Claremont Closing
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
NEW YORK (AP) – A stable where horses have lived among Manhattanites for more than a century will close this weekend, the owner said.
A living memento of 19th-century New York, the Claremont Riding Academy will close down at 5 p.m. Sunday, said owner Paul Novograd.
Claremont offers riding lessons and hires out horses for riding on Central Park’s six miles of bridle paths. So many pedestrians now use the paths that riding has become difficult, Novograd said.
Claremont opened as a livery stable in 1892 and became a riding academy in the 1920s, he said.
Its West 89th Street building features a riding ring, with stalls on floors above and below. Horses make their way up and down on ramps.
Over the years, United Nations ambassadors, fashion models, actors, tourists and many others have ridden at Claremont. A chase scene in the 1981 movie “Eyewitness,” which starred William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver, was shot in the stable. Some of the horses have appeared in soap operas and posed for magazine ads.
Claremont will find new homes for the roughly 45 horses living there now, Novograd said.
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On the Net:
Claremont Riding Academy: http://www.potomachorse.com/clarmont.htm
