Life On The Ledge

Ivor Hanson, 48, of Scarsdale, author of 'Life on the Edge,' spent a decade washing windows in Manhattan. Click to enlarge.

Scarsdale window washer pens memoir: Scarsdale man spent a decade on ledges in NYC -  Ivor Hanson’s windows are dirty. This wouldn’t be a big deal for anyone else, but it’s surprising for Hanson, an expert on cleaning windows after a decade perched on ledges all over Manhattan and writing a memoir about the experience. Those days are over, as is clear from the not-so-clear panes in his Scarsdale apartment. “I’ve never paid anyone to clean my own windows. Even though it means we are living with our dirty windows,” he said. “The windows are not as bad as in Manhattan. Scarsdale’s Garth Road doesn’t get as dirty as 14th Street.”

Hanson — who now splits his time as a freelance writer, college student and clerk at Trader Joe’s — will discuss his window-washing past at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Eastchester Public Library. “Life on the Ledge: Reflections of a New York City Window Cleaner” is Hanson’s love letter to his days with a squeegee in hand and nights drumming with a rock band. He takes his readers into the life of a window washer, complete with views of landmarks like the Chrysler Building, amorous advances by lonely clients and precarious moments on ledges less than a foot wide. “I really felt like I was doing something really special. Window cleaners have a long history in New York City,” he said. His work took him from Soho to Central Park West, giving him entry into apartments most people can only fantasize about from the street. “You’d say, ‘There’s the Picasso. There’s the de Kooning.’ You got used to being around incredible art or incredible views,” he said. “I still miss it.” 

Hanson explains the esoteric ins and outs, from the tedium of scrubbing modern “tilt-out” windows to the thrills of clasping his window washing belt to the hooks on the outdoor frames of pre-War buildings. Though he daily imagined the splotch he’d make on the sidewalk if he fell, just once did he come close. It was while he was crossing from one window to another, getting ready to fasten his belt to a new hook. “I tested the window hook by pulling back on it, because that’s what you do, and it came out. I was attached to the other window, so it wasn’t free fall, but I was dangling seven stories up,” Hanson recalled. “There were probably a couple of seconds before I pulled myself up when I was like, ‘I’m going to die.’”

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Then there was the time Hanson came within seconds of crushing someone below when an air conditioner he had assumed was soundly affixed fell to the sidewalk. “That incident will always be with me,” Hanson said. “I literally came so close to killing somebody all because I wasn’t thinking about it. I should have checked that window.” Then there was the client who received a fatal cancer diagnosis on the phone. “This woman just learned the ultimate one can learn about oneself, and I’m there,” Hanson said. “What can one say? I hung around. I sort of tried to be there for her.“ Hanson, with an English degree from Vassar, took copious notes along the way. “I had all of these great stories, and I liked telling them, so I said, ‘OK, I’m going to write them down,’ ” he said. 

The book recounts a decade of experiences through the prism of the year before Hanson enrolled in graduate school for journalism at Columbia University. “It’s realizing I’m not going to be a rock star after all,” he said. “It’s in that year that I’m figuring out what’s next that the book takes place.” After the birth of Hanson’s daughter, Annika, 7, he became a stay-at-home dad while his wife, Christina Carlson, continued her career at the United Nations. Hanson, at age 48, is in the midst of another life shift. His son Soren, 2, has started day care while Hanson studies teaching at Lehman College. He hopes to teach abroad if his wife is assigned overseas. A book about his teaching experiences is a possibility. “If something big and important happens, I feel the need to get it into words,” Hanson said. As for his windows: He’s made his peace with the grime. Plus, he doubts they could sparkle since they were neglected so long by past tenants. “If you ever see a window that has a gray feeling to it, it’s permanent,” Hanson said. “That’s why it’s a good idea to clean your windows a couple of times a year.”