Description
Book SynopsisLife at the Dakota is a deliciously entertaining social history which describes the lives of the rich and trendy who have lived at the Dakota, a New York apartment house daringly erected in 1884, too far up and on the wrong side of town.In Stephen Birmingham''s witty chronicle, the atmosphere of this elegant edifice is so powerful that the building itself becomes an unforgettable major character. From its start the Dakota has attracted a lively mix of people, from celebrities Leonard Bernstein, Roberta Flack, and John Lennon, to a ground-floor tenant who kept a stuffed horse in full armor in the living room, and yet another older tenant who was spotted wandering naked through the cellar by some workmen, mistaken for a ghost of the building.While detailing the active and often contentious life within the building from the nineteenth century to the present, Mr. Birmingham also brings to life the New York social scene and that of other fashionable American cities. Just as the sixty-foot r
Trade ReviewA wonderful history of New York manners and newsmakers…as seen from the ornate battlements of [the Dakota]. * The New York Review Of Books *
Readers can revel in vivid description and the satisfying characters that fill these pages. * Publishers Weekly *
Entertaining and well-written. . . . Recommended. * Library Journal *
