Journals 5-9
5. East Harlem
Our September 27th our class started out like every other where I took the 10:03 train from Rockville Centre to Penn Station. It was a beautiful sunny day with not a cloud in the sky and 80 degrees. When we met at Penn Station Mike gave us our itinerary for the day, which included the Museum of the City of New York, a walking tour, a stop at a local shop for luck bracelets, then lunch, and then we finished off walking in Central Park and taking a tour of Grand Central Terminal.
After we got off the subway in East Harlem we stopped on a local street and talked for a few minutes. We learned that East Harlem is also referred to as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio because it was populated by a lot of Spanish people. This is because in the 1880’s there was nothing in East Harlem, until elevated steam train lines were made so that immigrants could move there to live. Therefore, in 1900 an influx of Puerto Ricans came to live there. That was when it started being called El Barrio. By the 1960’s East Harlem was extremely dangerous and drug infested. It had the highest crime rate in the city because it held the drug dealers, mob people, and criminals. Come 1980 though an influx of Caribbean immigrants moved to East Harlem, which has created the ethnic mill that exists today. By the late 1990’s gentrification occurs because East Harlem is so close to the Upper East Side and Central Park a lot of people wanted to start moving there and opening business’s there because it cost less to live near the beautiful part of the city. Robert Moses built projects (high rise dwelling exclusively for poor people) and they were all mostly located in East Harlem. After we learned about all of this we continued on walking to the Museum of the City of New York.
As we walked into the Museum of the City of New York I noticed that it was beautifully decorated and very bright. They had a very unique and cool hanging light structure in the lobby. After a few minutes in the lobby we walked upstairs to look around at some of the art. There was a lot of great pictures and paintings of the city from different perspectives and point of views that I have never seen before. My favorite was the painting of the Twin Towers before 9/11. It was unique and abstract but so large it definitely caught your attention. After looking around for a little bit we then sat in on a 25-minute video of how New York City came to be, all the way from the 1600’s to present day. I found the video to be extremely informative and entertaining. I think it is incredible how all the buildings and beautiful architecture came to be and it was so cool to be able to see how it was all done. It gave descriptions of how different parts of the city were designated for certain people or cultures or business. I never knew that the city had a lot of fluxes from positive flourishing times to hard devastating times. After the video we went upstairs and got to walk around the Gilded Age exhibit. The Gilded Age was the time period from the end of the civil war to the 20th century. In here were some amazing jewelry pieces along with dresses, and silverware and china. I loved this part because I love jewelry and I thought it was great to see such old pieces and how beautiful they are still to this day. This was the last part of the museum we saw before we left to continue on with our walking tour.
For our walking tour we had a guide named Luke. Luke is a poet who has traveled the world with his poetry trying to make a positive difference in the world. Luke comes from the Bronx and is very familiar with the city and that’s why he was a good guide to have. He explained that the difference from one block to another could include different people, different cultures, and almost different worlds. He also went on to explain that in 1900 when 10,000 Puerto Ricans came to live in East Harlem it started a culture movement that is still in effect today. We continued on walking around East Harlem when all of a sudden an older gentleman playing Spanish music came up to talk to us. He seemed to talk for a long time and it was hard to understand him. I didn’t mean to be rude but I walked a little bit away because I did not feel safe around him. The block we happened to stop on had a mural of all different people that was painted in 1987. It was a beautiful mural that takes up the entire side of a building. It is a pretty piece to look at if you are driving or just walking by instead of just brick. Our next stop was a local community garden, which just happened to be closed that day even though Luke says that it is normally open. It was a pretty garden that had some sculptures that looked like they were handmade of tiles. As we stopped here there was loud music playing form a window of a local apartment. Another man came up to us as we were also. He wanted to hear what we were talking about and gave us his intake on the community. The gentleman confirmed what Luke and Mike had told us, which was that it is a very diversified community where a lot of cultures come together. Mike had met up with us again at this point and we continued on to the Botanica where Luke recited one of his poems for us before leaving. I loved the poem he recited. I don’t remember specific lines from it but I do remember while listening to it that I was very intrigued and happy. I think that was the purpose of the poem, not to preach to us but to make us feel something. Regardless of the reasoning I thought it was great and I very much enjoyed our time with Luke.
After our walking tour we broke for lunch. Taylor, Meghan, Ife, Steph, Melissa, Meghan, and myself went to a Mexican restaurant close by. We had some chips and guacamole as an appetizer and I had enchiladas for lunch along with a few margaritas. Everything at the restaurant was delicious. It was authentic and original Mexican food. I would definitely go back there if I am ever in the neighborhood again.
We had lunch for an hour and afterwards we walked through Central Park for a little while. The parts of Central Park that we were in I have never been to before. Its crazy how I have been to Central Park dozens and dozens of times and every time I go I am never in the same spot because it is that big. We stopped on a rather large rock where we discussed what we were going to do next before heading home. Our options included a museum or Grand Central. Ultimately by a majority vote we chose to go to Grand Central Terminal. I was so excited for this because the week before I had wrote my paper on Grand Central so I knew all about the history. Also, I have been there before and it is so beautiful and grand in structure I love visiting it. When we first got there we walked into the main lobby. On the ceiling is a painting of all the astrological signs. The interesting thing about this painting is that the order of the signs appears to be backwards. I learned however, that the reasoning for this is because the artists who painted the ceiling did it backwards to appear how God would view them, not how we would view them from earth. We got a few minutes to walk around downstairs in the food court and wherever we wanted to go. Grand Central is such a beautiful train station and it puts Penn Station to shame in every way. Penn Station is modern and industrial and crowded and has low ceilings. Grand Central has beautiful architecture, no skyscrapers on top of it, it has tall ceilings, and old fashion looking. Being in Grand Central seems timeless. We witnessed some wedding pictures going on in the station and I thought it was such a unique idea to be photographed in Grand Central. We also witnessed another wedding at the church across the street as we walked to the Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building we only got to walk in and look at the lobby because it was closed off to the public. I wasn’t that impressed considering I didn’t get to see much. After there we walked a few blocks and an saw some more buildings and architecture. At this point in the day I was tired and I was not interested in what we were looking at, I was more concerned about what train I was going to get on.
After we were finished for the day Taylor, Steph, Ife, Meghan, and myself walked all the way back to Penn Station which was about a 25 minute walk. Once we were there we waited for a 6:57 train back to Rockville Centre.
After we got off the subway in East Harlem we stopped on a local street and talked for a few minutes. We learned that East Harlem is also referred to as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio because it was populated by a lot of Spanish people. This is because in the 1880’s there was nothing in East Harlem, until elevated steam train lines were made so that immigrants could move there to live. Therefore, in 1900 an influx of Puerto Ricans came to live there. That was when it started being called El Barrio. By the 1960’s East Harlem was extremely dangerous and drug infested. It had the highest crime rate in the city because it held the drug dealers, mob people, and criminals. Come 1980 though an influx of Caribbean immigrants moved to East Harlem, which has created the ethnic mill that exists today. By the late 1990’s gentrification occurs because East Harlem is so close to the Upper East Side and Central Park a lot of people wanted to start moving there and opening business’s there because it cost less to live near the beautiful part of the city. Robert Moses built projects (high rise dwelling exclusively for poor people) and they were all mostly located in East Harlem. After we learned about all of this we continued on walking to the Museum of the City of New York.
As we walked into the Museum of the City of New York I noticed that it was beautifully decorated and very bright. They had a very unique and cool hanging light structure in the lobby. After a few minutes in the lobby we walked upstairs to look around at some of the art. There was a lot of great pictures and paintings of the city from different perspectives and point of views that I have never seen before. My favorite was the painting of the Twin Towers before 9/11. It was unique and abstract but so large it definitely caught your attention. After looking around for a little bit we then sat in on a 25-minute video of how New York City came to be, all the way from the 1600’s to present day. I found the video to be extremely informative and entertaining. I think it is incredible how all the buildings and beautiful architecture came to be and it was so cool to be able to see how it was all done. It gave descriptions of how different parts of the city were designated for certain people or cultures or business. I never knew that the city had a lot of fluxes from positive flourishing times to hard devastating times. After the video we went upstairs and got to walk around the Gilded Age exhibit. The Gilded Age was the time period from the end of the civil war to the 20th century. In here were some amazing jewelry pieces along with dresses, and silverware and china. I loved this part because I love jewelry and I thought it was great to see such old pieces and how beautiful they are still to this day. This was the last part of the museum we saw before we left to continue on with our walking tour.
For our walking tour we had a guide named Luke. Luke is a poet who has traveled the world with his poetry trying to make a positive difference in the world. Luke comes from the Bronx and is very familiar with the city and that’s why he was a good guide to have. He explained that the difference from one block to another could include different people, different cultures, and almost different worlds. He also went on to explain that in 1900 when 10,000 Puerto Ricans came to live in East Harlem it started a culture movement that is still in effect today. We continued on walking around East Harlem when all of a sudden an older gentleman playing Spanish music came up to talk to us. He seemed to talk for a long time and it was hard to understand him. I didn’t mean to be rude but I walked a little bit away because I did not feel safe around him. The block we happened to stop on had a mural of all different people that was painted in 1987. It was a beautiful mural that takes up the entire side of a building. It is a pretty piece to look at if you are driving or just walking by instead of just brick. Our next stop was a local community garden, which just happened to be closed that day even though Luke says that it is normally open. It was a pretty garden that had some sculptures that looked like they were handmade of tiles. As we stopped here there was loud music playing form a window of a local apartment. Another man came up to us as we were also. He wanted to hear what we were talking about and gave us his intake on the community. The gentleman confirmed what Luke and Mike had told us, which was that it is a very diversified community where a lot of cultures come together. Mike had met up with us again at this point and we continued on to the Botanica where Luke recited one of his poems for us before leaving. I loved the poem he recited. I don’t remember specific lines from it but I do remember while listening to it that I was very intrigued and happy. I think that was the purpose of the poem, not to preach to us but to make us feel something. Regardless of the reasoning I thought it was great and I very much enjoyed our time with Luke.
After our walking tour we broke for lunch. Taylor, Meghan, Ife, Steph, Melissa, Meghan, and myself went to a Mexican restaurant close by. We had some chips and guacamole as an appetizer and I had enchiladas for lunch along with a few margaritas. Everything at the restaurant was delicious. It was authentic and original Mexican food. I would definitely go back there if I am ever in the neighborhood again.
We had lunch for an hour and afterwards we walked through Central Park for a little while. The parts of Central Park that we were in I have never been to before. Its crazy how I have been to Central Park dozens and dozens of times and every time I go I am never in the same spot because it is that big. We stopped on a rather large rock where we discussed what we were going to do next before heading home. Our options included a museum or Grand Central. Ultimately by a majority vote we chose to go to Grand Central Terminal. I was so excited for this because the week before I had wrote my paper on Grand Central so I knew all about the history. Also, I have been there before and it is so beautiful and grand in structure I love visiting it. When we first got there we walked into the main lobby. On the ceiling is a painting of all the astrological signs. The interesting thing about this painting is that the order of the signs appears to be backwards. I learned however, that the reasoning for this is because the artists who painted the ceiling did it backwards to appear how God would view them, not how we would view them from earth. We got a few minutes to walk around downstairs in the food court and wherever we wanted to go. Grand Central is such a beautiful train station and it puts Penn Station to shame in every way. Penn Station is modern and industrial and crowded and has low ceilings. Grand Central has beautiful architecture, no skyscrapers on top of it, it has tall ceilings, and old fashion looking. Being in Grand Central seems timeless. We witnessed some wedding pictures going on in the station and I thought it was such a unique idea to be photographed in Grand Central. We also witnessed another wedding at the church across the street as we walked to the Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building we only got to walk in and look at the lobby because it was closed off to the public. I wasn’t that impressed considering I didn’t get to see much. After there we walked a few blocks and an saw some more buildings and architecture. At this point in the day I was tired and I was not interested in what we were looking at, I was more concerned about what train I was going to get on.
After we were finished for the day Taylor, Steph, Ife, Meghan, and myself walked all the way back to Penn Station which was about a 25 minute walk. Once we were there we waited for a 6:57 train back to Rockville Centre.
6. MOMA and Morningside Heights
October 4th was a rainy day and therefore had altered our previous plans. Initially when we met at Penn Station, Mike informed us that we would first be going to The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) due to the inclement weather. We started off our day by getting on the train to West 4th. After that we took the E train uptown to MOMA. While we were on the subway I sat across from actress America Ferrera. I thought this was so cool to sit across from a celebrity on the subway. It makes you realize that celebrities are real people too just going about their everyday lives riding subways and trains.
Once we arrived at the MOMA we were immediately overwhelmed. Due to the bad weather it was extremely crowded. It took us 30 minutes alone just to check our bags in. Therefore, it gave us only limited time to look at the art. The first exhibit we walked through was contemporary artist Robert Gober’s “The Heart is Not a Metaphor”. Contemporary art differs from more conventional art in the sense that it is suppose to make you think outside of the box. I didn’t particularly care for this exhibit. That was because it consisted of most household items that anyone could buy. For instance the first room we walked through was a room full of different types of sinks. I don’t see the art in that considering I see different sinks everyday throughout bathrooms and houses. The second room we walked through was full of childhood furniture such as cribs, playpens, and beds. Again you can see these things in store, catalogs, houses, etc. that’s why I didn’t see the art in it. Gober also had some more controversial and explicit art in his exhibit. For example, one room had wallpaper that was printed with penis’s and vaginas. The exhibit is open to the public and I thought it was inappropriate to see young children looking at these images at a young age. Overall, I didn’t care for Gober’s exhibit and I would not recommend it to others.
After Gober’s exhibit it we continued on. We talked a little bit about New York art in the 1930’s and how it is called social realism. This is because after WW2 artists could not create the type of art they wanted anymore if it was considered too radical. Therefore, non-representative art came about and that is when the piece does not have a subject matter leaving the artist the freedom to create whatever they wanted. Mike told us that he loves this type of art. After our chat we continued on and the next work we saw was Van Goh’s “Starry Night”. I really enjoyed this piece because I have seem it so many times in pictures and copies of it but I have never gotten the chance to see it in person. Van Goh did not care about capturing reality perfectly because he said there is no need for it when you can just take a picture. That is the purpose of art, for artists to express something from within using abstract ideas.
After looking at a few of the Van Goh’s we moved on to look at some more artists. These included Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschberg, Jasper Johns, Newman, and Rothgo. I liked this part because I took a contemporary art class two semesters ago and learned all about these artists and studied their work. It was incredible to be able to see the works up close and personal as compared to pictures on a slideshow in a classroom. My professor in that class would explain how large they were in person but you can only get a full grasp on it when you stand in front of the pieces and see how large they really are. Although I thought it was a cool experience, most of the pieces were very basic and did not seem like art to me. For example, Jackson Pollock is famous for his splatter paintings across huge canvas’s. Granted they are very expensive and valuable pieces they are also very easily duplicated. I could go out and by a huge canvas and start throwing paint in different spots and different directions. In my opinion, if it is easily duplicated and not hard to create than why is it considered valuable?
Again due to the large crowds, it took us another 25 minutes to receive our bags from the coat check area. After we were all finished with that though we started walking to lunch at YUMYUM 2, which was located on 9th Ave between 45th and 46th street. YUMYUM 2 is a Thai restaurant, I was so excited for this because I love Thai food and often have it about once a week or so. I usually go to Thai Table located in Rockville Centre so it was good to try a different Thai restaurant. I ordered the Pad Thai with chicken and it was good except it tasted a little bit too much peanut buttery than I am used to. Meghan and myself tried the spicy hot sauce that is offered and it was so HOTT! I ended up spitting it into my napkin however, Meghan had water afterwards and wasn’t quick enough and ended up spitting her water all over the table. It was very funny. In attempts to get the spicy taste out of our mouths we walked down the block to a local bakery. I got a red velvet cupcake, which was delicious. Red velvet is my favorite and this place had very good ones.
After lunch we walked to 43rd and 7th to get on the 2 train to 96th street. We then took the 1 train to 116th street where we met our tour guide Jim. We started our tour at the Grant Tombs. When we walked inside we were told we weren’t allowed to go down to the lower levels because it was slightly flooded from the rain. So instead we got an arieal view of the tombs. The tombs were grand in structure and it made me think that Ulysess S Grant was very full of himself, to give himself such a large resting place. Standing outside the tomb building Jim informed us that if there were no trees in the way, we would have a direct line of sight of the Statue of Liberty. I also learned that George Washington thought the capital of the nation should be in New York but due to overcrowding they did not go through with it. New York City is lucky it is not the capital of the United States because if it was you would not have all the different cultures and diversity we have today, instead it would be all boring politicians.
Next we walked one block and stopped on a corner to talk about the Riverside Church. The Riverside Church has gothic revival architecture and it has the largest carolin in the United States. It also has the largest bell in the world, and is the tallest steel Gurter in the world. The church used to be a sanctuary, which means that people for different countries or anyone in general could seek refuge there and no one was allowed to touch you including the government or police. At one point in time Jim said there were dozens of families and people who lived there for sanctuary. It is huge in structure and there are tons of rooms upstairs. I learned that they can have multiple weddings at the same time because some people chose to get married in the rooms in the upper part of the church. John Rockafeller Jr. funded the cathedral even though it cost millions and millions of dollars but he thought it was important and therefore funded the project. New York City is thankful he did because it is one of more beautiful sights in the city.
Next we walked through the Barnard school and Colunbia University. Barnard is the sister school to Columbia University. It was created because back in the day women and men did not go to school together so Columbia was made for men only and Barnard was made for the woman students who wished to attend college. Many famous presidents attended Colombia University. Current president Obama went to Colombia for part of his schooling, Roosevelt got his law degree from Colombia, and Eisenhower was the president of Colombia at one point in time. Walking through Colombia was one of the most beautiful experiences. The architecture of every building is exquisite and beautifully crafted. It was also very quiet on this side of the city so you felt as if you were getting an exclusive look at part of the city that others do not get a chance to see.
After seeing Colombia and Barnard we continued walking. We stopped outside of St. Luke’s Hospital, which is across the street from St. John the Devine cathedral. Jim’s wife explained to us that St. Luke’s Hospital used to house many tuberculosis patients when it was an epidemic but unfortunately is not in operation today. We continued walking and stopped to sit for a minute at the Piece fountain. The Piece fountain has storybook items about it and is based off of nursery rhymes. While sitting, we also learned about the St. John the Devine cathedral. It is thought to be the largest cathedral created by volume in 1894 however, was never completed. That is why you can see some differences in the outside structures from newer additions and newer architecture. We got a chance to go inside and look around for however long we wanted before we ended class. It was the largest church I have ever been into in my life.it was beautiful on the inside and looked like it could house hundreds and maybe even thousands of people. There were a lot of people all walking around and exploring as well but I was most interested in the stain glass pieces. I love stain glass I think it is so unique and it takes so long to make that it should be appreciated. I am not a very religious person and because of that fact I decided not to stay too long in the church.
After I left the church, some classmates and I took the subway back to Penn Station and eventually took the LIRR back to Rockville Centre. It was a very long day but I enjoyed so much of what I saw.
Once we arrived at the MOMA we were immediately overwhelmed. Due to the bad weather it was extremely crowded. It took us 30 minutes alone just to check our bags in. Therefore, it gave us only limited time to look at the art. The first exhibit we walked through was contemporary artist Robert Gober’s “The Heart is Not a Metaphor”. Contemporary art differs from more conventional art in the sense that it is suppose to make you think outside of the box. I didn’t particularly care for this exhibit. That was because it consisted of most household items that anyone could buy. For instance the first room we walked through was a room full of different types of sinks. I don’t see the art in that considering I see different sinks everyday throughout bathrooms and houses. The second room we walked through was full of childhood furniture such as cribs, playpens, and beds. Again you can see these things in store, catalogs, houses, etc. that’s why I didn’t see the art in it. Gober also had some more controversial and explicit art in his exhibit. For example, one room had wallpaper that was printed with penis’s and vaginas. The exhibit is open to the public and I thought it was inappropriate to see young children looking at these images at a young age. Overall, I didn’t care for Gober’s exhibit and I would not recommend it to others.
After Gober’s exhibit it we continued on. We talked a little bit about New York art in the 1930’s and how it is called social realism. This is because after WW2 artists could not create the type of art they wanted anymore if it was considered too radical. Therefore, non-representative art came about and that is when the piece does not have a subject matter leaving the artist the freedom to create whatever they wanted. Mike told us that he loves this type of art. After our chat we continued on and the next work we saw was Van Goh’s “Starry Night”. I really enjoyed this piece because I have seem it so many times in pictures and copies of it but I have never gotten the chance to see it in person. Van Goh did not care about capturing reality perfectly because he said there is no need for it when you can just take a picture. That is the purpose of art, for artists to express something from within using abstract ideas.
After looking at a few of the Van Goh’s we moved on to look at some more artists. These included Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschberg, Jasper Johns, Newman, and Rothgo. I liked this part because I took a contemporary art class two semesters ago and learned all about these artists and studied their work. It was incredible to be able to see the works up close and personal as compared to pictures on a slideshow in a classroom. My professor in that class would explain how large they were in person but you can only get a full grasp on it when you stand in front of the pieces and see how large they really are. Although I thought it was a cool experience, most of the pieces were very basic and did not seem like art to me. For example, Jackson Pollock is famous for his splatter paintings across huge canvas’s. Granted they are very expensive and valuable pieces they are also very easily duplicated. I could go out and by a huge canvas and start throwing paint in different spots and different directions. In my opinion, if it is easily duplicated and not hard to create than why is it considered valuable?
Again due to the large crowds, it took us another 25 minutes to receive our bags from the coat check area. After we were all finished with that though we started walking to lunch at YUMYUM 2, which was located on 9th Ave between 45th and 46th street. YUMYUM 2 is a Thai restaurant, I was so excited for this because I love Thai food and often have it about once a week or so. I usually go to Thai Table located in Rockville Centre so it was good to try a different Thai restaurant. I ordered the Pad Thai with chicken and it was good except it tasted a little bit too much peanut buttery than I am used to. Meghan and myself tried the spicy hot sauce that is offered and it was so HOTT! I ended up spitting it into my napkin however, Meghan had water afterwards and wasn’t quick enough and ended up spitting her water all over the table. It was very funny. In attempts to get the spicy taste out of our mouths we walked down the block to a local bakery. I got a red velvet cupcake, which was delicious. Red velvet is my favorite and this place had very good ones.
After lunch we walked to 43rd and 7th to get on the 2 train to 96th street. We then took the 1 train to 116th street where we met our tour guide Jim. We started our tour at the Grant Tombs. When we walked inside we were told we weren’t allowed to go down to the lower levels because it was slightly flooded from the rain. So instead we got an arieal view of the tombs. The tombs were grand in structure and it made me think that Ulysess S Grant was very full of himself, to give himself such a large resting place. Standing outside the tomb building Jim informed us that if there were no trees in the way, we would have a direct line of sight of the Statue of Liberty. I also learned that George Washington thought the capital of the nation should be in New York but due to overcrowding they did not go through with it. New York City is lucky it is not the capital of the United States because if it was you would not have all the different cultures and diversity we have today, instead it would be all boring politicians.
Next we walked one block and stopped on a corner to talk about the Riverside Church. The Riverside Church has gothic revival architecture and it has the largest carolin in the United States. It also has the largest bell in the world, and is the tallest steel Gurter in the world. The church used to be a sanctuary, which means that people for different countries or anyone in general could seek refuge there and no one was allowed to touch you including the government or police. At one point in time Jim said there were dozens of families and people who lived there for sanctuary. It is huge in structure and there are tons of rooms upstairs. I learned that they can have multiple weddings at the same time because some people chose to get married in the rooms in the upper part of the church. John Rockafeller Jr. funded the cathedral even though it cost millions and millions of dollars but he thought it was important and therefore funded the project. New York City is thankful he did because it is one of more beautiful sights in the city.
Next we walked through the Barnard school and Colunbia University. Barnard is the sister school to Columbia University. It was created because back in the day women and men did not go to school together so Columbia was made for men only and Barnard was made for the woman students who wished to attend college. Many famous presidents attended Colombia University. Current president Obama went to Colombia for part of his schooling, Roosevelt got his law degree from Colombia, and Eisenhower was the president of Colombia at one point in time. Walking through Colombia was one of the most beautiful experiences. The architecture of every building is exquisite and beautifully crafted. It was also very quiet on this side of the city so you felt as if you were getting an exclusive look at part of the city that others do not get a chance to see.
After seeing Colombia and Barnard we continued walking. We stopped outside of St. Luke’s Hospital, which is across the street from St. John the Devine cathedral. Jim’s wife explained to us that St. Luke’s Hospital used to house many tuberculosis patients when it was an epidemic but unfortunately is not in operation today. We continued walking and stopped to sit for a minute at the Piece fountain. The Piece fountain has storybook items about it and is based off of nursery rhymes. While sitting, we also learned about the St. John the Devine cathedral. It is thought to be the largest cathedral created by volume in 1894 however, was never completed. That is why you can see some differences in the outside structures from newer additions and newer architecture. We got a chance to go inside and look around for however long we wanted before we ended class. It was the largest church I have ever been into in my life.it was beautiful on the inside and looked like it could house hundreds and maybe even thousands of people. There were a lot of people all walking around and exploring as well but I was most interested in the stain glass pieces. I love stain glass I think it is so unique and it takes so long to make that it should be appreciated. I am not a very religious person and because of that fact I decided not to stay too long in the church.
After I left the church, some classmates and I took the subway back to Penn Station and eventually took the LIRR back to Rockville Centre. It was a very long day but I enjoyed so much of what I saw.
7. Lower East Side- Immigrant New York
Class on October 18th started out earlier than any other. Since we had to meet in Penn Station by 9 o’clock instead of 11 o’clock I had to take an 8:03 train from Rockville Centre to Penn Station. There has been a lot of track work going on lately so options for trains were more limited. Instead of it only taking about 35 minutes to get into the city it took closer to 50. Regardless, I got to class on time. The reason we had to be there so early was because we had a tour at the Tenement Museum at 10 o’clock.
We first got on the subway to the Lower East Side. Once we got off we stopped at a street corner and talked for a little. We learned that the Lower East Side was a melting pot of immigrants in the late 19th century and early 20th century due to the amount of immigrants who came over from Europe. The Lower East Side up until that point had been occupied by middle and higher class families however, they were forced to move uptown when the influx of poor immigrants started coming.
We had a few minutes to kill until we walked over for our tour so we got to walk around the Essex Street Market. The Essex Street Market was very quaint and cute there were different stands and shops that sold fresh produce, fish, meats, desserts, smoothies, etc. I stopped at a dessert stand and bought a few cake balls. Cake balls are cake batter rounded up into a ball and then covered with hard icing. I got a chocolate one and red velvet one. I saved them for later on though because it was a little early on in the day to be eating sweets. After our stop there we continued on to Orchard Street where the Tenement Museum is located.
The Tenement Museum is a real tenement house that has been preserved from the early 1900’s. Our class had to be broken up into 2 groups and I was in the group with Lee. We started our part of the tour downstairs in the backyard of the tenement. Back here there were outhouses, buckets, laundry lines, and a waterspout. She explained that this was the part of the building where the woman and mothers of households would come down to gather their water, clean their clothes, and bring their children to play. Buckets of water needed to be brought up to the apartment about 5 or 6 times a day and the higher the floor you lived on, the more stairs you had to carry 30 pound buckets of water up multiple times a day.
Before we walked upstairs to the fourth floor our tour guide told us how they talk about tenement housing having a 5-4-3-2-1 layout. There were usually 5 floors of housing, 4 apartments on each floor, 3 rooms in each apartment, 2 toilets on each floor, and 1 backyard for the whole building. This meant that 20 families lived in a 25 foot by 100 foot building. Each apartment on average was occupied by 4 people however, at times could have had as many as 12 to 14 people living in those 3 rooms. After we walked up we started in a parlor of one of the apartments. This room was relatively small and had no furniture in it except a large display box of artifacts that were found in the tenements. Some of the artifacts included toothbrush, hairbrush, milk tops, and a soap dish. These artifacts gave us a good idea that the families who lived here did care about their personal hygiene despite their bad living conditions.
Next we moved into a different parlor room but we sat down in here and got to listen to some music from that period of time. Since mostly Irish and German immigrants inhabited these tenement houses all the songs were either in German or had an Irish brogue. Many of the songs talked about the difficulty Irish people had acquiring job however, they were never sad. Every song was about how they are proud of their heritage and culture. Before we moved into the recreated tenement our tour guide talked to us about the infants who lived in tenement housing. She explained that a lot of the milk the immigrants could afford was spoiled or gone bad. And because living conditions were dark and dingy most of the time infants would get sick and eventually end up dying because they did not get the care they needed.
After this we moved into the redone tenement that is suppose to emulate what it looked like when people inhabited it. Walking through the other empty tenements you cant really get a feel for what it looked like however, when you see furniture and objects in the apartment you can better understand of what people went through in order to live here. The bedroom had a small bed that could probably only fit the parents, with a small crib next to it. Behind the bed were half a dozen trunks, which I assumed held the families clothing. The kitchen had a big stove and oven that was connected to the wall. There was a table set up with food on it, and a laundry line with delicates on it hanging from two walls. There was no room to sit in the kitchen only to cook and clean. The parlor had a desk and about 6 or 7 chairs in it. There was a fireplace with family objects on the mantel. In the corner of the parlor was a table and on top of the table there was a small baby coffin. This was supposed to represent the daughter that the family had lost when she was only 5 months old. The guide continued to explain that funeral proceedings would have cost the family too much money so instead they would hold a type of funeral gathering in their apartment where people could come and pay their respects. It was assumed that the other two daughters at the time would have ended up sleeping in the parlor due to the lack of room the apartment had. Our tour guide started getting choked up and even started crying at one point talking about the death of the young daughter. I thought this to be a little unprofessional and uncomfortable considering she probably gives these tours multiple times a day and it’s not like she knew the family personally. I found that to be a little odd and was happy that at this point the tour was coming to an end.
When we got back downstairs I had to go to the basement to get my backpack which I had previously checked in prior to the tour. I thoroughly enjoyed the Tenement Museum. It inspired me to write my second paper on tenements and to get to know a little more history behind the people who lived here.
Afterwards when we all were gathered as a group again, Mike split us up into 4 different groups. Each group was given a slip of paper and we were told we had an hour and 15 minutes to complete our little scavenger hunt through Chinatown. We had to follow the directions a few blocks in order to get to Chinatown. Once we were there we were directed to try Bubble Tea, Roasted Pork, and Ice Cream. We went to all the shops and looked at what they had to offer, some people in my group bought things but I did not because I was saving my appetite for lunch. Next we walked to a Chinese house of worship. Mostly everyone in the group paid the $1 it cost to take a fortune. My fortune said I had a good probability of success so I was excited about that. The next thing on the list gave us the freedom to walk down the street in any direction we wanted to just look around and explore. I got to see a lot of street vendors who were selling all different types of goods such as clothing, food, accessories, knick-knacks, etc. Mike told us we would get extra credit if we could get into the back room where they sold the illegal pocketbooks and accessories. I was excited because not only did I want extra credit but I also wanted a knockoff pocketbook! We had a few people offer it up to us but the other people in my group did not want to take them up on it so I never got a chance to get to look. I remember as a little girl my dad used to bring my older sister and I into Chinatown to get knockoff bags and we had the best time sneaking into little alcoves you never would have guessed existed. After exploring for about 20 minutes my group decided to head back to the restaurant where we were suppose to meet and have lunch. We were the first group done so we waited outside and talked to Lee for a little.
Once everyone was finished we went inside to eat lunch. We had two big tables and in the center of both tables was a lazy Susan that moved. Mike told us that they would put the food on it and we could spin it to get whatever we wanted. There were a lot of different types of Chinese food that came out that I had never tried before. I liked the sesame chicken and pork fried rice the best and was mad that they only brought one serving out of it. I did try everything that hit the table but I didn’t particularly like that much and therefore left lunch a little hungry. Before we moved onto our walking tour I ran to a Starbucks across the street and got a piece of pumpkin bread to fill me up a little better.
After lunch we were going on a walking tour with Jim again. Our first stop on the walking tour was to Economy Candy. This is an old-fashioned candy store that has been open since 1937. We got a chance to walk in and buy whatever we wanted. I bought a lot of Smarties and some Sour Strips. However, it was so cool to see the old candy that I used to get as a kid that isn’t sold anymore. For example, candy cigarettes, my friends and I when we were 10 years old used to get those and pretend we were smoking actual cigarettes. It was a nice job down memory lane. We continued on walking and Jim talked about the Williamsburg Bridge. He told us that Jay-Z the famous rapper got his name from the J and C trains that run through the Williamsburg Bridge. I thought that was a cool and current thing our whole class could relate to. We stopped at the Lillian Wald House and learned how Lillian Wald was a nurse who helped improve the quality of life in the Lower East Side and across the nation. The few nursing students we have in class perked up at this fact and were very interested. Our last stop before ending class was at a church. This church had beautiful architecture and I wish we could have gone inside to look but it wasn’t open. I enjoyed the tour with Jim. I got to learn a little more about him like the fact that he was a CPA and CFO of Deloitte. I enjoyed this a lot because I am an accounting major and it was good to be able to talk to him and learn a little bit more about the industry I plan on going in to for the rest of my life. He gave me the feedback that it is very hard work and long hours but if you work hard the reward and pay is worth it. It also makes a little more sense to me now why Jim does walking tours. Its because he has made so much money in life before that he can afford to do something he enjoys even if it doesn’t result in profit.
After leaving Jim Meghan, Taylor, Steph, Ife, and myself took the subway to 33rd street and ended up walking over 5 avenues to get to Penn Station. I got on the 4 something train back to Rockville Centre luckily because if not I would have had to wait another hour before the next train. I was home early this day and got to eat dinner with my family so it was a successful day.
We first got on the subway to the Lower East Side. Once we got off we stopped at a street corner and talked for a little. We learned that the Lower East Side was a melting pot of immigrants in the late 19th century and early 20th century due to the amount of immigrants who came over from Europe. The Lower East Side up until that point had been occupied by middle and higher class families however, they were forced to move uptown when the influx of poor immigrants started coming.
We had a few minutes to kill until we walked over for our tour so we got to walk around the Essex Street Market. The Essex Street Market was very quaint and cute there were different stands and shops that sold fresh produce, fish, meats, desserts, smoothies, etc. I stopped at a dessert stand and bought a few cake balls. Cake balls are cake batter rounded up into a ball and then covered with hard icing. I got a chocolate one and red velvet one. I saved them for later on though because it was a little early on in the day to be eating sweets. After our stop there we continued on to Orchard Street where the Tenement Museum is located.
The Tenement Museum is a real tenement house that has been preserved from the early 1900’s. Our class had to be broken up into 2 groups and I was in the group with Lee. We started our part of the tour downstairs in the backyard of the tenement. Back here there were outhouses, buckets, laundry lines, and a waterspout. She explained that this was the part of the building where the woman and mothers of households would come down to gather their water, clean their clothes, and bring their children to play. Buckets of water needed to be brought up to the apartment about 5 or 6 times a day and the higher the floor you lived on, the more stairs you had to carry 30 pound buckets of water up multiple times a day.
Before we walked upstairs to the fourth floor our tour guide told us how they talk about tenement housing having a 5-4-3-2-1 layout. There were usually 5 floors of housing, 4 apartments on each floor, 3 rooms in each apartment, 2 toilets on each floor, and 1 backyard for the whole building. This meant that 20 families lived in a 25 foot by 100 foot building. Each apartment on average was occupied by 4 people however, at times could have had as many as 12 to 14 people living in those 3 rooms. After we walked up we started in a parlor of one of the apartments. This room was relatively small and had no furniture in it except a large display box of artifacts that were found in the tenements. Some of the artifacts included toothbrush, hairbrush, milk tops, and a soap dish. These artifacts gave us a good idea that the families who lived here did care about their personal hygiene despite their bad living conditions.
Next we moved into a different parlor room but we sat down in here and got to listen to some music from that period of time. Since mostly Irish and German immigrants inhabited these tenement houses all the songs were either in German or had an Irish brogue. Many of the songs talked about the difficulty Irish people had acquiring job however, they were never sad. Every song was about how they are proud of their heritage and culture. Before we moved into the recreated tenement our tour guide talked to us about the infants who lived in tenement housing. She explained that a lot of the milk the immigrants could afford was spoiled or gone bad. And because living conditions were dark and dingy most of the time infants would get sick and eventually end up dying because they did not get the care they needed.
After this we moved into the redone tenement that is suppose to emulate what it looked like when people inhabited it. Walking through the other empty tenements you cant really get a feel for what it looked like however, when you see furniture and objects in the apartment you can better understand of what people went through in order to live here. The bedroom had a small bed that could probably only fit the parents, with a small crib next to it. Behind the bed were half a dozen trunks, which I assumed held the families clothing. The kitchen had a big stove and oven that was connected to the wall. There was a table set up with food on it, and a laundry line with delicates on it hanging from two walls. There was no room to sit in the kitchen only to cook and clean. The parlor had a desk and about 6 or 7 chairs in it. There was a fireplace with family objects on the mantel. In the corner of the parlor was a table and on top of the table there was a small baby coffin. This was supposed to represent the daughter that the family had lost when she was only 5 months old. The guide continued to explain that funeral proceedings would have cost the family too much money so instead they would hold a type of funeral gathering in their apartment where people could come and pay their respects. It was assumed that the other two daughters at the time would have ended up sleeping in the parlor due to the lack of room the apartment had. Our tour guide started getting choked up and even started crying at one point talking about the death of the young daughter. I thought this to be a little unprofessional and uncomfortable considering she probably gives these tours multiple times a day and it’s not like she knew the family personally. I found that to be a little odd and was happy that at this point the tour was coming to an end.
When we got back downstairs I had to go to the basement to get my backpack which I had previously checked in prior to the tour. I thoroughly enjoyed the Tenement Museum. It inspired me to write my second paper on tenements and to get to know a little more history behind the people who lived here.
Afterwards when we all were gathered as a group again, Mike split us up into 4 different groups. Each group was given a slip of paper and we were told we had an hour and 15 minutes to complete our little scavenger hunt through Chinatown. We had to follow the directions a few blocks in order to get to Chinatown. Once we were there we were directed to try Bubble Tea, Roasted Pork, and Ice Cream. We went to all the shops and looked at what they had to offer, some people in my group bought things but I did not because I was saving my appetite for lunch. Next we walked to a Chinese house of worship. Mostly everyone in the group paid the $1 it cost to take a fortune. My fortune said I had a good probability of success so I was excited about that. The next thing on the list gave us the freedom to walk down the street in any direction we wanted to just look around and explore. I got to see a lot of street vendors who were selling all different types of goods such as clothing, food, accessories, knick-knacks, etc. Mike told us we would get extra credit if we could get into the back room where they sold the illegal pocketbooks and accessories. I was excited because not only did I want extra credit but I also wanted a knockoff pocketbook! We had a few people offer it up to us but the other people in my group did not want to take them up on it so I never got a chance to get to look. I remember as a little girl my dad used to bring my older sister and I into Chinatown to get knockoff bags and we had the best time sneaking into little alcoves you never would have guessed existed. After exploring for about 20 minutes my group decided to head back to the restaurant where we were suppose to meet and have lunch. We were the first group done so we waited outside and talked to Lee for a little.
Once everyone was finished we went inside to eat lunch. We had two big tables and in the center of both tables was a lazy Susan that moved. Mike told us that they would put the food on it and we could spin it to get whatever we wanted. There were a lot of different types of Chinese food that came out that I had never tried before. I liked the sesame chicken and pork fried rice the best and was mad that they only brought one serving out of it. I did try everything that hit the table but I didn’t particularly like that much and therefore left lunch a little hungry. Before we moved onto our walking tour I ran to a Starbucks across the street and got a piece of pumpkin bread to fill me up a little better.
After lunch we were going on a walking tour with Jim again. Our first stop on the walking tour was to Economy Candy. This is an old-fashioned candy store that has been open since 1937. We got a chance to walk in and buy whatever we wanted. I bought a lot of Smarties and some Sour Strips. However, it was so cool to see the old candy that I used to get as a kid that isn’t sold anymore. For example, candy cigarettes, my friends and I when we were 10 years old used to get those and pretend we were smoking actual cigarettes. It was a nice job down memory lane. We continued on walking and Jim talked about the Williamsburg Bridge. He told us that Jay-Z the famous rapper got his name from the J and C trains that run through the Williamsburg Bridge. I thought that was a cool and current thing our whole class could relate to. We stopped at the Lillian Wald House and learned how Lillian Wald was a nurse who helped improve the quality of life in the Lower East Side and across the nation. The few nursing students we have in class perked up at this fact and were very interested. Our last stop before ending class was at a church. This church had beautiful architecture and I wish we could have gone inside to look but it wasn’t open. I enjoyed the tour with Jim. I got to learn a little more about him like the fact that he was a CPA and CFO of Deloitte. I enjoyed this a lot because I am an accounting major and it was good to be able to talk to him and learn a little bit more about the industry I plan on going in to for the rest of my life. He gave me the feedback that it is very hard work and long hours but if you work hard the reward and pay is worth it. It also makes a little more sense to me now why Jim does walking tours. Its because he has made so much money in life before that he can afford to do something he enjoys even if it doesn’t result in profit.
After leaving Jim Meghan, Taylor, Steph, Ife, and myself took the subway to 33rd street and ended up walking over 5 avenues to get to Penn Station. I got on the 4 something train back to Rockville Centre luckily because if not I would have had to wait another hour before the next train. I was home early this day and got to eat dinner with my family so it was a successful day.
8. Battery Park and 9/11 Memorial
The morning of our last class on October 25th was a beautiful day. It was 65 degrees and sunny and I was excited to head into class. As usual I took the 10:03 train from Rockville Centre to Penn Station. I didn’t get a chance to eat that morning so I stopped at one of the stores in Penn Station to get a bagel before class started. When we met Mike told us that we would be viewing lower Manhattan, Battery Park, and the World Trade Center Memorial. After that we started out day and got on the 1 train to Rector St. The current Ebola patient in New York said he was on the 1 train earlier last week so I was nervous getting on hoping they had disinfected the trains.
When we got off the subway we walked a couple blocks to Battery Park city. We learned that up until 1955 Battery Park did not exist because the landfill was not there, but today it is now filled with million dollar apartments because it has a perfect location being close to the Hudson River and Wall Street. We continued walking and walked through Robert Wagner Park. Robert Wagner used to be the mayor of New York in the early 60’s during the revitalization of New York. This park overlooks the water and has beautiful sights of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There is the Holocaust Museum near there too, which we did not get a change to stop in. I was disappointed in that because my favorite thing to learn or read about is Holocaust stories and survivors. None the less, we continued on and learned that New York City had the best natural harbor in America during revolutionary times when shipping was the only form of import and export, and that is what made it the number one city in the country. Mike told us that they called it Battery Park because if an attack came on America they were going to come by sea and therefore they put a battery of cannons near the harbor to protect themselves.
We moved on walking closer to the water where the Castle Clinton building was and learned that Castle Clinton is where the immigrants used to come through before they turned Ellis Island into the prime immigration center. We got a chance to walk through the Castle Clinton exhibit where they have 3 depictions of what the harbor looked like in three different time periods. Its interesting to see that initially there wasn’t any land and no buildings and as time goes on the landfill is created and buildings start to rise and train tracks are built and the area becomes modernized. This area also was where people lined up to go visit the Statue of Liberty. The line was extremely long and probably was close to a 3 hour wait so I was happy that we did not have to stay for that long. Another interesting thing I liked when we were walking around was the sphere sculpture. The sphere sculpture used to be in the world trade center and was damaged during the attack but was not extremely destroyed and therefore moved to Battery Park to be put on display. It represents the resilience of New Yorkers and America and that no matter how hard you try, you cannot break us. That was a piece of art I liked looking at.
Next we continued walking another few blocks until we got to the Fraunces Tavern Museum and Restaurant. The building itself is designed in a federal style since it’s a box like structure with parallel windows. It is said to be the oldest building in New York and at the same time the biggest fake in New York. This is because the original structure of the building has not been changed or moved since it was first built in 1690 on the landfill however, there have been many wars and natural disasters that have damaged the building and therefore it needed to be restored. We had a tour guide named Rebecca who walked us around the museum. The Fraunces Tavern is most famously known for being the place where George Washington gave his farewell address to his officers after the revolutionary war. Washington rented out the Long Room on the second floor, which was one of the biggest rooms in the city at the time that you could rent out. Rebecca told us that you could rent out these rooms for a number of reasons. Some included dinner parties, special occasions, you and another couple wanted to have dinner together, etc. The owner Fraunces was famous for his cooking and therefore made the Tavern that much more popular at the time. It was even said that when Washington took office as President he hired Fraunces to be his personal chef. There is no documentation of the dinner and what happened, except for the memoirs of Benjamin Tallmadge that you can read about. Tallmadge talks about how every officer embraced Washington in a hug or kiss before we left for Virginia. This is because Washington was so well respected and loved by his officers that they were genuinely sad to see him go. We got a chance to walk through a room full of maps and a room full of flags. I liked the flag room because you got to see the progression of the American flag from revolutionary times to today. You also got to see other countries flags from different time periods and the detail that went into these flags. I liked the French flags the best because they had such pretty colors and tassels and details that no one country’s flag had. We walked downstairs and got to see the restaurant that they have there today and it still has a very old colonial feel to it, which I thought was cool.
After the Fraunces Tavern we walked about 3 blocks and sat down to talk about Broadway. Broadway is also called the canyon of heroes because whenever something good happens and there is a parade, this is where they take place. Its called the canyon because when the skyscrapers were first being built they could only be built so high and once more and more buildings started to go up, it started to resemble a canyon with high walls and a low middle. We got to take pictures of the Wall Street Bull and you can tell this is a popular landmark because there were tons of people who all wanted a shot with the famous bull.
At this point we broke for lunch. We had to walk to this food court Mike was talking about since the beginning of the day and it was about a mile walk from where we were. We got to walk along the water though and you got to see Jersey City across the river. It was a pretty sight, which made the walk not as bad. Once we got to the food court Taylor and I got sushi from one of the stands. It wasn’t that good and I thought it was extremely overpriced so I was disappointed in that. I wish I would’ve went to the Mexican stand instead that I saw some of my other classmates have.
After lunch when we were all gathered again and ventured on to our next stop: the World Trade Center Memorial. Walking to the Freedom Tower and memorial sight, you can still see all the destruction around that has not been cleared up since the attacks. There is still much construction and renovating to do that has not been accomplished in the last 13 years. It goes to show you that such a tragedy has everlasting effects. Mike told us that the World Trade Center up until 1973 was the tallest building in the country until a taller building was built in Chicago the year after. The twin towers were the tallest buildings in New York though until they were attacked in 2001. After the attack on the buildings there was a competition held to see who would get to design the new tower and memorial of the old buildings. The man who won did a terrific job in my opinion. The two largest manmade waterfalls in the country are in these memorials. It is unique because each memorial stands where the old building used to stand. The names of all the victims are on the surrounding memorial engraved into the sides for people to go and read. As you approach the memorial and even walking around it is a very somber feeling. As I was standing and reading some of the names I even got a little emotional for a minute. A lot of people from my town had lost their lives in these attacks and it hits home closer especially being a New Yorker than it does for other people in the country. It’s scary to think that there are such negative and evil people in this world that would want to hurt as many people as they did in the attacks. I had gone to the destruction sight a year after the attacks but I had not been back since so getting the chance to see the memorials was heartwarming. We didn’t get to stay for too long though, only about 15 minutes before we continued on.
We walked a few blocks until we got to St. Paul’s Church and cemetery. St. Paul’s is the oldest church we have in Manhattan and when you walk through it you get a sense of how old it really is. The architecture and interior design is very unique and old fashioned and you can tell it didn’t come from our time period. There are memorials setup within the church for firefights and police officers that presumably lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks. It was also a sad and somber feeling being in that church.
We soon left the church and kept moving. Meghan and I stopped at a Mister Softy truck and got ice cream. We also stopped and watched the street performer for a couple minutes before we walked over to the Tweed Court House. Lee talked for a few minutes about the courthouse and its history and how it came about to be. This was the last thing we talked about before we were allowed to break for the day. Mike and Lee were taking students over to Williamsburg if they wanted to go and if you did not you were allowed to go home. I had to go home and got on the subway back to Penn Station before I got on the LIRR. The way Mike talked about Williamsburg though makes me want to go back on my own time. He talked about the fashion and shopping and that really peaked my interest so I think I will be header there the next weekend I have free. It was a great day for a last class and I think we ended on a good note.
When we got off the subway we walked a couple blocks to Battery Park city. We learned that up until 1955 Battery Park did not exist because the landfill was not there, but today it is now filled with million dollar apartments because it has a perfect location being close to the Hudson River and Wall Street. We continued walking and walked through Robert Wagner Park. Robert Wagner used to be the mayor of New York in the early 60’s during the revitalization of New York. This park overlooks the water and has beautiful sights of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There is the Holocaust Museum near there too, which we did not get a change to stop in. I was disappointed in that because my favorite thing to learn or read about is Holocaust stories and survivors. None the less, we continued on and learned that New York City had the best natural harbor in America during revolutionary times when shipping was the only form of import and export, and that is what made it the number one city in the country. Mike told us that they called it Battery Park because if an attack came on America they were going to come by sea and therefore they put a battery of cannons near the harbor to protect themselves.
We moved on walking closer to the water where the Castle Clinton building was and learned that Castle Clinton is where the immigrants used to come through before they turned Ellis Island into the prime immigration center. We got a chance to walk through the Castle Clinton exhibit where they have 3 depictions of what the harbor looked like in three different time periods. Its interesting to see that initially there wasn’t any land and no buildings and as time goes on the landfill is created and buildings start to rise and train tracks are built and the area becomes modernized. This area also was where people lined up to go visit the Statue of Liberty. The line was extremely long and probably was close to a 3 hour wait so I was happy that we did not have to stay for that long. Another interesting thing I liked when we were walking around was the sphere sculpture. The sphere sculpture used to be in the world trade center and was damaged during the attack but was not extremely destroyed and therefore moved to Battery Park to be put on display. It represents the resilience of New Yorkers and America and that no matter how hard you try, you cannot break us. That was a piece of art I liked looking at.
Next we continued walking another few blocks until we got to the Fraunces Tavern Museum and Restaurant. The building itself is designed in a federal style since it’s a box like structure with parallel windows. It is said to be the oldest building in New York and at the same time the biggest fake in New York. This is because the original structure of the building has not been changed or moved since it was first built in 1690 on the landfill however, there have been many wars and natural disasters that have damaged the building and therefore it needed to be restored. We had a tour guide named Rebecca who walked us around the museum. The Fraunces Tavern is most famously known for being the place where George Washington gave his farewell address to his officers after the revolutionary war. Washington rented out the Long Room on the second floor, which was one of the biggest rooms in the city at the time that you could rent out. Rebecca told us that you could rent out these rooms for a number of reasons. Some included dinner parties, special occasions, you and another couple wanted to have dinner together, etc. The owner Fraunces was famous for his cooking and therefore made the Tavern that much more popular at the time. It was even said that when Washington took office as President he hired Fraunces to be his personal chef. There is no documentation of the dinner and what happened, except for the memoirs of Benjamin Tallmadge that you can read about. Tallmadge talks about how every officer embraced Washington in a hug or kiss before we left for Virginia. This is because Washington was so well respected and loved by his officers that they were genuinely sad to see him go. We got a chance to walk through a room full of maps and a room full of flags. I liked the flag room because you got to see the progression of the American flag from revolutionary times to today. You also got to see other countries flags from different time periods and the detail that went into these flags. I liked the French flags the best because they had such pretty colors and tassels and details that no one country’s flag had. We walked downstairs and got to see the restaurant that they have there today and it still has a very old colonial feel to it, which I thought was cool.
After the Fraunces Tavern we walked about 3 blocks and sat down to talk about Broadway. Broadway is also called the canyon of heroes because whenever something good happens and there is a parade, this is where they take place. Its called the canyon because when the skyscrapers were first being built they could only be built so high and once more and more buildings started to go up, it started to resemble a canyon with high walls and a low middle. We got to take pictures of the Wall Street Bull and you can tell this is a popular landmark because there were tons of people who all wanted a shot with the famous bull.
At this point we broke for lunch. We had to walk to this food court Mike was talking about since the beginning of the day and it was about a mile walk from where we were. We got to walk along the water though and you got to see Jersey City across the river. It was a pretty sight, which made the walk not as bad. Once we got to the food court Taylor and I got sushi from one of the stands. It wasn’t that good and I thought it was extremely overpriced so I was disappointed in that. I wish I would’ve went to the Mexican stand instead that I saw some of my other classmates have.
After lunch when we were all gathered again and ventured on to our next stop: the World Trade Center Memorial. Walking to the Freedom Tower and memorial sight, you can still see all the destruction around that has not been cleared up since the attacks. There is still much construction and renovating to do that has not been accomplished in the last 13 years. It goes to show you that such a tragedy has everlasting effects. Mike told us that the World Trade Center up until 1973 was the tallest building in the country until a taller building was built in Chicago the year after. The twin towers were the tallest buildings in New York though until they were attacked in 2001. After the attack on the buildings there was a competition held to see who would get to design the new tower and memorial of the old buildings. The man who won did a terrific job in my opinion. The two largest manmade waterfalls in the country are in these memorials. It is unique because each memorial stands where the old building used to stand. The names of all the victims are on the surrounding memorial engraved into the sides for people to go and read. As you approach the memorial and even walking around it is a very somber feeling. As I was standing and reading some of the names I even got a little emotional for a minute. A lot of people from my town had lost their lives in these attacks and it hits home closer especially being a New Yorker than it does for other people in the country. It’s scary to think that there are such negative and evil people in this world that would want to hurt as many people as they did in the attacks. I had gone to the destruction sight a year after the attacks but I had not been back since so getting the chance to see the memorials was heartwarming. We didn’t get to stay for too long though, only about 15 minutes before we continued on.
We walked a few blocks until we got to St. Paul’s Church and cemetery. St. Paul’s is the oldest church we have in Manhattan and when you walk through it you get a sense of how old it really is. The architecture and interior design is very unique and old fashioned and you can tell it didn’t come from our time period. There are memorials setup within the church for firefights and police officers that presumably lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks. It was also a sad and somber feeling being in that church.
We soon left the church and kept moving. Meghan and I stopped at a Mister Softy truck and got ice cream. We also stopped and watched the street performer for a couple minutes before we walked over to the Tweed Court House. Lee talked for a few minutes about the courthouse and its history and how it came about to be. This was the last thing we talked about before we were allowed to break for the day. Mike and Lee were taking students over to Williamsburg if they wanted to go and if you did not you were allowed to go home. I had to go home and got on the subway back to Penn Station before I got on the LIRR. The way Mike talked about Williamsburg though makes me want to go back on my own time. He talked about the fashion and shopping and that really peaked my interest so I think I will be header there the next weekend I have free. It was a great day for a last class and I think we ended on a good note.
9. Reflection
When I started this class I thought we would be hitting a lot of tourist attractions and popular sights of the city. I did not expect to be learning about architecture and the history of the city. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn the history of the city because it gives you a better understanding of how the city developed and where we came from. Living on Long Island, I take for granted the amazing sights the city holds and that doesn’t include all the popular sights people may think of. When I wrote my initial journal I explained that the city to me meant Broadway plays and nightlife. I was sadly mistaken to think that is all, the city had to offer. I learned more in this past seven weeks about the city than I have ever known about in my 21 years of life being a New Yorker. It gives me incentive that there are still so many more amazing things to discover in the city and to maybe travel to the city more often to be able to experience them.