My Impression of NYC:
Oh the "Big Apple", where do I begin? This city is known to be the most populated, along with, most popular around and to tell you the truth.. I do not know why nor do I understand why. I have much understanding that the city of New York has a lot of history behind it but I never took the chance to learn about it. Not only does it have history but it also makes a significant impact on things like commerce, media, fashion, art, finance, entertainment, art and education. New York City consists of five boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan) and also contains many famous landmarks. If you are looking to get more facts about New York City in this portion of my journal article, you are going to be very disappointed because that is all I know and understand about the city, but I hope this will soon change.
I am an individual who mainly lives in a bubble on Long Island, in my happy place called Suffolk County. This being said, I do not travel to the big city often or go out of my way to do such a thing. The few times I have been to the city, I always get so overwhelmed and anxious because of the clutter and population and also the bums everywhere, it is just not my speed. Every time I do go to the city I always return home and say to myself " this is why I hate the city ". This is something I definitely would like to try and change because I almost feel like I am missing out on something that is so great to everyone else and I am just not on the same page. Why does everyone think New York City is so great? this is why I did something out of the ordinary and took the Gotham city class, so I can explore with others the history and significance of the city we all love so much, New York.
I am an individual who mainly lives in a bubble on Long Island, in my happy place called Suffolk County. This being said, I do not travel to the big city often or go out of my way to do such a thing. The few times I have been to the city, I always get so overwhelmed and anxious because of the clutter and population and also the bums everywhere, it is just not my speed. Every time I do go to the city I always return home and say to myself " this is why I hate the city ". This is something I definitely would like to try and change because I almost feel like I am missing out on something that is so great to everyone else and I am just not on the same page. Why does everyone think New York City is so great? this is why I did something out of the ordinary and took the Gotham city class, so I can explore with others the history and significance of the city we all love so much, New York.
Queens:
Hopping on the 9:28 train from Babylon to Penn Station was where it all began. I woke up that morning with a big knot in my stomach full of emotions all the way from feeling anxious to extremely excited. My dad followed me all the way till the train came because I am so unfamiliar with the trains and the city life so he sent me off on my journey. Sitting there on the train by myself for a little, gave me time to pounder about my journey ahead until my friend, Melissa, met me on the train from Merrick. We both were very curious about what this Gotham class entailed. We soon arrived at Penn Station and just as we were walking, professor Russo came from behind us and said that we looked very lost! We really weren't, we are just the two slow moving ones in the group, which we realized from the beginning. From there we had 5 minutes to spare so I got the chance to get my metro card and my daily Dunkin Doughnuts fulfillment. I am now ready to go!
The first spot we were hitting was Queens. I knew this was going to be interesting because I never have really explored this area before, other than going to a baseball game or two. The first place we went to was Flushing Meadow Park, where we got the chance to pass by the US Open, which was pretty cool because I've never been there. "The park also boasts a number of interesting sites and attractions that make it well worth a visit, including a wonderful Hall of Science, an extensive collection of art and artifacts at the Queens Museum of Art, two professional sports stadiums- Citi Field and USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, and a compact but well-maintained zoo". (ENY, 217) We stopped for a bit to rest and discuss a few important topics like Robert Moses, who was responsible for going "crazy" for highways and parkways. He created Grand Central Parkway, Jackson Robinson Parkway, Cross- Island Parkway and Brooklyn Queens Expressway. We briefly discussed the World Fairs, which I knew nothing about before this discussion. They are linked to the history of this park and were held all around the world for different people to come out and have exposure to different cultures. While the professors were telling us about them, it reminded me of Epcot Center in Disney World and thats exactly what they related it to! We walked toward one of the most important structures in the Worlds Fair, the Unisphere, symbolizing "Man's Achievements on shrinking globe and an expanding universe" as well as reflecting the idea of global interdependence. It was so beautiful, we could not pass up taking pictures, along with, trying to get some of the mist of water that was coming out from the fountains around it. We went to the Queens Museum where we got to see the famous Panorama of New York City. This panorama is not like the ones you take on your cell phone, but its the one that covers more than 9.335 square feet and contains 895,000 buildings, just like New York City. This was breath taking and it was so interesting because Robert Moses wanted everything to be color coded, as the guide told us, so that we understood exactly what the city was all about. Mike gave the class an awesome way to remember the three east river bridges, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg, BMW. Queensborough and Triborough he called QT.
"Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States with over half of its residents born outside the United States". (ENY, 213) Jackson Heights can definitely mark that statement as being true. Here we took the stop to the Jackson Diner, which is very misleading because it is not what you think, it is an Indian cuisine buffet. This is where I ate my first ever, Indian meal. I like to try new things but the goat was not on my menu for the day, thats for sure! Jackson Heights is like its own little world and definitely tested my bravery because it is nothing like Suffolk County. As we were on the subway to head to Astoria, Mike encountered a man that was trying to start a fight with him because he apparently "smelt like shit". To the mans defense, we did just eat Indian food but he was trying to get more out of him than that. Eventually he just walked away when he realized we wanted nothing to do with him.
Astoria is a part of Queens that I knew a couple things about, only because my boyfriends father talks about it all of the time. He owns a bar and a couple of apartments there, so I felt slightly more educated in this area than most that we have seen thus far. We stopped in front of a Beach Bum Tanning on Steinway Street, to discuss the history of Astoria. This area was famous for film making and home to the Paramount Studios and in the 1930's the studio became one of the most important in the country. Astoria is recognized by showing Gentrification, which is a dramatic shift in urban communities toward wealthier residents and increasing property values, which was shown on 35th avenue. This is where we walked in to the Museum of the Moving Image, where the history of art and movie making is celebrated. It focuses on the technical aspects of movie and television making, while having many of the older television sets and video cameras on display for all to see. The group walked around for about a half hour, taking in every little picture, drawing and objects they had on display for us to see. Toward the end we got the chance to relax and take a couple of pictures near the cafe that they had in the museum, as our journey will be ending earlier than usual unexpectedly. Melissa and I took the subway back to Penn Station with our professors and ended up in Tracks having a nice cold beer as we waited for our train to head back home.
The first spot we were hitting was Queens. I knew this was going to be interesting because I never have really explored this area before, other than going to a baseball game or two. The first place we went to was Flushing Meadow Park, where we got the chance to pass by the US Open, which was pretty cool because I've never been there. "The park also boasts a number of interesting sites and attractions that make it well worth a visit, including a wonderful Hall of Science, an extensive collection of art and artifacts at the Queens Museum of Art, two professional sports stadiums- Citi Field and USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, and a compact but well-maintained zoo". (ENY, 217) We stopped for a bit to rest and discuss a few important topics like Robert Moses, who was responsible for going "crazy" for highways and parkways. He created Grand Central Parkway, Jackson Robinson Parkway, Cross- Island Parkway and Brooklyn Queens Expressway. We briefly discussed the World Fairs, which I knew nothing about before this discussion. They are linked to the history of this park and were held all around the world for different people to come out and have exposure to different cultures. While the professors were telling us about them, it reminded me of Epcot Center in Disney World and thats exactly what they related it to! We walked toward one of the most important structures in the Worlds Fair, the Unisphere, symbolizing "Man's Achievements on shrinking globe and an expanding universe" as well as reflecting the idea of global interdependence. It was so beautiful, we could not pass up taking pictures, along with, trying to get some of the mist of water that was coming out from the fountains around it. We went to the Queens Museum where we got to see the famous Panorama of New York City. This panorama is not like the ones you take on your cell phone, but its the one that covers more than 9.335 square feet and contains 895,000 buildings, just like New York City. This was breath taking and it was so interesting because Robert Moses wanted everything to be color coded, as the guide told us, so that we understood exactly what the city was all about. Mike gave the class an awesome way to remember the three east river bridges, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg, BMW. Queensborough and Triborough he called QT.
"Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States with over half of its residents born outside the United States". (ENY, 213) Jackson Heights can definitely mark that statement as being true. Here we took the stop to the Jackson Diner, which is very misleading because it is not what you think, it is an Indian cuisine buffet. This is where I ate my first ever, Indian meal. I like to try new things but the goat was not on my menu for the day, thats for sure! Jackson Heights is like its own little world and definitely tested my bravery because it is nothing like Suffolk County. As we were on the subway to head to Astoria, Mike encountered a man that was trying to start a fight with him because he apparently "smelt like shit". To the mans defense, we did just eat Indian food but he was trying to get more out of him than that. Eventually he just walked away when he realized we wanted nothing to do with him.
Astoria is a part of Queens that I knew a couple things about, only because my boyfriends father talks about it all of the time. He owns a bar and a couple of apartments there, so I felt slightly more educated in this area than most that we have seen thus far. We stopped in front of a Beach Bum Tanning on Steinway Street, to discuss the history of Astoria. This area was famous for film making and home to the Paramount Studios and in the 1930's the studio became one of the most important in the country. Astoria is recognized by showing Gentrification, which is a dramatic shift in urban communities toward wealthier residents and increasing property values, which was shown on 35th avenue. This is where we walked in to the Museum of the Moving Image, where the history of art and movie making is celebrated. It focuses on the technical aspects of movie and television making, while having many of the older television sets and video cameras on display for all to see. The group walked around for about a half hour, taking in every little picture, drawing and objects they had on display for us to see. Toward the end we got the chance to relax and take a couple of pictures near the cafe that they had in the museum, as our journey will be ending earlier than usual unexpectedly. Melissa and I took the subway back to Penn Station with our professors and ended up in Tracks having a nice cold beer as we waited for our train to head back home.
Brooklyn:
September 13th, 2014, it was a cloudy and unpredictable day being that there was a great chance of rain throughout the day. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was check the Gotham City website to see if there were any change of plans and/or news updates. Here I read that our events for the day were about to change due to the weather, we were not going to be able to go to Coney Island, which made me really upset. I was so excited to go there and see Coney Island for the first time but things happen! I was not going to let this ruin my day ahead of me. Again, I hopped on the 9:28 train to Penn Station and met up with Melissa on the train. We had our Starbucks on the train ride there, so we were all ready by the time we arrived.
We got to a beautiful park in lower Manhattan right near the City Hall, with a nice fountain and here we stopped to listen to Mike talk about the Brooklyn Bridge and the history behind it all. "The City Hall was completed in 1811, this is the oldest city hall in the United States" (ENY, 41). It was really hard to try and pay attention to him speaking because there were a bunch of pigeons surrounding us, which I am deathly afraid of. Not just pigeons but birds in general. The Brooklyn Bridge was started in the 1870's by John Roebling, who ended up getting hit by a ferry in a tragic accident and got an infection and shortly passing away, so his son took over. His son shortly had been physically disabled from a disease that was spreading, dealing with air bubbles in the body, so from there on, Emily Roebling, the wife of John, took over in assisting him. Emily started to study higher level mathematics dealing with bridge specifications so that she was well educated and aware with what she was dealing with. The Brooklyn Bridge was breath taking and Neo-Gothic. In medieval gothic architecture, this was a very popular style because it revived the neoclassical styles at the time. It was a longer walk then what I expected it to be, but every moment was amazing. The scenery and views surrounding the bridge is just something that no one would be able to explain until you experience it.
Just when I thought it couldn't get more beautiful, we went to DUMBO, which is between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. DUMBO stands for, down under the manhattan bridge overpass, which is exactly where it was. It was such a great view of everything in one shot and it was cool because we got to run into Miranda, from Sex in the City, so it was very eventful. "From this vintage point, it will immediately become evident why this area is referred to as, "the heights". (ENY, 150) Mike took us up and down the blocks of Brooklyn Heights and educated us in learning about the brownstone buildings. Brownstone is basically brown sandstone that was once very popular as a building material back in the day. There are many homes throughout the New York City area who have brownstone and they are highly desired. We also learned about the different types of greek columns, Doric, Iconic, and Corinthian. Doric is characterized by short, faceted, and heavy columns, with plain rounded capitals. Iconic is known to be slender, large pillars and a large base with two scrolls. The Corinthian column is also slender but are more decorative with leave like structures coming off of them.
We got to a beautiful park in lower Manhattan right near the City Hall, with a nice fountain and here we stopped to listen to Mike talk about the Brooklyn Bridge and the history behind it all. "The City Hall was completed in 1811, this is the oldest city hall in the United States" (ENY, 41). It was really hard to try and pay attention to him speaking because there were a bunch of pigeons surrounding us, which I am deathly afraid of. Not just pigeons but birds in general. The Brooklyn Bridge was started in the 1870's by John Roebling, who ended up getting hit by a ferry in a tragic accident and got an infection and shortly passing away, so his son took over. His son shortly had been physically disabled from a disease that was spreading, dealing with air bubbles in the body, so from there on, Emily Roebling, the wife of John, took over in assisting him. Emily started to study higher level mathematics dealing with bridge specifications so that she was well educated and aware with what she was dealing with. The Brooklyn Bridge was breath taking and Neo-Gothic. In medieval gothic architecture, this was a very popular style because it revived the neoclassical styles at the time. It was a longer walk then what I expected it to be, but every moment was amazing. The scenery and views surrounding the bridge is just something that no one would be able to explain until you experience it.
Just when I thought it couldn't get more beautiful, we went to DUMBO, which is between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. DUMBO stands for, down under the manhattan bridge overpass, which is exactly where it was. It was such a great view of everything in one shot and it was cool because we got to run into Miranda, from Sex in the City, so it was very eventful. "From this vintage point, it will immediately become evident why this area is referred to as, "the heights". (ENY, 150) Mike took us up and down the blocks of Brooklyn Heights and educated us in learning about the brownstone buildings. Brownstone is basically brown sandstone that was once very popular as a building material back in the day. There are many homes throughout the New York City area who have brownstone and they are highly desired. We also learned about the different types of greek columns, Doric, Iconic, and Corinthian. Doric is characterized by short, faceted, and heavy columns, with plain rounded capitals. Iconic is known to be slender, large pillars and a large base with two scrolls. The Corinthian column is also slender but are more decorative with leave like structures coming off of them.
The Village:
As the routine goes, we all met up in Penn Station around 11 o'clock. I am so thankful that Melissa and I have been making it on time everyday so far, considering I am coming all the way from Suffolk County. Professor Russo seemed to be a little frustrated because some of the students were going to be late but I just thanked God that it wasn't me that he was frustrated with! We listened to him speak about Penn Station and how it use to be a beautiful place, which seemed unrealistic because of how it is now. "The original Pennsylvania station, built in 1910 by McKim, Mead, and White was considered a masterpiece of Beaux-Arts style and was revered as one of the most impressive buildings in New York City" (ENY, 30). There was good news and bad news about today, we didn't have to take a subway anywhere, which worked out for me because I forgot to get my metro card, but we did have to walk a lot! As we walked outside of Penn Station, we learned about the history and about the beautiful James Farley Post Office that was right across the street. I had no idea that it was the home of "operation Santa", in the film Miracle on 34th Street in 1947, which amazed me. Professor Russo discussed the architects that were responsible for creating the famous Farley building and also Penn Station, who were known as McKim, Mead, and White. White, we learned, was a serial seducer of teenage girls at the time and his female conquests could "wine and dine" him in seclusion. We all pretty much started hysterical laughing at this point and we continued on our way.
The amount of walking we were about to do, we all didn't know what we were getting into. "In the mid-19th century, a street-level freight line ran through the heart of Chelsea to transport produce through the city. The existence of train lines on crowded city streets, however led to numerous fatalities, so many in fact that 10th Avenue came to be known as "Death Avenue. In response to this problem, in the 1930s the New York Central Railroad had the line elevated 30 feet above the street, but it fell out of use in the 1980s" (ENY, 106). This is now called the High Line, which runs from 30th Street and Tenth Avenue and strolls down South, and was opened in 2006. Ever since then is has been a big spot for many tourists and New Yorkers. As the class was walking down it, we ran into Toby from Pretty Little Liars, which was awesome! It honestly, was not as beautiful as I thought it would be, but still was a great experience. "Since the High Line runs along 10th Avenue in Chelsea, you can descend from it at any of the staircases located at 26th, 23rd, 20th, or 18th Streets to visit galleries." (ENY, 85). That is exactly what we did, before heading to all of the different art galleries in the beautiful village of Chelsea. "What Chelsea is primarily known for today is its numerous art galleries, showcasing some of the world's most prominent contemporary art." (ENY, 85). We hopped from gallery to gallery, totaling in about 4 different places we got to experience. Professor Russo had told us that some of the things we were going to see, might not look exactly like a piece of art in our mind, but it is one of the most beautiful items to the artist and we had to respect that. Printed Matter was probably the one that stood out the most to me, because it held the most interesting items and books that you will ever find. "Stop in to browse and you will find yourself being amazed at how this bookstore can remain in business in an area as pricy as Chelsea." (ENY, 86). After seeing all of the art, we ended up walking around near the Chelsea Historical District, which was really pretty because of the red brick houses. We also head toward the St. Peter's Episcopal Church, "Designed by Moore himself, this Gothic Revival church was completed in 1836 as a replacement for the community's earlier Greek Revival church (which now serves as the parish rectory)." (ENY, 87).
We all have done a lot of walking and we were getting very tired and hungry at this point of the day, so we walked toward the Meatpacking District. This use to be the home of slaughter houses and also meatpacking plants. "During the 1970s and 80s, it turned into a meat market of a different sort- an area where transvestite prostitutes roamed the streets at night." (ENY, 87). It was cleaned up shortly after, when Mayor Giuliani decided to try and crack down on crime in the city. Today, it is now streets of some of the city's most popular restaurants and bars, as well as some stores. Here we all decided to go to a bar/restaurant that Professor Russo recommended to us, which was really good. We ended up meeting the group a little late because the food was taking forever to come out. Washington Square Park was were we hit up next, where a lot of students who attend NYU go to just hangout. Stanford White's Washington Arch really stood out to me because it was so beautiful and such a dominant feature of the park, Meanwhile a wedding was also taking place when we saw it, so this really had my attention!
The Merchant's House Museum, located in The East Village, is a wonderfully preserved Federal house with many decorations and furniture from the past. "The house was built by Joseph Brewster in 1832 and sold to Seabury Tredwell, a wealthy merchant, in 1835 for $18,000." (ENY, 99). Our speaker who was directing us through the house, informed us that it was haunted with ghosts and sometimes people can see them when looking into the mirrors in the house. Here we learned all about the history and the family's past, while taking a tour of the whole house and every floor. What I thought was really interesting was that the wife of Seabury, Eliza, had only one day to do visiting with her friends or family, in which they left their cards with their name on it and had to wait for Eliza to approve the visit or decline. It's crazy to think about how it was like that back then, compared to how the world is now.
The amount of walking we were about to do, we all didn't know what we were getting into. "In the mid-19th century, a street-level freight line ran through the heart of Chelsea to transport produce through the city. The existence of train lines on crowded city streets, however led to numerous fatalities, so many in fact that 10th Avenue came to be known as "Death Avenue. In response to this problem, in the 1930s the New York Central Railroad had the line elevated 30 feet above the street, but it fell out of use in the 1980s" (ENY, 106). This is now called the High Line, which runs from 30th Street and Tenth Avenue and strolls down South, and was opened in 2006. Ever since then is has been a big spot for many tourists and New Yorkers. As the class was walking down it, we ran into Toby from Pretty Little Liars, which was awesome! It honestly, was not as beautiful as I thought it would be, but still was a great experience. "Since the High Line runs along 10th Avenue in Chelsea, you can descend from it at any of the staircases located at 26th, 23rd, 20th, or 18th Streets to visit galleries." (ENY, 85). That is exactly what we did, before heading to all of the different art galleries in the beautiful village of Chelsea. "What Chelsea is primarily known for today is its numerous art galleries, showcasing some of the world's most prominent contemporary art." (ENY, 85). We hopped from gallery to gallery, totaling in about 4 different places we got to experience. Professor Russo had told us that some of the things we were going to see, might not look exactly like a piece of art in our mind, but it is one of the most beautiful items to the artist and we had to respect that. Printed Matter was probably the one that stood out the most to me, because it held the most interesting items and books that you will ever find. "Stop in to browse and you will find yourself being amazed at how this bookstore can remain in business in an area as pricy as Chelsea." (ENY, 86). After seeing all of the art, we ended up walking around near the Chelsea Historical District, which was really pretty because of the red brick houses. We also head toward the St. Peter's Episcopal Church, "Designed by Moore himself, this Gothic Revival church was completed in 1836 as a replacement for the community's earlier Greek Revival church (which now serves as the parish rectory)." (ENY, 87).
We all have done a lot of walking and we were getting very tired and hungry at this point of the day, so we walked toward the Meatpacking District. This use to be the home of slaughter houses and also meatpacking plants. "During the 1970s and 80s, it turned into a meat market of a different sort- an area where transvestite prostitutes roamed the streets at night." (ENY, 87). It was cleaned up shortly after, when Mayor Giuliani decided to try and crack down on crime in the city. Today, it is now streets of some of the city's most popular restaurants and bars, as well as some stores. Here we all decided to go to a bar/restaurant that Professor Russo recommended to us, which was really good. We ended up meeting the group a little late because the food was taking forever to come out. Washington Square Park was were we hit up next, where a lot of students who attend NYU go to just hangout. Stanford White's Washington Arch really stood out to me because it was so beautiful and such a dominant feature of the park, Meanwhile a wedding was also taking place when we saw it, so this really had my attention!
The Merchant's House Museum, located in The East Village, is a wonderfully preserved Federal house with many decorations and furniture from the past. "The house was built by Joseph Brewster in 1832 and sold to Seabury Tredwell, a wealthy merchant, in 1835 for $18,000." (ENY, 99). Our speaker who was directing us through the house, informed us that it was haunted with ghosts and sometimes people can see them when looking into the mirrors in the house. Here we learned all about the history and the family's past, while taking a tour of the whole house and every floor. What I thought was really interesting was that the wife of Seabury, Eliza, had only one day to do visiting with her friends or family, in which they left their cards with their name on it and had to wait for Eliza to approve the visit or decline. It's crazy to think about how it was like that back then, compared to how the world is now.