Princeton Magazine, Spring 2010

s p r i n g 2 010

Leslie Burger on Princeton Public library’s centennial

90 acres: a farm to table exPerience the “belle” of the morgan library saving new jersey’s birds of Prey $4.95 princetonmagazine.com

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ANSWER

Q:

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Q: What types of appliances are available for outdoor kitchens?

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A: Everything from freestanding and built-in grills to side burners, warming drawers, refrigeration, ice makers, sinks, and faucets.

Q: Why are outdoor kitchens so popular?

A: An outdoor kitchen is an extension of your home that has the ability to offer all the comforts of being indoors.

Q: What products are you featuring at this year’s Junior League of Greater Princeton Designer Showhouse in Skillman, NJ open April 25th to May 23rd?

A: We are proud to be a part of this year’s home and are thrilled to present a Wolf outdoor grill. Wolf outdoor grills are available in 30", 36", and 42" sizes and every grill features a rotisserie, smoker box, warming rack, interior lighting, and external thermometer.

Q: Will you be hosting an event at this year’s Showhouse?

A: We will host a special event called “Outdoor Kitchens are Hot” on Friday, May 14th at 7:00PM! A panel of expert designers will be available to help you plan your next outdoor kitchen and living spaces. A light dinner will be grilled al fresco by Scott Anderson, Chef/ Owner of Elements Restaurant. Tickets available on line at www.jlgp.org.

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Spring/2010

66

38

44 60

here & there

10 14 16 22 32 34 89 90

From the Editor The Book Scene Librarian Picks The Art Scene Architecture as Icon Shopping In the Garden New & Noteworthy Lacrosse Unlimited Mark Your Calendar Upcoming Events Vintage Princeton Princeton Library The Last Word Barry Weisfeld

the tastes 66 90 Acres A Table at the Farm 72 Cocktail Hour Enoteca 74 Dining Out Guide Area Restaurants

features

38 Leslie Burger | The director of the Princeton Public

Library says,“It’s all about sharing”

44 Belle of the Books | Belle da Costa Greene

provokes more questions than answers

50 Birds of a Feather | A grounded Peregrine Falcon

named Georgette finds a new home

56 A Big Idea | Princeton University Scientist

Michael McAlpine invented a miniscule device to harness energy

60 A Reverence for Nature | Akiko Collcutt focuses

on using and reusing all things natural on the cover: Leslie Burger photographed atop the Princeton Public Library by Benoit Cortet

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Spring/2010 PUBLISHER J. Robert Hillier, FAIA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lynn Adams Smith ART DIRECTOR Jim Morgan GRAPHIC DESIGNER Matthew DiFalco CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Stuart Mitchner Ellen Gilbert Linda Arntzenius Dilshanie Perera Anne Levin Liz Harcharek Gina Hookey Mary Ann Cavallaro ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Robin Broomer ACCOUNT MANAGER Sara E. K. Cooper

Never miss an issue!

OPERATIONS MANAGER Melissa Bilyeu

s p r i n g 2 010

er slie Burg Le ic on Princeton Publial FEBRUARY

library’s centenn

PHOTOGRAPHERS Andrea Warriner Benoit Cortet Andrew Wilkinson Emily Reeves 2 010

90 acres: a farm ience to table exPerthe the “belle” ofry morgan libra y’s saving new jerse birds of Prey

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8 SPRING 2010 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

PRINCETON MAGAzINE 305 Witherspoon Street Princeton, NJ 08542 P: 609.924.5400 F: 609.924.8818 www.princetonmagazine.com

Editorial suggestions: editor@princetonmagazine.com Princeton Magazine is published 6 times a year with a circulation of 35,000. All rights reserved. Nothing herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher. To purchase PDF files or reprints, please call (609) 924-5400 or e-mail melissa.bilyeu@princetonmagazine.com.

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from the editor The Princeton Public Library is celebrating its 100th anniversary and it’s our pleasure to have the Director, Leslie Burger, on the cover of this issue. In addition to leading our library into the 21st century, on a national scale, Leslie has served as President of the American Library Association and now has her own consulting firm, Library Development Solutions.

Also in this issue is a historical article about another accomplished librarian, Belle da Costa Greene. Belle was a Princeton University librarian in 1905 where she developed an interest in rare books and was hired by financier J.P. Morgan to manage his personal collection, housed in a grand library he built adjacent to his Madison Avenue brownstone, and now the site of a spectacular addition by worldrenowned architect Renzo Piano.

The glamorous and sophisticated Belle flourished, working with Morgan, traveling around Europe, buying millions of dollars of important manuscripts and art for his library. With seemingly unlimited means and savvy negotiation skills, Belle became a powerful and respected player in the book and art world. Morgan was known to have had multiple affairs and rumors stirred that Belle and Morgan had more than a professional relationship.

After reading “Belle of the Books”, you might be intrigued by a visit to the Morgan Library and Museum, which is a short walk from Penn Station. You can see J.P. Morgan’s study, Belle’s office, and the impressive collection of rare books and art they acquired.

Since working on Princeton Magazine, I’ve been very fortunate to meet fascinating people and visit interesting places. Pictured to the right is our Publisher, Bob Hillier, Art Director, Jim Morgan, and myself enjoying dinner at Ninety Acres, which is also featured in this issue.

The meal was delicious, the setting spectacular, on the former estate of the King of Morocco, and it was well worth the 22-mile drive from Princeton. I’m looking forward to returning, sitting on the patio with a glass of wine, and seeing the landscape in full bloom. I hope you enjoy reading about Ninety Acres and the other stories in this issue.

All the best,

Lynn Adams Smith Editor-in-Chief

10

SPRING 2010 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

working “Since on Princeton

Magazine, I’ve been very fortunate to meet fascinating people and visit interesting places.

“

Between 2,200 and 2,500 people visit the library each day and under Leslie’s leadership, there is a strong community-library partnership. Many residents consider the library the heart of Princeton, offering a delightful place to read, enjoy free online access, and to gather with neighbors for an event. To view a video of Leslie and get a glimpse of her passion and ongoing vision for the library, visit our new website at www.princetonmagazine.com.

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The book Scene

by Stuart Mitchner

New Book Picks from John McPhee’s Hometown Librarians

When honored in April 2006 by the Princeton Public Library, John McPhee explained why he’d always lived in Princeton: “There’s no need to move away to get a change of scene. You stay here all your life and you get a new town every five years.” In fact, when the library moved into the stunning building erected on the site of its original home at 65 Witherspoon Street in another Princeton, it brought a new town with it. That happened in 2004, which validates McPhee’s theory, give or take a year.

Well over five Princetons ago, when the library resided cozily within an appreciably smaller space in Bainbridge House, McPhee was going to school a stone’s throw away in the building at 185 Nassau Street that is now home to the Lewis Center of the Arts. Judging from his remarks at the 2006 event, that library and its librarians helped introduce him to some of the fields of interest he would one day explore in more than 30 books. Reviewing his new work, The Silk Parachute (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), The New York Times Book Review says that the parts about his children, his youth and its passing “demonstrate a purity of expression just about unparalleled in firstperson journalism.” The Booklist reviewer is also taken with the “glimpses of McPhee as a willful, curious boy; a nervous rookie New Yorker staff writer; and a bemused and proud father and grandfather.”

Now we know what happens when a “willful curious boy” is turned loose in a good library.

What’s New Needless to say, a new McPhee automatically rates as a staff pick. In addition to The Silk Parachute, other books exciting the interest of 14 SPRING 2010 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

the staff in the library’s one-hundredth year cover a range of subjects from imported thrillers to memoirs to Wall Street to human rights to teen fiction.

One book Princeton readers have been hungering for ever since it came out in England last fall is Stieg Larsson’s thriller, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, which was not set for a U.S. release until May 25. As Reference Librarian Gayle Stratton pointed out, the library took the initiative by ordering copies from the U.K. and making them available to eager patrons. Now there’s additional interest in the third volume in Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy thanks to the recently released film adaptation of the first book in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Readers Services Librarian Kristen Friberg calls herself “an evangelist” for Little Bee by Chris Cleave, who recently made an appearance at the library. Just released in paperback, Little Bee “has buzzed into the top slot” on the New York Times bestseller list. According to Friberg, “the beauty of Little Bee lies in Cleave’s exquisite renderings of the very basic human emotions that make us who we are. It is the voices of Little Bee, a young Nigerian refugee who is so much older than her years, and Sarah, a British mother and journalist, whose lives have become inextricably entwined because of one horrific encounter on a Nigerian beach.”

The Boston Globe called Little Bee “one of the most vividly memorable and provocative characters in recent contemporary fiction” while remarking on the way the tone of the narrative “veers quickly between humor and horror, a very dark, biting humor.... and, even at the darkest moments, a searing ray of hope.”

Other Friberg recommendations include The Surrendered by the Lewis Center’s Chang Rae Lee; The Heights by Peter Hedges, the author of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape; and Devotion, a memoir by Dani Shapiro about the author’s journey to find her faith. “Reading Devotion,” says Friberg, “is like witnessing someone else take on a challenge that many of us feel we need to take, but haven’t gotten around to yet.”

offices located in South Brunswick, this book “is sure to have local appeal.”

For teen readers, Lambert cites a Young Adult title, Suzanne Collins’s Mockingjay, the third in the Hunger Games Trilogy, which has been “a huge hit with teens and adults.” Hunger Games was a School Library Journal Best Book for 2008, and the sequel, Catching Fire, is an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2010). Having finished Catching Fire, Lambert is “eagerly awaiting” Mockingjay, which is due in August. She finds all of the books in the series to be “quick reads and quite addictive.” Hunger Games tells the story of Katnis, a poor teen girl living in a dystopian society who is forced into a reality show type of competition with other teens that is a fight to the death. Lambert finds that “the detailed writing, well-drawn characters, and big-brother government create a frenetic, fast paced story that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Several teens have told me it is like reading a TV show! I would say it is far better.”

Another pick along the same lines comes from Childrens’ Librarian Ann Woodrow, who recommends the Kane Chronicles, a new series by Rick Riordan (Lightning Thief) that starts in May. Based on Egyptian Mythology, the first book is Red Pyramid.

Will some Princeton teenager find an unlikely route to a vocation in the library by checking out enthusiastically recommended books about dystopian societies and Egyptian mythlogy? You bet. Think of Paul Krugman, who found his way to economics through science fiction. For that matter, think of the “willful, curious boy” who grew up in Princeton and went to middle school, high school, and university in his home town. From what John McPhee told a Princeton Weekly Bulletin interviewer, he had more than enough subjects to feed his curiosity even then. “If you took a list of all the things I’ve ever written,” he said, “and put a check mark beside the ones relating to something I was interested in when I was in college or before, 90 percent would be checked.” n d de ite ra l g Lim 2nd stil s le t & lace ilab p va a

1s

A Wake-Up Call Library Assistant Cynthia Lambert is especially high on Half The Sky:Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Knopf $27.95) by husband and wife Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, which Lambert describes as “a terrifying, heartbreaking, and inspirational wake-up call about what may be the largest human rights issue of our times.” She adds that it is “by no means an easy book to read—the stories of women and girls being raped, beaten, and forced into sex slavery are disturbing and graphic. I wept more than once, but also laughed, and was outraged. That these women do not give up and are willing to tell their stories is very inspirational. It is virtually impossible to not be moved by this book.”

Writing in the Washington Post, Carolyn See says Half the Sky is “one of the most important books” she has ever reviewed. The New York Times Book Review praises Kristof and WuDunn for showing faith “in the capacity of ordinary citizens, including Americans, to initiate change — gutsy at a time when many Westerners who voice concern are ritually accused of interfering. Mingling tales of woe with testimonials to people power, the authors explain how tragedy can spawn opportunity.

Their hope: ‘To recruit you to join an incipient movement to emancipate women.”

Other Lambert picks are Sarah Ellison’s “fascinating” War at the Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle to Control an American Business Empire (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt $27), which is due out on May 12. A former Journal reporter, Ellison, who won critical acclaim for her coverage of the Rupert Murdoch acquisition of the Journal from the Bancroft family, “goes far beyond her original reporting and covers not only the acquisition, but the transition in the news room after the purchase was completed and the gearing up for the battle to take on the New York Times.” Lambert points out that with the Journal’s corporate

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE SPRING 2010 15

The arT Scene

by Stuart Mitchner

Journey of the Imagination From coins and rings to monumental icons

The first curatorial signpost you see as you enter the Princeton University Art Museum’s major international loan exhibition Architecture as Icon: Perception and Representation of Architecture in Byzantine Art, promises a “journey of the imagination” into the spiritual world of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. One temporal fact of life to recognize at the outset is that June 6 is the exhibit’s last day and that what you’re experiencing is the culmination of many years of research by guest curator Slobodan Ćurčić, professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton.

The journey takes on another dimension when you hear a choir singing in the video presentation “Church in Hands,” and feel as if you’ve entered one of the Armenian or Russian or Romanian churches displayed on pedestals in the sparsely lit main gallery.

Objects range in size from small coins and delicate rings to immense paintings such as a large proskynetarion (translated as “guidebook”) or monumental icon of the Holy Land, from the National Museum in Warsaw. According to Ćurčić, “the variation among the objects on view underscores one of the main tenets of the exhibition—that the meaning of symbols is not affected by their medium or physical size.”

“Teaching Byzantine art at Princeton has given me many opportunities to reflect on how little is broadly known about the ways in which great Byzantine icons work visually and the absence of any serious consideration of the representation of architecture in Byzantine art,” says Ćurčić. “This exhibition aims to demonstrate that architecture was not merely background ‘wall paper,’ but an active symbolic ingredient of the scenes in which it is depicted.”

The exhibition opened last fall in the European Center for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments in Thessaloniki. Princeton is its only venue in the United States.

16 SPRING 2010 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

The museum is open Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.

LocaL museums n Firestone Library on the Princeton University campus is presenting The Author’s Portrait: ‘O, Could He But Have Drawne His Wit,’ an exhibit of 100 portraits of poets, novelists and essayists, pulled from the holdings of the University’s Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. The exhibit will be on through July 5. Envisioning the World: The First Printed Maps, 1472-1700 is in the Leonard L. Milberg Gallery through August 1. Hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekends 12 noon to 5 p.m. n The Historical Society of Princeton, located in Bainbridge House at 158 Nassau Street,

Architecture as Icon At The Princeton University Art Museum, Through June 6

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land by Demetrios, Pilgrim, 1793 Oil on oilcloth, 85 x 86 cm. Athens, Greece: Byzantine and Christian Museum photo courtesy of The Byzantine and Christian Museum

is presenting Stony Brook: Gateway to Princeton through July 4. The exhibition examines the history of the Princeton Battlefield/Stony Brook Village Historic District, particularly how the use of the land has changed over time.

Properties within the boundaries of the district include the HSP’s own Updike Farmstead at

354 Quaker Road, the Quaker Meeting House, and several private residences along Mercer and Stockton Streets. n The James A. Michener Art Museum at 138 South Pine Street in Doylestown. Icons of Costume: Hollywood’s Golden Era and Beyond presents over 50 items selected from an extensive collection of movie memorabilia. On display are Hollywood fashions worn by Loretta Young, Elizabeth Taylor, Errol Flynn and James Dean, as well as costumes and accessories used in more recent films featuring Harrison Ford, Kevin Costner and Sean Connery. From Marlene Dietrich’s black velvet evening gown from Shanghai Express (1932) to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s black leather jacket from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Rare studio publicity stills, lobby cards and film props augment the experience, and an interactive “Screen Test” area allows visitors to act out their favorite scenes to be uploaded to the Museum’s channel on YouTube.com. The exhibition is on view in the Museum’s Paton / Smith / Della Penna-Fernberger Galleries through September 5, 2010. Also on view, Contemporary Folklore: Sculpture by Ann Chahbandour, Ryan Kelly, Lisa Naples and Kukuli Velarde, through June 13 in the Museum’s Fred Beans Gallery. Stone sculptures by artist Ayami Aoyama will be in the Outdoor Sculpture Garden through June 20. n The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum is staying open from 6 to 9 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month. The newest exhibition, Lalla Essaydi: Les Femmes de Maroc, is comprised of 17 large scale photographs selected from the artist’s most recent series and will be on view through June 6. How We Live Now: Picturing Everyday Life in Children’s Book Illustrations is in The Roger Duvoisin Gallery through May 23. The Zimmerli is located at 71 Hamilton Street on the College Avenue campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick. n Mabel Smith Douglass Library Galleries, Rutgers University

8 Chapel Drive, New Brunswick. The current Mary H. Dana Women Artist Series exhibition features four artists selected by a jury of visual arts professionals. Lisa Pressman and Debra Ramsay work primarily in encaustic; Marsha Goldberg and Nicole Ianuzelli paint with oil and acrylic. The show runs through June 7. Gallery Hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; weekends by appointment. n Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library on the Princeton University campus. Princetonians in Print: 175 Years of Student Publications at Princeton, an exhibition that chronicles the history of student publications at Princeton University from the earliest known student papers to the broad range of present-day online publications. The exhibition runs through Friday, July 30. It will be on view 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. weekdays. For more information e-mail mudd@princeton.edu, call (609) 258-6345, or visit http://www.princeton.edu/mudd/ n Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street in Princeton. The current exhibit, Rocks & Dinos! showcases a series of paintings by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins depicting different geological eras that were installed in Princeton University’s Nassau Hall in the late 1870s. The exhibition will run through spring 2010. Other events include a Friends of Morven Plant Sale Preview Day from 12 noon to 4 p.m. on May 7 and from 5 to 7 p.m. a Morven in May Garden Party with cocktails and a silent auction; and on May 8 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the annual Heirloom Plant Sale, Birds, Bees & Butterflies. Museum hours are Wednesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The admission fee is $4 for seniors and students, and $5 for adults. Onsite parking is free. For more information about the Garden Party, call (609) 924-8144, ext.

106, or visit www.morven.org. n

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princeton shops

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1 Pottery Barn, Palmetto Collection; potterybarn.com 2 Coach, Tasha sunglasses, $148; coach.com 3 Banana Republic, Perseus lava bib, $69.50; 609.921.8111 4 J. McLaughlin, Marietta rattan clutch, $185; 609.497.9717 5 J. McLaughlin, Silk print scarf, $115; 609.497.9717 6 Tory Burch, Metallic Miller thong, $195; toryburch.com 7 Anthropologie, Straw hat, anthropologie.com

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Green Gear 7 1 Target, Steel finish lanterns, $59.99; target.com 2 Paisley gardening gloves, $26; womanswork.com

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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SPRING 2010

PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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New&Noteworthy

by Mary Ann Cavallaro photographs by Andrea Warriner

Lacrosse Unlimited | Heats Up the Playing Field Lacrosse Unlimited Palmer Square • 45 Hulfish Street Princeton, NJ 08540 Shannon Kelly, store manager www.lulax.com

Fun is what you feel stepping into Lacrosse Unlimited, custom apparel and equipment store at Palmer Square. The sound of young voices greets you in the large open room filled with brightly colored lacrosse heads and shafts. School age customers and parents talk with youthful sales associates A lacrosse backboard sits in the center of the room inviting customers to try out their potential purchase or just hit a few balls.

“Lacrosse is the best of all sports. It has the speed of soccer, the hitting of football, the eye-hand coordination of hockey and the team work of basketball,” says Owen Diver, a junior at Princeton High School and a sales associate at Lacrosse Unlimited.

Lacrosse is one of the oldest team sports in the Americas possibly dating back as early as the 12th century. Native Americans originated the game using a small solid ball and a long-handled racquet called a crosse or lacrosse stick. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose netting that is designed to hold the lacrosse ball. A French Jesuit missionary saw Iroquois tribesmen play the game and wrote about it, calling it lacrosse. It may have originated from the French term for field hockey, “le jeu de la crosse”. However, some say it was named after the crosier, a staff carried by bishops.

However the name originated, it describes one of the fastest growing sports played in the country. Currently there are twentytwo stores in the US. Lacrosse Unlimited in Princeton is the 4th store in New Jersey.

Asked whether the tough economy is slowing things down, Shannon Kelly, store manager, reports, “At the time the economy feel off, lacrosse was growing, so we did not feel any negative effects. There have been no effects on the day to day operations of the store. No lay offs.”

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE

Lacrosse Unlimited, a family owned business originating in Long Island, believes their loyal customer base has allowed them to grow nationally. The company vision is dedicated to bringing customers the best in service and products.

Founder Joe DeSimone took a shaft head, dyed it and put vinyl stickers on it. The customized look caught on. Later he laser engraved the shaft.

Originally, stick heads were strung with cat gut or leather. The customized look moved away from using animal products to more eco-friendly materials.

In addition to the custom-dyed and strung lacrosse heads with shafts, lacrosse products include helmets, shoulder pads, elbow protectors, gloves and footwear. The store also sells apparel (and accessories of sweat pants and hats).

“Every year customers get younger and younger,” Kelly notes.

“Pre-teens and teens, shopping with their parents.”

“The game is co-ed and is really taking off with girls.” She says, “It’s cultish.”

Offensively, the objective of the game is to use the lacrosse stick to catch, carry, and pass the ball in an effort to score by shooting it into an opponent’s goal. Defensively, the objective is to keep the opposing team from scoring and to dispossess them of the ball through the use of stick checking and body contact or positioning.

Shannon Kelly, too, played lacrosse in high school. Although the game involves bodily contact for boys, “girls are not allowed to hit each other. They can tap racquet heads.”

Not only for the affluent, the Bobby Campbell Lacrosse Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, was established to support and promote high school and youth lacrosse in Central New Jersey.

Robert Campbell was born and raised in Princeton, graduating from Princeton High in 1978. He became Head Lacrosse Coach, served as administrator of the Princeton Summer lacrosse league, and died in 1999. The foundation carries on his passion for lacrosse including activities of camp, program and equipment grants.

Lacrosse Unlimited also is committed to giving back to the community supporting numerous charities and programs including Lacrosse for Autism.

Kelly points out she hires sales associates who play lacrosse in order for them to better connect with customers.

The growth of the game never stops impressing sales associate Joe Gwin, who not only plays but coaches lacrosse for youth in Montgomery. A Princeton High School graduate of 2000, Gwin says “when I played in high school, Montgomery High had no team, now Montgomery High has won a state championship.”

Princeton High School and John Witherspoon Middle School both have teams. Most area high schools have teams while youth teams are town specific. n

“The game is co-ed and is really taking off with girls.”

Shannon says, “It’s cultish.”

cULTURAL EvENTS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28 n 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.: Junior League of Greater Princeton Designer Showhouse & Gardens XVI; 1438 Great Road, Skillman. Continues through Sunday, May 23. For complete schedule and details see article on page 76. n 4:30 P.M.: Talk and book sale and signing

by Martha A. Sandweiss, author of Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line; Lewis Science Library, Washington Road & Ivy Lane, Princeton University. n 4:30 P.M.: Lewis Center for the Arts readings by Chang-rae Lee and W.S. Merwin, Stewart Theater, Lewis Center for the Arts, 185 Nassau Street. n 7 P.M.: Re-Imaging Charity lecture by Dr. Cornel West, Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street, free. For reservations, call (609) 396-9355, ext. 27. n 8 P.M.: Liminal; Matthews Acting Studio, Lewis Center for the Arts, 185 Nassau Street.

THURSDAY, APRIL 29 n 12:30 P.M.: Organ concert by Iris Lan;

Preston & Child read at Barnes & Noble

t

t

Author Nassim Taleb at Labyrinth Books

Carol Burnett at The State Theatre in New Brunswick

t

Morven’s Annual Heirloom Plant sale

t

Mark Your Calendar

n 7:30 P.M.: MacHomer; McCarter Theatre. n 8 P.M.: New Jersey Symphony Orchestra;

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5

Richardson Auditorium.

Margalit will discuss, Religion and Democracy; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street.

SATURDAY, MAY 1

n 9 A.M. to 4 P.M.: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Open House; James Forrestal Campus, U.S. Route 1, Plainsboro. n 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.: Kite Day at Terhune Orchards. Also on Sunday. n 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.: Mercer Chamber Pet Expo; Trenton Waterfront Park. n 10:30 A.M. Art for families program: Heroes, Gods and Other Over-Achievers; Princeton University Art Museum. n 7 P.M.: Cheaper Than Therapy Tour with former Saturday Night Live comic Jim Breuer; Kendall Hall, The College of New Jersey. n 7:30 P.M.: Jim Brickman; Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, Trenton.

7:30 P.M.: The Bravura Chamber Players; Arts Council of Princeton.

SUNDAY, MAY 2

n 8:30 A.M.: Spring bird walk for all ages

n 8 P.M.: Take Flight, a new American musi-

with Lou Beck of Washington Crossing Audubon; Washington Crossing Nature Center, Titusville. Free. n 2 P.M.: Chakaia Booker talks about creating sculptural works using recycled materials; Grounds For Sculpture. n 5 P.M.: The Galilean Telescope and Its Rivals by Princeton University Professor Eileen Reeves; Dorothea’s House, 120 John Street.

cal; Berlind Theatre. through June 6.

TUESDAY, MAY 4

Princeton University Chapel. n 11 A.M.: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope. Also at 8 P.M. n 8 P.M.: Junior-Senior Concert featuring new works by Princeton University music majors; Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall.

FRIDAY, APRIL 30 n 8 P.M.: Tom, Dick, and Harry; Off-Broadstreet Theatre, Hopewell

.

34 SPRING 2010 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

n 5:30 P.M.: Poetry reading by C.K. Williams; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street.

n 5:30 P.M.: Authors Ian Buruma and Avishai

THURSDAY, MAY 6

n 4:30 PM.: Public lecture: Return to Space with Charles Simonyl, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Institute for Advanced Study and CEO and founder of International Software Company; Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study.

FRIDAY, MAY 7

n 9 A.M. to 8 P.M.: Princeton Theological Seminary annual used book sale; Whiteley Gymnasium, Princeton Theological Seminary.

Also Saturday, 9A.M. to 8 P.M., Sunday noon to 4 P.M., and Monday 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. n 6 P.M.: Public lecture: Experiments on Animals in Ancient Greece and Rome: Private and Public Science with Heinrich von Staden, Professor, School of Historical Studies; Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study. n 7 P.M.: “In The Garden” prom for teens and young adults ages 13 to 30 with special needs; Suzanne Patterson Center. For additional information call (609)921-9480. n 8 P.M.: Concert featuring pop singer/songwriters Dala; Grounds for Sculpture.

SATURDAY, MAY 8

n 9 A.M. to 3 P.M.: Annual Heirloom Plant Sale, Birds, Bees & Butterlies; Morven Museum & Garden; 55 Stockton Street. n 2 P.M.: Princeton Ballet School’s The Sleeping Beauty; Patriots Theatre at the War Memorial, Trenton. Also at 7 P.M.

MusiC • books • theatre • leCtures • sPorts The Chieftans at The State Theatre in New Brunswick and McCarter in Princeton t

n 5 P.M. and 8 P.M.: McCarter Theatre Gala Event starring Tony and Grammy award winner Patti Lupone. For additional information visit www.mccarter.org. n 7:30 P.M.: Steve Hudson Chamber Ensemble; Arts Council of Princeton.

SUNDAY, MAY 9

n 9 a.M.: The 81st Annual Trenton Kennel Club Dog Show. The show will feature over 3,300 dogs representing 154 different breeds and varieties, with 99 obedience entries. For additional information visit www. trentonkennelclub.org; Mercer County Park.

TUESDAY, MAY 11

n 7 P.M.: Book signing/discussion with Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, authors of Fever Dream; Barnes & Noble, Marketfair Mall, Route 1. n 7:30 P.M.: SmartTalk Connected Conversation with actress Diane Keaton; State Theatre, New Brunswick.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12

n 5:30 P.M.: Grounds For Sculpture hosts a tour of Johnson Atelier and Digital Atelier, led by Charles Haude. n 5:30 P.M.: Ninety-fifth Street: a poetry reading by John Koethe; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street.

THURSDAY, MAY 13

Poet C.K. Williams reads at Labyrinth Books

t

t

Trenton Kennel Club Annual Dog Show at Mercer County Park

t

Princeton University’s annual P-Rade

t

The Klez Dispensers at Grounds For Sculpture

maert and the Reinvention of the Altarpiece; Princeton University Art Museum.

SATURDAY, MAY 15 n 9 a.M.: The Ecology of Princeton Institute Woods talk given at the Institute by Dr. Henry Horn, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. For additional information contact Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed at (609) 737-3735.

SUNDAY, MAY 23 n 3 P.M.: Author Alice Lichtenstein to discuss Lost: A Novel; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street.

SUNDAY, MAY 16

FRIDAY, MAY 28

n 3 P.M.: Six time Emmy Award winner

n 8 P.M.: Princeton’s Triangle Show presents Store Trek; Matthews Theatre.

Carol Burnett Laughter & Reflection; State Theatre. n 3 P.M.: Poetry in the Park with Cool Women; Grounds For Sculpture. n 4 P.M.: Princeton Symphony Orchestra; Richardson Auditorium.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 19 n 6 P.M.: Art Screening & Discussion: Beautiful Losers, Contemporary Art and Street Culture; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street.

THURSDAY, MAY 20 n 6 P.M.: Author Nina Planck to discuss Real Food for Mother and Baby; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street.

FRIDAY, MAY 21 n 7:30 P.M.: New Jersey Symphony

n 6 P.M.: Author Nassim Taleb to discuss The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street.

Orchestra; Patriots Theatre at the War Memorial, Trenton. n 8 P.M.: Judy Bettina and Jim Goldsworthy classical concert; Arts Council of Princeton.

FRIDAY, MAY 14

SATURDAY, MAY 22

n 12:30 P.M.: Gallery talk: Abraham Bloe-

Tour hosted by the Arts Council of Princeton. n 5 P.M. to 8 P.M.: Artist reception for J. Stacy Rogers exhibit, Nature Portraits; des Champs Gallery, Lambertville. The exhibit continues through June 27.

n 1 P.M. to 6 P.M.: Curated Princeton Art

SATURDAY, MAY 29 n 8 a.M. to 1 P.M.: Rotary Pancake Breakfast; Palmer Square Green.

n 10 a.M.: Memorial Day Parade starts at the corner of Princeton Avenue and Nassau Street, ends at Borough Hall. n 11 a.M.: Community Park Pool opening day. n 2 P.M.: Princeton University P-rade; Nassau Street.

SATURDAY, JUNE 5 n 11 a.M. to 4 P.M.: Anniversary Arts Party including music and child friendly workshops; Grounds For Sculpture.

SUNDAY, JUNE 6 n 1 P.M.: “Rev Your Engines” car show to benefit Foster and Adoptive Family Services; Princeton Forrestal Village.

FRIDAY, JUNE 11 n 7:30 P.M.: Mariam Nazarian classical n 7:30 P.M.: Courtyard Concert: The Klez Dispensers; Grounds For Sculpture. concert; Arts Council of Princeton.

PRINCETON MAGAZINE SPRING 2010 35

Classic yet modern. A sense of history with a fresh, new twist.

Spring Street House is a premier luxury living experience, featuring 52 luxury residential apartments for lease, in the heart of Princeton Borough. Marketed by Matthew Henderson.

The one you’ve been waiting for in Cherry Valley! This gorgeous Montgomery Township home features a dramatic two-story entry, desirable and open floor plan, fabulous color palette and all the improvements and upgrades you could ask for. Move-in condition with newly remodeled spa-like hall and master baths upstairs. Marketed by Valerie Smith.

Request Pricing HendersonSIR.com/SSH $834,900

The gracious W.B. Sloan house was moved to Carson Road from Edgerstoune’s Russell Estates over 100 years ago. The spacious entry hall and mahogany curved staircase lead to the living room, library and the oak floored dining room. A stateof-the-art kitchen, renovated in 2004, includes wide Caesarstone countertops. Marketed by Judith “Jody” Erdman.

$1,795,000

Among the historic houses in Princeton Borough’s western section is a unique newly constructed home. The home features three levels of living space with five bedrooms, six and a half baths, high ceilings and three elegant fireplaces. The custom fitted kitchen is equipped with the latest appliances. Marketed

by Christina Phillips.

$2,995,000

HendersonSIR.com/500528

Located on a serene cul-de-sac in one of Princeton Township’s most exclusive neighborhoods, this stunning home offers three glorious levels of living space with great style and charm. Dramatic 12-foot ceilings, Brazilian cherry flooring, oversized windows and decorative dentil crown molding make this home truly special.

Marketed by Amanda Strigl.

HendersonSIR.com/502930 $2,195,000

Uncompromising. This spectacular lakeside retreat in Princeton Township was dramatically renovated and rebuilt by Lewis Barber Construction just a few years ago, while remarkable touches by the owners have combined to create a warm, yet sophisticated home convenient to all that Princeton’s town center has to offer.

HendersonSIR.com/388530 $3,375,000

One owner of selling LLC has a NJ real estate license.

HendersonSIR.com/505074 $1,495,000

Style and function are seamlessly paired in this stunning Max Hayden designed Princeton Township home, completely reconstructed and renovated by the current homeowners. It sits on a gracious lot just around the corner from the Littlebrook Elementary school and within walking distance of town. Many surprises await! Marketed by Kimberly Rizk.

HendersonSIR.com/480305 $1,995,000

Sitting up high and back from the road is this stone front colonial home located in Princeton Township. Natural light floods the grand two-story entrance foyer that is flanked by a formal dining room and living room with woodburning fireplace. Spacious kitchen with tile floor has walk-in pantry and large eating area.

Marketed by Janet Stefandl.

HendersonSIR.com/482319

In a picturesque Princeton Township neighborhood amid spectacular properties, a brick colonial stands tall as a tribute to the classic style of yesteryear, but with all the modern conveniences of a superbly executed 8 year old home. Gracious formal rooms with 11’ ceilings flow seamlessly with magnificent detail and maintained to the highest standard.

HendersonSIR.com/504881 $3,475,000

HendersonSIR.com/389295

View distinctive properties in every price range at HendersonSIR.com © MMX Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. A Realogy Company. All Rights Reserved. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. Subject to errors, omissions, prior sale or withdrawal without notice.

HendersonSIR.com

Uncover the secret! This unique and spacious Princeton Township home has been painstakingly renovated to include the latest luxuries for today’s indoor and outdoor lifestyles. Enjoy gatherings in the media room with wood-burning fireplace and a wet bar with refrigerator and sink. The updated kitchen offers endless opportunities. Marketed by Susan “Suzy” DiMeglio.

$1,495,000

HendersonSIR.com/503427 $1,500,000

This breathtaking almost new 16-room Georgian-style manor in Hopewell Township recalls the balance and symmetry of country houses built in the gracious eras of old. Paneled archways, crown mouldings, marble, tile and Brazilian Cherry floors and two fireplaces create refined spaces for formal and casual entertaining.

Marketed by Peggy Henderson.

$2,450,000

CRANBURY 609.395.0444

HOPEWELL 609.466.4666

908.874.0000

HendersonSIR.com/502264

Five decades of superb stewardship by the present owner transformed a late 1800s New Jersey farmhouse and much of its 47.53 acres into a country estate of inestimable comfort and beauty. Impeccably maintained, its 6-bedroom manor house, pool house, tennis court and clustered outbuildings make this property extraordinary. Marketed by Martha Giancola.

HendersonSIR.com/506475 $8,500,000

MONTGOMERY

HendersonSIR.com/501981

What a rare opportunity indeed. A classic brick Colonial in Princeton Borough’s storied western section, with 2.34 glorious acres including a sub-divided lot that adds a multitude of possibilities. Exuding charm and grace, but neatly outfitted with a modern interior, a spacious entrance foyer is a room itself with open access to the home and French doors to a side terrace.

HendersonSIR.com/313125 $2,950,000

With flawless execution of a lifelong vision tucked among some of the Princeton area’s finest estates, this modern home represents the best of new design. The striking façade is a tribute to farms on the western side of the property and impressive newly constructed homes on the east, embracing a coveted Lawrence Township location that transitions from rural to urban.

HendersonSIR.com/1068 $4,850,000

This grand Tudor-style home in Princeton Township’s western section Brookstone neighborhood is filled with natural light. A gracious foyer is flanked by a formal living room with fireplace and a banquet-sized dining room. Spectacular walls of windows overlooking the rear patios and pool. Fireplace in master suite.

Marketed by Santina “Sandy” Beslity.

HendersonSIR.com/180862 $1,795,000

What an opportunity! Spectacular blend of custom detail and terrific floorplan greet you when you enter this gorgeous home in The Preserve. With 11’ ceilings on the first floor and beautiful mahogany floors glimmering, you are welcomed into this great Princeton Township house. Set on over an acre with an amazing bluestone terrace. Marketed by Jane Henderson Kenyon.

HendersonSIR.com/146675 $2,600,000

A magnificent home built by Herrontown Builders in Princeton Township’s Rushbrook unique in its stature and comprehensive floor plan. The main level includes formal living and dining rooms, a spectacular open kitchen/eat-in area/family room arrangement, a study, the lavish master bedroom suite, two powder rooms, a pocket office, a wet bar, a large mudroom and even more.

$3,495,000

RED BARN FARM! The perfect gentleperson’s farm. This wonderful circa 1870 “farm house” in Hopewell Township has been completely updated with fabulous finishings and fixtures and spectacular additions, yet it keeps all the charm and warmth of an older home. This is a completely remarkable job! Fantastic gourmet kitchen. Marketed by Jane Henderson Kenyon.

PENNINGTON 609.737.9550

HendersonSIR.com/166602

PRINCETON 609.924.1000

© MMX Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. A Realogy Company. All Rights Reserved. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. Subject to errors, omissions, prior sale or withdrawal without notice.

Princeton Public Library: 100 Years as “The Community’s Living Room”

By Ellen Gilbert

Photographs by Benoit Cortet

“What’s so interesting to me

is that although people can now stay at home in their pj’s and get information or communicate with friends, 1,000 people showed up here to celebrate Einstein’s Birthday and Pi Day,” observed Princeton Public Library (PPL) Director Leslie Burger recently. “People still seek that face-to-face interaction.”

“Everyone’s reeling from the Governor’s budget message and feeling unsettled about the world in general, but there’s comfort and safety in being with other people,” she added.

Burger’s pleasure in the notion of PPL as a communal oasis should in no way be taken to contradict how incredibly dynamic the place is. With between 2,200 and 2,500 people passing through its doors each day, library programs for toddlers, teens, adults, and seniors are scheduled “from the moment the library opens until closing,” Burger reports. Offerings include book clubs, “storytelling” for reading to little ones, origami and other crafts, authors’ appearances, citizenship workshops, concerts, film screenings, spelling bees, and the chance for shy youngsters to read to Emma, a black Lab described as “the most gracious and non-critical of audiences.”

Online resources abound, with everything from the much-coveted JSTOR, a digital archive of over one thousand academic journals and other scholarly documents, to Alexander Street Press’s libraries of American Song, Classical Music, and Contemporary World Music.

In addition to large, commercially-produced databases offered free of charge to residents of the Township and the Borough, librarians at PPL have lovingly created customized resources that speak to the in-

e-book readers, Kindle,wireless reading devices, flash drives, museum passes, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, VHS on videotape, and large print books, along with video games, digital cameras, computer software and, of course, good old-fashioned books.

“I think that books as we know them are here to stay,” says Burger, who served as president of the American Library Association (ALA) in 2006-2007 and has been with PPL since 1999. “Books are portable and stable; right now there are no electronic devices that can mimic that experience. Not everyone can afford devices”, and, ever-true to her zealousness about community, she reminds anyone who will listen that “libraries are all about sharing.”

In addition to circulating new technology, modernity makes itself known with the sheer presence of the library’s new Witherspoon Street building, which opened in 2004. The mid-20th century library was located in Bainbridge House, now home to the Princeton Historical Society. The rheumatic nature of that building was reflected in one of those Town Topics items, this one from 1951. Reporting that, while the library “is currently featuring exhibitions. . . in connection with national Spring Festival Book Week,” the library invites teachers and their children to visit the exhibits, but because of the conditions of the building.

terests of the local community. Under the rubric “Princeton Past and Present,” for example, a trove of information is accessible through databases on Community Organizations, Elected Officials, African American Princeton (Paul Robeson rates his own separate listing), and a Local Newspaper Index.

Digitized images of pages from the first ten years (1947-1956) of Town Topics, Princeton’s Weekly newspaper, are a testament to the intimate relationship the library has enjoyed with the community over the years. “It was reported that an album of Japanese photographs, an umbrella, and reading glasses are among the items left at the library,” noted a piece from 1954. “Owners are requested to claim the articles.”

An earlier (1950) “Lost in the Library” feature notes that “a wide variety of children’s clothing” has been left “by youngsters who apparently are so eager to get home with their borrowed books that they leave outer apparel behind them.”

In those years the library offered “more than 30 reproductions of famous paintings” for rental (1954). Circulating items these days include

. . borough officials have restricted groups of visitors to a maximum of eight at one time.”

“We built a library that has the capacity to welcome as many people as want to come at any given time,” says Burger, when she hears that story. “There are always many people doing many things simultaneously, in a peaceful way.”

The 58,000 square foot, three-story, state-of-the-art library cost approximately $18 million to produce, with the Borough and the Township contributing $6 million towards construction. A lot of diplomacy and consensus-building went into raising the remaining $12 million.

Key contributors included George and Estelle Sands, for whom the building is named. Princeton University made an early donation of $500,00, and a $2,199,190 grant from the New Jersey Public Library Construction Grant Program and another for $100,000 from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Service helped. An additional $284,599 was independently raised to support the installation of permanent art in the new library.

40 SPRING 2010

PRINCETON MAGAZINE

Opposite: In the library’s lobby, “Happy World,” a mixed media wall installation by the artist Ik-Joong Kang, features over 4,000 small hand-painted and carved tiles interspersed with artifacts and words contributed by Princeton Citizens.

Above (Clockwise from top right): Burger talks with Youth Services Librarian Jan Johnson; the library is open until 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; Burger with then-Senator Barack Obama during her ALA presidency; a sense of spaciousness and light pervades the library.

Burger, an advocate for “digital citizens,” says that she loves to walk down the street and hear Princeton residents proudly point out the library to visitors.

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE

In A Narrative History of The Princeton Public Library, historian William K. Seldon reports that “by the end of the capital campaign in 2004, close to 1,000 donations had been received from Princetonians and other community-based organizations in what proved to be a remarkable community endeavor.” Indeed, the phrase “a community endeavor” is the subtitle of his book.

Those who were around during the construction of the new library will recall all the sturm und drang that attended the question of the new library’s location. During the time it was temporarily situated in the Princeton Shopping Center, people came to enjoy easy parking and the ability to stock up on groceries, fill prescriptions, and do a host of other errands in conjunction with library visits. The library returned to its Borough location, and remains a shining example of cooperation, with both municipalities helping to support it, and residents of both the Borough and the Township availing themselves of the library’s many services free of charge.

While Burger does not preclude the possibility of a future Shopping Center or other “satellite” in the Township, the ultimate consensus seems to be that the Witherspoon Street location is a great success. The completion of a new building for the Princeton Arts Council diagonally across the street has added to the sense of the intersection of Witherspoon Street and Paul Robeson Place as comprising “a cultural corridor.”

The library will celebrate its centennial with a gala event on the evening of October 9, followed by a birthday bash on the following day, which happens to be 1010-10. “We’re celebrating all things tens and hundreds,” says Burger. She happens to have very large multiple of ten in mind with the hope that the library’s endowment will reach $10 million by that date.

While details on the Centennial Weekend are not yet available, it is known that NPR’s Terry Gross will be the featured speaker on Friday evening, and that there will probably be a tent for outdoor festivities in Hinds Plaza on Saturday. Located just outside the library entrance, Hinds Plaza was named after Albert Hinds, an African-American community stalwart who lived to be 104. Although the plaze is only a few years old, it’s hard to imagine the area without that well-appointed space, which, weather-permitting, beckons pedestrians, children on tricycles, parents with strollers, lunch hour crowds buying take-out from neighboring restaurants, students, and, of course, library patrons.

Burger chose “Libraries Transform Communities” as the theme of her ALA presidency. “We know that when libraries are transformed either by new service programs, renovations, or new buildings that the communities we serve are in turn transformed. Our users’ relationship with the library changes, they become advocates and passionate supporters for what we do, and learn in new and different ways,” she said at the time.

In addition to the experience of leading the Princeton Public Library into the 21st century, Burger has headed her own consulting firm, Library Development Solutions, since 1991. Her practice has guided more than 100 urban, suburban, and rural public libraries, academic and special libraries, state libraries, and single and multi-type library cooperatives across the U.S. in strategic planning, space needs assessments, evaluation, and program implementation.

The combination of her public and private accomplishments made her a popular speaker at libraries in other cities across the country during her tenure as ALA president, although, she modestly admits, “I found that as many times as I spoke I learned something new.” She jokes that she “wanted to president for life, and that heading the 60,000-plus member organization was “pretty cool,” and “a wonderful opportunity.”

Evidence of Burger’s assertiveness may be seen in the fact that

under her presidency, ALA held its annual conference in New Orleans.

The presence of tens of thousands of librarians would be, she accurately predicted, a boon to the hurricane ravaged city.

The notion of a library that transforms a community may have a particular twist in a town that is home to a world-class university and other substantial institutions. “It’s wonderful to be in each other’s backyard,” says Burger of the university’s own libraries, which are only a few blocks away from PPL. “We would not even pretend to offer the research resources available at the university, but we’re a wonderful complement, and a nice alternative for students and faculty.”

She similarly notes that while the PPL’s “Princeton Room” and online databases “provide a basic entry point for people who want to learn more about Princeton History,” the library does not seek to compete with the town’s Historical Society.

“We have established relationships with a wide array of community organizations and local groups to help create unique programming opportunities for Princeton residents,” Burger says. Current partnership include a collaboration with the Arts Council that brings the work of two artists to the library each quarter in the Reference Gallery. The Arts Council curates the show and the library works with the Arts Council and artists to plan a program about their work and a reception.

Ever-mindful of the recent rise in unemployment, PPL partners with the Princeton chapter of SCORE to provide business counseling services. SCORE volunteers are available several times a week to meet with prospective entrepreneurs, and the library purchases business, legal, and career resources to support their work.

On a day-to-day basis, Burger cites the staff’s willingness to help clients fill out online job applications, and perform job searches.

Referring to her belief that the library should participate in the creation of “digital citizens,” she observes that “Like it or not, many things we need to do are now in an online environment. We feel quite strongly that people in the 30-plus age group need to know how to successfully navigate the web.”

The fact that more and more government information is available only online makes fostering “digital citizens” an even more compelling goal. Most recently, PPL worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce on the 2010 Census, serving as a testing and training site for potential census workers, and offering help to those who need assistance in completing their forms.

Community-library partnerships also include working with the area’s Latin American Task force to offer citizenship classes and a popular “Ask A Lawyer” program; providing space for the group Not in Our Town to hold lecture series and discussions about issues relating to race; and working with Corner House to sponsor Friday night programs for teens.

The Princeton University Press, McCarter Theater, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Senior Resource Center, and the Cotsen Children’s Library are also among the local agencies working in synergy with the library. A fairly recent innovation, an annual “Princeton Reads” program done in partnership with the Princeton Regional School District, has proven to be highly successful, with Greg Mortenson, Chinua Achebe and other authors speaking to overflow crowds at the culmination of each year’s program.

The direct impact on PPL of the governor’s recent budget cuts is approximately $50,000. Burger is not fazed. “Fortunately,” she observes “we have never relied on the N.J. State Library to provide our internet connection.” More to the point, probably, is the fact that “this community has supported its library for 100 years.”

For more information on the Princeton Public Library’s Centennial Weekend, contact Development Officer Lindsey Forden at (609) 924.9529, ext. 251, or write to lforden@princetonlibrary.org. n

“Our users’ relationship with the library changes, they become advocates and passionate supporters for what we do and learn in new and different ways”.

PRINCETON MAGAZINE SPRING 2010 43

Belle of the Books

By Linda Arntzenius

Photographs courtesy of the Morgan Library

Sixty years after her death,

Belle da Costa Greene’s life still provokes more questions than answers. Who was this olive-skinned beauty who took charge of J.P. Morgan’s library, wheeled and dealed with his fortune and proved a formidable force in the competitive art- and book-world? Far from the stereotypical mousy librarian, Belle was high fashion and high society. She loved cocktails and cigarettes as much as Caxtons and Tintorettos. But while she gossiped about the wealthy and privileged people she moved among, she kept the details of her own background a closed book.

Belle’s secrecy, at a time when racial origins proscribed social position, offers a telling commentary on evolving notions of race and color.

Above: Portrait of Belle by French artist Paul César Helleu in 1912 when she was in her early thirties. Helleu was known for portraits of famous and beautiful women and this painting of Belle placed her in the company of the Duchess of Marlborough, the Countess of Greffulhe and the Marchesa Casati. Left: Architectural rendering in watercolor and pencil of Mr. Morgan’s new library, circa 1902.

PRINCETON MAGAZINE SPRING 2010

45

T

here was something decidedly different about this young librarian in training. Her olive complexion and hazel eyes certainly gave her an exotic appearance, but it was the way she carried herself, her obvious intelligence, her quick wit, her willingness to learn that drew Asssociate Librarian Junius Morgan’s attention. So impressed was he that he decided to introduce her to his uncle, the financier J.P. Morgan. She just might be the person needed to take charge of his uncle’s new library.

For a time, Junius Morgan had worked as a partner in a Wall Street firm, but he cared more for art and books than for business and spent more of his time in Europe searching out literary masterpieces for his uncle’s collection than in the 30-room Jacobean-style mansion he had built in Princeton in 1897. His uncle, J.P. Morgan, came of old Yankee Connecticut stock and moved in aristocratic circles, thinking little of traveling from Paris to New York and then hopping on his own train to Washington to meet with the President.

Among the industrialist giants of this age of steel – the likes of Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt ‑ John Pierpont Morgan was a colossus, the force behind an empire of banking, rail, electric and steel companies. He was celebrated as a hero of American progress and vilified as a “robber baron.” He was also a collector who would spend half his fortune on art. His goal was to bring the best of the world’s treasures to America and he would donate manuscripts and paintings to public institutions such as the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum.

To introduce the culture and civilization of the old world to the new, he began collecting books and manuscripts, which were not subject to the import duty levied on paintings. These would form the centerpiece of the new library he was having built on Madison Avenue. On his nephew’s recommendation, he hired the young librarian who had learned cataloguing and indexing under the direction of librarian and bibliographer Ernest C. Richardson at Princeton University. She would receive a monthly salary of $75, almost twice as much as she earned at the University.

That Belle da Costa Greene entered into the heady world of high art and high society is remarkable enough. That she did so while keeping a secret that would have excluded her from that world borders on the fantastic. Inventing a Portuguese grandmother to explain her skin coloring, Belle denied her origins and “passed” for white.

In truth, she was the daughter of two black parents: Richard Theodore Greener and Genevieve Ida Fleet, both remarkable in their own way. Her father was an educator, lawyer and diplomat. Born in Philadelphia, he was the first black graduate of Harvard College in 1870. A member of the black intelligentsia, he taught law at Howard University, where he was dean from 1879 to 1880. He was a friend of Ulysses S. Grant, an advocate for Irish rights, and an art lover. In 1874, he married Genevieve Ida Fleet and they had seven children, five of whom survived. Belle was born Belle Marion Greener. The recent biography by Heidi Ardizzone (An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene’s Journey from Prejudice to Privilige, W.W. Norton, 2007) gives her date of birth as November 26, 1879, but Belle was in the habit of presenting her‑ self as younger, typically lopping 5 years off her age.

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SPRING 2010

PRINCETON MAGAZINE

Belle’s mother came from a prominent African American family in Washington, D.C. After she and her husband separated—they never divorced, even though Greener would have a second family with a Japanese woman while he was serving as the first U.S. consul to Russia—she altered her maiden name to Van Vliet and drop the “r” from Greener. She moved to Princeton—where the family lived among the white community of the highly segregated town—and supported her family by giving piano lessons. Belle added da Costa to her name, got a job in the University library, and impressed J.P. Morgan’s nephew.

J.P. Morgan was 68 and Belle was 26 when she became his curator of books and manuscripts. Inevitably there were rumors, that she was either his mistress or his illegitimate daughter. The twice-married Morgan had numerous mistresses but the evidence that Belle was one of them is slight. They would have made an odd pair. She was as lovely to look at as he was unappealing. His nose was bulbous and hideously purple due to the condition rhinophyma. They were, however, clearly flirtatious with one another. Once asked if she was Morgan’s mistress, Belle quipped “We tried!”

Belle flouted convention. As much as she loved her work, she loved to socialize and party. She had a string of admirers and lovers, and she never married. Her most lasting romantic attachment was with the art critic and collector Bernard Berenson who was besotted with her for several years starting in 1911 when he was 43 and she was 30 (she claimed to be 25). Berenson, who was married at the time, described her as “the most vitalizing person I have ever known.” After their affair, the relationship developed into a lasting friendship. Berenson was an expert on Italian Art and made purchases for his patron Isabella Stewart Gardner.

He lived outside of Florence in the villa I Tatti with his wife Mary, who knew about and tolerated the affair. Much of what is known of Belle comes from her letters to Berenson, which he kept. She, on the other hand, destroyed his letters to her.

In Morgan’s employ, Belle quickly learned who to trust and who to consult and she made good on her promise to make Morgan’s library “pre‑eminent, especially for incunabula, manuscripts, bindings, and the classics.”

At first sight, a library seems an unlikely place for someone as flamboyant and outspoken as Belle. But consider the library. In 1902, Morgan had commissioned Charles McKim (of McKim, Mead & White) to build a library “worthy of a Renaissance prince.” Completed in 1906, the library’s marble‑floored rotunda was inspired by Roman villas and the Vatican and embellished by scenes drawn from ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance literature — Homer, King Arthur, Dante, Tasso and Plutarch. It housed 15,000 volumes in French, Italian and German on three levels accessed by spiral stairs hidden behind movable bookcases. Belle was its resident princess. She wore Renaissance-style dresses and large-plumed hats to work and once quipped: “Just because I’m a librarian—doesn’t mean I have to dress like one.”

It was the role she was born to play: “I knew definitely by the time I was 12 years old that I wanted to work with rare books. I loved them even then, the sight of them, the wonderful feel of them, the romance and thrill of them.” She was soon indispensible to the man she called

“Boss,” and “Big Chief,” gaining his trust and confidence. Her duties expanded to include trips to Europe to buy rare manuscripts, books and art. As librarian to one of the world’s richest men, she had millions at her disposal and was among the most powerful players at auctions and in sales-rooms.

Moving in such circles, Belle had good reason to keep her parentage to herself if the following remark, made in a letter from Isabella Stewart Gardner to Bernard Berenson can be taken as representative.

Before Gardner knew of the relationship between her friend Berenson and Belle, she wrote to Berenson relating an incident in which Belle had embellished the details of her visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum and disparaged the museum’s collection (suggesting it may have contained forgeries). Gardner wrote of Belle: “It turns out she is a half-breed, and I suppose can’t help lying.” To his credit, Berenson defended Belle, describing her as “kind, hospitable, and helpful—a very competent young woman absorbed by her job and devoted to her employer.”

Because she fabricated much of her early life and destroyed all of her own correspondence, the heart and mind of “Belle of the Books,” as she was described in an article in TIME magazine (April 11, 1949), may never be known.

Belle and The Big Chief Her letters to Berenson reveal her relationship with J.P., of whom she saw more than most and about whom she gossiped. With good reason, she kept quiet about her affair with Berenson. Morgan had once been infuriated by a rumor that Belle was planning to get engaged, which, in those days, would have meant the end of her career since married women of “quality” rarely worked outside the home. Although she described an “honesty of thought” between herself and her Opposite: Belle da Costa Greene in 1911, the year in which J. Pierpont Morgan described her as “a dandy and whole“Boss,” her employer could be a domi- some American girl” and she described him as a “schoolboy among his books” nating presence. She once wrote to Berenson of the “utter loneliness of her life” and described being with have the ear of one of the most powerful and richest men in the counMorgan as “exhausting: “He always tells me he likes my personality try but it came at a cost. She may have worn gowns and jewels, hanand yet when I leave him I feel utterly divested of it as of a glove one dled priceless works by Raphael, bejeweled books and Gutenberg draws off and gives to a friend because he likes it.”

Bibles. She may have hobnobbed with swells, but her opportunity to On occasions, however, she could stand up to Morgan: “I just stood do so was in his hands. Morgan was not above exercising his power and looked at him in disgust especially when he wound up with ‘the over her from time to time. On one occasion, she had prearranged day you get married will be the last day I set eyes on you and you to be away from the library so as to spend a long weekend (Sunday won’t get anything from me if you do’ (I daresay I told you that he put to Tuesday) with friends in Long Island. No sooner had she arrived me in his will). Well, I was mad and I told him in the first place I had at her destination than she received a telegram from Morgan sumno intentions of marrying anybody any time--but that if I had, not all moning her to the library on Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. sharp! his anger or all his threats of ‘disinheritance’ would bother me…that Assuming some important business was at hand, she rushed back to he could buy a great deal with his gold but not me or my affections.” the city only to discover Morgan laughing. He simply wanted her to She told Berenson that Morgan had later apologized. “I will not be be there! talked to as he might to a mistress or a chamber maid,” she wrote.

Morgan’s agreement with her was that she could do anything she The Concept of “Passing” liked except leave the country for six months of the year. She may Most Americans are proud of their heritage and it is hard to conceive of PRINCETON MAGAZINE SPRING 2010

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a contemporary American concealing his or her parentage to the extent that Belle did. To fully appreciate Belle’s position, her “double experience” (as W.E.B. Du Bois famously described the experience of blacks in America), it is necessary to travel back in time to the period just before the turn of the 20th century. Even today, race is an undercurrent flowing through all of American social discourse. It is, as Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman commented recently, “one of the most vexing issues facing this country.” But in 1896, the issue of race was given a distinctly American interpretation that does much to explain Belle’s secrecy.

Martha A. Sandweiss, author of Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line (The Penguin Press, 2009) and a professor at Princeton University, describes the “peculiar idea” that created the background to Belle’s life. Sandweiss explains: “The practice of passing generally involves adopting a particular identity to move toward greater legal and social privilege. …

And since, in the United States, social privilege has been associated with lighter-colored skin, passing usually entails concealing one’s African American heritage to assume a white identity. The entire practice hinges on a pe-

of “white” and “black” have changed over time. According to her appearance Belle was so light-skinned as to be “white.” According to the pseudoscience of the day she was “black.” As historian Linda Gordon puts it in her review of Nell Painter’s controversial book The History of White People, published last month by W.W. Norton & Co., “deciding who is white has been not only fluid but also heavily influenced by class and culture.”

Envoi Belle was devastated when J.P. Morgan died in 1913. She told Berenson, “He was much more than my ‘boss,’ he was almost a father to me.” Morgan left her $50,000 in his will (almost a million in today’s currency). She continued at the library, retiring after 43 years in 1948. J.P. Morgan’s son Jack appointed her as the first Director of the Pierpont Morgan Library in 1924, by which time Belle was a renowned expert in illuminated manuscripts. In 1949, the library held a retrospective exhibition in her honor. She died in 1950.

This page: The unsightly effects of the condition rhinophyma, resulting in a large bulbous nose, can be seen in this 1902 photographic portrait of J. Pierpont Morgan (Pach Bros. Studio, New York). A new reading room, part of an expansion of the Library, designed by Architect Rezo Piano was completed in 2006. Opposite: The Reading Room of The Morgan Library with books on three levels.

She wore Renaissance style dresses and largeplumed hats to work and once quipped: “Just because I’m a librarian doesn’t mean I have to dress like one.” culiar idea. Since one’s race could be determined by heritage as well as appearance, very light-colored skin did not necessarily make one a “white” person. In the aftermath of emancipation, a host of laws sprang up in the Deep South clarifying just what defined a person as “black” or “Negro,” almost always for the purpose of restricting his rights. In 1896 the Supreme Court of the United States upheld these laws in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, which affirmed that people with one “black” greatgrandparent could, for all intents and purposes, be considered black themselves, no matter what they looked like. This peculiarly American idea came to be known as ‘hypodescent.’ “One drop of ‘black blood’ trumped seven drops of ‘white.’”’

Sandweiss relates the history of a white man who lived a double life as the celebrated white explorer Clarence King and as a black Pullman porter James Todd (with a common-law black wife and bi-racial family, but that’s another story). These two histories – Belle’s and Clarence King’s—speak volumes regarding the social and cultural aspects of racial identity and the arbitrary nature of racial divisions. Definitions 48

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It is telling that the entries on Belle da Costa Greene and her father Richard T. Greener in the dictionary of American National Biography show no connection between the two. His entry is only pages from hers, and yet there is no cross reference. Of even greater significance, the first line of his reads: “African American educator, lawyer and diplomat.” The first words used to describe Belle are “Library director, bibliographer and art connoisseur.” And that seems to be exactly how Belle wanted it to be.

The Morgan Library Although The Morgan Library and Museum has been expanded since Belle’s day, it is easy to imagine Belle in her heyday, stepping from the bustling New York street into its quiet sanctuary. Located at 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, the library is open Tuesday through Thursday: 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tel: (212) 685-0008. n

Birds of a Feather

By Dilshanie Perera

Georgette, a peregrine falcon with a distinguished air

and expressive eyes, makes her home at the Raptor Trust, a wild bird rehabilitation center and raptor conservation advocacy organization located in Millington, New Jersey. Birds of prey have long occupied a unique place in the human imagination. Though their meaning, worth, and the special sort of wonder they evoke has shifted over time, this group of agile hunters is comprised of falcons, hawks, eagles, owls, and any bird that uses its talons to capture its next meal. w

As a private non-profit organization, the Raptor Trust does tremendous work in providing medical care to over 3,500 injured birds annually, getting them into the best shape so that they can be released back into the wild. The kind of care provided at the infirmary ranges from complex surgeries to repair wings and realign bones to physical therapy to treatments for lead poisoning, and everything in between.

The public is invited to view the organization’s resident birds during daylight hours 365 days a year, and the Raptor Trust’s location adjacent to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge make it ideally situated for a morning or afternoon excursion.

Taking her name from her place of birth, namely, a nest at the very top of the George Washington Bridge in New York, Georgette’s entry into the world was rather inauspicious. As a fledgling, or baby bird, she and a sibling plummeted from that great height before they were able to fly. One baby careened onto the roadway and was killed instantly, while the other landed on the pavement, unmoving after the fall.

A Port Authority employee walking past who knew of the nest saw what had happened and began to move Georgette’s body from the middle of the pathway when she blinked her eyes. She was rushed over to an animal hospital, and eventually brought to the Raptor Trust for rehabilitation.

While this avian Icarus managed to survive the fall, the nature and location of her injuries, which included a fractured wing and shoulder, made future flight impossible.

Director of Education Lauren Butcher, who has been at the Raptor Trust for the past 11 years, described working with Georgette as deeply moving. “This bird is the absolute apex of raptor engineering –peregrines are the fastest creature on the planet. When they swoop out of the sky after their prey, they can reach speeds of over 200 miles per hour.”

In addition to being the swiftest, peregrines are the winged equivalent of ultramarathoners, traveling thousands of miles annually during migration. “There was a peregrine banded in northern Canada that was found 9,000 miles south in Argentina six months later,” Butcher recalled, noting that “they come by their names rightly; ‘peregrine’ means ‘traveller’ or ‘wanderer.’”

“It is poignant that a bird with these capabilities, with this potential, is essentially grounded,” Butcher acknowledged. “But she does have this chance to be an ambassador for her kind, and really touch people’s lives.

Through her, we can share the history of peregrine falcons and their mindboggling capabilities. She has an important life.”

“It’s a miracle that she exists at all,” Butcher added, referring to Georgette’s fall and to the history of the species, which faced extinction in the Eastern United States four decades ago because of widespread use of DDT, a synthetic pesticide that drastically reduced the populations of numerous birds of prey in the 1950s and 60s.

birds of prey. The updraft over particular features of land, like mountains, as well as the precise timing of migration season is what guarantees a prime vantage points for ornithological enthusiasts, and it was the inspiring vision of thousands of hawks riding the air currents that stuck in Soucy’s memory.

When the Soucys moved to Millington in 1968, they acquired a reputation as raptor enthusiasts, and one day a red-tailed hawk with a broken wing was left on their doorstep in a cardboard box with an attached note. They cared for the creature, and as word spread they were brought all kinds of injured birds.

Even today, many of the feathered patients at the Raptor Trust are brought in by people who find injured avians, though some are transfers from other veterinary facilities and some are rescued birds.

The rescues can range from a straightforward capture of a stricken hawk, to something like the incident this past winter in which two Trust staff members endeavored to save a young bald eagle that was seen languishing near a reservoir because of lead poisoning. When confronted with two seeming predators, the bird panicked and tried to escape by fleeing into a floodplain of icy water. Undeterred, the organization’s employees paddled around in kayaks and finally waded in the freezing deep to gather up the evasive raptor. Despite the fact it had three times the ‘acceptable’ amount of lead in its system, the bald eagle was successfully treated, and was ready to fly, free and healthy, after a month.

In the organization’s lifetime, more than 33,000 wild birds have been successfully treated, rehabilitated, and released back into the wild. No injured bird is denied care and each stays as long as its rehabilitation requires.

In the event that a bird is unreleasable, meaning that it wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild due to impairment from its injuries, it may, like Georgette, become a permanent resident of the

“As top predators, they are often frontline indicators of problems in our shared environment.”

Beginnings “By 1964, there was not one known peregrine falcon nest anywhere east of the Mississippi River,” Butcher explained. Following the ban of DDT through federal legislation in 1972, the spring became less silent as raptor numbers began to grow, though they face other environmental challenges today.

Attitudes toward winged hunters were very different when the Raptor Trust’s founder, Len Soucy began his work. While the organization was established nearly 27 years ago, both he and his wife Diane were engaged in rehabilitation and conservation even before, having always been nature enthusiasts. In the late 1960s, the casual hunting of hawks and owls, who were seen as pests, had not yet been outlawed.

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Raptor Trust. Over 50 birds representing 20 unique species of raptors – and even a raven named Jake – are housed in the large aviaries that radiate outward from the Soucy home.

Avian Residents A vaguely sleepy-looking, but nonetheless majestic snowy owl makes its home in one of the aviaries, and can be found close to the ground since snowy owls are tundra-nesting species. Peering in, one can see

Previous Page: Peregrine falcon Georgette looms large. (Photo by Dan Lofgren) Opposite: an American kestrel, on New Jersey’s “species of special concern” list. Above: Snowy owls tend to blend into the tundra environments where they are typically found, and can grow upwards of two feet tall. (Photo by Herbert Scott August) Right: Vilma, a barred owl, finds the perfect perch as Raptor Trust founder Len Soucy obliges. She is one of over 50 permanent resident birds of prey at the organization. (Photo by Herbert Scott August)

him rotating his head slowly from side to side, regally surveying his terrain. Either that, or stretching. Such owls grow between 21 and 28 inches in height, which makes for a surprise, since no amount of nature television programs can adequately capture their size. It is impossible not to anthropomorphize such a creature, looking slightly disgruntled as he blinks his luminous eyes, and being quite cuddly on the whole.

An astonishing evolutionary mechanism, the shape of the feathers around most owls’ faces forms a gently convex disc, which acts as a kind of parabolic reflector that allows sound to be conducted more efficiently into the owls’ ears. Some owl species have ears that are slightly asymmetric, which allows them to turn their heads to geographically locate precisely where their prey is prior to swooping in.

Two resident bald eagles can be found in another aviary, with Uno, a female who has been at the Raptor Trust for approximately 20 years occasionally stretching to reveal a mighty wingspan. Her cohabitant is a young male who has yet to reach his mature plumage, which consists of the signature white mane and tail and typically occurs at five years, and so is a darker brown color. Raptors are distinct in exhibiting sexual dimorphism, in which the females are usually larger, and both male and female adults have similar plumage.

While the residents of the Raptor Trust are too numerous to name here, they range from the northern saw-whet owl, which is the tiniest owl species occurring in New Jersey, to the red-tailed hawk, to the barred owl, to falcons like Georgette, who can be found in an enclosure complete with a mural of the her place of birth on the farthest wall.

The great horned owl is perhaps the most perplexed looking of all of the birds, with its facial feathers taking the shape of angry eyebrows.

They can hunt mammals up to three times their size, with skunks being a part of their menu. Butcher lamented the instances when a hurt great horn would be delivered to the Trust, reeking of a recent encounter with a skunk, insult already added to injury.

Some of the permanent Raptor Trust dwellers are educational birds, meaning that they participate in the educational component of the organization’s activities. “During the school year, we offer programs both here at our facility, and we also do outreach,” Butcher said, explaining that programs can be geared toward everyone “from kindergardeners to senior citizens.” The allure of flight is clearly something that transcends age.

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Top: Georgette strikes a glamorous pose. The leather bands around her talons enable her to be held by human handlers, and allow her to travel to offsite locations “to be an ambassador for her kind” says Director of Education Lauren Butcher. Above: A display aviary at the Raptor Trust. (Photo by Pat A. Mello) Opposite: A collection of birds of prey including (clockwise, from upper right), Uno, a female bald eagle who has been at the Raptor Trust for over 20 years; a barn owl; a northern goshawk; and barred owl Vilma, an educational bird and permanent resident of the Trust. All are species that occur in New Jersey.

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Ecological Importance As the major predators of their habitats, raptors are uniquely situated to maintain a healthy balance between numbers of animals within an ecosystem. “For instance, a typical barn owl family may have four to five young, and each of those babies can eat up to five field mice a night. Every night. It very quickly adds up,” Butcher said.

Raptors also function in maintaining the health of the various species of prey, by removing sickly and contagious animals from the prey population, afflicted creatures being the easiest to hunt.

“And for us they have an important role, because as top predators they’re often frontline indicators of problems within our shared environment—the situation with DDT being the case in point” Butcher noted. “A healthier habitat supports these larger predators...the greater variety and diversity of raptors in a state or in a region is an indication of the area’s environmental health as well” Since the early 1970s, conservation efforts, legislation, and nationwide management efforts have promoted the well-being of birds of prey. “Just a couple of years ago, bald eagles were removed from the federal endangered species list. It’s very inspiring to see what can happen when we make a change, even within the course of a human lifetime,” Butcher said.

Now, the biggest challenge most raptor species face is that of habitat loss. “New Jersey is the most densely populated and the most highly developed state in the country, and at the same time there’s a strong commitment to preserving open space and natural places within the state, which is heartening,” Butcher pointed out, adding that the best kind of conservation efforts would have to be a collaborative multi-state and even multinational endeavor, particularly since many of these birds migrate from one hemisphere to the other and back again each year.

Within New Jersey, of the 16 different species of diurnal, or daytime, birds of prey, 10 are either threatened, endangered, or are species of special concern, and with respect to nighttime hunters like owls, only two owl species are fully stable. This decline is primarily caused by the loss of their habitats, Butcher said, declaring, “That’s why reaching out to people and doing that educational work continues to be important, because these birds still do face some steep challenges.”

When Butcher first came to the Raptor Trust, she was a weekly volunteer who was then immersed in a different field, teaching in the humanities. But the scope and nature of the work being done, as well as the ethos of the organization, inspired her to change directions. “It just felt really vital,” she said.

“Most of the full and part-time permanent staff here also started as volunteers and got completely hooked,” Butcher laughed. The employees consist of six full time staff members and four part-time individuals, with between 30 and 50 volunteers filtering in throughout the year. The non-profit is funded through grants and private donations, and does much work on a tight budget. Between engaging in complex medical procedures, rehabilitating injured birds, advocating for raptors, and engaging in educational initiatives, it is “tremendous work that is shared between so few people.”

The three senior medical staff, as well as everyone in the organization, log in their longest hours in the springtime, when the infirmary is atwitter with fledgling and nestling songbirds needing care and regular feedings every hour, in addition to the normal stream of inpatients requiring surgery, or ophthalmic care, or the resetting of bones, or assisted feeding. It is a labor of love that greatly benefit the general public and the natural environment.

Fascination with birds of prey is age-old; they recur in various mythologies, conjuring up various associations: the wise owl, the eagle representing the nation. When asked why that might be, Butcher intoned, “I don’t know if there is anything as inspiring to humans as a bird taking flight and soaring.”

For more information, or for directions, visit theraptortrust.org. n

A

Big ideA

Princeton scientist Michael McAlpine has gotten the world’s attention with a miniscule device that could change the way we harness power.

By Anne Levin Photographs by Andrea Warriner Photograph (detail) by Frank Wojciechowski

T

o demonstrate how energy in the human body might revolutionize the way we power cellphones, pacemakers, and the little lights that go off in kids’ sneakers when they walk, Michael McAlpine reaches for a plastic egg filled with Silly Putty. Pulling the silicone glob out of its snug housing, the Princeton University assistant professor smashes it down onto a page of newsprint, and then holds it up to the light.

“See how it prints? That’s kind of what we’re doing,” McAlpine says of the method he and colleagues in the university’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering have created for converting movements as basic as breathing into electricity. “It’s an extremely simple technology,” he adds, modestly. “It could have been done 20 years ago but somehow it wasn’t.”

This soft-spoken 32-year-old, who joined the Princeton faculty in August 2008, makes nanotechnology sound easy. A rising star in his field, he is a multiple prize-winner in this branch of science which builds systems and devices on a molecular scale. His research has been published in such peer-reviewed journals as Nature, Nature Materials, Journal of the American Chemical Society and Nano Letters.

Nominating him for MIT’s Technology Review TR35 Award for 2010, McAlpine’s former Harvard University chemistry professor Charles Lieber, a star in his own right, had this to say in his letter to the award selection committee: “He is a gem with a very bright future, and is rapidly becoming an outstanding leader in the interdisciplinary field of nanotechnology. I recommend him without reservation for the 2010 TR35.”

Here’s how McAlpine’s energy-converting system works: Piezoelectric crystals, which produce an electric current when they are bent, are made into a series of narrow ribbons that look like strands of hair but are actually1,000 times smaller. Then, they are transfer printed—here’s where the Silly Putty demo comes in—onto flexible, rubberlike material that is compatible with the human body.

So if this tiny device were harnessing the in-and- out motion of breathing to power a pacemaker, the lead that is inside the crystals wouldn’t harm the body when sheets of the material were placed against the lungs.

The device could eliminate the need for batteries and the painful process of surgically replacing them. It could also be used in the making of shoes, which would harvest the pounding of walking and running to power mobile electrical devices. Since McAlpine and his team patented their concept and published a paper on their work early this year, a children’s shoe company has approached him about purchasing the devices. Other companies have also expressed interest.

My father was in one, and as a matter of fact he still is.”

There are no scientists in the family. McAlpine’s father was an executive vice-president at the women’s underwear company Lily of France. His mother is a lawyer, and his brother works for MTV. The chemistry teacher who captured McAlpine’s attention must have sensed something special in him. “I was good at math, but not science,” McAlpine says. “I hadn’t really thought about it. But this teacher was awesome. And I think that set me ahead when I went to college.”

At Brown University, McAlpine thrived. “Brown is smaller than Princeton and science is less important there than it is at a place like this,” he says. “I think I was able to stand out because of that. I was the only chemistry major my year who went on to grad school. I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing.”

McAlpine’s next stop was Harvard, where he joined the group headed by Lieber, the university’s Mark Hyman Professor of Chemistry and a celebrity in the world of nano materials. For his dissertation, McAlpine grew silicon wires onto flexible sheets for computation. “We wanted to make a computer on a single sheet of plastic that you can roll up,” he says. “Wouldn’t that be great? It’s still not there yet, but we made a lot of progress. That was my Ph.D.” After earning his M.A. in 2002 and his doctorate four years later, both from Harvard, McAlpine moved west to do postdoctoral work at Caltech. There, he changed his focus. Instead of electronics, he began to explore technology that would have medical applications. “This was similar work, but we were using the same format to make sensors,” he says.

Those sensors have been the basis of a project of which McAlpine is particularly proud. One of his first year graduate students at Princeton has built a sensor that could be used to detect bacteria like E-coli, both in the water and in the air. “It’s a cheap, fast way to detect high levels of bacteria,” he says. “It could be used in third world countries, or with soldiers. Within six months, it could appear in a journal. I’m pretty excited about that. It’s definitely the next big thing for us.”

At Princeton, McAlpine is also an associated faculty member with the Department of Chemistry and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials(PRISM). “His research is highly interdisciplinary and combines his background in chemistry with his interest in smart materials,” writes Alexander Smits, Eugene Higgins Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Chair of the department, in an email. “We recruited him into MAE because his expertise fits well with our own interests in nanotechnology and smart materials…I believe that Professor McAlpine is making outstanding and creative contributions to the department, and he has a great future ahead of him.”

Joining the Princeton faculty was a big change for McAlpine, after years spent mostly in the lab. “I was pretty nervous to come here, but it’s turned out okay. I’m pretty good at managing my time and being organized, as you can see,” he says, gesturing toward the immaculately kept shelves in his office. “I had to learn how to be a manager and how to raise money, because you have to pay the students. This job is so different from graduate school or getting your Ph.D. You

This is The Thing abouT science:

You never know who’s going To scoop You,” Mcalpine saYs. “luckilY, we goT our paper ouT on TiMe.

Could all of this make him rich?

McAlpine grins at the thought. “That would be nice,” he says. “But money is not the motivation here. Who knows, though? You might find me down in Costa Rica one day.”

It was a high school chemistry teacher who first got McAlpine interested in science. Growing up in Fairfield, Connecticut, he played around in a rock band and looked up to now-famous rocker John Mayer, who was a year ahead of him at school. “He was in the cool band,” McAlpine recalls with a smile. “But I was always in a band.

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Upper Left: McAlpine keeps an eye on the “Sputterer” and the nanotechnological process that he has patented, Lower Left: Dr. Yi Qi, the student with whom McAlpine patented the process that might make them rich, Bottom: The tiny materials that could revolutionize the way we use energy.

have to be an innovator; a salesperson.”

McAlpine oversees three Ph.D. candidates, four graduate students, four undergraduates and a local high school student. They work hard to complete their research and get their results published. “This is the thing about science: You never know who’s going to scoop you,” McAlpine says. “Luckily, we got our paper out on time.”

Music still plays a big part in McAlpine’s life. He has a home recording studio in his Lawrenceville home, and he formed a band with another professor in his department. “It was starting to sound okay, but then he had a baby so we couldn’t practice at his house anymore,” he says, smiling. “I play my guitar, though I’m definitely tone-deaf.”

McAlpine and his team are now working to make the sensor devices described in his recent paper. The process will be the subject of his next paper, to be delivered as soon as they can complete the work. And the nanotechnology community will be waiting.

“He is an outstanding young scientist,” writes Lieber, his mentor and now one of his biggest fans. “He has great creativity and the ability to translate his beautiful ideas into definitive experimental results and applications.” n

A REVERENCE FOR NATURE

By Linda Arntzenius

Photographs by Andrew Wilkinson Japanese potter-turned-weaver Akiko Collcutt is known for deep-hued hand-thrown ware that is kiln-fired and glazed to Chinese-and Korean-inspired celadon and ox-blood hues. Lately it’s her experiments in weavings that are attracting attention. Akiko’s focus is on using and reusing all things natural. Dyes from vegetables and shrubs grown in her Hopewell garden translate into subtle and bold shades of persimmon and cherry, onion and indigo. Ancient rice paper documents passed down through generations of her family—landowners from Tokyo and before that the Tayama Prefecture of North West Japan—and strips of inherited kimonos find new life and purpose in her weavings.

“I am a little uncomfortable describing myself as an artist. What I do, is to satisfy my own curiosity, to make functional objects and to experiment. The finished piece is not as important as the process. The color red, for example, is a fleeting moment in the kiln.If you don’t catch it at just the right instant, it will be lost. In weaving, the equivalent process is in the dyeing and adjusting of the mixture for the mordant.”

Akiko’s almost reverential approach to nature is also seen in the home/studio she shares with her English-born husband Martin Collcutt, Professor of History and East Asian Studies at Princeton University, where he teaches Japanese intellectual and cultural history. Using recycled materials in new and clever ways, the Collcutts have turned a former horse barn into a unique place to live.

The Blue Barn, their small gem of a home in Hopewell, is imbued with a Japanese aesthetic.

Architect Paul Mitchell worked with the couple to turn the barn into a studio and then into a permanent residence, using elements such as Shoji screens, an authentic Japanese soaking tub, mosaics formed from shards of Akiko’s pottery, and wood from an 18th century wooden chest that turned out to be an auspicious find.

“With pottery I was most interested in working with combinations of minerals to produce wonderful color glazes; with textile work, I can bring out the color of natural vegetable materials using mordents such as iron and alum. I feel blessed in sharing the energy of Nature, which yields miracles each time I work with it. In my own way, I am revealing nature.”

From Barn to Studio to Home Mitchell met the Collcutts when he was working on a neighbor’s home in Hopewell. Prior to the recent conversion of Akiko’s studio into a residence, he had transformed the barn in 1981 from farm structure to potter’s studio (with a mind to its future use as a home). Already familiar with his clients’ values and lifestyle, he began searching for materials that would be in harmony with the building’s origins: wood from the floor of an old barn in Pennsylvania and exterior barn doors.

One of the first steps was installing 1500 square feet of re-sawn antique barn floorboards from a lumber yard in Pennsylvania. The boards were put down by a team of carpenters from Mongolia.

“Someone in my gym recommended a carpenter who came to the United States from Mongolia via Russia as a professional ballet dancer and teacher,” recalls Akiko. “To supplement his income, —Akiko Collcutt he had become an apprentice carpenter and had a team of his countrymen working with him and they did a fine job.”

Among the first items they moved into the conversion the deep wooden soaking tub that had been sent as a gift by Akiko’s family when they first bought their Victorian home on Broad Street. With the help of the carpenters, Akiko used smashed fragments of pottery to create a flower pattern design for the shower walls. “We were not interested in making Opposite: Ancient family documents the old barn appear new, rather we felt an obligation to maintain the feel of the place, provide former potter Akiko Collcutt with to match the old oak floor boards and to retain what was already there,” says Martin. raw material for her experimental weavings.

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This page, clockwise from upper left: Indigo plants from the Collcutt’s Hopewell garden yield a rich blue dye, used for this woven fabric. A panel from an antique chest was repurposed.

Akiko at her loom. Paper becomes fabric that betrays its origins. Spring blossoms from the Collcutt’s Hopewell garden. Many of the walls are lined For the recent renovation, an old chicken with volumes on Japanese texts. coop was replaced by an addition that Opposite: Graphic elements and now serves as the living area and place natural fibers combine in Akiko’s most for Martin’s work desk as well as a 12 recent work.

foot by 37 foot single story addition with under floor radiant heat to accommodate visitors and provide a mudroom from the garden and an area for breakfasting.

Using recycled materials appealed to the couple and so they were delighted when Mitchell suggested using the Japanese screens from their house to new purpose in the barn. The screens were custom-made in 1985 and used in the Collcutt’s Broad Street house to line the walls of one room, giving it the feel of a Japanese teahouse. “I grew up with Shoji,” says Akiko, “and I love their translucency, the light and shadow effects they produce. The effect is constantly changing. They let light play.” In the barn, they serve both design and utilitarian purposes. Mitchell has placed them in front of bookshelves, and concealed kitchen spices and pantry goods as well as a collection of tableware that is the result of Akiko’s three decades as a potter behind them. Individual fine art pieces are on view around the home, but most of Akiko’s pieces were made to be used and handled, filled with foods and flowers.

While such familiar childhood elements dull the edge of her homesickness, Akiko points out that the barn conversion is far from a traditional Japanese residence. The Shoji screens are made of fiberglass, which is much stronger than rice paper. “In Japan, as a child, I remember one ritual of the New Year when my sisters and I would remove the rice paper from the screens in preparation for new paper. It was done outside and it was always very cold. Our mother used to bring a kettle of hot water out into the garden so that we could warm our hands. It was a big job for four little girls (my sisters Yasuko, Takako, and Junco).” When the new owners of the Collcutt’s home on

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Broad Street undertook their own renovations, the Shoji screens found new purpose in the old barn.

Nothing makes Paul Mitchell happier than recycling building materials to their optimum use. “Discarded lumber starts the evolutionary ladder as kindling, moves up to lath, shims and small blocking in building framework. Larger pieces can be studs or headers or sometimes climb up the scale to be included in a piece of furniture of cabinet work.” Mitchell has found some materials as well as good Karma through his habit of “dumpster-diving.”

“Coming across 26 Shoji and having an immediate and appropriate use for them on your current project is the pinnacle of the recycler’s art,” says Mitchell, who describes himself as a bit of a hippie.

Trained in architecture at MIT, he says the instinct to re-purpose runs deep. “I will absolutely not throw away any building materials.”

His firm, Headquarters Construction, works out of Frenchtown, and he was among the first solar enthusiasts in New Jersey. He has built several solar homes in Lambertville and Sergeantsville. His hands-on approach and skill with wood fit well with his clients’ philosophy. “I’m much more of a carpenter than I am an architect, and I rarely take on a job that I can’t work on myself,” he says.

The Collcutts bought their Broad Street home in 1978. It was only the second house they looked at. The horse barn in the rear clinched the deal as the perfect place for Akiko’s future kiln and pottery studio. They had not immediately considered converting the barn to a residence. In 1988, when they spent a sabbatical year in Japan, they asked Mitchell to enlarge and redesign the studio while they were gone. Mitchell preserved the look and feel of the structure’s origins by using recycled materials. His goal was to

turn it into an efficient space for making and showcasing pottery (including a cool space for storing clay) while bearing in mind that it might be transformed into a living space at some time in the future (so water pipes were laid to accommodate future bathrooms).

When Akiko switched from pottery to weaving, the Collcutts considered turning the barn into some sort of music or art venue. But once they discovered that their property was situated on two lots, the idea of separating the two, selling one and renovating the barn into a dwelling became feasible and, with recent changes in the economy, an increasingly attractive downsizing proposition. In 2008, they sold the Victorian and moved permanently into The Blue Barn.

The Tale of an Old Chest A cedar chest that had belonged to Akiko’s grandfather (a medical doctor) has traveled a long way to its current purpose. “One morning, Paul arrived with some old wooden boards under his arm,” recalls Akiko. “You may not remember but you gave me these boards 25 years ago, he said, and I have been waiting for an appropriate project for them.” Mitchell pointed to some Japanese characters in black ink and asked for a translation. The inscription 64 SPRING 2010

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read: “Auspicious day of the Seventh Month1738, Kikyoya Kyubei.”

“Kikyoya Kyubei was a merchant and the chest, from which the boards came, was most likely used to store textiles, probably kimonos,” explains Akiko. The chest had come with the Collcutts when they left Japan forty years ago. It had contained their clothes and had been sent to England and then on to America. Akiko never dreamed that it would find its way back to her. “I could hardly believe that it was so old, or that Paul had kept it all these years, and that it was now returning to us.” Auspicious omen! Paul added a metal handle and it now covers the dishwasher in the kitchen. “I felt a little odd as if my distant ancestors had suddenly appeared to supervise the use of their old chest. But at the same time, I felt protected.”

The chest’s re-use is a pleasing factor in the barn’s preservation for Akiko who had long given thought to the barn’s future. “In clay and in weaving, I find it satisfying to give things new life. My mother’s kimonos, for example, would have been kept in a chest to deteriorate.

Now they have fresh new life. It’s the same with the barn. It was collapsing when we bought it.”

Originally, the horse barn had no electricity, gas, water or heating and the couple tackled the work of turning it into a studio themselves,

This page, clockwise from upper left: The old horse barn in the rear of their Victorian-style house in Hopewell sold the Collcutts on the residence.

The barn served as Akiko’s pottery studio before becoming the couple’s home. After collaborating with the Collcutts for over 25 years, architect Paul Mitchell says he considers the couple “family.” Shoji screens serve form and function in the Collcutt’s living space. The screens were salvaged from their old home after it was sold. Martin and Akiko Collcutt at home in their Blue Barn.

Opposite: Before exploring the intricacies of textile weaving and dyeing, Akiko worked as a potter for three decades. The work shown here features a celadon glaze.

installing a wood burning stove that also provided delicious slow-cooked one-pot meals in winter and kept a kettle boiling throughout the day. Akiko used ash from the stove in her garden for plants that appreciate an alkaline soil. “I felt like a pioneer in the Old West,” she remembers. She had bartered for the stove with a local man, who accepted the first set of dinner ware she made, in exchange. Back then, she was firing her work in a shared kiln. If she was to have her own kiln, she would have to build it herself. Which is exactly what she did. It was a gas-fired reduction kiln, an arched brick structure standing six feet tall. As her skill as a potter developed, she found repeat clients visiting her studio each year. She began to teach and interest grew until she was teaching several classes each week.

Simplicity and Tradition The Collcutt’s new home matches their simple lifestyle. “Akiko has such a serenity about her that to spend time with her is to be refreshed,” says neighbor Jane McKinley, a poet and lead member of The Dryden Ensemble. That neighbors, friends and visitors perceive a spiritual quality in Akiko may have something to do with the influence of her father/uncle. The relationship takes a little explaining. Akiko’s uncle was a Buddhist monk. Through an ancient Japanese tradition of adopting within the family in order to preserve blood lines, Akiko became her uncle’s daughter. “My grandfather had only one son and he became a Buddhist monk who never married and had no children. His sister, my mother, had four daughters. Following tradition, her brother asked to adopt one of her daughters. I was the second oldest and I was the one chosen to be my uncle’s daughter when I was eight years old.

My uncle was not too demanding, however, and I lived with my parents and sisters, visiting my new father in the summer.

Akiko remained with her family until she got married. That was after she had met and fallen in love with Martin, who was studying in Kyoto. In 1967, Martin was 23 and Akiko was 20. They were married

in her uncle’s Buddhist temple in a ceremony that he conducted. They moved to the United States in 1969, spending time en route with Martin’s parents in Devonshire, England.

Originally their plans were for Martin to finish his studies and then live in England or perhaps Japan. But when Martin got his Ph.D. and a position at Princeton University, the couple looked for a home in the area. Akiko’s interest in pottery had deepened through contact with the Japanese potter Makoto Yabe, who taught the finer points of throwing and design. She studied at Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) and dreamed of having a kiln of her own (especially after frustrating incidents such as another student’s work, insufficiently dried, exploding and destroying her carefully prepared pieces).

The Collcutts found their dream house in Hopewell, a traditional 3-story Victorian on Broad Street. Excited novice buyers, they offered full asking price and got it. The barn was separated from the house by flowering shrubs, neat hedges and trees. A humble two-story building, it had been used for carriages on one side and horses on the other. A narrow steep wooden staircase centered between the two sections led up to what had been the hayloft, where a bare board recorded the date 1907 in dark paint.

While working as a potter, Akiko’s interest in gardening and especially in plant dyes developed. She planted various kinds of plants and bushes in order to find out what colors their leaves and branches would give when used to dye silk, cotton, or hemp yarn.

For a while she carried on both arts/crafts simultaneously and while she sometimes misses aspects of teaching and making pottery, she believes that many things can be experienced in a single life. “I don’t look back, I was ready for change.” Akiko’s last pottery show was in 2005. Her kiln has been donated to a young potter in upstate New York. Her tools and equipment have found new homes. “It felt like giving away parts of myself but I was glad they would continue to serve others as they had served me.” n PRINCETON MAGAZINE SPRING 2010

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90 Acres 5 A TAble

AT The fArm by liz harcharek

chef David felton calls it “breaking down the wall between diner and chef,” a natural corrective to “tasting menu madness.” Bring More Food at Ninety Acres at Natirar includes everything from Katy’s Greenhouse spinach and music garlic to Natirar’s berkshire pigs and Araucana hen eggs.

Ninety Acres at Natirar is in a restored century-old Somerset County carriage house at the end of a meandering drive up from the main road in Peapack-Gladstone near the intersection of Routes 206 and 202, less than an hour’s drive from Princeton.

A 491-acre estate purchased by the Somerset County Park Commission from the King of Morocco in 2003 and opened to the public in May 2007, Natirar (Raritan spelled backwards) is so named because the North Branch of the Raritan River runs directly through the property, which spans the municipalities of Peapack-Gladstone, Far Hills and Bedminster. The restaurant and cooking school, which opened in December, form the shape of an “L” around a paved patio.

Designed for diners lingering over aperitifs or dining al fresco, the patio becomes softly lit at dusk. The custom-built Italian furniture adds to the European ambience.

Inside the bustling restaurant, which was a finalist in the Best New Restaurant category of the James Beard Foundation Awards, is the architectural coup of the Rockwell Group, whose credits include Adour Alain Ducasse and Nobu New York. Wood floorings and walnut furniture and ceilings are offset by green stressed-leather seating and banquette fabric inspired by traditional equestrian blankets. The dining rooms extend from the open kitchen with its magnificent copper hood to the bar, which is framed by glass temperature-controlled cabinets housing an array of wine bottles. The bar features a hip playlist and a good-looking Friday night crowd, some of whom stop to chat with the chefs in the open kitchen.

Diners who have chosen the BMF—Bring More Food —menu sit by the kitchen at linen-clothed tables. Further into the restaurant, tabletops are left bare, a nod toward the environment, as diners choose from the à la carte or bar menus. Outside the main dining room are two fire pits, with further tables for outdoor eating. A greenhouse-inspired private dining room, with views over the raised beds and farm, seats up to 20 guests.

Beyond the bar, stairs lead up to the offices and down to a second bar. Note the wooden fresco on the wall and the illuminated risers, fashioned from sycamores and black walnuts on the estate. On the first floor, a richly polished wooden bench of the same provenance, made from a tree limb, is a gift to Bob Wojtowicz, the co-founder of the Natirar Project (with the Virgin Group’s Sir Richard Branston) from his wife, Kim. Wojtowicz also collaborated with Sterling College and Rutgers University to develop the “Table at the Farm” dining model.

When she’s not busy overseeing the farm with Darren Joffe, a biodynamic farmer from Atlanta, or forming a non-profit organization, the Natirar Agricultural Initiative, Kim creates the restaurant’s elegant flower arrangements. Lee Chasalow, the food and beverage consultant works with chef David C. Felton to design the seasonal menu and. coordinate the training of the kitchen and wine staffs.

The downstairs bar is a quiet hideaway for savoring locally-brewed beer or an original cocktail like delicious Pine Barren: pine-infused gin, apple Schnapps and Granny Smith apple juice handed to you by mixologist, Tom Richter. Lining the far wall behind locked glass doors is the splendid wine cellar, with its multiple wooden drawers and lazy susan, housing over a thousand wines. Chasalow conceived the wine list to balance the international with the local and seasonal.

The Chef “Now I have a farm in my backyard,” says David Felton, the 33-yearold executive chef at Ninety Acres. “It’s a dream come true.”

Born in London and raised in New Jersey, Felton trained at The College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales and was executive chef at Blue in Long Beach Island and, more recently, the Pluckemin Inn. If you were to label Felton, he’d be a nouveau-ecolo-bon vivant.

He’s proud to serve complimentary house-filtered water, and grins playfully as he describes his need to “sample many wines,” with

Opposite page: The dining room and bar at Ninety Acres are luxuriously casual. This page, top left and bottom right: Menus are designed around the season, using fresh local flavors.

Above: The dramatic open kitchen has a magnificent copper hood.

Bottom left: The 491 acre estate is located less than an hour from Princeton. Left: Sir Richard Branson and Bob Wojtowicz arrive at the Natirar preview party by tractor.

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Felton’s vision as a culinary teacher is “to get people in, put on mud boots, go into the fields and pick everything we’re going to use. Then I’ll have everyone put away the recipes and watch me—cooking is all about ratios and principles, instinct and having fun.”

Forged by a strategic partnership between Natirar and the Viking Range Corporation and outfitted with Viking appliances, the cooking school comprises a U-shaped island for cooking demonstrations, and a stainless steel prep table for hands-on classes. Classes are proposed daily, with provision for up to twelve students. Programs available at both the cooking and wine schools provide unique events hosted by chefs, culinary personalities and vintners, with classes for the home cook, wine tastings and pairings, and food and beverage seminars. talented 31-year-old sommelier, Brooke Sabel, an Events Master Sommelier candidate. Her goal is to be the first woman in the world The Virgin Connection to complete both the master sommelier and master of wine programs. The story behind the Natirar Resort, the exclusive hotel, spa and club She knows Felton’s preferences, and as he compiles his menus, they set in ninety acres of the estate, with stunning views and river access, discuss suitable pairings for the general flavor characteristics of the begins with founding partner, Bob Wojtowicz, a patient, yet passionate, food. And vice versa—if Sabel introduces a new wine, Felton draws on visionary who has cultivated this project for the last ten years. In his extensive travels to find a fitting food match to a particular region. 2000, Wojtowicz celebrated his fortieth birthday on Necker Island, At Ninety Acres, Felton aims to achieve two things: showcase as a Virgin Limited Editions luxury retreat in the British Virgin Islands much of the farm’s produce as possible, and provide an unpretentious, owned by British billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.

By the end of his stay, Wojtowicz was inspired with the idea of family-friendly environment. To this end, dishes such as macaroni and cheese and meatballs are just as popular as Hudson Valley duck breast, bringing the first Virgin Limited Edition property to the United States.

He already had Natirar in mind, and arranged a personal phone call Hamachi or Barnegat Lighthouse Scallops.

Popular desserts are also in the comfort-food league—the Banana with Branson. “I started talking,” Wojtowicz recalls. “I knew I had Split has caramelized banana, peanut brittle, pineapple, and ice cream, one shot, and my goal was not to take a breath for forty minutes until the whole idea got out. At the and the Chocolate Peanut Butter end, Richard took a breath - and Pyramid is “just one big Reese’s said he was on board.”

Treat.” The wood-fired pizzas are In 2002, when Somerset impeccably executed—try the one County announced its intention topped with pork belly, Fontina, to purchase the property as Gorgonzola and Asiago cheeses preserved open space, Wojtowicz and a raw farm egg. proposed a public/private One of Bob Wojtowicz’s partnership with the county. In favorite dishes, Roasted Chatham September 2003, they signed a Cod, brings layers of flavor and executive chef, David Felton ninety nine-year ground lease texture to the palate with buttery for ninety acres of the estate, cabbage, tangy mustardy spätzle, and smooth-fleshed cod topped with crackling. Other main courses hence the name of the culinary center.

Wojtowicz hired the Princeton-based firm, Hillier Group, for core include Pasture Raised Veal Flank and Hudson Valley Duck Breast, with prune and Armagnac, fennel and olive oil potatoes. Among the and shell work, and the Rockwell Group for the interiors. David Rockwell has driven the project from the start, working with a local appetizers: braised wild boar ragu and Venison Carpaccio. architect and civil engineers, Gladstone Design, to “tweak” the design along the way.

Sustainable and Seasonal “We thought that Hillier’s reputation for historical restoration, and Sustainable and seasonal are watchwords in Felton’s kitchen; this summer he’ll be harvesting many of his own vegetables and herbs, Rockwell’s flair for thinking outside the box, made a unique team,” partnering with neighboring farms such as Three Meadows, River Bend, comments Wojtowicz. “Bob Hillier came to every Land Use board Valley Shepherd Creamery, and Zone 7 for the rest. Last fall, the farm meeting, and then presented the board with the entire plan back in yielded jalapeños, and Felton made hot sauce and pickles, now served 2005. He’s been with the project for a long time, and kicked off the update from the original designs.” with chicken wings.

“We are really building a campus—the idea is that the guests arrive The farm’s bounty will appear on the list of ingredients for the five-course BMF tasting menu. Felton calls it “breaking down the wall at the mansion, but enjoy the property, coming and going from space between diner and chef,” a natural corrective to “tasting menu madness” to space,” explains Wojtowicz.

The Natirar campus, beyond the culinary center, comprises two that includes everything from Katy’s Greenhouse spinach and music garlic to Natirar’s Berkshire pigs and Araucana hen eggs. Other items outdoor swimming pools, a social pavilion, fitness center and spa, calculated to spark diners’ curiosity include local nettlesome cheese tennis courts and lawn sports, all at the disposal of members of The and Paradise Hill heirloom cranberries. BMF guests are attended to Club at Natirar and hotel guests. Wojtowicz emphasizes that the by either Felton himself, senior sous chef Marty Kester, or sous chef private, invitation-only club is very family-friendly. At Natirar, there’s Chuck Bauer. They explain the day’s menu, and propose adjustments, something for everyone: cross-country skiing, swimming, competitive croquet, lectures. The pools should be finished for the summer season to accommodate needs—or whims.

“We’re educational but we don’t lecture,” says Felton. “We want (including the gorgeous infinity-edged reflection pool), and the rest will follow. n you to be comfortable, and if you learn something new, that’s great.”

“Bob built me everything I ever wanted...Now I have a farm in my backyard.

It’s a dream come true.”

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cocktail hour

Enoteca

Enoteca (Italian for wine library) is located inside Eno Terra (land of vines) Restaurant and is part of the Terra Momo (celebrates Earth, food, wine, and life) Restaurant Group, led by Carlo and Raoul Momo.

The two story bar and wine cellar are housed in the former Fisk Grocery, established in 1860, featuring original timbers with mortise and tenon joints and tree pins. The Enomatic wine dispensing system allows patrons to enjoy many fine wines by the glass instead of purchasing the entire bottle. It reseals the bottle perfectly and maintains an optimal temperature of 56 degrees. The wine cellar holds over 3,500 bottles of wine and the second floor wine room holds an additional 1,500 bottles.

Terra Momo’s philosophy “Eat Local, Drink Global” means local sourcing of produce, meat, and fish, paired with the best wines from around the world. A favorite appetizer at Enoteca is the sampling of artisanal salumi & formaggi, grilled little neck clams, and yellowfin tuna tartar. The signature dinner entree is the Simply Grazin grass fed beef accompanied by seasonal sides. n 72 SPRING 2010

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Enoteca is located at Eno Terra, 4484 Kings’ Highway (Rte. 27) in Kingston. The bar is open Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays 2 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., and Sundays 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. For menus or dinner reservations, visit www.enoterra.com or call (609) 497-1777.

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Dining Out

Dining out—in and around Princeton HOPEWELL The Blue Bottle Café AMERICAN BISTRO 101 E. Broad St. 609-333-1710 This chef-owned restaurant’s modern American menu features local ingredients and changes with the seasons. $$$ z M Brothers Moon FRENCH 7 W. Broad St. 609-333-1330 This New French favorite boasts many vegetarianfriendly meals. $$$ z M LAMBERTVILLE Anton’s At the Swan AMERICAN 43 S Main St. 609-397-1960 With a tranquil and historic setting, gastronomers will favor this innovative American cookery in tune with nature’s bounty. The chef fashions his monthly menu with inventive dishes that reflect availability of seasonal ingredients. $$$ M ) DeAnna’s ITALIAN 54 N. Franklin St. 609-397-8957 Traditional, straightforward, well thought out, authentic Italian with original style and passion. $$$ S M )

Chambers Walk AMERICAN BISTRO 2667 Main St. 609-896-5995 American fare includes grilled pork loin, house-cured salmon and pear-and-quince cobbler. $$ zS M Dennis Foy MEDITERRANEAN 2691 Main St. 609-219-1900 Chef Dennis Foy introduces his award-winning Mediterranean influenced “Farm to Table” Menu. $$ z M

Za Restaurant AMERICAN BISTRO 147 W. Delaware Ave. 609-737-4400 Unpretentious chef-owned restaurant offers cross cultural comfort cuisine in a cottage-style setting. $$$ zS M

NEW HOPE The Landing AMERICAN 22 N Main St. 215-862-5711 With the most sought after riverside terrace dining in Bucks County, the Landing’s excellent service and exceptional American cuisine await you in a most beautiful riverside setting. $$ m

PRINCETON The Alchemist & Barrister AMERICAN (TRADITIONAL) 28 Witherspoon St. 609-924-5555 Relaxed atmosphere and plentiful beer selections make this American eatery/pub a hit. $$$ z m

Havana WORLD CUISINE 150 S. Main St. 215-862-9897 Havana is about great food, fun and music. Havana is a restaurant, bar, and nightclub where you can kick back and relax with friends, enjoy an exciting evening of live music and entertainment, or celebrate a special event or wedding. $$ m

LAWRENCEVILLE Acacia AMERICAN (NEW) 2367 Main St. 609-895-9885 One of the area’s most celebrated dining spots, offering a diverse menu of New American dishes. $$$ z M

PENNINGTON Avanti ITALIAN 23 W. Delaware Ave. 609-737-7174 Warm, unpretentious Southern Italian favorite. Standouts include roast chicken, veal dishes. $$ z m

SPRING 2010

Emily’s Café AMERICAN BISTRO 9 N. Main St. 609-730-1010 Quaint, casual bistro offering lunch, gourmet take-out and catering for any occasion. $$ zS )

Elements Asia ASIAN 4110 Quakerbridge Rd. 609-275-4988 Highly rated Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisine in a comfortable yet sophisticated atmosphere. $$ z m

Hamilton’s Grill Room MEDITERRANEAN 8 Coryell St. 609-397-4343 Innovative Mediterranean influenced, seasonal menus are noted for vibrant flavors, consistency and quality.

Wood -fired open grill and brick Adobe oven turn out signature grilled meats, fishes and pizzas. $$$ m )

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Barone’s Tuscany Grill ITALIAN 21 Route 31 North 609-818-0012 You’ll find traditional Italian fare and brick oven pizza prepared to perfection from second-generation restaurateur Giovanni Barone. $$ z m

PRINCETON MAGAZINE

BT Bistro AMERICAN BISTRO at the Clarion Hotel Palmer Inn 3499 Route One South, 609-919-9403 $$ m ) Blue Point Grill SEAFOOD 258 Nassau St. 609-921-1211 Highly rated eatery has an ever-changing menu of raw oysters and seafood specials. $$zm ) Calico Grill SEAFOOD 180 Nassau St. 609-924-0500 Fresh Eastern Pacific Seafood; Small, intimate dining room. House specialties include Coconut Paella, Hawaiian Poke - Seared Yellowfin Tuna Salad and our Breakfast “Loco-Moco”. Find us down the alley by Cox’s Market. $$ z M

key guide $ $$ $$$ z ) m S M T

Most entrees under $15 Most entrees $15-$20 Most entrees more than $20 BYO Reservations Open seven days Closed Sundays Closed Mondays Closed Tuesdays

Camillo’s Café ITALIAN 301 N. Harrison St. Princeton Shopping Center 609-252-0608 Fresh local produce and quality ingredients make all the difference in the authentic Italian dishes prepared by chef/owner Camillo Tortola.

Don’t pass on the homemade desserts. $$$ z m elements INTERPRETIVE AMERICAN 163 Bayard Lane 609-924-0078 Chef Scott Anderson, uses locally grown, sustainable products, as well as diverse cultural influences to create a menu of fresh and inviting flavors. Cuisine designed to delight your palate and nourish your spirit.

Serving lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 AM to 2 PM. $$$ m Eno Terra WORLD CUISINE 4484 Rt. 27 609-497-1777 An insistence on using locally produced products in the socpe of global cuisine creates a dining experience unlike any other. The woodfired grill adds flavor to the signature dishes. Lunch M-F. $$$ z m The Ferry House AMERICAN (NEW) 32 Witherspoon St. 609-924-2488.

Upscale storefront in the heart of town cooks up New American cuisine. $$$ z m

La Mezzaluna ITALIAN 25 Witherspoon St. 609-688-8515. Cozy Italian dining spot with an extensive array of specialties. $$ z m Lahiere’s FRENCH 11 Witherspoon St. 609-921-2798 Classic French fare, such as honey-glazed roasted duck and grilled veal medallions. $$$ z m S Main Street EURO-AMERICAN BISTRO 301 N. Harrison St. 609-921-2779 . Comfy surroundings and a creative menu make this bistro a popular spot. $$ m Masala Grill INDIAN 19 Chambers St. 609-921-0500 Downtown eatery features a wide range of Indian specialties. $$ z m Mediterra MEDITERRANEAN 29 Hulfish St. 609-252-9680 A casual restaurant that draws crowds for its wine list and exotic Mediterranean cuisine. $$$ z m P J’s Pancake House AMERICAN BISTRO 154 Nassau St. 609-924-1353 For those who like breakfast - day or night - this is the place for you. $m) On The Bone Restaurant STEAKHOUSE 4335 Rt. 1 (At Ridge Rd.) 609-514-2663. On the Bone is a moderately priced, relaxed atmosphere restaurant featuring aged marbled beef, natural pork and poultry and fresh fish cooked on the bone. Reservations suggested. $$$ m Parallel 40 WORLD CUISINE 201 Village Blvd. Forrestal Village 609-452-7900 Satisfy your adventurous palate with uniquely diverse tastes from around the globe fused into an irresistible mix of worldly cuisine. $$ m

Salt Creek Grille AMERICAN (TRADITIONAL) One Rockingham Row, Princeton Forrestal Village 609-419-4200 This American grille, in a beautiful Arts & Crafts-style building features an authentic mesquite wood grille in an exhibition kitchen. Highlights include outdoor porch firepits, jazz Sunday brunch and an award winning wine list. $$$ m Thai Shrimp Salad

Teresa Caffe CAFE 19-23 Palmer Square East 609-921-1974 Casual café serves Italian-style pasta, chicken dishes, salads and more. $$ m Underground Café CAFE 4 Hulfish St. 609-924-0666 The menu features French & Italian entrees, but the big stand-out is the shish-kebab at this sleek modern newcomer. $$$ z m

Chosen as “One of the 30 most important restaurants in America.”

OpinionatedAboutDining.com

elements brunch sunday 11 - 2 lunch weekdays 11:30 - 2 dinner every evening private dining and corporate functions free onsite parking

3/26/10

ELEMENTS • PUB: Princeton Magazine Dining Section • SIZE: 2.292” x 4.812” • 4C CONTACT: Bluest SKy, LLC • gene@bluestsky.com • ryan@ryanjamesagency.com

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163 bayard lane (rte. 206) • princeton www.elementsprinceton.com • 609.924.1108

Witherspoon Grill STEAKHOUSE 57 Witherspoon St. 609-924-6011 From the man who brought you Blue Point Grill and Nassau Street Seafood and Produce Company, this eatery is a haven for carnivores.

Menu items include dry-aged steaks, meatloaf and pork loin, to name a few. $$$ m ROCKY HILL Rocky Hill Inn Eatery & Tavern AMERICAN 147 Washington St. Rocky Hill 609-683-8930 Featuring contemporary American cuisine with French and Italian influences; this institution offers two distinct dining rooms, a patio and a private room for meetings and parties. $$$ S

Lunch: Tues ~ Fri / 11-3

Dinner: Tues ~ Sun / 5-10

d f

dennis foy restaurant Nationally Recognized Chef Dennis Foy Introduces His Award-Winning Mediterranean Influenced “Farm to Table” Menu the restaurant’s two private dining rooms are perfect for small intimate occasions, rehearsal dinners, corporate luncheons or simply dinner for two.

2691 Main Street . Lawrenceville, NJ . 609-219-1900 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

SPRING 2010

75

5:41

showhome

by Ellen Gilbert

Bringing A Home into the 21st Century

After a year off, the Junior League of Greater Princeton (JLGP) has worked its biennial magic, this time at a grand residence beautifully situated high on the Great Road.

76 SPRING 2010 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

The nearly 30 designers selected by a JLGP committee have redecorated both interior and exterior spaces at the home, and it’s all on view from April 25 through May 23, when the public is invited to tour the property and participate in special demonstrations, including a grilling event and tea service.

“Quite a Shack” Before the renovations, old-fashioned “call elevator” buttons harkened back to earlier years, when the home was owned by the Starkey, and later, the Hobler families.

A 1986 article in The Princeton Recollector on “Grammie” (Ruth) Hobler includes details of life in the “big house,” which the family moved to in 1941. Surrounded by “apple and peach trees, cornfields, grape vines. . . evergreens and rose bushes,” it boasted “a trap shoot in a nearby field, a picnic table by a small creek in the woods” and “a large bell to call people to meals.”

The rooms in the house “were large,” the article recalls, from “the billiard room upstairs over the den to the tremendous pantry and kitchen downstairs. There was an elevator later turned into a storage room for Gram.” A visitor who signed the guest book in 1951 described it as “quite a shack.”

Following the month-long fundraiser, the house, which is currently owned by a bank, will be for sale.

Retro Chic?

“What are we doing here?” joked Bill Noval of Spyglass Design in Hopewell a month ago as he surveyed the aged kitchen he had been asked to redo. “I’m thinking retro chic,” he said, his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.

What Mr. Noval and interior designer Linda Daly of Ivyland, Pennsylvania actually did do is create what Mr. Noval described as “a kitchen study; a place where you cook and work, where the family comes together.” This “bright spot” features “lots of white,” and appliances like a high-end CornuFé stove provided by Mrs. G’s. (“With this range, you are taking part of a very exclusive, prestigious and legendary world,” observes the French firm’s website.) “We’ve taken a space that was just awful and brought it back to life,” said Mr. Noval.

Bathroom Renaissance “The bathrooms are something out of a museum,” observed Junior Leaguer Allison Gumbs during a tour of the house before work began.

Coryell Street Stone and Tile, Princeton Stone and Tile, FL Crandall Interiors, Room Service Interiors, and Delia Designs were duly commissioned to revive all five bathrooms.

Ms. Gumbs noted that designers throughout the house represented both returnees from previous showhouses as well as newcomers, and that the firms ranged in size and scope.

Those retained included Michael Herold Design of New Hope for the entry hall and second floor gallery; Trove Decor of Newtown for the living room; Totten-McGuirl Interiors of Basking Ridge for the formal library; Judy King Interiors for the Dining Room; and Trenton’s Kelly Ingram Finishes for the hallway to the kitchen and butler’s pantry.

Tuscan Hills of Kingston refurbished the guest quarters sitting room; Princeton’s Fem D Interiors recreated the first guest bedroom, and Fringe Benefits of Hamilton did the second.

Children’s Bedrooms Gass Design and Carol Nagel Decorative Painting, both of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, were responsible for the stairway gallery to the second floor, and Judith Nemeth Interiors of Lawrenceville decorated the first bedroom on the second floor. A second, “tween girl’s” bedroom went to Mannarino Designs of Holmdel, and Shelby Tewell Interiors reenvisioned the third “little boy’s” bedroom.

A fourth bedroom was in the hands of Princeton’s Collins Interiors, and R. House of Florham Park did the hallway to the second-floor bedrooms. J. Cella Designs of Flemington restored the elevator mural; Allentown’s Custom Finishing by Joanne did the linen room; and Design Within Reach was retained for the master dressing room.

Gracious Living of New Hope did the master bedroom; Black-Eyed Susan of Holicong designed the master bedroom sitting room; and Gretchen Christie Interiors of Princeton was responsible for the master study.

“In the end, we are doing all of this to raise awareness of our League and to let people know that by supporting our Showhouse efforts, they too are giving back to their community,” observed Ms. Gumbs. n

ROCKETing to Sucess!

The 16th “Designer Showhouse & Gardens” is the JLGP’s primary fundraiser. Since its founding in 1921, the Junior League of Greater Princeton has been an organization of women “bringing people and needs together.” The nonprofit welcomes all women over the age of 21 who demonstrate a commitment to voluntarism regardless of race, religion or national origin. Currently there are over 350 active, provisional, and sustaining members from Mercer, Middlesex and Bucks Counties, and the surrounding areas.

JLGP has donated over $119,000 and over 1,800 volunteer hours to the community through ROCKETS (“Raising Our Children’s Knowledge by Educating Through Science”), its major impact program. Created in 2005 to increase literacy skills of young children and their parents, the program is currently offered to preschoolers at the Trenton Head Start and the Princeton YWCA Child Care Center at Valley Road School. The curriculum includes hands-on classroom activities, take-home assignments for the children and their parents to complete together, and field trips.

The Junior League of Greater Princeton is part of the Association of Junior Leagues International, which includes 292 Junior Leagues in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Great Britain.

Let’s Go...

Junior League of Greater Princeton Designer Showhouse & Gardens XVI

Where 1438 Great Road, Skillman When Sunday, April 25 through Sunday, May 23 Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

Closed Monday and Tuesday Tour Tickets Admission price: $20 in advance, including seniors 62 and over; $25 at the door Cafe Emily’s Cafe and Catering (Pennington) Parking In adjacent lot; golf carts will be available to bring visitors to and from the house.

Contact Info For more information on tours and these and other special events, and to request tickets, call 609-771-0525, email showhouse@jlgp.org, or visit www.jlgp.org

PRINCETON MAGAZINE SPRING 2010 77

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The Junior looking for League of Greater Princeton Photo by Robert Manilla

Photo by Robert Manilla Photo by Robert Manilla

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Open to the public to the23, public April Open 25 – May 2010

distinctive hardware?

April 25 – May 23, 2010

Hours: Wed. & Thurs. 10-4 • Fri. 10-8 • Sat. 10-6 • Sun. 12-5

Photo by Robert Hours: Wed.$20 & Manilla Thurs.

10-4 • Fri. 10-8 • Sat. 12-5 Admission in advance, $25 at10-6 the• Sun. door $20 in advance, at the door For Admission more information about $25 special events more information about special events and For to purchase tickets visit www.jlgp.org

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and to purchase tickets visit www.jlgp.org

For more information about special events For more information about special and to purchase tickets visit www.jlgp.org and to purchase tickets visit www.jlg Photo

by Robert Manilla

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or Levers Fine Home Accents 1,000Door DoorKnobs Knobs or Junior League of Greater Princeton’s initiative to improve math and 2000 Levers ••the Fine Home Accents science literacy of preschool students.

For more information about special events Baldwin Preferred Showroom, Cliffside, Ginger, RK International, Emtek, Vicenza, Watermark, Colonial Bronze, Schlage, Andre Collection, QCL, Hafele, Top Knobs, Omnia, Period Brass and and purchase tickets visit www.jlgp.org Ives, Grohe Select Showroom, American Standard Faucets, Alno, to Von Morris, Acorn, Merit Metal, Deltana Hinges, Jaclo Shower Heads, Valli & Valli, Bouvet, LaForge, Anne at Home, Pullware, proceeds from Designer Showhouse & Gardens XVI will fund Classic Brass, Classic Hardware, Emenee,The Fusion, Schaub & Co., Legacy Brass, Mico, Justyna (Raising Our Children’s Knowledge by Educating Through Science), Collections, Norwell Lighting,ROCKETS Rubinet Faucet, Heritage Hardware, Hamilton Collection the Junior League of Greater Princeton’s initiative to improve math and ON DISPLAY: ON DISPLAY: science literacy of preschool students.

Over 150 Styles of Bathroom Hardware Over 300 Styles of Bathroom Hardware Hours: Wed. & Thurs.

10-4 • Fri. 10-8 • Sat. 10-6 • Sun. 12-5 9,000 Cabinet Knobs • 150 Designer Faucets 30,000 Cabinet Knobs • 800 Designer Faucets ON DISPLAY: ON DISPLAY: or Levers 1,000Door DoorKnobs Knobs or 2000 Levers ••Fine FineHome HomeAccents Accents

Toto Showroom Now Open Open to the public Julien and25 Elkay–Sinks Now on23, Display2010 April May

HOME HARDWARE DESIGNS

Over 150 Hardware Over 300 Styles Styles ofBathroom Bathroom Hardware Baldwin of Preferred Showroom, Cliffside, Ginger, RK International, Emtek, Vicenza, Watermark, Admission advance, $25 at the door Colonial Bronze, Schlage, Andre Collection, QCL, Hafele,$20 Top Knobs, Omnia, in Period Brass and 9,000 Cabinet Knobs • 150 Designer Toto Showroom Now Open Grohe Select Showroom, American StandardFaucets Faucets, Alno, Von Morris, Acorn, Merit Metal, 30,000 CabinetIves,Deltana Knobs • 800 Designer Faucets Hinges, Jaclo Shower Heads, Valli & Valli, Bouvet, LaForge, Anne at Home, Pullware, orBrass, Levers ••Fine Home Accents 1,000Door Door Knobs8-5, Classic Classic Hardware, Emenee, Fusion, Schaub & Co., Legacy Brass, Mico,ROAD, Justyna Hours: Tues.-Fri. Sat. 9-3 Julien and Elkay Sinks Now onSCOTCH Display 192-196 192-194 GLEN ROC SHOPPINGspecial CTR. 2000 Knobs or Levers Fine Home Accents For more information about events Collections, Norwell Lighting, Rubinet Faucet, Heritage Hardware, Hamilton Collection

609-883-5353 Toto Showroom NowHARDWARE Open HOME

Baldwin Preferred Showroom, Cliffside, Ginger, RK International, Emtek,(One Vicenza, Watermark, mile from Rt. 95, Exit 3 Scotch Road) Colonial Bronze, Schlage, Andre Collection, QCL, Hafele, Top Knobs, Omnia, Period Brass and West Trenton, NJ Ives, Grohe Select American Standard Faucets, Alno, Von Morris, Acorn, Merit Metal, Fax:Showroom, 609-883-4664 Deltana Hinges, Jaclo Shower Heads, Valli & Valli, Bouvet, LaForge, Anne at Home, Pullware, www.homehardwaredesigns.net Classic Brass, Classic Hardware, Emenee, Fusion, Schaub & Co., Legacy Brass, Mico, Justyna Hours: Tues.-Fri. 8-5, Sat. 9-3 192-196 192-194 SCOTCH ROAD, GLEN ROC SHOPPING CTR. Collections,The Norwellproceeds Lighting, Rubinet Faucet, Heritage Hardware, Hamilton Collection from Designer Showhouse & Gardens XVI

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DESIGNS Fax: 609-883-4664 www.homehardwaredesigns.net

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78

192-196 192-194 SCOTCH ROAD, GLEN ROC SHOPPING CTR. (One milemile fromfrom Rt. 95, ExitExit 3 Scotch RoadRoad) South) (One Rt. 95, 3 Scotch West Trenton, Trenton,NJNJ

SPRING 2010

PRINCETON MAGAZINE

901387

901387

Judy King Interiors, LLC • 44 Spring Steet, Princeton, NJ 08542 • 609.279.0440

Design the Perfect Look for Your Home

Tuscan Hills Adds A New Line of Stone Tables to Their Collections of Handcrafted Furniture, Gifts, Accessories From Italy

Home Hardware Designs, LLC. offers high-end architectural hardware for your home or business.

We will show you the best in decorative hardware, manufactured by the best names in the business.

Our 3000 square foot showroom will just amaze you with such companies as Baldwin Brass, Omnia, Bouvet, Ginger, Valli & Valli, and many more. Founded in 1999 by Leland Jones, our mission is to turn your house into the home you’ve always hoped it would be. What is your home’s look? Modern? Deco? Traditional? Victorian?

French Provencal? No matter. We offer a variety of styles and options that will delight your senses.

Unsurpassed Quality 4438 Route 27, Kingston, NJ 08528 609.921.9015 www.TuscanHills.com PRINCETON MAGAZINE

SPRING 2010

79

“Kitchen as Art” Interiors with Fine Antiques Judy King Interiors offers distinctive custom designs driven by a passion for pattern and an inspired eye for color. With every detail and nuance tailored to express your personal style.

We welcome you to visit our interior design studio and antique shop on Spring Street to experience the eclectic mix of French & English 19th Century antiques and reproductions along with unique home accessories and classic custom-made pieces. Or visit our website www.judykinginteriors.com for an inside view of what we can create for you.

Judy King Interiors, LLC 44 Spring Steet, Princeton, NJ 08542 609.279.0440

Visit us at this year’s Junior League Showhouse and Gardens XVI

Spyglass Design, Inc. 31 West Broad Street Hopewell • 609.466.7900 80

SPRING 2010

PRINCETON MAGAZINE

Tuscan Hills is an importer of contemporary and traditional home furnishings, gifts, and accessories from Italy. Working directly with the family-owned and operated companies in Tuscany and Umbria, Tuscan Hills guarantees that every piece they offer clients is made of the highest quality materials and by the most expert craftsmen Italy has to offer.

Visit Tuscan Hills and touch and feel their fabrics, hard wood dining tables, wrought iron furniture, and most recently added toG\ijfeXc`q\ pfli j_fgg`e^ their collection, hand crafted travertine and painted volcanic stone table tops and an extensive line of terracotta.

Indoor or out, home furnishing or gift for any occasion, Tuscan Hills offers an extensive selection of product lines >@=KJ# ?FD< =LIE@J?@E>J# 8E; 8::<JJFI@<J =IFD @K8CP from which to choose. Experience Italy in Kingston.

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Proud supporter of the Junior League of Greater Princeton Designer Showhouse Since 2002 Displaying CornuFé, Leibherr and Wolf at XVI Showhouse and Gardens 2960 Route 1, Lawrenceville, NJ • 609.882.1444 www.MrsGs.com

We are proud to participate in this year’s Junior League Showhouse & Gardens XVI. Experience one of our masterpieces in the kitchen of Woodacres. We feature the most

unique, unusual and one-of-a-kind tile and stone available. Whether you are remodeling the kitchen of your dreams, updating your bathrooms or adding charm to your entryways and living spaces, our expert designers are here to help you create the home you’ve only imagined. Don’t go it alone! Visit us for inspiration and support. Together, we’ll put your signature on your home.

Don’t Miss...

“Secrets of Creating Great Outdoor Spaces” An interactive presentation by area experts including Darlene Flood, A Step in Stone

Friday, May 14 7:00pm - 10:00pm Woodacres, 1438 Great Road, Skillman NJ

One mile north of Princeton Located in the Galleria, 1149 Route 601 - Skillman, NJ 2 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank (609) 333-0610 (732) 450-0080 www.aStepInStone.com

PRINCETON MAGAZINE

SPRING 2010

81

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What an opportunity! Spectacular blend of custom detail and terrific floorplan greet you when you enter this gorgeous home in The Preserve. With 11’ ceilings on the first floor and beautiful mahogany floors glimmering, you are welcomed into this great Princeton Township house. Set on over an acre with an amazing Princeton Magazine presents aby special devoted toKenyon. the artists bluestone terrace.

Marketed Janesection Henderson p r i n c e to n m ag a z i n e a dv e rt i s i n g s e c t i o n

Beautiful Homes and craftspeople who create spectacular homes.

$2,600,000

HendersonSIR.com/313125 $

Propertyexecution offered for sale Sotheby’stucked International Realty some of With flawless ofbyaHenderson lifelong vision among the Princeton area’s finest estates, this modern home represents the best of new design. The striking façade is a tribute to farms on the western side of the property and impressive newly constructed homes on the east, embracing a coveted Lawrence Township location that transitions from rural to urban.

8 $4,850,000

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Where Inspiration Becomes Reality

Kitchens & Baths Inc.

Visit our showroom Plainsboro Village Center • 4 Market Street • Plainsboro, NJ

609.275.0488

Kitchens & Baths Inc.

With over 20 years of experience in the kitchen and bath design field, Susan White says that in her profession, nothing is more important than a company’s reputation for quality and attention to detail. Her commitment to these principles is precisely what makes her company stand out from the competition.

When asked why her company has been so successful, she explains that she and her installers always put the client first. “We make the process as painless as possible with minimal disruption for the shortest time possible to complete the job.

We prepare detailed project schedules for every job, and we have never missed a promised completion date. We also take special care to use protective materials, including zip walls, to protect our clients’ homes during construction. I’m proud that every one of my clients allows me to list them as a reference, and many of my current clients have been referred to me by previous customers”.

She also says that, “Even before the design process begins, I believe in spending a lot of time with every client, or prospective client, educating them about cabinet construction and features, countertop options and other critical components of a project. These initial discussions typically take place in my showroom in the Plainsboro Village Center, where I feature a number of kitchen and bath displays.

My goal is to make the entire process, from design through installation, enjoyable and stress-free.”

Susan learns how her clients plan to use their kitchens and designs the spaces accordingly. “Where do they currently store their spices, cookware and other essentials? How often do they entertain? Do they host big family dinners on Sunday?

Our role is not only to make each kitchen a thing of beauty, but to personalize it for the client and make it totally functional for their individual needs.”

Susan’s company handles projects in a 30-mile radius from her Plainsboro showroom, focusing on Mercer, Middlesex and Bucks counties.

Susan White, Owner/Designer TEL: (609) 275-0488 SHOWROOM: Plainsboro Village Center FAX: (609) 799-1138 4 Market Street, Suite 802 susan@susantwhitekitchens.com Plainsboro, NJ 08536

NJ Lic# 13VH03888000 PA Lic# 055151

How much energy are you consuming ......right now?

Call us to learn about our electric, gas and renewable energy management solutions.

11 H Princess Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 609.912.1800 www.digitalsurroundings.com PRINCETON MAGAZINE

SPRING 2010

83

VIRTUAL KITCHEN CONCEPTS, Inc.

877-945-6441

www.virtualkitchenconcepts.com

I can familiarize myself with my new potential client and define the scope of the work being requested. This gives me the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level, before we develop a business relationship.” Learning about her client’s family and living habits enables Natalie to design the best possible space for their individual needs. “My ultimate goal is to be able to envision the space through the eyes of my clients, and I accomplish this by learning about my client’s desires for the new space to be designed, and asking important questions like: what they may like or dislike about the current space; what their dining and entertaining preferences are; what their storage expectations are.”

Barry Murphy and Stephen Barner, Master Plumbers licensed in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, are the owners of Virtual Kitchen Concepts. Because kitchen and bathroom remodeling had become such a major part of their plumbing business in the past few years, they decided it was time to create a separate entity to better serve their customers’ needs, and in 2008 Virtual Kitchen Concepts was established.

Barry and Steve wanted to create an innovative and unique way to help their clients better visualize their dream projects, so they built a state-of-the-art showroom and design center. Using the company’s virtual design systems, the customer can see a full color 3D computer generated “virtual” representation of their project on one of the company’s large flat screen monitors in the showroom. Options such as floor type, appliance colors, countertops, cabinets and other features can all be altered at the touch of a button. Barry points out that the reaction from clients has been overwhelmingly positive as they can leave the showroom with color drawings to bring to their homes so that they may continue to view their dream project in its actual space.

Natalie points out that thanks to Barry and Steve’s customer-oriented business philosophy, “I can spend all the time I need to alter designs with our customers both on site, and in our design showroom.

I am afforded the time to present multiple designs at once and allow my clients to choose what they like from each design, which is then ultimately incorporated into their final design.”

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Upon arriving at the showroom, a customer is met by office and showroom manager Mary Chrambanis. Mary’s genuine warmth and care for the clients sets the tone for the entire Virtual Kitchen Concepts experience. She makes sure that they get a prompt response to any questions or concerns they may initially have, and continues to assist them throughout the entire project.

Obviously from a business perspective making sales is very important, but as Natalie tells me, “I am never hurried or pressured to make sales, which is a very refreshing business approach that definitely works for us, and our clients have noticed it too. There is no job too big or too small for our company, whether it is a small vanity or a complete kitchen; my clients get my undivided attention from start to finish.”

Natalie Jefremow, one of Virtual Kitchen Concepts’ designers, describes the process of using the latest in technology to create dream kitchens and baths. “Our initial consultation is complimentary so that

Based in Bucks County, Virtual Kitchen Concepts is currently satisfying client’s needs in the surrounding counties of Montgomery, Mercer, Hunterdon and the Greater Princeton area.

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(off Rt. 130 S., 2 miles south of Rt. 571) Located at H&H Gas south of Rt. 571) (off Rt. 130 S., 609-426-1111 2 miles www.hhappliance.com www.hhappliance.com 609-426-1111 south of Rt. 571) www.hhappliance.com

908-904-1727 • www.audiocafe.biz www.hhappliance.com 926 Route 206, Hillsborough, NJ 84

SPRING 2010

PRINCETON MAGAZINE

80 North Main

80 North Main 80 North Main Street, Windsor, NJ Street, Windsor, NJ Located at H&H Gas Street, Windsor, Located atNJ H&H Gas (off Rt. 130 S., 2 miles

NJ LIC# 13VH03339800

609-426-1111

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Frank Pasquito, Owner TEL: (609) 921-1321 Frank Pasquito and his cousin Dan learned the craft of building beautiful homes from their fathers and their uncle. Frank feels that the success of his company is based on the service that he provides to his clients.

“You need to be available to your clients 100% of the time. It means seven days a week. You should always be kind and receptive to your clients and their ideas.” He smiles as he says, “Even if they get a brainstorm about their house at 2:00 in the morning.”

Frank feels that the three keys to a successful custom building company are: Knowledge, Experience and Performance. “Pasquito Builders was founded in 1947. For 63 years, our craftsmen learned their trade from the founders of the company and the craftsmen who came before them. Every person we choose to join us is taught that there is a right way and a wrong way to build, and for our craftsmen, the right way is the only way. We use every bit of skill that we possess to give our clients the home they have dreamed of.”

Pasquito Builders specializes in oneof-a-kind custom homes and additions, renovations, historical restoration, exquisite kitchens and baths, specialty doors and hardware, and A manor home built outside Princeton custom architectural mouldings. “We

by Pasquito Builders

926 Route 206, Hillsborough, NJ 908-904-1727 • (FAX)908-904-6757 www.audiocafe.biz

The company motto of Audio Cafe of Hillsborough, NJ is: “We Bring Technology Home.”

Mike Dudzinski, the CEO of Audio Cafe, points out that, “With the systems we supply for our customers, especially the custom designed home theaters and media rooms we create, we are bringing families together. The idea is that with the home entertainment systems we provide, the kids love to come home after school or playing with their friends. Our clients prefer that their children and their friends play at our clients’ homes rather than at the friends. Our promise to our customers is a simple one. We will enhance your lifestyle by transforming your home into a fun and exciting place to live, work and play.”

Audio Cafe’s goal is to build relationships with its customers. “We value each and every client. Small companies sometimes forget the power they have over the larger store brands. We remind ourselves every day of what makes us successful. Personalized customer service! “Of course we can create gorgeous home theaters and media centers,” Mr. Dudzinski relates, “But we are a complete solution provider for electronic systems, and we can do so many other things as well.” The company’s custom services for residential customers include: Home Automation & Control, Whole House Music & Video, Lighting Solutions, Home Theater, Telephone Systems, Computer Networking, Energy Management, Home Surveillance & Security.

Mr. Dudzinski relates that Audio Cafe provides video distribution systems where the customer can watch movies, surf the web, play video games, and display photos in any room of their home. In an Audio Cafe designed cinema, movies play at the touch of a single button, lighting dims automatically upon the start of the movie and again upon pause or the end of the movie, noise control and acoustical enhancements are incorporated in the design, and themes are often used to add a personal touch to the design. The company can also provide music and a networked computer system to play and control throughout the home.

The company provides lighting control systems from Crestron, which provides tremendous savings in energy costs while increasing convenience and safety. The ultimate in safety is delivered by Audio Cafe’s security systems. The devices blend into the décor of the home, and the homeowners can see who’s at the front door or access a nanny cam by simply viewing their television, computer monitor or smart phone, and can remotely disarm the system and unlock the door to allow service technicians in even when the owners are not at home.

Audio Cafe prides itself on its customer service by a staff of licensed and CEDIA certified technicians who receive updated training on the latest technologies each year. In addition to its residential services, Audio Cafe also has a full range of commercial services as well.

The company services clients in the Greater Princeton area and throughout all of New Jersey, especially the New Jersey Shore, and Eastern Pennsylvania, particularly Bucks and Montgomery Counties and the Philadelphia Main Line.

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always challenge ourselves with each project we create,” he relates.

“We try to come up with different ideas that no one else will think of.

We enjoy creating one-of-a-kind projects for one-of-a-kind clients.”

The photos accompanying this article and the Pasquito Builders advertisement are examples of the company’s commitment to excellence.

From the chandelier and skylight above the kitchen in a Hopewell Borough home, to the stained glass backsplash, the company, working with homeowner Gail Samse, created a unique kitchen that is a shining example of Pasquito Builders’ knowledge, experience and performance.

The second photograph depicts the exquisite craftsmanship that the company brought to a manor house it built outside Princeton, highlighting the arched chimneys and balconies of the home. As Frank Pasquito relates, “We put our name on these projects, and that means that we must build them to the very best of our abilities as true professionals.”

A kitchen addition with a variety of unique details created in a historic Hopewell home by Pasquito Builders

80 North Main Street, Windsor, NJ Located at H&H Gas (off Rt. 130 S., 2 miles south of Rt. 571)

H&H Designer Appliance Center has been delivering quality appliances with affordable prices for more than 60 years.

Today, H&H Designer Appliance Center still focuses on quality, customer service and affordability.

Top Brands and Product Lines for All Price Points - H&H Designer Appliance Center offers high quality- brands at every price point, such as Sub-Zero, Wolf, Thermador, Miele, Dacor, Prestige, Alfresco and Capital, GE, Samsung, KitchenAid,Whirlpool, Frigidaire and Maytag to name a few. We ensure a personalized shopping experience to help all customers find the best products for their needs.

Standard and Luxury Appliances for Residential, Vacation Homes and Rental Properties - Whether you want to update one older appliance or all, or customize your home for easier living and elegance in entertaining, H&H offers something for every domestic need. From a full kitchen remodel offering great living appeal and excellent resale value to a gourmet barbeque grill and a wine cellar for classy dinner parties, the possibilities are endless.

Top-Notch Customer Service - Our knowledgeable and friendly staff looks forward to helping you select the right appliance for your personal needs. Ken and his salespeople will be happy to explain how to use the features on the appliances you choose, as well as how to properly care for them to prolong use.

www.hhappliance.com

609-426-1111

We directly import our own slabs from countries all over the world.

Over 5,000 slabs in 240 colors on site.

Family owned and operated for over 20 years.

Offering Granite, Caesarstone, Marble, And Silestone Countertops.

Just Minutes from Princeton, New Jersey

930 New York Avenue Trenton, NJ 08638 TEL: 609.984.8818 FAX: 609.392.5849 www.stonetechmarble.com

OFFERING THE FINEST IN CUSTOM CONSTRUCTION SINCE 1947

PASQUITO BUILDERS IS A PROVEN NAME BRINGING INTEGRITY TO THE PROJECT, GUARANTEED SATISFACTION TO THE CLIENT AND THE FINEST IN CRAFTSMANSHIP. ◊ NEW CONSTRUCTION & ADDITIONS ◊ RENOVATION ◊ HISTORICAL RESTORATION ◊ KITCHEN & BATHS ◊ SPECIALTY DOORS & HARDWARE ◊ CUSTOM ARCHITECTURAL MOULDINGS

(609) 921-1321

E-MAIL: pasquitobuilders@comcast.net ◊ Please visit our website at: www.pasquitobuilders.com

vintage princeton

The Princeton Public Library 1950’s Kids lining up for storytime at the library’s first home in Bainbridge House, which now houses the Historical Society of Princeton. (Photo courtesy of the Princeton Public Library)

1990’s The next incarnation of the library was in a relatively roomy new structure that served its purpose well from 1966 until it was demolished in 2002 to make room for the present building. Until the new home opened its doors in April 2004, the library was quartered at the Princeton Shopping Center.

(Photo courtesy of the Princeton Public Library)

PRINCETON MAGAZINE SPRING 2010 89

the last word

by Stuart Mitchner Photograph by Emily Reeves

Barry Weisfeld

“This is unique stuff I’m giving you,” said Barry Weisfeld in the course of an interview conducted in his bunker-like headquarters at the Princeton Record Exchange, which opened on March 20, 1980 at 20 Nassau before moving five years later to its present, considerably roomier location at 20 Tulane Street. This being the store’s 30th anniversary, owner Weisfeld and Prex manager Jon Lambert have been busy telling more or less the same story to interviewers drawn by the convergence of the store’s anniversary with the nationwide celebration of “Record Store Day.” What’s truly unique is the idea that arguably the most famous independent franchise in downtown Princeton, a magnet for dealers and collectors worldwide, began in the back of a van loaded with secondhand records being driven around to various colleges by a guy with a passion for disco and a degree in marketing from the University of Hartford.

How was it when you were driving around setting up record sales on the road?

After I graduated college in 1975 I went to a couple of suit and tie interviews, and realized I couldn’t hack it, so I started buying up records at flea markets. I took the back seat out of a Chevy Nova, loaded it with about 2000 records, and started going around to colleges. Pretty soon I realized the Nova wasn’t enough, so I bought 90 SPRING 2010

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a used van. By the spring of 1976 I was setting up on the street at Penn, different colleges, student centers, whatever. A lot of times I’d be driving all night, only getting a few hours sleep. The University of Maryland was the first college bookstore I set up a sale in.

When did you first do the Princeton University Store? Was it more profitable than the others? Is that one reason you decided to open a store here?

I was set up in a student center at Rutgers in December 1976 when the manager of the Music Department at the U-Store contacted me and we fixed it for me to come in April 1977 for three days. He gave me a parking pass. So I lived out of my van in the U-store parking lot. Early in the morning I’d sneak into the gym and take a shower. I was young enough, I looked like a student so it was okay. Yeah, my largest sales were in Princeton. And it was located between two of the top five market cities in the country. I had a lease in Princeton and a lease to a place in Long Island, but by then it was 1979, gas had gone up because of the oil embargo. I figured if gas keeps going up, I’m better off in a University town where people can walk in, students, professors and so forth.

to come here. A lot of our $1.99 records are listed for $15 if you look in a record catalogue. But to buy from us and sell for more online is very time consuming. Say they buy a record from us for $3, sell for $7, think of how much it costs them in time and labor to deal with it.

You have to take photos, make comments, worry about the shipping.

But it’s not all nickel and dime with us. If there’s a record we feel we could get a hundred dollars for that’s in nice condition, we’ll pay $40 for it, and we’d rather buy a thousand $40 records and put them out for $100 than buy like 10,000 records for 10 cents and try to sell them for a dollar. But most of our business ranges between $3 and $8.

What about your experience as a new downtown merchant dealing in an usunusal product. Did you feel like an outsider?

She sold cable TV advertising. She really appreciates the store. She’s really into music. No, we don’t have kids.

I joined the Chamber of Commerce right away and when Mitch Forest founded Princeton Mercants Association in 1985 I was instantly a member. Our store helped other businesses by drawing an incredible amount of people into this town that would never have a reason to come here otherwise. I built my business on the Manhattan yellow pages. We had lots of word of mouth and advertising. Now we have dealers that come here from at least 50 different countries.

The store got some free publicity on TV when a doctor in an episode of House was seen carrying one of those familiar yellow Record Exchange bags.

How did you get into records in the first place?

Did you meet your wife through the store? Any children?

I’ve never seen the episode. When they called me up, it caught me by surprise, out of the blue. It’s not a normal call. At the time the show hadn’t been on the air yet. The bag they wanted to use was CD size. I wanted to send them the bigger, record-sized bags, to build the visibility, but no, it had to just be a CD bag. Which reminds me of the time we had a chance for some exposure through a modeling company that wanted to do a model shoot here because they liked what they called the Art Deco atmosphere. They offered us two thousand dollars to close down the store for the day. But when I added it up (everything is numbers), I figured I had to pay every staff member, plus utilities, and then I had to factor in what it would mean if one of the customers coming here from far away or Europe had planned on spending one day in the store. If they show up and can’t get in, they’re never coming back. I tried to get the modeling people to have it at night but they wouldn’t, so I came back with a high number and they couldn’t do it.

“I took the back seat out of a Chevy Nova, loaded it with about 2000 records, and started going around to colleges.”

I listened to the radio, heard songs I liked, got into 45s when I was a DJ in college at the University of Hartford. Once I realized that radio stations got free records, I found a way to get promo 45s from radio stations, I was obsessed with promo 45s. I caught the wave in disco. I probably have one of the most complete disco collections around. But when I was hauling all those heavy boxes of LPs around to colleges, there was no longterm dream of having a record store somewhere. I just figured I’d keep on doing this until I hurt my back and had to stop. I was living week to week.

Your store manager Jon Lambert mentioned buying some big collections the other day, 1500 jazz LPs and 9,000-plus classical CDs. Any stories about especially interesting or surprising collections?

The highlight of my day is if somebody calls up with a great collection.

I went to Baltimore for one on Easter Sunday. One bizarre collection in 1988 was 23,000 records, all opera, on the fifth floor of a brownstone in Brooklyn and the only way to access it was a staircase that was like 20 inches wide—alot of pople couldnt even fit up there. You had to hold the boxes vertically to get them down the stairs. 23,000 records weighed like four and and a half tons. It took five guys 40 man hours to carry it all down those stairs.

A lot of your business comes from dealers who buy up your stuff and sell it for a profit. Any comments?

We price to sell. We want to keep the stock moving. At a certain point it’s like the space is more valuable than the merchandise itself.

One reason we don’t sell on the internet is because we want people

You’ve always got a baseball hat on.

I collect promotional hats. Remember that’s what got me started in the first place—radio station promos. It’s another version of the same thing. So I got into shirts and hats from vendors at stadiums.

Your store turns up on a lot of Google searches. Talk a bit more about your preference for selling in the store rather than on the web.

Google searches? That’s the Barry mystique! The web is great. We can show people how big the store is, how much we’ve got. We can show off special items like the Blue Note collection of jazz LPs. We’ve got blogs and bloggers. We choose them and approve them, and it’s nice to have the unique content. And we just got our own Facebook page and already we’ve got 2,800 fans. But what it comes down to is if you want what we’re selling, you gotta show up. And that’s where the real mystique comes in. You never know what you might find here and it’s not always a certain record or CD or DVD. People have made close friends here. It’s a real life experience. n PRINCETON MAGAZINE SPRING 2010

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