Come spring and summer, you're sure to find me amongst the old grey-to-no haired folks, in one of two places, history tour walks and garage sales. I love old relics of sorts, finding gems of yesteryear's US pop culture, and striking deals. Recently, I came across two amazing wooden wheelchairs amongst a slew of strange collectables. The sale was an estate sale for a couple that had both passed away (just 2 weeks apart) in 2012. The contents for sale led me to Google search this couple, for their possessions held an amazing story that someone must've had to have known.
After searching, I found it was an amazing male gay couple, who had been together for 61 years and when NYS legalized gay marriage, they wed in 2011.
The couple was Shaun O'Brien, (I remember seeing his Irish family crest), and Cris Alexander. Cris was obviously a famous photographer, due to the number of proof prints for Warhol's Interview magazine, that I curiously thumbed through. I found out later that earlier in life he was an Broadway actor, namely the original "Chip" from "On the Town," later to be done on the silver screen by Frank Sinatra. Shaun O'Brien was a NYC Ballet actor/dancer for 40 plus years,-since it's first year of inception. He was most famous for "Coppelius" in "Coppelia" He died 3 years ago today, so in ode to him, Thanks Shaun! Here is a mask prop from the play,
I read somewhere that at their Saratoga Springs home, they hosted many ice cream socials, and were a blast, indulging in fascinating stories. I also acquired those Saratoga cigarettes in post below, some fine China, that I probably shouldn't use, but, you can take the boy out the trailer park... (hey I didn't smoke the cigs!) I digress, anyway, I went back to buy the wheelchairs but only one remained,(how dare someone split them up!) So, needless to say, I have one cool wooden antique wheelchair.
I noticed a marble block with some etching, so I picked it up and it read "EXCELSIOR SPRING WATER SARATOGA, NY", I bought it for a reasonable price, and found out later, it's from the actual Excelsior Spring!
I dug around a bit and found these from the Saratogian 1867
I guess around this time of year in 1966, Excelsior was mainly a bottling and shipping plant on Excelsior Ave, and the trucks they used ran on their own gas supply, stored at the plant. The main gas tank leaked and seeped into the plant, which, during winter, there was zero ventilation and once the heater kicked on and the gas fumes had built, it made a deadly mix and exploded the building into pieces. That's why my piece of marble granite/Saratoga history looks like cannon shrapnel. From the SS Public Library
I read somewhere that at their Saratoga Springs home, they hosted many ice cream socials, and were a blast, indulging in fascinating stories. I also acquired those Saratoga cigarettes in post below, some fine China, that I probably shouldn't use, but, you can take the boy out the trailer park... (hey I didn't smoke the cigs!) I digress, anyway, I went back to buy the wheelchairs but only one remained,(how dare someone split them up!) So, needless to say, I have one cool wooden antique wheelchair.
I noticed a marble block with some etching, so I picked it up and it read "EXCELSIOR SPRING WATER SARATOGA, NY", I bought it for a reasonable price, and found out later, it's from the actual Excelsior Spring!
I dug around a bit and found these from the Saratogian 1867
I guess around this time of year in 1966, Excelsior was mainly a bottling and shipping plant on Excelsior Ave, and the trucks they used ran on their own gas supply, stored at the plant. The main gas tank leaked and seeped into the plant, which, during winter, there was zero ventilation and once the heater kicked on and the gas fumes had built, it made a deadly mix and exploded the building into pieces. That's why my piece of marble granite/Saratoga history looks like cannon shrapnel. From the SS Public Library
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