Originally published in The New York Times:
Excerpted: Mr. Singer, who died on Wednesday in Florida at the age of 87, lived most of his life in America on upper Broadway, a place of cafeterias and coffee shops where the food was simple and cheap and the waiters let you take your time, a place where people entertained themselves with leisurely strolls and dressed up just for the occasion.
Mr. Singer felt comfortable along his upper Broadway because it was as close as he could come to the feel and flavor of his cherished Warsaw. He and other exiles from Nazi Europe created the world of upper Broadway in their own image by placing their stamp on its streets and shops. Lush Variety of People
In Mr. Singer’s world, apartment buildings, like his home, the massive Renaissance-style Belnord at 86th Street and Broadway, had interior courtyards reminiscent of those in Warsaw.
Read the full article in The New York Times.
“So he would always get the sounds and the sense and the view. On Broadway he could see images of those characters that he often wrote about.”
Bruce Davidson, photographer, IB Singer’s neighbor in the Belnord
