We have been tasked with creating a fun and effective student ambassador program to expand the marketing of the college, for students, by students! Our team has worked closely with school staff to design and generate budget of the operations. Collateral assets have also been created which will be used in the future promotion of the school to incoming and prospective students.
Goal
Some of our main goals are to make sure that anyone coming to our school feels like they are being embraced as a student and as part of the Bergen community. Some of the wonderful assets put together by our team are:
Don’t miss Historic Stone Street in warmer weather. When New York City opens back up don’t miss dinner and drinks here.
The architecture of Stone Street in the Spring 2024.
Stone Street in the Spring of 2024.
The back part of Stone Street.
Stone Street restaurants.
The historic marker for Stone Street.
The old India House on the edge of Stone Street.
History of the area:
Stone Street is a short street in Manhattan’s Financial District. It originally ran from Broad Street to Hanover Square but was divided into two sections by the construction of the Goldman Sachs building at 85 Broad Street in the 1980’s. Today the cluster of historic buildings along Stone, South William, Pearl Streets and Coenties Alley form the Stone Street Historic District.
The area burned during the Fire of 1835
Stone Street is one of New York’s oldest streets. It was originally known by its Dutch name, Hoogh Staet (High Street). In 1632, the Dutch West India Company built the first commercial brewery in North America there. Around 1656, Hoogh Straet was shifted about twenty to twenty-five feet to align it with Brouwer Street, the extension of Hoogh Straet west of the Gracht and which in 1658 became the first paved street in Nieuw Amsterdam. Following the British conquest of the colony, the name Hoogh Straet was translated to High Street. It was then called Duke Street for the Duke of York during most of the 18th century. Leveled in 1771 and 1790, it was renamed Stone Street in 1794 because of it’s cobblestone paving as New Yorkers abandoned reminders of British Rule.
The Fire of 1835
The street’s stores and loft were built for dry-goods merchants and importers, shortly after the Great Fire of 1835, which destroyed many remnants of New Amsterdam.
Most buildings were used as storage. The building at 57 Stone Street was rebuilt in 1903 by C.P.H, Gilbert in Dutch Colonial Revival architecture at the behest of the owner, Amos F. Eno as son of Amos R. Eno. The buildings to the back on South William 13-23 also were reconstructed in the Dutch revival style, evoking New Amsterdam.
Stone Street at night
Following many decades of neglect, a joint partnership between the Landmarks Preservation Commission and other city agencies, the Alliance for Downtown New York and Stone Street owners has transformed Stone Street from a derelict back alley into one of Downtown’s liveliest scenes. Restored buildings, granite paving, bluestone sidewalks and period lights set the stage for the half dozen restaurants and cafes, whose outdoor tables are very popular on warm summer nights.
Stone Street at night.
The eastern portion of the street and the surrounding buildings have been protected since 1996 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as the Stone Street Historic District and is pedestrian only. The historic district is now populated by several restaurants and bars and has a outdoor dining when the weather permits. The India House historic landmark is located at the Hanover Square end of the street.
The Stone Street entrance the morning of The Great Saunter 2024.
(This information was taken directly from Wikipedia and I give them full credit)
As part of my tour of Historic Bars and Pubs on Day One Hundred and Thirteen with the Cornell Club on May 9th, 2018, we toured the famous ‘Stone Street’ one of the original paved streets of Manhattan. You will not find architecture or pavings like this left in New York City. Here and there are streets or buildings that represent these times during the early to mid-1800’s but they are few and scattered in remote spots all over the island. Here the street still represents a different era of Manhattan.
The stores in the 90’s had been either boarded up or were used but in horrible shape. During the business hours not too many people inhabited this area of Lower Manhattan and it was ignored. The neighboring South Street Seaport was being transformed in the mid 80’s into a type of historic theme…
I was watching this video on YouTube that someone took of Midtown Manhattan on the day before the Mayor put the City on a lock down. It is almost shocking how quiet the City was that afternoon. Even in the early morning hours, I had never seen it like this.
The Theater District just before the lockdown. What a difference a week makes!
This was one week after I was at the International Restaurant Show and at The Met!
It looked like the last day on earth!
Here is a copy of the video:
The ironic part was that my next walk was in the Theater District. It is strange how two weeks make such a difference.
I credit this video to YouTuber IURETA and them full credit for this video.
I was just watching ’60 Minutes’ tonight and it has never been scarier to be in New York City. The hospitals are being over-whelmed by patients that are low on supplies and the medical staffs are tired, burnt out and still stepping up to the plate to help get people better. The streets are empty with people as the last of the tourists left two weeks ago and the crowded streets of Manhattan that only in December were packed with so many people that you could not walk seems like a distant memory.
What should have been a great night for everyone. Michigan State WON 80-69!
As you have read from my last two blog entries, I was in Manhattan from March 7th until March 10th walking the International Restaurant Show, watching the Michigan State-Ohio State Basketball game at Blondies Bar on the Upper West Side for who would be the Big Ten Champion (MSU won Go Green Go White) that Sunday night, at the Anthology Film Archives watching Sandra Bullock in “The Net” for a series the movie theater had on 1990’s Internet films on Monday night and then my last night in the City on Tuesday, March 10th for the Gerhard Richter Exhibition at the Met Breuer for a Private Members Night. All this while everything was going on around us.
The night I went to the Anthology Film Archives, I stopped in Chinatown first to go to Wonton Noodle Garden on Mott Street (see review on TripAdvisor) for dinner. What shocked me was how empty the place was that evening. This is a restaurant that is packed all the time and it is open until 2:00am. The only people who were there were myself and two tables of NYU students.
When I asked the waiter where everyone was, he threw up his shoulders and said “Everything going on in the world”. I knew it did not look good that night as the rest of Chinatown was empty. The East Village was hopping with college students and the neighborhood around me was busy but you could feel the mood shifting.
Wonton Noodle Garden’s Cantonese Wonton Soup with Egg Noodles and Roast Pork can cure all ills.
‘The Net’ Trailer
Sandra Bullock can cheer anyone up!
I felt this at the Restaurant Show where you could walk down the aisles of the show and never bump into anyone. The Tuesday afternoon that I went in to see the show one last time by 3:30pm most people had packed up and gone. The show did not close until 4:30pm. They were ready to go by early that morning. So, my last five days in Manhattan I felt the mood changing as people were not sure what to do.
That last night at the Met Breuer as I walked the crowded floors of the museum enjoying the Gerard Richter Show before the opening to the public, I could hear in the corner’s members saying “I am really surprised they did not cancel this.” and “Could you believe this crowd with what’s going on?” It was like all of us knew this was the last night of “ballyhoo”.
All over the world people are banding together to contribute what they can and keep the human spirit alive by volunteering where they can and helping one another out. I know that between my work at the College and the Fire Department everyone has me running around and my spirit of volunteerism is never lacking.
So, to all my readers especially the ones who are displaced New Yorkers remember that New York City has seen it darker days in the past and has risen to overcome them. There is a real spirit in the City that is not replicated anywhere else in the world and we saw that in the 1970’s, 80’s 90’s and on 9/11 to current days.
That was until 1977 when we rediscovered that spirit and said “I LOVE New York!”
To cheer everyone up, I pulled the old campaign from YouTube from the dark days of the 1970’s and 80’s to show how the human spirit can overcome anything if we pull together. So, this special entry of “MywalkinManhattan” is dedicated to all of you who will never let that spirit die both here and where you live now. We will get through this!
After all “WE LOVE NEW YORK!”
The song that started it all:
The original campaign videos:
New York City after 9/11:
The Original Campaign videos from the 1980’s 1-5:
How the “I LOVE NEW YORK” campaign came about:
This excellent documentary was done by a New York High School student in 2006.
Songs that represent the true spirit of New York City:
Native New Yorker by Odyssey:
The Great Liza Minnelli singing the best version of “New York New York”
This article was released around the time of the local shut-downs. I thought this might cheer people up with the celebration of The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ their “Men” of the Year, ‘Man of the Year’ Chief Angelo Roccamo of the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department and Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association ‘Member of the Year’ Kyle Kasper.
We want to thank these members of the Hasbrouck Heights Community for their dedication to the Borough of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ.
My recent article:
The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association honors Retired Chief Angelo Roccamo as “Man of the Year” for his 39 years of service to the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department and to ‘Member of the Year’, Kyle Kasper for his years of service to the HHMA
By Justin Watrel
On the evening of Saturday, February 29th at their Annual Members Dinner, the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ honored Retired and Outgoing Chief of the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department Angelo Roccamo as their “Man of the Year”.
The Executive Board of the Men’s Association voted unanimously for Chief Roccamo and the way he has served his town and the Fire Department over his 39 years of service.
The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Executive Board with Chief Angelo Roccamo, the HHMA “Man of the Year”
Under the direction of the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association President Steve Palladino, the Executive Board presented Chief Roccamo with the award in front of members of the organization and Chief Roccamo’s extended family. He said he was honored to receive the award and had enjoyed his many years on the Department. He was joined by his wife, Vivian in the presentation of the award.
Chief Angelo Roccamo, “Man of the Year” with his family at the HHMA Dinner
The Men’s Association read off many of the Chief’s accomplishments including serving the Department for a second time around over the last three years.
Chief Angelo Roccamo with his wife, Vivian
The Executive Board also chose their ‘Member of the Year’ and it was with much praise that we awarded it to Kyle Kasper for his outstanding work in every project that he tackles for the organization. Mr. Kasper has lent his many talents to increasing business for our Annual Christmas Tree Sales.
The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association Executive Board with “Member of the Year” Kyle Kasper
The Executive Board and Membership of the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association recognizes all its members for all their efforts in making Hasbrouck Heights a better community.
The members of the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ.
Every semester I like to challenge my students to top what the other group has done in full team projects and it is a chance for the students to get to know one another better. In a commuter college like ours it is very difficult as students go to class and then go home or to work right after it is over.
This semester I challenged my two hundred level Marketing students to market the Lyndhurst campus Snack Shop on the third floor of the building. The Snack Shop is run by an outside company who lease the space from Bergen Community College and run the kitchen aspect of the business. The vending machines and the cafeteria sitting area are still run by the college.
Several years ago when I worked in the Lyndhurst campus to teach a Customer Service course, I challenged the students to redesign the snack shop for business. Walking around the Lyndhurst campus for the first time in four years, I noticed that things had not changed much and it was the same lackluster snack shop.
I started to talk to the managers that worked their and as I got to know them I heard their frustrations about running a business in an off main campus site that had very little traffic due to the amount of students in the building. One of the biggest frustrations was the lack of advertising they were allowed in the building.
Since I had always enjoyed the food and service there and the managers I got to know at the beginning of the semester were really nice I thought this could be an interesting project to see how to look at the business through the students eyes. What would they want to see? How could it be made more desirable for them? If they were given the opportunity to change things, how would they do it differently?
Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. logo
So I arranged my first field trip with the students and on the third week of class, I took them out of the classroom and gave them their first real life marketing assignment. I treated my students to a pizza lunch and sat them down while they ate and told them about their first research paper. They would be writing their first paper on what would they do differently. I wanted to see the individual ideas that they could come up with on their own. I thought the pizza was pretty good that afternoon and would be a good start.
So I opened Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc., my fictional consulting company for my business classes, again for business and made them all Marketing Consultants in the company. This was their first corporate gig with the company.
In the next class, I brought the manager, Deborah, in to discuss some of the issues she had running the business and the successes that she had with creating a menu within the guidelines of the company she worked for and the students that she catered to in the building. The students, many of them whom have worked or are working in the food service industry understood what she was saying. It was a very engaging question and answer session.
I gave the students a week and a half to write their papers and submit them to me. I have to say that I was very impressed with the ideas that the students had to promote the Snack Shop, ideas on new signage, ideas to expand the menu with more international foods (I hate the word ‘ethnic’), creating a new design for the facility with a nicer paint job and rounded tables for better conversation and more social media promoting.
The student consultants came up with interesting menus, dynamic graphics for logos and interesting concepts in social media marketing that included Facebook, Instagram and Snap Chat. I had not even though about these things and the students really enlightened me even after all my years of marketing.
Most of my students got ‘A”s on their papers and since they all did such a good job and I was impressed with their input, I broke the students into teams of three and had them work together to present their ideas as a group, pooling their papers together and creating new ideas as a group to present the project to myself and the Management team of the Snack Shop that included the head of Bergen Community College’s Campus Foodservice.
On the afternoon of February 17th, we spent class time with all the student groups giving their presentations to myself, the manager of the Snack Shop and the head of Campus Foodservice. I have to say that all three of us were impressed with what we saw. Each student group came up with a Power Point presentation of their work, pooled their ideas, created multiple logos and new concepts of marketing.
Many came up with new ideas for menu changes and new food items to be served. Their ideas of signage with new catchy names for the Snack Shop and new menu design had the three of us shaking our heads in amazement. I have to say that I was very proud of what students could accomplish in a two week period and the cause and affect of the business.
Needless to say within a two week period of the presentation, the Management Team of the Snack Shop renamed it the “Bulldog Cafe”, revised their menu, added things like freshly baked cookies and some ‘International Items’, got a table on the first floor entrance to post their menus, started posting signs in the elevator, got the cafe mentioned on the “Bergen Daily” email posting every week (our online campus newspaper) and even opened a Facebook and Instagram accounts to promote the new “Bulldog Cafe”. They even started a bonus program that if you bought a certain item multiple times, you would get a free item. It was very impressive what from the project was able to be incorporated into the business.
The new “Bulldog Cafe” concept
Traffic in the cafe seemed to be on the uptick right before we left for the Spring Break. Then came the extension of the Spring Break due to the Coronaviris outbreak and then the closure of the College for the rest of the semester. So we will never really know what the end result would have been by the end of the Spring Semester but I know that as a businessman and a restaurateur that we would have seen big changes in the business in the new “Bulldog Cafe” concept.
Congratulations members of the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Team for your hard work.
Good Luck to the Lyndhurst Team as they promote next “Historical Bergen County: From Revolution to Revelation”, our big team project.
I wanted to thank you for following my blog, “MywalkinManhattan”. I hope you enjoy walking along side of me as I explore Manhattan block by block.
I will be on leave from the project of walking around the Island of Manhattan for right now. With the Coronavirus Disease situation hitting our country and the shutting down of services and cultural sites in New York City, there is no unnecessary travel into Manhattan at this time. So I will be stopping my walk for now until things get better.
I had just finished my walk around the International Restaurant Show last Tuesday, March 10th and then had a private members night at the Met Breuer that evening (Please see my VisitingaMuseum.com site) while I was on Spring Break from Bergen Community College where I work.
My updated blog on the International Restaurant Show at the Javis Center:
I was about to enter the Theater District on Wednesday when things started to shut down in New York City. I felt it was just safer to stay home at this time. By Friday, March 13th they did not want people coming into the City unless it became vital.
I was at the Met Breuer on March 10th, the last night before hell broke loose. We had a Private Members night for the opening of the Gerard Richter Show. Here is my write up of the museum on VistingaMuseum.com:
So I have been home updated the older blog entries of my walks and added more pictures and attachments to cultural site and restaurants. So please enjoy Days One through One Hundred and Fifty Nine of my walk around the Island of Manhattan while we wait for things to get better.
To all my readers, my best to all of you and your families at this tough time in our country and please stay safe.
Another year goes by and another Restaurant Show with new developments in the industry. The show closed just as everything in New York City shut down for business.
I took time out of my walking project to take a detour to the Javis Center to the Annual New York Restaurant Show. I try to keep up with the latest trends in what kitchen equipment is new and innovative, how computers and apps are changing the way we order and have food delivered and new food stuffs that will be gracing the tables of banquet halls and restaurants not just in New York City but all over the country. What scares me the most of the Hospitality industry is how some people in the industry are trying to take the hospitality out of it by computerizing everything to the point where you don’t see people anymore.
By walking the entire show, I saw more things that will improve the industry and more money saving items will make cooking easier and better in design and sanitation. One…
This was at the beginning of the Pandemic in March of 2020
Chinese New Year in 2021:
I returned to Chinatown for Chinese New Year 2021 and what a change to the neighborhood in just a year. I have never seen so many “For Rent” signs in the core of Chinatown. This pandemic has destroyed so many well-known businesses. Not just restaurants and snack shops that could not adjust to the take out business that many places have had to adopt to now. It was well known gift shops, hair and nail salons, body massage businesses and several well-known bakeries.
When I saw a sign on the Lung Moon Bakery 83 Mulberry Street (visit my reviews on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com and TripAdvisor) that the bakery closed its doors after 53 years in business that is telling you there are problems here. Sun Sai Gai at 220 Canal Street (visit my reviews as well on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com and TripAdvisor as well), which has been there for over 30 years has been closed as well and I am not sure if it is going to be reopened. This is heart breaking because these were my go-to places for years.
The weird part was it was not just on Mott Street, the heart of Chinatown, but on the side streets off Mott and outer parts of the neighborhood reaching out to East Broadway and into parts of the Lower East Side like Hester and Henry Streets. It is not just in Chinatown because at the end of the evening I walked up to Little Moony at 230 Mulberry Street (visit my review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com and TripAdvisor) to see if that store was still open and walked through the heart of Little Italy Mulberry Street.
Three well known restaurants had closed for business including Angelo’s and Luna which has been mainstays of the neighborhood for over 40 years. A lot store fronts were dark here as well and slowly but surely NoLiTa (North of Little Italy) is creeping further and further into Little Italy. Even the two well known Chinese restaurants on Mulberry Street are now closed for business.
My journey on this gloomy Saturday morning started when I took the C train down to Canal Street and started to walk around Lower Manhattan to see what was open and not. The City had lifted its ban on indoor dining, I think too little to late, for Chinese New Year and Valentines Day. Still even with the 25% indoor dining allowed, people choose to eat outside or else some of the restaurants were not ready to open indoor dining. On a 30 degree day I could not believe that people wanted to eat outside. Even bundling under heat lamps does not make pleasant dining. The mood was festive but people were cold.
It was the second day of Chinese New Year and there were not that many people out in the streets as I thought there would be. In the early morning, there were small groups of people walking around but not the throngs of people on parade day. Last year, the Chinese New Year Parade was very subdued and there were not that many people around the route. The parade was cancelled this year and even though there were lights and decorations all over Mott Street there was not a lot of people walking around.
Chinese New Year 2021-Mott Street
When I visited the provision and grocery stores in the neighborhood, they were mobbed with people doing their grocery shopping telling me that people were opting to stay home and have small intimate dinners with their families. This is where I saw no social distancing.
My project today was to see not just what was happening for the New Year but to visit many of the stores and restaurants I had mentioned on my blogs to see if they were still open. Thankfully many of the establishments that were already take-out were surviving the storm. Plus I came with an appetite.
My first stop was Fried Dumpling on 106 Moscoe Street, a little hole in the wall for fried pork and chive dumplings. The owner/chef is a real hoot. I am figuring she changed her prices and serving sizes to increase sales because I ordered 17 dumplings for $5.00 which I thought was too much to eat but ended up devouring all the them in record time while sitting next to the bathrooms in Columbus Park just off Mott Street. In the summer months this park is packed with people but with the two feet snow piles and over flowing garbage cans, it was not the best place to eat. Even with the cold weather, these delicious little pan-fried pork and chive dumplings can warm any heart in the New Year.
Fried Dumpling at 106 Moscoe Street
After this snack that warmed me up I walked all over the neighborhood, walking the side streets and the Bowery which is the northern border of the traditional neighborhood. Again many of the well known restaurants and stores were either empty or closed for the New Year celebrations.
I walked up and down the side streets of Chinatown that border with Mott Street along Bayard, Pell, Henry, Division and East Broadway to look at the status of restaurants that I enjoy and have written about and to see what is still open there as well. It has not been pretty.
Dumplings at 25B Henry Street, one of the few places left in Chinatown where you can get five dumplings for $1.00 is closed except for takeout (visit my reviews on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com and TripAdvisor). That was always the fun of this place was squeezing in and having their delicious pork and chive dumplings. I was always sharing soy sauce with the kids from the local school that would come here for a snack and I would listen in on their very adult sounding conversations.
Dumplings at 25B Henry Street
Walking up the side streets until I got to the Manhattan Bridge was just as upsetting, There were so many closed businesses on all of these streets that I wondered where the locals were eating and shopping. What really surprised me was how many art galleries had opened in the places where provision stores and small restaurants had once been. When I started to see white twenty year olds walking out of the tenements in the neighborhood, I knew that it would not be long until this whole area started to gentrify.
The walk took me further into the Lower East Side then I had ever been. I walked down the length of Catherine Street to the river and then turned around and walked down Market to the park under the Manhattan Bridge to watch the skate boarders. Those kids were really talented. They were performing some amazing tricks.
I stopped at this little deli, the K & K Food Deli at 57 Market Street just to take a peek inside. The cook was so friendly to me that I felt I should get something. Even after the 17 dumplings I was still hungry and I ordered a Bacon, Egg and Cheese on a roll ($3.25). It was mind-blowingly good. The roll was fresh chewy and soft and the perfect combination of scrambled eggs with the cheese melted just perfect and crisp bacon. On this cool now afternoon it really warmed me up and I devoured it while I walked along Cherry Street.
K & K Food Deli at 57 Market Street
This area of the City is all housing projects and even in the small park in between them all it was really quiet. The one thing I find when I visit the areas around the projects is the assortment of restaurants are so creative with their menus and they are so reasonable. I just popped in and out and looked at their menus.
I walked around Little Flower Park at Madison and Jefferson Street, which lines all the housing complexes and was watching as kids were using the swings in snow drifts. I thought that was dedication of wanting to get outside as the weather grew colder that day.
I walked back down Madison Street and around Monroe Street and back up Market Street to get to the foot of the Manhattan Bridge entrance and then walked around that to Chrystie Street. Then I made the turn to see if my favorite group of restaurants were still open Chi Dumpling House at 77 Chrystie Street , Wah Fung Number One at 79 Chrystie Street and Tao Hong Bakery at 81 Chrystie Street. I called this stretch of Chrystie Street the ‘triple threat’ as these three restaurants are mind blowing and the best part reasonable (visit my reviews on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com and TripAdvisor).
Chi Dumpling House at 77 Chrystie Street
Even after 17 dumplings and a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich I was still hungry so I stopped in at Chi Dumpling House for steamed dumplings and scallion pancakes. This little hole in the wall has the most amazing food and for $5.00 I got an order of steamed dumplings ($3.00) and an order of scallion pancakes ($2.00). Both were just excellent.
Because there was no indoor dining in the restaurant yet, I had to eat them in the park across the street. In between the snow piles and the pigeons, I found a place to sit down. The dumplings and the scallion pancake let off so much steam you could see it in the air. The scallion pancake was loaded with freshly chopped scallions and was pan-fried to be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The dumplings were plump and bursting with juice when I topped them with soy and hot chili sauce. They warmed me up at the day grew colder.
I walked back through Mott Street and saw many people twisting poppers and letting streamers into the air. About a dozen people got into it and were having a good time blocking traffic. It was nice to see a little celebrating that day.
Sweets Bakery at 135 Walker Street
My last stop on the agenda was Sweets bakery, one of my favorites in Chinatown at 135 Walker Street, which is right across the street from Sun Sai Gai. The pastries here are just excellent and I have never had a bad baked item from here. I treated myself to an Egg Custard tart ($1.50) and a Pineapple Bun ($1.25). Both had just been baked and were still warm. I started eating them as soon as I left the store to explore Little Italy.
The Egg Custard Tarts at Sweets Bakery are amazing
I devoured them before I crossed the street. The egg custard had a rich creamy texture and was still warm when I made each bite. The taste of the butter in the tart and the eggs was so good. The Pineapple Bun was made of a rich dough and topped with a sweet crumb topping that crackled when I bit into it. It was a nice way to end this ongoing meal.
Walking through Little Italy was just as bad as Chinatown. The main thoroughfare, Mulberry Street was like looking at Mott Street. Some of the most famous restaurants closed like Luna and Angelo’s. I could not believe how many empty store fronts were open. Even for a Saturday night it was really quiet. There were a few people eating inside.
What I did notice just like in Chinatown was that NoLiTa (North of Little Italy) was creeping further and further down Mulberry Street and the surrounding blocks. All of a sudden all these little trendy stores and restaurants started opening up where the Italian restaurants once lined the streets.
I reached my destination, Little Moony at 230 Mulberry Street (visit my review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com), one of the nicest children’s stores in Manhattan and one of the most creative. I was so happy to see that they were still open. I felt a little over-whelmed because the owner was showering attention on me as I was here only customer. She looked determined to sell me something. I guess I looked like a high spender. I was polite and looked around. As a store it is so visually appealing with the greatest window displays.
Little Moony at 230 Mulberry Street
The owner showed me all the new clothing that had come in, the artisan toys she was carrying and some new books carried. If I had someone to buy something for I would have bought something. The merchandise is that nice. I was just afraid that she had closed.
I walked back down Mulberry Street again surprised by the number of people in the restaurants and the number of new buildings opening up on the lower part of Mulberry Street. I do not even give it five years before the entire core of Little Italy is just a block if that.
I walked back to the A train up Canal Street and looked at the buildings in various stages of renovations. I have to say one thing that the City is still progressing as COVID still goes on. It is like walking through NoMAD (North of Madison Square Park), the neighborhood just keeps getting sandblasted and going through another stage of its life.
Maybe this is what the New Year is about, new beginnings and new life to something. Even though there was no formal parade, there was still the feeling that the New Year was here and let’s hope it is a better New Year!
Happy Chinese New Year! (2018) & Happy New Year Again (2020)
After a long day in the Soup Kitchen (I have to stop doubling up events on days), instead of finishing the walk of the Upper East Side, I decided to head downtown to Chinatown for the first day of Chinese New Year. What a madhouse!
First off, it was a gloomy day. The clouds kept threatening rain which finally came around 4:00 pm but it did not damper everyone’s spirits. The city closed off the main streets of Chinatown, so people were able to walk around Mott, Mulberry, Bayard, Elizabeth Streets and all the side streets around the core of Chinatown.
It was a very festive afternoon of Lion Dances in front of businesses and a non-stop of silly string and firecrackers going off all over the neighborhood. It was fun watching all the kids…
Fee: Adults $10.00 (15 and older)/Seniors (60 and over) $7.00/Children (3-14) $6.00
I wanted to celebrate Groundhog’s Day this year and had fully planned to go to Punxsutaway, PA to see the Groundhog’s Day festival again (see Day Thirty-Seven of ‘MywalkinManhattan’) but a ‘Arctic Vortex’ swept all over the Midwest with its fringes reaching the middle of Pennsylvania. It would be 30 degrees on Groundhog’s Day with a temperature of 4 degrees that night. The thought of sitting in Gobbler’s Knob in almost 0 weather had no appeal to me and I changed my plans.
I had remembered that there was a festival on Staten Island at the Staten Island Zoo with ‘Staten Island Chuck’ on Groundhog’s Day so off I went early the next morning to see the…
mywalkinmanhattan 