Little fascinates New Yorkers more than doormen, who know far more about tenants than tenants know about them. Doormen know what their tenants eat, what kind of movies they watch, whom they spend time with, whether they drink too much, and whether they have kinky sex. But if doormen are unusually familiar with their tenants, they are also socially very distant. In Doormen, Peter Bearman untangles this unusual dynamic to reveal the many ways that tenants and doormen negotiate their complex relationship. Combining observation, interviews, and survey information, Doormen provides a deep and enduring ethnography of the occupational role of doormen, the dynamics of the residential lobby, and the mundane features of highly consequential social exchanges between doormen and tenants. Here, Bearman explains why doormen find their jobs both boring and stressful, why tenants feel anxious about how much of a Christmas bonus their neighbors give, and how everyday transactions small and large affect tenants' professional and informal relationships with doormen. In the daily life of the doorman resides the profound, and this book provides a brilliant account of how tenants and doormen interact within the complex world of the lobby.
Arenas's first work set in the United States breaks new ground with the story of a young Cuban refugee who becomes a doorman at a luxury apartment building. Oddly alienated from the tenants, he is seduced by their pets, who are determined to revolt against humans and human society.
In 1917, during reservoir construction in the Catskill hamlet of Gilboa, a young paleontologist, Miss Winifred Goldring, identified fossils from an ancient forest flooded 350-400 million years ago -- when the earth's botanical explosion of oxygen opened new paths towards human evolution. Since the reservoir water was needed for NYC, the fossils were flooded again, along with the doomed town. A mix of fact and fiction, The Door-Man follows three generations of families who share a deep wound from Gilboa's last days. The story is told by Winifred's grandson, a doorman working near his grandmother's museum, facing the Central Park Reservoir during its decommissioning in 1993. The brief and provisional nature of life on earth, as well as the nested histories of the places, people and events that give it meaning, engender a reckoning within the tangled roots and fragile bonds of family."
On every planet there is a door that can take you anywhere in thegalaxy. Henry Clay Waters is the Doorman for Earth - and he's one day fromretirement. So why is he suddenly the target of Intergalactic assassins? Canspunky alien cop, Detective Flower, keep him alive long enough to find out? It'sa cosmic comic caper full of space Koalas, monsters, exploding heads, andegomaniacal extraterrestrial gazillionaires, as two working-class heroes try tosave The Universe in The Doorman! Reprints The Doorman #1-4, and includes 14pages of bonus material!
From Caldecott Award winner Chris Raschka, tales of unforgettable characters who live in a NYC apartment building “To the company of ur-New Yorkers like Stuart Little, Harriet the Spy, and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, let me hold open the door for The Doorman’s Repose. A new favorite." —Gregory Maguire “….marvelously intriguing stories…” —Lemony Snicket Some of us look up at those craggy, mysterious apartment buildings found in the posher parts of New York City and wonder what goes on inside. The Doorman’s Repose collects ten stories about 777 Garden Avenue, one of the craggiest. The first story recounts the travails of the new doorman, who excels at all his tasks except perhaps the most important one—talking baseball. Others tell of a long-forgotten room, a cupid-like elevator, and the unlikely romance of a cerebral psychologist and a jazz musician, both of whom are mice. Because the animals talk and the machinery has feelings, these are children’s stories. Otherwise they are for anyone intrigued by what happens when many people, strangers or kin, live together under one roof.
From Caldecott Award winner Chris Raschka, tales of unforgettable characters who live in a NYC apartment building “To the company of ur-New Yorkers like Stuart Little, Harriet the Spy, and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, let me hold open the door for The Doorman’s Repose. A new favorite." —Gregory Maguire “….marvelously intriguing stories…” —Lemony Snicket Some of us look up at those craggy, mysterious apartment buildings found in the posher parts of New York City and wonder what goes on inside. The Doorman’s Repose collects ten stories about 777 Garden Avenue, one of the craggiest. The first story recounts the travails of the new doorman, who excels at all his tasks except perhaps the most important one—talking baseball. Others tell of a long-forgotten room, a cupid-like elevator, and the unlikely romance of a cerebral psychologist and a jazz musician, both of whom are mice. Because the animals talk and the machinery has feelings, these are children’s stories. Otherwise they are for anyone intrigued by what happens when many people, strangers or kin, live together under one roof.
This is Donny the doorman. He works in a movie theater. His job is to pick up trash in-between shows. Usually, it's a pretty easy job. But one night, late last summer, it got kind of creepy.
As a young boy riding in his father's taxi, Bernard Montpeirous never imagined the adventures that awaited him in the streets (and doorways) of New York City. In his engaging memoir, he recounts his childhood experiences as a first-generation Haitian American and shares highlights of his career as a doorman for two of the city's luxury hotels. While on the job, Montpeirous met some of the biggest stars of all time and bore witness to what they were like when the cameras were gone. From Sylvester Stallone to Mick Jagger, Montpeirous's clients partied hard and were often happy to let the doorman in on the fun. The Revolving Door, however, isn't all about the high life. Montpeirous also focuses on the moments that forced him to grow and change. As a young man, he was up for almost anything, but Montpeirous now has learned the importance of family and fatherhood and has confronted the demons he ran from for half his life. In The Revolving Door, Montpeirous shares entertaining anecdotes about hobnobbing with celebrities as well as insightful advice on facing up to your shortcomings. You won't soon forget the tremendous highs and the terrifying lows of his life's journey.