[Magdalen] Smaller but not Forgotten.

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

One family member remarked that the hall looks dated amid the other
renovations that have taken place there.  I have not been there, and am no
expert in acoustics even if I was, but it seems the hall never has been
satisfactory -- at least in the eyes (ears) of the elite know-it-alls of
sound.

Apparently the family gets a buy back as a minor part of the deal. Ave gave
about ten mil in the 1970s, and the family gets 15 mil to give up the name
on the hall, and then the Lincoln Center folks can go seeking a serious
donor.  I had heard three hundred mil mentioned, but someone could get
their name on that jinxed hall for a paltry one hundred mil, if I read an
article about it correctly.  Who knows? The waltons and the kochs might get
into a bidding war.

It's a reflection of how costs have changed over the decades.  Of course,
it may all come to haught; NYC could be Detroit II by 2019, which is when
they fantasize they'll get started on the renovations.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente

On Tue, Dec 2, 2014 at 1:00 PM, Jim Guthrie <jguthrie at pipeline.com> wrote:

> From: James Oppenheimer-Crawford
>
>  It is the auditorium formerly known as Avery Fisher Hall. They had to pay
>> the Fisher family fifteen million to get them to give up the name.
>>
>
> Still Avery Fisher Hall until the descendants get their $15-million
> buyout. Fisher was the Fisher of Fisher Audio for those interested.
>
> The renaming of stadiums, arenas and subway stations replacing names
> assumed "in perpetuity" seems to be a common practice amongst non-profits
> and municipal authorities owning these venues.
>
> As some New Yorkers know, "In Perpetuity" means 36 years. When the Sixth
> Avenue El was demolished and replaced but the Sixth Avenue Subway, they did
> not build a Station at 38th Street to replace the El station at the same
> location. But protesting neighborhood business owners were solemnly
> promised by Mayor LaGuardia and the Board of Transportation that there
> would be a subway entrance at 38th Street "In perpetuity." This connected
> to an underground passage connection both the south end of the 42nd Street
> Station at 40th Street, and the north end of the 34th Street Station at
> 35th Street (the 34th Street station was actually more than a block north
> the former El Station because both the Hudson Tubes and BMT/Broadway
> station were there first - in fact the Hudson Tubes  34th Street station
> was moved to 32nd Street and renamed "33rd Street." The Southbound BMT
> tracks are several feet above the northbound tracks at that station, to
> leave room for the Tubes that no longer exist below.
>
> The subway entrance was closed in 1976 after a rape in the passageway (as
> was the underground connection to Penn Station from Sixth Avenue where the
> "nun" with the Five O'clock Shadow used to sit with two legit nuns begging
> for alms)..
>
> So "In perpetuity" means 1940-1976 -- 36 years.
>
> Though AVH was opened in 1962, Fisher's name was attached in 1973 after a
> $10.3 million gift toward renovations-- so by the time Lincoln Center
> raises the $500-million it needs for the next renovation (will they put a
> pipe organ back in? It was removed in the Fisher Renovation) in a few
> years, it should be close to the 36-year "In perpetuity" mark <g>.
>
> Cheers,
> Jim Guthrie
>
>