My NYC now....

I am and still will be mesmerized by New York. But now with a greater appreciation. Before this class I would go into the city for whatever I had to do and then leave. Not realizing or taking the time to absorb what was actually present. After this class I have learned to stop and admire what is around me. This class has enhanced the love and awe I have for New York, whether it is Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Queens.... it has changed the way I look at buildings ( styles..gothic, art deco, romanesque) ... we explored places in the city that I don't think I would of ever gone to. Like Harlem (going back to try the food at The Red Rooster), Columbia University.... Even meeting different people and seeing how they live....it's incredible... I will definitely continue to explore the many secrets of the city...Thank you Gotham City for opening my eyes........

and thank you Professors Mike and Damian for being the catalysts in this experience!!!!

Lower Manhattan & Captivating Chelsea

First stop Battery Park City, the result of thoughtful urban planning, sits on 92 acres of manmade land in the Hudson River. One of the most beautiful walks in New York City (BG,p.59).


The World Trade Center was a complex of 7 buildings centered around a 5-acre plaza. Most famous for the Twin Towers, two boxy 110 story office buildings designed by Minoru Yamasaki. All 7 buildings were destroyed  on September 11, 2001 (BG,p.62)


The WTC , the site of 911 memories. As I stand there I think of the many people some I know others I just read their names and think back to the emotions of that day.  The first thing that people ask is "where were you on that day?" ....because no one will ever forget ....now rising from the ashes is the Freedom Tower www.renewnyc.com/plan_des_dev/.../freedom_tower/default.asp .


Sleek, elegant, dynamic showing to the world that we are strong and will rise again.

Irish Hunger Museum a memorial devoted as a reminder of the Irish Potato famine and migration.
At the foot of Vesey St., on a half-acre platform. The centerpiece is a ruined stone cottage donated by artist Brian Tolle's extended family. It was brought from Ireland, reconstructed stone by stone and surrounded with Irish grasses, heather, wild flowers, and stones bearing the name's of Ireland's counties (BG,p.63).


Poet's House a literary house and poet archive. The house invites the public into the living tradition of poetry.

Finally breaking for lunch at the Chelsea Market where I had delicious sushi.....gathering up enough energy we walk the High line an overpass once used for transporting meat from the Midwest into the Meatpacking district.  


The High Line, a 13-mile viaduct for freight trains, was constructed in the 1930's to solve problems of traffic. It was built over the avenue but mid block and through buildings or right between them. The last train journeyed to Gansevoort St in 1980. Because no one wanted to pay the demolition costs, the High line was left to rust.  In the late 1990's a local advocacy group defeated proposals for demolition, and as of now the park is being constructed over the 1.6 miles between West 16th & West 30 St (BG.,p 188).

Chelsea home to hundreds of art galleries ... of course we to had to participate in the stroll from gallery to gallery .....some exhibits were pornographic in nature, others completely out of control and yet some you would not even know it was present... yet it was an artist way of expressing themselves. It was actually kind of entertaining....you walked into a gallery if you were interested you stayed if not you continued on to the next. Of course allowing for time for a break at a near by cafe to refuel .....

Finally after much hype we went to see a documentary on Marina Abromovic an artist that uses her body as art and takes it to the limits.....she is most famously known fro her exhibit in MOMA called The Artist is Present .
A must go see film !

Immigrant New York

Lower Eastside, The Bowery, Little Italy & Chinatown.....


I am sad today knowing that this is our last class of the NY Experience...


Our first stop today is the historic Essex Street Market... filled with vendors selling different ethnic foods. Built in 1940 to house pushcart peddlers whom Mayor Fiorello La Guardia legislated off the streets (BG,p.123)


The Bowery was associated with loneliness, poverty and alcoholism. Originally an Indian trail the Bowery got its name from the Dutch word farm "bouwerie" when the area was farmlands. In the mid 19th century the street traversed into a residential area, factories, slaughterhouses, theaters and slums eventually encroached on either side and slowly the Bowery became a place for poverty , distilleries and cheap lodgings (BG,p.153). 

Then we walk down to the Tenement Museum. The tenements were built to exploit all available space & maximize the return for the landlord, were one of the horrors of immigrant life. It was used to preserve the heritage of the nation's immigrants and honoring the millions who lived on the Lower East Side and in other immigrant ghettos (BG,p.122).


After the museum we were treated for a nice, authentic Chinese lunch...it was just what I needed to refuel for our next tour.


 The Big Onion Tour  guide was a wealth a knowledge on immigration in New York City she is writing her Thesis on it....perfect! 


One stop that I found interesting was the Forward Building, built for the Jewish Daily Forward, the country's most influential Yiddish daily newspaper (BG,p.124).
The paper's most famous feature was the Bintel Brief " Bundle of Letters" where wives and loved ones would write letters looking for information on there husbands to make sure they were okay.








On our way to the train to make one more stop before our experience is over we walk through Little Italy. The narrow streets are filled with cafes, restaurants, bars, shopping all bustling with people .... especially on thursday because Italy had just won the soccer game to make it into the finals against Spain.  People were screaming in the streets, honking their horns, waving the italian flag...
with a quick turn on Canal street the shopping mecca for knock off bags and designer goods we make our way to our final stop as a group .....Our last journey together was Williamsburg, Brooklyn....of course I first stop was the Beacon Closet, shopping at a thrift store for anything nostalgic you are looking for. Eventually making our way down to the water where again you can find a breath taking view of the city.....

Thank Gotham City for unveiling your many treasures!!!!!

Long Island City, 5 Pointz, Gantry

After a long day of walking through Spanish Harlem and the Eastside I wanted more.......We took the 7 train to Long Island City where we went to see 5 Pointz  the world's premier "graffiti mecca".....it is an Aerosol Art Center where artist from around the globe paint colorful pieces on the wall of a 200,000 sq. ft. factory building.

Then a walk down to  Gantry Plaza State Park  a 12 acre riverside oasis that boasts spectacular views of midtown.

A view of The United Nations

Roosevelt Island

Eastside Explorations

“ El Barrio” meaning neighborhood in  Spanish Harlem…… is awesome !!!

Our first stop was El Museo del Barrio …featuring an exhibition of the Caribbean of the Worlds.  It is a museum that fosters the Spanish culture and educates the young of the neighborhood.

Originally for the Puerto Rican community and now includes all of Latin America (BG,p.376).

Started in 1969by Raphael Montiego Ortiz in one room in a public school

It is a home for artist and educators to use their art to involve the community, to do art with the community.

Public art is important in this community, for political consciousness and is displayed in the neighborhood in public spaces so as to try to keep hold of the culture.

Lucas (artist educator) our poet proudly talked and showed us about his neighborhood, it’s culture, the people, and the food.

Julia de Burrgos  a poet born in Puerto Rico, she was an advocate for Puerto Rico's independence. She collapsed on the streets of Spanish Harlem and died in the hospital. Not having any ID on her she was given a pauper's burial. Later her family and friends were able to trace her remains and claimed her. They brought her back to the Island's where she received a hero's burial.

It has to be from here,

right this instance,

my cry into the world.

My cry that is no more mine,

but hers and his forever,

the comrades of my silence,

the phantoms of my grave. 

-Julia Burrgos wrote her last poem while she was in the hospital.

James De La Vega an artist that plastered is art all over the neighborhood (Spanish Harlem). Each piece tells a story often incorporating the community to help with his work. 


For lunch we  stopped for Dominican food…. yummy.....ox tail, rice and beans, yucca and roasted chicken... I will definitely be going back there to eat.

The Museum of the City of New York a must go especially if you are a New Yorker!

The main exhibit is The Grid- a layout of Manhattan from the beginning to now. We saw a 25 minute film that gives a quick overview of the city’s growth from the Dutch Colony to its present state.

At the Museum there was also an exhibit called The Stories on the Street... it was perfect to watch and see people going about there everyday life.

Once again braving it out in 90 plus degrees we walk through Central Park and around the Resovoir to debrief about what we are experiencing and what is our impression of NY now as compared to when we first started..... ahh!!! I don't want the class to end.....

The Wild Westside

Wisdom
Lee Laurie

Wild   Westside…..

"America's Progress"
Jose Maria Sert

We started our journey for the day heading towards Rockefeller Center. An Art deco building that was once a place for travel agencies, steamships….now home to NBC studios ( B.G., p. 243).  As we walked through The GE building the walls were adorned with murals  by Jose Maria Sert. Originally the murals were painted by Diego Rivera a Mexican Socialist Artist and (husband of Frida Kahlo), titled "Man, Controller of the Universe" but it was too controversial because it included a portrait of communist leader Lenin. So Rockefeller had it destroyed and replaced it with a mural by Jose Maria Sert.

After our tour of NBC studios we went Hell’s Kitchen for a Thai lunch at Yum Yum Too. Hell’s Kitchen ( also known as Clinton) - suggests both the neighborhoods past as low-scale, blue-collar district & its gentrifying part of the far west side of Midtown (BG, p. 226). Hell's Kitchen got his name from two cops who were working down there one hot summer day and said that “ the neighborhood is hot as hell” and the other cop replied “ hell is cool”,  " this here is Hell's Kitchen" (BG, p.226).

Then we met Jim Mackin  our tour guide for Harlem……
Harlem got its name from the Dutch " Nieuw Haarlem" it attracted farmers and wealthy merchants who developed estates and built country mansions. It is known  for its the fertile soil and the strategic advantages. It is most famous center of African American life and culture (BG, p.437).

As we were walking down the streets passing brownstones that was once neglected and are now being renovated....Yes Harlem is also under going the gentrification process.... there were manholes in the sidewalks in front of houses that were used for coal to heat up the houses. Horse and buggy use to deliver the coal and they would take the leftover ashes and dump them in Flushing Meadows Park.

Hotel Theresa was Harlem's tallest building. Until 1940 blacks were excluded, but the policy changed when the hotel drew black celebrities and became known as the "Black Waldorf" ( Bg, p.440). The hotel is famous for its guests such as Castro, Jimi Hendrix, Nikita Khrushchev....they wanted to stay there because they wanted to be down with the people. 

Some other sites on our tour of Harlem:

Red Rooster Obama’s favorite restaurant...

Lenox lounge Mary J. Blige , Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Movies …architectural masterpiece is one of the few restaurants in art deco mode zebra sofas ….

Morningside park where the sun hits it on the morningside crafted by Olmstead also crafted the parkways. 

Morningside Heights was the last place to be developed. It is  30 acres, including a rocky cliff of Manhattan schist. Due to its precipitous slopes it made it unreasonable for real estate development, so they hired Frederick Olmstead and Calvert Vaux to design the park ( BG, p. 426).

Riverside Church unofficial church of Clintons. Jackie Robinson had his funeral there.

Grant’s Tomb contains the remains of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia Dent Grant. Unlike  other National Park sites, the memorial has no public restrooms. According to oral tradition, Mrs. Grant insisted that there never be a public toilet in her tomb (BG, p.435-6).

When Grant was dying of throat cancer he was trying to complete his memoirs so his wife could have enough money to live off of. 

He finished a few days before he died.

Harriet Tubman

There is a big sculpture of 
Harriet Tubman  on our way to the Park. She was the driving force of freeing millions of remaining slaves.

Union Theological Seminary known for liberal religious thought and involvement in social action.  Its library is said to be second to the Vatican. Constructed in era when American universities were copying Gothicism of Oxford and Cambridge (BB, p. 431). 

Proudly and rightfully so Prof. Hey gave us a tour of his Alma Mater Columbia University we sat on the Library steps resting after a long day of walking

Bellerophon Taming Pegasus Statue: symbolizes the control by law over the forces of disorder (BB,p.429).

Quitoxic Queens

 Queens the second populated borough next to Brooklyn, the most diverse and where130 languages are spoken (BB, p493).

The first stop is Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, once marshland, then the Corona dump, the dumping site for Brooklyn was then converted by Robert Moses from marshland to grounds for the World's Fair ( BB, p. 497). 

Now the park is home to the Queens Museum of Art, World’s Fair, the Uni-sphere, Mets Stadium (once called Shea now  known as Citifield) and the US open. 

Just a little trivia....Shea stadium was the only baseball field in the league to be named after an attorney (Unique New York, p.158).

The World’s Fair:http://www.queensmuseum.org/about/aboutbuilding-history

it's symbol was the  Unisphere it is 700,000lbs. of stainless steel, 12 stories high  & 120ft. high. Now it is a representation of the borough of Queens (BB, p.497).

“ Man’s Achievements on a Shrinking Globe

 in an Expanding Universe” (BB, p. 497).

Queens Museum of Art (QMA) has two permanent exhibitions the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Lamps and New York Panorama.

1. Neustadt was an immigrant from Austria…..he bought his first Tiffany lamp in 1935 and soon became an avid collector even purchasing 500 crates of glass when the company went bankrupt.

2. NY Panorama was is an architectural model of New York Comminsioned by Robert Moses for the 1964 World’s Fair ad updates

in 1992.

( BB, p.497)

The main exhibit was the Caribbean Crossroads of the World. The artists expressed the diversity, complexity of Caribbean life. Reflecting on the human condition and economic developments.

  

On my way to Astoria I passed LaGuardia Airport, named after the Mayor of New York. He was traveling back to New York when he landed in Newark. He refused to get off the plane and demanded to be flown to NY because that is what his ticket said. They flew him to a field in Brooklyn where he held a press conference stating that New Yorkers should have access to airports (Unique New York).

Astoria is a section in Queens that is home to the largest community of Greek people of Greek Heritage outside of Greece (BB, p. 499).

It has restored its film industry making it the most successful filmmaking property on the East Coast (BB, p.499).

Museum of the Moving Image its main exhibit is “Behind the Screen” which gives the viewer an inside look at the technical aspects of producing movies and TV.

The Enchanting East Side

  Our first stop today was The New York Public Library    it is known as the Humanities and Social Sciences Library  of NYPL, it is one of four major research facilities, and world famous for its collections and admired for the architecture of its building (BB,p 207). Once inside it is floor to ceiling white marble and as you walk up to the third floor your eyes can't help but to be drawn to the murals in the Rotunda created by Edward Laning depicting the story of the recorded word (BB, p. 208). Then heading into the Main reading room to absorb the ambience and try to jot down my first Haiku.


 Okay! So here it goes.....

      Shh! - whispering words through pages

Impressing on me knowledge, wisdom and light

          A sacred place always, indeed.

Main Reading Room

Prometheus brings to mankind fire and knowledge stolen from the gods.

Making our way down 5th Avenue to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is the largest Catholic cathedral in the U.S. and the 11th largest in the world. First intended to be a burial plot but the ground was to rocky. So in 1850 Archbishop Hughes announced he was to build a new cathedral on the site (BB, p.254). 

As we continue down 5th avenue in the rain we stop into FAO Schwartz to refuel on sweets and bring out the kid in us before our journey to Central Park. 

Splish splashing
in the rain
as we are 

walking through Central Park or at least part of it (South Central Park). A park that looks like it was saved from concrete and skyscrapers was actually man made, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead & Cavert Vaux (BB, p.279).  It is 843 acres. So getting lost is pretty easy. But come to find out that on the lamp posts are metal plates that tell the cross street. It's just a matter of decoding the numbers. 


So let's see how this works: first  2 number is the cross street- 97th street. The final digits if they are even ones you are the east side and if they are odd numbers you are on the west side.
so 30 is even so it's 97th street on the east side? Pretty good because where I took that picture was walking towards the Guggenheim from El Museo de Barrio.


 After a quick lunch break we head back through Central Park to make our way to The MET. This time passing through  an area of the park dedicated to John Lennon.....

 ......called Strawberry Fields (a name from an Orphanage in Liverpool) 
"Imagine " is inscribed in the center of black and white mosaic a reproduction of mosaic from Pompeii and a gift from Naples, Italy. ( BB, p292) that is usually decorated with flowers and candles.

Joan of Arc
Jules Bastien-Lepage

The Met is the largest  museum in then world. It occupies 1.5 million square feet (31 times a size of a football field). Its collections include more than 2 million objects that includes the whole world & entire sweep of human civilization (BB,p. 326).

Joan Miro
The Hunter 

We went to the second floor to see Modern Art. Looking at abstract art from artists such as Pollock, Warhol, Kooning. Prof. Hey said"when you look at abstract it is your relationship to the painting. How does it make you feel? "  


It took me awhile to learn how to appreciate art. I found that art is a process or should I say science, you really need to take the time to look at art and enjoy it, savor it for awhile.
 OH! right!  maybe that is why there are benches in front of some pieces.... Give it a chance. Then get to know the history or life of the artist and piece, for me it brings it all together.

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints
Raphael

The beauty about art whether it is a building, park, in a museum is that it has a story to tell. Whether it is the piece to you or you to the piece. 

Denial of St. Peter
Carravagio

Some of my favorites are the European paintings. 

Head of an old Woman
Orazio Borgianni

Hello Brooklyn

I was pretty excited finally getting to know Brooklyn.  We started off in the tacky but gotta love it Coney Island. Trekked for about 45 minutes on the Q-train amidst grey and bleak areas then out of no where a burst of primary colors…. It is something out of the ordinary and very humorous. You kind of feel like you are going to the circus. Freak shows, rides: the famous CYCLONE rollercoaster, aquarium and of course Nathan’s Famous hotdogs all along the boardwalk.  FYI...supposedly, the hotdog was invented by Charles Feltman, he wanted to avoid providing silverware for his customers so he put the frankfurter in a bun (Blue Guide, p.492)

Heading back on the train we made our way to Brooklyn Heights with a detour to the Transit Museum.  It is perfectly located in a subway station. Taking you down memory lane of the progression of the subway system.

Brooklyn Heights a quaint, historic area over looking downtown Manhattan . Historically, it was the site where Washington evacuated 9,500 men after American troops were slaughtered and surrounded by the British in the Battle of Brooklyn. Fishermen rowed back and forth from the Heights to Fulton St. under the disguise of the fog to evacuate all the troops (B.G.,p.467).

And finally what I have been waiting for the Brooklyn Bridge…aaahhhh!  I can see the fascination with this landmark.  Once a world’s greatest wonder and the largest suspension bridge in existence.  Is a symbol of love, determination and perseverance.  


There was resistance toward building the bridge from the Ferry companies.  They feared that they would lose money. SO they bribed the city officials. Until one day when Mother Nature stepped in and the river froze over.  The ferries were stuck in their slips  and the Brooklynites could not get to work. There was an uproar and they demanded that Roehling build the bridge
(Unique New York, Malachy,p. 128).


 Roehling who was in the midst of construction of the bridge passed away, so then his son took over .  He too became sick with Cassions’s disease (the Bends). He watched over the building of the bridge from his Brooklyn Heights home through binoculars and had his wife run over and give the men instruction on building the bridge. Dying before the bridge was completed Mrs. Roehling was the first to cross the bridge.

While strolling along the bridge you see the Statue of Liberty on one side, The Manhattan Bridge on the other, as you are walking you feel the trembling of the cars passing underneath you. People are commuting in either direction on bike or foot, Lovers had  attached pad locks along the bridge scripted with their names. 
Finally making our way to the end of the day at The South Street Sea Port .

My NYC.....

New York is this magical place for me. Even though I lived here most of my life, I still feel like a tourist. I find going in to the city an exciting, unexpected adventure, especially since I still don’t know my way around without a map. I am always mesmerized and awed by the massiveness of the buildings, like it was the first time I’ve seen them.  I look forward to the variety of smells and soothed by the noises of the city: the rumbling of the subway, honking from the traffic, and the yelling in the streets. I enjoy the many tourists trying to find their way around, like myself, and find myself stopping to see what they to are gazing at….