The MHNA fondly remembers Minor Bishop (1927-2019)—A Renaissance Man

Minor Lamphier Bishop, age 92, passed away during the early morning hours of 20 June 2019. Minor is best known by those of us who live in Murray Hill for his community service, having served the MHNA for decades with great dedication, from the 1960s until the end of his life, as a trustee and active member of the Preservation & Design Committee. He worked to preserve the historic designation of the Murray Hill district, and researched the history of its landmarks and buildings. He is best remembered for his walking tours, which he gave tirelessly. He will be deeply missed, but not forgotten.

Minor Bishop’s video and book, Sketching on Murray Hill are both available for purchase on the MHNA website.

Thanks to our Neighbors for a Great Street Festival

On Saturday, June 1 The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association held their 46th Annual Street Festival along Park Avenue between 34th and 40th Streets. The theme of the Festival this year was Come Meet Your Neighbor and our neighbors came out in droves! The weather was picture perfect for strolling along Park Avenue.

Thanks to all of the sponsors, donors, volunteers and participants who helped make the MHNA Street Festival a success.

Our long-running annual Street Festival is one of the events that makes The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association unique and we thank all of our neighbors and local businesses for participating and supporting the MHNA. If you would like to be involved in the planning for next year’s event, please reach out to Ashley Petrylak at info@murrayhillnyc.org.

Our Silent Auction Donors Helped to Make the Street Festival a Success!

The Silent Auction drew many bidders on Saturday, June 1 at The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association’s Street Festival. We are very grateful to our neighborhood businesses’ generous ongoing support as donors. The Silent Auction would not have been possible without the hard work of Michael-Ann Rowe, Lilli Seidman Davis and Marion Weingarten and all of the dedicated volunteers and trustees who contacted businesses for donations and assisted at the Silent Auction table on the day of the festival. Read more to see the full list.

We need your help to keep the Murray Hill Malls on Park Avenue beautiful!

The spring tulips, summer begonias and fall chrysanthemums don’t plant themselves. Patrons of Park Avenue maintains and plants the flowers and trees in the malls on Park Avenue from 34th to 39th street. POPA is funded solely by community-minded individuals and businesses.

We need your help! For as little as $500 you can sponsor weekly cleaning and your tax deductible donation will be listed in all Murray Hill publications.

Donate Online. Please notify us by email when you contribute so that your gift can be properly acknowledged.

Contact Victoria Spagnola email Victoria.Spagnola@patronsofparkavenue.org if you have questions.

Murray Hill Businesses Came Together for the Spring B2B Networking Event

The rainy evening on Thursday, May 30th didn’t daunt Murray Hill businesses, who gathered in the beautiful (and tented) back garden at Kalvig & Shorter Veterinary Associates for the Spring B2B networking event. These networking events always provide an opportunity for everyone to share their 'elevator pitch' and tell the others about their business, and the room was filled with lots of ideas on how to cross market business efforts.

This event would not have been possible without our generous host and co-sponsor Kalvig & Shorter Veterinary Associates. Refreshments were courtesy of Tastes Brands, The Fishionista ®, House of Wine and Liquor and Al Pastor, The Pod Hotel. We thank them!

The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association’s Business Networking Committee offers interesting and unique opportunities for businesses to network and socialize. For further information contact co-chairs Lilli Seidman Davis (lillianseidman@yahoo.com) and Michael-Ann Rowe (michaelannrowe@gmail.com). Stay tuned for our next event!

Photo by Adrienne Gurman/Buzz Generation 

Buildings Can Now Join the MHNA

To strengthen our relationship with Murray Hill building owners and managers, The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association has launched new membership categories for buildings. The new categories are Small Buildings (less than 60 units), Medium-Sized Buildings (60-200 units) and Large Buildings (more than 200 units). Co-Op and Condo Boards, Building Owners, Managing and Rental Agents are all invited to join. For details, visit the MHNA website at murrayhillnyc.org/join. See the many benefits of joining at this link.

If you have any questions, please contact Heather Dolland at info@murrayhillnyc.org. Heather is Co-Chair of Membership Development and will be happy to guide you in this process. 

Business Members Can Now Display MHNA Stickers On Their Windows

The Business Committee has designed stickers exclusively for business members that will let the neighborhood know that your business is a proud member of The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association. The stickers display the MHNA logo, and can be posted in your window.

There are two variations: SUPPORT LOCAL is for our business members and  DISCOUNT PROGRAM PARTICIPANT is for businesses that offer our members a discount on their goods or services. Any MHNA business member or Discount Program participant that would like a sticker should contact Co-Chairs, Michael-Anne Rowe at michaelannrowe@gmail.com or Lilli Seidman at lillianseidman@yahoo.com.

Tom Miller Talks About Famous Residents on East 36th Street

The Makor Center for Spiritual Judaism was the setting for a lively and informative talk and slide show by blogger and author Tom Miller. This event, held on Saturday April 6th, drew a full crowd, eager to absorb Tom’s encyclopedic knowledge about a group of prominent people who once lived in Murray Hill. The talk focused on the rich history of a group of people and buildings on one block in Murray Hill—East 36th Street between Lexington and Park Avenue. This block was once home to a number of distinguished political, business and military figures, including Admirals Benjamin Franklin Isherwood and Daniel G. Farragut of “Damn the Torpedoes” fame. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt moved to this block after their marriage, calling their townhouse at 125 East 36th Street their “14 foot mansion.”

Photo of Tom Miller by Nancy Idaka Sheran.

Shop Amazon and support The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association at the same time!

Shop amazon.com via this link, and support The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association!

The MHNA’s Annual Meeting covered issues, projects and programs

The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association annual meeting was held on October 4. This meeting provides us with the opportunity to hear guest speakers who update us on neighborhood issues. The meeting also enables us to tell our neighbors about the work of the Association, and allows us to hear from you, the people who live and work in Murray Hill. 

Guest speakers included Marilyn Noa, NYPD Neighborhood Coordination Officer for the 17th Precinct Sector A, David Frank, Chief Engineer for the Infrastructure Replacement Project on 2nd Avenue and surrounding areas and our new City Council Members Keith Powers (District 4) and Carlina Rivera (District 2). Community and volunteer awards were given to Terry Katz, Executive Director of the Society of Jewish Science/Center for Applied Judaism, Enid Klass, MHNA Honorary Trustee and Marisa Bulzone, past trustee. The committee chairs spoke also spoke about MHNA programs. Break-out sessions were a chance for you to speak with committee chairs.

Photo: Susan Demmet, co-chair of the Preservation & Design Committee speaks with neigbors and Police Officer Ryan on the right.  

Your responses to the survey help us prioritize our work!

During the summer, The Murray Hill Neighborhood circulated a survey to find out your most important issues in Murray Hill and also to hear how we are doing as your Association. 177 people responded. The issues that you consider the most important are traffic, noise, construction, loss of affordable housing and businesses and loss of our historic buildings. In addition your comments indicated that neighborhood cleanliness, the homeless and panhandlers, and the need for more trees and green spaces are also important.

We thank everyone who responded, as we use your responses to prioritize our work. 

Three New Cultural Medallions Honoring Distinguished Murray Hill Residents Are Unveiled

Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, Charles Dana Gibson, and Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn were honored in April in ceremonies unveiling cultural medallions placed on the façades of each of the brownstones where they once resided in Murray Hill. 

To commemorate other illustrious residents who once lived in Murray Hill, the P&D Committee is exploring several names to add to our list of cultural medallion honorees. These include the songwriter, Cole Porter, the architect Marcel Breuer, the playwright Tennessee Williams and the actress Helen Hayes. 

Funding for the research, fabrication of the medallions and the videotaping of the ceremonies comes from individual sponsors, honored building owners and private donations. If you would like to sponsor or contribute to the Medallion Program, please visit our website at www.murrayhillnyc.org and click Donate. Email Susan Demmet at sldemmet@gmail.com when you donate so your contribution can be properly acknowledged, or if you know of a significant person who lived in Murray Hill whom you believe should be nominated for a Cultural Medallion.

Do you have a complaint?

Call 311 or post a complaint on the 311 website: www1.nyc.gov/311.