This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Who's That (Green) Lady?

Carroll Gardens resident Elizabeth "Sweetheart" Eaton Rosenthal goes green.

It’s not easy being green — unless you’re fine artist Elizabeth Eaton Rosenthal. Better known as “Sweetheart” or “The Green Lady” to her clients and Carroll Gardens neighbors, Rosenthal has dressed in green from head to toe for almost 15 years.

Rosenthal’s passion for green started with home-mixed green nail polish and a neon lime streak in her hair, but the green slowly spread all over. Today the petite 70-year-old dyes her hair green, paints her nails green and sports all-green garb and hand-painted green shoes.

“It’s the most positive color in the whole world,” said Rosenthal, who pairs every sentence with a giggle. “It makes me feel happy. You can wake up really miserable in the morning and then you get dressed and turn green and it’s quite wonderful.” 

Find out what's happening in Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

One of her favorite things about wearing green is the reaction she gets from people she meets on the streets. Rosenthal can often be spotted in the neighborhood walking her son’s beloved golden retriever, Dylan — on a green leash, of course.

“Everyday I meet just the most interesting people and children,” she said. “It’s just awesome. I have so much fun.”

Find out what's happening in Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Though Rosenthal’s husband, Robert, prefers to stay under the radar (“I have to be very careful not to wear green too; can you imagine the two of us?” he said), he admits it’s fun for him too.

“It’s just amazing traveling with her,” he said. “People shout from cars, children flock to her on the train and tourists take pictures of her. The most diverse people call to her from across the street, give her thumbs up, call her ‘Miss Green.’"

"Miss Green" shops at GapKids, The Children’s Place and Old Navy’s kids department for her main staple — green overalls, of which she has almost 30 pairs. If she can’t find something in green, she’ll buy it and dye it.

But Rosenthal hasn’t always been green. Born in a little coalmining town in Nova Scotia, Canada, she studied fine arts at Mount Allison University under renowned Canadian painter Alex Colville. After graduating, she searched for a job, but found the art scene in Canada lacking.

In 1964 she hitchhiked to New York City and instantly fell in love with Manhattan. Jobless, Rosenthal headed to the New York Unemployment Agency with nothing but her sketchbook and her pillow. She was sent on an interview right away and got a job working at an art department in the garment center. 

By 1987, she had her own design company, SweetPea Design Studio, which she ran for 15 years before she quit to run a small art business and focus on expanding and selling fabrics from her substantial vintage design collection.

Rosenthal has worked with many big-name manufacturers, including Michael Kors, Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein, American EagleOutfitters and Ralph Lauren. Today she works mainly with Ralph Lauren, who buys prints and commissions artwork from her for his lines.

“Ralph is about the last in the business who appreciates fine art,” she said. “I’m very lucky.”

Rosenthal, who has called Carroll Gardens home for 28 years, lives and works in a “greenstone” apartment building that she and Robert share with their son, Sam Eaton, a magician, and his wife, Mimi. Rosenthal’s whole house is green, from her front door to her backyard and everything in between — pots, pans, pens, chairs and shampoos. 

What else is green?

“Everything,” Rosenthal laughed. “I can’t even sleep unless I’m all in green." 

Her love of green is partially inspired by nature. Rosenthal’s grandparents had a log cabin on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, where she grew up painting watercolors of her lush surroundings.

But when she moved to New York City, Rosenthal missed the greenery.

“I had to make more green because there wasn’t enough,” she said. 

Now Rosenthal is surrounded by green, not just on her body, but in her large backyard, where she grows tomatoes, basil, shiso and figs. She also supports the other green movement — she has an 85-gallon compost in the yard, and earned a Green Bag Tag from CVS for using recyclable bags to shop.

Rosenthal went through many fashion phases before going green — from her years wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a beehive hairdo, to an era filled with bellbottoms, braided pigtails and Canadian Army jackets, to a decade of vintage dresses and homemade hats — but “Sweetheart” says she'll forever wear green.

“I really am addicted now,” she said with her signature giggle. “It brightens all of my days. Like today, I’m a mess, but when you’re green it doesn’t matter.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill