High above Saks Fifth Avenue, an intimate service takes place in a very special garden every April. Designated as a place to remember the dead of two world wars, the Anzac Memorial Garden stemmed from the drive of New Zealand-born Hollywood movie star Nola Luxford and the generosity of Manhattan's Rockefeller family.
Born in the small Rangitikei town of Hunterville in 1895, Luxford became an actress in silent movies and talkies after moving to Los Angeles in 1919. In the 1930s, she became a radio announcer in New York.
When World War II broke out, Luxford threw herself into war relief and fundraising, hosting gatherings for many of the hundreds of young Australians and New Zealanders who flocked to New York on their final leave after pilot and navigator training in Canada.
Luxford initially used her apartment for the parties but as numbers grew she organised the free lease of a room and gathered a group of volunteer helpers. This was the start of the Anzac Club. By the end of the war, some 35,000 men had enjoyed its hospitality and Luxford had been dubbed the "Angel of the Anzacs" by New York's media.
In 1940, she asked the public relations manager of the newly opened Rockefeller Centre if it would be possible to site an Anzac memorial garden on top of one of its buildings. Dominant on the midtown skyline, the original 14 art deco buildings were constructed by businessman and philanthropist John D Rockefeller and designed by leading architects including Raymond Hood, an early proponent of a "city of towers".
Luxford's preference for the garden was atop the British Empire Building, which overlooks Saks Fifth Avenue and St Patrick's Cathedral on one side and the Rockefeller Centre's ice-skating rink on the other. The Rockefeller family agreed.
This story is from the April 27-May 3, 2024 edition of New Zealand Listener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 27-May 3, 2024 edition of New Zealand Listener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A big noise
Scott Kara pays tribute to alternative rock figurehead Steve Albini.
Fiddling on the roof
After the doco recut by Peter Jackson, the original Let It Be returns as odd as ever.
Get with the pilgrim
Australian film-maker Bill Bennett thought turning his Camino de Santiago experience into a movie would be a good walk ruined. But he did it anyway.
The real queen of Bridgerton
Regency women would have a ball if they were transported from 'the Ton' to the present day, author Julia Quinn says.
Setting boundaries
A giant in the philosophy of gender seems unwilling to engage with alternative points of view or the reality of biological sex.
Affair of the heart
Miranda July's second novel, a wild ride through an unconventional relationship, is not for the faint-hearted.
A continent of no laws
A Kiwi investigative journalist has spent 21 years trying to get to the bottom of what many believe is the suspicious death of an Australian scientist in Antarctica.
I'm Jo Peck again
Four weeks after her 60th birthday, Jo Peck's husband of 25 years told her he was seeing someone else. In a new book, she details how shock and disbelief made way for happiness and contentment.
A mayor for everyone
The Far North's first Māori mayor is one of an emerging political generation bringing equity to the forefront. But a government reversal on Māori wards looms as a stumbling block.
We need to talk about dying
Whether by choice or weight of numbers, more of us will die at home in future. And with pressure to ease assisted dying restrictions, the gaps in community-based care need fixing - before time runs out.
