The Wild West Side
Our fifth day, we started out by walking on over to Broadway. Broadway is very people friendly and even half the road is designated to people and not cars. We then walked down Broadway towards Times Square. In 1904, the area now known as Times Square was called Longacre Square. (Blue Guide, 217) It was filled with carriage factories, horse and buggies and stables. Today, Times Square is known for theatre and musicals. By the late 1960's it went on a period of decline. It was filled with drugs, prostitution and pornography. Many feared this area because of how bad it had gotten. Mayor Giuliani knew this area needed fixing and he brought it back to life and to how great it is today. While walking, we passed a building that offers public space in exchange for more floors. It is a privately owned building and the city offers them to build higher than they are suppose to if they offer a public space area. I thought that was interesting how they offer a deal like that so companies can have more floors on their building. We made it to Rockefeller Center, and walked through the GE building, which I have never walked through before. NBC Studios is located within here along with many others shops too. Within the GE building, Art Deco is portrayed all over. All of the buildings in this area portray same building style and were built in 1933. (Blue Guide, 244) We took a short break while Mike picked up our Museum tickets so Shannon, Joe and I went into the NBC store. We then went to The Museum of Modern Art. The idea of this museum was created by Abby Rockefeller and her two friends. Abby's husband, John Rockefeller, opposed the museum. He would refuse to release funds for this project but later he ended up donating the land for the current site of the museum as well as other gifts over time. The Folk Art Museum used to be next to this Museum until it closed down and MoMA then bought it. At this Museum we will be looking at New York artists and their works of art they have created.
We started off the Museum by looking at a piece by Georges-Pierre Seurat. It was a painting of a channel (water) which was very nice. Another piece we saw, which was done by Picasso, was of prostitutes. It was interesting how each one of their faces was very unique and different. Another piece we saw was Water Lillies, by Claude Monet, which was a huge piece of art that consisted of three different paintings next to each other. After experiencing 19th Century Art, we moved onto more recent Art from about the 1950's after World War II. The first piece we saw was by Jackson Pollock which looked like chaos. It looked as if he was a very angry guy based on this painting. A cool piece I saw by Johns and Rauschenberg consisted of different art pieces and it had a 3D effect. It was not all flat but had parts of it coming towards the viewer. We then got to experience sound art which was very different. There were odd sounds, flashing lights and even illusions. After the Museum, we took a short walk to Hells Kitchen. Shannon, Joe and I chose not to take up on the free lunch but to eat our lunch we brought.
After our lunch break, we headed back towards Times Square to catch the one train to 110th Street in Harlem for a tour of the area. Before our tour, we got to hang little art pieces at a Hungarian Restaurant and in return we got to keep one for ourselves. We first got to see the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine that actually ran out of funds in the early 1900's. (Blue Guide, 419-420) The tower in the front if it is not even fully built but efforts over the years to finish the Cathedral took place but never was completed. A fire in 2001 was the last time the Cathedral was under construction to try and build it and finish it. It was a really old but cool looking building. When I got to go inside of it, the design was incredible. It was really large and had tons of stained glass windows. We then walked through Columbia University College which was founded as a gentleman's college. In 1754, Columbia was Kings College before it was shut down. In 1891, Columbia moved to its now location in Harlem. After exploring Columbia, we went to Morning side Park, which had a beautiful view of Harlem. We walked towards Frederick Douglass Blvd and received a brief background on Harlem. Harlem settled around the 1650's, where it was farms and not much going on. In the 1830's, the railroad made at way here causing an increase in the population. Just like many other areas in the city, Harlem is in the process of being gentrified. There are a few new buildings and upscale restaurants being opened. We got to see the Apollo, which is a theatre that hosts different shows. Our tour was about to end and it started to rain. Luckily there was a subway station at the next corner where I was able to hop on the three train to Penn and head on home.
We started off the Museum by looking at a piece by Georges-Pierre Seurat. It was a painting of a channel (water) which was very nice. Another piece we saw, which was done by Picasso, was of prostitutes. It was interesting how each one of their faces was very unique and different. Another piece we saw was Water Lillies, by Claude Monet, which was a huge piece of art that consisted of three different paintings next to each other. After experiencing 19th Century Art, we moved onto more recent Art from about the 1950's after World War II. The first piece we saw was by Jackson Pollock which looked like chaos. It looked as if he was a very angry guy based on this painting. A cool piece I saw by Johns and Rauschenberg consisted of different art pieces and it had a 3D effect. It was not all flat but had parts of it coming towards the viewer. We then got to experience sound art which was very different. There were odd sounds, flashing lights and even illusions. After the Museum, we took a short walk to Hells Kitchen. Shannon, Joe and I chose not to take up on the free lunch but to eat our lunch we brought.
After our lunch break, we headed back towards Times Square to catch the one train to 110th Street in Harlem for a tour of the area. Before our tour, we got to hang little art pieces at a Hungarian Restaurant and in return we got to keep one for ourselves. We first got to see the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine that actually ran out of funds in the early 1900's. (Blue Guide, 419-420) The tower in the front if it is not even fully built but efforts over the years to finish the Cathedral took place but never was completed. A fire in 2001 was the last time the Cathedral was under construction to try and build it and finish it. It was a really old but cool looking building. When I got to go inside of it, the design was incredible. It was really large and had tons of stained glass windows. We then walked through Columbia University College which was founded as a gentleman's college. In 1754, Columbia was Kings College before it was shut down. In 1891, Columbia moved to its now location in Harlem. After exploring Columbia, we went to Morning side Park, which had a beautiful view of Harlem. We walked towards Frederick Douglass Blvd and received a brief background on Harlem. Harlem settled around the 1650's, where it was farms and not much going on. In the 1830's, the railroad made at way here causing an increase in the population. Just like many other areas in the city, Harlem is in the process of being gentrified. There are a few new buildings and upscale restaurants being opened. We got to see the Apollo, which is a theatre that hosts different shows. Our tour was about to end and it started to rain. Luckily there was a subway station at the next corner where I was able to hop on the three train to Penn and head on home.
Lower Manhattan and Captivating Chelsea
Our sixth class looked to be rainy and windy but with our luck it might hold off. When I headed to train station the weather was cloudy and gloomy but if no rain, the weather will be perfect. We started our day like every other by taking the subway. Today we took the two train to Park Place. We were now entering the Financial District of New York. After a short walk we went into the New York City City Hall, where we will be given a tour of. The security here was very high where we had to walk through a metal detector as well as have our bags checked. Our guide was Deirdre who will be teaching us all about City Hall and it's history. She started off by giving us a history of the city itself which we had learned about in a previous class. She went over what the city was in the 1600's and also how everything was formed and founded for example the Hudson. The City Hall here was not the first one in New York. There was the first one which was in 1653 in Amsterdam as well as a few others over the years. There were twenty six submissions for the building design of the now City Hall. This building has a very federal look for example the pillars on the front steps and roman arches over the windows. The Municipal Building was built to expand the size of this site because they needed room for all the people working here. Since the courts use to be in City Hall, there was actually jail cells in the basement. Today, this is no longer the case since there is a separate Court building.
When we made it inside, it was very fancy! There was a Bronze George Washington Statue as well as huge paintings on the walls. John J. McComb and Joseph F. Mangin were the architects of City Hall. (Blue Guide, 84) We walked up to the second floor and went inside the Governors room, which was very nice. It was just repainted and this room also had huge paintings on the walls including John Jay. (Blue Guide, 84) Next, we got to go into the once court room which is now a meeting room for the council and members. It had a huge mural on the ceiling and it was cool being able to see this in person. After that we headed outside and that concluded our tour. We then went south on Broadway to head towards The 9/11 Memorial. This area we were walking through is very historic because this is where New York was first founded. We passed St. Paul's Chapel, where the rescue workers stayed during the recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site. We were able to make a quick stop inside and it was great being able to see the memorials inside. As I am a volunteer firefighter, I enjoy seeing all of these memorials in honor of not only police, fire and rescue personnel but everyone who lost their life. Were now about to go visit the 9/11 Memorial. The line was long but since we were a group we got to go around since we got our tickets in advance. This was another high security area but we made it to the memorial in under ten minutes. I first got to the fountains they have where the north and south tower once stood. It was a beautiful area and it's great they made this in honor of those who passed. I was able to see the survivor tree. It gets it's name because it was the only tree that stood after the attacks. It was very sad visiting this site and looking back at how horrible of a tragedy this was. We will never forget those who passed during this attack and they will all forever be in our hearts.
We got to look around the memorial for a little bit and then headed on with our day. We stopped at the Trinity Church and got to take a quick look inside. Trinity Church was built in 1846 and is actually the third church on the site. The first church was burned and the second was demolished. (Blue Guide, 64) We then walked passed the Federal Hall National Monument. Unfortunately the Federal Hall was closed due to the government shutdown. We then walked through Battery Park which has a clear view of the Statue of Liberty. A battery is actually a group of canons. This park is right on the harbor so they put canons here for protection and that is how it was given its name. (Blue Guide, 46) After the park, we took the one train from Rector Street and then switched to the two train straight to 14th Street. We are now entering Chelsea Market where we will be having our lunch break. As usual, I had my peanut butter and jelly sandwich but I promised Mike I will eat Chinese for our next and final class. Right from lunch, we started walking towards one of the High Line access points. This High Line was once an abandoned freight line that was just falling apart. It was created during the 1930's and only lasted until the 1950's when nobody wanted to pay the demolition costs. (Blue Guide, 188) It is now one of the most popular tourist destinations as a walking trail. After a short walk we went gallery hopping. The first gallery we went into was really nice. The art pieces were stunning and the quality was just stunning. Phillip-Lorca diCorcia is the artist behind this gallery called Hustlers, images of prostitutes. Another gallery we went into was by John McCracken. The works seen were from 1963-2011. His art looked like huge shapes, each of one color. It is crazy to think that people are highly fascinated by this because to me it looks nothing fancy. Since his works go back to 1963, a lot of people must buy his art. We stopped in an Art book store which had some very odd books. The one me and Joe found most interesting was Suburban Suicides since we are in the Criminal Justice Field. It was just photos of people who committed suicide which was crazy to see in a book store. After a few more galleries our sixth class came to an end! I headed back up to the High Line with Joe and Shannon and we made our way towards Penn Station.
When we made it inside, it was very fancy! There was a Bronze George Washington Statue as well as huge paintings on the walls. John J. McComb and Joseph F. Mangin were the architects of City Hall. (Blue Guide, 84) We walked up to the second floor and went inside the Governors room, which was very nice. It was just repainted and this room also had huge paintings on the walls including John Jay. (Blue Guide, 84) Next, we got to go into the once court room which is now a meeting room for the council and members. It had a huge mural on the ceiling and it was cool being able to see this in person. After that we headed outside and that concluded our tour. We then went south on Broadway to head towards The 9/11 Memorial. This area we were walking through is very historic because this is where New York was first founded. We passed St. Paul's Chapel, where the rescue workers stayed during the recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site. We were able to make a quick stop inside and it was great being able to see the memorials inside. As I am a volunteer firefighter, I enjoy seeing all of these memorials in honor of not only police, fire and rescue personnel but everyone who lost their life. Were now about to go visit the 9/11 Memorial. The line was long but since we were a group we got to go around since we got our tickets in advance. This was another high security area but we made it to the memorial in under ten minutes. I first got to the fountains they have where the north and south tower once stood. It was a beautiful area and it's great they made this in honor of those who passed. I was able to see the survivor tree. It gets it's name because it was the only tree that stood after the attacks. It was very sad visiting this site and looking back at how horrible of a tragedy this was. We will never forget those who passed during this attack and they will all forever be in our hearts.
We got to look around the memorial for a little bit and then headed on with our day. We stopped at the Trinity Church and got to take a quick look inside. Trinity Church was built in 1846 and is actually the third church on the site. The first church was burned and the second was demolished. (Blue Guide, 64) We then walked passed the Federal Hall National Monument. Unfortunately the Federal Hall was closed due to the government shutdown. We then walked through Battery Park which has a clear view of the Statue of Liberty. A battery is actually a group of canons. This park is right on the harbor so they put canons here for protection and that is how it was given its name. (Blue Guide, 46) After the park, we took the one train from Rector Street and then switched to the two train straight to 14th Street. We are now entering Chelsea Market where we will be having our lunch break. As usual, I had my peanut butter and jelly sandwich but I promised Mike I will eat Chinese for our next and final class. Right from lunch, we started walking towards one of the High Line access points. This High Line was once an abandoned freight line that was just falling apart. It was created during the 1930's and only lasted until the 1950's when nobody wanted to pay the demolition costs. (Blue Guide, 188) It is now one of the most popular tourist destinations as a walking trail. After a short walk we went gallery hopping. The first gallery we went into was really nice. The art pieces were stunning and the quality was just stunning. Phillip-Lorca diCorcia is the artist behind this gallery called Hustlers, images of prostitutes. Another gallery we went into was by John McCracken. The works seen were from 1963-2011. His art looked like huge shapes, each of one color. It is crazy to think that people are highly fascinated by this because to me it looks nothing fancy. Since his works go back to 1963, a lot of people must buy his art. We stopped in an Art book store which had some very odd books. The one me and Joe found most interesting was Suburban Suicides since we are in the Criminal Justice Field. It was just photos of people who committed suicide which was crazy to see in a book store. After a few more galleries our sixth class came to an end! I headed back up to the High Line with Joe and Shannon and we made our way towards Penn Station.
Immigrant New York
Wow did the time go by quick. Today is already our last class. We took a short walk to 6th Avenue to catch the F train to Delancey Street. We are now on the Lower East Side. This area is best known for immigrants because of all the people that settled here from Irish to French to Italian. By the 1900's, the Lower East Side had the most dense population worldwide. As spoken about in almost every one of my journals, gentrification is going on in this area as well. According to the Blue Guide, Chinatown is encroaching from the west and the 19th century tenements are being converted into luxury apartments causing a rapid change. (Blue Guide, 118) In 1940, the Essex Street Market was built to house pushcart peddlers whom Mayor La Guardia legislated off the streets. (Blue Guide, 123) I was able to take a quick look inside and this place had everything. They had chicken, shrimp, meat, fruits, drinks and even freshly baked bread and desserts. Mike have us a brief background of the area before our walking tour and started by telling us that the Williamsburg Bridge has a nickname called the Jews Highway. This is so due to the high Jewish population. The Tenement Apartments in this area were three rooms and had no ventilation! Today we put our garbage in a can and people come pick up but back many many years in this area, garbage was just thrown into the streets. Very disgusting that this was once done.
We went to go meet our tour guide who was actually Jim who had given us a tour a few weeks back. We started at Economy Candy, which is known as one of the best candy stores. Before going into the candy store, Jim went over the tenements as Mike did a few minutes earlier. An interesting fact about buildings today is that the ones with a fire escape on the outside were actually built before 1916. Any building after 1916 has fire escapes inside. When I went into the candy store, I was shocked at all the candy they had especially all of the old school candy. We took a short walk and went underneath the Williamsburg Bridge which is one of the major crossings of the East River. Jim pointed out in the distance, the Domino Sugar Factory that at one point supplied 60% of all sugar in the world. We then walked to The Bialystoker Synagogue. It is an 1826 building that actually blends in well with the community. I had no idea until I looked at it that it was a Synagogue. We got to see the Hillman Park as well as the place where a Jewish woman goes to get cleansed before marriage. We made it to the Henry Street Settlement House which was founded in 1893 and then got to see Saint Theresa's Church. We passed The Eldridge Street Synagogue which was well known in the early years as the grandest synagogue. It was established by the Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews who had the Herter brothers design the synagogue for them. (Blue Guide, 120) It is cool how in New York City it is so diverse where one block is one ethnicity and the next is another. Shannon, Joe and I walked around Chinatown before heading to lunch at Congee Village with the class for Chinese. Surprisingly, I tried everything that was brought out for lunch despite the fact I am a very picky eater.
After lunch, we headed right around the block to the Tenement Museum for a guided tour of it. This museum was founded in 1988 to preserve the heritage of the nations immigrants. (Blue Guide, 122) Our tour guides name is Ruth who will be giving us the background on tenements as well as immigration. The tenement we first went into was built in 1863 during the Civil War. In 1916, millions of immigrants, almost 12 million, entered the United States. It was interesting how we were having a living history tour where got to pick where we came from, etc. Our class chose Italian immigrants who took a boat to the United States. Ruth told us how immigrants stayed at the bottom of the boat where it was horrible conditions. People were getting sea sick, there was no room and no air! All immigrants ended up at Ellis Island, where they had to fill out forms, known as a manifest. The best part was the interactive part inside an old tenement. That made the tour much more interesting and kept me occupied. It was crazy how small the tenements were and how so many people loved in them. It was a great tour to end the day and class as well. I ended my last class by taking the F train back to 34th Street and a short walk to Penn Station.
We went to go meet our tour guide who was actually Jim who had given us a tour a few weeks back. We started at Economy Candy, which is known as one of the best candy stores. Before going into the candy store, Jim went over the tenements as Mike did a few minutes earlier. An interesting fact about buildings today is that the ones with a fire escape on the outside were actually built before 1916. Any building after 1916 has fire escapes inside. When I went into the candy store, I was shocked at all the candy they had especially all of the old school candy. We took a short walk and went underneath the Williamsburg Bridge which is one of the major crossings of the East River. Jim pointed out in the distance, the Domino Sugar Factory that at one point supplied 60% of all sugar in the world. We then walked to The Bialystoker Synagogue. It is an 1826 building that actually blends in well with the community. I had no idea until I looked at it that it was a Synagogue. We got to see the Hillman Park as well as the place where a Jewish woman goes to get cleansed before marriage. We made it to the Henry Street Settlement House which was founded in 1893 and then got to see Saint Theresa's Church. We passed The Eldridge Street Synagogue which was well known in the early years as the grandest synagogue. It was established by the Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews who had the Herter brothers design the synagogue for them. (Blue Guide, 120) It is cool how in New York City it is so diverse where one block is one ethnicity and the next is another. Shannon, Joe and I walked around Chinatown before heading to lunch at Congee Village with the class for Chinese. Surprisingly, I tried everything that was brought out for lunch despite the fact I am a very picky eater.
After lunch, we headed right around the block to the Tenement Museum for a guided tour of it. This museum was founded in 1988 to preserve the heritage of the nations immigrants. (Blue Guide, 122) Our tour guides name is Ruth who will be giving us the background on tenements as well as immigration. The tenement we first went into was built in 1863 during the Civil War. In 1916, millions of immigrants, almost 12 million, entered the United States. It was interesting how we were having a living history tour where got to pick where we came from, etc. Our class chose Italian immigrants who took a boat to the United States. Ruth told us how immigrants stayed at the bottom of the boat where it was horrible conditions. People were getting sea sick, there was no room and no air! All immigrants ended up at Ellis Island, where they had to fill out forms, known as a manifest. The best part was the interactive part inside an old tenement. That made the tour much more interesting and kept me occupied. It was crazy how small the tenements were and how so many people loved in them. It was a great tour to end the day and class as well. I ended my last class by taking the F train back to 34th Street and a short walk to Penn Station.
Impressions After Class
To start, my view of New York City has drastically changed it just a matter of seven weeks. Not even looking back at what I initially wrote, I know I bad mouthed the city and stated I was not a fan of it. Well I can honestly say that has changed. Over these past seven weeks I learned and experienced things about New York City I would have never known by not taking this class. Each class I went to a different part of the city that I personally would have never visited on my free time because of the negative view I had on the city. The train ride is not that bad but yes the price is ridiculous. When it comes to the Subway, it does get overcrowded and very hectic but it is a huge time saver and convenience. When I first started this class I had no idea where I was going when I left Penn Station. Now I completely understand how the Avenues and Streets work. New York City is actually a very interesting and fun filled place to go in which I will definitely be exploring again since I enjoyed this class so much. Mike and Meritta made this class highly enjoyable and taught me so much. I can now say I like New York City when seven weeks back I despised it. From all of the places we went during our class, the history of New York is very interesting and there are so many museums and tours to teach you about it. When I get the free time again or if I get a job in New York City, I will really enjoy it solely because of taking this amazing class through Molloy College.