Thank you so much for the visuals of where she lived. I was most fortunate to talk to Helene about a year of so before she died. I live in Middletown, DE and I was/am a huge fan of the film and her writing. On a whim, I called information and got her phone number as I knew the type of person she was-her number wouldn't, most likely, be unlisted. We talked for about a half hour and throughout the conversations I could hear her hacking smokers cough, but she was so affable and kind. When I told her I worked in a public library she was so happy and said she loved libraries. She invited me to lunch if I ever got a chance to visit New York and sadly, I never took her up on the offer. But I will also have the memory of that wonderful conversation.
+bonchella1 What a GREAT story!! Thanks for sharing it. And I'm so impressed you just went ahead and called her like that. Very impressive. And I'm also glad she was nice to you.
+Barbara She was probably 79 years old at the time you spoke with her. Perhaps she was congested, and it wasn't the "hacking smoker's cough." Are people so completely obsessed with smoking as the greatest of all evils that it is assumed? Had Hanff not smoked, she probably wouldn't have been able to write as she did. But to assume she was hacking... if she knew you were going to bring that up, she probably wouldn't have spoken to you.
Stacy - you question in your video why Helene would leave the address in East 95th Street - check back in your copy of 84 Charing Cross Road for the answer - "the sky fell in on us in our cosy brownstone" - the building was being torn apart for renovations. She was renting a room there, whereas the new building where she bought an apartment on 72nd Street gave her more space of her own. This was also in the 1950s, remember, so the two areas are likely to have changed quite a lot in the intervening years to when you visited...
I just absolutely adore that her story follows the path of nonfiction, set in print and in a movie, for us fans to appreciate for time in memorial. The passion she had as she said, she could not imagine reading about anything that wasn't true, that a fellow human had experienced and wrote down so as to feel it. ❤
I was just looking at your video from nine years ago it says, and you were questioning why Helene Hannah might have moved from the first building. I remember in the story, her saying the building owner evicted everybody, because the building was being re-constructed, and they had no choice. They had to leave, and to get everyone out he started turning off the heat he started turning off electricity. He made it very difficult for those who couldn’t get out as quickly as he had wished. She was very sad to leave that building and loved living there. Also she ended up trying to make something good out of it by thinking it would be a good new beginning for her and she could buy some new furniture. She looked at the happy side eventually. Thank you for your lovely video. I enjoyed it very much.😊
Thank you so much for the video. I love Helene since I got "Letter from New York", this book is probably my most favorite of all time. I read it since than over and over again. It was like I know all this placed in the first part of the video....I just wonder wich stairs she was talking about in her book, stairs in front of the building......
Thank you so much for this video, particularly when it looks like it was made on a freezing cold Winter's day. I'm not really interested in books and literature, but the story of this friendship and its reciprocal nature, despite the distance is what captivates me. It's unique and speaks of the human condition in a compelling and poignant way. It tickles me how humans try to glean some essence from a story, person or part of history through the physical, ie buildings, locations etc.. It's impossible, but the magic lives in on the story. Depressingly, 84 Charing Cross Road is no longer a book shop but a restaurant, however there is a plaque on it to mark the building's special history.
Thank you for the feedback! (And I like the cold so it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.) Yes, it's so sad about the bookshop. But I guess very few things last.
That's also a beautiful book. Helene Hanff is one of those joys, passed around readers. I class her with Florence King, E.M.Delafield and Nancy Mitford.
If you read 84 Charing Cross you will know that her old building had cockroaches and was in 1957, going down hill. And she moved because she and everyone else in her building was evicted because the were going to remodel. The 305 72nd street building was brand new when she moved into it, and larger!
Thanks for the clip. I’m an Aussie obsessed with NY and reading Charing Cross/The Duchess now. I see you now know about the questions you had. Your clip expanded on my quick iPhone google image search. Thanks! Oh.. it looked soooo cold 😯
I've only just stumbled across her.. but am obsessed with NY and really loved your video.. I am always reading about NY and you actually showed me. So much apartment living there! Thank you for showing me!
@@suzannerobinson7049 If you're obsessed with NY you will love her book Apple of My Eye, a love letter to the city she loved so much. If you can find it, well worth the read. I have all her books :)
Firstly her name was pronounced Helene, to rhyme with Spain. So Helaaayne in otherwords. Secondly, she, and all the other tenants, were evicted from the first place she lived, so she had to move. She describes it as a broken down brown stone front, so the original building may well have been quite different, even completely re-bulit now.
+martianboy So glad you posted that. As nice as it is to see the video, I think it is rather poor that a "writer" would not first learn the correct pronunciation of the subject of the video, along with the important fact that she was forced to move, since that is such a big question for Horn. As little as I know about Hanff in real life, that much I know.
hi. read her book about her letters to Frank Doel at 84 charing cross road- she explains how to pronounce her first name and why she was made to leave her rented apartment at 95th. it's all in her letters to Frank.
+Stacy Horn heh heh...It really is "all in the small print". my health just won't let me get to NY,thank you so much for your video. made a middle aged actor very happy xx
Thank you for this. And it wasn't "Helen" it was "Helene" -- the French pronunciation sounds to the American ear as "Helaine". I'm Canadian from Quebec, so I know whereof I speak.
Just enter her address (East 95th) on Zillow and look at the pictures AND the floor plan. The floor plan tells everything! All of these types of buildings that are now worth multiples of millions were single family and luxurious when they were built, then declined and chopped up into affordable units (several per floor) in mid century, then went back to single family luxurious buildings as Manhattan's fortunes improved. Although I prefer the UWS, neither of her addresses are anything to scoff at.
Her name was hull-ANE to rhyme with The RAIN in SPAIN. And the neighborhoods have likely changed a good deal in the many decades since she lived in them.
Did you not read the book. Her name was Helene. Not Helen. She was forced out so for gentrifications. I don’t think she could have afforded her one room. 72nd gave her more room and was brand new.
Hi Minda! I did read her books, somehow I missed that fact, but thank you! Oh, and yes I know her name was Helene, but people are not consistent with pronunciations.
Obviously you did NOT read her books carefully. At the time she had to move from East 95th Street the building had been condemned. The ceiling had caved in. What you saw today was a beautiful restoration of the building Helene Hanff once lived in. At the time of her move (1950s?) the building at East 72nd was a brand-new building - a bit more expensive than the apartment on East 95th - but definitely a step up. When you walked through the lobby/hallway of East 72nd you walked right past a framed collage that commemorated the works and life of Helene Hanff. You should have at least shown that in your video.
Thank you so much for the visuals of where she lived. I was most fortunate to talk to Helene about a year of so before she died. I live in Middletown, DE and I was/am a huge fan of the film and her writing. On a whim, I called information and got her phone number as I knew the type of person she was-her number wouldn't, most likely, be unlisted. We talked for about a half hour and throughout the conversations I could hear her hacking smokers cough, but she was so affable and kind. When I told her I worked in a public library she was so happy and said she loved libraries. She invited me to lunch if I ever got a chance to visit New York and sadly, I never took her up on the offer. But I will also have the memory of that wonderful conversation.
+bonchella1 What a GREAT story!! Thanks for sharing it. And I'm so impressed you just went ahead and called her like that. Very impressive. And I'm also glad she was nice to you.
+Barbara She was probably 79 years old at the time you spoke with her. Perhaps she was congested, and it wasn't the "hacking smoker's cough." Are people so completely obsessed with smoking as the greatest of all evils that it is assumed? Had Hanff not smoked, she probably wouldn't have been able to write as she did. But to assume she was hacking... if she knew you were going to bring that up, she probably wouldn't have spoken to you.
@@jakeornot6306🙄
Stacy - you question in your video why Helene would leave the address in East 95th Street - check back in your copy of 84 Charing Cross Road for the answer - "the sky fell in on us in our cosy brownstone" - the building was being torn apart for renovations. She was renting a room there, whereas the new building where she bought an apartment on 72nd Street gave her more space of her own. This was also in the 1950s, remember, so the two areas are likely to have changed quite a lot in the intervening years to when you visited...
Now that you say that, I do remember that. And yes, neighborhoods do change.
The facade there now is not what was there in the time Helene lived there. It was a brownstone, not faced in granite as the new facade is.
Thank you for that piece of information!@@michaeltutty1540
I just absolutely adore that her story follows the path of nonfiction, set in print and in a movie, for us fans to appreciate for time in memorial. The passion she had as she said, she could not imagine reading about anything that wasn't true, that a fellow human had
experienced and wrote down so as to feel it. ❤
Well said.
Enjoyed! Thank you! (I recently watched the 84 Charing Cross movie and couldn't get enough)! - Also read the book!
You are most welcome, I felt the same way after seeing the movie, I just had to read everything!
She was forced to leave the building, as it had to undergo extensive renovations. Thank you for posting this. ❤
It was my pleasure!
I was just looking at your video from nine years ago it says, and you were questioning why Helene Hannah might have moved from the first building. I remember in the story, her saying the building owner evicted everybody, because the building was being re-constructed, and they had no choice. They had to leave, and to get everyone out he started turning off the heat he started turning off electricity. He made it very difficult for those who couldn’t get out as quickly as he had wished. She was very sad to leave that building and loved living there. Also she ended up trying to make something good out of it by thinking it would be a good new beginning for her and she could buy some new furniture. She looked at the happy side eventually. Thank you for your lovely video. I enjoyed it very much.😊
Thank you so much for the video. I love Helene since I got "Letter from New York", this book is probably my most favorite of all time. I read it since than over and over again. It was like I know all this placed in the first part of the video....I just wonder wich stairs she was talking about in her book, stairs in front of the building......
You just reminded me that I haven't read the book Citizen Reader sent me! (Underfoot in Show Business)
Thank you for taking the time to do that for us Helene Hanff fans. Really enjoyed it.
You're welcome! It was my pleasure, I had a lot of fun making this.
Thank you so much for this video, particularly when it looks like it was made on a freezing cold Winter's day.
I'm not really interested in books and literature, but the story of this friendship and its reciprocal nature, despite the distance is what captivates me. It's unique and speaks of the human condition in a compelling and poignant way.
It tickles me how humans try to glean some essence from a story, person or part of history through the physical, ie buildings, locations etc.. It's impossible, but the magic lives in on the story.
Depressingly, 84 Charing Cross Road is no longer a book shop but a restaurant, however there is a plaque on it to mark the building's special history.
Thank you for the feedback! (And I like the cold so it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.) Yes, it's so sad about the bookshop. But I guess very few things last.
Oh, thank you! Just re-read the books and watched the film over the summer. Have loved her writing for years and years.
I'm new to Helen Hanff, and I'm so grateful to Citizen Reader for introducing me to her. She sent me another book, Underfoot in Show Business!!
That's also a beautiful book. Helene Hanff is one of those joys, passed around readers. I class her with Florence King, E.M.Delafield and Nancy Mitford.
Lovely to find they commemorated her and THE BOOK at 72nd Street. Cheers.
+Andrew Van Dort I agree. A very nice thing that they did that.
If you read 84 Charing Cross you will know that her old building had cockroaches and was in 1957, going down hill. And she moved because she and everyone else in her building was evicted because the were going to remodel. The 305 72nd street building was brand new when she moved into it, and larger!
She went from one room and bathroom to a "2½", so a junior 1 bedroom
Thanks for the clip. I’m an Aussie obsessed with NY and reading Charing Cross/The Duchess now. I see you now know about the questions you had. Your clip expanded on my quick iPhone google image search. Thanks! Oh.. it looked soooo cold 😯
Hi Suzanne! I just adore Helene Hanff's books.
I've only just stumbled across her.. but am obsessed with NY and really loved your video.. I am always reading about NY and you actually showed me. So much apartment living there! Thank you for showing me!
@@StacyNYC Read her other books: Apple of My Eye, Q's Legacy, and Underfoot in Showbusiness if you can get hold of them, they're all wonderful :)
@@suzannerobinson7049 If you're obsessed with NY you will love her book Apple of My Eye, a love letter to the city she loved so much. If you can find it, well worth the read. I have all her books :)
@@apfelprincess45 I will! I’m a book fanatic and work in a library, it’s first on my list Monday! Thanks again 😘💜📚
Firstly her name was pronounced Helene, to rhyme with Spain. So Helaaayne in otherwords.
Secondly, she, and all the other tenants, were evicted from the first place she lived, so she had to move.
She describes it as a broken down brown stone front, so the original building may well have been quite different, even completely re-bulit now.
Ah! Thank you for the correct pronunciation, and for clearing up the mystery about why she would leave that apartment!
+martianboy So glad you posted that. As nice as it is to see the video, I think it is rather poor that a "writer" would not first learn the correct pronunciation of the subject of the video, along with the important fact that she was forced to move, since that is such a big question for Horn. As little as I know about Hanff in real life, that much I know.
martianboy I
Greetings from Canada. The letters from 84 Charing Cross Road, and the movie, impressed me so much. Thank you for this tour!
I had a lot of fun making this video!
Watched the film yesterday, enjoyed your walk, thank you.
Thank you for visiting! I enjoyed taking that walk.
I liked this, Stacey. I'm reading her book while watching the film. So very "sassy". Bye from italy,
Hello Italy! And yeah, she's great, I had fun visiting the places she lived.
hi. read her book about her letters to Frank Doel at 84 charing cross road- she explains how to pronounce her first name and why she was made to leave her rented apartment at 95th. it's all in her letters to Frank.
+dringsong Hi! I read that, so somehow I missed those things! (Wouldn't be the first time I didn't see something right in front of me.)
+Stacy Horn heh heh...It really is "all in the small print". my health just won't let me get to NY,thank you so much for your video. made a middle aged actor very happy xx
+dringsong It was my pleasure!
Thank you for this. And it wasn't "Helen" it was "Helene" -- the French pronunciation sounds to the American ear as "Helaine". I'm Canadian from Quebec, so I know whereof I speak.
Thank you so much for confirming the correct pronunciation of her name!!
Thank you so much for this video 🥰
You're welcome, it was my pleasure. I had a lot of fun visiting the places she lived.
@@StacyNYC I’m glad you had fun. I live in Germany. It’s my biggest dream to visit once New York.
@@nba2508 I hope you get to visit. I'd love to visit Germany. My ancestors on my father's side came from Germany.
@@StacyNYC I hope for you too 😊
If you saw the movie, they were renovating to probably sell the house, and she had to move, such is the power of New York Real Estate!
I did see the movie and either totally forgot that, or missed it in the first place! Thank you for letting me know!
Fun tour.I saw The movie with my Mom in the '80's when it was playing in the theater across from Bloomies.
Thank you!
Thank you so much. I'm trying to remember that theatre. I used to shop at Bloomingdales all the time in the 80s.
I think it is still there across the street from Bloomies.123 theaters
I'll have to keep my eyes open next time I'm around there.
yeah my Mom took the bus in from N.J.and we went to the movie.She passed away 3 yrs.ago so the movie is special to me.
Just enter her address (East 95th) on Zillow and look at the pictures AND the floor plan. The floor plan tells everything! All of these types of buildings that are now worth multiples of millions were single family and luxurious when they were built, then declined and chopped up into affordable units (several per floor) in mid century, then went back to single family luxurious buildings as Manhattan's fortunes improved. Although I prefer the UWS, neither of her addresses are anything to scoff at.
What a great suggestion!! Thank you!
95th St was not as good a neighborhood as 72nd St-by far back then! Buildings with doormen are much safer.
Thank you for letting me know!!
84 Charing Cross Road in London is now a McDonald’s.
Sob.
Her name was hull-ANE to rhyme with The RAIN in SPAIN.
And the neighborhoods have likely changed a good deal in the many decades since she lived in them.
Thank you, Dorothy! And it's true neighborhoods change.
She described 95th Street as a 'furnished room' - her studio on 72nd was a big step up, in spite of its uglier location.
Ah, that explains everything, thank you.
Glad to be of help. I enjoyed your film very much.
This might interest you: soundcloud.com/desert-island-discs-70-86/didaf-helene-hanff
Did you not read the book. Her name was Helene. Not Helen. She was forced out so for gentrifications. I don’t think she could have afforded her one room. 72nd gave her more room and was brand new.
Hi Minda! I did read her books, somehow I missed that fact, but thank you! Oh, and yes I know her name was Helene, but people are not consistent with pronunciations.
Did she not leave because she was kicked out it was earmarked for redevelopment or demolition ?
I think someone said she found a better arrangement elsewhere. I forget!
Helene moved because the building was being renovated, maybe going co-op?
Hello! Thank for stopping by and letting us know!
Obviously you did NOT read her books carefully. At the time she had to move from East 95th Street the building had been condemned. The ceiling had caved in. What you saw today was a beautiful restoration of the building Helene Hanff once lived in. At the time of her move (1950s?) the building at East 72nd was a brand-new building - a bit more expensive than the apartment on East 95th - but definitely a step up. When you walked through the lobby/hallway of East 72nd you walked right past a framed collage that commemorated the works and life of Helene Hanff. You should have at least shown that in your video.
I apologize for all my reading and video failures.
@@StacyNYC😄👍🏼
She pronounced it Hel-AINE.
Thank you for letting me know!
ohh GOD seriously ?? 'HALIN '....?