JOurnal 5 - 9
5. upper east side/harlem
Today was the 5th class session. We met once again at Penn at 11am. I was hoping for no rain because then we would have had to use the rain date. Although the sky did clear up by the time we left Penn Station, I was still not fully attentive in today’s class. (I HAD A LONG WEEKEND!!!). It was also a rough week because the MTA was debating on going on strike, which caused Mike and Damien to rearrange the class schedule. We had agreed on staying longer today to make up for the strike in case it happened.
We left Penn Station taking the 3 train to the shuttle train. What I thought the shuttle was going to be was a bus, so when I saw the train I was surprised. We then took 5 train uptown to 86 street and then took the 6 train to 103rd street where we got off in East Harlem. Walking out of the train station in East Harlem, I could tell this was an area I would not like/ prefer. “East Harlem is known as Spanish Harlem or “El Bario”- is a uptown neighborhood of Manhattan. (ENY 75) Mike explained to us that this area consisted of primarily Italian and German immigrants. The Genovese was an Italian mob family, which ran most of the area back in the day. Robert Moses was building the “PJ” housing projects, which put most poor people together in these clustered buildings. Standing in front of these project homes, I felt they were so plain and boring. The area is slowly becoming gentrified and we are seeing more buildings like the ones we saw in Long Island City.
Our next stop was over to the Museum of the City of New York. We walked into a room filled with paintings by Martin Wong. I was not thrilled by his artwork. Like Mike and many said, as well as myself, “its just a bunch of paint thrown onto a canvas”. I believe this painting could be done by a 5 year old, but Mike told us to really LOOK INTO THE PICTURE. I could tell that Wong put a lot of effort into his painting and a lot of thought of which colors to put in and where to put them! We then walked upstairs to the little movie room to see a short film. The film was called Timescapes, which was a movie about the history of New York. A few things that interested me in the movie were the comparison between tenements and the upper class living such as the Astor’s. Another was the horrifying event that occurred on September 11, 2001. I was very sad when that part came on. I remember that day like it had juts happened yesterday. It was a horrible tragedy. We walked in the Coney Island room, which gave me a better history of how Coney Island used to be in the 60s. The next room we went to was the Gilded age, which consisted of paintings, jewelry, clothing, and much more. The last stop in the museum was Mike’s FAVORITE!!!!..... GUSTAVINO TILES!!! Ill have to admit this is some amazing tile, although I do not know how Raphael Gustavino lived in his home filled with Gustavino Tile. The quote on the stairs that I choose was, “New York has always been going to hell but somehow it never gets there. (Robert Pirsig, 1992). This is true; New York has always been failing, but never seems to “fully” fail.
Next was a tour around Spanish Harlem with a fabulous tour guide Luke. He was a Spanish poet and an enthusiast about telling us the most important things about Harlem. He started off by introducing himself, and then went on so we can introduce ourselves and describe how we are feeling in one word! Next he spoke his poem to us, which was called a girl on the D train. His poem was about a woman on the D train who was singing her heart out, and Luke told her, keep singing! One this he told us which was catchy was “We need more music, we need more music” We started walking through Harlem and noticed some men just “shooting the sh*t”. This to me was odd because we usually don’t see people just sitting outside and talking. We stopped at one of Dela Vega’s quotes, “Be mindful even if your mind is full.” We even saw murals by Dela Vega, one of Pedro Pietri. “Born in Puerto Rico, Pietri was a lifelong resident of East Harlem, a community activist, and the founder of Nuyorican Poets Café” (ENY). We took our break after and ate with most of the class at a Taqueria. They were some excellent tacos!!!
We then met up with Mike who took us through MOST of central park. We started off at the Vanderbilt gate on 5th avenue and 105th street. Mike explained that this gate came from the Vanderbilt Mansion. Mike explained that the park was built for people to get away from all the clutter, but most of the lower class worked 6 days a week and didn’t have a chance to come down to the park. We walked to another of Mike’s favorite, the Conservatory Garden. I liked how to pots with lilies were coming out of the pond. Walking around the park was very interesting. Mike told us to sit on the schist to have a class discussion. We walked to the Bethesda Fountain, which was created in 1968. There we saw many people gathered around and little kids splashing water, which gave me a flashback of my childhood life. Next was the Strawberry Field where Mark Lennon was shot by an obsessed fan.
We were then let free by Mike to either walk to Penn or take the subway back to Penn. I took the train to Astoria. This was one long day but I actually enjoyed walking through central park and learning about East/ Spanish Harlem!
We left Penn Station taking the 3 train to the shuttle train. What I thought the shuttle was going to be was a bus, so when I saw the train I was surprised. We then took 5 train uptown to 86 street and then took the 6 train to 103rd street where we got off in East Harlem. Walking out of the train station in East Harlem, I could tell this was an area I would not like/ prefer. “East Harlem is known as Spanish Harlem or “El Bario”- is a uptown neighborhood of Manhattan. (ENY 75) Mike explained to us that this area consisted of primarily Italian and German immigrants. The Genovese was an Italian mob family, which ran most of the area back in the day. Robert Moses was building the “PJ” housing projects, which put most poor people together in these clustered buildings. Standing in front of these project homes, I felt they were so plain and boring. The area is slowly becoming gentrified and we are seeing more buildings like the ones we saw in Long Island City.
Our next stop was over to the Museum of the City of New York. We walked into a room filled with paintings by Martin Wong. I was not thrilled by his artwork. Like Mike and many said, as well as myself, “its just a bunch of paint thrown onto a canvas”. I believe this painting could be done by a 5 year old, but Mike told us to really LOOK INTO THE PICTURE. I could tell that Wong put a lot of effort into his painting and a lot of thought of which colors to put in and where to put them! We then walked upstairs to the little movie room to see a short film. The film was called Timescapes, which was a movie about the history of New York. A few things that interested me in the movie were the comparison between tenements and the upper class living such as the Astor’s. Another was the horrifying event that occurred on September 11, 2001. I was very sad when that part came on. I remember that day like it had juts happened yesterday. It was a horrible tragedy. We walked in the Coney Island room, which gave me a better history of how Coney Island used to be in the 60s. The next room we went to was the Gilded age, which consisted of paintings, jewelry, clothing, and much more. The last stop in the museum was Mike’s FAVORITE!!!!..... GUSTAVINO TILES!!! Ill have to admit this is some amazing tile, although I do not know how Raphael Gustavino lived in his home filled with Gustavino Tile. The quote on the stairs that I choose was, “New York has always been going to hell but somehow it never gets there. (Robert Pirsig, 1992). This is true; New York has always been failing, but never seems to “fully” fail.
Next was a tour around Spanish Harlem with a fabulous tour guide Luke. He was a Spanish poet and an enthusiast about telling us the most important things about Harlem. He started off by introducing himself, and then went on so we can introduce ourselves and describe how we are feeling in one word! Next he spoke his poem to us, which was called a girl on the D train. His poem was about a woman on the D train who was singing her heart out, and Luke told her, keep singing! One this he told us which was catchy was “We need more music, we need more music” We started walking through Harlem and noticed some men just “shooting the sh*t”. This to me was odd because we usually don’t see people just sitting outside and talking. We stopped at one of Dela Vega’s quotes, “Be mindful even if your mind is full.” We even saw murals by Dela Vega, one of Pedro Pietri. “Born in Puerto Rico, Pietri was a lifelong resident of East Harlem, a community activist, and the founder of Nuyorican Poets Café” (ENY). We took our break after and ate with most of the class at a Taqueria. They were some excellent tacos!!!
We then met up with Mike who took us through MOST of central park. We started off at the Vanderbilt gate on 5th avenue and 105th street. Mike explained that this gate came from the Vanderbilt Mansion. Mike explained that the park was built for people to get away from all the clutter, but most of the lower class worked 6 days a week and didn’t have a chance to come down to the park. We walked to another of Mike’s favorite, the Conservatory Garden. I liked how to pots with lilies were coming out of the pond. Walking around the park was very interesting. Mike told us to sit on the schist to have a class discussion. We walked to the Bethesda Fountain, which was created in 1968. There we saw many people gathered around and little kids splashing water, which gave me a flashback of my childhood life. Next was the Strawberry Field where Mark Lennon was shot by an obsessed fan.
We were then let free by Mike to either walk to Penn or take the subway back to Penn. I took the train to Astoria. This was one long day but I actually enjoyed walking through central park and learning about East/ Spanish Harlem!
6. Midtown & morningside heights
Classes are winding down slowly and we are more than glad that the MTA did not go on strike!!! Today Mike and Damien said we would be exploring Midtown Manhattan and Morningside Heights. We did not take any train from Penn Station, but walked out Penn Station to Broadway and W 36th street. Mike told us that Broadway does not run like regular avenues or street, it runs diagonal. This created Times Square, Herald Square, Union Square, and Columbus Circle. “In 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg designated the entire stretch of Broadway between 33rd and 47th streets into pedestrian zones with the two blocks of Broadway between 33rd and 35th streets completely closed to all vehicular traffic (ENY). Many storeowners were worried that business would decrease due to less parking and vehicles. The total opposite happened. Businesses started rising due to more pedestrian traffic!! Mike and Damien were pointing out the various styles of building in Midtown. Some were attractive, while others were just plain and boring.
Our next stop was the Rockefeller building where Mike pointed out another style of art deco. A Mexican artist named Diego Rivera, which Rockefeller hired, did the original mural. He could not afford to hire a much better artist. The murals were glorifying and had a capitalist ideology to them. We then walked outside to look at the structure of the building, which was a set back style building.
We took a short break before heading to the Museum of Modern Art. I was not really a fan of art, although I like graffiti. Damien spoke to us about all the different styles we would see in the museum such as abstract vs. representation, indexical vs. iconic, and impressionistic vs. expressionistic. We looked at many paintings in the museum but none of which interest me. Picassos painting of women was usually prostitutes and Gohs’s paintings were of trees, trunks and branches. Kooning’s painting of women was indexical. One painting I saw which seemed kind of cool was the Warhol Campbell’s soup cans! I think a lot of people don’t take into consideration how much time and effort is put into these paintings and artwork masterpieces.
We left the museum to have lunch at Yum Yum Bangkok. This was a Thai restaurant. Although I never tried Thai food, mikes recommend chicken friend rice for the “boring people”!! I ordered plain chicken fried rice just to be safe!
After eating for a bout a hour, we hopped back on the 3 train to 96th street, which left us in Morningside Heights. There we met our tour guide Jim who walked with us the rest of the day. “By the 1950s, Morningside Heights began to experience the same sort of economic decline experienced by East Harlem/Spanish Harlem. Taking advantage of the situation, Colombia University began to purchase much of the real estate in the neighborhood and remains one of it’s largest property owners” (ENY).
We headed to the Cathedral of St. John the Devine where once again, Mike saw his FABULOUS GUSTAVINO TILE!!! Next we walked to Colombia University where Jim pointed out the library’s dome, which was built by Mckim. The campus was beautiful, and I would love to attend Colombia University after my bachelors at Molloy College. Next stop was the Ulysses. S. Grant National Memorial. He was the U.S. president from 1869 to 1877. Him and his wife were both buried there, and Mike told us that at some point in time, they wanted to make that building the White house building. We then walked to the Apollo Theater, which was another famous building.
Next and last stop… My home!!! Today was not so fascinating to me because of the artwork we saw at the museum of modern art. Once again, I am not a fan of art, although I did appreciate seeing Gustavino Tile!
Our next stop was the Rockefeller building where Mike pointed out another style of art deco. A Mexican artist named Diego Rivera, which Rockefeller hired, did the original mural. He could not afford to hire a much better artist. The murals were glorifying and had a capitalist ideology to them. We then walked outside to look at the structure of the building, which was a set back style building.
We took a short break before heading to the Museum of Modern Art. I was not really a fan of art, although I like graffiti. Damien spoke to us about all the different styles we would see in the museum such as abstract vs. representation, indexical vs. iconic, and impressionistic vs. expressionistic. We looked at many paintings in the museum but none of which interest me. Picassos painting of women was usually prostitutes and Gohs’s paintings were of trees, trunks and branches. Kooning’s painting of women was indexical. One painting I saw which seemed kind of cool was the Warhol Campbell’s soup cans! I think a lot of people don’t take into consideration how much time and effort is put into these paintings and artwork masterpieces.
We left the museum to have lunch at Yum Yum Bangkok. This was a Thai restaurant. Although I never tried Thai food, mikes recommend chicken friend rice for the “boring people”!! I ordered plain chicken fried rice just to be safe!
After eating for a bout a hour, we hopped back on the 3 train to 96th street, which left us in Morningside Heights. There we met our tour guide Jim who walked with us the rest of the day. “By the 1950s, Morningside Heights began to experience the same sort of economic decline experienced by East Harlem/Spanish Harlem. Taking advantage of the situation, Colombia University began to purchase much of the real estate in the neighborhood and remains one of it’s largest property owners” (ENY).
We headed to the Cathedral of St. John the Devine where once again, Mike saw his FABULOUS GUSTAVINO TILE!!! Next we walked to Colombia University where Jim pointed out the library’s dome, which was built by Mckim. The campus was beautiful, and I would love to attend Colombia University after my bachelors at Molloy College. Next stop was the Ulysses. S. Grant National Memorial. He was the U.S. president from 1869 to 1877. Him and his wife were both buried there, and Mike told us that at some point in time, they wanted to make that building the White house building. We then walked to the Apollo Theater, which was another famous building.
Next and last stop… My home!!! Today was not so fascinating to me because of the artwork we saw at the museum of modern art. Once again, I am not a fan of art, although I did appreciate seeing Gustavino Tile!
7. Lower manhattan & GOVERNORS island
Last week of class!!!! Not sure if I was excited or sad. I wanted class to be over so I can be free for the summer, but then I felt that there was so much more I could go explore. I might have to take some days in August to go back into Manhattan and do more exploring on my own! Today’s class started off at Penn Station. We took the 3 train to the last stop, which was the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. I have never been there my whole life, so it was interesting to go see the tragic accident that occurred in 2001. We walked out of the train station to St. Paul’s church. That is where mike let us go inside and do some exploring on alone. He told us before we left that the church survived the September 11 attacks because of a tree, which he said he would explain later in the day.
Our next stop was the Woolworth building. I can say this was such an amazing building. This was the tallest skyscraper from 1913 to 1930 until the Chrysler building was built. The building style was neo – gothic with setbacks. We walked about a block to New York City Hall, but unfortunately we could not go inside do to the renovations. Mike then took us to 8 Spruce Street Building, which was a example of post modern style architecture. We then walked a few blocks to the Municipal Building, another one of Mike’s FAVORITE! It consisted of Beaux Arts classical revival with Corinthian columns created by Mckim Mead and White. This building was beautiful and once again, we saw Gustavino Tile!!! We walked over to the Thrugood Marshall United States Courthouse where we sat on the steps and mike spoke to us about the problems that the area was experiencing.
We walked over to the African Burial Ground National Monument. I did not like this place although I did get to learn about the history. It was cool because my father was born in South Africa, Durban, so I can say I am “part African”. Many of these Africans did not leave a healthy and normal life. Most of them being used as slaves, and not getting the freedom they deserved. What I liked most about the short film we saw was the fact that the Africans went against the law and gave the man the proper burial!
Next stop was the freedom tower and the September 11 memorial fountains. Everyone looked over the fountain, which had a smaller dark hole where the rest of the water drained. Mike explained to us that this was a sign of emptiness and darkness. We saw the survivor tree which survived September 11, taken to a nursery to help re grow, put back by the memorial, and then another tragedy happened. Sandy cause the tree to be put in the nursery again, but once again this tree is back at the memorial site. I believe this is a sign of hope and relief that we can all come through, even at the worst of times. We walked through Zuccotti Park “originally called Liberty Plaza when it was created in 1968, the park is one of the many public – private hybrid parks in the city of New York” (ENY)
We headed over to Trinity Church where we saw the Trinity Root, “a Bronze sculpture by Steven Tobin created as a memorial to the sycamore tree that protected St. Paul’s from the falling debris on September 11th” (ENY). I personally did not like the sculpture. We then rushed over to the ferry, which left at 4pm for Governors Island.
Governors Island was very beautiful. I have never been there and it was quite an experience for me. When we got there the forts were closing so we really couldn’t get a good tour. We did have 2 boring tour guides take us around one fort and show us the different cells and what each one was used for. We then had about a hour and half to explore the Island on our own. A large group of the class, as well as myself, rushed over to the hammocks. That is where we relaxed peaceful until we had to catch the 6 o’clock ferry back to the city. Docking at lower Manhattan, Mike and Damien set us free to go back to Penn Station. This day was very enjoyable and memorable for me.
Our next stop was the Woolworth building. I can say this was such an amazing building. This was the tallest skyscraper from 1913 to 1930 until the Chrysler building was built. The building style was neo – gothic with setbacks. We walked about a block to New York City Hall, but unfortunately we could not go inside do to the renovations. Mike then took us to 8 Spruce Street Building, which was a example of post modern style architecture. We then walked a few blocks to the Municipal Building, another one of Mike’s FAVORITE! It consisted of Beaux Arts classical revival with Corinthian columns created by Mckim Mead and White. This building was beautiful and once again, we saw Gustavino Tile!!! We walked over to the Thrugood Marshall United States Courthouse where we sat on the steps and mike spoke to us about the problems that the area was experiencing.
We walked over to the African Burial Ground National Monument. I did not like this place although I did get to learn about the history. It was cool because my father was born in South Africa, Durban, so I can say I am “part African”. Many of these Africans did not leave a healthy and normal life. Most of them being used as slaves, and not getting the freedom they deserved. What I liked most about the short film we saw was the fact that the Africans went against the law and gave the man the proper burial!
Next stop was the freedom tower and the September 11 memorial fountains. Everyone looked over the fountain, which had a smaller dark hole where the rest of the water drained. Mike explained to us that this was a sign of emptiness and darkness. We saw the survivor tree which survived September 11, taken to a nursery to help re grow, put back by the memorial, and then another tragedy happened. Sandy cause the tree to be put in the nursery again, but once again this tree is back at the memorial site. I believe this is a sign of hope and relief that we can all come through, even at the worst of times. We walked through Zuccotti Park “originally called Liberty Plaza when it was created in 1968, the park is one of the many public – private hybrid parks in the city of New York” (ENY)
We headed over to Trinity Church where we saw the Trinity Root, “a Bronze sculpture by Steven Tobin created as a memorial to the sycamore tree that protected St. Paul’s from the falling debris on September 11th” (ENY). I personally did not like the sculpture. We then rushed over to the ferry, which left at 4pm for Governors Island.
Governors Island was very beautiful. I have never been there and it was quite an experience for me. When we got there the forts were closing so we really couldn’t get a good tour. We did have 2 boring tour guides take us around one fort and show us the different cells and what each one was used for. We then had about a hour and half to explore the Island on our own. A large group of the class, as well as myself, rushed over to the hammocks. That is where we relaxed peaceful until we had to catch the 6 o’clock ferry back to the city. Docking at lower Manhattan, Mike and Damien set us free to go back to Penn Station. This day was very enjoyable and memorable for me.
8. Lower east side
Today was our final day of class. I took the 10:22 train from Astoria, 30th avenue and headed into Penn Station. We met with Mike and Damien and they told us we would have a short and easy day. We took the F train to Delancy Street, where Mike mentioned that the Irish and the Germans came to settle in the 1850s. The lower east side is filled with Jewish people. A interesting fact I came across was that so many Jewish people crossed the Williamsburg Bridge, that people used to call it “Jews Highway”. Many of these Jews did not have the best lifestyle. They lived I railroad style apartments. Now the lower east side is beginning to change and is becoming a more desirable place to live.
We went to Kossars Bialy’s to get breakfast. I got a plain bagel, which was soo stale that I could not even eat it. We sat in the park to eat and once everyone finished, our tour guide Jim took us through the lower east side. Jim started talking to us about how the lower east side came to be. It started off as 3 farms. Stuyvesant farms, Delancy farms, and Rutgers farms. Rutgers used to be Rutgers Square but is now named Strauss Square. We began walking along East Broadway where we saw Beaux art style building with ATH on the side. I found out that ATH stand for “The Arnold Toynbee House”. This house was very old and unappealing to me! We stopped at the Henry Street Settlement, which was funded by Lillian Wald a nursing student at that time. She disliked the tenement life back then and decided she should do something about it.
We then walked over to see the Eldridge Street Synagogue. I did not like the Synagogue at all. Next was China town, which disgusted me most. It smelled sooo bad we could barley walk through the streets. Many of these Chinese people had umbrellas because of the sun but it was not even that out. Mike and Damien took us for Chinese food, which I can say was actually pretty good. Today was a short and easy day like they said it would be. Leaving the Chinese restaurant, I was sad because I had fun with the rest of my classmates. Although it was a short summer class, we learned a lot! I will miss all my classmates and my two wonderful professors!!!
We went to Kossars Bialy’s to get breakfast. I got a plain bagel, which was soo stale that I could not even eat it. We sat in the park to eat and once everyone finished, our tour guide Jim took us through the lower east side. Jim started talking to us about how the lower east side came to be. It started off as 3 farms. Stuyvesant farms, Delancy farms, and Rutgers farms. Rutgers used to be Rutgers Square but is now named Strauss Square. We began walking along East Broadway where we saw Beaux art style building with ATH on the side. I found out that ATH stand for “The Arnold Toynbee House”. This house was very old and unappealing to me! We stopped at the Henry Street Settlement, which was funded by Lillian Wald a nursing student at that time. She disliked the tenement life back then and decided she should do something about it.
We then walked over to see the Eldridge Street Synagogue. I did not like the Synagogue at all. Next was China town, which disgusted me most. It smelled sooo bad we could barley walk through the streets. Many of these Chinese people had umbrellas because of the sun but it was not even that out. Mike and Damien took us for Chinese food, which I can say was actually pretty good. Today was a short and easy day like they said it would be. Leaving the Chinese restaurant, I was sad because I had fun with the rest of my classmates. Although it was a short summer class, we learned a lot! I will miss all my classmates and my two wonderful professors!!!
9. final impressions
My final impressions of New York are fantastic. Taking this course was a great learning experience. I would recommended it to most of my friends at Molloy College. Like Mike and Damien said first day of class, THIS WILL BE YOUR BEST CLASS AT MOLLOY! I feel it was THE BEST! There were some things at times i disliked but I pushed myself through them. If I had the opportunity, I would love to take this class again, but maybe in out of the country somewhere!! This class made me more aware of my surroundings and the various styles of buildings. Mike and Damien also showed me that even the smallest statue can have the greatest history. THIS CLASS WAS AMAZING!!!! I HAD A BLAST!!!! IT WAS SICK!!