How the head of a film center spends his Sundays
In the late 1960s, Jon Alpert conspired with his neighbor, Keiko Tsuno, to make short films about certain conditions and issues in Chinatown that they wanted to change. Making the documentaries “was like waving a magic wand,” he said. “We started winning the battles and realized the power we had.”
They also realized that they had power as a couple. Mr. Alpert and Mrs. Tsuno married in 1971 and founded the Downtown Community Television Centera community center that produces award-winning documentaries and offers screenings and classes.
More than five decades later, their organization, located in a renovated firehouse, is still thriving. Some 10,000 high school students have taken free documentary-making classes there, said Mr. Alpert, himself a renowned director and producer. “Having a camera in my hands transformed a nebbish into someone who could make New York a better place,” he said. “It’s important to us to help others do the same.”
Mr Alpert, 74, also lives at the fire station, on the western edge of Chinatown, with his dog, a Barbet named Sager. Ms. Tsuno, 78, visits them every week from her home in northern New Jersey, or sometimes they come to visit her. “She translates newscasts at 4 a.m. and sends them to Japan,” he said. “We both have odd hours.”
BORING BUT HEALTHY By 8 or 9 AM, the annoying alarm that came with my iPhone goes off. My routine changed in February as I quit alcohol, caffeine, and dairy. Normally I would have had a stiff beer before bed and an espresso in the morning. It’s now boring but healthier. I don’t think I’m indestructible anymore.
ROOF YACHT During the pandemic we got a puppy. He is a newly recognized breed called Barbet. There were 60 in the United States. I had to call Frank in France – he is the King of the Barbets. I went to pick up Sager in April 2021, when the lockdown was lifted. We go up to our roof terrace for 20 minutes, which is waterproof, and the surface works surprisingly well for using a hockey stick to throw balls so Sager can chase them.
LACE UP I am an ice rat. I like ice hockey, but I’m not that good. If I don’t play at the Staten Island skating pavilion, I’ll be in New Jersey at 9:30 am driving my white Tesla with Sager. Depending on the day, I might play up Skylands Ice World or Coventry Farms, on my friend’s farm. I am the oldest player. I can’t say I like that. I refuse to have my hip done. After we play, everyone grabs a drink. It’s a moment of friendship.
DAD JONNIE I’m in the car at 1 p.m. and usually drive to my grandchildren’s football game. My daughter, Tami, has three children, and they all play in different places at the same time. I became Papa Jonny. My father was out at six in the morning and didn’t get home from work until eleven. Occasionally he would come to one of my games. It was important to me. I like sharing this with them. I try to be fair and rotate so that everyone gets a turn. If there is time, we will all get something to eat afterwards.
‘LIKE IN OLD DAYS’ By 5 p.m., I’m meeting other Chinatown residents and a city councilman at the firehouse about how to fight the new prison the government plans to build if they close Rikers. It has been opposed by everyone in the community for four years. We’re not fighting the prison, but the 40-story monster they want to build 100 feet from the fire station. We’re making a movie about it, like we used to.
SCREENING The theater is banging with the documentary community on Sundays because we’re doing a screening at 7pm. The filmmaker could be there to talk about the movie. All nominated Academy Award documentaries played here. Last I saw “How do you measure a year?It was nominated for best short doc. I liked it a lot. The filmmaker laid his daughter on the same couch on her birthday, at the same time, for 17 years. It captured the beauty of youth and the agonies of “teenhood.” I also liked”Navalny: The man Putin couldn’t kill.” It’s about his life and the people who tried to kill him.
MORE MOVEMENT I go with Sager to the basement where there is exercise equipment that I put together. There’s a weightlifting and elliptical machine, a recumbent bike, a heavy bag, a boxing dummy and a makiwara, a boxing board that focuses your punches and turns your hands into bricks. I cycle for an hour and then use the rest of the equipment. I also throw balls for Sager to chase.
HORN I go back upstairs – or if Keiko is asleep, I go in the car – and play my trumpet. I can’t read music, but I’m not a bad improviser. I play with the best musicians in the world because it’s my iPhone playlist. They would be shocked by what I did with their music. Last night I played Delbert McClinton’s “Baby, Baby, Baby” four times in a row. I got better every time, but there are no witnesses, so it’s hard to say. I use the app sometimes Enjoy, which lets me play an artist’s arrangement while adjusting the acoustics so that I sound better than I am. I could send that to friends, and they could sing along. This became popular during the pandemic.
MIX AND MATCH At 12:30 I have something to eat. Food has become less material. I used to go to Sun Sai Gai on Canal or Di Palo’s on Grand Street. Now I just like to combine a lot of things that don’t belong together like Chinese food, spaghetti sauce and dill pickles from The Pickle Boys. They taste great together and have a variety of textures. Then I check my phone, take a shower and stretch my broken body parts.
WHITE NOISE I can’t put my constantly racing brain aside unless I’m distracted and the BBC does it. It plays on the phone next to my bed and it tells me what happened from a British perspective. It’s my white noise. I’ll be out by the third news cycle.