Reflection of NYC

I said it in my first Blog, I as a New Yorker thought I really did know everything, Wow, was I wrong.  I have had such a great experience, I met really nice people from the class, Our Professors were really cool and made each adventure fun and enjoyable.  I have learned a great deal about NewYork and its Boroughs.  I can now take Family and Friend's to these great places and explain to them things that I learned from taking this class.
I will miss waking up and traveling to Penn Station to meet and start the day off.  I would not know what we would be getting into each class but I know I felt it at the end of the day, from the pain in my legs, but it was good feeling to know what I accomplished and all the great things I have seen and learned about.
One of the most memorable things that I will never forget was walking through Central Park from one end to the other, It was great how the whole class came together through our adventure in Central Park.
I want to Thank Mike and Meritta for a wonderful experience, I really enjoyed each class from beginning to end.

Lower Eastside

For our Final Class, we left Penn Station and jumped on the F Train for one quick stop.  We went to the Essex Street Market, the Market began in 1940 as part of an effort by Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia to find a new place for street merchants to do business.  I took a walk around the Market, and can tell there is a sense of pride in the employees and the role they each have in keeping the Market as successful as it has been for seventy years.  The Market has evolved by meeting the changing needs of the Lower Eastside and customers.

Then our group was split up when we arrived at the Tenement Museum.  Our guide took us to the Tenement of the Moore Family.  The Tenements are very small, we were told that some families would have up to fourteen people living in one.  Each Tenement was connected from room to room so if there was a fire all the people living there can get to the one fire escape, this meant they had to leave there apartments unlocked.  The Moore Family included Joseph and Bridget and there three young daughters.  Joseph worked long hours to support his family, leaving Bridget home to take care of there children and the home.  In was unaware back then that Germs were bad, and could harm people.  Due to this, there youngest daughter passed away, the Funeral was held in the living area of the Tenement.  A small casket with Rosary beads placed on top, chairs set up around the room, and the mirror is covered with a sheet so no one reflection is seen or they will be the next to pass.  Finally the window is open the spirit of the baby can pass.

We then went to Tom & Jerry's Bar, where I sat back and had a cold Corona.  We met Ruby McDonald who told us how Tom & Jerry's was started and how she came to work there.  Ruby explained how the bar has changed over the years and the people she interacts with on daily basis.  The Bar was decorated with great art that changes each month.  Behind the Bar there are pottery pieces that are from Tom & Jerry which is where the name of the Bar comes from.  The original name was 288 because that was the address of the Bar.  

For lunch we went to Congee Village, an excellent Chinese Restaurant with very fast service.  We reflected about the class and how future classes will benefit from taking the Course.  

After lunch, we were guided through the Lower Eastside and Chinatown.  Chinatown is expanding Eastward beyond its original boundaries into the Lower Eastside and Northward into Little Italy.  Merchandise crowds the display windows; signs in English and Chinese hang from every storefront.  Visitors come for bargains, food and knockoff designer handbags and perfume.  Sunday is the busiest day, when Chinese who have moved out to the suburbs return to the old neighborhood.                       (Blue Guide p. 107).

We finished up our last class in the Five Points section.  I have to say I learned a lot of things that I did not know existed in NewYork.  I learned a great deal of History and have many more reasons why I love and appreciate to live in the Greatest City in the World, New York.

Lower Manhattan

We headed from Penn Station to Wall Street, the financial district of New York City.  Our first stop was Trinity Church, which is one of the oldest churches in the United States.  Trinity Church received its founding charter in 1697, the charter was issued in the name of King William III in response to the Anglican colonist'a wanting to build a Church to call their own.  The original Trinity Church finished construction in 1698, but this first Church was destroyed in 1776 by a fire due to the American Revolution battle.  The second Church was built like new in 1790 but due to the winter storms, the Church's structure was torn apart.  The third and final rebuilding of the Church, which is the one we saw was completed in 1846.


The interior consists of stained glass windows which can be sen from the sides of the Church all the way to the front.  The most important stained glass window in the Church is above the altar.  The design resembles a Gothic pointed arch and shows Jesus, St. Peter, St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John, and St. Paul in an arrangement of different colors.

Outside the Church is the burial ground of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was the Continental Army officer and military aide to General George Washington during the American Revolution War, first U.S. secretary of the treasury, Federalist Papers author and founder of The Bank of New York.

After visiting Trinity Church, we walked to see the protesters occupy Wall Street.  When I walked passed them, I could see the determination in their faces.  The protesters are occupying Wall Street because they believe that the Financial System favors the rich and powerful and that the Democratic process is corrupt. I am one to be on both sides of the case, as a student going for his Business Degree, I hope when I graduate that I will have a Job, that reflects what I have worked hard for in College.



Then we walked down a few blocks and passed the New York Stock Exchange, and visited the Federal Hall National Monument, which I have passed by before but never knew what it was and what history it had.




Federal Hall was the first Capitol Building of the United States of America under the Constitution.  It is also the site of George Washington's Inauguration as the first President of the United States.  The United States Bill of Rights was introduces in the First Congress.

We then walked passed Ground Zero where we saw the construction of One World Trade Center.  We went to the World Financial Center and went to the Winter Garden Atrium.  The Atrium was damaged in the September 11, 2001 attacks.  The Winter Garden was the first major structure to be completely restored and reopened on September 17, 2002.

After stopping at the Irish Hunger Memorial and the Poet's House, we walked quite a distance to Chelsea Market, where we stopped for lunch.  I had lunch at Friedmans, I had a delicious burger with seasoned french fries.  After eating lunch we walked along the High Line, which was built on a former elevated freight railroad called the West Side Line, which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan.

For the end of our day, we went to about ten different Art Gallery's in Chelsea.  I saw many fascinating paintings, sculptures, and architectures that are very expensive, from people who are extremely talented.

In this video, which I filmed in one of the Art Gallery's, is of a huge fan that automatically is set to go on every four minutes.  It depicts a fan blowing air into a parachute causing it to blow up like it was opening in mid air.

Manhattan: East Side Part Two

   We began our day in East Harlem.  Our first stop was to the Museo Del Barrio, it is dedicated to Caribbean, Latino, and Latin American art.  El Museo is founded by artist and educator Raphael Montatanez Ortiz and a coalition of parents, educators, artists, and activists who thought that mainstream museums ignored the Latino artists.  The collection includes over sixty five hundred objects also twentieth century drawings, paintings, sculptures, traditional arts, photography and documentary films.
 
The skeleton figure in the front window of the Museo Del Barrio, is in preparation for their Day of the Dead.  This celebration honors loves ones that have passed away each year through altars prepared with special foods and flowers.  Based on the belief of the continuity of life after death, and celebrates the beginning of a new stage in life.




After the Museo Del Barrio we headed one block down the the Museum of the City of New York.  It is an art gallery and history museum founded in 1923 to present the history of New York City and its people.  The museums collections include photographs of New York City, as well as costumes, decorative objects, furniture, rare books, and manuscripts.  Also marine, military, police and fire collections.  There is a floor dedicated to the World Trade Centers, which showed them being built and photographs taken on September 11, 2001.  After walking around the museum we saw a short film on the history of New York over the decades.

We then crossed the street in to Central Park.  Central Park opened in 1857. It is a public park located in the center of Manhattan.  Central Park has been a National Historic Landmark since 1963, was designed by landscape designer and writer Frederick Law Olmstead and the English architect Calvert Vaux.  The two would also design Brooklyn's Prospect Park.  The Park is bordered on the north by West 110th Street and on the South by West 59th Street.  We walked from 105th street through the Park to Columbus Circle which is located on 59th Street.

Before arriving to Columbus Circle, we stopped at Strawberry Fields.  Strawberry fields is dedicated to the memory of the musician John Lennon.  It is named after the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever".











Across the street we stopped to see the Dakota Hotel where John Lennon lived with his wife Yoko Ono.













This entrance would be where John Lennon was shot by Mark David Chapman.

We ended our class in Columbus Circle.  

Manhattan: West Side

   Our first stop of the day was Herald Square, to get there we walked through crowds of people walking the city sidewalks and crossing the very busy streets filled with taxi drivers.  Herald Square, officially named Avenue of the Americas.  Herald Square has been operated by the 34th Street Partnership, a Business Improvement District operating over thirty one blocks in midtown Manhattan.  The 34th Street Partnership provides sanitary and security services, maintains the trees, gardens, and planters, and produces events, product launches, and photo shoots.  They are also responsible for adding movable chairs, tables, and umbrellas, to the parks.  This area is famous for its retail, the most notable is the Macy's flagship department store, the largest in the United States.

   We then headed a few blocks up to the heart of Manhattan, Times Square.  Before 1904, Times Square was known as Longacre Square.  It was dominated by house exchanges, carriage factories, stables, and black smiths'.  In 1904 the subway arrives along with the New York Times, whose Publisher persuaded the city to rename the are for his newspaper, perhaps in competition with Herald Square(Our first destination).

The Depression devastated Broadway.  Many legitimate theaters converted into Burlesque theaters on to movie houses whose offerings deteriorated from Hollywood hits, to second-run movies, to X-Rated Pornography.  The turn around began in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The state took over several historic theatre's on 42nd street and formed the New 42nd street, a non-profit organization, to oversee their redevelopment.  Today Times Square is cleaner, safer, more profitable, and much more visitor friendly( as many as 20 million tourists visit annually), than it was a decade ago.

   New Year's Eve in Times Square celebration have been a feature of city life since 1904, when Times Publisher Adolph Ochs celebrated the papers' arrival along with the New Year with annual ll day festival and a street level fireworks display.  Two years later the Police Banned the fireworks display.  Adolph responded by lowering a wooden and iron ball illuminated with one hundred twenty five watt light bulbs from the buildings flagpole.  During the 1980's the ball was converted into a Big Apple, with the addition of red light bulbs and a green stem.  The present crystal ball, built like a geodesic sphere, was inaugurated in 2000 for the coming of the new millennium.







We walked over to Rockefeller Center, a complex of commercial buildings, theatre's, plazas, underground concourses, and shops.  It is the world's largest privately-owned business and entertainment center.  Today it remains a visual icon and a major tourist attraction destination.  The first building constructed at Rockefeller Center is still its most famous, The GE Building.  Major tenants are the conglomerate General Electric and NBC, one of its divisions.







The''Cycle of Sound'', part of Lee Lawrie's famous Wisdom relief (1933), outside the entrance of the GE Building.

Also their is the Rainbow Room on the sixty fifth floor.  The nightclub opened in 1934, the first dining spot at the top of the skyscraper, and through the years celebrated for its view and handsome decor. Another landmark across the street is Radio City Music Hall was the largest theater when it opened in 1932.  It remains a masterpiece of Art Deco decoration.



The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), is one of the city's premier cultural institutions, not only of modern painting and sculpture but also drawing, design, photography, and film.  Three panels of Claude Monet's Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond stretch across one wall.  Between the earl 1890's and the end of his life in 1926, Monet was preoccupied with several series of paintings of the pond in his garden at Giverny.






The Starry Night, by Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh.  The painting depicts the view outside his sanitarium room window at night, although it was painted from memory during the day.

We then stopped for a delicious Thai food lunch at a restaurant called Yum Yum located in Hell'sKitchen.  I has the steamed dumplings which were very good, and for my meal I had the chicken fried rice that filled me right up, for our next part of the day, Harlem.

In the 1920's, great artistic activity, as writers, artists, and intellectuals made the pilgrimage to Harlem, by then the capital of black America.  The Harlem Renaissance, usually considered the brief period time from 1924 until the stock market crash of 1929, saw the flowering of black literature, art, music, and political thinking.  During the cilil rights era of the 1950's and 60's, Harlem was a focus of political and social activity.

In 1934, The Famous Apollo Theater opened to black audiences.  The same year the theater began offering its famous Amateur Nights, which launched the careers of Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, and Diana Ross.  In the 1970's the theater fell on hard times and in 1991 the state of New York bought it and the Apollo is now run as a not-for-profit foundation, drawing more than a million visitors each year.

After visiting Harlem we ran through Morningside Park.  The park occupies about thirty acres, including a rocky cliff of Manhattan Schist, which plunges down to the Harlem Plain.  After running many flights of stairs we all decide to sit at the top and take a nice breather.

Then we walked a few blocks down to see the General Grant National Memorial.  Also known as Grant's Tomb is the imposing resting place of the victorious commander of the Union forces in the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant.











Our last stop of the day was to Columbia University, where we took a nice walk around the campus.  The University was founded in 1754, it is a private Ivy League University.  It is known for its professional schools- medicine, law, business, education, journalism, and architecture.  Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States.

Manhattan: East Side

   I started my day by taking the A Train to Columbus Circle and headed down West 59th Street to Fifth Avenue. The Circle was completed in 1905.  Columbus Circle, named for Christopher Columbus, is a major landmark located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South and Central Park West.  It is the point from which all official distances from New York City are measured.  The monument of Christopher Columbus, which sits in the center of the circle, was erected in 1892 in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the great explorer's voyage to the Americas.  http://www.aviewoncities.com/nyc/columbuscircle.htm

   I walked into The Plaza Hotel, where one of my favorite chid hood movies was filmed, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.  The Plaza Hotel I have seen many times while visiting Manhattan.  Architect Henry J. Hardenbergh has long been admired for his skill in manipulating the details of its French Renaissance design.  Those details include high roofs, dormers, and rounded corner turnings to create a harmonious whole.  The Plaza is famous for its guests as for its site with views of Central Park and Fifth Avenue, and its luxury.  In the past two decades the hotel has changed ownership several times and has recently undergone a $400 million renovation and the conversion of some of its rooms to condos.
   Across the street I stopped at the Famous Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. Its the only Apple Store in the world open twenty four hour and its entrance is a distinctive glass cube.  http://www.limac.org/5th_Ave_store/site-history.html

   Next to the Apple Store is F.A.O Schwarz was founded in 1862 under the name Toy Bazaar by German immigrant Frederick August Otto Schwarz, in Baltimore, where he and his brothers retailed toys from a fancy goods store.  In 1931, the store moved from west 23rd Street to the corner of 58th Street and Fifth Avenue.  The toy store became well known for its unique plush toys and memorable environment and that the philosophy that a store should be an experience for its customers.  http://www.nyctourist.com/faoschwarz1.htm
   The Next stop was The Dakota.  The Dakota was built between the years 1880 and 1884.  The apartment complex is believed to have been given its name because the upper west side of Manhattan seemed, at the time, as remote as the Dakota Territory.  The architecture of the Dakota can best be described as North German Renaissance, the exterior has boasting high gables, balustrades, terracotta spandrels and panels.  The Dakota has also attracted the rich and famous, ever since opening in the late 19th Century.  Famous residents have included Judy Garland, Connie Chung, Leonard Bernstein and Paul Simon.  John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived here until his death in 1980, Ono still lives at the Dakota apartments.  http://www.aviewoncities.com/nyc/dakota.htm
   After The Dakota, I went to Strawberry Fields which is a 2.5 acre near Central Park.  The name is honor to John Lennon, the songwriter, singer, and member of the Beatles, who was assassinated in the courtyard of the nearby Dakota Apartments.  "Strawberry Fields Forever", one of John Lennon's most popular songs.  Strawberry fields opened in 1985, the site is now one of the most popular destinations for visitors, a shrine where fans from all over the world leave flowers and other tokens of remembrance.

   I headed up Fifth Avenue to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The Met, is the largest, most comprehensive art museum in the world.  Its collections include more than two million objects, whose range includes the whole world and the entire sweep of human civilization.  Every year more than five million people visit.














The last stop was Grand Central Station (My topic for Paper #1).  Remains one of the world's great railroad stations, and enduring symbol of the city.

Welcome to Brooklyn: How Sweet It Is!

   Once a separate city, Brooklyn today still preserves a separate identity and an almost mystical hold on the hearts and imaginations of its admirers.  Brooklyn occupies the western tip of Long Island and is bounded by the East River, the Narrows, and upper New York Bay on the west and north, by the Atlantic Ocean on the south, and the borough of Queens on the east.  For decades Brooklyn struggled with drugs, crime, the decay of the infrastructure, and other urban problems.  Recently things have changed, young professionals and families, priced out of Manhattan or seeking a less frenzied atmosphere, have moved to such neighborhoods as Park Slope and Cobble Hill, where new restaurants, shops, and other upscale businesses have followed them.

    Our first destination to visit in Brooklyn is the famous Coney Island, but to get there we took the F Train from the City which was a very long ride, which thankfully wasn't that packed and we all ended up getting a seat.  I always wanted to take the F Train to Coney Island because I've seen it in a few movies and also I don't live too far from Coney Island, just jump on the Belt Parkway and it's about a ten minute ride.  The ride on the train wasn't bad because of the view along the way.  One of the things I noticed was the Verrazano Bridge and from a distance in Downtown Brooklyn I was able to spot the office building I Interned at over the summer.  Unfortunately the rides were closed and we couldn't go on the Cyclone or the Go-Karts but that was quickly forgotten, because we walked a block up from the boardwalk and ate at the Nathan's Famous, the first Nathan's which opened in 1916.

During the 1920's and 30's huge crowds of people were on the boardwalk or laying on the sand.  But by the 1940's the crowds were thinning, thanks to the rise of automobiles, the development of air-conditioning, and the policies of parks commissioner Robert Moses, who built parks and beaches that would lure people to a more beneficial form of entertainment.
   Our second destination for the day was the Transit Museum located in Brooklyn Heights,  The Museum is built in an actual Subway, located at Court Street.  The Museum is full of historical artifacts of the New York City Subway.  The artifacts include trains from the first operating train to the present trains we ride around New York City today.  Some of the trains used back then look much nicer and are very comfortable, I was thinking they should replace the ones we have now with the older ones. Other exhibits on buses, bridges, and tunnels, but the emphasis is on the subway.

Walking through Brooklyn Heights on our way to the Brooklyn Historical Society, you can see these beautiful buildings that were constructed and built many decades ago, and to see how they are still standing and are in great shape.

   Last stop of the day which was the one thing I couldn't wait to do, walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.  The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 25, 1883, it was considered one of the world's greatest wonders.  Before the Brooklyn Bridge, anyone wishing to cross the East River had to take the Fulton Ferry.    I have driven over it several times, but I heard driving over it and walking over are two completely different experiences.  The first thing you notice is the walkway filled with people who like us were walking across to see a great view and experience something most people haven't.  The others jogging, riding bikes or just crossing over to go to Brooklyn or the direction we were heading, Manhattan.     Crossing over the Bridge I took in the great view of Downtown Manhattan and the construction underway of the One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) where the World Traders once Stood.  On the other side the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn.

While crossing over the Brooklyn Bridge I saw the actor named Noah Emmerich jogging across.  Noah has starred in many films, most recent include Super 8 and out now Warrior and also the new Zombie television show The Walking Dead. It was the first time I had ever seen an actor who wasn't working on a set and just out enjoying the day as we were.

 One hundred twenty-five years later the bridge is still an important part of the city's transportation network, carrying approximately 145,000 cars per day and numerous pedestrians.  I can now say I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge in to Manhattan.  Overall it was a great day, I went to places around Brooklyn that I have never been to and learned a lot about the 

Borough and it's History.