New York Today: A Bird’s Eye View of Poe
Updated, 9:20 a.m.
Good morning on this mild Thursday.
Although Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston and buried in Baltimore, we like to think that he was a New Yorker, through and through.
The poet lived in apartments and houses across the city, and spent most of his final years in a cottage in what is now the Bronx.
Who else but one of our own would defend the New York landscape by writing that, while it “may impress some imaginations as simply dreary — to me it conveys the sublime.”
To celebrate the 208th anniversary today of his birth, we honored Poe with a tour of his New York.
We set off during a frigid rainstorm at dusk, naturally, and arrived at the former site of a two-story farmhouse at 215 West 84th Street, off Broadway, where he is thought to have written his most famous poem “The Raven.”
The building no longer stands. But if you squint, you’ll see what look like two human-size ravens guarding the entrance of the site’s current occupant, the Eagle Court apartment building. (Full disclosure: The birds are actually eagle statues. Branding, no doubt.)
We then walked west, only about 50 paces, to a competing site, now an Aldo shoe store, which bears a plaque that also claims to be the farmhouse’s original location.
Seeking a less disputed link to the author, we headed north to Columbia University.
Inside Butler Library, surrounded by busts of writers and leather-bound encyclopedias, is a black fireplace mantel in front of which Poe wrote “The Raven.” The mantel found its way to Columbia after a history buff paid $5 to haul it away before the farmhouse was demolished.
We imagine the author would be pleased with its location in the dim passageway. (The lighting was not intentional, we were told; just a few expired bulbs.)
We had heard that when Poe lived in a cottage, which still stands, in the Bronx, he visited the Jesuits at a nearby college, now part of Fordham University. He was fond of the order, he told an acquaintance, because they “smoked, drank and played cards like gentlemen, and never said a word about religion.”
So we arranged a trip north.
Hidden from public view, in a vault inside the campus’s Walsh Library, is Old Edgar Allan, the University Church’s aging bell, thought to be the inspiration for Poe’s poem “The Bells.”
The librarians let us ring the metal object, turning green with age, to verify its authenticity. We must say, the sound was less “jingling” and “tinkling,” and more deep-clanging.
This week, you can learn about Poe’s history at the Bronx Library Center on Saturday, attend performances and readings of his work near his cottage in the Bronx the same day, or take a walking tour of his life in Greenwich Village on Sunday.
Here’s what else is happening:
Weather
TOMORROW: 
46° 40°
46° 40°
A day to make even make the most morose poet grin.
As far as winter days go, this one is tops: A bright sun, only a touch of wind, and a high of 51.
And this is just the beginning.
We’re looking at a stretch of mild winter days (with some rain), at least through the weekend.
In the News
• New York’s attorney general will give legal guidance to local governments today on how to buck a possible deportation push by President-elect Donald J. Trump. [New York Times]
• Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said his main message during his meeting with Mr. Trump was that a loss of federal funds would hurt their home state. [New York Times]
• Buskers say the police have been less than welcoming at the new Second Avenue subway stations. [New York Times]
• A bullet’s fatal detour in the 40th Precinct in the South Bronx: Maribel Cavero’s death in 2016 puzzled detectives, but help from a witness led to the arrest of a man they believe to have fired a gun nearly two blocks away. [New York Times]
• Bridges across the city will be outfitted with choreographed lights, Mr. Cuomo said. [CBS]
• The governor also wants movie theaters in the state to sell beer and wine. [Gothamist]
• One million users have signed up for LinkNYC’s free Wi-Fi service since last year, the city said. [DNAinfo]
• A hotel magnate and convicted tax evader who owned Studio 54 has been pardoned by President Obama. [New York Times]
• A new poll shows Mayor Bill de Blasio beating all challengers to his re-election but one: Hillary Clinton. [New York Times]
• Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said he had turned down jobs in the Trump administration because his wife didn’t want to move to Washington. [New York Magazine]
• Madame Tussauds unveiled its new wax sculpture of Mr. Trump. [Pix 11]
• Joanna Acevedo had to quit boxing and postpone her dreams to care for her daughter, who was born with a rare condition affecting her eyesight. [New York Times]
• Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “MetroCard, Where Did You Go?”
• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Thursday Briefing.
Coming Up Today
• Mayor de Blasio, Alec Baldwin, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others will demonstrate in front of Trump International Hotel at 6 p.m.
• The New York Ceramics and Glass Fair begins at Bohemian National Hall on the Upper East Side. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. [$20, tickets here]
• “Hollywood in the White House,” a lecture about how our presidents have been portrayed on the big screen, at the New York Public Library in Midtown Manhattan. 6:30 p.m. [Free]
• Learn about Truman Capote’s legacy in film with a screening of “Murder by Death” and a discussion with local journalists at the Brooklyn Historical Society. 7 p.m. [Free]
• Geoffrey Cobb, the author of “The King of Greenpoint,” discusses the book and the neighborhood’s history, at the New York Irish Arts Center in Long Island City, Queens. 7 p.m. [Free]
• A staged reading of the movie “Heathers,” at Littlefield in Gowanus, Brooklyn. 8 p.m. [$10]
• Islanders host Stars, 7 p.m. (MSG+). Rangers at Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m. (MSG). Knicks host Wizards, 8 p.m. (TNT).
• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.
Commute
J, Z, L and 7 trains are running with delays.
• Alternate-side parking: in effect until Jan. 28.
And Finally...
Donald J. Trump is set to become the 45th president on Friday, but New Yorkers still can’t get enough of his former opponent Hillary Clinton.
During recent outings in the city, Mrs. Clinton has been met with hugs, applause and adoration from a crush of fans.
But for those supporters who haven’t yet been able to snap a coveted Clinton selfie, may we suggest another souvenir: a taste of one of Mrs. Clinton’s signature cookies.
A gallery on the Lower East Side is offering the baked goods, displayed in a giant cookie jar in the shape of a pantsuit.
The work, by the artist Jennifer Rubell, explores the “complicated relationship between feminism and femininity” and sprang from a remark Mrs. Clinton made in 1992 about not wanting to “stay home and bake cookies.”
A brouhaha ensued when Mrs. Clinton made the comment during her husband’s first presidential campaign, and the magazine Family Circle responded by sponsoring a bake-off between her and the first lady at the time, Barbara Bush.
The winning recipe: Mrs. Clinton’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
You can sample the treats (baked by the artist) and other works at the solo exhibition “Housewife,” at Sargent’s Daughters through Feb. 26.
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P.C: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/nyregion/new-york-today-searching-for-poe.html
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