roney plaza hotel

was stressed out and decided the best thing would be to get back to the sea. water therapy is what works for me, and the sound of the waves along with the hot tropical heat helps me return to a state of calm. 

surfed on the websites, which led to my friend finding me an apartment by the ocean in south beach, miami. it was located in a very historic area i had been doing some research on, and on the site itself once stood one of the first luxury hotels to be built down there complete with european architecture and and a white florentine bell tower atop the L- shaped pink structure. there were tropical gardens with flamingos, fine dining inside and by the promenade, and celebrity instructors for sports and water activities.

next to it were the roman casinos with two giant pools and a large windmill circulating sea water. there were all sorts of shows featured on the platform that divided them both, fashion and otherwise.

 a block of art deco hotels stood across from the pools lining the street, and a famous jewish deli, founded by a miami beach legend named wolfie cohen, had an amazing flashing neon sign and a cafeteria-style like restaurant that attracted big names and drew large crowds for their fare. happy times.

kept thinking during my ocean swims, which were best early morning when the sea was reflecting the pink sky and also under a full moon at night, what it must have been like to be in the water and look back to what was there originally- it was probably magnificent.

the source

so sometimes i seek out the meanings of "street" language on the web. have been to this site a few times, it helps you find the answers whether that's a good thing or not. always slightly absurd, and a bit baffled by this one, but it keeps the reader entertained. Urban Dictionary: Croton-on-Hudson, NY

i, however, prefer to think of the town i grew up in in terms of it's fabulous history, and its being the site of new beginnings and influential people and movements in american culture. 

and then there are also the cute little touches, like this tea house/ speakeasy, nikko inn, that was built by a japanese proprietor along the cliffs of the croton river, where the first tarzan movies were filmed, where early film pioneers douglas fairbanks and mary pickford used to rendezvous before they got married and established an empire. next door was a playhouse made of stone by colonel harmon, one of the first real estate developers in croton, originally for his mistress the opera star lillian nordica. she died overseas and later it became a theatre that hosted the likes of gloria swanson, katherine hepburn and cary grant. i discovered most of this when i worked on the first westchester film festival, lots of info. about the history of film and it's early origins here in this county.

the interior of the playhouse had been converted and restored by an architect who also had a place in nyc near me in the dakota building. he made the master bathroom into this space-age area, with a capsule-like structure for a shower and a heating system that extended to a sci-fi bench cover under a modern heat lamp, along with a sauna and a jacuzzi. had visited it a few types and captured some digital footage of the interior. later a fire that was uncontained in the kitchen destroyed most of the house but it was restored, though with new additions so not the same as the original. the stage was located in the middle of the front of the house behind the floor-to-ceiling glass planes.