The house where for a year and a half, Frances Ford Coppola and co. set-up camp to film interior and exterior shots for The Godfather is now up for sale. The estate, situated on Longfellow Avenue on Staten Island in New York City, has been the home of the Norris family for 50 years. The eight bedroom house also includes a full English style pub in the basement and has been put on the market for a cool $2.9 million… Or various other offers they cannot refuse of course.
 
Godfather fans will know the house as the home of Don Corleone, where daughter Connie was married on the lawn. For photos of the interior as well as contact info in case you really do want to make an offer, check out the listing.
 
Godfather House
110 Longfellow Ave, Staten Island, NY 10301

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The Social Network is one of the most highly anticipated films of 2010. The film chronicles the rise of the most visited website on the internet, Facebook and the life of its founder, Mark Zuckerberg- a person who is both idolizes and loathed the world over.

 

Written by Aaron Sorkin (The American President, West Wing), The Social Network stars Jesse Eisenberg, whom had lead roles in Adventureland and Zombieland, as Zuckerberg and Justin Timberlake as his friend and partner, Sean Parker (who also co-founded Napster in 1999). The movie begins while Zuckerberg is still attending Harvard. Harvard hasn’t allowed filming on their campus since the 1970 film Love Story caused physical damage to its grounds and buildings, therefore alternative locales had to be found.
 
In Massachusetts, stand-ins for Harvard were found at the prep schools of Phillips and Milton Academy as well as Wheelock College, which was set-up to look like the out of bounds ivy league campus, and the rowing scenes with the Winklevoss brothers were filmed at Community Rowing Inc. in Newton, MA.
 
During the second month of filming, The Social Network travelled south to Maryland where they filmed in the Keyser and Wyman quadrangles at John Hopkins University.
 

As a radical youth, Ginsberg was famous in New York for being one of the founding leaders of the Beatnik generation but it wasn’t until his long-form, stream of consciousness poem ‘Howl’ was put to print that he became known all over America. Upon publication in a McCarthy era America, ‘Howl’ was deemed obscene and Ginsberg was put to trial in San Francisco in 1957. A new film starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg simultaneously recounts the events in the life of a young Ginsberg that led to the writing of the poem, the reaction of society and the trial itself.
 
There are key locations that impacted both the poem Howl and its subsequent rise to fame. Many of those places are still standing today and have become meccas for both an old and new generation.

Allen Ginsberg wrote the poem ‘Howl’ in the summer of 1955. Supposedly, much of the poem was written at a coffeehouse known today as the Caffe Mediterraneum in Berkeley, California.
Caffe Mediterraneum
2475 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA‎ – (510) 549-1128‎

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Much of the emotional drive in ‘How’l stemmed from Ginsberg’s sympathy for Carl Solomon, to whom it was dedicated; he met Solomon in Columbia Presbyterian Psychological Institute (referred to in the poem as ‘Rockland’) while they were both patients in 1949.
Rockland Psychiatric Center‎
Orangeburg, New York‎

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‘Howl’ was first performed at the Six Gallery in San Francisco on October 7, 1955.
Six Gallery
1632 Market St, San Francisco, CA‎ – (415) 558-9975‎

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‘Howl’ was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who ran City Lights Bookstore and the City Lights Press.
City Lights Bookstore
261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA‎ – (415) 362-8193‎

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The earliest existing recording of ‘Howl’ dates to March 18, 1956. Ginsberg and the poet Gary Snyder, after hitch-hiking from San Francisco, read from their poems in the Anna Mann dormitory at Reed College, Snyder’s alma mater. This recording, discovered in summer 2007 on a reel-to-reel tape in the Reed College archives, contains only Part I of “Howl.” After beginning to read Part II, Ginsberg said to the audience, “I don’t really feel like reading anymore. I just sorta haven’t got any kind of steam.”
Reed College
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR‎ – (503) 777-7287

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Wold headress, Quileute Tribe, courtesy of National Park Service

In an attempt to clarify a multitude of misconceptions about the Quileute Tribe resulting from the Twilight films and books by author Stephanie Meyer, the Seattle Art Museum is presenting a new exhibition entitled Behind the Scenes: the Real Story of Quileute Wolves. The exhibition will run for one year and is comprised of 25 objects of Quileute art that offer a counterpoint to the fantasy of the Quileute as werewolves- a far cry from the poignant wolf creation myths that mark the true Quileute culture. .

The wolf plays a major role in the cultural beliefs of the Quileute Native Peoples of coastal Washington. According to oral traditions, the first Quileute people were changed from a pair of wolves into human form by the Transformer, Kwati. This creation legend is central to the Quileute world view, and wolf imagery is prominent in their art – from canoe prows to carving tools, fishing equipment to basketry and, especially, ceremonial wolf masks and rattles. In fact, to this day, the tribe continues to enact masked dances to honor the original supernatural connection to wolves.

Seattle Art Museum
1300 1st Ave, Seattle, Washington‎ – (206) 654-3100‎

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Peter Eleey, Curator, MoMA P.S.1 / Photo courtesy of Cameron Wittig

Starting this month, a native son returns to New York when Peter Eleey, former Visual Arts Curator of Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center, joins MoMA’s P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center as its Curator. Prior to his years at the Walker, Mr. Eleey was a Curator and Producer at New York-based group Creative Time, during which he helped produce large-scale and landmark exhibits, such as Doug Aitken: sleepwalkers (2007), which was also co-commissioned with MoMA and co-curated with P.S.1’s Director Klaus Biesenbach. Below, Peter imparts some insight on his new borough and his travel philosophy.

What should we know before we go to Long Island City / Queens?
That it is really easy to get to – just one stop from Midtown Manhattan.
 
Tell us what you are currently working on.
I recently came back to New York after three years in Minnesota [at the Walker Art Center] to become the Curator of MoMA P.S.1 here in Long Island City. Among other things, I’m working on a show about exhibitionism and voyeurism.
 
Are there any yearly Long Island City / Queens art events should put on our calendar?
Since 1998, MoMA P.S.1 has organized a hugely popular outdoor music series on Saturday afternoons called Warm Up, [which hosts] performances by international DJs and live acts including LCD Soundsystem, Kid Koala, Arto Lindsay, Scissor Sisters, Afrika Bambaataa, Richie Hawtin and DJ Delorean. Each year, a young architecture firm is selected to design an installation for the large outdoor space, which always makes for a great place to enjoy the party.
 
What is your favorite place to see art and where should we go to eat around there?
MoMA P.S.1 has been among my favorite places to see art for years, long before I came to work here. Housed in a Romanesque Revival building that was Long Island City’s first public school, the institution provides a unique home for the leading art of our time. Manducatis and Sage are both great for lunch. If you’re feeling adventurous, take the 7 train out a few stops to 74th St.-Broadway for Thai at either Sripraphai or Zabb on Roosevelt Ave.
 
What’s your perfect day out in Long Island City / Queens?
Lunch at Manducatis, a long afternoon of art, followed by a beer at LIC Bar. And if it’s summer: a burger and views of Manhattan at Water Taxi Beach, and a breezy ferry ride back to [Manhattan].
 
Any other “musts” to see and do in Long Island City / Queens?
Don’t miss all the other art in the area: SculptureCenter near MoMA P.S.1, the Noguchi Museum, and a bit north, places like the American Museum of the Moving Image, the Fisher Landau Center, and Socrates Sculpture Park on the [East] River.
 
Besides New York City, what is your favorite city to travel to for art and why?
Depends on the time of year. London in the fall, Los Angeles in the winter, and Berlin in the spring–because when you need to cover a lot of ground, the weather matters.

photo courtesy of Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp.

 
Located 17 miles north-northwest of Buffalo, New York and 75 miles south-southeast of Toronto, Ontario, Niagara Falls, straddling both Canada and America, is an easy day trip from either city.
 
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls, NY

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