March 3, 2017
I love old houses. I’m drawn to them. I dream about them. I become obsessed with them. On any given weekend you can find me and my family barreling down Old Montauk Highway on our way to the seaside for a peek at a house behind the hedgerow -- especially if there’s a story behind it. Intrigue? Mystery? Murder? We’re there! Wrought iron gates opening to allees of trees, and gravel driveways winding to falling-down-manors can send me into such extreme euphoria that I may actually crack a smile.
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As my daughter’s eighth birthday approaches, I can’t help but feel a little blue. Of course I’m happy to celebrate the fact that she's growing into an independent, smart, manically funny little girl, but each passing year is also a reminder that her childhood is going by fast and, no matter how tightly I try to hold on, time is slipping from my grasp... Read more >>
February 9, 2017
Beaches and Forests
Time is the Anchor
Touring estates and graveyards is an act of intimacy that connects the past with the present, which is part of the lure that draws crowds to one of the most visited mansions and cemeteries in the United States – Graceland.
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In the early 1980s when I was a kid, Halloween was a big deal. There were no school parties. Children didn’t trick-or-treat in malls. Trunk-or-treat events were still unheard of and no one dared go out before dinner – we waited until dark.
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Graveyards and Graceland
July 25, 2017
March 15, 2017
August 9, 2017
High Hopes and Broken Dreams: Amityville Horror
July 21, 2022
Birthday Blues
I am quite the expert on guilt having been raised Catholic, and since my partner comes from a clan of pinky-ring-kissing, sign-of-the-cross-blessing Italians, we both grew up certain that our gayness was going to land us in hell forever.
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The wild uncertainty and untamed frenzy of my mind is beginning to sprout up through cracks in my otherwise perfect façade. Read More >>
The Ghost of Halloweens Past
June 30, 2017
Grey Gardens: The Staunchest Character of All
June 8, 2017
February 14, 2017
Disney is the new Scientology and I’m fairly certain I’m being brainwashed. Of all the things I could have imagined myself to be, the last would be a Disney Cruise Gold Member having taken five tropical voyages aboard the fleet of Disney cruise ships... Read more >>
January 4, 2017
October 27, 2016
From Riches to Rags to Riches: The Renovation – and Redemption – of Brookwood Hall
November 18, 2017
Way back before the internet existed; before blogs and all forms of social media; before we could Google an experience and find solidarity in thousands of similar stories, there was Jane Pratt’s Sassy magazine and its It Happened to Me (IHTM) column... Read more >>
December 1, 2016
December 19, 2017
Perspective
It’s like when someone disgusts you so much you begin to find them attractive or, conversely, you’re so enamored you think you’re basking in sunshine until you shift your eyes from the brightness to see that the light is actually revealing true darkness.
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October 24, 2016
I was a fresh-faced 16-year-old hibernating in my parent’s basement in suburban Detroit reading Sassy magazine and dreaming of the day I would break out and do something other than get knocked up by a factory worker from Ford Motor Company, when Detroit’s GENRE Man and World’s Biggest Celebrity Magnet came into my life... Read more >>
I'm plagued by a fever for houses with histories and a longing for the past. But when I learned Lisa Marie Presley had died, I was heartbroken for Graceland in way I couldn't shake.
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Lisa Marie Presley: Graveyards and Graceland Revisited
Cracks and Light
January 15, 2023
Like a fading love affair, our days together are numbered. 2017 has been mysterious and my infatuation with her is wearing thin.
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September 8, 2017
Summering by the sea is a luxury I never could have imagined growing up in suburban Detroit. As a kid, I spent June through August in a Northern Michigan forest, camped out in communal bliss with a slew of family and friends.
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xoJane Will Always Be Sassy
January 13, 2017
Traditional Guilt
When It’s Over, It’s Over
Just a mention of High Hopes – the house at 112 Ocean Avenue with the jack-o-lantern windows in Amityville, New York – can cause the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up... Read more >>
Moments and Milestones
Motor City Limits
May 26, 2017
Summer of Discontent
Time is infinite and stretches on forever, yet it loops to connect the past and present so seamlessly that it’s often hard to remember if an event happened a second or a century ago.
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It’s no secret that I’m house-obsessed. Any book on architecture and history can easily put me on a two-day binger curled up in front of the fireplace with a bottomless pot of tea. But if you add an heiress, a mystery and a tale of a fellow introvert who managed to hide away... Read more >>
Disney is the New Scientology
January 6, 2017
The smell of the Long Island South Shore estate hit me the moment I stepped out of the car. I thought perhaps it was a hint of the damp ivy twisting around hundred-year-old trees that stood like soldiers up the worn gravel drive leading to the front entrance ... Read more >>
As the days grow longer and the air cooler, I’m finally ready to trade in my seaside summer nights for starry skies, cricket symphonies, turtlenecks and sips of bourbon. That said, this was one of the most perfect summers on record.
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Raindrops and Laptops
Obsession Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
It occurred to me the other day that I never let anything go. From childhood treasures to my favorite books to every card and note ever written to me, I hold on.
I’m the same way with friendships. I don’t put much effort into fostering new ones because my... Read more >>
The Life of a House
April 13, 2017
I’ve always found solace in oddities. Thunderstorms, cemeteries, rambling estates and well-worn books bring me more pleasure than any day in the sunshine ever could...
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I dislike a lot of things. So when I find something that brings me a glimmer of joy I overindulge, cramming in every morsel of information and slurping up every fact until I’m so full I never want to revisit it... Read More >>
There is not much I can write about Grey Gardens – the 14-room estate located feet from the sea at 3 West End Road in East Hampton, Long Island – or its infamous residents that has not already been documented... Read more >>
January 30, 2018
by Cynthia Gunnells
From Great Gatsby to Grey Gardens: The Mystery of Huguette Clark