From my dear friend Peggy- Peggy was reminiscing with another friend and longtime Harlem resident Raymond Lewis about Sylvia Woods, owner of SYLVIA’S of Harlem, who died this week. Peggy: In addition to mourning, I will also be quietly chuckling as I remember hilarious stories about "The Queen of Soul Food," which left me in stitches. I told Raymond about the time Sylvia told me that she used to open the restaurant an hour before the posted time in order to feed the local drug pushers, so that they would leave her customers alone. ("I've paid my dues,” she said.) Then there was the time a desperate young mother came into the restaurant with four emaciated children and Sylvia fed them for free and then sat down with them and prayed. I recalled how locals used to come in, weighed down with black plastic bags of “hot” goods, and try and sell them, not only at the entrance, but also in the dining rooms. No night went by when you weren't accosted by a vendor whispering “Got some good stuff tonight,” trying to unload everything from jewelry to household goods. One day a vendor came into SYLVIA’S and tried to sell patrons a green casket. “A green casket?” Raymond asked the guy. “Yeah, a green casket, like what you bury folks in.” “Where is it?” “Outside, in front of the restaurant.” “How much do you want for it?” “$400” “Nah…too much.” “Where did you get it?” “The funeral parlor around the corner.” “Anybody in it?” “No…it’s empty.” “No thanks. I’ll catch you next time, when you’ve got a wider range of colors.” Not believing him, Raymond went outside. There, right in front of SYLVIA’S, by the curb, lay a dark green coffin. So tomorrow, when the tears are flowing and we’re all choking as the choir sings “Amazing Grace”, I will also smile as I remember the coffin by the curb.

---Celeste Holm passes away at 95 years young--- I met Celeste Holm a few years back because we were both members of the American Theatre Wing (the people that give out the TONY awards). The Wing was run by the (now late) Isabelle Stevenson, a lovely woman who had one foot in the world of the theatre and the other in the world of "high society." Isabelle herself passed away in 2003 at age 90. Celeste had appeared on Broadway many times (as well as classic movies) so of course she was a member of the wing. Celeste lived in a huge, classic old New York apartment at 88 Central Park West (where the Robert DeNiro's currently live but don't want anybody to know about it). The Theatre Wing would have cocktail parties every year leading up to Tony Award time in June so that everyone could meet the nominees and potential winners. I had heard that Celeste was beginning to be "confused" a bit and perhaps had the beginngs of Alzheimers or Senior Dementia. I experienced this first hand at a ATW pre-Tony cocktail bash in Times Square. I was chatting with the lovely Miss Holm, when suddenly her face changed and those gorgeous, big expressive eyes which looked so wonderful in her many movies, looked at me with a touch of panic and confusion and she said "Jim, where are we again?" I said "Celeste we are at a Tony award hosted by Isabelle and the American Theatre Wing." She seemed OK for a minute and then said "Why are we here??" Isabelle was near my elbow and I touched her and said "Isabelle, dear-- Celeste wants to know why we are here...." She looked a bit concerned and then said: "I'll take care of it..." and she drifted over to chat with Celeste and give her some undivided attention. After that, the stories about Celeste going in and out of reality were scattered around New York and then she married a man YOUNGER than her own two sons, which became the subject of talk, especially when her sons hired lawyers and obtained the rights to her money and estate, fearing her young husband might have other ideas. Celeste Holm died this week....1917-2012. We all remember her from her Oscar-winning role in Gentleman's Agreement and of course ALL ABOUT EVE with Bette Davis. She was also the original girl who "cain't say no"...Ado Annie on Broadway in OKLAHOMA in 1943. She will be missed. Jim Dykes is an actor and a private guide in New York City. He gives tours of history, architecture, tidbits etc. for private groups and individuals.

Matt Damon: Resident of Manhattan's Historic Upper Westside!!

The Upper Westside of Manhattan is one of New York City’s premiere residential neighborhoods and is literally “teeming” with celebrities. Historically, after the creation of Central Park, the East side developed into an “old money” neighborhood of big mansions and elegant townhouses: Astors, Whitneys, Vanderbilts and such, while the Westside real estate market languished amid sparse development prolonged by the Panic of 1873. The neighborhood finally began establishing itself as the first grand “apartment building district” in the U.S. with buildings such as The Dakota, the Prasada, the Ansonia, etc. in the 1880s, the gay ‘90’s and early 1900s. Eastsiders thumbed their noses at the Upper West, saying “no one important will EVER live over there!” Early Westsiders included theatre people (horrors!), famous musicians, sports celebrities and immigrants who had actually worked hard to make their fortunes. Today Central Park West has celebs including Madonna, Baryshkinov, Donna Karan, Mark Cuban, Darren Star, LeBron James, Josh Groban, Armani, Denzel Washington, Sting, Nascar driver Jeff Gordon and a Russian billionaire driving up prices with his new $88million purchase. It was 1892 when the residents of the Upper Westside, well aware that the area was beginning to boom as a grand residential district, petitioned the city to change the numbered names of the avenues to much grander-sounding names such as Central Park West (for Eighth Ave.), Columbus Avenue (because of newly named Columbus Circle and the newly presented statue of Columbus), Amsterdam Ave. (Dutch revival was all the rage in the 1890’s), WestEnd Avenue (after London’s WestEnd) and Riverside Drive (for obvious reasons). When I first moved to New York City and lived with relatives on West 68th Street, this once grand old NYC neighborhood had become a low-rent, run-down section of town with many Laundromats, hardware stores, Mom & Pop shops and boarded up buildings. There were hundreds of gorgeous old buildings begging to be discovered and renovated which finally happened in the 1980’s. In a previous column I mentioned that Lady Gaga grew up around the corner from my old apartment (on W. 70th St.) and still lives there occasionally with her parents. Other celebs who have flocked to the Upper Westside include: Jerry Seinfeld, Glenn Close, Helen Gurley Brown, Bono, Steven Spielberg, Diane Keaton, Steve Martin, Dustin Hoffman, Demi Moore, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. In one building near Lincoln Center are: Celine Dion, Howard Stern, Liam Neeson, Regis Philbin, Alan Alda, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Julie Andrews, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner! Mega-watt movie star Matt Damon, his wife Lucy and their brood, has also made New York home over his native Boston. After many years of living in a loft downtown on Lafayette Street, Damon was forced to re-locate from the East Village when the NY Post published a photo of him entering his building. On the side of his building was a billboard of his latest Bourne movie with the headline: BOURNE GOES HOME… and a Post paparazzi got a great picture of Damon entering the building with the billboard in plain view. Ahh…the problems of the rich & famous…the loss of privacy in exchange for a $20 million paycheck (per movie!) For now, he’s moved the entire family (wife and several daughters) up to W. 86th Street in a gorgeous old rental building with an interior garden courtyard built by John Jacob Astor. Real estate sources say Damon is searching for a place to buy in the neighborhood but keeps getting outbid by people with deeper pockets than a film star. Although Damon is Boston-born and bred, he’s obviously chosen Yankee territory over Red Sox territory as his home. Jim Dykes is the co-founder of Rich and Famous Tours of NYC. For more information go to: www.JimDykes.com or www.RichandFamousTours.com