In a city where things change constantly, there's one place that has managed to hang on for over forty years -- the comics and pop culture store Forbidden Planet.
Located between 12th and 13th streets on Broadway, it's one of the last old school comic book stores left in NYC. It was opened in 1981, a spinoff location of a similar store in London, but it quickly became a much beloved, NYC landmark, a place where teenagers and comic geeks congregated to get the latest installments of their favorite series, meet and get autographs from their favorite cartoonists, and meet similar people.
I recently took my kid who loves graphic arts and comics and she liked it. Although the current Forbidden Planet is much smaller than it used to be, I'm so thankful that it's still there -- and that NYC kids like mine can still get lost into a world of fantasy.
During our time in Paris, we took the train out of the city to visit the Palace of Versailles. The brainchild of the Sun King, Louis XIV, it was originally a hunting lodge that was built into a massive, ornate structure that has stunned the world to this day and is arguably the world's most famous palace.
Ironically, Versailles was only a working palace for less than two hundred years -- for most of its existence it has a been a museum to itself, also serving as a reminder of the greatness of monarchy (i.e. the Sun King) and its fall (mostly due to the ghastly end of the last queen to live there, Marie Antoinette). To be honest, as gorgeous as Versailles is, its legend outstrips its reality. Yes, it's huge and gorgeous but there's something kind of cold about it. The palace doesn't really give you a sense of what it was like to live there, its domesticity has been taken out of it -- it's basically just a museum to a bygone, feudal time (except you do see les royal bedrooms where they had le royal sex to make les royal babies). Also, it's not the biggest palace I've ever been to - the Forbidden City in Beijing, China makes Versailles look like a shed.
Still, it's gorgeous, and we greatly enjoyed visiting it. Just so you know, the "gardens" of Versailles are vast, and it requires a seperate entrance and you can really spend an entire day walking around just them.
In 2008, when this blog was less than two years old, I made a trip to China that I blogged about here.
It was the second time in my life that I'd gone to China and, for literally years afterwards, I've been meaning to do another post about my first visit.
The problem is that my first visit was in 1985 when I was eight years old and we were there for a month. So I don't remember everything about it and couldn't, I feel, do a post justice.
But, finally, I will do a post -- picking up random shards of memories from long ago, providing impressions, of my first trip to China 40 years ago with my dad.
What I remember is that, back then, China was still coming out of its first years of hardline Communism. Mao had been dead for less than a decade, and the country had yet to experience the massive economic growth and wealth that defines it today. I remember everyone riding around on ringing bicycles, most people living in small thatched houses like huts, and lots of people walking down the street eating out of rice bowls.
It was, obviously, a very different world from 1980s NYC. Whe started our trip in Shanghai and I don't remember much about it except that, in the hotel lobby, they were playing Madonna's "Like a Virgin" in Chinese and that there was the first of several-to-be-encountered pitchers of boiled water in our room.
Later on we visited cities like Chongqing and also saw the amazing, historic Terracota Warriors that had only been discovered 11 years earlier in 1974.
I remember we went to Beijing and saw the Forbidden City for the first time -- and then one night ate Peking Duck and went to the Chinese circus.
I remember walking around Tiananmen Square, four years before the exploded in deadly riots.
I remember seeing pandas in the zoo for the first time, also the Summer Palace.
I remember we stayed somewhere at a hotel by the river and they would catch fresh fish from the river and serve it in the hotel dining room -- and I'd mash it up into rice and cover it in soy sauce and it was delicious.
I remember we took a cruise down the Yangtze River for more than week, and I'd stand at the prow, pretending to pilot the boat like any eight year old boy would.
I remember long, long train rides where we'd stare out the windows at farmers with huge water buffalo worked the land.
I remember visiting the house that my family built in a city on the sea back in the early 20th century -- and lots of Chinese school kids doing exericess on the beach.
I remember lots of rescheduled Chinese domestic flights on CAAC, the official Chinese airline, that everyone joke stands for "China Airlines Always Cancels."
I remember long drives where I would listen to tapes of "The Chronicles of Narnia."
I remember ending our trip in Hong Kong which was still a British colony at the time. The streets were even narrower than NYC, the wealth of the city fully on display. One day we went to the Royal Yacht Club for a drink -- that was cool! And I remember the huge, gorgeous harbor and the huge boats on it, glowing on the water at night.
I remember that, on our trip home, we flew from Hong Kong to Tokyo and then, flying westward, I remember that my last view of Asia was the gorgeous Mount Fuji shining bright in the night sky.
I remeber that Beverly Hills Cop was the movie being shown on the flight and, after it was over, that another movie called Iceman started but then I fell asleep and, when I awoke, we were back in NYC.
And I remember when I got back that I told everyone about this amazing trip I took -- and no one really cared.
China really is just amazing -- and it's more than a country, it's a civilization with a history we can't even begin to understand. You should go.
And if you want to understand the 20th century history of China, you should watch the 1987 Best Picture Oscar winner The Last Emperor about how the long, long, long reigning Chinese monarchy fell and it led to decades of war, leading to the Communist revolution and country that exists today.
I hope to go back to China one day -- and blog about it better then!
One of the most interesting parts of traveling to any city, especially capital cities, is to see the various government buildings it contains -- specifically the seats of power like city or town halls, legislative buildings, palaces or executive mansions, etc. to get a literal look at the places where these cities, states, and countries are ruled or governed from.
Think of the White House and US Capitol in Washington DC, think of Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament in London, think of Versailles (near) Paris or the Forbidden City in Beijing, think of the Vatican in Rome, think of the Kremlin in Moscow!
These great, grand structures are built to say "Here the power resides, ready to strike. Don't question it."
New York City doesn't rule a country or even a state but, as the largest municipality in the country, it certainly has its own important seats of power. City Hall where the council meets and the mayor works is the best known along with Gracie Mansion where the mayor lives and entertains VIPs.
But there are other seats of power scattered around the city as well, other points from where the city is governed: the offices of the borough presidents.
Five boroughs means five borough presidents and five borough president offices. What's interesting is that borough president offices exist in different kinds of buildings, each tethered to the history of their particular boroughs.
In Manhattan, the BP works out of the huge Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan on Centre Street along with the NYC Public Advocate, Comptroller and various city agencies like Finance, Landmarks, Veterans Services, Technology, Environmental Protection, and others. An enormous building, it's the very heart of the original, post-1898 consolidation of NYC power of which the BP was, and is, just another part.
In Staten Island, the BP is located in Staten Island Borough Hall right across from the St. George ferry terminal; it also contains city agencies like Buildings and Transportation and is right next to the county courthouse. Similarly, in Queens, the BP works out of Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens which also houses the county courthouse as does the Bronx County Courthouse where that BP works from too. What separates these three borough presidents' borough halls from Manhattan is that, prior to consolidation, these boroughs were something else entirely -- Queens and Staten Island where simply counties without a central authority or any links to the city, and the Bronx was part of New York County i.e. Manhattan before becoming a separate county -- and finally a borough of NYC.
Which is what makes Brooklyn Borough Hall so unique. Located in Downtown Brooklyn, it's the only borough hall that used to be a city hall -- for the City of Brooklyn until 1898. It's really the only borough hall that's only that -- it doesn't share space with any other government agencies nor is it part of a courthouse. It's the only legacy left of the former City of Brooklyn, a concession to the past.
So those are the NYC seats of power, the places where a city of nearly 9 million have their futures decided.
Long before Las Vegas was even a glimmer in Bugsy Siegel's eye, NYC was the original "sin city." And considering that a lot more people live here than there, there's probably a lot more "sinning" going on in NYC than Vegas!
This week's New York Times Book Review has an article on two new books about the history of sex in New York City. One is called The Forbidden Apple: A Century of Sex and Sin in New York City by Kat Long and the other is called Licentious Gotham: Erotic Publishing and Persecution in Nineteenth Century New York by Donna Dennis. (I already cited The Forbidden Apple in a post back in February).
Our fair city has always had an active erotic life, from street prostitutes to burlesque clubs to Plato's Retreat to Sarah Jessica Parker. Erotica in New York is as diverse and weird and exciting as the city itself, and it always will be. Both of these books explore these various worlds of sin and naughtiness, and how the law and various self-serving moral arbiters would try to suppress and shut them down. Needless to say, for the most part, they failed although clearly not in the case of modern day Times Square. Still, its amazing if you think about it, how a 100 years ago there was a subterranean sex world in this otherwise prudish city but how, these days, it's now celebrated in movies and TV and the Internet!
Yeah!! I'm blogging again. Limited Internet access plus difficulties logging onto Blogger in China (think the government had something to do with that? Hmm? Hmmm??) made blogging impossible but I had a great trip and am here to tell all. Right now I feel like Ross Perot's 1992 running mate -- who am I? More specifically, where am I -- and what time is it? Got back from China last night and right now the body is suffering some major jet lag. My mind and the clock say it's 3:30 PM but the body says it's 4:30 AM and, like so often in life, the body will probably triumph over the mind shortly. Anyhoo, a short recount of my trip, then this blog will get back to its regular NYC-oriented business: 1. First stop, Beijing. Saw the usual tourist sites: the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Mao's Mausoleum, and the Ming Tombs. Climbed the Great Wall and walked around some of the city's lovely parks. Engaged in a Chinese tea ceremony. Beijing certainly has great stuff in it but, as a city as a whole, it's pretty dull. Thing learned: the Dragon is the historic symbol of China's power, hence the Emperor's Dragon Thrown. The Chinese Dragon is actually a composite of the following most powerful animal parts: the head of a lion, the antlers of a deer, the claws of a bear, the body of a snake, the tail of whale, the wings of a bird, eyes of a hare, the scales of a fish, and some others I can't remember. Also, the number 9 is the symbol of power since it is the highest individual number. Go into any Chinese palace and most staircases will have no more than 9 steps. Hence the reason old world China didn't have many tall buildings. 2. Next stop: Pingyao. This is an ancient city, almost 3000 years old, surrounded by a 700 hundred year old wall. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the city is largely preserved as originally built. We visited the enormous Wang family compound and walked on top of the entire city wall, looking at this amazing piece of living history from every vantage point. We also visited numerous temples and learned more than I can remember about each Buddhist god. As we were leaving, we visited another old compound where they filmed the movie Raise the Red Lantern. To top it all off, this city surprisingly offered some of the best food on this trip. Pingyao Beef is easily one of the very best dishes -- Chinese or otherwise -- ever created by man. In NYC they'd charge $40 a plate for it or something but it was less than a $2 a plate in Pingyao. Thing learned: Pingyao is located in Shanxi province, one of the most polluted places in the world. If you ever go there, take a mask for your face and lots of facial and body scrub. 3. Yantai: my family has some connections there and this was the most emotional, happiest part of the trip. I may write about this sometime in the future but, for now, would prefer to keep private.
Thing learned: Chinese Communist officials can be very nice people. 4. Tsingtao: this a gorgeous coastal city that was once a German colony until WW1, then later was occupied by the Japanese until after WW2. Thanks to German influence, Tsingtao is most famous for Tsingtao beer and the highlight of our time here was a visit to the Tsingtao Brewery where, amongst other things, we saw the bottles being processed, went through the drunk walk, and samples some beer. We also visited the German Governor's mansion (beautiful) and Mount Lao which is one of the highest points in all of China.
Thing learned: people off the street in China will come up and talk with you like they've known you forever. Be prepared. This short recap doesn't do justice to the full experience of this trip but it gives you a good idea. I hope that every person in the world has a chance to visit China once or twice in their life. It's a life changing experience. P.S. You might be wondering about this blog entry's odd title "Near Rests the Lodging." This was from a sign I saw in Pingyao giving directions to a hotel. Most store fronts and street signs in China are both in Chinese and English but the English translations are poor and sometimes incomprehensible. Hence we saw signs directing us to "Beauty Saloons" and other interesting non-existent things. A couple of other favorites:
A beauty salon in Beijing that was probably trying to say it was a unisex salon but, instead, billed itself as "a sex shop."
Another sign at a restaurant in Pingyao sold what it simply called "a round mass of food."
A good English proofreader could make a fortune over there.
Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart. - Confucius
So I'm packing my toothbrush and a pair of comfortable shoes and getting ready to leave for the land that invented ink and paper (and the noodle), China.
For the next two weeks I'll be walking on the Great Wall, wandering around the Forbidden City, sampling beer at the Ching Dao brewery, visiting the Ming Tombs and Temple of Heaven, and seeing lots of really amazing stuff. Obviously blogging, particularly in a country that likes to sensor the Internet, won't be easy to pull off but I will try to if possible.
Otherwise I'll be back on December 1st, ready to tell all. New York City will, I'm sure, do just fine without me. So for the next fortnight call me Mr China!
