Living with Legends

Those of you who have been following the blog know that, upon reading my criticism of her loft in the old McBurney Y building, Cindy Gallop invited us over for drinks.  Though we suspected a hoax at first, it soon became clear that she was for real.
Taking Cindy up on her courageous invitation to come on over, we invited a few friends from the Y and headed to Cindy’s place in the old McBurney Y.  We really had no idea what to expect, but Cindy could not have been more gracious and welcoming.  If she bore me any malice, she certainly hid it exceptionally well. I think she’s very self-confident, and believes in her own choices in art and living space and my little bit of criticism didn’t shake her. 
It was an evening full of surprises.  For one thing, it surprised us to learn that she treasured the Y and its heritage. In my review I criticized her practice of dressing her waiters in Y towels, but apparently she must have meant it as a sort of homage to the Y.

Cindy demonstrated how her trendy peek-a-boo bath works – it fills from the ceiling. It was a surprise for painter George Chemeche when Cindy turned the spigot and he got wet!

Yet another surprise was that Cindy had so many works by Paul Richard.  (You can see his Pope and Gerbil in the background) We have been seeing his work all over the Village since the late nineties and have always thought he was a very good artist.  We attended a show of his on Hudson Street in 1999 and he gave us a small piece. 

Another thing that surprised us was that she had so many books.  I was most envious of all her shelf space, since we have to throw most of our books out for lack of space.

Of course, none of us are too happy that our Y was converted into million-dollar condos, but if anyone has to live there, I guess I’m glad it’s Cindy.  We and our friends from the Y feel that the Y has abandoned its charitable and community mission and is fast becoming little more than a non-profit sports club. Tomorrow we’ll have opinions from other party goers.

(Thanks to Steven for the photos)