Frustrated by long lines waiting to get in, I was thrilled at getting this photo of Alice Neal’s Alice Childress portrait. Neal’s show is a blockbuster at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Note: Photo of Alice Childress painting courtesy of a friend who prefers to remain anonymous.

Childress was more than a literary giant at mid-century. Locally, from her apartment in a spanking new Wesview, among other things, Childress helped start the first Roosevelt Island Public Library.

And the circle goes around…

Alice Childress mentored actor Michael Rogers from Westview, and he settled here.

A few years back, I helped RiOC community relations director Erica Spencer-EL rescue a commemorative plaque abused by PS/IS 217. With a big assist from then president/CEO Susan Rosenthal, the plaque found a new home near the Meditation Steps.

When it was unveiled, Rogers shared stories of his friendship with Childress with the audience.

And a few months later, RIOC staged a Childress play in the Nancy and Worth Howe Theatre. Rogers directed.

I don’t know when or where Neal made this painting, but I prefer thinking of her gazing across the East River from her apartment in Westview.

More from the Roosevelt Island Daily

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  J and M Train Weekend Service Changes: What Riders Need to Know
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  Nor’easter Brings Slow Streets and Transit Delays Across Queens and NYC
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Introduce Yourself Again

Felina, the failing Westside Pier and the public space nobody could quite define

Eleanor Rivers Jul 31, 2026

On June 18, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s Real Estate Development Advisory Committee gathered to discuss ground leases, retail agreements and pieces of the west-side waterfront that had been waiting patiently for the government to remember them.

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