Journals 5-9
5. The Exhilarating East Side:
On this Saturday the 27th of September, I again took the LIRR from Rockville Centre to Penn Station. Once I got to Penn, I stopped to use the restroom, grabbed a coffee, and went to the classes meeting spot. We briefly discussed where we would be exploring for the day, which Mike told us was East Harlem. I have never been to Harlem, but there has always been a negative title attached to it, and after touring it, I realized that there was no reason for the negative title. We also briefly discussed that 5th avenue divides east and west, that the 4, 5, and 6 trains run along the east, and the 1, 2, and 3 trains run along the west. We discussed that the Times Square shuttle and the L train runs east to west as well.
We then headed out for our adventurous day. We hopped on the 2 train, taking it to Times Square at 42 street. We then took the Times Square shuttle from there, taking that to the east side to catch the 4 train to 103rd street and Lexington Avenue. We were then at our destination, East Harlem. East Harlem is “also known as Spanish Harlem, or more colloquially, ‘El Barrio’. It is an uptown neighborhood of Manhattan, the boundaries which are the Harlem River to the north, East 96th to the south, the East River to the east and 5th avenue to the west” (ENY, 161). Today East Harlem has one of the largest Latino communities in the country, which can be seen throughout the streets. The artwork and the rich culture through the shops on the streets bring you into the culture that the community is trying to uphold. Since its development in the late 19th century, East Harlem has been home to many different ethnicities, including Germans and Italians. Italian East Harlem still holds a small area. During the 1880’s, East Harlem was rural, nothing was there really except the elevated steam train lines. This train line lead to the development of the area and the construction of apartment buildings for immigrants (ENY, 162). As many other areas we have seen, Harlem has “experienced repeated cycles of economic boom and decline throughout their histories, and all are currently experiencing the effects of gentrification, which promises to change the characters of these communities once again” (ENY, 161). However, I don’t know if changing the cultural flavor of East Harlem would be tasteful for the overall community it has built.
In the 1900’s, Peurto Ricans flooded East Harlem, turning it into “El Barrio”. “The poverty of these new immigrants and the building of large housing projects that concentrated crime led to East Harlem becoming one of the most dangerous sections of New York City during the 1960’s and 70’s” (ENY, 162). This may be one of the reasons Harlem has such a negative reputation tied to its name.
The Museum of the City of New York was our first stop. We were able to sit and engage in a 22-minute film on the transformation of New York City. At first when the lights went off, I thought I would have fallen asleep, but I was so interested and focused on both the verbal information and the visual pictures of the transforming New York City I don’t even think I blinked. Okay, I did blink but you get what I’m saying. It was really cool to see the photos side by side, the slum photos and the rich photos. It showed the history of New York doing really good at times, and really bad at other times. This showed me that culturally rich and interesting cities will go down, but will come back. We then entered an exhibit on the Gilded Age, where the wealthy flaunted their wealth. The exhibit showcased many wealthy individual items, such as Tiffany & Co., which is still a desired jewelry company today. The flashy, large, colorful pieces of jewelry and other accessories gave us a hint as to how much wealthy men and women would flaunt the money they had.
After the Museum of the City of New York, we made our way to El Museo del Barrio. Interestingly enough, this museum was founded to preserve the cultural heritage by a public school classroom (ENY, 163). Here, we met our tour guide Luke, who Mike insisted was better than him (and not many people can one-up the Michael S. Russo). Luke also told us that he is a poet, and is part of a group called The Peace Poets. Although we didn’t go through the entire museum, we went into the lobby and stood around in a circle. As soon as we entered the doors to the museum, you heard a uniform deep breath followed by a “Mmmmm”, referring to the smell of the culture. Thankfully, Luke was an upbeat tour guide and I didn’t have to worry about trying to keep my eyes open like I had to for some of the more monotone tour guides we experienced. In the circle, we all said our name and one word that we were feeling. It was cool to finally stand in a circle with our entire class, because we are normally just walking behind or in front of one another throughout the city of New York. Luke then explained to us that snapping in a poets world is like clapping normally. So whenever you like what you hear, or you agree with what someone has to say, you snap.
We then left the lobby, and began walking with Luke through East Harlem. He explained to us that he likes to involve members of the neighborhood in his tour, because he believes it is disrespectful to walk through their home without acknowledging them, and also because it further gives us insight on how culturally unique Harlem is. What also shows the cultural uniqueness is the scattered art. We stopped first at a mural dedicated to Pedro Pietri, who was a lifelong resident of East Harlem, a community activist and the founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café (ENY, 163). Across the street was the Spirit of East Harlem mural which “captures the Latin influences on street life in East Harlem” (ENY, 163). As we were standing there, a resident was walking by playing music on a small radio and seemed interested in the random group of students standing in his neighborhood. Luke said hi and the man walked right on over to us. Luke said the timing couldn’t be more perfect, and the culture of the man couldn’t have been more perfect either. He was extremely friendly and he LOVED to talk, no really he wouldn’t stop talking to us. And to be honest, I don’t even know what he was talking about because he kept jumping from topic to topic. Everytime Luke tried to thank him for stopping and talking to us, he would just keep talking like Luke wasn’t there. It was very amusing. But he was so excited to talk to us and share his culture and spend his time talking to a random group of college students. It was refreshing to see a friendly face. We then made our way to the Modesto “Tin” Flores Garden, which unfortunately was not open for us to be able to go in. Gardens like this one are created to provide tranquility and escape from the hectic urban lifestyle. This garden holds a unique piece of art called the “Seed of Growth” depicting the female reproductive organs; the fallopian tubes. The mural on the back wall of the garden, “Soldadares”, shows Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist, and Julia de Burgos, a Puerto Rican poet, holding hands. Both the fountain and painting celebrates the strength and diversity of women in the community (ENY, 164). Not only does this garden represent women, but also the culture that East Harlem is relentlessly trying to hold onto. The sense of community, and care for their culture warmed my heart, because they are not going to let anything get in the way of how unique they are. Every corner you turned you saw another mural, another piece of art, another fence that you were able to “tell your story” on. Community, hard work, and family seemed to be the main theme felt throughout the art filled streets of East Harlem. Since every corner had a different piece of art, we stopped once again at another wall filled with a masterpiece. Instead of a painting though, this wall was filled with different pieces of what I think was some sort of tile art, where small pieces of colored tiles are put together to form different pictures. One of the pictures, had a man on a skateboard, so I made Freddy pose next to him on his skateboard for a picture. Another resident stopped while we were admiring the wall, and talked to us about how good the people are in the community, how things are cheaper in Harlem and that the buildings are changing, but he thinks that the change will be good. Luke was right about how genuine the people in the neighborhood are.
Luke then brought us to a school building, that housed some pieces of artwork. But the artwork was nothing compared to what came out of Luke’s mouth. He performed one of his poems for us, “Girl on the D Train”, which he said was based on a girl singing, and him telling her not to stop because it gave everybody else a feeling of hope hearing her beautiful voice. It was amazing, Luke was amazing, and I never ever would have thought poetry could be that amazing. I would have snapped at him for days if I could have after that poem. I think everybody in class would have snapped for days. It was awesome. That might have one-upped Mike just a little bit. (KIDDING MIKE don’t deduct points) J
Luke then took us to a local Botanical, owned by Jorge Vargas. Jorge, or Gusto, offers the community old fashioned remedies, and serves the community with faith and hope. There we were able to purchase the bracelet that Mike wouldn’t stop talking about, that apparently provides you with goodluck. I definitely should have bought one but I was too hungry to wait in line.
After that, we stopped for lunch for a bit. Like Mike said, sometimes the cheaper places serve the best food, but we chose the more expensive restaurant. We should have listened to Mike because the food wasn’t the best and we could’ve saved some money. After lunch, we walked to the Central Park Conservatory Garden. The entrance gate used to be the gate that was outside of the Vanderbilt mansion. Once again we saw a newlywed couple taking pictures, which seemed to be the common theme for each of our classes. I took way too many creepy pictures of the brides and grooms we saw. This park was created by Fredrick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux in 1867, after the city decided it needed a park (ENY, 173). This park was absolutely beautiful, to the point that me and Ife took a “couples picture” under one of the archways. Mike referred to this park as having fake nature, because all of the flowers and shrubs are all designed, they aren’t naturally growing. My favorite part of the park was the fountain with the two children, from the book The Secret Garden, because I absolutely loved the movie. I loved the park too because most of New York City is concrete and buildings, so seeing green and flowers and nature was refreshing.
Once again, I needed to use the bathroom so Ife came with me as the class made their way through the end of the garden. Of course we lost them in the five minutes I was in the bathroom, but we were able to find them on a small hill in the park. Mike gave us a little time to sit on the hill and discuss how we enjoyed the class so far. He also asked us to write a review of the class so that they can keep the class next year, and change the things that the majority of students didn’t like. On the hill we took a vote of what was next, and we were headed off to Grand Central station to see the Midtown architecture, and lobbies since Mike LOVES the lobbies of buildings.
Grand Central Terminal is so beautiful, especially when it is compared to Penn Station. The beautiful large clock in the middle of the station, the high decorated ceilings and the open space will draw anyones attention upon entering this station. The most interesting part of the station to me, was the “dark rectangular patch that represents the darkened state of the ceiling before it was restored, obscured by decades of tobacco smoke” (ENY, 134). This part of the ceiling was left untouched during renovation to show the damage from all of the smoke that was allowed in earlier years. I think another thing that made this terminal so beautiful was that the food and concession was downstairs, away from the terminal entrances. In Penn station, the food and the track entrances were all on the same level, making it even more crowded. I went downstairs to the food concession, and tried gelato for the first time. Best choice ever! It was amazing.
We then left Grand Central, and made our way to see the Chrysler building. It is “considered to be the epitome of art deco style, and is also one of the most elegant skyscrapers in the world” (ENY, 136). Architect William Van Allen “made use of automobile motifs that called to mine the kinds of hood ornaments one would see on stylish cars of that period” (ENY, 136), to celebrate Walter P. Chrysler’s automobile company. Since Mike loves lobbies, he tried to bring us inside but it was closed. From what we were able to see without walking all the way in, it looked beautiful. We then made our way to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where Mike explained a lot of famous people stay. There were a lot of blacked out trucks and cop cars and Ife jokingly said “imagine Obama is here” to only later find out that Obama was actually in New York that same weekend. Another interesting building we looked at was the Citigroup Center, which was built on four columns, allowing St. Peter’s Lutheran Church to sit snugly underneath (ENY, 139). This building is not only standing on four columns, but it also “has a 45 degree rooftop that boldly stands out from the rest of the Manhattan skyline” (ENY, 139). One of the longest days so far during this Gotham class, everyone was checked out and exhausted at this point. Mie let us go, and we found our ways back to Penn Station. Me and Ife took the subway back to Penn and then hopped on the next train back to Rockville Centre. Me and Ife passed out on the train ride home, thankfully I woke up a stop before RVC and we didn’t end up in Babylon!
On this Saturday the 27th of September, I again took the LIRR from Rockville Centre to Penn Station. Once I got to Penn, I stopped to use the restroom, grabbed a coffee, and went to the classes meeting spot. We briefly discussed where we would be exploring for the day, which Mike told us was East Harlem. I have never been to Harlem, but there has always been a negative title attached to it, and after touring it, I realized that there was no reason for the negative title. We also briefly discussed that 5th avenue divides east and west, that the 4, 5, and 6 trains run along the east, and the 1, 2, and 3 trains run along the west. We discussed that the Times Square shuttle and the L train runs east to west as well.
We then headed out for our adventurous day. We hopped on the 2 train, taking it to Times Square at 42 street. We then took the Times Square shuttle from there, taking that to the east side to catch the 4 train to 103rd street and Lexington Avenue. We were then at our destination, East Harlem. East Harlem is “also known as Spanish Harlem, or more colloquially, ‘El Barrio’. It is an uptown neighborhood of Manhattan, the boundaries which are the Harlem River to the north, East 96th to the south, the East River to the east and 5th avenue to the west” (ENY, 161). Today East Harlem has one of the largest Latino communities in the country, which can be seen throughout the streets. The artwork and the rich culture through the shops on the streets bring you into the culture that the community is trying to uphold. Since its development in the late 19th century, East Harlem has been home to many different ethnicities, including Germans and Italians. Italian East Harlem still holds a small area. During the 1880’s, East Harlem was rural, nothing was there really except the elevated steam train lines. This train line lead to the development of the area and the construction of apartment buildings for immigrants (ENY, 162). As many other areas we have seen, Harlem has “experienced repeated cycles of economic boom and decline throughout their histories, and all are currently experiencing the effects of gentrification, which promises to change the characters of these communities once again” (ENY, 161). However, I don’t know if changing the cultural flavor of East Harlem would be tasteful for the overall community it has built.
In the 1900’s, Peurto Ricans flooded East Harlem, turning it into “El Barrio”. “The poverty of these new immigrants and the building of large housing projects that concentrated crime led to East Harlem becoming one of the most dangerous sections of New York City during the 1960’s and 70’s” (ENY, 162). This may be one of the reasons Harlem has such a negative reputation tied to its name.
The Museum of the City of New York was our first stop. We were able to sit and engage in a 22-minute film on the transformation of New York City. At first when the lights went off, I thought I would have fallen asleep, but I was so interested and focused on both the verbal information and the visual pictures of the transforming New York City I don’t even think I blinked. Okay, I did blink but you get what I’m saying. It was really cool to see the photos side by side, the slum photos and the rich photos. It showed the history of New York doing really good at times, and really bad at other times. This showed me that culturally rich and interesting cities will go down, but will come back. We then entered an exhibit on the Gilded Age, where the wealthy flaunted their wealth. The exhibit showcased many wealthy individual items, such as Tiffany & Co., which is still a desired jewelry company today. The flashy, large, colorful pieces of jewelry and other accessories gave us a hint as to how much wealthy men and women would flaunt the money they had.
After the Museum of the City of New York, we made our way to El Museo del Barrio. Interestingly enough, this museum was founded to preserve the cultural heritage by a public school classroom (ENY, 163). Here, we met our tour guide Luke, who Mike insisted was better than him (and not many people can one-up the Michael S. Russo). Luke also told us that he is a poet, and is part of a group called The Peace Poets. Although we didn’t go through the entire museum, we went into the lobby and stood around in a circle. As soon as we entered the doors to the museum, you heard a uniform deep breath followed by a “Mmmmm”, referring to the smell of the culture. Thankfully, Luke was an upbeat tour guide and I didn’t have to worry about trying to keep my eyes open like I had to for some of the more monotone tour guides we experienced. In the circle, we all said our name and one word that we were feeling. It was cool to finally stand in a circle with our entire class, because we are normally just walking behind or in front of one another throughout the city of New York. Luke then explained to us that snapping in a poets world is like clapping normally. So whenever you like what you hear, or you agree with what someone has to say, you snap.
We then left the lobby, and began walking with Luke through East Harlem. He explained to us that he likes to involve members of the neighborhood in his tour, because he believes it is disrespectful to walk through their home without acknowledging them, and also because it further gives us insight on how culturally unique Harlem is. What also shows the cultural uniqueness is the scattered art. We stopped first at a mural dedicated to Pedro Pietri, who was a lifelong resident of East Harlem, a community activist and the founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café (ENY, 163). Across the street was the Spirit of East Harlem mural which “captures the Latin influences on street life in East Harlem” (ENY, 163). As we were standing there, a resident was walking by playing music on a small radio and seemed interested in the random group of students standing in his neighborhood. Luke said hi and the man walked right on over to us. Luke said the timing couldn’t be more perfect, and the culture of the man couldn’t have been more perfect either. He was extremely friendly and he LOVED to talk, no really he wouldn’t stop talking to us. And to be honest, I don’t even know what he was talking about because he kept jumping from topic to topic. Everytime Luke tried to thank him for stopping and talking to us, he would just keep talking like Luke wasn’t there. It was very amusing. But he was so excited to talk to us and share his culture and spend his time talking to a random group of college students. It was refreshing to see a friendly face. We then made our way to the Modesto “Tin” Flores Garden, which unfortunately was not open for us to be able to go in. Gardens like this one are created to provide tranquility and escape from the hectic urban lifestyle. This garden holds a unique piece of art called the “Seed of Growth” depicting the female reproductive organs; the fallopian tubes. The mural on the back wall of the garden, “Soldadares”, shows Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist, and Julia de Burgos, a Puerto Rican poet, holding hands. Both the fountain and painting celebrates the strength and diversity of women in the community (ENY, 164). Not only does this garden represent women, but also the culture that East Harlem is relentlessly trying to hold onto. The sense of community, and care for their culture warmed my heart, because they are not going to let anything get in the way of how unique they are. Every corner you turned you saw another mural, another piece of art, another fence that you were able to “tell your story” on. Community, hard work, and family seemed to be the main theme felt throughout the art filled streets of East Harlem. Since every corner had a different piece of art, we stopped once again at another wall filled with a masterpiece. Instead of a painting though, this wall was filled with different pieces of what I think was some sort of tile art, where small pieces of colored tiles are put together to form different pictures. One of the pictures, had a man on a skateboard, so I made Freddy pose next to him on his skateboard for a picture. Another resident stopped while we were admiring the wall, and talked to us about how good the people are in the community, how things are cheaper in Harlem and that the buildings are changing, but he thinks that the change will be good. Luke was right about how genuine the people in the neighborhood are.
Luke then brought us to a school building, that housed some pieces of artwork. But the artwork was nothing compared to what came out of Luke’s mouth. He performed one of his poems for us, “Girl on the D Train”, which he said was based on a girl singing, and him telling her not to stop because it gave everybody else a feeling of hope hearing her beautiful voice. It was amazing, Luke was amazing, and I never ever would have thought poetry could be that amazing. I would have snapped at him for days if I could have after that poem. I think everybody in class would have snapped for days. It was awesome. That might have one-upped Mike just a little bit. (KIDDING MIKE don’t deduct points) J
Luke then took us to a local Botanical, owned by Jorge Vargas. Jorge, or Gusto, offers the community old fashioned remedies, and serves the community with faith and hope. There we were able to purchase the bracelet that Mike wouldn’t stop talking about, that apparently provides you with goodluck. I definitely should have bought one but I was too hungry to wait in line.
After that, we stopped for lunch for a bit. Like Mike said, sometimes the cheaper places serve the best food, but we chose the more expensive restaurant. We should have listened to Mike because the food wasn’t the best and we could’ve saved some money. After lunch, we walked to the Central Park Conservatory Garden. The entrance gate used to be the gate that was outside of the Vanderbilt mansion. Once again we saw a newlywed couple taking pictures, which seemed to be the common theme for each of our classes. I took way too many creepy pictures of the brides and grooms we saw. This park was created by Fredrick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux in 1867, after the city decided it needed a park (ENY, 173). This park was absolutely beautiful, to the point that me and Ife took a “couples picture” under one of the archways. Mike referred to this park as having fake nature, because all of the flowers and shrubs are all designed, they aren’t naturally growing. My favorite part of the park was the fountain with the two children, from the book The Secret Garden, because I absolutely loved the movie. I loved the park too because most of New York City is concrete and buildings, so seeing green and flowers and nature was refreshing.
Once again, I needed to use the bathroom so Ife came with me as the class made their way through the end of the garden. Of course we lost them in the five minutes I was in the bathroom, but we were able to find them on a small hill in the park. Mike gave us a little time to sit on the hill and discuss how we enjoyed the class so far. He also asked us to write a review of the class so that they can keep the class next year, and change the things that the majority of students didn’t like. On the hill we took a vote of what was next, and we were headed off to Grand Central station to see the Midtown architecture, and lobbies since Mike LOVES the lobbies of buildings.
Grand Central Terminal is so beautiful, especially when it is compared to Penn Station. The beautiful large clock in the middle of the station, the high decorated ceilings and the open space will draw anyones attention upon entering this station. The most interesting part of the station to me, was the “dark rectangular patch that represents the darkened state of the ceiling before it was restored, obscured by decades of tobacco smoke” (ENY, 134). This part of the ceiling was left untouched during renovation to show the damage from all of the smoke that was allowed in earlier years. I think another thing that made this terminal so beautiful was that the food and concession was downstairs, away from the terminal entrances. In Penn station, the food and the track entrances were all on the same level, making it even more crowded. I went downstairs to the food concession, and tried gelato for the first time. Best choice ever! It was amazing.
We then left Grand Central, and made our way to see the Chrysler building. It is “considered to be the epitome of art deco style, and is also one of the most elegant skyscrapers in the world” (ENY, 136). Architect William Van Allen “made use of automobile motifs that called to mine the kinds of hood ornaments one would see on stylish cars of that period” (ENY, 136), to celebrate Walter P. Chrysler’s automobile company. Since Mike loves lobbies, he tried to bring us inside but it was closed. From what we were able to see without walking all the way in, it looked beautiful. We then made our way to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where Mike explained a lot of famous people stay. There were a lot of blacked out trucks and cop cars and Ife jokingly said “imagine Obama is here” to only later find out that Obama was actually in New York that same weekend. Another interesting building we looked at was the Citigroup Center, which was built on four columns, allowing St. Peter’s Lutheran Church to sit snugly underneath (ENY, 139). This building is not only standing on four columns, but it also “has a 45 degree rooftop that boldly stands out from the rest of the Manhattan skyline” (ENY, 139). One of the longest days so far during this Gotham class, everyone was checked out and exhausted at this point. Mie let us go, and we found our ways back to Penn Station. Me and Ife took the subway back to Penn and then hopped on the next train back to Rockville Centre. Me and Ife passed out on the train ride home, thankfully I woke up a stop before RVC and we didn’t end up in Babylon!
6. Magnificent MoMA & Marvelous Morningside Heights:
Rain. All I saw when I looked out my window on this October morning was gloomy grey skies and rain. Immediately, I logged onto the Gotham website to make sure class was still on. Mike posted about how class was still on, and that we were changing the plans a bit to avoid the rain. I packed my umbrella, a hat and a hooded sweatshirt in my backpack just to be safe. Again, I took the 10:03 train from Rockville Centre to Penn Station with Ife, and went right to our class’s meeting spot. There was also a group of random people standing in what we deemed as our spot, but it just ended up being Mike’s good friend Don Hazlitt, an art professor at Molloy, and his class. There, Mike explained to us that we would be heading to the Museum of Modern Art, more commonly known as the MoMA to escape the rainy day. We got onto the subway with Don and his class, and to my surprise the subway was empty! We were all able to get a seat! One of our classmates quickly spotted America Ferrera, an actress who has been in countless movies, my favorite being The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. All of us began whispering about her, googling her to compare her face to pictures online to make sure it was her, and creepily trying to take her picture. The poor lady was just trying to write in her journal and get where she needed to go. And she was totally onto us. Ife and Stephen then made it even more obvious we were talking about her the whole subway ride, waving at her as she exited the car. But it was nice to see a famous person using public transportation.
We got off of the subway and walked over to 53rd street, where we found the Museum of Modern Art. I’ve been to the MoMA before, with Mike actually my freshman year of college, but since it had been a while I was excited to see the museum again. But as I was thinking about how excited I was, we walked inside and saw the overwhelming crowd of people. Everyone must have had the same idea; “go to the MoMA and hide from the rain”. Unfortunately, the museum requires the visitors to check all bags, and since there was a tremendous amount of people in the museum, we waited I would say a half hour JUST to check our bags in. this didn’t leave us much time to explore the museum, but I was still excited to do so because the MoMA “houses an impressive collection of important works of art from the 19th and 20th centuries” (ENY, 121).
We made it through the crowds of people, to Robert Gober’s exhibit, The Heart is Not a Metaphor. It was the weirdest exhibit I had ever seen. There were random legs coming out of the walls, there was a room of sinks, there was cat food, there was penises everywhere. It was random and weird, but hey, that’s what art is. mike explained that art is supposed to be abstract and it is supposed to make you think, but all of Gober’s work was too weird for me to even think about. Mike then talked about non-representation art, which explains itself; it doesn’t have to represent anything, you can make whatever you want. Mike loves this kind of art because you can express yourself in whatever way you please. We then headed through the crowded hallways to another crowded exhibit room, this one holding Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Van Gogh did not care about capturing the realistic version of what he saw, but what he felt and wanted to depict in his work. Camera’s capture reality, paintings capture emotions and personality. Jackson Pollock expressed himself through abstract expressionism. His works included paint dripping, splattering and paint puddles. Now some people may look at this as amazing art, while others will look at it and say “my 3 year old cousin can do that”. Either way, this is how Pollock expressed himself. After exploring some other parts of the museum, we headed back downstairs to wait another twenty minutes just to retrieve our bags. It was insane how crowded it was. After we all got our belongings, we headed to YumYum for out Thai lunch. We were able to order whatever meal we wanted from the lunch menu. I am VERY picky so I was nervous to try something new. I got the pineapple rice with chicken and I loved it. I need to broaden my horizons with trying new things. Meg Lonergan and Meg Orlando thought it would be a good idea to ask for hot sauce so the waitress brought out both a powdered form and a liquid form of hot sauce. The Meg’s put some of both onto the sticky rice and took a bite. They both spit it out right away, but Meg Orlando definitely took a bigger bite. Her face was bright red! Ife was then telling me to try it. I was going to but Meg kept telling me not to do it. Ife put a hefty spoonful of both the liquid and powder hot sauce onto my sticky rice as Meg Orlando was taking a sip of water, and for whatever reason Meg thought it was hilarious and shot her entire mouthful of water across the table. The girls across from her should have been wearing a pancho. It was so funny. Mike and Lee then did their little question gameshow on facts from the class and the winner got the goodluck bracelet from the Botanica. Some of the class grabbed cookies after lunch and then we headed to the subway. We took the 2 train to 96th and then the 1 train to 116th. When we got off the subway we were in Morningside Heights. This neighborhood “has one of the highest concentrations of interesting historic sites in the city of New York, and some of the city’s most impressive architecture as well (ENY, 166). Jim, our tour guide for the day, and his wife met us here. We walked to the General Grant National Memorial, where Ulysses S. Grant, the commander of the Union army during the civil war and then president of the United States from 1869-1877, and his wife Julia are entombed (ENY, 171). This memorial was beautiful, especially with the leaves beginning to fall. Facing away from the memorial, if there were no trees, there would be a direct line of sight to the Statue of Liberty. Jim informed us that George Washington wanted this spot to be the capital of the United States, but obviously that didn’t end up as the final decision. He also informed us that Grant, not originally from New York, ended up here because he lost a lot of money, and because he was later diagnosed with cancer in 1884, and told he had a year to live. He was one of the first big faces to be diagnosed with cancer, bringing a lot of attention to the severity of the illness. Back to the Memorial, not surprisingly there was another wedding. I don’t think there has been a class where we hadn’t seen a bride. Anyway, I again took my creepy pictures of the bride and groom as we made our way into the memorial. As we entered, there was a large circular opening, which looking down upon, you were able to see the enormous tombs of Ulysses and Julia Grant.
We then crossed the street to the beautiful Riverside Church. This church is gothic revival style and “was built in 1927 by the architectural firm of Alens, Pelton and Collins” (ENY, 172). Unfortunately we were not allowed inside of the church because of an ongoing wedding, but I could imagine that the church is just as beautiful as it is on the outside. Jim asked us to look at the archway at the entrance and told us that there was a sculpt of Albert Einstein, and asked if anyone was able to find it. Ife was the first one to spot it on the upper right side. Jim told us this church holds the largest bell in the world, which we were able to get a better view of from the back. He also told us that the church served as a sanctuary, where individuals would escape their countries and live there without fear of being recaptured. We then headed to Columbia University, which I didn’t even realize was in New York City. We first walked through the campus of Barnard College which is an all womens school through Columbia. It was cool to think that Molloy used to be an all girls college, but has now expanded, while Barnard has kept its school as all girls. Along with Barnard, Columbia’s campus was gorgeous, and huge. It must take over twenty minutes to walk from class to class. I would love to go to a big school but I don’t know if I would enjoy walking that much. I like Molloy’s small campus. We all headed over to the large statue in front of their even larger library, and found and touched the hidden owl. Touching the hidden owl is supposed to give you wisdom. You bet I rubbed that owl! We then headed across campus to “the Renaissance-style St. Paul’s Chapel” (ENY, 170). Our favorite pervert and Co., McKim, Mead, and White did not design this building like the other buildings on Columbia’s campus. This building was designed by Isaac Phelps (ENY, 170). We then headed to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, first stopping at St. Luke’s Hospital. Jim’s wife briefly spoke about how this hospital was very old, and how they were beginning to reconstruct parts of it, while trying to leave the historical outer garments of the building. She also informed us that the building used to have small balconies off of each of the hospital rooms. The rooms with the balconies were reserved for tuberculosis patients. The nurses would put the patients in their beds out on the balconies, to prevent the spread, and to also help clear the patients lungs as much as they could.
“The largest church in the United States and the largest Gothic-style cathedral in the world, the Cathedral has room for 3000 worshippers and spans a length of over 600 feet” (ENY, 167). Jim explained to us that apartment buildings were to be built next to the cathedral. I completely disagree with that idea, because I think it will ruin the beauty of the Cathedral. They can find somewhere else to put apartment buildings. Before entering the cathedral, we went to the Children’s Sculpture Garden to the right of it. In the center of the garden stood the Peace Fountain, built for the 200th anniversary of the Episcopalian Diocese of New York (ENY, 168). It was a beautifully weird structure, reminding me of the Little Mermaid. Upon entering the Cathedral, I was overwhelmed by the beautifully high ceilings, and the lit up dragon-like sculptures hanging from it. The cathedral seemed to be getting ready for some big event, so after walking through, using the ladies room, and talking to Ife about how we want to get married here, we headed out of the Cathedral to try to find our way to the subway. To my surprise, the two of us had gotten so much better navigating through the city. We took the subway back to Penn, and I grabbed a slice of pizza at Rose’s when we got there. We caught the next train back to Rockville Centre, drove back to Molloy, showered and passed out.
7. The Lovely Lower Manhattan:
Today was a little different for me and Ife. We both decided to attend the Friday Gotham class on this fine October 10th morning. Since you need a permit to park by the train station during the weekdays, I had my younger brother drop us at the train station so we could catch the 10:11am train to Penn Station. Since Friday is a workday the trains were more crowded then we were used to. We found the Friday Gotham class in the same meeting spot, and I was able to pick out some of the students since I attended the Friday class once before. We met Meritta and Mike there and were ready to begin our journey for the day. I saw painted faces and people wearing wings, but I wasn’t even surprised because in New York there is no normal. But one of the Friday class students informed me that the Comicon convention was going on.
“Lower Manhattan- that section of the island between New York Harbor to the south and City Hall to the north- is where it all began for the City of New York” (ENY, 39). We were about to explore what started the beautiful city of New York. We made our way down to the subway, where there was a steel drum player. I love the steel drums. Every year I go on a family trip to Aruba, and the steel drums were always playing. It’s just something that reminds me of my family and us being all together. We hopped on the 3 subway train and took that to Park Place. On the train, Mike accidentally knocked a lady in the face and her sun glasses fell right off! Luckily she was nice about it. The first building we took a gander at was the Woolworth building, inspired by Gothic architecture. This building, also known as the Cathedral of Commerce, was the tallest building in New York until the construction of the Chrysler Building in 1930. Our favorite pervert, McKim, and his allies Meade and White, designed the Municipal Building. This building “is currently home to thirteen municipal agencies of the City of New York and until 2009 housed the Manhattan Marriage Bureau, where 18,000 people were married each year in the building’s second floor chapel” (ENY, 42). McKim, Meade and White built the Municipal Building in 1907 to house the offices for the boroughs. “At the top of the building’s massive Neoclassical colonnade are written the dates of the founding of New Amsterdam (1626) and New York (1664)” (ENY, 42). The Municipal Building also holds the 3rd largest statue in New York on top and it is called Civic Fame. It is a 20-foot barefoot female statue holding a five pointed crown symbolizing the five boroughs (ENY, 43). We were also able to see the Guativino tile that was designed to be able to hold up the roof.
As we continued to walk, the aggressive pigeons of New York came flying toward me and Ife, and since Ife is petrified, she grabbed onto my back; there were scratch marks to prove it. we then headed to Foley Square, which used to be a 48 acre pond used for the source of fresh drinking water. Once that water became polluted, it was filled in to prevent outbreaks of disease (ENY, 43). In the middle of the square, we could not miss the fountain, Triumph of the Human Spirit, that symbolized the journey African American slaves took across the Atlantic, and paid tribute to the massive African burial ground (ENY, 43).
We also took a look at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse. I felt like I was in a scene of Law and Order. We then discussed the five points, and how the area where we were standing was a part of it. we talked about how the five points were the centers of violence in New York, and the five points were destroyed by the city because of it.
We then made our way to the Tweed Courthouse which has been called “one of the city’s grandest and most important civic monuments” (ENY, 45). A notoriously corrupt politician, William “Boss” Tweed, controlled all city spending and putting most of those public funds into their own pockets. They took advantage of the discriminated Irish to make sure votes were secure.
Next, we walked to City Hall, which houses the Offices of the Mayor and the City Council. This Neoclassical building is 102 years old and our tour guide informed us that George Washington heard the Declaration of Independence recited here for the first time. She also informed us that Park Row, is the oldest street in New York City. Our tour guide also pointed out a building off of Park Row, that used to be the New York Times building. My aunt currently works for the New York Times, but our tour guide was talking about when the news was literally yelled out for the people on the streets to hear, there was no news channels. As we were standing outside of the building, a group of people came to videotape a protest they had. Our tour guide told us that many people come here to express their beliefs and concerns, even if there is no political figure present. They just do it because of the principal. The inside of the building is just as beautiful as the outside. When you first walk in on your right, there is a statue of George Washington. We noticed that he had a shiny toe, and the tour guide told us that visitors touch that toe for good luck. Hell yeah I touched his toe! City Hall’s dome was created using optical illusions supported by ten Corinthian columns (ENY, 41). The building also has an omega staircase under the dome made of all marble from Massachusetts. We headed up the beautiful stairs to the City Council Chamber and sat down inside. I didn’t know that citizens were able to openly come in and take part in council meetings, so that was interesting to hear. There are 51 members of the city council, 48 being Democrat and 3 being Republican, and being part of council is only considered a part time job. Another fun fact is that City Hall faces south. That is because at the time of its construction, no one believed New York City would expand as much as it has, so City Hall technically has its back toward the expanded city (ENY, 42).
The African Burial Ground was our next stop. Walking in, the first thing that caught my eye was the entire wall that was filled with pictures of remains found in the burial ground. It was overwhelming to see how many bodies, young and old, were discovered right under our very feet. Approximately 15,000 people. That is unbelievable. It is almost unreal to believe that those grounds were one day used to properly bury their deceased loved ones. We were than able to go into a small theater and watch a short film about African American slaves during the time the burial grounds were used. Even though African Americans were seen as slaves and were not allowed to properly bury their dead, they did it anyway out of loving respect. The museum was built also to respect and honor those who were buried just beneath our feet.
The 9-11 Memorial Museum was our next stop. I visited the memorial only in August for the first time, but it was just as breathtaking the second time. There is just a feeling I get when I go there, like a void that is trying to be filled, but the memorial is so beautiful it helps to remember all of the beautiful lives lost on that horrible day. Two of my very best friends lost their fathers on 9-11, and as crazy as it may sound, the first time I visited the memorial, their names were the first names I saw. We were then able to see St. Paul’s Church, which was protected from falling debris on September 11th by a huge sycamore tree. St. Paul’s was built in 1764 and is Georgian Style. On September 11th rescuers went there to eat and to sleep during the days and months following the tragedy. There is a Trinity Root sculpture representing the roots of that tree in front of Trinity Church, which we were able to see as well, along with a beautiful dedication to 9-11 rescuers, survivors and those who lost their lives that day.
We then walked over to Wall Street and saw the infamous Wall Street Bull. It was funny learning that someone left it there as a joke, but it became such a huge hit symbolizing Wall Street optimism (ENY, 53). I also had to snap a picture of the New York Stock Exchange because I was obsessed with the Wolf of Wallstreet movie. In the late 18th century, there was a buttonwood tree at the foot of Wall Street under which traders and speculators would gather to trade securities, so I think that is why Mike hinted that the small tree in front was so meaningful. But I could be wrong. We then headed inside of the Federal Hall National Monument to use the restroom and take a look at the few exhibits they had, and the old vaults they had inside. We ended at the Museum of the American Indian, then headed through Bowling Green Park, where there were vendors set up all around. We looked around then met on a set of stairs. Mike and Meritta then let the class go for the day. Me and Ife, and a few other members of the Friday class took off to try to find the Subway. They left me in charge, so obviously I had to put the GPS on my phone because I have zero sense of direction. We made it to the subway and got back to Penn, hopped on the next train to Rockville Center and made it back to the dorms by 6:30pm. Unfortunately, I was on duty in the dorms that night and I was exhausted. I was doing rounds until 2am when I finally was able to get into my bed and pass out. What a long day, but it was definitely worth it.
Today was a little different for me and Ife. We both decided to attend the Friday Gotham class on this fine October 10th morning. Since you need a permit to park by the train station during the weekdays, I had my younger brother drop us at the train station so we could catch the 10:11am train to Penn Station. Since Friday is a workday the trains were more crowded then we were used to. We found the Friday Gotham class in the same meeting spot, and I was able to pick out some of the students since I attended the Friday class once before. We met Meritta and Mike there and were ready to begin our journey for the day. I saw painted faces and people wearing wings, but I wasn’t even surprised because in New York there is no normal. But one of the Friday class students informed me that the Comicon convention was going on.
“Lower Manhattan- that section of the island between New York Harbor to the south and City Hall to the north- is where it all began for the City of New York” (ENY, 39). We were about to explore what started the beautiful city of New York. We made our way down to the subway, where there was a steel drum player. I love the steel drums. Every year I go on a family trip to Aruba, and the steel drums were always playing. It’s just something that reminds me of my family and us being all together. We hopped on the 3 subway train and took that to Park Place. On the train, Mike accidentally knocked a lady in the face and her sun glasses fell right off! Luckily she was nice about it. The first building we took a gander at was the Woolworth building, inspired by Gothic architecture. This building, also known as the Cathedral of Commerce, was the tallest building in New York until the construction of the Chrysler Building in 1930. Our favorite pervert, McKim, and his allies Meade and White, designed the Municipal Building. This building “is currently home to thirteen municipal agencies of the City of New York and until 2009 housed the Manhattan Marriage Bureau, where 18,000 people were married each year in the building’s second floor chapel” (ENY, 42). McKim, Meade and White built the Municipal Building in 1907 to house the offices for the boroughs. “At the top of the building’s massive Neoclassical colonnade are written the dates of the founding of New Amsterdam (1626) and New York (1664)” (ENY, 42). The Municipal Building also holds the 3rd largest statue in New York on top and it is called Civic Fame. It is a 20-foot barefoot female statue holding a five pointed crown symbolizing the five boroughs (ENY, 43). We were also able to see the Guativino tile that was designed to be able to hold up the roof.
As we continued to walk, the aggressive pigeons of New York came flying toward me and Ife, and since Ife is petrified, she grabbed onto my back; there were scratch marks to prove it. we then headed to Foley Square, which used to be a 48 acre pond used for the source of fresh drinking water. Once that water became polluted, it was filled in to prevent outbreaks of disease (ENY, 43). In the middle of the square, we could not miss the fountain, Triumph of the Human Spirit, that symbolized the journey African American slaves took across the Atlantic, and paid tribute to the massive African burial ground (ENY, 43).
We also took a look at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse. I felt like I was in a scene of Law and Order. We then discussed the five points, and how the area where we were standing was a part of it. we talked about how the five points were the centers of violence in New York, and the five points were destroyed by the city because of it.
We then made our way to the Tweed Courthouse which has been called “one of the city’s grandest and most important civic monuments” (ENY, 45). A notoriously corrupt politician, William “Boss” Tweed, controlled all city spending and putting most of those public funds into their own pockets. They took advantage of the discriminated Irish to make sure votes were secure.
Next, we walked to City Hall, which houses the Offices of the Mayor and the City Council. This Neoclassical building is 102 years old and our tour guide informed us that George Washington heard the Declaration of Independence recited here for the first time. She also informed us that Park Row, is the oldest street in New York City. Our tour guide also pointed out a building off of Park Row, that used to be the New York Times building. My aunt currently works for the New York Times, but our tour guide was talking about when the news was literally yelled out for the people on the streets to hear, there was no news channels. As we were standing outside of the building, a group of people came to videotape a protest they had. Our tour guide told us that many people come here to express their beliefs and concerns, even if there is no political figure present. They just do it because of the principal. The inside of the building is just as beautiful as the outside. When you first walk in on your right, there is a statue of George Washington. We noticed that he had a shiny toe, and the tour guide told us that visitors touch that toe for good luck. Hell yeah I touched his toe! City Hall’s dome was created using optical illusions supported by ten Corinthian columns (ENY, 41). The building also has an omega staircase under the dome made of all marble from Massachusetts. We headed up the beautiful stairs to the City Council Chamber and sat down inside. I didn’t know that citizens were able to openly come in and take part in council meetings, so that was interesting to hear. There are 51 members of the city council, 48 being Democrat and 3 being Republican, and being part of council is only considered a part time job. Another fun fact is that City Hall faces south. That is because at the time of its construction, no one believed New York City would expand as much as it has, so City Hall technically has its back toward the expanded city (ENY, 42).
The African Burial Ground was our next stop. Walking in, the first thing that caught my eye was the entire wall that was filled with pictures of remains found in the burial ground. It was overwhelming to see how many bodies, young and old, were discovered right under our very feet. Approximately 15,000 people. That is unbelievable. It is almost unreal to believe that those grounds were one day used to properly bury their deceased loved ones. We were than able to go into a small theater and watch a short film about African American slaves during the time the burial grounds were used. Even though African Americans were seen as slaves and were not allowed to properly bury their dead, they did it anyway out of loving respect. The museum was built also to respect and honor those who were buried just beneath our feet.
The 9-11 Memorial Museum was our next stop. I visited the memorial only in August for the first time, but it was just as breathtaking the second time. There is just a feeling I get when I go there, like a void that is trying to be filled, but the memorial is so beautiful it helps to remember all of the beautiful lives lost on that horrible day. Two of my very best friends lost their fathers on 9-11, and as crazy as it may sound, the first time I visited the memorial, their names were the first names I saw. We were then able to see St. Paul’s Church, which was protected from falling debris on September 11th by a huge sycamore tree. St. Paul’s was built in 1764 and is Georgian Style. On September 11th rescuers went there to eat and to sleep during the days and months following the tragedy. There is a Trinity Root sculpture representing the roots of that tree in front of Trinity Church, which we were able to see as well, along with a beautiful dedication to 9-11 rescuers, survivors and those who lost their lives that day.
We then walked over to Wall Street and saw the infamous Wall Street Bull. It was funny learning that someone left it there as a joke, but it became such a huge hit symbolizing Wall Street optimism (ENY, 53). I also had to snap a picture of the New York Stock Exchange because I was obsessed with the Wolf of Wallstreet movie. In the late 18th century, there was a buttonwood tree at the foot of Wall Street under which traders and speculators would gather to trade securities, so I think that is why Mike hinted that the small tree in front was so meaningful. But I could be wrong. We then headed inside of the Federal Hall National Monument to use the restroom and take a look at the few exhibits they had, and the old vaults they had inside. We ended at the Museum of the American Indian, then headed through Bowling Green Park, where there were vendors set up all around. We looked around then met on a set of stairs. Mike and Meritta then let the class go for the day. Me and Ife, and a few other members of the Friday class took off to try to find the Subway. They left me in charge, so obviously I had to put the GPS on my phone because I have zero sense of direction. We made it to the subway and got back to Penn, hopped on the next train to Rockville Center and made it back to the dorms by 6:30pm. Unfortunately, I was on duty in the dorms that night and I was exhausted. I was doing rounds until 2am when I finally was able to get into my bed and pass out. What a long day, but it was definitely worth it.
8. Lower East Side; Immigrant New York:
What a bitter-sweet feeling. The last day of my Gotham Core class. Because I went to the Friday class last week, and the Saturday class was cancelled due to the weather, I was technically a day ahead of the Saturday class. The feeling is bitter sweet because not only did I really enjoy an interactive class like this, but I really enjoyed making something out of my Saturdays. It’s not like I am glad that I will now have Saturdays free, because track season started the weekend Gotham ended. Lets see..do a track workout or explore New York City for the day? Anyway, instead of meeting at our regular time, being 11:00am, we met in Penn Station at 9:00am. I actually drove to Great Neck early in the morning, and took the train from there to Penn Station because my boyfriend goes to Kings Point right in Great Neck and I was going right to his school after class. So instead of traveling with my BFF Ife, I traveled by myself. It was lonely I didn’t like it. but I met the class right at 9:00am in Penn, and to no surprise many of our classmates either forgot, or probably just overslept. We headed to the M train which we needed to walk one block east to 6th avenue, and took that to Delancey street. As we were walking, Mike pointed out the Statue of Lenon on top of one of the buildings down the road. We walked over to the Essex Street Market, where we stood outside for a little while and discussed a few things with Mike and Lee. We discussed that pogroms were organized attacks on the Jewish population, because the Lower East Side became the largest Jewish community when they fled to New York. “Between 1880 and 1924 two and a half million Ashkenazi Jews came to the United States, the vast majority of whom settled on the Lower East Side” (ENY, 65). It also then became the most densely populated place on the planet housing over 700 people per square foot. Like many other parts of the city, the Lower East side also went through and is going through gentrification. It was the shithole of New York, as I am quoting Mike and Lee. The Essex Street Market used to crowd the street, until it was moved inside. The streets were “filled with pushcarts, with vendors selling everything from fruits, vegetables, and meat, to clothing and household items” (ENY, 67). Mike allowed us to go inside to grab a snack and use the restroom. I stole a bite of one of Ife’s cake balls and it was delicious. From Essex Market, we headed to Orchard Street to the Tenement Museum. The street names Orchard and Delancey literally came from James Delancey planting apple orchard trees there. This 1863 tenement building gave us the chance to take a walk through what it was like living in the 19th century. I never even knew a museum like this existed in the city, and it was by far my favorite museum of all time. It gave us a real-life glimpse of a real life apartment from the 19th century, and the re-made rooms, and the personal story of a family who resided there, just made the tour all the more special and real. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and down to earth. She informed us that over 7000 people lived in that very building during the years it was occupied, until everyone was evicted in 1935. The building all shared the one bathroom and water source downstairs and there was a designated wash day to wash clothes and other items. In 1988, the ground level of the building was up to the first floor in dirt and debri, so it was dug out and pieces of the puzzle were found (like the comb, bottle and toothbrush we saw in the museum. We were able to walk inside of the museum, but no pictures were allowed because of the condition of the building and because they are trying to preserve everything as long as possible. The thing I liked most about the tour was that everything really seemed to be just the way it was back during the 19th century. I also really liked the connection the tour made to one specific family that they found resided with their three little girls in that apartment building. It made it real life to me seeing the re-make of what the house may have been laid out, and how crowded it was, especially for a family with three children. It was interesting to hear that the youngest child passed away as a infant, and how it can be assumed that it was from the tampered milk that sat unrefridgerated for days and was laced with powder and unsanitary water to make the sellers more money. It was also very interesting to see some of the few old artifacts found in the debris outside, like the toothbrush and lice comb. Having a tour about a family that essentially you follow around made it so much more interesting and memorable.
After the tour, we were broken up into groups to explore Chinatown, and for the most part I think Mike was either sick of us, or he wanted to test how good our sense of direction was through the city streets. As you enter Chinatown, it is like “you’ve left New York completely and have been transported to the opposite side of the planet” (ENY, 72). The culture of Chinatown is like no other. It is essentially a city of its own, distinguishing itself as a town of China with all the culture of China that it could fit. Canal street is known to many girls as the place to go to buy the cheap designer knock-off bags, glasses, watches and so much more. You walk down the street and get the occasional tap on the shoulder asking if you want bags. It is quite entertaining. We headed to the Po Zhao Buddhist Temple where I gave a dollar to take a fortune. It told me I would have increased income. It lied. But besides that, as we kept walking there were little baby turtles for sale and I was .2 seconds away from buying two of them. They were the cutest little things. I regret not taking them home with me. As we kept walking, I couldn’t stop noticing all of the gross full bodies of dead animals hanging in the windows of stores. I just don’t understand why it needs to be hanging in the window, hang it in the fridge or something. But my group stopped in a small market/deli. Everything in there was in Chinese, or from China, except for Heinz ketchup. It was pretty funny. I bought a soda and my favorite Chinese candy that is sold at a Chinese fruit store by my house. All of the groups met Mike, Lee and our previous tour guide Jim at Cognee Village. Before crossing the street to get to the restaurant, we saw a crab. Not sure if it was dead or alive, but either way crabs don’t belong on the streets of New York City. The restaurant was really good but I just didn’t like how it was the spinning table where you serve yourself. Everytime a plate got to me it was already empty. But from what I did have the food was delicious. We then walked to a candy store called Economy Candy, which was opened in 1937 and holds candy you would have thought that you would never see again! (ENY, 67) As we continued to walk, we passed the Williamsburg Bridge. I was shocked. After seeing the Brooklyn Bridge and how gorgeous it is, I was expecting the same. But I was mistaken. The Williamsburg Bridge is not very pretty at all. It is very industrial looking, but it was interesting to find out that the bridge has a train going across it, a walkway and lanes for car traffic. I never knew that. After passing the bridge, we saw yet another set of the Rentable Bikes and Jim told is that you can pay $99 a year, but the catch is that you are only allowed to be on one bike for 45 minutes before you are charged extra! What a rip off! We then walked to Henry Street where we sat on the steps of the Henry Street Settlement. “The Henry Street Settlement was founded by Lillian Ward, a 25 year old nursing student who was appalled by the conditions that she encountered on the Lower East Side while volunteering to teach classes on home health care to immigrant women” (ENY, 69). Wald also began a visiting nurses service, where nurses would travel to the patient to care for them rather than them going to the clinic to receive treatment (ENY, 69).
Our last stop for my last class was the Eldridge Street Synagogue. It most definitely was one of the most architecturally beautiful buildings I have seen. it was constructed in 1887 and was the first synagogue of New York built by Eastern European Jews (ENY, 71). The building was left empty in the 1950’s until 1986 when it was found. In 2007, it was reopened as a museum sharing the rich history it has to offer (ENY, 72).
After that, the class parted ways and me and Ife parted our amazing Saturday Gotham class for the last time. As I said, it was an extremely bitter-sweet feeling. But at that moment, our group of girls was more focused on finding and sprinting to the subway. I missed my train to Great Neck by 3 minutes which I was pretty mad about, but I only had to wait about 25 minutes for the next one. I took the train back to Great Neck and was able to grab a nice meal with my boyfriend and his family. I think he was more excited I was done with my Saturday class than I was!
What a bitter-sweet feeling. The last day of my Gotham Core class. Because I went to the Friday class last week, and the Saturday class was cancelled due to the weather, I was technically a day ahead of the Saturday class. The feeling is bitter sweet because not only did I really enjoy an interactive class like this, but I really enjoyed making something out of my Saturdays. It’s not like I am glad that I will now have Saturdays free, because track season started the weekend Gotham ended. Lets see..do a track workout or explore New York City for the day? Anyway, instead of meeting at our regular time, being 11:00am, we met in Penn Station at 9:00am. I actually drove to Great Neck early in the morning, and took the train from there to Penn Station because my boyfriend goes to Kings Point right in Great Neck and I was going right to his school after class. So instead of traveling with my BFF Ife, I traveled by myself. It was lonely I didn’t like it. but I met the class right at 9:00am in Penn, and to no surprise many of our classmates either forgot, or probably just overslept. We headed to the M train which we needed to walk one block east to 6th avenue, and took that to Delancey street. As we were walking, Mike pointed out the Statue of Lenon on top of one of the buildings down the road. We walked over to the Essex Street Market, where we stood outside for a little while and discussed a few things with Mike and Lee. We discussed that pogroms were organized attacks on the Jewish population, because the Lower East Side became the largest Jewish community when they fled to New York. “Between 1880 and 1924 two and a half million Ashkenazi Jews came to the United States, the vast majority of whom settled on the Lower East Side” (ENY, 65). It also then became the most densely populated place on the planet housing over 700 people per square foot. Like many other parts of the city, the Lower East side also went through and is going through gentrification. It was the shithole of New York, as I am quoting Mike and Lee. The Essex Street Market used to crowd the street, until it was moved inside. The streets were “filled with pushcarts, with vendors selling everything from fruits, vegetables, and meat, to clothing and household items” (ENY, 67). Mike allowed us to go inside to grab a snack and use the restroom. I stole a bite of one of Ife’s cake balls and it was delicious. From Essex Market, we headed to Orchard Street to the Tenement Museum. The street names Orchard and Delancey literally came from James Delancey planting apple orchard trees there. This 1863 tenement building gave us the chance to take a walk through what it was like living in the 19th century. I never even knew a museum like this existed in the city, and it was by far my favorite museum of all time. It gave us a real-life glimpse of a real life apartment from the 19th century, and the re-made rooms, and the personal story of a family who resided there, just made the tour all the more special and real. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and down to earth. She informed us that over 7000 people lived in that very building during the years it was occupied, until everyone was evicted in 1935. The building all shared the one bathroom and water source downstairs and there was a designated wash day to wash clothes and other items. In 1988, the ground level of the building was up to the first floor in dirt and debri, so it was dug out and pieces of the puzzle were found (like the comb, bottle and toothbrush we saw in the museum. We were able to walk inside of the museum, but no pictures were allowed because of the condition of the building and because they are trying to preserve everything as long as possible. The thing I liked most about the tour was that everything really seemed to be just the way it was back during the 19th century. I also really liked the connection the tour made to one specific family that they found resided with their three little girls in that apartment building. It made it real life to me seeing the re-make of what the house may have been laid out, and how crowded it was, especially for a family with three children. It was interesting to hear that the youngest child passed away as a infant, and how it can be assumed that it was from the tampered milk that sat unrefridgerated for days and was laced with powder and unsanitary water to make the sellers more money. It was also very interesting to see some of the few old artifacts found in the debris outside, like the toothbrush and lice comb. Having a tour about a family that essentially you follow around made it so much more interesting and memorable.
After the tour, we were broken up into groups to explore Chinatown, and for the most part I think Mike was either sick of us, or he wanted to test how good our sense of direction was through the city streets. As you enter Chinatown, it is like “you’ve left New York completely and have been transported to the opposite side of the planet” (ENY, 72). The culture of Chinatown is like no other. It is essentially a city of its own, distinguishing itself as a town of China with all the culture of China that it could fit. Canal street is known to many girls as the place to go to buy the cheap designer knock-off bags, glasses, watches and so much more. You walk down the street and get the occasional tap on the shoulder asking if you want bags. It is quite entertaining. We headed to the Po Zhao Buddhist Temple where I gave a dollar to take a fortune. It told me I would have increased income. It lied. But besides that, as we kept walking there were little baby turtles for sale and I was .2 seconds away from buying two of them. They were the cutest little things. I regret not taking them home with me. As we kept walking, I couldn’t stop noticing all of the gross full bodies of dead animals hanging in the windows of stores. I just don’t understand why it needs to be hanging in the window, hang it in the fridge or something. But my group stopped in a small market/deli. Everything in there was in Chinese, or from China, except for Heinz ketchup. It was pretty funny. I bought a soda and my favorite Chinese candy that is sold at a Chinese fruit store by my house. All of the groups met Mike, Lee and our previous tour guide Jim at Cognee Village. Before crossing the street to get to the restaurant, we saw a crab. Not sure if it was dead or alive, but either way crabs don’t belong on the streets of New York City. The restaurant was really good but I just didn’t like how it was the spinning table where you serve yourself. Everytime a plate got to me it was already empty. But from what I did have the food was delicious. We then walked to a candy store called Economy Candy, which was opened in 1937 and holds candy you would have thought that you would never see again! (ENY, 67) As we continued to walk, we passed the Williamsburg Bridge. I was shocked. After seeing the Brooklyn Bridge and how gorgeous it is, I was expecting the same. But I was mistaken. The Williamsburg Bridge is not very pretty at all. It is very industrial looking, but it was interesting to find out that the bridge has a train going across it, a walkway and lanes for car traffic. I never knew that. After passing the bridge, we saw yet another set of the Rentable Bikes and Jim told is that you can pay $99 a year, but the catch is that you are only allowed to be on one bike for 45 minutes before you are charged extra! What a rip off! We then walked to Henry Street where we sat on the steps of the Henry Street Settlement. “The Henry Street Settlement was founded by Lillian Ward, a 25 year old nursing student who was appalled by the conditions that she encountered on the Lower East Side while volunteering to teach classes on home health care to immigrant women” (ENY, 69). Wald also began a visiting nurses service, where nurses would travel to the patient to care for them rather than them going to the clinic to receive treatment (ENY, 69).
Our last stop for my last class was the Eldridge Street Synagogue. It most definitely was one of the most architecturally beautiful buildings I have seen. it was constructed in 1887 and was the first synagogue of New York built by Eastern European Jews (ENY, 71). The building was left empty in the 1950’s until 1986 when it was found. In 2007, it was reopened as a museum sharing the rich history it has to offer (ENY, 72).
After that, the class parted ways and me and Ife parted our amazing Saturday Gotham class for the last time. As I said, it was an extremely bitter-sweet feeling. But at that moment, our group of girls was more focused on finding and sprinting to the subway. I missed my train to Great Neck by 3 minutes which I was pretty mad about, but I only had to wait about 25 minutes for the next one. I took the train back to Great Neck and was able to grab a nice meal with my boyfriend and his family. I think he was more excited I was done with my Saturday class than I was!
A Thankful reflectionI was able to experience parts of New York that I never even knew existed. I always saw New York as constantly busy and crowded and not relaxing. I imagined the smells of the streets, the honking of car horns, the pushy city streets. I am actually thankful for this class for showing me that yes, New York does have crowded, smelly, noisy streets, and yes, that is in part what makes New York, New York. But I am more thankful for this class for showing me how much more New York City has to offer. I would have never known, or never wanted to know anything more about New York City without this class. I wouldn’t have been able to learn about the rich history behind New York and all of the hidden places that look to share that history. I would have never walked the streets we walked, just because I had this thought that all of New York City was as crowded as the small part of Times Square and the streets by Penn Station that I made as my diameter of the city. I was able to experience walking through different parts of the city, through quiet neighborhood streets that weren’t screaming with yellow taxi horns. I was able to enter museums I honestly had no idea even existed. Yes, we walked for miles, and yes it was exhausting at times. But it was worth every exhausting second. Like Mike said, we were Learnin’ & Burnin’. Mike turned me into a photo fanatic, snapping pictures left and right. But I couldn’t be happier; I will have those photos forever. I honestly cannot even tell you what my favorite part of the class was. But I can tell you that I opened up, I tried new things. I tried Thai food, I tried Indian food, I took the subway and was able to navigate my way around the city, sometimes with the help of Siri, but it’s a start! I didn’t just hail a taxi and call it a day. I swiped that Metrocard and made my damn way back to Penn the New Yorker way! I learned so much more about my own city that I would have ever thought I could know. I was able to experience more of New York City than I think I would have been able to over a lifetime. And I was able to experience it with a great class, and even greater professors. Mike and Lee’s knowledge of the city, and their undying excitement to share that knowledge, made it even more enjoyable to be a part of. To think that I took this amazing city for granted just a few short weeks ago appalls me. This city is so much more diverse than I would have ever thought, and I now know why it is such a huge tourist city. I 110% recommend this core class to anyone that is able to take it and I thank both Mike and Lee for giving me the best New York experience I could have ever asked for. Peace & Love New York See you soon! Stephanie Meyer |
A N E W Y O R K C I T Y E X P E R I E N C E |