Journal 1
Impressions of New York - Before class
As a resident of Long Island for 24 years, I have always tried to take advantage of all the different things New York City has to offer. Growing up in Bellmore my entire life, I vividly remember the first few times my parents brought me into the city and how shocked I initially was at how different it was from suburbia. Throughout my childhood, I remember going to see numerous Broadway shows, going on class trips to museums, and visiting Times Square for the first time. During my teenage years, I was "allowed" to take the train into Manhattan by myself to hang out with my friends and explore the city. It was during this time that I was able to experience the not-so-touristy parts of New York City and gain an understanding of city life.
When I think of New York City, I think of the greatest city in the world - as cliché as that sounds. What I love so much about the city is that it has so much to offer. The fact that you can be in Central Park surrounded by trees and then turn a corner and see a skyscraper is just mind-blowing. Although many people find the hustle and the bustle of the city to be overwhelming, I personally enjoy it and would not mind living there sometime in the near future.
Quixotic Queens - 9/6/13
I was extremely excited for today's first class of "Gotham: The New York Experience". Around 9 am, I began my journey to the train station, stopping for my morning coffee on the way. I decided to take the 9:33 am train out of Merrick so I could arrive in the city a little early and get situated. Once in the city, I had some time to kill so I walked around Penn Station for a little bit and purchased some snacks in case I got hungry during our 8 hour adventure. After meeting up with my fellow classmates at 11 am, Mike and Meritta gave us a brief introduction of what the day had in store for us and we started walking towards our first destination, the New York Public Library. On our way to the library, we stopped just outside Penn Station and Mike gave us a quick history lesson about the old Penn Station and how important it is to preserve the original structures of buildings. We continued walking north and decided to stop in Bryant Park so Mike and Meritta could give us a more in-depth description about the work required for the class and what is to be expected of us. This was my first time at Bryant Park and I really enjoyed the scenery and atmosphere. From the park, we had great views of the Chrysler Building, which was constructed in 1930 by Walter P. Chrysler, an automobile manufacturer (Blue Guide, 231). Mike then proceeded to educate us on the different types of architectural styles that we will see all throughout the city, such as, art deco, neoclassical, and internationalist.
After a quick 2 minute walk around the corner, we arrived at the front of the New York Public Library, which is where we took our first picture together as a group. Upon entering the library for the first time, I was shocked to see how nice it was inside. I found the architecture and the artwork on the ceilings to be amazing. I sat down in one of the reading rooms and wrote down some notes about the day so far. Our next stop of the day was Grand Central Terminal which was located about 5 minutes away from the library. Grand Central Terminal is the largest train station, which was originally built in 1871 (Blue Guide 228). With the invention of newer trains that didn't require steam, trains were then allowed to go underground. In the 1940's, 40% of Americans traveled through Grand Central Terminal. However, these numbers soon declined in the 1950's with the creation of cars and highway travel. When we entered Grand Central Terminal, we walked around the main concourse for a while and took in the beautiful ceiling. However, we couldn't stay for long because we were off to our next destination!
We continued heading north on Park Ave, making a quick stop at the Waldorf Astoria, which was also constructed during the 1930's making it an Art Deco landmark (Blue Guide 235). As we continued walking uptown, Mike informed us that the buildings we were passing were used primarily by the advertising industry back in the 1960's. I thought this was particularly interesting because I am a fan of the television show "Mad Men". After walking for a while, we finally arrived the the Roosevelt Island Tram station which is located at 59th Street and 2nd Avenue. As we boarded the tram, I was slightly nervous because I have seen the tram cross over the East River from the Queensboro Bridge numerous times and it is something that was definitely out of my comfort zone. However, I actually really enjoyed the tram ride and the views from the tram were absolutely amazing. Once we arrived at Roosevelt Island, we began heading south to check out the Four Freedoms Park. During our walk to the park, we got a brief history of the island which was originally called Blackwell Island. Back in the day, Roosevelt Island was mainly "used as a place of exile for madmen, criminals, and incurables" (Blue Guide 382). This all began to make sense when we passed by a hospital that was once a prison and the ruins of a hospital the was also used as one of the first nursing schools in the United States. After checking out the views of Manhattan and Queens from the Four Freedoms Park, we headed to the subway station to hop on the train to Queens!
After a short subway ride later, we officially arrived in Jackson Heights, Queens. We ended up eating lunch at the Jackson Diner, which is an Indian restaurant located right off of Roosevelt Ave. The food was beyond good and I was so happy to have something that I don't get to have too often for lunch. After our delicious lunch break, we headed back on the subway taking the R train to Astoria. We got off at the Steinway Street stop and proceeded to head in the direction of the Museum of the Moving Image. Once we arrived at the museum, we got a quick overview about the history of the museum and the neighboring Kaufman Studios. We were given an hour to walk around the museum by ourselves so I took the time to wander around and figure out what interested me. What I found to be most interesting were the notes that Jennifer Connelly wrote during the production of "Requiem for a Dream" and the various masks and props used during "Mrs. Doubtfire". Next on our list of places to go was Long Island City, so we headed to the subway station and got on the M train.
When we first arrived to Long Island City, my first impression was that we were in a very industrialized neighborhood, which was very different from our previous stop in Astoria. We were educated by Mike and Meritta about the concept of gentrification, which is the concept of building up a neighborhood and as a result, forcing the original inhabitants to migrate out because they can no longer afford to live there. Although the area was very industrial, we could see many high-rise buildings all along the waterfront and lots of construction going on, which was the perfect example of gentrification. After a short walk around Long Island City, we arrived at MoMa P.S. 1, which is the oldest public school in Queens. Unfortunately, we were not able to go inside but that was perfectly fine since we were right around the block from 5 Pointz: The Institute of Higher Burnin'. I think 5 Pointz was one of the main highlights of my day because I really enjoyed the different styles of graffiti art. Some of my favorites were the hand and the 3-D desk. It was hard to grasp the fact that the artwork could be up for a few days and then be painted over by another artist. However, I thought the experience at 5 Pointz was really awesome and I'm actually sad that they're going to be demolishing the entire building because I would definitely love to go back.
Our last stop of the day was at Gantry State Park. On our way to the park, we made a quick stop at the Pepsi-cola sign and took in the views of Manhattan and Roosevelt Island. When we arrived at the gantries, Mike and Meritta gave us a brief introduction as to what the gantries were and what they were used for back in the day. I thought this was particularly interesting and I was actually quite shocked at how well the city preserved them. By this time in the day, I was definitely exhausted but I felt the experience was definitely worth my entire body being sore for 2 days. On our way back from the gantries, we hopped on the 7 train and took it to the Woodside LIRR station, which is where we caught out train back home to Long Island.
Bodacious Brooklyn - 9/13/13
Today's class focused on much of what the borough of Brooklyn has to offer. After last week's class, I was definitely excited to return to the city and explore some more sights. I started my day by taking the 10:02 am train from Merrick, which arrived in Penn Station around 10:50 am. After meeting up with my fellow classmates, we began our journey to our first stop of the day, Coney Island. As a class, we left Penn Station and walked one block east to 6th avenue, which is where we got on the F train going downtown. The subway ride from midtown Manhattan to Coney Island was originally supposed to be around 45 minutes long, which would've given us an hour of free time to explore Coney Island. However, the subway ride ended up taking closer to an hour and half (due to delays), which only left us with about 30 minutes to walk around and get a bite to eat. Once we arrived in Coney Island, Mike gave us a brief history lesson and some ideas to think about while we went off and explored on our own. Like many other places in the New York metropolitan area, "Coney Island was settled by the Dutch, who named it Konjin Eiland after the rabbits they found there" (Blue Guide, 492). Contrary to the popular belief, Coney Island isn't actually an island, but is instead a peninsula which was artificially joined to the mainland in the early 20th century (Blue Guide, 492). In the 1920's, Coney Island was a great amusement area and business was booming. However, with the rise of the automobile and the creation of parkways by Robert Moses, people started going elsewhere for entertainment and the prosperity of Coney Island began to decline in the 1960's and 1970's (Blue Guide, 492).
In the present day, Mike described Coney Island as having a "kitchy" flavor to it and also brought up the concept of gentrification again. Like many of the other places we saw in Queens last week, the pressure to build up Coney Island and make it a luxury destination was definitely apparent. In my opinion, parts of Coney Island reminded me of Atlantic City in New Jersey, but obviously less well-developed. After walking on the boardwalk for a few minutes, Shannon, Joe, Mike, and I decided to check out the original Nathan's and some of the other shops nearby. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to ride the famous Cyclone roller coaster due to Luna Park being closed. Around 1:30 pm we met back up with the rest of the class and began our trek to our next destination.
Our next destination of the day was the New York Transit Museum, located in downtown Brooklyn. We hopped back on the F train and took it to Jay Street which led us out a few blocks away from the museum. Once we arrived to the museum, I was shocked to learn that the entire museum was actually an old subway station. Our tour guide Katherine explained that the subway station was originally built to be the first subway stop in Brooklyn on the Second Avenue line in 1936. However, since the Second Avenue line was never completed, the subway station was only open for ten years and only operated to one stop, which was located three blocks away. During the 1970's, the abandoned subway station served as a place to host an exhibit about old subway cars with hopes that people would gain more respect for subways and the subway system. With the success of the exhibit, the old subway station was later turned into a museum. Katherine also gave us a brief history about how the subway tunnels were created, the sandhogs, and the first subway station - City Hall Station, located in Manhattan. We were given a half hour to explore the museum by ourselves, so I headed downstairs to check out the old subway cars, which dated back to the early 1900's. I found this to be extremely interesting and I was amazed at how different the modern-day subway cars really are.
After meeting back up with the group, we began our walking tour of Brooklyn Heights. The first stop we made was at Brooklyn Borough Hall, which was founded in 1898. This part of the day was focused on the different architecture's of the major buildings in the area. We next visited St. Ann's which was a gothic style church and then proceeded to walk through a neoclassical style building which is now functioning as a Chase bank. We then ended up at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and took in the breathtaking views of lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge. I have been to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade numerous times and it is definitely one of my favorite spots to go in New York City. What I didn't know was that the promenade is in the exact location where George Washington surrendered New York to the British and saved his army by secretly sending them away to Washington Heights under the cover of darkness. I found this to be an extremely interesting piece of history.
After we walked around the park for a while, we decided to go check out some of the nearby Brownstones in the area. Mike informed us that the brownstone material came from a quarry in Connecticut but the quarry is now closed so therefore brown cement is used instead. We continued walking around Brooklyn Heights and finally reached our last destination of the day, the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is a suspension bridge which opened on May 25, 1883 (Blue Guide, 464). Before the bridge was constructed, people would have to take the ferry across the East River, which could not accommodate large amounts of people and would not function during poor weather (Blue Guide, 464). John A. Roebling was the original engineer in charge of building the bridge. However, his son Washington Roebling took over after he contracted tetanus and unfortunately died (Blue Guide, 465). Washington Roebling later had some health problems as well, and his wife Emily Roebling took over for her husband and was the first person to walk across the bridge after it was finished in 1883.
After exploring the area around the bridge, we stopped for a quick snack at an ice cream shop and began our journey across the Brooklyn Bridge. I was very excited for the walk across even though I was definitely tired. The views from the bridge were amazing. Being able to look north and see the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and various Manhattan skyscrapers was definitely an experience that I would recommend to others. Overall, the walk wasn't really that bad and I would definitely do it again. Once we all crossed over and arrived in Manhattan, we took a quick glance around at the buildings surrounding us. Shannon, Joe, Mike, and I decided to head back to Penn Station so we headed west on Chambers Street and took the A subway uptown to Penn Station. I really enjoyed today's class in Brooklyn and I definitely would go back again.
A Tale of Three Villages - 9/20/13
Today's class focused on the history of the villages. We began our day by taking the 1 subway downtown from Penn Station and got off at Houston Street (pronounced house-ton). While walking to our first destination, Mike and Meritta gave us a brief history lesson about the area. Like most places in New York City, the villages have underwent gentrification during the past few decades. As a result, housing costs are extremely expensive. After walking for a few minutes, we turned down Bedford Street - which is one of the most desirable streets in the West Village. It is very easy to get lost in the West Village since there are no numbered streets and they were created before the city adapted the grid system. Our first stop of the day was at 75 1/2 Bedford Street, which is considered to be the narrowest home in New York City. 75 1/2 Bedford Street also has great historical influence, due to it being inhabited by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Cary Grant, and Margaret Meade at different times during the past twentieth century. It was recently just sold for $3.25 million and Mike made us think about what kind of house that money could buy on Long Island. Mike then explained why living in the city is so desirable to some people which gave us a lot to think about as we proceeded onward to our next stop - the White Horse Tavern. The White Horse Tavern was founded in 1880 and was a popular bar for ship workers due to its close proximity to the Hudson River. During the 1900's, it became the beaming bohemian heart of the village where many famous writers came to drink (Blue Guide, 143). An urban legend states that Dylan Thomas came here to drink one night and had 18 straight shots of whiskey. Thomas later fell into a coma and died a few days later at St. Vincent's Hospital (Blue Guide, 143).
After leaving the White Horse Tavern, we walked down Christopher Street, which is home to the largest gay and lesbian community in the world. Christopher Street used to be the gay heart of the city, but it is now being spread out to other areas such as, Chelsea and Williamsburg (Brooklyn). We made a quick stop at One if by Land, Two if by Sea, which is supposedly the most romantic restaurant in all of New York City. We then arrived at Christopher Park, which used to be a tobacco farm but is now often referred to as "the Times Square of Greenwich Village" (Blue Guide, 130). As we walked through the park, we viewed statues of two same-sex couples, all four cast in bronze, and painted stark white" (Blue Guide, 130). Right across the street from the park was the Stonewall Inn, which is where the Stonewall riots occurred in 1969. These riots marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement and significantly changed how gays were treated in New York City. The Stonewall Inn is now considered to be the monument of the movement and the NYC Gay Pride Parade ends at the famous inn every year.
Our next stop of the day was at the Northern Dispensary. The Northern Dispensary is a triangular-shaped building that was built in 1831 to offer free medical care to the poor (Blue Guide, 130). One of its most famous visitors was Edgar Allen Poe in 1837 (Blue Guide, 130). Mike then informed us that the architecture of this building is called "federal style" and we proceeded to walk down Gay Street to view more houses of this particular style. After heading east for a couple of blocks, we arrived at the Merchant's House Museum - which was our first stop in the East Village. The house was built in 1832 for an upper income family and was inhabited by the Tredwell family for almost 100 years (Blue Guide, 158). We received a tour of the house and viewed all of the authentic furniture pieces that were used by the family during the time that they lived there. What I found to be most interesting during the tour was viewing each family member's sleeping quarters and the fact that the family owned four slaves.
After the tour was over, we walked a few short blocks to Washington Square Park, which is considered the heart of Greenwich Village (Blue Guide, 131). Mike informed us that the park used to be a marshland and a river ran through it on its way to the Hudson River. In the 1950's, Robert Moses wanted to build a highway directly through the park but was forced to back down. In the 1970's, Washington Square Park was the place to go if you were looking to buy drugs but was cleaned up in the 1990's. Most buildings surrounding the park are owned by NYU and the park is a central feature to their campus. Many of the houses around the park date back to the 1830's and are the first example of urban planning in all of the United States. Washington Square Park is most notably known for the Washington Arch, which is located on the north entrance to the park. The arch was designed by Stanford White and was erected in 1889 to commemorate the centennial of George Washington's inauguration (Blue Guide, 131).
After walking through the park, we headed down MacDougal Street, which was the bohemian heart of the city during 1960's. We then made our way to St. Mark's Place to grab some lunch ($1 pizza!). After a nice relaxing lunch break, we checked out the St. Mark's Church, which is the second oldest church in the city (Blue Guide, 165). The church was built by Peter Stuyvesant and was constructed in 1795. We then continued east to our next stop of the day - the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space. Upon arrival to the museum, we looked around for a couple of minutes and then headed outside for a tour of the area. Our first stop was the 9th Street Community Garden which is maintained through the GreenThumb program. The GreenThumb program is a division of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and is dedicated to supporting community gardens. The program was founded in 1978 and transforms vacant lots into green spaces.
As we walked around the block, we went to our second garden which was La Plaza Cultural. This was probably my favorite spot during the tour and I enjoyed walking around the garden and seeing the remains of the murals that were painted on the exterior of the buildings facing the garden. The fence surrounding the garden was also one of my favorite things to see and I would definitely come back again. We headed west to Tompkins Square Park, which is where our tour guide gave us a very detailed history of the park and the various riots that occurred there over the past few centuries. We ended our day walking south on first avenue, and hopped on the F train from Houston Street. We got off at 34th Street and walked two blocks to Penn Station, which is where we caught the train back home.
East of the Park - 9/27/13
This week's class focused on the cultural and historical importance of East Harlem and its surrounding areas. We began our day by taking the 1 train uptown to Times Square and transferred to the S train, which provides shuttle service from Times Square to Grand Central. Although I am pretty familiar with the New York City subway system, this was my first time on the S train and it definitely was an interesting experience. Once we arrived at Grand Central, we got on the 6 train going uptown and got off at 103rd Street. When we got off the subway, Mike and Meritta gave us a brief history lesson about the neighborhood we were in - East Harlem/Spanish Harlem a.k.a. El Barrio. At the turn of the twentieth century, East Harlem was occupied by a large population of German and Italian immigrants. After World War I, there was a huge influx of Puerto Ricans to the neighborhood and they have remained here ever since. During the 1960's, East Harlem experienced lots of crime and had the highest unemployment rate in the entire city. However, when things started improving during the 1980's and 1990's, East Harlem started attracting more immigrants, this time from the Caribbean. In the present day, East Harlem is undergoing the process of gentrification, which can be visibly seen by the construction of new condos and luxury apartments. Since East Harlem is only a few blocks away from the Upper East Side, it is becoming an extremely desirable location to live causing living costs to rise. People who have lived in East Harlem for decades are now being forced to leave the neighborhood since they can not afford housing anymore. After walking a few blocks west, we arrived at our first destination - the Museum of the City of New York. The museum was founded in 1923 and contains more than three million artifacts ranging from toy fire engines, maps and prints, ship models, and portraits of prominent New Yorkers (Blue Guide, 376). When we first arrived at the museum, we viewed an exhibit containing several different paintings of Central Park. We then went upstairs to view a short film about New York City. The film, "Timescapes", went through the history of the city from the time that the Dutch inhabited the area to the present. It also provided information about how the New York City subway system was created, along with the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park. Overall, I thought the museum was very interesting and I would definitely come back again.
Our next stop of the day was at El Museo del Barrio. El Museo del Barrio is the only museum in the city that is completely "devoted to Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Latin American culture (Blue Guide, 376). When we first arrived at the museum, our tour guide explained that the museum was founded in a classroom in a public school by community activists, teachers, and artists (mostly Puerto Ricans) in 1969 (Blue Guide, 376). After years of moving to and from various locations, the museum finally settled in the Heckscher Building, which is located on Fifth Avenue. After explaining the history of the museum to us, our tour guide led us on a walking tour of the neighborhood (El Barrio). Our first stop of our walking tour was at the Graffiti Hall of Fame, founded in 1982. The Graffiti Hall of Fame is located in a school and every year a different graffiti artist is chosen to paint a mural. After viewing the Graffiti Hall of Fame, we proceeded to walk to St. Cecilia's Church. St. Cecilia's' Church is the oldest church in El Barrio and is also a landmark. Our tour guide then took us to view a mosaic dedicated to Julia Burgos, a poet who wrote in East Harlem. The mosaic was created to honor her talent and her Puerto Rican heritage. I was personally shocked at how none of the public artwork was vandalized or destroyed in any way. Our tour guide then explained that since the artwork feels like it belongs to the community, it is preserved and maintained by all of its members.
After walking a few blocks south on Lexington Avenue, we arrived to a community garden dedicated to women and motherhood. In the garden we viewed a fountain that was supposed to represent a women's fallopian tubes. The back wall of the garden featured a mural of Julia Burgos - from Puerto Rico and Frida Kahlo - from Mexico. The title of the mural is "Sodaderas" which means "Women Soldiers". Fortunately for us, the artist who painted the mural also happened to be giving a tour of the garden as well and we were able to meet her. After leaving the community garden, we viewed the mural called "Spirit of East Harlem", which was painted in the early 1970's. We ended our tour by visiting Justo Botanica, where we met the owner Jorge Vargas. During our lunch break, a few of us decided to be adventurous and try some authentic Mexican food (which happened to be delicious!). As we made our way back to Fifth Avenue, I was definitely excited for our next destination of the day - Central Park!
Once we all met back up after lunch, we headed across the street into Central Park and began our 50 block trek south. The design for Central Park was created by Olmsted and Vaux in 1858 (Blue Guide, 280). After years of construction, the park was an immediate success when it opened. Although lots of crime took place in the park during the 1970's and 1980's, it was cleaned up during the 1990's and it is now one of the safest places in New York City. We entered Central Park though the Vanderbilt Gates, which were originally outside the Vanderbilt mansion, and walked through the Central Park Conservatory Garden. The Central Park Conservatory Garden is the only formal garden in all of Central Park and is named after an elaborate greenhouse that was torn down during the Great Depression (Blue Guide, 297). We then continued south towards the Central Park Reservoir, which is named after Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. "The Reservoir occupies the midline of Central Park, from about 86th to 96th Streets" (Blue Guide, 296). This was probably one of my favorite parts of Central Park due to its stunning views. Our next stop in Central Park was the Strawberry Fields, which were named in honor of John Lennon. We also checked out the nearby Dakota apartments, which was one of the first apartment buildings in New York City. It was also the spot where John Lennon was assassinated in December of 1980. As we continued walked around Central Park, I felt like I wasn't even in Manhattan anymore. We finally completed our walk through Central Park and exited the park on 59th Street. We then headed to the Plaza Hotel which has recently undergone a $400 million renovation and has converted some of its rooms to condos (Blue Guide, 273). After a brief walkthrough, we walked across the street to F.A.O. Schwarz, which was founded in 1862. We were given 15 minutes to walk around the store and check out all the toys. Our last stop of the day was at St. Patrick's Cathedral, which is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, along with being a famous city landmark (Blue Guide, 254). This was my second time at time at St. Patrick's Cathedral and it is still one of my favorite places in New York. We then proceeded to hop on the subway back to Penn Station which is where my city adventure ended.