Small Blog World

I beg everybody’s pardon for this brief exercise in self-indulgence.

Today Lileks mentions a book he’s just finished on the building of Rockefeller Center in New York. Along the way, he notes that

the guy who did the interiors for Radio City Music Hall is dead, very dead

… and no doubt that’s correct. However, the guy who did all the original lighting for Radio City is not only very much alive (at age 97), he’s also my wife’s grandfather. Dudley Chambers designed and oversaw the installation of what was then the most advanced indoor lighting system in the world when Radio City was built in the early 1930’s. His system stayed in constant use for 67 years, until 1999, when it was overhauled and updated. The Radio City powers-that-be invited Dudley in for the grand re-opening, in recognition of his original work.