What I love about being a member of the museums in New York City is that there is an opportunity to see the museum in the early hours for private events. This morning I got up early to experience Manhattan on a spectacular sunny morning for the event ‘Oasis in the Garden’, a talk on the design, purpose and art in the MoMA outdoor garden.
We met inside the museum before the tour
Since the museum opened at 9:30am and there was no one at the museum at that hour, we had the outdoor garden to ourselves for almost an hour and a half.
The outdoor garden at the MoMA at 10:00am in the morning
Our tour guide led about fifteen of us through a history of the creation of the gardens, the purpose in the museum, its renovation in 2004 when I joined and the sculpture in the garden.
She also talked about taking her students here and that some of them wanted specific answers to what the art meant rather than forming their own opinion. It is funny how I see this in my own students.
What I liked about our tour group was that it was an older, very educated crowd of people who brought different opinions on how the art we were seeing should be thought about. From the time the artist created it to it modern interpretation by the ‘politically correct police’, I was amazed by the other members take on each piece of art.
The gardens are a refuge from the noise and crowds of the museum and the City
Video of the fountain
The Albert Giacometti ‘Talk Figure III’
Each piece of sculpture we touch upon was chosen specifically for the gardens and we talked about its place from when it was made to the modern interpretation and how they differ. Our first discussion was about the Albert Giacometti sculpture ‘Tall Figure III’. Some people talked about hunger and the stance on poverty. I asked if her students had different thoughts of the statue when it was made versus today.
She explained everything is seen differently through the artist’s eyes versus the modern I perception. It was hard to compare the two opinions without a debate. I thought today’s students needed to lighten up a little and stop taking art at face value and just enjoy it. The context of work over a hundred years ago is very different from how it can be looked at today.
We had time to talk and relax between art pieces and I swear the sound of the fountains relaxed me so much I almost feel asleep.
The fountains were so calming that morning
Video of the Japanese fountain
The August’s Rodin ‘St. John the Baptist Preaching’
We talked about the religious standpoint of the sculpture versus its place in modern society. I thought it was a naked guy hitchhiking. It’s funny how you see art.
The Jacques Lipchitz ‘Figure 1926-30’
With the ‘Figure’ many of the member talked about their interpretation of the modern take of Cubism and some members asked about whether these were arms and legs or something else.
The back of the gardens
The back of the gardens were so peaceful. I stood back from the tour so I could just hear the water rumble.
The Henry Moore sculpture ‘ The Family Group 1948-49
We discussed the modern family unit of today versus when the sculpture was created.
The back of the gardens
The Henri Matisse ‘The Back (III) 1913-16
The Aristide Maillol ‘The River’
We talked about the fall from God. One person said it looked like someone was tripping into the fountain. I thought that was clever.
The Jean Dubuffet ‘Study for Tower with Figures’
This was the last figure we discussed and we were asked as a group what was the first thing that came to our minds when we saw this. I said ‘Juxtaposed’. So much going on and a lot being said. We talked about children and their make up in the family unit. How they change things.
I have to say that I saw the art in a different light this morning. It was interesting to hear the artist’s interpretation versus what members thoughts were on what the art meant. I thought it was a good take away when we finished the tour. There were so many interesting opinions on the art. What I liked was the weather was so amazing, and it was so nice to be outside.
The garden as the public entered later that morning
I know I got a lot out of the tour. It’s always nice to see different points of view of what the art means and how we interpret it. This is why it is fun to be a member of the MoMA. It’s nice to see the museum when it is quiet and you can just take your time.
I started walking the streets of Lower Chelsea after Maricel and I spent the morning wondering around Chinatown with her nephew. I swear that kid has an appetite. We went out for dumplings and roast pork buns and between them and myself nothing was left.
Dumplings is a wonderful place on Henry Street right off Catherine Street in Chinatown and for $5.00 you can get either ten large pork and chive dumplings or ten large pork buns. I opted for the pork buns on this trip.
The Pork Buns from Dumplings
These make the best lunch
We ate in the park and caught up with work. I had to thank her again for that wonderful Afternoon Tea at the Plaza the week before. It was pretty amazing being back in the Palm Court after all those years.
Then it was off the Tasty Bakery on Catherine Street for dessert. We indulged in Cream buns for dessert. Tasty Bakery is one of those very local coffee and bakery places that the older Chinese residents meet during the day and that are quickly disappearing. That’s why you have to visit for these fantastic pastries.
The Cream filled buns are the best
Yum!
After walking around the East Village for a while, they left the City and I ventured up to Lower Chelsea to start the walk of the neighborhood. I walked up from Chinatown as the humidity seemed to die down today. It ended up being a bit cooler than the recent days. The weather had been so hot and humid during some of these walks.
I started the walk on this spectacular day in Madison Square Park. It was such a breathtaking sunny day and the humidity was finally starting to fall. Perfect for walking around the park admiring the gardens and fountains. Everything was in bloom and the park looked spectacular. I love this patch of green in the middle of Manhattan.
The statute of Senator William Sewart, who was famous for the purchase of Alaska ‘Stewart’s Folly’ greets you at the entrance to Madison Square Park at West 23rd Street
The park was in full bloom in the beginning of the summer and the pathways and gardens were just gorgeous.
Madison Square Park in front of Shake Shack
The fountain in the park
The flower pots around the fountain
Looking north of the park with the Empire State Building in the background
Walking along the paths inside the park
Looking west of the park in the trendy NoMAD neighborhood
The Lilly Pond in the northern side of the park
Looking south on the lawn in the middle of the park where office workers and tourists relaxed under the shade trees
Starting the walk on the cross roads of the neighborhood at West 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue
I love the way that the light reflects off the buildings at West 23rd Street
I was lucky that the weather broke. My recent Broadway was ended up being on a 91 degree day. I did not get too far that afternoon as ‘Manhattanhenge’, the alignment of the sun setting to the street grid of the West Side of Manhattan was that evening and I wanted to see it. I needed to get a good spot.
I doubled back that evening to watch ‘Manhattanhenge’, a time when the sun aligns with the buildings on the West Side and set a between the buildings. This happens two times a year and you have to pray for clear weather or else the clouds get in the way. The clouds got in the way this evening.
The start of ‘Manhattanhenge’ at 8:15pm on July 11th, 2025
The sun starting to set
The sun setting on ‘Mznhattanhenge’
Just as the sun set a cloud got in the way
A video of the final setting of the sun
After the sun set, I went back into Madison Square Park and just relaxed. It had been a long week of running around and was going to be busier over the weekend.
Madison Square Park is especially beautiful in the evening. The lights come on and then the park works its magic with all the beautiful lights, cool music from the patrons and the talking and laughter from the many people visiting on a warm New York evening.
The fountain inside the park at twilight
The Flatiron Building across from the park at night
The fountain flowing while looking north in the park
Video of the Madison Square Park fountain at night
The skyline of the park at night with the Empire State Building lit in the distance
During the warmer months, I have found Madison Square Park to be safe due to the sheer number of people in the park and the extra security the park hired. Still like any part of New York, you have to watch yourself. Don’t let your guard down just because there are people in the park. Just like any other part of New York City, have eyes in the back of your head.
I started my walk of the streets of Lower Chelsea around 1:00pm in the afternoon on a Saturday and found the City to be extremely quiet. Most of the residents must have been out of town. I started at the corner of West 22nd Street and Sixth Avenue in the middle of the old Ladies Shopping District.
The old department stores on Sixth Avenue and West 22nd Street
On the way down each block, I admired two things that stood out, the street art and the stone work that seemed to stare out you at every twist and turn on many of the buildings I passed.
The street art at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 22ns Street
The other walk facing West 22nd Street
Walking down West 22nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues
The beautiful brownstones and brick townhouses on the block
One brownstone on this part of the street is 246 West 22nd Street with its interesting embellishments. This building is a pre-war apartment that was built in 1920(Streeteasy.com).
The unusual stonework on the building
The faces can captivate you
Face number one
Face number two
Face number three
Face number four
The next building to stand out was 262 West 22nd Street. This is another pre-war building was built in 1920 (Streeteasy.com).
Another building whose embellishments were rather unusual were outside of 264 West 22nd Street. This building was another pre-war building in the 1920’s. It has a lot of unique embellishments all over the building (Streeteasy.com).
West 22nd Street from Seventh to Ninth Avenues has several blocks of beautiful townhouses and brownstones some dating back to the mid 1880’s. The blocks look something out of a movie set.
Street art on the building at 441 West 16th Street
Street art on the building
Street art on the building
Walking under the High Line Park
Artist Eduardo Kobra painting “The Mount Rushmore of Art” above the Empire Diner at Tenth Avenue and West 22nd Street
The mural, created by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra, “Mount Rushmore of Art”, is the artist’s memorial to some of modern art’s biggest artists including Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat (Vibe Map 2023).
Eduardo Kobra is a Brazilian born artist known for his contemporary and colorful art murals all over the world.
I continued to walk down the road and admired the beauty of each of the streets with their front gardens and plantings.
The beauty of West 22nd Street between Eighth and Seventh Avenues
More faces staring at you while you walk by
I feel like they are passing judgement as you walk by
Even the work sites are home to art work
While making my way down West 22nd Street, I passed NY Cake, a specialty store all the items cake decorating and making. The store has everything you need for both professional and amateur baking. I walked along the aisles looking at all the merchandise when I spotted an fascinating piece of art at the front entrance.
Cake Artist Collette Peters is an American born baker, artist, cake design maker and author of “Collette’s Cakes: The Art of Cake Decorating”.
I the rounded West 21st Street and walked down the street admiring all the beautiful homes and street art.
Sixth Avenue and West 23rd Street
This was in the very heart of what once the ‘Ladies Shopping Mike’, with the former Crawford-Simpson Department store
The first thing I saw as I walked down the street admiring, tucked in between the buildings was the Third Shearith Jewish Cemetery at 98-110 West 21st Street.
The Third Shearith Cemetery at 98-110 West 21St Street
When Congregation Shearith Israel was forced to close its graveyard in Greenwich Village in 1829, it established a new cemetery in an area even further away from the city center. The 21st Street cemetery served as the congregation’s burial ground until 1851, when the city banned burials below 86th Street (New York City Cemetery Project website). Their original cemetery was just off Canal Street in Chinatown and also sits behind a locked gate.
The cemetery is a quiet reminder that the City keeps progressing and builds around the past. It just shows how time marches on.
The inside of the cemetery
There is a real beauty to these small historic cemeteries. You wonder if the families understood the changes and progress in the City over the next hundred years.
The small cemetery seems surreal in this built up neighborhood
I wondered if anyone visited these folks anymore. The cemetery looks like it is taken care of but not on a regular basis.
As I continued to walk down the street more surprises popped up along the way. Along the blocks with townhouses and brownstones, there are small pocket gardens and flower beds bursting with color. Along all these streets in Chelsea, there were little surprises everywhere on buildings architecture, tucked in corners by stairs and along the staircases. There is a lot of detail you can miss if you don’t stop for a moment and just appreciate it.
The beautiful plantings and urban gardens that lined the street
Outside of C.S. Hardware at 189 Seventh Avenue there is an interesting mural
The streets in the neighborhood are really picturesque and look like they are out of a movie set. The streets are lined with beautiful brownstones and brick townhouses. Just be careful as the faces follow you around. You will find one thing about Chelsea, the faces on the buildings are all over the place and each has their own unique look about them.
The beauty of West 21st Street
Faces carved into the doorways around the neighborhood
They just seem to follow you around
Even on the sidewalks faces follow you on the walk to 11th Avenue. The eyes are always watching
I love all the carved faces in the buildings in the neighborhood. These interesting embellishments in some cases are the only decorations the buildings have so I looked out for them as I walked by. The rest of the building is rather plain but the keystone greeting you always has a look of longing.
I wasn’t sure if this was a lion or a demon
The neighborhood has three Fernando Kobra murals painted on the buildings. This is ‘I ❤️ New York’ on 212 Eighth Avenue.
The Kobra painting ‘I Love New York’
The Kobra painting of Albert Einstein ‘We ❤️ New York’
I continued my walk down West 21st Street looking at the treasure trove of outside art and architecture.
The entrance to the Reilly Building
Has the most interesting face guarding the building
The buildings that watch you
Look at you with a look of horror
The residents creating small gardens along the blocks
I loved this stone chair outside on of the brownstones
Passing by the Guardian Angel School on 193 Tenth Avenue with High-line Park in full bloom
The church school was designed and built in 1930 by architect John Van Pelt of the Van Pelt, Hardy & Goubert firm. The building was designed in the Southern Sicilian Romanesque style and has many different religious elements in the detail of the outside of the building. You have to look at it from all directions to appreciate its beauty (Wiki).
On the corner of West 21st Street and 11th Avenue, I came across this interesting drawing on a plastic barrier. I assumed the street artist was from Jamaica.
Walking on the other side of West 21st Street on the way back showed just as many interesting views.
High line Park is in full bloom by 10th Avenue
Walking down West 21st Street near Eighth Avenue
Walking past the historic brick townhouses in the neighborhood
As I passed the school yard, I saw this work on the fence and thought it was really whimsical
As I left West 21st Street, I took another peak at the cemetery and thought about when they buried these people. It must have been wilderness at the time this cemetery was created. The first one is down in Chinatown.
I rounded West 20th Street in the late afternoon and I did notice a change in the architecture as I walked further into the neighborhood. It seemed a little more commercial though the use of the buildings seem to be changing.
Then I passed Chelsea Green Park at 140 West 20th Street
The Chelsea Green Park was an oasis from the hot weather that had been going on the week I walked the neighborhood. It seemed all the parents were trying to escape the heat as well as everyone sat under shade trees while the kids ran through the sprays of water and throwing water balloons at each other.
Chelsea Green Park sign
The parks history
This park sits on a former school and when the building was torn down, the neighborhood rallied to create this park. This much needed green space is the neighborhood focal point on these hot summer days that we experienced in the summer of 2025.
Walking by the busy park in the early afternoon
Some of the businesses are quite unique in the neighborhood. I loved the window display at ‘Purple Passion’ at 211 West 20th Street. If anything stood out was this creative set of ensembles.
The display window at Purple Passion at 211 West 20th Street
Purple Passion has become the darling of fetishists-in-the-know over the last few years almost exclusively by word of mouth. A selection of fetish “toys”, restraints and clothing more diverse than almost any other store in New York is crammed into a tiny shop now so packed with merchandise it’s difficult for more than two or three customers to be inside it at once (The NYCGoth.com website).
This interesting brownstone is a pre-war building that was built in 1920. This rather daring face protects the entrance of the building.
The front door is on guard
The blocks in the center of the neighborhood down each street from Seventh to Ninth Avenue are lined with rows of rows of tree lined streets with classic brick townhouses.
Walking down the picturesque West 20th Street
The garden boxes along the way
Flowers peaking out here and there along the walls
The residents landscaping the tree boxes along the street
A tree growing in the High Line Hotel courtyard at 180 Tenth Avenue
The Cushman Row is one of the finest examples of Greek Revival style of architecture in New York, this superbly designed row of houses has retained most of its handsome original detail. Built by Don Alonzo Cushman, parish leader and financier, in 1840 (from the Cushman Historical Marker).
Then I passed the elegant and beautiful St. Peter’s Church was in the middle of the neighborhood.
The sign for St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 346 West 20th Street
The historic St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in the summer of 2025
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church was constructed in 1835 and was designed by architect James W. Smith in the Greek Revivial style. The design was also influenced by Clement Clarke Moore, on whose estate the land had been donated (Wiki).
As I passed the 10th Precinct at 230 West 20th Street, I looked at the 9/11 mural and realized that next year would be 25 years since that horrible day. It is amazing how fast it has gone by.
I stopped inside the Chelsea Green Park to relax for a while and it was a lot of kids running around and parents talking amongst themselves. The kids seemed occupied by both a water balloon and a squirt gun fight.
The Chelsea Green Park in the late afternoon
After a nice rest and a lot of water, I turned down West 19th Street to continue my tour.
In front of of the old Siegel-Cooper Department Store building on Sixth Avenue and West 19th Street
Walking past the townhouses along West 19th Street
The street art along the way
The beautiful gardens in front of of the homes
In the middle of the block were the Robert Fulton Houses which along with the Chelsea-Elliott Houses are both slated for demolishing later this year. That will change the completion of this neighborhood. These were opened in 1962 and were designed by architects Brown & Guenther.
Its narrow, 18-foot-width precluded the traditional stable design of a centered carriage bay flanked by a pedestrian entrance and window. The property was a three-story brick house, home to Samuel Weekes and his family who would remain through 1858 (DaytonianinManhattan.com).
I liked the sign at the top of the door way of the “A Hug from The Art World”
I took a break after all the walking at The Sleeping Cat at 160 Seventh Avenue for a quick snack/late lunch. The place was pretty crowded in the late afternoon. They ran out of the three things I wanted to try so I ordered a Chicken with Brie Club sandwich on a milk bun with a Pomegranate soda for lunch.
My lunch that afternoon
The Chicken and Brie sandwich
Yum!
For dessert I chose a Lemon Poppyseed Cake, which was delicious. You could really taste the fresh lemon juice and zest in the cake.
The inside of the unique coffee shop
I continued my tour of the neighborhood a few days later when I came back into the City for the Michigan State Alumni Picnic that Saturday. We ended the picnic at 4:00pm, so I walked from Central Park to West 18th Street after a pit stop to recharge my phone and go to the bathroom.
I wanted to finish the neighborhood before dark but could only finish the blocks from West 18th through West 17th Streets. You just can’t take good pictures after 7:00pm when the shadows hit the buildings.
Starting on West 18th Street
Some of the interesting street art you will see in the neighborhood
This series of what looks like old carriage houses lines West 18th Street just off Sixth Avenue
These buildings were designed in a round arched utilitarian style related to the German Rundbogenstil and incorporate Romanesque and Renaissance Revival details. They were built between 1864 and 1865 and were used as stables (HDC.com). They are now being used as restaurants, shops and art galleries.
A close up of one of the series of buildings at 136 West 18th Street
There were several buildings that stood out along West 18th Street and one of them was 154 West 18th Street, the Hellmutg Building now home to the Lazzoni store.
The Hellmuth Building was designed by architect Adolph Schoeller in the Art Nouveau style in 1907 and was built for William Hellmuth, who was a highly-successful manufacturer of printing and lithographic inks and varnishes (DaytonianinNYC.com)
The details of the Hellmuth Building
The carved embellishment of the building
Another building that stood out was the Art Deco style Walker Tower at 212 West 18th Street
Originally constructed in 1929 as a commercial building for the New York Telephone Company, this historic structure was designed by the renowned architect Ralph Thomas Walker, celebrated for his distinctive Art Deco style (The Walker Tower website).
The Walker Tower in full view
The art deco details to the outside of the building
The details outside of 265 West 18th Street were very unique.
While I was walking down the street, I passed the Room & Board store and saw all the embellishments on the building and wondered what they meant. It was the insignia for the old Seigel-Cooper Warehouse building.
The old Siegel-Cooper Warehouse Building is now home to the Room & Board showroom at 249 West 17th Street with entrance at West 18th Street
The Seigel-Cooper insignia can still be seen on the building
The building was designed by the architectural firm De Lemos & Cordes and opened in 1904. the architects used lusty terra cotta ornaments to distinguish the façade. Each pier culminated with winged orbs bearing a sash emblazoned with SC&Co; and the bay doors were flanked by large, intricate wreaths (DaytonianinManhattan.com).
You can find street art all over the sidewalks in this neighborhood. Just look down and many artists leave their mark.
This interesting twin building with a mansard roof was built in 1910 (Streeteasy.com). What I thought was interesting about the building is how it stands out amongst all the brick townhouses that had a plainer design. It looks like something you would see on the Upper East Side inside of this neighborhood.
As I passed the high school in the area, I came across this mural painted on the playground walls. I saw this mural on the Liberty High School for Newcomers at 250 West 18th Street. I could not get a good look at it as the playground was locked.
The mural outside of the Liberty High School for Newcomers at 250 West 18th Street
A serpent embellishment outside one of the buildings
Tucked in the corners of buildings all over the neighborhood, there were all sorts of interesting and unusual street art and stone carvings and embellishments. While most of the buildings were rather plain, it was a serpent here, a dragon there and a face staring back at you from the front door keystone that gave the building something special to admire.
Some of the street artists, whether hired or tagging were very creative on the sides of buildings. I am sure that the building owners were not happy to see this but the City has its own ideas sometimes.
You have to look up or you will miss this street art on the top of one of the buildings
I have seen this artist’s work all over the neighborhood
With all the unique architecture and street art along West 18th Street, I anticipated more surprises when I rounded the corner of West 17th Street. You never know what you will see tucked here and there along these streets.
Turning the corner along West 17th Street and Sixth Avenue
The mural of ‘I Love New York’ is iconic in this neighborhood. This has been here for many years. This work of art was created by artist Nick Walker.
Artist Nick Walker is a British born artist that now lives in Manhattan. He is know for being part of the ‘stencil art’ movement that was started in the 1980’s. He is know for his large murals of contemporary art and is best known for merging freehand work with stenciled imagery (Wiki/Artsy.net).
As I started to walk down West 16th Street, I passed an old friend in the restaurant da Umberto’s at 107 West 17th Street. I have spent the last three Halloween nights enjoying dinner with other volunteers from the Halloween parade here after the parade was over. The food and service are excellent.
Da Umberto’s Restaurant is where we have our dinners after finishing our night volunteering at the Halloween Parade. I have been here for the post dinner celebration for the last four years and the food and service are wonderful (See review on TripAdvisor.com).
Our dinner at Da Umberto’s on Halloween night
The restaurant’s food and service are wonderful and I highly recommend it.
The irony was just to add to the Halloween lore, these street art bats were right next to the restaurant.
One of the most beautiful buildings on the block is the old Xavier Parochial School now the Winston Preparatory School at 126 West 17th Street. The details on the school are so beautiful and it still has the original entrances of one for Boys and one for Girl’s.
The Winston Preparatory School at 126 West 17th Street
The building at 128 West 17th Street was built around 1853 and had once served as the Xavier Parochial School and now houses the Winston Preparatory School (Wiki).
The old Boys entrance
The old Girl’s entrance
All along the buildings in Chelsea there are the interesting embellishments that stare, surprise and snarl at you. You just have to put down that cellphone and look up.
The top of the building had many snarling tigers staring out into space
Embellishment on the top of the building
The embellishments on the top of the building
Another building that stood was futuristic structure with all sorts of pot holes. This is the former Maritime Union Building that is now the Dream Hotel. It was once part of a series of three buildings that was part of the National Maritime Union. When the Union folded due to lack of membership as industry changed, the building was left empty. The building designed byBronx-born but New Orleans-based architect Albert C. Ledner in 1966 (New Yorkitecture 2015).
When I walked to the end of the block and turned back, it took a look across the street to the Robert Fulton Houses playground and saw the most creative and unusual set of plantings along the wall. I could not find on the artist on these works (but I will keep looking). These are fun!
The paintings in the Robert Fulton figure
This series of paintings was behind the water fountain along the back wall of the park.
The close up of the third painting in the series
This painting of the Chicken crossing the road “Don’t Ask” by Artist Allison Katz. It seemed to replace the Pink Panther mural of a few weeks ago.
Artist Allison Katz presents Don’t ASK. On this monumental scale, a rooster and hen are depicted in the middle of an asphalt street, seemingly bringing to life the classic anti-joke, “why did the chicken cross the road?” (High Line.org).
Artist Allison Katz is Canadian born artist who now lives in London, England. She studied Fine Arts at Concordia University in Montreal and received her MFA from Columbia University in New York. Katz’s work investigates the ways in which aesthetic practices link and absorb autobiography, information systems, graphic icons, and art history (Ago.ca).
At the very end of the road, West 17th Street turned into a cobblestone street and you do not see much of this anymore in Manhattan.
Walking back from Tenth Avenue, I saw the street art from a different angle and I could see the street art peaking out from behind the fence.
The street art in the empty lot along 20th Avenue
There was something unique about this tiny garden just off 10th Avenue
Another face staring out at me
There was another small park on this block to relax and cool off too. The Dr. Gertrude Kelly Park is another patch of green where residents were relaxing that afternoon.
It was nice to be able to sit under a shade tree and just relax. Though it was not as hot as previous days, it got warmer in the late afternoon.
The inside of Dr. Gertrude B. Kelly Park on hot afternoon
The park goes through the two blocks
On the way back to Sixth Avenue, I passed the back of the old Siegel-Cooper Department Store warehouse building that is now the Room & Board store. The same beautiful details were on both sides of the building.
The Seigel-Cooper Warehouse Building
Here and there I kept seeing such interesting street art along the walls and corners of buildings all over the neighborhood.
This interesting looking ‘PAC Man’ figure was on one of the walls of a building on the block
The last building I passed was the Rubin Museum which was closed that day. I had not been there in over a decade and remembered that it did have very interesting art. I had not realized that the museum had closed its doors in the Fall of 2024. It closed October 6th, 2024.
The Rubin Museum at 140 West 17th Street (Closed in October 2024)
The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art (formerly Rubin Museum of Art) was founded in 2004 as a haven for Himalayan art in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City by Shelley and Donald Rubin, who are philanthropists, cultural leaders, and collectors. The opening was the culmination of 30 years of art collecting, six years of planning, and the purchase and renovation of the former Barneys department store (Rubin Museum website-Museum Closed in October 2024).
As I exited West 17th Street to finish my walk of this part of the Chelsea neighborhood, I came across this interesting piece of street art on Seventh Avenue. It always amazes me with people on what they can create.
This was on the wall of an empty store on Seventh Avenue
On my last day walking around the lower part of the neighborhood, the temperature hit 96 degrees and the humidity was worse. Since I only had to walk from Sixth to Eleventh Avenues from 15th to 16th Streets, I thought it would take about an hour. Throw in lunch and a dessert break and it was two and a half hours in the heat.
Starting the walk at the corner of West 16th Street and Sixth Avenue
The tree lined blocks between Sixth and Seventh Avenues
Here and there the small gardens pop up with lots of colorful flowers
I loved this serpent carving at the entrance of 200 West 16th Street. The building was covered with all types of creatures.
t was the first of the four distinguished developments by visionary developer Henry Mandel and was designed by esteemed architects Farrar & Watmough. Farrar & Watmough harmoniously blended the Jazz Age and Gothic Revival styles creating a building with a visually striking and architecturally significant facade adorned with variegated orange brick, limestone and terracotta (Streeteasy.com)
The serpent above the doorway at 200 West 16th Street
I had to stop for some lunch and I came across a pizzeria that had been my ‘go-to’ since I started at NYU. I always enjoyed the specials for lunch and dinner. In just a year, the prices did go up a few dollars but the pizzeria is still reasonable.
J’s Pizza at 96 Seventh Avenue at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 16th Street
I stopped in at J’s Pizza for a quick lunch. I had not realized I had not eaten here since I had graduated from NYU in the middle of last year (did college fly by in the blink of an eye). I forgot how good their food was when I ordered my lunch. I had a slice of their Fresh Mozzarella Sicilian pizza and a Coke and it hit the spot on this hot day.
My Sicilian slice
What a great lunch and a nice break
I continued my walk down West 16th Street passing businesses and homes and noticing the changes in the neighborhood with renovations and new buildings going up. More and more this particular neighborhood is getting very desirable and the homes more expensive.
The embellishments outside of 224 West 16th Street
This interesting pre-war building was built in 1800’s (Streeteasy.com). By the mid-1840’s Timothy Phelan and his family lived in the three story, brick-faced house at 197 West 16th Street (renumbered 319 in 1859), just west of Eighth Avenue. Twenty-five feet wide, its dignified Greek Revival design reflected influences of the emerging Italianate, notably in the understated entrance above a stone stoop (DaytonianinNYC.com)
The stonework in more detail
The end of the block is dominated by the Marine Hotel and its series of high end restaurants
The Marine Hotel with its restaurant, Tao Downtown is in front
Then I saw this very unusual street art right by the Fulton Houses
The High Line Park dominates over this part of the neighborhood with its lush plantings and its interesting display of artwork. Try to walk the distance on the walkways of this incredible urban park.
As I was walking back up the street, I noticed a whole building of faces following me along the sides of 111-114 Eleventh Avenue. You have to look really closely to see the changes by each window.
Along Eleventh Avenue I had not noticed this building at all
You have to look at each window and doorway from across the street to really appreciate the beauty of this building.
The last of art that I saw on the block was this mural for the Bond Vet business around the corner by artist Jade Purple Brown. I thought the colors were so vibrant and that it really promoted this business well.
Jade Purple Brown is a Brooklyn based artist known for her vibrant portrayals of Black women in psychedelic, dreamlike worlds (Artist bio on website).
I finally rounded West 15th and Sixth Avenue in the late afternoon and breathed a sigh of relief as it was getting so hot out.
Reaching West 15th Street and the edge of both Lower Chelsea and the Meatpacking District at the end of a hot afternoon. There was a picturesque view of old New York between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. More tree lined blocks with brick townhouses.
The Old Nee York look about the blocks in Chelsea
Here and there tucked within dome of plain brick and brownstone homes, interesting carvings and embellishments can be found.
Decorated below the windows of 229 West 15th Street, I saw these interesting carvings staring back at me.
This unique pre-war building was built in 1901 (Streeteasy.com)
Face number one staring back with an evil look
Face number two just as evil
As I walked down the street, a French flag and the colors of France when I passed La Sandwicherie Chelsea, which I found out later had two small sister restaurants. I saw these festive signs for crepes and sandwiches, I stopped in to take a peek.
I was still a little stuffed from the pizza but thought a crepe might be nice to tide me through the rest of the evening.
The front of La Sandwicherie Chelsea at 239 West 15th Street
The selling point was the sign. It did remind me of Paris
The sandwiches sounded interesting too
I stopped inside and I swear I was back in Paris again with the tiny chairs and tables and the French music. I was not thrilled that the price was higher inside but only by a dollar and the manager explained it to me. I was still in the mood for that crepe.
The inside of the restaurant brought me right back to Paris
The shelves were lined with the wonderful French potato chips I had tried at the food show
I ordered a Strawberry Crepe, which was a freshly made crepe( he even showed me the crepe batter to prove it), which was filled with strawberry jam and topped with sugar. I ordered a Pomegranate soda to have with my dessert.
The Strawberry Crepe with my soda
Yum!
Now having some more carbs and sugar to wear off, I started back down West 15th Street happy and content. The crepe brought back a lot of memories of my trip to Paris two summers ago.
I continued my walk down West 15th Street with more pairs of eyes watching me at the buildings.
What I love about this building is the extensive embellishment of faces and curvatures throughout the front of the building. Faces stare at you from all directions and passing judgement right by the front door. You have to look up and down to really appreciate this building.
There is emended detail to building
The faces staring back
Don’t pass judgement
The sister building next door at 251 West 15th Street had just as many details.
At Stonehenge Gardens, travel through the private gate and along the walkway where you will find this gem of a building setback between 14th and 15th streets. Built in 1950, this six-story building is located in the center of Manhattan’s trendiest downtown neighborhoods: Chelsea, the West Village and Union Square (From the Stonehenge website).
The private gate and gardens were locked when I was visiting the neighborhood but you could see how beautiful it was right behind the gate.
Finishing my walk down West 15th Street
The Jazz Concert that evening at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens:
After I finished the streets of Lower Chelsea, I took the subway to Brooklyn for a Jazz Concert at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. On the way to the subway, I noticed these two mosaics on the wall of the subway platform. What interesting work by Brooklyn based artist Fred Tomaselli entitled “Wild Things”. These gorgeous and colorful works flank both the upstairs and downstairs of the subway station
Artist Fred Tomaselli is an American born artist best known for his highly detailed paintings on wood panels, combining an array of unorthodox materials suspended in a thick layer of clear, epoxy resin. He studied at California State University and his studio is in Brooklyn (Wiki).
It was a quick subway ride to the gardens on the express subway and I got there in record time . It was enough time to tour the gardens before the concert. The gardens were at their peak in the middle of the summer and everything was so green.
The lawn by the Cherry Bloom Gardens
The Cherry Bloom lawn is where the concerts are held
People getting ready for the concert
Members waiting on the lawn for the concert to begin
I was sunny and warm out when I got there and just about five minutes before they were supposed to start the concert, it poured for the next twenty minutes. They end up cancelling the concert again on me. The weather played havoc that evening.
The only problem was that the moment it stopped those twenty minutes later, the sun came back and it was beautiful as the musicians were packing up. I can tell everyone hoped they would have a change of heart. They kept packing up and I decided to walk around the gardens again. There would be one more concert in the future the next week.
It did clear up after it stopped raining
The sun rose over the Japanese Gardens
So for the next hour, I just wanted to walk around and admire the flowers and the garden beds.
It ended up being a nice night and the best way to end of evening.
Even though the concert was cancelled, it still was a nice evening and I did get my share of exercise. Even as the lights turned on in the Botanic Gardens, there is still such a magic of walking along the beds and admiring the flowers and the other plantings. You should not miss the gardens during any of the seasons. There is always something to see even in the dead of winter. The true beauty though is in the late Spring and early Summer when everything is in bloom.
When you have been friends with people for almost thirty years, they can still surprise you. My best friend, Maricel, and I have known each other since our first week at the Culinary Institute of America in February of 1996. Since that moment, we have seen each other through the ups and downs of relationships, jobs and the passing of our parents. We have gone through our stages of not talking to each other and yelling matches. The typical things best friends do with one another over years of friendship.
There are those times we surprise one another and right before 4th of July, she surprised both her nephew and I with Afternoon Tea at the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.
The lobby of the Fairmont Plaza Hotel
I had not had Afternoon Tea at the Plaza since 1994. I remembered this because it was just after ‘Home Alone II’ was released and everyone was talking about the hotel and its iconic lobby. I remembered the elaborate cakes and sweets and the perfect service. I also remember it being around $85.00 back then. Since that time, The Central Park Tea is now $145.00 and The Plaza Imperial Tea is now $155.00. The times have changed.
The same chandeliers Macauley Cullen saw when walking the hallway in the scene at the Plaza
The iconic scene with President Trump in 1992
For years you used to be able to walk around the lobby at Christmas time but this was before the 2006 renovation and the conversion to apartments. Now they will barely let you through the side door. This wasn’t the case that day. I just walked right into the lobby to the Palm Court.
I met Maricel and her nephew, Miguel, in the lobby and I have to admit even though Maricel works there, we were all in awe of the place. The Palm Court has always been iconic to me even before the film. I have always loved the elegance of the restaurant.
I loved the soaring skylight and all the potted palms. I just remember more of them.
We were at the last seating was at 3:00pm
Trying to figure out what tea we wanted to choose from
We chose one of each which offered a slightly different selection of sandwiches and sweets. Having tea at a New York hotel is not for the faint hearted as the prices start at $145.00 for one person. The Plaza Signature Tea and the Central Park Tea offer their own selection of goodies. The Imperial Tea offered caviar service but thank God I do not like the stuff.
After we ordered, Maricel and I were able to catch up while her nephew played with his cell phone. I had just finished classes and final exams with my Summer I Business class and Maricel found herself getting busy at the Plaza Hotel’s kitchens. She was making the very sandwiches we were eating. We were both exhausted. Then the food came out.
Maricel’s cousin digging into the sandwiches
I loved the assortment of sandwiches and sweets on the tiered trays. It was a delight for both the eyes and the taste buds. There was an assortment of pastries, cakes, scones and sandwiches. I had to move quickly because Maricel’s nephew could really eat! I turned my head and half the sandwiches were gone. The food was as good as it looked.
The assortment of sandwiches, cakes, scones and sweets
The assortment of tea sandwiches
The assortment of pastries and sweets
Me starting to indulge in tea
The Short-rib sandwiches were delicious
The Egg Salad sandwiches with Caviar
It was a really nice and relaxing afternoon. It was one of those things you have to do once when you are in Manhattan. I am lucky to have such a great friend who thought about this wonderful treat. She has been working at the Plaza Hotel for several months and thought I would enjoy coming here again. I have to say I did hint about it a few times.
My host and best friend, Chef Maricel
We had a great time with my best friend and her nephew. It was one of those great New York experiences.
Right after the Metropolitan Museum of Art had their private members night, ‘Met After Hours’, the Museum of Modern Art countered with their event. Neither museum has the whole museum open but at least at The Met there is more than one bar open and they keep two of the restaurants open for patrons so you can have dinner at the museum.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) kept only two floors open and had one very crowded bar open that evening. Still it was nice to visit the museum after hours and walk through the halls.
The front of the Museum of Modern Art at 11 West 53rd Street
Looking down on the bar crowd as I walked to the second floor
Listening to the music play with the artwork
The first piece of art I saw was ‘Cadence’ by artist Otobong Nkanga. This colorful and impressive piece took up the entire second floor atrium and the interesting part of the work was that it was interactive and you could walk through the display. It looked like a volcano had exploded and the rocks that spewed out you could walk around.
The work ‘Cadence’ by artist Otobong Nkanga
The write up on the this interesting work
The work took up the second floor atrium
The rest of the second floor of the museum was closed that evening so I made my way to the fourth and fifth floor to visit the galleries.
There was no special exhibition on the fourth floor so I stopped room by room to admire the art. Sprinkled amongst the paintings and sculptures, the museum had placed clips of movies, a few of them silent films. One of my favorites was showing, George Meles’s ‘Trip to the Moon’.
George Meles’s silent film ‘Trip to the Moon
The write up of the piece
The YouTube video on the movie “A Trip to the Moon”
I had first seen this film in high school and had fallen in love with the elaborate sets and the campy storyline. I never got how they thought they were going to get home. Still the movie is fun to watch and you think to seventy years later to movies like ‘2001 Space Odyssey’ and ‘Apollo 13’ and even the footage of really landing on the moon and think how far we have come.
Roaming around the Picasso gallery
Then I walked around the Contemporary Galleries and admired all the works by Picasso and Brancusi. Everyone else was still down at the bar on the first floor so I had these galleries to myself for the first forty-five minutes. I quietly walked and admired all the works.
The contemporary gallery
The works ‘Fish’ and ‘Bird in Space’
Brancusi’s works especially ‘Bird in Space’ I had studied in my Art History class at Michigan State University and zI had admired them for a long time. I had forgotten that versions of them were at the MoMA.
‘Broadway Boogie Woogie’ by Piet Mondrian
The signage
Then I passed ‘Broadway Boogie Woogie’, another work I had studied in college. It is amazing how many great works were at this museum. I just liked the colors and whimsy of this painting. Then I walked through the Claude Monet gallery where the famous ‘Water Lillie’s’ paintings were located.
The gallery dedicated to Claude Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’
The signage
Claude Monet’s ‘Water Lillies’
I love these immense murals either their beautiful colors and calmness to the painting.
I then turned the corner and came across Picasso’s ‘Girl before the Mirror’
I had forgotten that this painting was here and I stopped for a while and just admired it. I loved the simplicity of the idea but enjoyed its bold colors and crazy cubism to it. I have been attracted to this painting since I was a kid when my mother took me to the Picasso Retrospect here when I was a freshman in high school.
The signage for the painting
As the night wore on I visited the floors that were open and it was only two floors, four and five and the second atrium that were open so I visited the bar area when I finished with the other floors.
The prices here were just as expensive as the earlier Member’s Night at The Met and the selection was not as nice, so I bypassed it. I just watched everyone from a distance.
I just enjoy watching everyone having a good
time. I makes the evening even more special.
Watching the crowd while admiring the beautiful interactive art. This work kept moving around to the music in the background
The painting would move in different directions to the music
It had been a short but relaxing evening and got my mind off everything between work and home and I guess I needed a change of pace to shake me out of it.
After a short visit to the gift shop, I left the museum and headed home. As I turned the corner past the museum, I stopped to admire the lights of Seventh Avenue. I sometimes forget how breathtaking Manhattan can be at night.
Seventh Avenue at night around the corner from the MoMA
I took a short walk around the neighborhood, thinking about where I could stop for a snack. None of the restaurants at the museum were open the evening and they had nothing at the bar.
I remembered a wonderful hamburger/ hot dog place near Eighth Avenue, Lucky’s Famous Burgers at 370 West 52nd Street.
I settled on the ‘Double Dog’ special meal with two dressed hot dogs and a large size of French Fries with a large Coke. It was enough food for two people. The hot dogs here are fantastic and the French Fries are cooked to order. The meal just hit the spot and really cheered me up as had the visit to the MoMA. It was the perfect meal to cap off the evening.
The Doubledogs with French Fries meal
The delicious twin hot dogs
They were nicely decorated
What a way to end the evening
It was quick and relaxing evening and shook away the blues of the past days of gloomy weather and some of the long nights of grading papers at work. A pleasant night at the MoMA can really cheer you up!
With Graduation behind me and in between Summer classes, I am finally exploring the streets below 23rd Street. I never thought I would get here. It had been two long semesters and the Christmas from hell. I don’t think my feet ever hit the floor. I just kept going.
I finally got back to the Flatiron District. This is where the lines get a blurry with the neighborhoods. The Flatiron District overlaps with Union Square which overlaps with Gramercy Park. NoMAD mixes with the Flatiron District and Rose Hill and then Kips Bay and Gramercy Park again. It gets very confusing so I just repeat the roads in other neighborhoods. Since the official southern border of the Flatiron District is West 20th Street, I looked to the neighborhood to walk.
The Lower Flatiron District by McCreery’s Department store on 15th Street.
I decided to defy what the relators say and I cut the neighborhoods by Avenues. I decided that Lower Flatiron District would be from West 20th to West 14th Streets between Sixth and Fifth Avenues. Union Square would be from West 20th to West 14th Streets between Fifth and Irving Place. From there I would finish Gramercy Park past Irving Place and then Lower Chelsea from West 23rd to West 14th Street from Sixth Avenue to Twelve Avenue. Have I confused you yet? It is for me and I am not sure if the residents of these communities know what neighborhood association to join.
I started my walk along the northern section of the neighborhood which I had walked before the semester had started at NYU. I started on West 20th Street and it was like visiting an old friend. It was then I realized that I had not walked this neighborhood in two years and that a lot had changed in that time. I had finished walking it in 2022 before Grad school had even started.
Walking through Chelsea to West 20th Street. I love how the purple in this restaurant stands out every summer. I walked through the outside seating to Shukette, a restaurant at 230 Ninth Avenue.
At the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 20th Street, another building got my attention at 650 Sixth Avenue. This impressive building, which is known as the Cammeyer and is located at 650 Avenue of the Americas on the southeast corner at 20th Street, was converted to a residential condominium in 2007 (Carter Horsley. CityRealty.com).
650 Sixth Avenue at the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 20th Street-Now the Cammeyer
The building was designed by Hubert, Piersson & Hoddick in 1892 for the estate of William C. Rhinelander. The red-brick, Neo-Renaissance-style building has white stone and terra cotta trim, a large copper cornice and a handsome band course beneath its top floor. It was the home of the Cammeyer Shoe Store, the one of the largest shoe stores in country (Daytonian).
The conversion was designed by Perkins Eastman for by Penterium, the residential development arm of Korean firm Kumang Housing Corp (Carter Horsley. CityRealty.com).
I was admiring 27 West 20th Street on my walk down West 20th Street to Park Avenue South. This detailed twelve story office building was built in 1908 and now offers loft style offices. the details of the building include elaborate stonework both around the doorways and lower windows and the top floors.
What I liked about the side streets as well as the avenues as I walked the neighborhood was that it kept its character and that these buildings had not been knocked down for the modern skyscraper. They were finding new use like the buildings in Midtown South and in NoMAD and become very desirable.
There was true beauty in the details of 20 West 20th Street that was built in 1906. The Beaux Art style details around the windows and doors accent the elegant building.
This is also the details you see in the office building of 10 West 20th Street built in 1903 with Beaux Art style details along the lower windows and doors and the upper floors of the building.
I passed 156 Fifth Avenue as I crossed the border from west to east in this part of the neighborhood and admired it for its detailed stonework carving and unusual styled roof. The Presbyterian Building was built in 1893 and was designed by architect James B. Baker and was designed in the French Gothic style. It was to be used by the Presbyterian Church as their base for domestic and foreign missions and used as office space. The Panic of 1893 changed that, and they had to lease the space out (Daytonian in Manhattan).
I then took the long walk down Fifth Avenue and all the architectural treasures it contains. This was once the core of the old ‘Midtown Manhattan’ after the Civil War and the City started its march uptown.
119 Fifth Avenue at the corner of East 19th Street in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City was built in 1905-06 and was designed by John H. Duncan in the neo-Renaissance style. It was built to be an annex to the Lord & Taylor department store buildings which took up most of the square block between Broadway and Fifth Avenue and East 19th and 20th Streets, being connected by bridge to two of them. After Lord & Taylor moved uptown in 1914, the building had multiple uses (Wiki).
The details of 119 Fifth Avenue
The details of 119 Fifth Avenue
One of the most impressive buildings in the neighborhood is the old Arnold Constable Store building that stretches from its Broadway entrance down the entire block on 18th Street to its Fifth Avenue entrance.
115 Fifth Avenue-Arnold Constable Department Store
This seven-story department store building was designed by architect Griffith Thomas in 1868 for the prominent dry-goods company of Arnold Constable & Company. ‘The Palace of Trade’ as it became known as, is located stretches between Broadway and Fifth Avenue. The stunning Second Empire building is faced in marble, brick, and cast-iron, features stacked arch orders and a prominent, two-story, pavilioned mansard roof. Arnold Constable & Co. was founded by Aaron Arnold, who opened a small dry goods store in the city in 1825 (Buildings of New England).
As the business prospered he moved into larger quarters numerous times. In 1842, James Constable, an employee, married Arnold’s daughter Henrietta and was subsequently made a partner. From this, the company was renamed Arnold Constable & Co. In its heyday, Arnold Constable & Co. was the largest dealer to the elite in New York City, supplying the latest fashions to a clientele that included the leading families in the city (Buildings of New England).
interesting history. The building was designed by architect Louis Korn and was designed in the Beaux-Arts design. It was completed in 1896 and it was named after Edwards Pierrepont, whose mansion had stood on the site before the construction of the building. When it opened the building was popular small publishing and mercantile companies (Dayonianinmanhattan.com).
The 103 Fifth Avenue details
103 Fifth Avenue embellishments
In between the buildings there was plaque to Levi Parsons Morton, the former Governor of New York State and the Vice-President of the United States under President Benjamin Harrison. This is where his home was located.
The plaque of the former Vice-President’s home on Fifth Avenue.
Vice-President and former New York Governor Levi Parsons Morton
The B. Shackman & Company sign was for the former B. Shackman & Company novelty and toy store that was located here until the 1970’s. The store once sold all sorts of novelties and gifts (Ephemeral New York.com/Consumer Grouch).
This beautiful office building was designed by architect Louis Korn for businessmen Henry and Samuel Korn in 1896. The office building currently houses small companies (Wiki).
The details of women looking down at us on the street at 91 Fifth Avenue
The lion details on 91 Fifth Avenue.
The last building on this part of Fifth Avenue was under an extensive renovation and I was not able to get the pictures that I wanted but still you could see the details in the building around the renovations.
Looking up Fifth Avenue from 16th Street
The Kensington Building was designed by architect Samuel Sass in the Beaux-Arts design and completed in 1906. Some of the first tenants of the building was the Milton Bradley company. The building was converted into a residential building in 1996 and were designed by architect Joseph Pell Lombardi (Landmark Branding LLC).
This part of Fifth Avenue has kept its character all these years and now that these buildings are back in vogue because of their history and design detail, they are being refitted for modern times. These were once the headquarters of companies that are now long gone but are housing the new future companies leading us into the 21st Century.
Looking up Fifth Avenue from 15th Street and the core of the Lower Flatiron District.
West 14th Street is a Hodge podge of building types and in various conditions. COVID really hit 14th Street businesses hard and between the pandemic, urban renewal of the neighborhood and changing tastes of building types, there is only a few buildings left from the era when this was a major shopping street at the turn of the last century. This was before everything moved up to the 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue area.
Much of the block between Fifth and Sixth Avenue is in the process of being knocked down, renovated or both. Still there are some architectural gems still left on the street.
On the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 14th Street is 80 Fifth Avenue.
80 Fifth Avenue is an elaborately-detailed Renaissance Revival style office building that was constructed by the architecture firm of Buchman and Fox. This building was constructed in 1908 to be used as manufacturing and office space (Kates, Ariel. Off the Grid).
Seeing better detail work on the building from the West 14th Street view.
This beautiful building’s lower and upper levels feature decorative floral and geometric ornamentation, elaborate cornices, and angled bay windows on the third floor. Ornamented pilasters are found at either side of these windows, with slightly more austere middle floors and in its arched windows and elaborate ornamentation at the top story (Kates, Ariel. Off the Grid).
The beautiful detail work on 80 Fifth Avenue.
The building’s history has a long past of companies that have worked in these offices but the most prominent had been the creation of the gay organization, The National Gay Task Force. Among the Task Force’s accomplishments during the time it was located at 80 Fifth Avenue included getting the American Psychiatric Association to end its classification of homosexuality as a mental illness; getting the federal government to end its ban on employing gay or lesbian people in any federal agencies (Kates, Ariel. Off the Grid).
Walking past buildings that are being renovating or built much of what must have been there from the turn of the last century had been torn down and that beauty in the buildings that must have been the ‘Ladies Shopping District’ in the early 1900’s. The only other building on West 14th Street that had the same characteristics and beauty is 56 West 14th Street by the corner of West 14th and Sixth Avenue.
This Neo-Classically designed building was the annex to the original Macy’s store that stood at the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street. R.H. Macy Dry Goods originally opened in a small building (since demolished) on this corner in 1858, and as its success grew it expanded into a number of neighboring buildings. No. 56 was built in 1898 by then-owners Isador & Nathan Straus. It was designed by architects William Schickel and Isaac E. Ditmars (Moskowitz, Sam Off the Grid).
The elaborate embellishments of 56 West 14th Street
The interesting details of the building.
Four years later, in 1902, the department store moved uptown to it’s present location on Herald Square, which is the current headquarters of the store.
Walking up Sixth Avenue towards West 20th Street, there is again the same issue. Most of the more elaborate buildings are closer to the edge of West 20th Street. Walking back up toward the heart of the former “Ladies Garment Mile” along Sixth Avenue from West 18th Street to West 23rd Street, the lower part of Sixth Avenue is similar in look to West 14th Street. A mish-mosh architectural styles from years of knocking down the older buildings. Inside are a variety of fast food restaurants, coffee shops and small stores.
The first building left of the former shopping district is the former Pace Building at 610 Sixth Avenue.
David Price opened his first women’s clothing store, D. Price & Co. around 1887. The Price Building was built in 1910-1912 and designed by Buchman & Fox in the Beaux-Arts style (Wiki). The was the combination of the two stores, the one facing Sixth Avenue and the one facing 18th Street (DaytoninManhattan.com).
The embellishments of 610 Sixth Avenue designed by Buchman & Fox.
Next to the Price Building is what was one of the grandest of the department stores in New York City at 620 Sixth Avenue, Seigel Cooper
620 Sixth Avenue-The former Siegal Cooper Department Store
The original store design in the late 1800’s (New York Historical Society)
The Siegel-Cooper Department store was a Chicago based store that was founded in 1877 by Henry Siegel, Frank H. Cooper and Isaac Keim. They opened the New York City store in 1896 on the Ladies Mile Shopping District. The store was designed by the architectural firm of DeLemons & Cordes in the Beaux-Arts design. When it opened, it was the largest department store in the world until Macy’s opened in 1902 (Wiki).
The Siegal Cooper insignia on the building.
The window details
The details on the upper windows of the store.
Henry Siegel over-extended himself and sold the company in 1902 to an investor and the store declared bankruptcy in 1915 and closed in 1917. After the store closed, it was used as a military hospital and then as a warehouse. Today after years of being used as a warehouse, it now has several retailers located in the store space (Wiki).
Across the street from the Siegel-Cooper store is the old B. Altman & Company store before they moved to East 34th Street.
625 Fifth Avenue-The old B. Altman & Company Department Store.
B. Altman & Company was founded in 1865 as a family store that eventually came under the control of Benjamin Altman. It moved from its Third Avenue and Tenth Street location to 621 Sixth Avenue in 1877. The store expanded four times in this location to cover what is now 625 Sixth Avenue. The store was designed in the Neo-Grec design and built in four stages. First by architects David and John Jardine for the original store in 1877 and then the extension in 1880. Then by architect William Hume in 1887 and then by architects Buchman & Fox in 1910. The store moved to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in 1906 when the shopping district moved to 34th Street (Wiki).
The last old department store on the Ladies Mile Shopping District is at 641 Sixth Avenue on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 20th Street.
641 Sixth Avenue-The old Simpson Crawford Department Store
Simpson Crawford like many stores on Sixth Avenue had its humble beginnings on 19th Street. The store continued to grow and expand catering to the ‘carriage trade’ and selling the finest merchandise. After their new store was destroyed in a fire in 1880, they opened the store at 641 Sixth Avenue in 1899 which was designed by architectural firm William H. Hume & Son in the Beaux-Arts design (dayoninmanhattan.com).
The details of 641 Sixth Avenue.
This part of the Flatiron District feels so different from the northern part of the neighborhood. So much of it has disappeared over the years that the character has changed. It does not have the distinction of the blocks between 23rd and 20th streets. There are blocks of these types of buildings whereas the blocks of the old shopping districts of the early to late 1800’s from 14th to 18th Streets have slowly disappeared over time. Older buildings have since been replaced with modern office and apartment buildings. The buildings have even been refitted for apartments and for the growing college campuses in the area.
While there are many architectural gems in this neighborhood, it just goes to show the progression of Manhattan and how things have changed in the last 100 years. The City keeps marching on. Still this section of the Lower Flatiron District shows just how important this part of the old “Midtown Manhattan” was from the Civil War until WWI. Just look up and admire all the details on each building. There are a surprise and delight for the eyes.
The Street art on West 15th Street off Sixth Avenue “I Love New York”
Read my blog on Walking the Streets of the Lower Flatiron District:
With the warmer months upon us and the coming of the summer, new exhibitions are opening up and is the museums chance to showcase their exhibitions before they open to the public. These after hour events give the members a chance to see these exhibitions when the museum is closed for the evening.
The welcome to the Private Members Night at the MoMA.
I thought the line to the recent Private Members Night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was long until I saw the line to get into the MoMA. It wrapped around the block to the West 53rd Street entrance. They should have had multiple entrances for this event because so many people were in line. We were lucky in that the line moved really fast and we got in the museum rather quickly.
The crowd dispersed quickly with some people intrigued by the visual display in the lobby outside the main courtyard where the concert would take place that evening.
The visual art display in the lobby of the Museum of Modern Art mesmerizes everyone.
Unlike like The Met, there is not the room in the main hall or the courtyard for all these people. Ron Carter, the famous Jazz musician was playing in the courtyard and they had to hold the line because there were too many people outside. Knowing these events, I got outside for the concert as soon as I made a trip to the bathroom (that was packed too). The courtyard was full of groups talking and waiting in line to get to the bar.
The crowds were huge at this event.
The worst part was that there were only two bars for all these people. One was in the lobby and one was in the courtyard and the lines were easily sixty deep for most of the night. There should have been a second bar both in the courtyard and maybe on the second floor of the museum to handle the flow of people. Still people did not seem to mind.
I was lucky in that I went to the courtyard first after going to the bathroom so I did not have to leave the courtyard so quick. I could see they were holding the line to get outside and the concert would only be from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. Even when I left the courtyard at 8:10pm, the line was still sizable to get outside. The concert was well worth it.
Mr. Carter’s performance was excellent. I could not believe that the first time he had been to the museum was in 1965. The last time he performed here was in 1993. For a guy in his 80’s, he looks in great shape. The concert was really good but since there was not enough seating for everyone it made it a bit in comfortable for the audience. Still I stayed through the first four numbers and enjoyed the music.
Around 8:15pm, I saw all these people peering through the window of the lobby and figured I should go see other things at the museum before it closes. About thirty other people felt the same way and a large group of us left the courtyard to the relief of another thirty who were let in. The concert only had about fifteen minutes left.
Ron Carter’s number last number when I left.
I went to explore the museum and see a few of the exhibitions that I missed the last time I was in the museum. This was the start of the Spring shows. As the concert started to wind down, the rest of the museum became busy.
One of the features of the even was scratch artist Kathie Kollwitz whose work spanned the world wars and show the plight of the working class in Germany during and in between the wars.
The paintings of Kathie Kollwitz.
Times were so rough for these people at that time and conditions not pleasant, the artwork reflected it. It was really depressing and I could see why Hitler rose to power. Her work showed how raw life was like between the wars and how bad their economy was at the time.
The other exhibition I saw was American artist Latoya Ruby Frazier, whose work representing our own working and underclass and of a population in Pennsylvania who time has passed by. The artist’s family was exposed to the problems of the steel industry and the after effects of its collapse.
The Latoya Ruby Frazier exhibition on the Private Members Night
I liked about her show was the honesty of the whole show. She showed her personal relationship with her relationship with her grandmother and her family. She also showcased her community, who had so much influence in her life. The community had been so badly affected by pollution, poverty and discrimination that it left a scar on the tight knit community of Braddock, PA.
The artist’s gallery display of her relationship with her family
When the biggest employer left, the much needed hospital, closed because their headquarters said it was losing money. This with the loss of the automotive industry caused the community to deteriorate. These are the communities that time left behind after WWII. It was really honest work.
The decline of Braddock as industry left the area.
The exhibition was heartbreaking and touching at the same time. She showed how much she cared about her community and many others in the exhibition like Flint, MI and Youngstown, PA and how one change in corporate behavior can effect the entire community.
I was able to visit other parts of the museum as well but all things do come to an end after three hours and it was time to leave. By the end of the evening, I was ready to go. What an interesting and engaging evening it was and what a great job the MoMA did creating this fantastic evening for all of us.
The skyline along Sixth Avenue.
When I left the museum for the evening, the lights of midtown came on. I never get bored on how beautiful the City is at night.
Walking back to the Port Authority at night.
It was another wonderful Member’s Night. This is why you should join the MoMA!
I finally reached another milestone in my education and in my life. I graduated with honors from New York University with a 3.813 GPA. Quite an accomplishment from someone who last graduated from Cornell University back in 2010. I was a lot of hard work and one big balancing act of time but I walked across the stage of Radio City Music Hall with the energy and enthusiasm of any undergraduate.
You can read my blog on “Grad Alley” a few days before the Graduation Ceremony:
I came a long way from the first meeting I had at the college back in October of 2019. I had visited Georgetown University the summer before and realized that it was not for me. When I got the email from New York University in the Summer of 2019 I thought, let me check this out. It is closer to home and I would be going to school in Manhattan and Greenwich Village to boot. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.
Before the Graduation Ceremony began.
The graduates settling in for the start of Graduation.
As a returning college student (I am not going to lie, this is my fifth time to college and this is the fifth college I have graduated from), I was a little intimidated by my classmates at first. I did not know what a Google Doc or a Google Slide was the first day of class. I did not even bring my computer into the class the first (I knew better from that day on) and was still using my 3G flip phone (which got a lot of chuckles from my classmates). I also was older than everyone by over twenty years but with that comes years of work experience, travel and knowledge of the ever changing Hospitality industry that keeps evolving and will continue to in the future.
Justin before the start of the ceremony.
I got up to speed really quick with a new iPhone 13 Pro (whose picture and video taking ability has transformed this blog) and a new HP computer and watched many Google YouTube videos to keep me up to speed. By the end of the first semester, I was an old pro at all of these functions and for the first time in my life got straight “A”s in my classes. It was a long time in coming that I had to prove this to myself. And at New York University no doubt (NYU).
The theater filling up with students and parents.
It had been a long journey over the last year and a half. Running in and out of New York City for classes in between my job at Bergen Community College. Countless late nights writing papers, researching subject matter and trips to libraries on both campuses to finish projects. This on top of working on Executive Boards for the Fire Department and Men’s Association in town, volunteer work that I do and squeezing in blogging on seven sites. There were times I almost had to pull an ‘all nighter’.
The stage before we started the graduation.
The video of the organist before the ceremony started:
What I found over that year and a half was a whole new way of looking at the Hospitality industry. I had never really thought about Sustainable tourism, Dark tourism, LGBTQ tourism and Diversity in tourism. I had never categorized it in the sense it was different things to different people. My professors had their way of teaching it and I had my own and going forward I used both when creating projects and my own expectations from my students. They gave me a different perspective of looking at the way a place could market itself and I took it one step further and asked of my students how can small towns and musty historical sites be made unique and interesting by marketing them in a different way. Break the mold of what they were doing and present it in a format that they might not have thought of in that light.
The NYU Bagpipers opening the ceremony.
Video of the Bagpipers entering Radio City Music Hall:
What really opened my eyes were the three GFI (Global Field Intensification) courses that I was able to experience. On my first meeting with my faculty advisor, he told me that he was planning a trip to Prague for a week and then insisted that I must come on it. He kept going and going until I finally said “yes”. I knew nothing about Prague or really where it was located. I kept thinking it was in Russia. Two Professors decided to do back to back GFI’s, the first one going to Paris and the second to Prague. Since my brother was getting married in Sicily, it gave me an excuse to go on both. It opened my eyes to a different world that changed me.
Our Dean welcoming the graduates and their parents and guests.
Paris is a more amazing city than I could have imagined. As intense and cultural as New York City but in a totally different way. The countless independent shops, restaurants, cafes and flea markets opened my eyes to a city not overrun by chain stores and each neighborhood had its own cultural identity. Every day it was a new adventure or trying new restaurants or experiencing new foods served in a way that I had not seen in the States. Since it was a Culinary Tourism class, I had to lead a tour of gourmet shops, bakeries, chocolate and candy shops and the gourmet department of a department store. I had never been to Paris before, knew nothing about the city and had not spoken the language since the 1980’s (I had three years of high school French). Somehow I charmed enough shop owners with my broken French to welcome my class in to try their products. It was a huge success (Google “Exploring Paris Block by Block”) for the details on the trip.
The ceremony was about two hours and most of that was calling names of graduates.
Then off to Prague for another wonderful experience exploring the history, food and culturally delights in the city. We visited all the touristy spots you would normally see on the tour but our tour guide, Jana, really had us exploring the city from a different perspective from someone who lived in all these areas. Everyday we experienced something new and in the time that I got to explore the city on my own, I walked the entire city as I would in Manhattan and got to pass all the local shops and restaurants and experience things as a local would living in Prague.
Then it was off to Abu Dhabi and Dubai during their Winter tourism season and that was a true eye opener. It was like going home as I discovered my Arabic roots (though they are about 400 years old and through my mother’s Sicilian heritage). All the men looked like me and that made me feel more at home. Though we had a pretty tight schedule again seeing all the sites that are popular with tourists, I had to stay an extra day because of the flights and got to explore Abu Dhabi on my own.
When the ceremony was over we were all applauded.
Me crossing the stage to finally graduate from Graduate School:
I walked the entire part of my neighborhood around the hotel and discovered the more localized view of the city through the eyes of the Omens, Saudis, Indians and other ethnic groups that made up the majority of the population that make this city run. I walked through their neighborhoods and visited their shops, restaurants, bakeries and stores and saw the city through their eyes. This was the city that I wanted to experience. That and a flat tire coming back from Al Ain left us eating at a local ‘hole in the wall’ restaurant where the site for thirty American students shocked the restaurant owner who could not believe that he had a full restaurant on a quiet Tuesday night. These were the experiences that I got in classes at NYU.
My blogs on “Exploring Abu Dhabi and Dubai Block by Block”:
As we all prepared for the excitement of graduating, I thought back to my first day of class and arriving on the NYU campus right before Labor Day weekend and having no clue what to expect. I have a clearer idea now how the world ticks and how much I had been exposed to in such a short period of time. My Professor who had taken us to Paris was now leading a class over the summer to Barcelona and I really wanted to stay to experience that as well.
The end of the ceremony at 6:00pm.
When all of the students and parents took their seats, the ceremony started on time at 4:00pm. We were greeted by the Radio City Music Hall organ player who made his appearance and then disappeared behind a wall. Then came the NYU Bagpipers who opened the ceremony for us. This was followed by a speech by our Assistant Provost and then by our Dean of our College for the School of Professional Studies.
In the hallway of Radio City Music Hall after graduation.
Then we had to endure the one thing I hate, the student speech. I have sat through countless junior high, high school and now five colleges of students saying things like “life long friendships” and “what we learned from the past will carry us into the future” and ” the people who influence us”. I have heard this same speech over and over again that I could have memorized it and bet on what she was going to talk about. I bet by the time the ceremony was over, everyone was going to part ways and many of my classmates would be traveling back to the countries they originally came from and run their tourism boards. I did not know too many of my classmates who were going to stay in New York City.
Me after graduation was over and Radio City orchestra seating had emptied out.
Then we walked on stage row by row and they called our names over the loud speaker so that family and friends could see us walk on stage. I was so thrilled to hear my name and that a got a nice applause. I was not sure that anyone noticed me as I crossed the stage. This made me feel like a million dollars. I could not believe that I had graduated from such an exclusive college like NYU and with honors. That was quite the achievement for me.
Maricel and I in Radio City Music Hall before the usher kicked us out.
As the rows and rows of classmates made their way to the stage and walked on and off, I looked behind me to see people leaving the theater before the ceremony was over. I thought it was wrong for people to not wait until all the graduates to finish but I will be honest. The second the last classmate crossed the stage, the music started, the confetti and streamers came down and then they wanted us out of there. There was a show that night and they needed to clean up. I wasn’t even out of the orchestra seating before the usher was asking us to leave so they could clean up.
One last shot when the usher turned her back for a second.
Me talking to my friend, Reema, after the ceremony.
We were able to snap some pictures before we left when the usher’s back was turned and then we had to leave. They closed the doors behind us and then the ushers kept everyone off the stairs and everyone had to leave the hallway so there was quite the crowd just outside the door. I bet the show in the evening went off without a hitch.
The end of the ceremony.
While we were outside, Maricel and I took lots of pictures around Radio City Music Hall and then finally had to go across the street because the crowds outside got to be too big as more people had to leave the entrance to the theater and make their way out to the street. It was packed with graduates and their families either taking pictures or trying to cross the street. There was grid lock for about a half hour.
Leaving Radio City Music Hall after graduation.
Outside Radio City Music Hall.
All the graduates and their family and friends had taken over Sixth Avenue and we were all over the place taking pictures. Funny enough with all the time I had been spending in the Times Square/Theater District for my blog on the Streets of Times Square, I got to know all the buildings quite well and we made our way over to 1251 Sixth Avenue to take pictures before heading back over to the hotel.
Me in front of 1251 Sixth Avenue. No one paying that much attention to us. We decided to have some fun with it.
Me as the worldly graduate.
Having some fun by the fountain.
Having some fun at graduation.
Maricel wanted to take more pictures so we went to Times Square with the other tourists but we took one more picture in front of Radio City Music Hall before we left.
My best friend, Maricel and I outside Radio City Music Hall after graduation.
We went to the TKT Booth Stairs where everyone in Times Square was hanging out and complete strangers were wishing me congratulations and well wishing me in my future. That felt really good and I appreciated it.
Me having some fun in Times Square and the ladies below were cheering me on and wishing me well in my graduation from college.
After all the picture taking (trust me there are dozens more shots of me all over Times Square), we headed back to the Marriott Marquis. I had made plans so that we would be having dinner at the Broadway Lounge, their signature restaurant, for graduation night. The views and the food are always amazing. This is where Maricel and I eat when each of us has a very special occasion in our lives.
What a wonderful dinner. The food and the views at the restaurant are just spectacular and the service is always very nice. We had to practically barge our way to a window table when the host gave our first table away. I had to calm a manager down when we took the second table. I had to explain that it was my graduation dinner and my friend wanted to be sure I had a window table. After that, he was fine with it.
While we were ordering we were taking pictures of the restaurant and then each other. Now that graduation was behind me, we could have a little fun and be silly. It was such a great meal.
Me photographing MaricelMaricel photographing me.
Then we had dinner. The Broadway Lounge on the Eighth floor of the Marriott Marquis has always been a favorite place of mine to go for dinner for a special occasion. The views are amazing and the food wonderful.
The view from the Broadway Lounge window.
We had the most amazing Graduation meal once we were seated. We started with their fiery Chicken Tenders which was a pretty generous portion for an appetizer. These lightly breaded chicken breast tenders were rolled in a hot pepper and spicy sauce and served with creamy Italian dressing.
Ryan’s Spicy Chicken: The fiery Chicken Tender with a ranch sauce
I was in the mood for a burger and Marriott does such a nice job with these. Both the regular burger and the Smashburger are excellent, and I decided on the Smashburger while Maricel had the short ribs and mashed potatoes.
The Short Ribs and Mashed Potatoes
The Broadway Smash Hit burger with French Fries
For dessert we shared the ultimate dessert treat, the Strawberry Tower, which is layers of pound cake, fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream and strawberry sauce topped with fresh whipped cream, cheesecake bites, wafer cookies and a giant lollypop which tasted like bubblegum. With a $32.00, it was a little pricy but since it was my graduation night it was the perfect way to end the meal and it was delicious.
The Marquis Strawberry Tower at the Broadway Lounge for my Graduation dessert.
Me getting a photo op with that delicious dessert.
When I got back to the room was the ultimate surprise for me. Maricel decorated the room for my graduation. I was shocked and touched that she got this done in between the time we had arrived to check in and the time I left to get to Radio City for the 3:00pm check in for graduation. I was so touched. No one had done something like this to me before.
Maricel surprised me by decorating the room for my graduation.
The room at the hotel decorated for my graduation.
Me on my graduation night at the hotel in the room decorated for me by my best friend.
Earlier this year I had watched Cliff Richards duetting with a ghostly Olivia Newton-John after her passing for a Christmas video singing “Suddenly” from the movie Xanadu. In part of the video, I watched Olivia Newton-John wheel a cake out for his 75th birthday and totally surprising him in an earlier video. I said to myself “that is something only a real true friend does” and wished someone would do that for me in my lifetime. Maricel did this that night. When a real friend knows what you are going through and has the opportunity to react, it makes all the difference in the world to someone. Tonight, it was me!
With the beautiful views from the room of Times Square and having the ultimate view of where the ball drops directly in front of us, I could not have asked for a more perfect graduation night. I had had different experiences on the nights of my high school, Michigan State University and Culinary Institute of America graduations but this is the one I will always remember. When a friend shows you the ‘top of the world’, you could not ask for more.
The view of Times Square from our room and the famous ‘ball’.
The view of the ‘ball’ from Times Square.
The view of the room at night.
The view of Times Square from our room where the ball drops.
The next morning the Breakfast buffet was absolutely the best way to end the evening. The food was excellent and the selection was wonderful. We were able to eat Club M, the private members room that was nice. It was the perfect breakfast.
The amazing breakfast buffet the next morning.
The amazing breakfast the next morning.
The breakfast buffet was very extensive.
It was an amazing graduation and now on to new experiences to see and new ideas to embark on. It has been quite the journey.
Justin Watrel, Graduate Class of 2024 School of Professional Studies New York University with Honors.
What a true friend does:
Cliff Richards and the late Olivia Newton-John “Suddenly”.
Watch as she rolls out the 75th birthday cake for him for his ’75th Year Concert’. A real friend can only pull this off!
I finally got back in Manhattan to do my walk of the City and finish the Theater District after almost four years. Wow! Between school, work and especially COVID and the closing of the City and of the theaters until late 2021, this area of Manhattan had been a dead zone for everything. The theaters were all closed due to COVID, the restaurants were closed because the theaters were all closed and there was no business. The hotels were almost all closed on loop and the office buildings had no workers coming in because of ‘stay at home’ rules’ at that time.
This entire district was filled with three different type of people: The NYPD protecting the area, the few residents that lived in the upper part of the neighborhood and on the borders with Hell’s Kitchen to the west and especially the homeless, that camped out everywhere and graffiti that took over the buildings. It looked like the mid-1970’s had returned to Manhattan. Thank God that is now in the past and everything has opened back up again.
Broadway and West 53rd Street at night in 2024. Life has returned.
I had to avoid this area when the City reopened in June of 2020 because it was basically cordoned off by the police and since there was nothing open at the time, I could not give it a fair analysis. So I moved onto Murray Hill, Kips Bay, Chelsea, the Garment District, Hells Kitchen, NoMAD and Rose Hill just south and west of this neighborhood. I had just finished the Flatiron District before I would attempt this again. Trust me when I say that the Theater District/Times Square area is always in a state of transition.
They are literally always knocking it down and rebuilding it. What had been falling apart in the 1970’s and early 1980’s was now the glittering part of Manhattan. Still edgy at its core but much nicer than it had once been.
The Theater District at Seventh Avenue and West 53rd Street at night in 2024.
Even though the weather was cold, it was nice to finally walk around the City again. Since school had started at both colleges right after Labor Day, the semester had been a rough one. It still produced straight ‘A’s’ and three enormously successful projects, I wanted to get back to exploring Manhattan again. Walking the streets of the theater district opened my eyes to the changes this neighborhood had and was still going through.
I started the walk on a cold gloomy day in Mid-February and the streets were really empty. It was still getting dark early so time was of the essence every day of the walk. I had to revisit West 53rd Street to West 50th Street twice because the pictures never came out the way I wanted them to.
Hello Deli on West 53rd Street was my stopping point for dinner.
Hello Deli at 215 West 53rd Street was featured on ‘The David Letterman Show’ for years.
Every part of the Theater district is marked with either scaffolding or a hole where a new building is going up. There is such a hodge-podge of architecture in this section of the City. Historic buildings are hugged up against modern structures and small tenement buildings are right next to large modern hotels. Here and there you have to look but there is a real character to the Theater District.
I started my tour with something to eat. I stopped at Hello Deli at 215 West 53rd Street for an early dinner. I had not realized that this was the deli that David Letterman had made famous when he was on the Late Show. I looked at the reviews online and remembered the owner from so many years ago. The food is really good and very reasonable for Midtown (see my review on TripAdvisor).
I decided on a breakfast sandwich (they serve breakfast all day) called “The Doughy”, which was two scrambled eggs with bacon and American Cheese topped with a freshly fried hash brown on a toasted roll. On a cool late winter afternoon it hit the spot.
“The Doughy” at Hello Deli
“The Doughy” is wonderful.
The inside of Hello Deli.
The selection at Hello Deli is extensive with sandwiches, snacks and drinks.
The nice part about Hello Deli is that there are tables outside when the weather is warm or you can just eat inside and people watch all the passersby in Times Square. It is always busy in this neighborhood.
I continued down West 53rd Street, passing the juxtapose of buildings on either side of the street. The first thing I started to notice was all the street art along the Avenues. Corporate America loves to decorate the streets. All over the neighborhood are statues, murals, artwork and embellishments on the buildings that you really have to take notice of when walking in the Theater district. The only reason you should have your cellphone out is to take pictures of all these wonderful things to see. Also spend a lot of time looking up at all the buildings from around the turn of the last century that now dot the neighborhood. You could miss a lot.
Jim Rennert’s ‘WTF’ is on the corner of West 53rd and Broadway.
The ‘WTF’ plaque
The plaque for one of my many sculptures that Jim Rennert has in the neighborhood.
Jim Rennert is an American born artist known for his large bronze sculptures depicting the everyday man. Mostly self-taught, his works are seen all over the country and really do make a statement.
In between Sixth and Seventh Avenues is a small street called ‘6 1/2 Avenue” that runs through the corridors of several buildings creating an urban walk between all the new construction that had been created between all the buildings. This is now used for cafes, lighting displays, small restaurants seating areas and for art displays.
This is the outdoor seating area for La Grande Boucherie restaurant at 145 West 53rd Street
The reviews for this restaurant are amazing but so are the prices. A thirty dollar hamburger and fourteen dollars for soup? Not on my short list for right now but the food looks spectacular. I have to stick with the local restaurants for now. Right across from the restaurant as you continue down 6 1/2 Avenue, this wonderful light display illuminates the pathway while walking down.
I ended this part of the walk on Fifth Avenue, the border between the Theater District/Times Square and Manhattan East, which is part of Midtown. This classic area of Manhattan is filled with classic historic buildings, modern architecture and sleek new construction. The Theater District is becoming an extension of this area as the Hudson Yards is slowly becoming part of Midtown. The midsection of Manhattan is quickly changing even before the pandemic.
St. Thomas Church on the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 53rd Street
St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue at 1 West 53rd Street
I reached the corner of West 53rd and Fifth Avenue to the beauty of St. Thomas Church.
St. Thomas Church was designed by the distinguished architectural firm of Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson and completed in 1913, Saint Thomas Church is built in the French High Gothic style, with stone ornamentation of the later Flamboyant period in the windows, small arches of the triforium, and stonework surrounding the statuary in the reredos. The flat wall behind the altar is characteristic of English cathedrals, and the magnificent reredos, one of the largest in the world, is strongly suggestive of the single, massive windows that terminate the naves of many English churches designed in the Perpendicular style (St. Thomas Church Website).
I stopped on the corner of West 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue for late lunch at Halal Guys Cart. This is where the empire started. There are now franchise stores of Halal Guys at started in 2015 all from this little cart right across the street from the MoMA. I have been coming here for over twenty years and the food has always been excellent.
The Halal Guys cart under the scaffolding on West 52nd Street and Sixth Avenue
As you can see, I love the food here. It is my ‘go-to’ place on a cool night for a hot meal. This is more my price point with this project, plus I like to eat in the small plaza across from the MoMA when the weather is nice. I love the Combo sandwich (Gyro and Chicken with vegetables) and this is my staple except when I am really hungry and go for the Mixed Platter. This is the original cart that started the whole chain and it still is popular with tourists and business people alike.
The menu at Halal Guys Cart is really popular with everyone and the lines can get long at lunch time and early dinner. The Mixed Sandwich is the best!
The Mixed Combo sandwich with Gyro and Chicken lunch (Yum)
Across the street from the Halal Guys at the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 52nd Street is a very unusual blue stature that caught my attention. This is one of the corporate art works at that line Sixth Avenue and makes quite the statement. Sixth Avenue from West 59th to West 42nd Street around Bryant Park has become quite the ‘Open Air’ art museum. You just have to look around for the works tucked here and there by the buildings and in their lobbies. There is a lot to see. This piece is called “Jean Marc” and was created by artist Xavier Veilham.
Jean Marc statue at the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 53rd Street
Sign for artist Xavier Veilhan
Artist Xavier Veilhan was born in France and was educated at the Ecole nationale superieure des arts in Paris and at the Institut des hautes etudes en arts plastiques. He works in photography, sculpture, film, painting and installation art.
I crossed the street and walked in the other direction past the very busy Museum of Modern Art and noted that I had not visited the museum in a while. There were some exhibitions that I wanted to see before they closed. I would visit the museum many times during my tour of the Theater/Times Square district.
The ‘Venus de Milo’ statue on Sixth Avenue and 53rd Street.
The Christmas decoration lights were still up on the Venus de Milo statues on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 53rd Street. The singe Venus de Milo statues in the fountain and the double on the corner of West 52nd Street were designed by American artist Jim Dine.
Jim Dine is a contemporary American visual artist who graduated from Ohio University with a BFA. These are three of Jim Dine’s sculptures collectively entitled “Looking Toward The Avenue” installed in 1989 in the small plaza on the east side of Sixth Avenue at west 53rd and 54th Streets in Manhattan. The verdigris bronze statues emerge from a water pool. These sculptures are based on Venus de Milo, a masterpiece from the 2nd century BC (Big Apple Secrets).
Further down on the corner of West 53rd Street and Broadway is the shining red symbol of “Hope”. Now this could mean hopefuls on Broadway making their duet, hopefuls coming to the City for the first time to follow their dreams or maybe to a City that has had many ups and downs that it needs this message. It stands like a beacon at the heart of the Theater District.
The Hope sculpture
The ‘Hope’ sculpture on the corner of Broadway and West 53rd Street.
The “Hope” sculpture was placed here in 2014 on ‘International Hope Day’ which also happened to be the artist’s 86th birthday, Robert Indiana. He created the sculpture in 2008 and offers encouragement in the future.
Robert Indiana is an American born artist who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting in Maine, and the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. He was known for his large pop art sculptures.
The dominant theater is Ed Sullivan Theater where the Late Show with Stephen Colbert is filmed. The neighborhood around it and its businesses were made famous by David Letterman, the former host.
It was getting dark and gloomy when I started walking West 52nd Street. It got colder and darker and the pictures I was taking didn’t come out the way I wanted so I stopped for the evening. I planned the next day earlier on a sunny day.
Looking down Sixth Avenue from West 52nd Street to see the corporate core of the neighborhood.
I decided to walk the neighborhood again starting first with West 53rd Street and a trip to inside of the Museum of Modern of Art. I had not been the museum in months and wanted to see some of the exhibitions from the holidays before they closed. The morning was a bit gloomy and I figured that walking around the museum would be a good idea until it cleared up and got warmer. The museum was filled with people who had the same idea.
The museum was really busy that morning with many tourists milling around the museum and visitors visiting a lot of these exhibitions that were about to close. I had wanted to see the new Picasso exhibit so I headed upstairs and walked around the exhibition.
Picasso in Fontainebleau was about to close.
The “Picasso at Fontainebleau” exhibition before it closed for good.
The highlight of my tour that afternoon was the ‘Picasso in Fontainebleau’ exhibition and the works from that period. I had seen many of these paintings before in retrospect’s of the artist’s work many times at this and many other museums, but I never tire of them. My favorites from the exhibit were the ‘Three Musician’s’ paintings which are great to see side by side.
After I left the MoMA, I rewalked all of West 53rd street and really noticed the beauty of the alley 6 1/2 Avenue when it runs between the office buildings between West 53rd and West 52nd Streets. This is the best place to eat lunch and people watch when you are in the neighborhood.
The sculpture with no name across from the MoMA.
The view of the skyline from the courtyard.
The view from the courtyard across from the MoMA during the day.
On a nice day, it is a great place to read a book or write just watch where the pigeons park themselves in the trees. I have gotten hit in the past. Same when sitting down, you have to look for a clean spot before you eat lunch.
The New York Sheraton
The Sheraton New York Times Square at 811 Seventh Avenue.
Passing the Sheraton New York again, I thought all the times I visited my best friend there. The hotel still had some of their holiday decorations in the front of the hotel. I continued the walk down West 52nd Street. This hotel was once the ‘bright star’ of the ITT hotel empire.
This classic hotel was built in 1962 as the Lowes Americana Hotel and was designed by architect Morris Lapidus. When the hotel opened up, it was the world’s tallest hotel and is still considered one of the 100 tallest hotels in the world. The hotel had been built to host convention business which it is still known for and its unique design was created due to zoning regulations along Seventh Avenue that created its unique look. The hotel was sold to Sheraton (which is now part of Marriott) in 1979 (Wiki).
Before I passed the historic Neil Simon Theater while walking down West 52nd Street when I admired piece of artwork above the door at 245 West 52nd Street with all the characters of the theater. I thought it was pretty unique. This was located on top of the doorway of the August Wilson Theater.
The artwork above the doorway to the side of the building at 245 West 52nd Street.
The doorway to the August Wilson Theater at night is just as interesting.
Next to the August Wilson Theater is the Neil Simon Theater which was still having their performance the day I passed it. After the evening performances around 10:00pm, this area is jammed with people waiting for the stars of the show to come out and sign autographs.
The Neil Simon Theater at 250 West 52nd Street near Broadway.
The Neil Simon Theater was designed by architect Herbert J. Knapp and opened in 1927 as the Alvin Theater (the acronym for the owners Alex A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley). It was renamed the Neil Simon Theater after the famous playwright in 1983. The theater has an exterior of brick and terra cotta which is a New York landmark and the interior was designed in the Adam style after William Adam, a Scottish architect who created the neoclassical design (Wiki). The theater has been host to many famous shows and sits in the heart of the Theater District.
Passing the Sheraton New York Times Square again, I never realized how big this hotel was and how it dominated Seventh Avenue. It takes almost half of the city block between Seventh and Sixth Avenue.
Passing the New York Sheraton from Seventh Avenue and West 52nd Street.
Passing the Sheraton Hotel from the other direction shows how much real estate it takes up on Seventh Avenue. I passed the second set up twin Venus De Milo’s by artist Jim Dine on the West 52nd Street side of the building.
The Venus de Milo statues at West 52nd and Sixth Avenue.
The statues of the Venus de Milo at West 52nd Street were still decorated for the holidays but were not as beautiful as when the Christmas holiday season was in full form along Sixth Avenue. These interesting statues grace the outside of 1301 Sixth Avenue.
The statues at Christmas time in front of 1301 Sixth Avenue. Sixth Avenue is pretty spectacular at the holidays and should not be missed when touring around the City at Christmas time.
As I walked down West 52nd Street, I passed the Paley Museum which I had been a member of for years in the early 2000’s before YouTube became a place to watch old shows and commercials. Their video library was the only place to find them until everything started showing up on YouTube and made the library obsolete and one of the reasons why I was a member. That and it was a good place to escape the troubles of post 9/11 New York City. The museum still has a lot of programs going on during the week.
The Paley Museum started as the Museum of Broadcasting & Radio in 1975 with a donation from William Paley, the head of CBS. The museum was designed by renowned architect Philip Morris and has a classic appearance. The museum mission is to preserve television, radio and movie history and works are collected and shown in the various screening rooms in the museum. There is all sorts of educational programming and celebrity visits during the year. The museum was renamed The Paley Center for Media in 2007 now known as the Paley Museum (Wiki).
The Paley Museum
The Paley Museum (Center for Media) at 25 West 52nd Street
The former ‘21 Club’ is right next door to the museum. The “21 Club” was once one of the classic New York City restaurants with a long history and roots in Prohibition. The club opened in its current spot in 1930 with roots dating back to 1922. It was one of the most famous ‘speakeasies’ of Prohibition with elaborate secret passages and doors to hide the liqueur. The restaurant closed in March 2020 after 90 years of operation due to the pandemic and has not reopened. There is still uncertainty in the restaurants future (Wiki).
The 21 Club closed during the pandemic when they could not pivot to delivery or pick up and they never reopened the restaurant. It has now been sitting dormant for four years. It is surprising considering its history and location.
I had spent a Father’s Day there probably back in 2008 or 2009 with my dad. We got all dressed up and went to lunch here and then went to see a show. I still remember the wonderful soft shell crabs I ate that afternoon. I also remember the Men’s Room Attendant asking me if I was black (I had a really deep tan at the time). He was insistent that I was not White and that I must have a black parent. That always stuck with me.
As I made my way around Fifth Avenue and back down the other side of West 52nd Street, I passed the American Girl Doll store at 75 Rockefeller Plaza Floor One. I thought it was a free standing store. It was much easier to maneuver around this store than their old one which was on Fifth Avenue before 2008 meltdown. I think the rents on Fifth Avenue were getting to be too much for them.
The American Girl Store at 32 West 52nd Street took over the old School of Visual Arts building and stretches into it home at 75 Rockefeller Plaza on West 51st Street.
The inside of the American Girl Doll store on West 52nd Street. It is like a doll museum.
The American Girl Doll Cafe and Specialty doll area
The American Girl Doll store had a really nice selection of dolls and accessories and had a lot more space to walk around than the previous store on Fifth Avenue. These ‘lifestyle dolls’ have their own story and their own collections kept in their own in house boutiques. That’s what makes these dolls so special. That and their realistic take on playthings. In the late afternoon during the week though there was more staff there than there were customers.
The Cartier Store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 52nd Street.
As I rounded Fifth Avenue, I saw the beauty of the Cartier store, which is a former ‘Gilded Age’ mansion at the corner of 653 Fifth Avenue. The store was once home to Morton Freeman Plant, the son of railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant. The home was designed by architect Robert W. Gibson in 1905 in the ‘Neo-Renaissance style’. Mr. Plant felt later that the area was getting too ‘commercial’ and moved further uptown and Cartier bought the building in 1917 (Wiki).
On the way back down West 52nd Street, I passed by 6 1/2 Avenue and saw the interesting and very unique statue of a ballerina balancing on top of an elephant by artist Barry Flanagan.
Artist Barry Flanagan was an Irish-Welsh artist who studied at the Birmingham College of Arts & Crafts and St. Martin’s School of Art. He is best known for his larger sculptures of hares and other animals. These sculptures on West 51st and 50th Streets are prime examples of his works (Wiki).
Walking further down the street. I walked into Urban Space, one of the many food courts catering to the office worker and tourist crowds that visit Times Square. What I like about these food courts is that they house many branches of independent upscale restaurants from New York City and the surrounding areas that cater to a customer who enjoys innovative and sustainable dining.
The entrance to UrbanSpace at at 152 West 52nd Street
The wonderful assortment of restaurants to choose from in the food court.
I continued walking down West 52nd Street, ducking through here and there. what I really liked was the views of Midtown from both Broadway and Sixth Avenue. This is what everyone imagines when they think of New York City.
Broadway looking down from West 52nd Street.
My walk that afternoon continued down West 51st Street. I passed 6 1/2 Street again to see another Barry Flanagan statue, the ‘Hare on the Bell’ on the other side of the walkway. That was an interesting piece hidden under scaffolding. I really had to walk around it to admire how whimsical it was. I have to say that the artist has a sense of humor.
The ‘Hare on top of the Bell’ by artist Barry Flanagan at 6 1/2 Avenue.
The statue’s plaque beside the statue.
When I reached Sixth Avenue and West 51st Street, I entered the beginning of the Rockefeller Center complex with its beautiful Art Deco architecture and interesting details on the buildings plus a post-Christmas Skating Rink.
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall along Sixth Avenue
The Rockefeller Center complex contains 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres of Midtown Manhattan. The 14 original buildings were commissioned by the Rockefeller family that span the area between Fifth and Sixth Avenue that contain such famous landmarks as the Skating Rink, Radio City Music Hall and 30 Rock, the home of NBC. The artwork that adorns the buildings and plazas were designed by multiple artists (Wiki).
I have toured this complex so many times and never noticed all the beautiful carvings and artwork. This is what you can discover when you look up and take the time to admire these beautiful buildings.
The artwork all over Rockefeller Center is unique. This work is called “The Cornucopia of Plenty” by artist Lee Lawrie with colorist Leon V. Solon (Rockefeller Center website)
This polychrome-painted stone carving depicts a messenger soaring from the clouds, emptying an overflowing horn onto the earth. Lee Lawrie wrote that it symbolizes “the plentitude that would result from well-organized international trade”, a theme compatible to the activities of the building. The figure’s downward angle, her flowing golden hair and the dramatic spilling of contents from her cornucopia all skillfully convey a feeling of motion and energy (Rockefeller Center website).
The detailed stonework in Rockefeller Center
The outside of 640 Fifth Avenue
The Toots Shor Restaurant plaque
The Toots Shor’s Restaurant plaque at 51 West 51st Street
This plaque was tucked into construction work and could easily be missed of this once famous celebrity hangout that closed in 1971.
The details of Rockefeller are wonderful. The buildings in the complex have a creative whim to them. You really have to stop and look at the details of each of the buildings to see their true beauty. This building was designed by architect Raymond Hood and completed in 1935. The detailed artwork of Attilio Piccirilli sits above the entrance (Wiki/Rockefeller website).
The food court the Urban Hawker at 135 West 50th Street
The whole food court is filled with restaurants from all over Asia. So you can Thai Pad Thai or Singaporean Chicken Rice and a lot more to choose from. The selection of different foods was fantastic and offered a great selection. The food court has a great selections of foods and delights available in each stall and then you can take your meal to one of the many seating areas in the facility and relax and enjoy your meal.
The beauty of the embellishments of Rockefeller Center
The beauty of the complex offers so many gorgeous embellishments on the buildings.
These ornate metal-and-enamel plaques – each measuring an impressive 18 feet in diameter – were created in 1932 by the American mosaicist and painter Hildreth Meiere in collaboration with the master metal worker Oscar B. Bach. It was a felicitous pairing of artistic talents. Meiere, one the few women of the time working in the field of architectural decoration, was at the high point of her career. Bach, the redoubtable technician, was one of the few people able to realize her elaborate – even audacious – designs. Interestingly enough, Meiere’s medallions, which celebrate Dance, Drama and Song, were among the first artistic works completed for the center and they have served as enduring emblems of Radio City Music Hall (Tatti Art Conservation website).
Artist Hildreth Meiere is an American born artist from New York City. She studied at such prestigious schools as the Art Students League of New York and the San Francisco Art Institute. She was known as a muralist with a specialty in Art Deco designs (Wiki)
The detail on the Observation Deck entrance.
Rockefeller Center’s entrance to the Observation Deck at 50 West 50th Street adorned with the carving “Radio” by artist Leo Friedlander.
A native New Yorker, Leo Friedlander studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and Paris and was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1913. Radio is a companion piece to his Television, both themed after NBC, the building’s main tenant. The larger figure represents transmission, who sends the song of the figures on the east (broadcasting) to those on the west (acoustics). Mother Earth and her child represent the audience receiving the sounds of the radio. Size, mass, texture and repetition all work together here to lend strength to the architecture and interest to the carvings (Rockefeller Center History website).
Rockefeller Center at Twilight
Walking down West 50th Street toward the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink at twilight. Rockefeller Center is brilliant in the early evening when the lights come on and the music is playing.
Across from the skating rink and at the entrance of the building is the artwork “The Story of Mankind” by artists Lee Lawrie and Leon V. Solon. This beautiful art display towers over the entrance to the building.
The story of mankind
“The Story of Mankind”
The story of Mankind
The Story of Mankind is a massive carved limestone screen divided into fifteen small rectangular spaces that Lawrie termed “hieroglyphs”. It was created to symbolize the purpose of the International Building and to chronicle mankind’s progress, starting with the bottom center’s four figures depicting the races of mankind. The sailing ship image above them symbolizes international trade, while other symbols include a Norman tower as pre-industry, a lion as kingdoms of the world, and Mercury as worldwide communication. The clock and rays at the very top represent earth (Rockefeller Center History website)
When I got to the Skating Rink across the street, there was a large crowd and a lot of activity on the ice as the music was playing and everyone was having a good time. With all the white lights on the trees surrounding the rink and the music I would have sworn it was still Christmas.
The artwork on the building
The detail work on the building on Rockefeller Center “The Immigrant” by artist Giacomo Manzu.
‘The Immigrant’ is the companion work to the large panel titled Italia, this bas-relief is a poignant work depicting a weary barefoot mother and her naked child, the fundamental nature of poverty. She represents the Italian woman who, after the war and the loss of so many Italian men and homes, left Italy to seek new beginnings in America. Manzu is quoted as saying, “It is the immigrant’s search for two principal things—drinking and eating.” Here he captures universal human despair combined with a modicum of hope.
On this part of the building, I noticed the three golden lions that were above the doorway. I found out that these were the “Arms of England” artists Lee Lawrie with colorist Leon V. Solon. “Three gilded passant-gardant lions (passant means walking; gardant means looking out of the shield) reinforce the presence of the building’s primary tenant, the British monarchy. Lions were first used to decorate the shield of Richard I, who became King of England at age thirty-two and ruled from 1189 – 1199 (Rockefeller Center Art Website).
The skating rink was lit during twilight and this is when the magic begins in Rockefeller Center.
The Skating rink
It still looked like Christmas time at Rockefeller Center with the white lights on the trees, the skaters bundled up and the festive music playing on the load speaker.
The skaters were having such a good time.
The Skating Rink was really active that evening with skaters having a nice time.
Video of Skating in Rockefeller Center during the post holiday season with great music!:
The statue at Rockefeller Center makes quite the statement.
The statue of “Prometheus” at the head of the skating rink.
Of all the beautiful artwork that line the walls and courtyards of the complex, two stand out. Prometheus is a beautiful statue that stands proud above the ice-skating rink. This beautiful cast iron, gilded sculpture was made in 1934 by artist Paul Manship. The work is of the Greek legend of Titan Prometheus who brought fire to mankind by stealing it from the Chariot of the Sun (Wiki).
Mr. Manship was a well-known American artist who noted for his specialized work in mythological pieces in the classic style. He was educated at the St. Paul School of Art and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
The other standout statue is of the God Atlas that guards the courtyard of the International Buildings. The sculpture was created by artist Lee Lawrie with the help of Rene Paul Chambellan. The statue was created in the Art Deco style to match with the architecture of the Center and depicts Atlas carrying the celestial vault on his shoulders.
Atlas at Rockefeller Center
Mr. Lawrie was known as a architectural sculptor whose work is integrated into the building design. His work in the Art Deco design fit perfectly into the new building. Mr. Lawrie was a graduate of the School of Fine Arts at Yale.
The impressive entrance to the main building right in front of the ice skating rink.
The entrance to Rockefeller Center in its glory..
The entrance to Rockefeller Center with the symbol of “Wisdom” at its entrance.
An Art Deco icon, ‘Wisdom’ famously looms over the entrance to the main building of Rockefeller Center and can be seen from Fifth Avenue. Created by Lee Lawrie, one of America’s foremost architectural sculptors, it is an impressive and imposing focal point. Wisdom is considered the creative power of the universe, and the figure’s commanding slant, intimidating expression and biblical quote help convey his strength, impact and control over man. It is flanked by two other important works by Lawrie: Sound and Light (Rockefeller Center History website).
As part of the shopping complex is the new flagship store of FAO Schwarz. It is not the store in the movie ‘Big’. The store went through bankruptcy a decade ago and an investment group bought the name and reopened the store in this location. The store still has a lot of its upscale and exclusivity in merchandise but is half the size of the previous store in the old General Motors Building up the road.
The entrance to the new FAO Schwarz at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
FAO Schwarz Fifth Avenue is one of the most iconic toy stores in the world. Founded in 1862 in Baltimore and moved to New York City in 1870, Frederick August Otto Schwarz opened his ‘toy bazaar’ in lower Manhattan. The Schwarz family owned and operated it for years featuring some of the most unique and special toys from all over the world. The store moved several times from Union Square to 23rd Street then to its iconic home at 745 Fifth Avenue (now Bergdorf-Goodman’s Men’s Store) and then to its famous home at 767 Fifth Avenue, which was made famous by the movie “Big” with Tom Hanks dancing on the famous piano.
The store has had many owners and moved from its iconic location to 30 Rockefeller Center. The store still its wonderful private label plush with “Patrick the Pup” plush and it’s great candy store, FAO Schweetz (where I was once the manager). The store is now opened by a private investment firm and still carries wonderful private label goods.
My old department FAO Schweez.
The candy department ‘FAO Schweetz’ located on the second floor.
The copy of the famous piano from the “Piano” scene from the movie big is located on the second floor and still attracts tourists from all over the world.
The famous ‘Piano’ at FAO Schwarz.
The piano from the movie ‘Big’ is located on the second floor of the store. There were two original pianos from the film, one was in the director of the film’s home and another had been sold off years ago. People have to remember that the movie “Big” was released in 1988 and shot over 25 years ago. The store in the movie was closed years ago.
The scene from “Big” with the piano.
The ‘Patrick the Pups’ a signature stuffed animal at FAO Schwarz.
The stuffed animal department is still amazing at the store as you enter and exit the front door. The store even on a quiet night is a tight squeeze and I would not want to be in the store on a busy holiday weekend. These “Patrick and Petunia Pups” are still a big seller and one of the softest stuffed animals you will find around. I love stopping at the store for old times sake even though this is not the store I worked at years ago. When I walked outside, Rockefeller Center was just being lit up at twilight.
Nightfall at Rockefeller Center
It became twilight at Rockefeller Center as I exited the store by the skating rink. All the lights came on around 6:00pm and it is just spectacular to walk around the Theater District at this time of night. Everyone is getting ready to go to the theater, the restaurants are packed and people are just getting out of work. The City comes alive in the evening when it just starts to get dark. There was a show that evening at Radio City Music Hall so people were starting to line up and wait.
The front of the office building at at night.
In the evenings, 1251 Sixth Avenue performs its magic of lights in their fountains facing Sixth Avenue
Walking past Broadway at 51st Street is a fantasy of lights. This is when Manhattan becomes quite brilliant and shows its personality. When I walk around the Theater District I think ‘this is what people think when they hear the words ‘New York’.
Sixth Avenue at night.
Sixth Avenue near Radio City Music Hall at night.
Fifth Avenue by Saks Fifth Avenue.
Fifth Avenue by Rockefeller Center in front of Saks Fifth Avenue.
Bryant Park at night
Bryant Park during the end of the winter months before the leaves get on the trees.
I finished up for the evening walking around Bryant Park. The park is still busy even in the cooler months with the skating rink still in use and the restaurant vendors and bar still in operation after the holidays. The plaza below sits between West 42nd and West 41st just behind the buildings on Sixth Avenues and has the most amazing statuary. It also has great food trucks in the warmer months and it is nice to eat here. This is the park just before it closes for the evening.
The plaza between Sixth and Seventh Avenues at West 42nd Street.
The edge of the Theater District/Times square along West 42nd Street and Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
Walking around the New York Public Library
The New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue between West 41st and West 42nd Street.
As I was finishing this part of the Theater District that evening, the City really came to life with this beautiful light show. This picture was taken when I passed the New York Public Library after it closed for the evening. All the statuary and windows are lit for the evening.
Fifth Avenue at darkness.
The view from the other side of the library at Fifth Avenue and West 41st Street is spectacular.
The light show at 6:00pm.
The views around the edge of the Theater District into the Broadway area are amazing.
When people complain about Manhattan, I just see the dazzling lights and remember how many people wish they were standing where I am standing. From where I was standing I felt like I was in the center of the world.
I returned the next day to continue my walk around the Theater District. For some reason the day before all the roads were blocked off and there were police all over the place. Maybe a VIP had come into the area but you could not walk around without garnering some attention so when I returned a few days later that was no longer the case.
I started the walk on the end part of West 51st Street and revisited some of the sites I had seen before.
I passed this unusual fountain and statues.
It is strange that I never noticed this fountain and statues of a dog and rabbit before that sits behind 1221 Sixth Avenue between West 49th and West 48th Streets.
This was a unique set of statues
Paparazzi Dogman and Paparazzi Rabbitgirl by artists Gillie and Marc.
Thanks toThe Avenue of the Americas Association we just installed the seven-foot tall Paparazzi Dogmanand Paparazzi Rabbitgirl in Sixth Avenue opposite the Rockefeller Center in New York to promote diversity, love and acceptance and they’ve been a hit! The exciting, unprecedented installation is being hosted as part of the Association’s “Love the Avenue” campaign at lovetheavenue.com, which has demonstrated the enhancement of Sixth Avenue and Midtown over the past several years (Artist’s bio).
The Paparazzi Dogman and the Paparazzi Rabbitman statues by artists Gillie and Marc.
British and Australian artists, Gillie and Marc have been called “the most successful and prolific creators of public art in New York’s History” by the New York Times. Creating some of the world’s most innovative public sculptures, Gillie and Marc are redefining what public art should be, spreading messages of love, equality, and conservation around the world. Their highly coveted sculptures and paintings can be seen in art galleries and public sites in over 250 cities (Artists bio).
The walk through fountain was quite unique
The fountain and plaza sits between West 49th and West 48th Streets behind 1251 Sixth Avenue. When you walk through the hole in the wall, you can see the water coming at you from the top and sides.
It was a beautiful day for a walk along Seventh Avenue in the Theater District. Even in the middle of a sunny day the lights add a sense of excitement to the area.
St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church, the Actor’s Church at 249 West 49th Street.
St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church, known as the Actor’s Church, was designed by architects John Hubert McGuire, Thomas J. Duff and Robert J. Reilly in the Gothic Revival design. The building was completed in 1920. Due to its proximity to the Theater District as it moved uptown in the 1920’s and 30’s, many actors, dancers and musicians started worship here (Wiki/St. Malachy website).
Lilly’s Restaurant in the Theater District.
Walking down West 49th Street, I was stopped by this statue of a woman outside a well known restaurant in the heart of the Theater District, ‘Lilly’s Victorian Establishment at 249 West 49th Street in the Theater District. It was the statue of Lilly Langtry that caught my attention. That and the interesting window display.
The statue of “Lilly Langtry” sits outside of Lillie’s Victorian Establishment.
Lillie Langtry was a highly successful British actress, a renowned beauty, and socialite of the late 19th century. She was notorious for her long list of prominent suitors, which included the future King of England, Edward VII. She was born on the Isle of Jersey, which lies off the southern coast of England, and was later known as the “Jersey Lillie” (Restaurant Bio).
Passing the restaurant and the statue of the famous actress, I found myself back at Rockefeller Center admiring more art along the walls of the buildings.
Embellishment on Rockefeller Center
Walking back through Rockefeller Center I saw the carving “The Joy of Life” by artist Attilio Piccirilli.
John D. Rockefeller, the developer of the Center, was a reserved man who advocated temperance, yet this carving portrays the “joy” of life as wine. The main character is Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry, who taught mankind the cultivation of the grape and then winemaking. He is depicted lolling on the ground in the center of the scene, surrounded by a group, and appears narcissistic. Lighthearted and decorative, the colors are as important as the carving, with the gray figures set against a brilliant blue sky (Rockefeller Center History website).
The Longacre Theater on 48th street.
The Historic Longacre Theater is located at 220 West 48th Street.
The beautiful detail work on the Longacre Theater.
The theater was designed by architect Henry B. Herts, one of four currently operating Shubert playhouses that he designed. It boasts a French Neo-classical-style exterior and a Beaux Arts-style interior, but lacks some of the individuality and flair which characterized Herts’ other designs (Longacre website).
The Longacre, named for Longacre Square (now Times Square), was built by producer/manager H.H. Frazee (also known as the owner of the Boston Red Sox who sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees). After Frazee fell into financial difficulties, the theatre changed hands many times before being sold to Astor Theatre Incorporated, a Shubert subsidiary, in 1919 (Longacre website).
On the corner of West 49th and Broadway is the flagship Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, which makes wanting to go on a diet impossible. When you walk into this store, you are faced by the conveyor belt with doughnuts being dipped into the oil, shaken out and then having a thick layer of glaze on top of them.
The Krispy Kreme store is extremely popular in Times Square.
The Krispy Kreme store at 1601 Broadway and West 48th Street.
Just watching how the doughnuts get made will make your mouth water.
Just touring the store will make you hungry. The doughnuts are fried and glazed right in front of you and trust me, with all the tourists coming into this store, the doughnuts are never stale. A fresh Krispy Kreme doughnut is the best.
The final delicious product
The doughnut cases are filled with delicious treats. The amount of doughnuts sold when I was there was tremendous. The selection of these doughnuts is extensive including a very expensive “Big Apple” doughnut that comes in its own box. Clever idea for all the tourists.
Broadway from West 48th Street
The views while walking around Broadway in the West 40’s in the middle of this neighborhood is spectacular. This is where the City ‘never sleeps’.
Wu Liang Ye Chinese Cuisine at 36 West 48th Street across from Rockefeller Center
Wu Liang Wu on West 49th Street is a very underrated restaurants in the neighborhood. It is one of the older and well known Chinese restaurants in the Theater and Business district. I had not eaten there in years but I remember the food being very good. Recently though the restaurant’s entrance is always behind scaffolding.
Another big theme store in Times Square is the M & M store at 1600 Broadway is another store that attracts lots of tourists and locals alike. I never really got some of these Times Square stores as they were not authentic New York City and were just another place for tourists to hang out and get a tee shirt but the kids just love the store.
The theme stores in Times Square like the M & M store, Kristie Kreme and the Hershey store is a strong attraction to families from out of town. Even though they can be touristy at times, they are still fun and the strong attraction of maybe getting an M & M sample is highly appealing to me. I loved all the characters all over the store and the displays are very over the top. You can even personalize your own color of M & M’s. It is fun to wonder around the store when it not thronged with people.
The inside of the M & M store on Broadway.
The inside of the M & M store on Broadway.
Down the street from the M & M store is the Hershey store displaying racks and racks of delicious Hershey products. This part of Broadway can get you fat if you let it. What I liked about the Hershey store but could not indulge in it this trip was the Shake bar they have at the back of the store. The selection of milk shakes they had on the menu looked really good and in the front of the store is a candy bar where the staff was creating homemade treats.
The Inside of the Hershey store is like walking through Mr. Wonka’s factory. There is something for everyone on the shelves and walls of this store. There are all sorts of candies that Hershey manufactures including the “World’s Largest Candy bar”. You can have everything chocolate from a think Hershey’s milkshake to make your own smores to creating a giant Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Your mouth will water like the other theme food stores in the area.
The world of Hershey
The inside of the Hershey store
The selection of chocolates and candies at the store is extensive and expensive. You can find these things cheaper in the suburbs. What I liked about the store is ‘Make your Own Peanut Butter Cup” candy bar. Watching them be made is mouthwatering but over-whelming. Too much candy for me.
What looked really good was the Milkshake bar, with all the thick milkshakes in chocolate and vanilla leaving the store or consumed while people were walking around. Again for another trip but I made note of them for the future. Every once in a while, I think it is important to indulge in these items.
The World’s largest Hershey Bar almost tempted me.
When I rounded the corner from West 49th Street to West 48th Street, I came across the Engine 23/Battalion 9 firehouse. This firehouse got hit hard during 9/11 and I remember all the flowers outside the firehouse when I returned home from Guam in October 2001. This memorial is just outside the firehouse as a reminder of the ultimate sacrifice these men made that day.
The Engine 23 Memorial
The Engine 23 Memorial with plaque
9/11 plaque for the Brothers of Battalion 9 and Engine Company 33
The Memorial to 9/11.
The pride of Midtown is Battalion 9, Engine 54 and Ladder 4. This house got hit heavily on 9/11 and this memorial was dedicated to them. The firemen here are very engaging with tourist and when not on a run, they are out talking to tourists and visitors to the area and take pictures with them. Just don’t distract them when they have to go on a call.
FDNY Engine 54/Ladder 4/Battalion 9 lost every firefighter they sent to the World Trade Center on September 11.
This beautiful Beaux Arts designed building was built in 1906 as an office building and houses many businesses in the Diamond Exchange section of Midtown. You have to ignore the signs at the bottom of the building and look up at the elegant details around the windows and roof. It is one of the few Beaux Arts buildings left in the Theater District.
Further down the road there is more public art by artist Jim Rennert. On top of WTF, the artist has three more statues in the area that will be on display through 2024, two of which are on the plaza between West 48th and West 47th Street. This one on West 47th Street is entitled “Timing”.
‘Timing’ is a representation of a person looking anxiously at their watch, relates to the various aspects of business life and the daily struggle between yourself and others. From being at the right place at the right time to having the right opportunity, the importance of timing is essential (Gothamtogo website).
Just down the block is the interesting and very beautiful Samuel Friedman Theater. Both times I passed by it was loaded with people coming in and going out. You really can’t appreciate the theater’s design from the front but when you cross the street and look over, you can see all the interesting embellishments and details around the top of the building.
The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, originally the Biltmore Theatre, was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp in the Neo-Renaissance style of design and was constructed in 1925 for the Chanin brothers. Since 2008, the theater has been named for Samuel J. Friedman (1912–1974), a press agent.
The detail work on the Samuel Friedman Theater.
You have to look up to see the detail work on this theater. I love the elaborate designs of the building.
Samuel J. Friedman historical plaque outside the theater.
Another beautiful theater that you have to cross the street to see all the detailed decorations at the top of the building is the Richard Rogers Theater. The theater was built in 1925 and is one of the largest theaters in the district. It was designed by architect Herbert J. Knapp in the Neo-Renaissance style with white brick and terracotta. The theater was constructed for Irwin Chanin, a architect himself who then leased it to the Shubert organization (Wiki).
The Richard Rogers Theater.
The Richard Rogers Theater at 226 West 46th Street.
The magnificent embellishments of the Roger’s Theater. You really have to look up at the details of the theater to appreciate it.
The Lunt-Fontanne Theater at 220 West 46th Street has the same beauty. The last performances of “Sweeney Todd” were being performed when I walked through the district (it closed May 5th) and the signs were all over the theater.
The Lunt-Fontanne Theater opened in 1910 and was designed by the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings, who had designed the New York Public Library on top of other prominent buildings in Manhattan in the Beaux-Arts style design. This facade is the only surviving facade of the theater and it was once the carriage entrance. It was named for the theatrical couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne (Wiki).
The Lunt-Fontanne Theater with all its detailed embellishments.
Details on the Lunt-Fontanne Theater
Details on the Lunt-Fontanne Theater’s carriage entrance on West 46th Street
As you reach the heart of Times Square at the crossroads of Broadway and Seventh Avenue you will see the impressive statue of George M. Cohen, the song and dance man. It is amazing how many people have forgotten who is and the contributions to the theater he brought with him. The statue is an just an after thought to most tourists snapping pictures in the neighborhood.
The George M. Cohan statue in Times Square
The George M. Cohan statue stands proud in Times Square.
The statue in Times Square of the composer was designed by artist Georg John Lober and was dedicated in 1959 in Father Duffy Square. Artist Georg John Lober was an American sculptor who studied at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and the National Academy of Design and was part of the New York Municipal Arts Commission from 1943-1960.
The Marriot Marquis Hotel is considered by many in the real estate market the cornerstone of the Times Square rejuvenation of the area back in the 1980’s. The hotel was designed by John C. Portman, who was known for designing open air design and soaring lobbies known as the “Brutalist” design.
This unique office building in the middle of the Theater District and home to the Havana Central Restaurant on the bottom of the building was built in 1928 and has unique designs and carving along the floor sills and windows.
The details of the building.
Of the most elegant and detailed churches in the Theater District is the Free Church of Saint Mary the Virgin at 145 West 46th Street.
The Church
The front of the Free Church of Saint Mary’s the Virgin at 145 West 46th Street
The beautiful details of the Virgin Mary carved in the doorway
The church’s embellishments show such gracefulness. This statue of the Virgin Mary stands prominently at the entrance of the church.
The church was built in 1894 by architectural firm Napoleon LeBrun & Sons with Pierre LeBrun as the lead designer in the building. The church was built in the French Gothic design and has the most elegant statuary. The building has a unique refinement to it with its dedication to the Virgin Mary and many of the sculptural decorations J. Massey Rhind (Wiki).
The former School of Performing Arts
The former School of Performing Arts at 120 West 46th Street.
This very unusual building was built in 1894 by architect C.B.J. Snyder in the Romanesque Revival design, the superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education and was used for the School of Performing Arts from 1948-1984 (NYC Landmark Preservation website).
The plaque for the School of Performing Arts
The school’s historical plaque out side the building.
Crossing the street is where you see the true beauty of this building.
The details on the building are interesting.
Down the street on the other side of the courtyard is the other statue by artist Jim Rennert, “Inner Dialogue”.
The other statue by Jim Rennet
The Jim Rennet’s other work “Inner Dialogue” is on West 46th Street.
‘Inner Dialogue’ is the small figure that stands in the palm of the hand of a larger life-size figure is metaphorically speaking to their own conscience, showcasing the familiar feeling of having a conversation with that small voice within (Gothamtogo website)
Right down street is 33 West 46th Street, one of the most unusual office buildings in the neighborhood. You really have to look up and admire the details of the building as they have a dark almost sinister look of demons and devils. It is a building that looks like it has a dark past.
You have to look up to appreciate the beauty of 33 West 46th Street. The details around the building are very morbid. The building was built in 1915 and has always served as an office building. The building was designed by architect Lorenz Weiher and the building was designed in the Neo-Gothic design (DaytoninManhattan.com).
The detail work of the building has a dark feel to it
The building 33 West 46th Street looks like it has a dark past.
More details of the building.
In the heart of the Theater District is the Booth Theater, which is always busy on show nights. I think a lot of people waiting in line miss all the beautiful and unusual details of the building when they are seeing a show. You have to walk around the building to admire all the details.
The Booth was designed by Henry Herts to be one of a pair of playhouses: the Booth and the Shubert Theatres abut each other along Shubert Alley in one seamless unit. Styled with “restrained classicism,” the Booth is the smaller, less extravagant of the two houses. The sgraffito that adorns the exterior of both theaters is the last known surviving example in New York of this once popular decorating technique. Lee Shubert built the Booth Theatre in partnership with the producer Winthrop Ames. Named for the actor Edwin Booth (1833-1893), brother to the infamous John Wilkes Booth, the venue was actually the second New York theatre to bear this name (Booth Theater/Shubert Organization website).
The beautiful inlaid details of the Booth Theater.
The ghosts of the theater stare out at you when you look up at the details of the theater.
As I exited past all the theaters, I again was greeted by the soaring Marriott Marquis Hotel again and thought about how it set the tone for the neighborhood that just keeps changing.
Passing the Marriott Marquis in its glory.
The Marriott Marquis in its glory.
Down the road from Times Square is the new Museum of Broadway that is very impressive. I passed this over dramatized window that greets visitors as they walk inside.
I had visited the Museum of Broadway a few months earlier when spending the night in the City with a friend. The museum is everything Broadway bound with all sorts of costumes, props and playbills from shows over the last hundred years with special displays from some of the most popular shows on Broadway. There is sound tracks to hear and displays to admire and if you love the theater, this museum you should make a special trip to when in Manhattan.
The entrance to the Museum of Broadway at 145 West 45th Street
The front of the Museum of Broadway
I visited the newly opened Museum of Broadway recently and what a nice surprise the museum is with a great depth in the collection. There was the history of the theater in New York City and how it progressed from small theaters downtown to the theater’s progression uptown to it home now in the core of Times Square.
The Make-Up Room on the way up the stairs.
The Call Board display.
The museum is very interesting in that when you enter the back of the museum you feel that you are going backstage at a theater and preparing for a show. You head up the stairs past make up rooms, wardrobe rooms and the star’s rooms. The you head out the door like you are going out on stage. You feel that rush of the stage. From the entrance to the exit, you will experience some of the most popular shows on Broadway and hum those tunes.
Then I passed the plaza between Sixth and Fifth Avenues and stopped in the plaza for a rest. On one side of the plaza was an unusual piece of art by artist Tony Smith and on the other was the 9/11 Memorial to the victims of March McLennan who died in the North Tower where the company had floors 93 through 100 when the first plane hit. This Memorial was dedicated to them.
The Marsh McLennan Memorial to employees who died in the 9/11 tragedy is located in the plaza behind 1166 Sixth Avenue.
The 9/11 Memorial to Marsh McLellan
9/11 Memorial to the employees who died in the World Trade Center is in the plaza behind 1166 Sixth Avenue outside the headquarters of the company. This is dedicated to the 358 employees who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001.
After admiring all the sculpture and statuary in the plaza, look across the street at 56 West 48th Street and the details along the windows and sills. You might find several faces staring back at you. This former office building was built in 1920 and is now luxury rental apartments.
The beauty of the details of the building that look back at you.
Inside the plaza between the buildings on one side was the 9/11 Memorial to the employees of Marsh McLennan, whose headquarters were in this building and whose employees died on 9/11 on the top floor of the World Trade Center that day. On the other side of the plaza is this interesting metal sculpture by artist Tony Smith entitled “Throwback”.
The sculpture “Throwback” by artist Tony Smith
The sculpture sits on the opposite end of the plaza from the 9/11 sculpture of the Marsh McCellan Company.
Artist Tony Smith is an American born artist whose background was in architecture. He had studied at Georgetown University but got his influence in art from the Arts Student League of New York. He started creating these large pieces of sculpture in the early 1960’s and was known for these large metal works (Wiki/Artist bio).
Down the block I saw another face staring back at me at 40 West 45th Street above the entrance of the Club Quarters Hotel.
The beauty of 40 West 45th Street
The beauty of 40 West 45th Street-The Club Quarters Hotel
The Club Quarters Hotel is the former Webster Hotel that was built in 1902. It was designed by the architectural firm of Tracy and Swartwout and was designed in the Classical Revival style.
The detail work above the archway.
The beautiful carvings of of the archway of 40 West 45th Street.
As I crossed over Broadway, I looked up at the statuary of the I. Miller building. Funny how in all the years I had traveled down this street I never noticed the statues that lined the building. All along the West 45th Street side of the building are the statues of famous female entertainers of the 1920’s and 30’s.
The building is located at the corner of Broadway and West 46th Street and was designed by architect Louis H. Friedland with the sculptures designed by Alexander Stirling Calder. The building was built for the I. Miller Shoe Store since 1926 and continued on as a shoe store until the 1970’s.
The I. Miller Shoe Building
The I. Miller Shoe Building at 1552 Broadway and West 45th Street.
The I. Miller Shoe building at West has some elegant carvings of actors of the stage, screen and opera on the sides of the building. It is unfortunate that the front of the Broadway side of the building is covered with a sign but the beauty of these carvings can be seen from the West 45th Street northern side of the road.
At 119 West 45th Street is the Merrion Row Hotel and Public House, a luxury hotel. Our Beaux-Arts building, built in 1920, was one of Times Square’s first hotels. Frequented for decades by local actors and artists, as well as families in search of a truly New York experience, it has been reborn. A deep nod to the building’s rich history, Merrion Row remains a paragon of contemporary luxury (Merrion Row Hotel and Public House website).
The Hotel St. James from the movie “Big”
The Hotel St. James at 109 West 45th Street had a moment of glory in the movie “Big”.
As I walked down West 45th Street toward Sixth Avenue I passed the Hotel St. James. This was not such a nice hotel in the 1980’s and had been featured in the opening scenes in the movie “Big”. Today it is a much different hotel. The hotel was constructed in 1901 and has gone through many transformations until the new owners renovated the hotel and brought it back to its former glory.
This is a funny scene also in the movie “Big” that takes place in the hotel.
From the movie “Big”
As I walked down the street, I passed most of the theaters on this part of the block and there are some of the oldest, most beautiful theaters in the district. How much this area has changed since the 1970’s and 80’s. I remember how run down the area had gotten and how these theaters looked like they were falling apart. Now most of these theaters have had renovations and facelifts and this has brought them back to their former glory. This group of theaters is lead by the Lyceum Theater at 149 West 45th Street.
The beauty of the Lyceum Theater at 149 West 45th Street
The Lyceum Theater is one of the oldest surviving theaters in the Broadway area. It opened its doors in 1903 and was designed by the architectural firm of Herts & Tallant in the Beaux-Arts style. It was built for impresario Daniel Frohman (Wiki)
I love the deep embellishment of the faces staring down on you and all the curved carvings all around the pillars and windows. It is one of the most beautiful theaters in the Theater District.
The detail work of the Lyceum Theater
The true beauty of the theater is when you look up and admire this beautiful building.
The heart of the Theater district walking down West 45th Street before the evening shows open. This area has become very active with all the immigrants and asylum seekers staying the at the old Milford Plaza hotel down the road. There are people milling around this area at all hours of the day and night on top of people going to the theater.
The Imperial was opened in 1923 and was designed by Herbert Krapp in his trademark Adam-style. The recessed ceiling and ornamental panels that grace the walls are elaborately decorated with a number of motifs, including florals and geometrics. The rectangular auditorium is wider than it is deep, which allows most audience members to feel close to the stage and performers (Shubert website).
The St. James Theater is probably one of the most famous and most photographed theaters in the Theater District. It opened in 1927 as the Erlanger Theater as it was built for producer Abraham L. Erlanger. The theater was designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore and was designed in the Neo-Georgian style. You have to walk around the building to see the details in the design (Wiki/Shubert Theater website).
West 44th Street in the heart of Shubert Alley.
Shubert Alley in the middle of the afternoon before the opening of all the shows in the area.
Broadway from West 44th Street
I turned the corner to West 44th Street and admired the views from the street. The views from West 44th Street are what most people think New York City is when visiting. This really captures the heart and soul of the district. With the amount of well-known and popular restaurants, stores and theaters, this really is the hub the entire neighborhood. As you get closer to Fifth Avenue between Sixth and Fifth Avenues, are some of the oldest hotels in the district as well as many private clubs and Alumni clubs for the Ivy League schools including Harvard and Penn.
Virgil’s BBQ is one of the best places for barbecue in NYC
Virgil’s BBQ is amazing. While I was doing the walk of the neighborhood.
While I was taking my walk around the Theater District, I had suggested to my best friend that we should celebrate her birthday with lunch at Virgil’s BBQ. We have both spent many birthdays and celebrations here and the food and the service are always excellent. My favorite dish here is the Pulled Pork sandwich with Cole slaw and fresh pickles (avoid the Potato Salad. It was pretty standard). I love the sweet and smokey flavor of the meat and it is melt in your mouth good on the soft bun.
The pulled pork sandwich
The Pulled Pork sandwich and Barbecue Ribs some of the most delicious items on the menu.
She ordered the Barbecued Smoked Ribs along with a side order of Chicken wings and Mac & Cheese. We devoured everything and then ordered the Banana Pudding for the dessert. It was the nice way to spend the afternoon after a long day of walking in the neighborhood. The one thing I have to say about Virgil’s is that they don’t skip on portion sizes and the prices are extremely fair. The service is really friendly and very quick if you have a show to catch.
Virgil’s BBQ has been open since 1995 and has been catering to barbecue lovers since that time. The food is excellent.
I continued my walk down West 44th Street after lunch to work off all that food. Otherwise I would have gotten very sleepy. West 44th between Fifth and Sixth Avenue is where all the Ivy League college clubs are located along with several historical hotels. The Harvard, Penn, Princeton and League clubs are all located along this strip along with the New York Yacht Club. A very Preppy neighborhood.
The Chawal Hotel was developed in two phases first as the headquarters for the Lambs, a theatrical social club. The original wing of the hotel at 128-130 West 44th Street was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & What between 1904 and 1905 in the Federal and Neo-Georgian design. Then the annex to the hotel as 132 West 44th Street was designed in 1915 by architect George Freeman (Wiki).
The Chawal Hotel Historic plaque.
The other historic hotel on this block is the AKA Hotel at 123 West 44th Street. This hotel also has an interesting history
The AKA Hotel was designed by architect George Keister and was built 1893 in the German Renaissance style. The hotel was originally built as an apartment hotel but has been receiving guests for over a hundred years. It opened as the Hotel Langwell and has also been the Hotel 1-2-3. It was the former Hotel Gerard (Wiki).
Crossing Broadway and walking along the street from Sixth to Fifth Avenue is lined with some of the most exclusive clubs, hotels and restaurants in the City. This is where many of the private clubs like the Harvard Club, Penn Club, the New York Yacht Club and a few older, well-known hotels are located. Its a collection of some of the oldest and most interesting architecture in Midtown Manhattan.
The first of these building is the famous Algonquin Hotel, the home of Dorothy Parkers famous “Round Table”.
The Algonquin Hotel is one of the oldest running hotels in New York City opening its doors to guests since 1902. The hotel was designed by architect Goldwin Starrett for the Puritan Realty Company. The hotel is a combination of Renaissance Revival style in the brick facade and Beaux-Arts in its terracotta details. Because of its proximity to Broadway, the hotel has always attracted a theater and literary crowd (Wiki).
The last time I had been at the hotel myself was about fifteen years ago when a friend was staying there and we had dessert in the hotel restaurant. I thought the food and service were both very good.
The Algonquin Hotel historic plaque.
The historic marker of the hotel.
The hotel has a very historic past of its ‘literary luminaries”.
The other hotel on the block that has its own historic past is The Iroquois Hotel at 49 West 44th Street.
The Iroquois Hotel was built in 1899 by designer and architect Harry Mulliken, The Iroquois has been a luxurious hospitality fixture on Midtown Manhattan’s 44th Street since 1902. Once the residence of prominent actors, celebrities, and artists, including James Dean, Leecy Woods, and The Clash (who wrote “Rock The Casbah” while staying at The Iroquois), our hotel continues its legacy of sophistication and timeless elegance in New York City to this day (Iroquois Hotel website).
The Harvard Club
The Harvard Club, one of the many Ivy League University clubs in Midtown Manhattan is located at 35 West 44th Street.
The Harvard Club was conceived in 1890 by a large group of Harvard alumni. Charles F. McKim (Harvard Class of 1867), of the renowned architectural firm, McKim, Mead & White, was chosen to design “Harvard House.” The club has been added onto over the years and most recently has added an outdoor addition.
The Harvard historic marker
The next club over is the New York Yacht Club at 37 West 44th Street. The New York Yacht Club Building, a six-storied Beaux-Arts landmark with a nautical-themed limestone facade, at 37 West 44th Street. Opened in 1901, the clubhouse was designed by Warren and Wetmore. The centerpiece of the clubhouse is the “Model Room”, which contains a notable collection of full and half hull models including a scale model history of all New York Yacht Club America’s Cup challenges (Wiki).
The Penn Club had been established in 1886 and had several locations over the years. The Yale Club had owned this building until 1915 and then moved out when they built a newer club near Grand Central Station. The Penn Club bought this building in 1989 and established the headquarters for the Penn Club here. This Beaux-Arts designed building was designed by the architectural firm of Tracy & Swartwout (Wiki).
The Penn Club historic plaque
The Penn Club historic plaque.
The last club to dominate this block with its impressive historical architecture is The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesman Club at 20 West 44th Street. This club was founded in 1785 and the aims of the General Society were to provide cultural, educational and social services to families of skilled craftsmen. The club was designed by the architectural firm of Lamb and Rich for the Berkeley School for Boys and acquired by the club in 1899. The expansion was designed by Ralph S. Townsend and blends monumental Beaux Arts classicism with Renaissance elements (Wiki).
The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesman Club 20 West 44th Street.
The General Society of Society of Mechanics and Tradesman of the City of New York building.
The historical plaque for The General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen Club
Once you cross Broadway, you enter the core of the Theater District and Times Square and all the well-known restaurants that are located here. Ollie’s Chinese Restaurant which used to be next to Carmine’s for years is now on Eighth Avenue (and not as good as it used to be) and a couple more closed during COVID but the standbys of Virgil’s, Carmine’s and Sardi’s are still open to crowds of tourists. Each caters to a different type of guest but most offer good food but high prices because of their location.
Carmines Italian Restaurant at 200 West 44th Street
Carmine’s Italian Restaurant is a real experience as a place to dine in the Theater District. You have better go in with a group because the portion sizes are very large. I have been here with my brother where the two of us came in starved and we ate a platter of Caesar Salad, a platter of Rigatoni with Meat Sauce and then for dessert a plate of Cannoli’s between the two of us. The waiter could not believe we ate all that ourselves. The last time I had eaten there with my dad back in 2000, we had a platter of Mixed Green Salad and a platter of Chicken Francais and I remember the food being wonderful and the service very engaging. It is a pre-theater treat for a group.
Sardi’s Restaurant and Grill is one of the most famous restaurants left in the Theater District and probably one of the most overrated as well. The TripAdvisor and Yelp reviews are mixed on the food and service. It is a restaurant that continues on with a reputation in the past. Still the place is always busy.
Sardi’s historic markers outside the restaurant.
The only time I have eaten here was for my birthday back in 2006 and I had mixed reviews about it myself. I was ignored for most of the evening by the waitstaff who could not figure out who had my table. I had to wave someone down after a half hour of being ignored. Then the service was uneven. I can remember trying the Caesar Salad and the Cannelloni Au Gratin because they were the items on the menu that were so traditional to the restaurant.
I just remember the salad being a salad and the Cannelloni tasting like something that had been frozen and reheated for dinner. Like a Stouffers meal that you take out of the microwave. I can’t even remember the dessert I had. It was so long ago that that I didn’t write a TripAdvisor review about it. There are other great restaurants like Virgil’s to go to in the area or for traditional food, go to Carmine’s. At least the portion sizes are large.
The plaque on West 44th Street
Shubert Alley on West 44th Street is the heart of the Theater District. This plaque sits on the side of the one of the buildings in West 44th Street.
China River is one of favorite Chinese Restaurants uptown.
I have eaten at China River several times and have always enjoyed the food. Their Dim Sum selection is really good and their dishes are delicious. I have been here and ordered meals and just light snacks of Dim Sum. Their Pan-Fried Dumplings and Spring Rolls are especially delicious and their Wonton Soup is perfect on a cold night. Their Pan-fried Pork Buns are really good as well. It is always a treat to eat there.
When you turn onto West 43rd Street from Eighth Avenue, you can still see some signs of the old Times Square in the backs of many buildings.
Looking down the heart of West 44th Street in Theater District
The heart of the Theater District has changed over the years and just keeps changing. Once you pass the Westin Hotel at the corner of West 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue, you will experience the back of many buildings from West 42nd and West 43rd Street for most of the block until about Sixth Avenue. It is a lot of loading docks and backs of shipping areas. Still it has that classic Times Square feel about it.
As you round West 43rd Street, you are greeted by the New York Westin Hotel.
The Westin Hotel Times Square when it was built was one of the most innovative buildings in New York City and the cornerstone along with the renovation of the New Amsterdam Theater of the renovation of Times Square in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. This transformed a section of the City still overcoming the financial crisis.
The Westin was in 2002 the first “great hotel” which opened in Manhattan since 1993 and the first project that crystallized Architectural firm, based in Miami in the city of New York. The hotel construction in the downtown commercial area of Times Square, was supervised by the founders of Architecture, the Peruvian Bernardo Fort-Brescia and his wife Laurinda Spear American teachers in the School of Urban Design at Harvard (Wikiteria).
Across the street from the hotel is the historic Times Square Building
The Times Square building at 229 West 43rd Street is the former headquarters of The New York Times newspaper. It was the paper’s place of business from 1913 to 2007. The original building was designed by architect Mortimer J. Fox of the firm of Buchman & Fox with the additions in the 1920’s by Ludlow & Peabody and in the 1930’s by architect Albert Kahn. The building has several different design styles as French Gothic, French Renaissance and Italian Renaissance (Wiki).
The Times Square Building plaque-The Home of the New York Times until 2007.
As you walk further down the block, it starts the heart of the old Theater district.
The Stephen Sondheim Theater was the old Henry Miller Theater
The Henry Miller Theater is now known as the Stephen Sondheim Theater.
The original theater was built in 1918 by Henry Miller, an actor and producer. The theater today is a modern theater opened in 2009 as part of the Bank of America complex. All that remains of the old theater is facade. The original 950-seat theater was designed in the neoclassical style by Harry Creighton Ingalls of Ingalls & Hoffman, in conjunction with Paul R. Allen. Its facade is protected as a city landmark. The facade is made of red brick and marble. In 2010, it was renamed for playwright and composer Stephen Sondheim. (Wiki).
The Henry Miller Theater historical plaque
The historical sign just outside the theater. The outside of the theater is still undergoing a renovation.
The John Golden plaque to John Golden who organized Bread Basket drive for the Actor’s Fund of American on West 44th Street.
John Golden was a songwriter and lyricist who produced plays, movies and eventually opened his own theater. His contributions to both Broadway and Hollywood were numerous (Wiki).
Walking down West 43rd Street, you can see the embellishments on the buildings of what was once the edge of the old Midtown Manhattan. Tucked here and there all over the neighborhood there are buildings that stand out. When I passed 25 West 43rd Street the first time, CUNY Professors were striking and I could not get a good look at it. I was too busy supporting their effort. The second time I passed the building, I really looked at the beauty of the details and you have to look up to appreciate it.
The beauty of 25 West 43rd Street
The beautiful architecture of 25 West 43rd Street.
I couldn’t find much history on the building except for the fact is was built in the late 1920’s and it has always been an office building. It has some beautiful details to the architecture and take time to admire its stonework (and support their Professors).
Then I walked a few doors down and there was the firehouse that housed Engine 65, “The Pride of Midtown”. Engine 65’s quarters were designed by Francis l.V. Hoppin and Terence A. Koen and built by E. D. Colony and Son. It was started on July 12, 1897 and cost $23,449.00 to build. The front of the building is Indiana limestone and buff brick with terra cotta trimmings. The first floor and sidewalk vault is composed of steel I beams and brick arches with the apparatus flooring of cork brick. All ceilings are of stamped steel. The second and third floors and roof have wooden beams with flooring of wood and walls of brick (NYFD History.com).
The historic Engine Company 65 was the inspiration for my novel “Firehouse 101”.
Engine 65 holds a special meaning to me as a trip inside back in March 2002 inspired my novel, “Firehouse 101”, the story of hotelier Alex Livingston, who returns to New York City a year and a half after the 9/11 attacks and befriends a FDNY fire fighter who survived the attacks.
On that afternoon when visiting Midtown, my best friend who had worked in the Towers and survived the attacks by being at a doctor’s appointment in Midtown at the time, had had lunch with me in a Times Square restaurant. We had been walking past the firehouse when the door was open to see a 9/11 display while the guys were out on a run. I could see the look on her face as she looked at the memorial for the men who had been lost that day and she started to tear up. As the guys were returning from their run and the door was about to close, we quickly walked out of the firehouse with one of the guys saying from behind that we did not have to leave.
As the door slammed shut, we walked down the road to Fifth Avenue and she turned to me and said, “These guys don’t really understand what they did that day. They saved us.” That inspired me to write the novel. It was dedicated to all those people affected by 9/11 who could never really share their feelings and to those displaced New Yorkers not living in the City (like myself living in California at the time) who were affected and did not know how to react.
The historic plaque for Engine 65 and the dedicated service to Midtown.
One little hole in the wall restaurant that I must have passed many times but never noticed was City Cafe at 35 West 43rd Street right next to the firehouse. I stopped in one day and the place was so packed during lunch hour that I could not find a seat so I had to leave.
This restaurant may appear small but they have ample seating and a very extensive menu. When you get there at the height of the lunch rush, the pizzas are really fresh looking and they have a nice selection. Their lunch specials and sandwich selection are also quite large.
The City Cafe has reasonable meals and a nice selection.
The City Cafe is one of the very few reasonable restaurants left in the district. This is the one place in this part of Midtown where you will see educators, business people, truck and taxi drivers and construction workers all dining together at the communal tables in the back of the restaurant. It is a real cross section of the population at lunch time and makes for interesting conversations that you overhear.
Down the block at 7 West 43rd Street is one of the most beautiful buildings on the block that is always being blocked by scaffolding. It is the Century Club Association. Its funny though of all the clubs in the area I never see anyone going in or out of it.
The Century Association Club at 7 West 43rd Street.
The Century Association was formed in 1847 at a meeting of the Sketch Club, a group of artists and writers, and took its name from the number of men who were invited to join it. Like many youths, the Century made its home in a variety of odd places around the city until it finally settled down, on January 10, 1891, in its present Renaissance-style building, designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White (all three architects were members). Despite some recent renovations and additions, the building and its contents to all appearances have changed relatively little since 1891; much of the present furniture was originally bought for the building, some of it designed specifically for the building by the architectural firm (Century Club website).
The entrance to the back part of NYU midtown.
The front of 20 West 43rd Street and the back of 11 West 42nd Street with its interesting carvings.
The symbols of the months are carved in the archway of the doorway of 20 West 43rd Street. The building known as the ‘Salmon Tower Building’ is a 31-story skyscraper located at 11 West 42nd Street and 20 West 43rd Street. It was designed by Albert J. Wilcox and finished in 1928. Ti has seen many famous tenants its many years but now the home of NYU Midtown.
Walking down the street, I passed the famous Royalton Hotel which is one of the many boutique hotels that have developed in this area over the years. The owners either took over old hotels that had fallen on bad times in the 1970’s and early 80’s or took old buildings in the area and converted their use. The Royalton Hotel had once been owned by the former operators of Studio 54.
The Royalton Hotel
The Royalton Hotel at 44 West 44th Street stretches from West 44th to West 43rd Street. This is the entrance at West 43rd Street.
The Royalton Hotel has an interesting history as well. The hotel, opened in 1898, was designed by architecture firm Rossiter & Wright and developed by civil engineer Edward G. Bailey. The 13-story building is made of brick, stone, terracotta, and iron. The hotel’s lobby, which connects 43rd and 44th Streets, contains a bar and restaurant. The upper stories originally featured 90 apartments, but these were replaced with 205 guestrooms when Philippe Starck and Gruzen Samton Steinglass Architects converted the Royalton to a boutique hotel in the 1980s (Wiki/Hotel website).
I finished on Broadway.
It took about a week to walk all the streets of the Theater/Times Square district, about a dozen revisits and having to go multiple sites to find all the research on the buildings, statuary and restaurants but there is so much to see and do in this ever changing district.
The area at night
On my last night of the walk at the end of the month, my best friend, Maricel and I stayed at the Renaissance Inn New York Manhattan/Central Park at 1717 Broadway for the evening. She gave me the smaller room with the most amazing room on the 64th floor. I was dazzled with the view both when I arrived during the day and at night. This is they way people should live everyday and is what tourists think when they hear the words “New York”.
The Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Central Park at 1717 Broadway
Normally when I stay at a hotel, I do not staying this high up (too many bad memories as a child watching the movie “The Towering Inferno”) but when Maricel showed me the view from the room, all I wanted to do is sink in the bed and relax. This is exactly what I did when she left. I had rewalked the last three blocks for a second time so that I did not miss anything. West 44th and West 43rd Streets had so much history to them I had to take special notes.
When she left to go to her room, I stared out the window of the room and could not believe the view. This view was two whole walls of the room and had million dollar views of Midtown.
The view of Uptown
The view from the room during the day.
The view at night of the view looking downtown.
The sunrise the next morning.
I can’t tell you how well I slept that night. Not only was the hotel very quiet but the bed was so comfortable that I was asleep for eight hours. The room was so amazing I did not want to leave it. Between the views and the comfortable bed it was one of the best night’s sleep in a long time.
I met Maricel for breakfast in the morning and that matched the experience of room. The breakfast was an extensive buffet with an assortment of breakfast items.
The Breakfast Buffet Room on the forth floor of the hotel.
The Buffet
The Buffet line
The breakfast was excellent and the food was so fresh.
It was an excellent overnight stay and not only did I have a wonderful night’s sleep but a wonderful breakfast. We had a nice talk over breakfast and I described my walk in the neighborhood. The hotel was in the center of the neighborhood I was exploring and I was able to resume my walking tour of the area once I checked out.
I checked my luggage and continued the walk around the Theater District. I finished my walk later that evening and ended the walk at the end of West 43rd Street. It is a large neighborhood with lots of interesting architecture, beautiful art installations and excellent restaurants both inexpensive and some more luxurious. You can get any type of cuisine here.
At the end of the night, the views at night were quite spectacular.
West 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue at the end of the walk. Late nights is when the beauty of Manhattan shines.
The Theater District/Times Square area has so much to see and do.
Places to Eat (the places in this blog I have personally eaten at):
I did not know how I pulled it off but I did. Teaching three classes while taking three classes and serving on four Executive Boards plus all my volunteer work. I never sat still from Thanksgiving to New Year’s and I am still at it.
Christmas never starts in December for me. It starts just after Halloween ends. One holiday just seems to blend into another as the holiday season has moved from Thanksgiving weekend to Halloween weekend to start the holiday season. I swear, we sit at the Halloween Parade talking about Sinterklaas four weeks later and then there is it is. Literally four weeks later.
My Christmas started on Thanksgiving Weekend. I joined my family for the Thanksgiving Buffet Dinner at the Lambertville Inn again this year. I almost did not go as I had a major paper in my Digital Marketing class at NYU plus another paper due in my Hotel Sales & Marketing class. That on top of the fact that I was so busy working at Bergen Community College that I would have never had a good time knowing there was so much work to do. A couple of very late nights later, there I was at the brunch again with my family.
The Thanksgiving Brunch at the Lambertville Inn dining room.
The marvelous selection at the Lambertville Inn for Thanksgiving.
Enjoying the Pasta Bar at the Lambertville Inn.
There was such a great selection of entrees, soups, salads, sides and desserts it took some time to just take a taste of everything. On top of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, you could have roasted chicken, ham and Prime Rib plus a complete Pasta and Salad Bars.
Enjoying my Thanksgiving Dinner with my family.
For dessert, they had an Ice Cream Bar and fresh miniature pastries to choose from.
The Dessert and Ice Cream bar at the buffet.
It was really nice and we had a wonderful time. The food and the service are excellent and no one has to clean up. That is the best part with everyone running around working so much. I felt like I did not have time to breath let alone to take time out for myself. I actually felt guilty if I was not working on a paper for school or grading something. I am glad that my family convinced me to come out and enjoy myself.
The weekend didn’t end with Thanksgiving Dinner. The next day was Christmas Tree drop off for the Men’s Association as the Annual Christmas tree sale started on Friday morning. We got a text at 7:30am that the driver had just pulled up and needed everyone to show up early. Most of the guys did not show until around 8:45am-9:00am when we were originally were supposed to arrive. Still, we got the truck emptied in 45 minutes and sold our tree of the day at 9:30am. That is a new record for us. We also sold our first tree at 9:30am which was a record for us. We sold three trees by 12:00pm which we never do (We sold out in three weeks and two days).
Christmas tree drop off for the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association took about 45 minutes this year due to all the high school volunteers that we had that morning.
I had stayed that morning and afternoon until 3:00pm when I had to go home to work on both my Digital Marketing and my Customer Service papers for class at NYU. Before I left, we sold 37 trees and three stands. Not bad for the first day of sales and was the sale would be for the next two weeks. I have never seen trees fly off a lot so fast. We were not just getting customers from Hasbrouck Heights, we were getting them from the surrounding towns of Lodi, Hackensack and Wood Ridge but they were coming as far away as Wyckoff, Franklin Lakes and even from Hoboken and Brooklyn. Talk about word of mouth.
That evening I attended the annual Holiday Parade in Downtown Hasbrouck Heights and it was well attended but I still thought it would have had more people. The bands were a bit off key but it is still a fun parade. It got really cold later that evening. The temperature must have dropped twenty degrees from the time that the trees were dropped off to the start of the parade. Still it was a nice way to start the holidays.
The Hasbrouck High School Marching Band opened the parade downtown.
The floats in the parade.
The Santa Float was at the end of the parade.
The Tree Lighting ceremony ends the parade every year. It was really cold that night.
The week in between Thanksgiving and the first week of December was tough for me as I had three papers to work on and it was the week before my students at Bergen Community College presented their final projects to me. It was stressful as we had the last of our Board Meetings to discuss the final touches to the projects.
Then came Sinterklaas weekend and the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association Christmas weekend where I had already committed months earlier to help volunteer for both events. Talk about being stretched thin that weekend. The year before I was bringing my computer up for my Business Analysis class on my Rockaways History in Tourism project and this year it was Digital Marketing project on New York City Tourism+Conventions and Customer Relationship Management on Luna Park (which I had to write the paper all by myself and contribute to the PowerPoint). Trust me, it was a weekend of long days and nights.
That weekend started at the Kingston, NY Snowflake Festival, followed by the Sinterklaas festival and parade the next day and then the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Christmas Party after that. I never stopped running around.
It was a rather gloomy Friday and before I headed up to the Hudson River Valley for the Snowflake Festival and Sinterklaas (and everything else), I stopped by the Ringwood Manor to tour the house and see all the Christmas decorations and visit my friend, Leah, who I had worked with when I was still working for the County. She was helping at the Ringwood Manor as a volunteer.
The house was so beautifully decorated for the holidays, and I was impressed by what the volunteers from the Woman’s Club had created in decorating the house for Christmas.
The Ringwood Manor at 1304 Sloatsburg Road in Ringwood, NJ decorated on the outside.
The formal Dining Room decorated for the holidays at Ringwood Manor.
The Ryerson section of the Manor decorated for the holidays.
I was able to spend the early part of the morning touring the house before I left for my trip. The house was magnificent and so tastefully decorated for holidays. Every room including the Carriage House and the Barn were decorated with some type of theme (see my review TripAdvisor). I was able to take about an hour and a half out of my schedule to really enjoy the self-guided tour.
After the tour, I headed up to the Hudson River Valley. Though the weather was on the warm side, it was drizzling when I got there at 6:00pm. I had been touring the Ringwood Manor earlier in the day and it was cloudy and miserable when I left.
I stopped at Auntie El’s Farm for a quick lunch and it was wonderful. I just had snack of an Jamican Beef Pattie and a Black and White cookie and that was all I needed to keep me going for the afternoon.
Auntie El’s at 171 Route 17 South at Christmas time is a pretty spectacular place.
I finally got to Rhinebeck and checked into my hotel, The Hampton Inn Poughkeepsie and then made my way across the river to the Snowflake Festival. It was just getting in full swing when it started a light rain. I walked around for a bit watching the fire eaters and admiring the decorations before I decided to head back to Dutch Reformed Church to relax inside and hear the entertainment. That’s when it started to rain.
The “Snowflake Festival” on Friday, December 1st in Kingston, NY.
My blog on the Snowflake Festival and Sinterklaas:
In 2023, the weather had been gloomy all day and misty so it was not the best conditions for an outdoor festival. It was to my surprise that when I got there at 6:00pm it was really busy. They may have been a light drizzle but that did not keep people away.
The crowds on that misty Friday night in downtown Kingston, NY were very large.
I walked all of Front Street in Downtown Kingston Stockade section admiring all the Christmas windows of the merchants and the snowflake decorations all around the downtown.
Downtown Kingston in the rain the night of the 2023 Snowflake Festival
The snowflakes that adorned the downtown.
As I walked through town, I passed crowds of people walking through the drizzle and watching a fire eater perform. So many people did not have umbrellas and the drizzle started to get worse. I figured I wanted to go someplace warm and headed over to the Dutch Reformed Church. I did not have the agenda yet but I wanted to go someplace that was inside.
When I got to the church it was once again beautifully decorated with garland and lights and the stage was rocking with violinists who were performing in sync. The concert was awash with lights and holograms dancing overhead.
The Strawberry Fiddlers performed that evening in the Dutch Reformed Church
The Strawberry Hill Fiddlers performing that night.
I stayed for four songs and it was really nice to just relax and enjoy the music. I really enjoyed the concert and I found it really engaging and entertaining. After this, I wanted to see more of the festival and hoped that the rain had stopped. No such luck as the rain continued and got worse as I left the church. I was able to sneak some Dutch cookies and cider before I left and the sugar gave me more energy.
The irony of it all was as I left the church and the rain continued, over the loud speaker near the picture taking booth, Gene Kelly singing “Singing in the Rain” from the iconic film “Singing in the Rain” came on and it synced perfectly with the rain and I had to take a video of it as it matched perfectly with the rain coming down but people still having a good time.
The video of the rainstorm during the festival when “Singing in the Rain” was played on the loudspeaker. Just as the song started it started to really pour and the song syncs to the downpour. Talk about irony:
I walked around the church and was back at the Kingston Volunteer Firefighting Museum and I stopped in as the rain started to stop. I wanted to dry off again. I had toured the museum the last two years and I just took a short tour of the museum. Christmas lights adorned the museum and the antique fire truck outside the museum that the kids were able to climb.
The nicely decorated firetruck outside the museum that evening at the Kingston Volunteer Firefighters Museum.
As I passed the museum, I could not believed that people were taking horse drawn rides in the rain but they did and they looked like they were having a good time. I walked down Fair Street where the Senate House was nicely decorated for the holidays to see Santa. That line was the longest as the mist continued. I bypassed even seeing him but I could see him entertaining the families waiting in line to see him.
Even in the rain the lines to see Santa were long and people waited patiently to see him.
I walked around the downtown watching the musicians and entertainers as the rain started to subside later that evening and they had a group of Victorian carolers performing by the bank on Wall Street right by the most beautiful wreath I have seen this holiday season on the historical building. The effect was quite nice.
The Victorian Carolers performing by the old bank building.
The wreath on the bank building was quite spectacular against the stonework.
It was getting colder that evening as I was walking around and the rain stopped and I knew from last year where to get some hot chocolate. So I went over to the Ulster Savings Bank Lobby and had a cup with some cookies that the bank every generously sponsors each year for the event.
While I was there I was listening to Mrs. Claus tell stories to the kids and this woman really looked like Mrs. Claus. While she was telling stories, the Coach Street Players choir was singing Christmas carols. It was a nice way to spend the end of the evening. I was getting hungry after a long trip and even longer day of classes and I wanted to relax.
Mrs. Claus was just finishing to a crowd of children for storytime.
The Coach House Players at the Ulster Savings Bank lobby performing.
By 7:30pm, things were starting the wrap up and the weather was clearing. Most of the bars and restaurants were packed that night or closing for the evening. Wing Shi, the Chinese restaurant I love in Kingston, still does not have any seating inside and there was no place to sit outside so I went to Opa Gyros Greek Restaurant at 333 Wall Street in downtown Kingston. I have wanted to eat here last year watching them serve gyro meat last year on platters but by the time I walked in at the end of the festival last year, they closed at 8:00pm. I went in at 7:30pm for dinner this time and had a wonderful meal.
The sandwich was delicious and I really enjoyed the food and service.
After dinner was over, it was about 8:15pm and the festival wrapped up really quickly. By the time I turned the corner, most of the businesses had closed and the people were gone. All the activities were over and even Santa had left by that point. There were some people milling around but by 8:30pm, the town was quiet. I was able to walk around the downtown one more time and then I left for my hotel as I had to be in Rhinebeck early the next morning to help with the Sinterklaas parade. I slept very soundly at the Hampton Inn in Poughkeepsie.
Christmas windows in Kingston, NY in 2023.
Christmas windows in Downtown Kingston in 2023.
When I got to the Starr Library the next day, I was ready to go. There was a threat of rain too but by noon time the sun started to peek out from the clouds and it cleared for the rest of the day. The weather became a balmy 53 degrees which is unusual for this time of the year and we had a nice day for the event. I got to the Starr Library at 10:00am on the dot to start set up for the parade and it was a nice morning. We had plenty of people and we got the job done in about an hour. Set up was easy when you have the same people to help every year.
We started to unload the puppets at 10:00am.
Unloading the puppets took about 45 minutes.
The Owls are like old friends to me
The Four Seasons standing guard
The Sweepers were new puppets this year.
Setting up the serpent was my first job that morning.
I have been setting up the stars since my first year in 2014 helping out with the parade.
We were done setting up for the parade by 11:30pm and we had to meet back at the library by 3:00pm for the parade staging and get the volunteers to their puppets. That’s when the fun begins with that. I walked downtown to go to the Opening Ceremony which had started at noon and was able to watch the last 45 minutes of the Opening Ceremony at the Beekman Arms Ballroom. That is always interesting.
The Opening Ceremony in 2023 with the Anteater and his court.
The Opening Ceremony at the Beekman Arms with Coordinator Jeanne Fleming.
The Opening Ceremony at the Beekman Arms
The Anteater on the prowl at the Opening Ceremony.
After the Opening Ceremony was over, I stayed to hear story teller, Jonathan Kurk, tell the story of Sinterklaas and the story of the miracle of Christmas.
Storyteller Jonathan Kurk entertains at the Opening Ceremony
After the Opening Ceremony completed, I decided to explore the town. I walked around downtown Rhinebeck which is always amazing at Christmas time. It is a wonderland of lights and sounds and delicious smells as all the charities and local organizations try to sell baked goods and hot dogs all over Main Street to raise money of their organizations.
The musicians on stilts are always a favorite at Sinterklaas.
The musicians are out in full force playing on stilts and walking around the town engaging the crowds of people. Since it was a nice day this year, the downtown was getting packed earlier than it had in previous years. After listening the musicians on stilts, I figured I should go visit the Ant Queen before it got too busy. I visited her just in time as after I left the line, it got even longer behind me.
The Ant Queen on her hill in the Courtyard.
The Courtyard got really busy when I was finished visiting the Ant Queen.
The Ant Queen in the Courtyard with the crowds growing that afternoon.
After I left the Courtyard, I walked around for a bit and then realized that I had to get checked into my other hotel that night so I walked back to the library, got my car and left to go to Quality Inn in Hyde Park where I was staying that evening. After I checked in, got my room and settled in I headed back up to Rhinebeck. The crowds grew even larger in the hour that I left and all the parking spots by the library were now gone as well as most spots in the downtown. I had to park six blocks into town near the exit to the fairgrounds. That would be fun when the parade was over walking back to that.
As I entered the downtown, the Grumpuses started their dance.
The Grumpuses dancing down the Main Street.
The Grumpus dance
The Grumpus Dance
The Grumpus Dance
After I saw the Grumpus dance in the downtown, I was able to walk around for a bit before getting back to the library. I saw some of the roaming musicians, the Dancing Bear and the Pocket Lady roaming around the Downtown. Between checking into my hotel, looking for parking and just walking back to the Main Street, I did not have much time to enjoy the entertainment this time around.
After I got back from the hotel and parked some nine blocks away. I walked through the town again looking at the all the performers and bands going in and out of the now closed Main Street. The crowds had really grown once the clouds cleared and it was sunny again. As the last of the sunshine disappeared by 5:00pm, the lights came on and that is when Rhinebeck truly shines. This started with the town Christmas tree which lit brightly by the main parking lot.
The Christmas tree was brightly lit when I left the downtown area for the library.
I made my way back to the Starr Library and that is where the real magic starts. Getting ready for the parade. Every year, I come back to the library at 3:30pm and help get everyone to their puppet. The parade line up starts at 6:30pm and then the parade heads down the hill. It is the most magnificent site.
The Geese and Bee puppets as we enter Downtown Rhinebeck, NY.
The parade in full swing in Downtown Rhinebeck, NY.
The crowds were huge the night of the parade.
The whole town comes out for the Sinterklaas Parade.
As we entered the parking lot to end the parade, the crowds arrived to the main stage where the Closing Ceremony takes place. I could not believe that another parade had ended. I will blink my eye and it will be here again. It is so funny how fast it all goes.
The backdrop of the stage after the Closing Ceremony was over.
All the puppets walked by the main stage and we dropped them off with Alex and Sophia. I then watched the rest of the ceremony and then the closing remarks. Another parade was over. The fire throwers came on and did their routine and that ended the parade. I said my goodbyes until next year and then proceeded to Village Pizza for a slice before I went back to the hotel.
The owner I could tell was exhausted. He waited at the door of his restaurant and asked people what they wanted to order. I thought that was rude but figured he was protecting his bathrooms. The restaurant was still busy almost 45 minutes after the parade was over and remained busy throughout the time I enjoyed my pizza. They limited the slice menu to just plain and pepperoni so it made it an easy choice. I was exhausted by the time I got back to my hotel, took a quick shower and had the best night’s sleep in weeks. I was tired!
After breakfast the next day, it was off to Boonton, NJ to the New Jersey Firemen’s Home to volunteer for the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Christmas Party. It was the first time in three years we had had the full party with entertainment and dropping off presents. The members had time before the party to socialize with each other and I even got better acquainted with the Firemen’s Home resident dog, Wells.
We no longer had to wear masks up at the home and that made for a more engaging environment. It had been a long evening the night before with the end of Sinterklaas and that very busy parade. I slept so soundly at the hotel that I felt refreshed and ready to go. I can highly recommend the Quality Inn in Hyde Park, NY. It might look a little dated but the beds give you the most relaxing slumber and will totally relax you.
After having my waffle breakfast, which is my tradition every year, it was off to the NJ Firemen’s Home again. It was a really gloomy day and I had to spend my morning wondering why the WIFI was not working. Thank God, I had finished most of my writing before I left the Hampton Inn the day before.
The waffle breakfast at the Quality Inn in Hyde Park, NY is something I look forward to each time I stay at the hotel.
When I got to the home, it really got dark outside and rainy. Talk about no fun being outside. Inside though, the NJ Firemen’s Home was decked out beautifully for the holidays. Talk about festive and jolly, with several Christmas trees all over the home and garland everywhere.
One of the many Christmas trees at the NJ State Firemen’s Home.
My blog on the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Party:
We enjoyed Sweet Rolls and Crumb cake for a late Continental Breakfast before the entertainment and had a nice time just catching up with one another before the craziness of the holidays started. Everyone was running around at parties and get togethers.
Signs of the season were everywhere as the home was decorated to the hilt for the holiday season. This was our last event of the season as the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association held its Annual December Meeting and Entertainment afternoon at the NJ State Firemen’s Home in Boonton, NJ.
Even the fire hydrant display was decorated.
The sign welcoming people to the party.
We had our annual Christmas Party at the NJ State Firemen’s Home and it was nice to be back. Masks were a thing of the past and we were able to see everyone again. It made for a more engaging afternoon.
The home’s Christmas tree with our gifts to the residents, a embordered jacket.
We started our day with a get together of the members before the entertainment began. It was nice to just sit back and talk to the other members before the entertainment began. Our President brought us the most delicious crumb cake and glazed raison buns and these devoured very quickly by the members.
We even got a chance to bond again with the resident dog of the NJ State Firemen’s Home, Wells, who was a former seeing eye dog that has now found a home here keeping our retired firefighters comforted and engaged. He walks around having everyone spoil him with petting and treats. Even he has to watch his weight at the holidays. All I know is that he loves being loved by everyone and likes to spread that love.
NJ Firemen’s Home resident, Wells with BCFHA Vice-President Justin Watrel.
Our entertainment for the afternoon was Dana and Daddy O, a singing duo who sang Christmas songs and told jokes. They were were good.
Dana and Daddy O performed that day for the residents and us.
Member Jerry Naylis asked his daughter and grandchildren perform again this year (Jerry was away on a conference). Daughter Stephanie Naylis-Quirk and her daughters, Regan and Riley Quirk , played the piano and sang to the residents of the home. The children sang lively Christmas songs and led the room in a sing a long with favorites “Jingle Bells” and Regan’s solo, “Silent Night” and Riley’s solo, “I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus”.
Stephanie Nayles-Quirk with daughter Riley and Regan, who sang so nicely that afternoon.
After the ladies took their bows, it was time to hand out the Christmas presents from the Bergen County Firemen’s Home to the residents. This year the gift to the residents of the home was a beautiful ‘firemen’ blue jacket that had each resident’s name on it. It was a very personal and touching gift to our fellow retired firemen who we wanted to remember at the holidays. They were very touched by this.
BCFHA Vice-President Justin Watrel with NJ State Firemen’s Association President and BCFHA member Bob Ordway handing out gifts at the Christmas Party.
While members were handing out gifts, other members were serving desserts and other refreshments to the residents. Everyone had a delicious treat that afternoon after they had their lunch. The home provided delectable cupcakes both regular and sugar free to satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth.
BCFHA members Peter Devries and Glenn Corbet serving desserts to the residents.
After the day of entertainment was over, the members got together and took our annual member group shot. It was a fun afternoon for everyone involved. We have managed to provide the residents with all sorts of entertainment, barbecues and special events while never losing the spirit of helping our fellow fire fighters.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our firefighters, retired and still active from the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association.
It was a fun weekend but when I got home it was all homework and projects. It was a long evening but I got everything done. It would be a long week of presentations both at NYU and at BCC.
The week started out with my presentation of my project for the New York City Tourism+Conventions for my Digital Marketing class, which went by very well (I got an “A” on this) and then my presentation for my Customer Retention Class on Luna Park (I got another “A”). With those two big presentations for Graduate school done, I then had to concentrate on my students at Bergen Community College’s three final presentations on Wednesday and Thursday. It would be a stressful five days.
Still it was beginning to look like Christmas in the Village. After classes were over, there was time to walk around and admire all the decorations that people had put up and admire the Christmas tree in Washington Square Park.
The Christmas tree at Washington Square Park is always picturesque.
The diner on Greenwich Avenue decorated for the holidays.
Christmas decorations on the side streets in the Village.
Single tree in the window of a Greenwich Avenue window in the Village.
Before I got to my students presentations, I had been looking online at the Carnegie Hall website at the upcoming concert with New York Pops that I was still considering when I saw that singer Amy Grant was going to bring her Christmas concert to Carnegie Hall. There was NO WAY I was going to miss this. I had been dying to see her in concert for years at the holidays and I never saw her come to New York City before. So I arranged the tickets and after my presentation it was off to Carnegie Hall for dinner first and then the concert.
The Front of Carnegie Hall the night of the Amy Grant concert.
The inside of Carnegie Hall the night of the concert.
The concert hall was packed that night.
Amy Grant on stage at Carnegie Hall after singing “Love will find a Way”, her huge hit from the 1980’s.
Amy Grant singing this in concert forty years earlier in 1983 and sounded exactly the sound!
She sang this in the Christmas concert in DC a couple of days before she came to Carnegie Hall.
I am not going to even get into too many details of how excellent this concert was and how she engaged the audience that night with a mix of classic and religious Christmas songs from her playlist and add many more religious and inspirational songs in the second half of the concert. Her and her guest artists that night gave a superb concert that really put me in the holiday spirit after an extremely long semester and cheered me back up. The only problem was that she never sang “Sleigh Ride” which she sings beautifully and my favorite Christmas song she performs. For another concert but it gives me an excuse to see her again.
Amy Grant singing my favorite version of the Christmas song “Sleigh Ride”.
I swear myself and everyone who attended the concert that night were still humming as we left Carnegie Hall. After such a wonderful concert, I had to have some dinner and I was dying for some pasta. Patsy’s which is around the corner I was trying to go in but they were fully booked for everything for the rest of the night so I went to Amore Pizza Cafe at 370 West 58th Street for dinner after the concert. This restaurant never disappoints me.
I ordered the Clams and Spaghetti that I remembered ordering last year this time so I had to have it again. It was just as good as I remembered and worth the trip to the restaurant. Everything here is delicious.
My Clams and Spaghetti dinner
The Clams and Spaghetti here is excellent.
After the concert and dinner were over, I felt much better about myself. It had been really rough up until this point and I still had to face the rest of the week. I swear I hummed “Find a Way” for the rest of the evening. That had been the highlight of my night.
I walked around the Central Park South and admired all the decorations on the buildings. Then I went to see the tree at Rockefeller Center and the crowds had lessened this late in the evening. It was so much nicer to admire the tree.
The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center was spectacular this year.
Skating at Rockefeller Center is always popular.
I then walked around Midtown to look at all the decorations that Manhattan is known for. This is Corporate Christmas at its best. The streets of Fifth and Sixth Avenue compete every year to see who does it best. There are wreaths, trees and decorations that celebrate the holidays in an elaborate way. It really represents Manhattan and its traditions during the holidays.
Corporate Christmas on Sixth Avenue during the holidays.
The decorations on West 57th Street during the holidays.
The Snowflake on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street.
West 55th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue.
West 55th Street by Eighth Avenue is always decorated with lights.
I was nice to just walk the streets of Manhattan in the late evening and have time for myself to reflect, all while I was humming “Find a Way” the whole time. I had forgotten how beautiful New York was during the holidays and could not believe has fast things happened after Halloween. It was like Christmas was on overdrive and then it was there.
I really needed that night because it would be full steam ahead for the rest of the week as my students presented their projects and PowerPoints to me back to back on Wednesday and Thursday. Plus I had the extra pressure of having guests from Glen Rock Town Council and the Museum at the Station coming to the Glen Rock project and members of the Executive Board of the Bergen County Historical Society coming Thursday night to that presentation. With the exception of a few hiccups, all went by well with all three presentations.
Wednesday was the most grueling with “I’m Glad I’m in Glen Rock: Be a Tourist in your own Town” and “Go Bulldogs Go-Open House 2024” back to back that day. It was going to be a lot of note taking and making sure that the students were ready for the presentations with grooming and dress code standards to attend to that day. Some of these kids had never dressed like this before.
The “I’m Glad I’m in Glen Rock” Team did a really good job on their presentation but there were some problems in the Marketing Team that needed to be addressed. They had put way too much explanation on what Marketing is and less of a presentation on the subject matter.
The Paramus ‘Glen Rock’ Team
My Executive Team from Paramus for the “I’m Glad I’m in Glen Rock, NJ-Be a Tourist in your own Town” project.
This got revamped when we got an invitation from Glen Rock City Hall to present the project to the Mayor of Glen Rock and the Council on December 19th, the week before Christmas in City Hall. That put pressure on that class to get it done on time. We would end up revamping the entire Marketing part of the project.
My blog on “I’m Glad I’m in Glen Rock, NJ-Be a Tourist in your own Town”:
My class who worked on the “Go Bulldogs Go”, the Spring 2024 Open House did a great job presenting their project that night as well. I was just upset that no one from the college bothered to show up. The ideas the kids came up with were excellent and would have been good had they been done in real life.
The Open House Team the night of their presentation.
My Executive Team in Paramus for the “Go Bulldogs Go Open House 2024”:
I did not have much time to relax as I had my third presentation the next night for the Team marketing the Bergen County Historical Society. That had been an experience as I heard so late back from the Society to help us that the students had only four weeks to pull it all together. Again, this is where the students always impress me.
The BC Historical Society Team.
My Executive Team in Lyndhurst for “Tourism for the Bergen County Historical Society”
My Blog on “Tourism at the Bergen County Historical Society”:
This team I had also taken out into the field, and we went to the Bergen County Historical Society the night of one of their Board Meetings and we were able to tour all three historical houses and the displays in the Steuben House. They were able to see the grounds and see the outside property. Many would revisit that weekend to take pictures and film the Washington’s Crossing event that weekend. After I took them out into the field, I took them out for a pizza dinner. They deserved it!
I was able to handle all three of these projects, my five Graduate papers and three classes, the Sinterklaas Parade, Christmas tree drop off and sales, the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Party and keeping up with all my Christmas blogs and updating all the historical houses that I was visiting for my blog. I have to say that I was in the car, on the bus and walking a lot but somehow, I pulled the first week of December off without losing my mind. There were still three more weeks to Christmas and a whole lot more to do.
After the last Team project was done for the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. concept, I had to hand in my Term paper on the “The Chalfonte Hotel” in Cape May for my Hotel Sales and Marketing class the next morning. Thank God, I had finished it a week in advance and had handed in it in early. It made that Friday morning class easy, and my Professor at NYU seemed relieved that he did not have to chase after us.
The evening I went to the Open House Christmas tour of the Merchant House in Manhattan. I had been on the haunted tour a few weeks earlier and wanted to see the Christmas decorations. I was lucky that I was able to get on one of the last tours of the evening.
The Merchant House at 29 East 4th Street for Christmas.
The Merchant House dining room decorated for a Christmas party.
The Parlor decorated for Christmas.
The tour was the perfect way to decompress after a long week and that was the hardest week of the holidays behind me. There were other papers to write and things to do so it was nice to just walk around the home and enjoy the decorations.
The second weekend was just as busy as the first one. We lucked out and it was a very mild Saturday afternoon. I made another trip to the Hudson River Valley to visit more decorated houses for my blog, VisitingaMusuem.com.
Many of these homes are rarely open during the year, let alone for the holidays and you have to plan at the right time to visit them. My first home was the Madame Brett Homestead in Beacon, NY, which is only open the second Saturday of the month and then after that I visited Boscobel, which is in Cold Springs, NY. In between those two, I was able to visit the Putnum County Historical Society, which was still open before my trip to Boscobel. It was a lot of running around up and down Route 9.
Beacon, NY is such a great town to visit. The stores and restaurants are really nice, and the town was so nicely decorated for the holidays. I was able to walk around the downtown before my tour at 1:00pm and it gave me some time to revisit some of the stores I had not seen in a while.
The downtown was nicely decorated for the holidays. While it does not have the same charm as Rhinebeck or Red Hook being a bigger downtown, there is a more artsy, hipster look to it with the street artwork and store displays.
Downtown Beacon during Christmas.
I walked around the town admiring the gift shops and the clothing stores and looking at what they were carrying for the holidays.
This was the difference in Beacon versus towns like Red Hook and Millerton. The stores there cater to the locals and there is a charm to the everyday merchandise that people need as opposed to rows of gift shops that cater to visitors. It begins to look like a version of a mall and less like a community. Still there are many stores here that have a personality and some very playful displays. Finding an evil snowman in one store was a play on the holidays.
One of the merchants was very clever with their holiday display.
The Madame Brett Homestead at 50 Van Nydeck Avenue in Beacon was not as decorated as I thought it would. The tour guide that I had in the summer said how the Garden Club decorated it so beautifully.
The Madame Brett Homestead at Christmas time.
The Madame Brett Homestead at 50 Van Nydeck Avenue in Beacon was not as decorated as I thought it would. The tour guide that I had in the summer said how the Garden Club decorated it so beautifully.
The beautiful Dining Room at the Made Brett Homestead during the holidays.
After the wonderful and informative tour of the homestead and a full walk around the downtown area, which was really beautiful during the holidays I had to find a place for lunch.
Santa’s reindeer?
I stopped in BJ’s Soul Food for lunch to regroup for the afternoon of walking and touring. Talk about the most delicious Cheeseburger that you will sink your teeth into. God, that hit the spot. Their menu was extensive and I will have to remember this the next time I visit.
It was then I realized that I had not been to Boscobel, the historic mansion in Cold Springs Village down Route 9 since before the pandemic and wondered if it was decorated and open for touring like the other homes. It had not been on the Hudson River Valley listing of decorated mansions because not every home was open in the winter.
As I was reading the local newspaper, there was a private touring night that evening and I called and got the last reservation at 6:00pm. Talk about luck! After I finished eating, I left Beacon and headed down to Cold Springs. I never realized how close they were together because I got down Route 9 in record time and it was only 4:30pm.
I had passed the always closed Putnam Country Historical Society and this time around they were open so I visited there first before returning to Boscobel. Talk about a very underrated little museum. The Society museum was packed with information on the history of the town and the country plus a display on the Native American history of the area. They also had an interesting display of the former foundry’s for iron producing that I never knew were in this area.
The Putnam History Museum at 62 Chesnut Street in Cold Springs, NY.
This is a great little museum displaying some of the most interesting Native American art that I have seen in a long time. It was very detailed in the displays and had a lot of Lenape artifacts that were displayed. For such a small museum, they mounted two interesting shows.
The sign of the museum.
The museum was having a major exhibition from their collection of Lenape art from the local area including a canoe that had just been authenticated as a reproduction but still historically accurate. The exhibition was very detailed on the life of the local tribes in the Cold Springs area.
The back section of the displayed the foundries that used to dominate the towns surround Downtown Cold Springs. A surprising change from the sleepy historical town it is now.
The recreation of the canoe that was thought to be real but still authentic in its style and make.
The Foundry display and articles made in the area.
I was only at the museum the last 45 minutes it was open but was able to enjoy all the exhibits. After this weekend, they were closing until the Spring so I was happy I was finally able to get inside.
I then left for Boscobel, the home of the Dyckman family that had been moved to this spot in the 1960’s. The interesting part about Boscobel is that it was brought to its current location piece by piece and rebuilt here. I had not been here since 2018 and was lucky that they could fit me in for the tour. It was an amazing evening and the mansion was so beautifully decorated for the holidays.
Boscobel when I arrived for the Christmas tour of the mansion. It was not quite twilight at that point.
Boscobel all lit up after the night fell. It was a fairyland of lights.
The Grand Staircase at Boscobel
The decorations of the Grand Staircase at Christmas time.
The Dining Room set for a Christmas feast.
The Back Drawing Room with the ‘Christmas Table Tree’
The Gardens that night.
The fountains that night.
The Gift Shop and the Meeting Room where the reception after the tour was held.
When I finished the tour of the mansion I joined all the other people who were on the tour with me for refreshments in the gift shop. It was really nice.
They had hot cider and chocolate along with cookies, candies and fruit for us. I thought this was a nice touch after the tour. They also had contemporary Christmas music playing while we all talked amongst ourselves.
After the tour was over, I stopped in downtown Cold Springs to tour the business district. It is hard to believe that this sleepy little hamlet filled with upscale stores and restaurants was once the center of the boundaries.
The downtown is now filled with upscale stores and restaurants that cater to both locals and tourists. Being on the train to Manhattan has also changed the town. More people from the City have moved up here seeking the slower and ‘quaint’ lifestyle of the Hudson River Valley.
Cold Spring, NY is such a beautiful little town both during the holidays and in the summer when I have visited. It always has something going on. In the summer, I have been to concerts here and walked though their downtown admiring the stores and looking at restaurant menus. The parks here are really nice as well. Both the Gazebo and the Band Stand were beautifully decorated for the holidays.
The Gazebo in downtown Cold Springs near the train station.
The Band Stand in Downtown Cold Spring, NY decorated for the holidays.
I got home rather late that night and then had to be up the next morning early to be in the City again from the ‘Holiday Brass’ concert at Lincoln Center. I had been waiting to see this concert for years. When I had chance to get tickets, I jumped at the chance to see this concert.
Everyone taking a bow.
The band playing for the holidays is such a special treat.
The Holiday Brass taking a bow that afternoon.
It was such a wonderful afternoon of Christmas music done by the Brass section of the New York Philharmonic. I had been dying to see this concert for years and it was very much worth the hype. The men and women of the band were excellent. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. I stopped for lunch at Amore Pizza Kitchen up on 58th Street and had their pats Bolognese. Their food is just amazing.
The Linguine Bolognese.
I went home and worked on my research papers for the rest of the afternoon. My Digital Marketing paper was due that Monday on New York City Tourism+Conventions and my Customer Service paper on Luna Park was due on Tuesday. I had finished both before this weekend started but had to put the final touches on them. I got ‘A-‘ on them both and pulled off straight ‘A’s again both Fall semester and for my ‘J’ Term class in Abu Dhabi. I had never worked this hard before in such a short period of time.
I also had to give my classes their Christmas Quiz Four on planning the Corporate Christmas party and these students never cease to amaze me what they can do in such a short period of time. The menus and well wishes were so creative. I would have to spend the rest of the week preparing their finals. I kept saying to myself one more week.
The weekend before finals at Bergen Community College began, I snuck up to the Hudson River Valley to see one more set of decorated houses.
I had visited the Clermont mansion up in Germantown, NY earlier in October for the Halloween tour and it had been since pre-COVID since I had seen the house decorated for the Christmas holidays. I attended their Open House as well during the day and checked the schedule and Staatsburgh, the other Livingston mansion was having their Open House that evening with entertainment similar to the evening in Boscobel. It was the perfect way to get my mind off finals week.
As I toured the homes along the Hudson River, I stopped at some of the small towns that line the east side of the Hudson River. They are usually so beautifully decorated for the holidays and trust me they did not disappoint. I started in downtown Germantown right near Clermont. I had visited the town for Halloween and the town was nicely devoted for the fall. It Christmas time that these towns start to shine.
With a combination of historical buildings and some garland, decorated trees and wreathes all one these historical buildings give these towns a festive look and they look like something out of a Currier and Ives woodcut.
Downtown Germantown, NY at Christmas
Downtown Germantown, NY at Christmas
Germantown has its charms and it seemed the whole town was covered in garland.
The Reformed Church of Germantown at 20 Church Avenue at Christmas time.
The entrance hallway of the front door from the top of stairs.
The Library at Christmas time.
The decorated tree in the Library.
The Dining Room at Christmas time.
The Living Room decorated for Christmas
What was nice about the Open House is what a beautiful day it was to not just walk around the inside of the house but the grounds as well. I got some wonderful pictures of the Hudson River and of the grounds. It will be nice to come back up in the Spring and see the gardens again
After the tour, I stopped by the front of the house where they had a fire pit where we could roast marshmallows by an open fire. That was fun as I had not done that in a long time. The marshmallows got caramelized on the outside and gooey on the inside. That was so good.
When I got back to the Visitors Center, they had an array of holiday treats for us there as well. They had Hot Chocolate and Apple Cider, Christmas cookies, candies and other snacks to enjoy while we looked over the displays. I did enjoy that.
I did not have to be at Staatsburgh until later that evening for their Open House so I decided to visit the other small towns around the area to see how they were decorated and getting ready for the holidays. I swear I love the Hudson River Valley during Christmas time. One town is nicer than the other and they do a lot to make their downtowns look so festive. I decided to stop in Tivoli first, a small hamlet just south of the mansion.
Downtown Tivoli is a small quaint little town right on the Hudson River. When you drive through the downtown it is the last stop.
The downtown was busy when I got there as the Tivoli Fire Department was doing their “Santa Around Town” like we do and the kids were all waiting for Santa to come back to the firehouse.
The old Historic Firehouse decorated for the holidays.
The firehouse plaque. The building has had many uses.
The park right by the firehouse where Santa would be dropped off later that afternoon.
The merchant flower boxes decorated for the holidays.
The Christmas tree right near one of the businesses.
I never did get to see Santa that day but was able to walk around the town and enjoy the weather. It was so nice outside that you really did not need a coat. It was crisp but not cold and was perfect for touring the downtown. I left all the kids as they kept telling their parents they could hear the trucks coming back. I headed to Red Hook to check out how nicely downtown there was decorated. There is something special about Red Hook, NY during all the holidays. They just know how to decorate their downtown.
Downtown Red Hook decked out with garland and bows at the building where the Corner Counter Gourmet Shop is located.
The inside of the Corner Counter had all sorts of holiday treats to choose from.
Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop is always so nicely decorated.
I love Red Hook’s Christmas tree every year. It is so nicely decorated.
When I think of a town that is a step into the past, I always think of Red Hook. It has more of a localized feel than Rhinebeck to the south, which is place that people come up from the City for the weekend for dinner and an overnight of shopping and touring the local mansions. Red Hook has that family feel to it. Even the stores and restaurants are where locals come to eat and shop. Slowly though over the last few years I have noticed that is beginning to change. The stores have been getting gifty and more expensive. Still it is one of the nicest downtowns to visit just before Christmas.
After my tour of Red Hook, it was off to the other Open House that night at Staatsburgh, the home of the Mills Mansion. That is always a treat to visit when it is decorated for Christmas.
Staatsburgh-The Mills Mansion and home of the Mills-Livingston family at Christmas.
Staatsburgh, the home of the Ruth and Ogden Mills, is one of the most beautiful decorated houses in the Hudson River Valley and I have visited almost all of them. The house is a wonderland of decorations all done around a theme. Last year was Masks and their relation to the balls that used to happen during the Winter Season in New York. This year the celebration of the seasons decorated the rooms.
The main staircase up to the first floor rooms. This once lead from the kitchen and the servants quarters in the basement.
The Library Christmas Tree on the first floor is the most elegant room in the house. It feels like someone is home for the holidays.
The Christmas tree leading to the main hallway and the front door. This is where the Mills family portraits are located.
The portrait of Ruth’s mother in the main hallway leading to the Dining Room.
The Dining Room decorated for Christmas Dinner.
The Hyde Park Quartet performed the night of the Open House in the Dining Room.
The Butler’s Pantry with all the food prepared for the Mills Holiday Dinner.
It was nice to take my time visiting both mansions and seeing the opulence of the holidays and how dedicated the volunteers were in decorating them. There was so much care and detail to each of the houses I saw that evening. Also, the entertainment and food was a nice touch on both events that made them enjoyable and affordable to so many people who have an interest in these homes.
After the tour of Staatsburgh, I headed back up to Red Hook for some dinner before I left for home. I had the final quizzes to prepare when I got home and final holiday preparations before the last week of work before the holidays. Still I did not want the night to end. I drove to Red Hook for some dinner but toured around Staatsburgh after dark. It can be a magical place too at the holidays.
The outside of the Mills Mansion on the evening of the Open House.
The Staatsburgh Fire Department decorated for the holidays.
I went to my traditional place for dinner when I am up for the holidays at Village Pizza III in downtown Red Hook and the food and the service are always wonderful. The prices are so fair, the owner is not gouging everyone after COVID like every other restaurant is doing and the food is excellent.
Downtown Red Hook at night with all the lights on.
The Christmas tree in Downtown Red Hook with Petals & Moss Flower shop next door.
Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop and Little Pickles in Downtown Red Hook decorated for the holidays.
The bank building right across the street from Village Pizza III is always nicely decorated.
It was nice to walk around on a quiet night and admire the decorations. It is beginning to rival Rhinebeck in beauty. Dinner was amazing as usual.
Village Pizza III at 7514 North Broadway in Red Hook earlier in the day.
Dinner was excellent as I ordered Spaghetti & Meatballs with a salad. The perfect way to end the day. Their red sauce is fantastic and the meatballs are homemade and have the perfect blend of cheese and garlic.
The perfect start to the meal, a crisp salad and fresh warm Italian bread. You can go through a basket of it very easily.
The Spaghetti and Meatballs at Village Pizza III are delicious.
After dinner and another quick walk around the downtown to admire the lights, it was time to head home. Before I left, it was still pretty early. I decided to cross the river and visit Woodstock, NY before I headed home. I knew I would not have time to travel back up and wanted to see what their Christmas tree downtown looked like. It is always so unique to say the least.
Woodstock, NY has a lot of meaning to me during the holidays. It is where I went to decompress after my father passed away and I just got lost in myself. The mountains and the woods are so beautiful that drive around and forget everything else.
I forgot how beautiful Woodstock is during the holidays. I just parked the car and walked around the downtown for about a hour. Just admiring the lights and decorations can put you in the holiday spirit.
The Woodstock Christmas tree
The Woodstock Christmas tree was beautiful this year.
I forgot how picturesque the town was at night and this year especially they really did a nice job on the tree. The tree as usual had an unusual shape to it but the decorations were just dazzling on it. I walked around the downtown square remembering all those years of parades and the way Santa came into town. On this quiet night, it brought back many fond memories. I just could not believe how quiet it was that evening. The stores were all closed and the restaurants were all so quiet.
The restaurant I used to eat at every Christmas Eve with their disaster of entrees has not closed and replaced by a new owner.
Downtown Woodstock preparing for the holidays.
After the tour of Woodstock, it was time to go home. Talk about a trip down memory lane and touring all these wonderful towns at Christmas time really shows the beauty and traditions of the Hudson River Valley and why I love visiting there so much.
The week before Christmas was preparing for the holidays and getting Final exams done. NYU was finally done of the semester and those straight “A’s” made me happy and in the festive spirit. All of my students got their “A’s” on their projects as well. Their final exams would be on Wednesday and Thursday so there was work to do for them as well.
On Thursday morning, I had made a call and drove down to Pennsville, NJ to visit the Pennsville Historical Society and their Christmas decorations all over the house and the surrounding buildings. I knew I could never get down on the weekends prior to Christmas and I really wanted to see them after missing them for the last two holiday seasons. So I made an appointment with the President of their Society and off I went the Thursday before Christmas for the three hour trip down to the end of the Turnpike to Pennsville, NJ.
My blog on visiting the Historical Sites of Southern New Jersey:
It was well worth the trip on a glorious December afternoon. I met the ladies for the appointment at 1:00pm and it was well worth the trip. The house and the small outer buildings were beautifully decorated for the holidays.
The Pennsville Historical Society at Christmas time.
The decorations in the outer buildings on the estate grounds were just as spectacular as the main house.
The whole tour was one surprise after another with each beautifully decorated room after another. Just when one room looked the best you saw another one that topped it. Even the outside buildings that have all the themed collections such as the above amusement park were just as creative. It is one of the nicest decorated homes that I saw this Christmas. Both this and Staatsburgh were pretty amazing.
Since I had time after the tour was over instead of driving immediately back up the turnpike, I stopped in both Salem and Mullica Hill on the way home to see how they were decorated for the holidays.
The homes in the historic district of downtown really decorated for the holidays.
The historic district of North Market Street was decked with garland, bows and trees.
I had about 45 minutes to stop at the Salem Historical Society in downtown Salem to take some pictures of the Keeping Room Christmas tree. That is what attracted me in becoming a member of the museum.
The Salem Historical Society at 83 Market Street at Christmas time.
The Keeping Room is the oldest section of the Salem Historical Society and the most interesting part of the old house.
Instead of the traditional tree in the Keeping Room, the Society opted for a Victorian tree in the middle of the museum. I was a nice alternative.
I had just enough time to see the new exhibition “Toys of the Past and Present” which featured all sorts of wonderful antique dolls, games and playthings.
The quick half hour tour of the museum took longer as I got caught up in the exquisite antique toys which I have such a fascination in since my days at FAO Schwarz. The museum’s collection was quite extensive and the tour guide explained a lot of how they developed as playthings. I scurred and got out as I would have taken all day in this wonderful museum.
I then headed up to Woodstown to see how they decorated their downtown and it was just as nice. Woodstown is a nicer little town with less problems than Salem. It is more of a vibrant business district with small independent businesses.
The homes in their historic district were decked out for the holidays as well.
My last stop on my way home was downtown Mullica Hill, which is such a great little town for nice shopping and great restaurants. Of the three towns this is the most vibrant but it is also closer to Rowan University so the business and traffic of the college town is felt up this way. Its historical downtown was decked out for the holidays as well.
The Downtown Mullica Hill business district decorated for the Christmas holidays.
Downtown Mullica Hill homes that surrounded the downtown added to the beauty of the holidays.
All the stores and restaurants looked like they were vying for ‘Best Decorated Business’ with all the embellishments all over the buildings. I am sure it looked just as nice at night. There was not much time to spend in any of these towns because I had a final for my Business 101 class and I had to be back by 6:30pm. I just made the class with a half hour to spare. I gave my last exam that night and then scrambled all night and the next morning to finish my grades by 5:00pm. I handed them in by 3:00pm on Friday, December 22nd and drove back from the college content. I just put the Fall semester behind me.
I could not believe it. I pulled straight “A’s” in Grad school, ran three very successful and creative projects with my students, one being presented in front of the Mayor of Glen Rock and some of the Council members and all of my Executive Board commitments from running the Halloween Decorating Contest the last week of Halloween, to assisting in parties, get togethers and holiday events benefiting charity. Do not ask me how I ran around this much. I still ask that of myself.
Christmas Eve and Day
I finally caught my breath for a day when classes finally ended at BOTH colleges. NYU classes had ended the end of the second week of December and Bergen Community went all the way up to December 22nd. My last class was Thursday night the 21st when I had to give my final examination to my Introduction to Business students and then the grades for all three classes had to be submitted on Friday by 5:00pm on December 22nd. I felt like I was playing beat the clock the whole month of December. It just would not stop.
I had two days to get the house ready for my brother and sister in law to visit so I cleaned the house from top to bottom. Did six loads of laundry washing all the sheets and comforters, did all the grocery shopping and prepped pancake batter, baked cookies and brownies and made a lasagna with homemade meatballs for dinner I was going to make for my family to have everyone meet my new sister-in-law. When I dragged myself up on Christmas Eve day to visit the cemeteries, I was already burnt out and tired. Talk about a long three weeks.
After visiting family and saying prayers and dropping off flowers at the grave sites, it was the four hour drive down to my mother’s for Christmas Eve. It may seem like a long time but I always enjoy the drive. It gives me time to think and reflect back on the semester. Don’t ask me how I pulled everything off from Halloween to Christmas but I was able to get it all done, meet all my commitments, pull off straight “A’s” and have the students produce excellent projects that they should be very proud of for the rest of college. It was an amazing four months with so much accomplished. Now it was time to relax and enjoy the ride.
I just relaxed as I drove down the New Jersey Turnpike and just passed cars on their way to their holiday celebrations. Thank God the highway was not busy. I got down to my mom’s in less than four hours this time. Along the way down to her home, I got to see farmhouses all decorated for the Christmas holidays and that is always interesting.
Confucius Chinese Restaurant is where we spend our Christmas Eve dinner and I could not believe how packed the place was at 7:00pm. We saw so many of my mother’s friends and neighbors that it looks like everyone else has gotten the same idea that we have on what a pain it is to cook for both days. Going out on Christmas Eve has been our tradition for years.
Confucius Chinese Restaurant at 57 Wilmington Avenue in Rehoboth Beach, DE.
The owners are always so nice to us and very welcoming. Even after the busy dinner rush was over and we were one of the last parties to leave they both took the time to come to our table to wish us a Merry Christmas.
The food is always delicious and somehow we end up ordering a lot of the same dishes. We went through three orders of dumplings, two orders of Soft Shell crabs, an order of Spring Rolls, Moo Shu Pork, General Tso’s Chicken, Hunan Beef Noodles, Tai Lake Chicken and Garlic Shrimp with two big sides of white rice. For dessert, I ordered the Vanilla Ice Cream which was a throw back to the days of the Cantonese dinners we ate with my family as kids.
The Moo Shu Pork is one of my favorite dishes.
One of everyone’s favorites at dinner is the General Tso’s Chicken. The chef makes so good.
The General Tso’s Chicken is amazing.
As a family we go through so much rice you would think this was a special dish.
We eat this like it’s going out of style.
What is the best way to end a wonderful Chinese meal is a bowl of vanilla ice cream.
Finishing a meal with Vanilla Ice Cream is such a tradition.
After dinner was over, we walked around Downtown Rehoboth Beach (it was such a warm night) and got to enjoy the beautiful decorations. The downtown Christmas tree was really nice that night. The town is very festive during the holidays and my mother said that you can not even drive into town for the tree lighting ceremony unless you were already downtown that day. I could believe it. It was busy on Christmas Eve night.
The Christmas tree in downtown Rehoboth Beach, DE was dazzling.
The decorations by the Gazebo.
More decorations by the Gazebo.
My brothers and I by the Christmas tree.
Us in front of the Rehoboth Beach Christmas tree.
Christmas Eve was a time we just kick back and relax before the real works begins the next day for Christmas. We all pitch in now with the cooking, serving and cleaning up. It is a lot more fun that way and give my mother a helping hand.
My mother’s Santa Collection at Christmas.
Mom’s decorations at Christmas.
Mom’s Christmas tree in the Living Room.
Her handmade Santa collection is the highlight of the holidays and her decorations.
I was exhausted by the time that we got home from dinner. My siblings had been done at my mom’s for a couple of days so they were all relaxed. Between classes and all the driving I was worn out. While everyone else stayed up to talk, I got ready to go to bed. I went to bed and slept for over nine hours. I could not believe what a deep sleep I went into. Five weeks of running around took its toll on me. I got up late on Christmas Day morning. Still I was up first and got to admire my mother’s house decorated for the holidays.
The table set for dinner
The table was set for Christmas Day a few days in advance so I got to see it that night.
The Dining Room decorations.
After breakfast, we had some time to relax and open presents. This is not the extravagancy that we had as kids but we got to laugh and talk while we opened our gifts to one another.
My brother thought it would be funny to give each of us this tee-shirt as a joke to my mother and her wooden spoon when we were growing up.
One of the small gifts to my mom, a handmade Santa that I found with a artist in Beach Haven.
After the gift giving, breakfast and getting ready it now time to cook. When you have a houseful of guests on their way you have to be prepared. My older brother and I got into our ritual of helping my mother in the kitchen.
My brother and I helping prepare dinner.
My brother and I help my mother in the kitchen as it takes time to cook and greet guests. I think this is what makes the holiday more fun when we are all in the kitchen working together.
My mother also likes the fact that we are helping with the clean up and serving. She passing that part of the holidays on to us. We helped her with all the preparations that morning and the dinner looked picture perfect. We have a ball helping cook and plan our Christmas meal.
Me making my homemade potato croquettes.
I was cooking that morning and afternoon. I was making my homemade Potato Croquettes. These are are really popular at Christmas dinner.
Our dinner starts with appetizers with Shrimp Cocktail, cheeses and dips. When you have a lot of guests it is a nice way to start the meal. These were traditions that my aunt started years ago when we used to spend the holidays growing up.
The Appetizers
The appetizers
Putting the final preparations for dinner.
The final dinner set out for guests.
Our Christmas dinner
The team work for our holiday dinner was the result of a lot of hard work.
My mother’s beautiful holiday roast.
My mother’s Prime Rib roast came out like perfection.
My brother’s Broccoli Puff was excellent.
My mother and our new sister in law at her first family Christmas.
My mother and my sister in law.
Finally sitting down for dinner and relaxing after a long holiday season. Our family had a nice time at Christmas
Dinner at Christmas time. The result of team work and a lot of preplanning. My mother’s delicious Prime Rib, which was cooked perfectly, the potato croquettes and the sauteed string beans. The perfect holiday meal.
My dinner at Christmas at Mom’s.
Our desserts at the end of dinner.
For dessert, my mother ordered a specialty twelve layer cake and my sister in law made a special Russian cake from her family’s tradition. My brother and I made Christmas cookies so there was more than enough for the twelve people having dessert.
Mom’s Twelve Layer cake for dessert.
It was a really nice Christmas dinner and we had such a nice relaxing time. It was a wonderful afternoon and evening with family.
Our family at the holidays. It was so nice to see everyone at Christmas.
It was a relaxing evening once everything was cleaned up and the other guests left later that night. We just sat around and laughed and talked about Christmas’s past.
The next morning, everyone was on their way and my brother and sister in law stayed with me. While they were doing their thing in the city, I visited a lot of the sites around the City for the post Christmas week. New York City is always packed the week before Christmas and New Year and you have to elbow everyone by the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. That’s why I try to avoid that section of the City.
I went uptown to the Cloisters to take a tour of the decorations and hear about the history of the decorations used for the Medieval holidays. I forgot they Three Kings Day was coming up and they changed the tour. So a large group of us walked with our tour guide in not such great weather (it was misty and gloomy out), and looked for the symbolism of the Three Kings.
The tour took us all over the museum in search of the images of the Three Kings. The story had morphed over the years from three ‘wise men’ to the ‘Three Kings” and the interpretation of the story.
The ‘Three Kings” in stained glass.
The ‘Three Kings’ in tapestry.
The beautiful plants at the Met Cloisters during Christmas.
The Cloisters at Christmas in 2023.
After touring the museum, I went outside and toured the neighborhood. My next stop was the Dyckman Farmhouse up the road. For some reason, they had already taken down their Christmas (and when I asked the person in charge that day gave me attitude). I can see from the outside of the house it needs a lot of work. The plantings in the summer hide most of this.
The inside of the house is decorated for a family that owns a prosperous farm in Upper Manhattan. The kitchen was set for a late afternoon lunch and the bedrooms were designed for the family and their guests.
It was really cold and gloomy outside when I left the Dyckman Farmhouse. Still there was a hint of Christmas in the air when I walked down to 207th Street and at the William Tighe Park just off it. There were still Christmas trees up and the neighborhood decorated for the holidays.
The unique tree at William Tighe Park at Dyckman and Seaman Streets
The neighborhood was still decked for the holidays and people looked like they were stretching the holiday to the full 12 days of Christmas.
I got hungry walking around the neighborhood and I headed to G’s Coffee Shop around the corner for some lunch. I love this little neighborhood hangout. It is a place that every neighborhood should have, friendly service and wonderful food.
On this cool afternoon, I was starved and was in the mood for a Cheeseburger and fries and G’s always does such a nice job with their burgers. It did not disappoint me this time either.
The Cheeseburger platter and fries at G’s Coffee Shop is not only delicious but reasonable as well. The service is excellent.
After a wonderful lunch, I walked around the neighborhood and looked at the other decorations and walked in and out of stores to see what was new. Inwood and Washington Heights is changing before my eyes like other neighborhoods in Manhattan. It seems when they rezoned the City during the Bloomberg administration. The whole neighborhood is getting new buildings and parks that don’t look like they are catering to the local population. Already I can see this area changing.
Since my schedule was open for the rest of the afternoon, I decided to walk down to 181st Street to Esmeralda’s Bakery for a snack. I also wanted to see how they decorated the shopping area for Christmas. Washington Heights main shopping district is always nicely decorated for the holidays.
The 181st Street Shopping District
The stars on the 181st Street that decorate the shopping the district.
The core of the Washington Heights shopping district during Christmas.
I stopped at Esmeraldo Bakery at 538 West 181 Street for a snack and the place was pretty busy for a late afternoon.
I had to have one of their sugar doughnuts and they are the best when they are freshly made. It was the perfect sugar high for a gloomy afternoon. Esmeraldo’s Bakery is one of the few quality bakeries left that I can find that does not overcharge for a doughnut, roll or cookie. Her prices are very fair and the selection is always fresh and everything is delicious. It was the perfect pick me up while I was walking around the Washington Heights shopping district. There was still a little Christmas feel around
The selection at Esmeraldo Bakery collection.
The amazing sugar doughnuts at Esmeraldo Bakery are worth the trip uptown.
I walked around the business district and around the 181st Street shopping district realizing how much had changed since the summer and how many small businesses had closed. New businesses have opened up but I was surprised how many places had closed since I toured in August. The rents must be going up here as well.
I went back to the subway stop and admired the Christmas trees one more time as darkness fell. There was a real Christmas spirit up town as well.
The Christmas tree at 207th Street lit for the evening.
The Christmas tree in William Tighe Park.
I really enjoyed seeing the decorations uptown that I have never seen before and realized that there were traditions all over the city. Washington Heights does their own unique job decorating their neighborhood.
On the night before they left for the New Year’s celebrations, my brother and sister in law wanted to take me to dinner at a ‘typical New York” restaurant. I told them of a wonderful restaurant in Times Square at the Marriott Marquis called the “Broadway Lounge” that I had been to many times with the most spectacular views so we went there. The food and service did not disappoint us and the views were spectacular.
The Marriott Marquis in Times Square at 1535 Broadway.
The Broadway Lounge never disappoints me because as the food is pricey it is also very good and the quality I have found to be excellent. The view is the reason why everyone comes here and my sister in law made the reservation so that we could sit next to the window and that was dazzling.
The view of Times Square from our table. It is just dazzling.
The food lived up to the view this evening. I had the Three Cheese Grilled Cheese sandwich with fries with a Coke and for dessert we shared a White Cake with Fresh fruit. Very simple comfort food on a cold and somewhat gloomy night. Still the food and the service were wonderful and gave us a chance to catch up before they left and to how beautiful Manhattan is in the evening.
The delicious Three Cheese Grilled Cheese sandwich with fries and a Coke.
The White Vanilla Cake with fresh fruit that we shared for dessert.
I was a nice meal and a perfect way to ring in the New Year together early.
On New Years Eve morning, they left to celebrate the holiday in the City and I stayed at home to spend a quiet New Year at home. I run in the New Year by watching the last minute of NBC and then went to bed. Not the most exciting New Years Eve but I just wanted to stay in and relax. It had been a long month. This is how I welcomed in 2024.
Now you know why I am so exhausted! My feet never touched the ground since Halloween night.
I wanted to share these pictures around Manhattan during the holidays:
The dazzling West 55th Street at Christmas time.
Christmas on West 55th Street closer to Fifth Avenue,
Christmas lights on West 45th Street
The Christmas lights on West 55th Street.
A Christmas tree on Eighth Avenue.
Corporate Christmas tree at West 58th Street.
The Dior sign for the light show at Saks Fifth Avenue.
1251 Sixth Avenue-A corporate Christmas.
The Star on Fifth Avenue.
1221 Sixth Avenue-A corporate Christmas.
West 57th Street at Christmas.
The skaters in Rockefeller Center by the Christmas tree.
The tree at Rockefeller Center.
The Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center the Sunday after the Epiphany.
The true beauty of New York City and especially Manhattan is in the details of it. It just amazes you! I do not know how I did it all and still got straight “A’s”.
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