Myth
By Lisa A. Phillips
Time Out New York Kids
Issue 24 : Oct 1–31, 2007
They may have a newly sexed-up image and media ubiquity, but male caregivers are still pretty rare.
Tibetan nannies are so last year. So what’s the latest caregiving craze? Recent media accounts contend that everyone in NYC and its surrounding areas wants a
“manny” (that’s a male caregiver, if you’ve been under a rock since the publication of Holly Peterson’s best-selling novel The Manny). But is this really a
movement? And if so, why didn’t it start, say, during the heyday of Scott Baio’s Charles in Charge?
