aimeecrocker

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“And I'd Do It Again” and “Moon Madness” made me want more. So I read "Aimee Crocker's Refined Vaudeville" by Kevin Taylor, I got closer to the Princess of Pearls, my research journey began. 1000s of articles, hours of reading, trips across continents, all for a glimpse across the ages, a peek into Amy's bohemian life! I've found an amazing friend in Kev, and I got to contribute to the book Charlie Crocker called a magnum opus. "Aimee Crocker: Queen of Bohemia" KM Taylor with research by Courtney McKillop.

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Artwork Aimée Crocker would certainly be honored to include amongst her treasures. From posh Parisian pop-art to exotic cookbooks to wildflowers, the wanderlust bursts off the wall. Smitten!

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Aimée Crocker’s dead trees are more festive than your dead trees! Save an evergreen this holiday. Books are full of lives, this act of artistic reincarnation gives my books yet another life. More beauty. More fantasy. More Aimée Crocker!

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Ahhhh, those days when I use my teacher skills to decipher brilliance from scrawls…sometimes research looks like this.

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Hamlet, 1903, New York. Edmund Russell opposite Miss Jane Schenck as Ophelia. Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it. Strike a Delsartean pose, there’s nothing to it. Vogue.

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Aimée Crocker’s “And I’d Do It Again” 1936 hardbound 1st edition & 2010 paperback reprint. Take your pick, both paths lead to Bohemian delights. 

Painting by Hector Toro. Purchased July 2012, Montparnasse, Paris.

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"Living is the Highest Form of Art" New blog about the tattooed princess & our shared journeys. Tons of pics, rambling, gushing + love. OpalescentWhimsy.blogspot.com 

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The Pond. Then + Now.

Some travelers carry books. Some readers travel via books. And I'd Do It Again + I take journeys together around the world. Some are vicarious adventures from 100 years ago, some adventures are in the present, and all of them embrace the spirit of living without regrets.

These photos show Aimée Crocker’s final residence, the Savoy-Plaza Hotel. It overlooked Central Park at 5th Avenue & 59th Street, New York. Aimée dreamt her final dream there in 1941, the building was demolished in 1965, but her spirit continues to intrigue + inspire. 

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Literati Location: Manhattan, New York Guide Book: "And I’d Do It Again" 1936 Aimée Crocker Gouraud (Princess Galitzine) Soundtrack: Come Walk With Me, MIA Sunday, November 10, 2013

A century ago, my favorite tattooed Victorian yogi, Aimée Crocker, called Manhattan’s upper east side her home. 100 years ago newspapers named her “The Queen of Bohemia.” Aimée mostly wrote about exotic world travels in her memoir, but toward the end she recalled New York (for further illumination, read “Aimée Crocker’s Refined Vaudeville, Taylor, 2009).

I vicariously live through through Aimée and enjoy tangling our paths, walking in her footsteps around the world.

I took a serene Sunday stroll from West 56th Street, delighting in Central Park’s fall colors. “Caclop caclop caclop caclop,” clanked the hooves of the carriage horses. I left the park, passed bodies snaked around 5th Avenue and 70th Street blocks, waiting to get into The Frick (Sunday is “pay what you wish” day), and turned onto Madison Avenue. I picked up some exquisite gingerbread macarons from Ladurée…if Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory is heaven, Ladurée supplies the clouds. While walking through Aimée’s former neighborhoods and chasing her dazzling shadow, this literati lady’s eye was snagged by the Hermès windows. You had me at Hermès … but I swoon over such book porn library love. Aimée always leads me to delightful things. And people. And places. <3

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Sunday stroll around Aimée Crocker’s old hood, munching on macarons from Ladurée, swooning over the literati art in the Hermès shop window. 

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46 West 56th Street was once the home of bohemian mystic Aimée Crocker. Dec 10, 1911 was her legendary “Dance of All Nations” party. If the salon has ghosts, they’re likely the echoes of enchanting partiers of the past, and their presence will make you all the more hauntingly beautiful. Book: Aimée Crocker’s Refined Vaudeville, Kevin Taylor & Aimée Crocker. 

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"Dance of All Nations" party at Aimée Crocker’s mansion. 49 West 56th Street, NY. Dec. 10, 1911. New York’s Bohemia. From Aimée Crocker's Refined Vaudeville, Kevin Taylor, 2009.

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Aimée Crocker Gouraud, a queen of New York’s turn-of-the-century Bohemia, threw legendary parties in SF & Paris, but nothing compares to the parties she threw in her home, 46 West Fifty-Sixth Street (now the site of a sandwich shop, how things have changed!). Her electrifying bashes were described as exotic, intoxicating & spiritual. I’m setting my time machine to Dec. 10, 1911 so I can watch Nance Gwyn perform the Dance of the 7 Veils! Others performed the Vienne, Wiggle Dance, Hawaiian Kui dance, but what I’m most looking forward to is Aimée’s famed cobra dance! (at Potbelly Sandwich Shop)

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Mad tea party with my favorite heiress today! Aimée Crocker lived + partied in New York off and on throughout the early 1900s. Her sparkle has welcomed + dazzled me on the rainy autumn day. (at Alice’s Teacup Chapter II)

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"Living is the Highest Form of Art" A girl's story about inspiration, travel & love.

Aimee Crocker. Wanderlust. Soul.

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Checking out Blue Boy’s ghost dog! Huntington Library

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They were out of Sexy Gym Sock when I went to the costume shop, but I think I can piece together Sexy First Edition Moon Madness by Aimee Crocker. Have a ridiculous + sexy Halloween!