Caroline Seebohm

Addison Mizner's Mediterranean-style mansions are much-admired Florida icons, where even today you can find many homes modeled with stucco walls and tiled roofs. In the paperback release of Boca Rococo, Caroline Seebohm's successful biography on the flamboyant architect is more accessible now than ever as it reaches more readers interested in the man himself. Mizner had global experience from San Francisco to China during his early days, before landing in New York and eventually, South Florida. He had no formal training but did possess natural talent, establishing him as architect of the rich and famous. His designs made the city of Palm Beach one of America's most elegant resort spots--and fed his dream of developing a "Venice-on-the-Ocean" in nearby Boca Raton. Mizner's plans ended with the collapse of Florida's real estate boom. He died in 1933, broken and bankrupt. With inspiration from and inclusion of never-before-seen material like floor plans and autobiographical works, and a new foreword written by the author, Seebohm gives readers a complete view of Mizner as one of the greatest architects and more flamboyant Americans. The

“Through her prodigious research and evocative prose, Caroline Seebohm recreates an era of New York life seen through the history and dazzling beauty of the restored Untermyer Gardens.” —Paula Deitz, author, Of Gardens On a single day in 1939, more than 30,000 people visited the Untermyer Garden—at the time, one of the world’s grandest landscapes. Thirty years later, most of the site had been sold or abandoned. Who was the eccentric visionary behind the estate’s original glory? What triggered the garden’s decline and sparked its restoration? In Paradise on the Hudson, Caroline Seebohm brings to light the remarkable story of a larger-than-life figure lost mostly to history, and the impact of his horticultural obsession. It is a fascinating tale about of the role of passion in both creating and rescuing one of America’s greatest gardening achievements.

In 1929, the Museum of Modern Art opened its doors, showing the astonishing paintings of Picasso, Matisse, and other avant garde artists. Young Ameri¬can artists quickly responded by experimenting with impressionism, cubism, and abstraction. In Monumental Dreams, author Caroline Seebohm tells the riveting story of how Ann Norton (1905–1982) a child of the South who had eschewed her Alabama roots to become a sculptor in New York City joined this new guard. She studied with John Hovannes and Jose de Creeft and was studio assistant to Alexander Archipenko. Her work was well received, and by age 35, she had already participated in group shows at MOMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Despite her burgeoning career, Norton found New York a difficult place to live. In search of paying work, she moved to Florida, where she became a teacher at the Norton Gallery and School of Art, founded by retired Acme Steel president Ralph Hubbard Norton. The two built a relationship based on love as well as common aesthetic values, and after his death, she built her finest and lasting work. Today, her monolithic sculptures in the spirit of Stonehenge, Henry Moore, and Buddhist temple art can be admired in the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in West Palm Beach, FL.

Born into a poor family in Ecuador, Pancho Segura was an undersized and undernourished kid working as a ball boy at an exclusive tennis club when he first picked up a racket. Little Pancho is the story of how this improbable athlete, with his bandy legs, infectious smile, and unorthodox two-handed style of play, became one of the greatest and most beloved tennis players of all time. During his twenty years in pro tennis, general audiences appreciated his spirit as a master entertainer, while tennis fans adored him. Drawing on interviews with many in the game who knew or admired Pancho, Caroline Seebohm provides a close-up picture of the unlikely pro as his career first emerged in Ecuador and then developed further in the United States during the 1940s, where he broke down social and political prejudices with his charm, naturalness, and brilliance on the court. Little Pancho follows Segura from the University of Miami, where he won three consecutive NCAA championships (still a record), to his time on the U. S. professional tennis tour. On the pro tour of that time, Segura and his fellow players struggled to earn a living and find acceptance in the traditional, sometimes elitist tennis world, which scorned "professionals" as outcasts. Little Pancho shows us Segura when he quit the professional tour to become a coach at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, working with movie stars such as Charlton Heston, Barbra Streisand, and Lauren Bacall. And finally, we hear for the first time from some of the later champions Segura coached, including Jimmy Connors. This history of tennis in the midcentury also is the inspiring story of how one poor Latino kid, through sheer grit, grace, and talent, changed the face of the sport forever.

The Jersey Shore is many things to many people. It is 127 miles of sand and surf, a sanctuary of untamed marshlands and endless dunes, a home to kitschy boardwalks, quirky shops, pulsing casinos, and countless examples of offbeat culture. But, above all, it is a powerful repository of nostalgia. The local historical societies are filled with photographs and memoirs describing what has been lost, landmarks razed, houses demolished, and beaches terminally eroded. Sometimes it seems that the inexorable drive of development is well on its way to eradicating all traces of the fabulous, frivolous, and magical summer places that were once linked like jewels in a necklace from Sandy Hook to Cape May. In this delightful collection of personal accounts, historical anecdotes, and gorgeous photographs, Caroline Seebohm and Peter C. Cook cast a fresh eye on the dazzling array of quaint cottages, quirky bungalows, and splendid mansions that generation after generation have chosen as their summer homes. They explore the grand nineteenth-century palaces of Spring Lake and Bay Head, the private mansions of Deal and Allenhurst, and the charming surprises of Cape May Point. Through the cooperation of local residents, they also provide a rare look into some of the most secret and elusive private homes. From wrap-around porches, to elaborate gables, to wooden turrets that offer stunning views, this book showcases all the fascinating and eclectic architecture that makes the Jersey Shore the beautiful, classy, tough, and diverse place that it is. It is an exquisite reminder that, for many, this storied coastline has been and continues to be, above all, the backdrop of their most blissful memories of summer.