Westside & Harlem
Our day began on Broadway on a closed down street that has been converted to a pedestrian zone. Mayor Bloomberg is going to extensive measures to encourage New Yorkers to walk rather than driving. All throughout the city you can see the Citi bikes providing the people with another option. On our way to Rockefeller Center we passed by the gentrified Times Square. Times Square use to be a dirty, nasty place to be. Through the years it has become drastically safer and more family friendly. Many people give former mayor Rudy Guiliani credit for cleaning up the city but especially Times Square. While Guiliani did help in the effort the biggest reason for this clean up was a law that was changed a decade before. In 1970 New York stunned the nation and legalized abortion. In the 80's Rudolph Guiliani was the U.S. Attorney General and also U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York; in the 1990's he was elected Mayor. When Guiliani was in his prime was also the time in which the unwanted aborted babies would have be in their prime for committing crimes if abortion was not legal. Then came a quick walk through 30 Rockefeller Center where we saw the NBC Studios and out to Rockefeller Plaza.
After we had a quick break and went on to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).The Rockefellers had a big hand in creating the museum, mainly John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s wife. She wanted to change the way the public looked at modern art. As a business major the only part of art I appreciate is the value. Art can be one of the best investment a person can make; it amazes me that there is art that is priceless. I would like to think I don't have an understanding for it and that is why I do not appreciate it however most art does not interest me. While in the museum we passed by Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh which brought back nightmares of elementary school art class and trying to replicate the drawings with pastels. Our major focus on this visit to the museum was on American artists. I enjoyed the sound exhibit however I personally do not believe that is art. Other exhibits like the fan hanging from the ceiling, the pile of garbage and the exhibit that had the padded walls confused me and turned me off to that type of modern art. Overall I'm glad we went because I will never go back there again and it is still something every New Yorker should see, whether they appreciate it or not.
For lunch I had Thai food for the first time. I really enjoyed the food and was glad we were given that opportunity because I would not have tried it on my own. After lunch we went on a walking tour with Jim. Our first stop was at St. John the Divine, the head of the episcopal church. The stain glass windows on the church were absolutely magnificent. From there we headed to Columbia University where we sat in front of the library and learned the rich history of the school; several presidents and many other famous people have attended Columbia. After visiting Columbia we made our way over to Morningside Park which got its name because of the beautiful sunrise that is visible from the park. As we made our way down the 100 step stairway we thanked Meritta repeatedly that we did not have to walk up the stairs. From there we made our way through Harlem were we found ourselves on 125th street in front of the Apollo Theater. The theater is famous for its amateur night with the clown that pulls you off the stage if your act isn't up to par. As we walked away from the theater it began to rain and class ended a little bit early, luckily we were right outside the subway station and I was able to remain dry for the most part for my long train ride out to the wide open Suffolk County.
After we had a quick break and went on to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).The Rockefellers had a big hand in creating the museum, mainly John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s wife. She wanted to change the way the public looked at modern art. As a business major the only part of art I appreciate is the value. Art can be one of the best investment a person can make; it amazes me that there is art that is priceless. I would like to think I don't have an understanding for it and that is why I do not appreciate it however most art does not interest me. While in the museum we passed by Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh which brought back nightmares of elementary school art class and trying to replicate the drawings with pastels. Our major focus on this visit to the museum was on American artists. I enjoyed the sound exhibit however I personally do not believe that is art. Other exhibits like the fan hanging from the ceiling, the pile of garbage and the exhibit that had the padded walls confused me and turned me off to that type of modern art. Overall I'm glad we went because I will never go back there again and it is still something every New Yorker should see, whether they appreciate it or not.
For lunch I had Thai food for the first time. I really enjoyed the food and was glad we were given that opportunity because I would not have tried it on my own. After lunch we went on a walking tour with Jim. Our first stop was at St. John the Divine, the head of the episcopal church. The stain glass windows on the church were absolutely magnificent. From there we headed to Columbia University where we sat in front of the library and learned the rich history of the school; several presidents and many other famous people have attended Columbia. After visiting Columbia we made our way over to Morningside Park which got its name because of the beautiful sunrise that is visible from the park. As we made our way down the 100 step stairway we thanked Meritta repeatedly that we did not have to walk up the stairs. From there we made our way through Harlem were we found ourselves on 125th street in front of the Apollo Theater. The theater is famous for its amateur night with the clown that pulls you off the stage if your act isn't up to par. As we walked away from the theater it began to rain and class ended a little bit early, luckily we were right outside the subway station and I was able to remain dry for the most part for my long train ride out to the wide open Suffolk County.
Lower Manhattan & Chelsea
Today we started our day at City Hall. There have been many different City Halls throughout the years, the current City Hall was opened in 1812. Originally the plans for the building were much larger however a shortage of funds caused a scale back leading to a smaller building. When City Hall first opened it was large enough to house the entire New York City government. Everything from the Mayor to the courts had a home on Broadway. As the population increased and the government expanded other buildings were built handle the growing amount of government officials. Our tour guide told us that the Mayor's office was the left side, looking at the building from the front. She also showed us a picture of what Mayor Bloomberg's office looked like because we were not permitted in that wing, for obvious reasons. She explained how Bloomberg was different from every other Mayor. His office was a large cubical surrounded by smaller cubicles; this was because the Mayor was accustomed to this style of office from his years as a successful business man. Since Mayor Bloomberg's office is in the middle of the madness there is a meeting room in which more formal meetings occur between the Mayor and his guests. When you first enter City Hall there is a statue of George Washington in his military attire with a plow. Behind the statue is a beautiful "floating staircase" up to the second floor. After President Lincoln was assassinated the trip he took to Washington D.C. was reversed back to his home. One of the stops was in New York were the body was displayed to the public at the top of the floating stair case. It is incredible to think we were standing in the same place where President Lincoln's body was laid out. The Governors room was directly at the top of the stair case and had many interesting paintings and artifacts from this Country as well as the City. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's desk as well as George Washington's writing table are in the room. Above President Washington's writing table is a huge portrait of the President with his beautiful white horse. Our guide told us that he had a white horse for show and a dark horse for everyday and battle use. I had never been to City Hall before and was very impressed by what I saw; it was a very interesting experience.
From City Hall we made our way to St. Paul's Chapel. Built in 1766 the chapel is the oldest in the City; after George Washington was inaugurated in 1789 he went to this church to pray. St. Paul's also had a huge impact on the September 11th attacks on our country. Located adjacent to the World Trade Center the church housed many people who came to aid in the recovery from the attacks. My father was stationed in that church for two months after the attacks and i vividly remember walking through and seeing the mayhem going on within the church. There was missing posters everywhere as well as cots spread out across the church. Many first responders called this church home at some point or another.
After our short stay at St. Paul's we headed to the World Trade Center Memorial. I had been to the site many times when it originally happened however it has been a very long time since my last visit. While we were walking around the memorial I was brought back to the huge piles of rubble, police officers and firefighters that covered this area. The World Trade Center was originally made up of seven building, three of which collapsed on 9-11; buildings one & two, the Twin Towers, and building seven. To this day it is still unclear why building seven collapsed; the official report says that the heat given off by the Twin Towers melted the infrastructure of the building which caused it to collapse on September 12th. Building seven housed the CIA, the Secret Service as well as the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. The Memorial has two huge pools exactly where the towers stood with the names of all the people who lost their life on that tragic day. The 9-11 Museum was not yet opened while we were there however I would like to stroll through there once it is finally opened to the public.
From the Memorial we walked through Zuccotti Park, the home of the Occupy Wall Street movement. From Zuccotti Park we moved down Wall Street to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The NYSE is one of the many reasons Manhattan is considered the center of the Earth. On Wall Street there is a statue of a Bull that is rumored to bring good luck to all who rub it. Back when New York was called New Amsterdam and was under dutch control Wall Street actually had a wall. The wall stretched across the island isolating the southern tip, protecting the dutch from invaders like the English or Native Americans. It is hard to imagine the entire city being packed in such a small area, and even harder to imagine woods and farms to the North. We also saw Trinity Church which is home to the burial place of Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, who was shot in a dual by former Vice President Aaron Burr. During our time in the financial district we could not go inside two museums because of the partial government shutdown. The first was the Federal Hall National Memorial which housed the first Congress, Supreme Court and Executive Branch offices; this is because New York originally was the National Capitol. Outside the memorial is a huge statue of George Washington; he was sworn into office here before he headed to St. Paul's. The other museum we did not get to see was the National Museum of the American Indian. The museum originally was the customs house, everything that was shipped into New York came through there. The statues out front also showed the history; each representing a continent, there was only four. From there we headed to Battery Park. Battery Park was only created when the Twin Towers were built. The rock excavated to make the basement was dumped to form an extension of the island.
From Battery Park we headed uptown on the subway to Chelsea. We went into the Chelsea Market for lunch were I felt the food was overpriced and not even that good. From the Market we headed for a stroll on the High Line. The High Line was originally elevated train tracks used for shipping goods that came in on ship. It was not longer used after the 1950's however it would be very costly to tear down. Later the elevated tracks were turned into a park and became a huge tourist attraction. There was lovely flowers and trees all along the high line that doesn't have the normal Manhattan feel. About half way up we stopped in the street theater to take a break. From there we headed to the galleries.
The galleries were my least favorite part of the class; it may have been because it was the end of the day and I was tired. Going to MoMA the previous week was enough modern art for me. We went to an artist bookstore and i found an interesting book called Fascinations which sported a naked woman on the cover. We went in several galleries; I focused on the Sam Durant gallery with the huge pack of cigarettes as well as a picture of a man in the KKK outfit covered in blood, hopefully his blood. At the end of the day i was glad we spent the least amount of time doing this.
From City Hall we made our way to St. Paul's Chapel. Built in 1766 the chapel is the oldest in the City; after George Washington was inaugurated in 1789 he went to this church to pray. St. Paul's also had a huge impact on the September 11th attacks on our country. Located adjacent to the World Trade Center the church housed many people who came to aid in the recovery from the attacks. My father was stationed in that church for two months after the attacks and i vividly remember walking through and seeing the mayhem going on within the church. There was missing posters everywhere as well as cots spread out across the church. Many first responders called this church home at some point or another.
After our short stay at St. Paul's we headed to the World Trade Center Memorial. I had been to the site many times when it originally happened however it has been a very long time since my last visit. While we were walking around the memorial I was brought back to the huge piles of rubble, police officers and firefighters that covered this area. The World Trade Center was originally made up of seven building, three of which collapsed on 9-11; buildings one & two, the Twin Towers, and building seven. To this day it is still unclear why building seven collapsed; the official report says that the heat given off by the Twin Towers melted the infrastructure of the building which caused it to collapse on September 12th. Building seven housed the CIA, the Secret Service as well as the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. The Memorial has two huge pools exactly where the towers stood with the names of all the people who lost their life on that tragic day. The 9-11 Museum was not yet opened while we were there however I would like to stroll through there once it is finally opened to the public.
From the Memorial we walked through Zuccotti Park, the home of the Occupy Wall Street movement. From Zuccotti Park we moved down Wall Street to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The NYSE is one of the many reasons Manhattan is considered the center of the Earth. On Wall Street there is a statue of a Bull that is rumored to bring good luck to all who rub it. Back when New York was called New Amsterdam and was under dutch control Wall Street actually had a wall. The wall stretched across the island isolating the southern tip, protecting the dutch from invaders like the English or Native Americans. It is hard to imagine the entire city being packed in such a small area, and even harder to imagine woods and farms to the North. We also saw Trinity Church which is home to the burial place of Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, who was shot in a dual by former Vice President Aaron Burr. During our time in the financial district we could not go inside two museums because of the partial government shutdown. The first was the Federal Hall National Memorial which housed the first Congress, Supreme Court and Executive Branch offices; this is because New York originally was the National Capitol. Outside the memorial is a huge statue of George Washington; he was sworn into office here before he headed to St. Paul's. The other museum we did not get to see was the National Museum of the American Indian. The museum originally was the customs house, everything that was shipped into New York came through there. The statues out front also showed the history; each representing a continent, there was only four. From there we headed to Battery Park. Battery Park was only created when the Twin Towers were built. The rock excavated to make the basement was dumped to form an extension of the island.
From Battery Park we headed uptown on the subway to Chelsea. We went into the Chelsea Market for lunch were I felt the food was overpriced and not even that good. From the Market we headed for a stroll on the High Line. The High Line was originally elevated train tracks used for shipping goods that came in on ship. It was not longer used after the 1950's however it would be very costly to tear down. Later the elevated tracks were turned into a park and became a huge tourist attraction. There was lovely flowers and trees all along the high line that doesn't have the normal Manhattan feel. About half way up we stopped in the street theater to take a break. From there we headed to the galleries.
The galleries were my least favorite part of the class; it may have been because it was the end of the day and I was tired. Going to MoMA the previous week was enough modern art for me. We went to an artist bookstore and i found an interesting book called Fascinations which sported a naked woman on the cover. We went in several galleries; I focused on the Sam Durant gallery with the huge pack of cigarettes as well as a picture of a man in the KKK outfit covered in blood, hopefully his blood. At the end of the day i was glad we spent the least amount of time doing this.
Immigrant: New York
We started our day on the subway to Delancey Street. Today we were going to experience the history of immigrants in this country. As we waited for Jim by the Williamsburg Bridge, Mike told us the nickname of the bridge "Jews Highway" because all of the immigrants wanted to moved to the other side where living conditions were much better. Once Jim arrived our first stop was at Economy Candy; I couldn't believe how much candy the store had in stock. With enough inventory to satisfy any sweet tooth I got the cherry gummies. We also stopped at the Essex Street Market. Before the market existed all the food vendors had carts they would push through the streets. Mayor LaGuardia felt it would be best for these vendors to have a stationary home so the Essex Street Market was born. Now, because of its prime location, there is pressure from real estate moguls to develop the market into housing. When I walked through the market I was amazed by the diversity of the fresh food offered all under one roof. Next we passed by Bialystoker Synagogue; it looked like a church without a steeple. Jim explained how in many cases the Jewish congregations would purchase churches to convert into synagogues. We also saw the Henry Street Settlement which use to be used to help transition new immigrants into the American lifestyle. The tour we would later go on after lunch was lead by a man who represented a worker of one of the settlements.
We were given some free time to roam around Chinatown before lunch. My group walked down Canal Street, where there was jewelry shop after jewelry shop, to Mulberry Street and threw the heart of Little Italy. The smell of the Italian food made me hungry so we headed to the meeting point where we would have lunch. For lunch we had delicious Chinese food. Every dish hat came out was more delicious than the previous one; the wide selection of quality food was very impressive.
After lunch we went to the Tenement Museum for a sitting tour. We started in a classroom environment where the tour guide gave us some material to use on the actual tour. We would head over to the tenement building around the block to meet Victoria a young 14 year old Jewish girl who had been living here for three years. We were allowed and encouraged to ask questions; the actress had vast knowledge on what life was like in these tenement buildings in 1916. While inside the small three room apartment we noticed that in the back room the window had been boarded up. Victoria explained how it was the air shaft and everyone threw their garbage down there so the smell was unbearable. The apartment included a bedroom, a kitchen, and a living room; it was extremely small. There was two toilets in the hallway that everybody on the floor used and to shower you must go to a separate building, and it costs 2 cents. The tenements were over crowed and had terrible living conditions; hence why most people who lived there dreamed to move across the Williamsburg Bridge. As the class concluded we waved good bye to Meritta and Mike as they walked into the sunset across the Williamsburg Bridge.
We were given some free time to roam around Chinatown before lunch. My group walked down Canal Street, where there was jewelry shop after jewelry shop, to Mulberry Street and threw the heart of Little Italy. The smell of the Italian food made me hungry so we headed to the meeting point where we would have lunch. For lunch we had delicious Chinese food. Every dish hat came out was more delicious than the previous one; the wide selection of quality food was very impressive.
After lunch we went to the Tenement Museum for a sitting tour. We started in a classroom environment where the tour guide gave us some material to use on the actual tour. We would head over to the tenement building around the block to meet Victoria a young 14 year old Jewish girl who had been living here for three years. We were allowed and encouraged to ask questions; the actress had vast knowledge on what life was like in these tenement buildings in 1916. While inside the small three room apartment we noticed that in the back room the window had been boarded up. Victoria explained how it was the air shaft and everyone threw their garbage down there so the smell was unbearable. The apartment included a bedroom, a kitchen, and a living room; it was extremely small. There was two toilets in the hallway that everybody on the floor used and to shower you must go to a separate building, and it costs 2 cents. The tenements were over crowed and had terrible living conditions; hence why most people who lived there dreamed to move across the Williamsburg Bridge. As the class concluded we waved good bye to Meritta and Mike as they walked into the sunset across the Williamsburg Bridge.
Impressions
Overall my opinion of the City did not change, my knowledge however increased vastly. The simple things like the subway and the grid system have become much easier to navigate. All though I grew up in the suburbs my family did spend a lot of time in the City. My favorite day was in lower Manhattan at the WTC Memorial and the tour of the financial district. One thing I was taken back by was the immense history of the city. Growing up with the city in your back yard you take for granted everything we have. There is a reason Manhattan is one of the most populated places in the country because anything you could possibly want is attainable. Anything from diamonds to flowers to fresh food it is all available somewhere within the city. It is very interesting to think that my grandparents and their parents were all apart of the history that we learned about . The class was an incredible learning experience and I will remember it for the rest of my life.