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).