Its Just Good-Bye for Now - Until We Meet Again

       Oh no, I can’t believe it’s all over. This was the one class I really looked forward to every Friday morning. This was an awesome class. Every Friday was a new adventure, a new part of New York City to explore. While all my other classmates are probably now home on Fridays catching up on sleep and enjoying their day off, I am now back at work. This four credit class is unlike any other. We definitely did not still in a boring classroom for three hours. We had a different scenic classroom every week and the six or seven hours of class was far from boring.  Mike and Meritta made these seven weeks the most memorable of any class. We got a chance to visit some of the places that none of us knew existed or would ever visit. It was amazing to learn about the history of New York City and how it came to be. It has changed and developed and gentrified so much that our generation and many tourists get the prospect to experience New York City and its fine rich diverse culture that you won’t find anywhere else on earth.

            My mind-set about New York City has immensely changed after this class. I now have a broader appreciation for New York City after my different experiences within these past seven weeks. I’ve always had a special love for New York and I love to visit the city but after this class I have a new love for New York. I learned and experience so much in such a short time span. I find myself always talking about my Friday class and the places I experienced and how much fun it was and the history behind it. I have already recommended other students to take this class, telling them if they don’t take it they have no idea what a spectacular experience they are missing out on and telling many other people about the places they have to visit and the new cuisines they have to try. I know over the summer I will definitely be heading back to some of those places to spend more time and soak in the familiarity. I have now also introduced a few people to Thai Food and definitely plan on heading back to YUM YUM Bangkok for a dinner date and then over to Amy’s Bakery for dessert. This class was a mixture of everything and the class would not be half as much fun if it wasn’t for my classmates. Even though we all came from different cultures and different backgrounds, we were all one great unified class. We all stuck together, looked out for each other and just had a blast.

            This was such an incredible, unbelievable, most awesomest class I’ve ever taken. I gained a lot of knowledge and exposure to the cultures that make up New York City, but most of all I gained a class load of valuable friends that will be missed dearly. We will try to all keep in touch and we see some faces around campus but when our lives get crazy busy we lose touch. I hope to have another fun adventurous get together soon with everyone like we did on our last night at Red Lion. This was such an enjoyable, pleasant experience and I just want to thank my professors and classmates for making this one I will never forget.

Last of the Lower East Side

        Our last classL, so sad! The final class takes us to the heart of immigrant New York, where we will explore how various groups of new immigrants incorporated into the life of the City during the last two hundred years. We started at the Essex Street Market. Occupying the block of Essex St. from Delancy to Rivington St. is the Essex Street Market. Built in 1940 to house pushcart peddlers whom Mayor Fiorello La Guardia legislated off the streets, the market offers food for all tastes – Latino, Jewish, and upscale urbanite (BG, 123). We were able to roam around and try the different foods if we wanted to. I got some plantain chips and a soda and some of my classmates got some gourmet chocolate chip cookies which was really good. After being let free to find food we then headed down to Delancy Street which was named after the De Lancy family, who were early settlers of the French Huguenot origin (BG, 119). From here we walked a few blocks to the Tenement Museum where our tour and main focus was on the Moore family.

            When we first arrived I had no idea what this museum was all about, I thought it would be so boring. To my surprise it was one of the better more interesting museums. I was very afraid that the floors in these tenements won’t hold everyone’s weight and give way to the ground floor below. This museum, a former tenement, was founded in 1988 to preserve the heritage of the nation’s immigrants, honoring the millions who lived on the Lower East Side and in other immigrant ghettos (BG, 122). Tenements, built to exploit all available space and maximize the return for the landlord, were one of the horrors of immigrant life (BG, 122). The main focus of our tour was based on the Moore family. This was an Irish family, John, Bridget, Mary, Jane, and Agnes who came to New York in 1869 and had to cope with the death of their youngest, Agnes. Agnes was only a baby when she had gotten sick from “swill milk” that was given to her. It’s called swill milk because the milk was not refrigerated and took days to be delivered, so to cover up the bad odor and discoloration of the milk, the sellers added ammonia and chalk.

            We continued with our walk through the Lower East Side heading towards Tom and Jerry’s. I couldn’t believe I was enrolled in a class that was taking us to a bar. This is frigging awesome! I don’t drink but this was terrific. We got a little history about the bar from Ruby. We learned about the dive bar and flap houses and that the bar opened in 1993 and over the years there have been a shift in the demographics mix of people that come into the bar. Oh it was so cold and windy out on our last day that by this time I was freezing and hungry. We headed over to a super authentic place, Congee Village. Now this was really some genuine Chinese food. Our table was sooooo hungry we felt as though the food couldn’t get to our table fast enough. By the time a new dish reached our table the first one was already gone with not a scrap left hahaha. We were still hungry after we were finished.

            We tried to get as much needed feet rest as possible and warmth because we were headed back out into the cold for our last tour. We met up with our tour guide Drew who took us through Lower Eastside, the Bowery, parts of Little Italy and Chinatown. Like the rest of downtown Manhattan, the Lower East Side, long an immigrant neighborhood, is in the midst of rapid change. Chinatown is encroaching from the west and 19^th century tenement buildings are being converted into luxury apartments. Yet the neighborhood retains something of its past – ethnic eateries, synagogues in various state of despair or restorations, and a street of bargain shopping (BG, 118). Bowery, is one of Manhattan’s oldest streets, runs about one mile, from Chatham Square to Cooper Street, and for long was associated with loneliness, poverty, and alcoholism (BG, 152-153). While many of Manhattan’s other ethnic enclaves are shrinking or gentrifying, Chinatown is expanding eastward beyond its original boundaries into the Lower East Side and northward into Little Italy. Visitors come for the ambiance, for bargains, and for food, as well as for knockoff designer handbags and perfume (BG, 107). Mulberry St. from about Canal St. to Kenmare St. is the spine of Little Italy, an ethnic enclave dating from the 1880s that in recent decades have become increasingly Asian. The Italian population has aged or moved away, and today Little Italy has become a tourist draw, attracting visitors to its café, “red sauce” restaurants, and ethnic food stores (BG, 114).

            After our immigrant tour ended, we took one last group picture and parted ways (tears). A few headed back to Penn Station and went home, others went to Canal Street to look for and buy some knockoff bags, and the majority of us went out on our last adventure to enjoy a few drinks and a light dinner. It was an awesome last day and we had a great time.

Lower Manhattan & Captivating Chelsea

            When I heard there was going to be a change of plans for this week’s class I was a little skeptical. It was an awesome idea to be apart of this protest, to be a part of history but from what’s been going on in the news some of us were very afraid of what the outcome will be. The Occupy Wall Street protest has some feeling empowered while others are apprehensive. Wall St. is a short street, about a third of a mile long, which runs between Broadway and the East River. Ever since the New York Stock Exchange moved here in 1903, this thoroughfare, sometimes called simply “The Street”, has been synonymous with New York’s financial industry (BG, 64).

            When we arrived at Zuccotti Park I didn’t know what to expect. I had heard and seen on the news that the protesters were not cooperating with the authorities and that the NYPD were going to arrest almost everyone that day. Upon arrival we walked along the sidewalk and read the signs that the protesters were holding and eventually got yelled at by the cops for meandering. When they were told we were with a class and just wanted to get a statement from a few protestors we were eventually left alone. We heard a little overview from a protester, also some history on the Occupy Wall protest from one of Mike’s former college mate and all about the 99% of America being poor and 1% rich. I have to say I feel horrible for both ends but some of these people work hard to get to where they are at the top and they deserve their million dollar bonuses. Being a business major makes me see both sides to the story because maybe one day I might be on the other end of the rope. So after making history with the protestors we then strolled over to Trinity Church. Trinity Church stands at the head of Wall St. on Broadway, once the loftiest building in the neighborhood, now overshadowed by gigantic office buildings (BG, 65). We walked in through the gothic looking church where there was a bride and groom having their picture taken, we walked along to the back of the church and out the doors into the graveyard where we able to see gravestones of some very famous people like Alexander Hamilton. After this our next stop was Federal Hall National Memorial. Federal Hall is one of New York’s most important historic sites, although the historical events predate the present building (BG, 69). When we got inside the museum there were many historical exhibits and a great deal of them were on George Washington.

            We then walked down to St. Paul’s Chapel & Churchyard. St. Paul’s Chapel faces Broadway between Fulton and Vesey St. It is Manhattan’s only remaining colonial church. It became the most important Anglican Church in the city and was used by George Washington following his inauguration at Federal Hall. After the World Trade Center disaster, the chapel served both as a place of refuge for workers at Ground Zero and as a temporary memorial for visitors, who attached messages and memorials to the fence in front of the church. We continued our journey through the World Financial Center in the hub of Battery Park City, whose five office towers were designed by the firm of Cesar Pelli between 1985 and 1988. The spectacular Winter Garden, with its palm trees and great glass windows, is used for exhibitions and art events (BG, 61). We also visited the Irish Hunger Memorial and continued our walk down the Hudson River to the Poet’s House, a building completely devoted to the art of poetry. After here we stayed on our path along the Hudson River down to Chelsea Piers through the meatpacking industry. After such a long day we finally got to have lunch at the Chelsea Market. I was beyond hungry and the over priced food at the Chelsea Market was not appetizing. The cupcake from Amy’s Bakery was awesomely delicious though, the best part of my lunch.

            After lunch we headed towards the High-Line. The High – Line was built in the mid 19^th century, the New York Central Railroad used to run at street level. The streets were clogged with traffic and the tracks were dangerous and the avenue became known as “Death Avenue”. Beginning in the late 1990s, a local advocacy group defeated proposals for demolition, and at the present time, a park is being constructed over the 1.6 miles. After viewing this hidden masterpiece of New York City we visited a few art galleries that were quite interesting. We were tired and beat and it was getting dark and couldn’t wait to get through these galleries and head home. Overall it was a great experience.

Exhausting East Side

            Our next stop, SpaHa AKA Spanish Harlem. East Side part two. Today we headed towards the Museum Mile for more art and education on the diverse, rich culture that makes up New York City. Today we are headed to El Museo del Barrio. El Museo del Barrio is one of the city’s outstanding small, sharply focused museums; the only museum in the city devoted to Puerto Ricans, Caribbean, and Latin-American culture (BG, 376). It is located at the edge of Spanish Harlem or El Barrio meaning the neighborhood. El Museo was founded in 1969 by community activists, teachers, and artists, mainly Puerto Ricans. It operated first from a classroom in a public school, and then moved to several storefronts until it found a long term home in the present building, originally a settlement house for the Heckscher Foundation for Children and now owned by the city (BG, 376).

            When had a walking tour with Megan our tour guide, who introduced us to the education, history, culture, and art of Spanish Harlem. She showed us the many works of art through the streets that tells the story of Spanish Harlem. One piece that stood out was called “The Spirit of East Harlem”. This mural is located at east 104^th street and Lexington Avenue; it was painted over 25 years ago and represents the simple life of Spanish Harlem way back when. The mural portrayed the daily life of the community with children playing, the elderly, men playing dominoes, a few relaxing and others looking out the window. After our lovely tour we headed back to the museum to check out the pieces of art. Some I have to say were very very interesting. After this we were off to experience the best part of every class, LUNCH! Woohoo!! A few of us headed down to El Paso for some Spanish culture food. BURRITOS! The food was very good, after that I was stuffed.

            After an enjoyable relaxing lunch, we then headed right next door from El Museo del Barrio to the Museum of the city of New York. The Museum of the City of New York offers exhibitions that explore the city’s complex history from its early days as a Dutch colony to its present eminence. Founded in 1923, the museum’s collections contain more than three million artifacts (BG, 376). We got to see exhibits from 9/11 and the Twin Towers and then sat down to watch a short film about how New York City came to be, starting from the early European settlers to present day. Throughout this short film, I’m not going to lie I took a short nap but still knew what was going on in the film.

            I was very happy that I took this short nap because after we walked out of the museum we were in for a surprise. This crazy surprise constituted by Merritta was to walk through the entire central park! I was both thrilled and worried. Thrilled because we get to visit Strawberry Field, which we were not able to visit the first time because mother nature rained on our parade and worried because here we are getting ready to walk the entire central park, over 100 blocks, 843 acres, it gets dark out earlier and will my wee lil legs ever make it. So Central Park is the heartland of Manhattan, 843 acres set aside for the recreation of New Yorkers and visitors alike. Although the park seems natural, the largest surviving piece of Manhattan unencrusted with asphalt and masonry, its landscape and scenery are completely man made, based on designs by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux (BG, 279).

            We started Central Park at the Vanderbilt Gate on east 106st in the Conservatory Garden. The six-acre Conservatory Garden, the parks only formal garden, is named for an elaborate greenhouse torn down in 1934 during the Depression as a cost cutting measure. After it started up and fell into despair again in 1982 Lynden B. Miller, a painter and garden designer, took over, and the following year the Central Park Conservatory began restoring the perennial beds and planting wild flowers. Today the Conservatory Garden, with its magnificent displays of blooms and fine collections of perennials, draws people to admire the plants, contemplate nature, and even get married (BG, 297). We stopped at west 72^nd St. by Strawberry Fields. The 2.5 acre near Central Park West and the 72^nd St park entrance is called Strawberry Fields to honor John Lennon, the songwriter, singer, and member of the Beatles, who was assassinated in the courtyard of the nearby Dakota Apartments in 1980 (BG, 290).

            We then walked over to the front of the apartment building to the entrance of the courtyard where John Lennon was assassinated. After here we were done. But in order to get home we had to walk about 20 more blocks in order to get to a train station to head home. We all trotted down to 59^th and Columbus Circle where the majority of us went down and caught the train back to Penn Station and a few of them walked back to 34^th street and Penn Station. An overall fun but exhausting day.