Thursday, July 29, 2010
Norell. The scent of sophistication, the scent of Manhattan, the scent of my Aunt Ann — that is, Ann Joyce.
I associate with, first, the winter of 1975, during holiday break from the UFW. It paved the way for what would, in 1977, be a longer visit, and finally moving to New York City and living there for six years.
After a few years of living a spartan life in the hot dusty farm areas of California, Manhattan was magical. I shared Amanda’s bedroom, and I’d sit beside the big window in that room at night, on the 15th floor of 75th and Broadway and watch the gleam of the Hudson River and the light of the New Jersey buildings on the Palisades.
Ann and Dennis had bright colors in the living room, and in the kitchen, wallpaper in pale green and silver — all very pop art and contemporary — and she had a framed photo of Patrick McGoohan over the kitchen sink. 
I brought her some buttons from the UFW — there were so many varieties for so many occasions. For the holidays, we had silver buttons with “Boycott Lettuce” and the UFW eagle, some in red, some in green. Just picturing those buttons, I hear the Isley Brothers song I kept playing, feel the peace of that high Hudson River view, and remember the scent of Norell.
