| One fine day in March, I decided to take a break from | | | | whether you're a kid or a kid at heart. In One History |
| article writing and pay a visit to my old home town of | | | | Place, a learning center for ages 3 to 7, children can |
| Rochester, NY. It has been about 30 years since I last | | | | play in a turn-of-the-century attic, kitchen, parlor, and |
| visited the place in 1980. With air fare and hotel bills and | | | | train station. |
| a lot more expenses pulling at me to stay home, the | | | | If you ever want to find a place in Rochester where |
| next best thing was to visit the web and see what I | | | | the time races by and your kids will be pulling on your |
| could dig up. It was a fantastic trip and I plan to "visit" | | | | sleeves to "lets go back there again," the Strong |
| there many more times in the future. | | | | Museum is the place. They will love a return trip there, |
| Let's take a look at some of the good places to spend | | | | and so will you. |
| a few hours or more. | | | | George Is Everywhere |
| Ontario Beach Park | | | | In Rochester, you cannot go very far without |
| In my toddler days I remembered the place as being | | | | encountering the name of George Eastman. If you |
| "Charlotte" or sometimes "down the lake." One photo I | | | | ever heard the expression, "Let George Do It," |
| cannot find (dated 1936 or thereabouts) was me in a | | | | Rochester is the place where George did it, many |
| toddler bathing suit running through the water puddles | | | | times over. |
| next to the beach. The place hasn't changed much in | | | | The George Eastman House is the world's oldest |
| the ensuing seventy years, except it has gotten better. | | | | photography museum. It is also one of the world's |
| Whether taking a romantic stroll along its picturesque | | | | oldest film archives, The Eastman House opened to |
| pier, riding the 1905 Dentzel menagerie carousel, or | | | | the public in 1949 in Rochester, New York, USA. |
| going boating, Ontario Beach Park provides all that's | | | | World-renowned for its photography and motion |
| necessary for a perfect summer day at the beach. | | | | picture archives, the Eastman House museum is also a |
| Ontario Beach Park attracts tens of thousands of | | | | leader in film preservation and photograph |
| visitors annually. The park offers seven shelters that | | | | conservation, educating archivists and conservators |
| are available for rent in the summer months. | | | | from around the world. The museum is home to the |
| The seven open air shelters come with picnic tables, | | | | Dryden Theatre, a 535-seat repertory theater. The |
| grills, electricity, water and bathrooms nearby. The | | | | museum is located in and around the house built by |
| Roger Robach Community Center (Bathhouse) has | | | | George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak |
| been renovated and available to rent for picnics, | | | | Company. |
| parties and weddings. These facilities have been in | | | | The George Eastman House Museum of Photography |
| existence for as long as I can remember. | | | | was chartered in 1947. From the outset, the museum's |
| In the early days, there used to be a trolley line which | | | | mission has been to collect, preserve, and present the |
| linked downtown Rochester to the beach. After the | | | | history of photography and film. It opened its doors in |
| 40s, buses that ran along Lake Avenue provided the | | | | 1949, displaying its core collections in the former public |
| transportation. The bus line (Lake Avenue #1) still | | | | rooms of Eastman's house. Entire archives, corporate |
| operates to this day. You can access my blog for | | | | collections, and artists' lifetime portfolios have been |
| more information. | | | | donated to the Eastman House, as well as an |
| There used to be a roller skating rink located in the | | | | assemblage of rare motion pictures and ephemera. |
| middle of the park area, but the most recent map of | | | | By 1984, with the collections growing at a rapid pace, |
| the place shows it being missing. You had to be a | | | | the museum increasingly suffered from its own |
| certain age and height for the park monitors to let you | | | | success. With an increasing number of materials to |
| in. Besides being too small, I also didn't have roller | | | | store, protect, and study, additional space became |
| skates. It was fun just watching them skate around | | | | critical. A new facility opened to the public in January |
| there. Most of the skating crowd were in their teens or | | | | 1989. It now houses more than 400,000 photographs |
| older. I sometimes think to myself how many of these | | | | and negatives, 23,000 films and several million film |
| people are now running out their last miles in old age | | | | stills,43,000 publications, and more than 25,000 pieces |
| homes and other nursing care facilities. | | | | of technology. |
| Besides the beach and the picnic grounds, the biggest | | | | In 1996, the museum opened the Louis B. Mayer |
| attraction there was the "merry-go-round." If I was | | | | Conservation Center in nearby Chili, New York. One of |
| ever a pest in my toddler and later days, it was | | | | only four film conservation centers in the United States |
| always to ride the merry-go-round. This was the 1905 | | | | (as of March 2006), the facility houses the museum's |
| Dentzel menagerie carousel named "The Duchess." It | | | | rare 35 mm prints made on cellulose nitrate. In 1997, the |
| is situated at the east end of Ontario Beach Park. The | | | | Eastman House launched the first school of film |
| Duchess has the distinction of being one of only | | | | preservation in the United States to teach restoration, |
| fourteen operating antique menagerie carousels in the | | | | preservation, and archiving of motion pictures. The L. |
| United States. It is also one of only a few that still | | | | Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation is |
| remain in its original location. This Gustav Dentzel | | | | supported by a grant from The Louis B. Mayer |
| creation is a three-row carousel consisting of fifty-two | | | | Foundation. |
| animals and two chariots. The animals were horses, | | | | In 1999, Eastman House launched the Mellon Advanced |
| rabbits, cats, ostriches, pigs, and mules, among others. | | | | Residency Program in Photograph Conservation, made |
| In 1980 the Preservation Board granted the carousel | | | | possible with grant support from the Andrew W. |
| landmark status. In 1984 the Parks Department began | | | | Mellon Foundation. The program trains top photograph |
| extensive restoration of the carousel, which lasted for | | | | archivists and conservators from around the world. |
| many years and included improvements on the building | | | | George Eastman (1854-1932) built his home at 900 |
| and surrounding walkways. Until recent years, Wurlitzer | | | | East Avenue between 1902 and 1905. He created a |
| Military Band Organ Style 165 paper rolls were used, | | | | unique urban estate complete with 10.5 acres of |
| but a Stinson MIDI system replaced the organ and | | | | working farm land, formal gardens, greenhouses, |
| continues to play the same music once heard on the | | | | stables, barns, pastures, and a 35,000-square-foot, |
| original rolls. The Duchess is a unique joy for | | | | 50-room Colonial Revival mansion with a fireproof |
| Rochesterians and visitors. It celebrated its 100th year | | | | structure made of reinforced concrete. |
| at Ontario Beach in 2005. | | | | Eastman's house presented a classical facade of |
| From the Duchess carousel, you could look out over | | | | decorative craftsmanship. Beneath this exterior were |
| the Genesee River and on occasion, you might see | | | | such modern conveniences as an electrical generator, |
| one of the lake steamers coming into the Port of | | | | an internal telephone system with 21 stations, a built-in |
| Rochester. Overlooking the Genesee River is a stone | | | | vacuum cleaning system, a central clock network, an |
| lighthouse. This forty-foot high lighthouse was built in | | | | elevator, and a great pipe organ. This made the home |
| 1822 to guide the growing number of commerce ships | | | | itself an instrument, a center of the city's rich musical |
| into the Port of Rochester. Following a long and storied | | | | life from 1905 until Eastman's death in 1932. |
| history, the lighthouse was rumored to be demolished | | | | George Eastman did not like to see kids go around |
| in 1965. Concerned students intervened on its behalf. | | | | without superb medical and dental facilities. He donated |
| Later renovations led to the tower being relit in 1984. | | | | a major grant of money to the University of |
| There is a Fascinating museum and well-stocked gift | | | | Rochester which maintained the Strong Memorial |
| shop on-hand. | | | | Hospital and the Rochester Dental Dispensary. |
| Strong Museum | | | | George Eastman also loved music. He didn't care if it |
| If you think of museums as stuffy, musty places, think | | | | was jazz or classical. As long as a kid could bang on a |
| again! The Strong Museum in Rochester, New York is | | | | piano or make a fiddle sound like a dying cat, he or she |
| rated one of the nation's top 10 children's museums by | | | | was scooped up into the musical education program in |
| Child magazine. It overcomes any such notions you | | | | the Rochester school system, courtesy of George |
| may have about museum-going. At Strong Museum, | | | | Eastman. |
| kids of all ages are invited to touch, explore, discover, | | | | Out the other end of the musical pipeline emerged |
| and participate in whimsical, interactive learning | | | | world-renowned musicians and artists such as Mitch |
| environments. Here kids can step onto Sesame Street, | | | | Miller, Chuck Mangione, Jacques Lipson, and other |
| pilot a helicopter, and travel through time. Children can | | | | eminent talent. The Eastman School of Music |
| enjoy a live theatre experience twice daily every | | | | educated talented musicians from around the world |
| Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The museum also | | | | who become leaders and innovators in all fields of |
| houses a breathtaking array of collections. There are | | | | music. More than 900 students are enrolled in the |
| more than 500,000 objects of Americana, including | | | | collegiate division of the Eastman School. They come |
| toys, dollhouses, home furnishings, and the world's most | | | | from almost every state, and approximately 20% are |
| comprehensive collection of dolls. | | | | from other countries. |
| Everything at Strong Museum is geared towards | | | | Each year, about 260 new students enroll, selected |
| making your family visit a memorable one. There are | | | | from more than 1,400 applications. They are guided by |
| kid friendly exhibits, along with the warm and | | | | a renowned faculty, which includes more than 90 |
| welcoming staff in their purple polo shirts. Craft tables | | | | full-time, resident members. Seven Pulitzer Prize |
| throughout the museum are always well stocked with | | | | winners have taught or studied at Eastman, as have |
| colorful materials that keep little fingers and minds busy. | | | | several Grammy Award and other major prizewinners. |
| You can snuggle up and read with your child in one of | | | | Past and present Eastman students have won many |
| the many book nooks, which are located in every | | | | high-profile performance competitions, including the |
| exhibit. There is even a "guest rest" where parents | | | | BBC Young Musicians Competition, the NSO Young |
| can tend to their infants. The museum provides a | | | | Soloist Competition, and the Russian-American Music |
| spare change of children's clothing in case of | | | | Association Young Virtuosos Competition. The vast |
| "accidents." | | | | majority of the School's 9,000 alumni make their |
| After experiencing the exhibits, you can take a break | | | | careers in music. Among them are opera singers |
| with the kids and have a quick meal in the museum's | | | | Renee Fleming, Anthony Dean Griffey, and the late |
| authentic 1956 diner. You can try an ice-cream sundae | | | | William Warfield; jazz musicians Ron Carter, Chuck |
| at Louie's Sweet Shoppe, an old-fashioned ice-cream | | | | Mangione, and Steve Gadd; conductor, oboist, and |
| fountain. And no visit is complete without a spin on the | | | | record producer Mitch Miller; and composers Dominick |
| 1918 Allan Herschell carousel! | | | | Argento, Charles Strouse, and Michael Torke. Eastman |
| You can take exciting expeditions through | | | | graduates perform in all of America's leading |
| awe-inspiring collections and compelling exhibitions. At | | | | orchestras and are members of respected orchestras |
| Strong Museum you can immerse yourself in | | | | around the world. |
| entertaining trends of American popular culture and | | | | I was fortunate to have grown up in Rochester. I |
| gain illuminating insights into contemporary American life. | | | | would love to go back there to re-visit my old |
| Take your kids into creative environments that make | | | | stomping grounds. At Age 74, I still might find a few |
| learning about the past and the present lively and fun, | | | | friends there. |