<<  -- 6 --  Grahame Ainge    WITH CALLAS IN MIND

Next on the list was Public School 189. This was a large, imposing, well kept building again largely of red brick. Opposite the School a pleasant park, High Bridge Park, included a children's playground. It was such a contrast to 192nd Street, three blocks away. We made our way to the side entrance on 189th Street which we felt was the entrance to the junior section of the school. The noisy chatter of young children typical of any school could be heard coming from inside. This must have been where Maria entered every day.

We then walked further south along St Nicholas Avenue to 183rd Street and found number 520, the last address of Maria before leaving with her mother for Greece in 1937. This was a building with sandstone-coloured rendering, with ornamental decoration above the windows, much more attractive than number 569 but still disfigured by the essential fire escapes and air-conditioning boxes at the windows. Again no sign of human life. We tried to imagine the apartment in its earlier days when Maria, a girl already noted for her singing talent, lived there. Just at that moment a middle-aged man in a colourful padded car coat and grubby trainers appeared on the other side of the road and momentarily eyed us suspiciously. I wanted to mention Maria to him but as I approached he quickened his pace and disappeared round the block.

Last on our pilgrimage was Public School 164 at 164th and Wadsworth, so we set off again, this time along Broadway catching a brief, murky glimpse of midtown in the distance as we breasted each gentle undulation. But we never found Public School 164 and there seemed to be no Wadsworth Avenue in that area although it does exist further north. Could the school have disappeared long ago to make way for some development or road improvement? Perhaps we were simply searching in the wrong area but unfortunately we had run out of time. After our earlier successes we felt a sense of anticlimax as we made our way to 163rd Street station.

Except for our own knowledge and interest, nowhere in Washington Heights was there a reminder that Maria had spent her early life here. Neither a renamed street, avenue or park nor a small commemorative plaque. Has New York turned its back on Maria? Is there anything anywhere in the City to commemorate her publicly? Could this be because of her row with Rudolf Bing or her renunciation of her American citizenship or perhaps there is some other reason?

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