I collect old architecture and design books on ebay and consider among my favorites the 1910 publication entitled “Distinctive Homes of Moderate Cost”.  It’s a fascinating trip through history to see the types of homes in Sedgwick, Berkeley Park and Strathmore when they were considered “modern”.  Even more unbelieveable is what inflation has done to the cost of a house.  Most of these magnificent structures, in materials and craftsmanship that do not exist today except for Scrap Metal mogul Adam Weitsman’s stunner in Skaneateles, cost about $4,500 to construct 100 years ago.

Pretty enough to live in, a garage in Syracuse circa 1910

I was particularly taken with the chapter devoted to garages for both the evolution of their use and for the photograph of a garage in Syracuse!  All the other dozens of photos in the book are of homes throughout America.  But we got our mention, with a garage designed by architect Alfred T. Taylor that is prettier than many of the homes being built today.

Consider the introduction to the chapter, where it is clear automobiles are becoming nearly as popular as the horse and carriage, not to mention it is only the men who give any thought to the subject at all.

“There was a time when the city man, if inveigled from his customary habitat into visiting his suburban or country friend, was invited sooner or later to inspect the stables, see the horses, and look over the vehicles and other paraphernalia of comfortable or uncomfortable country road travel.  From this era we are passing to the newer one, that of garage, motoring and automobile, which supplants in the conversation between host and guest, talk of carriage, horse and stable.”

“In many country places the stable is still kept and the private garage is erected as frequently as an entirely separate building; and again in new places, particularly when the size of the lot is limited, the garage is planned as a part of the dwelling.”

In other words, in 1910 garages that were part of the house were not ideal, and only built that way when the lot was too small for a separate structure.  Builders could not yet see the benefit of getting the groceries, or anything for that matter,  from the car to the house without going outdoors.

Here’s one of my favorite passages which some builders today have forgotten: “The garage lends itself delightfully as an architectural element…  The plan of having it but one story high subordinates it to the house.”

I’ve seen many garages built today that are equal in height to the rest of the house which throws off the proportion of the whole thing.

Here is what the authors suggest is an ideal garage design in 1910:

“Unless there is a separate work room a work bench about four feet wide at one side of the room is a necessity.  A window should be over it with an electric light conveniently arranged for night repairs, and a sink with hot and cold water connections built in at one end. This will be found a great convenience while repairing tires”.

Check out the dude fixing his car from a pit in the floor

“A shelf below makes a suitable place to store tires, and a closet for storing gears, springs and other duplicate and sundry parts should be near at hand.  The location of the washing stand follows generally the arrangement of a carriage wash in a stable.  It is advisable however, to have the whole floor of the garage sloped to the one or more floor drains”.

“A revolving overhead wash, fitted with an electric light will be found most useful.  Closets with poles, hooks and drawers for the storage of rugs, coats, and other accessories should be at hand.  The attic can be arranged for the storage of tops, usually, and other large parts not in use.  A hand elevator will be found a great convenience for lifting these heavy articles and can be put in at a small cost”.  Are you entirely charmed by this?

And now, you won’t believe it.  People had their own personal gas tanks!  “Gasoline should always be stored in a tank underground and at least ten feet away from the walls of the garage.  The New York City regulations require the tanks to be embedded in twelve inches of concrete.  A suction pump fitted with hose connection and gauge are inside the building; vent, convenient syphon filler and a device for keeping the tank filled by water flowing in automatically as fast as the gasoline is pumped out are other practical accessories of a good storage tank.   The owner is then automatically notified to replenish his supply of gasoline long before it has run short.”  Whoa. This is the DEC’s worst nightmare.

“In conclusion the writer would suggest to the man who is building a new place, that he build a garage with a capacity of at least two cars.  You may not own a motor, you may even dislike automobiles, but the time may come when you acquire one, or if you sell the place its value is greatly increased over the additional first cost. “

How adorable was all that?  Isn’t it simply amazing to see what the automobile has done for and to society since 1910?   And how about car ownership?  In the early days of automobiles, men were pretty much the only drivers and they were on their own to fix and gas them up right at home. Try fixing anything yourself under the hood today.   I don’t know about you but when I open the hood of my car, it looks more like a refrigerator than an engine in there.  Owner’s manuals used to offer up several pages of how to repair all the systems but today the dashboard computer alone requires several chapters.

100 years from now, I wonder what people will think of the cars we’re driving today and the garages we build to store them.

It ‘s a tired cliche, but it’s true.  If you build it they will come.  Please forgive me for my singular focus this weekend; our brand new Creekwalk through Syracuse.  You may have read my latest column in the Syracuse Post-Standard about what a nut I am for this new community asset.  I was on Creekwalk again on this magnificent 62 degree, cloudless day.  Everything about my afternoon defied it was Syracuse in November.

My friend Carrie Lazarus and I began in Armory Square, where parking at the meters is free on Sundays.  The streets were filled with parked cars which proves downtown is no ghost town when the workers are home.

I could not believe how many people were on the Creekwalk.  In fact, it was comical because there was a steady parade of people of all ages following the yellow stripe through downtown, and absolutely no one walking anywhere else.  Viewed from above, we probably looked like a line of ants leading from a crumb of food on the ground to the nest.   I wondered where these pedestrians were from, and next time I will ask them instead of simply saying hello as I pass.

Of the many aspects I love about Creekwalk is how varied it is.  It never gets boring because it turns and really changes along the way.  The downtown portion is very much like a walk through a city, but then you go down a small hill and pick up the Creek, away from all the cars and buildings and into a world you’ve never seen. The “before” photos on Syracuse.com show how uninviting was this stretch and it’s one of the reasons Carrie and I decided we like it best of all.

This part of Creekwalk takes you beside the creek, which today had a little stench to it that it did not have the other day, and high, high above, are the highways that splice our city into sections.  It’s louder beneath the highways but it has a kind of urban beauty too.  It is here that you feel Syracuse is bigger and more important. Carrie said it could be Boston or Providence because those cities have made the most of the water that runs through them and people respond by going there.  In this gritty span we saw someone being pushed in a wheelchair and we adore the whole thing is handicap-accessible.

As usual, when Carrie and I get together and start talking, the 2.6 mile span was over in a wink.  We admired the view of Onondaga Lake, hoped Creekwalk would grow to encircle the lake, especially on the southern end next to the train tracks where no one ever gets to go.  When those tracks were laid water was abundant and planners thought nothing of taking huge lengths of it in New York State for railroads and roadways.

Today, while the population keeps growing the waterfront does not.  We need to reclaim this incredible resource by extending Creekwalk between the water and the tracks.  Carrie hopes some enterprising business person will offer public boat rides between Onondaga Lake and the Inner Harbor where we should have some restaurants waiting with food and drink.

Carrie and I did the whole walk in 2 hours, 15 minutes, which convinces me more than ever that the two-hour limit at the downtown parking meters prevents people from departing to nearby coffee houses or restaurants.  But what a magnificent start we have.

Sociologist Richard Florida of Carnegie Mellon University says people don’t go where the jobs are, the jobs go where the people are, and a community with an attractive lifestyle will get the people first.  Creekwalk is an awesome asset for Syracuse that too often has sold out to companies that take our tax breaks and then leave again in a few years. That is not where the money should go.  It should go to things like Creekwalk.

You should have seen all the people there today, and it’s only just the beginning.

Since 2003 Pete Wirth has been on a mission to make Syracuse simply daffy with daffodils.  He began the Westcott Bulb Project, an organization that supplies free daffodil bulbs to homeowners and businesses in the Westcott Street neighborhood.  Now they include tulips bulbs as well.

The Westcott “Nation” as it is known, is a groovy cross section of students, aging hippies and apartment dwellers with Section 8 housing subsidies.  They all blend together in a lively mix.  You’ll find some of the best pizza in town at Dorian’s, Mexican food at Alto Cinco, Middle Eastern cuisine at Munjed’s and diner food at Mother’s.  Early spring brings high school girls to Boom Babies for the largest selection of prom gowns in Central New York.  The Onondaga County Library has a branch there, and in the fall, the Westcott Street Fair unites artists, musicians and merchants in perhaps the largest block party in Syracuse.

Springtime is also when you see the efforts of Pete Wirth and his band of volunteers who collect and distribute the bulbs.  The bulbs are planted in the fall for a spectacular spring arrival.  Last year the bulb project went citywide, culminating in 70,000 daffodil and tulip bulbs planted around Syracuse.

I’m a big believer in flowers making the difference between a city that is alive and one that is not.  Visit Saratoga Springs and Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario to see what I mean.  Or stroll Rt. 20/Main Street in Cazenovia and marvel at the giant hanging baskets of petunias off the lampposts, or the potted plants dotting the sidewalks in Skaneateles, or drive Meadowbrook Dr. on Syracuse’s east side to see the annuals exploding with color and structure at all the cuts in the brook. Flowers show a community cares.

Pete wants everyone to know the bulb project is available to all community groups who want to assemble volunteers to plant in the fall.  Bulbs are to be placed in visible locations, they are not for private backyards.  He provides “top size” bulbs at cost, in the following varieties:

Daffodils: mixed, large premium bulbs

Tulips:

Red Impression
Golden Apple Doorn  – Yellow
Tequila Sunrise Mix  – Red & Yellow, Pink, White

The deadline for ordering the bulbs is August 18th.  For more information contact Pete at pwirth2@verizon.net  or visit the Bulb Project’s Website.

This is the inaugural article for my own project occurring this month of August, where I feature people and organizations doing good deeds for nothing more than the satisfaction that comes from improving a life or a community.  If you know of someone who deserves recognition, please post a comment which will remain unpublished, and I will contact you for more information.

Check out this advertisement about downtown Syracuse, currently airing on local TV.  It is gorgeous.  But in my opinion, it’s also a little over the top with the drama and that makes it slightly annoying.

The one-minute commercial was sponsored by the Downtown Committee and produced by Syracuse-based Solon Quinn Studios with assistance from a Preserve America grant.

I sent it out in a tweet this afternoon, inviting opinion, and I got plenty.  One person summed it up nicely.  ”Too much mush for my liking.  At least they r doing something”. Yup, I feel the same way.

Another twitter friend Stefanie Noble, who is a graphic arts designer in the Syracuse area, astutely compared it to the Chrysler Super Bowl commercial. That ad is here.   I like Syracuse better than Detroit, but I like the Chrysler commercial better because although it is really similar to ours — right down to the moving shot of a powerful bronze statue,  the one from Detroit manages to keep its feet on the ground at the end.

To be clear, I think it is great to see a commercial of this artistry and production value focusing on Syracuse.  And these days, you can send it around the world for all to see our beautiful city.   Again, the camera work is stunning.  I just don’t like the melodramatic copy.

What do you think?  Am I nuts to think it could have been written better?  Or is it the best thing to come along since the Erie Canal?

Hey, at least they r doing something.

Since 2004 couch surfing has evolved from a cheap form of lodging used by college-students or recent college-grads, where one stays on acquaintance’s couches rather than a hotel, –to something more sophisticated and mainstream.  Perhaps it is the struggling economy, continued high unemployment or a more social world, or a combination of all three, but couch surfing is a fun lodging alternative for travelers and hosts of all ages.  Like me.  I’ve been all ages up to 54 and I like it a lot.

The internet now helps unite hosts and travelers through networks such as couchsurfing.org and airbnb.com.  Check them out and see which offers the flexibility you prefer.  Search the listings in your town and see how others have established their page and nightly rate. Then jump in and become a member yourself!

You’ll first need to create a profile.  Describe yourself and your home, offer up your couch or a spare room if you have one,  set your price and establish the rules.

If you are considering couch surfing the first question to ask yourself is, am I an easy going good sport about things?  Am I generally a patient and tolerant person?

Before you put someone on your couch you must first be able to put yourself in their shoes.  You must be an empathetic sort to have success at couch surfing, otherwise the whole thing will just be weird.

If you are a traveler, communicate your arrival time as quickly as you can.  Your host might have cancelled an engagement or errand to welcome you.  Even if you can’t nail down the exact time several days or weeks in advance, at least provide a range and then as soon as you know more, keep the information flowing.  Most homeowners or apartment dwellers are flexible, even if they need to leave a key hidden outdoors for you.

When you arrive, offer to remove your shoes at the door and show appreciation for the space provided.  It may not be the Taj Mahal, but this is home for your host and they are likely quite proud of the place.  If you must share a bathroom with the rest of the household, which is common, use typical courtesy and don’t tie it up for any longer than necessary.  Do not use the health and beauty products unless they are specifically offered to you.  This is not a hotel where soap and shampoo are  provided.

When you depart, leave the place just as you found it.  Make the bed, fold the sleeping bag, or if you brought your own sleeping bag, return the decorative pillows to the sofa if there were any.   Certainly thank your host for the stay.  Even though you paid for the privilege of staying there, the system can only work if enough hosts find the practice rewarding enough to keep doing this.

If you are hosting, be as friendly and welcoming as can be.  Your guests are likely tired from their journey.  They are unfamiliar with your neighborhood and town.  Live every word of the profile you created on the website which attracted your guests to your place versus another.  Don’t let them down.

The basics of couch surfing are a couch or spare bedroom.  It does not involve redecorating the house, cleaning the clutter in the bookcase or a fresh coat of paint anywhere.  You don’t even need to go crazy cleaning.  Everyone knows this is a home, not a Bed and Breakfast.  They just want to crash.  Make sure the couch and surrounding area, and the bathroom are all clean.  Nothing else needs to be done.

Unlike a B & B, couch surfers are not here to hang around and read a book in the “parlor”.  They really just need a place to sleep. Some travelers have early planes to catch and will be gone before you wake up, but it is common for your guests to greet you with a smile in the morning.  If there’s time, offer a cup of coffee, juice or tea to help start their day.  They’re probably as addicted to coffee as you are and have no other way to grab a cup first thing in the morning.

Couch-surfing involves a big leap of faith.  The chance of a traveler arriving at the door of a creepy ax murderer is zero.  Ax murderers are not going through the trouble of becoming hosts or travelers on these websites because names, addresses and bank accounts are in the system.  But with the millions of people who have tried this, I’m certain there was probably a theft at least once or twice.  I’ve never heard of a case, nor can I imagine any of the wonderful people I’ve hosted taking advantage of me in this way, but keep it in mind as you consider if couch-surfing is right for you.

Lastly, the money you collect as a host is income and taxable.  Be sure you declare it to the IRS.  Airbnb.com keeps a running tally of your earnings to make it easier to track.  You’ll be surprised how quickly the money adds up, and more importantly, you’ll be reminded of the good in people again and again.

Posing with Sarah, my German couch surfer, before departure

Once you’ve opened your home to four children, their friends and a long line of childcare providers, it becomes second nature to having new people around.  In fact, for me, it almost becomes necessary.

I just bade farewell to a lovely young couple from Germany who discovered my couch on the internet.  They and I are part of an online network of “couch-surfers”–travelers looking for a friendly, budget-minded place to plop for the night– and homeowners and apartment dwellers with a sofa or spare bedroom willing to accomodate them.

I joined a San Francisco-based startup called airbnb.com when it was brand new a couple of years ago.  There is no cost to participate; airbnb takes a small percentage of every booking.  Homeowners set their own rate and capitalism takes it from there.  If you’re priced too high you won’t get any takers.  Too low, and it might not be worth the trouble.

I know what you’re thinking.  Aren’t we taking an enormous risk to open the door to strangers?  Think of the craigslist killer and all the other incidents that began as simple transactions and turned into murder and other nightmares.

Well yes, there is risk, statistically about the same as getting into an automobile accident.  You are guaranteed never to get into a car crash if you never get into a car, but isn’t the convenience of traveling that way worth it?  You can reduce the chance of get hurt by being a skilled and careful driver.  The online marketplace works the same way.

There are various websites devoted to linking couch surfers and hosts but in my opinion airbnb.com is the best because it offers a measure of protection until the money changes hands, electronically, upon booking, from the traveler’s bank account to the host’s.  Addresses, names and phone numbers are all hidden until the transaction is confirmed.

Once the stay is completed, both the host and the traveler are invited to give feedback about the experience so that others may see how it went.  With more transparency than a routine stay at a hotel, all it takes is a few bad reviews for the traveler or the host and you’ll be out of business and off the site.

Interest in my couch tricked in slowly for the first two years, but suddenly this spring, as awareness of the practice increased, I began getting an inquiry every month or two.  Last week I hosted a woman from the North Country who was putting in long hours visiting her husband at SUNY Upstate Medical Center, and who wanted a personal, family setting for a night’s stay.  As soon as she arrived and we introduced ourselves I said “can I offer you a glass of wine? ”

“Oh yes” she gratefully replied.  ”I would love a glass of wine” and a pleasant 45 minutes of conversation in the sun room began before the woman settled in for the night.  She was up and out the door before I awoke the next day, a lovely little note of thanks waiting for me in the kitchen.

In two more weeks Eleanor from Australia will stay for two nights.  I have not yet heard what brings her to our city from so far away, but she asked if I might provide some theater venues in Syracuse for her to check out.

At the end of the summer I’m hosting a dad who is bringing his freshman daughter to Syracuse University.  In our email correspondence I learned she will be on the crew team, so my son Christian who has a Nottingham High School chum also on the crew team as a freshman at S.U., will introduce them to one another.

My most recent guests, Florian and Sarah from Dresden, had inquired if it would be OK if they arrived very late, on a stopover between New York City and their next destination in Niagara Falls.  Of course!  I’ve been a mom for 24 years!  What’s one hour as opposed to any other?  Come any time!

These lovely and weary travelers came to the door at 2:30 am.  Imagine the trust they had in me to be what I said I was in the online profile.  Walking in the middle of the night to a strange house near the woods in a city they likely never heard of was a giant leap of faith.  I was determined to meet that trust.

Morning arrived and I said guten morgen in my bad German as they came downstairs to the kitchen.  Though couch surfing does not officially involve food,  the mother in me could not let Florian and Sarah leave without some eggs, toast, strawberries and coffee in their bellies.  We lingered over the breakfast table discussing Florian’s dreams to be a musician versus his practical choice of teaching English in German schools.  Sarah is studying to become a physical therapist and has such a love of animals that she asked to be photographed by Florian with my two dogs.  I also learned Florian is a common German name for a young man.  Never heard of it before.  You?

Sarah complimented me on my decorating and we all took more photographs before hugging like old friends and they were gone.  I will likely never see them again–read the previous column about “lasts” –but I also know that a life conducted with an open mind can take you just about anywhere, certainly to places you could not have imagined.

Travel safely Sarah and Florian! You were a joy to host

As an experienced hostess, I’ll provide some tips tomorrow for anyone considering the world of couch surfing.  You’ll be surprised that what begins as a quirky way to get extra cash for groceries or gas, can grow into something unpredictable and rich.

If you’ve never strolled the Westcott Art Trail the first weekend in June, you must vow to do so next year.  It is a joy on every level.

The “trail” is actually more of a “speckle”,  like a giant paint brush pulled back and flicked with a drop of paint upon the home of an artist in the Syracuse University neighborhood.  An artist here, an artist there, before you know it you’re connecting the dots and making a weekend of it.

This area, situated to the southeast of the main campus is rich with educators, health professionals, attorneys and business people who still value close proximity to the work place and who often arrive at that place on foot or bicycle.  In this neighborhood people actually walk to commute, not just to exercise.

Each June the artists organize the Westcott Art Trail and turn their front porches or shaded driveways or old single-car garages into boutiques where the public is invited to view, visit and purchase original art.  Artists being well, artistic, you should see how cleverly they arrange the stuff for display.  Some of them pull artist friends from elsewhere in the region to set up their work too so its worth a trip in from the suburbs.  An added delight is the discovery of a slice of heaven in the back yard where some homeowners established hidden gardens featuring fountains, fish ponds, sculpture and a variety of plants that defy the size of the little city  plot.

Last Sunday I downloaded the map from the internet and with my cellphone and some cash, set out on my bicycle to explore the 2011 version of the Trail.  Biking is the ideal way to tackle this as it is too spread out to see the whole thing on foot but a little annoying to do by car as no sooner do you turn on the ignition when you’re a few blocks away looking for parking again.  The bike was perfect.  I passed several couples and groups of friends, standing on sidewalks, surveying their maps and plotting their routes.  The quiet side streets were crowded with visitors looking for the tell-tale yellow sign and flag that signaled an artist on the tour.

My bike was perfect in another way too.  Due to the size limitation of the little cargo bag on the back of my bike I was guaranteed not to be tempted to buy more than I could afford or fit.  That meant no paintings this year and no heavy concrete garden stepping stones, as wonderful as they were.  The item I most wanted which I did not purchase was a round stepping stone imbedded with broken pieces of colorful Syracuse China.  One of the stones had the venerable company stamp visible from the bottom of what was probably a coffee mug at one time. Darn. Can’t have everything.

Maybe next year….  That’s the beauty of the Westcott Art Trail.  In the blink of an eye you are back visiting with the same artists and watching how their work has evolved.  For now, I’ll enjoy my beautiful pottery coffee mug and wood-fired bowl, my hand-blown glass necklace and silk-screened greeting card.   Artful treasures produced by my neighbors in a colorful part of town.

I hope you’ll come to the Barnes and Noble location on Erie Boulevard East in Dewitt on Saturday.   At the request of my good friends Mark and Jody Schappert of Dewitt, I’ll join other volunteers from 9:30 am till 8:30 pm in reading aloud to children here in an effort to raise money for the kids of New Orleans, Louisiana whose lives were upended by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

LEAP (Literacy Empowers all People) is a collaborative effort between Le Moyne College in Syracuse and All Souls Episcopal Church in New Orleans.  The education majors at Le Moyne offer educational support, mentoring and assistance with reading programs in schools and at a special summer camp for children ages 3- 16 in the Lower 9th Ward, an area that continues to struggle in the aftermath of the monster storm.

On Saturday Barnes and Noble will make a donation for every store purchase made that day with the special bookfair code 10450369.   If you’d like to place an order for Barnes and Noble merchandise online, go to the store’s special bookfair website here and enter that code at online checkout.  They’ll send a percentage of your purchase to LEAP. If you have questions about the program or you’d like to get involved,  contact Tabor Fischer at fisherct@lemoyne.edu and mention you heard about LEAP on the blog.

I’ll be at the store Saturday at 10:30 am if you have a child or grandchild who would like to hear a book.  Or just come by yourself and channel your inner child with the selection of awesome reads from the good corporate citizen that is Barnes and Noble.

Hope to see you there.

My son Christian and I had completed some errands at Nottingham Plaza on the east side of Syracuse and were in our car when the storm hit.   Notice the green sky beneath the blue and purple clouds.  The last time I saw a green sky was the Labor Day Storm of 1998, so this is epic.

The damage is still being assessed but here is a series of photos I took with my iphone from the car window.

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A young man in our neighborhood killed himself a week ago.   The cluster of cars surrounding the home all week reminded me of the catastrophe that had befallen the family, and seemed to envelope the place like a great big hug.

Never having lost someone close to me in this way, I probably have about as much experience with suicide as anyone who has known it from afar.  And since it is emotionally too painful to consider how the parents are coping with this, I occupy myself with the clinical.

It was only about a year ago that another young person known to my children attempted suicide but survived.  In both situations, if what was told to me is accurate, each of the young men was speaking to a loved one by cellphone right up to that awful moment.

What is it about the conclusion of life that draws us near to those we love, even when the end is by choice?  We’ve all heard the stories of Grandma in the nursing home, unconscious but holding on until a son or daughter arrives from out of town.

How many obituaries are written with the words “surrounded by those he loved”?  Animals put themselves out to pasture, but people?  We want company, even if it’s on the other end of the line.

For sure there are those who wish to die alone.  I might become one of them in my old age, not wishing to bother anyone.  But these two young men from good and loving families took their cellphones to their final destination and one last call.

Were they hoping to be talked out of it?  Or was impending death such a scary place they could not face it completely on their own?

Perhaps they sought enough distance to spare the visuals, but to stay close enough, even if only by cellphone,  for the voice of someone dear as they transitioned to a more peaceful place.