Gism Butter

As everyone probably already knows, V is a great fan of the Beatles. Thus, as we went to New York last week, I thought that it was only natural to take her to all the Beatles-ish places that I could think of, and a couple that she could think of.

The first of these was Strawberry field, which is actually not really a field at all. The song is named after a place where a young John Lennon used to run and frolic. After he was shot in the early 80’s, the city of New York renamed this little chunk of Central Park in honor of John, and thus it has stayed a beacon to fans around the world. On the Tuesday afternoon in April when we stopped by, there were oodles of people here, and fresh flowers laid out in the sign of a peace symbol across the “Imagine” tiles.

This was the one location that V really wanted to see, but I think she was a little disapointed by the fact that it was a paved over space with benches, rather than an actual field.

Across the street from Strawberry Field is The Dakota. This is where John and Yoko lived and created their questionable “art.” Of course, John was an artist, and Yoko was before she met him, but lord knows what exactly the pair were after they got together. But whatever, I’m not the Beatles fan here, V is. And she hates Yoko too…

Reguardless, John was shot outside of his apartment in the Dakota. The building itself ifs very beautiful, and we have a photo of it inside the New York architecture book V bought at the Cooper Hewitt. Incidentally, said museum is the single best in the city, especially if you’re a nerd. It’s all about design, and they had an exhibit that showed off the kite-camera project from Make Magazine, issue 1. As they had a copy of said magazine on display as well, and as the Cooper Hewitt is part of the Smithsonian Institute, it is completely kosher for me to now say that my work is on display in the Smithsonian. Even if it is tucked away on a back page and not visible to anyone. It’s in there, god dammit!

Anyhoo, the Dakota still has gas lights and a large arched entryway, as though the building expected its residents to arrive on horseback and leave by carriage. The doorman obviously knows why everyone is there, gawking up. We were not the only ones taking pictures. The shot on the right, here, is my personal favorite of the shots I took of V in front of the Dakota.

Finally, on our whirlwind tour of NYC, we were wandering back towards the Hotel Pennsylvania, where we stayed, and we stumbled upon David Letterman’s studio. Whoop-de-do, who gives a shit about Letterman anymore, right? Well, Letterman took over Ed Sullivan’s old studio. CBS didn’t tear the bloody thing down in the 80’s, and when David got his new late night show there in the 90’s, he obviously asked specifically for the venue. Or perhaps they explicitly offered it. Either way, you can’t come to New York and look for Beatles-ish things without stopping by outside this place to take a picture.

And so, we did.