BY Terese Loeb Kreuzer
Steamers Landing on the Battery Park City esplanade between Liberty and Albany Streets will close on Jan. 2, 2011 and reopen on Jan. 17 as Merchants River House with new decor and a new menu.
Helene Zucker Seeman Memorial:
When a drunk driver killed Helene Zucker Seeman, a beloved resident of Battery Park City, this past June, so many people thronged to her funeral that additional rooms had to be opened at the Riverside Memorial Chapel to accommodate them all. “Helene had friends from all parts of her life,” said Marilyn Greenberg, a painter and “a dear friend of Helene’s for 26 years.” Greenberg said that Helene never dropped a friend — she just added new ones. Now some of them have banded together to create a memorial to Seeman, who was curator of the Prudential Insurance art collection for 23 years, an art archivist, an author and lecturer.
The Brooklyn Museum has agreed to establish the Helene Zucker Seeman Fund, which will enable the presentation of an annual exhibit of the work of a woman artist at its Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. “Helene championed women and their art before it was fashionable,” said Greenberg.
For the fund’s inaugural exhibition, the museum has proposed a show featuring the work of Eva Hesse, a German-born American sculptor, who, like Seeman, died too young. “Helene admired her very much,” Greenberg said.
The show would open in September 2011 if the group backing the project can raise $50,000 by February 1, 2011. Donations in any amount are welcome and are tax deductible. Checks should be made payable to the Brooklyn Museum, with a note designating them for the Helene Zucker Seeman Exhibition Fund. They should be sent to the Brooklyn Museum Development Office, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238-6099, Attention: Paul Johnson, Deputy Director. His phone number is (718) 501-6470 and his e-mail is paul.johnson@brooklynmuseum.org.
Steamers Landing to Close and Reopen as Merchants River House:
Steamers Landing opened on the Battery Park City esplanade between Liberty and Albany Streets more than 26 years ago, but Jan. 2, 2011 will be its last day. The restaurant will close for two weeks. When it reopens on Jan. 17, it will have a new name, a new menu and new décor.
As Merchants River House, the restaurant will serve American regional food with most appetizers, salads, burgers and sandwiches priced under $10. Most entrées will cost less than $18. The menu will include pizza, rotisserie chicken, prime rib, salads, steaks and pastas. There will also be some seafood choices and a special kids’ menu with items such as mac and cheese, chicken fingers and vegetables. Wine will be available by the glass, the carafe and the bottle, and beer will be offered on draft. There will also be a cocktail menu.
According to Merchants Hospitality, the owners of this restaurant as well as of SouthWest NY, Merchants Café and Pound & Pence, “Merchants River House will exude the feeling of an American bistro” with a copper top bar, bistro chairs and blue checkered tablecloths.
From now until January 2, Battery Park City residents with a Local’s Card (which brings a 10 percent discount on all food and beverage purchases) can get 50 percent off on all wines. The Local’s Card will continue to be honored at Merchants River House.
Christmas Tree Mulch: The Battery Park City Parks Conservancy would like your old Christmas tree, but no decorations, please. Through January 28, 2011, the Conservancy will pick up Christmas trees left at the curb outside your Battery Park City apartment building and chip the trees into mulch.
“We use the mulch in the spring,” said a Conservancy spokesman. “It helps with the watering and keeps down the weeds.”
Mulch protects soil from eroding during heavy rains and helps maintain the soil at a consistent temperature. It also promotes root growth and provides a habitat for earthworms and other soil organisms.
For comments about Battery Park City Beat or leads about events and people in Battery Park City, e-mail TereseLoeb@mac.com.
