So our day has begun. We will explore the West side of Manhattan from the tourists areas of Broadway, Times Square, and Rockefeller Center to the Museum of Modern Art on 53street, then up to Harlem by subway, and then back down to the historic area between Central Park West and the Hudson River. Should be a very exciting day. Today we have lucked out and got beautiful weather. Our walk took us to Broadway, where the City has created a very popular pedestrian zone. In other words, part of the street is marked off for pedestrians to sit and relax or to walk without getting injured in a vehicle accident. They created this pedestrian oriented street space to make the city more livable. The more the city allows for vehicle access the less livable it has become.
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| The famous " Naked Cow Boy" |
At 42nd Street we arrived at the new Times Square where I came across the famous and well known naked cowboy, with whom I took a picture with. It was also overcome by horses, carriages, factories, blacksmith shops and stables. John Jacob owned most of what we know as Times Square and made his money by selling off pieces of the land. In 1904, things started to change, the subway was a new form of transit to Times Square and the New York Times was published and becoming a popular news paper. The publisher of the paper, in a vindictive manor, then persuaded the city to change the name of the area after his news paper and henceforth Times Square got its name (Blue Guide, 217). Although Times Square was a popular center for theater and entertainment in the 1940s and 50s, by the late 1960s and early 1970s theatres were converted into other things such as burlesque theatres, movie theatres where you could either watch porn or Hollywood films. Times Square turned ugly fast, what was once known for its theatres and neon was now known for its druggies and porn (Blue Guide, 218). Times Square is also known for its flashing billboards and beautiful lights that light up the city as if the sun never went down. Due to the efforts of the Giuliani administration, the area was cleaned up and turned once again into a wholesome entertainment area where anyone from Nebraska would feel perfectly at home some say the City went a bit too far in its sanitation of the area, turning it into a New York version of Disneyland. From Times Square we walked through the G.E. Building, home of NBC Studios to get to Rockerfeller Center, one of New York's great public squares.
Before we entered the studio we received some history about Rockerfeller Center. Originally the land in which Rockefeller Center sits was owned by Columbia University and the Metropolitan Opera was interested in taking over the land to create a new place to perform. They sought the help of John Rockefeller in hopes that he would donate some land to them. When Rockefeller was asked, he began to question what he could do with the land himself if he leased it from the University and then subleased it to others. He later decided that he would sign a contract with Columbia University to lease the property for 24 years, with the idea that he would profit 5.5 million dollars annually by allowing people to put buildings on the land and create a plaza (Blue Guide, 243). Many famous building's are part of Rockefeller Center such as the Radio City Music Hall, the GE Building, and the land marked art deco buildings that were originally built there. Learned that Rockerfeller Center holds much history then just the being so famous for the lighting of the Christmas tree.
Then we went on a guided tour through NBC Studios. NBC was formed in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC was the first major broadcast network in the United States. We visited 3 studios where we learned a little bit about the lighting. Even got to see the fake windows in each studio because if they had real windows the lighting would not show properly and would constantly have to be adjusted to make the show look right. We went to the set of Dr. Oz, where we learned that the studio the actor is working in is usually much smaller than it appears on television. Love to have visited Dr. Oz's second home. I love his show and wish I could of sat through one of his tapping's but due to he only films in the fall gonna have to wait till the fall. Finally we were able to take part in playing the part of a newscaster and weather person. Overall the tour was interesting but I would not suggest going back for the amount you learned did not coincide with the ticket price at all. NOT WORTH IT!!! So save your money.
Following the tour we got lunch at a Thai restaurant called Yum Yum. As an appetizer I had 2 small spring rolls with soy sauce, and dumplings that I didn't like, I also tried a Thai Iced Tea, that I liked, and then as a main dish I had fried rice with beef which was OK. Overall I was happy to have experienced this in NYC.
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| My appetizers ( Spring rolls & dumplings) |
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| My main dish ( fried rice with beef) |
From here we made a quick stop at a great bakery called Amy's Bread, where I picked a loaf of monkey bread and a brownie, both were amazing and definitely an awesome place to stop in and indulge myself!
We then we were off to Harlem via 2 trains, where we got off at 125th street. Here we met up with our tour guide who took us through the streets of Harlem and told us some history on it. My first impression when getting off the train was exactly what I had expected since there was a fight going on in the subway tunnel.
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| Monte Clara Hale |
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| Coal Chute Plate |
However when we made it to the street my opinions began to change. Harlem has busy streets and looked pretty clean. There were vendors on the streets selling mostly incense and cheap things. As we walked through the streets our guide pointed out various places, mostly places where famous musicians back in the day came from. For instance, he mentioned Hotel Theresa where Castro stayed as opposed to the Plaza Hotel or a big name hotel, because he felt he would be more in-touch with his fans and the people. As well as Jimmy Hendrix that commonly stayed at that hotel which I found rather interesting. This Hotel was owned by the farther of Ron Brown, the Secretary of Commerce who died in a plane crash. Our tour guide also mentioned The Apollo Theatre, where many famous musicians performed. Outside the theatre was a tree that each performer would rub for good luck, if they didn't rub the tree they would have a horrible performance and it would ruin their career. However, the tree was to be cut down so the owner of the Apollo took a chunk of the tree, and every time a performer goes out to perform they continue to rub the tree for good luck. He also mentioned a place called the Cotton Club, a jazz club where only white people were allowed to go, however most of the time black people were the performers.
We then went by the Rice High School which was recently shut down and was once a school well-known for its basketball. Many famous basketball players came from this school and it's unfortunate that it will no longer be able to serve as an educational and athletic institution. Following the High School, we passed the Dutch Reform Church of Harlem where the Boys Choir of Harlem was formed. Then we saw some nice brownstones.
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| Each unit was worth about 4 million dollars |
These brownstones are still known for their beauty and charm. The brownstones that hug the rodes of Harlem were beautiful and really add a lot of character to the city by reminding us of the past. Our guide also informed us that Harlem is currently undergoing gentrification and renewing it's self and its value. Most of Harlem's gentrification has begun in the south west part as well as in Hamilton Heights. Most were built during the 1880's and 90's and were owned or rented by extended families, those in which many children, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins would reside together. With gentrification, most of the brownstones will probably be sold off to smaller families due the change in economy as well as modernized family model. They were made in a Roman fashion, both roman and yellow brick was used to create gorgeous homes. With a cast iron stoop, once used to help the Dutch remove dirt from under their shoes, are now seen as art work giving each brownstone its own character. Coal chute plates at the foot of the stoop would once be used as a means of heating the home. Coal would be delivered by either horse and carriage and later by vehicle to the home and coal would be dropped down the shoot covered by the coal chute plate and would go directly an area near the furnace to later heat the house. Late the ashes would be taken and most of the ash was used to form the foundation of many swamps in the city. I found this to be very interesting, I honestly had no idea something like that existed. We then went towards a park where the guide tried to point out the highest point in Manhattan, from Mount Morris Park or what is also known as Marcus Garvey Park. The highest point is home to a fire building that was once used with the intent to spot fires from a distance in 1855. We learned about Marcus Garvey who wanted to be seen as a prophet and make his own government and move all African Americans back to Africa where they could redeem themselves. He believed that by bringing back the Africans, they could focus on building Africa up as the United States had. However, that didn't really work out for him.
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| Harriot Tubman statue |
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| Steps that took us too Morning Side Heights |
Our final destination after we saw the statue of Harriot Tubman, taking a bathroom break and climbing a few steps that felt like tons to me but got us to Morning Side Heights. This place was not considered historical but should be for it was home, to retreat, to many soldiers as well as Washington himself during the Revolutionary War. Morning Side Heights is home to many educational institutions as well as the first mental asylum.
After my first experience in Harlem, I have to admit I was a bit scared but wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But honestly don't think I would ever go back there at night or by myself.
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