I had to pick one of the coldest days of the year to come into New York City. Since it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I decided to finally visit the Museum of Mathematics on East 26th Street. The museum has been closed for most of the pandemic and finally reopened for people to visit. I decided to endure the cold weather and visit the museum I had passed so many times on my walks in the Rose Hill and NoMAD neighborhoods.
Since the museum and NoMAD (North of Madison Square Park) are the next neighborhood over from the Lower Garment District, I decided to walk the avenues as well to see what changes have taken place in the last twenty years as well.
With the renovations of the post office to the new train station and the development of the Hudson Yards, this neighborhood is quickly being changed from small office buildings to an extension of Midtown with shiny new office buildings and apartment buildings. New parks and malls are being developed for the residents moving in and in the over seventeen years that I have been volunteering at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen on West 28th Street, I have watched the entire neighborhood gentrify. I have never seen a neighborhood be knocked down or sandblasted since my walks in Harlem.
I started my morning walking down to Madison Square Park, which has been my headquarters since visiting these neighborhoods. The dog walkers were in full swing as well as parents strolling around with their children both in carriages and the playgrounds. Even though it was about 30 degrees at the time, it looked like people just wanted to get out of the house.
The first Shake Shack is located in the southern part of the park, and I could not believe the lines and the people dining outside. I guess people really did have cabin fever. Wanting a snack before I visited the museum, I bypassed the restaurants that I had seen earlier in the year and headed to a new takeout restaurant whose flags indicated that it had just opened. I went to Dim Sum Sam at 28 East 23rd Street.
The restaurant looked like it had just opened that day (I read that it had opened the week before) and the case lines when you walk in are filled with all sorts of buns and egg custards. The prices were a bit higher than Chinatown, but the food was a welcome on a cold day. I just had a quick Roast Pork Bun and an Egg Custard which were both delicious. I ate them as a crossed the park and finished before I got to the front door of the museum (see my review on TripAdvisor).
The Roast Pork Buns are amazing
The National Museum of Mathematics is a great little museum for families with small children. The museum has two full floors of exhibitions with a spiral staircase separating the floors and a gift shop at the entrance (In December 2024, it has moved to 225 Fifth Avenue).
On the main floor there are interesting interactive exhibitions such as the Shapes of Space that show how different shapes fit together on a curved surface. I was not too sure what the point of it was, but the kids seemed to enjoy it and it was interesting to see how they connected. The Square wheeled Trike was interesting as you rode a square wheeled type of bike on a bumpy surface to check velocity. The kids and young parents really liked this.
The “Shapes of Space” exhibition
The displays I enjoyed on the main floor were Motionscape, where you had to walk as fast as you could on the track to check the relationship between velocity, your position and acceleration. It was interesting to see how your body movements when walking affects the way you react. The other display that was really popular was Hoop Curves which was always busy. The exhibit used statistics and a robot arm to shoot the basketball. The kids got a real kick out of this when trying to make a basket.
New Motion Machine
On the lower level, there were more interactive displays along with an explanation of the math along with the creators of the theory. I found that interesting because you could see who all the mathematicians were who the projects were based on or who had contributed to them.
One of the interactive displays that I enjoyed was the Tessellation Station, where you could create displays with magnetic tiles on a large board. Later I learned about Tessellation as a form of making shapes fit together in a pattern and then the theory behind that. It was a fun way to use your creativity.
The “Tessellation Station” exhibition is a lot of fun
Another was the Tree of Life, where the computer copied the movements of myself and then used them to show the how I moved my arms and legs in a pattern. It was funny to see myself repeated over and over again like a tree with branches. It really did measure the movement of my body.
The “Tree of Life” display of little me’s
The Twist and Roll display showed how to put different shapes and sizes together and show their movement on the board. The one display that all the kids got a kick out of was the Math Board, where the colors and shapes of the section of the floor lit up when you walked on them and was controlled by the way you walked on them.
The “The Twist and Roll” display
The Museum of Mathematics is a great museum for younger children who want to get physical and have a good time and like the interaction. I learned a few things too about the fundamentals of math and some of its background theories.
Still, it is a great museum for kids under the age of twelve and their younger parents. I think anything over that age would warrant a trip to the American Museum of Natural History or the Liberty Science Center with more exhibits that are age appropriate. It is a museum you should visit once or twice with small children who are at the learning stage and just want to have fun.
After I left the museum, I decided to walk the two avenues in the neighborhood of the Lower Garment District and see how things have changed over the years. There has been tremendous growth and building in the twenty-five years since I worked here and for the better. Most of the older buildings and cut-rate businesses are gone being replaced by a vibrant commercial district that was desperately needed in this part of the City.
Ever since the City reopened last June and even before, this area of Midtown has been changing at breakneck speed. The blocks around Eight Avenue has been under construction for about three years with one small building blocking a bigger one from being built on the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 34th Street. Madison Square Garden on the corner of Eighth Avenue between West 33rd and 32nd Streets is under construction for renovations and additions and much of lower Eighth Avenue the smaller businesses have emptied out due to lack of business with the pandemic.
Madison Square Garden is one of the most controversial buildings in the City when it replaced the old Penn Station. The majestic building that was designed by McKim, Mead & White in the Beaux-Arts style and opened in 1910 was closed in 1963 and knocked down for the current building.
The outcry from this started the Historic Preservation Movement in the City and prevented future buildings from demolition. These types of buildings are now protected under New York City’s Landmark Preservation Act. The biggest problem cited at the time was that the rail service was declining, and the building was getting too expensive to maintain (Wiki).
The old Penn Station that was knocked down in the 1960’s
With the reconfiguration of these grand train depots today not just at Grand Central Station (see my blogs on Midtown East and Murray Hill) as well as Penn Stations in Philadelphia and Washington DC, I could only imagine what it would be like today. We are now seeing it in the new Moynihan Train Hall in the former James A. Farley Post Office building.
The James A. Farley Building was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White and was designed in the Beaux Arts style, the sister building to the former Penn Station (where the current Madison Sqaure Garden now sits). The current renovation of the building to turn the dream into a reality is by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (Wiki).
I was able to walk the halls and staircases of the complex that afternoon and the interiors are still not finished with a few of the restaurants now opened but the polished floors and new artwork is in full view. The public bathrooms are a nice change from the ones in Penn Station. The rest of the complex will be open by the spring.
The new James A. Farley Building to the Patrick Moynihan Train Hall (Vno.com)
The station lit at night.
How beautiful it is decorated for the Christmas season
Daniel Patrick Moynihan was a former politician and diplomat.
The new Moynihan Terminal at night
The train station is now open but not yet finished but the first restaurants have opened and there is good traffic flow through the former post office. I could not believe what a five-year renovation and millions of dollars can produce. When the new train station opens fully with shops and restaurants, it will rival anything all the other stations.
Inside the Moynihan Station Food Court at the holidays
Down the block from the station, there are two restaurants that do stand out amongst the closed establishments and the fast-food restaurants. One is New York Pizza Suprema at 413 Eighth Avenue. The pizza here is amazing but a bit pricer than most of the pizza places in the Garment District but the quality more than makes up for it. Every time I have eaten here the food has been terrific.
The other restaurant that I enjoy when I am in the area is New Dynasty Inc. Chinese Food at 393 Eighth Avenue in a store whose sign still advertises videos and games. Don’t miss this excellent and very underrated Chinese takeout establishment. I love their Orange Chicken and Roast Pork Lo Mien when I eat there. They also have excellent eggrolls.
The Roast Pork Lo Mein here is excellent. The only bad part of the restaurant is that you can’t eat inside anymore.
When I walked back around Eighth Avenue and down West 34th Street to Seventh Avenue, there is construction all along West 34th Street so don’t be surprised if this is all new businesses and shops and dining in the next year. Madison Square Garden is going through a major renovation and rebuilt on this side of the property.
Like the Grande Dame of the neighborhood, the Seventh Avenue entrance of Macy’s greets you on the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 34th Street. This entrance leads to the Men’s Store where you have really nice public bathrooms in the basement level if you need them.
Walking down Seventh Avenue from West 34th Street brought back a flood of memories for me of lunch breaks from work and a lot of late night walks from the Fashion Institute of Technology when I was attending graduate school there. There still is a lot of silence as Madison Square Garden is active but not as much as it was before COVID. Even Penn Station is not as busy even though Manhattan is opened up. Many people are not back to work yet in the office buildings.
The creepy part is passing the Hotel Pennsylvania, one of the most famous hotels in New York City (Pennsylvania 6-5000 as the song goes) at 401 Seventh Avenue right across from Madison Square Garden. The hotel had been closed since the pandemic started but even when I worked at Macy’s the hotel always seemed run down. It was not a place many Macy’s executives wanted to stay at when they were doing business at the store.
The Hotel Pennsylvania was built in 1919 by the Pennsylvania Railroad and was designed by architect William Symmes Richardson from McKim, Mead & White. It was designed by the firm who designed Penn Station across the street and the limestone facade mirrored that of the station. The hotel has gone through many ownerships over the last one hundred years and returned to the name Hotel Pennsylvania in 1991. The hotel closed for business in April 2020 and is in the process of being demolished. There will be a new series of office buildings built in the area (Wiki).
The Hotel Pennsylvania at 401 Seventh Avenue (Wiki)
We will always have Glenn Miller though. Pennsylvania 6-5000.
At the edge of the neighborhood lies the back of the campus of The Fashion Institute of Technology which just reopened to students earlier this year. It is nice to see the campus finally back in session again.
There are a few interesting restaurants that I have eaten at over the years along the way. Mustang Harry’s at 352 Seventh Avenue I had just eaten at earlier in the year for the Michigan State University versus University of Kansas Champions Tournament basketball game. The food is good, but it is very expensive for what you get (see the review on TripAdvisor).
Mustang Harry’s at 352 Seventh Avenue is a good place to watch the games
As I made my way back up Seventh Avenue, I stopped at Rony’s Fresh Pizza at 355 Seventh Avenue for a quick slice for a snack. This little hole in the wall pizzeria near FIT was really good. For a dollar, the pizza had amazing flavor and the sauce was delicious. Sometimes these places surprise you.
Rony’s Pizza
Rony’s Fresh Pizza at 355 Seventh Avenue is terrific
After I finished my walk of the Avenues, I took a detour up Sixth Avenue back to Bryant Park and stopped at Krispie Kreme at 994 Sixth Avenue for a doughnut. All this walking put me in the mood for something sweet and I had not been there in a while.
I had a Lemon Filled Glaze doughnut ($2.00) and I swear, it was the best two dollars I ever spent. I had not had one of these doughnuts in over a year and it always tastes so good. The best part it was still warm, and you could taste the glaze over the sweet filling (see my review on TripAdvisor).
I walked all over Bryant Park just admiring the crowds in the park on such a cold day and decided to take a walk-up Times Square and watch the crowds. I could not believe on such a cold day lots of people were milling around.
The Bryant Park Rink and Midtown in the background during the cooler months
I ended the evening back in Hell’s Kitchen at Real Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen at 811 Eighth Avenue. I had not been there in almost three years since before the pandemic. It had not been open for the longest time and before the pandemic, it was always packed during Christmas of 2019. I swear I have been coming to this restaurant since its opening.
Real Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen at 811 Eighth Avenue
The food here is excellent and what a meal on a cool night. I started with an order of Fried Bread, which tastes like a churro without the sweet filling. That really warmed me up with the crisp soft bread at every bite. I had an order of their Soup Dumplings and I love to slurp these things with every mouthful bursting with every bite in your mouth.
The order of Wonton Soup was perfect on a cold night with the rich broth and soft meaty wontons and Bok choy is almost a meal onto itself. I really missed the food here.
The Wonton Soup is delicious here
Walking around the neighborhood brought back so many memories of my years of working at Macy’s and for that has changed in the neighborhood it feels like little has as things still do look the same. They just look better and more vibrant.
That’s what can happen in twenty-five years in a City that just keeps morphing.
Please read my other blogs on walking the Lower Garment District:
Day Two Hundred and Seventeen: Walking the Borders of the Lower Garment District/Flower & Fur Districts:
I started my walk today with the threat of a major snowstorm. When I went outside, it was cold but blue skies and sunny. There were two times that the skies got cloudy with a small snow flurry and that was it. So much for an “Artic Plunge” in New York City. That lasted about twenty minutes each. So much for the big storm. It ended up being sunny and cold the rest of the afternoon.
I journeyed back to the Lower Garment District to walk the side streets and see what has developed in the neighborhood. Lots of renovations and new construction are part of the neighborhood fabric as this section of Midtown South is going to be redeveloped with new office buildings and apartments. Most of the building stock is rather old and needs a renovation.
The blocks between Ninth Avenue and Sixth Avenue along West 33rd and 32nd Streets is dominated by several older buildings: The former Farly Building is now the Moynihan Train Hall, the former Penn Station is now Madison Square Garden, the Hotel Pennsylvania is now being demolished for an office building and the former Gimbel’s Department is now the Manhattan Mall. New uses for classic buildings that is a trend in many neighborhoods in Manhattan.
The James A. Farley Building was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White and was designed in the Beaux Arts style, the sister building to the former Penn Station (where the current Madison Sqaure Garden now sits). The current renovation of the building to turn the dream into a reality is by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (Wiki).
I was able to walk the halls and staircases of the complex that afternoon and the interiors are still not finished with a few of the restaurants now opened but the polished floors and new artwork is in full view. The public bathrooms are a nice change from the ones in Penn Station. The rest of the complex will be open by the spring.
The new rendering of the James A. Farley Building to the Patrick Moynihan Train Hall (Vno.com)
Daniel Patrick Moynihan was a former politician and diplomat.
The new Moynihan Building at night
Across the street from the Moynihan Train Hall is Madison Square Garden, one of the most famous sports areas in the country. It is what replaced the famous Penn Station that was knocked down in 1968.
Madison Square Garden is one of the most controversial buildings in the City when it replaced the old Penn Station. The majestic building that was designed by McKim, Mead & White in the Beaux-Arts style and opened in 1910 was closed in 1963 and knocked down for the current building. The outcry from this started the Historic Preservation Movement in the City and prevented future buildings from demolition. These types of buildings are now protected under New York City’s Landmark Preservation Act. The biggest problem cited at the time was that the rail service was declining, and the building was getting too expensive to maintain (Wiki).
Madison Square Garden at 4 Pennsylvania Plaza
The former Penn Station that was knocked down in the 1960’s
With the reconfiguration of these grand train depots today not just at Grand Central Station (see my blogs on Midtown East and Murray Hill) as well as Penn Stations in Philadelphia and Washington DC, I could only imagine what it would be like today. We are now seeing it in the new Moynihan Train Hall in the former James A. Farley Post Office building.
The Hotel Pennsylvania was built in 1919 by the Pennsylvania Railroad and was designed by architect William Symmes Richardson from McKim, Mead & White. It was designed by the firm who designed Penn Station across the street and the limestone facade mirrored that of the station. The hotel has gone through many ownerships over the last one hundred years and returned to the name Hotel Pennsylvania in 1991. The hotel closed for business in April 2020 and is in the process of being demolished. There will be a new series of office buildings built in the area (Wiki).
The Hotel Pennsylvania at 401 Seventh Avenue (Wiki)
We will always have Glenn Miller though. Pennsylvania 6-5000.
Song “Pennsylvania 6-5000” by Glenn Miller
Behind the hotel is the old Gimbel’s Department Store building that closed in 1986, a year and a half before I started at Macy’s. Gimbels had always been considered our rival for years, but I think because of the sheer size of Macy’s I have a feeling that we beat them in sales. Gimbels had come to New York City by way of Philadelphia by the Gimbel’s family. It was founded by Adam Gimbel in 1887. The store in Herald Square opened in 1910 in the classical style by architect Daniel Burnham (Wiki). The store stretches from West 33rd to West 32nd Streets along Broadway.
Gimbel’s Department Store at Sixth Avenue and 33rd Street
When the store closed in 1986, it was renovated and was called A & S Plaza when that store moved into the space. When A & S closed in the mid 1990’s when it merged with Macy’s, the store was renovated again and now is called Manhattan Mall. It is mostly office space now (Wiki).
In the middle of this former shopping district and just south of Herald Square is Greeley Square named after Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune. The square was acquired by New York City in 1846 and turned into the park. The statue that dominates the southern end of the park was designed by sculptor Alexander Doyle in 1890 (NYCParks.org).
Greeley Square was named after Horace Greeley, who published the first issue of The New Yorker magazine and established the New York Tribune. He was also a member of the Liberal Republican Party where he was a congressman and ran for President of the United States after the Civil War.
Publisher and Politician Horace Greeley famous for his quote “Go West, young man, Go West”
The Horace Greeley statue is located in the park just south of Herald Square in Greeley Square.
The statue was created by artist Alexander Doyle. Alexander Doyle was an American born artist who studied in Italy with several artists. He is best known for his marbles and bronze sculptures of famous Americans including many famous Confederate figures that have come under fire recently.
Once you leave Greeley Square and walk south you will be entering what is left of the old Wholesale district where once buyers used to come into these stores to commercially buy goods for their businesses. Slowly all of these businesses as well as most of the Flower District is being gentrified out with new hotels, restaurants and bars replacing the businesses. It seems that most of the district is being rebuilt or renovated or gutted.
The Broadway side of the park opposite the old department stores starts some of the most beautiful architecture in South Midtown. This portion of Broadway until you reach the Battery has the most unique stonework and embellishments on the buildings that show the craftsmanship of another era when companies-built headquarters that were meant to last. These surround the whole square and are always fun to admire.
One building that faces Greeley Square is 1270 Broadway at the corner of West 33rd Street.
1270 Broadway, known once as the Wilson Building, was built between 1912 and 1913 in the class Beaux Arts style. It now serves as an office building. You have to look up from the square to admire its beauty.
Next to the building is across the street at 1265 Broadway, the former Browning, King & Company building. The building was built in 1910 by developer William R.H. Martin for commercial use. The building was designed by architects Townsend, Steinle & Haskell in brick, stone and terra cotta. The interesting decorative top was designed for the Men’s retail company Browning, King & Company. You have to look up at the detail work and the eagle at the roof of the building (Daytonian).
1265 Broadway-The Browning, King & Company building
Another building that stands out and sadly boarded up at this time is the former Martinique Hotel at 49 West 32nd Street (1260-1266 Broadway). This was also built by William R. H. Martin in 1898 with the design by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in the French Renaissance style. The hotel had a notorious reputation in the 1970’s and 80’s as a welfare hotel that closed in 1988. It is now a Curio Hotel of Hilton Hotels (Wiki).
I remember this hotel well when I worked for Macy’s in the late 1980’s and all the people yelling and screaming outside the hotel with fire trucks all over the place. The hotel had been nothing but a problem for almost twenty years. It has since been bought by the Hilton Group and is now a historical luxury hotel.
1260 Broadway-49 West 32nd Street-The Martinique Hotel
A couple of buildings that stand out when walking down Broadway are 1234 Broadway on the corner of Broadway and West 31st Street, an elegant Victorian building with a standout mansard roof and elaborate details on the roof and windows. I did not realize that it was the Grand Hotel built in 1868 as a residential hotel. The hotel was commissioned by Elias Higgins, a carpet manufacturer and designed by Henry Engelbert. Currently it is being renovated into apartments (Daytonian). It shows how the City keeps morphing over time as this area has become fashionable again.
1234 Broadway in all its elegance, the former Grand Hotel
After rounding the southern part of Greeley Square, I headed back down Sixth Avenue to West 30th Street, the southern border of the neighborhood with the ever-changing NoMAD (North of Madison Square Park). This southern section of South Midtown as I have mentioned in other blogs is being gutted, knocked down and rebuilt into a hip area of the City with trendy hotels, restaurants and stores.
When I made my way back down West 32nd Street past all the construction and then made my way down West 31st Street. There were some interesting buildings in the neighborhood. As I passed the southern parts of the larger buildings and walked down the street between Seventh and Sixth Avenues, I had to stop when I saw the beauty of St. Francis of Assisi Church at 135 West 31st Street. The building was so elegant and decorative with its interesting architecture and art details.
St. Francis of Assisi Church at 135 West 31st Street (Church Photo)
The church has an extremely interesting history and has been subject to the changes of the neighborhood. The parish was founded in New York City in 1844 and the church found that it was outgrowing it’s building. In 1890, the parish started plans for a new church. The church was designed by architect Henry Erhardt, and it was designed in the Gothic Revival style and was completed in 1892 (Wiki).
What I had not realized that this was the parish of Father Mychal Judge who was the Fire Chaplain for the FDNY. He had rushed down to the site on 9/11 and had been giving last rights to a victim when he was hit by debris and killed instantly. He had sacrificed so much that day to the men and women of New York City (Wiki).
FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge the way he should be remembered (Wiki)
Next to the stairs leading to the church was a spooky and very realistic statute of someone who looks like they are begging. The work is entitled “When I was hungry” by artist Timothy P. Schmalz.
Artist Timothy P. Schmalz is a Canadian born artist and is known for his large-scale works. His work is considered spiritual, and the artist says that “he is devoted to creating art that glorifies Christ” and that an artist “needs an epic subject to create epic art” (Artist Bio). The artist attended the Ontario College of Art.
Timothy P. Schmalz YouTube video
On my way back from Sixth Avenue, I stopped at 4 Boys 99Cent Pizza at 252 West 31st Street for a slice of pizza (see my review on TripAdvisor). The pizza here is very good and made a nice snack to warm me up as I continued to walk down the street.
The pizza at 4 Boys 99Cent Pizza at 252 West 31st Street is very good
I made my way back done West 31st Street admiring the architecture of the Moynihan Train Hall and looking at the detailed work done on the building. They really brought this building back to life making it look like it had when it had opened.
West 30th Street takes you more in the heart of what is left of the Garment District with the last of the small furrier shops when this used to be the Fur District forty or fifty years ago. The Fur District still has about a dozen stores scattered between West 30th and 29th Streets just off Seventh Avenue between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The fact that women are not wearing fur the way they did fifty or sixty years ago, and rising rents are pushing a lot of these businesses out of the area.
I passed this interesting piece of street art on the corner of West 30th Street and Eighth Avenue
(Totem art was the artist and I could not find anything on them)
There are several beautiful and interesting buildings as you walk down West 30th Street. Another elegant church is St. John’s the Baptist Roman Catholic Church at 213 West 30th Street. The congregation started in Manhattan in 1840 and had a rough start in its history. The current church was built between 1871 and 1872 in the French Gothic style and was designed by architect Napoleon LeBrun. Mr. LeBrun is noted for designing many churches in New York City at the time (Wiki).
St. John’s the Baptist Roman Catholic Church at 213 West 30th Street at night.
The grounds of the church during the Spring of 2024.
The beauty of the church over the Summer of 2024
The summer foliage in 2024
The entrance to the church in the Summer of 2024
Christmas decorations in 2025
Another fascinating building that is part of the street fabric is the former 23rd Precinct Building at 138 West 30th Street. It really looks like an old police station. The precinct building was built in 1907-1908 and designed by architect R. Thomas Short of Harde & Short. The area was once known as the ‘Tenderloin’ and was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the City. It is now being used as the Traffic Control Division of the NYPD (Wiki).
Another building right down the block is ‘The Cass Gilbert” building at 130 West 30th Street. Originally called the S.J.M. Building for fur trader Samuel J. Manne, the building had been designed by architect Cass Gilbert and was built in 1928. The building’s decorations include friezes of animal reliefs and winged beasts at the entrance of the building. It had been originally built as offices and showrooms (Wiki).
“The Cass Gilbert” building at 130 West 30th Street
As you walk back to Ninth Avenue, you will notice how much more residential that blocks are between Eighth and Ninth Avenues along both West 30th and West 29th Streets. This is where the last of the small intimate brownstones and low-level apartment houses still exist.
This area had become very gentrified over the last twenty years, and I would watch the renovations happening especially on the block of West 29th Street, where all the brownstones lining the park that is part of the Penn Apartments. It is a colorful line of buildings facing the park.
Most of the block has non-descript buildings and a slew of smaller hotels. In a few years, I predict that most of these blocks will be knocked down to build new office high rises and leave most of the Garment District behind. There are still a few furriers closer to Seventh Avenue left, holding guard for those who still enjoy mink and ermine coats. It is a thrill to see all the high-quality coats and hats that are still popular amongst customers who still appreciate this type of clothing.
The Fashion Institute of Technology had some interesting paintings on the back part of the campus that have disappeared with the new construction of the campus. Still the students do an interesting job decorating the walls around the building.
The interesting paintings at FIT
The paintings around the back part of The Fashion Institute of Technology,
The creativity of the FIT students
One building does stick out and that is located at 214 West 29th Street. This unusual building was built in 1925 as an office building and now serves as a We Work office space. The unusual decorations at the entrance include strange statues of grinning males (or could be females as i could not get close enough without the doorman looking at me).
I sat down and relaxed in Greeley Square and watched as the few tourists sat down or were taking pictures of Macy’s and Herald Square just above the park. On the other side of the square is Koreatown (please see my blog on that neighborhood) and there is always a lot of bustles on that side of the park with its slew of great restaurants and now traffic due to the opening of the Martinique Hotel again after another renovation.
There are two wonderful restaurants at the Hotel New Yorker one of them is the Tick Tock Diner at 481 Eighth Avenue
That evening I finally made a trip inside the Hotel New Yorker inside of using the hotel as a starting point for my walks in this neighborhood. I ate at the Tick Tock Diner, the corner restaurant of the hotel at Ninth Avenue and West 34th Street (see my review on TripAdvisor). This busy deli is part of the hotel so you can see what the lobby looks like as well and see the other restaurants in the hotel.
I was starved and ordered a Turkey Club Sandwich with fries ($16.95) and a Pepsi. The food at Tick Tock is really good but pricey (see review on TripAdvisor). The club sandwich was really good, and the sandwich was layered with freshly roasted turkey and fresh lettuce and tomato. The portion size was very generous, and I enjoyed the meal. I even saved room for a piece of Apple Pie A la Mode ($9.95), which the waitress said was homemade at the restaurant but tasted more frozen and baked there.
The turkey club was delicious
The restaurant was still a nice experience and a great way to end the day. What we are seeing now in the Lower Garment District is a neighborhood is total transition and in the next ten years will probably mirror the changes that are going on in the Hudson Yards. This will be the lower extension of Midtown and with the new train hall a new hub of the City.
It is always nice when you discover a new museum. In all my years of walking around the Upper East Side, I had never noticed the Society of Illustrators, nor had I heard of it, but I am glad I have now. The museum is home in a stylish brownstone on a residential block away from the traditional “Museum Row” on Fifth Avenue.
The exhibits were on the main and lower floors of the main building with the special exhibitions on the third and fourth floors. The museum also had a very nice restaurant with an open terrace when it got warmer on…
My best friend approached me at the last minute and asked if I wanted to go with her to the “Wendy Williams Show” taping on February 28th, 2022. I had never been to one of these shows before, so I said sure. I did not know that I would have to be up at 5:30am to get into the City to stand in the VIP line by 8:15am.
We had a lot of fun as they warmed the audience up and got us going. Wendy Williams was on hiatus at the time of the shooting so Michael Rappaport was our host. I found it fascinating how they run these shows and how they all work.
Maricel and I at the filming before the show started
The show that morning.
I could see the two of us every time the host asked the head camera man a question. We could be seen sitting at the top of the platform. We did make a shot with the camera before one of the breaks so that was pretty cool.
Maricel and I on TV! This was right before the second break.
The show lasted an hour and we got to see one of the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” (whom I did not know because I never watch the show. I have not seen it since Season One). There was also a shopping segment and a discussion of current events. The taping was for about an hour.
After the show, I took Maricel to Milanes Spanish Restaurant at 158 West 25th Street right around the corner from the studio, where they specialize in Dominican food. I had been there twice before. The food was excellent, but the place is so run down. It really does need a refreshing (see my review on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com).
Milanes Spanish Restaurant at 158 West 25th Street
The food there is amazing though. We shared some chicken and beef empanadas for an appetizer, then Maricel had the Oxtail Stew, and I had the Cuban Sandwich. I thought the food was delicious with the sandwich being filled with freshly roasted pork, ham and Swiss Cheese and then pressed into a fresh roll.
The Cuban Sandwich at Milanes Spanish Restaurant is delicious
It was cold all that day, not just in the studio and the restaurant but outside got unbearable with the wind. After lunch was over, I just left the City for home. Still weather aside, it was a great morning and a lot of fun.
Have you ever walked around Manhattan when it is 25 degrees outside? When the picks up, it gets cold!
My best friend thought I was nuts when I started to walk the lower part of the Garment District on a sunny but cold Saturday. This part of the neighborhood is bound by the campus of the Fashion Institute of Technology in the middle of the neighborhood and what remains of the Flower District on the eastern border with NoMAD (North of Madison Square Park) neighborhood and the new Hudson Yards neighborhood to the west. In all parts of the neighborhood, old is mixing with new as this area of Manhattan continues to change.
As I crossed the border into the neighborhood at West 34th Street, I was greeted by Golden City Chinese Restaurant near the corner of West 34th Street
Golden City Chinese Restaurant at 423 Ninth Avenue (closed January 2025)
This is the restaurant I braved the cold last Christmas to pick up my best friend, Maricel and I’s Christmas dinner. Over orders of Lemon Chicken, Roast Pork Lo Mien, Hot & Sour Soup and egg rolls, we chowed down our dinner in our hotel room toasting Santa. The food is very good here and they have reopened their inhouse dining.
Their Lemon Chicken combination platter.
Walking down Ninth Avenue, you can see how the neighborhood is transiting from the former working-class neighborhood and docks to the upscale office and apartment buildings of the Hudson Yards to the west. Little by little the small brownstone buildings are disappearing and being replaced by shiny new glass structures.
Between One Manhattan and Two Manhattan West in the Hudson Yards complex between 389 and 395 Ninth Avenue is the Citrovia display. I was trying to figure out if this was a company display or an artist’s display. There were all sorts of lemons all in the trees and in the gardens. During the summer, these must be an amazing place to sit but between the snow and the winds that sunny day, I just walked through the display.
The Citrovia display at One Manhattan West on Ninth Avenue (Manhattan West Website)
Citrovia is a fantastic outdoor interactive outdoor installation that transports the visitor to a sprawling citrus garden of whimsical displays, a sitting area with a lemon tree forest and I swear when you walk through the whole thing you can smell fresh lemon (Manhattan West website). It is almost like the ‘Land of Oz” with lemon trees and slices all over the place. It is a whimsical journey through the lemon display.
I walked through the Manhattan West complex, and it really dawned on me how the neighborhood has changed so much in the last decade. They took a run-down neighborhood and made it shine with modern buildings housing new tech companies and a series of restaurants, shops and hotels. It is a neighborhood onto itself.
Across the street from the Manhattan West complex old meets new with the former NYC Post Office, which is now finishing its renovation and is now the Patrick Moynihan Train Station, The James A. Farley building.
The James A. Farley Building was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White and was designed in the Beaux Arts style, the sister building to the former Penn Station (where the current Madison Sqaure Garden now sits). The current renovation of the building to turn the dream into a reality is by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (Wiki).
I was able to walk the halls and staircases of the complex that afternoon and the interiors are still not finished with a few of the restaurants now opened but the polished floors and new artwork is in full view. The public bathrooms are a nice change from the ones in Penn Station. The rest of the complex will be open by the spring.
The James A. Farley Building to the Patrick Moynihan Train Hall (Vno.com) (Christmas 2023)
Daniel Patrick Moynihan was a former politician and diplomat.
The new Moynihan Building at night
When I reached the border of the neighborhood at West 28th Street, I saw that I was across the street from the Church of the Holy Apostles at 296 Ninth Avenue, where I volunteer for the Soup Kitchen. I realized that afternoon that I have not been there in almost two years. The last time I had volunteered was the Friday before the government shut the country down on March 13, 2020. It dawned on me how long COVID has been going on.
What I never noticed in the almost 17 years that I have been volunteering at the Soup Kitchen was Chelsea Park across at the corner of Ninth Avenue and between West 28th and 27th Streets. I had always thought this was part of P.S. 33, the elementary school next door complex. This was a whole separate park.
Chelsea Park extends all the way to Tenth Avenue with soccer and basketball courts and places for people to not just run but relax under the blanket of trees in the summer. Facing Ninth Avenue in a small courtyard is the statue of the ‘Chelsea Doughboy’.
The statute was designed to honor the war veterans of WWI. The term “Doughboy” no one is too sure where it originated. Some think from the fried dough dumplings that the soldiers eat or maybe from the way their uniforms looked which were a little baggy or from the dough clay that they used to clean their uniforms (NYCParks.org).
Artist Philip Martiny was a French born American artist who settled in New York when he immigrated here in 1878. He was a contemporary of artist August Saint-Gaudens and known for his decorative styles in the Beaux-Arts fashion. He created many sculptures for buildings in New York City and Washington DC (Wiki).
Across the street is the Church of the Holy Apostles, where I have been volunteering for years in the Soup Kitchen (mentioned in many of my blogs between 2015-2020 before the COVID shutdown). The Church of the Holy Apostles was built between 1845 to 1848 and was designed by architect Minard Lafever with the stained-glass windows designed by William Jay Bolton (Wiki).
The church has always been progressive, and it was rumored to be part of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. The church had been an extension of the Trinity Church downtown for the working-class people in the area. Now it also runs the second largest Soup Kitchen in the United States. The biggest is in San Franciso (Wiki).
The Church of the Holy Apostles at 296 Ninth Avenue feels like a second home to me
Behind the church is the housing that formally union housing for the International Ladies Garment Union housing, now known as “Penn South”, that was created in the 1950’s for housing for union workers. Contruction started in 1960 and these ten building still house some of the elderly members of the union. In the courtyard of building Seven is dedicated to Bayard Rustin, a civil rights and union member who lived there. There is a memorial plaque to him in the courtyard Wiki).
The plaque dedicated to the activities is outside Building Seven between Eighth and Seventh Avenues
As I traveled the border of the neighborhood on West 28th Street from Ninth to Sixth Avenues, I have never seen so much transition on a street. On one side of the street is the back part of my Alma Mater ‘The Fashion Institute of Technology’. It seems that the college is taking the back loading dock area and building an addition to the college. On the other side of the street between Eighth and Seventh, the entire street has either been knocked down and rebuilt or older buildings renovated but the entire block between the two avenues is brand new.
As you cross Seventh Avenue at West 28th Street are the last remnants of the former “Flower District” which dominated these blocks here and along Sixth Avenue until the area was rezoned in the 1990’s. Now Sixth Avenue in this area is now apartment buildings and hotels. Still there are many commercial flower shops here and some amazing floral businesses along this block.
Mahir Floral & Event Designs at 156 West 28th Street is one of the nicest flower shops in the district. The store is so beautifully designed to showcase not only the flowers but the decorative items that they sell along with the plants and flowers.
Mahir Floral & Event Designs at 156 West 28th Street
There are all sorts of interesting design pieces that not only make the perfect gift but also to create the perfect event.
The store is so beautifully designed to showcase their items
Another wonderful store is Foliage Paradise at 113-115 West 28th Street. What I love about the store is the way it is designed when you walk through it. It is like walking through an enchanted tropical garden with paths down exotic trees and flowers on all sides. They have a big commercial and retail business according to the salesperson I talked to that day.
In the front of the store when the weather is warm, it is lined with the most seasonal flowers and plants. When you walk through the store, it is like walking through an Amazon jungle in a warm climate at any month of the year. Just touring this store is fun.
Walking through Foliage Paradise is an experience
What brought back a lot of good memories when I walked down West 28th Street was walking past the Moxy Hotel at 105 West 28th Street. This was my starting point of my morning of walking “The Great Saunter Walk”, the 32-mile excursion around the Island of Manhattan over the summer of 2021 (before I pulled my back out).
The Moxy Hotel at 105 West 28th Street has the most amazing views
I had the most interesting room on the 10th floor with the most breathtaking view of Midtown Manhattan. I would just sit on the bed looking at the views before going to sleep. You have never seen a site than Midtown all lit up at night.
The Lower Garment District shares the border with the NoMAD and Koreatown neighborhoods and even over the last few months I have noticed some significant changes in the blocks that I had explored for the blog. Many buildings had been finished that were under construction or were in the process of being renovated. They still looked empty but there were better days ahead when they will be filled with the latest tech and advertising companies. Sixth Avenue is becoming a big commercial and residential neighborhood.
Sixth Avenue from West 28th to West 34th Streets has been going through a big transition over the last twenty years as the flower industry has moved mostly to Hunts Point and new apartment buildings have sprung up along the avenue. Many of the Beaux Arts buildings have been or in the process of being renovated as this are served as Midtown from the Civil War to the end of WWI. Not much has changed along the Broadway corridor.
I started my walk on the 34th Street border of the neighborhood by looking at Macy’s window displays along Broadway to see if much had changed since the holidays. They never were the most exciting displays even when I was working there. Lord & Taylor and B. Altman’s had better windows. Long gone now. I am amazed at the change of the department store scene in New York City since I worked there in the 1990’s. I could see it from the corner of West 34th and Broadway.
I started my walk from the front door of Macy’s and walked down Sixth Avenue from West 34th to West 30th Street. Things have changed so much in thirty years. The whole area has gotten so much better. It was so run down when I worked there. Also the retail scene was so much different. Where the H & M is now used to be Herald Center, an upscale mall that never did well and the concept closed two years later when I returned to work in the buying offices. The only thing that survived was the food court on the top floor.
At the very edge of the neighborhood on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 35th Street is the most interesting piece of artwork on a building that once housed the Desigual flagship store. The work is by Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel and entitled “Multicultural Freedom Statue” and was created in 2019. It is a tribute to multiculturalism in New York City (Artist Bio). The store has since closed.
The painting at Sixth Avenue at West 35th Street by artist Okuda San Miguel (now painted over in 2023)
Artist Okuda San Miguel was born in Spain and known for his colorful geometric styles in painting. He graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid with a BFA and has shown his work all over the world (Wiki).
The last building I noticed for its beauty was on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 34th Street, 47 West 34th Street (1378 Broadway or 2 Herald Square) the Marbridge Building. The Marbridge Building was by architects Townsend, Steinle & Haskell in 1909 in the Classical Beaux Arts style and has been used as an office building since its opening (Wiki/Photo/Street).
Before 1965, this was home to Saks 34th Street before its move to its current Fifth Avenue location. The store was founded by Andrew Saks and opened its doors in Herald Square in 1902 just five weeks before Macy’s opened their doors. The store was designed by architects Buchman & Fox in the Classical style. The store was bought by the Gimbel family in 1923 and that is when it was moved to its current location at 511 Fifth Avenue. The original store is now covered with new siding to give it its modern look for H & M (NYC Circa). The building stretches from West 34th to West 33rd Street along the Broadway corridor.
The Saks 34th Street Building on the corner of West 34th Street and Broadway
Next door to that was the old Gimbel’s Department Store building that closed in 1986, a year and a half before I started at Macy’s. Gimbel’s had always been considered our rival for years but I think because of the sheer size of Macy’s I have a feeling that we beat them in sales. Gimbel’s had come to New York City by way of Philadelphia by the Gimbel’s family. It was founded by Adam Gimbel in 1887. The store in Herald Square opened in 1910 in the classical style by architect Daniel Burnham (Wiki). The store stretches from West 33rd to West 32nd Streets along Broadway.
Gimbel’s Department Store at Sixth Avenue and 33rd Street
When the store closed in 1986, it was renovated and was called A & S Plaza when that store moved into the space. When A & S closed in the mid 1990’s when it merged with Macy’s, the store was renovated again and now is called Manhattan Mall. It is mostly office space now (Wiki).
There still is a trace of the Gimbels sign on the old building
When I worked at Macy’s in the early 1990’s, Herald and Greeley Squares were places to avoid until about 1994 when the parks were renovated and new plantings and French metal café tables were added. Now it is hard at lunch time to find a table. In the process of the renovations, the City also restored the statues dedicated to James Gordon Bennett and Horace Greeley.
The statue dedicated to James Gordon Bennett and his son James Gordon Bennett II
Herald Square Park at lunch hour
The statue is to Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom and Invention and two blacksmiths who flank a bell that once topped the Herald Building where the New York Herald, which was founded by James Gordon Bennett in 1835. The statue was dedicated in the park in 1895 (NYCParks.org).
Antonin Jean Carles was born in France and was a student of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Toulouse. He was known for his monument sculptures.
In the middle of this former shopping district and just south of Herald Square is Greeley Square named after Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune. The square was acquired by New York City in 1846 and turned into the park. The statue that dominates the southern end of the park was designed by sculptor Alexander Doyle in 1890 (NYCParks.org).
Greeley Square was named after Horace Greeley, who published the first issue of The New Yorker magazine and established the New York Tribune. He was also a member of the Liberal Republican Party where he was a Congressman and ran for President of the United States after the Civil War.
Publisher and Politician Horace Greeley famous for his quote “Go West, young man, Go West”
The Horace Greeley statue is located in the park just south of Herald Square in Greeley Square.
The statue at Christmas time
The statue was created by artist Alexander Doyle. Alexander Doyle was an American born artist who studied in Italy with several artists. He is best known for his marbles and bronze sculptures of famous Americans including many famous Confederate figures that have come under fire recently.
Once you leave Greeley Square and walk south you will be entering what is left of the old Wholesale district where once buyers used to come into these stores to commercially buy goods for their businesses. Slowly all of these businesses as well as most of the Flower District is being gentrified out with new hotels, restaurants and bars replacing the businesses. It seems that most of the district is being rebuilt or renovated or gutted.
The Broadway side of the park opposite the old department stores starts some of the most beautiful architecture in South Midtown. This portion of Broadway until you reach the Battery has the most unique stonework and embellishments on the buildings that show the craftsmanship of another era when companies built headquarters that were meant to last.
One building that faces Greeley Square is 1270 Broadway at the corner of West 33rd Street.
1270 Broadway, known once as the Wilson Building, was built between 1912 and 1913 in the class Beaux Arts style. It now serves as an office building. You have to look up from the square to admire its beauty.
Next to the building is across the street at 1265 Broadway, the former Browning, King & Company building. The building was built in 1910 by developer William R.H. Martin for commercial use. The building was designed by architects Townsend, Steinle & Haskell in brick, stone and terra cotta. The interesting decorative top was designed for the Men’s retail company Browning, King & Company. You have to look up at the detail work and the eagle at the roof of the building (Daytonian).
1265 Broadway-The Browning, King & Company building
Another building that stands out is the former Martinique Hotel at 49 West 32nd Street (1260-1266 Broadway). This was also built by William R. H. Martin in 1898 with the design by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in the French Renaissance style. The hotel had a notorious reputation in the 1970’s and 80’s as a welfare hotel that closed in 1988. It is now a Curio Hotel of Hilton Hotels (Wiki). It looks like it recently opened for guests as the lobby was lit and people were milling around.
I remember this hotel well when I worked for Macy’s in the late 1980’s and all the people yelling and screaming outside the hotel with fire trucks all over the place. The hotel had been nothing but a problem for almost twenty years. It had once been one of the most notorious welfare hotels in the 1980’s.
1260 Broadway-49 West 32nd Street-The Martinique Hotel
A couple of buildings that stand out when walking down Broadway are 1234 Broadway on the corner of Broadway and West 31st Street, a elegant Victorian building with a standout mansard roof and elaborate details on the roof and windows. I did not realize that it was the Grand Hotel built in 1868 as a residential hotel. The hotel was commissioned by Elias Higgins, a carpet manufacturer and designed by Henry Engelbert. Currently it is being renovated into apartments (Daytonian). It shows how the City keeps morphing over time as this area has become fashionable again.
1234 Broadway in all its elegance, the former Grand Hotel
After rounding the southern part of Greeley Square, I headed back down Sixth Avenue to West 30th Street, the southern border of the neighborhood with the ever changing NoMAD (North of Madison Square Park). This southern section of South Midtown as I have mentioned in other blogs is being gutted, knocked down and rebuilt into a hip area of the City with trendy hotels, restaurants and stores. Even in the era of COVID, the streets were hopping and most of the hotels were still open. Broadway has even been closed off for outdoor dining.
In the middle of this new ‘hipness’ there is an old standby, Fresh Pizza & Deli at 876 Sixth Avenue (see my review on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com). I needed a slice of pizza and with the budgets being tight, a dollar slice is always nice on a cold day.
After my snack, I walked back down West 34th Street to Ninth Avenue, passing new construction and scaffolding along the way. As I have noted in many of my blogs, West 34th Street from Broadway to Ninth Avenue has changed tremendously in the twenty-five years since I left Macy’s. Blocks that we would have never walked on then are vibrant and full of shoppers and diners now.
I made it back to the Hotel New Yorker by the end of the afternoon. The Hotel New Yorker like a Grande Dame guarding the Garment District. The Hotel New Yorker on the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 34th Street at 481 Eighth Avenue. The hotel was designed by architects Sugarman and Berger and designed in the Art Deco style. The hotel was constructed in 1928 and opened in 1930. The hotel now managed by Wyndam Hotels put the hotel through a full renovation in 2006 to bring it back to its glory years now reflected the resurgence of the neighborhood (Hotel New Yorker History website/Wiki).
I think the lower part of the Garment District like the rest of the area is in a state of transition. There is so much change and building going on you would never have thought that COVID was on the radar.
I think the City is ready for people to come back to work.
Please read my other blogs on walking the Lower Garment District:
Day Two Hundred and Seventeen: Walking the Borders of the Lower Garment District/Flower & Fur Districts:
It is amazing what three years can bring. Chinatown was all but dead over the last two years for the Chinese New Year celebrations and it was nice to see them come back in a vengeance.
It has been a rough time in Chinatown in Manhattan over the last three years. I wrote about going to the Chinese New Year parade in 2020 and it had been nothing like the parade in 2019. It had been freezing in New York City in 2019 but that had not kept the crowds away on a busy parade afternoon. In 2020, the looming crisis with COVID was spreading through China and people were very wary about coming to Chinatown for the parade. In fact, I did not see too many people of Chinese decadency at the parade two years ago. It looked more like tourists lining the streets.
New Year in 2022 was a different story as the streets were lined with people ready and happy to celebrate the New Year. That bottled up enthusiasm was shown on the streets in the core of Chinatown by hundreds of people having a good time. The morning had started out with a nice crowd that grew as the afternoon wore on. It helped that it was 60 degrees and sunny outside. It was the last day of the ‘Spring Thaw’ and the weather really helped (Sunday would bring snowy weather and 38 degrees).
It also gave me a chance to not just tour the neighborhood to see of any changes in stores and restaurants but sample foods at many of them. I came in with an appetite! There were places that I wanted to revisit but find new ones to try along the way. I arrived at noon time and needed a snack before I started my day.
The Lion Dances outside businesses all over the core of Chinatown were in full swing when I got there with groups of people following the troupes around Mott, Bayard, Canal, Pell, Elizabeth and Mulberry Streets south of Canal Street. Some of the troupes did go north of Canal Street but most businesses are in the core of the neighborhood.
The Lion Dance helps bring good luck in the coming year
Things were just really getting started on Mott Street, the main corridor of Chinatown so I walked down the street to the Bowery to see what was going on. When I arrived at the Bowery, I headed north on the Bowery on the edge of the original Chinatown. This is where I found Bowery Inn Bakery at Bowery. This must be a new bakery because I could not find it on any map.
The Bowery Inn Bakery has a wonderful selection of hot and cold baked goods, and the best part was that they did not take the pastries from the case. They were hot from the warmers behind the case lines. I ordered a Roast Pork Bun ($1.75) and an Almond Bun ($1.50) to get me through the walking around the neighborhood. The staff is really nice there and seemed happy when I wished them a Happy New Year.
I walked all the streets in the neighborhood watching the various clubs wishing all the businesses a Happy New Year. Colorful lions bowed and shook and raised up and down wishing stores and restaurants as prosperous New Year in a city environment that desperately needed it. I have been to Chinatown many times since the holidays, and it has been very quiet down here since the beginning of 2020. All the festivities had been cancelled last year and it had been tough on these businesses. Now it looks like better times will be ahead of us.
Here is a little history of the Lion Dance from when I ran the Chinese New Year celebrations at the Asian Grille back in 2011:
The Lion Dance
The Lion Dance has a very interesting history in Chinese culture. The story is that a monk had a dream which there were many sorrows and evils plaguing the land. The monk prayed and asked the gods how he could prevent these evils from occurring. The gods told him that a lion would protect them and fight back the evils. The Chinese people having never seen a lion, but had heard stories that the lion was the king of all beasts. So the monk combined all the lucky or magical animals he could think of and so made the lion.
The Southern Lion dance is very symbolic. It is usually performed as a ceremony to scare away evil spirits and to summon luck and fortune. The Chinese southern lion exhibits as wide variety of color and has a distinctive head with large eyes (of an eagle), a mirror on the forehead (demons are supposedly scared of their own reflection) and a single horn at the center of the head (the horn of a unicorn mentioned earlier). Lion dance costumes are considered to be spiritually protective when used as they are traditionally blessed before usage.
The Southern Lion Dance was originated from Guangdong, the homeland of the Chinese southern style lion. The Chinese southern horned lions are believed to be Nians (which are a mythical beast). There are many different styles of dance as well as different styles of lion’s heads depending on the region that the group comes from (Wiki).
It was fun following these colorful beasts all along the streets and listen to the drumming of the groups who I am sure had been practicing. While all that was going on, people were letting off New Year’s poppers and the whole street was filled with streamers and confetti and glittering paper. It was so nice to see people having such a good time.
This video from YouTube really captures the festivities in 2022
I started to explore the back streets to see if there were any changes to the fringes of the neighborhood. I have to say that more galleries and stores are starting to open where old warehouses and restaurants used to be as you can see the hipsters moving over here from the East Village, Alphabet City and the Lower East Side. Little by little I am seeing the changes in the neighborhood.
When I walked over to Chrystie Street, and I stopped at Chi Dumpling House for some lunch and then to Tao Hong Bakery for dessert. This little stretch of Chrystie Street by Sara Delano Roosevelt Park has three of the best and most reasonable take-out restaurants in the neighborhood, the other being Wah Fung #1 Fast Food.
Wah Fung #1 Fast Food at 79 Chrystie Street has long lines
The lines for Wah Fung #1 Fast Food at 79 Chrystie Street was about thirty deep when I arrived and is always busy. People are always lined up for their containers of roast pork and duck with white rice and cabbage. You can get a delicious lunch here for around $5.00. It has been on more food blogs than I can name, and I have been here several times for their excellent roast pork and rice (see my reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com).
The roast pork and roast duck at Wah Fung #1 Fast Food has them lining up everyday
I bypassed the lines at Wah Fung and went to Chi Dumpling House (sometimes called ‘C & L Dumpling House) at 77 Chrystie Street. I was in the mood for steamed dumplings and scallion pancakes.
Chi Dumpling House at 77 Chrystie Street still has the old sign
Even though I was not that hungry I always have room for more dumplings. Both the fried dumplings and steamed pork and chive dumplings ($4.00 now) are worth the wait. These large doughy delights are served with soy and hot oil sauces that bring out their flavor. The Scallion Pancakes are pan-fried to a crisp and are fun to dip into the sauces as well.
The steamed pork and chive dumplings here are excellent!
I took these little delights into the park and enjoyed them along with my scallion pancake while I was watching all these little kids climb over the jungle gym while yelling at one another. It was so nice to see all these families out and about on such a warm afternoon. By the time I finished my lunch, it must have hit 60 degrees and it was a perfectly blue sky.
For dessert, I went to Tao Hong Bakery at 79 Chrystie Street. They have the most reasonable baked goods and drinks and the best place to go when you have eaten at the other two restaurants.
I love coming here for their egg custards, raisin twists and their cream buns. When they have their lemon pastries, I try to get those too. This time I settled for a raisin twist ($1.25) because there was not much left. People really bought them out. These twists are loaded with butter and juicy raisins and are fun to pull apart.
The Raisin Buns here are the best
After I devoured my lunch, I needed a long walk to digest, and I walked down Chrystie Street and strolled through the park. The one bad thing about Sara Delano Park is that the bathrooms are really disgusting. They really need to clean them better.
I made my way back down Grand Street and walked to the Museum of Chinese in America at 215 Centre Street. The museum had finally reopened after almost two years and a very devastating fire in their storehouse in 2020. They almost lost their collection.
The Museum of Chinese in America at 215 Centre Street
What I enjoy about this museum is the sheer history of the Chinese immigration to the United States and overt racism that has been felt by the culture since the beginning. I walked through the current exhibition “Responses: Asian American voices in the Tides of Racism” and it is heartbreaking to see what an entire society of Americans are enduring. This pandemic as one scholar noted has brought out the worst in people that has been bubbling up for a long time.
The permanent collection showed the strides though as a culture and the contributions of prominent Americans of Chinese decadency have made to the country. It was interesting to look at pictures over the years of the development of Chinatowns in cities all over the country and the progress in business and the arts that have been made.
The “Responses” exhibition
I took my time and read through the exhibitions, and it was an interesting timeline of history. It showed how generations of hard work and assimilation into the larger culture still holds dialogue. Nothing is clear cut in society. I ended up being there more almost two hours.
After I left the museum, I followed the music back to Mott Street and saw some of the more elaborate dances and saw several clubs competing with one another. There were large crowds all over Mott and Bayard Streets and since the heart of Chinatown was closed to traffic (finally people can walk around the restaurant district), there was plenty of room for people to enjoy the festivities and let off poppers in celebration of the performances.
By 6:00pm though most of the performances were slowing down and all the restaurants on Mott Street and the surrounding side streets were full of people sitting down to dinner. That was so nice to see at a time when so many of these restaurants were struggling over the last two years. It is good that they were packed the way they were pre-pandemic.
For dinner that evening I was not too hungry but when I was walking around following the lion dancers, I looked at the menu and the pictures of the dishes at Shanghai Heping Restaurant at 104 Mott Street on the other side of Canal Street from Chinatown in what had once been Little Italy. There was a picture by the front door of a Fried Duck dish and I had to go to try it.
The food lived up to the picture. The Fried Duck ($23.00) was excellent. The duck was boneless and marinated in soy and what tasted like Peking sauce and then the duck was breaded and pan-fried so that it was crisp on the outside and moist and succulent on the inside. The duck had such a rich taste to it from the flavor of the meat and so moist that it pulled apart.
Don’t miss the Fried Duck at Shanghai Heping Restaurant
Their Shanghai Fried Rice (Sum Gum Fried Rice) was excellent as well
The one thing I liked about Shanghai Heping Restaurant (see my review on TripAdvisor) was that they do not rush you. The restaurant started to fill up again after I got there and since the duck dish took some time to cook, I started to watch other patrons’ food come out and all the dishes looked so interesting and well-prepared, and people took their time to enjoy them. Since the restaurant was not on the other side of Mott Street, there were no hordes of crowds running around the street.
After dinner was over, I walked back into the heart of Chinatown to see the Sanitation Department cleaning the streets of all the confetti and streamers and popper packages. There must have been hundreds of them let off that afternoon to welcome in the New Year. It is so nice to see people back in Chinatown again. Maybe better days are ahead of us.
Gong Hay Fay Choy!
The colorful lanterns add a festive look to the neighborhood
The Ginseng Museum Cafe by CheongKwanJang is located in the heart of Koreatown in Manhattan. It is an interesting look at the processing of ginseng tea.
The Ginseng Museum Cafe by CheongKwanJang is a combination small museum of the development of the ginseng root for tea and its history, part cafe for tea and part store. This small store front is packed with information on the history and processing of ginseng.
The Ginseng Museum Cafe at 315 Fifth Avenue
To the right of the store, is the video history of the company and how they process and produce their product which is very interesting. The conditions that the ginseng is processed under may have advanced over the years but not by much. There is still a lot of care that is used to make the tea. There is also a display on the extractions.
COVID had closed this unique little family orientated museum when I visited the NoMAD neighborhood earlier last year and it finally reopened for business right before the holidays. I could see the reasons why in that the museum is very interactive and there are a lot of activities and displays that warrant families touching objects and getting involved with the exhibitions.
Like most museums in Manhattan, the MoMATH or the Museum of Mathematics is quite pricey at $25.00 ($26.00) for an adult and for students, children over 12 and seniors over 60 it is $20.00. While it may be lot for an average family, a trip there is an eye-opening experience at least to me it was that day.
I have been coming to the Turtle Back Zoo since I was in elementary school when we used to come here on field trips. I remember as a child having lunch on the lawn with my class and feeding the animals. That was back in the 1970’s with the old zoo set up. I had read that the zoo was falling apart by 1995 and they were ready to close it down. Like anything else, these zoos and parks need an update every few years to keep them relevant.
In 2000, as master plan was started in what direction the zoo wanted to go and in the next twenty years, I have seen the results of that hard work. You have many nicer displays, some still being too…
The Garment District is an unusual neighborhood. It is a mixture of manufacturing, tourism from all the hotels that have opened in the last twenty years and office lofts of former manufacturing and showrooms. The Advertising, Marketing and Tech companies that are now quiet due to the pandemic. During the weekends, it is especially quiet in the area due to the lack of tourists after the holiday season. The most amount of people on a warmish day are concentrated around Bryant Park.
It has also been so cold lately that it has been no fun walking around Manhattan. When you have those rare days when there is no wind and it is around 40 to 50 degrees it makes it bearable. I am not much of a winter person but it is only two more months. The weather finally broke one afternoon and I was able to start the lower part of the neighborhood on a 45-degree day that was sunny with no wind. It made for nice walking weather.
I started my walk on a late sunny afternoon. I had tickets for a movie at the MoMA that evening and wanted to walk a few blocks before I left for the museum. I now understand what pandemic has done for small businesses all over Manhattan. It is getting spooky how the domino effect of closed offices has had on restaurants and shops not just in this area of the City. There were so many empty store fronts and, in some cases, open restaurants with staff sitting around on their cellphones. It reminded me of Chinatown in March of 2020.
Walking West 35th Street was like seeing where magic is created as most of the buildings are the backs of hotels and current and former department stores. On the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 35th Street is the most unglamorous part of the Hotel New Yorker with the loading dock and the employee entrance, the loading docks of Macy’s that stretch from Seventh Avenue to Broadway and the loading docks of the former Ohrbach’s department store that are now part of the office building that stretch from Broadway to Fifth Avenue. There are lots of delivery trucks going back and forth.
Macy’s facing Broadway and West 35th Street and Herald Square ay 151 West 34th Street hides it loading dock.
Here and there small hotels have been created in the spaces between the office buildings and these have changed the character and the foot traffic of the neighborhood. They have brought some life to a quiet block. What impressed me was that there are still a lot of fabric and clothing wholesalers left in the neighborhood. Between rezoning and the pandemic, so many of the fabric, button and zipper businesses have closed their doors.
What stands out is the restaurants that dot the street. There are so many reasonable restaurants that are surviving on the garment and the office workers that are still in the area and the shoppers at Macy’s. Some are also really popular on TripAdvisor and Yelp so that helps them as well.
Stick to My Pot Potstickers at 224 West 35th Street has been catering to both the garment and office workers since it opened two years ago. I love coming here for reasonable meals and snacks when I am in the area. The Fried Pork and Chive dumplings and the Roast Pork Bao Buns are just excellent (see my reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com).
Stick to my Pot Potstickers is at 224 West 35th Street
A few doors down another reasonable take-out place just opened 99 Cent Delicious Pizza at 460 Seventh Avenue. They have the most amazing cheese pizza at $1.00 a slice.
99cent Pizza at 460 Seventh Avenue has been popular since it opened (it is also now $1.50)
I cannot believe how popular this place has become with both the tourists and local office workers.
99 Cent Delicious Pizza makes an excellent slice
Crossing the street, you will see how the innerworkings of Macy’s loading docks with the street loaded with trucks unloading all sorts of treasures that will be on display in the store in the coming days.
Herald Square was busy the afternoon I was there with shoppers and tourists relaxing on the chairs in the plaza outside the store and in the park. The park has dramatically improved since I worked at Macy’s. When I worked at Macy’s in the early 1990’s, Herald and Greeley Squares were places to avoid until about 1994 when the parks were renovated and new plantings and French metal café tables were added. Now it is hard at lunch time to find a table.
In the process of the renovations, the City also restored the statues dedicated to James Gordon Bennett and Horace Greeley.
The statue dedicated to James Gordon Bennett and his son James Gordon Bennett II
Herald Square Park during lunch
The statue is to Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom and Invention and two blacksmiths who flank a bell that once topped the Herald Building where the New York Herald, which was founded by James Gordon Bennett in 1835. The statue was dedicated in the park in 1895 (NYCParks.org).
Antonin Jean Carles was born in France and was a student of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Toulouse. He was known for his monument sculptures.
Across the park is an impressive mural at the corner of West 35th Street and Sixth Avenue on a building that once housed the Desigual flagship store. The work is by Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel and entitled “Multicultural Freedom Statue” and was created in 2019. It is a tribute to multiculturalism in New York City (Artist Bio). The store has since closed.
The painting at Sixth Avenue at West 35th Street by artist Okuda San Miguel (now painted over in 2023)
Artist Okuda San Miguel was born in Spain and known for his colorful geometric styles in painting. He graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid with a BFA and has shown his work all over the world (Wiki).
The rest of the block is the northern most edge of Koreatown and has some interesting restaurants that have been here for over thirty years. In between the restaurants there are more small hotels that have been part of the neighborhood for years. Then you reach the border of the neighborhood at Fifth Avenue and you are facing the formerly grand B. Altman & Company on the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 35th Street.
The B. Altman Building at 361 Fifth Avenue was built by Benjamin Altman for the new location for his ‘carriage trade’ store. The store was designed by architects Trowbridge & Livingston in the “Italian Renaissance Style” in 1906. The palatial store was home to couture clothing, fine furniture and expensive art work.
The former B. Altman Department Store at 361 Fifth Avenue
I walked back down West 35th Street towards Ninth Avenue and the only really section of the street that was busy was in front of the Midtown Precinct South. It was going through their shift change in the afternoon. I rounded the corner and made my way down West 36th Street. Again as I was walking down the street it amazed me to see so many clothing and fabric businesses still in business. Here and there are traces of the old neighborhood mixing into what is developing since the rezoning.
West 36th Street is again a mix of the old and the new. Loft office buildings mix in with the new smaller hotels that line the street which surprisingly are all open. On a recent trip down Lexington Avenue in Midtown East, many of the larger grand hotels that line the avenue are still closed but these smaller commuter hotels are still filled with tourists and industry people. It is showing the resilience of the area.
Architecture wise, it is extremely bland with mostly buildings from the post WWII era that catered to the growing Garment industry. There are some conversions to new hotels and office buildings and some residential as well. Still there are some surprises along the walk.
488 Seventh Avenue was built as the Hotel York in 1903 by brothers James and David Todd, who had an interest in building luxury hotels. They commissioned architect Harry B. Mulliken, who had designed the Hotel Aberdeen on West 32nd Street for the brothers, with his new partner, Edger J. Moeller, who formed the firm of Mulliken & Moeller. The York Hotel was their first commission together. The hotel was designed in the Beaux-Arts style with elaborate carved decorations (Daytonian in Manhattan).
The Hotel York was a residential and transient for most of its existence attracting the theater crowd when 34th Street was the Theater District of the time. As this moved uptown, the hotel was bought in 1986 and was renovated for residential and commercial use (Daytonian in Manhattan). The Tokian Group now owns the building and it is luxury apartments.
Walking towards Broadway most of the buildings are relatively new but one does stand out that being the Haier Building at 1356 Broadway. The Haier Building was built by architects from York & Sawyer in the Neo-Classical Revival style. The building was completed in 1924 and was the headquarters for Greenwich Savings Bank. The building is built with limestone and polished granite and features Roman Corinthian Columns (Wiki).
1352 Broadway-The Haier Building (Former Greenwich Savings Bank-Wiki)
The Haier Building is especially beautiful at night.
The Haier Building stretches from Broadway to Sixth Avenue and is impressive on both sides of the building. The building was used by Greenwich Savings Bank from 1924 until 1981 when the bank went out of business (Wiki).
In front of the Executive Hotel Le Soleil New York at 38 West 36th Street, there is an interesting sculpture on the front terrace by artist Marie Khouri that looks like a tear drop. The sculpture. “Histoire d’O”, was created in 2016 and there are many different versions of it all over the world, this one prominently sitting in front of the hotel. Its beauty is in its curvature.
The Executive Hotel Le Soleil New York at 38 West 36th Street
Artist Marie Khouri was born in Egypt and raised in Lebanon and through a series of moves around the world is now based in Vancouver. She was classically trained in sculpture at L’Ecole du Louvre in Paris and has developed a vast range of cultural and historical influences within her practice. Her sculptures blend and extend metaphors of language, form and the body to propose an inextricable link to a life deeply affected by the complex history of the Middle East (Artist’s Bio).
When I reached the edge of West 36th Street, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 36th Street is 390 Fifth Avenue that was designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White for the Gorham Manufacturing Company of fine silver products in 1903. It was designed in the “Italian Renaissance Style” and was used for manufacturing and their showroom. It later became Russeks Department store and has now found other uses.
390 Fifth Avenue-The Gorham Manufacturing Building
It was getting dark when I arrived back at Ninth Avenue and I decided to call it a night. Before I left for the MoMA to see my film, I went to Stone Bridge Pizza at 16 East 41st Street for dinner. I have to say that their personal Cheese Pizza ($10.95) is excellent and very simple. The sauce is fresh tomatoes, garlic and olive oil topped with fresh mozzarella and baked until crisp (See review on TripAdvisor). With an unlimited soda fountain dispenser of Boylan’s sodas, it makes for the perfect meal on a cool night.
Stone Bridge Pizza & Salad at 16 East 41st Street (now closed 2022)
I made a second trip into Manhattan that Saturday. My plan was to walk the rest of the neighborhood, then go to the Met for the afternoon to see the Surrealist exhibition and then visit a few of the stores and restaurants that the internet had said had closed.
Walking the Garment District took longer than I thought walking back and forth between West 37th to West 41st Streets from Ninth to Fifth Avenues. It did not help that it was 28 degrees outside. Still, it was sunny with no wind and I found the crisp winter day the perfect time to walk the empty streets of the Garment District.
While buying my ticket for the return trip home, I passed a sculpture of passengers getting on a bus that before I had never given a second thought to and took a moment to look it over. It is the sculpture “The Commuters” by artist George Segal.
It really does depict what it is like to wait for a bus at the Port Authority after a long day at work. You are exhausted and worn out from work and then have to wait in a long line of other tired people while traffic backs up in the Lincoln Tunnel to leave Manhattan. The sculpture is true to form.
“The Commuters” by Artist George Segal (Wiki) in the Port Authority Bus Terminal
George Segal is an American born Native New Yorker who was raised in New Jersey and lived his whole life. He attended the Pratt Institute, Cooper-Union and graduated with a degree in teaching from New York University. Known mostly for being a painter, the artist gained fame with his realistic sculptures. “The Commuters” was installed in 1982 (Wiki).
Artist Shantell Martin is a British born artist now working out of Los Angeles, CA. She holds a BA from Central St. Martins, University of Arts out of London. She is best known for her art that explores themes like intersectionality, identity, and play (Artist Bio).
Artist Jennifer West is a American born artist who works in California. She had a BA from Evergreen State College and a MFA from Art Center in California. Her works in film, installation, sculpture, film quilts, photo, performance and artist books are based in the archaeology of media, memory, place and recuperation (Artist bio).
Artist Takeshi Murata is an American born artist. The artist graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1997 with a B.F.A. in Film/Video/Animation. He is an American contemporary artist who creates digital media artworks using video and computer animation techniques (Artist bio).
One morning before I left for my walk around the area and to Coney Island for the afternoon, I stopped at Villa Pizza on the main level of the Port Authority for breakfast.
Villa Italian Kitchen in the Port Authority first floor wing at 625 8th Avenue
I know that they served breakfast and I passed by here many times and never stopped. I had a slice of pizza here once years ago and it was good but I had not eaten here in over a decade. I needed a quick breakfast and stopped in for one of their breakfast strombolis.
The inside of the line of breakfast and lunch items. Scrambled eggs next to Spaghetti
The combination of breakfast and lunch items
The Breakfast Stromboli’s were pretty good. They were made of pizza dough and had a combination of bacon, scrambled eggs and cheese inside and then baked golden brown. It made a nice breakfast. It just seemed strange eating breakfast in the Port Authority.
The delicious Breakfast Stromboli’s
My Bacon, Egg and Cheese Stromboli that morning
Yum!
On the way down to Coney Island after breakfast, I noticed this piece of art that sits just outside the entrance to the subway in the Port Authority by Artist Lisa Dinhofer “Losing My Marbles”, which I had passed dozens of times but never really stopped to look at closely.
The sign for artist Lisa Dinhofer’s Losing My Marbles
Artist Lisa Dinhofer is an American born artist whose background is in painting, draftswomanship, and printmaking. She earned her BA with honors from Brandeis University and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania (Artist bio).
“Losing my Marbles” located at the entrance to the subway at West 42nd Street
“Losing my Marbles” in the subway station at West 42nd Street
To see this magnificent piece of art in the Garment District, you have to travel by subway so try not to miss it at the entrance.
This piece of art spreads all around the entrance to the subway from the Port Authority
I rewalked West 36th Street to be sure that I had not missed anything as the other day it started to get dark early, and I rushed walking the street. I thought the side streets of the Garment District were quiet during the week. Try walking in the neighborhood on a weekend day when most of the businesses are closed. Most of the streets with the exception of around Herald Square and Bryant Park were desolate. I saw mostly bored shop keepers in the fabric stores and empty hotel lobbies.
One piece of art I missed on my first part of the walk down West 36th Street was just outside Vito’s Pizzeria at 464 Ninth Avenue. Just around the corner is an interesting painting on the wall on the side of the business by artist Chem Dogg Millionaire. The creative geometrics on the mural brighten up the side of the building.
Painting by artist Chem Dogg Millionaire (no bio on artist)
It was so quiet when I walked down West 37th Street from Ninth Avenue. The cold was keeping people inside but there were still the adventurous ones walking their dogs and just wanting some fresh air.
I passed M & T Pretzels at 349 West 37th Street which distributes vending and concession products all over the City and you can see all their carts that are the fabric of the food service industry. Their pretzels are a New York institution.
West 37th Street in not known for its architectural creativity or street art but where it lacks in these it makes up in reasonable places to eat and some great restaurants. The Garment District has some of the best places to eat when you are on a budget.
On the corner of Ninth Avenue and West 37th Street is 9th Avenue Deli (the former AM-PM Deli), which I think is one of the best delis in Manhattan. I have stopped by for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the food has always been consistently delicious.
I have mentioned this deli many times on my walks. It is where I have had breakfast to fill up with carbs before my thirteen-mile Broadway walks and have stopped here when walking the “Great Saunter Walk” around the perimeter of the island. Their ‘Meat Lovers” breakfast sandwich with bacon, sausage, and ham with three eggs helps carry me through one side of the island and their bacon cheeseburgers are the best.
The Cheeseburgers at 9th Avenue Deli are wonderful.
There has been some interesting graffiti work showing up on the walls of this area as well.
This popped up on West 37th Street.
This was right next to it.
Very clever and a nice way to cover it.
At West 26th Street is the FDNY Firehouse called the “Batcave” which is Engine 26. This firehouse has been active in the system since 1865 and had originally been part of an extensive volunteer network before the FDNY was established. It is the oldest active firehouse in the FDNY system (Foursquare and Manhattan Sideways).
Engine 26 in Midtown “The Batcave” at 222 West 37th Street.
Non Solo Piada at 302 West 37th Street just off Eighth Avenue is another wonderful place to dine. This tiny store front specializes in Roman street food with dishes such as Piadizze, which is a crispy thin pizza with multiple toppings and Cassoni, which is a smaller version of a Calzone, which is filled with cheeses and meats. They have wonderful desserts and when the weather is warmer, they have tables and a counter outside the store and it is nice to eat outside on this quiet block.
Non Solo Piada at 302 West 37th Street off Eighth Avenue (Closed in January 2025)
Amongst all the large office buildings and manufacturing companies is a tiny church tucked in the middle of all this commerce. The Shrine and Parish Church of Holy Innocents is at 128 West 37th Street and stands out for its beauty in design and the fact that it was still decorated for Christmas.
The Shrine and Parish of Holy Innocents at 128 West 37th Street
The church was built in 1870 when the area around Herald Square was still rural and the church was designed by architect Patrick C. Keely in the Gothic-Revival style. The fresco inside the church was designed by noted artist Constantino Brumidi, who later painted the rotunda at the U.S. Capital (Wiki).
As the area has changed over the last hundred and fifty years, the congregation has changed with it from the rural farmers then to the tenement dwellers, the theater and hotel crowd and now to office workers and shoppers who dominate the area during the week. The church still has its challenges with the poor but is optimistic in serving the community (Church history).
Just off West 37th Street on Broadway is an interesting little pizzeria Encore Pizza at 1369 Broadway. I have eaten here many times on my walk down Broadway and they make a nice pizza.
Encore Pizza at 1369 Broadway (Closed in June 2024-now a Little Italy Pizza)
Try to get there though when a fresh pie comes out of the oven.
Encore Pizza at 1369 Broadway
A new and very impressive addition to the neighborhood, Marvelous by Fred (Aux Merveilleux de Fred), opened a gluten free meringue bakery at the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 37th Street at 1001 Sixth Avenue. Not only are the pastries mind-blowingly good but the just watching the bakers prepare them in the open kitchen window make you want to walk inside (especially with how cold it has been).
I have to admit that the bakery is not cheap especially for this section of the City and during COVID but it is a welcome addition in high quality pastries and when you need a guilty pleasure, trust me it is helpful and so enjoyable.
The sugary Brioche with a sweet crunchiness
I had a Brioche with a sugary filling that was still warm when I bought it and each bite was a treat with a rich buttery. The sugary filling bursting in my mouth and on a cool afternoon, really warmed me up.
The Brioche and the Merveilleux
I also ordered a mini Merveilleux, called a ‘L’Exentrique’, which is two small meringues filled with a creamy mixture and then rolled in cherry crunchies.
The ‘L’Exdntrique’
This sweet creamy pastry melts in your mouth when you bite into it and you have to eat it quickly when walking or otherwise it is a gooey mess. Both pastries were well worth the money and put a big smile on my face.
The inside of the bakery at Christmas
The marvelous pastries and sandwiches at the bakery
I was a very happy traveler when I reached Fifth Avenue to see the warm sunshine covering the block. Fifth Avenue has changed since my walk around Murray Hill in 2020. A lot of the buildings are either being renovated or have ‘For Rent’ signs in the windows as small businesses in the area have suffered from lack of office workers and tourists.
Across the street is 401 Fifth Avenue, the former home to Tiffany & Company before the operations moved to East 59th Street. The impressive building stands guard still on lower Fifth Avenue as a testament to when the shopping district was below 42nd Street.
401 Fifth Avenue-The former Tiffany & Company building (Wiki)
The building was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White and was completed in 1905 as the company headquarters and stayed here until the move uptown in 1940. The design was based on the Palazzo Grimani de San Luca in Venice, Italy (Wiki).
On the way back down West 37th Street, I passed another restaurant on the other side of the street that I really had not noticed and crossed to take a look at it. Tengri Tagh Uyghur Restaurant is at 144 West 37th Street. The cuisine was Uyghur, which is an interior section of China that most of the residents were being interred by the Chinese. I remember reading that the food has more Turkish and Indian influences and the smells coming out the restaurant were amazing. You could almost taste the spices in the air. I knew where I was eating dinner that night.
One of the architectural gems of the neighborhood is covered with demon-looking faces. It sits at 301 West 37th Street, which has the most unusual carvings of gargoyles all over the sides and inside the window ledges. It gives the building almost a creepy, demonist look to it. The building was built in 1915 and is currently going under a gut renovation.
As I walked around to West 38th Street, I was greeted by an old friend in the family business of Esposito Meats at the corner of West 38th and Ninth Avenue at 500 Ninth Avenue. Esposito Meat Market has been in business since 1932. You can see the selection of meats and different cuts from the window. The one time I walked in you could smell the aroma of the freshly cut meats. The store prides itself on always delivering quality (Esposito Meat Market website).
West 38th Street to me is the Garment District’s ‘Restaurant Row’.
Just off the corner of Ninth Avenue and West 38th Street is the now closed (and hopefully to be opened soon again) Fu Xing at 273 West 38th Street (Closed in 2021). The restaurant was my go-to place for Roast Pork, Custard, Pineapple and Cream buns ($1.25) when I volunteered at the Soup Kitchen or when I needed a quick lunch and was in the area (see my reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com).
The roast pork buns here were the best
This little hole in the wall catered to the Asian garment workers but somehow found its way to tourists and office workers all over the area.
On the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 38th is another building beautiful in detail but has been sadly neglected over the years is 557 Eighth Avenue. The Beaux-arts’ designed building was built in 1903 by architect Emery Roth who was part of Stein, Cohen & Roth. It was run as a residential hotel for most of its history and now houses commercial space in the upper floors and fast-food restaurants on the bottom (Daytonian in Manhattan.blogspot/Loopnet.com).
You have to really look up or you will miss the beauty of the building with its detailed carvings around the windows and the portraits of women carved between the windows.
The side entrance of the building at 302 West 38th Street
Further down the street towards Seventh Avenue is Lazzara’s Pizza Cafe at 221 West 38th Street #2, which is known for their lasagna pizza (see my review on TripAdvisor) which was lunch for us many an afternoon when I was a in the Buying line at Macy’s. These deep-dish pizzas are wonderful and the service has always been so friendly over the years.
A few doors down is Ben’s Kosher Restaurant, the former Lou G. Siegel’s, that is known throughout the Garment industry as the place for piled high pastrami sandwiches and matzo ball soup. The original restaurant had been in business for over 79 years before being bought out by Ben’s in 1996 (Ben’s Kosher History).
Ben’s Kosher Restaurant Manhattan at 209 West 38th Street (now called Mr. Broadway in 2024)
The interesting family fact is that both myself and my grandfather both ate at Lou G. Siegel’s when it was open thirty years apart. My grandfather had worked as an officer in the Ladies Garment Union and this is where they used to have lunch back in the 1950’s. I still love to dine there, always ordering the Double Dip ($16.99), a Pastrami on Rye with a side of Matzo Ball soup and a Potato pancake. There is nothing like it (see my review on TripAdvisor).
Don’t miss the Double Dip at Ben’s Kosher Restaurant
Ben’s Kosher Historical Marker as the original Lou Siegel Restaurant (his father’s) and is now called “Mr. Broadway Restaurant”.
Unless I had missed this before but there was a new mural at the top of the building. This was very unusual how this got up so fast but it was really interesting.
The work at the top of the Mr. Broadway Restaurant building by artist M. Schorr.
Artist Mitchell Schorr is an American born artist from New York City and is best known for his urban mural paintings. This is one of many in New York City and around the world (Artist bio).
During the week, there is a tiny cart right off Broadway, Empanada Suprema, with the little empanada with a cape as its symbol. This little cart makes the freshest empanadas in Mid-Town with cheese, chicken and beef fillings made right in front of you and fried fresh at the cart. With a little hot sauce, two of these make the perfect lunch and I love munching on them on a cold day.
The Empanada Suprema cart at West 38th Street. Look for the capped empanada
My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:
Walking towards Fifth Avenue, the architecture starts getting interesting and at 63 West 38th Street is the Refinery Hotel. This beautiful and interesting looking hotel was built in 1912 and was the former Colony Arcade Building. It had been home to a 19-century milliner and a tearoom (Refinery Hotel history). The hotel has two excellent restaurants one being on the roof top looking over the Bryant Park neighborhood.
The Refinery Hotel at 63 West 38th Street (The Refinery Hotel)
Arriving finally at Fifth Avenue is the famous former department store Lord & Taylor, once a New York institution in women’s high fashion. The former Lord & Taylor headquarters store that opened in 1914 just recently closed with a sale to the now imploded WeWorks company and was just sold to Amazon for 985 million dollars.
This former ‘grand carriage trade’ store replaced the former headquarters store at Broadway and 20th Street by Union Square and opened at this location at 424-434 Fifth Avenue. The 11-story building was designed by architects Starrett & Van Vleck in the ‘Italian Renaissance Revival’. The store closed for business in January of 2019 after over one hundred years in the location (and a recent store renovation).
Lord & Taylor was founded in New York City in 1826 and has moved around the City several times in its long history. I will miss walking around the store and wondering through the store at Christmas time which was always magical in the store’s heyday. I like everyone in the City will miss their Christmas windows.
I’m not sure if Amazon will continue this tradition at the holidays
As I made my way back down West 38th Street, I finally saw a bit more foot traffic off Fifth and Sixth Avenues as the afternoon crowds went to lunch or were heading in the direction of Macy’s. There was another one of their big sales and it was attracting late shoppers.
On the corner of West 39th Street is one of the best places for deep-dish pizza in Manhattan at the ever-growing Upside Pizza (which now
The Detroit deep dish Pepperoni is the best
has two more locations) at 598 Eighth Avenue. The pizzeria makes delicious deep-dish cheese and pepperoni pizza and their regular cheese pies are terrific too. The Sicilian pies are a cross between traditional Sicilian and Detroit deep-dish.
As I made my way down West 39th Street, I passed more fabric and small wholesale stores proving that the Garment District businesses are alive and well, maybe not in the numbers as in the past but still going strong. Tucked in between buildings are more national chain hotels and restaurants that keep opening and closing with the traffic of the area. There are a lot of empty store fronts as you get to Seventh Avenue. Business from the surrounding office buildings has indeed slowed down.
When arriving at the corner of West 39th Street and Seventh Avenue in front of the Chase Bank at 551 Seventh Avenue is the very iconic sculpture of the Needle Threading the Button that is part of the Welcome Booth on Seventh Avenue.
The Button and Needle Sculpture is actually part of the information booth (NYPL.org)
The Needle and Thread has now been replaced by a new sculpture in 2023
According to the New York Public Library, the sculpture of the needle and button is actually part of the Fashion Center Information Kiosk that has been closed for a few years. The sculpture was designed by Pentagram Architectural Services in 1996 and was inspired by artist Claes Oldenburg’s sculptures. The district is currently looking into replacing this kiosk (New York Public Library Research Department).
Artist Claes Oldenburg was a Swedish born American artist. He was born in Stockholm and moved to the United States with his parents. His father was a Swedish Diplomat who was stationed in Chicago and he studied art at Yale University and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was known for his large art installments. Even though this was not designed by him, the work was inspired by his sculptures (Wiki).
In front of the Chase Bank at 1411 Broadway is Golda Meir Square with an open plaza. Tucked into a garden almost hidden from view by the plants is a bust of Golda Meir by artist Beatrice Goldfine. It looked like from old pictures the original pedestal is now beneath the planter. It was unveiled in 1984 (Wiki).
The bust of Golda Meir by artist Beatrice Goldfine in Golda Meir Square is now hidden in a garden.
Artist Beatrice Goldfine is an American artist born in Philadelphia and studied at the Barnes Foundation and the Pennsylvania Institute of Fine Arts.
When walking back down West 39th Street, I noticed another small Chinese restaurant named Bao Bao Cafe at 214 West 39th Street that has an interesting menu. This is one to check out in the future.
On West 40th Street is where you really start to see interesting architecture on the fringe of the old shopping district. The buildings on the southern edge of Bryant Park, which had once a upon a time had been just ‘old buildings’, now have become the symbol of the park and some of the most classic examples of Beaux Arts and Art Deco architecture.
The walk from the Port Authority on Ninth Avenue is remnants of the ‘bad old days’ of Times Square that have not been torn down yet. This area was in the process change before COVID and is still being developed.
As you cross Sixth Avenue with Bryant Park on one side, there is a line of beautiful buildings between Broadway and Fifth Avenue that make it quite an impression. The enormous detail to these structures is evident along the sides and top of the buildings.
The details on 119 West 40th Street (the other side of the building is 114 West 41st Street) are unique. The building was built in 1913 by Philip Lewisohn with the architectural firm of Manike & Franke with the purpose of designing a loft type building. What makes the building so unique is the Gothic figures above the curved windows (Daytonian in Manhattan/Emporis).
The second is 110 West 40th Street. The building was designed by architect Edward S. Browning of the firm of Buchman & Fox and was built in 1914. It was known as the World Building. Browning has designed the building so that all four sides were equally detailed (MetroManhattan.com).
On the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 40th Street I saw the green and red lights still blinking of the new Bank of China building at 1045 Sixth Avenue (or 7 Bryant Park). This building is interesting for its shape and its ongoing light show. The second day of visiting the neighborhood, the lights of the holidays were gone.
The building was completed in 2016 and was designed by architects Henry N. Cobb and Yvonne Szeto from the firm of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and it was interesting on why they designed the building in an ‘hourglass’ design. The firm stated that “they wanted to enrich the experience of the park while at the same time make its relationship to the park a clear expression of its identity (Pei Cobb Freed & Partners). The building is the New York home of the Bank of China.
Bank of China Building at 1045 Sixth Avenue (7 Bryant Park)
Across from Bryant Park to its south are a grouping of beautifully designed buildings. On the corner of West 40th Street and Sixth Avenue is 80 West 40th Street, ‘The Bryant Park Studios’. The building was built in 1910 as showrooms for artists. The building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by architect Charles A. Rich (Daytonian in Manhattan).
The Bryant Park Hotel at 40 West 40th Street is another standout that sits on the edge of the park. The hotel was built in 1924 for the American Radiator Company and known as the American Radiator Building (it was renamed the American Standard Building).
It was designed by architects John Howells and Raymond Hood who designed it in a Gothic Modern style with black and gold bricks, the black bricks symbolizing coal and the gold bricks symbolizing fire. The style of the building is a combination of Neo-Gothic and Art Deco. In 1988, the building was sold and the Bryant Park Hotel was born (Bryant Park Hotel History).
The Bryant Park Hotel at 40 West 40th Street (Bryant Park Hotel)
A few doors down from the hotel is 32 West 40th Street, the former Engineers Club Building. The building was designed by architects Henry D. Whitfield and Beverly S. King of the firm of Whitfield & King and was built in 1907. The building was designed in the neo-Renaissance style with Corinthian style capitals. The building was partially funded by Andrew Carnegie for a new club house for the Engineers Society that had been founded in 1888 (Wiki).
Making my way back to the border of Garment District at Fifth Avenue sit two impressive buildings of the bygone era from this was a major shopping district, the Knox Building and the Arnold Constable Building.
The building at 452 Fifth Avenue, the former home to Knox Hat Company, was incorporated into the HSBC Tower in 1984. The glass tower was built around the Beaux Arts building for the HSBC and it was considered an architectural marvel when it opened. The Knox Building was built in 1902 and is considered one of the finest examples of ‘Beaux Arts style’ in Manhattan.
452 Fifth Avenue-The Knox Hat Company Building part of the HSBC Building
The detail work of the Knox Building at 452 Fifth Avenue.
The Knox Hat Company was considered one of the finest hat companies for men when it was founded in 1838. It once had 62 retail stores and was sold in all the finest stores. It did not survive the Great Depression and was merged with three other companies in 1932 to form Hat Corporation of American (Hat Co) (Bernard Hats history).
The last interesting building I saw before returning to Bryant Park to relax by the fountains was 454 Fifth Avenue at 40th Street, the old Arnold Constable & Company department store.
Fifth Avenue at 40th Street-Arnold Constable & Company Department store
The building opened in 1915 and closed when the company went out of business in 1975. It is now part of the New York Public Library. Arnold Constable & Company was founded in 1825 and was considered one of the oldest stores in New York City. The building was created as the shopping district moved further uptown. The company closed for business in the 1990’s.
As I finished the edge of the neighborhood walking West 41st Street, most of the buildings were either the front or back of old theaters or large new office buildings that were the result of the final demolishment of the blocks around Times Square (which was much needed at the time).
As a result of these large buildings compacted into one area, there needed to be setbacks for the public in the way of small parks and one of them is just behind the new Whole Foods at 1095 Sixth Avenue (Three Bryant Park). Inside the park near the stone benches, I admired a rather strange statue entitled “The Guardian-Superhero” by artist Antonia Pio Saracino.
Guardian-Superhero at Three Bryant Park (Antonio Pio Saracino)
The statute was created by the artist in mirrored stainless steel. The artist uses a digitally generated architectural composition (Frameweb.com).
Artist Antonio Pio Saracino is an Italian born artist based in New York City. He is a graduate of the La Sapienza University of Architecture with a master’s degree. The artist is multi-talented in sculpture, building and furniture design (Wiki).
I finally was able to relax in Bryant Park for a bit before I continued the walk to Kips Bay. I had read online that DiDi Dumpling in Kips Bay had closed, and I wanted to check it out for my blog. I walked through the side of Bryant Park that faced West 40th Street and admired some of the statuary and the tiny Merry go Round that was closed for the season.
The first statue that I admired was Goethe Monument inside the path. The Gothe statue is of author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and is a replica of a copy by artist Karl Fisher. It was presented to the park by The Goethe Society of America in 1876 and it was moved to Bryant Park in 1932 (NYCParks.org).
I passed the tiny French Merry go Round, Le Carrousel, that brought into the park after the renovation to give the park the Parisian feel that it had. It was created for the park by the Fabricon Carousel Company of Brooklyn, NY and many interesting creatures for children and adults (I did ride it once when it first came to the park. I am too big for this thing).
The Bryant Park Carrousel on the south side of the park (NYCParks.org)
The last statue that I admired in the park was of the park’s namesake, William Cullen Bryant, from artist Herbert Adams and designed by Thomas Hastings of the architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings in 1911 (The firm that designed the New York Public Library). The statue was of poet, journalist and editor of The New York Evening Post Willaim Cullen Bryant (NYCParks.org).
The statute of William Cullen Bryant (NYCParks.org)
Herbert Adams was an American born artist. Born in Vermont, he was raised in Massachusetts, He studied art at the Massachusetts Normal Art School. He opened a studio in New York City and in his time, he created over 200 public works of art and is considered one of America’s best sculpturers (Wiki).
As the last traces of the Winter Villages Christmas decorations have disappeared, I walked all around the skating rink and the open restaurants. I could not believe how busy the park was at this time of day and was not sure if it was all tourists or just locals having a good time. With all the gloom and doom in the news lately, these people deserved it!
On the way back towards Broadway I came across an interesting set of artwork by artist Santi Flores that lined the Broadway Mall. These interesting works reached for the sky. These interesting little sculptures looked like they were raising their hands for attention (“Here” ended October 22nd, 2022).
The Broadway pop-up of Artist Santi Flores display “Here”
Artist Santi Flores at the street exhibition “Here”
Artist Santi Flores is a Spanish artist who is also a musician and visual artist. His creativity shows no limits (Artist Bio).
As I walked back down West 41st Street towards the Port Authority, I walked in between the terminals on my way back and forth from Ninth to Eighth Avenues and rediscovered the Robert Wyland paintings that had been done in the 1990’s. It was ironic that he had painted them because I had just visited his galleries in both Waikiki and in Maui.
The Robert Wyland mural “Inner City Whales” on the side of the Port Authority wall at Eighth Avenue and West 41st Street in 1993 (Part of his “Whaling Walls” series across the United States)
The Robert Wyland Mural on the inside wall of the Port Authority at West 41st Street is easy to miss with all the traffic and noise. I was not sure why he would place this wonderful piece of art in such an odd place that most people miss.
Mr. Wyland is an American born from Detroit. His works have been inspired by nature when he visited the ocean for his first and his love of diving. In 1993, he started his foundation, and started to paint murals in major cities. He is known for his conservation as well as his art(Artist bio).
I finished the streets of the Garment District in the early afternoon, and it was still light out, so it was time to travel to other parts of Manhattan to check other businesses from my blogs to see if they were still opened. This meant a trip down Lexington Avenue to DiDi Dumplings at 38 Lexington Avenue.
DiDi Dumpling is one of my go-to places on my blog, DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com for delicious meals of steamed dumplings and fried potstickers. Google had posted that they closed but I had to check this out for myself. Not only were they still open but really busy. So, I stayed for some Steamed Shrimp Dumplings ($5.75) with a Coke. After all that walking, I felt I earned it.
DiDi Dumpling at 38 Lexington Avenue (closed in January 2024)
The Fried Potstickers were a bit overcooked but still good
The Soup Dumplings here are pretty good but not the same when it was DiDi Dumpling
Now that I was rested and well fed (God those dumplings hit the spot on a cold day), I walked to my next location, La Crosta Pizza on East 72nd Street and First Avenue. I took Lexington Avenue and walked up a combination of that and Madison Avenue. On my way up to the Upper East Side, it was shocking to see how many businesses were shut and all the empty storefronts. These being victim to the economy and COVID.
I made it to 436 East 72nd Street and indeed La Crosta Pizza is now closed. I was really bummed in that they had wonderful lunch specials, excellent food (their pizza and calzones were the best) and the guys that worked there could not have been nicer. It was a big place to eat with the people at the hospital. The sign says that it is being replaced by York Pizzeria. I will have to revisit when they open but I could see by the inside menu that the prices have doubled.
The pizzeria is now names York Avenue Pizza but the prices are much higher.
The delicious items at York Pizza made by the same cooks as La Crosta
The pizza at both versions of the restaurant were excellent
As I walked back down from the Upper East Side to the Garment District again, I crisscrossed the avenues going from First to Second then walking down Lexington to Park Avenues looking at store fronts and dark apartment buildings and hotels and wondered how many of these people have come back to the City. It still seemed quiet after the holidays.
I ended the walk that evening back at the Uyghur Restaurant Tengri Tagh at 144 West 37th Street. I kept watching from the window all the interesting dishes coming to the tables and it fascinated me that this tiny hole in the wall restaurant was so busy.
I later found out when I got home that they just had three back-to-back excellent reviews on the internet. The food really warms you up on a cool night.
Uyghur Restaurant Tengri Tagh at 144 West 37th Street
When I got there at 6:30pm, it was quiet. There were only two other tables full. By the time my dinner started to arrive at the table, the place was packed. I could not believe this small restaurant on a side street and a gloomy one at that was so busy.
The inside dining room and decorations
I kept it simple and ordered a dish of dumplings, a baked bun and an opened faced meat and vegetable bun. When it all came out, it was more than enough food. The baked bun was filled with a spicy lamb and cumin mixture that with each bite brought warmthinside my body. The food is really spicy here.
The buns here are really good
The open-faced Lamb and Cumin Bun was filled with a combination of ground lamb and vegetables and a very hot sauce. It really had some kick to it and it did not need any additional sauces. The order of dumplings was almost a double order from the usual Chinese restaurants I go to and are perfect for sharing.
The Dumplings are amazing
They were also filled with a spicy lamb mixture and an extra kick was added with the hot oil that they brought to the table. It was more than enough food for one person. The hot tea that the waiter brought to the table helped cool my stomach down. The waiter could not have been nicer.
The Baked Buns are excellent
After a relaxing dinner and some much needed sitting it was back to the sidewalks and the walk back up Eighth Avenue to Port Authority. Talk about a walk. I must have covered at least five miles. When I finally got on the bus that evening, I could not believe all the changes in the neighborhood since I worked there twenty-seven years ago. It has gotten so much nicer than what it had been even with COVID.
Bryant Park at night when all the buildings are lit.
This area may be down a bit, but it is not out!
Bryant Park in the summer of 2023.
Please visit my other blogs on the Garment District:
Day Two Hundred and Three: Walking the Borders of the Garment District:
mywalkinmanhattan 