I promised myself I would cut back on holiday activities last year. Since almost all of my older blogs have been revamped and updated to reflect the work on my newer visits and walks of neighborhoods and towns, I took a step back and revisited one last holiday activity I enjoyed last year, The Light Show at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. So, join me for my walk through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s ‘Lightscape’.
The Gardens have been running this show for several years to increase traffic in the Gardens during the winter months to great success. These type of lightshows are gaining popularity in botanical gardens all over the country similar to the drive through holiday light shows. They are becoming a new tradition for families in usually quiet parks during the holiday season. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has been an impressive show over the last four years that I have attended.
The directory of the ‘Lightscape Show’ at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
The brilliance of the “The Tree of Stars” display at the entrance of the show
I love how they illuminated the trees to the music
The Christmas music illuminated the trees in the “Shadow Play” and created a festive beginning to the light shows
One of the best parts of the light shows is displayed in the Japanese Garden “Let the Magic Begin”. The water show keeps people dazzled for almost five minutes. I find myself every year having to watch it three times. Once to check it out, once to film it and then the last time to be dazzled by it myself. It is one of the reasons why I put up with 35-degree weather.
The beautiful lights illuminate the gardens at its start
Then the water show “Let the Magic Begin” begins
The video of the water show is so impressive every year (excuse my coughing)
The end of the water show was spectacular
I walked down the pathway toward Daffodil Hill and could not wait until the sea of yellow flowers returned in four months. In its place was a sea of lights and sounds in the display “Papillion’s”.
I next walked through a sea of butterflies and the skies were full of color in the ‘Papillion’s’ display
The trees were full of colorful butterflies in ‘Papillion’s’
I then walked through the Shakespeare Garden and came across the ‘Threshold’ display which was a sea of lights that flipped and sparkled around.
The ‘Threahold’ display in the Shakespeare Garden
‘Threshold’ in full color
‘Threshold’ changing colors
I walked around the spiral of spinning lights s and admired all the beautiful colors as it moved around. I walked around the Shakespeare Garden and looked at where the colorful flowers and plantings are placed in the Spring and Summer.
As I walked to the lawns of the Watershed, I passed the ‘Sway’ exhibition with its layers of colorful lights on the trees.
The colorful lights of ‘Sway’ as the music plays on CD
The video of the ‘Sway’ lights against the trees
The illumination of the trees in the gardens during the light show
The next display on the lawn of the Watershed was ‘Fluxit’, which looked like outside fire. It clicked and sparkled as the music played.
The ‘Fluxit’ display as it lit and moved
The video of the ‘Fluxit’ display
Once I left the Watershed lawns, I walked into the ‘Winter Terrace’, where in the warmer months are the Lotus Pools and seasonal plants and flowers are displayed. It was now decorated with topiary women guiding in the pools, the fountains were decorated with blinking lights and where the bar and restaurant were located. The area is really crowded with people milling around and taking a break from the walk.
The ‘Winter Terrace’ in full illumination
The Lotus Pools with the illuminated women
The ‘Illuminated’ women in the pool
One of the ‘Illuminated’ women
The fountain was shimmering with lights in the “Winter Terrace”
While I was walking around the frozen pools admiring the lights, many of the patrons were in the glassed-in banquet room having snacks and drinks. The building was packed with people eating and drinking.
I walked through the next series of displays ‘Flock’ and ‘Shadow Lantern’s on the edge of the Water Basin lawn. “Flock” looks like illuminated pigeons flying around the trees.
The display ‘Flock’ on the lawn’s edge
The ‘Shadow Lantern’s’ were quite brilliant
The ‘Shadow Lantern’s’ cast their brilliant lights all over the sidewalks with a sea of snowflakes and could hear the music in the background.
One of my favorite displays in the show was walking through the giant ‘Lilly’s of the Valley’ display to what sounded like a 1970’s folk singer. It was like a surreal trip through ‘Wonderland’ and I felt like Alice when she was shrunk walking through the gardens.
The ‘Lilly’s of the Valley’ display
Walking by the floral displays illuminated with brilliant lights
My video of walking through the giant patch of Lillie’s and watching the plants and trees change colors. It was a lot of fun to walk around.
The next display was another favorite of mine, the colorful and interactive ‘Winter Walk’ with lights and music to the song ‘Sleigh Ride’ that sounded like the New York Pops. The colors popped and popped with the music.
The ‘Winter Walk’ in full color as the music played
My pictures and videos don’t give the display justice as I filmed everything from the side view of the display.
The festive lights dancing to the song ‘Sleigh Ride’
Talk about putting you in the Christmas spirit even after the holidays were over. “Sleigh Ride” is still one of my favorite songs at the holidays.
I loved walking past the lines of trees that were illuminated
I followed the path down to where in the Spring, the Bluebell flowers bloom brightly and the whole area is a sea of purples and blues. Now it was ‘Bluebonnets’, a sea of purple lights. It was just picturesque and brought the gardens back even in the dead of winter.
‘Bluebonnets’ light display
The light flowers replacing the Spring flowers
The ‘Robin’s Trail’ display at the end of the ‘Bluebonnets’ display
As I entered the Cherry Blossom lawn, which is a sea of pinks in various hues, there was now the ‘Leaf on the Light’ display on all the trees.
The ‘Leaf on the Light’ display
Towards the end of the light display for the spectacular finish of the display in the Cherry Blossom lawn, you had to walk through the lines of Cherry Blossoms that line the pathways on both sides of the lawn. Only this side of the pathway was open and lit for the display.
I walked through ‘Pulse’ , where the trunks of the trees kept changing colors. It was an interesting walk down the pathway.
The lighting of ‘Pulse’ as I walked down the pathway
‘Pulse’ as it changed colors
All this led to the best part of the show, ‘The Sea of Light’, where the whole Cherry Blossom lawn became a dazzling sea of lights, sounds and music. I love the creation of the lawn light display every year I visit the show.
The ‘Sea of Light’ as it started
The ‘Sea of Light’ as it changed colors
The dazzling ‘Sea of Light’ performance and the lively music that accompanied it.
This was the best way to cap off the evening with its dazzling lights and music. Even as it got colder, I stayed longer to see watch it at least three times. I wanted to get the perfect video to share with everyone. If there was part of the show I enjoyed most, it was this part of the display.
As I left the gardens that evening, I exited through the ‘Winter Cathedral’, an archway of an illumination of lights that is the one place that foot traffic stops as people always want to take pictures here. While this display has moved around the gardens over the years, it is still the one display that has been been consistent every year.
The ‘Cathedral of Lights’
Couples were stopping here asking everyone to take their pictures. It was a popular spot to take pictures.
The ‘Cathedral of Lights’
The last display I walked through to exit that night was the ‘Firefly Field’ at the old main entrance of the Gardens.
The ‘Firefly Field’ blazing with Tony lights
It was a nice way to wrap up the show. The “Lightscape” light display at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was spectacular this year and always different. As cold as it was, it was still an amazing night of sights and sounds.
It was a nice way to rest and relax as the holiday season ended. Until next year!
After the holidays were over and I returned from my trip to Cape May for three days, exploring all the museums and historic sites that were open while enjoying the extension of the holidays, I got to visit a few of the local “Lightshows” on the last weekend they were open before the Epiphany. These are interactive exhibitions of lights and museum that should not be missed and are fun to walk through.
These started in Cape May and continued on through my last walk through Brooklyn on the last night of “Lightscapes” on one of the coldest nights of the New Year. Even with the weather turning bitterly cold, some of the nights there was not wind and made these nights out a true delight. You get caught up in the beauty of all the lights and music.
My adventure of lights began after Christmas with my annual trip to Cape May, NJ. Cape May is one of the most dazzling towns to celebrate Christmas. The only town to rival it is Rhinebeck, NY and they are neck in neck for the holiday season. The parks, hotels and the downtown Washington Street Mall are always decked out for the holidays.
The Park in downtown Cape May, NJ
Cape May Park in Downtown Cape May, NJ
I love this annual lightshow because it is free and part of the holiday magic that makes Cape May, NJ so special. This walk through the ‘Village Green’ of Cape May is part of what is so wonderful and shows the holiday spirit of Greater Cape May during the Christmas holidays.
The glittering tree in the park
The park glitters and shines
The Gazebo is always brilliant at the holidays
The Christmas tree is always amazing in Downtown Cape May
The decorated homes of Cape May, NJ near the beach
The houses in Cape May lit up for the holidays
Washington Mall in Downtown Cape May lit for the holidays
Washington Mall in Downtown Cape May
The Washington Mall during the later evening in Cape May
The beautiful Christmas lights and decorations continued at The Congress Hotel just off the downtown. The hotel is always so beautifully decorated like the town and is a wonderful place to stay at Christmas time (I stayed here in 2017 for Christmas and loved it). I ended up eating at the hotel for both breakfast at the Blue Pig and dinner at the Boiler Room (you can see these reviews in my Christmas blog from 2017 updated in 2024):
The inside of the hotel’s foyer always decorated to the hilt for the holidays
The Courtyard of the hotel decorated for the holidays
The beautiful Christmas tree in the courtyard is always a treat to look at every holiday
After I left the hotel, I just walked around Cape May and there is always a light show to see. So I walked around town, had dinner and just enjoyed the lights for two nights.
The light tree in one of the parks in Cape May
I ate at Viggiano’s at Sunset 109 Sunset Boulevard for dinner my last night in Cape May after touring around town
I started the meal with a delicious Italian Wedding Soup
This was followed by a delicious Spaghetti Carbonara
The food at the restaurant is very homey and delicious. The dinner was a perfect way to end my tour of Cape May’s downtown area and all the decorated homes. The two days I spend there always refresh me after the holidays.
When I arrived home from the Christmas holidays with my family, I had the week off before the college I work at resumed classes. I had not planned too many activities so I decided to update some of my older blogs by visiting places I had once visited during the holidays and planned to visit some of the popular light shows in the tri-state area.
The first thing I did when I returned home was visit the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. The crowds started to go down after the holidays and I got to visit it later in the evening so I could take better pictures. There is nothing like Rockefeller Center at Christmas time. It is in a league all its own.
Visiting Rockefeller Center at Christmas is always exciting
You have not experienced anything at the holidays until you have seen the tree at Rockefeller Center
Across the street, Saks Fifth Avenue was decked out for the holidays. The decorations and lights were beautiful and made up for their windows which were decorated with just clothes this year.
Saks Fifth Avenue at 611 Fifth Avenue at Christmas time
There were three light shows I wanted to visit on the last weekend of the holidays and it took some coordinating. On New Year’s Eve, I took the train down to Center City Philadelphia to see the lightshow at the old Wanamaker’s store which is now Macy’s (Thank God I did as they announced after the holidays that Macy’s will be closing this location in March 2025). This is always a treat. I had not seen it since 2016.
See my Blog on visiting Philadelphia at Christmas in 2016:
The front of the store made famous by the movie ‘Mannequin’
The trailer for “Mannequin”
The windows at Macy’s Center City
The opening of the movie “Mannequin”:
The inside of Macy’s Center City in the movie “Mannequin”
The beautiful decorations of Macy’s Philadelphia at Christmas
Preparing for the lightshow in the main Rotunda
The magnificent decorations on the first floor
The famous eagle on the first floor
I saw the Lightshow twice, once to take pictures and once to film it. It is the same show I have seen several times, narrated by Julie Andrew’s but I never get bored from it. It really is a holiday tradition.
The start of the show that takes place every two hours
The start of the show with the Introduction
The start of Part One of the show
The video of Part One:
The video of the start of the show with a scene from ‘The Nutcracker’
The second part of the show with the clocks
The Video of Part Two:
The video of the Clock Show and Snow falling
The Sleigh Ride and the Snow Falling
The visit from Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer
Video of Part Three:
Taking a Train trip to a Winter Wonderland
Welcoming Frosty the Snowman
Welcoming the Snowfall
Video of Part Four:
The Finale with the sounds of the organ is always a treat
The Finale
The Video of Part Five: The Finale
The Finale always gets an applause
After the Light-show was over, I walked around Macy’s. It is not the same store it was when it was Wanamaker’s when all the floors were open and they had all the magnificent restaurants. Wanamaker’s was top notch. Still I saw traces of the old store here and there. You can still see all the beautiful architecture and lighting.
The Rotunda after the Lightshow
Macy’s at Christmas
Macy’s at Christmas time
After I left Macy’s, I walked around Center City Philadelphia and walked around the City Hall complex. This was pretty much the last week of decorations and the holidays before they started to take this down.
City Hall in Center City
The lights continued with the Philadelphia Christmas tree downtown
On the other side of City Hall was the last day of the Christmas Mart
The outside Christmas Mart had its own gardens and Christmas lights
After I had toured both the store and the downtown area, I headed over to Reading Market for lunch. I love coming here for meals when I am in Philadelphia. There are so many places to choose from.
One of my favorite places to eat when it is open is the Dutch Eating Place inside the Reading Market. I love their breakfasts, their burgers but especially their Hot Turkey Platters. They are the best. Sitting at the counter, you can always have a nice conversation with someone.
The food at the Dutch Eating Place is always top notch and very homey. The Hot Turkey Sandwich was the Thanksgiving dinner that I did not have this year.
After my tour of the Reading Market, a short walk around downtown Center City and tour through Macy’s (with almost no merchandise on the shelves in certain departments, it was signaling to me that there was a problem in the store), it was time to head home. There were even more beautiful Christmas lights at Penn Station with their Christmas tree.
The Christmas tree at Penn Station in Philadelphia
After the holidays were over, Macy’s announced that the Center City store would be closing in March. So much for coming back or a ‘Mannequin’ remake.
Macy’s closing their downtown store in Philadelphia in March 2025
Over the weekend of the Epiphany, I arranged to see three more walking tours before they all closed for the season. One was the Holiday Lights tour at the Bronx Zoo, another was the Christmas Walking tour of the Armour-Stiner House in Irvington, NY and the last was one of my favorites, The Lightscape tour at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Each of these were more beautiful then the next with the only problem being is how cold it got those evenings.
The well lit welcome to the Bronx Zoo at the entrance by Astor Court
The fountains by Astor Court
Astor Court dazzling that evening
The wonderland of lights by Astor Court
The Christmas Tree light show just off Astor Court
The Light-show is captivating
This holiday light presentation was ongoing and beautiful. I just wished the music could have been louder. The main Christmas tree had so many unusual light displays.
The beautiful lights during the show
The main Christmas tree
I loved all the lights on the tree
I ended up watching the show three times for over a half hour and it still keep changing to something new
The tree display
The tree lights were captivating
After I left Astor Court, I just followed the pathways around the zoo and enjoyed the lights and displays. The show either seemed bigger than I remembered or I missed a lot on my last trip in 2019.
Walking along the pathways with all the displays
The pathways lit to create a Fantasyland
What I love about this show is the different themed sections of the show and how the zoo sets the show up. The Nautical displays were on the side of the Zoo that I entered and were the first set of lights I saw.
The nautical lights
The Nautical lights
Stingrays in the Nautical lights
The fish display
The Jellyfish display
The seals were one of the bigger displays in the zoo
One of the indoor displays was interactive
The multi lights and interactive puppets by the zoo sign
I liked the light structures
The giraffe sculptures
The reindeer lighting the way
The colorful flowers lining the paths
The light sculptures line the paths of the zoo
The puppet masters entertained us in the park
Then I headed down paths to visit all sorts of exotic animals and their colorful habitats lined the paths.
The flamingoes
The Turtles
The ant eater
The colorful parrots
The penguins
The Emu
The Alligator
The crowds are sparse at this time of the year and this is the best time to take pictures
It was the weekend of the Epiphany when I visited so the holiday decorations were still up
The park was so nicely decorated for the holidays
The beautiful snow flakes
I next went to the jungle themed part of the park and visited all the animals in the wild. This is where all the bigger displays were located and you got to see all the zoo related animals.
Where the wild animals were located
The friendly giraffes
The friendly faces of the giraffes
The playful monkeys
The elephants
The Rhinos
Lions and tigers
Walking down the well lit paths
The Rainbow tunnel
The Wild Wolves
The Green Tree by the Dancing Crane Cafe
I had to stop for a while to warm up and have something to eat. I tried to stop before I got to the zoo but there are only delis that surround the park. I had not eaten here years and the food had always been pretty good.
The Chicken Fingers here were excellent and the portion size was very fair
The fries were really good as well and had just come out of the fryer
I have to say that I was very impressed by the food and the service. Everyone could not have been nicer and it was a very pleasant and relaxing dinner.
As I resumed my walk down the paths of the zoo, I walked through the most amazing colorful tunnel, where everyone was taking pictures.
When you can walk through this alone it is really amazing
My part of the zoo I traveled through was the Magical Rain Forest with its colorful flowers and exotic animals.
The beautifully lit Totem pole
The colorful flowers lined the paths
The colorful butterfly’s
The colorful flowers in the Rain Forest
The beauty of the walkways
This was such a colorful frog
Another playful frog in the Rain Forest
I thought the frog with the toad was very clever
These colorful birds lined the path
The colors of the frogs in the Rain Forest were amazing
This beautiful Diamondback turtle was last animal I saw before I left the Rain Forest
The temperature really started to drop this evening and it was in the thirties when I left the Bronx Zoo. Still it was an amazing night. The show was so dazzling that night and dinner was surprisingly good that night that I did not mind.
The 125th sign all lit when I left the park that night
The Swan Gate as I was leaving
It got really cold at the end of the evening but it was such a great night. The displays were amazing and the musical light shows were a lot of fun. It is something everyone should see once. It is even better later in the season when there are no crowds and you can take great pictures.
The decorated Rhino was one of the last thing J saw when I left the park
On the Sunday of the last day of the Christmas season, I visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to see their lightshow ‘Lightscape’ which I had seen a few years earlier. It was the last night to see it and it was crowded and really cold.
The problem was that the weather had turned really cold and it was in the low thirties even in the early evening. So I really had to bundle up for these visits. The show itself was well worth the trip.
The map would take us all over the gardens
The lit tree army the entrance of the gardens
Then I entered the ‘Canopy of Light’ with its magical lights and music
At the entrance of the show was the breathtaking ‘Canopy of Light’
The beautiful multi lights with music
The lights moved to ‘Let it Snow’
I continued down the path to the Japanese Garden and saw the most spectacular light and water show in the lake of the garden.
The colors and fountains swayed to the music
What gorgeous colors
The movements and music were wonderful
The amazing water show in the Japanese Garden
The end of the show was beautiful
I ended up seeing the water show twice because I knew they would not let me turnaround to see it again. The I turned down the path.
The lights in the trees were amazing
The field of white lit roses
A closer look at the white roses
I continued down the path to the next display
I next moved on to the main lawn where the sculpture ‘Singularity’ was displayed. You could not stare at it too long or it could hypnotize you.
The sculpture ‘Singularity’
The sculpture ‘Singularity’
I walked around the Water Lilly ponds whose flowers would bloom again in the summer but had sculptures of Butterflies floating around in them.
These were called ‘Butterfly Effect’
The ‘Butterfly Effect’
I love the way the sculptures swayed and moved in the pond to the music. The Yellow Magnolia, the Garden’s restaurant was open that evening and was packed with people eating dinner. There was no way of getting in so I moved on down the path.
The pathways were lit with all sorts of colors
The next sculpture was ‘One Small Thing’ and the sculpture ‘Halo’ that lit the way in the back of the Gardens.
‘One Small Thing’
The lights alone the path for ‘One Small Thing’
The came the sculptures for ‘Halo’
The next interactive and musical sculpture was ‘Alumine’ which looked like trees in a Dr. Seuss book. Colorful and fun!
Walking through the ‘Alumine’ sculptures
The experience of walking through ‘Alumine’ is like walking through ’Whoville’ in the winter
The lights here changed color every minute and were so amazing.
As I left ‘Alumine’, the next series of sculptures were light shows with dazzling colors and music. This is what made this show stand out more than the shows of the past.
The beautiful lights lit the path through dormant trees
The colors kept changing
As I walked down the path, I entered ‘Rainbow Road’ with it colorful disco lights and energetic soundtrack.
The outdoor lights and music makes you feel like you are in a discotheque
I stayed here the longest to listen to the 70’s soundtrack
The music was fantastic that night
I moved on to the area of the gardens between where the crocuses will grow in two months and near Daffodils Hill was another amazing display entitled ‘Anemonia’. These sculptures looked like futuristic lamps.
The ‘Anemonia’ sculptures
The ‘Anemonia’ lit beautifully
The next light display rivaled the ‘Happy Waters’ was ‘Interface’, a display of memorizing lights and music. I stayed for three shows as it was so dazzling.
The ‘Anemonia’ sign
The lights and sounds of ‘Interface’
The sights and sounds of ‘Interface’
The show ended with some of the spectacular lights
I then walked through the ‘Neon Network’ to get to where the Cherry Blossom Esplanade dazzled everyone in April with its beautiful, fluffy pink blossoms. It was other bright colors showcasing this part of the gardens.
The ‘Neon Network’ sign
Walking through the ‘Neon Network’
The ‘Neon Network’
Walking through the ‘Neon Network’
The ‘Neon Network’ led to the last spectacular displays of lights in the Cherry Blossom Esplanade, ‘Winter Reflection’, a celebration of lights, trees and snowflakes.
The colors of ‘Winter Reflections’
The colors of ‘Winter Reflections’The
Video on ‘Winter Reflections’:
The tree brightly lit in ‘Winter Reflections’
The dazzling colors of ‘Winter Reflections’
To really appreciate the shoe of ‘Winter Reflections’ you had to walk up the pathways overlooking the Esplanade.
The pathway through the Cherry Esplanade was spectacular
The lightshow for ‘Winter Reflections’ was most entertaining from the top of the hill
The video of the show from the top of the hill show it’s true beauty and entertainment:
One of the most memorable show off ‘Lightscapes’
After I saw the show twice before I headed out of the gardens. I walked through the ‘Winter Cathedral’ which had been the biggest part of the light show a couple of years ago. This is most impressive.
The ‘Winter Cathedral’ at the end of the tour
The lights are so spectacular in the evening
The last display before I left the park was the ‘Lantern Garden’ at the original area of the gardens entrance.
The sign for ‘The Lantern Garden’
The ‘Lantern Garden’ at the end of the garden
The ‘Lantern Garden’
I exited the gardens after almost two hours of walking around and it started to get cold outside. It was still really busy in the gardens as the later ticket holders will still coming in.
The exit of the show at the Eastern Parkway entrance
Before I returned to Manhattan, I had a quick dinner at Bahn Mi Sandwich on Washington Avenue. Their Vietnamese sandwiches are always wonderful.
After cold night in the gardens, I stopped to have a sandwich and eat inside the restaurant. It was so nice and warm and the sandwich was excellent. I ordered the Shredded Chicken Banh Mi and it was delicious. Lots of steamed chicken tucked inside a chewy bun with fresh vegetables. I really enjoy their sandwiches.
The sandwich was a perfect way to end the evening
Before I left Manhattan for the evening, I walked through Bryant Park on the way back to Port Authority. The Christmas tree was still up surprisingly and the most of the food vendors around the skating rink were still open.
The Skating Rink at Bryant Park at the end of the holidays
The food vendors were still open at the end of the season
The Christmas tree was still ablaze at the end of the 12 Days of Christmas
Bryant Park is so spectacular during the holidays
For anyone who says New York City or even Philly for that matter are boring during the holidays have not walked the parks and streets. There are so many beautiful and spectacular things to do and see.
You all have to experience them for yourself in eleven months!
Post Christmas visit during the Philadelphia Flower Show 2025:Macy’s Closing
What was sad though when I returned two months later for the Flower Show, it was announced that Macy’s was shutting down the downtown store as part of the store cuts as Macy’s was downsizing the company.
Macy’s Closing at the Wanamaker’s Building
Almost all the inner city stores like Brooklyn and Philadelphia were going to join stores like Pittsburgh and Minneapolis. It was a sad day for Philly.
Macy’s during my day of touring
Sad day in Philly
It reminded me of when B. Altman closed in New York City
The display windows said it all but had been very festive just two months earlier
The once elegant Men’s Department
The mannequins for sale
Me with the ‘Mannequins’ on the first floor
Me with the decorations that once adorned the first floor during Christmas
It’s so sad to see where John Wanamaker once walked and Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall once danced down the aisles has now been reduced to thisbargain sale
The empty cases were once filled with beautiful jewels and fancy perfumes
All the Christmas decorations from two months before were all sold
The beautiful atrium where I watched the light show a few months before
The Accessories Department
No one was near the Eagle that day
The back part of the Atrium
The sadness of the Clothing Department
The Cosmetics Department had nothing left
The beautiful embellishments around the Cosmetics Department of the Eastern States. This is of Massachutes
This is the New Jersey emblem
Where Kim Cattrell and Andrew McCarthy danced in the film
The lion guarding the stairs
The actors dancing in the film “Mannequin”
The front of the old Wanamakers store where the opening scene of ‘Mannequin’ was shot
Not what John Wanamaker envisioned for his store
It is a sad day as this was once one of the most beautiful and creative stores in the country now reduced to a bargain sale.
*This blog is dedicated to Lucy, whose input and cheerleading for this blog has been much appreciated and to another memorable lunch!
I have been volunteering at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen for almost nineteen years and over the years you become friends with the other volunteers. Lucy and I have gotten to know one another over the years. Last Spring, we had gotten together for an amazing lunch over pizza from Lions & Tigers & Squares on West 23rd Street.
Maybe it was the pizza, maybe it was the weather or maybe it was just the view of the Flatiron Building in the background as we were eating lunch by the plaza next to Madison Square Park or maybe all of the above. It was just an amazing lunch.
Over the Fall and Winter months we had kept in touch and the conversation always went back to that amazing lunch and just the beautiful view of the Flatiron Building in the background while we ate. I had commented to her that all over the world people wished they could be in the very spot that we were in eating lunch and here we were eating there. There is sometimes a moment in time that are just perfect.
When Lucy came in again, I had been through a lot lately losing my friend, Barbara and some family issues. So, it was nice to have someone nonpartial to listen. I was going through a lot at one time.
Having had pizza the night before and for lunch the day before that, I really did not want to go back to Lions & Tigers & Squares at 268 West 23rd Street (See reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com) so we on a whim tried S & A Gourmet Deli at 240 Eighth Avenue (See reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com) for a sandwich.
Talk about another excellent lunch. The sandwiches there are excellent. S & A Gourmet Deli does a great job with their food. I ordered Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich ($8.99), which was two freshly fried chicken cutlets topped with Swiss Cheese and Ham topped with spicy mustard on a fresh hoagie roll. Each bit was amazing.
The Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich at S & A Gourmet Deli
The two of us had a nice afternoon talking about what was going on in our lives and just enjoying the warm weather. What was strange was only about an hour before it was pouring down rain and then as we met it cleared up. By the time we finished lunch, it was almost the same weather as the time we had lunch last year, sunny and warm and in the 70’s. I guess God was listening.
Having lunch outside with the Flatiron Building in the background is amazing!
After lunch was over, we said our goodbyes and I was off to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to see the Magnolia trees blooming and the breathtaking Daffodil Hill, where thousands of daffodils would be blooming at one time around a 100-year-old Oak Tree.
With everything going on, I am getting a little leery about traveling by subway but off I went. The ironic part is that the trip was smooth and quiet and non-eventful. I found out later on that evening that the N Line earlier the morning had been hit with a smoke bomb and a shooting. Talking about shattering an imagine. Thank God I did not know all this on the trip down to Brooklyn.
The Entrance to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden at 990 Washington Avenue
The weather was even better when I got up the stairs on the Number 2 line outside the Brooklyn Museum. It had gotten even warmer. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden was the busiest it had been all season with people taking pictures of the now blooming Cherry trees and Japanese Garden coming to life in the early Spring months.
Daffodil Hill was just as spectacular as the many years before. The daffodils were in full bloom and the hill on the other side of the Japanese Garden next to the flowering Magnolia trees which were also in full bloom. The scents were wonderful with scents of sweet jasmine and candy.
There are very few places in the world that are perfect but the bench by Daffodil Hill is one of those spots. To sit there and just admire Mother Nature at work at her best is just something. I look forward to this every year and is one of the main reasons why I keep renewing every year. For one afternoon, I just want to sit at that exact bench and admire Mother Nature’s handywork.
The Japanese Gardens are starting to bloom
The Cherry Trees in the Japanese Gardens on the other side of the hill were just coming into bloom as well and the whole effect showed that Spring is here and not a moment too soon. Everyone needed the warm weather to come and relax us. It has been a long Winter.
I ended spending over two hours just walking around the gardens and relaxing under a tree like everyone under the Cherry Tree Esplanade that has not bloomed yet. The soft grass and the relaxing sounds of contemporary music on every half hour was a nice way to spend the late afternoon.
Once left the gardens, I was going to go to the Brooklyn Museum, but it was closed and the weather being so beautiful I decided to walk to Downtown Brooklyn and see how the reconstruction of the Fulton Mall was going. So I took the long walk around the circle and walk down Flatbush Avenue towards Downtown Brooklyn. I made a few detours along the way and explore Brooklyn.
As I got to the turn off to Atlantic Avenue just off Flatbush Avenue near the Barclay’s Center, I decided to make the turn and explore a neighborhood I knew well. This part of Brooklyn I had used for my novel, “Firehouse 101” and I spent many a day exploring the streets of Boreum Hill and Cobble Hill for my book, noting the streets, parks and businesses. There are lot of memories of me walking this neighborhood almost twenty years ago.
My novel “Firehouse 101” set in Boreum Hill and Cobble Hill Brooklyn
I can’t tell you how many times I walked Atlantic Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, Smith Street and Court Street for inspiration. Many of the observations of those afternoons were written into the book as I tried to make it as real as possible.
When I got to the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Smith Street, I made the right turn and walked the length of Smith Street in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn. It also amazes me how a neighborhood keeps changing as new businesses keep opening and closing changing the complexity of a neighborhood and how the long-time businesses still chug along and watch it all happen. There are those family-owned enterprises that make the City unique.
As I rounded Smith Street, admiring all the new gift boutiques, gourmet shops and small restaurants, I crossed over Degraw Street to walk the ‘border’ of the neighborhood in my novel and walked to Court Street and walked up the street. I needed to stop a few times at some bakeries that I had been to many times on my walks here.
As I walked all over Atlantic Avenue, I saw all the new little boutique bakeries with their $5.00 cookies and $7.00-$9.00 pies that looked delicious but were not worth the money. No pie that is about three bites is worth $7.00. When I visited the longtime neighborhood favorite, Monteleone’s Bakery at 355 Court Street the woman at the counter reminded me why this bakery has been around for 100 years. Quality and service.
The pastries at Monteleone’s Bakery are delicious
The prices and selection are also a nice part of the bakery. Their miniature pastries which are nice sized sell for $2.00 a piece and the selection of them is extensive. I bought a pastry stuffed with cannoli cream and a mini cream puff with vanilla cream. I had the woman put them in a bag so that I could eat them along the way. They both lasted barely a block.
When I mentioned to the woman about the $7.00 pies and $5.00 cookies at the bakeries on Atlantic Avenue, she just laughed and said this is the reason why Monteleone’s is so popular and has been around so long. They know their customers. I know that I will be back when I visit the neighborhood again.
I was still hungry as I walked down Court Street to the Fulton Mall and downtown, so I stopped at the Court Pastry Shop at 298 Court Street for another pastry. I love my sweets and had not been there in a few years. It is funny that the Court Pastry Shop was used in a very funny scene in my book “Firehouse 101” so I always remember my trips there in the past when I was doing location spots for my book. Their cream puffs and eclairs are delicious.
I eyed my favorite eclair in the case and bought one immediately ($3.50). I swear it had been at least three or four years since I had had one and they are still the best. They had such a thick layer of chocolate icing on them and filled with the most delicious vanilla cream.
Now being full of sweet snacks, I continued up Court Street to the Brooklyn Court House and then walked back down Fulton Street to the Fulton Street Mall. At this point most of the Fulton Street Mall has been demolished and replaced with new apartment and office buildings. This was part of the Bloomberg Administration’s plan to revitalize downtown Brooklyn with a broader retail selection and replace many of the older buildings.
It is not quite done yet but within five years most of Downtown Brooklyn should be redeveloped. It looks so much different from even two years ago. This was documented in film “My Brooklyn”.
The film on Downtown Brooklyn “My Brooklyn”
It was such a nice afternoon, and I was enjoying the sunshine so much and I had a lot of energy with all the desserts in me, I decided to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, which I have done many times and never tire of looking at the view.
Talk about the perfect afternoon to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was clear, sunny and about 70 degrees. It really looked like the tourists were back because people were taking pictures all over the bridge from every angle including ready to fall off the bridge because they were leaning so much over the rails. The view of Lower Manhattan was just spectacular.
Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge is fantastic at twilight
By the time I got to the Manhattan side of the bridge, I was starved. I decided that I had the energy to walk to Chinatown which is only a few blocks away from the bridge entrance. By the time I got to Chinatown, it was almost seven in the evening and found that most of the smaller places were closed (it was a weekday). So, I walked all over Mott Street, East Broadway, Catherine Street, Henry Street and the Bowery and decided on an old standby which I love Dim Sum Go Go at 5 East Broadway.
I was hungrier than I thought. I started with Shrimp and Mango Rolls ($5.95), Duck Spring Rolls ($5.95), Pork Soup Dumplings ($6.95) and Steamed Shrimp Dumplings ($5.95). After devouring all of that, I ordered the Pan-Fried Pork and Chive Dumplings ($5.95) and the Steamed Roast Pork Buns ($6.95). Everything was so delicious and fresh and came out steaming hot. Even on a weeknight I was surprised by how full the place was and it seemed that people were ordering more than me.
I especially loved the Shrimp and Mango rolls with the breaded and fried ground shrimp mixture with a piece of fresh mango in the center. It had a nice sweet/savory flavor to it and was fried perfectly golden brown. All of the dumplings were cooked to perfection and the pork and chive dumplings had a nice flavor to them (See review on TripAdvisor).
The Soup Dumplings at Dim Sum Go Go are excellent
By this point it was twilight and just getting dark, but it was still so nice out that I decided I wanted to walk through the East Village to see how busy it was that night and to see how many NYC students were out and about. Plus, I wanted to see if the Anthology Film Center was still open on Second Avenue (it was closed that night). I walked up Second Avenue past all the trendy little restaurants and closed shops which were packed with students. I could not believe how busy the area was this time of night, but it was still in the 60’s and just a nice night to mill around.
By the time I reached 14th Street, I figured I might as well walk back to Port Authority and walked up a combination of Second, Third and then by East 23rd Street, up Lexington Avenue through Kips Bay and ‘Curry Hill’ which I had visited a year ago. All of the Indian restaurants were busy as well and the smells of cumin and curry wafted through the air. I always love walking through this neighborhood.
I walked across East 34th Street and arrived at the doors of Macy’s and Herald Square was just as busy as the rest of Manhattan with people walking around the plazas of Herald and Greeley Squares. Koreatown on West 32nd Street off Broadway was also packed with students and tourists going out to dinner and enjoying the dessert restaurants. The restaurants serving Bubble Teas and Korean Cheesecakes has long lines to them.
I finally arrived at the Port Authority at almost 10:00pm and could not believe how far my journey took me. From the Brooklyn Botanical Garden to the Port Authority. This is the power of wonderful warm weather, a nice evening breeze and good food. It gives you the energy to keep going.
The Prospect Park Zoo is one of my ‘go to’ places along with the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Botanical Garden when visiting Brooklyn. The three popular destinations are all in the same neighborhood and if you have a full day is worth the subway ride from Manhattan to visit.
The entrance to the Prospect Park Zoo
On a nice day, the best place to start is the Brooklyn Botanical Garden at opening, then head over through the back part of the garden to Prospect Park and walk to the entrance near Flatbush Avenue and go past the carousel and enter the Zoo past the old Leffert’s Homestead. The Zoo is just past that.
If you have never visited the Brooklyn Botanical Garden when visiting New York City you are missing a lot. I have been a member of the garden since 2002 and fell in love with walking around the gardens when visiting the Brooklyn Museum next door. It is the most relaxing place to walk around and just think. It is also nice to grab a book, sit under a tree and just relax.
The Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
One of the benefits of membership are the private event nights that the Gardens have for its members. ‘Rose Night’ is one of my favorites. This is when the Crawford Rose Garden and the surrounding rose gardens to the main one are in full bloom and on display. Because the weather has been so hot lately most plants have been blooming about two weeks ahead of their normal schedule.
The entrance to the Cranford Rose Garden on Rose Night 2024
The Cranford Rose Garden
The crowds were large on the night of Rose Night at 2024
The Crawford Rose Garden was no exception as the recent hot weather and two rainstorms put some strain on the rose bushes and some of them were going out of bloom the night of the party. Still the roses were ablaze with color and the fragrant smells of the garden were prevalent all over the garden. The event draws a very large crowd and people were all over the place picnicking and relaxing while listening to a jazz band that was performing inside the cherry trees.
The Glenn Crytzer Quartet performing on Rose Night 2024
The large crowd of members on Rose Night, a private members event
I started my day working at the Soup Kitchen working in the prep kitchen for the morning. They kept me busy making a cucumber and tomato salad and cutting kale for a side dish they were making the next day. One thing I like about working at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen is that the work is never dull. They always keep me busy.
Since I had plenty of time before the event, I decided to take a trip down to Coney Island to explore any changes that were going on in the amusement center. I wanted to visit the New York Aquarium and see the new ‘Shark Tanks’ exhibition and revisit the Coney Island Museum. When I arrived at the beach about 45 minutes later it was beautiful, clear and sunny on Surf Avenue.
The sign welcoming you to Nathan’s
The afternoon started out at Nathan’s at 1310 Surf Avenue for lunch (see review on TripAdvisor). I swear that I eat at Nathan’s in the suburb malls and it never tastes as good as it does in the original restaurant on Coney Island. Be prepared to face the lines for the rest of the summer as beach season approaches.
Their hot dogs and French fries are the best but they do not come cheap. I think this restaurant is getting more and more geared to tourists wanting to visit Coney Island. The hot dog was $4.75 and the French fries were $3.75, which is a little ridiculous considering a pack of their hot dogs are $1.99 and a bag of their frozen French fries are $1.99 on sale at the supermarket.
Their hot dogs are the best
Nathan’s French Fries are best!
Still their hot dogs were delicious. They have a nice garlicky snap to them and are nicely grilled and their French fries are cooked to perfection. It is nice to enjoy your lunch at their outside tables where you can breath in the fresh salt air. After finishing my lunch, I visited the New York Aquarium at 602 Surf Avenue.
The aquarium is finally updating itself as this is the first addition to the park in years. I got there in time before the last sea lion show and that was fun. The ‘Sea Lion Celebration’ as they call it takes place in the summer at 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm and 5:30pm. The trainers look like they are having a good time with animals. These sea lions were born and raised at the aquarium so they are used to being around humans. The surprising part is that they act like humans with their responses. Unlike a zoo, these mammals get out and get their exercise. It is an interesting show as they are very talented and seem to enjoy working with the trainers.
I was able to walk through the ‘Ocean Wonders: Sharks!” exhibition before the aquarium closed for the evening. I found it fascinating about the history of sharks and their place in ocean world and where they are on the feeding scale. They hardly care about eating humans and like one of the displays said that ‘Jaws’ gave them a bad wrap. They are bottom dwellers who eat all the things that are ‘left over’ and are a good cleanser for the sea.
The Shark Tanks
We as humans unfortunately over-fish them or with some of the Asian countries, they will cut off the fins of the sharks for meat and then throw them back into the sea where they drown, which I think it the cruelest thing you can do to an animal. Its like being buried alive and the aquarium showed the results of what happens to this fish when it happens.
The last large tank before you leave has several variety of sharks and fish which sets up an almost feeding ecosystem for them and it looks almost graceful watching the sea go by. They even have a small crawl tunnel where you can travel under the fish to see them up close. At the top of the exhibition, they have a new restaurant, ‘Oceanview Bites’.
The tunnel under the tanks
After the aquarium, I visited the Coney Island Museum at 1208 Surf Avenue (See reviews on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com). This is the most underrated museum that covers the history of Coney Island from just being dunes that Walt Whitman read poetry on to the modern day amusement parks to current developments.
The museum covers this history of the three great amusement parks, Steeplechase, Luna and Dreamland Parks especially in their heyday. The amusement area of Coney Island still is considered one of the most innovative in history and most developments in amusement rides took place in Coney Island.
Each room covers a part of the history of Coney Island from its years as a luxury resort, to seaside travel to the island, development of the amusement industry, to modern times and what the new developments might bring to the area. I was lucky enough to meet the curator of the museum, Lisa Mangels-Schaefer, whose family has a rich history on the island as a manufacturer of amusement rides. Her grandfather had manufactured and maintained many of the amusement rides in the park.
As the only two at the museum at the time, she gave me a personal tour of the museum, explaining the many displays and artifacts of the museum. She also told me stories of how her family used to manufacture the amusement rides back at the turn of the last century.
Some of the manufactured items by Ms. Mangels-Schaefer’s family
There are a lot of interesting artifacts at the museum from illuminated post cards to old amusement rides to many nostalgic pictures of the area from various times of history. Each gallery covers another theme of the history of the area. Don’t miss the displays of the amusement rides and the hall of fun house mirrors. For a $5.00, this museum is a real treat.
The Main Gallery of the museum.
After the museum, I walked on the boardwalk for awhile and then just put my feet in the ocean. After a long day of working in the kitchen, it started to catch up to me. It was nice to feel the cool water and breath in the salt air. Coney Island has its problems as I could see but still it is a place to relax and have fun. I just laid on the beach, relaxed and let the sun shine down on me. The view of the Rockaways in the distance is really nice and on a clear sunny day, the views were wonderful.
By 5:00pm, it was time to go back up to the Botanical Garden for the ‘Rose Night’ cocktail party and tours. I was smart taking the Q back as I got off by the back entrance and did not have to face the crowds of the main entrance by the Brooklyn Museum. I got there at the opening at 6:30pm and the place was already mobbed with people. The main part of the gardens by the cherry trees must have had about three hundred people sitting down having their picnic dinner.
The Rose Garden in bloom
The crowds walking through the gardens
While everyone else was conversing on the main lawn, I took the time to walk the gardens and see the Crawford Rose Gardens in bloom. It had been hot over the last two months and all the flowers were blooming two weeks earlier than usual, so a lot of roses had already bloomed and had fallen off the branches due to two recent rainstorms.
The Rose Garden Fountain
Still there were lot of species of roses and many were still at the height of blooming and made a very colorful and fragrant display while touring the paths. Many types of roses had the big blooms and smelled like perfume. Others lined the trellises and created a beautiful display overhead. You really have to take your time to admire the true beauty of the garden which only has about two weeks of blooming.
Crawford Rose Garden inside the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
After I left the Crawford Rose Garden, I walked the back fountain area which had large rose bushes that were all in bloom. The fountain had been cleaned and turned on for the event so it made quite an impression in color and design with the way the rose bushes were growing.
The Fountain in the Summer of 2023
The fountain in the spring of 2025
The Fountain in bloom on Rose Night 2024
For the rest of the evening, I walked all the different garden concepts from the Rock Gardens to the Shakespeare Gardens to the new water recycling gardens that had just been completed. All the tulip, daffodil and magnolia gardens were long gone but still a good memory of visiting a couple of months earlier.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden Rock Garden
The Rock Garden on Rose Night 2024
The only problem with the event is that it has gotten so big. When it was much smaller it was more intimate and concentrated in one part of the garden but now there are more members, and it is the first official ‘picnic night’ in the garden so it has gotten crowded.
Walking through the Rock Garden in Sprinv 2025
In the post pandemic years, they stopped making that wonderful ‘rose cocktail’ they used to make for the event and had canned and bottled beverages that were between $8.00 to $12.00 which I thought was a little ridiculous. I know you have to raise money but $8.00 for a non-alcoholic canned beverage.
In 2024, they brought it back and now the cost is $15.00 (less the member discount). It is not the one I remembered from the past put still good and was relaxing after a long business trip.
The Rose Night Cocktail
The Rose Night Cocktail in 2024 was made of blush wine, juices and a little rose essence.
I just sat back and enjoyed the drink and watched the other members relax with their families as well. It was a beautiful late Spring evening and a nice way to start the upcoming Summer season.
In 2019, I had dinner at Family Pizza at 720 Flatbush Avenue, whose pizza is amazing. They have the richest tomato sauce which is the basis for any good pizza and the food here is excellent.
They make their own tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes, garlic and olive oil and you can taste the flavor in the sauce. I had a Chicken Parmesan Sandwich. Talk about an amazing sandwich.
Not only was it loaded with fresh chicken cutlets but topped with several handfuls of melted mozzarella cheese. The sandwich was a gooey delight and the perfect dinner. They have nice outside seating and I like watching the characters walk by.
The flowers in bloom
Still, it was nice to have the gardens for the members only night and the newly renovated Japanese Gardens had opened again so I spent the last part of the evening walked around the wooded paths and stopping at the pagoda to look at the man-made lake that now feed the entire Botanical Garden its water supply. You could still hear the jazz band on the main lawn from here and it was a nice place to just sit and relax and enjoy the sun setting.
The Japanese Gardens
The Japanese Garden in the early Spring when the Cherry Blossoms were out.
It is a simple evening of walking paths and looking at flowers while listening to music but still isn’t that what a pleasant evening in a garden is supposed to be?
Returning to Rose Night again June 11th, 2025:
I had the day off from summer classes at the college and arrived in Brooklyn early and was able to get into the Gardens before 6:00pm and was able to tour the gardens with no crowds. It was perfect for picture taking.
The Crawford Rose Gardens in the Summer of 2025
The array of colors in the gardens that night
Walking through the archways when everything is in bloom
The gardens were an array of all sorts of colors
Purples and greens
Reds and greens
I walked around all the beds to see the dazzling display of colors
The beautiful display of colors
A combination of roses makes an interesting display
The brilliance of colors adds to the roses
The purple flowers were dazzling
The roses at the back part of the garden
The statue in the back of the gardens
The back of the Crawford Rose Gardens
The back of the Crawford Rose Gardens
I left the rose garden to explore the rest of the gardens before the concert started. The crowds were not huge at this time but when I finished my walk of the gardens the place was packed.
The Cherry Blossom lawn before the start of the concert.
I took a long walk around the gardens to see everything in bloom. All this rain made everything so lush.
The was the most unusual rose bush. I never saw anything like this.
I took a walk to the back of the gardens to see the Water Shed Gardens, the Rock Gardens and the Children’s Gardens. The whole place was spectacular.
The Water Shed Gardens
People picnicking in the Water Shed Gardens
The flowers in the Water Shed Gardens
Touring the Rock Gardens
The Rock Garden Pathways
What vibrant colors in the Rock Gardens
The unusual fountains in the Planting Gardens
I thought they were very interesting
I walked through the Children’s Gardens
The Children’s Garden building at the start of the summer
The Lotus Pools
The Magnolia Gardens after the blooming period. They are so green and lush.
The sphere in the Magnolia Gardens
I then walked through the Shakespeare Gardens which were in full bloom
Walking through the Shakespeare Gardens
The beautiful flowers in the garden
The Cherry Blossom Lawn was packed when I got back and more people were walking through the back entrance.
The New Orleans Renaissance Group entertained that night
The band was excellent and played all the classics plus some of their original works
Here is the band playing one of their songs that evening. This was the best shot I got as all the parents were dancing with their kids that night.
Visiting the Brooklyn Botanic Garden before Rose Night in 2026:
I got an email from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden saying that the Cranford Rose Garden was at its peak of blooming and that I should see it while it was at its prime. I was busy at work and was able to travel down to down to the gardens a few days later. Talk about perfect timing as the petals just started to fall.
The Cranford Rose Garden at peak is one of the most beautiful sites. The colors and the fragrances are just amazing. I could not attend “Rose Night” in 2026 because of a prior commitment plus it would be a gloomy night with the threat of rain. So I went the Friday afternoon for the event the next Wednesday.
The Cranford Rose Garden in bloom
The Cranford Rose Garden is amazing from every angle and the views from the top of the hill overlooking the garden shows the extensive amounts of roses planted and the array of colors.
The beds of roses of all colors and species
The entrance to the Cranford Rose Garden is full of an array of different types of colorful flowers
The beautiful and diverse flowers in the Cranford Rose Garden
The beauty of flowers up close
All sorts of roses line the trellis borders of the Rose Garden
What I love about walking around is that you can see the diversity of the roses. The garden is planted with different species so they bloom at different times giving the beds an array of colors at different times. Along the beds and trellis everything bloomed so vibrantly.
The beautiful orange roses that lined the trellis
The colorful trellis pathways
The reds and pinks in full bloom
Roses lining the lamppost
Admiring the beds of roses at the Cranford Rose Garden
Purple reins supreme
Walking through the trellis pathways of red
The beauty of the trellis
The back part of the garden
The back terrace of the Cranford Rose Garden
The elegant statuary of the rose garden and the sun dial
The back Terrace area
The back of the Cranford Rose Garden is lined with all sorts of flowering plants having a rainbow of colors.
Walking through the terrace gardens
The beautiful roses in the back of the garden
The roses in the back of the Cranford Gardens
Walking out the back of the gardens
The back path of the Cranford Rose Garden
The fountain in the back of the Cranford Garden
Visiting the Cranford Rose Garden when it flowering is one of the most interesting collection of colors and scents. This is why I try to time my visits around the blooming of the flowers.
Overall Rose Night was another wonderful evening and I look forward to it every year. There will be more wonderful theme nights going forward at the Gardens.
The future of Coney Island under the Bloomberg Administration:
Open: Saturday and Sunday 10:00am-6:00pm/Monday-Friday 8:00am-6:00pm
Admission: Adults $18.00/Seniors (over 65) and Children over 12 $12.00/Children under 12 Free/Portion of the day’s tickets are free to community members who need them/Winder Weekends Pay as you wish.
I took some time before I start the next section of the walk to travel to Brooklyn to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (See reviews on TripAdvisor and my blog ‘VisitingaMuseum’). I have been a member for over a decade and I am glad that my donation helps support the gardens. It is so much fun to walk around these beautiful individual gardens.
Members Movie Night in 2017:
In 2017, I got to Brooklyn too late to visit the zoo or the Brooklyn Museum, so I took a walk to my favorite pizzeria in the area, Family Pizza at 720 Flatbush Avenue in Flatbush (See review on TripAdvisor). Their pizza is amazing and if you are in the area, walk down Flatbush Avenue for a slice. Even at the $2.75 price per slice, it is still great pizza. The sauce is so delicious and really makes their pizza.
Family Pizza on Flatbush Avenue at 720 Flatbush Avenue
I have never seen a neighborhood change so fast. It is going from a West Indian and Caribbean Black neighborhood to hipster central. I have never seen a place change so much in an eight month period. Every time I walk down this street, it looks like another ten businesses have left and the ‘for rent’ signs keep going up. All the local businesses are being replaced by all the frou-frou restaurants and shops that cater to the hipsters.
The Cheese Pizza at Family Pizza is excellent.
As all the new buildings keep going up all over the Flatbush Avenue and the surrounding streets, all the businesses that surround them change as well. Even some of the small local businesses have been smart and upgraded their stores. I passed a Jamaican bakery that had been opened for years is completely renovated. It still looks the same outside, but they have upgraded as the neighborhood has changed. On the five blocks to the pizzeria, I counted at the least ten businesses that have left and some have been replaced with new restaurants and shops.
I decided to look it up and the head of the Merchant’s Association said that there were 22 businesses that were closed now and they were not being filled so fast. The ones that are being filled are opening expensive restaurants with things like $12.00 hamburgers and $20.00 pizza when the restaurants in the are that are left are serving food that is just as good for half the price. This was the difference between Family Pizza, where I ate tonight and the fancy pizzeria that opened directly across the street with the same pizza for double the price. Pretty place in comparison but still at the end of the day it is pizza.
After my walk down Flatbush Avenue and dinner, I walked back up to the Gardens. The movie tonight was the ‘Fabulous Mr. Fox’, voiced by George Clooney and Merle Streep. It was not too fabulous. In fact, I found the movie boring and sending the wrong message to kids. That’s the reason why it was a big flop at the box office (I could not believe I stayed for the whole thing but I wanted to see how it ended).
With a former line up of the ‘Wizard of Oz’, ‘The Goonies’, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and ‘E.T’., they could have picked another classic live-action film like ‘The Parent Trap’ or ‘Freaky Friday’. They even cut out the free popcorn that they have every year. I could tell someone new was running it.
The best was when they showed “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Still the gardens were in bloom, and it was a beautiful warm, non-muggy night (79 degrees) to sit on the lawn and enjoy the film. The place is testament to families as it is like a step back into the 70’s with kids running around in their bare feet, parents talking to their neighbors and people from the same buildings socializing with one another.
The beautiful trellis in the gardens
It was nice to walk around the Crawford Rose Garden and some of the roses were coming back in bloom and the Japanese Garden was in full form. I had not been there since the Cherry Blossom Festival in April. I had missed a few of the events because of work but still the Gardens are going through a renovation and the new Water Garden is being expanded. If you live anywhere in the surrounding area, this is one membership you want to have in your collection of museums and parks.
Brooklyn Botanical Garden
It is one of those membership perks that I really enjoy and to come in all the way from New Jersey after work says something. It’s a great neighborhood to explore that is now constantly changing. It’s just nice to be outside under the stars watching a film on a warm summer night.
Members Movie Night in 2022:
This was the first time we had a ‘Members Movie Night” since the pandemic started. They had to cancel the one in 2019 because of rain twice and not running it and in the summers of 2020 and 2021 due to COVID. It had been a real bummer but then I got the email that they were running it again in 2022.
The Cherry Blossom Lawn during the summer months
I got to the gardens in the latter afternoon after work and I wanted to order dinner to take in the gardens since we could picnic on the lawns before the film. I was starved so I went to Banh Mi Place at 824b Washington Avenue.
Inside Banh Mi Place at 824b Washington Avenue in Brooklyn
I love the Banh Mi sandwiches here and I ordered the Pork Chop Banh Mi ($8.95). The sandwich was excellent. The marinated pork had so much flavor to it and the vegetables were so crisp and fresh that I love the quality of their sandwiches. I took my sandwich and my blanket and made my way to one of the back lawns of the gardens where other members were eating with their family and friends. It was a low 80-degree night and people were enjoying the sunshine and the cool breezes.
The Banh Mi Sandwich is excellent
Their sandwiches are excellent
After dinner, I walked more around the fountains and pools by the restaurant and the indoor exhibitions of the gardens and looked at the lotuses that were in bloom in the pools. There was a lot of plants that were in bloom this late in the summer and the whole garden had such a colorful appearance. In these post COVID times, it was nice to just walk around the park and enjoy the environment. After dinner and my walk around the gardens, I made my way to the Cherry Blossom lawn where the movie was being shown.
The Cranford Rose Garden
The movie this year was “Encanto”, which was an interesting live action movie, but it was hard to hear the film and it was more of a children’s film than one for adults. I ended up leaving early and as I left, I saw about fifty other people leaving the garden early as well. I guess like myself people did not want to be caught up in the crowd.
Member’s Movie Night in 2024:
I had just been to the Dutchess County Fair the night before with my friend, Maricel and had to travel home after breakfast. Thank God that we went on a Tuesday night as it was all locals at the fair and it was not that crowded. I got home in time to go through my mail and emails and then turn around and run to Brooklyn. This whole week was about running around. With school starting in two weeks, I have a lot to accomplish.
I got into Brooklyn by 3:00pm and started my day at the Brooklyn Museum. Since the exhibition that I had wanted to see had just closed, I walked around the Egyptian Galleries and admired the art. After about an hour of touring around, I wanted to tour the gardens before it got too dark to take pictures. Talk about a spectacular evening with lots of sunlight.
I got a sandwich at 840 United Deli #1 at 840 Washington Street. I had stopped there once before for lunch and remembered their sandwiches being really good. I got their All American Hero which was Hot Turkey, Pastrami and Swiss Cheese tucked into a chewy fresh bun. Talk about the perfect choice on a cool night.
The All-American hero for dinner that evening was made with Hot Turkey and Pastrami with Swiss Cheese, Mustard and Mayo. What a great sandwich!
The hurricane had just passed by us a few night’s earlier and had cooled the weather down. Even the night at the fair had gone down into the 70’s. I had to wear a sweatshirt the night of the movie.
Entering the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Movie Night
Entering the Gardens from the Main Entrance on Movie Night
The gardens were just spectacular the night of the movie. There was no one distinct flower blooming but many were and there were colorful blooms all over the gardens. I wondered through the gardens before it got dark (the movie would not start until 7:45pm at twilight) so I got a chance to walk through the entire set of gardens before the movie. I was able to snap pictures and just enjoy the late summer meeting. I joined the other members on the Cherry Tree Esplanade for picnicking. God that sandwich was good!
The Water Garden on Movie Night
The Water Garden on Movie Night
The Water Garden on Movie Night
The Water Garden on Movie Night
The Water Garden on Movie Night
The Water Garden on Movie Night
The Rock Garden on Movie Night
The Rock Garden on Movie Night
The Lotus Pools on Movie Night
The Lotus Pools on Movie Night
The Lotus Pools Gardens on Movie Night
The Lotus Garden Pools on Movie Night
It was quite a crowd that August evening. I don’t get it as I am always the one the little kids seem to run around as they chase each other all over the lawn.
People were starting to picnic at 6:00pm in the Cherry Blossom Esplanade
The trailer for “A Bugs Life” from 1998
Everyone picnicking and getting ready for the film to start
The crowds grew as everyone got ready for the film to start
All the members relaxing and watching “A Bugs Life” on the big screen. I ended up really enjoying the film
It got easier to watch the film as it got darker
It got really dark by the end of the film
It was just nice to be in the gardens again and to tour the different sections in bloom. This is what it was all about. Just relaxing! The Movie Night is a favorite evening event of the membership and the lawns are completely filled that evening as well as the gardens are busy all day.
Member’s Movie Night in 2026:
This year’s film was another cartoon feature (I miss the live films) “Ratatouille” from 2007.
The trailer from 2007
Before I sat down for my picnic dinner, I walked around the Gardens to see what they looked like in the middle of the Summer.
The Japanese Garden on the Summer of 2026
The gardens were in full Summer mode with greenery all over and the late Summer flowers peaking out all over the place.
The Japanese Gardens in the Summer
The Shakespeare Garden
The flowering potted plants in the Shakespeare Gardens
The Magnolia Court in the Summer
The Watershed Lawn in the Summer
The Cherry Blossom Fountain in the Summer
The Fountain is so beautiful when in bloom
Getting ready do the movie
I ordered my ‘picnic meal’ from 840 Deli again this year. This time I wanted a sandwich that was both hot and cool so I ordered the ‘Honey Moon’, which was Honey Roasted Turkey with Mozzarella Cheese and Honey Mustard, heated and then topped with lettuce, tomato and onion on a hero roll. It was delicious. The perfect sandwich for the perfect evening.
With a Pepsi, it was the perfect picnic dinner
The sandwich was the perfect combination of textures and flavors
It was a wonderful sandwich
After dinner, I just relaxed and enjoyed the film. The temperature was around 80 degrees.
The beautiful sun lights before the film
The start of the film
Watching the film as it got darker
It was another beautiful night for Members Night and the crowd had a lot of fun chatting, picnicking and relaxing on their blankets as we all enjoyed ‘Ratatouille’. After the movie was over, some people lingered around the lawn waiting for the crowds to disperse. The rest of us made our ways to the subway and back to Manhattan we went. I got home by 10:30pm.
The Coney Island Sand Castle Building contest is a lot of fun to see and experience. You see so many people’s creativity from professional artists to families just having a good time to a group of kids really showing their artistic touch. It seems though that it always falls on a weekend where so much is being planned at other cultural sites that I am a member of that it takes a lot of juggling and running around to get to that day. Being the end of the Summer and getting close to September, so many places are trying to cram in Members events before the kids head back to school.
In 2017, before I left for Brooklyn, I had a busy day running around Newark and then in Brooklyn visiting both the Newark Museum and Coney Island. I love how everything gets planned on the same day.
Everyone was preparing for the Solar Eclipse on Monday, so both the Newark Museum and the American Museum of Natural History are getting ready for the viewings. So I stopped at the Newark Museum first today to see what they were planning knowing that New York was going to be very busy.
The Newark Museum is running a series of members mornings with an early morning tour of the museum and a light breakfast that seems to be catching on with the membership. We had a early morning tour of the kinetic sculpture of Uram Choe, a Korean artist who specializes in metal working sculptures that move on motion.
His one piece upstairs in the Asian galleries opens up like the sun would in the morning and his downstairs on the second floor piece is a serpent eating itself, which is based on an old legend.
Mr. Choe’s is a South Korean born artist from an architect background. He was educated at the Chungang University in Seoul and graduated with both a B.F.A and M.F.A. from the college. Choe’s works push the genre of moving kinetic art toward its newer-generation iterations, such as robotic art (Wiki).] Each one of his pieces moves on a series of motors based on motion and is placed with such detail and the way it moves is so intricate.
The Newark Museum (See TripAdvisor review) is going though a major renovation where they will be opening the original entrance to the museum in the Fall after twenty years and hopefully a new beginning for a museum with a major identity crisis.
The museum has such amazing works to see in a beautiful setting but the problem is that Newark still has a negative image to most suburbanites. No one I know wants to go there and that is a real problem for the city. The museum in a great area of the downtown that is being rebuilt and refigured with all sorts of new housing and lofts but it will take time to shake the riots of the 60’s from people’s minds.
They just opened the new American Indian exhibition and refigured the American Art wing to reflect the development of the United States from Native American time to the present. Their Asian and African galleries are very detailed but the biggest problem they have is the imagine of an ‘African’ museum which they can’t seem to shake. It is such a gem and try not to miss going there.
We had a long talk in the gallery about the artist and about the development of Korean Art from Ancient times until today and then the museum had a beautiful Continental breakfast on the top floor of the Ballentine House. This was Mrs. Ballentine’s daughter’s section of the house that was built in the late 1890’s when they moved in after her husband’s death. The room, now used as the trustee’s room, is a look back on the Gilded Age and the invention of electricity in modern homes. It really showed me the treasure trove of artifacts that exist in this small museum.
After the tour, there was a quick tour of the museum and then a train ride to Manhattan and then a long subway ride on a beautiful clear sunny day to Coney Island. The whole thing took about two hours and I got there by three o’clock.
The contest was gloomy at both times I visited but everyone was eager
The Annual Sandcastle Building Contest in both 2017 and in 2024, I thought would be much bigger than it was. Only about twenty people were competing in it in 2017 and in 2024 about the same amount. With all the artists living in Brooklyn and in the Metropolitan area, I thought this would be a bigger deal than it was but still the works coming from it were spectacular. Several mounds of sand in one section of the beach outside of Luna Park were used but still the imagination of the work was spellbound.
The piles were set with numbers along the beach
Artists and families starting to work around 12:30pm
Getting ready to start
By 1:00pm, everyone was getting to work for the 4:00pm deadline
Most of the works that I saw were some forms of castle which seemed to be the object that everyone based their idea on but some people were a little more creative. There were bears, mermaids and in 2017, one artist even dug out a complete hole and had the imagine of a woman lying in the sea.
In 2024, the creativity was the same with themes of brownstone neighborhoods to mermaid queens to just a simple smile in the sand. There were professionals whose sand creativity was part of their artistic employment to families just having fun and spending time together.
This simple face just appeared on one of the piles at the end of the contest
The creation of the Shark sculpture
The Shark Sculpture in process
The Shark almost finished
The finished Shark Sculpture
Another artist created this Shark display
The Coney Island Alliance hired an artist to create this masterpiece. It just shows the creativity of some artists.
The Coney Island Alliance sculpture in form in the beginning
He kept carving and sculpting
The piece took form
Almost finished
The finished sculpture for the Coney Island Alliance was just beautiful
The final work that represented the Coney Island Alliance. This was the ultimate piece done by a professional artist. I loved the details on this. Some of the professional artists did works to welcome everyone to the contest and their detail work was interesting as you see in the picture above. This was not done by a group of ten year old’s.
Still there were all sorts of works of art created by people of all ages and they showed their stuff by creating their interpretations of their views of New York City and mythical animals that roam the woods, beaches and streets of the big City. Some were fun, some were whimsical and some just stood out in their creativity.
The ladies putting the final touches on the Rat with Pizza sculpture
My favorite sculpture of the contest the rat with a slice of pizza
The start of Beware of Dog sculpture done by this mother and son team
The finished Beware of Dog sculpture
The final touches of Beware of Dog. The details were very clever
These artists created their own affordable brownstone neighborhood in Brooklyn
Then there was the Tales of Two Coasts, New York and Los Angeles, which had real estate details of their own.
I loved this look of Los Angeles, CA
This was the New York City side of the sculpture
Home ownership continued with this kitchen sculpture
Some of the mythical creatures included mermaids, animals and creatures large and small.
This family was sculpting the most clever cat
The finished Cat Inquiry sculpture
Another family was finishing this Hammerhead Shark towards the end of the contest
This Sea Maiden appeared in the sand
Rebirth and Birth Sculpture
This penguin found a home in the sand
This Heart with a Sunflower was in its final stages when I saw it last
The Magical Train was one of the first sculptures done
A Castle with a Moat was created
The mighty Elephant was being worked on towards the end of the contest
The iconic New York Hot Dog is happily served
The Shellebrity Sightings sculpture
The Phoenix sculpture on the beach
One of the most detailed sculptures I saw the creation of the Mermaid Queen.
The creation of the Mermaid Queen
The Mermaid Queen takes shape
The finished Queen Mermaid with her Crown
The finished Mermaid Queen
There was also the creation of the Sand Witches with their big smiles.
Creating the Sand Witches
Creating the main character
The Sand Witches sculpture
The creation of Do Not Feed the Bears
The finished Do Not Feed the Bears sculpture
Another Mermaid appears
Here and there during the contest and for the rest of the day, the sun peaked out now and then giving us some sun but the rest of the day remained cloudy. Still that did not dampen the spirits of our artists and by 4:00pm the winners were announced. The Winners were sculptures numbers 63, 07 and 39 with the People’s Choice being 01 (I am not too sure I have everything numbered) but the ones above are my favorites and worthy of all the picture taking.
In 2017, I walked along the beach to relax my feet and as I walked, I could not believe how empty the beaches were for a Saturday afternoon in August. By the water it was full but towards the back by the boardwalk it was empty. In 2024, the incoming hurricane weather kept people away as the beaches were closed for swimming. The surf was really rough that morning and afternoon and the weather was gloomy. Even when I visited on the 4th of July, the beaches were not as crowded as I would have thought. Not the Coney Island of yesteryear when every spot was full. I guess its just not that place anymore.
Taking a walk along the gloomy and almost empty Midway by Luna Park
After a long walk along the beach, I dried off and walked the boardwalk to the end to Seagate, a private community at the end of the boardwalk. Along the way, I passed by the Coney Island Houses, one of the more dangerous housing complexes in Brooklyn. I don’t know whose brilliant idea it was to build low-income housing along the shore front but that made no sense to me.
It looked like the complex was having a barbecue, that is until two guys went after each other in the basketball court area as the DJ was announcing a kids dance. She was beside herself to tell them to calm down. Then you had two groups of people trying to calm the situation down. It was not a pleasant scene.
I got to the end of the boardwalk and decided I wanted to see all of Surf Avenue to see the real changes on the island since the closing of the amusement area. I agree with an article I read years ago; it still is like a war zone.
They built all this public housing outside Seagate and as you walk along Surf Avenue until you get to about where the rehab center is, it just looks like Beirut. The whole area is full of rundown looking public housing and the street itself is a shell of the once glorious resort if it ever was that. If there are ever going to get this island back into shape, the city seriously needs to rethink this part of the island.
I walked the entire length of Surf Avenue down to Brighton Beach and really looked at the stretch of the island facing the shore. By Brighton Beach, the area got so much nicer and more built up. Even in some of the pockets before the amusement area, they are building new condos along the boardwalk in between the projects. Even still, even when you reach Nathan’s, there is just too much wasted opportunity along the shore front.
Walking on the Coney Island Boardwalk in 2017
I turned around and walked up Stillwell Avenue by the subway spot and there they are starting to knock down the block and replacing it with low rise apartment buildings. This is where all the hipster people must be living. It looks like more of this area is about to come down.
In 2024, I got to the beach at 12:30pm and walked around the shore until about 2:00pm watching everyone build their creations. Then I walked around Deno’s Wonderwheel Park, watching the patrons on the Wonderwheel and going into Spookarama, their haunted house ride.
Spookarama in Deno’s Wonderwheel Park
The haunted display by the ride
The haunted display in the park
In 2017 for dinner, I went to Totonno’s Pizzeria Napolitano at 1524 Neptune Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets (See TripAdvisor review). This place is harder to get into than any trendy restaurant in Manhattan. They only make so much dough and as a matter of fact the smaller pizzas sold out before I got there and it was 4:30pm when I ate my lunch/dinner. The place was busy the entire time I got there. The only bad thing about the restaurant is the seating. They need to reconfigure their tables to accommodate more people. You can’t seat a single person like myself at a six top table.
The menu is so simple. Either you get a small or large pizza with a choice of ten toppings for $2.50 extra. The drinks were pricey with a bottle of Coke being $2.50. The pizza was $20.50 for the large or $18.50 for the small. The place is cash only.
The pizza was wonderful and with the size and the quality of ingredients, well worth the money. You get a large pizza that is a large pizza with fresh tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella, which gives it a different flavor from the shredded processed cheese most places use giving it a creamy flavor. The whole thing was topped with fresh basil and I added sausage to it. Cooking it in a coal brick stove gave it a nice smoky flavor. Needless to say, the owner could not believe I ate almost the entire pie at one sitting.
Totonna’s Cheese Pizza
I met Louise Ciminieri, the current owner and the granddaughter of the original owner. She told me how the business passed down from her grandfather to her uncle and then to her. Her uncle had a habit of only making so much dough and after it was gone, the restaurant closed for the day. A little strange for a business to make money.
Owner Louise Ciminieri of Totonno’s Pizza
She could not have been nicer or more welcoming to me and seemed to get a kick at the fact that I made such a fuss in meeting her. I told her of all the reviews online and the fact that my own mom had eaten here probably when her uncle first owned the business. She has not changed the place much over the years and she explained how the neighborhood has changed so much since they opened. What was once an Italian neighborhood is now all car repair places.
After dinner in 2017, I took once last walk around Surf Avenue and then headed back to Manhattan where I ended up spending the rest of the evening at an outdoor concert in Bryant Park. It was nice to just relax and listen to the music.
In 2024, I passed the pizzeria and it still has not opened for in house dining but people were buying pizzas to go. I thought I saw the owner sitting at the only booth left inside but I was not sure. I have to say that without in house dining, there is no reason to go. There is no place to eat around the restaurant (it is not the best part of Coney Island) and I don’t want to drag a pizza three blocks back to the beach to eat it on a bench. The pizzeria is only open on the weekends as well, so I searched around Mermaid Avenue for someplace else to dine.
Here I found Pizza on the Run at 1627 Mermaid Avenue near the side entrance to the subway station. I had passed the place many times but the outside always looked a little shoddy and I avoided it. Big Mistake! The pizza is amazing!
I have to admit that the pizza was a little pricey at $3.50 a slice but the slice was oversized and their sauce on the pizza was delicious. It was so well spiced and gave it so much flavor that I enjoyed every bite.
The Cheese slice was amazing and I plan on going back in the future and trying more items here.
After lunch was over, I gave myself some time before the contest was officially over and walked around this section of Coney Island. Little by little it is getting better. As the luxury rentals along Surf Avenue are getting ready to open for residents, I can see that they are trying to fix up Mermaid Avenue behind it. A lot of the businesses that had been there a few months ago are now closed and the side walks from the subway station down three blocks are being fixed. Along the walls was a bright mural welcoming people to Coney Island from the subway side.
The Welcome to Coney Island mural by Mermaid Avenue
Danielle Mastrion is a Brooklyn-born, New York City based painter and muralist who specializes in large scale, brightly colored murals (Artist bio).
Coney Island Surf Avenue businesses next to Nathan’s
On the way back to the beach, four other murals stood out as well. These are located on the walk down the sidewalk to Nathan’s on Surf Avenue.
Mural One
Mural Two
Mural Three
Mural Four
After the contest winners were announced in 2024 at 4:00pm, I left to head back to Manhattan. It was such a gloomy day. There was not much else going on that afternoon and people were leaving the beaches. As I took a look back at the shore, the waves were really coming in meaning the storm was on its way up the coast (we did get hit in Sunday).
I headed back to Manhattan to see the movie “The Funhouse” at the MoMA. They were having a retrospect on director Toby Hooper’s movies so I had already seen “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Poltergeist” .
The trailer for “The Funhouse” by director Toby Hooper
After the movie was over, trying to find a restaurant for dinner was trying in of itself. I had not realized how many restaurants in Midtown were closing at 9:00pm even on Friday night post-COVID.
I went into Murray Hill and the restaurant I had planned to go to had already closed at 8:45pm so I looked at my dine around program and found that Dim Sum Garden at 338 Lexington Avenue. I was really in the mood for Chinese food that evening and it came highly recommended.
I was able to order before the kitchen closed and it was a nice dinner. The food was so fresh and it looked like everything was made to order and homemade in the kitchen. The Shrimp Balls were especially good. They were made with sweet shrimp meat, nicely coated with rice flour and deep fried perfectly. It was one of the best Dim Sum meals I have had in a awhile.
My dinner of Soup Dumpling, Shrimp Balls and Roast Duck Rolls
The Shrimp Balls
The Soup Dumplings
The Roast Duck Rolls
It was a fun and very productive day and a great way to end the trip to Coney Island. The weather may have been a bit gloomy both times I visited Coney Island for the contest but it did not damper the spirit of the event. It looked like everyone had fun.
The Sandcastle Contest in 2026:
It was another afternoon of double booking when I attended the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association picnic in the morning and finished up there at 1:00pm.
My blog on the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association Barbecue in 2026:
I then raced into the City and hopped the subway to Brooklyn to see the contest results. Somehow I went from the Barbecue to the beaches of Coney Island in two and a half hours. Coney Island was packed that afternoon both on the beach and the boardwalk.
I arrived at the beach at 3:45pm just as the contest was completing
The contestants completing their creations
The professional artists who were commissioned to create their works for the contest were closer to the Boardwalk. They got really creative this year.
The work for the Coney Island Alliance
The other artist’s work for the Coney Island Alliance
Then I walked around the beach to see the works of the artists who participated in the contest from professional artists to families who partnered up and looked like they were having a good time.
Some of the works on the beach
I roamed around the sand piles and these were the works that I saw that afternoon:
I did not know if this was friendly poo or ice cream
An octopus
Homer Simpson on the beach
The Swan family
I was not exactly sure what this was
A shark eating a hot dog
The Cool Power plane to Puerto Rico
The Neck St Level sculpture
The castle
When I was finished watching the judging of the contest, I walked on the beach to relax my feet. It had been a long day. The beach was busier today than it was on the 4th of July but then the weather was cooler the day of the Sandcastle building contest.
Watching a sailboat go by the shore
The Coney Island Sandcastle Building Contest is held each August.
Please check out my recent blog on the Coney Island Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4th, 2024:
I had finished the Manhattan Valley neighborhood earlier in the day when the Soup Kitchen was full and they did not need me. So, I walked the lower part of the neighborhood to finish it off and then walked across Central Park to the beginning of the new subway stop for the Q subway train at 96th Street and Second Avenue. As I had written on Day Sixty-Six on my walk, this subway line is really nice and take time to look at the artwork at the stops at 96th, 72nd and 63rd Streets.
The 96th Street stop my starting point
If you are going to take the Q to Coney Island leave yourself plenty of time because it is over an hour to get from one end of the Q to the other. It was a beautiful warm clear sunny day around 84 degrees and a perfect day to go to the shore.
The 96th Street artwork in the terminal
I love the Q train! I love the new section of the subway with its interesting art and the fact that it is so clean. That and the fact they the E subway has the newest cars to stretch out in. It makes it a pleasure for the long trips.
The artwork on the 96th Street station
You get some of the best views of the city from the subway once you cross over into Brooklyn. You get a great view of lower Manhattan when exiting from underground plus you get to see the old parts of Brooklyn with views of the ‘Brownstone’ neighborhoods. There’s another area that keeps changing with gentrification.
The subway ends at the Stillwell subway stop. This rebuilt stop was the first part in the renovation of the island to make it a more 24-hour resort. Most of the other plans have been scrapped or were never enacted. To be honest with all of you, the amusement area of Coney Island is still dumpy and has not been much since the Luna Park fire of 1946 and the Dreamland fire of 1911. They keep trying though.
The changes on Surf Avenue keep happening every month
Even when I went to Coney Island as a kid in the 70’s, it was rundown then. Please don’t get me wrong, Coney Island can be a lot of fun and you can have a great day out here but don’t get too lofty of expectations of what it is like (See reviews on TripAdvisor). Don’t venture too far from Nathan’s after dark and follow the crowd back to the Stillwell subway station after dark if you stay for the films on the beach or the fireworks.
The Coney Island Museum Bar is a great place to relax when you get to Coney Island.
I have been down for the Mermaid Parade in the Spring several years ago and will be going to the Sandcastle Building contest next week. There is a lot going on during the summer and it is good to check out these activities. The Hot Dog Eating Contest at Nathan’s draws thousands to the island to watch their hero’s devour hot dogs at record speed.
Still the I love to explore the changes to the island and walked around Surf and Neptune Avenues after I got there. I wanted to see if Totonno’s Pizza was open that day so I walked for two blocks Neptune Avenue and I will tell you that though the area is changing it still is not a great neighborhood.
Totonno’s is in the middle of a commercial area with a series of garages and car repairs at 1524 Neptune Avenue. The worst part was that it closed for the day. The restaurant is only opened from Wednesday to Sunday so it’s for another time. I did get to see the back part of the island and found where the original Coney Island Creek was located. This is where the original Sea Lion Park and Luna Park were located back in the early part of the century.
I changed my plans around and walked the length of Surf Avenue and started my walk around the amusement area which runs from the Aquarium at West 8th Street to about West 16th Street. Even with the rebuilding of Luna Park on the footprint of the old Astroland, Surf Avenue needs a major makeover. The chain restaurants have added a little life to it but still some of the blocks are a series of rundown buildings and old-time amusements.
The Coney Island Boardwalk
I stopped by the Coney Island Museum at 1208 Surf Avenue and the museum part was closed for the day but the side show part was open but I had missed the show. I walked around some of the open exhibitions on the outside and it is interesting to see some of the artifacts from the old amusement days.
My next stop was the famous Cyclone Roller Coaster on West 10th Street (see review on TripAdvisor). This is the most amazing and exciting ride on the island and one of the things you should see while you are in New York City. It is $10.00 to ride the coaster but it is well worth it! That first hill you go down is so mind-blowing. You feel as if the cars are going to fly into the sea. It rolls up and down those hills back and forth facing the buildings across the street and the sea. Of all the amusement parks I have been to there is nothing like the Cyclone.
I walked into the Luna Park area and saw the improvements that have been added to the park. The problem with Luna Park is that it’s mostly kiddie rides and not much for adults with the exception of the Log Flume Ride. Luna Park was rebuilt on the old Astroland which had closed by in 2008 and is trying to capture the old magic of the island with upgrades on rides and concessions. It even recreated the original entrance of Luna Park across the street from the old park. Still, it will take a lot more work on the park and more added rides in the future. I give them so much credit for revitalizing the park with a new look.
I walked after that to Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, 1025 Regielmann Boardwalk, which I had not been on for about seven years and the famous Spook-a-Rama, which I had not ridden since I was about eight. The Wonder Wheel was built back in the 20’s and with a height of 150 feet, has great views of the ocean and of the island. Both rides were $8.00 and were well worth it for the day.
When riding the Wonder Wheel, make sure to get one of the cars that slide. Not only do you get the view but you get the excitement of sliding around. When you reach the top of the Wonder Wheel, it has the most breathtaking view of the boardwalk area, the beach and ocean and a view of the whole island. The breeze is so refreshing up there and you feel like the world is your own. Talk about seeing the world go by.
Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park at 1025 Regielmann Boardwalk
After the Wonder Wheel, I walked over to Spook-a-Rama, also $8.00, which I first rode when I was eight and it has not changed that much since then. It does have a few thrills that do pop out at you that will have you jumping. There have been a few updates on it with video displays but for the most part I remember it being much scarier as a kid. I will let you know though the first couple of things popping out at you will still have you jumping out of your seat but still it’s not the Haunted Mansion at Disney Parks.
Spook-a-Rama at Deno’s Wonderwheel Park
The entrance of the Spook-a-Rama
I had enough time to go to the New York Aquarium located at West 8th Street, just past the Cyclone. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, most of the Aquarium was seriously damaged and most of the park is still under construction. The Coral Exhibition is still interesting especially with the destruction of the wreaths around the world and the Sea Lion demonstration is a lot of fun. The Sea Lions are such hams and seem to love the crowds. What I thought was interesting is that both of them were born in New York City at the Bronx Zoo, so they have only known humans. Still, they look like they are having fun. They seem to love waving to the audience and the crowds love them back.
While I was walking on the Boardwalk, I caught this group of people dancing to the BeeGees. The 1970’s have never really ended.
My last stop of the evening was dinner at Nathan’s at 1310 Surf Avenue. This hot dog chain was founded in 1916 and is still in their original location. They have the best hot dogs and their French fries are some of the best in the industry. When you go you have to have the original hot dog with mustard, the regular fries (which is a large order anywhere else) and their famous Orange-aid. It is the best meal.
On a hot sunny day, it is nice to sit out on the tables right next to the restaurant. There is something about the sea breezes, the salt air and hot dogs and fries that make a phenomenal combination. It is a meal that is part of the beach experience and that was worth the trip alone.
My favorite meal at Nathan’s: A Hot Dog, French Fries and an icy Coke
Before it got too late, I was back on the Q Train back to Manhattan. I’m sorry but sensible people still get out of Coney Island before it gets dark. Even though the subway station on Stillwell and Surf Avenues is very safe and there is a police station there, it’s better to leave before dusk. I don’t care how many artists have moved into the area.
The subway ride took just over an hour to get back to Manhattan but it was still light out when I left the shore area and got my last glimpse of the ocean pass by. There is nothing like watching the sun reflect on the beach. The best was that we passed lower Manhattan before we went under the tunnel and watched the skyline brightened by the lights in the office towers. If you want to see an amazing site, it is when the city lights come on and the skyline is ablaze. It is like a picture postcard and impressive. When people think of New York City, this is what they imagine.
Coney Island Beach
When I finally got back to 96th Street, I had some time to look at the artwork again and stretch around the station. I still love to see museum quality art in a subway. Then it was off back on the Q back to midtown.
For the price of a round-trip ticket on the subway, it is fantastic voyage around the city on the new Q. Artwork, amusements, skyline views and the beach. What more could you want?
From Q to Q Beginning to End from 96th Street to Stillwell Avenue
*Blogger wants to note that the blog was updated in 2020. Many stores and restaurant have either closed or changed hands since this tour.
My second “Talk & Tour” class with the Fashion Institute of Technology took me on a full day tour of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Many of my classmates had been on the Bushwick tour with me two weeks earlier plus a group of out-of-towners. How people down South find these obscure walking tours in New York City is beyond me. Even I had to get the FIT catalog from school. What made this tour interesting was that my family lived here when they first came to this country at the turn of the last century and both my Grandmother and Grandfather on my father’s side lived here until the 1960’s.
Our Instructor for the day was Trina Morris, whom I have taken many walking tours with which covered DUMBO, Carroll Gardens, the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, and finally Boerum Hill at a time when I was writing my first book, “Firehouse 101” (See IUniverse.com for details on the book), which was set primarily in Boerum Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods.
I had used the walking tour to get a better feel for the neighborhood and after the tour was over that weekend back in 2002 came back to the neighborhood about 18 times over the course of writing the book to see the changes. Since writing my first novel, all of these areas have changed tremendously with gentrification All of Brooklyn just keeps changing. Trina seemed thrilled that I had an autographed copy of the book ready for her on the subway ride over.
Getting to Greenpoint is not the easiest trip. We had to take the C Train from school and then transfer to the L Train (recent college train) to the G Train to get to the heart of Greenpoint. Unlike Debbie’s tour a few weeks earlier, Trina’s tour deals with going to all the best stores and restaurants whereas Debbie’s tour concentrated more on art work and talking with owners opening new businesses. Both tours showcased the neighborhoods beautifully but there were times I felt like quite the tourist. Especially when the locals looked at us like we were from Mars. I felt that way when we were in Bushwick as well as the local residents looked perplexed on why we would walk around their neighborhood.
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Our tour started at the G stop on Manhattan Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue, the furthest point you can get into Greenpoint from Manhattan. From there we walked down Greenpoint Avenue and turned right two blocks away to Franklin Avenue. Franklin Avenue has been one of the shopping areas of Greenpoint for years but now newer residents are putting an upscale swing to it with boutiques, coffee shops, restaurants and clothing stores giving the street a nice mix of old and new merchants.
When I did a tour of the neighborhood, I stopped at Old Polish Bakery at 926 Manhattan Avenue for a doughnut. The selection of baked products look really good but word of advice. They must do their baking early in the morning because the doughnut was dried out (see TripAdvisor review).
Old Polish Bakery at 926 Manhattan Avenue
Our first stop on the tour was Zoe’s Beauty Products Salon & Spa at 119 Greenpoint Avenue. This beauty spa has a full line of men’s and woman’s products as well as get a full day pampering. Take time to look at all their products as they have a full line of merchandise for every need. A very nice shop with friendly service and a good selection.
Zoe’s Beauty Products and Salon at 119 Greenpoint Avenue
Our second stop on the tour was at Budin Coffee Shop at 114 Greenpoint Avenue, a beautifully designed store with wooden shelves and an open bar. Budin is what TV would call a ‘hipster’ shop but the service was friendly and they did make a mean iced tea. They have a nice selection of drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
Budin Coffee Shop at 114 Greenpoint Avenue (now closed)
Check out their gift area as well. There is some unusual items. What was nice too was they let us use the bathroom and for that I give them a big thumbs up (see TripAdvisor Review).
Budin Coffee Shop is very trendy inside (now closed)
Our next stop on the tour was a small clothing store named ‘In God We Trust’ at 129 Bedford Avenue, which has a respectable line of casual wear. This biggest observation that I have found in clothing stores in these so called ‘hipster’ neighborhoods is that you can not find a size over 30 inches and a large for men.
In God We Trust at 129 Bedford Avenue (Now Closed)
It’s like shopping at Bloomingdale’s today. They don’t want to sell to anyone who is not 5:5 and a waist of 30 inches. Even though the selection was interesting I’m not sure who they were buying for in the neighborhood.
Inside “In God We Trust” (now closed)
A fun shop that we quickly went though was the East River Skate Shop at 86 Greenpoint Avenue. They had an interesting line of tee-shirts with unique prints and even though I am not into skateboarding, their line of skateboards would attract any adult interesting in trying the sport.
East River Skate Shop at 86 Greenpoint Avenue (Now Closed)
Walking to the end of Greenpoint Avenue facing the East River is the most beautiful view of Manhattan that had been hidden all these years behind factories. These factories today are becoming lofts, studios and restaurants with a bar called ‘Barge’ that was very active that afternoon. I was amazed on how busy the place was considering it was the middle of the afternoon. On the sunny clear day that is was it had the most spectacular views of Manhattan and a nice soundtrack going.
Also, at the end of Greenpoint Avenue is WNYC Transmitter Park along Greenpoint Avenue, which shares the same views as ‘Barge’ and they show films there on Friday nights. They were setting up for the new ‘Star Wars’ film the night I was there and expecting a pretty big crowd. The park has beautiful views of Midtown around 34th Street. It has a nice smell of salt air as well. Frankly it could use a good weeding.
WNYC Transmitter Park
We turned the corner onto Franklin Avenue, which is where most of the gentrification is taking place. I was able to tour the neighborhood about a week later to get a better feel for it and Greenpoint is still a neighborhood, not unlike Bushwick, that is still in transition. Many of the old residents still make their home here and you still see it on the upper reaches of Manhattan Avenue, where a sizable Hispanic population still lives for now and on the lower parts of street where a sizable Polish population still lives.
Franklin Avenue is where everyone is moving in. The block faces, along with West Street, the East River where the views of Manhattan are priceless. West Street is where all the former factories and warehouses are located which is quickly being replaced by studios, stores and small factories where the new residents live and work.
When visiting the American Playground between Nobile and Milton Streets, you can see the rapid change in the population with men in their 20’s playing basketball and young mothers with their small children having play dates. It was a mostly white crowd that differed from other parks that I visited in the neighborhood.
American Playground on Franklin Street
On the way up to lunch, we stopped at Word Bookstore at 126 Franklin Avenue that has a great selection of independent and commercial authors and they had several local book signings set up. Its a small store with a depth to their selection and the staff is very friendly.
Word Book Store at 126 Franklin Avenue
We then toured You & Yours Vintage Shop at 77 Franklin Street (Now Closed) and People of Tomorrow Consignment Shop at 66 Franklin Street (Now Closed) both offering a nice selection of clothing and accessories for the person and the home. You really have to know what you are looking for when visiting these shops because the merchandise is rather unique. What’s nice is that I found the service both here and at other stores on Franklin to be very personal and welcoming.
Lunch that afternoon took us to Brooklyn Label at 180 Franklin Street (changed hands since my visit there). As the kids say, OMG, this restaurant was incredible. The food was French Bistro and the brunch menu had a good selection of both breakfast and lunch items at very reasonable prices and the portion sizes were huge.
Brooklyn Label at 180 Franklin Street
I had a Croque Monsieur ($12.00) that was out of this world. The sandwich was huge and the Gruyere cheese had a sharpness and twang to it. It was served with a kale salad that had a delicious dressing and the French Fries were cooked perfectly. The sandwich was filled with so much ham and cheese that I could barely finish it. The meal was so big I had no room for some of their delicious sounding desserts. The service was friendly and flawless. This is a definite on anyone’s list when dining in Greenpoint (see review on TripAdvisor. I gave them an Excellent).
The inside of Brooklyn Label
The food and the company made the meal perfect. It was nice getting to know the people I toured with that afternoon. Some of them had such interesting backgrounds and personal stories from bankers to lawyers to nannies, all of them had a story to tell.
Porter James Vintage Furniture at 116 Franklin Avenue
After lunch our shopping trip had us zig-zagging along Franklin Street. We stopped at Pas Mal and Pip Squeak Chapeau at 99 Franklin Street to look at their clothing lines, Porter James, a home furnishing store at 116 Franklin Street. It carries a lot of 1960’s furniture. We also visited Adaption at 109 Franklin Street to look at more vintage furniture.
Pip Squeak Chapeau/Pas Mal at 99 Franklin Street
Adaptions Vintage Furniture at 109 Franklin Street
We stopped at the seafood store Little Neck Outpost at 128 Franklin Street, which had food for sale and lots of gifts and snacks as well. They had also have a selection of hot foods to take home.
Little Neck Outpost at 128 Franklin Street
On my own part of the tour, I went further up on Franklin Street to Commercial Street where the warehouses are giving way to condos and views of Manhattan and Long Island City, which was once thought to be the next SoHo.
Greenpoint Playground at 243 Franklin Street attracted the most diverse amount of children and had beautiful views of the skyline. In a few years, I predict this will be the ultimate Yuppie park as condos and renovations are taking place in the buildings surrounding the park.
Greenpoint Playground at 243 Franklin Avenue
Manhattan Avery Park (Newton Barge Park) at 37 Commercial Street has some of the best views of Newton Creek’s boating and sailing docks and some unique art work along the fences. Newton Creek is currently being cleaned up so much more activity is going on this side of the neighborhood as well as new condos, restaurants and an ice cream shop have opened here.
Newton Barge Park & Playground at 37 Commercial Street
This is the tip of the neighborhood and there is a lot of renovations going on in the old factories and warehouses. Give it less than three years and this whole area will be luxury lofts. With the views of the city and access to many small pocket parks, this will become a very desirable area to move to in the future. I walked across Commercial Street back down Manhattan Avenue on the upper part of the neighborhood and you are starting to see the transformation of the neighborhood from Hispanic to a younger white crowd with more restaurant and bars opening up on this part of the neighborhood. There are still many reasonable Spanish restaurants to give a try that look quite good.
I took a detour for a snack at Franklin Pizza at 109 Franklin Street (see review on TripAdvisor) on the way back down. This slices here are nice sized and at $2.50 are a little pricey in current New York terms but the pizza is full of flavor and their sauce is delicious. It is the perfect blend of old and new neighborhood as everyone eats here and it is a good gathering place for neighborhood gossip as I found out.
Franklin Pizza at 109 Franklin Street
Our last store in this part of the neighborhood was Flying Squirrel at 87 Oak Street, a great little consignment store of clothes, toys and furniture for young children. The place was alive with activity as the kids seem to dominate in this store. The owner, Kate Schmitz, was really nice and explained her concept of the store to me, mixing brand new and consignment goods to attract the young families moving into the neighborhood. She also has a nice line of books as well. It is a great rainy day store for families.
Flying Squirrel at 87 Oak Street
We then took a turn in the block and walked down Oak Street to Guernsey Street to Meserole Street to the main shopping area of the Polish side of the neighborhood on lower Manhattan Avenue. Here we got to try two of the most well-known businesses in the Polish neighborhood, Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop at 727 Manhattan Avenue and Polka Dot Café at 726 Manhattan Avenue (See reviews on TripAdvisor).
Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop at 727 Manhattan Avenue
Peter Pan’s doughnuts are some of the best I have ever had. Who could make a choice? I ended up eating three doughnuts because they looked so good. I had their apple filled doughnut with a white icing, a crème filled doughnut and a glazed doughnut. It put a damper on my dinner plans but like the kids say OMG they were so good. This is one store you can not miss when visiting Greenpoint. I had heard about them for years but never realized how good the doughnuts were for munching.
The Donuts at Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop are the Best!!
The other store we visited was Polka Dot Café, Polish gourmet shop, that has now reinvented itself into both a gourmet shop for Polish food and a small café where you can order food. Trina had arranged for us to try some blueberry dumplings that were cooked perfectly and were delicious. I was able to down a few of them on top of the doughnuts.
Polka Dot Cafe at 726 Manhattan Avenue
I was so impressed by the food that I doubled back after the tour was over and on top of everything else I ate I had chicken meatballs and a type of pancake that was filled with meat with a flavored ice tea. That chicken meatball made me proud to be part Polish and the food and the service was just excellent. I think the ladies got a kick that I was so happy with the food.
The Polish gourmet treats at Polka Dot Cafe
We all said our goodbyes by the subway as most of the people in my tour went back to Manhattan via the subway at Nassau Street. It was nice meeting everyone and Trina is a good tour guide. I am hoping that she arranges a tour of Bed-Sty next.
My last stop of the day was Saint Stanislaus Kostka Parish at 607 Humboldt Street, a Polish Catholic Church that my Great-Grandmother Rock had raised money to help build at the turn of the last century. What a beautifully detailed church that my Aunt Dee later said she had been baptized in along with several great aunts and uncles had been married there. This had been our family church when my family lived in the neighborhood.
The inside of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Parish
I stayed for the 5:30pm mass and almost cried through the service knowing how important this church was to our family and what a big part it played in our lives. It was a nice service and the priest did a nice job with the mass but it really chocked me up to know that this was part of my past. I felt like my dad was there with me. In a way, I felt like I was home.
St. Stanislaus Kostka Church at 607 Humboldt Street, my family church
As for me, I was so stuffed with food from all over and it was such a nice night to walk, I walked back to Manhattan. I made the turn down Bedford Street and walked through Williamsburg through the ultimate part of the ‘hipster’ neighborhood. It was like walking through a college campus. God, did these kids make me feel old. It was funny how I never felt this way when I used to do the same thing on Rush Street in Chicago. I guess every generation goes through it.
I walked through Williamsburg and then over the Williamsburg Bridge into the Lower East Side and walked across lower Manhattan to Houston Street to see if there were any interesting movies at the Angelica. With nothing I wanted to see, I took the subway back to Port Authority Bus Terminal to go home. I felt so much better after that walk and worked off almost everything. The trip to Greenpoint was really interesting and who knew that my Great-Grandmother was so ‘hip’.
Even if you are not an FIT Alumnus, check out the walking tours that the campus offers. They are reasonable, engaging and you will have a great time.
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