By Daniel Ladue • Photos by Jessica McCafferty
In the distant memories of my childhood, just before drowsiness gives way to slumber, I can hear them now, the boys and girls of summer calling through the decades. One, two, three…. nine, ten… Olly olly oxen free.
Here I come, ready or not. In my memory it is always dusk on a long summer’s night. I’m ten. It’s my turn. I’m standing up against a telephone pole, counting. The neighborhood children have scurried into their hiding places. Nikki behind the big oak tree in the northwest corner of her property.
Ted behind a neighbor’s garage. My brother in his treehouse.
Tree houses. In that distant cloud of memory, tree houses were always for boys. No girls allowed painted onto a piece of scrap wood. Do not enter. Tree houses were gender specific provinces. They were often flimsily made from leftover lumber found at home or on construction sites. They’d certainly not pass any building codes by today’s standards, but they were ours. Often constructed in a sturdy oak tree, we were masters of our own worlds as we’d look down on the dealings of adults and older siblings.
For Todd McCarthy, his treehouse-like office—a 300-400 square foot loft in the Plattsburgh branch of Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel, is his personal perch and private space. While not exactly a tree-house, it appears that way to the casual observer. Adding to the woodsy feel of the space, is the proliferation of wildlife that inhabit the walls surrounding the loft. A bear skin hangs off the railing, mounts of a coydog and a bobcat keep him company. (Elsewhere in the store is another treasure trove of taxidermy: a badger, bobcat, a deer head, a pheasant, squirrels, wolverines and a moose head and elk. Coming within the next year or so is a full-grown grizzly bear that his brother brought down recently in Alaska.)
McCarthy’s office is his personal space. In the 34 years he’s worked with his father and brother for Lenny’s, this is the first time he’s had his own office. Before, he always shared both space and desk with colleagues. When the Plattsburgh branch was in its conceptual stage, he knew he wanted his own office, and the loft just emerged as an idea that he grabbed on to.
A loft in the new store has proved to be a security boon. While it’s nice having a bird’s eye view of the floor, it’s also one of the ways to spot shoplifting which has sadly become rampant nationwide.
The office is lined in knotty pine paneling. A wooden railing encloses the open space concept. A giant teddy bear sits atop one of his filing cabinets. Six rectangular windows help illuminate the space on cloudy days.
Predominantly displaced dead center below the bear skin is a banner with the words “Life is Good.”
As one would expect from anyone’s personal space, the office is chock-a-block with photos, mementos and objects of personal importance. There’s a 3’ x 2’ Huron Ice Chest that belonged to his grandparents, an object that pre-dates larger ice-box refrigerators and dates to about 1905-1915. A more modern electric refrigerator houses his lunch, water, and…booze. “Just in case anyone wants a drink,” he chuckled.
Wall and desk space hold multiple photographs. Predominant are pictures of his parents, his two brothers, and of McCarthy and his partner, Trevor Rabideau, with their dogs. Also displayed is art work by well-known Vermont artist, Reed Prescott. Prescott is known for beautiful, bucolic oils of pastoral Vermont, Lake Champlain and Cape Cod.
A sweet drawing done by his then five-year old nephew, Sean, shows a child’s eye view of the store as a big shoe, an employee and two dogs.
McCarthy is proud of the collage his marketing manager, Amanda Cashin, gave him to commemorate Lenny’s 25th anniversary in 2015. It shows the seven branches in two states that make up the mini-chain for which the McCarthy family is rightfully proud.
A pile of promotional Lenny’s golf balls can be found in a basket near the two “comfy chairs” placed in front of his desk.
McCarthy is a self-identified “Star Wars nerd.” One photo, taken “years ago” at the Magic Kingdom, shows him and his two best friends photoshopped into a Return of the Jedi backdrop. Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker figurines sit on this desk. A wonderfully retrofitted 33 rpm record was laser printed to look like the Death Star. A great addition is the clock in the center.
Personal offices are more than just a place to work. It’s often a distinctly separate space from the rest of one’s life. It’s often a dividing line between home and work. While McCarthy’s office is an open space enclosed by a railing, an office is also a place to shut the door from the general work space, a place to “get away” to do the necessary quiet work that work often demands.
Todd McCarthy’s treehouse-ish loft in the Plattsburgh branch of his family’s business seems consistent with the internal rustic architecture of the store. The open space keeps him connected to the store’s two wings, his employees and clients.
I can see the boyish Todd now. The store is quiet. It’s the end of the day. Time to play adult hide and seek.
“One, two, three…. nine, ten…” he counts from the treehouse loft. His staff scurry behind boxes of Hoka sneakers, into cubbies lined with Khul pants and shirts, and tuck underneath counters of Oakley sunglasses. In some future game someone will surely hide behind the bigger-than-life grizzly bear.
Olly olly oxen free. Here I come, ready or not.
Let the game begin.
Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel
285 Tom Miller Road
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
518 324-7400