Ode to Sidney Pollack: Travel where his movies were made

by Jamie Rhein on

Sidney Pollack died of cancer yesterday. When I heard the news, along with feeling sad about his death, I flashed to a certain restaurant in Hurley, New York that’s one of my favorite “when I go back home for a visit ” eateries,although it’s changed hands since Pollack used it as one of the settings for Tootsie.

The Hurley Mountain Inn where Dustin Hoffman bellied up to the bar with Charles Durning has been serving up family fare for years. My mom always headed here with friends for the spaghetti and meatballs. The last time I was there, my son was happy playing video games without the money to actually have them do anything.

Hurley is near Kingston in the Hudson Valley and the restaurant is worth the drive. Nothing fancy, but you’ll feel like you’re in a place that means something to the people who eat there. Along with Hurley, if you do a Sidney Pollack film tour of the world, you’ll see a lot. Consider these alone and you’ll be busy:

  1. Sketches of Frank Gehry–Pollack followed Frank Gehry around with a camera and captured the architectural genius found in the Vitra Museum in Germany, Maggie’s Centre, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
  2. Out of Africa–The Africa scenes were filmed in the Ngong Hills in Kenya. The Denmark scenes were in Surrey, England.
  3. The Electric Horseman–For the gorgeous scenery seen in the film, head to Zion National Park and other places in Utah. For the rest, head to Las Vegas.
  4. The Way We Were–Bask in a bit of opulence at Ballston Spa, New York and in front of The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.

Ground Zero Art Center and Frank Gehry

by Jamie Rhein on

A few years back there was a wonderful Frank Gehry exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. As part of the exhibit, I remember looking at models of a proposed cultural arts building that was to be situated near the World Trade Center. In true Gehry style, the building’s architecture fit perfectly with the other buildings’ designs, including the height of the World Trade Center and the other buildings’ shapes. When the World Trade Center was destroyed, besides thinking about all the other tragedy surrounding this disaster, I thought of this wonderful model and wondered what would become of Gehry’s vision that is the type that celebrates creativity and what is spectacular about humanity.

As plans for the rebuilding of Ground Zero are underway, Gehry is part of the process. His architect firm is one of the designers of the Ground Zero Arts Center which was to house the Joyce Theater and the Signature Theatre Company. According to an article in the New York Times, the Signature Theatre Company is no longer going to be housed here, but a new location will be found. As the article points out, putting up masterpiece buildings cost mega bucks so the design isn’t going to be able to accommodate two theaters. Regardless, it’s comforting to know that Gehry still will have a mark on this part of the city and the skyline he is helping to create will be one we will recognize no matter where we are in the world. The poster is for the documentary film Sketches of Frank Gehry by Sidney Pollack.