Category Archives: MywalkinManhattan at the Christmas Holidays

Day One Hundred and Seventy: Exploring Downtown Red Hook, NY- A Local Journey July 26th, 2020, December 8th, 2021, and February 10th and October 15th, December 16th, 2022, June 7th, 2023, December 20th, 2023, July 13th and August 13th, 2024 and March 12th, 2025

With the weather reaching now into the high 90’s and the humidity has become unbearable, it has been a chance to take a break from walking the streets of Manhattan with the uncomfortable heat (and the equally uncomfortable feel of the City) and head up to our version of “Upstate New York”. People from Ithaca, where I went to graduate school,  actually laugh when I say this is “Upstate New York”. “That’s like Westchester!” some will say to me because it is so close to the City instead of in the middle of New York State.

Still Dutchess County is beautiful at anytime of the year and a nice substitute when the weather just gets too hot. The cool breezes of the Hudson River, the foliage full of deep greens and the unique little downtown’s with their ‘mom and pop’ restaurants and stores (which we need to help desperately at this time) make a nice day or weekend visit. I have also gone to college in Hyde Park so I know the area quite well but still there were many towns I had never visited before. One of them being Red Hook, NY.

Gardens in Downtown Red Hook, NY in the Summer of 2024

I had gotten to know Red Hook quite well since 2014 when I thought I was moving to the Hudson River Valley for work and needed to find a place to live. I got acquainted with Downtown Red Hook when meeting with realtors but it was when I came across an advertisement for “Little Pickles”, a children’s store that had just opened that I wanted to visit that I got to really visit the town.

Downtown Red Hook decorations in Fall 2022

The nice part of Downtown Red Hook is that it has not been “Manhattanized” the way Downtown Rhinebeck further south has been. Being further up Route 9, the restaurants and stores are not as expensive, the feel of the restaurants are more local and down to earth and a lot less expensive. The one thing about the stores are that they cater to locals and not tourists so much, they are reasonably priced and their merchants are extremely creative in merchandise purchased for their stores and the way their stores are displayed. The service I have found in the stores here is very personal and friendly and you are mostly dealing with the owner of the store.

Downtown Red Hook was decorated for the Fall

What is also nice about Red Hook is that the parking is still on the street with no meters and you can park right near the stores. At the current time, the town is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic as is the rest of the country, so a lot of the parking directly in the center of the town is for “Grab and Go”. Between the heat of this summer (it was 96 degrees that day) and the COVID-19 pandemic still keeping everything at bay, the town was quiet the afternoon I visited.

Downtown Red Hook in Summer of 2023

I started my day at the Staatsburgh Historical Site of the Mills Mansion in Staatsburg, NY. The mansion was not open for tours yet under Phase 4 of Governor Cuomo’s plan as of yet so the park site opened programs that showcased the outside of the mansion. I started my day with a “Garden Tour” of the grounds of the Mill’s Mansion “Staatsburgh” located at 75 Mills Mansion Drive.

The Mills Mansion “Staatsburgh” (Staatsburgh State Historical Site)

https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/25/details.aspx

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48676-d107418-Reviews-Staatsburgh_State_Historic_Site_Mills_Mansion-Staatsburg_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/visitingamuseum.com/2137

The 90-minute tour took us to the back lawn of the estate where we visited the former icehouse, boat house, stables and storage areas and the location to where the greenhouses were located. The mansion was once a 25-room home that was a working farm but with Ruth Livingston Mills social standing the house was added and expanded to 79 rooms to the current home of today.

The original farms became lawns and Ogden Mills, her husband and a financier himself, became a gentleman farmer and animals were grown and raised for competition and for food for the estate. The greenhouses were used for flowers and fruits and vegetables for the mansion.

The back lawn of the Mills Mansion and the Hudson River in the distance

Most of the buildings have since been knocked down or in disrepair but you have to use your imagination to see how the estate once worked. The whole property was once pretty well self-sufficient.

Ruth Livingston Mills

Ruth Livingston Mills

Ogden Mills

Ogden Mills

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogden_Mills_(financier)

When I toured the house in February 2022, the mansion had just gone through a deep cleaning after being open for the Christmas holiday season and had been decorated to the hilt for the holidays. We had a small group of three that had the mansion to ourselves, and it was a quiet but informative tour.

By 10:30am, our small group of four was done for the morning and I decided to run up to Red Hook for lunch. I was in the mood for a Chicken Parmesan sandwich from Village Pizza III located in the downtown. Before I left for lunch, I drove through Downtown Rhinebeck which had just closed off all their downtown parking for outdoor cafes and the place was really busy. All the restaurants were busy for the late brunch and early lunch crowds.

Village Pizza III at 7514 North Broadway

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=113437418688745

The Chicken Parmesan sandwich here is excellent especially the red sauce

This delicious sandwich you should not miss when passing through Red Hook, NY

I drove further north on Route 9 which takes you right into Downtown Red Hook and turns into North and South Broadway which is cut at the intersection of East and West Market Street (which is Route 199). The downtown stretches from this intersection for a few blocks before leading to more homes and farms. The wooden storefronts are a combination of Victorian and multi-level architecture and brick buildings which gives it the classic downtown appearance.

Looking down East Market Street in Downtown Red Hook, NY

https://www.redhook.org/

https://www.redhookvillage.org/

I parked on East Market Street and started to walk towards the intersection. I discovered that one of my favorite stores that I just featured a few months ago, Pause at 10 East Market Street had moved to Rhinebeck. It now has an online store and its new expanded location in Rhinebeck at 6423 Montgomery Street Suite 3.

Pause was a great store of handmade food products and whimsical toys for pets (Moved Rhinebeck in 2022)

Pause II

Pause is now at 6423 Montgomery Street Suite 3 in Rhinebeck, NY

https://www.pausedogboutique.com/

https://www.facebook.com/PauseDogBoutique/

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/598

Next to the former Pause store is another unique at 6 East Market Street called Petals & Moss, a fresh and dried flower store, where the owner, Nancy Lee, designs not only the floral arrangements and the dried flower wreaths that line the walls but also cuts most of the fresh flowers in season from her own garden.

Petals and Moss at 6 East Market Street

https://www.petalsandmossflorals.com/

https://www.facebook.com/petalsandmoss/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48473-d20029389-Reviews-Petals_and_Moss_Floral_Design-Red_Hook_New_York.html

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/1074

The display tables inside of Petals & Moss

The tables are arranged with fresh floral bouquets and dried flowers designed in interesting designs. I like that the store is not overwhelmed with flowers all over the place and the look is a minimalist where you can enjoy the beauty of the flowers and they are showcased in their simplest form.

The beauty of Petals and Moss arrangements

Petals & Moss at Christmas time in 2021

Next to Petals and Moss was this wonderful display for Fall where the Christmas usually stands

The display in the Fall of 2024

When I was visiting Red Hook in October of 2022 for the Sheep and Wool Festival on the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, I stopped up to walk around the town again. I stopped in I2evolve, a small arts and crafts store that also serves as an expressive art school for local children at 18 East Main Street. The where having a ‘Haunted Halloween Village’ event.

I2Evolve at 18 East Main Street in Red Hook

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100054426402158

https://www.instagram.com/i2evolve/?hl=en

The Haunted Halloween Village at I2Evolve was a lot of fun

The ghoulish welcome into the store

The Haunted Halloween Village event was the owner showcasing the children’s art on tables all over the store. It seems that her students in her art school came up with so many creative haunted houses that she created a ‘village’ to display the students work. It was a very clever idea and it was a lot of fun looking at all the students creativity in their work. So many of them were loaded with details and interesting embellishments. The owner of the store, Kim Popolizio, took me on a quick tour of the store before the families arrived with their kids (who were the artists of all of these wonderful pieces).

The main part of the village

More of the ‘village’ homes

The inside of the store and the ghostly village to the side

The kids were so creative!

So much detail and attention into these works

After touring all the villages, I stopped at the concession stand that the owner had set up in the back. She had “Witches Brew” which was a green fruit punch, a cotton candy machine, a popcorn machine, cider doughnuts, candy and coffee and tea all of which was between $1.00 and $2.00. What a good businesswoman not gouging her guests! People loved it and it was really busy (plus the cider doughnuts were delicious!)

The owner insisted I see her patio in the back so I made the trip outside. It was still warm and in the 60’s when I visited so it was pleasant to go outside. What a wonderful place to relax.

The patio section of I2Evolve is a nice place to relax from the crowds of the store

The outside patio

In a small truck stand down the road at 33 East Market Street is the seasonal business and weekends only during the cooler months is Terry’s Country Bakeshop. Terry sets up a small table of reasonably priced baked goods such as cider doughnuts, scones, crumb cake, cinnamon rolls and small pies (prices are seasonal). Don’t miss her cider doughnuts ($1.00). They were excellent. She is also quite the conversationalist. We had a nice chat.

Terry's Country Bakeshop

Terry’s Country Bakeshop at 22 East Market Street (no longer there)

Crossing the street at the intersection of Market and Broadway, I like to head north to my favorite restaurant in Red Hook, Village Pizza III at 7514 North Broadway. I cannot tell you how good the food is here in a few sentences. For a small pizzeria, the food is excellent, the service is friendly and the prices are amazingly fair. For a family on a budget, the restaurant is the perfect place to dine. It was unfortunately closed on Sunday.

The food and service at Village Pizza III is excellent!

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48473-d819096-Reviews-Village_Pizza_III-Red_Hook_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/diningonashoestringinnyc.wordpress.com/886

The many times I have eaten here over the holiday season and on my visits to the area for functions, I really love coming here for lunch and dinner. The red sauce here is just delicious and has a rich tomato flavor that makes every dish wonderful. The Chicken Parmesan dinner with spaghetti could feed two people easily. It is loaded with gooey mozzarella cheese.

The Spaghetti and meatballs are out of this world. Three golf ball sized freshly made meatballs on top of what looked like a half pound of spaghetti.  The red sauce here is amazing. The calzones are overstuffed with ingredients and the pizza has the most amazing combination of spices and cheeses. Each bite is like heaven. There is not one thing on the menu that is not delicious.

The pizza here is fantastic and the prices here are extremely fair.

Their Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti is excellent.

The elusive J & J Gourmet at 1 East Market Street was closed for a third time when I visited there in 2021. Oh well, I will have to wait until another time to have breakfast there. (The restaurant closed in January 2022).

The Country Corner at 1 East Market Street

https://www.facebook.com/jandjgourmet/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48473-d830876-Reviews-J_J_s_Gourmet-Red_Hook_New_York.html?m=19905

https://www.jandjgourmet.com/our-cafe/

It has now been replaced in 2023 by The Country Corner at the same address. A brand new concept with new products and merchandising with a lot of local purveyors.

The Corner Counter at 1 Market Street

https://www.cornercounter.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

The Corner Counter specials

The new sign

The Corner Counter is a neighborhood cheese shop & eatery, offering artisan cheese & charcuterie, craft beer/cider, coffee, specialty foods and grocery staples. Food menu includes a rotating selection of sandwiches, salads, prepared foods and cheese plates. Our goal is to serve as a community gathering space, where customers can enjoy quality food in a warm, welcoming environment. We support local farms & purveyors, and choose organic, fair trade and sustainable products whenever possible (The Country Corner website). 

The groceries and specialty items

Their delicious sandwich selection

The assortment of cookies and treats at Christmas time.

The Fall display in Downtown Red Hook, October 2023.

During the times I eat in Red Hook, one of my favorite places for dessert is Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop at 7501 North Broadway. They make the best cinnamon rolls and cookies.

Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop is a nice place to sit and relax (Christmas 2022)

https://www.facebook.com/AnnabellesVillageBakeShop/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48473-d14051169-Reviews-Annabelle_s_Village_Bake_Shop-Red_Hook_New_York.html?m=19905

Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop in the summer of 2023

Red Hook in the Fall of 2024

The last visit I made to Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop, I had one of her Fruit Loop Doughnuts that was an over-sized cake doughnut topped with a thick vanilla icing and finished with lots of colorful fruit loops. Their over-sized Cinnamon Rolls on another visit were layered in sweet cinnamon in a buttery dough.  I had their jelly doughnuts, and they are filled with the most amazing jelly. Recently, I had one of their cream filled Long John doughnuts. Yum!

The chocolate covered cream filled Long John

The baker herself has waited on me and is extremely engaging and when it is okay to eat inside again, it is a relaxing experience to just sit and talk. For now, there is a tent outside for dining and enjoying your dessert.

The inside of Annabelle’s Bake Shop (Annabelle’s closed in October 2024)

Red Hook, NY Xmas 2021

Village Bake Shop decorated for the Christmas holidays in 2021 (closed 2024)

Next door to Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop is one of the most creative, imaginary and interesting toy stores I have ever seen. Little Pickles Children’s General Store at 7505 North Broadway. This colorful little store caters to the Lilliputian crowd and has all the things you need for a small child or creative tween.

Little Pickles Children’s General Store at 7505 North Broadway is out of a fairy tale book.

Shop

https://www.facebook.com/littlepicklesgeneralstore/

My review on TripAdvisor.com:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48473-d7954016-Reviews-Little_Pickles-Red_Hook_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/169

Little Pickles is one of those stores I wish was around when I was a kid. Even the big kid in me loves visiting the store when I am in Red Hook. One of the stores is dedicated to clothing, shoes and accessories for the small child in need of everyday items. In the room is a castle to explore and wooden trains to play with while your siblings’ shop (these things are currently not available because of COVID-19).

The outside of the store has a whimsical candy and ice cream shop and lots of little ‘stocking stuffers’ for a quick gift.  Lining the shelves in the front of the store, there are balloons, magnets, small games and puzzles that are perfect for the creative child’s birthday party.

This is where children come for that special gift

The back of the store has a assortment of games, puzzles, magic tricks, science experiments and board games. During these tough times with all of us having to stay in it has the perfect collection of items for family game night.

The sign of Little Pickles is so welcoming.

Down the street are Red Hook Stationary and The Crow’s Nest, unique gift shops sell specialty items. The Crow’s Nest is a store that supports women artists and craftspeople and specializes in merchandise that is eco-friendly and Free-Trade. Owner Sarah Carlson says that she searches the world to find items that support female artisans who offer handmade one of kind gifts and home products. The shelves and tables are lined with interesting merchandise.

The Red Hook Stationary store at 7 West Market Street

https://www.facebook.com/RedHookStationeryCo/

The Crow’s Nest at 9 West Market Street

https://www.chronogram.com/hudsonvalley/the-crows-nest-home-goods-boutique-red-hook/Content?oid=13005760

Walking down North Broadway and turning the corner to West Market Street.  Another store stands out for its interesting gift items and fascinating artwork Equis Gallery at 15 West Market Street where all things are equestrian.

The Equis Gallery at 15 West Market Street where it’s all-things horses.

https://www.facebook.com/equisartgallery/

My review on TripAdvisor.com:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48473-d7180984-Reviews-Equis_Art_Gallery-Red_Hook_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/372

The gallery is so unique with the theme with all the artists carried in the store is all things horses. Paintings large and small line the walls and the tables are ladened with jewelry, statuary, small sculptures and gifts for the perfect host present.

The beautiful jewelry at Equis Gallery

The store carries the work of many local and distant artists and is all unique to the store. It is always nice talking to the gallery owner, Juliet Harrison, who always greets you with a smile and makes you feel welcome.

The work here is revolving so there are always new artists to see.

Equis Art Gallery III

Equis Gallery owner Juliet R. Harrison

A wonderful video on the Equis Gallery

There is a new gourmet grocery store, The Locavore Market at 29 West Main Street, just opened in the downtown which has a nice selection of locally made food items from sodas to cheeses. They also have a prepared food section where you can buy breakfast and lunch sandwiches and pastries. There is inside seating to enjoy your meal as well.

There is a nice assortment of Hudson Valley created products, cookbooks and other items for the household that make nice gifts and souvenirs from the Hudson River Valley. The store has expanded the selection of products from more local farms and baked goods from local bakers and when in season all the produce from local farms. All the products are marked from what local vendors they are from.

The Locavore Market at 29 West Main Street in Downtown Red Hook, NY

The sign of the shop

https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Locavore-Market-100084226388563/

https://www.instagram.com/locavoremarket/

The cheerful sign welcoming you to the Locavore Market

The inside of the shop

The wonderful baked goods at the store

Walking back down West Market Street and heading down South Broadway, I headed to Golden Wok Chinese Restaurant at 7479 South Broadway, but the place had no dining area open inside. On a recent trip to Red Hook, I stopped in for dinner.

What was nice is that Downtown Red Hook during the summer months has a little park with tables for outdoor dining. On Friday and Saturday nights from 6:00pm-8:00pm have live entertainment. The woman guitarist that evening was wonderful and attracted a nice crowd on this warm Spring night.  It was a nice way to dine with the warm breezes passing by and conversing with other people at the table.

Golden Wok at 7479 South Broadway

http://us.chinesemenu.com/us/red-hook-ny-12571/golden-wok/

My review on TripAdvisor.com:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48473-d821529-Reviews-Golden_Wok-Red_Hook_New_York.html?m=19905

I ordered from their extensive Cantonese menu and had for dinner the Beef and Broccoli combination platter with Fried Rice and Egg Roll ($11.95). It was a nice sized portion and have to say that the Fried Rice here is excellent.

Beef and Broccoli with Fried Rice at Golden Wok at 7479 South Broadway

The Roast Pork Lo Mein with Pork Fried Rice with an Egg Roll is also an excellent choice for lunch and dinner.

The Roast Pork Lo Mein combination platter for dinner Christmas 2022.

When I was here last Summer (Pre-COVID-19), there was another enjoyable concert in the parking lot next to Village Hall that was free for the evening with local musicians. That was a nice night and people really had a nice time listening to the music and talking with their neighbors. It must be a nice place to grow up.

The Memorial Day Parade in Red Hook NY from 2008

After my walk around Downtown Red Hook, it was back to Rhinebeck for lunch. There is another branch of Village Pizza in Downtown Rhinebeck as well but I now wanted something different as it was getting even hotter outside and I wanted something light.

Downtown artworks during the fall of 2022

So, I headed to Pete’s Famous Restaurant at 34 East Market Street, a restaurant I have eaten at many times over the last twenty years of visiting Rhinebeck. The food is always consistent here and the service very friendly. Like the rest of downtown’s all over the nation, the sidewalks and streets of the Main Street have been changed to an outdoor cafe. Pete’s Famous has good number of tables and umbrellas on the sidewalk under the trees and street which made for a nice experience.

Pete’s Famous Restaurant at 34 East Market Street in Rhinebeck, NY

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/American-Restaurant/Petes-Famous-Restaurant-115462331809675/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48486-d823142-Reviews-Pete_s_Famous_Restaurant-Rhinebeck_New_York.html?m=19905

Everything I have ever ordered here has been wonderful. When a friend and I stopped in 2025, we started off with Mozzarella Sticks and Buffalo Chicken Wings. Both were really good and the portion size was really good.

The Mozzarella Sticks for lunch

The Buffalo Chicken Wings are delicious

For the entree, I love getting the Turkey Club sandwich and the restaurant did not disappoint. The sandwich was layered with freshly roasted turkey, juicy tomatoes, crisp lettuce and crisp bacon lathered with mayo on toasted white bread. It was a nice combination of flavors and tastes and the fries just came out of the fryer.

The Turkey club with fries here is excellent.

This Turkey Club Sandwich is quite a sandwich

Yum!

It was nice to sit outside on a sunny afternoon and watch people walk by. It made it almost seem like there wasn’t a global pandemic going on. I am not too sure how long all of this will last but for that afternoon everything felt okay.

On a cool February day in 2022, it was a Hot Turkey platter that warmed me up after a tour of the Mills Mansion. Layers of fresh turkey are mounded on top of white bread with a side of mashed potatoes topped with a yellow turkey gravy was like heaven on a cold day. It was served with a side of cranberry sauce and fresh string beans that tasted like Thanksgiving all over again. The meal also started with a small bowl of Chicken and Rice soup which warmed me up. The food at Pete’s Famous Restaurant is always excellent.

The Open Faced Hot Turkey sandwiches here are excellent

I didn’t want to stay for dessert because I has passed an ice cream stand on the way back from Red Hook that I have wanted to try for years but it is closed during the times I usually come up to Rhinebeck, Del’s Dairy Creme at 6780 Route 9 North in Rhinebeck. Do not miss coming here during the warmer months! It’s worth the whole trip.

Del’s Dairy Creme at 6780 Route 9 North is amazing!!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Drive-In-Restaurant/Dels-Dairy-Creme-343317432733279/

My review on TripAdvisor.com:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48486-d830017-Reviews-Del_s_Dairy_Creme-Rhinebeck_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:

This little ice cream shop right near the Dutchess County Fairgrounds looks like it had just been renovated and landscaped. The back part of the building has a nice sized lawn with chairs and tables (socially distanced perfectly) that is the perfect place to enjoy your ice cream or lunch items on their listing.

Del’s lunch menu

Del’s menu in the summer of 2025

Del’s summer menu in 2025

The ice cream here is so thick and creamy and has the most unique flavors. On the recommendation of the young lady working there I tried the Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Swirl and the Honey Lavender ice creams.  The Lemon Poppyseed is also excellent. I do not say this much but after biting into the Honey Lavender ice cream I thought I saw God. The ice cream was amazing!

The Ice Cream menu at Del’s Dairy Creme

It was just the right combination of flavors of sweetness and tartness. The Blueberry ice cream is made from fresh fruit from the farm, and you could taste the flavors sweetness and creaminess from the fresh milk and cream from the farm.

The Blueberry Lavender Ice Cream here is excellent!

The Ice Cream sampler though is the way to go when wanting to try all the delicious flavors

Del’s is Americana during the summer months. It is the place that people look like they have been coming to since the 1960’s and with a new owner and a modernized building brings it into the twenty-first century. It is the perfect place to stop with the family.

In the Fall months around Halloween, the warm weather was a pleasure in Del’s backyard seating area.

Del’s in the Summer in 2024

Del’s Burgers are the best on a cool day.

The Fried Chicken sandwiches are also excellent on a summer day

After the long and relaxing lunch, I headed back to the Mills Mansion for the “Lecture on the Portico” for a talk on the servants’ role at the mansion when the family was in house for the late Summer and Fall months. I have to admit with such a large lunch and dessert inside me and the weather being so warm (it was about 92 degrees at this point), I was getting sleepy and started to nod off during the lecture.

Mills Mansion Tour

Mills Mansion “Servants Talk”

It was an interesting lecture on household items that the servants would have used to maintain the mansion during the summer months. They explained how the servants used the hand-cranked ice cream machine to make the summer treat and showed us their ice cream scoop for the perfect serving of the frozen treat.

Other items that were explained to us to run the household were a meat press for creating juices for broths, a bottle closer for opened beverages and a mop wringer for cleanups. It is interesting the amount of time it took to keep the mansion clean and the items needed to do the work at a time when electrical cleaning items did not exist. It took an army of servants to keep the mansion running.

It was so nice to relax and enjoy the breezes on the portico (the front porch) while listening to the lecture. I think this is the reason why on top of digesting a big lunch why I kept falling asleep. The heat did not help either. Still, it was a nice way to see the mansion in a different light by seeing it from the outside looking in. The grounds have so much to offer and the lecture topics are very interesting.

The portico of the mansion is a nice place for meetings.

The views of the Mills Mansion back lawn

It was just nice to be back up in the Hudson River Valley again for Christmas in 2021. I had not been up here since February for the last Tea Lecture (see my review on the mansion above) and since the COVID-19 pandemic, it was an interesting way to still visit the mansion and tour the grounds and have a new sense of scenery.

Red Hook, NY is one of those picturesque little towns at Christmas time with elegant lights on the stores and trees in the downtown area and stores so beautifully merchandised giving the town the look of a Currier & Ives carving.

Downtown Red Hook, NY II

Downtown Red Hook at dusk at Christmas time

Spending time at the holidays in Red Hook is also special. The merchants do such a nice job decorating their windows for Christmas and all the older buildings in the downtown are decorated with garland, red ribbons and white lights. It looks like a Currier & Ives print especially at night when the whole town is lit up.

Petals & Moss at Christmas time

Petals and Moss Xmas 2021

Petals & Moss at Christmas time in 2021

During the usual holiday season, the town holds the “Snowflake Festival” the second Saturday in December (the first weekend in December is the big “Sinterklaas” festival in Rhinebeck and that gets all the people the first weekend) and that is a nice family event.

Red Hook NY Xmas 2021

Red Hook, NY at Christmas is like a picture out of Currier & Ives

Red Hook is so peaceful on a pre- or post-Christmas night. I visited on New Year’s Day and most of the stores and restaurants were closed but still at twilight, the Christmas holiday with all its hope and dreams is still alive and appreciated at night. The Christmas season in the Hudson River Valley especially in these small towns is really special.

Red Hook NY Xmas 2021 II

Red Hook is so beautiful at Christmas time

Red Hook, NY Xmas 2021

Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop decorated for Christmas in 2021

Downtown Red Hook NY I

The Red Hook, NY village Christmas tree in 2021

Downtown Red Hook during the day at Christmas time.

The Downtown Red Hook Christmas tree 2023.

The Christmas Tree during the post Christmas late Winter in March 2025

The church with the Christmas tree competition for best decorated tree.

Christmas is a special time in the Hudson River Valley and you need to travel to these small towns to appreciate how the towns decorate themselves and welcome Santa. Red Hook is now beginning to rival Rhinebeck down the highway for beauty and elegance at the Christmas holidays. The downtown businesses go all out in December and the town is decked in lights and decorations awaiting Santa’s arrival. The church services are in full swing with chorus concerts and beautiful decorations awaiting parishioners. It is magical in Red Hook at Christmas!

Downtown Christmas 2022

Downtown Red Hook Christmas tree 2022

Downtown Red Hook, NY at Christmas time.

Downtown Window displays at Christmas time.

Downtown Red Hook windows at Christmas.

Downtown Red Hook at the corner of Main Street and Route 9 Broadway.

The downtown churches of Red Hook, NY were decked out for the holidays.

The Downtown Red Hook churches are beautiful at the holidays.

Historic homes just off the downtown are decked for the Christmas holidays.

It is such a pleasure to visit the Hudson River Valley. The towns are so quaint during the holiday season from Halloween to Christmas Day. They are special places.

The homes in Downtown Red Hook are pretty amazing during the summer as well (Summer 2023).

The homes during the Fall of 2024 right before Halloween

Red Hook in the Fall of 2024 and the beautiful downtown homes

The new logo of the Red Hook shopping district in the summer of 2023

The Red Hook of Red Hook

The outdoor cafe’s in bloom

It is beautiful in every season up here.

The Town of Red Hook, NY is a magical place any time of the year. You just have to visit and know all this from the people who live here who seem to love it so much! It always seems to come alive though at the holidays both at Halloween and Christmas!

Exploring Red Hook during the summer of 2024

Red Hook in the Fall of 2024

The Town of Red Hook is wonderful to visit anytime of the year!

Day One Hundred and Sixty-Nine: Exploring Downtown Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey-A Local Journey July 15th, 2020 and August 18th, 2024 and January 1st, 2025 through today (and everyday of the week)

Since my thirty-two mile walk around the Island of Manhattan, I have stayed clear of New York City for the time being while things calm down a bit. Since my walk and even on Father’s Day weekend there have been a rash of shootings and thirteen people murdered in various neighborhoods. The papers said they have not seen anything like this since the late 90’s before Rudy Giuliani became Mayor and started to clean things up in New York City. What really spooked me is that I walked through parts of Harlem that were affected the day of the shootings especially between East 145th to East 118th Streets before I got on the riverfront walkway. I still can’t believe that people would act this way at a time like this.

Still between work and the fire department keeping me busy, it has been hard to get back into the City. Phase Three is slowly being introduced in but indoor seating has been put on hold. Outdoor dining has been cautious and the museum and parks have been slow to open. I just got a email from the Metropolitan Museum of Art that they will be opening on August 25th and 26th for a ‘Members Private Night’. It will be interesting to see if that happens.

Upstate New York in Duchess County is slowly opening up with precautions and we are now entering the ‘new normal’ that I would not have even thought about when I was running around the City and Upstate during the holiday season. I glad I made the visits I made when I did. You can’t do that now.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, we have been pretty much limited on what we can do and needing exercise and to get out of the house, I have been walking to our downtown and around the blocks exploring my own town.

The welcoming Hasbrouck Heights sign

The Hasbrouck Height Chamber of Commerce recently sponsored “A Stroll Downtown” for our residents for people to explore their downtown and visit the restaurants and stores that are open for limited business and outdoor dining. With the weather getting warmer, people are tired of getting cooped up in their homes and want to get outside and enjoy the weather (yes, we are all wearing masks when necessary).

Downtown Hasbrouck Heights Summer 2023

So every evening, I walk the Boulevard, our business district in Hasbrouck Heights and over time I have really noticed a lot more of our downtown. There is an array of architecture that dates back to the late 1800’s and historical markers that I had never really noticed before.

Downtown Hasbrouck Heights Summer 2023

There is also an array of nice stores (See https://littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/) and reasonable restaurants (See https://diningonashoestringinnyc.wordpress.com/) in our downtown to visit. The nice part of being family-owned businesses is that you can call in and make an appointment to see merchandise and pickup gifts. We have a lot of nice business owners who will work with their clients.

The song ‘Hasbrouck Heights’ by Burt Bacharach

I start my walk every evening with a turn around the corner from my home and I walk down Williams Avenue to the Boulevard which starts our small part of downtown on our side of town. What is interesting about Williams Avenue is that is was used as an escape route for George Washington’s troops during the Revolutionary War from the Battles in Hackensack and Paramus with the British.

Battle of Hackensack

The Battles in Hackensack and Paramus during the Revolutionary War

Our area of New Jersey has a very prominent place in Revolutionary War history with local battles with the British.

Washington Retreat Sign

Washington’s forces retreated down Williams Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights after the Battle in Hackensack NJ

Before rounding Williams Avenue onto the busy Boulevard, which is a County of Bergen Road, you will pass Corleone’s Pizza at 205 Williams Avenue, one of the newest pizzeria/restaurants in Hasbrouck Heights. Their pizza and sandwiches are really good anchored by their rich Marinara Sauce and well-priced lunch specials. Outdoor dining here is rather unusual on such a busy road but makes it almost seem like you are in the City. Don’t miss their lunch specials and interesting sandwich combinations.

Corleone’s Pizza at 205 Williams Avenue

https://www.facebook.com/CorleonesPizzeriaNJ/

https://www.corleonespizzeriamenu.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d13447995-Reviews-Corleone_s_Pizzeria-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

Their $7.99 Cheese Pizza Special is really good (now $8.99)

Walking to the downtown area is only a few blocks away passing many homes that have stood in town since the late 1800’s to the 1930’s. Hasbrouck Heights has a diversity of types of homes, so it makes walking around interesting especially if you are into historic homes and architecture.

Back in the early 2000’s, our former Mayor Rose Heck, started a beautification of the downtown area by cutting down the old trees and opening the buildings to more sun and creating a whole new landscape by bricking the new sidewalks and adding flowering cherry trees that bloom an abundance of colors in the Spring.

On the new wrought iron lampposts, we have pictures of the graduates of Hasbrouck Heights High School, who missed the last four months of school (but recently had their graduation socially distanced on the football field) and American flags that are placed for Memorial Day, Flag Day and the Fourth of July. During Christmas time, wreaths and white lights adorn them.

I always start on the right side of the Boulevard as you approach downtown. The downtown starts with the historic Corpus Christi Church at 215 Kipp Avenue. The complex with the historic parish house, which had once been a well-known doctor’s home in the late 1890’s sits between Washington Place, home to many historic Victorian homes and Kipp Avenue, the start of the business district.

Corpus Christi Catholic Church at 215 Kipp Avenue

http://www.corpuschristihh.org/

The original part of the Church that was built in 1896 was moved from across the street to its current location when the parish bought the Dunstan estate in 1914. The church has been added onto twice in 1934 and 1957.

Corpus Christi Church II

The parish house is the historic Dunstan mansion on the original estate grounds.

The business district runs from Kipp Avenue in town to the circle at Passaic Avenue. Since there are numerous businesses, I wanted to point out the ones that I have enjoyed and been a patron of for years.

Our newest Chinese restaurant, China House at 250 Boulevard, opened (ironically on March 13th when everything was shutting down) just off Kipp Avenue. This small take-out restaurant has a few small tables to dine in, which I did the first week it was open (now due to COVID-19 it is just take out). Their General Tso’s and Orange Chicken are really good. The family that runs the restaurant is really nice and has been offering opening discounts.

China House

China House at 250 Boulevard (Closed May 2020)

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d20322076-Reviews-China_House-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

It was replaced in 2024 by Daegu Chicken, a Korean fried chicken restaurant.

Daegu Chicken at 250 Boulevard (Closed June 2024)

https://daeguchicken.wixsite.com/daegu-chicken/blank-1

Now Chef J’s Latin Dragon

Chef J’s Latin Dragon at 250 Boulevard

https://www.chefjlatindragon.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Chefjslatindragon/

My review on TripAdvisor:

Next door is the new Cafe Hasbrouck Heights that features beverages and pastries and even Korean Doughnuts.

Cafe Hasbrouck Heights at 246 Boulevard

https://www.instagram.com/cafehasbrouckheights/?hl=en

Review on TripAdvisor:

The Bagel Shop as 230 Boulevard has also been very popular for both breakfast and late afternoon snacks.

The Bagel Shop at 230 Boulevard

https://www.thebagelshopnj.com/

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d13220503-Reviews-The_Bagel_Shop-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The nice thing about our downtown is the diversity of stores and restaurants. One of the most unique shops is the Religious Shoppe at 220 Boulevard. One of the few stores in the State of New Jersey that specializes in Catholic gifts, it has an array of merchandise from crosses to crucifixes and at the holidays there is a selection of jewelry, books, figurines, statuary and selected gifts both religious and secular.

The Religious Shoppe at 220 Boulevard

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/119

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/bp–the-religious-shoppe-unique-merchandise-in-a-welc9ecbf32558

The inside of the Religious Shoppe

Next to the Religious Shoppe at 220 Boulevard (the other side of the building) is Sophia’s Kitchen, a very popular Greek restaurant that opened several years ago and continues to grow in popularity. Their food and service are excellent and after many great reviews in both the local papers and on the internet has been a destination restaurant ever since. You need to wait for tables between Thursday and Saturday nights.

Sofia’s Mediterranean Grill at 220 Boulevard

My father and I had been eating here since the first week the restaurant opened and the food and the service have always been excellent. I have my favorite items on the menu that I always get when I find there. The food and service are excellent and I enjoying eating here.

Their gyro sandwiches are delicious with a side of their garlic fries.

They have this shrimp appetizer, the Shrimp Sanganaki, that is cooked in a tomato sauce and topped with cheese that is out of this world.

The Shrimp Sanganaki

The Shrimp is served with pita bread so you can soak up the sauce

Their Baklava is sweet and buttery and soaked in honey in all layers

The desserts here are amazing. It is a nice place to relax and enjoy your meal. A lot of people come with here with their families.

They also have a dessert called Galaktoboureko, a sweet custard wrapped in phyllo dough, that is amazing.

https://sofiasmediterraneangrill.com

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d3468322-Reviews-Sofia_s_Mediterranean_Grill-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/bp–sofias-mediterranean-grill-the-cuisine-of-greece-fdb3d070f6

Next door to Sophia’s, the owners opened a new coffee shop concept called “Confection Connection” that serves beverages and pastries and is now serving breakfast and lunch items.

C Squared Cafe at 216 Boulevard

https://www.facebook.com/csquaredcafe/?locale=fa_IR

Crossing over Franklin Avenue to the next block, you will find a series of interesting shops with Young Fashions at 208 Boulevard, for beautiful children’s wear and Not Too Shabby at 206 Boulevard (both closed for business in June 2021) for custom made and vintage painted furniture.

Young Fashions Inc III

Young Fashions at 206 Boulevard (Closed June 2021)

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/53

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/friends-merchant-series-young-fashions

Young Fashions Inc. II

Owner Addie Carrino greets all her customers personally (now retired)

Young Fashions (now closed June 2021) is a Lilliputian dream for the well-dressed child and a favorite for grandparents and aunts and uncles all over Bergen County. This delightful store still carries quality clothing for children from infant to age 12. Owner Addie Carrino still believes that there are children that still dress nicely and provides clothing from head to toe for them. She offers complimentary pressing of items when bought and free gift wrapping.

Not Too Shabby (now closed May 2020-online business orders) is run by Addie’s daughter, Liz Carrino, who brings to life her custom painted furniture and one-of-a-kind pieces. She loves vintage furniture from the Depression era and all sorts of decorative pieces for the home and office. Take time to walk around the aisles of furniture and Knick knacks.

Not too Shabby

Not Too Shabby at 206 Boulevard (now closed 2020-Online Business)

https://nottooshabbynj.com/

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/meet-liz-carrino-owner-of-not-too-shabby

Next to Not Too Shabby at 202 Boulevard, the new and much enlarged Dumpling Chinese Restaurant moved to from their old location at 220 Boulevard (now the home to China House). The restaurant is much bigger and brighter than their old restaurant and has lots of places to sit down. They made a wonderful Lemon Chicken and Moo Shu Pork and their dumplings are not bad too. Their Hot & Sour Soup is the best in town.

Dumpling Chinese Food at 202 Boulevard

http://www.dumplingchinesehasbrouckheights.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d23037500-Reviews-Dumpling_Chinese_Food-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

Dining in at Dumpling Chinese Food. The General Tso’s Chicken and Fried Rice Combination plate was visually nice and was delicious.

Walking further down the Boulevard I always pass the Masonic Temple at 200 Boulevard, one of the oldest buildings in Hasbrouck Heights. The Euclid Masonic Lodge has been in existence for 145 years and its stately building has been part of the downtown since anyone can remember.

The Euclid Masonic Lodge at 200 Boulevard during the Summer

The lodge decorated for Christmas

About Us

As you walk to the next two blocks you will reach the Circle which is the home to many a Christmas Celebration with the annual Tree Lighting after Thanksgiving. One little unique local landmark we have is the old ‘Neil Parrot Playhouse’ that sits on the Circle and is decorated for the holidays.

Welcome sign to Hasbrouck Heights during the Christmas holiday season

In 2016 a group of concerned citizens got together to have the little dollhouse, which matched the home of the old Neil Parrot business office and home of Neil Parrot, a local realtor. He used the little house to amuse children while their parents did business with him.

My blog on the Dollhouse:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/8139

Neil Parrot Playhouse

The Neil Parrot Playhouse on the Hasbrouck Heights Circle

The Dollhouse during the holiday season at night

The Circle at the corner of Boulevard and Passaic Avenue is the official end of the Business District and is where all holiday events take place with the Tree Lighting at the end of November and the Holiday Choir performing.

The pine trees at the Circle in Hasbrouck Heights add to a festive mood at the holidays

The Circle in all its glory at Christmas time.

The Gazebo during the Christmas holiday season

The Circle in the middle of the Spring

Walking around the Circle to the Firemen’s Memorial and the Firemen’s 9/11 Memorial

On the other side of the Circle from the old Neil Parrot Dollhouse is the Firemen’s Memorial where every Memorial Day and 9/11 Day, we on the fire department have our special ceremonies and events. It really is a place of reflection and a nice place to sit and think. I like to take time and look at the names of fire fighters from the past.

The Firemen’s Memorial in Hasbrouck Heights

http://www.hasbrouck-heights.com/hhfd/

The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department Memorial

The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department on Memorial Day-Me in front of the Ambulance in 2023

The park during the Christmas holiday season in 2024

The Firemen’s Bell during Christmas season

They did a nice job decorating the bell for the holiday season

I like to take a break here but move on I do very quickly and I start the walk on the other side of the Boulevard.

The decorations that residents display in Hasbrouck Heights. This display was right by the Circle

Another nice restaurant that I enjoy going to is Heights Bar & Grill at 163 Boulevard. The restaurant is now serving outdoor diners and has delivery and take out. Still the outdoor dining is really popular.

When it is open, it is the local watering hole for customers all over Bergen County who enjoy a good mixed drink, their wonderful pub food and watching the games. Their pizza and burgers are really good and cooked and seasoned perfectly. They have a nice assortment of appetizers to order when having a drink.

Heights Bar & Grill at 163 Boulevard

http://www.heightsbarandgrill.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d4734828-Reviews-The_Heights_Bar_and_Grill-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

My much delayed birthday dinner

This is also my favorite meal when the semester is over. I went recently with a friend from the fire department and we had the Cheesesteak Egg Rolls with drinks and then for the entree I had the Macaroni and Cheese Grilled Cheese with bacon. It is heavenly! Not good for you but heavenly in taste and consistency.

The Cheesesteak Egg rolls on my after classes were over dinner

My entree, the Macaroni and Cheese Grilled Cheese. It is unusual and delicious!

It was so good!

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/friends-merchant-series-heights-bar-and-grill

Walking past the Heights Bar & Grill there is a bevy of small businesses and commercial banks housed in older and modern buildings. The architecture in our downtown is a combination of old and new and old becoming new again.

A new addition to our restaurant scene and adding a little ‘hipster’ to Hasbrouck Heights is the new KTB Coffee Shop & Lounge at 183 Boulevard that just opened last year. It had been an old convenience store for years and the new owners stripped it down to the bearings where is looks like a combination of Williamsburg meets Beacon, NY. The food is reasonable and they have nice sandwiches and wraps. The nice part is when the place was open pre-COVID-19, they had entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights. It was nice to hear saxophonists and guitar players rather than the usual garage bands. It gives the downtown a little diversity from all the pizzerias and Chinese take-out places.

KTB Coffee Shop & Lounge at 183 Boulevard now has outdoor dining

https://www.ktbcoffeeshop.com/our-shop

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d17595045-Reviews-KTB_Coffee_Shop_Lounge-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The inside of JTB Coffee Shop with interesting artwork and innovative menu

The inside of the coffee shop

The pastries on display

The delicious Mixed Berry Smoothie that I enjoyed recently

The next few blocks is studded with service businesses, hair salons and banks and then you have a series of restaurants some opening in recent years.

One of the newest businesses to open in what was for years the Chip Dee Music Store is Heights Burgers at 195 Boulevard.

Heights Burgers at 195 Boulevard

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/13677503?m=19905

This new little burger joint has a nice selection of burgers and sandwiches and a whole selection of sides.

The inside of Heights Burgers

The inside of Heights Burgers

I really enjoyed my lunch. The burgers were rather large and very juicy and the fries were cooked to order. I thought the food was very good.

My lunch at Heights Burgers, a Cheeseburger with French Fries and a Coke

The burger was delicious as well as the fries

Yum!

On the corner of Hamilton Avenue and the Boulevard replacing the long service Carroll’s Fashion which had been that location for about thirty years.  Bella Pizza opened at 193 Boulevard. The pizzeria has quickly established itself in town among the other six pizzerias we have and makes the most amazing calzones and Sicilian pies.

Bella Pizza at 193 Boulevard

The inside of the restaurant is really beautiful with innovative paintings

https://www.bellapizzahh.com

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d13840427-Reviews-Bella_Pizza-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

Lunch at Bella Pizza is really good. I recently had lunch there and the food was delicious. I had a slice of Grandma Pizza with Vodka sauce and a side of Garlic Knots with red sauce. The lunch was really good and everything was freshly made.

The Grandma Pizza with Vodka Sauce and the side of Garlic Knots with red sauce at Bella Pizza

The pizza is delicious

The Garlic Knots could knock out any vampire

Bella Pizza being festive during the Christmas holiday season

And on Valentine’s Day

Enjoying a slice of Chicken Parmesan pizza on Christmas Eve for lunch

Their Chicken Francais pizza is delicious and a real treat

The Risotto House of Hasbrouck Heights, a branch of the popular Rutherford, NJ restaurant is at 203 Boulevard is one of the growing fine dining restaurants added to our downtown. It has always been busy at the holidays and in the COVID-19 era has a small outdoor dining area to sit and relax while you enjoy dishes like Shrimp Risotto and Veal Milanese.

The Risotto House of Hasbrouck Heights at 203 Boulevard

https://www.ourrisottohouse.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d3599716-Reviews-The_Risotto_House_Of_Hasbrouck_Heights-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

Next to The Risotto House of Hasbrouck Heights is J. Maru Sushi at 205 Boulevard and is known for their Bento Box lunches and their Shrimp Tempura and Chicken Teriyaki are always delicious.

Maki Sushi at 205 Boulevard

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Sushi-Restaurant/J-Maru-Sushi-435694726465834/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d4967381-Reviews-J_Maru_Sushi-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/bp–j-maru-sushi-a-visit-to-japan-without-leaving-town

One of the nicest stores in Hasbrouck Heights especially at each of the holidays is Heights Flower Shoppe at 209 Boulevard. Their window displays are some of the best in the downtown area and are especially nice at Christmas and Easter. I love their selection of gifts at the holidays and their owner always makes special arrangements for me when visiting the cemetery. The business is housed in an old home that has been in the downtown since the 1880’s and was renovated to its beauty by the owner.

Heights Flower Shoppe at 209 Boulevard

https://www.heightsflowershoppe.com/

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/130

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/friends-guest-column-heights-florist-shoppes-vorisek-5b8b062f7d

Heights Flower Shoppe is always special at Halloween

Video on Heights Flower Shoppe during the holidays.

The owner of Heights Flower Shoppe, Ray Vorisek, the two time winner of the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association Halloween House & Merchant Decorating Contest.

The winning window in 2023 at Heights Flower Shoppe

Ray was the three time winner of the contest in 2024 and continues to create beautiful windows for every holiday season.

The winning windows during Halloween 2024

Owner Ray Vorisek in front of his winning windows in 2024

Chairman Justin Watrel with the winner on Halloween in 2024

You have to visit the store during every holiday to see his creative windows and all the beautiful merchandise and inside displays that enhance the store.

Recently Ray helped myself and my class with a project at Bergen Community College under my Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. entitled “Heights Flower Shoppe-We keep Growing”:

The historic Lovey’s Pizzeria at 211 Boulevard and has been in town since the early 1960’s. There is a small dining room in the restaurant and I have been partial over the years to their fried calzones and their ravioli with red sauce. The current owner bought the pizzeria from her parents who had owned it all those years.

Lovey’s Pizzeria & Ristorante at 211 Boulevard (Currently closed)

https://www.loveysristorantepizzeria.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d4711933-Reviews-Lovey_s_Pizzeria_Ristorante-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/lovey-s-owner-corrine-seidel-knows-everything-about-p3ceadb12a9

We had another Japanese restaurant opened recently that I want to try soon.

Oishi Sushi at 223 Boulevard

https://heroorder.com/oishi223/

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46480-d8772751-Reviews-Oishi_Sushi-Hackensack_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

One of my favorite Chinese take-out places in Hasbrouck Heights is Ho Mei Kitchen at 227 Boulevard. I enjoy many of the dishes here especially their Lemon Chicken, their House Fried Rice and their Lo Mein is the best is the best in town. Their lunch specials are really reasonable and you can order them until 4:00pm. They are like a dinner. The family who owns the place are really nice and have set up an interesting system of ordering in the COVID-19 era.

Ho Mei Kitchen at 227 Boulevard

http://www.homeikitchen.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d8605835-Reviews-Ho_Mei_Kitchen-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/diningonashoestringinnyc.wordpress.com/673

Their Lemon Chicken is the best!

So is the Chicken and String Beans

Crossing the street at Jefferson Avenue are three of the oldest businesses in town along with Lovey’s Pizzeria, Height Floral Shoppe and Young Fashions is Bill O’Shea’s Florist & Gifts at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and the Boulevard at 231 Boulevard has been opened since the 1960’s as well.

Like Heights Flower Shoppe, Bill O’Shea’s Florist & Gifts is always so nicely merchandised with the wonderful flower arrangements for a quick pickup, nice assortments of candy and stuffed animals and creative gift items for the home at the holidays. Their owners are really nice and accommodating. They also have a nice Open House at the opening of the holiday season.

Bill O’Sheas Florist & Gifts at 227 Boulevard

https://osheasflowers.com/

My article on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/151

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/friends-merchant-series-bill-osheas-florist

The owners of Bill O’Shea’s Florist & Gifts, John and Linda Kosakowski, at their Food Drive.

Bill O'Shea's at Easter

Bill O’Shea’s Easter Open House 2021

The store at Christmas time in 2025

The Christmas items in 2025

The store decked for the holidays

The newest addition to Downtown Hasbrouck Heights is Ralph’s Ice Cream & Ices at 239 Boulevard that opened in the height of the COVID pandemic just in time to cheer a town up that really needed it. The store opened in the summer of 2020 to long lines and gave everyone an excuse to done a mask and meet their neighbors for a sweet treat. Check out their weekly posted specials.

Ralph’s Ice Cream at 239 Boulevard

Fisher’s Café at 245 Boulevard is another restaurant that has been in town since the 1960’s and is a popular place for breakfast and lunch with a lot of the locals who make this their place to eat. Fisher’s is very popular for their breakfast dishes and platters and is a hang out after school for the junior high and high students for their burgers and grilled cheese.

Fisher’s Café at 245 Boulevard

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/American-Restaurant/Fishers-Cafe-Hasbrouck-Heights-190840294276558/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d4953321-Reviews-Fisher_s_Cafe-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/friends-merchant-series-fisher-s-cafe

Another long-time merchant in Hasbrouck Heights is Spindler’s Bake Shop at 247 Boulevard, which had reopened after a few years of being closed by the family. The bakery has been a Hasbrouck Heights institution since the 1950’s by the current owner’s grandparents.

Spindler's Bakery V

Ginny & Bob Spindler at their store as the next generation of bakers.

Spindler’s was the Runner Up for the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association Halloween House & Merchant Decorating Contest in 2022.

They are well-known for their butter cookies arrangements; their fresh rolls and their apple and lemon turnovers are melted in your mouth good!  Don’t miss their delicious Black & White cookies and their stuffed Chocolate Chip sandwiches. The staff is always friendly and the smells of the baked goods as you enter the store are sensational.

Spindler’s Bake Shop at 247 Boulevard (Closed June 2024)

https://twitter.com/spindlersbakery?lang=en

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d12898321-Reviews-Spindler_s_Bake_Shop-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/diningonashoestringinnyc.wordpress.com/1645

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/spindlers-bakery-a-hasbrouck-heights-tradition-returns-to-town

The baked goods are so good! Beautifully decorated for Halloween 2022!

The selection is really nice.

Their Apple and Lemon Turnovers are excellent!

As you pass by Spindler’s Bake Shop, you will walk the next block over and pass Kipp Avenue again to the end of the official part of the Business District and start walking back to Williams Avenue past residential and commercial properties and Corpus Christi Church again until you reach our Municipal Building.

In a small strip of stores across from our new Town Hall that was built in 2004 are two very popular restaurants, Tom Young Koong, at 305 Boulevard and Heights Pizzeria at 313 Boulevard which have both adapted to the COVID-19 era of outdoor dining and take-out/delivery.

Tom Young Koong is a very well-known destination Thai restaurant that is very busy between Thursday and Saturday nights. Their assortment of appetizers that include Chicken Satay, Curry Puffs, Fried Dumplings and Shrimp Fried Noodle are excellent and they have the most delicious Pad Thai which is wonderful with Chicken and Shrimp. The food is cooked by the owner with recipes that came from his mother. The service is always friendly and the owners are really nice.

Tom Young Koong at 305 Boulevard

https://www.menuism.com/restaurants/tom-yum-koong-thai-restaurant-medford-19871

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d4632674-Reviews-Tom_Yum_Koong_Thai_Kitchen-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

Hasbrouck Heights Pizza (Heights Pizza to locals) at 313 Boulevard has been popular since it opened its doors almost a decade ago. Their pizza is so popular that people order it from several towns away and even during the worst storms even Hurricane Sandy, it never closed and was as busy as ever. Everything here is delicious and it is known not just for its regular Cheese Pizza but their Grandma Pizza, their Pepperoni Calzones, Specialty pies and their entrees are excellent and restaurant quality. The place is always busy, so the staff and drivers run in and out of the place. The outdoor dining is even popular from early Spring until it gets cold in October.

Heights Pizzeria at 313 Boulevard

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46497-d4789435-Reviews-Hasbrouck_Heights_Pizza-Hasbrouck_Heights_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/bp–friends-merchant-series-heights-pizzeria-serves-g2bd44b4fc5

Heights Pizza II

The owner of Heights Pizza, Celestino Gencarelli, welcomes guests to his restaurant.

The Buffalo Chicken Bacon Pizza here is excellent and is a full meal.

So is the Detroit Slice

The Grandma Vodka slice is another good choice

Next door to Heights Pizza is the new Himalaya on Heights Bubble Tea and Dumpling restaurant with recipes of Nepalese cooking. I was really surprised and happy we got such great new fusion restaurants. It shows what a diverse population we are starting to become with people moving from the City to suburbs.

Himalaya on Heights at 313 Boulevard

https://www.facebook.com/p/Himalaya-On-Heights-61568516621001/

My review on TripAdvisor:

I ate at Himalaya Heights for the first time and found it a beautifully decorated restaurant with wonderful cuisine and friendly service. The food was excellent and so nicely presented when it comes to the table.

The inside of the restaurant

The inside of the restaurant

My dinner of a Dragon Fruit Refresher, the Chicken Momos (dumplings) and Chicken Fried Rice

The Nepalese Dumplings the Chicken Momos

The Fried Rice was excellent as well

The food here is really interesting. It is a heavier, spicy cuisine than regular Chinese Food. This is because of the location of Nepal, where the climate is colder and you need more hearty food. The food is spicer and nicely prepared. The cuisine is unique for a suburban community and I liked the diversity of the selection of restaurants we are getting in our downtown.

Across the street from these restaurants sits the Hasbrouck Heights Municipal Building that stands guard over the downtown and welcomes visitors and residents alike.

The Hasbrouck Heights Municipal Building at 320 Boulevard

https://hasbrouck-heightsnj.org/

The last thing I always see on my way home is the Hasbrouck Heights Junior/Senior High School which has stood here since the 1940’s educating generations of Hasbrouck Heights residents.

Hasbrouck Heights High School

Hasbrouck Heights High School at 365 Boulevard

https://www.hhschools.org/

When arriving back at Williams Avenue, I cross the Boulevard again with Corleone’s Pizzeria in the distance and their well-lit tables. Two other businesses have been in town a long time in this series of stores.

Danson Jewelers at 201 Williams Avenue has been in Hasbrouck Heights since the 1980’s and does a nice job on repairs of watches and jewelry and has a nice selection of watches. The service is very friendly and the family that owns it gets to know their regulars.

Danson Jewelers at 201 Williams Avenue

https://dansonjewelers.com/jewelry/

Further down the street a new bakery opened. Two Ladies Bakery at 446 Boulevard. They specialize in Lebanese, Russian and French pastries. The bakery just opened two weeks ago so it is nice to go in and support a new business in town.

Two Ladies Bakery at 448 Boulevard

https://twoladiesbakerynorth.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TwoLadiesBakeryNorth/

My review on TripAdvisor:

The Cream Puff I had was a little pricey for our town at $5.00. It was well baked and had a rich creamy vanilla filling. It was good but average.

Cream Puffs

The cream puffs are good but expensive

Another long service merchant who has been assisting residents for years is Heights Specialty Pharmacy (the former BeJay Drug Store) at 450 Boulevard. The staff has been here for years and is helpful to many of our senior residents. The owner’s wife runs a small gift shop both in the store and a few doors down has a separate shop.

Heights Specialty Pharmacy at 450 Boulevard

http://heightsspecialty.com/

My article on Patch.com:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/hasbrouckheights/friends-merchants-series-bejay-drugs-tradition-and-ole6071c843e

The last merchant I pass on my way home is Jerry’s Barber Shop at 406 Boulevard, which has been here since the 1920’s when Jerry’s father ran the business. Jerry has been cutting my hair since 1988 and is one of the only people I trust to do it correctly. I even waited for trips home from Hawaii, Guam and California when I lived in those places to get my hair cut. A haircut here is still $14.00 and he does an excellent job. Jerry unfortunately has since retired in 2024.

Jerry’s Barber Shop at 460 Boulevard (Closed February 2024)

https://www.bestprosintown.com/nj/hasbrouck-heights/jerrys-barber-shop-/

Then I round the corner and am on my way home again. For such a small town, Hasbrouck Heights has the most interesting and historic downtown that few residents appreciate when you look at the history and longevity of our merchants. A few long-time merchants have closed their doors as they have either retired or COVID-19 has affected the business.

The holiday season in Hasbrouck Heights:

During the holiday season, the town really rolls out the welcome mat. People in town love to decorate and entertain. In this COVID era, some things have been toned down such as large parties and parades. All the Christmas concerts have been cancelled as school has been put into both virtual and life classes.

The Halloween Window Painting Contest was in full form in 2023.

The Halloween Window Painting Contest.

The Halloween Window Painting Contest in 2023.

Window Painting in 2024

Halloween Window Painting in 2024

Still the spirit of the town can be felt from Halloween to the New Years as people decorate their homes and businesses welcome people to open houses and will cater to small parties of people.

Halloween in Hasbrouck Heights in 2022.

In 2021, the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association started the first Annual “Halloween House Decorating Contest” to promote all the residents who decorate their homes for the Halloween holidays. We presented the award on Halloween morning to the winners at 257 Henry Street.

253 Henry Street HHMA Winners

The first Annual “HHMA Halloween House Decorating Contest” winners at 253 Henry Street with Chairman Justin Watrel in 2021.

The 2022 winners at 82 Woodside Avenue for the contest.

My blog on Halloween at the Parade and running the Halloween House Decorating Contest in 2021:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/19756

510 Henry Street won in 2023.

My blog on the Halloween House Decorating Contest in 2023:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/39522

253 Henry Street HHMA Winner II

The winning house at 253 Henry Street in 2021.

The winning house at 82 Woodside Avenue in 2022.

The winning house at 510 Henry Street in 2023.

Every year I look forward to the Downtown Merchants Open Houses with their bright creative display windows and small indoor entertainments as people come to shop and converse with their neighbors.

Heights Floral Shop II

Heights Flower Shop at Halloween

Heights Floral Shop Halloween

Hasbrouck Heights merchants know how to decorate for Halloween-Heights Flower Shop

The 2024 Halloween House & Merchandising Contest:

It was a banner year in ‘Haunted Hasbrouck Heights’ as a record number of Hasbrouck Heights residents decorated their homes for what has now become the start of the Holiday season. ‘In our town of Halloween’ we searched for the best ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night to find the best house and merchant that best represents the spirit of the Halloween holidays. This is my forth year as the Chairman of the Hasbrouck Heights Halloween House Decorating Contest and I have never seen so much creativity in our town.

We found that our winners were two members of the community that had been winners in previous contests, who really stepped up their game and created displays that dazzled the judges unanimously, Heights Floral Shoppe for a third straight year and the Fiduccia family of 85 Woodside Avenue for a second year since winning two years ago. The judges were blown away by their creativity and ingenuity in creating such fantastic displays.

Our Merchant Division is starting to grow with more of our Downtown merchants decorating their windows for the Halloween season. We wish more would get involved but the clear winner is now a three time winner with not just the most amazing windows but interior as well.

The Heights Flower Shoppe dazzles during day and night

‘I love Halloween,” owner Ray Vorisek said. “We like to use our creativity in the windows. I am always adding on and looking for new things for the display. We have been so busy lately that we were not able to finish adding some of the newer pieces for the store.”

The witches, goblins and ghosts in the display at Heights Flower Shoppe

The windows were decorated with flying witches and beasts smiling on their journeys while a howling wicked witch of the west stood guard in the front of the store. The interior was a wonderland of Halloween decorations and candies perfect for any Halloween event and party.

The inside is decorated for a Halloween get together

The candy selection for you little goblins

The store both inside and out was decorated to the hilt with items for sale and the displays.

Three time winner Ray Vorisek with HHMA Halloween Chairman Justin Watrel

Winner and owner of Heights Flower Shoppe Ray Vorisek in front of his store.

Our runner up the year was Healing 4 the Soul, the gift shop and café that is one of the newer additions to our business district. The business is owned by residents Renee and Dawn Pikowski. The windows were simple and creative and elegant.

The enchanting windows of witches and pumpkins

The spiritual windows up close

“We love to decorate our windows,” said co-owner Nicole Pikowski “ we strive to be creative. You will always see different displays at each holiday.” The store was decorated with beautiful witches wishing everyone a Happy Halloween.

The inside of the Cafe for Healing 4 the Soul

The enchanting gifts at Healing 4 the Soul

There are a lot of lotions and potions and sweet treats to eat inside that are all handmade in house. The Halloween fragrances abound the store. More of our merchants got very creative this year and we are hoping to see more next year.

Chairman Justin Watrel presenting the Runner Up Merchant award to Co-Owner Renee Pikowski

HHMA Halloween Merchant Decorating Winner Renee Pikowski

In the House Decorating Division it was a difficult decision for judges who drove around many days both day and night to see the houses. Of all the wonderful houses we visited all over Hasbrouck Heights, one home was on the top of every list of each judge and that was 85 Woodside Avenue.

The Fiduccia family had been our winners in the Second Annual contest and stepped up their game by adding all sorts of new elements to the yard to be the winners again in 2024. The vote was unanimous amongst all five judges.

85 Woodside Avenue at night

These are some videos on the winning home’s video display that won the contest. These were amazing and so spooky:

Video of the display of the Archway in the yard:

Video of the window display on the second floor of the house:

Video on the yard and video displays:

Ghosts and ghouls lined the yard performing all sorts of interesting acts

Skeletons lined the yard awaiting the crowds of Trick or Treaters visiting on Halloween Night

The Fiduccia family in their family ‘skeleton’ costumes

The Fiduccia family with their second year win!

The display during the day was just as impressive as it is at night

Matt Fiduccia said that he really wanted to add new things to the display. “We found a lot of new items that became available and added them to the display. I created the arch for the ‘Ghostbuster-like video’. We added the projectors to the windows on the second level of the house as well. There are a lot of new decorations on the market now for Halloween.”

The house not only had sculptures and mannequins of all types but creatures, skeletons and ghouls that lines the yard. In the archway in the front yard was a running video of apparitions from movies like ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Poltergeist’. In the upstairs windows of the home were running videos of desperate souls and violent blows. Each part of the house had its own storyline. It was a well-deserved win.

The Fiduccia family together with their second win for the Halloween House Decorating Contest

The Judges Marc Mancuso, Chairman Justin Watrel and Vinnie DeCicco from the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association with winner Matt Fiduccia

With so many wonderful houses to choose from, the judges narrowed it down to three homes as the runners up. There were so many that we liked but each judge was asked to narrow it down to three and it was pretty much unanimous amongst the five of us. Just like the winner, the judges had a short list of the runners up and three homes captured our imagination.

The first two were previous runners up who upped their game and had extraordinary displays of creativity. One was at 36 Hamilton Avenue, the home of Alex, Laura and Scarlet Pena. The other was at 115 Ottawa Avenue the home of Dennis Hall. The displays were both intriguing and imaginative both during the day and night. Like the winners, everyone stepped up the decorations with lights and sound effects and added that special touch to their homes that made it stand out.

Our third was a house on the Hasbrouck Heights border in Lodi that captured the imagination of each judge at 236 Paterson Avenue. The house had a bevy of creatures displayed both in and out of the house. All the judges kept passing it at night so impressed by it we did not realize that it was on the border of Hasbrouck Heights in Lodi, NJ.

“My grandfather used to decorate his house and people used to travel to visit it, so I wanted to keep that tradition going,” said Runner up Jay Logan. “We keep dreaming up new ideas for the display and we keep adding to it.”

Jay and Ann Logan of Lodi were one of the three Runners up for the contest

“We didn’t even know that there was a contest going on,” said Anne Logan. “We live right on the border of Hasbrouck Heights and Lodi, so we feel like we are part of both communities.” The Logan’s turned their display on and lit up and roared. The Logan’s are active members of both communities and were surprised and very excited about their win.

236 Paterson Avenue at night

The ghost and ghouls in front of 236 Paterson Avenue

236 Paterson Avenue during the day

Chairman Justin Watrel awarding the Logan’s their award.

At 26 Hamilton Avenue, Alex and Lauren Pena and their daughter, Scarlett added at lot to their and their display had more horrors in each section of the yard and house. “We have a lot of fun decorating on Halloween and everyone is impressed by the front yard display,” Lauren explained.

26 Hamilton Avenue was Runner Up last year as well

36 Hamilton winners Lauren and Scarlet Pena in front of their home with Chairman Justin Watrel

The Skeleton surgery in front of 26 Hamilton Avenue

36 Hamilton during the day

The mother and daughter Runner Up winners Lauren and Scarlet Pena

The last house on the Runner Up list was 115 Ottawa Avenue which had an honorable mention last year in the contest and has been noted on the list since the first year of the contest. Owner Dennis Hall accepted the Runner Up award with much excitement. “I love decorating the house for Halloween. The kids really seem to love it when they come here Trick or Treating. We are a very popular house. I added the sound effects and have several new pieces that I did not have time to put out for next year. You will have to come back next Halloween.”

115 Ottawa Avenue

115 Ottawa Avenue by the doorway

Runner Up and previous Honorable mention winner Dennis Hall Second next to his ghoulish display that was lit for the night of the presentation

115 Ottawa Avenue drinking the day

We want to thank all the members of the Hasbrouck Heights community for their wonderful displays and with a little extra decoration here and sound effect there can make a big difference in the judging.

I want to thank the judges in the contest Vinnie DeCicco and his kids, Ed Gumbrecht, Marc Mancuso, Joe Salib and his kids and Pat Fass and his daughter, Maggie. I also want to thank HHMA member Steve Feuss for creating the signs every year for the contest. This really makes it special for the winners to display their signs and awards on Halloween night. It was a successful 2024 contest.

Right before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Bill O’Shea Flowers had their annual Open House with Christmas music and lots of pre-wrapped goodies to enjoy and take home. The store was beautifully decorated with all sorts of treasures that customers could buy, I love just walking around and grabbing a snack while shopping every year.

Bill O’Shea’s Florist & Gifts is a delight at the Christmas holidays

Bill O’Shea’s Florist & Gifts welcomes you at Christmas

The weekend after Thanksgiving, Heights Flower Shoppe had their Annual Open House and it was just as spectacular. One tries to outdo the other in a friendly rivalry.

Heights Flower Shoppe has the most interesting merchandise

Heights Flower Shoppe pulls out all stops to welcome you at the holidays

House decorating is not reserved just for Halloween in Hasbrouck Heights as Christmas is the big time for decorating in our town. Every year, the Mayor’s Celebration Committee (which I was on for four years) judged who won for many different categories. I was not sure who the winners were but some of the homes around my house were so nicely decorated for the holidays.

My neighbors houses all decked out for the holidays

One of the houses on the Boulevard decked out for the holidays

My twenty-one years on the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association has done a lot to my back after years at Macy’s selling rugs as well. The Annual Christmas Tree Sale was a HUGE success this year. We sold out in less than two weeks, ending the sale on Friday night, December 11th selling a record 375 trees. We want to thank the residents of Hasbrouck Heights and the surrounding towns for their support on our Scholarship Fund event.

Hasbrouck Heights Men's Association Xmas Tree Sales VI

The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association at the set-up being COVID safe in 2020

HHMA Christmas Tree Sale 2021 I

Things calmed down a bit in 2021. We sold out 390 trees in 11 days!

In 2022, 390 trees by December 9th

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/15853

The trees were gorgeous this year

Unloading the trees in 2022 (We sold out in two and half weeks)

The beauty of the site during the Christmas season at night when the lights come out

In 2023, the Christmas Parade in town was all lights and music as the town welcomed in the holiday season the Friday night after Thanksgiving. Every year this parade takes place when the lights go down and you can see all the lights in the Downtown business district. The parade is then followed by the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony.

The start of the Christmas Holiday Parade in Hasbrouck Heights.

The Hasbrouck Heights High School Band in the parade.

There were more floats in the parade this year in 2023.

Santa arrived at the end of the Parade

Video of Santa arriving in Hasbrouck Heights:

The Parade in 2024

Costume characters during the parade in 2024

The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association Christmas float in the 2024 parade

As we ready for Christmas 2020 next week and the coming of a new and hopefully better New Year, the town has done its job to cheer us up. The Annual Christmas Tree lighting was not advertised but happened anyway and welcomes people at our western border of town.

Our town Christmas tree display at the Circle

Neil Parrot Playhouse

The Neil Parrot playhouse is even decorated at the Circle

Downtown Hasbrouck Heights welcomes you at Christmas

Bill O’Shea’s in Hasbrouck Heights at Christmas time

Even though the Annual Holiday Parade was cancelled, we will still be welcoming Santa at Santa Around Town the last Sunday of December before Christmas. This Annual tradition on the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department has the whole town in the Christmas spirit as Santa visits them in their own neighborhoods.

Santa Around Town HHFD

The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department at “Santa Around Town” 2019

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/14847

Christmas Parade in HH

We visit every neighborhood in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ

Nothing can stop the holiday spirit in our town even in the era of COVID. This is a time when neighbors and friends need to stick together for holiday cheer!

HHFD Santa Around Town 2020
HHFD at Santa Around Town 2020

My blog on “Santa Around Town 2020”:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/16150

The Brothers of the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department at “Santa Around Town” 2020!

Santa Around Town 2021

Santa Around Town in 2021 when we could stop and talk to people again

My blog on “Santa Around Town” in 2021:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/20547

In 2020, the State of the New Jersey slowly opened again, I could still walk my entire downtown in the evenings and appreciate the fact that sometimes small-town living is not so bad and it is still only twenty minutes and twelve miles to Midtown Manhattan.

This is what walking is all about. Discovering things close to home.

Watch this video on our town and try to locate some of the older homes still standing.

And be a tourist in your own town!

The historic Dollhouse in the Summer of 2023.

Hasbrouck Heights is a wonderful community and a great place to raise kids. It has everything so close to New York City. We do have some weird occurrences though.

We had a 3.0 earthquake in town at 10:15pm on August 3rd, 2025:

We even had an earthquake on August 4th, 2025

I just hope we do not have anymore earthquake any time soon

I really enjoy living and working in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. It is a nice little town with a lot to offer.

Downtown Cold Spring at Christmas

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Seven Christmas Again in the blink of an eye November 23rd, 2019-January 10th, 2020

I have never seen a holiday come and go so fast that it zoomed by. We had one less weekend this year in the month of December before Christmas and it seemed to set everyone in a panic. I have seen holidays fly by but this one was for the records. It seemed that everyone crammed in as much as they could the first two weekends of December and did not come up for breath.

I was no different as work took up everything leading to Halloween and then boom, five weeks later there was Thanksgiving and Sinterklaas. As I wrote in earlier blogs, we went from 71 degrees on Halloween Parade to 25 degrees five weeks later for the Sinterklaas Parade. You just can’t predict the weather.

Halloween Parade Puppet Rehearsals 2019.jpg

The Puppet Rehearsals started my Holiday Season in early October

Visit the blog “Day One Hundred and Fifty Three: “Halloween Again”:

Day One Hundred and Fifty Three: Here’s Halloween Again October 31st, 2019

After my class’s presentation in Paterson, I left the next day for Florida to visit friends and family. There were some concerns with my friends and I wanted to be sure that they were okay and then I wanted to spend time with my brother and niece. After that I traveled to visit my mother for her birthday so it was a nice visit.

It was also a good working vacation too as I added on new stores to my LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com site and new museums on my VisitingaMuseum.com site:

See the new Museums I explored:

https://visitingamuseum.com/

Cummer Museum.jpg

The Cummer Museum in Jacksonville, Fl was recently added to my blog among  others were updated.

https://www.cummermuseum.org/

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/3810

MOCA Jacksonville, FL

The MOCA-Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, FL was interesting

https://mocajacksonville.unf.edu/

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/3836

See the new shops that I added:

https://littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/

bark-iii.jpg

The innovative pet store, “Bark” in Jacksonville, Fl was added to my retail site as well as some sites were revisited.

It was also a good vacation because after the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. presentation in Paterson, NJ was behind me, it was a big sigh of relief. As I said in that blog (Day One Hundred and Fifty-Eight), it was a lot of work and stress for all of us right before Thanksgiving but it was the best time to present it because the students could relax over the holidays and be proud of what they accomplished.

Here are some links to the project:

Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Paterson Project

My Business 101 class at City Hall for their presentation “Take me Back to Paterson,NJ”

Visit the site: “Day One Hundred and Fifty-Eight: Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Presents:

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Five: Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. presents: “Take me Back to Paterson, New Jersey” Introduction to Business 101-Bergen Community College November 23rd, 2019

When I returned home from Florida on my business/vacation trip, it was full steam ahead with the holidays. I promised myself this year that I would cut back on a lot of the get togethers and events to attend and I stuck by it. Still there was a lot to see and do and things I wanted my readers to know on my blogs.

The holiday season this year though started without me.  I was not home for the Christmas tree drop off for the Men’s Association, the Annual Holiday Parade in Hasbrouck Heights and our Department Party for the Fire Department and the Holiday Party for the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association. I was away that first weekend visiting friends and family and work on this blog. I got into the spirit and the holiday rush when I returned.

The holiday season started for me the first Saturday of December with marching in the Annual Sinterklaas Parade in Rhinebeck. I am now going on my seventh year participating in the parade and almost a decade of being up in Rhinebeck, NY.

Rhinebeck, NY like the rest of the Hudson River Valley is just magical at the holidays from Halloween to New Year’s. Downtown Rhinebeck is picturesque like a modern Currier & Ives print with the twinkling white lights, the Sinterklaas paintings attached to the trees and the beautifully decorated retail windows which showcase their goods and the parade stars.

Rhinebeck, NY is magical at Christmas

I was so busy working in the morning with my Introduction to Business class on the wrap up of their project and preparing them for their final exam that I did not get up to Rhinebeck until 2:30pm so I missed the whole puppet set-up.

Sinterklaas at the end of the parade

It was really cold the day of the parade and must have been around 38 degrees even with the sun. I did not see as many people as the last two years and you could actually walk the streets. The police closed off the main street so you could finally walk around Downtown Rhinebeck with no problems.

All along the streets and alleyways were entertainers, bands, costumed characters and people on stilts talking to people and engaging the crowds. The one thing I have to say is that it was getting colder and colder as the day went on. I felt for the people in costume who had to deal with this weather.

I wrote more about my afternoon at the parade on Day One Hundred and Fifty Six: The Sinterklaas Parade:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/11227

You can see me in the corner of the Sinterklaas Parade near Mother Earth in the Cornell Hat in the 2018 parade and the 2019 parade

That Saturday evening it went down to almost 24 degrees and it got cold! Even with four layers, I could see my breath right in front of me. That didn’t stop the crowds. They were five deep for the parade which like every year it magical. Between all the colors, lights, floats and stars hanging from poles along the parade route it adds to the excitement of Sinterklaas coming to town.

I was working in the star forest by the Mother Earth float so I was toward the back of the parade so I could see most everything from the hill overlooking Downtown Rhinebeck. It is something to see the parade from the parade itself up on the hill. The whole town is ablaze with energy as each band and dance team performs.

Downtown Rhinebeck NY during Christmas

I loved the looks on the kids faces as all the puppets lean into the crowds. Then right behind us the crowd follows the parade into the parking lot to enjoy the show. This is when the crowd dispersed.

I have never seen a crowd clear up as we rounded the corner and dropped off our puppets. The other people I worked with went home and after the show and the fire performers finished the last of the crowd dispersed. I just wanted to walk around the town one more time before I left town.

The parade is magical when the puppets enter Downtown Rhinebeck

By the time finished my walk around town, it must have dropped to 22 degrees and everyone was off the streets. It got so quiet in Rhinebeck. The restaurants were still dealing with the crowds but not as busy as I remembered the last two years. When I had a slice of pizza at Village Pizza at 119 East Market Street (see review on TripAdvisor), the place was quiet which not normal that night. You could still get a seat. It was worth it though as their pizza is delicious.

I got home late that night and I will tell you that it got colder that night. The windows of the car really froze up. Normally I would spend the night but I had to visit a series of decorated mansions to visit, a few holiday events at museums and an Afternoon Tea at the Ballantine Mansion at the Newark Museum.

The next day was a whirlwind of activity as I ran from one activity to another. Because of having one less weekend before Christmas all the organizations were having their events the first Saturday and Sunday of December so I had to plan my visits like D-Day. I wanted to be able to update my VisitingaMuseum.com blog with visits to all the holiday events. It was too much in one day but I did it.

I started that Sunday at the Lodi, NJ VFW for the Knights of Columbus monthly breakfast. For $6.00, I had to load up on the carbs because I would not be eating until 4:00pm. The Knights of Columbus know how to make breakfast and I loaded up on scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and French Toast and potatoes before my long day of running around. The discussion amongst all of us was how we were all tired of Christmas and it had not even arrived yet. It just seemed that everyone else like me was running from one thing to another.

My first stop that morning was the the Boonton Historical Society at 210 Main Street in Boonton, NJ (see reviews on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com). I had visited earlier in October after a Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association meeting and they had mentioned this get together. It was a very nice event.

The Boonton Historical Society at 210 Main Street

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com

https://www.boonton.org/268/Boonton-Historical-Society

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/3595

The Historical Society had a few local musicians and entertainers playing to the crowd and a nice assortment of small appetizers and cookies to nibble on while you walked around the displays. It is a nice place to get insights on the development of the iron industry in New Jersey plus the growth of business in the State. They also had a nice exhibition on the Trolley system in New Jersey.

The refreshment table for Christmas at the Boonton Historical Society

The next stop was the Holiday Festival at the Hopper-Goetschius House at 245 Lake Street in Upper Saddle River, NJ. The Historical Society of Upper Saddle River ran this engaging little festival which was a lot of fun. The weather had broke and it was sunny and a pleasant 48 degrees out.

Hopper-Goetschius Museum Christmas.jpg

Santa in the Dutch Barn at the Hooper-Goetschius House at 245 Lake Street

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/2030

You could visit Santa in the Dutch barn, participate in historical games in the schoolhouse, watch a demonstration of blacksmith work, eat fresh popcorn and chestnuts that were cooked over an open fire the outdoor kitchen and tour the house itself which was decorated for a Victorian Christmas.

There were tours of the house, story telling in the dining room, classical music being played in the parlor and fresh Christmas cookies and hot apple cider in the Colonial kitchen which dates back to the late 1700’s. they really did a nice job but then it was off to the next site, the Newark Museum for Afternoon Tea at the Ballantine House.

The Ballantine House at the Newark Museum was decorated for Christmas as “Mrs. Ballantine’s Christmas Eve Open House”

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://www.newarkmuseumart.org/ballantine-house-newark-museum-art

If you ever drove from Boonton to Upper Saddle River to Newark in one afternoon, it is a lot of running around and a lot of driving through traffic during the holidays. Thank God all of these events were on a Sunday when the malls are closed (Bergen County, NJ has strict Blue Laws).

I got there just as they started serving tea and the room was packed with people. The event was held on the top floor of the old Ballatine Mansion which is part of the Newark Museum. It had once been the attic of the house which Mrs. Ballatine converted into an apartment for her married daughter and her family. It now serves as the Trustees Room.

Newark Museum

The Newark Museum at 49 Washington Street in Newark, NJ. The Ballantine House is to the right.

That was a very nice afternoon of nice conversation with other guests, wonderful food (the sandwiches and pastries were plentiful on the table) and an interesting talk on the history of the Ballantine Mansion and the family. After the tea was over, we were lead on a special out of the mansion which was decorated for the Christmas holidays circa 1890. It must have been a pleasant affair for the family as the day started with church services and then a Christmas luncheon.

After the talk, it was back to the house again and changing clothes and selling Christmas trees from six to ten that evening. We only sold five trees that night and I was so happy that after 8:00pm we had no customers and I could just sit by the fire and relax. I was all ‘Christmased’ out that day. It was just nice to sit and smell the pine trees. I was happy when the day was over. Fun yes but I was tired from all the driving. That was just the first weekend.

Selling Christmas trees is part of the our fundraising for the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association. I have been doing this for twenty years.

Here’s me promoting the event:

The second week was just as busy. I ran two holidays parties at work. One group not many people attended so it was just the four of us. Still it was nice. The other group I had twenty people in wheelchairs who we ‘wined and dined’. Each one of us baked something, we arranged to have gifts for all the residents of the facility I work with and then I made a big batch of stuffed shells and made a dessert tray as a gift so that the residents had something from me to take back to their rooms. I have never seen a group of people light up and be their old selves. Living in a nursing facility is hard but I think we did bring ‘Santa’ back in their lives that afternoon.

We had another wonderful lunch at work with a full turkey dinner and a lot of well wishes and then the rains came for two days and did not let up. So we had to change the day of our Men’s Association Christmas party to the next night and I ended up having a nice time.

Setting up the Christmas trees

We all huddled around a fire and talked about the past year and the success of the Christmas tree sale. This will mean more scholarships in the future to our students and hopefully more future customers.  People believe in what we are trying to achieve. The pot luck brings in everyone’s creativity and we had a nice meal.

The second weekend came and went as fast as the first. I gave my final exam in the morning to my class and for the most part everyone did well. I think we were all relieved when the class was over. They left as soon as they were done. I went off  to sell Christmas trees in the afternoon and there was only thirty one trees when I left.

The Campbell-Christi House was used as the pub for dinner that night

I went off to a historical Christmas event at the Bergen County Historical Society at 1202 Main Street in River Edge, NJ. They had the whole complex decorated for a Colonial Christmas. It was enchanting with the candles in the windows and people in costume walking around the buildings.

The Campbell-Christi House for dinner during the concert night. The Shepard’s Pie was delicious!

The Cookie Assortment dessert

In the Campbell-Christi House they had set up a Colonial era pub so you could have dinner with a modern twist to pub food including Shepard’s Pie, Mac & Cheese, a dessert plate and fried doughnuts It was all served by people in costume.

The Van Steuben House, part of the Bergen County Historical Society

My reviews on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/872

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/531

Then you were walked down to the Van Steuben House near the river for entertainment. Performer Linda Russell and her group sang traditional songs that would have been sang during the holidays.

Linda Russel and her group at the Van Steuben House for the Christmas concert

Unlike the Victorian Christmas’s of a hundred years in the future, Christmas after the Revolutionary War was quite simple. Houses were decorated with holly, mistletoe and garland and there were church services in the morning with a lunch afterwards. Things like presents and Santa would not come until after the Civil War.

One of Linda Russell’s most popular songs

Performer Linda Russell performed traditional Christmas songs that were sung of that era in the main room of the Van Steuben House where General George Washington had stayed during his time in the Bergen County during the Revolutionary War. She lead a lecture and in song how people enjoyed themselves on those cold nights. It was a nice insight on the early holidays.

The next morning was a long trip up to the Hudson River Valley to visit some of the decorated mansions of the area. My first stop was Germantown to visit Clermont, the homestead of the Livingston family at County Route 6 (see review on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com below). The house was beautifully decorated with garland and trees and was being set up that evening for the house’s ‘Candlelight Tour’, where actors in costume performed as guests. I came up before the event on one of the middle tours and got a personal tour of the house.

Clermont, the home of the Livingston Family at Country Route 6

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/3928

The house sits frozen in time when it was donated to the State of New York with period furnishings and family heirlooms decorating the rooms and walls of the home. It was decorated with rows of garland, holly and mistletoe like most homes of the era and lavish Christmas trees in certain rooms. The formal dining room table was set of the holiday dinner.

The Library at Clermont

The tour including the history of the Livingston family in the area and in the country and the influence that the house had during both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Then there was a discussion of the people that lived here and their stories. It is an interesting tour.

The Living Room during Christmas

My next stop before the afternoon was over was a tour of Wildenstein at 330 Morton Road in Rhinebeck, the home of the Suckley family, who were relations of the Roosevelts and Livingston’s. I had visited the beautiful decorated mansion many times in the past and on a glorious sunny day, the view of the Hudson River from this spot is spectacular.

The Wilderstein Mansion in Rhinebeck, NY

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/1642

Only the first floor of the mansion is open for tours and was elegantly decorated for the holidays. Ms. Suckley lived into her 90’s and dwelled only on the first floor in the end so the house is pretty much intact from the Victorian era. She kept the house immaculate and restorations continued. You could tour the living room, dining room, front palour, entrance hall and library which were decorated in holly, garland and Christmas trees with gifts in two of the rooms. Like the other mansions it was decorated for formal dinner.

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The elegant dining room at Wilderstein

By the time I got home that evening, we had sold out of Christmas tree for the Men’s Association and we closed the stand down for the season.

As classes geared down to their last day and work was pretty much over for the semester at the college, I concentrated on MywalkinManhattan blog and visiting as many cultural and historical sites that I could to update my VisitingaMuseum site. There are a lot of places to visit and things to see during the holidays in the New York City area and I wanted to share this with readers all over the world.

I revisited some sites in New York the day of the Holy Apostles Holiday Party that I went to for the work in the soup kitchen that I try to do once a week. During the day, I went back to Central Park South to finish walking part of the neighborhood and then walked across Manhattan to visit the Mount Vernon Hotel & Museum at 421 East 61st Street.

The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum at 421 East 61st Street in Manhattan

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/2191

The museum was once a day hotel during the early 1800’s which means that you just went there for the afternoon and early evening for activities and lunch which was considered dinner back then. The house was open for tours to see it decorated for the Colonial holidays.

The main rooms has holly and garland all over the banisters as they were preparing for the Christmas holidays and the main dining room was set for a holiday luncheon. Foods that the visitors might have eaten at the noon time meal including turkey, oysters, fresh fruits and vegetables and apple and pumpkin pies. They did a nice job interpreting the meal.

Meal at noontime at the Mount Vernon Hotel

Later that afternoon I stopped by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Christmas tree that they set up every year. I have been it hundreds of times over the years but I never like to miss it.

The Christmas Tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I also visited the Origami Tree at the American Museum of Natural History for about ten minutes before the crowds at the museum forced me out. It was packed during the holiday break.

The Origami Tree at the American Museum of Natural History

https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/origami-holiday-tree

That evening we had the Holy Apostles Holiday party at the Church of the Holy Apostles and it was a very nice evening. We had a complete Italian dinner with salads and desserts and the music provided by the Avenue’s (a local private school) Jazz Band. These kids are wonderful and can really play. It was a nice evening and a good way to end a very busy year in the Soup Kitchen. It just keeps getting busier with the needs changing.

On Friday night before Christmas, I was finishing my walk of the Central Park South neighborhood businesses and the evening treated myself to a Christmas concert at Carnegie Hall which was appropriate since I spent so much time in the neighborhood. It is such a beautiful building inside and out.

I love Carnegie Hall at Christmas

I went to the show “A Frank and Ella Christmas” with performers Tony DeSare and Capathia Jenkins who performed the tunes of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. I love to see Carnegie Hall when it is lit for the holidays and decorated on stage. It really puts you in the Christmas spirit. Essential Voices USA were the back up vocals that evening and it was a wonderful concert. They sang all the classic songs with Santa leading a sing-a-long at the end of the concert.

Here is Tony DeSare singing “I’ll be home for Christmas”  as he did in the concert

They sang all the traditional songs such as “It’s the most wonderful time of the Year” and “Jingle Bells” and this beautiful version of “I’ll be home for Christmas”. The sing a long ended the concert with “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “Here comes Santa Claus” and ended with “Jingle Bells”. It really got the audience moving and everyone was humming as they left the theater. I walked across the street to see the building decorated with wreaths and garland and lit in full view. It is quite a site at the holidays. After that I headed home. The next morning was the last day of class.

I gave out my grades the next morning. Class had finally ended and it had been an interesting semester. I had a ball with my students. Who ever thought we would present a project at Paterson City Hall? I did not. Most of my students told me how they loved the experience. That made me feel good right before the holidays.

Sunday brought us “Santa Around Town” our annual romp around Hasbrouck Heights, NJ with the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department. It was such a beautiful and we really lucked out with the weather. It must have been 50 degrees when we started the event and a sunny afternoon.

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“Santa Around Town” with the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department December 22nd, 2019

We stopped at ten stops around town greeting families and their pets to an evening with Santa Claus. People get such a kick out of it. We have families that come every year and some plan their holiday parties around the event. I always find it excellent outreach to the community and like to watch the children’s faces when they take a picture with Santa. I also enjoy when people have their dogs take a picture with Santa. I get a kick out of that. It was a busy evening and we did not get back to the firehouse until 8:00pm.

See my write up on the Brothers of Engine One HHFD:

https://wordpress.com/post/engineonehasbrouckheightsfiredepartmentnj.wordpress.com/498

I had a lunch with a good friend at Sanducci’s Italian Restaurant (my review on TripAdvisor) the day before I left for my mother’s for Christmas and this has become our Christmas tradition. It was nice to catch up with her not realizing that it had been over a year since we saw one another. It is strange how fast it all goes.

I spent Christmas Eve morning visiting the cemeteries starting with my aunt and cousin in one place, then one set of grandparents in another and then visiting my second set of grandparents, my uncle and then my father, which is always the toughest at the last cemetery. I am not sure what people feel about paying your respects at the holidays but I feel it is very important. I do believe it keeps them alive at the holidays.

The it was off to my mother’s for Christmas. It is the one time of the year all three of us get together with my mother. Since my father’s passing, my brothers and I have tried to spend the holidays together. Since we are coming from all over the country it can be hard but well worth it. We have such a good time at my mom’s.

Christmas 2019 III

My brothers and I on Christmas Day

We get together as a family on Christmas Eve night for dinner at a Chinese restaurant which is a lot of fun. The owners know my mother really well so we get treated very well and they always treat us to a special dish or appetizer which I think is good business. I go the restaurant pretty much every trip I make to my mom’s because she loves going there so much. When we got home, we just talked most of the night and caught up with what was going on in our lives.

Christmas Day was very nice. We got up late and had breakfast and then exchanged smaller gifts (most of my gifts were emailed off ahead of time) while the fire was going and we played Christmas songs. My brother’s dog got in on the action and she just played along with a toy my older brother bought her.

My mother, the amazing cook that she is made a delicious tenderloin, homemade lasagna, salad and garlic bread. It’s great to have a mother who can cook. We sat around the table with my family and friend’s of my mom reminiscing about Christmas’s past. It was a nice evening and a nice way to spend Christmas Day.

Before I left my mom’s to head home to attend the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium to root on Michigan State University, my mother, brother and I went to lunch at a local restaurant in Downtown Lewes called the Striper Bites (see review on TripAdvisor) that she had wanted to try and I had wanted to review. The food is wonderful yet I am the only one who can go to a seafood restaurant and crave a hamburger which was delicious.

We also visited the store, Fairy Godmother at 103 Second Street in Lewes that I featured on my blog, LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com. This adorable children’s store should not be missed. It has the most original merchandise for infants and toddlers.

Fairy Godmother is at 103 Second Street in Lewes

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/357

The inside of Fairy Godmother

I was looking forward to the Pinstripe Bowl since they announced it a few weeks earlier that my Alma Mater, Michigan State University, was going to play at Yankee Stadium. It was warm but rather gloomy day that the game was played.  I had gotten to the stadium early for the Alumni Tailgate up in one of the suites. It was really nice as the cheerleaders and band came up to spread the cheer and we also got to meet the new President of the MSU, President Samuel Stanley.

pinstripe-bowl-iii.png

The New Era Pinstripe Bowl is at Yankee Stadium every year. It was Michigan State University versus Wake Forest University

It was a nice afternoon with all sorts of stadium foods to choose from like hot dogs, hamburger sliders, mac & cheese, French fries and a barely touched salad. They served assorted cookies and brownies for dessert so I was not hungry for the rest of the day.

Pinstripe Bowl.jpg

Here comes MSU: Go GREEN/GO WHITE

Then all of us got to our seats and it was let the game begin. I have to say it was a nail-biter all the way to the end as it was not a high scoring game. We had some great plays one of the best one being one of our players, Mike Panasuik, knocked the ball from Wake Forest and ran in for a touchdown. It happened so fast the other team did not have time to react. That was the turning point of the game.

pinstripe-bowl-ii.jpg

Mike Panasuik getting the interception that changed the game

It was a very rough ending to the game as no one scored in the last quarter and we won the game 27-21. I could see by the other Alumni we were glad the game was finally over. It was a spirited ending though with the presentation of the trophy and our Quarterback Brian Lewerke getting MVP of the game and setting a school record. It was nice way to end his time at Michigan State and a nice win for the college.

pinstripe-bowl-iv.jpg

Winning the Pinstripe Bowl

Highlights from the Pinstripe Bowl 2019

The remainder of the week before the New Year it was like one long road trip visiting decorated mansions for my blog, ‘VisitingaMuseum.com’. I have never put so many miles on my car before and made so many trips up to the Hudson River Valley (I am beginning to think that I need a weekend home up there) I feel like it is my second home.

Because of the extensive list of homes I visited, you can see their history’s and write ups on my blog VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://visitingamuseum.com/

These are the mansions I visited during the week between Christmas and New Year’s:

The only time that you can visit The Skylands Manor at 5 Morris Road in Ringwood, NJ is the first week in December when they decorate the house for Christmas. During the rest of the year, it is used for catering and an inn.

The Skylands Manor in Ringwood, NJ has a beautiful location

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/2641

The Skylands Manor is decorated by various Garden Clubs and individual organizations. Because of a snow storm that hit the week before the mansion did not seem as decorated as it had in previous years. Still the entrance way and main hallway were very originally decorated.

The garden clubs do such a good job decorating the house. Each use their members own ideas and the amazing part is that they have one week to get it all up and two days to take it down and get it out of the house before it is used again.

The next weekend I travel led to Ringwood Manor at 1304 Sloatsburg Road in Ringwood, NJ right around the corner from the Skylands Manor. This lavish display is done by the Friends of Ringwood Manor who also run the cafe and the barn where artwork and gifts are sold. The home of the Hewitt family is in the process of being restored and are raising funds for a new roof.

The Ringwood Manor in Ringwood, NJ

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/2621

The Sun Room decorated at Ringwood Manor in Ringwood, NJ

The lavish display at Ringwood Manor is not how the house would have looked but is a nice interpretation of many ideas that can be coordinated into anyone’s home. I don’t think people would have decorated every room like this but the Friends do such a great job and have such original ideas I never like to miss this house at the holidays.

The entrance to Ringwood Manor.

When returning from Ringwood, NJ from visiting the mansions and in the summer the Botanical Gardens, make a pit stop at Auntie El’s Farm at 171 Route 17 South in Sloatsburg, NY to eat.  They have the best baked goods, pies and jellies.

During the holidays I like to go up just for their cider doughnuts, which are still warm when you buy them ($1.00) or their cake truffles ($3.00) which are rich and decadent. Their Caramel Apple Pie ($12.00) was a little rich for me but still delicious. I feature them prominently on my site LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com.

Auntie El’s Farm Market is such a great experience at Christmas

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/180

The baked goods and those delicious doughnuts make the trip up to Ringwood, NJ very special

The Hermitage at 335 North Franklin Turnpike in Ho Ho Kus, NJ is one of the most famous mansions in Bergen County being the home of Theodosa Prevost and her second husband, Aaron Burr. The house was the headquarters for General George Washington at Mrs. Prevost request who she herself was afraid of losing her home.

The Hermitage in Ho Ho Kus, NJ

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/1566

The house was decorated for the Victorian Christmas holidays a big difference from the year before when its them was a ‘Depression Christmas’. The house was nicely but sparsely decorated that year reflecting the times. Here it was all garland on the banisters and archways and set for a formal Christmas dinner.

Herimtage at Christmas

Here is some the era’s clothing for the event

I followed the map of Hudson River decorated homes for the holidays and went one by one until Christmas Eve. My first trip including Boscobel at 1601 Route 9D in Garrison, NY , a mansion in Cold Springs, NY.

Boscobel at 1601 Route 9D in Garrison, NY

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/4015

The house was beautifully decorated for the holidays and has the most interesting gardens.

The Dining Room set for Christmas dinner.

The next home I visited was Mount Gulian in Beacon, NY at 145 Sterling Street. This historic home was used as headquarters for the Revolutionary War and the where the Society of Cincinnati was formed as a Veterans group. The original house burned to the ground in 1931 and this is a recreation.

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/4103

They were just taking the decorations down at Mount Gulian but this home was a major point of refuge during the Revolutionary War.

On my next trip up to the Hudson River Valley, I visited some of the NY State Park sites starting with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s home Springwood at 4097 Albany Post Road in Hyde Park, NY. The house is going to start a major renovation which our tour guide said it needed and will close April of 2020. As we were touring, they were removing books in the library and the only part of the house that was decorated for the holidays was a Christmas tree in the library.

Springwood at 4097 Albany Post Road in Hyde Park, NY

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/2676

The library at Springwood at Christmas time

The library at Springwood was the only part of the house that was decorated at that point. It looked really elegant in the wood paneled room but the room is slowly being taken apart. The house will close in April 2020 and reopen about a year and a half later so see it now before the closing.

The Vanderbilt Mansion and Estate at 4097 Albany Post Road in Hyde Park the next estate over was also starting to close for the holidays. I got there on the first tour of the day so I got to see it before most of the rooms were taken apart.

The Vanderbilt Mansion at 4097 Albany Post Road in Hyde Park, NY

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/2200

The home of Fredrick and Louise Vanderbilt was decorated to the hilt for the holidays considering when Louise was alive they closed the house up and moved to New York City for the Social Season.

The entrance foyer of the mansion was beautifully decorated for the holidays and there was flowers and garland all over the house.

The Mills Mansion (Staatsburg State Historic Site)  at 75 Mills Mansion Drive in Staatsburg, NY was decorated to the hilt for the holidays. I usually attend the fundraising cocktail party here right before the holidays but the weather was so bad that night, I did not venture the trip so I came right after the holidays.

The Mills Mansion at 75 Mills Mansion Drive in Staatsburgh, NY

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/2137

The Mills Mansion is always decorated to the hilt by the Friends of Mills Mansion and each room in the house has its own character. Like most of the homes in the area, Ruth and Ogden Mills did not stay here too many times for the holidays.

The formal Dining Room at the Mills Mansion is elaborate.

The home of Samuel Morse ‘Locust Grove’ at 2683 South Road (Route 9) in Poughkeepsie, NY was down the road from some of the more popular mansions. The home of Artist Samuel Morse and creator of the Morse Code and Cable lines owned this beautiful home as his ‘summer cottage’.

The Locus Grove Estate at Christmas time at 2683 Route 9 South

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/1691

The Locust Grove estate is at the start of the big commercial district of Route 9 South so please watch for the turn off as it is sharp and you may miss it.

The Dining Room at Locus Grove at Christmas time

Locust Grove was another home that was not used during the holidays by the family but more as the summer family retreat until Samuel Morse died and then it was sold to another family who lived locally. Still the mansion is beautifully decorated.

The Living Room Christmas tree

The last of the mansion’s I visited before the New Year was the Van Cortlandt House & Museum at Broadway and 246th Street in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. This beautiful home was the seat of the Van Cortlandt estate before the family sale in the late 1880’s. The family had several homes at this point in the New York area.

The Van Cortlandt Estate at Broadway & 246th Street at Christmas time

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/2568

The Van Cortlandt family had this home since before the Revolutionary War and the estate had been in the family for about five generations. The house was decorated for the post -Revolutionary War era Christmas with garlands, mistletoe, holly and berries all over the house. You can take the tour on your own.

The palour at the Van Cortlandt House was decorated with garlands and berries and the outside of the home was covered with wreathes.

I walked down Broadway and visited the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum at 4881 Broadway at 204th Street to see how the house was decorated for a Dutch Christmas. It was plainly decorated with some garland here and there. Like the tour guide said to me that this was a working farm before the Revolutionary War and things would have been plainer here.

The Dyckman Farmhouse in Inwood at 4881 Broadway

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/771

Even though a traditional Dutch Christmas was not a big part of the home, it was interesting to see the everyday life of the traditional Dutch farmer in that era

My last stop that afternoon was to take a tour of the Cloisters Museum which is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring their Medieval Collection located in Fort Tyron Park overlooking the Hudson River.

The Cloisters-The Met at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive

The museum was decorated for Christmas during the Renaissance and they were conducting a tour on “Holly and Hawthorne: Decorating during the holidays” on how people of that era embraced the coming of Winter by sprucing the house up with pines and flowers that bloomed in the Winter months. I thought it was an original theme and played into how the museum was decorated for the Christmas holidays.

The Cloisters Museum looked so elegant at Christmas

https://www.metmuseum.org/visit/plan-your-visit/met-cloisters

The entrance hall to the galleries

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/680

The beautiful plantings at the Cloisters at Christmas time

My last stop before my trip downtown was at Bodega Pizza at 4455 Broadway to have a pizza at a restaurant I have wanted to try since the summer. I had passed it many times on my walk down Broadway but it was always closed.

Bodega Pizza

Bodega Pizza in Washington Heights (Closed February 2020)

https://www.facebook.com/bodegapizza/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d17990667-Reviews-Bodega_Pizza-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The pizza was excellent and so well cooked and the service could not have been nicer or more welcoming. The only problem was that they pulled a stunt with the bill and charged me an extra dollar for the pizza which I did not find out until I left the restaurant. The food and service are wonderful but double check the bill before you leave.

It was a different story when traveling to the mansions. Running all over the Hudson River Valley can make anyone hungry and I stopped at a few restaurants that I had either passed or had been on ‘my bucket list’ to try. On my first trip up to see the homes higher up the river, I stopped at Jade Palace Chinese Restaurant in Wappinger Falls, NY at 1659 Route 9 for dinner. The Cantonese food is excellent and the place was not that busy. The Roast Pork Lo Mein was excellent and so were the egg rolls.

Jade Palace at 1659 Route 9 in Wappinger’s Falls, NY

https://www.jadepalacewappingersfalls.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48799-d4631119-Reviews-Jade_Palace_Chinese_Restaurant-Wappingers_Falls_New_York.html?m=19905

Their Hot & Sour Soup is amazing

The Egg Rolls are amazing

The Roast Pork Lo Mein was really good that night

Another restaurant I visited was the Pete’s Famous in Rhinebeck, NY at 34 Main Street in Downtown Rhinebeck, NY. This local diner is my ‘go-to’ place when I visit. I love their stick to your ribs type of cooking. On a cold night I treated myself to a Hot Turkey platter with mashed potatoes and broccoli. That hit the spot for dinner. Their Chicken Rice Soup really warmed me up as well.

Pete’s Famous at 34 Main Street in Downtown Rhinebeck

https://petesfamousrestaurant.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48486-d823142-Reviews-Pete_s_Famous_Restaurant-Rhinebeck_New_York.html?m=19905

Pete’s Chicken Rice Soup

Their Roast Turkey Platter is like two meals

When visiting the mansions closer to Beacon, NY, take time to travel up Route 9D and drive through the small towns that parallel Route 9. It has much more character and you will miss Wappinger’s Falls, a small quaint town out of a Currier & Ives print that is rapidly gentrifying like the rest of the small Hudson River towns.

Downtown Wappinger’s Falls along Route 9D has a lot of character

Right near the river, I was recommended Wagon Wheel Pizza at 2654 East Main Street by one of the merchants. I am glad that i waited until 4:00pm when they opened. The pizza was wonderful and the owner could not have been more engaging.

Wagon Wheel at 2654 East Main Street for pizza is delicious

https://www.allmenus.com/ny/wappingers-falls/646763-wagon-wheel-pizza/menu/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48799-d4712660-Reviews-Wagon_Wheel_Pizza-Wappingers_Falls_New_York.html?m=19905

The inside of the Wagon Wheel Pizza

The restaurant was very festive at Christmas time

This traditional family business harks back to the 1970’s pizzeria’s that I remember going to as a kid and the pizza is excellent. The sauce has such great flavor and there is nothing like a fresh pie when it comes out of the oven. The owner could not have been nicer and it is a nice spot to talk to the locals.

The Cheese Pizza at Wagon Wheel Pizzeria is excellent

I was so exhausted from all the running back and forth to the Hudson River Valley and running in and out of the Manhattan that I needed to relax on New Year’s Eve. When I returned from my three mansion tour and lunch, I was warn out. I spent the coming on the new decade asleep and the only reason why I awoke at Midnight to greet in the next decade was because my neighbors were shooting off fireworks. Otherwise I would have slept right through it.

Happy 2020!

The Annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree 2019

What was special was they left the Annual Tree at Rockefeller Center up until January 8th so it was nice to see it lit without all the tourists milling around it. It was the perfect to visit Rockefeller Center. What a beautiful tree this year!

The Pointer Sisters sang it best. There is nothing like Christmas in New York!

What a fun song!

Places to Eat:

(I did not include the prices as they keep changing and the hours which can change during the times of the year. I made all the connections to each’s website).

Village Pizza of Rhinebeck

119 Market Street

Rhinebeck, NY  12572

(845) 876-9676

https://www.facebook.com/RBKVP/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48486-d818463-Reviews-Village_Pizza_of_Rhinebeck-Rhinebeck_New_York.html?m=19905

VFW of Lodi, NJ

163 Union Street

Lodi, NJ  07644

Every Second Sunday of the Month the Knights of Columbus run their Breakfast Buffet for $6.00 All you can Eat

Sanducci’s Italian Restaurant

620 Kinderkamack Road

River Edge, NJ  07661

(201) 599-0600

https://www.sanduccis.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46776-d535253-Reviews-Sanducci_s_Trattoria-River_Edge_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

Striper Bites

107 Savannah Road

Lewes, DE 19958

(302) 645-4657

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g34028-d396039-Reviews-Striper_Bites-Lewes_Delaware.html?m=19905

Jade Palace Chinese Restaurant

1659 Route 9

Wappingers Falls, NY  12590

(845) 297-1188

http://www.jadepalacewappingersfalls.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48799-d4631119-Reviews-Jade_Palace_Chinese_Restaurant-Wappingers_Falls_New_York.html?m=19905

Pete’s Famous Restaurant

34 East Market Street

Rhinebeck, NY  12572

(845) 876-7271

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Petes-Famous-Restaurant/113374415362954

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48486-d823142-Reviews-Pete_s_Famous_Restaurant-Rhinebeck_New_York.html?m=19905

Bodega Pizza (Closed February 2020)

4455 Broadway

New York, NY 10040

(646) 869-0815

Bodega Pizza

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d17990667-Reviews-Bodega_Pizza-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Wagon Wheel Pizza

2694 East Main Street

Wappinger’s Falls, NY  12590

(845) 297-5940

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Wagon-Wheel-Pizza/167984063214534

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48799-d4712660-Reviews-Wagon_Wheel_Pizza-Wappingers_Falls_New_York.html?m=19905

Places to Visit:

Downtown Rhinebeck, NY hosts the Sinterklaas Parade every year on the first Saturday of the Month of December. Please look to the website for more information on it:

https://www.facebook.com/sinterklaasrhinebeck/

The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association sells Christmas trees each year starting the day after Thanksgiving until we sell out which is usually the second week of December:

https://www.facebook.com/hasbrouckheightsmensassociation/

Auntie El’s Farm Market

171 Route 17 South

Sloatsburg, NY  10974

(845)753-2122

Homepage

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48625-d4557200-Reviews-Auntie_El_s_Farm_Market_and_Bakery-Sloatsburg_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/180

Because of the extensive amount of Historical Sites and Decorated Mansions that I visited during the Holidays Season, please check out my blog, ‘VisitingaMuseum.com’ on WordPress.com for more information on the Decorated Mansions and Museums:

https://visitingamuseum.com/

Downtown Lewes, DE has some very original and creative stores and restaurants that includes:

Fairy Godmother

103 Second Street

Lewes, DE  19958

(302) 930-7827

https://www.facebook.com/fairygodmother103/

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/357

The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department runs our annual “Santa Around Town” every December on the last Sunday of the month before Christmas:

http://www.hasbrouck-heights.com/hhfd/

http://hasbrouck-heightsnj.org/new_fire_department_page.html

Don’t miss Downtown Wappingers Falls, NY and Downtown Cold Springs during the holidays. The Hudson River Valley has such nice little towns to visit.

Yankee Stadium for the Pinstripe Bowl 2019: The Highlights

The Game:

We Won!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Eight: Walking the Streets of Central Park South from West 58th to West 55th Streets from Eighth to Fifth Avenues December 6th, 2019-January 8th, 2020 (again on December 19th, 2025)

The darker days of the Fall have come and it is starting to get dark at 4:30pm in the afternoon. It gets so depressing sometimes. Still this part of the City is dressed up for the Christmas holidays so all is still cheerful with sparking lights and window displays. The hotels and department stores in the neighborhood are in full swing and everyone is getting ready for the holidays.

Putting the Sinterklaas Parade behind me and visits to decorated mansions in New York and New Jersey for my blog, “VisitingaMuseum.com” (if I saw one more house decorated with garland I would have screamed), I was able to concentrate on finishing Central Park South. Even though it is a smaller neighborhood it still takes time to walk these busy streets. There is a lot to see and do in Central Park South. Between admiring the hotels decorated for the holidays and attending a show at Carnegie Hall for Christmas (I love my research), it was a lot of walking around admiring buildings and street art as well as watching the tourists rush around the area. Central Park keeps everyone busy no matter what the temperature.

According to the history of the area, Central Park South has transformed itself over the last fifty years from a fashionable residential area to a commercial neighborhood and now back to fashionable residential area with some of those very same buildings that were turned to office space and now back to expensive condos.

Columbus Circle in Spring 2024.

My walk started on a rather cool afternoon in December. I miss those days in December in 2015 when El Nino was affected the weather and it was 60 degrees. It was a cool 40 degrees and rather cloudy. Still it was a brisk day for a walk.

I started to walk the interior streets from the borders from West 55th to West 58th Streets dodging office workers and tourists. The character of the streets changes from Eighth Avenue to Fifth Avenue. The more classic elegant stone townhouses still surround Fifth Avenue whereas by Eighth Avenue and Broadway, new office buildings dominate.

After a morning of working at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen (we had no extra bread in the Extra Bread station), I went to see the early silent horror film, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” at the Museum of Modern Art. It was an interesting film with a lot of twists and makes you aware of who is really crazy in this film. It is interesting to note how this film has held up in almost 90 years. After the movie, I walked out the back door to West 55th Street and started walking.

The film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”

My start point was West 55th Street, walking under scaffolding all over the place and noticing reminders of the City when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. When I was kid the New York City Center was on the verge of being knocked down and it was a group of artists that saved the complex. The theater at 131 West 55th Street was built in 1923 designed by architect Harry P. Knowles from the firm of Clinton & Russell.

The New York City Center at 131 West 55th Street

https://www.nycitycenter.org/

The front of the building

The building was designed in the ‘Neo-Moorish style’ with interesting terra cotta tile work and murals. The building was originally called the “Mecca Temple” and was used by the Shriner’s for their meetings, but its purpose changed after the Crash of 1929, and it became City property. Mayor La Guardia turned it into the performing arts center in 1943. Having faced two bouts with demolition in both the 40’s and 70’s, it has now been land-marked in 1984 and is home to Encores Off-Center (Wiki).

Across the street from the City Center, I came across Myzel’s Chocolates at 140 West 55th Street. Now, I have been walking around this area all my life and could not understand how I missed this wonderful little candy shop. It is such a tiny space but packed with lots of character and a lot of delicious candy.

Myzel’s Chocolates at 140 West 55th Street

https://www.myzels.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d3671775-Reviews-Myzel_s_Chocolate-New_York_City_New_York.html

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

The shop was opened in 1990 by Kamila Myzel and her mother, Alina and is known for their handmade chocolates and cookies plus an array of licorice, chocolates and decorative gift items. When she opened the shop in 1990, Ms. Myzel was noted in saying “I love any nuts, chocolate with nuts, almond bark and marzipan. My chocolate is good quality for ordinary people.” (NYT 2009).

Myzel's Chocolates II

Kamila Myzel minding the store at Myzel’s Chocolates

This love of her product shows not just in her merchandising (See review on TripAdvisor and LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com) but in the customer service she gives. Even though I was only in to look I could see her eyeing me to see what I would buy while she chatted with a customer she knew. I loved the size of the store, which is tiny, in comparison with the ten people squeezed into the space jocking for her attention. I loved the festive atmosphere as the store was decorated for Christmas.

The window display of delicious candies at Myzel’s Chocolates

On a more recent trip to Myzel’s Chocolate, the store was decked out for Valentine’s Day, and everything was splashed with the color red. It was quiet enough where I could finally sample the delightful treats that they sell. I tried one of her Chocolate Chip cookies that they are well known for ($11.95 a pound) and a chocolate covered Marshmallow ($9.95 a pound) and both were very good.

The chocolate chip cookie was loaded with butter and chocolate chunks and had a crisp body and a nice caramelized sweetness to it. The chocolate covered marshmallow  was enrobed in a thick milk chocolate and had a rich sweetness in every bite. I think the marshmallow was freshly made as well.

I was amazed by the amount of Street art that was in the neighborhood. Inside the lobby at 1350 West 55th Street is an unusual sculpture by artist Janaina Tschape, ‘Cut Out Lobby”.

Janaina Tschape

“Cut Out Lobby” by artist Janaina Tschape at 1350 West 55th Street

Janaina Tschape artist

Artist Janaina Tschape

http://www.janainatschape.net/

Artist Janaina Tschape was born in Munich, Germany and has a BA in Fine Arts from Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg, Germany and a MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is known for her various mediums of art including abstracts in painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and video (Artist Bio).

Another interesting piece of art sits on the side of the Ziegfeld Theater in the courtyard but I was not able to get a closer look. It was an abstract work of what looked like a bird in paradise but once the gates come down I will get a closer look.

The mural on the side of the Ziegfeld Theater

As I continued down West 55th Street, I almost missed the historical Rockefeller Apartments at 24 West 55th Street that was hiding under that neighborhood scaffolding. The complex was built in 1936 by Rockefeller family architects Wallace Harrison and Andre Fouilhoux and was designed in the ‘International Style” and was noted for changing our perspective in light and air in building design (HMdg.org).

The best part of the evening was that I got to meet Sal, the chef on the way out and I told him about my meal and how I ordered it because of the Travel Network show. Then I added how much I loved the meal. He was so nice and gave me a jar of his Mariana sauce and told me to enjoy it at home. I thought he was a great guy and good businessman.

Rockefeller Apartments 24 West 55th Street

The historic plaque for the Rockefeller Apartments

At the end of the block on the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 55th Street is the Peninsula Hotel. This elegant hotel was built in 1905 in the Neo-Classic style as the Gotham Hotel and was bought from bankruptcy in 1988 to the Peninsula Group as their New York property.

The entrance of The Peninsula Hotel at 700 Fifth Avenue

https://www.peninsula.com/en/newsroom/new-york

Reviews on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60763-d113311-Reviews-The_Peninsula_New_York-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The Peninsula Hotel in its glory

The Peninsula Hotel historical marker.

I was able to walk for a bit inside the hotel which was lavishly decorated for the Christmas holidays with all sorts of trees, lights and Santa’s. I could barely walk around with all the tourists’ taking pictures. The exterior of the hotel is always so beautifully decorated for the holidays.

The entrance to the Peninsula Hotel at Christmas

The hotel is always so festive during the holidays

The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church at 7 West 55th Street is across the street from the Peninsula and was also decorated with lights and garland for the holidays. There was music playing inside as mass was going on at that time of the day. The Church had been built in 1875 by architects George B. Post and finished by Carl Pfeiffer. You really have to look up at the elegant details of this church that was designed in the Victorian Gothic design (Wiki).

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church at 7 West 55th Avenue

https://www.fapc.org/

https://www.facebook.com/FAPCNYC/

On my way back down West 55th Street, I stopped for some lunch at the Star Stage Deli at 101 West 55th Street (see review on TripAdvisor). In all the times I had been in this neighborhood over the years, I had never noticed the restaurant before. It is a little hole in the wall that is a throwback to the restaurants that used to dot Manhattan all through the 70’s and 80’s until they were pushed out for the expensive ‘revolving door’ restaurants that keep opening and closing in the area.

Star Stage Deli at 101 West 55th Street

https://www.stagestarnyc.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d4369641-Reviews-Stage_Star_Deli-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:

At first, I was going to have a Cheeseburger platter but when I saw the guy behind the counter throw an already cooked burger on the grill, I quickly changed my mind and had the Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti platter ($8.95) with a Coke because it looked much fresher. It was delicious and I highly recommend it. You got two big pieces of breaded chicken breast in a delicious tomato sauce with several nice sized scoops of baked ziti. The meal could have fed two people and was enough food to re-energize me. There are all sorts of specials that run under $10.00.

The Chicken Parmesan here is excellent.

The inside of Star Stage Deli

Their Chicken Salad is terrific too.

When walking back to Eighth Avenue, there is a series of hotels that you will pass all of them decorated for the holidays. The Wellington Hotel at 871 Seventh Avenue was decked out for the holidays with lots of white lights and garlands all over the street level Park Cafe windows.  This 27-story hotel was built in 1911 and designed by architect Robert T. Lyons. The entrances and facade of the building are done in polished granite and bronze. The hotel closed in 2023 and the plans are to raze the hotel.

The Hotel Wellington at 871 Seventh Avenue (closed in 2023)

https://www.wellingtonhotel.com/

On the corner of West 55th Street and Broadway is the Dream Hotel at 210 West 55th Street which was lavishly decorated in and out for Christmas. Garland, trees and lights are all over the exterior of the building making it very festive. The hotel is housed in a series of renovated buildings with the main one on the corner of Broadway which was built in 1895 in the Beaux-Arts style (Dream Hotels Bio).

The Dream Hotel at the corner of Broadway and West 55th Street

https://www.dreamhotels.com/midtown/default-en.html

At the end of the block is the well known McGee’s Pub at 240 West 55th Street. McGee’s has been known to be the inspiration for MacLarsen’s Bar in the popular CBS sitcom “How I met your Mother”. The restaurant has been around for years and reflects the changes in time by the whole neighborhood begin knocked down around it. It almost reminds me of PJ Clarks on the Westside of Manhattan with a modern skyscraper surrounding it.

McGee’s Pub at 240 West 55th Street

https://mcgeespubny.com/

At the end of the block before you get to Eighth Avenue, in a small building front is The Original Soup Kitchen at 259 West 55th Street. Here you can order all sorts of freshly made soups for take out on a daily basis. The restaurant is known best from the ‘Seinfeld’ episode  on “The Soup Nazi”. It is popular with tourists and locals alike.

The Original Soup Kitchen at 259 West 55th Street

https://www.originalsoupkitchen.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

The famous scene from ‘Seinfeld’

The original ‘Soup Nazi”

As I turned onto West 56th Street, I came across another iconic restaurant that I have eaten at many times, Patsy’s at 236 West 56th Street (see reviews on TripAdvisor). I love the food here. The pastas are all freshly made and their Fried Mozzarella is so well prepared and their Mariana sauce is so flavorful. The service is excellent and I always enjoy eating there.

Patsy’s was founded in 1944 by Pasquale “Patsy” Scognamillo and has been in its current location since 1954 serving locals, celebrities and tourists alike. There has only been three chefs at Patsy’s, Patsy himself, his son, Joe and Joe’s son Sal (Patsy’s history).

Patsy’s Restaurant at 236 West 56th Street

https://www.patsys.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60763-d478026-r1043293382-Patsy_s_Italian_Restaurant-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The second floor dining room at Patsy’s right before the theater

When I had dinner there before my trip to Carnegie Hall, the food was amazing (see my review on TripAdvisor). I came with a big appetite and had a wonderful three course meal. I read about the menu online and then I saw Sal, the owner cooked the Lobster Linguini on Martha Stewart’s TV show.

I started with the Mozzarella in Carrozza for two which I finished on my own. It is basically a breaded mozzarella sandwich with their fresh Mariana sauce which were pan-fried perfectly and melted in the middle. It is served with their delicious homemade red sauce.

The Mozzarella in Carrozza at Patsy’s is excellent

The Mozzarella Carrozza

For the entree I had the Lobster with Linguine Oreganata, which I had seen prepared on the Travel Network and on Martha Stewart’s TV show and feeling generous to myself at the holidays, I treated myself. It was excellent. Perfectly cooked pasta with almost a half of sweet lobster topped on the dish. While the entree is not cheap, it is well worth the price so treat yourself!

The Lobster Linguini comes in two parts when served, with pasta and a split and broiled with bread crumbs. It is a delicious dish.

Don’t ask me how ate dessert but as the Dessert Cart kept passing me, I kept eyeing this cake and it ended up being a Napoleon Cake filled with white cream and layers of pastry dough. It was such a great end to a fantastic meal.

For dessert I had on my second trip to Patsy’s, the Vanilla Cream Napoleon Cake

Walking down the stairs at the holidays

Somehow I stuck upstairs with all the tourists but I it was fun as it was where all the action was that evening. The downstairs was extremely quiet that night. I do not know why they kept it so empty. The restaurant during the holidays is so nicely decorated and this is the view going down the steps.

patsys-restaurant-iii.jpg

Chef Sal Scognamillo of Patsy’s Restaurant

On the back part of the City Center is The Writers Room plaque dedicated the writers of Sid Caesar’s “The Show of Shows”. Some of the most famous writers and comedians had worked on this show and went on to their own famous careers.

Writers Room.jpg

This plaque is located on the back of The City Center on the West 56th side of the building

In the corridor of The Marlborough Building at 40 West 57th Street which runs to West 56th Street is an exhibition of artist Tom Otteness’s work. Don’t miss this open air art exhibition on the artist’s work.

Marborough Building Tom Otteness

The Marlborough Building open air exhibition of Tom Otterness works (the artwork is gone in 2024).

Marborough Building Tom Otteness II.jpg

Each of the works is very interesting (the artwork is now gone)

Tom Otterness Artist

Artist Tom Otterness

http://www.tomostudio.com/

http://www.tomostudio.com/about

The artist studied at the Arts League of New York and is well known for his work on public art. He art has graced many parts of New York City including an exhibition of “Tom Otterness on Broadway” which ran from Columbus Circle to 168th Street. Don’t miss this interesting open air exhibition that stretches from West 56th to West 57th Streets.

On the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 55th West  and 56th Streets at 881 Seventh Avenue is Carnegie Hall which is all decked out for the holidays. This palace of entertainment was designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by industrialist Andrew Carnegie. It is one of the biggest buildings in New York built entirely of masonry without a steel frame Wiki).

Carnegie Hall at 881 Seventh Avenue at Christmas is beautiful

https://www.carnegiehall.org/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60763-d116237-r1043293971-Carnegie_Hall-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

https://www.carnegiehall.org/

The inside of Carnegie Hall at Christmas

The inside of Carnegie Hall decorated for Christmas

At the last minute I got the last ticket to “New York Pops with Frank and Ella” on Friday December 20th and off I went to enjoy the concert. It was a really cool night that evening and it was nice to see so many people dressed for the occasion. I even saw a few mink coats out.

Carnegie Hall outside at Christmas time.

I really enjoyed the concert and talk about putting you in the Christmas spirit. I had not been Carnegie Hall since the concert last year. The stage was so tastefully decorated and the New York Pops entertained us first. We started with a round of traditional Christmas songs before the show started and ‘Deck the Halls’ was one of the songs on the schedule.

The New York Pops performing “Deck the Halls”

The concert “A Frank and Ella Christmas” starred Tony DeSare and Capathia Jenkins sang the songs of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. Essential Voices USA provided the background singing and backup and they were excellent.

Tony DeSare singing “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

What I love about this concert is one of the events at the holidays I look forward to as it always puts me in the holiday mood. Carnegie Hall is always sold out for both nights of the concerts as I think everyone else feels the way I do.

Last year, the only seat left was on the aisle and Santa himself was standing next me when he entered the concert hall to start the sing a long. For a split second, I really believed. That’s how much this concert puts you in to the proper holiday spirit. What I loved the most about the concert was the sing a long at the end of the concert and I mean everyone sings! It is really something. That’s the wonderful memory I have when I walk past Carnegie Hall.

As I headed back to Eighth Avenue, I passed one of the best McDonald’s (see my reviews on TripAdvisor) in the City at 946 Eighth Avenue on the corner Eighth Avenue and West 55th Street. I have eaten at this McDonald’s so many times in the series of walks for this project that I can’t even count them on my finger. The food here is really good and the service is very quick. When there is no alternative before the movies or theater, this is the go to place for a McDouble or Premium Chicken sandwich.

Sitting at the head of the neighborhood is the Hearst Publishing Building at 300 West 57th Street between West 56th and 57th Streets. This impressive building was built in two stages. The first part of the building was built in 1928 by architect Joseph Urban as the headquarters of Hearst Publications for William Randolph Hearst. The rest of the building was not completed due to the Great Depression (Wiki).

The original part of the building by architect Joseph Urban

The newer part of the building was completed eighty years later and was finished in 2006. This 46 story tower was designed by architect Norman Foster and is designed in triangle grid called a “diagrid” and won many awards as one of New York’s first ‘green buildings’ (Wiki). Look up at this unusual design and the contrasts of the two parts of the building.

The Hearst Tower designed by architect Norman Foster

I rounded West 57th Street and walked past many familiar buildings from crossing the neighborhood but there are many well known restaurants and stores on this block. There is a lot of excitement with the new Nordstrom department store that opened on the corner of Broadway and West 57th Street at 225 West 57th Street.

The store is one of the largest and single project investments in Nordstrom history. There is seven levels of merchandise, six restaurants and an extensive list of services for the customers. The store forms the base of one of the largest residential buildings in the Western Hemisphere and is the combination of old and new. It is the first department store to open in New York City since the 1920’s. With a facade of large windows and lots of natural light you can see the happenings in the store from street level (Nordstrom Press Release).

During the three times I walk through the store is was indeed busy with lots of hipster employees walking around but most were on their cellphones and the customers seemed to be looking around. The restaurants were mostly full the nights I was there but the one thing I did not see was shopping bags leaving the store. I did not see one Nordstrom bag on the streets in the neighborhood. It is going to be interesting to see how the store does during its first Christmas especially with the Lord & Taylor flagship closing on Fifth Avenue and West 38th Street and Barney’s on Madison Avenue.

The new Nordstrom at 225 West 57th Street

https://www.nordstrom.com/store-details/nordstrom-nyc-flagship

The inside of Nordstrom

Nordstrom decorated for Christmas 2023

Further down the street I passed the Osborne Apartments at 205 West 57th Street. These iconic condos were built between 1883-1885 by architect James Edward Ware in a rusticated brownstone outside to the building and an ‘American Renaissance’ in the detailed foyer and public rooms (Wiki). The building is truly one of kind and its apartment structure a time of ‘Gilded Age’.

The Osborne Apartments at 205 West 57th Street

https://www.theosborneny.com/

https://streeteasy.com/building/the-osborne

The historical marker outside the building.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Osborne

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Apartments

The elaborate lobby is something to see. It has stuccoed and mosaic tiled floors with use of Italian marble. The walls are covered in glazed terra-cotta panels and the ceilings are covered in different colored hues (Wiki).

The Osborne II.jpg

The details of the Osborne Apartment’s lobby

Near the Osborne Apartments at 200 West 57th Street at the corner of Seventh Avenue is the Rodin Studio Apartments. This beautifully detailed building was built in 1917 by architect Cass Gilbert, who had designed the Woolworth Building downtown.  The building was designed as studios for artists and combination studio/living spaces thus the name Rodin after the artist Auguste Rodin. The building had been the brainchild of a groups of established artists (Daytonian Manhattan).

The Rodin Studios building at 200 West 57th Street

The historic plaque for the Rodin Studios building.

The building, like the Woolworth Building, is designed in ‘white terra-cotta Gothic Revival’ with lots of windows to let in the natural light. You will have to look up from the other side of the street to see the interesting details of the building. The exterior of the building just went through a full renovation. Walking down West 57th towards Fifth Avenue are very interesting and historical.

163-165 West 57th Street-The former Louis H. Chalif School of Dancing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/165_West_57th_Street

The five-story building was designed by George A. and Henry Boehm for dance instructor Louis H. Chalif. It was designed as an event space, a school, and Chalif’s apartment. 165 West 57th Street has an asymmetrical facade. Construction started in 1914 and was completed in 1916. The building was occupied by the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing until 1932 or 1933 (Wiki).

163-165 West 57th Street plaque

Another well-known iconic restaurant is located in the neighborhood that has always catered to the theater and business crowd alike, the Russian Tea Room at 150 West 57th Street right next to Carnegie Hall. I have been in this restaurant many times over the years and the renovations twenty years ago made it a little ‘glitzy and over the top’ in design.

The entrance to the Russian Tea Room at 150 West 57th Street (facade under renovation)

https://russiantearoomnyc.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d549321-Reviews-The_Russian_Tea_Room-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The restaurant had opened in 1927 by a group of Russian Ballet expatriates as a gathering place and it then got the reputation as a place for the entertainment industry to gather for lunch and dinner. The restaurant had a series of owners but when Warner LeRoy bought the restaurant in 1996 and when he closed it he took a very nice elegant restaurant and turned it into another “Tavern on the Green” with garish decor.

The food and atmosphere was never the same both to many New Yorkers, who left it for the tourists and in many meals I have had there in recent history, the last one being in April of 2011 for my father’s birthday/Christmas present one month before he got sick. That evening has special meaning to me now.

In the years that I ate at the restaurant during the holidays in the early 90’s, my brother and I would see celebrities all the time in the other booths. Our last meal there before it closed for renovations in 1996, we sat next to Sylvia Miles, who recently passed away in the summer of 2019. But that night she held court in the restaurant and our attention especially to my brother who kept nudging me that she was there. This was when dining there was a special event and the food was really good. Today you get a ‘watered down’ version of Russian cooking. (I would not recommend it in this blog.)

Many movies were shot there but this scene from Tootsie in 1982 captured the mood of the restaurant in the 1980’s.

One of the funniest scenes of a movie shot in the Russian Tea Room from the movie “Tootsie” in 1982

There was more interesting buildings to see in the neighborhood another located at 130 West 57th Street, which is Steinway Hall, the home of the Steinway Piano showroom. This elegant building was built between 1907-08 by architects Pollard & Steinam in the ‘Art Deco style”. This building was also created as artists studios/residences when this was a creative residential district and another building was designed by the firm at 140 West 57th Street (Wiki).

130 West 57th Street-Steinway Hall Building

The building is richly detailed in the front and you can see the statuary all over the building from all angles.

The front door archway.

The historical plaque.

The “9” sculpture

https://www.cghnyc.com/work/project/9-west-57th-st

The sculpture in front of the building at Christmas of 2025

In front of the largest office buildings on the block is a giant “9” which I had not noticed until recently. I thought it was done by a famous artist but it is actually the building’s address. The Solow office tower at 9 West 57th Street in New York City is a giant ski-slope of a building designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill. This huge red 9 sits on the sidewalk on city property and marks the building’s main entrance. The sculpture is fabricated out of half-inch steel plate and weighs three tons. It has become something of a New York landmark (Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill website).

At the end of the block, I revisited Bergdorf Goodman at 754 Fifth Avenue that runs from West 57th to 58th Streets opposite of the Plaza Hotel. This palace of luxury was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and later owned by Edward Goodman. The store when you look at it was designed as a series of buildings that could have been broken into shops had the business not done well. During the Depression, the store thrived and Edward Goodman bought up the remaining parts of the building to reconfigure the store into its present form (Wiki).

The Palace of Luxury Bergdorf Goodman at 754 Fifth Avenue is fun to visit

The Fifth Avenue entrance was part of their renovation years ago.

https://www.bergdorfgoodman.com/stores/bergdorf-goodman-womens-store

The plaza of the Plaza Hotel and Bergdorf’s

It is a fun way to spend the afternoon taking the escalator to the various floors and look at how the clothes are displayed and examine the beautiful jewelry and handbags. It also had one of the nicest perfume departments in the county with items found no where else in the United States. Having worked there in 2004, I found it a unique experience to my retailing career and I still enjoy talking to James, the doorman who works there.

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The new Jewelry Salon at Bergdorf-Goodman

The windows at Bergdorf Goodman where Marlo Thomas stood in “That Girl” opening.

Right down the road from Bergdorf-Goodman at 35 West 57th Street is the loneliest looking stone mansion that new houses a deli. This magnificent mansion is the Schieffelin-Bowne  Mansion that was built in 1891 by Margaret Vanderbilt Shepard for her daughter, Maria Louise Vanderbilt Shepard for her marriage to William Jay Schieffelin, a member of a drug manufacturing family and the grandson of John Jay, the first Chief Justice. The house was a few steps from the large mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, which was one the location of Bergdorf-Goodman (Daytonian 2012).

The Vanderbilt Mansion at 35 West 57th Street sits lonely now

The house was sold to millionaire Samuel Bowne in 1898 when the Schieffelin’s moved to East 66th Street. Mr. Bowne suffered a stoke around 1909 and died a year later. His widow sold the house and moved to Florida and died in 1930. Since 1930, the mansion has been used for commercial purposes and sits next to a construction site as a sad reminder of how fashionable the neighborhood was once (Daytonian 2012). It could used a good cleaning.

At 57 West 57 Street on the corner of West 57th and Seventh Avenue is a beautiful Art Deco office/apartment building that was built in 1928. The building has interesting details from the gilded facial imagines on the cornices to the marble front and lobby inside. Really look at the artwork carved into the outside of the building. Der Scott, the architect of Trump Tower renovated the building in 1988 and added many of the details to the building.

57 West 57th Street is a gilded Art Deco Building

The detail work on 57 West 57th Street

The detail work along the West 57th side of the building.

The detail work over the main entrance on Seventh Avenue

Another beautiful building at 123 West 57th Street #3 is the Calvary Baptist Church which stands guard amongst its more modern neighbors. This interesting church is an example of a ‘skyrise church’ as it is a sixteen story building. It was built in 1929 by architects Jardine, Hall & Murdock and the building was dedicated in 1931 (Wiki). Take a look up at the stone carvings and intricate design of the stone work.

Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church at 123 West 57th Street (being replaced by a new office building in 2024)

Home Page

https://www.facebook.com/CalvaryBaptistNYC/

I started my third afternoon in the neighborhood back at the Turnstyle Underground Market at 1000S 8th Avenue which is in the subway station under the Time Warner Building. This surprising little food court has some innovative and very reasonable restaurants. Last time I ate here was at Daa! Dumplings, the Russian dumpling restaurant and this time I ate at Champion Pizza at the end of the court after eyeing a Mac & Cheese Pizza in the display window.

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Champion Pizza in the Turnstyle Underground Food Court (closed during COVID)

The Turnstyle Underground Food court reopened after COVID in 2022

After deciding on that and a Coke (see Review on TripAdvisor), I sat down at one of the busy tables with high school students and tourist staring into their phones. The pizza was delicious and tasted like Kraft Mac & Cheese topped with mozzarella on the top. After my lunch, I was ready for a long walk.

I rounded the corner and entered the more commercial West 58th Street in the early afternoon. This is an interesting block as you head past Seventh Avenue the street is lined with the back of the New York Athletic Club, the Park Lane Hotel and the Plaza Hotel.

One of the more interesting buildings is the Central Park Mews at 117 West 58th Street. This interesting brick apartment building was built in 1900 and show a lot of character with its marble and brick facade. Look at the stone details around the building and interesting windows towards the top.

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Central Park Mews at 117 West 58th Street really stands out

At the end of West 58th Street towards Bergdorf-Goodman is the now closed Paris Theater at 4 West 58th Street, which was once a major art movie theater and noted for its edgy releases. Now Netflix has reopened it for their releases to the public before they start screening films on TV. The 71 year old theater is seeing new life and a lot of new patrons (NYTimes 2019). The theater is the last single screen theater in New York City.

The Paris Theater at 4 West 58th Street is now leased by Netflix

https://www.facebook.com/paristheaternyc/

Just outside theater and in front of 9 West 58th Street, the Solow Building,  is an unusual and very strange statue standing guard on the street. This is “Moonbird” by artist Joan Miro. This strange fourteen foot abstract sculpture had replaced an Alexander Calder sculpture that had been once stood here.

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‘Moonbird’ by Joan Miro from 1966 in front of the Solow Building

The sculpture was created in smaller forms in 1966 and was noted as having a cosmic connection to nature. The sculpture was derived from a connection the artist had in the world of birds and the terrestrial and celestial worlds (Artworld 1988).

The statue at Christmas time

I love the candy cane decorations on the building

Joan Miro was a Spanish born painter, sculptor and ceramicist whose art gravitated towards Surrealism,  whose goal it is to liberate thought, language and human experience from the boundaries of rationalism (Artworld).  The artist had studied at the Cerle Artistic de Sant Lluc and held is first solo show in 1918 (Wiki).

Joan Miro

Artist Joan Miro in his later years

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/miro-joan/

When crossing the street into the Plaza Hotel and know the hotel of its heyday, it is a much smaller and more compact hotel. When enter from the back of the Plaza Hotel you will come across The Shops at the Plaza Hotel and the Plaza Hotel Food Hall inside the basement area of the hotel at Central Park South and Fifth Avenue.

Looking down West 57th Street at Christmas time

There is a selection of expensive stores and small restaurants inside the Food Hall. You can choose from bakery items, Chinese, Italian and sandwiches. The Shops has an exclusive Plaza boutique and an Eloise shop that even has a tea room for children’s tea parties. There is a nice selection places to visit if money is not the object.

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The Shops at the Plaza Hotel and the Plaza Hotel Food Hall are interesting to visit

When exiting the back of the Plaza Hotel, you will see the service areas and backs of some of the most famous hotels facing Central Park. As you head back down West 58th Street, there are two side by side buildings you might miss under all the scaffolding all over the block.

Tucked behind scaffolding is 213 West 58th Street, now the Unity Center of New York but when it was built was the stables/garage of Helen Gould Miller. The structure was built in 1910 by architects York & Sawyer in the ‘French Renaissance style’ for the daughter of financier Jay Gould. This was the home of her carriages and then cars with apartments for the coachman and then chauffeur. Even in the shadows of all the construction you can see the detailed stone work and carved details of the building.

213 West 58th Street, The Helen Gould Miller Stables

The historical market at 213 West 58th Street.

Next door at 215 West 58th Street is Engine 23, “The Lion’s Den” a FDNY Firehouse that was established on October 6th, 1865 as one of the oldest companies in New York City and two months after the department became paid. The original company had been established in 1810 as Equitable Company 36 then as Harry Howard Volunteer Company named after the Department Chief Engineer.

Engine 23 at 215 West 58th Street “The Lion’s Den”

https://www.facebook.com/lionsdenfdny/

The building was designed by architect Alexander H. Stevens between 1905-06 in the ‘Beaux Arts style’ (New York YIMPY).

Engine 23, “The Lion’s Den”

This historical marker of the Brothers of Engine 23 who donated the Lion’s statue.

I ended the walk at the Museum of Art & Design at 2 Columbus Circle on the very edge of the neighborhood. This unique museum I have written about many times in my VisitingaMuseum.com site. The museum was opened in 1956 to celebrate American craftsmanship and in it’s current incarnation established at its present site in 2008, the museum studies the art and design process dealing with many art forms including movies, music, painting, jewelry and clothing & textiles (See my review on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com).

The Museum of Art & Design at 2 Columbus Circle on the very edge of Central Park South

I went to a walking tour of the museum highlights and then visited the Anna Sui exhibition of her clothing, accessories and cosmetics. Her clothing is an interesting art form itself with each season it gets more interesting.

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Designer Anna Sui

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The collections of Anna Sui at the Museum of Art & Design at 2 Columbus Circle

The walk of the neighborhood ended with dinner at China Gourmet, a tiny hole in the wall restaurant at 877 8th Avenue (see review on TripAdvisor) that I had passed walking up to the neighborhood. This is a big restaurant with the office workers in the area and had been packed for lunch. I had a Sweet & Sour Pork combination platter with an egg roll and Coke ($10.95).

China Gourmet at 877 8th Avenue is in Hell’s Kitchen

https://www.chinagourmet888.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d3385484-Reviews-China_Gourmet-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Even though the portion size was large and the food fresh it tasted like the wok had not been cleaned or the oil was old. The meal was okay but still the place bustled and the most interesting characters walked in and out of the restaurant. There was no lack of entertainment in the customers here at 9:00pm at night.

Sweet & Sour Pork at China Gourmet was okay.

To end the evening, I went to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree which was surprisingly still up on January 8th. Much less crowded than the week before, I was able to walk around the rink and watch the skaters and admire the tree from afar with the gaping tourists taking ‘selfies’ all over the place. I will tell you that tourists spend more time in Manhattan taking pictures than actually admiring what is around them. That is such a pity as I think you miss more if you don’t actually look at what is surrounding you as you walk around.

The Rockefeller Christmas tree January 8th, 2020

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2020!

Skating at Rockefeller Center before and after the holidays.

Places to Eat:

Star Stage Deli

101 West 55th Street

New York, NY  10019

(212) 541-4650

http://www.stagestardeli.com/

Open: Sunday-Saturday 6:00am-8:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d4369641-Reviews-Stage_Star_Deli-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Patsy’s Restaurant

236 West 56th Street

New York, NY  10019

(212) 247-3491

https://www.patsys.com/

Open: Sunday-Thursday 12:00pm-9:30pm/Friday & Saturday 12:00pm-10:30pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d478026-Reviews-Patsy_s_Italian_Restaurant-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Myzel’s Chocolates

140 West 55th Street

New York, NY 10019

(212) 245-4233

http://www.myzels.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Myzels-Chocolates-332431326808571/

Open: Sunday Closed/Monday-Friday 11:00am-7:00pm/Saturday 12:00pm-5:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d3671775-Reviews-Myzel_s_Chocolate-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/littleshoponmainstreet.wordpress.com/556

McDonald’s

946 Eighth Avenue

New York, NY  10019

(212) 586-6676

https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu.html?cid=RF:YXT_LS:SI::MGBM

Open: 24 hours, 7 days a week

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d4468379-Reviews-McDonald_s-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/diningonashoestringinnyc.wordpress.com/541

Champion Pizza

1000 South 8th Avenue

New York, NY  10019

(212) 315-3335

http://www.championpizzanyc.com

Open: Sunday 10:00am-10:00pm/Monday-Saturday 10:00am-11:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d12849399-Reviews-Champion_Pizza-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

China Gourmet

877 8th Avenue

New York, NY

(212) 246-8181/8191/Fax: (212) 246-2124

http://www.chinagourmet8ave.com

Open: Sunday 12:00pm-11:00pm/Monday-Thursday 11:00am-12:00am/Friday-Saturday 11:00am-11:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d3385484-Reviews-China_Gourmet-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Places to Visit:

The Shops at the Plaza Hotel/Plaza Hotel Food Court

Fifth Avenue at Central Park South

New York, NY 10019

(212) 759-3000

plazareservation@fairmont.com

Open: Sunday 11:00am-6:00pm/Monday-Saturday 10:00am-8:00pm

https://www.theplazany.com/dining/the-plaza-food-hall/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d3643072-Reviews-Food_Court-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The Turnstyle Underground Market

1000S 8th Avenue

New York, NY  10019

(646) 768-9222

Open: 24 hours (not every restaurant)

https://www.turn-style.com/

https://www.turn-style.com/food-hall

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d11888820-Reviews-Turnstyle-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Museum of Art & Design

2 Columbus Circle

New York, NY  10019

(212) 229-7777

https://madmuseum.org/

Open: Sunday 10:00am-6:00pm/Monday Closed/Tuesday-Wednesday 10:00am-6:00pm/Thursday 10:00am-9:00pm/Friday-Saturday 10:00am-6:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d524927-Reviews-Museum_of_Arts_and_Design-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/2998

All the interesting buildings in the neighborhood I have mentioned by address and you should take the time to really look up at these beautiful structures. There are coming down too fast to make way for new things.

Mount Gulian Historic Site 145 Sterling Street Beacon, NY 12508

Mount Gulian Historic Site

145 Sterling Street

Beacon, NY  12508

(845) 831-8172

http://www.mountgulian.org/

Open: May 5th-October 27th Tours are every hour 1:00pm-5:00pm on Sundays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Special Wedding tours are by appointment.

Fee: Adults $8.00/Seniors $6.00/Children (6-18) $4.00/Members are free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g47291-d10701912-Reviews-Mount_Gulian_Society-Beacon_New_York.html?m=19905

The outside of the Mount Gulian Homestead at 145 Sterling Street in the Summer of 2024

The sign that welcomes you

On my last trip to the Hudson River Valley to visit the great houses of the Hudson, I came across Mount Gulian, a Dutch manor that I never heard of in all my visits. This smaller Dutch manor house is actually a reconstruction of an 18th century home that burned to the ground by arson in 1931. The original house had been built between 1730 and 1740 and added onto over the next two centuries.

Christmas Time at Mount Gulian in the three weekends in December:

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Mount Gulian at Christmas in December of 2021

The historic plaque in front of the house

The house officially had closed for the season at the end of October and was decorated for the holidays for the weekend between December 14-16th to represent the Dutch celebrations. There had been a Children’s tea the Monday before the New Year, so the house was closing down for the season. As the ladies that worked there were taking down the garlands, mistletoe and trees, the curator Amy, let me wonder the rooms as long as I did not get in their way.

The beautiful garland and lights adorn the house at Christmas time

The front door is very welcoming for the holidays

The front door was beautifully decorated for the Christmas season

The house as you enter through the front door

The house is very unique. You would have never known it was a reconstruction. The house really looked its age. The funny part of the house is that is at the very back of an old estate that had been developed with townhouses from the main road to almost the border of the house’s property, so it was strange to drive through to find the house. Once in the semicircular driveway, you plunge back into time.

The Hallway decorated for Christmas

The Hallway decorations in more detail

The Staircase to the Second Floor (Closed) was beautifully decorated for the holidays

The large porch in the front of the house looks over what’s left of the lawn and the housing developments. Once inside you enter the foyer and long hallway with rooms on each side. Each room was or had been decorated for the holidays with garland, mistletoe, fruits and a Christmas tree in one room, a kind of mixture of old Dutch meets Victorian Christmas. Still the effects were nice and it was very festive.

The furniture in the hallway decorated for Christmas in 2024

The furniture in the Hallway was nicely decorated for the holidays

What I enjoyed is that in each room, there were stories of the Verplanck family and the role that they played in the formation of the community and in the nation as well. In real life though, this much decorating would not have been done. This is a more elaborate look on how the Victorians would have decorated the house. The Dining Room would have been one of the most elaborate for entertaining during the holiday season for dining and entertaining.

Until the Victorian Age, things had been kept very simple. You would have decorated the house before Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day, there would have been an afternoon church service and a nice lunch. Gift giving did not come into play until after the Civil War.

The Dining Room set for Christmas dinner in 2024

The full view of the Dining Room

The Dining Room Table and the fireplace mantle

The back part of the Dining Room

The Dining Room sideboard decorated for the holidays

The Historic Documents in the Dining Room with a funeral dress (why this was here I was not too sure)

The elaborate decorations between the windows in the Dining Room

The detailed decorations on the Dining Room table ready for a wonderful Christmas dinner

The beautiful fresh Christmas tree in the corner of the Dining Room in 2024

All of the rooms had artifacts that the family keeps donating the house as most of the original furnishings were destroyed in the 1931 fire. Still the furnishings are vintage to the time period. Here and there are stories of the house, the people that lived here and about the family in their daily lives. There were also stories of the Revolutionary War and its headquarters of Major General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. There was also a display on the founding of the Society of the Cincinnati, a Veterans group.

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The Order of Cincinnati at Mount Gulian

Mount Guilian 2021 XI

The history of Mount Gulian and the surrounding area

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The history of Mount Gulian and the surrounding area

The main room decorated for the Children’s Tea in the room of the Order of Cincinatti information

The Main Room set up for the tea

The back part of the room with its elaborate details

The beautiful window decorations in the main room

The Children’s Christmas Tea menu at Mount Gulian for the late December event

The Christmas tree in the corner of the room by all the portraits and photos of the members

The Kitchen in the basement area is one of the areas of the home that survived the 1932 fire when the house burnt to the ground. It would not have been used in modern times as a more modern kitchen was built in the newer area of the house. Still, this was decorated for the holidays to show the bounty of the Fall harvest and the items that would have been served for the Christmas holidays.

The kitchen decorated for Christmas in 2024

More detail on the Kitchen decorations

The Kitchen cabinets decorated for the holidays

The decorations on the Kitchen table in the basement area

The windows in the basement were decorated as well in the Gift Shop

The Gift Shop in the Basement area just off the Kitchen area

When I went back upstairs, we toured the Library and the Sitting Room just off the hallway and the Dining Room.

The Library decorated for the holidays

The Library decorations

The beautiful details of the window decorations

The cases of artifacts with the Christmas garlands decorating the top of the furniture

The other side of the Library cases and displays

According to family records, Christmas was a big holiday in the house with many members of the Ver Planck family enjoying the holidays together. The Drawing Room (where the Tea was taking place) was ‘decorated with pine over the doors and windows with wreaths of laurel and the berries of the bittersweet in various places and the room was aglow with a bright wood fire and candlelight and it was all adorned for Christmas. When the Drawing Room door was opened Christmas morning, the Christmas tree burst on our sight. It was lighted with little wax candles as the modern trees were but there were none of the stereotyped ornaments of tinsel and glitter. There were Lady Apples on the tree and oranges, cornucopias and toys and the sugar plums. The tree was always of laurel, reaching nearly to the ceiling and yet it looked small in that great room’ (William Samuel ‘Ver Planck Family History’). The current curators have done a nice job keeping this tradition alive in the decorations.

When I left the house, I visited the grounds over-looking the Hudson River. On the property behind the house was a ‘A frame’ Dutch barn. The barn was closed for the season but fit very well into the landscape of the estate. The view of the Hudson River was beautiful.

The Dutch Barn at Mount Gulian set up for a party

The view to the Hudson River from the house in the Summer

Don’t miss visiting the downtowns of Beacon and Wappinger Falls while visiting the area. Taking Route 9D is an interesting and scenic way to tour the area.

Downtown Beacon, NY at Christmas in 2021

Downtown Beacon, NY at Christmas time

Downtown Beacon at Christmas time

Mount Gulian in the Summer:

In the Summer of 2024, I returned to Mount Gulian to take a full tour of the estate in the summer when everything was in bloom. The same house but a different feeling than the Christmas holiday season. On the Summer tour, you are able to walk the gardens, the barn and the grounds around the house. Plus the gardens were in bloom so it was a more complete tour.

The back of Mount Gulian in the Summer of 2024

The back lawn on the Mount Gulian Homestead estate

The lawn to the gardens from the house

I started the tour of the property while I waited for my tour at 2:00pm. I walked the lawns and walked around the gardens. The property looked so much nicer than in the winter months. You can see the vibrance of the gardens and the beauty of the lawn and woods against the house. The gardens were well maintained and the flowers were still in bloom in the late summer months.

The gardens with the house in the distance

When I started the tour of the house in the Summer of 2024, it was similar to the December tour in the description of the house but the tour guide discussed the house from the perspective of the family living here full time when they moved from their New York City home to the Hudson River Valley permanently.

The Living Room with original furniture from the Verplanck family

Our first stop was in the Living Room where original family furnishings decorate the room. The family would gather in this room for specials occasions and holidays. The tour guide explained that the room contained some items that used to be in the original house including the portrait of the last resident of the house, Virginia Verplanck before the house burned down in the 1930’s.

The Verplanck Family china

Portrait of Virginia Verplanck as a child. She was the last Verplanck to live in the house

The Library

Revolutionary War artifacts in the house

The house was used by General Washington and his troops during the Revolutionary War and Baron von Steuben used the house during the war as well. The proximity both Washington’s Headquarters and the City made it an ideal location.

The portrait of the Baron Van Steuben

We next toured the kitchen, which had been decorated for a Dutch Christmas the last time I had visited. The hearth was from the original house and you could see how things were cooked in the open fire and then in the beehive oven where breads and cakes were cooked.

The kitchen in the basement

The cooking hearth and heat of the house

Cooking and Kitchen equipment

The items a cook would need to prepare meals in a Dutch kitchen.

The Grounds part of the tour:

After the full house tour, we went out to the grounds to see the barn and the gardens. The barn was the American Dutch style barn which was specific to this area. It was large and airy, enough to hold the crops and the animals in case of bad weather.

The Dutch Barn sign

The outside of the Dutch Barn

The Maitland bird holes in the barn to eat bugs on the hay and vegetables

My tour guide told me the unusual holes were that of the Maitland bird the could enter the barn to eat the bugs and insects on the crops and hay.

The inside of the barn set up for a future wedding

We next toured the gardens, which have been partly restored to their original design. They were in bloom with late summer flowers and decorative bushes and the layout was taken from early designs from the house.

The formal Gardens and Lawns tour:

The side of the house leading to the gardens

The semi circle in front of the house

The lawn between the house and the formal gardens used to be vegetable and fruit garden

The sign for the formal gardens

The formal flower gardens followed the original design the Virginia Venplanck had when she lived here

The beautiful gardens had been over grown in the years since the house burned down so volunteers and landscape architects had to cut down the woods and flow pictures and diagrams of the gardens to recreate them.

Entering the formal gardens

The middle of the gardens

The original trellis was still standing in the woods and it was rebuilt on its original spot

Walking through the trellis

The stone bench at the edge of the gardens

The back of the formal gardens

We ended the tour on the back lawn facing the Hudson River. The tour guide explained that the are thinking of trimming back the the woods near the river to better open up the view. This was probably true of the time of the house to pick up boats when moving around the river.

The views are spectacular now

The tour of the house and garden gives it a different perspective than at the holidays. It shows a working farm and an estate of a very prominent Hudson River family.

History of Mount Gulian:

The land where the house stands was purchased by two fur traders Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck on August 8, 1683. In exchange for 85,000 acres of land, they paid about $1,250 in goods. The Rombout Patent which formally granted the land to Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck was issued by King James II of England on October 17, 1685. After Gulian Verplanck’s death, his estate was eventually divided among divided among his heirs. Julian Verplanck II, a merchant from New York City, received 2880 acres, 400 of which were on a slope overlooking the Hudson River.

He named his estate Mount Gulian, in honor of his grandfather and had the first house on the site built between 1730 and 1740. The building was a small structure with an a-roof. Archaeological evidence suggests it was probably enlarged around 1767 and the characteristic gambrel roof as well as two porches were added between this year and the American Revolutionary War.

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Mount Gulian in an early picture

The Revolutionary War years:

During the war, Gulian Verplanck’s son Samuel stayed at the house, while his wife, Judith Commerlin remained at the family mansion at 3 Wall Street in Manhattan. In early 1783, Major General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben made Mount Gulian his headquarters. At the same time, George Washington had his headquarters in Hasbrouck House, Newburgh on the opposite side of the Hudson River.

On the morning of May 13, 1783, a group of officers of the Continental Army met at Mount Gulian to found the Society of the Cincinnati. Mount Gulian is headquarters of the Society’s New York State branch. The building was extended by in 1804 by Daniel Crommelin Verplanck, the grandson of Gulian Verplanck II, who also laid out the garden. When Marquis de Lafayette visited the house on his return to America in 1824, he stayed in the new addition.

Mount Guilian 2021

The Gardens of Mount Gulian at Christmas in 2021

In 1803, upon the death of Judith Commerlin Verplanck, the family mansion at 3 Wall Street was closed and much of its furnishings moved to Mount Gulian. In 1849, construction of the Hudson River Railroad cut off access to the Verplanck boat and bathhouse at the end of the property at the shoreline.

Mount Guilian 2021 VI

The view to Hudson River from Mount Gulian

The Restoration of the House:

The original mansion was destroyed in a fire laid by an arsonist in 1931. After this, the house laid in ruin and was left unattended until 1966, when Bache Bleecker, a descendant of the Verplanck family and his wife, Connie, founded the Mount Gulian Society, as a nonprofit private organization. The goal reconstructed the house to the state it was when it served as von Steuben’s headquarters. The interior contains artifacts related to the Verplanck family. The 18 century Dutch barn was moved here as well.

(This information came from Wiki and I give them full credit for the information)

History of the Verplanck Family:

Mount Gulian is the Hudson Valley colonial homestead of the Verplanck family. Between 1633 and 1638, a Dutch entrepreneur named Abraham Isaac Verplanck arrived in New Netherlands Colony (now New York and New Jersey) from Holland. He originally came to purchase land for a farming settlement and trading post.

The trading post would enable him to trade Dutch goods with the local Native Americans in exchange for beaver and other furs, Indian tobacco and trade goods that were rare in Europe. New Amsterdam was a thriving port and frontier town, filled with Dutch settlers, Indians and traders from all over Europe, Africans, both freemen and slaves, as well as French Huguenots seeking to escape from religious persecution in Europe and Jews fleeing the Inquisition in South American came to a relatively tolerant and busy New Amsterdam.

Abraham Issac Verplanck settled in the growing city and became a prosperous businessman. he married Maria Vigne Roos by 1635, they had Abigail and Gulian (Gulyn is Old Dutch for William), Catalyna, Isaak, Sussanna, Jacomyntje, Ariaentje, Hillegond and Isaak II moved to Albany and established the Verplanck line in that city, which exists today.

In 1664, an English nave appeared off the coast of New Amsterdam and demanded the city’s surrender. The Dutch surrendered their colony, swore loyalty to the British Crown and saw the city renamed New York. The Verplanck’s spoke Dutch but were now English citizens. By the 1680’s, Gulian Verplanck was sailing up the Hudson River looking for land to increase his wealth.

In 1683, with partners Francis Rombout and Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Gulian Verplanck bought 85,000 acres of land from the local Wappinger Indians for approximately $1200 worth of goods. About 75 miles north of Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson River for miles and going inland into rich meadows and forests, encompassing nearly one-seventh of modern Dutchess County, NY in today’s Fishkill-Beacon area, the purchase was quite a bargain. In 1685, the Deed of Sale was approved by King James II of England and is known as the Rombout Patent.

For the next forty-five years, Verplanck, Rombout and various partners and heirs sub-divided, sold off and rented portions of this huge tract of land, while logging, hunting and planting crops on the land.

During the English colonial period, the Verplanck’s became quite prosperous and built a fine home on Wall Street in Manhattan. The Verplanck’s were civic minded and participated in the development of the business and banking industry in New York City and were among the Trustees of Kings College, now known as Columbia University. Around 1730, a colonial-style fieldstone house was built in Fishkill Landing on the Rombout Patent land.

This rough frontier home was gradually surrounded by a working plantation, a dock on the Hudson that facilitated the New York-Kingston-Albany trade and many service buildings for servants and crop production. This homestead was called “Mount Gulian”, and it was used as a summer retreat for the family and a working plantation, but it is not believed that any family member lived at the site year-round until the early 1800’s. Other Verplancks at this time lived in Albany and Verplanck Point in Westchester County, NY.

The Verplancks were prominent citizens in colonial New York while maintaining correspondence with their Dutch relatives in Holland. Young Samuel Verplanck was fortunate enough to take “the grande tour” of Europe in 1761. As businessmen of that era, it must be noted that the Verplancks of Manhattan and Mount Gulian owned slaves during the mid-1700’s and into the early 1800’s, most likely house servants and skilled laborers.

Before the Revolutionary War, Samuel Verplanck became involved with anti-British groups and joined “the Committee of Safety of One -Hundred” in Manhattan. This patriot group was poised to take over the city in the event of rebellion, which occurred on April 19, 1775 at Lexington & Concord.

Later during the War for Independence, Verplanck turned over Mount Gulian to the Continental Army because of its strategic location on the Hudson near the Fishkill Barracks and across from Washington’s Headquarters at Newburgh. In late 1782, through the summer of 1783, Mount Gulian was the Continental Army headquarters of patriot General Fredrich Von Steuben. After the American victory at Yorktown, upon learning of the Treaty of Paris, General Von Steuben and other Chief American officers created at Mount Gulian on May 13, 1783, the Society of the Cincinnati, America’s first veterans’ fraternal organization.

In 1804, Daniel Crommelin Verplanck, a member of Congress moved from Manhattan to permanently occupy the home at Mount Gulian, which underwent extensive expansion with the addition of a large frame house attached to the original homestead. An ornamental “English Garden”, all the rage in Europe at the time, was laid out by him and his daughter, Mary Anna to supplement the 6 acres “kitchen garden” and the fields filled with salable crops. More permanent structures were built on the property, still thousands of acres, including barns, smokehouses, storage buildings and structures to facilitate brick making from clay taken from the Hudson.

The Verplanck family grew and eventually married into many prominent families in New York such as the Schuyler’s, the Johnsons, the Delancey’s and the Bleecker’s. Daniel’s son, Gulian C. Verplanck, also a member of Congress, ran for Mayor of New York in 1834, losing what many believe was a fixed election. Other Verplancks were judges, businessmen and wealthy farmers.

With slavery abolished in New York in 1827, the conservative Verplancks, along with many upper-class Northerners, gradually sided with the abolitionists, even hiring and assisting James Brown, an escaped slave who worked for the family for forty years. Brown’s diaries, written at Mount Gulian, provide a detailed record of daily life there.

During the Civil War, Robert Newlin Verplanck volunteered in the Union Army’s United States Colored Troops, training and fighting alongside black troops until the victory at Appomattox. His battlefield letters to his mother and sister have been preserved by Mount Gulian.

The Victorian era at Mount Gulian was a grand time, as the family associated with the local Livingstons, Roosevelts and Vanderbilts. Many Verplancks achieved fame in the professions, in arts and letters and as sportsmen. Verplanck Colvin was a topographical engineer who extensively surveyed the Adirondacks. Virginia E. Verplanck was a celebrated gardener and hostess. John Bayard Verplanck was an early seaplane flyer, racing World War I era veteran and banker.

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The history of the area around Mount Gulian

Mount Gulian was occupied by the Verplancks until 1931, when the house was destroyed by fire. Many of the furnishings and valuable were saved by family members, neighbors and firemen who cleared the house before it was fully engulfed.

Prior to the American Bicentennial of 1976, Mount Gulian was beautifully restored with the assistance of Verplanck descendants, local history lovers and members of the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1998, Mount Gulian sponsored a well-attended family reunion, which included an updated version of the family genealogy book originally from 1892. Today Ms. Charlotte Verplanck Willman is one of the Mount Gulian Historic Site’s Board of Trustees.

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The Order of Cincinnati

(This information was taken from the Mount Gulian Society website and I give them full credit for the information.)

After the tour, it was a long walk in Downtown Beacon, NY to picture taking and window shopping.

Downtown Beacon, NY in the summer of 2024

Downtown Beacon, NY in the summer of 2024

Downtown Beacon, NY in the summer of 2024

Downtown Beacon, NY falls in the summer of 2024

I also visited Downtown Beacon in December of 2024 for the pre-Christmas holiday season and the whole downtown was decked out for the holidays.

The Mountains behind the downtown glitter with the recent snowfall

The edge of Downtown where the church is located

The downtown was decorated with wreaths and garland topped with fresh snow

The store fronts during Christmas time in Downtown Beacon, NY

The Falls at Christmas time

The Downtown Beacon decorations for the holidays

The festive and very creative signs of the merchants in the downtown area

Downtown Beacon decorated for the holidays at dusk as the lights came on

More merchant signs downtown

Each lamppost was festive and nicely decorated for the holidays

jwatrel's avatarVisiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical

Mount Gulian Historic Site

145 Sterling Street

Beacon, NY  12508

(845) 831-8172

Home

Open: May 5th-October 27th Tours are every hour 1:00pm-5:00pm on Sundays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Special Wedding tours are by appointment.

Fee: Adults $8.00/Seniors $6.00/Children (6-18) $4.00/Members are free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g47291-d10701912-Reviews-Mount_Gulian_Society-Beacon_New_York.html?m=19905

On my last trip to the Hudson River Valley to visit the great houses of the Hudson, I came across Mount Gulian, a Dutch manor that I never heard of in all my visits. This smaller Dutch manor house is actually a reconstruction of an 18th century home that burned to the ground by arson in 1931. The original house had been built between 1730 and 1740 and added onto over the next two centuries.

The house officially had closed for the season at the end of October and was decorated for the holidays for the weekend between December 14-16th to represent the…

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Myzel’s Chocolates 140 West 55th Street New York, NY 10019

Don’t miss the whimsical window displays at Myzel’s Chocolates during the holidays!

Myzel’s Chocolates

The window display

Myzel Chocolate Store

The inside of Myzel’s Chocolate Shop at the holidays.

jwatrel's avatarLittle Shop on Main Street

Myzel’s Chocolates

140 West 55th Street

New York, NY  10019

(212) 245-4233

http://www.myzels.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Myzels-Chocolates-332431326808571/

Open: Sunday Closed/Monday-Friday 11:00am-7:00pm/Saturday 12:00pm-5:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d3671775-Reviews-Myzel_s_Chocolate-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

I came across Myzel’s Chocolates when walking the Central Park South neighborhood for ‘Day One Hundred and Fifty Eight’ for my ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’ project. This delightful little store sits across the street from the City Center and just down the road from Fifth Avenue.

What attracted me to the store, which was right before Christmas was its whimsical display window with all sorts of colorful Christmas decorations, Santa’s and figurines in the window. Inside it was a mob scene of people buying the store out. You could not get near the counter, let alone fit into the 100 square foot store. I had to wait outside for a few people to leave and then I could walk in.

Myzel’s Chocolates is the brainchild of Kamila Myzel and…

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Van Cortlandt House in the Bronx

Van Cortlandt House Museum in Van Cortlandt Park at Broadway & West 246 Street Bronx, NY 10471

Don’t miss this little gem of a historical site as the Van Cortlandt House is decorated for a Post-Revolutionary War Christmas.

Van Cortlandt House V

The Van Cortlandt House is very nice to tour during the holidays.

Van Cortlandt Park the former estate

The Van Cortlandt Manor in the Fall of 2025

jwatrel's avatarVisiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical

Van Cortlandt House Museum

Van Cortlandt Park at Broadway & West 246 Street

Bronx, NY  10471

(718) 543-3344

infor@vchm.org

Open: Tuesday-Friday 10:00am-4:00pm/Saturday & Sunday 11:00am-4:00pm

Admission: $5.00 for Adults/$3.00 for Seniors & Students/Children under 12 are free/General Admission is free on Wednesdays. Guided and group tours are available.

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g47369-d103501-Reviews-Van_Cortlandt_House-Bronx_New_York.html?m=19905

I visited the Van Cortlandt House Museum for the their Annual Christmas Decorated House event. The mansion was decorated for Christmas in the 1700’s so it was not overdone as it would during the Victorian times. The front of the house entrance was done with sprays of holly, mistletoe above the door and garlands of pine around the banister and fireplaces. The windows had candles in them and the dining room was set for Christmas luncheon in post-Revolutionary War era.

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Van Cortlandt House for Christmas is Post-Revolutionary War

While most of the house is represented during the Dutch…

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Day Thirty-Four: Christmas in Woodstock, NY for the Christmas Eve Parade and the Christmas Holidays December 25th, 2015 (Again on December 24th-26th, 2025)

There has been a lot of visits to my other blog on my visit to Woodstock, NY for Christmas. I wanted to share this earlier one with everyone as well. The parade on Christmas Eve should be experienced once and you will see the magic of Woodstock, NY at the holidays. It is amazing!

The Woodstock Square at Christmas time after the parade and lights are over. A relaxing evening after everything is over. The parade ends by 6:45pm and church services at the Dutch Reformed Church end by 8:00pm. Then all is quiet outside.

The Woodstock NY right before the start of the Christmas Parade

There is always excitement in the air from the crowds that come to see the parade and how Santa will make his appearance. I look forward to this like everyone else in the crowd.

Video of the events at the parade on December 24th, 2015

jwatrel's avatarmywalkinmanhattan

I put my walking project in Manhattan on hold to participate in other activities that I was organizing during the month of December. Trips in the city became day trips to the museums, walking tours and many holiday events that was I was invited to or helped organize for other people.

Some of the memorable events I had was organizing my holiday party at work. I work with the disabled who are a very active bunch of people. I make sure that there is always exercising, stimulating speakers and lively engaging conversation. These are not people who will ever sit on the back of the bus if I can help it. I always want them to know you can get better and make better of any situation.

We had a lively party with exercise, music and good food. As I do every year, I have the Bamboo House 28 South…

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The Sinterklaas Parade 2019

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Six: The Sinterklaas Parade in Rhinebeck-Here comes Christmas! December 7th, 2019

Welcome back to Rhinebeck, NY for Sinterklaas!

This annual Dutch Christmas festival has become part of my Christmas tradition since I visited Rhinebeck for the event in 2010. Rhinebeck, New York is the true Currier & Ives town at Christmas time and one of the most quintessential Hudson Valley town that retains it charm being so close to the City. I love coming up here not just for the event but as you have noticed by my most current blogs, I have spent a lot of time here in the Summer and Fall letting readers know of all the wonderful events and happenings in the area.

I have to say I was not used to Christmas creeping up on me like this. It had only been five weeks since we had the Halloween Parade in the City and puppet rehearsals had only been five and a half weeks earlier when I visited Rokeby. That and it had been 71 degrees on Halloween night and Sinterklass night it was more like 25 degrees. I could really feel the drop in temperature that evening.

Having just returned from Florida over the Thanksgiving break, I had been in class giving a quiz to my students that morning and reviewing over their group project and various chapters in the book for the upcoming exam. So I did not head Upstate until almost noon. I got up to Rhinebeck at 2:00pm and that is when it set in that the snow storm that had hit New Jersey was very different from the one Upstate. The storm had been worse Upstate than it had been in New Jersey and there was still a foot of snow in Rhinebeck. I didn’t get to the main street until 2:30pm.

The side streets were closed off on one side because the snow was still piled high. So it was an eight block walk on snowy paths to the Main Street of Rhinebeck which had fully cleaned up for the parade. What was nice this year was the first three blocks of the downtown area were closed off so you could enjoy the bands and acts walking around.

Rhinebeck when the sun goes down at Christmas

The Rhinebeck Christmas tree

It was a cold afternoon and I noticed that the crowds were not as large as they usually were for the event. Still Rhinebeck at Sinterklaas is festive and engaging environment. There were crowds weaving in and out of the restaurants and stores and the windows were decked out for the holidays with interesting holiday displays and lit stars from the parade. All around town there bands playing, people on stilts singing and grumpuses (Sinterklaas’s helpers) dancing around and chanting. You could see that people were freezing but still having a really good time.

The Grumpuses, Sinterklaas’s helpers dancing in Downtown Rhinebeck, NY

I was able to get to see some of the musical performances at the churches before the start of the parade and warm up. Even the audiences did not seem as busy as they had in the past but still people were enjoying the performances and stopped shivering.

Don’t miss this performance of Uptown Lowdown in downtown Rhinebeck that afternoon. The ladies were wonderful!

Sitting in the church pews and listening to groups was enjoyable. There was only about two hours before meeting at the Starr Library for the parade so I chose my shows by groups I had not heard in the past.

I started at 3rd Evangelical Lutheran Church listening to the Bard College Georgian Choir, who sang traditional Georgian Christmas music, which was interesting. I did not understand the words but the music was enjoyable. The students did a nice job.

This is some of their work at another concert

After that, I took a short walk to the other side of the downtown and heard the Vassar Devils at the Reformed Church Sanctuary. They were lively, peppy bunch that sang traditional Christmas carols with a jazzy spin.

This is the Vassar Devils at the 2015 Sinterklaas event

After the concerts, it was a quick walk to the Starr Library to get ready for the Sinterklaas Parade. There is always a lot of excitement to the beginning of the parade and getting ready to march down the hill. For some reason, I don’t remember it getting so cold so early in the season.

The temperature  dropped as the sun went down. Everyone was excited as we lined up for the parade and got ready for the walk through the downtown. All I could think about is how fast the year had gone and how I had this conversation with myself when I walked the parade last year. Were the years getting quicker between the parades?

There is an exhilaration when the parade progresses down the hill into Downtown Rhinebeck and the whole town is lit with white Christmas lights and illuminated stars that represent the parade. It may have seemed quiet in town that afternoon but the crowds were out for the parade. There must have been about a thousand people lining the street on both sides. It was a big crowd filming the parade.

There is always such excitement to this parade. Similar to the Barnacle Parade that I attended in October (Day One Hundred and Fifty One The Barnacle Parade see below), this is a home grown parade that just keeps getting bigger. When I first starting coming to the Sinterklaas Parade back in 2010, it was more local people. Now you have people coming from many states to join in the festivities. Even the cold kept people from the day’s activities, they came for the parade.

Marching toward the end of the parade with Mother Nature, this is the second year of carrying the ‘star forest; puppet (I am not pulling my back out for something heavier as in the past), we get to see the other puppets, floats and bands head down the hill. You can see the multiple lights from the other puppets and the raging sounds of the bands and the Chinese Dragons as they head down the hill to town.

You can see me in the corner holding the Star Forest puppet by Mother Nature with my Cornell Pom-Pom hat on marching to keep warm. It is an exciting night!

There is always a delay as you get to the Route 9 crossing near the Beekman Arms Hotel for the performance of the “Wild Women of Rhinebeck”, who perform their annual dance and for the ‘Dragon Dance’ that the Chinese dancers perform. It is really fun to see up close if you get the chance.

When we entered the downtown, all the kids were excited to see the Mother Nature float winding by. The parents were just as excited as they high-fived Mother Nature as they passed by groups of people. The drum line was going in full beat just behind us followed by a large group of parade goers marching in the parade with their lit stars. It was exhilarating and fun to watch from the marcher’s point in the parade. On such a cold night (by this point it was 25 degrees), I could not believe that many people were lining the parade route.

As we rounded the corner into the Rhinebeck Municipal lot to end the parade and drop the puppets off, we were greeted by a huge roar of people and the announcements from the stage for the final part of the parade. I just dropped my puppet off and enjoyed the stage show as the drum line passed by.

The stage performance was with all the main characters of the parade, Sinterklaas, Mother Holly, the Snow King and Queen, the Mermaid Queen, the Midnight Moon Princess and various members of the Sinterklaas Parade Committee who run the parade. it is a ceremony that honors the children, ‘The Kings and Queens of Sinterklaas’, for the evening.

The Closing ceremony

There were musical performances, dancing, prayer and then the fire jugglers entertaining us. The audience had thinned out by this point and about a hundred and fifty people were standing in the parking lot watching the ceremony. It was getting even colder by the time the fire jugglers started. After the last announcement for the parade events next year, the crowd started to disperse. It did not take long to watch crowd leave as it got so cold.

I walked around downtown Rhinebeck for about twenty minutes letting the crowds thin out and the traffic leave but by that point the town really quieted down and most of the cars were gone as I did not see that much traffic.

It was fun to walk the town one more time and admire the beautiful Christmas windows of all the stores and the sparking white lights that lined the trees on both sides of the main street of Rhinebeck. It is really is picturesque.

Downtown Rhinebeck is so beautifully decorated for Christmas

I had full day of work the next day that including decorated houses to visit, historical society events to attend, an Afternoon Tea at the Newark Museum (see review on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com) and then an evening selling Christmas trees for the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association (see blogs on Christmas on MywalkinManhattan.com) so staying overnight in Rhinebeck was not possible this year. It was going to be a long ride home.

It was worth it and a lot of fun!

Happy Sinterklass and Merry Christmas!

Check out the videos online on the Sinterklaas Parade on YouTube. It is an exciting night!

My Halloween Blog on the Halloween Parade in October:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/10800

My blog on the Barnacle Parade in October:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/10747

Tiny Dollhouse

Tiny Doll House 314 East 78th Street New York, NY 10075

In honor of Small Business Saturday I am sending out merchants I have found on MywalkinManhattan. Don’t miss this unique toy store. A real one of a kind.

Tiny Doll House II

jwatrel's avatarLittle Shop on Main Street

Tiny Doll House

314 East 78th Street

New York, NY  10075

(212) 744-3719

http://www.tinydollhouseny.com

https://www.tinydollhousenewyorkcity.com/

Hours: Monday-Sunday 11:00am-4:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d17605850-Reviews-Tiny_Doll_House-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

I discovered this store for the first time on my walking project, ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’, when I was walking the Upper East Side. Coming from the Toy Industry (I worked for FAO Schwarz for four years in both main New York store on Fifth Avenue and the Minneapolis store for four months in 1987), I recognized the beauty and fun of the Tiny Doll House.

When I walked in I was greeted by a woman who explaining the store to another customer. One side of the store has all sorts of things to decorate a dollhouse that were all handmade like dolls, food, furniture and accessories that would be the envy of any home. Even the paints to put over a doll house mantle were hand painted (or at…

View original post 338 more words