Rex Reed’s Apartment in the Dakota

Rex Reed IS Datalounge.

According to public records, his apartment number is 86. I don't think there's rhyme or reason to the apartment numbers in that building.

There's no floor plan available for apartment 86 on Streeteasy, but that's not surprising as he's owned it for years. They do have old info there, but not that old.

Gee, 'criticism' must pay well... He must have purchased it with his "Myra Breckenridge" paycheck.

"Reed lives in a two-bedroom apartment at The Dakota apartment building in New York City,[33] which he bought for $30,000 in 1969.

"Love is not something that I’ve been really good at. I think people are intimidated by people with opinions. How do you go start looking for a wife or a boyfriend or a significant other? It’s too late. It would be nice, though, to find somebody who’s really handy with a wheelchair, because that day is coming."

Shoplifting arrest and clearing:

In February 2000, Reed was arrested for shoplifting after leaving a Tower Records in Manhattan with compact discs by Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, and Carmen McRae in his jacket pockets. Reed, who had just purchased two other CDs, says he forgot about the other three CDs and his offer to pay for them was refused. The charges were later dropped. According to Reed, several days after the arrest Peggy Lee sent him her entire catalog of CDs, because "she was so thrilled I wanted one of her CDs enough to put myself through so much hell".

I'm assuming it's an attic of sorts. Located in one of those creepy peaks on the roof. It would certainly explain his awful disposition and general disdain for life.

[quote]It would certainly explain his awful disposition and general disdain for life.

It had to be awful for him, being a flaming poof in the era he is from. He grew up in Texas, FFS.

I can cut him some slack for being such a bitch, given the hell he must've gone through.

Fuck him. Those who can’t create, criticize.

That apartment looks grand to me.

I guess we have to wait til he dies before his estate lists it for sale.

"Love is not something that I’ve been really good at. I think people are intimidated by people with opinions. How do you go start looking for a wife or a boyfriend or a significant other?"

In the late 1970s-early 80s, David Susskind asked Reed why he wan't married. Reed said he couldn't find a 'girl' who liked to cook and listen to Nat King Cole records.

I love the apartment, except for that hideous zebra-skin rug.

For us eldergays, as far as visibly gay people in the 60s are concerned, we had to take what we could get. Rex Reed was constantly on talk shows then. And compared to Paul Lynde, at least Rex Reed was sort of an intellectual. At least he was to me when I was 10.

A criminal!

Very convenient for cruising in the Rambles, Rex. It looks like a great NY apartment for an average citizen - I just don't understand where he is getting any money for the maintenance and other fees.

He's from a wealthy family, maybe there's an inheritance.

He's definitely a Datalounger:

[quote]In a 2005 review of the South Korean movie Oldboy, Reed wrote: What else can you expect from a nation weaned on kimchi, a mixture of raw garlic and cabbage buried underground until it rots, dug up from the grave and then served in earthenware pots sold at the Seoul airport as souvenirs?

I wonder how much of the decor did he shoplift?

Why shoplift Peggy Lee CDs? Fuck shit!

30k was not a huge amount in 1969. He got an incredible bargain. it doesn't look like he's redecorated since he bought it. I would be thrilled if someone left that to me.

I used to enjoy his writings very much.

I didn’t enjoy his writings very much. 😔

Do You Sleep in the Nude?

Old whitey states her boundaries - - in a weekend place outside the city?

In Dakota apartment

In Dakota apartment

Rex Reed is just the type of gay male that Ina Garten would have on her show- BITCHY and QUEENY.

He live in my pantry

An attic apartment... So JUST ENOUGH to say it's in he building, but is nowhere nearly as grand as the rest of those on the lower floors.

I like to imagine that sometimes, Rex takes a huge dump out of one of his windows, just at the same time Yoko is sticking her head out to check on the weather.

Thirty thousand in 1969 money is $224,472.41 today (inflation rate of 648%). You cannot buy anything on UWS or much of Manhattan today for so little money.

Rex Reed was incredibly lucky and also benefited from kindness of both strangers and friends in landing his Dakota apartment. From above linked NYT piece that has been posted in other threads about Dakota apartments.

"“I moved into this apartment with an A.&P. shopping cart, some books and whatever I could drag over from my little walk-up on 73rd Street,” Mr. Reed said. His only furniture was a corduroy Queen Anne chair and a sleeping bag. The night he moved in, the film star Robert Ryan, who was president of the Dakota’s board, rang the doorbell to welcome him, and the two shared instant coffee, Mr. Reed on the sleeping bag, Mr. Ryan in the chair. “Do you think that happens today?” he asked."

No self-respecting co-op today in Manhattan and likely NYC as whole would allow anyone to buy with just pretty much just what they paid for unit. You have to show substantial assets that prove you can pay bills on time and won't likely be eating rice and beans for years because you've put everything into buying apartment.

Keep in mind however great the Dakota was then and is today the UWS in 1960's and 1970's was just a totally different place, and this included Central Park West.

Rex Reed's apartment wasn't the only one that went cheaply.....

"In 1961, the Dakota went from rentals to co-ops. But two of the building’s most popular long-time residents, Henry and Winifred Blanchard, couldn’t afford to buy their fifth-floor spread and were to be evicted. According to Birmingham, each Christmas, carolers in the courtyard would decamp to the Blanchards for “hot buttered rum, cookies and sandwiches.” Neighbor John de Cuevas, whose grandfather was oil baron John D. Rockefeller Sr., agreed to buy the Blanchards’ apartment for $26,250 and allow the couple to stay on.

After Henry’s death, Winifred continued to live there until her death in 1988. “There was no agenda other than generosity. He didn’t do it as an investment,” says de Cuevas’ broker, John Burger of real estate firm Brown Harris Stevens. Still, the good-Samaritan gesture paid off two years later when de Cuevas sold the place for $1.3 million."

R4

Rex Reed's tiny flat is one of the former servants/maids room that along with what once was area set aside for doing laundry were converted into apartments.

The Dakota was originally built to function as a high end residential hotel, with maids, laundresses and other servants on staff. They were the ones who lived (as they would in many European apartment buildings, hotels, great houses) in the upper most floors.

[quote] 30k was not a huge amount in 1969. He got an incredible bargain. it doesn't look like he's redecorated since he bought it. I would be thrilled if someone left that to me.

Sweetheart, you do realize you were looking at a photo from roughly 45 years ago, yes?

I had a one night stand with him in the early 90s, we met at The Works (insert Nathan Lane joke here):

Yes, I had an ulterior motive-I wanted to see what the inside of the Dakota was like. But I was unattracted to Rex Reed, I thought he was sexy in a debauched sort of way. He turned out to be a very nice man.

Now for the apartment-it wasn’t small. It was ramshackle, cozy and lived in. In his bathroom he had Shirley MacLaine’s panties embossed and hanging on the wall. I think he told me she wore them during one of her Vegas runs (pardon my pun). He had a very large, comfy bed. And, from what I remember, a tiny kitchen. He offered to make me gumbo but I wasn’t hungry at 4 am. And yeah, he said Lauren Bacall was an absolute cunt and a hideous tenant. I don’t think I asked him about Yoko. So there you go.

Shit, I meant I was NOT UNATTRACTED to Rex Reed.

"In his bathroom he had Shirley MacLaine’s panties embossed and hanging on the wall"

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

[quote]R31 I had a one night stand with him in the early 90s, we met at The Works (insert Nathan Lane joke here):

Thanks for sharing! I was going to scurry here from the musical theater thread and shriek, “Some WHORE over there says he saw the apartment during a one night stand!!!”

But I didn’t want to be off putting, you know.

Hahaha, R34.

I forgot to add his bed was a four poster. I wish i could remember what the hallways of the Dakota were like. It was a long time ago.

A question for R31 / r32 / r35:

We are duty bound to ask this... please understand.

Did you whore yourself out to any other celebs just to see their homes?

(There could be a book deal in this for you - or at least your own thread!)

I dislike Rex Reed and thought his writing was horrible stuff, but he was surprisingly attractive when he was a young man. I suppose he didn't have an easy time of it when he was growing up - but then a lot of other people didn't either.

Paul Lyndes scathing bitchiness came off funny,Rex's came off snotty . He was rather good looking when he was young.

R36, I didn’t consider it as “whoring myself,” tee hee. We did happen to have a lengthy conversation before we went to bed. I stayed the night, by the way, he didn’t kick me out after we “finished.” He was a nice man. He mentioned having had a lover who died from an AIDS-related illness some years earlier.

OK, anybody live at the Apthorp who might enjoy a no-strings night with a 60 year old silver fox (well, with a mask I am).

If you open the dictionary and look up the word "bitter" you'll see a photo of Rex Reed.

[quote] I guess we have to wait til he dies

OMFG SHE'S STILL ALIVE?

Rex Reed appreciation aside, if we are going to talk about converting the servants quarters in the Dakota, then the subject is Ward Bennett. He reconfigured several in the early 60’s which were long referred to as “the most exciting apartment in New York.”

Agree, Rex was good looking in his younger days. A movie critic that gets much attention and exposure, needs to show some edginess and sharp opinions. Angering some others is part of the game.

So who gets it when Mary dies? Obviously she has no one.

Rex Reed apparently seems to have been an only child. However his mother came from a large family so there may well be an extended family of cousins (however many times removed) lurking about.

For all you Mary's moaning that Red Reed lives in some sort of genteel poverty at Dakota, be told he is not much different than his neighbors or anyone else on UES or UWS; that is Rex Reed has a second country home in Litchfield, Conn. Proceeds from Myra Breckinridge paid for that property...

So Rex Reed isn't that much different than many other elder gays or straights on UWS; he bought primary and or even secondary homes ages ago when things were comparatively cheap. Of course many of these same people couldn't afford a broom closet in areas they live today, but they are sitting on nice accumulated wealth.

The Dakota being a co-op Rex Reed's apartment will go the same way as Lauren Bacall and others who died while owning; any potential new buyer lined up by estate will have to get past the board.

Damn, had no idea so many famous persons once lived or still do have properties in Litchfield....

Not all of Litchfield County is nice. Torrington and Winsted are dumps, full of white trash.

The Works - goes back to a time when UWS was full of gay bars and bookstores.

Pass by the Works former location all the time; IIRC it is and may still be a bike shop.

I visited The Works during my twink days in the late 90s/early 2000s and Nathan Lane hit on me a few times. I think he hit on every twink in NYC back then. He was just as you would expect - very short, VERY drunk, and absolutely repulsive. He was often by himself just standing or sitting at the bar and getting shitfaced blackout drunk. It was sad.

I saw Vladimir Horowitz at the Works circa 1985!

Do d Rex shoplift those glasses off of the dead Old Navy Lady?

Used to see Rex Reed a lot in theater lobbies in the late 60s/early 70s. He was always in brown velvet Saint Laurent suit and patent leather Gucci loafers. Handsome and very hairy but always struck me as a petulant Southern queen. I always enjoyed his interviews back then with real stars in The Sunday Times Arts section.

More recently, I would see him sitting in theaters with his date, Joyce Breach, a wonderful cabaret performer who sings Rex's kind of music and mine too.

Cute bachelor's spot, like the yellow. Yellow is a retro color. Location overlooking Central Park couldn't be better.

r52, he wanted to be confused with Truman...

I believe him re the "shoplifting" being forgetfulness. It happens.

I don't know why, but I've always liked this nasty, bitter old queen. Nice profile from the NYTimes....

Shoplifting DVDs, very retro.

Were the CDs in those long plastic cage sleeves?

"In the sixties and throughout the seventies, Reed was one of the highest-paid and most in-demand writers of celebrity profiles. His writing style is considered an exemplary example of The New Journalism and his profile of the aging Ava Gardner was included and praised in Tom Wolfe's anthology, The New Journalism."

You've got to give it to him, in his youth Rex Reed wasn't so bad to look at.

View of The Dakota early 1960's before land was sold off to create Mayfair apartments.

Dakota just after going up; you can see rest of block was basically empty except for garden/park that was over the power plant. That lot eventually was sold (15 West 72nd) to create Mayfair apartment building.

"... be eating rice and beans for years because you've put everything into buying an apartment"

I survived on 1 can of Fancy Feast per day and free tins of High Point coffee.

Rex Reed through the years.....

Who is this? Just who is Mrs. Sargent? What is that name? Great big tits!

I must admit I always read his reviews and watched his TV appearances, but, God, Reed was such a bitchy asshole.

I'd take his comments on Betty (even given her reputation) with a great big brick of salt. Reed had rather mercurial responses to women. He was like an openly gay John Simon with a less handy thesaurus.

John Simon was an absolute cocksucker. What a fucking prick

"I like to imagine that sometimes, Rex takes a huge dump out of one of his windows, just at the same time Yoko is sticking her head out to check on the weather."

I used to do that to Yoko.

"John Simon was an absolute cocksucker."

I used to see him on the train, getting off at Mount Vernon West. He was about 5'4".

When Babs' A Star is Born came out, a caller to WMCA's Movie Talk show said that neither Rex Reed nor John Simon could understand the movie because they were both homosexuals. That was a big laugh.

Reed's apartment is not one of the maids' low-ceilinged rooms, all of which are on the 9th floor. His is a corner 8th floor, 2-bedroom apartment, on the 73rd Street side, facing west. Its view is the apartment building built right next to it. The kitchen is indeed tiny. It's not a grand Dakota apartment but it's spacious enough, with a fireplace.

"Was it tiny?"

About 5", but fairly thick.

His apartment faces northwest, to be exact.

I would sell that and buy a nice place with a sense of space. It looks like an attic. The attractive thing about The Dakota is selling height and dimensions - this has neither. But he could still get a ton of money for it - and just buy something with a view and light and air.

I bet he could afford real movers this time, rather than the A&P shopping cart...

R74, it's a 2-bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, good-sized dining room, and 2 bathrooms (one in the master bedroom). The ceilings, while lower than the floors beneath, are not low like the floors above. It's far from a garret.

[quote]R74 It looks like an attic.

Some of us like an attic, [italic]you cunt!

Let me tell you about attics...

[quote]R74 The attractive thing about The Dakota is selling height and dimensions - this has neither.

No, it’s the building’s location, elite cachet, history, and pre-war detail.

His looks always reminded me of the late, lovely Joey Stefano, the boytoy of a certain billionaire.

R72 ...and with extensive grounds.

Yes. The park : )

The corn plants in the dormer windows are so....common.

R60 Wow, he wasn’t bad looking back then. Why did he let himself go as he got older? Has he ever had a long term relationship?

[quote]R83 The corn plants in the dormer windows are so....common.

Corn? [italic]Corn?[/italic] How did that get in there??

R64

Aging largely is not a controllable process; at some point our bodies conspire with mother nature to do what they want to do....

That being said RR's red nose and face either point to a life of booze or some other condition that could or maybe couldn't be controlled.

RR is 82 years old, and he looks like what most white men that age (if they live that long) do given his genetics.

As for long term partner or serious BF poster above who met RR at the Works bar and had a one night stand said the guy mentioned he had a bf/lover who died of HIV/AIDs related issues. Lord knows men of Red Reed's generation who are still with us watched as their friends, lovers, partners and gay men in general were being wiped out by HIV/AIDS crisis, so maybe RR decided to be a bit more circumspect about dating or relationships after crisis hit.

Wonder if RR met or even tricked with Nureyev, Leonard Bernstein, or any of the other famous gay men who called the Dakota home.

Grand old buildings like the Dakota are not as in demand as they once were, as buyers want modern buildings with all the amenities.

Was John Simon the Times critic? Barry Humphries/Dame Edna had to wait till a certain Times critic died before he could make his (triumphant) return to New York because on his first attempt he'd been scorched by said critic.

John Simon was horrible, everybody hated him. A thoroughly unpleasant man. Racist, too.

R74

There is no guarantee RR would get anywhere near it would cost to buy something else on UWS, UES or anywhere else in Manhattan by selling his apartment at Dakota. He has a place with more space and so forth, his country house in Litchfield, Conn. While RR (or his estate) surely will get vastly more when that apartment sells than original price, there's still no promise it could pay for anything else in city at the moment, including new construction.

Besides at his age many older wealthy or even just well off persons want something smaller not larger. RR does have mobility issues so not exactly sure what he'd need more space for other than to join the no small number of UES/UWS seniors rattling around in apartments far to large for their needs.

The Dakota is a full service white glove building with a staff that is very protective of their residents especially long term elderly. They know everyone including habits so if nothing is heard from a resident for a period of time that is not usual, a safety check will be made. That area is well stocked with laundries, food places and anything else you could want to have delivered.

While lovely in their own right, these grand pre-war CPW/UWS buildings aren't always full of units that fly off the market. The Beresford about ten blocks north still is trying to move units that were on market even before covid-19 hit.

Rex kept that table lamp for decades, I see. Good for him.

The outgoings on the Dakota would be enormous. The current Google Streetview shows that one entire side, covered with scaffolding, is undergoing some sort of refacing issue. I agree with the poster upthread: thirty years ago buildings like the Dakota were the absolute It, because new luxury buildings weren't being built. Now they are. Today most people with money prefer one of the newer developments with big windows, clean spaces, and facilities like lap pools. That said, if you ARE looking for period features, and don't desire a pool etc, the Dakota is near the top of the tree.

R89

Reading some of the interviews with and articles about David Easton star architect who recently passed on he talks about how nature of projects had changed over years, and he had to go with the flow.

Young people buying great apartments or building such homes don't want rooms enfilade of old and so forth, but large open spaces. You see this in how much new construction along "Billionaires Row" and other multi-family new units are laid out by their floor plans. People buying today unless totally into certain prewar architecture aren't into those old apartments with formal (but separate) rooms.

While some co-op buildings are more generous than most about things, not all will allow gut renovations that remove many interior walls to open up things. Besides all that work costs money and takes time. Often it is far less expensive and easier just to buy new construction and be done.

Then you have fact buildings like Dakota have HVAC systems that are largely from another era or century. The Dakota still has the same antiquated steam heating system that was originally installed when building went up in late 1800's. To control heat residents have to send for someone on staff to come up and regulate the radiators. No central AC either, and those window units can get old after a while.

They want fitness centers, spas and other accoutrements all on-site, as well as the open plans posters talked about above. They don't want to deal with the ancient old gargoyles on co-op boards. Modern plumbing, central air and electrical. There is SO much shit you have to plug in now, you need modern wiring. New construction fits the needs of 21st century people these days. They're paying a fortune, so they want to get their money's worth.

This nonsense that "new construction" is more popular than buying an apartment in the Dakota is beyond ludicrous. It's the most coveted building to be in.

And Reed's apartment would sell for at least $5 million. Roberta Flack had a 2-bedroom apartment (in a better location in the building than Reed's--coincidentally, right behind on of Yoko's) and she sold hers for something like $6-7 million.

R94

Exactly!

You're asking people to fork millions for an apartment that will need substantial renovations to remotely suit. All with no guarantee that the co-op board will allow all or even much of what you've got planned. Far better to just pay for new construction that already is near what you want, and if the odd few things have to be done condo boards are more easier to deal with than pre-war co-op.

People want central air or at least wall AC, laundry appliances, electrical wiring that can easily support all of today's technology with room to spare. They also want floor plans that work out of the box instead of trying to live with things that have been chopped up over years, which goes back to paying huge sums to put things back.

Ms. Flack's apartment at Dakota only sold after a hefty discount, and even then largely because new owners intended to combine unit with one adjacent.

[quote]R92 Today most people with money prefer one of the newer developments with big windows, clean spaces, and facilities like lap pools. That said, if you ARE looking for period features, and don't desire a pool etc, the Dakota is near the top of the tree.

Just so they can take their “selfishies” on their “cell phones” and such.

Outrageous.

I used to perform at the Dakota a couple times a year. Cocktail parties. It was fun. I was always treated well. Met interesting people. Breathed rare air & then headed back to Hell’s Kitchen. Yachts on the west side too. That was fun. Then I bought a house in the country.

I hit the apartment jackpot for several years in the late 80s when I had a rich French boyfriend and enjoyed a 3 salon haussmannien enfilade overlooking the avenue. I would get hard just walk from room to room. And the thing is, he wasn't even that rich, just old bourgeois.

When European cities start ripping out their enfilades we need to close up shop and call it a day. End of civilization.

r95 that's not true. New construction is hot hot hot now. The old guard buildings of course still move apartments, but there's not the clamor for them as there was in the past.

And I know this sounds rude, but it seems that a lot of the old guard buildings are more attractive to scumbag foreigners with ill-gotten money these days, more than anyone else.

Just glance at sales numbers for the Dakota.... virtually nothing sells at full asking which in of itself may mean nothing or everything.

To be fair keep in mind there isn't a huge number of apartments and turnover is rather low.

If and or when I hit lottery am going to get me one of these Haussmann apartments in Paris, France.

The scathing Times review (1977) of Dame Edna was by Richard Eder; Barry Humphries later bit back and said that Eder had "5 to 7 children and a club foot" (he had polio as a child). John Simon liked Dame Edna.

I love the architecture and detailing of old buildings, but if I’m going to pay millions for an apartment, I want modern amenities (especially central air) and tall ceilings. So many of these old apartments have such low ceilings.

Far as NYC is concerned generally pre-war multi-family would have something around 9' to even a bit above 11' ceilings.

Post war especially after new zoning regulations kicked in you see things around 8' to under 9' with some places trying to get away with just shy of 8'.

One of the best comments I've read on ceiling heights was on a Streeteasy thread...

"E.g., 845 Fifth and 28 E 10th are both 1920s. 845 has over 12', but the main rooms are nearly 800 ft² each, so the height had to correspond. 28 E 10th is about 8.5', but the rooms/windows/doors are in scale so the ceilings don't feel low.

130 W 12th, built several years later, is only 9' floor-to-floor, so ceilings are maybe 8'3". That has the broad windows of its time, so also feels in scale.

One apples-to-apples comparison would be in newer buildings where the ceiling height rises by a foot or so for the floor below a change in setbacks or configuration, because plumbing risers have to shift horizontally in the hung ceiling of the interior rooms. Those apartments should sell or rent faster or for more than on the floor below."

The push away from steam/hot water heating via convectors or rads to forced air (which also allows central ac), is going to result in apartments with lower ceilings unless other ways are found to deal with venting/ducts/HVAC equipment. You can keep steam/hot water rads or whatever and go with ductless split AC or something I suppose.

It might depend on how tall you are.

I was shown an apartment on Beacon Hill in Boston once that was beautiful.... but the ceilings were, I swear, just 6” tall. It was disorienting.

If you were just 5 feet tall it might be alright (?)

That being said good amount of new construction is not only doing 11' ceilings, but 13' to 18' as well. There is a market for such grand spaces and developers if they get things right (especially in terms of pricing and timing the market) will be rewarded by selling such units on at a very good price.

It’s too bad architects won’t build new buildings with old style classic architecture on the outside, but make the actual apartments inside with modern amenities. Because I hate how plain the outside of these new buildings look.

R107

Streeteasy thread about ceiling heights was started by a rather tall gentleman. Of course if you are tall to very by time you are a young adult or even late teens you become acutely aware of height of all sorts. Having always to duck down when entering or leaving rooms or whatever, that sort of thing. If someone is 6'2" a room with ceiling height of just 7' probably is going to feel tight.

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The maintenance fees at The Dakota must be punitive. Upkeep on that building can't be cheap.

I bet it smells like gin and regret.

[quote]I bet it smells like gin and regret.

And Shirley Maclaine's pantyhose.

R112

As with every other co-op in city monthly fees are based upon number of shares held. Thus larger and or more costly apartments will come with higher monthly charges than smaller.

A charming one bedroom currently on market at the Dakota for just over $1 million has monthly charges of $3,255

OTOH a larger unit going for nearly $10 million has monthly charges of $13,062

Only queen who did not succumb to my charms when I chatted him up.

For context, I have a 2 bedroom, 1000 sq ft condo off 5th Ave in Harlem. The common charges are $740 a month. Roof deck, storage, gym, heat, gas, water, super, no doorman.

R118 it’s in HARLEM!!!

Red Reed looks pretty good for his age, he's over 80 for chrissakes, R84. He's fatter, had a facelift and has a full head of hair. Reed is such a snotty bitch who hangs out with old divas, I can see why he's never had a long term relationship.

First of all, nouveau riche trash and only they want new construction, which is shit construction, even in buildings that are multimillion-dollar apartments. Second, the ceilings in the Dakota for apartments on the 1st through the 8th floors range in height from 12 to 14 feet high. It's a far superior building than any new construction crap. But trash are welcome to them.

I would also add that the most glorious apartments in the Dakota are room after room after room that are gigantic in size, the wood is a combination of mahogany, oak, cherry, etc., there are moldings and several fireplaces, and all the apartments are soundproofed. Add a Central Park view and you have a dream apartment. Granted, they're not all that amazing. But new construction pales compared to all that.

But whatever.

Central air is also something that you can have in the Dakota. A lot of the larger apartments have utility closets where central air can be installed.

[quote]First of all, nouveau riche trash and only they want new construction, which is shit construction, even in buildings that are multimillion-dollar apartments.

Sweetheart, you are stuck in the past. Nobody gives a fuck about WASPs and "society" and "old money" anymore, that shit is all totally irrelevant. It's a 21st Century world.

I know - "Mary!" - but the little Dakota 1 BR at R115 is enchanting.

Hunty R125, you speak like the nouveau-riche trash you'd love to be, and that has nothing to do with the 21st century.

R115 It's cute but very small. And that hideous bathroom floor - I saw the same in a movie I watched last night, in which the protagonist lived in a crappy apartment in Queens. Why oh why all those teeny tiles, with all the nasty spaces between them?

R127, do you live in NYC? If so, how big is your place?

r126 the days of Jayne Wrightsman and her French Provincial co-op on 5th are over. Get with the 21st century.

r121 I guess you haven't been keeping up with things. Your spiel is very dated. Even the descendants of the old WASP guard think that shit is just silly and they're indistinguishable from everybody else these days.

R128, I live in a house in LA now. But I do have some perspective, having lived in NYC for 15 years, 1983-98. My first place was an East Village walkup, bigger than The Dakota one, with two small bedrooms. Later another walkup on East 92nd, about same size but more charm. Finally moved on up to a really nice, spacious, 11th floor modern 2bed unit in a building on East 87th street called Rivers Bend. So that's my Manhattan apartment history. I probably couldn't afford anything decent there now.

I'm thinking more Agnes Gund, R129.

As for me, bitch, I'm in a highrise in Hell's Kitchen, in a fabulous place with a view (from my balcony) of everything from the Hudson to Times Square, and very much in the 21st century.

Large apartments were more plentiful to come by in the early 1980s, R131. Reed's apartment is a little over 1200 square feet. I've lived in smaller and larger.

[quote]As for me, bitch, I'm in a highrise in Hell's Kitchen, in a fabulous place with a view

Sometimes the jokes just write themselves.

R133 I think Rex's place sounds pretty nifty. I was responding to the current listing at R115

You being the biggest joke, R134. I'm sure Billionaires Row to you is your dream.

Nice address but it feels just a bit claustrophobic to me. Agree with a couple of others who would sell and move to somethign a little more airy.

Airy fairy.

I never liked the exterior of the Dakota. Too Gotghic-looking, I guess.

Judging by the decor, I don't think Rex Reed cares about light and airy.

I like RR's apartment. Feels like a bunker. I'd get rid of the plants, though.

THIS is a bunker.

I think this thread (arguing the size of Rex Reed’s landmark apartment) influenced my dream last night. Hold on!

Margaret Sullavan and I had escaped a cult together and were integrating back into life in the outside world. I walked her to her place in Manhattan, which was above some historic nightspot (like El Morocco... but Chinese.) She said I could ordinarily move in with her, but the place was too small.

I saw the living room was normal sized and thought, “This would be fine for me... she’ll take the bedroom and we’ll share the kitchen. It’s a famous old building and she’s a LEGEND!”

But then we went into the bedroom and it was tiny tiny tiny.. like 8’ square. And I thought, “Wow, this apartment really IS small.”

He can't move because he has a rough-trade trick mummified there.

Oh, God, R142, you got me thinking about "Paris Is Burning." Dorian was probably my favorite "character" on that documentary; seemed like a kind, grounded person. Dorian was last person I'd suspect having a dead body in their apartment. I wonder what happened. I'd like to give Dorian the benefit of the doubt & think that he / she had reasons for that dead body.

When Rex dies, how many stolen CDs will they find in that apartment?

[quote]To control heat residents have to send for someone on staff to come up and regulate the radiators. No central AC either, and those window units can get old after a while.

Betty Bacall would bang on the pipes with Bogie's Oscar while screeching obscenities.

"To control heat residents have to send for someone on staff to come up and regulate the radiators. No central AC either, and those window units can get old after a while."

Neither of that is true.

[quote]Yes, I had an ulterior motive-I wanted to see what the inside of the Dakota was like.

r31 IS Patrick Stewart at 3:33

r116 is kind of a mashup of a Tasteful Friends and an Oh, Dear (as applied to living spaces).

Does Rex have any gentleman callers these days?

John Simon.... looks like no one was not unhappy to see the back of him; how sad.

At his age, sex is probably not an option.

Someone asked if John Simon was gay, this quote from above linked NYT piece should answer that question.

"On “Charlie Rose” in 2001, Mr. Simon accused The Times’s drama critic Ben Brantley of favoring plays by homosexuals because he was gay, a motivation Mr. Brantley rejected. “To my misfortune,” Mr. Simon said, “I’m not homosexual, and therefore I’m a kind of odd man out in the theatrical world.”

Wasn't Rosemary's Baby filmed at the Dakota?

R141, remember, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[quote]R154 Wasn't Rosemary's Baby filmed at the Dakota?

The exterior was used, Yes. And a little known fact is that Rutanya Alda (or Carol Ann from “Mommie Dearest”) was Mia Farrow’s stand-in... though not for the nudie scenes.

NYC locations for Rosemary's Baby

[quote]Wasn't Rosemary's Baby filmed at the Dakota?

For budgetary reasons, a number of scenes were filmed at the 5 room Imperial House apartment of Joan Crawford, who had hoped to snag the role of first-time mother Rosemary for herself.

The Works! I used to dance at this place a lot in the 90's. It really felt like its own uptown "gay bubble," removed from everything happening below 42nd Street. It was a nice place. Interesting location across from that park area outside the science museum.

The two "gaylebrities" that you'd see there the most in the 90's were Rex Reed and Sam Champion.

Both never interacted with any of the dancers because they seemed to live in a (90's-style) glass closet. They both appeared aware people were noticing them. Doing something obvious in a public bar, like shoving a dollar in a dancer's g-string, was too obviously gay. Hey... they might just be normal guys hanging out in a local bar! Right? Just in case. Also, when drag shows would happen they'd always linger in the back and not go near the stage.

Also, Reed never appeared to be "sad or alone" to me. He just seemed like some older guy hanging out drinking and talking to people. He had a lot of friends there. Champion also seemed well-liked for the most part.

OMG this thread!

Why is most of his lovely furniture shoved against walls? He needs an interior decorator.

[quote] It would certainly explain his awful disposition and general disdain for life.

It would indeed. So I want one too.

[quote] And compared to Paul Lynde, at least Rex Reed was sort of an intellectual.

Be fair though — Lynde was a comedian so he couldn’t work a lot of references to Baudelaire into his Hollywood Squares responses.

R159 I used to see Sam Champion dancing shirtless at The Roxy and other places back in the 90's.

R163 *spit-take*

Paul Lynde went to Northwestern

If gays could make babies together, and Tom Hanks and William Shatner were gay, Reed would be their baby.

I've always thought that Rex Reed was quite good looking when he was younger - I love full eyebrows and long eyelashes.

Rex resonates Adam Lambert to me. He could play him in a film if he is capable of acting, which I don't know.

R164 et al

Honey everyone saw Sam Champion all over back in the day; Beige, Roxy, Splash.....

The link at r29 includes an interview Reed did with Dick Cavett re the 1969 Academy Awards. I've put it here - can someone determine what the hell he says about John Wayne starting at around the 7:00 mark? Its bleeped out on the tape. what was so controversial?

In that clip, I would have enjoyed fucking Rex at that age. Cavet always makes my skin crawl.

Has things muddled; the Works bar was at 428 Columbus Avenue, bike shop is (or was) next door at 430 Columbus.

Say "was" because Bycicle Renassance is closing up shop. Yet another vacant retail space on Columbus Avenue. Time was that strip was jumping, from 86th down towards Lincoln Center, now it's just every other space empty, empty, empty.

R159

UWS was the "other" big gay neighborhood by the 1980's if not a bit before. Bookstores, bars, clubs..... Especially if your tastes ran into actors, dancers, those in performing arts, etc....

In many ways it was like the West or Greenwich Village as even straight bars, restaurants or whatever mostly seemed welcoming to gays.

Any of you queens fuck Marc Jacobs when he was a stockboy at Charivari and living with his bubbeh in The Majestic?

A typical day in the 80s:

Afternoons in the Ramble

Evenings at The Works

Late nights/early mornings at Les Hommes Bookstore

It wasn't just Jews and POC, but the co-ops of UWS (especially pre-war) were often very welcoming to gay men as singles or couples when it came to buying. Mr. Rex Reed buying at the Dakota is but a case in point.

Across Central Park things were (and often still are) rather different. With some buildings more enlightened than others. Ditto I suppose for Beekman and Sutton Place buildings.

I love these New York threads.

Rex Reed looks like my mother's decorator from the 1970s.

Did you hit on him?

Is Rex’s cock big or small?

It was named after Dakota Fanning.

why would they need fanning? Didn't someone say they have central air?

Dakota apartments do not have central air, we've discussed that fact already.

Individual apartments may have AC in various forms (except through wall units), but building wide only HVAC system is heating.

R184, first, you have a comma splice.

Second, an "HVAC" system with only heating is an oxymoron.

Do you often order go to Mexican restaurants and order the combination platter with just tacos?

All of them Chavs!

R185

Only morons around here are grammar patrol monitors like yourself who feel compelled to read and grade internet post submissions as if they were an English lit assignment.

R181, someone described him as small by DL standards.

R187 they are just trying to help you improve yourself.

"Criticism is futile because it puts a person on the defensive and usually makes him strive to justify himself. Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person’s precious pride, hurts his sense of importance, and arouses resentment. …. Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving."

R190 Next you should quote Emily Post's Etiquette to tear down Richard Blackwell.