Manhattan End-to-End via #1

Let's take a little trip. Let's travel from one end of Manhattan to the other.

Let's traverse this narrow thirteen-mile island that fascinates and captures the imaginations of peoples around the world.

And let's do it via the #1 subway line, noting the most signficant stops along the way, subway stations that are more than just various gateways into Manhttan -- they are portals into American culture, history, and power. 

Now there's something important to remember: Manhattan technically extends beyond Manhattan Island. There is a small neighborhood just north of the island called Marble Hill that is legally part of the Borough of Manhattan. So as we look north from the bottom of Marble Hill, we can look north towards the Bronx.

Then we turn around and see  the northern tip of Manhattan island as well as the bridge with the crosswalk and subway tracks that will take us into it.

Now we'll go upstairs to the Marble Hill 225th Street station and take a look at the subway route on the #1 that we'll be following (as well as map of the geographic route we'll be crossing).

Now the train has rattled into the station, we get on and sit down, and we're off!

After a few stops we hit 181th street street. This is where we'll find the George Washington Bridge. Dubbed "the world's busiest bridge," this northern-most expanse connects the city to the rest of America, with cars flowing in and out of NYC and the rest of the continent. It's also, apparently, a popular place for some lost souls to end their lives -- sometimes to dark, comic effect. 

Few more stops and we hit 137th street and City College. 

This public college in the heart of Harlem is one of the great institutions for American learning. For over a century, poor kids from all over NYC could go to City College and pursue the American dream. The students and graduates of City are extraordinary: ten Nobel Prize winners, mayors, Supreme Court justices, US Senators and Secretaries of State, Oscar-winners, Emmy-winners, Pulitzer Prize-winners, astronauts and founders of big companies, and so many more! Heck, even fictional people have gone to City College: Gordon Gekko from Wall Street and Don Draper from Mad Men most notably.

Also, it's where both of my parents worked for almost 40 years, met, fell in love, and produced Mr NYC.

One more stop and we're in Harlem, above ground, at 125th Street.

What else can I say about Harlem, the capital of the black American experience, where great black artists and pioneers lived and worked. Also, it's also one of the hearts of American culture with Apollo Theater and the Cotton Club.

One more stop and we're at 116th street and Columbia University.

One of the seven Ivy League Universities, this institution of higher learning pre-dates the United States itself, originally chartered in 1754 by King George II (hence the original name King's College). Besides being a great and famous university, Columbia has been a site for brilliance and controversy, where great minds have flowered and fought over decades. 

Now we chug down past several stops on the Upper West Side to 66th street and Lincoln Center. 

Home to ballet, opera, symphonies, musicals and plays, Lincoln Center is the multi-theater complex that, along with Broadway, defines NYC as the cultural capital of America. While encompassing only a few small blocks, its impact across America is massive -- including the many performances that are broadcast from there. I have personal recollections of performing at Lincoln Center and have blogged about it a lot -- including my own experience in partaking in a live broadcast. 

One more stop and we're all 59th Street and Columbus Circle.

The site of the big memorial to Christopher Columbus, it is one of the crossroads of Manhattan, with different avenues intersecting and hugging the lower southwest portion of Central Park. It is also, to my knowledge, the only traffic circle in all over NYC. And these days it is now home to the massive Time Warner building that looms over it.

Two more stops and we're in the most square in all the world -- Times Square. 

Dubbed the "Crossroads of the World" it is the very center of American culture, bedecked with electronic billboards, Broadway theaters, massive chain restaurants -- for many it is New York City, the heart of the heart of it all. And, obviously, it's where the world celebrates New Year's every year.

A quick one-stop and we're at Penn Station on 34th street -- or Pennsylvania Station as it's officlally known.

If the George Washington Bridge is the city's businest car-route into America, Penn is the easily the busiest railway route. Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Railroad all go through it, a central hub that connects the outer-edges of Long Island to the West Coast of the United States.

Penn Station also has a tortured history -- the once gorgeous station was torn down in the 1960s and replaced by a dingy undeground hovel. In the last twenty-years it has been dramatically rebuilt and re-imagined, a vast improvement of what it was but a sad reminder of what we could have had if we had only preserved the original. Hey, at least the new Penn Station now has a Dunkin' Donuts!

Now we go down several stops and hit Christopher Street -- Stonewall Station. 

Christopher Street is actually a quiet, beautiful area of Greenwich Village but it is now of the iconic birth place of American gay rights movement. On June 28th, 1969, right after the death of gay icon Judy Garland, the Stonewall Inn was raided by cops -- and for the first time, gay people fought back. It took decades for gay rights to be enshrined into American culture and law but it has triumphed mightly. And it all started on this small block of Manhattan.

Our journey is almost over but we have one more stop until the end -- the World Trade Center.

Of course it used to be the World Trade Centers -- until September 11, 2001 when it became Ground Zero, then, after an extensive rebuilding, One World Trade Center. 

The story of this patch of Lower Manhattan is one of great triumph and tragedy in American history, where George Washington celebrated his victory in the American Revolution and where American was also brutally attacked two centuries later. It's the symbol of American financial power and dominance. Its where Manhattan and NYC began and where it grew out from. It is the complicated heart and soul of the world's greatest nation and its greatest city.

 

And now we come of the end of our journey. We reach the South Ferry-Whitehall Station aka. the Battery, and we pop up out of our seat and go upstairs into the very southern edge of Manhattan. 

We're right across the street from the entraces to the Governor's Island and Staten Island Ferrys, and we can see (and smell) the vastness of New York Harbor, the watery gateway to city and the force that unites the five boroughs. 

And then we walk down a few blocks, turning to look uptown to see where we came from ...

... and then we look down to the southern tip of Manhattan with the rest of NYC and America beyond it.

I hope you've enjoyed this trip along the #1 subway line, seeing the amazing stops and spots of Americana along the way. You can do it yourself in just under and hour. And I hope, maybe, that you learned something!

Lower Manhattan as Seen from the Governor's Island Ferry -- August 17th, 2023

Fort Totten

New York City is littered with the military history -- places like Governor's Island, the Armories on Park Avenue and Central Park, Snug Harbor, Fort Hamilton, plus multiple recruiting stations around town. 

Easily the most fascinating of all of NYC's historical military sites is Fort Totten out in northeast Queens. Built during the Civil War, it was a fortress to protect the city. 

Today it is a multi-use park by the city, state, and US military -- the Army and Coast Guard still hold "exercises" there but, in addition to a lot of green space, there are historic houses, reseach centers, and even a public pool. There's really no other park or public space in the city quite like it and, in summer, it's a wonderful place to stroll around, look at great views of the Manhattan skyline in the distance, and be in a place that is at once historic but, at the same time, very much thriving in the present. 

P.S. I went to Fort Totten in in 2019 when an Iron Throne was snuck in there for a promotional event -- but sadly the lines were too long and we couldn't sit on it. But it was a cool moment in cultural history, never to be repeated. 

QC Spa on Governor's Island

Recently my lady and I visited the QC Spa on Governor's Island. It's REALLY NICE and REALLY EXPENSIVE but it's a great place for couples to go and luxuriate together in this lovely spot on one the city's odd but gorgeous islands. A few things:

1. As mentioned, it's EXPENSIVE. You might do this an a "stay-cation" activity instead of an out-of-town trip.

2. It's located in an old multi-story building and it's easy to get a bit lost in. Also, some of its more interesting rooms can be a little tricky to find so keep your eyes open and explore. 

3. Bring a bathing suit -- they provide a robe, slippers, and lots of towerls but not anything below the waist.

4. There is an amazing outdoor pool and jacuzzi complex right on the edge of the island where you can swim and relax in the water with the view of Lower Manhattan right in front of you. It's amazing!

5. Leave your phone at home! 

6. Finally, try to go during a weekday if you want some privacy. Despite its cost, this place is very popular and the weekends can be crowded.

7. If you spring for a massage, be prepared for one of the best massages you ever got.

Enjoy!

NYC Ferry Routes

My previous blog post about the repurposing of an old Staten Island Ferry boat turning into a party boat, reminded yours truly that NYC actually has LOTS of ferries darting around the city's waterways.

As a city of island, how could we not have a full fleet of ferries? 

The Staten Island Ferry is just one of the oldest, and best known, ferry routes but there are others that serve each borough of the city: the East River Route, the Rockaway Route, the South Brooklyn Route, the Astoria Route, the Soundview Route, the St. George Route (i.e. the other Staten Island Ferry), the soon-to-be Coney Island Route, and the Governor's Island Route.

Here's all the info you need to find your closest ferry route and where it will take you. Also, there's a great map that shows you all these routes and their various ports of call, presented here:

Classic Mr NYC

Big article today about the "other islands" of NYC where people live or visit -- namely Roosevelt Island, City Island, and Governor's Island, and some others -- and how they're fascinating, self-contained communities unto themselves.

As usual, Mr NYC has been well, well, well ahead of his time -- I've been blogging about the islands of NYC, the Gotham Archipelago, for literally more than a decade. So read the article and this blog's previous coverage of our islands here and here. 

New York City's Next Steps

The COVID-19 pandemic has raged for a year. While we're by no means out of the tunnel yet, the light at the end of it is getting brighter. Vaccination rates are soaring and infection rates are dropping (although, here in NYC we've seen some regression in infection rates which will hopefully end soon). But one day, if all goes right, in the next year or so, this thing will be over and we'll all go back to -- well, no ... we won't -- we won't go back to "normal." First, "normal" was never normal to begin with. Second, whatever comes next will be a "new normal", an aftermath, as we deal with the social, economic, political, and human impact fallout of the pandemic.

Here in NYC this is already happening -- we're already thinking about the city's future and the next steps it will be taking to get there.

For many, as this heartrendering article demonstrates in several personal stories, the city will never be the same. There lives have changed and their place in the city has changed, both personally and professionally. Jobs are lost and gone forever, some still have jobs but the nature and demands of them have changed, friends and family members have died, and relationships have been permanently altered, for better or worse. Their NYC is not the old one and never will be again.

Then there's the city's economic future. The pandemic hammered businesses and the tourism industry that the city depends on for tax revenue. The fiscal situation is dire. But two things will improve this -- and soon. First, as more people get vaccinated, more businesses will open up and more tourists will visit and tax collections will increase. Second, the last election yielded a president and a congress that, unusually, actually cares about NYC. Lots of stimulus money is headed our way! So the city's economy will recover but it will take almost five years until the city gets back to the employment and economic level it had before the pandemic. We're working hard to get back simply to where we were.

Finally, there's the matter of who will actually be overseeing the city's recovery from COVID-19. This is a big election year in NYC, with a new mayor, comptroller, several borough presidents, and a city council to be chosen. The class of '21 taking control of NYC will have a big, tough job ahead of it -- sorting out the finances and managing a strained and exhausted government. Much like Michael Bloomberg was elected twenty-years ago on the heels of 9/11, with this first term defined by handling the fallout from it, the new mayor's term will be defined by how the city recovers from the pandemic. There are some good candidates running -- former Housing and Sanitation Commissioners Shaun Donovan and Kathryn Garcia, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and City Comptroller Scott Stinger. There are also some really lousy ones ...

... and this is where I get scared. Andrew Yang, for reasons that defy logic, is currently leading in the polls and has a good (certainly not bulletproof, but good enough) chance of getting elected mayor. As I've blogged about before, he is totally unqualified to be mayor -- not only has he never served in government, either in elected or appointed office, but he hasn't even voted in past mayoral elections! Unlike Bloomberg, who built a Fortune 500 company, Yang's biggest acoomplishment was running a non-profit. That's it. His policy ideas are shallow and meaningless -- like a $1,000 basic universal income and a casino on Governor's Island, totally unserious proposals. Appparently, his lack of seriousness is what's charming the press into giving him good coverage and getting him ahead in the polls. He plays basketball with the press! He releaeses rap videos! He performs stunts when handing in his petitions! He knows how to play the PR game but HE. IS. NOT. QUALIFIED. TO. BE. MAYOR. I'm scared that this totally unqualified guy will wind up as mayor at a time when we need a very smart, very competent, and very skilled political and governmental operator to help the city recover. We had an unqualified and unserious president for the last four years -- and we saw how that turned out. Just because Yang isn't as personally vile as Trump doesn't mean he'd be a much better as mayor as Trump was as president. 

Please, NYC, choose wisely. The next steps into the future for a better city depends on it!

Casinos in NYC

As the mayor's race heats up, we're going to be hearing more and more policy proposals from the various candidates. One idea that's made the most news is by Andrew Yang, this guy who came out of nowhere last year to run for president and is now running for mayor on a plaform of supposedly "big ideas."

Mr. Yang seems like a nice enough man and, as something of a self-made rich guy, I'm sure he's plenty smart but his biggest "big" or "bold" idea seems to be letting casinos operate in NYC -- even on Governor's Island.

This proposal is the kind of embarassing mistake that political amateurs and people who know nothing about government or have any business running for high office make. See, Rudy Giuliani proposed this back in 1998 and it never happened. When the US Government transferred control to NYC, casinos and hotels and businesses of this sort were banned.

Mr Yang and all candidates should really do their homework before running for office and proposing things that are simply not possible. 

Personally, I don't want a casino there on Governor's Island ever. New York City is the world center of commerce but it'd be nice to keep one part of the city -- ironically, a short boat ride away from Wall Street -- as a non-commercial, non-greed centered, non-money making oasis. 

However, there is a big legit debate on whether or not we should have casinos in NYC. The idea of lots of revenue going into the government coffers without needing to raise taxes is tempting but the questions, in my 'umble opinion, that need to be resolved regarding casinos in NYC are: 1) Just how much revenue will it actually generate for the city and what services will this money go to? 2) How will casinos change the character of NYC and impact its citizens, and 3) Do we really want to make NYC another Atlantic City?

This is an issue that won't go away any time soon. 

Interview: Elizabeth Albin, NYC Photographer

Every year millions of people visit NYC and, doubtless, many of them take pictures to record their memories of the trip.

But what if you live here? Does the impetus to take pictures of the city still exist? 

For many New Yorkers, the answer is a resounding "Yes!". I know lots of them who are amateur photographers and the city is their favorite subject. Yet when they take pictures, they capture it differently. They’re not necessarily looking at the big sights or the skyline – instead, they’re observing the everyday life, the interesting streets and areas that surround them on a daily basis. 

Elizabeth Albin is one such New Yorker. She loves taking pictures of the city, particularly of the nature within and around the asphalt. Here she tells us about her favorite ways to go about photographing her city – and how the impetus to keep doing it is endless. 

How long have you been photographing NYC and what inspired you to do it? 

I've been taking pictures since I got my IPhone 5. I'd be out with my dog, or I would run and look around and decide that thing right there was worth a picture. 

Has this been a lifelong hobby or something you’ve started doing recently? 

It's relatively recent (since 2013 or so). 

Do you like shooting city-scapes at random or are you intentionally looking to capture something when you take a picture? 

Sometimes I'll walk out the door thinking about a theme. I won't always stick with that though. Even when I have a unifying thought (buildings with odd windows on Stanton Street, or Purple Flowers, for example), the day may dictate something else. I end up taking a lot of pictures of bridges and flowers.

What are some of your favorite pictures?

I took some shots of tulips recently that I really liked. Also, whenever I see tree roots conquering the sidewalk. Sometimes I'll see a weed sticking out of an unlikely crack or pier. I love that. Other pictures I like are the sort of beaches at Stuyvesant Cove, and below the Brooklyn Bridge. Excellent sea gulls in both places. 

Is there anything in the city you have shot yet that you’d like to? 

I'd like to take pictures on Randall's Island and Governor's Island. I'll have to get myself up there.

Is there anything else about your pictures of the city that you’d like us to know?

I don't take many pictures of people. Much of the time I want to capture the solitude I enjoy. 

Finally, what do you love about NYC and has taking pictures of it made you learn more about it?

I love that New York has so much wild life. I don't capture even half of what I've seen. That's intentional. Given the choice of experience and image, I'll take experience. Even so, most days I practically trip over something new. 

Thanks! And here are some of her amazing NYC pictures. 

Never Built New York @ Queens Museum

I don't plug a lot of museum exhibits on this here blog. There's so many great ones going on at any one time in NYC that it would be an exercise in futility.

That said, here's one that any and all NYC Geeks should see: Never Built New York at the Queens Museum though February 18, 2018. 

It's an exhibit of designs, plans, prints, layouts, models, schematics, etc. for building projects in NYC that were proposed, seriously considered, but never happened. This exhibit, in effect, shows an "alternative NYC" (NOT like Trump's "alternative facts"), a city that might have been, that almost was, but didn't happen. 

Remember Jets stadium in Manhattan proposed back in 2005? What about Governor's Island becoming an airport? An expressway going through Soho? Those are just some of the proposed building projects that never happened -- and would have made NYC very different place?

We look at the physical structure NYC today and (if we think about it all) think, "I guess this is the way it was meant to be." But no. The city we live in is the result of choices, of projects built, of dreams realized, but of many more abandoned. 

NYC is not destined to look or be built one way or another -- it's present and future is a result of the choice we make. 

July Monthly Read

As Phil Rizzuto would have put it: "Holy cow!"

Really. Hard to believe it's been two months since I last blogged but a daughter, house and busy life have kept me away from the keyboard. Nonetheless, the city keeps grinding along, not caring a wit whether I blog about it or not. (How dare it.)

Well, I won't try to re-hash all the events the last two months but here are a few things that have been going on in NYC recently. 

1. The death of James Gandolfini. The great actor died a few weeks ago in Rome from a heart attack at age 51. His funeral last week was a big event. 

Of course he was great on "The Sopranos" and in movies like True Romance and In The Loop. His death is a big loss. He was so talented and compulsively watchable on screen. Like most great actors, you could feel the complex emotions and thoughts that were boiling under the surface of his characters. He made Tony Soprano so real that at times it's hard to remember that Tony didn't even really exist! Truly great. I was fortunate to see Gandolfini on Broadway in the play "God of Carnage" in 2009. My review of this play and his performance are here.

So long, Jim. You will definately be missed.

Interesting side note: Gandolfini's funeral was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine's which is also where my grandmother's funeral was many years ago. Small world.
 

2. After Sandy. There has been much discussion about how to protect NYC from another hurricane or natural disaster. The big proposal is the construction of storm barriers along the NYC waterfront, particularly in the areas most vulnerable to flooding. This New York Magazine article explores Mayor Bloomberg's exhaustive proposal for building various storm barriers as well as ceding various low lying areas back to nature (i.e. not building on them again). This project will take years, decades even, to complete, and cost billions of greenbacks. But we probably can't afford not to do it -- the  city might not otherwise survive. 

What's great about this article is not only its exploration of Bloomberg's ambitious plan but also putting it in the historical context of NYC's waterfront -- and our relationship to it. It's so easy to forget that NYC is unique because it is truly a city of islands -- over 40 of them! -- and so much of the city is literally water. Since I can't put it any better, I'll quote the article: "Glance at a map of New York, and what you see is a lot of blue, ringed by a piecrust of boroughs. This is a largely liquid city, a stunningly obvious fact that for decades was almost forgotten and that we’re only just beginning to remember ... New York’s relationship with its waters is a long and crazy romance, fueled by manic energy, gilded dreams, violence, abandonment, and elated rediscovery."

New Yorkers just don't live around water but also under it and in it. Water defines this city as much as buildings and parks, Wall Street and Broadway, the Mets and Yankees, delis and department stores. We've always had a complex relationship with our waterfront -- either ignoring it completely or trying to redeem it somehow. For decades, Robert Moses cut us off from the waterfront with highways and it's taken us decades to fix this with parks and places like Chelsea Piers and the South Street Seaport. Now with the explosion of ferries, we can get to places like Governor's Island which opens us the city even more. Reclaiming our waterfront for the people is a great thing but water can also be dangerous, as Sandy showed. Build to close to the water and it can literally be deadly.  "[T]he water is beautiful, alluring, and vicious. The storm demonstrated that we can’t get away, we can’t ­confine it, and we can’t beat it back. As the Bloomberg report makes clear, the only option is a cautious love."  

3. Whither Manhattan? Ever since the the City of New York (i.e. Manhattan), the City of Brooklyn, and the counties of the Bronx, Queens and Richmond (i.e Staten Island) consolidated in 1898 to become Greater New York, the identity of NYC has always been more or less defined by Manhattan.

The other boroughs, "the outer boroughs", were simply satellites of the mighty central isle, provinces of a great metropolitan empire. But the city, times, and the culture are a'changin'. Sure, Manhattan plays a big part in NYC culture -- still the center of fashion, theater, food, museums, etc. -- but these days the outer boroughs are stealing its crown.

Brooklyn is now considered the cultural hub of NYC. Look at the big hit TV shows set here -- like Girls and Two Broke Girls, plus other shows like the late Bored to Death and others -- and they're proudly set in Brooklyn, not Manhattan, In fact, Manhattan is now being influenced by the culture of Brooklyn!

And Queens is getting in the game too. In fact, amongst the biggest mucky mucks in the food world many believe the borough is one of the greatest and most exciting food destinations in the world. Not just the city but -- bang! zoom! -- the world! Having lived in Queens for six years, I can attest that this is a great, great place to eat. 

The cultural inferiority complex of the outer boroughs is clearly waning. And that's a great thing.

4. Woody Allen. How's he doing? When Ed Koch died earlier this year, NYC lost one of its great mascots. But, thankfully, we still have one of our greatest alive and thriving.

Woody Allen, the legendary film auteur, is still making movies. He's produced almost 50 of them, including great ones like Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters and the recent Midnight in Paris. Woody's been directing for forty-four years now, ever since the first year of the Nixon presidency, and he just keeps going and going -- and going and going and going and going and going -- winning a few Oscars along the way and writing a chapter in film history.

What's amazing is that while the film business -- not to mention the city and country in which he lives and works -- has changed in so many ways, Woody's approach to movie making remains the same. He just keeps making his small, personal films on low budgets but with big names. He even still types his film scripts on the same small manual typewriter that he's been using for decades. He doesn't Tweet or use any social media -- he just makes films and enjoys life. And at almost 80, he keeps going strong.  

5. Jean Georges. Wow! What a great restaurant! Recently the wife and I got a baby sitter and headed out to celebrate our anniversary. We decided to try to try this place and had one of the best meals of our life. There were two prix fixe menus -- a regular plus a Spring menu -- and she got one and I got the other. Many of the dishes included fish, chicken, plus egg dishes that included caviar. The food was unbelievable. We also got excellent cocktails that were, to put it mildly, damn strong. Best of all, the service was incredible. When the restaurant found out that it was our anniversary, they gave us a surprise anniversary cake, as you can see here. This great restaurant made for a memorable anniversary.   

6. NYC domain name. Hey, if they can do it for porn, why not for NYC? This headline says it all: New York City gets its own .nyc Domain Name

7. Mayor's Race. I was going to do a post about this but I realize that it's gotten so crazy and complicated that it deserves its own post. To be continued.

So there are my updates -- for now. More will be coming -- in less than two months.