Journal 2
The Wild Westside:
Today is Friday, October 4, 2013, It is an unseasonably hot day. But as long as it is not raining I'm happy. As usual I met up with my class in Penn station at 11:00. However, instead of taking the subway to our first destination, we took a short walk over to Broadway, Times Square. Formerly Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in April 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the newly erected Times Building – now called One Times Square the site of the annual ball drop on New Year's Eve. Times Square began attracting agents, producers, theatrical publications, restaurants, hotels, and theatrical clubs. New York's best season came in 1927-1928, when 80 theaters were in operation(Blue Guide pg 217). The general atmosphere changed with the onset of the Depression in the 1930s. Times Square acquired a reputation as a dangerous area in the following decades. From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the seediness of the area, especially due its sex shops, and adult theaters, became an infamous symbol of the city's decline. In the mid-1990s, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani led an effort to clean up the area, increasing security, closing pornographic theaters, pressuring undesireables to relocate, and opening more tourist-friendly attractions and upscale establishments. Advocates of the remodeling claim that the neighborhood is safer and cleaner. Detractors have countered that the changes have homogenized or "Disneyfied" the character of Times Square. In 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that traffic lanes along Broadway from 42nd Street to 47th Street would be transformed into pedestrian plazas until at least the end of the year as a trial. The same was done from 33rd to 35th Street. The goal was to ease traffic congestion throughout the Midtown grid. Bloomberg felt the street shutdown would make New York more livable by reducing pollution, cutting down on pedestrian accidents and helping traffic flow more smoothly. The project was originally opposed by local businesses, who thought that closing the street to cars would hurt business, but as Mike and Meritta pointed out, the opposite has happened and businesses are doing well.
We walked along 6th Ave. and entered the GE Building popularly known as "30 Rock". Home to NBC Studios. The lobby's original mural, designed and painted by Diego Rivera, who was a hardcore Marxist, was removed and replaced by a painting depicting Abe Lincoln, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other less controversial figures. Rockefeller Center is a complex of commercial buildings, theaters, plazas, underground concourses, and shops developed principally during the Great Depression. It is the world's largest privately owned business and entertainment center. The first architecturally coordinated development in New York City, and and a milestone in urban planning. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1987(Blue Guide pg. 243). We existed the building in the Plaza. At this point Mike went to MoMA to purchase our tickets. Which gave us time to walk around the Plaza for a little while and have a chat with Meritta about our papers. As I walked around on this extremely hot day.. it is in fact October and workers were in the mist of transforming the outside cafe back into the ice skating rink. We walked over to 53rd St. to meet Mike at the Museum Of Modern Art.
After we met in the lobby, Mike spent some time discussing the history of The Museum of Modern Art, MoMa. In 1929, when modern art was not considered art at all in many quarters, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Lillie Bliss, and Mary Quinn Sullivan founded a small museum in a rented space. Their first exhibit was Cezannae, Gauguin, Seurat, and Van Gogh. In 1932 MoMA moved to its current location(Blue Guide pg.260). Then off we went to discover all that the Museum had to offer. I was amazed at how crowded the museum was for a weekday. We first stopped in front Of Andy Warhol's painting of Campbell soup cans. Mike explained that Georges Seurat was an impressionist, and how the Paris art world would have thought Seurat a degenerate. As we walked by Vincent Van Gough's The Starry Night their were so many people in front of it I wasn't able to get full view of it. We saw Monet's waterlilies which is abstract. Then it was on to Piet Mandrian, Mike stated that Mandrian is one of his favorite artist. We saw Pollock's work he was a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was well known for his unique style of drip painting. Regarded as reclusive, he had a volatile personality, and struggled with alcoholism for most of his life. Standing in front of his painting one could almost sense his turmoil. Robert Rauschenberg's pieces were quite interesting as well. We saw Bed, which is one of Robert Rauschenberg's first Combines, works in which he affixed cast-off items, such as tires or old furniture, to a traditional support. Here he framed a well-worn pillow, sheet, and quilt, scribbled on them with pencil, and splashed them with paint in a style reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism. We also had the opportunity to see Canyon, Canyon is one of Robert Rauschenberg's best-known Combines it incorporated a taxidermied eagle on it. I liked Bed, but was not so fond of Canyon. Across the room was Jasper Johns work. In the late 1950’s, Jasper Johns emerged as force in the American art scene. His richly worked paintings of maps, flags, and targets led the artistic community away from Abstract Expressionism toward a new emphasis on the concrete. Johns laid the groundwork for both Pop Art and Minimalism. One of my favorite paintings that I saw today was Johns American Flag. Another favorite painting was Warhol's Gold Marilyn Monroe. Warhol was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement. that flourished by the 1960s. I can't believe it, but I had never been to MoMA before Friday. As usual we didn't have as much time as I would have liked. That is alright, I will just have to come back on my own.
Next was lunch in Hell's Kitchen. We had lunch in a Thai restaurant called Yum Yum 2, and it was yum yum. I especially like the peanut dressing on my salad. Hell's Kitchen is also known as Clinton. The neighborhood stretches from the Hudson River to Eight Ave., from about 34th to west 57th St.(Blue Guide pg 226).During the mid-19th century Hell's Kitchen attracted large groups of immigrants particularly the Irish, who lived in some of the city's worst tenements and worked in some of the least desirable industries. Local gangs preyed on the railroad yards and so terrorized the neighborhood that policemen from the nearby 20th precinct would venture out in groups larger than three. The gangs gave Hell's Kitchen a reputation as one of the most dangerous spots on the American continent(Blue Guide pg 226). Plagued by drugs and crime in the 1970s, Hell Kitchen began to gentrify in the 1980s and the process is accelerating as seen by the many new condominiums. We jumped on the 1 train to 110 St., Morningside Heights. There we met our tour guide, a very nice gentleman. We spoke briefly in front of The Hungarian Pastry Shop. The shop owner phil, gave us each an angle painting to hang outside his shop. The artist of the angle prints is Yanni Posnakoff, his goal is to paint 1,000,000 angles of unconditional love, mine was numbered 1,902. Phil gave us each one to take home. We crossed the street and went to The Cathedral Church of St. John the Devine. Due to lack of funds this church was never fully completed. According to the (Blue Guide pg 419), The church is sometimes irreverently called "St. John the Unfinished". The stain glass in the church was so beautiful. We walked through the Columbia University campus. Jim gave us a brief history of the University. The university was founded in 1754 as King's College by royal charter of George ll of Great Britain . After the American Revolutionary War, King's College briefly became a state entity, and was renamed Columbia College in 1784. The University now operates under a 1787 charter that places the institution under a private board of trustees, and in 1896 it was further renamed Columbia University. That same year, the university's campus was moved from Madison Ave. to its current location in Morningside Heights, where it occupies more than six city blocks, or 32 acres. As we sat on the steps to the library, Meritta, Mike, and Jim quizzed us on some New York City history. The grand prize was a bracelet that Mike had purchased last week in East Harlem. We briefly walked through St. Paul's Chapel, this church also had exquisite stain glass windows. Just past the chapel was an overpass which crossed over Amsterdam Ave. We walked though Morningside Park which is a 30 acre park between 110th and 123rd St.from from Morningside Ave to Morningside Dr. at the border between Harlem and Morningside Heights. Its distinctive natural geography is a rugged cliff of Manhattan schist rock. The park came into existence as a cost-saving measure to avoid the expense of extending the street grid across difficult terrain. Due to a change in plans, (Federal Government shut down) we were not going to the General Grant National Memorial. Even though I was a little disappointed about that, it meant that we were entering the park from the top of the steps as opposed to the bottom.I was happy that we were walking down the 100 plus steps.
As we walked along the streets of Harlem there were obvious signs of Gentrification. New apartment buildings a wine bar. In Harlem the major Avenues take on different names as they pass through Central Harlem. Eighth Ave. is Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Seventh Ave. was named Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard shortly after the black congressman died in 1972. Sixth Ave. north of Central Park was renamed twice first Lenox Ave. after James Lenox who established the Lenox Library, and later Malcolm X Boulevard after the assassinated Black Muslim leader. Officially 125th St. is Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard(Blue Guide pg 439). In 1920 Harlem black population increased from 83,248 to 203,894. White business and property owners fought bitterly to keep Harlem white, but failed. Nevertheless, the 1920s were years of optimism and 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 from 1924 until the stock market crash of 1929, saw the flowering of black literature, art, music, and political thinking. Whites flocked uptown to enjoy jazz at famous nightclubs like the cotton club and Connie's many of which were white owned and white audiences only. The Depression devastated Harlem. The 1930s were the years of "rent parties" guests paid an entrance fee to hear music and drink bathtub gin.(Blue Guide pg438). We saw the Harriet Tubman statue. Harriet Tubman was a runaway slave from Maryland who became known as the "Moses of her people." Over the course of 10 years, and at great personal risk, she led hundreds of slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, a secret network of safe houses where runaway slaves could stay on their journey north to freedom. She later became a leader in the abolitionist movement, and during the Civil War she was a spy with for the federal forces in South Carolina as well as a nurse. We also stopped in front of the Apollo Theater, Jim told us that every Wednesday is amateur night and how the contestants have to pay respect to the "tree of life." Around the time that the Apollo Theater first opened in 1934, the city widened Seventh Ave. and the trees that had once lined the Boulevard of Dreams had to be removed. One of the trees doomed to this fate was the famous Harlem land mark, The Tree of Hope. To this day, a large section of the trunk of the tree stands on the Apollo stage and every Wednesday night, Hopeful performers touch the tree in the hope they can share in the good fortune of so many performers in the past. Well our good fortune with the weather had come to an end, it started to rain, so Mike ended the class at this point. As luck would have it we were standing next to the subway. Jacquie and I jumped on the 3 train, which took us into penn station.
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Lower Manhattan & Captivating Chelsea :
Today is Friday, October 11, 2013. I am all prepared for the rain that is predicted for today; rain coat, rain boots and umbrella. Today the train is very crowded. Many people are dressed up in comic strip character costumes for comic con in the Jacob Javits Center. I met my class same time same place. We took the 2 train to lower Manhattan. The first stop was to look at the outside of the Woolworth Building, which by now we all recognized as Gothic style. It was the worlds tallest building in 1913 (792 Ft.) up until 1930 when it was eclipsed by the Chrysler building(Blue Guide pg. 79). Woolworth paid 13.5 million dollars in cash for the building. We walked over to City Hall. Something interesting our tour guide Deirdre at City Hall pointed out is that the top floors of the Woolworth building are being turned into Luxury Condominiums. As we stood outside City Hall, Deirdre explained to us that New York's(New Amsterdam) first City Hall was built by the Dutch in the 1653. The city's second City Hall was built in 1700. Due to New York's expanding population a third City Hall was needed. In 1802 the City held a competition for a new City Hall. This was part of a city beautiful movement which was meant to inspire the newly arriving immigrants. The first prize of $350 was awarded to Joseph Francois Mangin and John McComb, Jr.. An interesting fact about the location of City Hall that Mike mentioned is that the reason it faces the water is because at the time nothing but wilderness was behind it. Next We headed inside, in the lobby was a bronze statue of George washington. Past the lobby was the rotunda, with its grand circular staircase and the dome above was quite impressive. We headed up the stairs to the Governor's Room on the second floor. As we toured the Governor's Room Deirdre pointed out that the room was repainted a "French green" which would have been the rooms original color. My favorite piece in the room was George Washington's writing desk that dates back to 1789. The walls of the room feature many portraits of political and military leaders. One being of Washington with his Ceremonial horse "Blueskin". Next we headed into the City Council Chamber another extremely impressive room. The largest room in City Hall is the Bullpen. Mayor Bloomberg turned the room into an open floor plan were his desk is surrounded by his staff. Deirdre told us that President Lincoln's coffin was placed on the staircase landing across the rotunda when he lay in state in 1865 after his assassination and that Ulysses S. Grant lay in state beneath the rotunda in 1885.
We walked to St. Paul's Chapel built as a subsidiary chapel of Trinity Church for worshipers who lived too far uptown to make it down to Wall St.(Blue Guide pg. 77). It is the only surviving church in New York of the Revolutionary era. It is also the oldest public building in continuous use in Manhattan. Washington came here for a special service after his inauguration on April 30, 1789. He continued to attend services at the chapel during the two years that New York served as the capital of the United States. The Pew where George Washington worshiped still remains in the Chapel. After The the World Trade Center disaster, the chapel served both as a place of refuge for worker at Ground Zero and as a memorial for visitors, who attached messages and memorials to the fence in front of the church(Blue Guide pg 77). These have sense been placed in the chapel. We walked across the street to the 911 memorial. Due to the fact that we were with a group our short line moved rather quickly. Once inside Mike gave us 20 minutes to walk around. This gave me time to stand by both the South and North pools. They are set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers. Thirty foot water falls cascade into the pools, each then descending into a center void. Each of the victims names are inscribed in the bronze parapets around the pools. I found it odd that people were posing for pictures in front of the pools with big smiles on their faces. I thought is would have been a little more somber then it was.
We walked through Zuccotti Park. Mike spoke very briefly about Occupy Wall Street. The inequity of 1% of the population controlling 99 % of the wealth. We then walked through Trinity Church. After going into Trinity Church we headed to Wall Street. Wall St. is a short street, about a third of a mile long, which runs between Broadway and the East River.This thoroughfare, is sometimes called simply "The Street"(Blue Guide pg. 65). We walked past The New York Stock Exchange. Shortly after the end of the American revolution, the Congress sitting in Federal Hall issued about $80 million in bonds to pay for the war debt. A central marketplace became necessary for these securities, after a few years of informal trading, a group of 24 brokers got together and drew up the "Buttonwood Agreement". The stock exchange was formally organized in 1817(Blue Guide pg 69). In 1884, Charles Dow began tracking stocks, initially beginning with mostly railroads, and looked at their average prices. When the average "peaks and troughs" went up consistently, he deemed it a bull market condition; if averages dropped, it was a bear market. He added up prices, and divided by the number of stocks to get his Dow Jones average. Dow's numbers were a "convenient benchmark" for analyzing the market and became an accepted way to look at the entire stock market. I was surprised at how many people were lined up by the "Charging Bull" to get their picture taken. In the interest of time I had my picture taken in the only available spot. We walked through Bowling Green Park where their was a little flea market set up with all sorts of cha cha stuff. Our destination should have been the Museum of American Indian, but the government shutdown has once again made us alter our plans. Mike took this opportunity outside this beautiful building to give us the buildings history. The Custom House was designed by the prominent architect Cass Gilbert and constructed between 1902 and 1907. It incorporates Beaux Arts and City Beautiful Movement planning to inspire the immigrants.
We walked over to Battery Park which is at the southern tip of Manhattan. As we looked out to the Hudson river Mike asked if anyone knew how the park got its name. Well I sure didn't. Turns out the Battery is named for artillery batteries that were positioned there in the city's early years to protect the settlement behind them. At the north end of the park is Castle Clinton.
We walked over to Battery Park which is at the southern tip of Manhattan. As we looked out to the Hudson river Mike asked if anyone knew how the park got its name. Well I sure didn't. Turns out the Battery is named for artillery batteries that were positioned there in the city's early years to protect the settlement behind them. At the north end of the park is Castle Clinton.
Our next stop would be Chelsea Market. We got on the 1 train(local) but changed at Chambers to get on an express.That was fine by me because the sooner we got there the sooner I could eat. At this point I was starving. Chelsea Market has some great specialty shops. It was once home to the National Biscuit Company( Oreos and Mallomars were invented here, my two favorite cookies. Mike gave us 45 minutes for lunch so the race was on. Find a restaurant, order, wait to be served, and eat. Jacquie and I had lunch at the Green Table it was a great choice for lunch, I throughly enjoyed it. We met back with the class at 4pm just as they were getting ready to head for the High Line. The High Line is an elevated rail line, The successor to the street-level freight line originally built through Chelsea in 1847, Which Meritta pointed out was the cause of numerous fatal accidents. It was elevated in the early 1930s, but fell out of use. The 1950s rail freight gave way to trucking and the last train journeyed to Gansevoort St. in 1980. Originally it was to be torn down, but instead a local advocacy group defeated proposals for demolition and it was turned into an elevated park(Blue Guide pg 188). Meritta and Mike pointed out that this is another neighborhood that has undergone gentrification. I have been on the High Line a few times and I always enjoy walking along it. We exited the High Line at 18th Ave. where Meritta parted ways with us.
It was off to the Western part of Chelsea which has become a center of the New York art world, with many art galleries located in both new buildings and rehabilitated warehouses. Mike mentioned to us that many of these galleries are used as a tax right off. Some of them I could see why, but others I liked. Mike told us to pick two galleries that we liked. One of the artists that I chose was Philip-Lorca diCorcia's, Hustlers. Looking at these prints gave me a feeling of sadness. I felt sorry for the prostitutes that posed for these pictures. I was very curious about the price of some of the pieces, but none of them had prices on them. You know what they say... if you have to ask you can't afford it!! We also went into a book store called Printed Matter, Inc. Mike said to pick one book that spoke to us. I found a book about the obsolete pay phone. How the days of making an anonymous call from a public phone are long gone. Well another class has come to an end. Some how I talked Jacquie into taking the High Line to 30th St. and then to walk to Penn Station. But before we headed back up on the High Line we saw one last piece of art. It was called Sheep Station, it is a public art exhibit based at the former Getty Station at 2013 10th Ave. As it turned out it only rained for a brief time today. So again we lucked out weather wise. And again I really enjoyed todays trek, which took us through Lower Manhattan and Chelsea.
Immigrant New York(Lower East Side):
Today is Friday, October 18, 2013, it is a bitter sweet day, because it is the last day of my Gotham New York Class. I am going to miss coming into the city on Fridays, but am not going to miss the work that went along with this class. We lucked out again weather wise it is a sunny 60 degree day. I again met up with my class in Penn station same time, same place. Today we are heading to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. True to form Mike asked us how to get to our destination. We walked to 6th Ave and took the F train to Delancey St. Between 1846 to 1860 immigrants from Ireland arrived in great numbers and settled in the Lower East Side. The next wave of immigrants were Germans. 1881 saw an influx of Russian and Eastern European Jews that entirely changed the Lower east Side and still affects the ethnic make of New York. At the end of the 19 century the Lower East Side was the most densely populated place on earth. Our first stop was the Essex St. Market. Built in 1940 to house pushcart peddlers whom Mayor La Guardia legislated off the streets(Blue Guide pg 123). At one point there were 25,000 pushcarts. Mike gave us a few minutes to walk through the market, it had all types of international foods. We then walked over towards the Williamsburg Bridge it is a suspension bridge connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey St. with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The Williamsburg bridge and the Manhattan Bridge are the only suspension bridges in New York City that still carry both automobile and rail traffic. We walked to Bialystoker Synagogue, which looked more like a church than a Synagogue but that is because it was originally constructed in 1826 as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church; the synagogue purchased the building in 1905. Jim pointed out that many times a Methodist church and an Episcopal congregation will merge for financial reasons. AME stands for American Methodist Episcopal. It is one of only four early-19th century fieldstone religious buildings surviving from the late Federal period in Lower Manhattan, and is the oldest building used as a synagogue in New York City.The building is made of Manhattan schist from a quarry. We walked by a cooperative house which is a Jewish women purifying house. We went by the Henry Sreet settlement house. In 1893, after witnessing first-hand the poverty and hardship endured by immigrants on the Lower East Side, Lillian Ward founded the Henry Street Settlement. She moved into the neighborhood, living and working among the industrial poor, she and her colleagues offered health care to area residents in their homes on a sliding fee scale. In addition to health care, Henry Street provided social services and instruction in everything from the English language to music. We stopped and looked at the outside of the Eldridge Street Synagogue, I mentioned to Jim that it was a shame that we couldn't walk into it as we have done so many times through all of the different churches. Jim told me that the synagogue is no longer used as a house of worship it was turned into a museum. At this point Mike gave us a map so we could split up in small groups to go explore Chinatown on our own. Jacquie, myself and two other classmates walked to the Chinatown ice cream factory, I was the only one to indulge. Since I couldn't decide on a flavor just too many different flavors to chose from, like maple bacon and lychee. I had two scoops green tea and mango it was very good, but nothing will top the SALTY PIMP at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop. We all met back at the Congee Village at 2:30 for a wonderful lunch. Thank you Mike and Meritta!! After lunch we went to the Tenement Museum my favorite part of the day.This museum a former tenement, was founded in 1988 to preserve the heritage of the nation's immigrants(Blue Guide pg 122). We had the opportunity to tour an apartment 0f a Sephardic Jewish family with a costumed interpreter playing 14-year-old Victoria Confino, who lived in the tenement in 1916. Our class played the role of Russian Jews that just arrived to this country , and were able to ask Victoria questions about adjusting to life on the Lower East Side . It really gave you a feel of what it must have been like for immigrants. This is basically where we all parted ways. Some of the class were going to walk over the Williamsburg Bridge, which I really wanted to do, but I needed to head home.
Post Impressions Of New York:
I still love New York City, even more so now that I have a better appreciation of it's history. When I look back on these past seven weeks I am amazed at how much we were able to experience, things I would have never even thought of seeing. Yes, I have been to Central Park many many times, but I never went as far up as the Conservatory or seen the Jackie Kennedy Reservoir. I always wanted to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge but in addition to walking over it I now know it's history.
MoMA, another place I always wanted to visit, but never did, well thanks to this class I have. I could go on and on, because every week I experienced something new about New York City. Take for instance Chelsea I have been to the High Line and the Chelsea Market a few times before, but never have I gone into the many galleries in this neighborhood or would I ever had if not for this class. A term that I never heard before this class "gentrification" I now not only know it, but have seen it first hand. As I mentioned in my impressions of New York, for all the times I have been to NYC I was always so intimidated by the subways that I just avoided them altogether. But I can honesty say I get it now!!
MoMA, another place I always wanted to visit, but never did, well thanks to this class I have. I could go on and on, because every week I experienced something new about New York City. Take for instance Chelsea I have been to the High Line and the Chelsea Market a few times before, but never have I gone into the many galleries in this neighborhood or would I ever had if not for this class. A term that I never heard before this class "gentrification" I now not only know it, but have seen it first hand. As I mentioned in my impressions of New York, for all the times I have been to NYC I was always so intimidated by the subways that I just avoided them altogether. But I can honesty say I get it now!!