Pleasantville, NY

Pleasantville is a charming Village with great schools, affordable housing and a train station with art throughout. There is the downtown diner, proximity to the Saw Mill Parkway and moments to Chappaqua and Briarcliff Manor. Pleasantville is also the home to Archie, those of us who were brought up in the 1950's remember Archie (he is a comic book character).

About 8 years ago the Jacob Burns Film Center was opened. Pleasantville was the go to place for first run movies and people from all over Westchester County came to the Jacob Burns Theatre for the movies, dance and theatre you could not find elsewhere. Buyer's would buy in Pleasantville because of it's low key environement. Unlike some of its' neighbors to the south there were no downtowns with boutiques. Not like the upper East Side, but more like the Village or the upper West SIde.

Pleasantville's reputation as a cultural center was enhanced in 2001 with the opening of the nonprofit Jacob Burns Film Center in the landmark Rome Theater, a Spanish mission-style building and one of the first movie theaters in Westchester County. The Burns Center is dedicated to presenting independent, documentary, and world cinema. Guest speakers at the Burns Center have included Jerry Lewis, Woody Allen, Jonathan Demme, Robert Klein, Oliver Stone, Stephen King, and numerous other notable filmmakers and actors.

In 1948, in an unincorporated area of Pleasantville off Bear Ridge Road, acolytes of Frank Lloyd Wright began putting their lessons to work by building homes in their mentor's modernist, open-plan style. The neighborhood, called Usonia, comprises 50 houses spread among 100 acres of wooded hillside; the development includes two houses designed by Wright himself. Students of residential architecture and fans of Wright's designs will find the area of interest.

Now a Donkin Donuts is going to open across from Jacob Burns, more below.

So, Pleasantville, New York

Official Pleasantville Website

Beginning in 1998 a group of inidividuals because interested in creating a cultural arts center in Westchester County, New York and more specifically in Pleasantville. In 2000 a capital campaign was launched to the raise the funds. A local foundation, Jacob Burns Foundation, donated 1.5 million of the initial $5 million and in their honor the name was chosen.

Opening its' doors in 2001 they now show films from around the world, there are art exhibitions, book signings, live performances, interviews with filmmakers. They have developed after school enrichment programs.

To see the films that are now showing, NOW SHOWING, to see films they are showing for the whole family, FAMILY FILMS. Some of the family films are:

Mary Poppins, 1964, The Shaggy Dog, 1959 and The Muppets Take Manhattan, from 1985. All classics.

The Jacob Burns Film Center also has a You Tube channel where they show short films made by their students. Please visit at JBFC on You Tube.

Their website is at Jacob Burns Film Center.

Miriam Bernstein, CRS, ABR, GRI, e-Pro, SRES
Associate Broker, Licensed in the State of New York
RE/MAX Prime Properties, Westchester County, New York 10583
www.MiriamBernstein.com
"Content of this blog is solely my opinion"