New York Today: Making a Marilyn Monroe Moment
Updated, 7:18 a.m.
Good morning on this cooling Friday.
It’s an iconic moment in cinema: Marilyn Monroe standing on a subway grate, her pleated white dress billowing up like a parachute.
In September 1954, thousands of people gathered at 52nd Street and Lexington Avenue to watch as it was being staged for the film “The Seven Year Itch.”
But the shoot in New York is said to have been a publicity stunt; the footage used in the film was taken on a 20th Century Fox lot in Los Angeles.
That original New York footage disappeared, but it was bound to resurface eventually. And now it has, writes Helene Stapinski in The New York Times.
In honor of the discovery, we tried to relive the famed sequence by retracing Monroe’s steps on the Upper East Side.
We started outside 164 East 61st Street, the townhouse shown in the film.
The house is still standing, and this week, it appeared to be the only one on the block still adorned with Christmas decorations.
(It’s also now directly across from Trump Plaza, which was certainly not part of the movie’s quaint side-street landscape.)
We then walked to Lexington to visit Gino, a restaurant where Ms. Monroe would often eat with her second husband, Joe DiMaggio, and later with her third, Arthur Miller.
We regret to inform you that the eatery is long gone. It’s now Sprinkles, a cupcake shop, and the outside of the building has an A.T.M. that dispenses cupcakes. (How far we’ve come in 63 years!)
We headed south, to 52nd Street, the site of the celebrated subway grate.
There was no Marilyn Monroe plaque or street sign to be seen; the block is designated Lew Rudin Way. And the Trans-Lux Theater, which stood behind Ms. Monroe as she filmed the scene, is no longer there.
So we stopped above what we imagined was the same grate, now in front of the bistro Le Relais de Venise l’Entrecôte, to see if it might elicit an out-of-body experience.
Not quite.
The long, narrow subway grate was sandwiched on one end by a garbage can, and on the other by a large, thirsty-looking potted plant.
When we stood over the grate, we didn’t feel the swoosh of the subway swiftly blowing at our heels. When we looked down, all we could see was our own reflection in some murky water. And we certainly didn’t look like we were having an exceptional hair day.
What we’d suggest, to better recreate that unforgettable New York (but made in Hollywood) moment, is to ask a friend to come along with a giant fan and an iPhone. Ask that kind soul to turn on the fan, encourage passers-by to cheer your name, and let the photo shoot begin.
Here’s what else is happening:
Weather
TOMORROW: 
33° 29°
33° 29°
It’s a slow stumble to snow.
This morning, we’re still feeling the effects of Thursday’s record high.
But while the morning starts off in the 50s, the mercury will plummet all day long. By this afternoon, it will feel like the mid-30s with the wind.
Then snow (possibly) on Saturday.
The rest of the Martin Luther King holiday weekend looks a bit warmer, and sunny skies are predicted.
In the News
• Mayor Bill de Blasio is scrambling to curb a surge in homelessness, and is facing criticism of how he handled the crisis. [New York Times]
• The Justice Department plans to join a lawsuit asserting that the New York City Board of Elections broke the law by erasing more than 117,000 Brooklyn voters from the rolls. [New York Times]
• A rare flu is forcing a quarantine for some of the city’s cats. [New York Times]
• A shadow utility company installed illegal gas meters for landlords who did not want to follow safety rules, prosecutors say. [New York Times]
• Donald J. Trump is willing to work with the city to reimburse it for the cost of protecting the president-elect, Mayor de Blasio said. [DNAinfo]
• Mr. Trump also tapped a former mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to lead a cybersecurity committee. [CBS]
• Some of Jared Kushner’s East Village tenants are upset that the president-elect’s son-in-law will become a senior White House adviser. [Village Voice]
• Police Officer Steven McDonald was shot and paralyzed 1986, in a city plagued by crime, crack and deep racial tensions. Today, at his funeral, he will be remembered in a changed city. [New York Times]
• Last year 48 people were killed by subway trains, the lowest in five years, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. [DNAinfo]
• The New Jersey Supreme Court is closing a loophole that gave juvenile offenders what amounted to life sentences. [WNYC]
• The American Museum of Natural History unveiled plans for an insectarium. [NY1]
• Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “No Replay on the Slapball Field of Play”
• Scoreboard: Pelicans swoop through Nets, 104-95. Knicks carve up Bulls, 104-89. Oilers burn Devils, 3-2.
• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Friday Briefing.
Coming Up Today
• Vogue Knitting Live — with workshops, fashion shows and more — at the Marriott Marquis in Midtown Manhattan. Schedule and tickets here.
• Day 1 of the Zlatne Uste Golden Festival, featuring Balkan art and music, at Grand Prospect Hall in Brooklyn. 7 p.m. Schedule here. [Prices vary]
• The Black Comic Book festival is at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in Harlem. 10 a.m. [Free]
• Calling all artists: Share your poems, songs, jokes and stories during an open mic at McCarren Play Center in McCarren Park in Brooklyn. 7 p.m. [Free]
• Rangers host Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. (MSG). Islanders at Panthers, 7:30 p.m. (MSG+). Nets at Raptors, 7:30 p.m. (YES). Devils at Flames, 9 p.m. (MS+2).
The Weekend
Saturday
• Join a big New York versus New Jersey snowball fight at Bryant Park in Manhattan. 2 p.m., weather permitting. [Free]
• Have a drink while you learn to paint acrylics on canvas at Private Picassos, an art studio in Park Slope, Brooklyn. B.Y.O.B. 6 p.m. [$50]
• Laugh at “The Revolution,” a comedy show focusing on “women-identifying, racially diverse and queer performers,” at Q.E.D. in Astoria, Queens. 7:30 p.m. [$8]
• Enjoy a night of R&B and soul music in a concert with three funky bands at St. George Theater on Staten Island. 8 p.m. [Tickets start at $49]
• The Metropolitan Opera presents a production of Shakespeare’s tragic love story, “Roméo et Juliette,” at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. 8 p.m. [Tickets start at $27]
• Rangers at Canadiens, 7 p.m. (MSG). Islanders at Hurricanes, 8 p.m. (MSG+).
• Watch “The New York Times Close Up,” featuring The Times’s investigative reporter, Eric Lipton, and other guests. Saturday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. on NY1.
Sunday
• It’s your last chance to visit the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. [Prices vary]
• Women can take a self-defense class at the Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center in the Bronx. 11:30 a.m. [Free]
• Watch some Magic at Coney at the Coney Island Museum in Brooklyn. Noon. [Tickets start at $5]
• The Dance Theater of Harlem performs a show honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts in Flushing, Queens. 4 p.m. [$35, tickets here]
• Looking ahead: Commemorate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music or with the Harlem Gospel Choir at B.B. King in Manhattan.
• Knicks at Raptors, 3 p.m. (MSG). Nets host Rockets, 6 p.m. (YES). Devils at Canucks, 7 p.m. (MSG+).
• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.
Commute
Expect a normal commute on the Long Island Railroad, after yesterday’s broken rail.
• Alternate-side parking: in effect until Monday.
And Finally...
Happy birthday, Alexander Hamilton!
The founding father — who loved New York dearly — would have turned 260 this week.
If you’re not able to celebrate with a (still) hard-to-come-by ticket to see the musical bearing his name, you can plan to stop by an interactive, family-friendly Hamilton extravaganza hosted by the New-York Historical Society.
You’ll be able to meet and learn about a young Hamilton (well, a re-enactor) and peruse the books he used to educate himself.
You can also meet Revolutionary War Hamilton — as well as George Washington — and help out at a military encampment.
And then you can become Hamilton, duking it out with Aaron Burr, and having your face printed on a $10 bill.
The event will take place on Jan. 21 at the society’s DiMenna Children’s History Museum on the Upper West Side.
There will be no New York Today on Monday, in observance of Martin Luther King’s Birthday. We’ll be back on Tuesday.
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P.C: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/nyregion/new-york-today-marilyn-monroe-subway-grate-lexington-avenue-52nd-street.html
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