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Apr 24, 2007 5:51 am US/Eastern
19th Century NYC Horse Stable To Close
Claremont Riding Academy In Central Park Ends 115 Year Run
NEW YORK (CBS/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.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
