Showing posts with label Manhattan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manhattan. Show all posts

Monday, June 5, 2017

The Weekly Web: Aussie’s in New York, Snowboarding, Photo of The Day


The Weekly Web is a collection of odd little pieces of information with a focus on items from around the world.

Australians in New York City 
I am a great believer in the old travel adage: When in Rome do as the Romans do. However, there are times when you can’t help hankering for the tastes of home. While I am happy to eat pretty much anything whenever and wherever I travel, the one thing I often find myself wishing for is a hot cappuccino made the way only Australian barista’s seem to be able to make them—that is with plenty of froth, hot milk, and a sprinkling of cocoa or chocolate powder.

I have encountered many a barista who has had a good stab at making cappuccino’s the Australian way, but they a generally pale comparisons to what I would call the real thing. Thankfully, when it comes to visiting New York City, this situation is beginning to change. There is a new kid in town—in fact there are several new kids in town—and they seem to be young, Australian, and keen to make their mark on the city’s coffee culture. 

Two Hands Café, New York City
One of those new ‘kids’ is the fast growing Café Grumpy chain, which, as of this moment, now has eight outlets in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and one in Miami! Locations include Greenpoint and Park Slope, Chelsea, the Lower East Side, and Grand Central Terminal.

The Aussie invasion continues with Bluestone Lane, Two Hands Café, Dudley’s, Ruby’s, and Flinders Lane, with more infiltrating the city’s coffee culture faster than you can say, “Starbucks? What Starbucks?” Just Google ‘australian cafes in new york’ to get a sense of where these cafés and restaurants are springing up. For a dedicated caffeine addict like myself, this makes the prospects of finding cappuccino’s just the way I like them during my upcoming trip to New York City that much more enjoyable.

As for all those Australian’s setting up new businesses in the city, I’ll let Gothamist explain:
They’re on the subway, in the beer line at PS1 Warm Up, and holding the elevator for you at your office. Sometimes it feels like Australians are becoming as common in New York as bank branches. You aren't imagining things. In 2005, an American Community Survey taken for the U.S. Census estimated that only 5,537 Australians were residents of New York City. In 2011, the Australian Consulate pegged the number at 20,000, suggesting that the rapid influx of Australians to the city is very real.


My Travel
No, not a film about my own personal travel, but a short film featuring three very accomplished snowboarders, Elias Elhardt, Jason Robison and Victor Daviet; competing in various events at locations as diverse as Mt. Baker, Innsbruck, and the Dolomites.

The Mt. Baker Ski Area is a resort in the northwest United States, located in Whatcom County, Washington, at the end of State Route 542. The base elevation is at 3,500 feet, while the peak of the resort is at 5,089 feet. 
Innsbruck, capital of Austria’s western state of Tyrol, is a city in the Alps that's long been a destination for winter sports. Innsbruck is also known for its Imperial and modern architecture. The Nordkette funicular, with futuristic stations designed by architect Zaha Hadid, climbs up to 2,256m from the city center for skiing in winter and hiking or mountaineering in warmer months.

The Dolomites are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form a part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east.
  • Directed by JULIEN MAZARD 
  • Aerial Camera: Christoph Thoresen
  • Music in order of appearance 
  • Midnight / Infinite
  • Scientific / Somniac
  • Shiloh / Morning
  • Araatan / Nymph

Online: http://www.dakine.com | Facebook: facebook.com/dakine

Click on image to view at full size.

Photo of The Day
[Above: A release of water containing high amounts of sediment from the Xiaolangdi Dam in China in July 2012.]
This amazing photo from Getty Images, illustrates an article in the New York Times, A New Formula to Help Tame China’s Yellow River, which, which examines China’s attempts to harness the destructive power of the one river that has as much cultural significance to the Chinese as the Mississippi has to the United States, or the Ganges has to India.

Saturday, June 3, 2017

NYC Round-Up #6: Northside Fest, NYC Stories, New Ferries, 'Manahatta'

 
 Northside Festival 2017
One week every June, over 100,000 creative and cultural trendsetters converge in Brooklyn to uncover the future of music, innovation, and content with over 300 bands, 150 speakers, and 100 content creators.

The Northside Festival encompasses a constellation of venues – small clubs, outdoor spaces, boutique hotels, and more. A single day might include discovering your favorite band, the next big startup, or the best visual content you’ve experienced all year.

On June 10-11, Williamsburg’s main drag Bedford Avenue will transform into a public park (from Metropolitan Avenue to N 12th Street). Temporary wall units, interactive installations, and eye-popping sculptures will be staggered throughout the blocks.

Bedford Avenue is always rocking in the summertime, but never before like this! Jameson Music is proud to be showcasing promising artists on the Sine Metu Stage, bringing new sounds from across the U.S. to Northside Festival. Swing by between 2-6PM on Saturday and Sunday for performances by Jameson Music artists including Eve & The Exiles, Julia Haltigan, J-Council, HONEYHONEY, Cha Wa and Kristin Diable, plus other Northside favorites.

In addition to the installations there will be a variety of related activities to engage in and pop up parks! Artists currently participating include Nyssa Frank, Occupy Art, Chinon Maria & Maven Murals, Stickymonger & Andrea Tang, El Museo de Los Sures, Hiromi Niizeki, Peter Kato, Taezoo Park, J.H.S. 291 Roland Hayes & TalkingWalls Collaborative, Brooklyn Draw Jam, and Shoe String Press.

More information
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New York Stories
New York City is teeming with tales! In every window, around every corner, in every dark alley or sun-filled park or dusty corner store, something is happening. I loved the way the latest New York Times Magazine has taken ten news articles from the paper’s extensive archives into turned them into illustrated stories, or comics.

The magazine partnered with The Times's Metro desk to tell these stories in an innovative way: Through a series of comics drawn by some of the best illustrators in the business. Dive into this year's New York issue here…
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New Ferries Take to New York Harbor
New York City’s new NYCFerry service which has now begun transporting passengers around the city’s great harbor. The service, with six lines, will eventually link Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx along the East River.

Ferries on two of those lines — the Rockaway, Queens, route and the existing East River route — are up and running, with the South Brooklyn and Astoria routes expected to follow in August, and the Lower East Side and the Bronx routes in the summer of 2018.
A one-way trip will cost $2.75, the same as a subway ride. For $1 more, you can bring your bicycle onboard. (You can also purchase a 30-day pass.)

All routes have battery-charging stations and concession stands, and Wi-Fi is on its way, too.

The Rockaway route:
• This ferry will make three stops: Rockaway, Sunset Park and Wall Street/Pier 11.
• On weekday mornings, the earliest boat will depart Rockaway at 5:30 a.m. and Sunset Park at 6:15 to arrive at the Wall Street pier by 6:28.
• Commuting the other way? The earliest boat will depart Wall Street at 6:30 a.m. and Sunset Park at 6:45 to arrive in Rockaway by 7:27.

The East River route:
The ferry will still make stops at East 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan; Hunters Point South, Greenpoint, North and South Williamsburg and Dumbo in Brooklyn; Governors Island; and Wall Street/Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan. So what's new? There will be an additional vessel, which means more frequent service.

Check out all the routes and schedules here…
Download the NYC Ferry app to check schedules, purchase tickets, and learn more.
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Video available in online article here...
The Sounds of ‘Mannahatta’

At Left: Collect Pond Park in 1609. Collect Pond Park at Lafayette and Franklin Streets was once a five-acre basin in the 1600s, as shown in “Calling Thunder: The Unsung History of Manhattan.” By DAVID AL-IBRAHIM and BILL MCQUAY. Publish Date: April 25, 2017. 

Photo by LEFT: Markley Boyer/The Mannahatta Project/Wildlife Conservation Society; RIGHT: Stephen Amiaga/Wildlife Conservation Society.

It seems that visitors to New York have been complaining about the level of noise for a long time. Writing for the New York Times, JIM DWYER  notes that in 1748, a Swedish-Finnish naturalist, Peter Kalm, complained about the nightly chorus of the Manhattan’s frogs, writing, “They frequently make such a noise that it is difficult for a person to make himself heard.” 

So vibrant was natural life in New York before European settlement, the city could have become “the crowning glory of American national parks,” Eric W. Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society wrote in “Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City.”

Even today, Dr. Sanderson said in an interview, our modern eyes can glimpse remnants of the landscape of 1609, when Henry Hudson sailed into the harbor, at places like Jamaica Bay, Inwood Hill Park and Pelham Bay Park.

“What you can’t ever find is the sound of what it was like,” Dr. Sanderson said.
Until, perhaps, now.



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Summer In The City
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The official New York City visitors site, NYCgo should be at the top of everyone’s list of websites when researching things to do—not just over the summer, but all year round. Here is a sampling of some of the summer concerts, movies and theatre events on offer, the vast majority of which are completely free:

Free Summer Movies…
The free summer film series have already begun, but be quick, you might miss out on La La Land, Life of Pi, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Lego Batman Movie, The Big Lebowski, Blazing Saddles, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Muppet Movie, Logan, The Secret Life of Pets, Finding Dory, Selma, and Hidden Figures, just to name a baker’s dozen from the extensive smorgasbord on offer.


Free Summer Concerts…
You can hear live music of all kinds across the City without spending a dime. From punk on Staten Island, to indie rock on the Manhattan waterfront; from classy nights outdoors with the Metropolitan Opera, to a diverse lineup of jazz and world music at SummerStage and Celebrate Brooklyn!, there is surely something for everyone.

Free Concert Seasons

Brookfield Place Events

Not Only, But Also…

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

The Big Apple: Summer In The City


With a little more than two weeks left before I depart for New York City, you can be sure that I am fully engaged in all aspects of planning for the summer that is currently getting underway.

One of the reasons I love New York City so much, is the amazing range of free events that take place right across the five boroughs every summer. Once flights, accommodation, and food is accounted for, I will spend very little on high-priced events and activities during my stay. Having said that, I have already booked a series of concerts that have caught my attention at the City Winery and Highline Ballroom, but apart from these, and maybe one or two others, most of my entertainment will come from low cost music venues or the incredible array of free events available to every visitor and New Yorker.

The official New York City visitors site, NYCgo should be at the top of everyone’s list of websites when researching things to do—not just over the summer, but all year round. Here is a sampling of some of the summer concerts, movies and theatre events on offer, the vast majority of which are completely free:

You can watch a free movie every night of the week somewhere across the five boroughs. More than 130 sessions are currently scheduled, but be quick, in some instances the free summer film series have already begun. What you can expect to see: La La Land, Life of Pi, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Lego Batman Movie, The Big Lebowski, Blazing Saddles, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Muppet Movie, Logan, The Secret Life of Pets, Finding Dory, Selma, and Hidden Figures, just to name a baker’s dozen from the extensive smorgasbord on offer.


If you don’t want to spend your evenings watching movies, you can always catch some live music.


The best things in life really are free, especially when it comes to NYC's summer concerts. Every May through August (Yes, the free summer concert season has also begun), you can hear live music of all kinds across the City without spending a dime. Whether it's punk on Staten Island, indie rock on the Manhattan waterfront, a classy night outdoors with the Metropolitan Opera or a diverse lineup of jazz and world music at SummerStage and Celebrate Brooklyn!, New York City's free open air performances are sure to please music lovers of all tastes. So what are you waiting for? Get out your digital calendars and start booking in your full summer concert schedule.

Other Free Concert Seasons
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I’m not sure what it is about Brookfield Place… that draws me in like a magnet whenever I find myself in Lower Manhattan. One of the attractions is definitely the relief from the city’s heat and humidity that the vast atrium provides. Other draws are the numerous food outlets on site, clean restrooms (Yay!), and the schedule of free events programmed over the summer, which include art installations and music events. While not as extensive as other free musical offerings around the city, the location of Brookfield Place by the Hudson River still makes it a fine spot to rest and recuperate while enjoying the live music on offer. 

The stunning setting for the annual Lowdown Hudson Music Fest


The main events at Brookfield Place are the gigs at the annual Lowdown Hudson Music Fest:

Lowdown Hudson Music Fest Presents Common, and OK GO
Arts Brookfield’s annual summer music festival, the Lowdown Hudson Music Fest, returns to the heart of downtown New York for its seventh summer on July 18 and 19. Bringing fun, lively, world-class musical talent to the picturesque Waterfront Plaza at Brookfield Place, this year’s festival will be headlined by rapper and producer Common on Tuesday, July 18, and quirky veteran rockers OK GO on Wednesday, July 19. Both shows are free to attend and open to the public. In keeping with the summer festival vibe, shows are standing room only and will feature a festival bar. Event is rain or shine, except for extreme weather conditions.

Tuesday, July 18: COMMON
Wednesday, July 19: OK GO

Other events at Brookfield Place

These free theatre shows include performances of Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor, on the Bryant Park lawn; and the Bard’s Richard III at Carroll Park, Brooklyn. Children can enjoy live performances of Charlotte’s Web, and Madagascar at the Sobelsohn Playground in Forest Park, Queens; and Cinderella Samba, at Dry Harbor Playground also in Forest Park, Queens.

And as if all the above were not enough, visitors can also join one of the many free tours that take place across the city. These include tours arranged by Big Apple Greeter, Central Park Conservancy, Tours by Foot, Grand Central Partnership, the Greenwich Village Alliance, and many others.

You can be sure dear reader, that the above collection represents just a fraction of the hundreds of events and activities, many of which are free or low cost, that will be taking place across New York City this, and every summer. Personally, I can't wait to immerse myself in the cultural heart of the this amazing metropolis once again.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

New York City Round-Up #5

Hallett Nature Sanctuary, Central Park

The Central Park Edition: I have made many visits to Central Park during my four trips to New York City, and I have still not seen or experienced all that there is to see and enjoy in that magnificent 843-acre green space in the heart of Manhattan. So for this New York City Round-Up, I am focussing on the park, drawing mostly on information from the Central Park Conservancy, the organisation which overseas much of the ongoing work of upgrades and maintenance.

Specifically, I thought I’d look at the park’s three woodland areas—the Hallett Nature Sanctuary, the Ramble, and the North Woods. Public tours of the Sanctuary, and the Woods have now began and continue right throughout the summer by members of the Central Park Conservancy, and I have provided details and links to more information about the tours below.

In 2016, I managed to squeeze in a brief visit to the newly restored Sanctuary, a four-acre section of Central Park that had been closed to the public for many years. Located south of the Wollman Rink, and surrounded by the Pond at the southeast corner of Central Park, the closest street entrance is at Sixth Avenue and Central Park South.

The Sanctuary was originally called ‘the Promontory’, but in 1934 the location was closed to the public and preserved as a bird sanctuary by Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses. It was renamed in memory of George Hallett Jr., a birdwatcher, naturalist, and civic leader in 1986. Last summer—due to ongoing restoration work—there was limited entry to the Sanctuary, but happily this year the site will be open daily from 10:00am until 30 minutes before sunset. 

Tours of the Hallett Nature Sanctuary ($15; CPC Members $10), take place each Wednesday and Saturday, from now through until July, 2017, and beyond.

The Ramble, Central Park


The Ramble
Central Park’s chief designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, described the 36-acre Ramble as a “wild garden.” The area was planned as a tranquil spot where visitors could discover forest gardens rich with plants while strolling along the paths. As you walk through all three of the sites highlighted in this post, I’m sure you will find it as hard to believe as I did that everything you are walking through has been built by the hands of many men and women. The bedrock may be permanent, but the ten of thousands of plantings, trees, lakes, waterfalls, and other park features have each been placed there by hand and machine.


Below, Isabella Rossellini, Italian actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and model, shares secrets of the Ramble. Central Park's 36-acre wild garden.


If you are visiting during Spring or Autumn/Fall, look out for some of the 230 species of birds that spend time in the park—which is part of the Atlantic Flyway—as they pass through on their annual migrations.

The North Woods, Central Park


The North Woods
Earlier this month, ABC7 New York ran a story about the restoration of Central Park’s North Woods, a 40-acre forest retreat at the top left of the park, where a man-made ravine meets the Harlem Meer. Interviewed for the television story, Doug Blonsky, of the Central Park Conservancy, said the area was created to mimic sections of the terrain around upstate New York.
“Olmsted and Vaux created areas like this for the typical New Yorker to experience the Catskills or The Adirondacks," he said.
Due to the lack of ongoing maintenance over many years, the North Woods had become overgrown and neglected, but now the Conservancy has returned an open waterway to the area, and put huge boulders of Manhattan schist back in place. 

Check out the ABC7 New York story:

The North Woods renovation was part of the $300 million Forever Green campaign, which took two years to complete. Visit Central Park Forever Green, to learn more about the campaign, including more woodland restorations and the renovations of 21 playgrounds.

If You Go
Make sure you check out the 90-minute North Woods tours ($15; CPC Members $10), that are scheduled each Tuesday and Saturday, from now through July, 2017, and beyond.

I have often thought that even if you were to spend five days exploring Central Park, you would still be in danger of missing some beautiful corner of that magnificent site. There is much to discover and appreciate across those 843 acres, and I would urge you, dear reader, to at least allocate a morning or afternoon to discovering some of its many secrets. In future posts I will focus on locations and objects within the park.

More Information
Central Park Conservancy…

Thursday, April 20, 2017

New York City Street Food

Kabir Ahmed cooks to order during the early shift in his food cart. Photo: An Rong Xu, for The New York Times
A Day in the Life of a New York City Food Vendor
Great story in a recent edition of the New York Times profiling Kabir Ahmed, one of New York City’s more than 10,000 mobile food vendors. Now 46, Mr. Ahmed, a Bangladeshi immigrant who moved to New York 23 years ago, operates a halal food cart with two partners on Greenwich Street, close to the World Trade Center. They are there all year long, rain, hail, snow or shine.

If you have ever been to New York City, you will of course, have seen many of these vendors on the streets of Manhattan, and to a lesser extent in the other four boroughs. In four extended visits to the city, I think I have eaten a New York hot dog just once, but I have eaten many ‘chicken over rice’ meals from food carts similar to the types in this New York Times feature.
These vendors are a fixture of New York’s streets and New Yorkers’ routines, vital to the culture of the city. But day to day, they struggle to do business against a host of challenges: byzantine city codes and regulations on street vending, exorbitant fines for small violations (like setting up an inch too close to the curb) and the occasional rage of brick-and-mortar businesses or residents. Not to mention the weather, the whims of transit and foot traffic, and the trials of standing for hours, often alone, with no real shelter or private space.
The location of Mr. Ahmed's food cart
Using Google Maps and their Street View software, I took a ‘walk’ down Greenwich Street using as my guide, clues in the article—“near the World Trade Center”, “in front of the BNY Mellon building”—and found what I am certain is Mr Ahmed’s food cart on the corner of Greenwich and Murray Streets.

If you have ever wondered, like I have, about the source of food used by these vendors, the article provides the following:
The food comes from a commissary kitchen attached to the garage in Long Island City, Queens; the city requires that food carts be serviced and supplied by a commissary, and there are many of them, of varying sizes, with different owners, all around New York. At an extra cost, this one has provided everything Mr. Ahmed needs for the day: heads of lettuce, a few dozen tomatoes and potatoes, ready-sliced halal lamb, several bags of boneless chicken thighs, two 12-pound bags of basmati rice, four large plastic containers of potable water for cooking and washing, clamshell containers and napkins.
While I have had many a ‘chicken over rice’ plate, the article praises Mr. Ahmed’s chicken biryani:
“…regulars know to ask for the chicken biryani, flecked with fried onion and cilantro, garnished with half a hard-boiled egg, all for $6, with a drink. He’d like to raise the price, but worries that he would lose customers.”
Stock photo of food cart meals
Wow, six dollars! This must be one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest meal of this type in New York City. Later in the article readers learn that after paying the man who delivers the cart to Greenwich Street (and then returns it to a secure garage at the end of the day), and also paying the garage, Mr. Ahmed earns about $125 after splitting the day’s takings with his colleagues.

Again, Wow. For an eight-hour shift this works out to around $15/hour, which may seem good given the low wages most American workers receive, but to me this seems low given the amount of work that goes into running such a food service.

The article, by Tejal Rao, provides a fascinating glimpse into a way of life that millions of visitors to New York—and millions more locals—have come to rely on for their daily meals and snacks. I will be back in New York for almost three months from mid-June, and you can be sure that I will make a point of seeking out Mr Ahmed's food van for one of those chicken biryani meals.

Read the full article here… 

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

New York City Arts Round-Up #2

I have often wondered, as I wandered around many an art gallery’s modern art wing, how it was that curators of exhibitions could tell which way was the right way to hang paintings that had no obvious clues to their orientation. Should they be hung vertically or horizontally? In the video embedded below, MoMA curator Sarah Meister and master framer Peter Perez analyze several photographs by Brazilian artist Gertrudes Altschul to determine how they should be oriented for the upcoming exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction.

The exhibition (April 15—August13, 2017), shines a spotlight on the stunning achievements of women artists between the end of World War Two (1945), and the start of the Feminist movement (around 1968). Learn more here.


For MoMA’s latest videos, and invitations to live events Subscribe here…
Explore MoMA’s collection online…

Plan your visit in-person…
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Judith Leiber: Crafting a New York Story
Now through August 6, 2017
Museum of Arts and Design
2 Columbus Circle, Manhattan.

Judith Leiber’s jeweled, embellished and patterned clutches are the subject of this exhibition, which highlights Leiber’s skillfully crafted handbags. These works of art are influenced by both art deco style and techniques Leiber learned in Europe. Her bags are known for their boundary-pushing qualities from Swarovski crystal–covered pieces to those made with fabrics and material from India, Asia and Africa. Read more here…

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The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s
Now through August 20, 2017
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
2 E. 91st St., Manhattan.

In the 1920s American style of dress came to define the jazz era. This is the first major museum exhibition to focus on American taste during the creative explosion of the 1920s. The Jazz Age will be a multi-media experience of more than 400  examples of interior design, industrial design, decorative art, jewelry, fashion, architecture, music, and film. Giving full expression to the decade’s diversity and dynamism, The Jazz Age will define the American spirit of the period. Read more here…

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Storming the Gate (detail). Elizabeth Mateer and Alexander Peters


Dancers Among Us: A Celebration Of Joy In The Everyday
Now through May 5, 2017. Free to attend.
Brookfield Place, Level 2.
230 Vesey Street, Manhattan.

Jordan Matter’s Dancers Among Us presents one thrilling photograph after another of dancers leaping, spinning, lifting, kicking—but in the midst of daily life: on the beach, at a construction site, in a library, a restaurant, a park. With each image the viewer feels buoyed up, eager to see the next bit of magic. Organized around themes of work, play, love, exploration, dreaming, and more, Dancers Among Us celebrates life in a way that’s fresh, surprising, original, universal. There’s no photoshopping here, no trampolines, no gimmicks, no tricks. Just a photographer, his vision, and the serendipity of what happens when the shutter clicks. The exhibition at Brookfield Place (230 Vesey Shops, 2nd level) features twenty large-scale aluminum and vinyl prints, and an incredible video compilation of behind-the-scenes film.

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Not Only — But Also…

Best April Events in New York City From NYCGO
Along with the first real taste of spring, April in New York City means the return of Mets and Yankees baseball, the Tribeca Film Festival and premieres courtesy of Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet Hispanico and the New York City Ballet. New art exhibitions celebrate the photography of Irving Penn and Henri Cartier-Bresson and the colorful blown-glass creations of Dale Chihuly. For details on these happenings and many more, read on…

More April Events From the Village Voice
Since it is impossible for one website to list every conceivable event in New York City, here are more listings from the Village Voice… 

Monday, April 10, 2017

New York City Round-Up #3


NYCGO.COM Releases Official Guide to Spring 2017
New York City’s official website has just released its Official Guide to Spring in New York. This 254 page pocket guide to the city has pretty much everything you need to get you through a long, or short stay in the Big Apple.

The guide is divided into numerous sections. After in introductory section focusing on the city’s five boroughs; The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island, there is a roundup of Must-See attractions, Fast Facts, Calendar & Free Events, and This is New York City.

From there the guide provides valuable information on Transportation, Hotels, Shopping, Sightseeing & Tours, Arts & Culture, Museums & Galleries, Dining, Nightlife, Sports & Wellness, and finally, Services. Of course, the obligatory map of the New York subway system is also included. All in all it is a great resource, especially for first-time visitors to the city, and I’m sure visitors returning for their second or third trip will also find the guide useful.



Watercolor of Collect Pond by Archibald Robinson, 1798,
via Wikimedia Commons
Artifacts From Foley Square
Razi Syed, writing for Our Town Downtown, has an interesting article about some of the historical artefacts unearthed at Foley Square, which was once the heart of the notorious Five Points section of Lower Manhattan, and one of the most poorest and most dangerous neighbourhoods in New York City.
Five Points was built upon the remains of Collect Pond, which provided much of Manhattan’s water until the early 18th century.
“It was this gorgeous, freshwater pond that we jokingly call ‘The Hamptons of 17th century New Amsterdam.’” said Seth Kamil, who runs Big Onion Walking Tours, which provides tours of the city’s historic districts and ethnic neighborhoods. “There were farms and summer cottages.
“It was this 60-foot deep lake, and then it was drained and became Five Points,” Kamil said.
By the late 1800s, the city acquired and razed many of Five Points’ worst buildings. Urban planning resulted in the construction of city, state and federal buildings over the early to mid-1900s.


Tony Danza Laments Closure of UWS Starbucks
Holy Moly! I have heard about the sky-high rents that people living in New York City have to pay for apartments that are often so small they would have trouble storing Kim Kardashian’s shoe collection!

However, when I saw a story in the West Side Rag about an Upper West Side Starbucks outlet that had moved due to a rent increase, I was gobsmacked by the monthly rent being demanded by the landlord. Here’s the opening part of the story:
Upper West Sider Tony Danza called into WNYC on Friday to speak to the mayor about all the mom and pops that have been closing in the neighborhood. And he mentioned one particular store that’s not a mom and pop — the Starbucks on 67th and Columbus that closed last year when the landlord hiked the rent to $140,550 a month.
No, that is not a misprint. That figure again: $140,550 each and every month, until the landlord feels he can get away with raising the rent even further. Man! That’s a hell of a lot of Decaf Cappuccino’s, Skinny Latte’s and Espresso Macchiato’s needing to be sold each month. And that’s just to cover the rent, add to that wages, restocking, insurance, and much more, and it’s a wonder that anyone is able to open a business in New York let alone keep it up and running for many years. Read the full story here…


5 Tips for Your Next Visit to Central Park
Douglas Blonsky has been a Central Park regular for more than 30 years. In addition to being an Upper East Side resident who walks in the Park every morning (and often many more times throughout the day), he is also the Conservancy’s President and CEO and the Central Park Administrator. That means he oversees all aspects of park maintenance, operations, and management.

In his 32 years at the Conservancy, Doug has helped transform Central Park from an area of neglect to a beautiful and beloved refuge in the heart of Manhattan. In the process, he has become an expert on the Park which makes him the perfect person to share a few tips for ensuring a memorable visit to Central Park.

1. Don’t let the cold keep you inside 
2. It’s the people who make the Park
3. Make sure to allow for a little wandering
4. Take advantage of events in the Park
5. Find some time for yourself



West Side Rag Weekly Events
The West Side Rag publishes a weekly list of each week's forthcoming events running Monday through Sunday that is always worth keeping an eye on if you live, or are staying in that part of Manhattan.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

New York City Arts Round-Up #1

MoMA: Unfinished Conversations


This is the first of a regular series of posts highlighting the current art scene in New York City. I have long had an interest in the arts, and now visit to New York is complete without spending time in at least one or two the city's great art institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and so many others. If You are a New Yorker, you know you are spoiled for choice when it comes to immersing yourself in the arts there.
MoMA: Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection brings together works by more than a dozen artists, made in the past decade and recently acquired by The Museum of Modern Art. The artists that make up this intergenerational selection address current anxiety and unrest around the world and offer critical reflections on our present moment. The exhibition considers the intertwining themes of social protest, the effect of history on the formation of identity, and how art juxtaposes fact and fiction. From Cairo to St. Petersburg, from The Hague to Recife, the artists in the exhibition observe and interpret acts of state violence and the resistance and activism they provoke. They reexamine historical moments, evoking images of the past and claiming their places within it. They take on contemporary struggles for power, intervening into debates about government surveillance and labor exploitation. Together, these artists look back to traditions both within and beyond the visual arts to imagine possibilities for an uncertain future.
Now through July 30, 2017. More at MoMA…

Rubin Museum: Gateway to Himalayan Art
Rubin Museum of Art
150, West 17th Street, rubinmuseum.org

The Rubin presents art that traverses Asia’s diverse cultures, regions, and narratives. The Museum’s special exhibitions celebrate art forms that range from ancient to contemporary, including photography and multimedia, while its permanent collection galleries are focused primarily on art from the Himalayan region. Of particular interest are two exhibitions: Sacred Spaces: Himalayan Wind… (through until June 5, 2017; and Gateway to Himalayan Art (through until June 27, 2017). Sacred Spaces invites visitors to reflect on devotional activities in awe-inspiring places, while Gateway to Himalayan Art introduces visitors to the main forms, concepts, and meanings of Himalayan art represented in the Rubin Museum’s collection.


Grandma's Closet At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art
Sara Berman's belongings became an unlikely meditation on immigration, re-invention and feminine independence. By Priscilla Frank, Arts Writer, The Huffington Post
Sara Berman kept her closet in perfect order ― shoes lined up in an unerring row, crisply ironed white shirts stacked one atop the other, her signature bottle of Chanel 19 perched within easy grasp. Her children and grandchildren would gaze into the modest, meticulously organized niche reverently, as if staring at a work of art. Still, they never actually imagined their mom or grandma’s closet would one day, quite literally, find its way into The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“If someone told my mother her closet would be in the Met one day, she would have thought they were crazy,” artist, author and illustrator Maira Kalman said during a talk held at the museum last week, alongside her son, Alex Kalman, and Amelia Peck, a curator of American decorative arts at the Met. And yet, among the period rooms in the museum’s American Wing, most of which display opulent domestic craftsmanship from the 17th to 19th centuries, is Berman’s neat and tidy closet of the 1980s. 
If You Go:
Now through September 5, 2017
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park & Fifth Avenue

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Carol Rama: Antibodies at the New Museum
From April 26—September 10, 2017
235 Bowery, New Museum…
Appassionata (1940), by Carol Rama; Photo: Studio Gonella

This exhibition is the first New York examination of the work of the late Italian artist Carol Rama. The exhibition lays claim to being the largest presentation of her work in the US.
While Rama has been largely overlooked in contemporary art discourses, her work has proven prescient and influential for many artists working today, attaining cult status and attracting renewed interest in recent years. Rama’s exhibition at the New Museum will bring together over one hundred of her paintings, objects, and works on paper, highlighting her consistent fascination with the representation of the body.
Seen together, these works present a rare opportunity to examine the ways in which Rama’s fantastical anatomies opposed the political ideology of her time and continue to speak to ideas of desire, sacrifice, repression, and liberation. “Carol Rama: Antibodies” celebrates the independence and eccentricity of this legendary artist whose work spanned half a century of contemporary art history and anticipated debates on sexuality, gender, and representation. Encompassing her entire career, the exhibition traces the development from her early erotic, harrowing depictions of “bodies without organs” through later works that invoke innards, fluids, and limbs—a miniature theater of cruelty in which metaphors of contagion and madness counteract every accepted norm.
More at New Museum…

More Arts Information
Museum of Modern Art…
Rubin Museum of Art…
The Metropolitan Museum of Art…
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