Dear Sophie -
PALEY PARK is this exquisite little pocket park oasis in Manhattan on east 53rd street near MOMA. Mr. William Paley was the chairman of the CBS network and his wife BABE PALEY was a socialite, iconic for her taste and style.
The wall of water and trees with the white mesh BERTOIA chairs feels so refreshing. The sound of the waterfall masks the bustle of the city. There is something about the scale and the symmetry that makes this just a perfect little harmonious space.
I don't know how this beautiful park came about, but Babe surely had something to do with it.
“Babe Paley had only one fault,” commented her one-time friend Truman Capote. “She was perfect. Otherwise, she was perfect.”
With love,
Mom
(By the way, don't think the cigarettes are glamorous. She died of lung cancer at 63).