Much like the lovable Rhoda Morgenstern she portrayed on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Valerie Harper has called the Big Apple home at a few points throughout her life, studying ballet, performing in Broadway theaters and dancing onstage in iconic city venues. “Everything in New York has a wonderful story,” says the 73-year-old, four-time Emmy winner. Many of these memories are recounted in her own story, “I, Rhoda,” her new memoir out Tuesday. This is her New York.
1. Century Center for the Performing Arts, 111 E. 15th St., between Irving Place and Union Square East
“[In 1998] I was doing a play called ‘All Under Heaven’ about Pearl S. Buck, and we opened it here, off-Broadway. It was a gorgeous little theater. It was perfect for Pearl, who was writing in the ’30s, because it was an old-fashioned-looking building, and had what looked like oil lamps, but they were electric.”
2. Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Ave., at 50th Street
“In 1956, I made my debut here in the Corps de Ballet, [which] was 36 girls in tutus. Many years later, in 2010, I came back to Radio City because I was nominated for a Tony. I remember thinking, ‘I don’t think I’ll win,’ because my show [“Looped”] had closed — and Viola Davis [won]. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I remember how things were for non-white performers, and now I’m sitting here nominated, and Viola’s winning.’ I was thrilled.”
3. Carnegie Hall, 881 Seventh Ave., at 57th Street
“I started there in 1953 as a young dancer. [In 1955], there’s a picture of me doing a big leap, a grand jeté (above). I was doing that to save Carnegie Hall from being torn down. My dancing teacher’s studio was in the building. She said, ‘Would you girls go outside before your class, and just dance? We’ll do a demonstration.’ That was Carnegie Hall for me . . . I didn’t think of it as demonstrating; I thought of it as saving Carnegie Hall — it was part of my education about stepping up, doing something for your community.”
4. The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues
“[My husband] Tony and I went there on our first date, and it was so lovely and wonderful — and this was two months after he’d been my personal trainer! He had been going out with many girls — but I just thought, ‘Hmm, he’s a really cute guy; let’s see.’ We went to Greenwich Village after, where we just people-watched.”
5. Central Park, 59th Street and Central Park South
“You couldn’t go in after dark when I was a teenager. We used to go skating during the day when I studied [nearby] at Carnegie Hall. Later, I would take Cristina [my daughter] to the rink. She’s a wonderful ice skater. The reservoir was also a big part of my life, because Tony [Cacciotti, her husband] and I would go — I was a dancer [then], but he was a fabulous fitness and yoga instructor and runner. We would run the reservoir.”
6. West Side Highway running path
“During Hurricane Sandy, we were staying just one block from being evacuated. It was wild. And we’re so high, and all you see is Jersey and the river, and of course the water was coming over the edge. And just last week, the first day of the year, I went running up the West Side Highway from 42nd Street, by the Intrepid. It was really wonderful to see the docking ships, and the Circle Line, because it used to be a mess.”
7. Amarone Restaurant, 686 Ninth Ave., at 47th Street
“We’ve been going here for many years, because we just love Tony, the owner. We remember when he adopted his son, and we have an adopted daughter. The food is fine, but really we go because of Tony.”
8. St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St., near Eighth Avenue
“After Radio City, the first show I ever did was here — I was a replacement in ‘Li’l Abner’ — it was 1958, and it was there where I met one of my best girlfriends, Nicole. I have a little group from Broadway; four girls who are so tight, and she was one of them. There’s an entire ambience and a way of fun living in theater. Movies are fabulous, but there is something about the extraordinary charm and brilliance and beauty that is Broadway.”