Patches of paradise: tiny gardens are big in Gloucester

The little summer gardens of Gloucester grow and grow. Gardener poets show us not only “who loves the flowers, but whom the flowers love,” an axiom my grandmother was fond of.

In praise of deft spade and artful tending, virtual blue ribbons for making a garden of their world and a crowd of joyous color all around us. [Centennial, Prospect, Tolman, Hovey, Rocky Neck, Bass Ave and Rockport Rd.] photos: C. Ryan August 2021

Motif Monday: Steeplechasing #GloucesterMA

When the light falls just so on St. Ann’s steeple and Our Lady of Good Voyage domes– thin glints, shimmering, or all out beacon beaming– I try to pull over.

From St. Ann’s to Our Lady even on a hazy day

Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives 2020 map #GloucesterMA 🚗☕🎄✨⛄Update 5 – Magnolia, Centennial, Maplewood, Madison Ave., Wash., and more!

Awesome – Hope & Joy house vibe is visible on descent Centennial Drive to Blvd

This is the sixth and final in a series featuring Christmas lights on 200+ decorated homes throughout neighborhoods in Gloucester Massachusetts for the 2020 season. Festive displays range from draped garland lights & wrapped trees to elaborate tableaus. Gloucester is beautiful! Streets that are covered in this post:

  • Magnolia area of Gloucester including Magnolia Ave., Hesperus Ave., Western Ave., Linden Ave., Lowe Drive
  • downtown Gloucester blocks including: Centennial Drive, Maplewood Ave., Prospect St., Riverside Ave. block, Washington St., Gloucester Avenue, Mystic Avenue, Madison Avenue (w/ Madison Sq. and Ct., and Springfield St.)
  • neighborhood additions: nearby Elizabeth Road; Abbott Road; East Gloucester- Mt. Pleasant area and East Main; and West Gloucester – Essex Ave.

MAGNOLIA AREA

Downtown

CENTENNIAL DRIVE ADDITIONS

Abbott Road | East Gloucester additions

West Gloucester additions

Follow links to see scenes from other Gloucester neighborhoods (or follow through to the end of the post and look for/select page 1,2)

Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives Gloucester Massachusetts map 2020. Photos have been added to the Google maps: tour by car or keyboard!

FAQ – how to print

The map is smart phone ready with house pictures. If you want to print the map see below: (1) navigate to the map page URL and (2) click on the three dots menu bar on the upper right. Pull down and select “print” PDF as of 12/7/2020

Updated

Sold 91+ million! Edward Hopper crushes world auction records at Christie’s American sale

The 1929 painting, Chop Suey, by Edward Hopper, sold for $91,875,000 (including auction and buyer premiums) on November 13, 2018. It was the premiere lot at Christie’s November sale of American art, and provided quite a return for the heirs dispensing the Barney A. Ebsworth marquee collection. A native of St. Louis, Ebsworth made his fortune in the travel industry (Royal Cruise Lines). He maintained ties with museums across the country because of his stellar collection. Reportedly, Ebsworth promised to gift the painting to the Seattle Art Museum about 2007 and contradicted those statements in later years. Even if it’s spelled out directly, wills and contracts can be broken.

The hammer price for Chop Suey was 85 million net which fell squarely within its presale auction estimate range of 70 million to 100 million. The buyer is unknown. There was a bidding war, and initial rumors suggest it was acquired for a public collection.

Hopper’s prices have raced since 2000. Hopper’s former record at auction was 40.5 million- also at Christie’s– for East Wind Over Weehawken, a 1934 oil painting sold  on November 26, 2013. That sale toppled Hopper’s prior record of $26.9 million (for Hotel Window).

Just ten years ago, one of Hopper’s large Gloucester houses drawings, Prospect Street Gloucester, 1928/1929, sold for 2 million from yet another Christie’s sale.  Hopper’s 1934 oil painting Sun on Prospect Street has been part of the Cincinnati Art Museum collection as a result of the Edwin and Virginia Irwin Memorial since 1959.

At 8.4 million, Cape Ann Granite was a savvy purchase from the sales last spring.

c EDWARD HOPPER _Chop Suey_32 x 38_ 1929 oc_Christies presale estimate 70 mil to 100 million

Edward Hopper_Sun on Prospect Street _Cincinnati Art Museum collection