The Wild Westside
Our day started off with us walking down Broadway heading to the west side. Broadway was very busy, people walking every where, there where vendors selling fruits and small items on the street which is closed to motor vehicles. Great Idea I think. We now entered the Famous Times Square known for the New Year's Eve Ball Drop, which was hosted by the late Dick Clark. Before 1904 Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, was dominated by horse exchanges, carriage, stables, and blacksmiths' shops (blue guide 217). In the 1970"s Times Square was known for crime, drug dealings, and prostitution. I did witness this when I first moved here my husband thought it would be fun to drive though. NO SO MUCH more scared for my life!!!!!!! In the late 1980's major companies took over and since than the area is cleaner, safer, more profitable and more visitor friendly than a decade before ( blue guide 218).There are many theaters located around Times Square at one point there where 80 theaters, today there are 39 Broadway theaters. On the day of performance you can get discounted tickets at the (Times Square Ticket Center), this center is being redesigned so the Marriott Hotel Kiosk is the place to purchase them now (blue guide 216). The GE building constructed at Rockefeller Center is still the most famous and imposing: the GE Building, originally the RCA Building. Major tenant of the building is NBC (blue book 248). The concourse has many shops and restaurants for all to enjoy. The main entrance displays a large mural by Catalan artist Jose' Maria Sert,now called American Progress replaced the famous mural by Diego Rivera Fresco, displays Abraham Lincoln, standing, represents the "Man of Action," while Ralph Waldo Emerson, seated represents the "Man of Thought (blue guide 248-249).
Next stop MoMA, this was my first time visiting so I was excited. I had art history last spring and I was able to recognize some pieces. The Museum of Modern Art is one of the city's premier cultural institutions, one of the great repositories not only of modern painting and sculpture, but also of drawings, design, photography, and film. Picassos and Matisses, the van Goghs and Ce'zannes, and splattered canvases of Jackson Pollack has made West 53rd St a destination for lovers of modern art (blue guide 260). The first piece of art I saw was the Campbell soup cans, it reminds me of a cozy night with the family when I was a child. Andy Warhol's first exhibit was in 1962, the cans were displayed together to look as if they were on a shelve, like products in a grocery store. At MoMA, they are arranged in rows that reflect chronological order in which the soup was introduced. The first soup was Tomato in 1897. umm, umm GOOD!!!! We had lunch on the professors at Yum Yum Bangkok, Thai food. I am not adventurous so I had chicken sweat and sour but it was good.
Next we traveled to 100th st East Harlem, there we meant Jim who gave us a tour and the history of the area. We stopped at a Hungarian pastry shop owned by a man names Phil. Phil gave us an angel card to hang in front of his store, and took some pictures of us doing so. As a gift for stopping by, he gave us an angel card to take with us. We continued to walk and passed St Luke's Hospital, which to my surprise, has an RN as the president of the hospital, very impressed.Columbia University was our next stop and the campus was beautiful. Columbia university, one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most respected of all North American universities. Columbia was founded as a gentleman's college to instruct youth in the learned languages and in the liberal arts and sciences.Among the early students were Alexander Hamilton in 1775, who later became the first secretary of the US Treasury, and John Jay, the first chief justice of the US Supreme Court, and our current president Obama was also a student(blue book 429). The St. Paul's church located on the campus was amazing to look at, the building is shaped like a cross with windows displaying the old testament and the new testament(blue book 429). Apollo theater is a music hall which is a noted venue for African American performers. It was the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a variety show which showcased new talent, from 1987 to 2008. It became Apollo in 1934, when it was opened to black patrons, previously it has been a whites only venue. Many careers started at the Apollo such as The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye,and Stevie Wonder to name a few. Jimi Hendrix won the 1st place prize in 1964 in a musician contest. It was great to visit and to see famous names in the gold plagues located in front of the Apollo. At the end of today's class Erin, myself and my husband went to eat at the famous Sylvia's for some soul food the chicken was pretty tasty.
Next stop MoMA, this was my first time visiting so I was excited. I had art history last spring and I was able to recognize some pieces. The Museum of Modern Art is one of the city's premier cultural institutions, one of the great repositories not only of modern painting and sculpture, but also of drawings, design, photography, and film. Picassos and Matisses, the van Goghs and Ce'zannes, and splattered canvases of Jackson Pollack has made West 53rd St a destination for lovers of modern art (blue guide 260). The first piece of art I saw was the Campbell soup cans, it reminds me of a cozy night with the family when I was a child. Andy Warhol's first exhibit was in 1962, the cans were displayed together to look as if they were on a shelve, like products in a grocery store. At MoMA, they are arranged in rows that reflect chronological order in which the soup was introduced. The first soup was Tomato in 1897. umm, umm GOOD!!!! We had lunch on the professors at Yum Yum Bangkok, Thai food. I am not adventurous so I had chicken sweat and sour but it was good.
Next we traveled to 100th st East Harlem, there we meant Jim who gave us a tour and the history of the area. We stopped at a Hungarian pastry shop owned by a man names Phil. Phil gave us an angel card to hang in front of his store, and took some pictures of us doing so. As a gift for stopping by, he gave us an angel card to take with us. We continued to walk and passed St Luke's Hospital, which to my surprise, has an RN as the president of the hospital, very impressed.Columbia University was our next stop and the campus was beautiful. Columbia university, one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most respected of all North American universities. Columbia was founded as a gentleman's college to instruct youth in the learned languages and in the liberal arts and sciences.Among the early students were Alexander Hamilton in 1775, who later became the first secretary of the US Treasury, and John Jay, the first chief justice of the US Supreme Court, and our current president Obama was also a student(blue book 429). The St. Paul's church located on the campus was amazing to look at, the building is shaped like a cross with windows displaying the old testament and the new testament(blue book 429). Apollo theater is a music hall which is a noted venue for African American performers. It was the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a variety show which showcased new talent, from 1987 to 2008. It became Apollo in 1934, when it was opened to black patrons, previously it has been a whites only venue. Many careers started at the Apollo such as The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye,and Stevie Wonder to name a few. Jimi Hendrix won the 1st place prize in 1964 in a musician contest. It was great to visit and to see famous names in the gold plagues located in front of the Apollo. At the end of today's class Erin, myself and my husband went to eat at the famous Sylvia's for some soul food the chicken was pretty tasty.
Lower Manhattan and captivating Chelsea
The Woolworth Building was the first site of the day. When completed it was the world's tallest building, until the completion of the Chrysler Building in 1930. It remains one of the city's most luxuriantly detailed skyscrapers (blue guide 79). City Hall one of New York's architectural treasures, houses a noteworthy collection of portraits of city mayors and 19th century celebrities, including 13 paintings by John Trumbell, best known for his depiction of people and scenes associated with the Revolutionary War (blue guide 83). New York's City Hall is one of the oldest continuously used city halls in the nation. As New York City's third city hall, it was built to accommodate a growing municipal government.It's design was the result of a competition held in 1802(pamphlet of city hall). Our tour guide took us around the exterior where we saw swags above the windows and was told that the design was both federal and classical. A statue of Nathan Hale was located across the way from city hall's main entrance, he was a revolutionary spy(blue guide 82). The interior was beautiful with a staircase that looked as if it was floating on air, no colums where holding it up. It was a nice visit, if it was not for this class I would have not went myself. Thank you! St. Paul's Church is the oldest public church still in continuous use. After the World Trade Center disaster, the chapel served both as a place of refuge for workers at Ground Zero and as a temporary memorial for visitors, who attached messages and memorials to the fence in front of the church (blue guide 77). The World Trade Center was a complex of seven buildings, most famous were the Twin Towers, two boxy 110 story buildings designed by Minoru Yamasaki.The Freedom Tower is currently being built, it will symbolize the date of American independence (blue guide 62). REAL New Yorker's call it Tower One!!!!!! We went to the 9/11 memorial and it had beautiful water falls with every person's name engraved on the edges that passed on that day. The park had many visitors that day, and I even got the chills just walking along.A student in our class pointed out a tree that survived after the towers collapsed and it was saved and now it's part of the memorial landscape. It was amazing it survived and great to see. I did not know the story of the tree. I felt sad walking though the memorial area for all of those lost and the fear I felt that day. I never visit the twin towers when they where there and now I feel I missed something great. I'm glad we had a chance to go to the memorial and feel the energy of "America The Free", it will never be taken and we will never forget!!!!!!! We also went to Battery Park it was once again a bright sunny day. Although services to the statue of Liberty and Ellis island were closed due to the Federal offices closing down for days, we were able to take great pictures of the Statue of Liberty. The name Battery Park recalls a row of cannons that defended the original fort and stool near the present sidewalk west of the custom House ( blue guide).http://www.thebattery.org Chelsea Market was next for lunch. The market had many places to eat, I had a slice of pizza and a red velvet cupcake.There are many stores if you wanted to shop but a little on the pricey side. Next we walked to the High Line, built in the mid- 19th century. The road ways of the city where very congested so, the high line was built to relief this. Freight trains where now able to load up at the bays and continue there way to Albany and beyond (blue guide 188). During the 1950's rail freight gave way to trucking, and the last train run was in 1980. Because no one wanted to pay demolition costs, the high line was left to rust (blue guide 188). It was a good thing it was not torn down, this 1.6 mile walk way displays gardens, flowers, and pieces of art along it's path. There are lounge chairs to sit, vendors, rest rooms, and an area with benches with a huge window over looking the streets of New York. I never heard of this high line and I plan on taking my husband there next summer and enjoy the walk with him, DATE NIGHT!!! Well we exit the high line and entered the Heart of Chelsea's art gallery. We went in and out of some galleries, but the two I enjoyed was the Hustlers, by David Zwirner. Most of the art had male prostitutes displayed. They looked so sad and lost. It reminded me of my paper on the Stonewall Riots, and how young children where tossed out by their parents and the only means of making money was to sell themselves. Next was the art work displayed outside, located at 239 10th avenue. Sheep Station, by the late Francois-Xavier Lalanne. The exhibition of the Getty Station is a public art program that is only at the site until Oct 20th, the station displays sheep grazing in the meadows it was very unique. The Getty Station will feature exhibitions for extended period of time but plans to incorporate the site into a building being developed is in the horizon. http://www.gettystation.com
Lower Eastside, Immigrant N.Y.
Our last day, first stop Essex Street Market. Built in 1940 to house pushcart peddlers whom Mayor Fiorellon La Guardia legislated off the streets, the market offers food for all tastes ( blue guide 123). Then we went to the economy candy shop where we looked around and of course purchased our favorites, my favorite is chocolate covered pretzels!!!! Jim our guide for the day took us around parts of the lower East Side. Like the rest of downtown Manhattan, the Lower East Side, long an immigrant neighborhood, is in the midst of rapid change. The luxury condo "Blue" is symbolic of what is happening to that area (blue guide).Yet the neighborhood retains something of its past such as, ethnic eateries, synagogues,and street shopping. The Tenements, built to exploit all available space and maximize the return for the landlord, were one of the horrors of immigrant life. Most of the people here were German, Irish, and Jews, between 1881-1914 60,000 immigrants have settled here, at least temporarily. The living conditions where horrible there where no garbage pick up, so garbage was all over the streets, cesspools where used instead of sewers so the smell was very bad. The buildings had no law requirements, so no fire escapes where placed on these buildings, with all these people housing here this was a huge error. The high water mark of immigration came in the early years of the 20th century, but while new arrivals were pressing at the barricades of Ellis Island, established residents were beginning to move on. They moved to Brooklyn or The Bronx. The immigration laws of 1924 stopped all new arrivals from Eastern Europe, and as the existing population drained away, the area became less crowded and also less vital(blue guide 119). We went to the Tenement Museum and received some history of the building, how a family (some very large families) lived in a very small two room apartment, and the conditions they endured. After, we went to look at one of these tenements and meant Victoria, a resident of the building. Victoria explained how she and her siblings would sleep on the floor and what little money they had. Victoria dropped out of school to help the family and started sewing, a popular job for the women at this time. Not only did Victoria's family live in these small quarters but so did some of her extended family. Victoria was very funny in the way she talked, and her sarcastic humor but not a funny way of life http://www.tenement.org We had our lunch in china town a very busy area, but the food was great and thanks again to the professors for picking up the tap, it was good!!!!!!! Little Italy located on Mulberry street was fun to walk around. There are shops all over and cafe's and restaurants everywhere. We even saw a guy try and steal a watch from a store but haha he was caught by the owner. The San Gennaro feast is held here in Sept. which attracts visitors from all over including me. Moving on, we went to Henry Street Settlement. Lillian Wald, founded the Henry Street Settlement. The Henry Street Settlement was once for the prosperous shop owners, ship's captains and others in the maritime trades (blue guide 125).Lillian Wald devoted her life to the poor, caring for the sick Lower East side residents as a visiting nurse. She coined the term "public health nurse. This was the end of our day, but some of us did go over the Williamsburg bridge which was less crowded than the Brooklyn Bridge, but no a pretty. There was graffiti sprayed all over, it was not as clean. Our finally destination was Williamsburg Brooklyn, here we had some food and drinks, walked by the new condos facing Manhattan for the last time, enjoying the night and views of the sky line of the city.
Final Impression!!!!!
This class was the best one yet, and will probably be the only one I have enjoyed. I want to thank Mike and Meritta for showing us sites that I have never seen or even heard of. The best part of the classes for me was, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, riding the Tram, The High line, and trying new foods, I would have never went myself. I am more at ease going into the city and the subway no longer scares the ----- out of me. I am not a pro on the subway system by far but at least I am familiar with the lines and now have a clue where to go. The worst thing was????? GUESS!!! CENTRAL PARK 100 MILE WALK, okay it was not 100 miles but it felt that way.The day was beautiful but my feet are still killing me haha!! If it wasn't for this class I would have never explored the night life with my husband ( he drove in the city every friday night to meet me). We enjoyed the night life sometimes too much but it was great.The best was the the village much to do there, we plan on going to a jazz club one night soon. Manhattan has many things to do and still much history to learn this class is worth all the walking involved. THANKS AGAIN