7.1.14 many things come to mind when i think about new york city. there are many more people who live in the city. the city to me is "the city that never sleeps". the city life continues day and night. there are many tourists areas. I feel the city is very CONGESTED and everyone is always in a rush. there is always things to do and see in the beautiful new york city! I look foward to learning a lot of new things i did not know about the city!!!
2. Queens
7.2.14 Our first class was to meet at penn station. i was SURPRISED and nervous taking the train from astoria to 34th st, herald square. i wanted to be on time and didn't know how the morning rush would be. upon arriving at penn station, locating the lirr ticket booth next to mc donald's was fairly simple. penn station was very crowded with many people rushing to catch their trains. " I was SURPRISED to read that pennsylvania station "serves over 600,000 PASSENGERS every day. It is the busiest train station in the United states." I was excited to leave penn station because i knew there was soo much i was going to learn in the BOROUGH of queens!!!
Our first stop was going to be flushing meadow park. we took the E train to roosevelt avenue. THe nyc subway system is very interesting! the DIVERSITY on the trains was PHENOMENAL!! Arriving at roosevelt avenue, we took a transfer on the 7 train. the 7 train is also known as the international express train. our stop at willet's point gave us a beautiful view of city field. We stopped under a shady tree near the tennis courts for a brief "class meeting". we then walked to the area where the 1964-65 worlds fair took place. we got to see the unisphere that was COMMISSIONED for the New YOrk world fair. It was "built to symbolize "man's achievements on a shrinking globe and an expanding universe"(eny162). The worlds fair was also very interesting. it was like a REPLICA of "disney or universal". "The theme of the 1939-1940 world's fair was decidedly future - oriented, inviting visitors to explore "the world of tomorrow: (eny 163). We then walked to the queens museum of art. our class was lucky because we got to see the newly renovated front while other classes saw the museum during construction. i have never been to this musuem and was expecting to see great things because dr. russo had said... "this museum will blow your socks off!!!" "the building that houses the museum was originally the new york state building, created for the 1939 - 1940 world's fair"(eny 165). Our tpur guide george was excellent and provided us with great information of each piece in the museum! The first room we were taken into was the andy warhol room. this room was very interesting because it had "the 13 most wanted men". this was ironic because there were only 9 pictures of the most wanted men. what i thought was terrible was when robert moses DESTROYED his painting of the 13 most wanted men which warhol had put up for the world's fair. We also learned about the new york watershed and how fresh and clean water run from delaware and croton watershed. Many people dont APPRECIATE the effort people made to have clean water running to new york city all the way from upstate. we then saw beautiful art by liu wei. The art was composed of all books. this was interesting because one would think.. art created by books?!! THe last piece of art we got to see was the panorama room. this room was very detailed of the PANORAMA view of new york city. i loved it!! george made a point of REMEMBERING the year 1811 because this was the year which the grid was developed and gave street names and avenues.
Leaving the museum and flushing meadows park, we took the 7 train back to jackson heights for some lunch. i was a bit worried in trying indian food because i thought it would be too spicy. we got off at roosevelt avenue and went into jackson diner. the smell was soo yucky to me but i gave the food a shot. i ate the nan bread (similar to pita bread), tandoori chicken, and some salad. the food was not bad but i PROBABLY would not go eat indian food again.
our next stop was astoria, my favorite!! we took the r train from roosevelt avenue to STEINWAY. STEINWAY was names after steinways pianos. astoria is a small community with signs of first hand gentrification. it has been know to be a greek community all my life. astoria used to be the place for movie making before and still continues to be. we made our way to museum of moving image. this museum was a self guide of all the behind the scene equipment and how the equipment transformed from then to now. The best thing i saw at this museum was the sound effects in the movies. they actually let us sit, record a few lines, and we would here us talking in movie!!! AMAZing!!
our next and last stop was long island city. we took the m train from steinway to court sqare. we first went to see the moma ps1 (which was closed so we could not get inside). "Ps1 is an affiliate of the museum f modern art and is the ORIGINAL building of the first pulics school, which operated from 1893 - 1963" (eny 170). we also got to see the old five pointz which was very sad that they painted over that. we can see they took something so amazing down to build sky rises due to the growth in these communities. we then walked down by the water to get a great view of the city and much more! The famous pepsi cola sign has been there since 1936. we then made our way to gantry plaza state park. "it's named after the huge 19th century railroad gantries that were used to transfer cargo from ships to trains to be transported throughout long island" (ENY 172). We then split due to terrible WEATHER coming our way! I stayed in long island city while the rest of the group went back to pennsylvania station. this was truly a amazing and unforgettable day!
3. Brooklyn
7.9.14 Day number two of class! today we started off in pennsylvania station. We headed out of penn station onto 6th avenue taking the d train. a group of us got held up at the light on 7th avenue and the rest of the group with the professors kept going. when mike and damien say they keep going, they do not stop! we caught up with the group on the train. our stop was coney island (of course the last stop). it was a long but PLEASANT train ride. i had the chance to catch up on some music ORGANIZING for my events that weekend.
upon arriving at our coney island stop, mike and damien said we are free to roam and "feel the vibe". Nick, Gina, and I decided to roam as a group. We were hungry so our first stop was nathan's famous hot dogs. in my opnion, these hot dogs were not even that great and the price was RIDICULOUS!!! our experience at nathan's was not soo good either. Gina got into a huge argument with a black lady who cut the line. i have never seen gina sooo angry!! we then made a few stop at the local store to purchase a SOUVENIR. we walked to the boardwalk and then to the pier. i was not getting a good vibe. i did not like coney island at all. not that im racist and i dont like black people, its just that i could not make a connection. we walked past the 1927 cyclone and did not decide to ride it. THe ride look very old and like it was about to fall. it was very shaky. by that time, we had to go back to our meeting area and rejoin with the group to continue our journey. i will not come back to coney island ever again!
We then took the subway to downtown brooklyn. we saw brooklyn BOROUGH hall which used to be brooklyn city hall when brooklyn was its own city. we have seen a change in the city since 1898. the ARCHITECTURE of the colums are greek revival with doric caps. Mike pointed out three very important caps and tested us on our journey through brooklyn. these caps are: doric, iconic and corinthian (AKA greeks are dic). Walking through the heat and humind, we finally made it to the transit museum. Our tour guide catherine was very INFORMATIVE. she told us how they built the trains back in the day and how hard that was when trains first started. she made it clear that the trains were unsafe!!! crime was at its all time high ESPECIALLY down at the train platforms. catherine also told us that the transit museum was supposed to be a temporary exhibit in 1976 but ended up staying a exit. the most dangerous job was the sandhogs.they were responsible for connecting the BOROUGHS under water. there was soo much pressure and heat which caused some to get caisson's disease. there was also the chance of them being pulled in from a crack, and being tossed in the area and falling to their death. for all these risks, sand hogs did not get paid fairly!! Nick and i toured the transit museum sitting in busses and walking in and out of the BUSSES which where down stairs. looking at each train, we notice many changes where made in each train that was built.
leaving the transit museum, we roamed the street of brooklyn while mike pointed out greek REVIVAL and federal style buildings. he also MENTIONED how expensive it is to live in a brownstone, but the building is very hard to maintain because there is no more brownstone. our next stop was the brooklyn heights PROMENADE. upon arriving there, we saw a amazing view of lower manhattan!! mike said that robert moses RUINED the view by building the brooklyn queens expressway beneath us. we then walked along orange street and stopped at plymouth church where the statue of preacher henry ward beecher stood. he was a very famous people and many famous people came to hear his PREACHING such as mark twain and abraham LINCOLN. next stop was dumbo aka down under the manhattan brooklyn overpass. there we had a nice view and janes carousel which i did not ride. mike took some of us ahead for ICE-CREAM at jaques torre chocolatiers. i had a chocolate milkshake. It was delicious!!!! we got just enough energy back to cross over the brooklyn bridge. although it was a long day, a lot was LEARNED and i look foward to the rest of journeys!!!!
4. Cheslea and The village
7.11.14 We met up as usual at pennsylvania station, although todays journey was one not expected!! we did not use the subway. we walked outside penn station where mike told us it was built in 1911 by mckim, mead, and white. we walked to the next block where we saw the beautiful neo classical beaux-art. this building was the united states postal service office. mike explained to us that there is a possibility they will make that building the new penn station and move the post office. i believe this is a excellent idea because the structure of the building is just beautiful! entering into the city of chelsea, mike told us it was filled with prostitution during the 1980s. mike also said that when these areas where down and cheap, artists moved in and filled the area with positive energy. we then walked the streets of chelsea looking in and out of artists stores and the different art GALLERIES that filled the streets. we went to several art GALLERIES but the ones that interest me most was mike weiss GALLERY and eugenio merino GALLERY. our next stop was st. peter's episcopal church on 20th st. although it was locked, a great man tony gadly opened the church doors for us to take a look inside this church. this church was breath taking. i have not seen such a great church. the art inside the church was fabulous!!
we then got a nice tan walking across the HIGH LINE. the high line is an abandoned elevated freight line which was turned into a beautiful garden with seating areas. From the high line, we had a nice view of the sky rises in the area. we walked into chelsea market for lunch. i decided not to eat since i had just ate BREAKFAST a few hours before that. chelsea market was packed with people and mike did not like it so he said he will not go back!! from the market we moved along to the meat packing district. it got its name from all the slaughter houses and butcher shops they had back in the day. now its filled with all trendy stores. our next stop was greenwich village. we ENCOUNTERED three woman raising money to help fund the beautiful garden aka jefferson market garden. Mike discussed the "the trial of the year" which had OCCURRED in that area. Harry thaw shot stanford white over a jealous rage in which white had sex with thaw's wife. we thanked the ladies for their kindness in showing us pictures as well. washington square park was next. mike told us that the washington square park had was the home to largest and oldest tree. we cut through the park to cooper square. there we saw the amazing design and structure of the buildings. i would have like to see the inside of these homes but at the time we visited, they were closed.
our next stop was a tour of the merchant. the sytle of the building is federal. the class was split into two groups. our tour guide started at the garden of the building. the garden was well taken care of. one thing i noticed was the high walls on either side. on the right of the building, the house was taken down. we then moved into the kitchen where there were four servants who would provide for the family. next room was the living room for the family. all the eight members of the family would have family time in that room. next we moved upstairs to the main floor. this was one big room that could be split into two rooms by a dividing wall IN-BETWEEN these rooms. They were mostly for when guest came over. Upstairs we went to the wife's room first, then the husband's. what i found interesting was that they did not sleep together. something that disgusted me was the way they showered. the next floor was the SERVANTS floor. they only had one small room for the four SERVANTS. the house itself was very big and unique. although our tour guide wasnt loud or very entertaining, i got the most out of this tour.
by the time we finished our tour at the merchants house, we were all EXHAUSTED!!! we walked over to our last stop which was big gays ice cream shop. many of my fellow classmates tried the "salty pimp" but i did not get anything. we finished class there and i took the train back to astoria. this day was very long and very tiring!!!! but in the end... we had fun and learned a lot!