Acknowledgments

A book about an apartment house is, of necessity, a book about people, and there are a number of people at the Dakota whom I would like to thank for their impressions, memories, anecdotes and for sharing with me their feelings for the building. In particular, I am grateful to Miss Lauren Bacall, Mr. Ward Bennett, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Blanchard, Mr. and Mrs. Sanford Blank, Miss Adele Browning, Mr. George Davison-Ackley, Mr. Edward O. D. Downes, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Ellman, Mr. Peter Fink, Miss Roberta Flack, Miss Ruth Ford, Mr. Paul Goldberger, Miss Sheila Joan Herbert, Miss Anne Ives, Mrs. C. D. Jackson, Mr. Warner LeRoy, Mr. Richard Lukins, Mr. David Marlow, Mr. Jimmy Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Maysles, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Nitze, Mrs. Pauline Pinto, Mr. Rex Reed, Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Paul Segal, Dr. and Mrs. B. Scott Severns, Mr. Guedaliahou Shiva, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Staley, Mr. Anthony Victoria, Mr. Frederick Victoria, Mr. Michael Wager, Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Weinstein and Mrs. Dorothy P. West.

For the woman who is considered “the heart of the Dakota,” Miss Winifred Bodkin, a special word of thanks.

I am also indebted to a number of others—former Dakotans as well as men and women who at one point or another have had the Dakota’s interests at heart and helped determine its fortune—among them Mr. Ernest Gross, Miss Marya Mannes, Mr. George Beane, Mr. William Miller, Mr. William Quinlan, Mrs. Charles Quinlan, Mr. Louis J. Glickman, Mrs. W. Rodman Fay, and Mr. Stephen C. Clark. For making available to me their files on the Dakota’s architectural and social history, I would like to thank especially Mr. Andrew Alpern, A.I.A., and the trustees and staff of the New York State Historical Society in Cooperstown, New York.

The finicky eye, intelligence and taste of my editor at Random House, Charlotte Leon Mayerson, has affected nearly every page that follows. And, as always, I must thank my friend and agent, Mrs. Carol Brandt, for her cool guidance of the project from the outset.

While all of these people contributed in some way to this book, I alone must hold myself accountable for any errors or shortcomings.

S. B.