Renee's Brother & Matthew's Uncle--David Stravitz Book Signing
                                

Back on the subway to ride up to the North Wing of the Villard Houses on Madison Avenue. This is where Renee’s brother, David, was holding a lecture and book signing for his newly-released book “The Chrysler Building, Creating A New York Icon, Day By Day." We arrive a bit late, but get into the standing-room-only lecture.  Renee’s son, Matt, recognizes us and gives up his seat to Sharon. David was  in the middle of a very good discussion of the pictures that are his book. He was able to quickly point out the old and new buildings that are shown in the photos. The photos are incredible. The equipment used to take them weighed 100 pounds. The photographers had to carry this gear to many heights in different buildings to document the construction. David was able to save the negatives just before they were to be destroyed. There isn’t any other documentation on the construction, of what was for 7 months, the tallest building on earth. The Empire State Building was under construction at the same time.

***[Renee has a nice young man for a son. The photos and explanation that David shared was really interesting. Inside information about the construction. I really enjoyed the parts where he pointed out the position of the ones taking the photos. The eye behind the camera on those shots really had to be dedicated to documenting the views.]

I bought the book and David personalized it. I had Matt sign on the page where he was thanked for his work on the project. I think it was his first book signing. Having this piece of New York City architectural history is an added delight .

                                               Full Trip Report with photos

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