I Never Visited Palisades Park...

Dear Mr Gargiulo:

Thank you for sending the autographed copy of your book. I spent a few hours reading it last night. I never visited Palisades Park, though a number of years ago, I believe I saw the location. I was the architect of an assisted living project (“Classic Residence by Hyatt”) in Teaneck, New Jersey, and stayed in Fort Lee, or at least drove through on my site visits.

However, I do have an endearing memory of the place, burned as an image in my mind. As a child, my parents, who were neither wealthy nor well-educated, took us to New York to see the World’s Fair, and Michelangelo’s “Pieta.” As a part of the visit, we toured around New York with a daughter of the owners of the guest house in which we stayed. As a 5-year old, I still remember seeing Palisades from the Westside highway, and begged to go there. Alas, we didn’t have time and had been to Coney Island earlier in the day. But I will never forget seeing that place across the river (Detroit, where I grew up, is flatter than a pancake, and you generally do not get to see landmarks from a distance), and the image has stayed with me throughout my life. An image in your book is very reminiscent of my memory, but I think it was taken earlier.

So the old park even affects those who never were there, and I have to say that I am among those who miss places like that; they delivered an innocent, thoroughly enjoyable, and spontaneous type of enjoyment which is really lacking in this day of electronic games and overemphasis on professional sports.

Finally, thanks for the work you did on a wonderful book. It almost makes me happy to feel as sad as I do about places like Palisades. A strange sentiment, but a heartfelt one . . .!!!

Kind regards:

Bruce A. Kopytek, R.A