I have visited Wah Fung Number One Fast Food Restaurant several times on recommendations from YouTube and reviews on TripAdvisor . It is considered to be one the best restaurants in New York City for Chinese Roast Pork and one of the cheapest (see my reviews on TripAdvisor).
Wah Fung has a simple menu
This tiny hole in the wall restaurant is located across the street from Sara Delano Roosevelt Park, a thin strip of park that separates Chinatown from the Lower East Side. The lines for food that are mentioned online are no exaggeration. The two times I visited during the week the lines were about ten deep but move very quickly. Everyone takes the food to go.
The food is wonderful if you like simple Chinese cooking. They have…
Sun Sai Gai is a small restaurant in the heart of Chinatown. I have been coming here for years after discovering their selection of buns for sale for between $1.00-$1.50. Two of these buns are the perfect quick meal or afternoon snack. I love both their Roast Pork Baked Bun ($1.20) and their Steamed Pork Bun ($1.00). Both are soft buns that are loaded with sweet roast pork. They are huge and flavorful and I have always found them to be fresh (See review on TripAdvisor). They are a great snack when walking on the street.
The roast pork buns are excellent
Another recommendation on the sweet side is their Custard Buns ($1.00) and their Egg Tarts ($1.00), both of which are on the savory/sweet side. The custard buns are…
Hacklebarney Farm Cider Mill is a unique and family run farm stand that I have been coming to since I was four years old. They have the best baked goods, apple cider poached hot dogs and homemade apple cider.
The farm is fun to visit!
The Farm was really busy on a recent visit in the Fall of 2024
The wonderful gourmet products on sale at the farm store
The baked goods and gourmet products on sale at the farm store
Don’t miss this New Jersey institution tucked in the corner near the entrance of Hacklebarney State Park, one of the most beautiful and underrated parks in New Jersey. Just driving down State Park Road brings me back in time to the mid-1970’s when we used to stop at the farm for apple cider. My mom always liked to have it in the house to serve with dinner when we were growing up. The best part is that they still press their own.
Coming to Hacklebarney Cider Mill Farm is a step back into the rural era of New Jersey and the family that runs the farm respects its history and does not treat it like a theme park like the…
On the evening of October 7th, 2019, I did my second book reading of my up coming novel, Book Two in my New York Trilogy (the first being “Firehouse 101” published in 2005), “Love Triangles”. This is the story of Wharton Business Senior and Retailer Alan Balantine-Garfinckel adventure into New York City for the Christmas Holiday season working at Steinman’s Department Store.
Justin Watral, Author and Blogger
(Author Justin Watral at the Brooklyn Book Festival 2012 promoting Book One “Firehouse 101” (IUniverse.com 2005).
Alan who finds love while working in New York City gets more than he bargained for when while choosing between falling in love with his girlfriend, his best friend and a fantasy Champion figure skater his world is turned upside down when a mysteries rodeo cowboy enters the picture. How will true love conquer all?
Steinman’s Department Store’s first floor that mesmerized Alan Ballantine-Garfinckel
I read the beginning of my novel to a room full of hopeful authors and their friends at the Hasbrouck Heights Library in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ.
Steinman’s Department Store at Christmas: Their first floor chandeliers
Here is the Prologue to my upcoming novel, “Love Triangles”.
The dazzling B. Altman was the inspiration for Steinman’s Department Store.
I hope you all enjoy it and will buy the book:
Prologue
She came back to campus and now I have to flee, Alan thought. It was never easy confronting an old girlfriend and Alan didn’t want to start now. He took the coward approach and decided to leave campus. Not a good move in this bad economy but he decided it was time to leave Philly. Alan and his best friend, Jerry were winding their way through the career fair on the University of Pennsylvania campus for most of the morning without much luck. After over a decade of knowing one another, Jerry still acted like the whiny undergraduate Alan had known his freshman year.
“I can’t believe that they’re going through with it,” Jerry exclaimed as they passed the tables of recruiters. “They must be kidding themselves. They have known each other for almost forty years. God, my mother is such a shit. She is always pulling things like this! Why does she have to divorce the guy now?”
Alan did not want to discuss this any further having problems of his own to deal with at the moment. He had known Jerry’s parents for years and they never seemed happy. Jerry’s mother was a self-centered bitch, who always wanted things her own way regardless of everyone else’s feelings. Jerry’s father had gone along with it for years, her demeaning his every move. While vacationing in Europe, he caught her cheating with another man. It was the last straw in their marriage and Jerry knew it.
Jerry’s parents were now trying to get a quickie divorce while still in Europe. Jerry was flying abroad at the end of the semester to try to talk some sense into the two of them. Alan was grasping with his own issues. After losing his long term job at Sears when they closed his store as part of the downsizing, he had decided to go back to Penn and study at Wharton. His father wanted him to come into the family consulting business and Alan wanted to delay that as long as possible. His mother provided the excuse by recommending that he apply to Penn, where she had been a professor since their move to Philly years earlier. He knew he needed to get off campus. His ex-girlfriend was returning.
Christine and he had started dating as underclassmen. She had played center and had been the co-captain of Penn’s Women’s Basketball team and had been Alan’s girlfriend throughout most of his junior and senior years. There were a lot of things that Alan had been attracted by, her blond hair, her green eyes and a winning smile that lit up a room. After they clobbered Harvard for a share of the Ivy League title their junior year, with Christine leading the way, Alan had met her by approaching her afterwards to congratulate her on the winning basket.
Alan had always tried to put Christine on some sort of pedestal that even she could not understand. Their relationship had been strained from the beginning. By their senior year, as he watched her defend the Ivy League Women’s Basketball title, he knew that the relationship had cooled. Christine had told teammates she didn’t know if she was winning the championship for the team or to keep the relationship going. It struck anyone who knew them as odd as they always seemed like the happy couple.
Now over a decade later, she was returning to coach the team she lead to two championships and a second berth to the NCAA’s. In that time, she had also played professional basketball for New York and had been on the Olympic team, winning a gold medal in the Summer Games. Even with all that, none of it impressed Alan enough to rekindle the relationship. He just wanted a fresh start.
Too many people were entering the business school without any concept of what they wanted to do with the degree once they got it. The economy was a wreck but Alan knew there might be something out there that would give him a break from school. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted to do when he graduated the next year and didn’t want to have other younger students around to remind him of it.
“I know why you are leaving and it has nothing to do with Christine,” Jerry said as they rounded the corner looking for the Ritz-Carlton booth. “You can’t blame her for not being champion skater. Alan, that was a decade ago. You think you would have gotten over all that years ago. You built Christine up to be something she wasn’t and then you fucked the whole thing up. Ironically, here she is a decade later an Olympic champion herself and you still don’t care.”
“Shut up Jerry,” Alan said, not believing what he was hearing.
This was from a person who was a virgin until he was 38 and never had a serious girlfriend his whole life. The only reason why he even lost his virginity was that he saw the movie, “40 Year Old Virgin” on cable and did not want to have himself labeled the same.
Jerry knew the truth behind the breakup and couldn’t believe that after all these years Alan still harbored the same crush. Years earlier, when everyone else was glued to the TV for the controversy in figure skating scoring and medals that were shuttled to appease different countries and fighting skaters, Alan fell in love. When the skater had taken the ice, Alan wondered who she was and why everyone applauded her so much. When she finished her short program, the whole arena went wild.
It was what happened when she looked up and smiled. Alan’s heart raced and he knew that was the woman for him. It was her spunk, her determination and the look in her eyes of great accomplishment. The commentators were going wild with her performance and you could hear the boos in the background with her marks, which later everyone commented were too low for her performance.
The sports announcer said that she had done it to prove to herself that she could accomplish her goal of returning to skating and coming back to land the jump that made her famous a decade earlier. She showed such grace and dignity that even Alan felt it did not deserve the third place finish. She really deserved the gold!
It was later on in a documentary that Alan realized that she had not wanted to go to the Olympics. ‘I had already been there’, she commented and she wanted to give someone else a shot at competing there. Magazines hailed her as a great sportswoman and represented finally what was good in competition. She may not have won the event that night but she won the hearts of everyone who liked a comeback kid. It was the moment that Alan developed a major crush on skater, Darlene Durbin, the ‘Queen of the Quadruple’.
“That has been your problem for years, Alan,” Jerry explained as they walked. “You have held every woman you have ever met to that peak. In your eyes, no one is good enough, including Christine, who herself won a gold medal.”
“But no one ever applauded her like that,” Alan explained. “Alan, you were at the basketball championship. They applauded the team and all the players. They even gave the team a standing ovation,” Jerry exclaimed. “You saw it on TV. Even both of your parents could not believe you broke up.”
That spark wasn’t there, Alan said to himself, that heart and that great sense of accomplishment. It wasn’t in Christine’s eyes that night. She had done it for the team, but that sense of self-accomplishment wasn’t there.
“I just can’t explain it to you, Jerry. You wouldn’t understand the whole relationship,” Alan said, searching for the Ritz-Carlton booth and a chance to get off the subject.
Making the wrong turn down the isle, instead of being at the Ritz-Carlton booth, Alan was standing in front of the recruiting desk of M. Steinman & Company of New York City. While Alan looked at his map for a minute, the bored recruiter was happy to finally talk to someone. The recruiter was getting annoyed with having to direct undergraduates to the banking and financial booths (as if they would get jobs in this economy, he thought). He looked at Alan and saw something in him and then started his pitch.
“There are a lot of changes happening at Steinman’s,” the recruiter, George stated. “We have a whole new management team, new advertising and have reintroduced our old logo from 1896 as new. We even brought back our original slogan, ‘Steinman’s, it’s always a pleasure’.
Alan was not sure what he wanted to do with his time and thought that going to New York might be a nice change, plus it was far enough from Philly where he could avoid the college but close enough by where he could come home as needed.
“Do you have any retail experience?” George asked, trying to get Alan interested. George would later tell the interviewers in New York what a catch Alan was for the company.
“I was born to do it George,” Alan said. “I had been working at Sears as an Assistant General Manager until the company closed my store due to the downsizing. That’s when I decided to go back to graduate school. There has been too much instability in the field and it has not gotten any better with this economy.”
George explained that Steinman’s was holding its own in New York and the recent renovation of the old store on Fifth Avenue brought curious shoppers into Steinman’s, who as Millennial’s had pretty much left it to their grandparents to shop. There were so many positive changes in the company and they were looking for people who understood the business to work along with them.
“Alan, please look over the material and call to schedule an interview. We would like to meet with you. I think that you will be a good match. There will be a second round of interviews in New York and you will be able to see the workings of the store. I would like to see you soon,” George said as he shoved his business card in Alan’s hand and scheduled the on-campus interview.
Even though Alan was much older then the usual candidate, he could be placed in a higher position then the typical college graduate. Alan agreed to the interview and said he would see him tomorrow.
Alan felt a sense of déjà vu. Had this happened before? Something seemed so familiar about all this but he could not put his finger on it. He said goodbye to George and set off to look for Jerry. Jerry was probably boring some recruiter with all his parents’ marriage woes. For God sake, the guy was almost 40 and he was worried about his parents?
Jerry saw Alan and waved down to him. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company was down this aisle, he pointed out. Alan could see the hotel display from a distance.
“Where were you all this time,” Jerry asked. “Ritz-Carlton was down this side of the aisle. We went the wrong way. You must have read the map upside down.”
Alan explained that he was talking to Steinman’s Department Store out of New York and had arranged for an interview for tomorrow. Jerry asked him if he was crazy.
“You always told me that your father nearly went crazy after losing the family store decades ago and that you never wanted to enter the field again after that whole thing at Sear’s. You have the rest of your life to go into that business, especially if you join your father in his consulting and buying business.”
“It’s not that Jerry,” Alan explained. “Something seemed so right about it. It was like I was going home. Steinman’s reminds me so much of what I grew up with in DC. The stores were always considered very similar. Hell, I remember my grandfather complaining that old man Steinman used to come to DC just to steal his ideas. Besides it would be nice to spend the holidays in New York. Let’s face facts; I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.”
“You are just avoiding Christine, Alan,” Jerry said. “You just want to avoid the issues of your breakup and not see her around campus. You built her up to be something she wasn’t and then you screwed it all up. You had no one to blame but yourself.”
“Shut up, Jerry,” Alan growled as he walked towards the Ritz-Carlton booth. “Don’t let your parent’s problems cloud your judgment about mine. I am getting tired about talking about it and let’s change the subject. Did I tell you I had the elevator dream again?”
Jerry shook his head but knew of the dream. It seemed that Alan had been having this dream ever since he hit puberty. Alan had always reached a certain point in the dream and then always woke up before it was over.
As Alan got older, the dream would progress but would never reach a conclusion. He always woke up. Jerry asked what had happened this time. Alan told him this time the elevator had reached the top floor and the door had opened. He stepped out into an open plain. He saw a figure in the distance. As the figure approached him, he woke up.
“You have gotten further then before,” Jerry said as they waited in line to talk to the recruiter from Ritz-Carlton. “What do you think it means?”
“It means I am closer to finding a solution to a problem,” Alan explained. “I don’t know what it is supposed to mean, Jerry. I just don’t understand why I keep waking up before it’s finished.”
When Alan was younger, it always ended up being a wet dream. Now as an adult, he woke up hard. When he and Christine were sleeping together, she had no idea of the dream. He was always hard and she enjoyed love making in the morning. Alan never told her the reasons. Jerry asked him what he thought he was going to find in New York. Was it the answer to this riddle?
“I don’t know, but I need a change. I need to get out of Philly and away from my parents. I have been cooped up in Philly too long. I knew I should have gone to graduate school elsewhere. While it is great that I am saving so much, I don’t like the fact that I am Professor Garfinckel’s son,” Alan stated with some disgust.
Alan did not like the fact that his mother, a Senior Professor at Wharton, pushed him so hard to attend the school. He had liked working but she worried about him being lost in his career.
“Maybe what I am looking for is in New York, you never know,” Alan stated as his turn with the Ritz-Carlton recruiter came up.
The night before his interview with Steinman’s, Alan had the elevator dream again. This time the dream was longer and more vivid. The dream had always started the same. Alan was walking down a long hallway of office doors and then an elevator at the end of the hallway would open up on its own. He would press the button to go up and the elevator door would close with a thud. As the elevator rose, it went faster and seemed to want to get to its destination as quickly as possible. The elevator light panel criss-crossed quickly and twinkled like a Christmas tree. Alan began to worry that the elevator might crash through the roof.
Then as suddenly as the elevator rose, it began to slow down. It stopped with a small jolt and the red flashing light flashed “17th Floor”. The door slid open quietly. Alan stepped out of the elevator onto an open plain, as far as the eye could see. No noise, no cars and no people. Just open plain with cactus, brush and mountain in the distance.
Alan took a few steps out of the elevator, contemplating on what to do next. He was startled as the doors slammed behind him. He turned to see that the elevator had disappeared, as if it never existed in the first place. “Where am I?” he thought to himself. Alan stood all alone in the blazing sun, dressed in a blue suit, Gucci red tie and loafers and briefcase, looking totally out of place in the environment.
He wondered how he was going to get out of there, when he heard the faint beat of hooves in the distance. Alan turned to look in the direction the sound was coming from and it grew louder as the figure came closer. Alan made out the faint figure of a man on a white house riding in his direction. This is strange, Alan thought, this is where the dream had always ended.
Alan stared as the man on horseback rose toward him. Suddenly, he was about twenty feet from Alan. He dropped his briefcase and walked toward the man. Alan could not see his face very well. Climbing down from his horse, the cowboy walked toward Alan. His white Stetson covered part of his face, but Alan could see the rest of him. He was wearing a duster, blue jeans and cowboy boots.
Alan was amused by his slightly bow-legged walk. Now directly in front of him, Alan still could not make out his face.
“So I finally found yawl,” the cowboy said with a slight Southern drawl.
“It was not that difficult, I have been here many times before,” Alan stated. “Why has it taken you so long to appear?”
The cowboy kicked the dirt in front of him and shrugged. “I was not sure that yawl wanted to see me, but I see the time has come,” the cowboy said. “I feel that the time is right. Yawl wished for me and now I’m here.”
“I did?” Alan asked.
“Yawl always wanted to meet me and here I am,” the cowboy added.
The cowboy stepped in front of Alan and rubbed his right shoulder gently and then walked closer. Alan could see the dazzling smile appear as his thick mustache crinkled slightly. Even though the face was fuzzy, he could make out the cowboy’s green eyes. Not just any green, but a deep emerald green that sparkled in the mid-day sun.
Alan moved himself closer to the cowboy and with that, the cowboy reached over and gently hugged Alan. Alan had a warm feeling all over his body that did not come from the heat of the sun. Alan moved closer as his hand reached for the zipper of the cowboy’s jacket and slowly unzipped it. It revealed the cowboy’s leather vest, printed cowboy shirt and his gun.
Alan put his arm around the cowboy’s waist and drew him in closer, reached over and started to rub his back. The cowboy put his arms around Alan and hugged him gently.
“If yawl wants me to stop, just let me know,” the cowboy whispered into Alan’s ear, as he slowly rubbed his head on Alan’s shoulder.
“No,” Alan answered, “Come closer.” His arms encircled the cowboy’s shoulders.
Though Alan still did not have a clear view of his face, his mustached lips moved closer to Alan’s and he kissed him. Alan giggled slightly.
“What’s so funny?” the cowboy asked as he pulled away.
“Your mustache tickles,” Alan replied.
It did not just tickle; it felt wonderful, Alan thought, soft and bushy. It was thick and neatly trimmed and brushed up against Alan’s clean-shaven face. Alan moved the Stetson over slightly and they kissed again. The kissed gently at first and then harder and more passionate.
Alan hugged the cowboy tightly and could feel pressing against him the erection in the cowboy’s tight jeans. As the cowboy’s head rested on Alan’s shoulder, Alan could feel his warm breath on his neck and the faint smell of cinnamon. The cowboy’s hand then made its way to Alan’s groin and caressed his growing erection. He gave it a slight grab.
“I think you are ready,” the cowboy said. Alan looked into the cowboy’s eyes and asked (he could still not make out the face).
“What do you mean?” Alan asked.
The cowboy flashed that mustached smile as he pulled away from Alan.
“I think it’s time for yawls wish to come true,” the cowboy answered as he slowly moved away and walked back to his horse. Alan stared as the cowboy mounted his horse, slid his duster back to reveal his holster. He pulled the gun out, spun it rapidly on his index finger before returning it to his holster. He turned the horse towards Alan.
“What wish do you mean?” Alan asked as he looked up.
The cowboy smiled again and said, “The one that yawl have locked deep in yawls heart and wished to come true. The one yawl fantasizes about coming true even though yawl don’t understand the feeling. It has always been in front of yawl, Alan. Yawl are just beginning to understand it.” The cowboy tipped his Stetson, so that Alan could see the bright emerald of his green eyes again.
“Will I see you again?” Alan called to him.
“Yawl will know when it’s time,” the cowboy shouted back, as he slowly rode away.
“When will that be?” Alan asked.
“When it’s time,” the cowboy replied.
“Why can’t I see your face clearly,” Alan yelled.
The cowboy turned back and flashed his smile again and rode off shouting, “When it’s time, yawl will know.” Alan could hear the echo and fade as the cowboy rode off in the sunset, “when it’s time, when it’s time….”
Alan took a few steps backward to see the cowboy riding in the distance and then tripped over his own briefcase. He fell back into the now opened elevator door. The doors closed shut on the western scene. The elevator raced down as rapidly as it had ascended. Floor numbers lit up quickly as the elevator reached the bottom floor.
The door opened at the ground floor of a department store crowded with hundreds of holiday shoppers who were busy doing their Christmas shopping on one of the busiest days of the year in a store decorated for the holidays. Alan walked down the main aisle toward the front of the store as the words, “when it’s time…” rang in his ear. As the crowd parted for him without him asking (this must be a dream, he thought, no one does this in New York City), he walked through the glass revolving door to exit the store and the bolt of cold air woke him up. He finished the dream!
Alan jumped out of bed. ‘Holy shit’ he thought, I am going to be late. He was starting his first day at Steinman’s and wanted to make a good impression by getting there early. He showered, shaved, dressed and ate quickly. He grabbed his briefcase and his papers and ran past Gramercy Park on the way to the subway in Union Square. He took one look back to look at the trees, which were still green. ‘That will change’, he thought to himself. The holiday season was right around the corner. As he got to the subway, he said quietly to himself. “Maybe it is time.” He then added, “Nothing like being late on your first day of work!” He then disappeared down the subway stairs.
The Former Garfinckel’s Department Store on F Street in Washington DC
Special Author’s note: “Firehouse 101” can be ordered on the IUniverse.com website, Amazon, Barnes & Nobel.com, Walmart.com or any other book platform. The book can be found for sale at the FDNY Museum in Lower Manhattan if still in stock.
Be on the look out for Book Three of the Trilogy “Dinner at Midnight”.
While I was staying in Kingston, NY for the puppet rehearsals for the Halloween Parade at the Rokeby Estate, I came across an article in the Red Hook Star Review newspaper for a parade in Red Hook, Brooklyn (I thought it was for a parade in Red Hook, NY where Rokeby was located). It seems that the Red Hook neighborhood on the coastline of Brooklyn off New York Harbor was having a small celebration in honor of the neighborhood surviving Hurricane Sandy’s wrath especially when the power went out in the neighborhood on October 29, 2012.
So on a somewhat gloomy afternoon that was grey, cloudy and misty I took the bus and subway out to Red Hook for the parade. It was an interesting and engaging afternoon and evening. I read later that the neighborhood had wanted to create a parade and the year after the storm rocked the neighborhood, business owners decided that a parade was just what the neighborhood needed to boost the morale and spirit of the residents.
The neighborhood had been hit with power outages, massive flooding and twelve-foot storm surges. Neighbors looked out for neighbors and the people in the Red Hook Public Housing were especially hard hit with power out for weeks. Owner of the restaurant, Good Fork at Van Brunt Street, Ben Schneider said, “We thought it would be a fun way to shake off the hardships of that first year and have a good time together.” (Red Hook Star Revue 2019).
Red Hook Brooklyn after Hurricane Sandy 2012
Red Hook, Brooklyn is an interesting neighborhood because of its maritime past and that most of the neighborhood was former marshes and creeks, some of which still flow underneath the streets and homes of the neighborhood. The area was also loaded with manufacturing so there are large swaths of industrial buildings now filled with light manufacturing and/or loft spaces. The artists still dominate this part of the neighborhood, but I could tell as I walked the parade route that is quickly changing as the lots of coastline buildings are in the process of being knocked down and new luxury ‘buildings on the Bay’ are being constructed on this flat flood plain (nobody learns anything from these storms).
This had only been the second time I had been to Red Hook, Brooklyn. The other time had been on a walking tour of the neighborhood with the Fashion Institute of Technology back in the summer of 2017. There we walked the entire neighborhood and got to see manufacturing and shopping as well. (See Day Eighty Walking Red Hook Brooklyn with the FIT Tours July 22nd, 2017)
I found the parade to be an interesting mix of artists, musicians, business owners, residents and then the people like me who just discovered it having a wonderful time together. The parade started at 4:00pm on the corner of Van Brunt and Pioneer Streets in the heart of the downtown area of Red Hook with a concert with a small band and residents who looked like they were preparing for Halloween. Some were dressed like fish, some like sea captains, ladies like mermaids and parents pulling their kids through the parade in little ‘ship carts’ (trust me that adults were more dressed up than the kids). One group of people used a blue tarp to represent waves (I am not sure of the symbolize to that) throughout the parade.
The Band plays on
We followed the Squid in the MTA Bus that was ‘out of service’ throughout the parade route. Bubbles were flowing everywhere. The parade route took us all over the neighborhood as we walked the coastline of the area with the parade at its starting point and walking down Pioneer Street to Conover Street then crossed King Street and then down Ferris Street which is lined with former shipping yards that are in the process of being knocked down. We stopped in front of Louis Valentino Jr. Park and Pier and the parade participants visited Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies at 185 Van Dyke Street #1011 for a sample of a small key lime pie.
Steve’s Key Lime Pies at 185 Van Dyke Street #1011 were given out complimentary
God was that delicious! I had not had one of those since the walking tour with FIT and it was so sweet and buttery. It was four small bites, but I thought that was so generous of them. Talk about good public relations. While stopping there, many people were able to walk through the park and even on this gloomy day where the visibility was not great you could see out to Liberty Island and watch the boats flow by. This was also the site of Fort Defiance, a fort that had been built to protect New York Harbor from the British during the Revolutionary War.
As the parade started up again, more people started to join the parade and more children who were dressed in costume who were chasing one another around. We made our way down Van Dyke Street turned the corner back onto Conover Street and then down Reed Street to the front of Hometown Bar-B-Que at 454 Van Brunt Street on the corner of Van Brunt and Reed Streets. There we stopped for a complimentary beverage break, but I was not really into the light flavored beers, so I skipped that one.
The restaurant though is an old warehouse where the guts were pulled out and the place has exposed walls and ceilings and flooded with Christmas lights. The rich smells of barbecue filled the restaurant and later at the block party I was able to try some of the food that they donated. Their pulled pork, fresh pickles and mac and cheese were delicious.
The inside of Hometown Bar-B-Que at 454 Van Brunt Street
The parade continued up Van Brunt Street, the heart of the neighborhood with more rousing nautical songs such as “By the Beautiful Sea” and “I’d like to be under the Sea” as we all marched up the street following the Squid Float which was now blowing blue smoke and more bubbles. We stopped again in front of The Good Fork at 391 Van Brunt Street where they were ladling out hot vegetarian chili (not one of my favorite things). It was nicely spiced and would have tasted better with a little meat in it. Everyone else though was devouring it as the night grew cooler.
The Good Fork at 391 Van Brunt Street (Closed June 2020)
Our next culinary stop on the parade route was Fort Defiance, a bar and restaurant at 365 Van Brunt Street for a cup of their Butternut Squash Soup. God was that delicious! I asked the owner how they made it and he said that it was a combination of pumpkin and butternut squash with just a little heavy cream in it. It tasted so thick and creamy, and you could taste the hint of sweetness of the pumpkin. As it got cooler that night, that soup hit the spot.
Our last stop before heading back up to Pioneer Street was at the local VFW on Van Brunt Street for a shot (that seriously warmed me up). I stopped in to look around and the place was decorated for Halloween with all sorts of decorations and colored lights. The guys were really cool about looking around and I swear I felt so much better.
The parade ended back at the corner of Pioneer and Van Brunt Streets with a musical band playing all sorts of rock songs and some dancing under all the gloom and mist. There was a tent set up with free food from Hometown Bar-B-Que with their pulled pork sandwiches, Southern Fried Chicken with seasonings, creamy mac & cheese, corn bread and someone donated some corn dogs which I never got to sample. There was also another tent where Pizza Moto was making homemade pizza with fresh mozzarella and basil and that really warmed me up as well.
What was nice was the food was free and they asked for a donation for the relief fund for the Bahamas, which I thought was a nice touch. I gave the $5.00 donation for the meal which I thought was well worth it. I thought it was nice of the restaurants to be so generous and thoughtful to the parade participants as well as great PR and introducing their food to the neighborhood (these are smart restaurateurs).
The pulled pork was delicious and was served with a hot horseradish sauce which we could top with fresh pickles and homemade Cole slaw. It was rich and decadent. The mac & cheese which was served on the side was creamy and loaded with Cheddar cheese. The fried chicken was meaty and nicely fried and spiced with Old Bay seasonings. What a nice and generous meal. The pizza was also excellent on a cool night.
The pulled pork sliders and mac & cheese were worth the wait in line
I stayed for another half hour enjoying the music and watching a group of kids run each other around in a shopping cart in a club that was open for sitting and using the bathrooms. These kids really carried on but in a fun way. I could see the other adults were worn out by it but I just saw myself and the fun I used to have as a kid.
I told one artist who was in a mermaid costume eating a slice of pizza that I would rather see these kids carrying on like this yelling and screaming and having a good time than playing with a cellphone not talking to each other. She smiled and agreed with me.
Before I left the neighborhood, I stopped at the new Ample Hills Creamery & Museum at 421 Van Brunt Street to see the new factory and store that they had built. I swear that this company has grown in leaps and bounds in just seven years and they now have eight stores plus this factory. It was very impressive and shows how their product is made. They also make all their add ins like cake batter, brownies and candy. Very impressive!
Red Hook to me is more than just a neighborhood in Brooklyn. It was like a small town where people know their neighbors and people talked and greeted each other and engaged in conversation. Some may not be best friends or agree with one another, but you can tell they are a neighborhood. This little parade will be something bigger in the future I know but for now it showed me the true spirit of a small-town community in the heart of New York City.
The Barnacle Parade is every October 29th to mark the Anniversary of the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. What a way to show the spirit of resilience of a community!
See my entry in MywalkinManhattan.com: “Day Eighty Walking Red Hook Brooklyn with the FIT Tours July 2017” for more insights on Red Hook, Brooklyn:
Here are some interesting videos on the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on Red Hook Brooklyn:
Another Great insight on Hurricane Sandy:
Watch a neighborhood come together after the storm:
The Barnacle Parade in 2020:
I missed the Barnacle Parade in 2020 because there was a major downpour that afternoon and the thought of walking around for the afternoon in the rain did not appeal to me. I saw by the YouTube videos only about 30 people showed up which was WAY less then last year.
It did not look like anyone stayed that long as it was pouring in Red Hook Brooklyn too. It was too bad as this was a fun event the year before. I felt bad for the people getting soaked.
I am not usually into the ‘touristy things’ in New York City but this was a special day and I wanted to experience something different. All this walking around the Island of Manhattan to explore what was there lead me to think “what about riding around it?” What does it look like from the rivers and what do the neighborhoods look like that I visited so many months or years ago? What can this modern day Henry Hudson see from the water view? This lead me to take the “Best of NYC Cruise”, the full Circle around the Island of Manhattan. It was a nice afternoon where someone else did the driving.
Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and a little gloomy but still warm with no chance of rain when I got to Pier 83 on West 42nd Street and 12th Street at 12:30pm and bought my ticket. There was a chance of clearing later in the day, so I figured ‘let’s go!’ I was surprised that on a early October afternoon in the middle of the week that the boat would be so crowded. There was loads of people from different countries who had the same idea that I had that day.
The entrance to the Circle Line at Pier 83 in Manhattan
I took the last cruise of the day at 1:30pm hoping it would warm up and it ended up being in the low 70’s that afternoon, nice enough to sit outside and enjoy the sites. The Circle Line is really nice in that you can either sit in the middle of the ship and up above inside and on the top of the outside and no matter where you sit (depending on the number of people taking pictures) you will have a great view of everything. My recommendation is to sit where I sat, on the top deck, outside in the front where the isle is located. Here when you are tall you can stretch your legs especially when you are tall like me.
Circle Line boats ready to go
The tour starts out at Pier 83 on the far West Side and be prepared for a long line that goes very quickly. I have to admit that the tourists that I travelled with were a very orderly and polite bunch until we got to Liberty Island and toured around the Statue of Liberty. Even on a gloomy day it is an impressive site that I never get tired of looking at. It still to me means America and a promise of better things to come. It still amazes me after all of these years and I have been coming to the island since I was eight. You have to think that my family saw this site when they came here over a hundred years ago.
Liberty Island
We did a two time tour around the island so that everyone could take pictures and I swear that I thought the boat would tilt with all of those people taking pictures on that side of the rail. It really was a great site to see.
The views of Lower Manhattan are still breathtaking and even after the Towers fell still and the area rebuilt it still has an air of money and power and the extent of the influence of Wall Street to the rest of the world. I don’t think there is any other city on earth that has this type of powerful image than Manhattan. There were many group shots here as well. To the other side of the boat, I could see the forts and lawns of Governours Island, which I had visited last summer.
Lower Manhattan and Governors Island
Once we were past those two photo shots, people sat and relaxed for the rest of the trip. Our next stop was South Street Seaport and the view of the Brooklyn Bridge. I think this is just as iconic as the Statue of Liberty and the view of Lower Manhattan but it did not garner that same attention. I thought it was impressive to go under the bridge and see the under workings of the it.
After going under the Brooklyn Bridge, what really impressed me was the view of the Brooklyn side of the East River. I can not believe how much the coast line had changed and the beauty of Brooklyn Bridge Park and all the buildings that have been built around it. I even saw that they have a Domino Sugar sign from the old factory building that used to be located there (Our family’s claim to fame is that it was my Great-Grandfather William Rochibowski, who used to be the man running the boilers at the factory in the early 1900’s).
Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge Park is an impressive park and shows the extent of reclaimed land on the Brooklyn coastline that is being used for parks. It is impressive between the Brooklyn shoreline and Long Island City in Queens how much construction of office buildings and apartments is changing the way we look the East River. We have reclaimed the land so that everyone can use the parks and we can look at green again instead of manufacturing.
Brooklyn Bridge Park
As we crossed over East 43rd Street, I could see from the boat all the neighborhoods that I had recently visited over the summer including Turtle Bay, Sutton Place, Beekman Place and the recently visited Midtown East. I recognized all the apartment buildings and small parks that line the Manhattan side of the East River. It was interesting to see what they look like from the river side.
We passed by Roosevelt Island and I got to see the new Cornell Tech campus and the old hospital that is falling apart next to the new Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park that sits impressively on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island. It was equally impressive to see Lighthouse Park on the northern part of the island as well.
Roosevelt Island
We passed the dreaded East River Houses that dominate the low 100’s along First Avenue and the bridge that will take you to Ward-Randall’s Island. Here you can see the walking paths, playing fields and the old stadium on the island. You could even see the people walking their dogs around the island and how busy it was during a work week. On the other side is High Bridge Park that lines the area from about 163rd Street to Dyckman Avenue. This park is rarely on the richter scale with tourists but it does have some of the most interesting rock formations even from the river view. It still reminds us of the Ice Age’s role in the formation of the island.
Ward-Randall’s Island
As we rounded the top half of Manhattan Island, I could see the commercial side of Inwood and Washington Heights where the Sanitation Department, Verizon and 207 Street Train Yard Facility are located. Visiting this part of the Island can be seen on this blog from Days One-Seven. It is hardly the Manhattan that most people know and you can see this even more from the river view how industrialized the area is from the deck.
When you finally cross under the Broadway Bridge under the tip of Manhattan, we crossed over to the west side of the island. We had to stop at the Amtrak bridge for them to move it for us to pass through and here you can see the giant “C” of Columbia University who has their rowing team facility in this area and their football stadium on top of the hill.
The Columbia ‘C’
It is a nice place to stop and relax as you can see the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, the Muscato Marsh (see my review on VisitingaMuseum.com) and the beginnings of Inwood Park with its large hills and virgin forest. Then you enter the Hudson River Basin and the beautiful extensive views of cliffs of the Palisades Parkway Park side of New Jersey. These areas were protected by the Rockefeller family when the area was bought for the construction of the Palisades Parkway in New Jersey and New York.
Muscato Marsh
On the Manhattan side, we were treated to the woods and parks of Inwood and Riverside Parks with their wooded paths, barbecue areas and boat basins. It may not be the view Henry Hudson saw when he travelled the river but it close to it with the wooded hills. You could see the Cloisters Museum (see my reviews on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com) from the hill in Fort Tyron Park and travelling down to where West 155th Street is located you can see the Trinity Church Cemetery with its winding hills of tombstones.
The Cloisters Museum
Going under the busy George Washington Bridge was interesting in that the bridge never slows down. It always seems to have traffic. Under the bridge you can see the historic site of the “Little Red Lighthouse” the inspiration for the children’s book “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge” (se my review on VisitingaMuseum.com).
Little Red Lighthouse
Below that is RiverBank Park on top of the Water Treatment plant. This interesting park I talked about visiting when blogging about Hamilton Heights. It has everything from ice skating to track to tennis. A fair trade off to clean our waters.
Below that it was the start of Riverside Park and seeing Grant’s Tomb where President Grant and his wife are interred (See my review on VisitingaMuseum.com) at the top of the park. In the background you can see the tops of the buildings at Columbia University.
Grant’s Tomb
From there we could see the beginnings of the Upper West Side and the sliver of Riverside Park that hugged the shoreline of this neighborhood. The one part that stands out is the new construction of Riverside Park South and the new park below it. These shiny towers give the West Side a contemporary modern look and show the optimism of building on this part of the Hudson River.
Riverside Park
As we headed down the last stretch of the tour of the Hudson River on the way back to Pier 83, we passed the various piers of this part of the island showing its maritime and industrial history of the island.
Back at Pier 83
The Circle Line cruise to me was revisiting the neighborhoods I had already walked from a different perspective. When you walk the streets and parks of the island, you get to see the detail work of the buildings and the landscaped structure of the parks but from the rivers, you see it from the natural standpoint from the beauty of the parks to the dynamic of the buildings and the statements they make. It is one thing to see Grant’s Tomb or the Cloisters by visiting them and going inside of them but it is another to cruise past them and them becoming part of the landscape.
Sometimes being a tourist in New York City is fun!
My birthday Dinner:
For my birthday dinner that night, I ate at The Juicy Seafood Restaurant (Closed in 2020) that I had passed when walking Turtle Bay for this blog. The Juicy Seafood at 1047A Second Avenue (see my review on TripAdvisor) is an interesting little seafood restaurant with a lively bar scene and an interesting music soundtrack playing.
The Juicy Seafood Restaurant
The food is wonderful. I had the Fried Shrimp basket ($13.00) was delicious. Eight well breaded and fried shrimp sat on top of a bed of French Fries. The shrimp were sweet and fresh and had a nice crunch to them.
The Fried Shrimp Basket
For dessert, I wanted a small birthday cake and went to Eclair Bakery at 305 East 53rd Street (see my reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com) to see what they had that night. I settled on a Lemon Cake ($4.00) that had a nice caramelized color to it and a layer of icing. This sweet dense cake perked me up immediately and was a nice way to complete my birthday evening. The simple things in life are the best!
There are times when a well-wishing is for something wonderful and there are times where it is for something sad.
This well wishing on the five year anniversary of my father’s passing is a celebration of life and an honorum to the man who inspired this blog for his sense of adventure and a will to never give up the fight. This is where my father inspired me to succeed in all the things that I do and the goals I want to still accomplish in life.
I always quoted to my students from the song “Happy Talk” from the movie “South Pacific” when Bloody Mary sings “You got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have your dreams come true?” If we don’t have the goals, dreams and desires in life, how can we inspire to them?
My father defied odds and attended his 60th High School Reunion in 2013
This very special blog comes when I have visited more than half the Island of Manhattan and look forward to walking the rest. My hope to all you readers who follow and enjoy this blog of joining me on “MywalkinManhattan”, that you are inspired to follow the dreams and goals that you have in life as well.
My dad with his granddaughter at the Reunion weekend in 2013
As I said on my first day of starting this project, walking the streets of Manhattan is not terribly original and three people I had read about had already finished walking or were in the process of finishing it when I started but I’d like to think I am showing the Island of Manhattan in a new light.
From pointing out all the wonderful things to do, see and eat, from indulging in pastries in bakeries in Washington Heights to finding the most interesting street art in Spanish Harlem to seeing New York Harbor at night with the Statue of Library lit behind it to having you join me on all the walking tours I have been on in different parts of the City when things I had not noticed were pointed out to me that you are looking at New York City in a different light.
So to my father, whom I miss everyday, I love you and miss you!
Dad and I at the ‘Grandparent’s Day Brunch’ fundraiser for the Junior Friends of the Hasbrouck Heights Library 2013.
Walking the streets of Midtown East is very different from all the other neighborhoods that I have walked so far. The character of the neighborhood differs so much in that it is mostly commercial with hotels, specialty shops, office buildings and more residential on the upper parts of the neighborhood than any other part of the City. When you walk down the side streets of Midtown East, you are usually passing a building that stretches from one block to the other with nothing much in between but a loading dock or garage for the employees. Most of the smaller buildings and brownstones have been long knocked down and replaced with large office buildings some of which the character lacks in these giant ‘glass boxes’.
I know in the past few years that New York City has allowed more innovation in building design and there has been more original designs then the original 1980’s ‘glass boxes’ but even now there are a lot of makeovers that are happening all over the neighborhood and you will be dodging scaffolding that I have not seen since my days walking Harlem. From block to block especially as you get closer to Grand Central Station, there are many closed sidewalks and you can only walk on one side of the street.
Grand Central Station sits at the head of this neighborhood
With that said, there are still many hidden treasures to find if you just look up and across and they just jump out on you. It is surprising in this ever-changing neighborhood of soaring towers and busy hotels that tucked here and there are public atriums with places to sit and tiny cafes inside them that cater to the busy lunch crowd. Small brownstones here and there around the neighborhood have survived the wrecking ball and now house small cottage businesses and some upscale boutiques. I even found a few waterfalls along the way. I started my walk on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, which is becoming like an old friend. East 59th Street with its luxury shops and hotels is going through a transition itself since the domination of the internet.
Many of the luxury stores from Steuben Glass to the old FAO Schwarz Fifth Avenue have either disappeared or have moved to other parts of Midtown. Even the Barney’s New York on Madison Avenue on the edge of the Upper East Side neighborhood has filed for bankruptcy sighting changing tastes (people just don’t dress like that anymore) and the cost of doing business in a Brick & Mortar store which such high rents. I really don’t think honestly that people can afford these places anymore and if they can, will order it online not having to deal with the sometimes-indifferent service you get now in stores (I experienced this feeling in Paul Stuart when I walked in twice with shorts). The result is a lot of empty retail space.
This is changing though with the remodeling of the older office buildings with new facelifts and newer foreign stores coming into the neighborhood. Even so, look again for the open-air museum of artwork all over the streets and in the lobbies of these soaring office buildings. When walking down East 58th Street, I came across the sculpture “Rondo” by artist Tony Rosenthal in 1969 in front of 127 East 58th Street. This interesting circular sculpture is made of welded bronze.
‘Rondo’ by artist Tony Rosenthal
Tony Rosenthal was known for his large ‘Monumental Public Art Sculptures’ that appeared in cities all over the United States. Mr. Rosenthal had studied at the Chicago Institute of Art and in the 1960’s concentrated on large Abstract Geometric Sculptures. With his “Rondo” series in the 1960’s, it is noted that “Tony Rosenthal finds, discovers and reports to us what we might not have seen without him” (Tony Rosenthal biography).
Take a look at the detail work of 480 Park Avenue on the corner of Park Avenue and East 58th Street. Designed by architect Emery Roth in 1929, notice the terracotta detail work all over the building. It is one of the great residential buildings where each apartment had working fireplaces and high ceilings.
One building that stands out on the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 57th Street is the Cohen Building at 135 East 57th Street with its soaring floors and interesting entrance with a ringed pavilion. This 31-story commercial office building has a unique circular path for vehicles up from and pillared terrace entrance. The architect is Kohn Pederson Fox Associates and was built in 1987 in the ‘Post-Modern’ design with a plaza in the front of a concave tower. The building is right across the street from Bloomingdale’s Department Store (NewYorkitecture).
Walking past the IBM Building again, it was nice to finally discover that the sculpture outside the building was an Alexander Calder, the famous “Saurien”, that he created to emulate a reptile. This interesting and unusual sculpture deserved a second look. Other buildings that stand out in the neighborhood have been mentioned in Day One Hundred and Forty of MywalkinManhattan.com are the Fuller Building at 41 East 57th Street and 465 Park Avenue. Look up and notice their detail and artworks that line the outside of these buildings.
Mr. Shapiro is an American born artist from New York City who graduated both with a BA and MA from New York University. He is best known for his sculptures of abstract human forms (Wiki).
When walking around East 57th to East 56th Streets, please be careful of the security around Trump Tower. They watch everything you do and it is best to just walk around this part of the neighborhood between Fifth and Madison Avenues. Most of the buildings on this block stretch from one block to the next.
Trump Building at 725 Fifth Avenue is where the security is tight
When walking down East 55th Street from Fifth Avenue back to Lexington Avenue, stop and notice the building at 116 East 55th Street, home to the SUNY Global Center. The building was the former mansion to the Zeigler family and was built between 1926-1927. The house was designed by architect William L. Bottomley in the ‘Neo-Georgian style’ and features Flemish blond brickwork on the outside. William Zeigler Jr., who owned the house with his wife, Helen was a businessman, sportsman and philanthropist (Wiki).
I finished the first day of the neighborhood at East 55th Street and had dinner at Tri Dim Shanghai Restaurant at 1378 Third Avenue (see review on TripAdvisor). Their food is excellent and you have to try their Soup Dumplings that they are noted for.
Tri Dim’s Soup Dumplings are excellent
They burst in your mouth with each bite and their Classic Chicken, which is cooked in what I figure is a honey, soy and plum sauce is just excellent.
For dessert, it was time to revisit Bon Vivant Bakery at 231 East 58th Street for dessert (See reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com). I had one of their Rose Petit Fours ($4.00) and it was just excellent. A subtle sweetness with the accent of the rose extract that is used in the filling and the icing. These delightful cakes can be eaten in the two tier bakery and it is fun to watch the world go by.
Bon Vivant at 231 East 58th Street is wonderful for desserts (Closed January 2021-Moved to Jersey City, NJ)
On my second day of walking the Streets of Midtown East I had just finished a busy day at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen working in the busy Bread Station and was exhausted by the time I got to East 55th Street. I stopped along the way for a Chicken Empanada at Empanada Suprema (see reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com) at the corner of East 38th Street and Broadway for a quick lunch. This little stand is open only during the week and had the most delicious chicken, beef and cheese empanadas for $2.00! I love his sign with the Caped Empanada.
Empanada Suprema at the corner of West 38th Street & Broadway
In 2024.
The empanada’s are delicious
The Chicken Empanadas are wonderful with a little hot sauce
Don’t miss admiring the famous Friar’s Club at 57 East 57th Street. This beautiful building was built for Investment Banker Martin Erdman in 1908 by architect Alfredo S.G. Taylor and was designed in the ‘English Renaissance’ style.
When walking the bottom of East 55th Street from Lexington Avenue, take time again to admire the former AT&T Building at 550 Madison Avenue and IBM Building at 590 Madison Avenue in the distance. These iconic buildings show the resilience and creativity of their corporate owners. They are such interesting designs (see Day One Hundred and Forty Walking the Borders of Midtown East).
Madison Avenue in the 50’s both during the day and at night
One of the most interesting little pocket parks in the neighborhood I found when I rounded the corner at East 54th Street. It was right in front of the Christie’s at 535 Madison Avenue is the Christie’s Sculpture Garden with its small tables and chairs, trees covered with white lights and interesting public art. The artist Jonathan Prince is showing his work, “Shattered I, II and III’ in the garden courtyard.
Christie’s Sculpture Garden in front of 535 Madison Avenue with “Shattered Sculptures”
The park in the Spring of 202( from the opposite direction
Artist Jonathan Prince is New York born and raised and holds degrees from Columbia University and the University of Southern California. Over the past twenty years, the artist has had a passion for form and material with the use of chaos in his works. His use of steel and CorTen is used in the ‘Shattered’ pieces and they have a reflective element against the white lights of the park (Artist website).
Jonathan Prince in front of his “Shattered Sculptures”
This public garden is one of the nicest I have seen in many blocks and it is nice that Christie’s gives us an opportunity to view Public Art on sale while sitting back on the chairs on a nice day and just admire the park and people passing by.
The Kiton Store at 4 East 54th Street is the former home William Earle Dodge Stokes and his former wife, Rita. Mr. Stokes bought the land and leveled the houses that were there and had architects McKim, Mead and White design the marble mansion in 1896. The couple never lived in the house and filed for divorce soon after. The house was then bought by William H. Moore, the founder of Nabisco and his wife, Ada who movements in New York Society were well known. After Mrs. Moore’s death in 1955, the mansion was used for retail purposes (Daytonion in Manhattan).
The Kiton Store Stokes/Moore House at 4 East 54th Store
The ironic part of the former Stokes/Moore house is that right behind it when rounding the corner to East 54th Street is the Paley Garden, another small public garden with a waterfall as its centerpiece at 3 East 54th Street. The park was designed by architects Zion Breen Richardson Associates and opened in 1967. CBS Head William Paley financed the park in honor of his father, Samuel Paley (Wiki). This pristine little park is also nice to just sit and relax and listen to the waterfall and drown out the sounds of the City. The rest of East 54th Street is lined with large office buildings and the rush of people walking from one block to the next.
When it is open ‘in season’ don’t miss the Refreshment stand here. The food is pretty good
Rounding East 53rd Street make an effort to stop inside the lobby of 1 East 53rd Street to see the gallery display from the Studio in the School New York City. The works that line the wall of the lobby space of the building is from art students all over New York City.
The Studio in the School is the largest not for profit visual arts education organization in New York City with the mission to “foster the creative and intellectual development of youth through quality visual arts programs, directed by arts professionals. We also collaborate with and develop the ability of those who provide or support arts programming and creative development for youth both in and outside of schools. We fulfill our mission through two divisions; the New York City Schools Program and the Studio Institute” (Studio in the School mission statement).
The Studio in the School Gallery at East 53rd Street
Walking the rest of East 53rd and then onto East 52nd and East 51st is lined with large office buildings that stretch from one block to the other. Most of this part of the neighborhood was knocked down in the late 1960’s for commercial use.
This little dragon protects the museum.
The Studio in the School gallery.
When walking down East 50th Street there is a small gem of a public pocket park at the south side of East 50th Street between Madison and Park Avenues. Created by the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 2014, this little park called the “50th Street Commons” features a water feature ‘waterfall’ that turns colors from blue to green to yellow to fuchsia. This unique little park surrounded by exotic plants is another nice place to just sit and relax (Murray Hill, Gramercy and Midtown East Paper).
Across the street from the park and wedged between office buildings is the restaurant, Maloney & Porcelli, which was founded in 1996 and offers “clubby American cuisine” and harks back to an era when lunch time was taken seriously. It stands in contrast to the ever-changing neighborhood.
The restaurant classic, Maloney & Porcelli at 37 East 50th Street
When rounding East 49th Street, stop at Tower 49 at 12 East 49th Street, the home of WeWork to see the art exhibition of artist Enrico Isamu Oyama exhibition “Inside Out”. This exhibition located on all side of the lobby. This contemporary and rather unusual exhibition starts with the pillars on both East 49th and 48th Streets to invite you inside (the security at the building is really cool and nice about people looking around). The Tower 49 Gallery offers exhibitions of art free of charge and is open to the public at street level.
Mr. Oyama’s work is unique at best with a lot of lines and movement. His work “Quick Turn Structure” consists of interlocking intersections of black and white shapes and the unique style replaces letters with lines, highlighting their dynamic motion through the process of repetition that subsequently creates and abstract form with angular points and three-dimensional depth (Artist Press Release).
Tower 49 Gallery
Mr. Oyama is originally from Tokyo and is now based in New York City and likes to create a visual art in various mediums that features Quick Turn Structure, the motif composed of spontaneous repetition and expansion of free-flowing lines influenced by the aerosol writing of the 1970’s-1980’s New York and beyond (Artist Press Release).
Opening in a former upscale Italian restaurant, Joe’s Home of the Soup Dumpling at 7 East 48th Street has been packing them in in 2021. I am not sure if they are part of the former Joe’s Shanghai that used to be located in Chinatown but this restaurant is gaining a reputation for their Soup Dumplings.
Joe’s Home of Soup Dumplings at 7 East 48th Street opened in 2021
The evening I went there I just happened to come across it and decided to have dinner. The Soup Dumplings ($11.95) are amazing. These are larger than most I have had recently and were loaded with fresh ground pork and crab and steamed perfectly. I ate these six little delights quickly and enjoyed my Shanghai Wonton Soup ($5.25) and Beef Scallion Sandwich ($8.95) as well. The food and service were excellent. Another time I was there, I had the Pork and Shrimp Spring rolls ($5.95) that are excellent.
I highly recommend the Soup Dumplings here
Dinner on a recent night of Crab and Pork Soup Dumplings and Pork and Shrimp Spring rolls.
Follow the neon sign to Joe’s.
If you are in need of a public bathroom, try the fourth floor of Saks Fifth Avenue in the Men’s Department. When the store is open, this is one of the most convenient places to go to the bathroom in the area.
When proceeding down East 48th Street, take a stop in front of 4 East 48th Street, The Church of Sweden. This Neo-Gothic Church was built in 1921 for “The Bible House” and was sold to the Church in 1978. There is a library and cafe that are inside and open to the public. For the most part, the rest of East 48th Street is filled with large buildings that stretch from side to side.
There is one stand out piece of artwork in the lobby of 280 East 48th Street of four people hunched over in a circle. As hard as I tried though I don’t know who the brilliant artist is of the work (in 2024 when I revisited the building I still could not find the plaque to the artist).
The lobby sculpture at 280 East 48th Street
Rounding East 47th Street, take a trip back in time to Manhattan of the 1970’s inside of Phil’s Stationary at 9 East 47th Street. I was talking to the gentlemen who were running the store and told them I had not seen inventory like this on sale in a long time. Hard to find things like stationary, note pads, typing paper and ribbon and even recommendations to a place to fix the typewriter. This stationary store harks back to the days when people left the office to go shopping for things needed at the last minute. They still sell pens, pencils and even the old accounting ledger books. The nice part is that it still smells like a stationery store.
Most of the Streets between East 47th to East 46th Streets are lined with larger office buildings that stretch from block to block with a smattering of small businesses here and there. One standout at 556 Fifth Avenue at the entrance of East 46th Street is the Philippine Consulate General which services Philippine nationals in the Northeast states. This unique building is one of the last holdovers from the Country buildings that used to line this part of Fifth Avenue in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. The building was designed by Carrere & Hastings in 1912 for the Knoedler and Company Art Gallery.
On the edge of East 46th Street sits the famous Roosevelt Hotel and the Helmsley Building which sit as the old guards to the neighborhood once known as “Terminal City”. The Helmsley Building at 230 Park Avenue was originally built for the headquarters of the New York Central Building in 1929 by Warren & Wetmore in the Beaux-Arts style. These are also the architects of Grand Central Station behind it that stands guard of the neighborhood from Turtle Bay to Midtown East.
The Helmsley Building at 230 Park Avenue stands guard over this part of Park Avenue
The historical marker for the walkway and drive through.
The decorations in the Helmsley Building walkway.
The Helmsley Building at night
The Roosevelt Hotel at 45 East 46 sits between East 46th and 45th Streets next to Grand Central Terminal. The hotel was designed by architect George C. Post & Son in 1924 and was once part of a series of hotels that made up “Terminal City” that stretched along both sides of Grand Central. The hotel was named for President Teddy Roosevelt and even had a childcare service in ‘The Teddy Room’.
The faded Roosevelt Hotel being used as an immigrant intake center in 2024.
The Roosevelt Hotel’s other faded entrance.
These embellishments stare at you when you pass the hotel.
The embellishments also take a glance at you as well.
Take time to walk around these impressive buildings and look at the outside stone carvings and elaborate lobbies. The lobby of the Helmsley Building is impressive with its marble floors and impressive chandeliers.
On the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 46th Street tucked behind the Barnes & Noble bookstore I had lunch at a new branch of Joju at 555 Fifth Avenue, which had just opened that afternoon with a soft opening. I had some of their Vietnamese spring rolls which were filled with ground pork and vegetables and were cooked to perfection.
On another occasion to visit the restaurant, I had the Vietnamese sandwich with Caramel Pork and fish sauce and a side plain double-fried French Fries and a Lemon/Leechee Mojito Lunch did come to almost $22.00 but the sandwich can feed two and it is worth the indulge. The service there is really nice as well.
JoJu is a new addition to the Fifth Avenue restaurants at 555 Fifth Avenue
My Bahn Mai Sandwich with the Double Cooked Fries and a Leechee Lemon Mojito
The sandwich was delicious and so good!
The fries are excellent and so crispy
The Lemon Leechee Mojito was so refreshing on a hot day and all their drinks are so creative
Tucked into the side of the Helmsley Building at the corner of East 45th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue is Urbanspace Vanderbilt, an indoor food court with some of the most hip and innovative local restaurants in New York City.
The outside of UrbanSpace, the original in Vanderbilt Hall
These artisan and chef driven restaurants are outposts of the original neighborhood restaurants including well-known names of Roberta’s Pizza and Dough Doughnuts.
The company UrbanSpace has been creating these experiences since 1993 since the company’s establishment in 1972 in Great Britain. Don’t miss the vibrancy of the atmosphere and the smells that waft through the hall at lunch time. I love going to Dough that occasional $4.00 doughnut that is well worth it. UrbanSpace food court in the corner of the Helmsley Building on East 49th Street
The rest of East 45th and 44th Streets are lined with small office buildings and stores and along Madison Avenue the headquarters of Brooks Brothers (Closed 2020) and Paul Stuart stores that cater to the City professionals and “preppie class”.
Brooks Brothers at 346 Madison Avenue (Closed 2020)
You can still see the Brooks Brothers emblem on the old store.
Midtown East is now mostly a commercial neighborhood lined with office buildings and retail businesses but as you walk the streets here and there things still pop out and amaze you. It really shows the complexity of the City at its best and how a little creativity and renewal can change a space from one use to another.
That shows the imagination of the people who keep making Manhattan a unique experience.
Check out my other blogs on Walking Midtown East:
Day One Hundred and Forty-Three-Walking the Borders of Midtown East:
(Great for their public restrooms during business hours)
All the buildings and street art that is mentioned in this walk is done by address and street to make it easy to find. Please note the buildings and pocket parks that you should not miss.
I came across the Éclair Bakery when I was walking the Sutton Place neighborhood for my walking project, “MywalkinManhattan.com”. The bakery is on the side street of East 53rd Street close to Second Avenue on the border of the Sutton Place and Turtle Bay neighborhoods in an area some people in the neighborhood call “Sutton East”.
For all the confusion of what neighborhood it is in, Éclair Bakery is a rather large and narrow restaurant with seating in the front and back and the counter with all the baked goods in the middle. All the products here are lined up like colorful jewels in the display case.
The bakery selection
The bakery is the brainchild of Stephane Pourrez, a French Pastry chef from Paris. He was trained at Ferrandi and the French…
I was visiting downtown Beacon, NY because I had been Upstate to take a tour of Bannerman Island (see VisitingaMuseum.com) and wanted to see if there were any changes in the businesses in the downtown area. It seems like the town is going through a second wave of business ownership.
Colorant at the holidays in 2024
In the middle of Main Street I came across Colorant, a clothing and gift store that prides itself on being environmentally and sustainably friendly. The clothes here are all made by the in house designer and store owner or are from vendors that manufacture the same way. The clothes are lightweight, all dyed by hand by all natural dyes and are hand-printed or hand-brushed making each piece its own work of art and technically one of a kind.
I saw this beautiful hand-print on one of the racks
The beauty of the clothes is their simplicity and form that is carefully well-made by the designer and by her counterparts. The clothes are displayed like art where a few pieces are put out for people to try on and make sure the correct fit is made.
Dying of the clothing
The construction of the clothes is very well-made and you can see it in the stitching and dying of the clothes.
This simple indigo dyed dress can be dressy casual in 2019
The owner’s new line for the Fall of 2019 is now in the store and carries a series of blouses, shirts and dresses that were made for what looked like a petite woman. There were also handmade shirts for men as well. The prices are reflective of the quality of the clothing from its handwork to the dying. It is not cheap when is quality cheap?
An indigo dyed men’s shirt at Colorant in 2019
This new tie die dress really wowed me along with their jean and sweatshirt collection in 2021
This dress by Po eM I thought was really nice
The store also has an assortment of gifts such as planters, soap dishes, mugs and some jewelry and cosmetics. All of the products are environmentally made and have their own artistic touch to them. Please check the above website as the prices do change.
Specialty lines at Colorant
The store’s line of gourmet snacks
The service could not be more personal. The young woman working there explained the way the clothes are made and constructed and a little story about the owner as a designer and how she merchandised the store. The store is designed with exposed walls and piping holding the clothes with creative display cases to showcase the gifts.
Colorant offers something for everyone
It is nice to see American made products displayed in a creative environment with wonderful service. This is something that Amazon can’t replicate.
The new Men’s clothes line in 2024
History of the clothes at Colorant:
Colorant (established in 2012) is a modern line of apparel and accessories that celebrates the use of natural dye plants such as Indigo, Madder Root and Walnut in creating our vibrant palette. Like in nature, botanical colors have unpredictability depending on where and how the material was grown. Sassafras grown in northern regions will not yield the same orange as those from the south, which we here at Colorant embrace as the beauty of the natural dye process. Each season our colors are tested with our chosen fabrications to insure our colors will stand the test of time (Colorant History website).
The back of the store is painted beautifully and the clothing is so nicely displayed.
Each color has a story to tell:
Rich History: Did you know the color purple was the most expensive color in the world? Roman kings were only able to wear it because it took 250,000 Murex Mollusks from the sea to extract enough dye to color a garment.
Earth Benefits: Botanical colors promote the harvesting of dye plants, creating a new agricultural market. Natural dyes are extracted from renewable resources offering a more sustainable option for the textile industry.
Pure Color: Nature provides hundreds of plant which yield vibrant colors. Many have been used for dying since antiquity and Colorant has preserved these tried and true methods.
(Colorant website)
Disclaimer: I credit the Colorant website for the company information and give them full credit for it.
I was visiting downtown Beacon, NY because I had been Upstate to take a tour of Bannerman Island (see VisitingaMuseum.com) and wanted to see if there were any changes in the businesses in the downtown area. It seems like the town is going through a second wave of business ownership.
In the middle of Main Street I came across Colorant, a clothing and gift store that prides itself on being environmentally and sustainably friendly. The clothes here are all made by the inhouse designer and store owner or are from vendors that manufacture the same way. The clothes are lightweight, all dyed by hand by all natural dyes and are hand-printed or hand-brushed making each piece its own work of art and technically one of a kind.
mywalkinmanhattan 