US Open 2024 - Day 1

[Composed 8/26/2024]

Our pre-US Open NYC plans went off the rails as soon as we arrived in town. We had planned to hit New City Deli for a proper Jewish Deli lunch. But alas, they are closed on Mondays. We pivoted to Liebman's Kosher Deli in Westchester, and were blown away by our meal. Shira's bologna sandwitch and my knockwurst were on point, and the side order of kasha varnishkas and mushroom barley were exquisite. The Westchester location is apparently new, and so it had a shiny and pristine feel to it. It was a home run, for sure.

From lunch we made our way to the day's main attraction: Letchworth Village. Letchworth Village is the now abanonded site of what was once a sprawling and audacious attempt to provide care to the mentally and physically disabled.

The community opened in 1911, with an impressive vision:

[One of] a self-contained and self-sustaining village of small cottages on a working farm, which would allow residents a more humane and productive lifestyle under the care of the leading researchers and physicians of the day.

By the 30's and 40's reports of abuse started to appear, and in 1972 Geraldo Rivera created a documentary making the case that residents who were living in Letchworth Village were doing so in neglectful conditions. Still, the facility operated until 1996. What's left today is a hodgepodge of buildings that, according to Altas Obscura you can wander among.

I wanted to visit Letchworth for a smattering of reasons. For one, it's a chance to do some Urban Exploration without actually breaking the law. It also seemed like a chance to channel a bit of Jim Richerdson's famous photography advice. Finally, as foster parents, Shira and I are very much part of a system that has notable successes and horrendous failures. What lessons are there to be learned from Letchworth? Touring the grounds wouldn't answer this directly, but it would give me the first hand motivation to dig into this.

We made it to Thiells, New York without incident. Though, it wasn't obvious how we could actually start exploring some of the interesting buildings we saw in the distance.

Our first attempt was when we stopped on the side of the road and I jumped out to shoot photos of this building. Within a few minutes, a police officer approached us and told us we had to move on. So yeah, you can't just stop on the side of the road and snap pics.

We drove around a bit more trying to figure things out, and almost had to give up, before we found this more or less unsigned parking lot.

It turns out, this is the proper place to park and walk from. From here, you can wander throught the village's old road system, encountering many fascinating buildings. There's even an old shul. While the buildings show signs of being once impressive structures, and there is a bunch of graffiti, more than anything else, it seems that nature is intent on swallowing up the structures.

We followed the rules and didn't enter any of the buildings. Though I tried to peek through windows and doors.

This was a fascinating stroll and one that we both enjoyed. I think it checked the boxes we had in mind and was certainly a unique experience.

Leaving the Letchworth Village area, we made one more stop: at the community's cemetery.

Here, a grove of serially number graves provides one of the most impactful scenes of the day.

Even more puzzling, in the back of the cemetery are a series of Jewish gravestones. This strikes me as quite the mystery: why have a few Jewish families buried among these numbered graves? Are they related to Letchworth Village? Or, was this some sort of measure of convenience? It's a mystery I'd love to dig into and solve.

From Letchworth Village we headed into White Plains to meet Becky and one of her daughters for Sushi. Dinner and catching up was deligtful. Though, culinarily speaking, it was desert next door at T-Swirl and Crepe that took the proverbial cake.

T-swirl sells Japenese Crepes, which seemed to take standard crepe fare to yet another level. I was lamenting the fact that this trend has yet to reach the DC area, when I checked T-swirl and Crepe's website. Apparently, they have a location 3.1 miles away from us. Hah!

We've gotten a dose of history, wrestled with questions of how or even if the state can improve the lives of its most needy, we've caught up with friends and we've enjoyed a next level sugar rush. What an amazing day. Now, tomorrow, the Tennis can properly begin!