Check out some more tracks I think of whenever I think of these areas of Manhattan below!
Journal 5: East of the Park
July 19, 2013.
Today was another hectic morning due to a loss of sleep. Working, going to rehearsals, and finishing up papers and journals for this class are starting to take its toll on me--it really is a lot of work! I decided to take the later train again to try and get an additional hour of sleep, but found I was actually fighting it during the ride into Penn.
Thankfully I arrived on time to Penn Station again, and we immediately embarked on today’s fun-filled expedition. We took the 2 train from Penn to the Times Square Shuttle, then the shuttle to Grand Central Station and from there the 6 train to 103rd Street (that has probably been the most subways we’ve taken just to get to a starting point so far!). We then walked up 103rd Street and Professor Russo gave us a lecture on East Harlem. I could not hear much of what he said but I was able to pick up the fact that the German immigrants were the first to come and settle in East Harlem from overseas, and then the Italians followed after them. Professor Russo noted that since East Harlem is now mostly inhabited by Hispanics, it is known as ‘el barrio’, which translates to ‘the neighborhood’. We also learned that a lot of gentrification is happening in parts of East Harlem, and even walked across the street to see a few housing projects (people in this area did not have a lot of money so they would live in these apartment complexes called projects).
After this we walked down and checked out the Museum of the City of New York. Like most of the museums we visited, we began perusing through the third floor and worked our way downstairs. It was here that we received a lecture from Mike Russo on micro-housing, or the next generation of small housing projects. These micro-houses are 500-800 square feet apartment homes that are designed for single adults. Statistics have shown that these micro-houses are designed for my generation, since most of us will be single adults looking for jobs when we get out of college. We then continued on into another room where they actually had a micro-house we could walk through! As the class walked through it, we noticed that it is a very convenient, little apartment that resembles a contemporary studio apartment today. These apartments have less square footage for a reason: they are designed to keep costs down, but will cost a lot of money to occupy because they will be put in upward moving areas which inhabit other wealthy individuals. As we were making our way throughout the model, Professor Russo was telling us that the young people of today are looking to live in a metropolis-like setting where everything is right there, as opposed to Long Island where you have to drive everywhere.
We continued on down to the second level of the museum where we proceeded into a theater and watched a film that “…gave an overview of the city’s growth from its beginnings as a struggling settlement to the present” (Blue Guide to New York, 376). I think I was the only one in class who actually took a lot of notes during this film, but I learned that the Dutch bought the Island of Manhattan from the Native Americans for 60 guilders (the equivalent of $24 today). After this, the English pushed out the Dutch and re-named the city New York after the King’s younger brother, the Duke of York. The city was named “The Great Port” during the years 1783-1825 because trade was booming in the city and many merchants would set up their shops at the South Street Seaport. This port was also named the largest port in America during this time period. During the years 1825-1865, many immigrants came to New York City. These immigrants settled in different areas of the city and, as a result, various districts arose after the types of industries they were heavily involved in (two examples of this are the Garment and Meatpacking Districts, and most New Yorkers still use these same names to refer to these areas today).
New York City was referred to as “the Metropolis” from 1865-1900 because many of the city’s landmarks arose during this period. The city also housed both the rich who lived in mansions and the poor who lived in tenements. “The Modern City” was the name for the period from 1900-1920 because many skyscrapers were erected within the city’s confines. A new wave of immigrants also came into the city from Ellis Island and Battery Park around this time, and they primarily resided in the Lower East Side. During this time many bridges were being built (I learned that the Brooklyn Bridge was one of them because it was built in 1883) and the city was expanding. After the Great Depression struck the city between the years 1920 and 1945, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses sought to push the city forward. They did just this, and NYC was called “The Regional City” from 1945-1975 because Moses built parkways and bridges that linked Manhattan to the boroughs, or other “regions” outside the city itself. Finally, the Renaissance period lasted from 1975-2001 because many new immigrants were bringing their culture with them and New York City was becoming more diverse and sharing in the best features that each culture had to offer. In short, the city flourished during this time. The Renaissance period of the city ended in 2001 with the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Ever since then there has been a somber mood in the city, but this was a time where the people of New York City came together as one and the human condition has grown much stronger. The people of New York City are extremely determined and resilient, and if we can bounce back from such a tragedy as this we can bounce back from anything.
Upon hearing that the 25-minute film was narrated by Stanley Tucci (whom I happen to admire, sorry Damian), my excitement was back and I was ready to continue on with the class to El Museo del Barrio, or “the museum of the neighborhood”. Before we walked in, Mike taught us that we were on the Museum Mile, or a mile-long stretch of art museums which starts at the Museum for African Art on 110th Street and continues down alongside Central Park (Blue Guide of New York, 377). We walked in and the class got split up into two groups and our tour guide, Maryann, gave us a brief history of El Museo itself. She informed us that the museum was founded by Rafael Montañez Ortiz, a Puerto Rican artist and activist (Elmuseo.org). The museum was designed to show how the neighborhood of East Harlem changed over time with the large influx of Hispanic immigrants that were constantly coming in and inhabiting the area. We walked with Maryann down East 104th Street and noticed a lot of public housing and a wide diversity of people in our walk. Maryann kindly handed each of us a piece of paper with a poem called “Puerto Rican Obituary” by Pedro Pietri, and then she read it aloud. The main theme of the poem was language because some lines were written in English and others in Spanish. Another underlying theme that I got out of this poem was that everyone is still the same although everyone is different; all of the things that were mentioned in the poem (love, desires, etc.) are the same concepts in every language and in every culture.
We then continued up the street a bit more and admired a painting of Pedro Pietri himself on the side of a brick building. Maryann pointed to a second mural across the street entitled “The Spirit of East Harlem”. The mural was done by a man named Hank Prussing in 1973 because he wanted to create a mural that showed the togetherness of the community. Maryann informed us that every person in the painting actually existed, and noted that the man in the cap playing dominoes actually died before the painting was finished so Prussing honored him by writing his name backwards on his cap. After admiring this wonderful mural, we walked up the next block and entered the Modesto “Tin” Flores Community Garden. This place was built to honor the women in the community, and this can be seen by the sculpture that sits in the middle of the garden: it is a tiled fountain (no water, though) and out of it stems what appear to be plants but they are actually fallopian tubes. This sculpture, Maryann told us, is called “blossom” because it this symbolizes the motherly roles that women often played in the community; the women of the community have helped it flourish and blossom into what it is today.
The group continued on through the garden and saw a painting called “Soldaderas” by Yasmin Hernandez which featured two women: Frida Kahlo and Julia de Burgos. According to Yasmin herself, “…the painting represents Puerto Rican and Mexican solidarity…” (Yasminhernandez.com). Maryann taught us that the fetuses in the top corners of the work were tributes to Kahlo and Burgos’s children because they both had suffered miscarriages. I admired the fact that in this painting, both the countries of Mexico and Puerto Rico were at peace (as represented with the flags of both countries in the background), but also the fact that the hands and hearts of the two women parallel this unity. We then left the garden and saw two works by Manny Vega: “Espiritu”, a mosaic with tiles and glass and which depicted an array of god-like figures and others like John Lennon (I assume that’s why Professor Russo had taken such a liking to it) and “Remembering Julia,” a memorial to Julia de Burgos (the same woman we saw in the other painting by Yasmin Hernandez). Maryann taught us that Manny Vega’s signature, an arrow being shot from a bow (it had something to do with the death of his wife), can be seen in both of these works.
After this, we departed from Maryann—she was a very informative and enthusiastic tour guide, definitely one of the best we’ve had so far! We passed the Graffiti Hall of Fame, which started in 1980 (as Professor Russo informed us) and the seven rules basically stated that the walls were reserved for graffiti but that the artists should have clean, legal fun while tagging them. Tagging was also prohibited on the adjacent school out of respect and because the property was shared.
We then went a few blocks down and visited Professor Russo’s best bud, Jorge Vargas, in his shop named Justo Botanico. Mr. Vargas told us that for many years he has served the public with homemade remedies and herbs to cure their illnesses, but that he also serves them with faith and hope. He also informed us that he is continuing to run his family’s business, and gave us some words of advice: he said that we should keep to our old roots (in terms of staying true to our families) because they are a foundation of who we are and who we will become in the future. I admired Mr. Vargas’s words because to me, family is literally everything; blood is thicker than water. Although we did not have much time to browse through Mr. Vargas’s shop, I definitely will make my way back to his shop in the near future and see if he has a remedy to cure my constant lower back pain! Before we knew it, Diana and I had split from the group on our lunch break and went to a Spanish place called El Paso to grab some burritos. Professor Russo had suggested the place to us, and I must say it was absolutely fantastic! The cashier there even gave us free flan before we left; I think he was coming on to us…
After lunch we headed back to El Museo to meet up with the rest of the class and prepare for the last few adventures of the day. We immediately began again as soon as everyone was there, and walked right across the street to the Conservative Gardens of Central Park where we received another Mike Russo lecture. He taught us that space used to be very tight in the city, and that people would often sit in graveyards for green space and to hang out—scary! According to the Blue Guide of New York,
…the board of Park Commissioners (established 1857) arranged a design
competition for the park…among 33 entries, the Greensward Plan (1858)
by Olmstead and Vaux was chosen, a plan based on enhancing land
contours to heighten the picturesque, dramatic qualities of the land-
scape…” (280-281).
The class then walked into Central Park and we all sat down on the rocks to have a “class-like discussion” on what we felt were the positives and negatives about New York City. It wouldn’t be a Mike Russo or a Damian Hey class if we didn’t delve deep into the topic, so it goes without saying that it was a very good, debate-like discussion with some words of wisdom to wrap it all up. After this, we continued on and hiked through Central Park, passed the Guggenheim Museum and arrived at my favorite museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I have always been smitten with the Met ever since I was a child, and I have to admit that today it wooed me again as if it was the first time I was visiting it. There was no time to admire the exquisitely-chiseled columns, though—the class must go on! Our first stop at the museum was at the punk exhibit, of which I am very familiar because I recall that many famous celebrities attended the Met Gala back in May and dressed in punk attire to kick off its premiere (I was even contemplating not finishing up my final research papers for the Spring semester to go and see what all the hype was about, but of course that never happened…). Upon entering, I could not help but notice a statement in the exhibit that caught my eye: “the images and slogans that punks wrote, painted and stenciled onto their clothes are perhaps the most self-evident expression of the ethos of do-it-yourself”. This perfectly sums up what punk couture really is: a rebellious form of self-expression upon which the wearer is the artist and his body the canvas. People often forget that fashion, too, is an art form, and I am so happy that they had this amazing exhibit to re-iterate this. Anyway, the exhibit featured grungy clothes consisting of mostly dark leather and spikes, and I noticed that some pieces were even put together by highly renowned designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.
Upon exiting the exhibit I actually lost my classmates, I guess I had a little too much fun in there! I found them shortly after looking at another gallery. This exhibit featured works from the abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock and minimalist Mark Rothko, and both Damian and Mike gave us a lecture on each of the styles. As the name suggests, abstract expressionism is called ‘abstract’ because in these types of works there is no concrete image that can be seen. Abstract expressionism is also a controversial form of art because of its messy-looking paint splatters and brush strokes. Many people do not believe that this is a form of art because it looks as if it can be done by anyone. Gersh-Nesic notes that:
Abstract expressionism comes from three major sources: …abstraction [the,
absence of a concrete image], reliance on chance [that the splatters and
strokes will fall just the right way and in the right places], and...the relevance
of dreams, sexual drives (libido), and the authenticity of ego (unfiltered self-
centeredness, known as narcissism), which this art expresses through 'action'...
although at first glance it seems that your Kindergartner can do it,...these artists
cultivate the interplay of skill and unplanned occurrences to determine the painting's
final outcome (Arthistory.about.com).
In other words, abstract expressionism is so-called because everything about the artist is being
expressed through what he seen on the canvas: the artist’s personality and desires are being
portrayed on that canvas.
Minimalism, on the other hand, involves a bit of the opposite since the style is more organized and serene. We saw some works by Mark Rothko, and we could tell right off the bat that the style was much cleaner: the arrangement of concrete shapes and colors in the work were simplistic and done in such a way as to evoke emotion from the viewer (the works we saw were intended to give off a positive energy). Again, most people did not believe it to be considered art because of its simple structure: Rothko painted rectangles and squares in a parallel alignment. However, people do not see that, again, the artist plans how the finished work will look and what impression it will leave on the viewer, and deftly decides every stroke in order to make this happen. We then continued on into another room and saw more works by the minimalist Jasper Johns. Johns, as opposed to Rothko, has more of a concrete style because we could make out the image of an American flag in one of his works.
The class also saw works of pop art from artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. Pop art is classified as such since the subject of the work is influenced by what was popular in the culture during the time it was done. We learned that Rauschenberg would go “dumpster diving” and use items that were found in other people’s garbage in most of his works. There was even one work that used a statue of a raven (or a rather large crow) which we all thought was really cool. In the next room we saw a work by Andy Warhol, in which the same image of the Mona Lisa appeared four times. Professor Russo explained that Warhol used a silkscreen printing process in his works, in which the same image would be projected a number of times but so that the viewer can tell that it is gradually faded.
After this the professors gave us each an assignment of the day: we were to go explore the museum on our own and find two works that fascinated us. I was always intrigued by the Greek art exhibit so I made my way down there where I was met by something that caught my eye instantly: a bronze statue of “Herakles the Archer”. This work was done by Emile Antoine Bourdelle in Paris in 1909. I was intrigued by this work because the artist made the character his own (it does not represent a character in Greek mythology), but its inspiration actually came from the myth of Heracles (better known as Hercules, the Roman name for him) who was an archer. I also loved the fact that it was done in bronze and the detailing of the muscles (Heracles was the strongest mortal in the world at the time and legend has it that he was hated by some of the gods for his strength).
As I perused the exhibit, another work caught my eye as we were getting ready to leave: it was called “Vase with the Attributes of Autumn”. The work was done in marble by Nicholas Sébastian Adams in Paris of 1745. I liked the elaborate style of the vase because it paralleled the neo-Classical style we have been talking about throughout our adventures (the neo-Classical style represented a Greek influence, and here I was actually looking at the Greek art exhibit). I also loved the finely-chiseled Corinthian style crests that the vase was adorned with, such as that of (who I assume is) the god of the harvest on top and the leaves and grapevines that decorated the vase. Aside from the minor things, I really admired the fact that the detailing represents the autumn harvest: the plump grapes drooping from vines and even the two rams on the sides really showed that things were plentiful.
When some classmates and I found our way back to the group, we were met with a surprise: Diana explained to us that if we wanted, Professor Russo was going to take us out for karaoke since today’s class was over! This being said, we traveled back to 34th Street (Herald Square) and anyone that wanted to go home did. Most of the class and me, though, walked up the next street to a place called Duet 35 (how fitting since the place was on 35th Street) and sang our hearts out—I have to admit I actually lost my voice by the end of the night! Thank you so much Professor Russo for another great day and an even better time at karaoke after class! This Gotham class can proudly say that we survived a 110-degree hot day, and today was actually the class in which I took the most notes so far. Karaoke was the perfect ending to a perfect day, and I cannot wait to see what Wednesday’s class will bring!
External Sources:
1) <http://www.mcny.org/>
2) <http://www.elmuseo.org/en/explore-online/timeline/1960s>
3) <http://www.yasminhernandez.com/soldaderas.html>
4) <http://www.metmuseum.org/>
5) <http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/abstract_expressionism_10one.htm>
Today was another hectic morning due to a loss of sleep. Working, going to rehearsals, and finishing up papers and journals for this class are starting to take its toll on me--it really is a lot of work! I decided to take the later train again to try and get an additional hour of sleep, but found I was actually fighting it during the ride into Penn.
Thankfully I arrived on time to Penn Station again, and we immediately embarked on today’s fun-filled expedition. We took the 2 train from Penn to the Times Square Shuttle, then the shuttle to Grand Central Station and from there the 6 train to 103rd Street (that has probably been the most subways we’ve taken just to get to a starting point so far!). We then walked up 103rd Street and Professor Russo gave us a lecture on East Harlem. I could not hear much of what he said but I was able to pick up the fact that the German immigrants were the first to come and settle in East Harlem from overseas, and then the Italians followed after them. Professor Russo noted that since East Harlem is now mostly inhabited by Hispanics, it is known as ‘el barrio’, which translates to ‘the neighborhood’. We also learned that a lot of gentrification is happening in parts of East Harlem, and even walked across the street to see a few housing projects (people in this area did not have a lot of money so they would live in these apartment complexes called projects).
After this we walked down and checked out the Museum of the City of New York. Like most of the museums we visited, we began perusing through the third floor and worked our way downstairs. It was here that we received a lecture from Mike Russo on micro-housing, or the next generation of small housing projects. These micro-houses are 500-800 square feet apartment homes that are designed for single adults. Statistics have shown that these micro-houses are designed for my generation, since most of us will be single adults looking for jobs when we get out of college. We then continued on into another room where they actually had a micro-house we could walk through! As the class walked through it, we noticed that it is a very convenient, little apartment that resembles a contemporary studio apartment today. These apartments have less square footage for a reason: they are designed to keep costs down, but will cost a lot of money to occupy because they will be put in upward moving areas which inhabit other wealthy individuals. As we were making our way throughout the model, Professor Russo was telling us that the young people of today are looking to live in a metropolis-like setting where everything is right there, as opposed to Long Island where you have to drive everywhere.
We continued on down to the second level of the museum where we proceeded into a theater and watched a film that “…gave an overview of the city’s growth from its beginnings as a struggling settlement to the present” (Blue Guide to New York, 376). I think I was the only one in class who actually took a lot of notes during this film, but I learned that the Dutch bought the Island of Manhattan from the Native Americans for 60 guilders (the equivalent of $24 today). After this, the English pushed out the Dutch and re-named the city New York after the King’s younger brother, the Duke of York. The city was named “The Great Port” during the years 1783-1825 because trade was booming in the city and many merchants would set up their shops at the South Street Seaport. This port was also named the largest port in America during this time period. During the years 1825-1865, many immigrants came to New York City. These immigrants settled in different areas of the city and, as a result, various districts arose after the types of industries they were heavily involved in (two examples of this are the Garment and Meatpacking Districts, and most New Yorkers still use these same names to refer to these areas today).
New York City was referred to as “the Metropolis” from 1865-1900 because many of the city’s landmarks arose during this period. The city also housed both the rich who lived in mansions and the poor who lived in tenements. “The Modern City” was the name for the period from 1900-1920 because many skyscrapers were erected within the city’s confines. A new wave of immigrants also came into the city from Ellis Island and Battery Park around this time, and they primarily resided in the Lower East Side. During this time many bridges were being built (I learned that the Brooklyn Bridge was one of them because it was built in 1883) and the city was expanding. After the Great Depression struck the city between the years 1920 and 1945, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses sought to push the city forward. They did just this, and NYC was called “The Regional City” from 1945-1975 because Moses built parkways and bridges that linked Manhattan to the boroughs, or other “regions” outside the city itself. Finally, the Renaissance period lasted from 1975-2001 because many new immigrants were bringing their culture with them and New York City was becoming more diverse and sharing in the best features that each culture had to offer. In short, the city flourished during this time. The Renaissance period of the city ended in 2001 with the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Ever since then there has been a somber mood in the city, but this was a time where the people of New York City came together as one and the human condition has grown much stronger. The people of New York City are extremely determined and resilient, and if we can bounce back from such a tragedy as this we can bounce back from anything.
Upon hearing that the 25-minute film was narrated by Stanley Tucci (whom I happen to admire, sorry Damian), my excitement was back and I was ready to continue on with the class to El Museo del Barrio, or “the museum of the neighborhood”. Before we walked in, Mike taught us that we were on the Museum Mile, or a mile-long stretch of art museums which starts at the Museum for African Art on 110th Street and continues down alongside Central Park (Blue Guide of New York, 377). We walked in and the class got split up into two groups and our tour guide, Maryann, gave us a brief history of El Museo itself. She informed us that the museum was founded by Rafael Montañez Ortiz, a Puerto Rican artist and activist (Elmuseo.org). The museum was designed to show how the neighborhood of East Harlem changed over time with the large influx of Hispanic immigrants that were constantly coming in and inhabiting the area. We walked with Maryann down East 104th Street and noticed a lot of public housing and a wide diversity of people in our walk. Maryann kindly handed each of us a piece of paper with a poem called “Puerto Rican Obituary” by Pedro Pietri, and then she read it aloud. The main theme of the poem was language because some lines were written in English and others in Spanish. Another underlying theme that I got out of this poem was that everyone is still the same although everyone is different; all of the things that were mentioned in the poem (love, desires, etc.) are the same concepts in every language and in every culture.
We then continued up the street a bit more and admired a painting of Pedro Pietri himself on the side of a brick building. Maryann pointed to a second mural across the street entitled “The Spirit of East Harlem”. The mural was done by a man named Hank Prussing in 1973 because he wanted to create a mural that showed the togetherness of the community. Maryann informed us that every person in the painting actually existed, and noted that the man in the cap playing dominoes actually died before the painting was finished so Prussing honored him by writing his name backwards on his cap. After admiring this wonderful mural, we walked up the next block and entered the Modesto “Tin” Flores Community Garden. This place was built to honor the women in the community, and this can be seen by the sculpture that sits in the middle of the garden: it is a tiled fountain (no water, though) and out of it stems what appear to be plants but they are actually fallopian tubes. This sculpture, Maryann told us, is called “blossom” because it this symbolizes the motherly roles that women often played in the community; the women of the community have helped it flourish and blossom into what it is today.
The group continued on through the garden and saw a painting called “Soldaderas” by Yasmin Hernandez which featured two women: Frida Kahlo and Julia de Burgos. According to Yasmin herself, “…the painting represents Puerto Rican and Mexican solidarity…” (Yasminhernandez.com). Maryann taught us that the fetuses in the top corners of the work were tributes to Kahlo and Burgos’s children because they both had suffered miscarriages. I admired the fact that in this painting, both the countries of Mexico and Puerto Rico were at peace (as represented with the flags of both countries in the background), but also the fact that the hands and hearts of the two women parallel this unity. We then left the garden and saw two works by Manny Vega: “Espiritu”, a mosaic with tiles and glass and which depicted an array of god-like figures and others like John Lennon (I assume that’s why Professor Russo had taken such a liking to it) and “Remembering Julia,” a memorial to Julia de Burgos (the same woman we saw in the other painting by Yasmin Hernandez). Maryann taught us that Manny Vega’s signature, an arrow being shot from a bow (it had something to do with the death of his wife), can be seen in both of these works.
After this, we departed from Maryann—she was a very informative and enthusiastic tour guide, definitely one of the best we’ve had so far! We passed the Graffiti Hall of Fame, which started in 1980 (as Professor Russo informed us) and the seven rules basically stated that the walls were reserved for graffiti but that the artists should have clean, legal fun while tagging them. Tagging was also prohibited on the adjacent school out of respect and because the property was shared.
We then went a few blocks down and visited Professor Russo’s best bud, Jorge Vargas, in his shop named Justo Botanico. Mr. Vargas told us that for many years he has served the public with homemade remedies and herbs to cure their illnesses, but that he also serves them with faith and hope. He also informed us that he is continuing to run his family’s business, and gave us some words of advice: he said that we should keep to our old roots (in terms of staying true to our families) because they are a foundation of who we are and who we will become in the future. I admired Mr. Vargas’s words because to me, family is literally everything; blood is thicker than water. Although we did not have much time to browse through Mr. Vargas’s shop, I definitely will make my way back to his shop in the near future and see if he has a remedy to cure my constant lower back pain! Before we knew it, Diana and I had split from the group on our lunch break and went to a Spanish place called El Paso to grab some burritos. Professor Russo had suggested the place to us, and I must say it was absolutely fantastic! The cashier there even gave us free flan before we left; I think he was coming on to us…
After lunch we headed back to El Museo to meet up with the rest of the class and prepare for the last few adventures of the day. We immediately began again as soon as everyone was there, and walked right across the street to the Conservative Gardens of Central Park where we received another Mike Russo lecture. He taught us that space used to be very tight in the city, and that people would often sit in graveyards for green space and to hang out—scary! According to the Blue Guide of New York,
…the board of Park Commissioners (established 1857) arranged a design
competition for the park…among 33 entries, the Greensward Plan (1858)
by Olmstead and Vaux was chosen, a plan based on enhancing land
contours to heighten the picturesque, dramatic qualities of the land-
scape…” (280-281).
The class then walked into Central Park and we all sat down on the rocks to have a “class-like discussion” on what we felt were the positives and negatives about New York City. It wouldn’t be a Mike Russo or a Damian Hey class if we didn’t delve deep into the topic, so it goes without saying that it was a very good, debate-like discussion with some words of wisdom to wrap it all up. After this, we continued on and hiked through Central Park, passed the Guggenheim Museum and arrived at my favorite museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I have always been smitten with the Met ever since I was a child, and I have to admit that today it wooed me again as if it was the first time I was visiting it. There was no time to admire the exquisitely-chiseled columns, though—the class must go on! Our first stop at the museum was at the punk exhibit, of which I am very familiar because I recall that many famous celebrities attended the Met Gala back in May and dressed in punk attire to kick off its premiere (I was even contemplating not finishing up my final research papers for the Spring semester to go and see what all the hype was about, but of course that never happened…). Upon entering, I could not help but notice a statement in the exhibit that caught my eye: “the images and slogans that punks wrote, painted and stenciled onto their clothes are perhaps the most self-evident expression of the ethos of do-it-yourself”. This perfectly sums up what punk couture really is: a rebellious form of self-expression upon which the wearer is the artist and his body the canvas. People often forget that fashion, too, is an art form, and I am so happy that they had this amazing exhibit to re-iterate this. Anyway, the exhibit featured grungy clothes consisting of mostly dark leather and spikes, and I noticed that some pieces were even put together by highly renowned designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.
Upon exiting the exhibit I actually lost my classmates, I guess I had a little too much fun in there! I found them shortly after looking at another gallery. This exhibit featured works from the abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock and minimalist Mark Rothko, and both Damian and Mike gave us a lecture on each of the styles. As the name suggests, abstract expressionism is called ‘abstract’ because in these types of works there is no concrete image that can be seen. Abstract expressionism is also a controversial form of art because of its messy-looking paint splatters and brush strokes. Many people do not believe that this is a form of art because it looks as if it can be done by anyone. Gersh-Nesic notes that:
Abstract expressionism comes from three major sources: …abstraction [the,
absence of a concrete image], reliance on chance [that the splatters and
strokes will fall just the right way and in the right places], and...the relevance
of dreams, sexual drives (libido), and the authenticity of ego (unfiltered self-
centeredness, known as narcissism), which this art expresses through 'action'...
although at first glance it seems that your Kindergartner can do it,...these artists
cultivate the interplay of skill and unplanned occurrences to determine the painting's
final outcome (Arthistory.about.com).
In other words, abstract expressionism is so-called because everything about the artist is being
expressed through what he seen on the canvas: the artist’s personality and desires are being
portrayed on that canvas.
Minimalism, on the other hand, involves a bit of the opposite since the style is more organized and serene. We saw some works by Mark Rothko, and we could tell right off the bat that the style was much cleaner: the arrangement of concrete shapes and colors in the work were simplistic and done in such a way as to evoke emotion from the viewer (the works we saw were intended to give off a positive energy). Again, most people did not believe it to be considered art because of its simple structure: Rothko painted rectangles and squares in a parallel alignment. However, people do not see that, again, the artist plans how the finished work will look and what impression it will leave on the viewer, and deftly decides every stroke in order to make this happen. We then continued on into another room and saw more works by the minimalist Jasper Johns. Johns, as opposed to Rothko, has more of a concrete style because we could make out the image of an American flag in one of his works.
The class also saw works of pop art from artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. Pop art is classified as such since the subject of the work is influenced by what was popular in the culture during the time it was done. We learned that Rauschenberg would go “dumpster diving” and use items that were found in other people’s garbage in most of his works. There was even one work that used a statue of a raven (or a rather large crow) which we all thought was really cool. In the next room we saw a work by Andy Warhol, in which the same image of the Mona Lisa appeared four times. Professor Russo explained that Warhol used a silkscreen printing process in his works, in which the same image would be projected a number of times but so that the viewer can tell that it is gradually faded.
After this the professors gave us each an assignment of the day: we were to go explore the museum on our own and find two works that fascinated us. I was always intrigued by the Greek art exhibit so I made my way down there where I was met by something that caught my eye instantly: a bronze statue of “Herakles the Archer”. This work was done by Emile Antoine Bourdelle in Paris in 1909. I was intrigued by this work because the artist made the character his own (it does not represent a character in Greek mythology), but its inspiration actually came from the myth of Heracles (better known as Hercules, the Roman name for him) who was an archer. I also loved the fact that it was done in bronze and the detailing of the muscles (Heracles was the strongest mortal in the world at the time and legend has it that he was hated by some of the gods for his strength).
As I perused the exhibit, another work caught my eye as we were getting ready to leave: it was called “Vase with the Attributes of Autumn”. The work was done in marble by Nicholas Sébastian Adams in Paris of 1745. I liked the elaborate style of the vase because it paralleled the neo-Classical style we have been talking about throughout our adventures (the neo-Classical style represented a Greek influence, and here I was actually looking at the Greek art exhibit). I also loved the finely-chiseled Corinthian style crests that the vase was adorned with, such as that of (who I assume is) the god of the harvest on top and the leaves and grapevines that decorated the vase. Aside from the minor things, I really admired the fact that the detailing represents the autumn harvest: the plump grapes drooping from vines and even the two rams on the sides really showed that things were plentiful.
When some classmates and I found our way back to the group, we were met with a surprise: Diana explained to us that if we wanted, Professor Russo was going to take us out for karaoke since today’s class was over! This being said, we traveled back to 34th Street (Herald Square) and anyone that wanted to go home did. Most of the class and me, though, walked up the next street to a place called Duet 35 (how fitting since the place was on 35th Street) and sang our hearts out—I have to admit I actually lost my voice by the end of the night! Thank you so much Professor Russo for another great day and an even better time at karaoke after class! This Gotham class can proudly say that we survived a 110-degree hot day, and today was actually the class in which I took the most notes so far. Karaoke was the perfect ending to a perfect day, and I cannot wait to see what Wednesday’s class will bring!
External Sources:
1) <http://www.mcny.org/>
2) <http://www.elmuseo.org/en/explore-online/timeline/1960s>
3) <http://www.yasminhernandez.com/soldaderas.html>
4) <http://www.metmuseum.org/>
5) <http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/abstract_expressionism_10one.htm>
Journal 6: The Wild West Side
July 24, 2013.
Today was one of those days where I really felt like sleeping in again, so I took the later train to Penn again. I have recently discovered and become dependent on this train—no matter what it always seems to get me to Penn right on time for class! When we met up and were about to leave, I realized that today it was time for me to embark on my own West Side Story.
We actually did something differently today: we did not take any trains at first, and we walked right up to Times Square. We saw one of the new Citibike stops on the way, and Professor Russo stopped us and gave us a quick lecture on the origin and purpose of Citibikes in the city. He informed us that Mayor Bloomberg was inspired to start up the Citibike program as a way to expand forms of transportation in the city, and because of the fact that he wanted the city to look more artsy like other European cities such as Amsterdam. After this brief discussion, we continued up until we reached Times Square.
Times Square used to be called Longacre Square until 1904 when “…the New York Times’ publisher persuaded the city to rename the area after his newspaper…” (Blue Guide of New York, 217). Times Square is also the center of the city’s Theatre District, and Professor Russo taught us that Broadway flourished in the 1940s and 1950s with shows like ‘Oklahoma’ and ‘My Fair Lady’. From what I have learned while doing my research papers for this class, in the 1970s Times Square became a dangerous area that was infested with crime, drugs, and pornography because the city went bankrupt. Professor Russo taught us that one group called the Guardian Angels would patrol the area and keep it safe. The mission of the Guardian Angels’ safety patrol program is to: “…safeguard streets, subways and other public areas…from dusk until dawn, without weapons, these committed volunteers help to ensure that citizens can enjoy their communities without fearing for their safety” (Guardianangels.org). In other words, members of the Guardian Angels would go around and help citizens in New York City every day, and according to this website the group still exists today. What a good-hearted group of individuals, there should be more people like them in the world! Times Square had gotten much safer since the 1970s, and today it is a main attraction for tourists and New York natives alike.
After our brief glance at Times Square we continued up 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) and walked through Rockefeller Center. As the name suggests, John D. Rockefeller was responsible for the construction of this area. The class noticed that both the exterior and especially the interior were of the art deco design. The entire interior was done in black and white marble, and the walls were adorned with modern-looking murals. There was even a mural in the building called “American Progress” (Rockefellercenter.com) that represented its construction, which was really cool. Some other figures that were depicted in the painting were “Time” and “Spirit of Dance,” both of which have relevance in New York City. “Time” is definitely an important piece because it can have many interpretations. One meaning it may hold is that the times and are constantly changing and new things are introducing themselves into the culture of the city. Another more simple interpretation may be that it represents the “time” that it took to actually complete the construction of Rockefeller Center. “Spirit of Dance” also has significant meaning in New York Center since the city is the art capital of the world and because of the fact that dance is very big here. We then walked outside and admired the front of the 30 Rock, and Professor Russo pointed out that this building was done in a later form of art deco since it did not have a crown at the top.
The class continued up a bit down to 5th Avenue and saw the statue of Atlas. I am not too sure how the story goes but I do know that in Greek mythology, Atlas was a Titan who sided against Zeus in a battle. Since he sided against Zeus, his punishment was to carry the entire world on his back. After admiring this statue, we looked across the street and saw the renowned St. Patrick’s Cathedral (which was undergoing construction). According to the Blue Guide of New York, “St. Patrick’s Cathedral [was]…designed by James Renwick (1879; towers, 1888)…, it draws on the Decorated Gothic style of the 13th century...it is the largest Catholic cathedral in the U.S. and the eleventh largest in the world” (254). Unfortunately we could not admire most of the chiseled artwork of the Gothic style on the façade since the site was undergoing construction, so we continued on down the avenue and actually passed the place where my aunt works! After a minute of waving hi, making a fuss and looking like a complete fool, we proceeded down to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
The Museum of Modern Art was built in 1929 and founded, in part, by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Mary Quinn Sullivan and Lillie P. Bliss (Blue Guide of New York, 260). Professor Russo taught us that the museum cost a lot of money to expand, and the Blue Guide gives the exact value: $858-million (260)! Professor Hey then told the class that one of the main artistic styles that MoMA is renowned for having is called abstract expressionism. He gave a lecture to the class on abstract expressionism, and broke down the two words to try and convey the meaning behind this type of art: he generally defined abstract as something that cannot be seen (be it a meaning, an idea, etc.) and then said that the form of expressionism focused on internal ideas. Therefore, abstract expressionism focused on emotions and internal flows of energies that were expressed through colors (images like shapes and other concrete elements are irrelevant).
After listening to the great lecture of abstract expressionism that was so beautifully-said by Damian, the class toured the museum and took the escalators up to the fifth floor and saw a famous work by Andy Warhol entitled “Campbell’s Soup Cans”. As the name suggests, it displays the use of Warhol’s famous silkscreen process and shows assorted Campbell’s soup cans individually printed onto thirty-two square canvases (Warhol used thirty-two different varieties of the soup, of course). We then went into a room and saw Vincent van Gogh’s renowned painting “Starry Night”. I am very familiar with and have always admired this painting because of the subject of the piece (obviously, anything having to do with night time and/or the moon is intriguing to me) and also its blend of warm and cool colors; it gives off a soothing and peaceful feel.
We entered another room where we saw works by Pablo Picasso. Since Picasso mostly completed works of cubism, or a form of art that supposedly represents the Fourth dimension (Arthistory.about.com). The work that we saw from Picasso, entitled “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”, was done in 1907 and, according to Gersh-Nesic, “…was [among] the first Cubist paintings…” (Arthistory.about.com). This hinted that we were moving away from forms of art that dealt with exact representation and indulging ourselves more into abstract expressionism (as Damian had stated earlier). The group then took the escalator down another level to see works by the abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock and, in the adjacent room, we also passed many works by the minimalist Mark Rothko. I could overhear some people scoffing and making comments, and it was apparent that they did not think of these works as art. Damian vocalized my point and explained that it is actually extremely difficult to evoke a certain emotion and use specific brush strokes in a way so that the colors do not blend.
The class followed the rest of the crowd and we ended up turning a corner and viewing more works by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Professor Russo taught us that although these artists had different styles (Johns was a minimalist and Rauschenberg was involved in pop art), they were partners and would share art with one another. After this, we moved into a room that featured more works of pop art, including one that read “Oof” in large yellow lettering. After chuckling at this, we made our way back downstairs to view more contemporary (modern) works of art. Damian gave us a brief run-down on contemporary art by saying that creating these types of works is the systematic process of making a familiar object unfamiliar and then suddenly making it familiar once more but in a new way. In other words, the intent of it is to have everyday objects, such as a vacuum (as was on display in the museum), be seen in different ways. I admired how this paralleled with a photography and film section of the exhibit as well, because I know that the camera and even the motion picture camera are designed to manipulate the human eye so that the viewers can see things in different ways. We then went around seeing a few more exhibits, including the Ray Gun Exhibit. As the title suggests, this exhibit features a plethoric array of objects such as stones and even nails whose shapes resembled ray guns.
After exiting this exhibit, we finally departed from MoMA and went down to Hell’s Kitchen to a place called Yum Yum for a special Thai lunch on the professors. I have had Thai before and know it to be spicy and a bit pea-nutty but very good, and I must say this place was excellent—thank you so much, Mike and Damian, for treating us again! Afterwards, we walked up 42nd Street and took the 3 train to 135th Street and ended up in Harlem. Since the Dutch occupied Manhattan at the time, Harlem was originally named Nieuw Haarlem in 1658 after a small community in the Netherlands (Blue Guide of New York, 437). We met our new tour guide, Jim, as soon as we walked across the street from the train station.
Jim first pointed out that we had to “remember the X” for the name of the street we were on: it is now called Malcolm “X” Boulevard after being called Lenox Avenue and before that Sixth Avenue. He then said that the apartment buildings across the street were a part of Lenox Terrace. Lenox Terrace, he further described, is an apartment complex in which many famous people like Governor David Paterson reside. Among some famous people that now reside in Harlem are Alicia Keys and Queen Latifah. He also explained that, like most areas in Manhattan today, a lot of gentrification is happening in Harlem. It also used to house the second largest Jewish community in the country, but in the 1920s a wave of African Americans came in and pushed them out. Harlem was also the home of the Harlem Renaissance (as the name implies), or a revolutionary cultural art movement for African Americans during the 1920s (Vintageperiods.com).
The class walked with Jim up a block and saw the outside of the Harlem Hospital Center, most notably decorated with a large mural on its windows. This mural, Jim pointed out, was done in a way so that it only appears to those who view it on the outside (if you were to stand inside where the mural would be and look out it would appear as if the windows were untouched and free from any paint). Many significant people in African American culture are painted in this mural, among them is the famous jazz musician Duke Ellington. We continued to walk up 136th Street where we saw many plaques embedded into the sidewalks of many famous African American musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, and Charlie Parker. Jim then explained to us that after the Harlem Renaissance, many famous Jazz musicians (like the ones mentioned above) used to perform at clubs like the Cotton Club and even the renowned Apollo Theater. Jim also told us that before performances, musicians and other entertainers would often rub the stump of the Tree of Hope to receive good luck.
Next, Jim took us up a-ways and showed us the King Model houses, also referred to as Striver’s Row. According to the Blue Guide of New York, “the houses were built on speculation in 1891 to appeal to people with moderate incomes, while offering good design…to avoid monotony, they were built by three different prominent architects,…[among them] David King and Stanford White…” (441). Jim told us that on one side of the street were the traditional brownstones, and they were designed to give off the illusion that they were connected (but as we walked down this street it was evident that they were not). We also learned that these brownstones go for around $3 million for a single unit—there goes that dream! The Gotham class noticed that there were gated-off alleyways with signs that read: “Private Road, Walk Your Horses”. Jim clarified that people who bought these brownstones were so wealthy that they had these alleyways built specifically to park their horse-drawn carriages, similar to what we use a driveway for today. On the other side of the street were yellow-looking houses, which we found were built with terra cotta and limestone bricks. They were designed by a different architect to try and add some variety to the houses on Striver’s Row (referring back to the idea of ‘avoiding monotony’).
The Gotham class was getting tired, but we carried on down West 125th Street and entered the heart of Harlem. We stopped for a brief minute outside the Apollo Theater, which “…opened as the Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater, for whites only, when the neighborhood was white and largely German-Jewish” (Blue Guide of New York, 440). Change occurred rapidly in the city during this time and the Jews were pushed out of Harlem by incoming African Americans, and hence the Apollo changed to appeal to black audiences. Poverty struck the city and the Apollo in the 1970s, so it had no choice but to become a movie theater. Later, the State of New York bought the plot and it is now a city landmark which has its own television production, “Showtime at the Apollo” (Blue Guide of New York, 440). This segment shows emerging young artists who are looking to get their voices heard, and is similar to the Amateur Hour that it once hosted for other artists that have since became famous.
It was on Frederick Douglass Boulevard that Jim left us, and Professor Russo sprang into action as we carried on with the class. We reached a small park to rest for a brief minute, and in this park was a statue of Harriet Tubman, a famous African American who escaped from slavery in the South during the late 1800s and fled north to find freedom. She also rescued many slaves on her journey, and their faces can be seen engraved on her statue on the monument, indicating they are a part of her and what she stood for. The class then treaded on and turned down West 122nd Street. As we approached Morningside Park, Professor Russo cheated and made a beeline for the 150 stairs he said he would race us up before class! To my surprise, this hike was not as bad as I had imagined, and two of my classmates, Emily and Chris, actually beat him to the top—what troopers they are! After a moment of catching our breath, we were supposed to stop at Grant’s Tomb but we did not have to go because one of my classmates, Julie, answered Professor Russo’s question about the tomb: despite popular belief, no one is buried in it because Grant’s remains are entombed (or laying in an aboveground burial place).
The Gotham class was a bit tired but still ventured on down Amsterdam Avenue to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Professor Russo taught us that this church is the fourth largest church in the world. He also mentioned that this church has constantly been under construction ever since an architectural contest was won and it was laid out by Heins & La Farge in 1892 (Blue Guide of New York, 419). Since this church has never been finished, the Blue Guide also notes that it is also commonly referred to as “St. John the Unfinished” (419). After this, we headed back and took a stroll through Damian’s alma mater: Columbia University. You can really tell what an exquisite campus this is just from admiring the beauty of its architecture!
It was here that Professor Russo held a contest of wits for both Emily and Chris who beat him up the stairs in Morningside Park. Emily had won the contest of brains, and was rewarded with a skull bracelet from Jorge Vargas’s store that is supposed to bring the wearer good luck—congrats Em, all those sprints at practice really paid off! It was here that we ended today’s class, and I have to admit I was actually pretty tired. Feeling tired does not mean that spirits should be down, though—still enthused as ever and cannot wait to explore Chelsea next class!
External Sources:
1) <http://www.guardianangels.org/programs.php>
2) <http://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/>
3) <http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/cubism_10one.htm>
4) <http://www.vintageperiods.com/harlem.php>
Today was one of those days where I really felt like sleeping in again, so I took the later train to Penn again. I have recently discovered and become dependent on this train—no matter what it always seems to get me to Penn right on time for class! When we met up and were about to leave, I realized that today it was time for me to embark on my own West Side Story.
We actually did something differently today: we did not take any trains at first, and we walked right up to Times Square. We saw one of the new Citibike stops on the way, and Professor Russo stopped us and gave us a quick lecture on the origin and purpose of Citibikes in the city. He informed us that Mayor Bloomberg was inspired to start up the Citibike program as a way to expand forms of transportation in the city, and because of the fact that he wanted the city to look more artsy like other European cities such as Amsterdam. After this brief discussion, we continued up until we reached Times Square.
Times Square used to be called Longacre Square until 1904 when “…the New York Times’ publisher persuaded the city to rename the area after his newspaper…” (Blue Guide of New York, 217). Times Square is also the center of the city’s Theatre District, and Professor Russo taught us that Broadway flourished in the 1940s and 1950s with shows like ‘Oklahoma’ and ‘My Fair Lady’. From what I have learned while doing my research papers for this class, in the 1970s Times Square became a dangerous area that was infested with crime, drugs, and pornography because the city went bankrupt. Professor Russo taught us that one group called the Guardian Angels would patrol the area and keep it safe. The mission of the Guardian Angels’ safety patrol program is to: “…safeguard streets, subways and other public areas…from dusk until dawn, without weapons, these committed volunteers help to ensure that citizens can enjoy their communities without fearing for their safety” (Guardianangels.org). In other words, members of the Guardian Angels would go around and help citizens in New York City every day, and according to this website the group still exists today. What a good-hearted group of individuals, there should be more people like them in the world! Times Square had gotten much safer since the 1970s, and today it is a main attraction for tourists and New York natives alike.
After our brief glance at Times Square we continued up 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) and walked through Rockefeller Center. As the name suggests, John D. Rockefeller was responsible for the construction of this area. The class noticed that both the exterior and especially the interior were of the art deco design. The entire interior was done in black and white marble, and the walls were adorned with modern-looking murals. There was even a mural in the building called “American Progress” (Rockefellercenter.com) that represented its construction, which was really cool. Some other figures that were depicted in the painting were “Time” and “Spirit of Dance,” both of which have relevance in New York City. “Time” is definitely an important piece because it can have many interpretations. One meaning it may hold is that the times and are constantly changing and new things are introducing themselves into the culture of the city. Another more simple interpretation may be that it represents the “time” that it took to actually complete the construction of Rockefeller Center. “Spirit of Dance” also has significant meaning in New York Center since the city is the art capital of the world and because of the fact that dance is very big here. We then walked outside and admired the front of the 30 Rock, and Professor Russo pointed out that this building was done in a later form of art deco since it did not have a crown at the top.
The class continued up a bit down to 5th Avenue and saw the statue of Atlas. I am not too sure how the story goes but I do know that in Greek mythology, Atlas was a Titan who sided against Zeus in a battle. Since he sided against Zeus, his punishment was to carry the entire world on his back. After admiring this statue, we looked across the street and saw the renowned St. Patrick’s Cathedral (which was undergoing construction). According to the Blue Guide of New York, “St. Patrick’s Cathedral [was]…designed by James Renwick (1879; towers, 1888)…, it draws on the Decorated Gothic style of the 13th century...it is the largest Catholic cathedral in the U.S. and the eleventh largest in the world” (254). Unfortunately we could not admire most of the chiseled artwork of the Gothic style on the façade since the site was undergoing construction, so we continued on down the avenue and actually passed the place where my aunt works! After a minute of waving hi, making a fuss and looking like a complete fool, we proceeded down to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
The Museum of Modern Art was built in 1929 and founded, in part, by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Mary Quinn Sullivan and Lillie P. Bliss (Blue Guide of New York, 260). Professor Russo taught us that the museum cost a lot of money to expand, and the Blue Guide gives the exact value: $858-million (260)! Professor Hey then told the class that one of the main artistic styles that MoMA is renowned for having is called abstract expressionism. He gave a lecture to the class on abstract expressionism, and broke down the two words to try and convey the meaning behind this type of art: he generally defined abstract as something that cannot be seen (be it a meaning, an idea, etc.) and then said that the form of expressionism focused on internal ideas. Therefore, abstract expressionism focused on emotions and internal flows of energies that were expressed through colors (images like shapes and other concrete elements are irrelevant).
After listening to the great lecture of abstract expressionism that was so beautifully-said by Damian, the class toured the museum and took the escalators up to the fifth floor and saw a famous work by Andy Warhol entitled “Campbell’s Soup Cans”. As the name suggests, it displays the use of Warhol’s famous silkscreen process and shows assorted Campbell’s soup cans individually printed onto thirty-two square canvases (Warhol used thirty-two different varieties of the soup, of course). We then went into a room and saw Vincent van Gogh’s renowned painting “Starry Night”. I am very familiar with and have always admired this painting because of the subject of the piece (obviously, anything having to do with night time and/or the moon is intriguing to me) and also its blend of warm and cool colors; it gives off a soothing and peaceful feel.
We entered another room where we saw works by Pablo Picasso. Since Picasso mostly completed works of cubism, or a form of art that supposedly represents the Fourth dimension (Arthistory.about.com). The work that we saw from Picasso, entitled “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”, was done in 1907 and, according to Gersh-Nesic, “…was [among] the first Cubist paintings…” (Arthistory.about.com). This hinted that we were moving away from forms of art that dealt with exact representation and indulging ourselves more into abstract expressionism (as Damian had stated earlier). The group then took the escalator down another level to see works by the abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock and, in the adjacent room, we also passed many works by the minimalist Mark Rothko. I could overhear some people scoffing and making comments, and it was apparent that they did not think of these works as art. Damian vocalized my point and explained that it is actually extremely difficult to evoke a certain emotion and use specific brush strokes in a way so that the colors do not blend.
The class followed the rest of the crowd and we ended up turning a corner and viewing more works by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Professor Russo taught us that although these artists had different styles (Johns was a minimalist and Rauschenberg was involved in pop art), they were partners and would share art with one another. After this, we moved into a room that featured more works of pop art, including one that read “Oof” in large yellow lettering. After chuckling at this, we made our way back downstairs to view more contemporary (modern) works of art. Damian gave us a brief run-down on contemporary art by saying that creating these types of works is the systematic process of making a familiar object unfamiliar and then suddenly making it familiar once more but in a new way. In other words, the intent of it is to have everyday objects, such as a vacuum (as was on display in the museum), be seen in different ways. I admired how this paralleled with a photography and film section of the exhibit as well, because I know that the camera and even the motion picture camera are designed to manipulate the human eye so that the viewers can see things in different ways. We then went around seeing a few more exhibits, including the Ray Gun Exhibit. As the title suggests, this exhibit features a plethoric array of objects such as stones and even nails whose shapes resembled ray guns.
After exiting this exhibit, we finally departed from MoMA and went down to Hell’s Kitchen to a place called Yum Yum for a special Thai lunch on the professors. I have had Thai before and know it to be spicy and a bit pea-nutty but very good, and I must say this place was excellent—thank you so much, Mike and Damian, for treating us again! Afterwards, we walked up 42nd Street and took the 3 train to 135th Street and ended up in Harlem. Since the Dutch occupied Manhattan at the time, Harlem was originally named Nieuw Haarlem in 1658 after a small community in the Netherlands (Blue Guide of New York, 437). We met our new tour guide, Jim, as soon as we walked across the street from the train station.
Jim first pointed out that we had to “remember the X” for the name of the street we were on: it is now called Malcolm “X” Boulevard after being called Lenox Avenue and before that Sixth Avenue. He then said that the apartment buildings across the street were a part of Lenox Terrace. Lenox Terrace, he further described, is an apartment complex in which many famous people like Governor David Paterson reside. Among some famous people that now reside in Harlem are Alicia Keys and Queen Latifah. He also explained that, like most areas in Manhattan today, a lot of gentrification is happening in Harlem. It also used to house the second largest Jewish community in the country, but in the 1920s a wave of African Americans came in and pushed them out. Harlem was also the home of the Harlem Renaissance (as the name implies), or a revolutionary cultural art movement for African Americans during the 1920s (Vintageperiods.com).
The class walked with Jim up a block and saw the outside of the Harlem Hospital Center, most notably decorated with a large mural on its windows. This mural, Jim pointed out, was done in a way so that it only appears to those who view it on the outside (if you were to stand inside where the mural would be and look out it would appear as if the windows were untouched and free from any paint). Many significant people in African American culture are painted in this mural, among them is the famous jazz musician Duke Ellington. We continued to walk up 136th Street where we saw many plaques embedded into the sidewalks of many famous African American musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, and Charlie Parker. Jim then explained to us that after the Harlem Renaissance, many famous Jazz musicians (like the ones mentioned above) used to perform at clubs like the Cotton Club and even the renowned Apollo Theater. Jim also told us that before performances, musicians and other entertainers would often rub the stump of the Tree of Hope to receive good luck.
Next, Jim took us up a-ways and showed us the King Model houses, also referred to as Striver’s Row. According to the Blue Guide of New York, “the houses were built on speculation in 1891 to appeal to people with moderate incomes, while offering good design…to avoid monotony, they were built by three different prominent architects,…[among them] David King and Stanford White…” (441). Jim told us that on one side of the street were the traditional brownstones, and they were designed to give off the illusion that they were connected (but as we walked down this street it was evident that they were not). We also learned that these brownstones go for around $3 million for a single unit—there goes that dream! The Gotham class noticed that there were gated-off alleyways with signs that read: “Private Road, Walk Your Horses”. Jim clarified that people who bought these brownstones were so wealthy that they had these alleyways built specifically to park their horse-drawn carriages, similar to what we use a driveway for today. On the other side of the street were yellow-looking houses, which we found were built with terra cotta and limestone bricks. They were designed by a different architect to try and add some variety to the houses on Striver’s Row (referring back to the idea of ‘avoiding monotony’).
The Gotham class was getting tired, but we carried on down West 125th Street and entered the heart of Harlem. We stopped for a brief minute outside the Apollo Theater, which “…opened as the Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater, for whites only, when the neighborhood was white and largely German-Jewish” (Blue Guide of New York, 440). Change occurred rapidly in the city during this time and the Jews were pushed out of Harlem by incoming African Americans, and hence the Apollo changed to appeal to black audiences. Poverty struck the city and the Apollo in the 1970s, so it had no choice but to become a movie theater. Later, the State of New York bought the plot and it is now a city landmark which has its own television production, “Showtime at the Apollo” (Blue Guide of New York, 440). This segment shows emerging young artists who are looking to get their voices heard, and is similar to the Amateur Hour that it once hosted for other artists that have since became famous.
It was on Frederick Douglass Boulevard that Jim left us, and Professor Russo sprang into action as we carried on with the class. We reached a small park to rest for a brief minute, and in this park was a statue of Harriet Tubman, a famous African American who escaped from slavery in the South during the late 1800s and fled north to find freedom. She also rescued many slaves on her journey, and their faces can be seen engraved on her statue on the monument, indicating they are a part of her and what she stood for. The class then treaded on and turned down West 122nd Street. As we approached Morningside Park, Professor Russo cheated and made a beeline for the 150 stairs he said he would race us up before class! To my surprise, this hike was not as bad as I had imagined, and two of my classmates, Emily and Chris, actually beat him to the top—what troopers they are! After a moment of catching our breath, we were supposed to stop at Grant’s Tomb but we did not have to go because one of my classmates, Julie, answered Professor Russo’s question about the tomb: despite popular belief, no one is buried in it because Grant’s remains are entombed (or laying in an aboveground burial place).
The Gotham class was a bit tired but still ventured on down Amsterdam Avenue to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Professor Russo taught us that this church is the fourth largest church in the world. He also mentioned that this church has constantly been under construction ever since an architectural contest was won and it was laid out by Heins & La Farge in 1892 (Blue Guide of New York, 419). Since this church has never been finished, the Blue Guide also notes that it is also commonly referred to as “St. John the Unfinished” (419). After this, we headed back and took a stroll through Damian’s alma mater: Columbia University. You can really tell what an exquisite campus this is just from admiring the beauty of its architecture!
It was here that Professor Russo held a contest of wits for both Emily and Chris who beat him up the stairs in Morningside Park. Emily had won the contest of brains, and was rewarded with a skull bracelet from Jorge Vargas’s store that is supposed to bring the wearer good luck—congrats Em, all those sprints at practice really paid off! It was here that we ended today’s class, and I have to admit I was actually pretty tired. Feeling tired does not mean that spirits should be down, though—still enthused as ever and cannot wait to explore Chelsea next class!
External Sources:
1) <http://www.guardianangels.org/programs.php>
2) <http://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/>
3) <http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/cubism_10one.htm>
4) <http://www.vintageperiods.com/harlem.php>
Journal 7: Lower Manhattan and Captivating Chelsea
July 26, 2013.
These have been a very stressful couple of days. A lot of things have come up out-of-the-blue regarding work and one of my family members has fallen even more ill than he was before. As of now I am physically, mentally, and emotionally drained, but that will not stop me from continuing on with another Gotham adventure. I still managed to awaken and catch the 9:24 train and arrive at Penn early, even with a minimal 3 hours of sleep.
As the class headed to our first subway ride of the day, we heard a man playing “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da” by The Beatles on the xylophone and as soon as I had identified the tune I began singing along. This was the thing that perked me up almost immediately, and with a bit more pep in my step I boarded the 3 train and headed uptown with my classmates. We got off at Park Place (yes, like the Monopoly game piece that is always so hard to acquire) and walked down and caught a glimpse of the Woolworth Building. According to the Blue Guide of New York, “[the building]…was designed by the renowned architect Cass Gilbert and it was the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1913…” (79). Professor Russo also pointed out that it is an unusual building for its time because skyscrapers are normally presented in an art deco style as opposed to the neo-Gothic architecture this one had.
We crossed the street and ended up at City Hall where we met our tour guide Deirdre. Because I was in the back of the group, I could not really hear what Deirdre told us about City Hall, but I could make out that she said that City Hall’s design was chosen as a result of an architectural contest. A pamphlet I grabbed later on in the tour informed me that “the winning team of Joseph François Mangin…and John McComb, Jr. designed the building in the Federal style with French influences…” (NYC.gov). Deirdre also told us that there was a Greek influence in the architecture of the building, most notably because the type of government in Greece parallels our form of government today: a democracy. Anyway, the Greek influence in architecture can be seen in the ionic columns that are aligned in front of the main first floor entrance. She also pointed out that there was a different design for the Corinthian columns on the second floor outside the Governor’s Hall—I would not have noticed if she hadn’t mentioned it! Deirdre told the class that fires here were a huge problem and, because of many, the statue that sat on top of the building (Justice without a blindfold) was the third of its kind. She said that the original one was carved out of wood but it perished when one of the fires struck City Hall. The current statue on top of the building is carved out of copper, although it gives off the appearance of being carved out of something like marble or limestone.
Deirdre then led us inside and I could actually hear her much better…I think it was the outside noise that was a distraction before. We were met by a bronze statue of George Washington, which she said was an exact replica of what he actually looked like! The artist of the original marble one (which now stands in Richmond, Virginia) had applied a plaster of Paris mold onto Washington’s face and waited for it to completely dry. The statue itself showed Washington’s sword and military cloak hung up (to indicate that he was finished with being a commander) and holding a cane, which showed that he was also a gentleman. We walked up the elegant stairwell and entered the Governor’s Room, which we learned was a very elegant and renowned room at the time where many historically famous people, such as Martin Luther King Jr., James Monroe, George Washington and Fiorello LaGuardia (whose desk still sits in the middle of the room). Deirdre told us that both Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant’s bodies were also laid out here when they died.
We then walked across the hall and entered the Bullpen. Deirdre said that the room was originally two separate courtrooms, but higher authorities later decided to combine them. I was intrigued by its regal decorations, among them were mahogany trimmings on the walls and on the ceiling overhead was a large mural. Deirdre told us that each of the characters on the mural represented something, such as wisdom, agriculture, navigation, and civilization. She also pointed out that if you look closely, you can actually see what appears to be a peninsula in between the cauldron and the lady in the green bun (I’m assuming that had some kind of significance but I’m not too sure what it means…). As we were admiring the décor of the Bullpen, Professor Russo scoped out a large painting of a man named Marquis de Lafayette. Mike gave us a quick history lesson, and informed us that Lafayette had actually survived the French Revolution and, when he returned back home in the U.S., made an effort to travel through every state. He also pointed out that in the painting there is a sunset behind Lafayette, that there are two busts of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington atop separate platforms and that Lafayette’s arm is resting on an empty platform which will one day be his own.
After this, the class departed from Deirdre and took a short walk down to St. Paul’s Chapel. According to the Blue Guide of New York, St. Paul’s Chapel “…was built in 1766 and is Manhattan’s only remaining colonial church…” (77). When we entered the small chapel, we could already tell that the mood was very somber and sad by a lot of the memorials that were located within it. “After the World Trade Center disaster, the chapel served as both a place of refuge for workers at Ground Zero and as a temporary memorial for visitors…” (Blue Guide of New York, 77). Dorothy and I even lit a candle for all the victims of the 9/11 disaster. We quickly made our way around the chapel and continued on down Church Street to the 9/11 Memorial Tour we were scheduled for.
I recalled a basic overview of the 9/11 Memorial, and knew that the names of all the 2,000+ people that perished in the September 11, 2001 tragedy were scattered and engraved onto each of the two memorials, one being dedicated to the North Tower and the other the South Tower where they once stood before. “Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations…” (911Memorial.org). Chris, a fellow classmate of ours, told us that the design of the memorial represents a constant flow of life, as symbolized by the recycled water that continues to fall. Although the water may enter an abyss (where the centers of the pools are), it keeps recycling and water is constantly flowing, which symbolizes that life goes on forever. This was a very beautiful way of putting it, and I really do admire the site more knowing that the architects had this in mind when they designed it. When we entered the site, it was very quiet and the only thing that could really be heard was the water hitting the bottom of the pools. We had a bit of time to explore the memorial on our own, and since my father was actually down at Ground Zero on that day eleven years ago I decided to look around for his partner’s name (he perished in the this horrible tragedy). Unfortunately I could not find him and did not have enough time to continue searching, so I said a prayer and made my way back to the class and carried on.
The 9/11 Memorial was a very humbling experience, but it was time for us to leave the site and continue down towards Wall Street. We briefly stopped by Zuccotti Park, which was one of the main sites of the Occupy Wall Street protests. As we made our way down towards Wall Street, Professor Russo stopped us for a brief second outside the Trinity Root Church. He said that this church was the burial place of the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton (yeah, the guy on the $10 bill). Then, we crossed the street and went down Wall Street. Since I am a converted Communications major but have kept Marketing as a minor, it was interesting to actually witness Wall Street during its peak hours (we got there around 3 pm and the market closes at 4)—you could really tell that stress was in the air by the stern looks and quickened paces of the businessmen in the area. We saw the New York Stock Exchange Building, which was designed by George B. Post and expanded by Trowbridge & Livingston (Blue Guide of New York, 69). This building, like many others we have seen, featured engravings that were of a Greek influence, such as the Corinthian columns that stand on the exterior of the main entrance.
After a short bathroom break in Federal Hall, we walked down to the Bowling Green and Professor Russo told us a fun fact: the Statue of King George III no longer stands here because it was actually melted down to make over 40,000 musket balls during the Revolutionary War! Ah, I love the fact that this nation was founded by rebels…anyway, we saw the National Museum of the American Indian on our way and learned that each of the statues outside represents each of the main continents. Next, we walked across Broadway to Battery Park. Despite popular association, Battery Park is actually so-called because “…it recalls a number of cannons that defended the original fort and stood near the present sidewalk west of the [Alexander Hamilton] Custom House…” (Blue Guide of New York, 46). In other words, Battery Park got its name long before the Revolutionary War: it was actually named after a battery (a row of cannons) that was used by the Dutch to fight off the English navy during the first Anglo-Dutch war (NYCGovParks.org).
Unfortunately we did not walk around and enjoy the scenery of beautiful Battery Park, but instead we walked down to the subway and took the 1 train to West 14th Street in Chelsea. According to the Blue Guide of New York:
…Chelsea owes its name and approximate boundaries to Captain Thomas Clarke,
a retired British soldier who bought a tract of land in 1750 and named the estate
after the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, in London, a refuge for old and disabled soldiers.
Chelsea owes its most attractive streets to Clarke’s grandson, Clement Clarke Moore,
who developed it as a residential neighborhood (185).
The class walked down 9th Avenue and had lunch at Chelsea Market, which used to be the old Nabisco factory (Blue Guide of New York, 186). Since we did not have much time for lunch because we were running a bit behind schedule today, some classmates and I decided to grab a quick sandwich and then continue on our way.
Once we finished enjoying our lunches, we continued back up 9th Avenue until we arrived at West 13th Street in the Meatpacking District. I am actually very familiar with this area because it is the home of a night club that a friend of mine went to once: the Rooftop of the Gansevoort Hotel. It also hosted an event that that same friend of mine and I went to back in November: Fashion’s Night Out (the Meatpacking District is a very hip area now). As the name suggests, the main purpose of the early Meatpacking District was to sell meats from various warehouses throughout the area. Professor Russo taught us that from the 1970s-1990s, the Meatpacking District was actually known for its S&M shops and high rates of prostitution, but has since gentrified. He also said that ever since high rates of gentrification have taken over the area in the 1990s, many artists (which we have learned are one of the two main groups of people to effectively gentrify and occupy an area) have bought out the old, abandoned warehouses and actually used them to open up art galleries. This led us into our last part of today’s class: touring some of the numerous art galleries of Chelsea—Professor Russo said that approximately 15 blocks in the area are solely dedicated to galleries! In order to get there, however, we would have to walk along New York City’s most popular attractions: the High Line.
The class ventured to Gansevoort Street, or the place where the High Line begins. The Blue Guide of New York discusses the history of the High Line:
…during the 1950s rail freight gave way to trucking…because no one wanted
to pay demolition costs [of the railroad], the High Line was left to rust.
Beginning in the late 1990s, a local advocacy group defeated proposals for
demolition, and…[a park was constructed] 1.6 miles between West 16th and
West 30th Streets” (188).
Professor Russo gave the class a brief lecture about the High Line, and said that most cities today are looking to attract tourists to their cities by replicating it but are failing because they do not have the same density that New York City does. On our walk we saw the Standard Hotel, which featured an international style of architecture (we could tell this by its glass and steel design). I recall that about a year ago my father and I were casually strolling around the city and actually had lunch in the lobby of the Standard Hotel, which happens to be very nice! The class and I continued down the High Line and took in the scenery, but now it was time for us to enjoy even more indoor scenery within the Chelsea art galleries.
A very enthused Professor Russo led the way as we perused the contemporary art galleries in Chelsea. We went into nine galleries in total, and saw all different types of modern art. First, we visited the Stux gallery, which featured mostly black and white pieces (ranging from sculptures to paintings) whose subjects were primarily women, fertility, and death. I could not even begin to imagine what was going through this artist’s head, but I suppose it had something to do with desire, as well as life and death. We then entered a graffiti gallery with works done by Bryce Wolkowitz. These works were all murals that were imposed on walls, similar to that of graffiti art (but not with text, I assume these were done with spray paint). I admired these works specifically because in each of them there is a parallel between young and old: in one of them, for example, a young man can be seen walking towards the image of an older man who is facing the younger man. This, to me, indicated that the younger man is going through the “walk of life” (how cliché) and will eventually become old like the man that is painted on the mural. This also spoke to me because of the fact that the old man was painted on the wall: this implied meaning to me because I see it as the young man has somehow “left his impression” on the world in the form of the old man, hence why he is (supposedly) painted on the wall.
As we kept walking in and out of different art galleries, another that struck me was Andrea Meslin’s set of works in her “Perchance to Dream” exhibit. In this exhibit, pictures of different people and things such as a person lying in a hammock, two women laying on the ground, men in the military, and even a dog were photographed as they were sleeping. This spoke to me because it instantly brought me back to Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet, in which the main character recites a line: to sleep, perchance to dream. The photographs within this exhibit are the first part of its title, and the title of exhibit itself finishes off the famous line. Although this exhibit had a certain calmness about it, once I understood this reference it seemed a bit more morbid to me: “to sleep, perchance to dream” can be interpreted as a fear of the unknown, or a fear of dying (sleeping) and whether or not there is life (“dreaming”) after death. As the artist had shown, this uncertainty does not only go for humans, but for other forms of animal life as well (dogs being the other example).
Our last stop of the day was at a rebellious book shop called Printed Matter, Inc. I already loved the name of this store because that is what a book is: a piece of ‘printed matter’, per say. Our assignment was to choose a book whose cover spoke to us and to interpret its meaning. Among some of the other raunchy covers I have seen in this store (not going to describe what they were because I don’t see it appropriate), there was a treasure that caught my eye instantly. The book was entitled “The Garden” by Birgitta Lund. The cover featured a little boy on what appears to be a bus (because there are people in other seats in front and behind him but they are out of focus) staring wide-eyed out his window at what looks like city lights (these are also out of focus but leave an aesthetically-pleasing bokeh effect; I am familiar with what they look like because I take numerous pictures in the city and use the bokeh effect quite often). This cover spoke out to me because it defined my whole experience of New York City thus far: even as a child I remember my first glance at a city like New York and I can admit I probably had the same expression on my face as the child in the photograph. Admittedly, to this day a part of me still feels surprised and excited whenever something beautiful in the city catches me off guard and, if you were there to see my face, I would probably have the same expression on my face as that of the young child’s.
After collectively meeting again outside the bookstore, Mike and Damian had dismissed the class for the rest of the day. Diana, Amanda, Chris, and I decided to take the scenic route back home and walk the rest of the High Line with the professors to 34th Street. I am glad we did because we got to enjoy more of the scenery from the High Line at the best part of the day: sunset! During our walk back, it hit me that the city is not beautiful in just one sense: people often think of more of a Gothic-looking beauty when they picture New York City and its skyscrapers, but there are so many other types of beauty that the city holds that, unfortunately, not many people are aware of (the green scape of the High Line being one of them). This accentuates my point that the city has no specific identity to it; it is unique and it has something that is bound to suit everyone’s liking. It also hit me after I realized this that this is what makes New York City so beautiful: it is not only so ethnically diverse, but rather it is also culturally diverse and everyone is bound to find the things they enjoy here. Anyway, enough of the philosophical stuff—you’ll have to read my last journal post to see more! We ended the day after we reached 34th Street, and the train ride home from Penn definitely was a well-earned one considering all the walking we did!
External Sources:
1) <http://www.nyc.gov/html/artcom/html/tours/city_hall.shtml>
2) <http://www.911memorial.org/about-memorial>
3) <http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/batterypark/monuments/1092>
Journal 8: Immigrant New York (Lower East Side, The Bowery, Little Italy, and Chinatown)
July 31, 2013.
There was a bit of a somber mood today upon awakening: today was our last Gotham class :( . But, that means that this journal entry is the last one of the class—thank God! Anyway, I have been doing a lot lately so I decided to give myself a break and sleep in to catch the later train for the last time (…wow, that sounded a whole lot sadder than intended).
When everyone arrived at Penn for the last meet up with the class, there was a bit of a somber mood in the air. That was quickly turned around when Professors Russo and Hey showed up and told us that we were “guinea pigs” and that we were going to be trying something new for the class. As the suspense was building up, they finally gave in and informed us that before lunch we were going to have an hour and a half on our own and be going on a Scavenger Hunt! Professor Russo separated the class into different groups so that we would all be going and exploring parts of the city that suited our interests, and I was put in Group A with Diana, Amanda, Chris, Alex, Nicole, and Marly. We found from the handouts he gave us that we were going to be exploring Battery Park, which we actually visited last class (but unfortunately last class we did not have much time to really explore that area downtown so I am glad we went to see it today)! However, we still had a few hours to kill before we embarked on this adventure, so we were scheduled to visit with Jim again for another tour. The class left Penn Station and went down 6th Avenue to get to the F train and took the subway to Delancey Street.
A couple of stops later we got off and met up with our tour guide, Jim, and a few of Professor Russo’s classmates in front of the Essex Street Market. Jim taught us that the Market was built originally as an attempt at getting pushcart merchants off the streets, but ever since it has expanded into an international marketplace where foods from around the world are sold. We even had the chance to quickly walk through the Essex Street Market, and it was very interesting! I noticed almost instantly that different types of game were sold, such as venison (deer) and oxtail—after the goat I had at the Jackson Diner I’m definitely going to have to try those too! Jim mentioned that we had only walked through a part of the market, and that the entire thing is about four blocks long! Anyway, when we exited the marketplace Professor Russo and Jim both briefly lectured about the Lower East Side. Professor Russo said that by 1900, the Lower East Side was the densest community in the world because of the wave of immigrants that flocked to the area because, although it was dirty, it was affordable. Like most other places we have seen throughout this class, the Lower East Side is now undergoing a lot of gentrification (this seems to be the ‘word of the class’). Jim then said that the Williamsburg Bridge helped clear a lot of the density of the Lower East Side, and many of the Jewish immigrants migrated across the bridge to Williamsburg, Brooklyn (hence why this bridge is also called the Jews’ Highway).
Jim led us down Delancey Street where we had a nice view of the Williamsburg Bridge. The Williamsburg Bridge opened in 1903 (NYC.gov) and its artistic value was criticized by both architects and engineers alike. Engineers criticized the bridge for carrying too much (it initially had lanes for horse-drawn carriages, pedestrians, trolley cars and subway cars), and architects scoffed at it because it was not the most aesthetically-pleasing bridge that has been built (Blue Guide of New York, 110). When automobiles were introduced to the world, the Williamsburg Bridge was modified to accommodate this and the trolley lanes were removed and roadways put in their place. Jim also told us a fun trivia fact which I very found very interesting: the famous rapper, Jay-Z, actually got his stage name because two of the three main subways that cross the Williamsburg Bridge are the J and the Z trains (Jay-Z was also born in Brooklyn so this adds to this fun fact). Jim then took us to the Bialystoker Synagogue and explained that it was once an Episcopalian church but was later bought by Jews that inhabited the area and has since become a synagogue. We continued on and saw a place called The Neighborhood Playhouse, which is a highly renowned school for actors. Jim even told us that many famous actors have come through its doors, such as Leslie Nielsen and Diane Keaton. This caught my attention as soon as he said it, but unfortunately when I had tuned in to him we were already on our way to the next stop on the tour.
The class walked through the P.S. 134 walkway and ended up on Henry Street, where we saw the Henry Street Settlement. The Henry Street Settlement is an establishment that would house and care for the poor, and was founded in 1893 by Lillian Wald (Henrystreet.org). According to the Blue Guide of New York, Lillian Wald was “…one of New York’s great figures, a compassionate, gentle, yet shrewd and worldly woman who devoted herself tirelessly to the poor...” (125). Jim also told us that Wald was a nurse, and was responsible for the establishment of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York—this guy really knows his stuff! The group continued up East Broadway and entered Seward Park which was named after William H. Seward, or the secretary of state when President Abraham Lincoln was in office (Blue Guide of New York, 124). More focus was put on a building across the street which had the word ‘Forward’ imprinted on the side of it. This building is appropriately called the Forward Building after the U.S.’s most prominent Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Daily Forward (Blue Guide of New York, 124). Jim told us that unfortunately it is not the home to this newspaper, but rather it houses apartments that people can rent out if they are willing to pay for them. This building is known for hosting cameos of four main radicals and famous people on its façade: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Ferdinand Lassalle, and a fourth man whose identity cannot be perceived.
We all walked up and saw St. Theresa’s church on the corner of Rutgers Street and East Broadway. Jim explained that this church was the first Presbyterian Church in New York City. After this, we kept walking up the block and, with the permission of Dr. Russo, Jim gave his lesson about the famous New York City fire escapes: he said they were the inspiration for many famous works of art, including Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (a play I have fallen in love with, definitely one of my top three)! After this brief moment of admiration, we ventured on and turned up Eldridge Street to see the Eldridge Street Synagogue. Again, I could not hear much about what Jim was saying about this building, but I was able to overhear that it was among the first synagogues in the Lower East Side to be built by Eastern European Jews, or the Ashkenazi Jews (Blue Guide of New York, 120).
The Gotham class carried on up Canal Street and finally hit Chinatown. The Blue Guide of New York states: “Chinatown grew only slowly for centuries…it was not until the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 that the Chinese population grew significantly” (108). Due to overpopulation fears, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which placed a quota on the amount of Chinese immigrants that were allowed into the United States (Harvard.edu). It was not until about a century later that Chinatown really began expanding in the city, and now it has become a very well-known area that sells a lot of authentic goods from China and, sadly, fake designer handbags. Chinatown has expanded significantly and has nearly taken over a large portion of the next area we were visiting: Little Italy.
We continued down Hester Street and once we hit Mulberry Street, we were in Little Italy. Little Italy is—as the name suggests—a dominantly Italian area of Manhattan whose history dates back to about the late 19th century (Blue Guide of New York, 114). Little Italy is famous for its authentic Italian restaurants, bakeries, and even the Feast of San Gennaro festival which usually goes on around mid-September of every year. We then turned onto Grand Street and, on the corner of Grand Street and Centre Street, saw the building that used to be the old Police Headquarters in New York City. I found this rather interesting since my father is actually a retired police officer. Jim said that the famous Theodore Roosevelt started out as Police Commissioner long before he moved up to later become a President of the United States. Wow, I guess you really do learn something new every day—I had no idea! Jim bid us adieu on the corner of Canal Street and Lafayette; he really was a great tour guide but I have to admit I had a bit of a hard time hearing him since I was in the back. Although we did not spend as much time as I would have liked to in Little Italy, we moved on to even more fun and it was time to embark on our Scavenger Hunt Adventure!
As stated on the instruction sheet, Group A (we called ourselves the “dream team”) was assigned to go downtown to the Battery Park area and take in some of the sights. We used an extremely life-saving app called HopStop and caught the 6 train heading downtown. We then got off at City Hall and had to transfer onto the 4 train and took that to Bowling Green. The “dream team” had to move in haste since it already took us a good 20 minutes to actually get downtown from where we were. We all quickened our steps and walked across the street into Wagner Park to take a picture of ourselves with the Statue of Liberty in the background. Wagner Park was named after former mayor Robert F. Wagner, and was a very scenic park with a nice view of the Hudson River. According to the Blue Guide of New York:
…the Statue of Liberty, the best-remembered work of sculptor Frédéric-Auguste
Bartholdi, dedicated in 1886 and properly called Liberty Enlightening the World,
is surely the most famous piece of sculpture in America, rising…on Liberty
Island in direct view of ships entering the Upper Bay. Her head is surrounded by a
radiant crown, while her feet step forth from broken shackles; in her uplifted right
hand is a torch; her left holds a tablet representing the Declaration of Independence.
[It was] a gift of the people of France…and stands on Fort Wood…which was part
of the city’s defenses for the War of 1812…(35-36).
After finally locating the Statue of Liberty off in the horizon, it was time for the dream team to continue on the adventure and try to locate the World Financial Center.
Chris and I led the way for the rest of the pack, but we actually got lost since there was a lot of construction going on in that area of town while we were there. While encouraging others in our group to keep the pace, we realized that we did not follow the instructions that told us to walk along the water…whoops. Oh well, but at least we all knew what we were doing and where we were going (that app, HopStop, really came in handy here)! After having to re-route several times, we finally found the World Financial Center. The World Financial Center is a modern and elegant building which holds office spaces to some of the world’s top financial companies, such as American Express and Merrill Lynch (U-S-History.com). We all quickly took pictures outside the building and on the lavish staircase, and then it was time to head on to our third stop: the Irish Hunger Memorial.
From what she told me, Amanda was very familiar with where the Irish Hunger Memorial was because she had already visited it. She led the way as most of us broke out into a jog and ran to the top to quickly take pictures of ourselves on it (as what was required via the instruction sheet). While we were on the way there, Amanda had given me a brief overview of the memorial: as the name suggests, she said it was dedicated to those who have suffered due to the Irish Potato Famine of the late 1800s. Since I am part Irish, I would have loved to have stayed and learned more about the famine, but we hardly had any time left and nearly sprinted up along the river to our last stop: the Poet’s House. According to PoetsHouse.org, “Poet’s House is a national poetry library and literary center that invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry. Poet’s House seeks to document the wealth and diversity of poetry and to cultivate a wider audience for poetry”. In other words, the Poet’s House was founded in 1985 and wishes to spread the awareness and appreciation of poetry to others. We all raced up the stairs, grabbed the first books we saw, rapidly snapped pictures of ourselves, and headed out and back to Allen Street for lunch with the class.
We were initially going to take the J train back to Allen Street but HopStop told us that it would take a half an hour and we were already running a bit behind schedule. Using our thinking caps, we quickly hitched two taxi cabs and piled into them. We were escorted back to the restaurant by our lovely driver, Gerard, who was a bit heavy on the gas (which was a great thing in this case). Unfortunately, Gerard dropped us off a few blocks away from the restaurant, so we all had to race up the street to a place called Congee Village where we enjoyed a nice Chinese lunch on the professors. The steamed vegetables and house chicken special slathered in a garlic sauce were amazing, and the meal as a whole was absolutely delicious—it was definitely needed after an “Amazing Race”-style scavenger hunt!
After unwinding for a bit with the rest of the class (who also seemed a bit tired after their adventures), we left the restaurant, turned the corner and arrived at our last stop of the class: the Tenement Museum. The Tenement Museum was founded in 1988 and is located at 97 Orchard Street (Tenement.org). This museum is unique because instead of a gallery space like most of the others we have been to, the Tenement Museum is actually located within an actual tenement. The class was split up into two groups again, and our wonderful guide, Daryl, led us upstairs and into a room for a quick information session. Daryl taught us that this building is a “5-4-3-2” building: it has 5 floors, 4 apartments per floor, 3 rooms in each apartment, and 2 toilets in the hallway on each floor. He then explained a lot of the hardships that immigrants had to face when coming to the New World: they would journey on the bottom of a boat (in crammed spaces with no beds and alongside other animals travelling with them as well) for three weeks, then arrive at Ellis Island and be evaluated in terms of their last name (some of them had to change their family names because of length or language barriers) and even harsh medical checks such as the button eye hook inspection. The physicians at the time would take an instrument with a hook at one end of it and flip over the patient’s eyelid and check for trachoma, or an eye disease that was common in Europe at the time.
Daryl then changed the subject matter and said that we were all going to meet a young girl (an actress, obviously) who would be playing the part of a young girl named Victoria Confino, a 14-year old Sephardic Jewish immigrant from Kastoria, Turkey. He told us to inquire more about Victoria and ask her questions about how life was back then. Daryl even assigned us some of us roles to play while we had our visit with Victoria, and I was asked to play the role of a mother of a family of Russian immigrants—dang, Russian accents are hard to pull off! Before Daryl led us into the actual museum, he did mention something about primary sources. Normally, a college kid’s primary sources include textbooks, journals, scholarly articles, etc., but all people had back then for information and to identify someone were photographs. He even said that the people who ran the museum had no idea who Victoria was until they were shown a photograph of her by the Confino family.
After this, we actually began our tour of the museum. Victoria escorted us into the bedroom, and insisted that we all take seats and make ourselves comfortable. Some things I learned about Victoria from my experience at this museum were that rent was $20 a month at the time, and that people would often brush their teeth with a toothbrush and salt and then rinse with Listerine (yes, the same brand of mouth wash that is used today). We then followed her into the kitchen and she said that kitchens in tenements did not come with stoves already in them, people had to often invest in them on their own (they cost $22.50 at the time). The group also learned that coal was purchased through subscriptions and that was how they would fill up their coal for the stoves and fireplaces to cook and keep warm. We asked Victoria if she danced, and she said that it was the “fun thing to do on weekends” back then (which is very similar to today’s society) and even showed us a few basic steps of the Foxtrot—she’s got some moves!
Our time with Victoria went much quicker than expected, and before we knew it we were outside and going over some final things with Daryl. He told us that Victoria had married at the age of 19 and had a son who became a physicist and worked for NASA, that’s really cool! Later on Victoria passed away, but her story still continues on in this museum. After the entire class met up again outside the entrance of the Tenement Museum, it was time for us all to say goodbye because that was the end of the last Gotham: NYC class. It was very sad to part from the other classmates, but I will probably see them around campus in the Fall—Molloy’ not that big of a school!
Diana, Amanda, Chris, and I actually continued on with the professors and their colleagues after class was over to get a real taste of the city (well—Brooklyn, in this case). We crossed the Williamsburg Bridge in our travels, and I was absolutely in love with all the graffiti that decorated it! We made our way into Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and took in all the scenery of beautiful Brooklyn at dusk. When it got dark we headed over to a beer garden, Radegast beer hall, for a few drinks after class. Unfortunately I had to leave a bit early since it was my cousin’s birthday, but I really cannot thank you guys enough for being awesome professors and for hosting such an amazing class. It truly was a remarkable experience, and I hope you guys continue to do great things and go on exciting adventures with the future Gotham: NYC classes to come!
External Sources:
1) <http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/infrastructure/williamsburg-bridge.shtml#history>
2) <http://www.henrystreet.org/about/>
3) <http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/exclusion.html>
4) <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2386.html>
5) <http://www.poetshouse.org/about/mission>
6) <http://www.tenement.org/about.html>
There was a bit of a somber mood today upon awakening: today was our last Gotham class :( . But, that means that this journal entry is the last one of the class—thank God! Anyway, I have been doing a lot lately so I decided to give myself a break and sleep in to catch the later train for the last time (…wow, that sounded a whole lot sadder than intended).
When everyone arrived at Penn for the last meet up with the class, there was a bit of a somber mood in the air. That was quickly turned around when Professors Russo and Hey showed up and told us that we were “guinea pigs” and that we were going to be trying something new for the class. As the suspense was building up, they finally gave in and informed us that before lunch we were going to have an hour and a half on our own and be going on a Scavenger Hunt! Professor Russo separated the class into different groups so that we would all be going and exploring parts of the city that suited our interests, and I was put in Group A with Diana, Amanda, Chris, Alex, Nicole, and Marly. We found from the handouts he gave us that we were going to be exploring Battery Park, which we actually visited last class (but unfortunately last class we did not have much time to really explore that area downtown so I am glad we went to see it today)! However, we still had a few hours to kill before we embarked on this adventure, so we were scheduled to visit with Jim again for another tour. The class left Penn Station and went down 6th Avenue to get to the F train and took the subway to Delancey Street.
A couple of stops later we got off and met up with our tour guide, Jim, and a few of Professor Russo’s classmates in front of the Essex Street Market. Jim taught us that the Market was built originally as an attempt at getting pushcart merchants off the streets, but ever since it has expanded into an international marketplace where foods from around the world are sold. We even had the chance to quickly walk through the Essex Street Market, and it was very interesting! I noticed almost instantly that different types of game were sold, such as venison (deer) and oxtail—after the goat I had at the Jackson Diner I’m definitely going to have to try those too! Jim mentioned that we had only walked through a part of the market, and that the entire thing is about four blocks long! Anyway, when we exited the marketplace Professor Russo and Jim both briefly lectured about the Lower East Side. Professor Russo said that by 1900, the Lower East Side was the densest community in the world because of the wave of immigrants that flocked to the area because, although it was dirty, it was affordable. Like most other places we have seen throughout this class, the Lower East Side is now undergoing a lot of gentrification (this seems to be the ‘word of the class’). Jim then said that the Williamsburg Bridge helped clear a lot of the density of the Lower East Side, and many of the Jewish immigrants migrated across the bridge to Williamsburg, Brooklyn (hence why this bridge is also called the Jews’ Highway).
Jim led us down Delancey Street where we had a nice view of the Williamsburg Bridge. The Williamsburg Bridge opened in 1903 (NYC.gov) and its artistic value was criticized by both architects and engineers alike. Engineers criticized the bridge for carrying too much (it initially had lanes for horse-drawn carriages, pedestrians, trolley cars and subway cars), and architects scoffed at it because it was not the most aesthetically-pleasing bridge that has been built (Blue Guide of New York, 110). When automobiles were introduced to the world, the Williamsburg Bridge was modified to accommodate this and the trolley lanes were removed and roadways put in their place. Jim also told us a fun trivia fact which I very found very interesting: the famous rapper, Jay-Z, actually got his stage name because two of the three main subways that cross the Williamsburg Bridge are the J and the Z trains (Jay-Z was also born in Brooklyn so this adds to this fun fact). Jim then took us to the Bialystoker Synagogue and explained that it was once an Episcopalian church but was later bought by Jews that inhabited the area and has since become a synagogue. We continued on and saw a place called The Neighborhood Playhouse, which is a highly renowned school for actors. Jim even told us that many famous actors have come through its doors, such as Leslie Nielsen and Diane Keaton. This caught my attention as soon as he said it, but unfortunately when I had tuned in to him we were already on our way to the next stop on the tour.
The class walked through the P.S. 134 walkway and ended up on Henry Street, where we saw the Henry Street Settlement. The Henry Street Settlement is an establishment that would house and care for the poor, and was founded in 1893 by Lillian Wald (Henrystreet.org). According to the Blue Guide of New York, Lillian Wald was “…one of New York’s great figures, a compassionate, gentle, yet shrewd and worldly woman who devoted herself tirelessly to the poor...” (125). Jim also told us that Wald was a nurse, and was responsible for the establishment of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York—this guy really knows his stuff! The group continued up East Broadway and entered Seward Park which was named after William H. Seward, or the secretary of state when President Abraham Lincoln was in office (Blue Guide of New York, 124). More focus was put on a building across the street which had the word ‘Forward’ imprinted on the side of it. This building is appropriately called the Forward Building after the U.S.’s most prominent Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Daily Forward (Blue Guide of New York, 124). Jim told us that unfortunately it is not the home to this newspaper, but rather it houses apartments that people can rent out if they are willing to pay for them. This building is known for hosting cameos of four main radicals and famous people on its façade: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Ferdinand Lassalle, and a fourth man whose identity cannot be perceived.
We all walked up and saw St. Theresa’s church on the corner of Rutgers Street and East Broadway. Jim explained that this church was the first Presbyterian Church in New York City. After this, we kept walking up the block and, with the permission of Dr. Russo, Jim gave his lesson about the famous New York City fire escapes: he said they were the inspiration for many famous works of art, including Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (a play I have fallen in love with, definitely one of my top three)! After this brief moment of admiration, we ventured on and turned up Eldridge Street to see the Eldridge Street Synagogue. Again, I could not hear much about what Jim was saying about this building, but I was able to overhear that it was among the first synagogues in the Lower East Side to be built by Eastern European Jews, or the Ashkenazi Jews (Blue Guide of New York, 120).
The Gotham class carried on up Canal Street and finally hit Chinatown. The Blue Guide of New York states: “Chinatown grew only slowly for centuries…it was not until the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 that the Chinese population grew significantly” (108). Due to overpopulation fears, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which placed a quota on the amount of Chinese immigrants that were allowed into the United States (Harvard.edu). It was not until about a century later that Chinatown really began expanding in the city, and now it has become a very well-known area that sells a lot of authentic goods from China and, sadly, fake designer handbags. Chinatown has expanded significantly and has nearly taken over a large portion of the next area we were visiting: Little Italy.
We continued down Hester Street and once we hit Mulberry Street, we were in Little Italy. Little Italy is—as the name suggests—a dominantly Italian area of Manhattan whose history dates back to about the late 19th century (Blue Guide of New York, 114). Little Italy is famous for its authentic Italian restaurants, bakeries, and even the Feast of San Gennaro festival which usually goes on around mid-September of every year. We then turned onto Grand Street and, on the corner of Grand Street and Centre Street, saw the building that used to be the old Police Headquarters in New York City. I found this rather interesting since my father is actually a retired police officer. Jim said that the famous Theodore Roosevelt started out as Police Commissioner long before he moved up to later become a President of the United States. Wow, I guess you really do learn something new every day—I had no idea! Jim bid us adieu on the corner of Canal Street and Lafayette; he really was a great tour guide but I have to admit I had a bit of a hard time hearing him since I was in the back. Although we did not spend as much time as I would have liked to in Little Italy, we moved on to even more fun and it was time to embark on our Scavenger Hunt Adventure!
As stated on the instruction sheet, Group A (we called ourselves the “dream team”) was assigned to go downtown to the Battery Park area and take in some of the sights. We used an extremely life-saving app called HopStop and caught the 6 train heading downtown. We then got off at City Hall and had to transfer onto the 4 train and took that to Bowling Green. The “dream team” had to move in haste since it already took us a good 20 minutes to actually get downtown from where we were. We all quickened our steps and walked across the street into Wagner Park to take a picture of ourselves with the Statue of Liberty in the background. Wagner Park was named after former mayor Robert F. Wagner, and was a very scenic park with a nice view of the Hudson River. According to the Blue Guide of New York:
…the Statue of Liberty, the best-remembered work of sculptor Frédéric-Auguste
Bartholdi, dedicated in 1886 and properly called Liberty Enlightening the World,
is surely the most famous piece of sculpture in America, rising…on Liberty
Island in direct view of ships entering the Upper Bay. Her head is surrounded by a
radiant crown, while her feet step forth from broken shackles; in her uplifted right
hand is a torch; her left holds a tablet representing the Declaration of Independence.
[It was] a gift of the people of France…and stands on Fort Wood…which was part
of the city’s defenses for the War of 1812…(35-36).
After finally locating the Statue of Liberty off in the horizon, it was time for the dream team to continue on the adventure and try to locate the World Financial Center.
Chris and I led the way for the rest of the pack, but we actually got lost since there was a lot of construction going on in that area of town while we were there. While encouraging others in our group to keep the pace, we realized that we did not follow the instructions that told us to walk along the water…whoops. Oh well, but at least we all knew what we were doing and where we were going (that app, HopStop, really came in handy here)! After having to re-route several times, we finally found the World Financial Center. The World Financial Center is a modern and elegant building which holds office spaces to some of the world’s top financial companies, such as American Express and Merrill Lynch (U-S-History.com). We all quickly took pictures outside the building and on the lavish staircase, and then it was time to head on to our third stop: the Irish Hunger Memorial.
From what she told me, Amanda was very familiar with where the Irish Hunger Memorial was because she had already visited it. She led the way as most of us broke out into a jog and ran to the top to quickly take pictures of ourselves on it (as what was required via the instruction sheet). While we were on the way there, Amanda had given me a brief overview of the memorial: as the name suggests, she said it was dedicated to those who have suffered due to the Irish Potato Famine of the late 1800s. Since I am part Irish, I would have loved to have stayed and learned more about the famine, but we hardly had any time left and nearly sprinted up along the river to our last stop: the Poet’s House. According to PoetsHouse.org, “Poet’s House is a national poetry library and literary center that invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry. Poet’s House seeks to document the wealth and diversity of poetry and to cultivate a wider audience for poetry”. In other words, the Poet’s House was founded in 1985 and wishes to spread the awareness and appreciation of poetry to others. We all raced up the stairs, grabbed the first books we saw, rapidly snapped pictures of ourselves, and headed out and back to Allen Street for lunch with the class.
We were initially going to take the J train back to Allen Street but HopStop told us that it would take a half an hour and we were already running a bit behind schedule. Using our thinking caps, we quickly hitched two taxi cabs and piled into them. We were escorted back to the restaurant by our lovely driver, Gerard, who was a bit heavy on the gas (which was a great thing in this case). Unfortunately, Gerard dropped us off a few blocks away from the restaurant, so we all had to race up the street to a place called Congee Village where we enjoyed a nice Chinese lunch on the professors. The steamed vegetables and house chicken special slathered in a garlic sauce were amazing, and the meal as a whole was absolutely delicious—it was definitely needed after an “Amazing Race”-style scavenger hunt!
After unwinding for a bit with the rest of the class (who also seemed a bit tired after their adventures), we left the restaurant, turned the corner and arrived at our last stop of the class: the Tenement Museum. The Tenement Museum was founded in 1988 and is located at 97 Orchard Street (Tenement.org). This museum is unique because instead of a gallery space like most of the others we have been to, the Tenement Museum is actually located within an actual tenement. The class was split up into two groups again, and our wonderful guide, Daryl, led us upstairs and into a room for a quick information session. Daryl taught us that this building is a “5-4-3-2” building: it has 5 floors, 4 apartments per floor, 3 rooms in each apartment, and 2 toilets in the hallway on each floor. He then explained a lot of the hardships that immigrants had to face when coming to the New World: they would journey on the bottom of a boat (in crammed spaces with no beds and alongside other animals travelling with them as well) for three weeks, then arrive at Ellis Island and be evaluated in terms of their last name (some of them had to change their family names because of length or language barriers) and even harsh medical checks such as the button eye hook inspection. The physicians at the time would take an instrument with a hook at one end of it and flip over the patient’s eyelid and check for trachoma, or an eye disease that was common in Europe at the time.
Daryl then changed the subject matter and said that we were all going to meet a young girl (an actress, obviously) who would be playing the part of a young girl named Victoria Confino, a 14-year old Sephardic Jewish immigrant from Kastoria, Turkey. He told us to inquire more about Victoria and ask her questions about how life was back then. Daryl even assigned us some of us roles to play while we had our visit with Victoria, and I was asked to play the role of a mother of a family of Russian immigrants—dang, Russian accents are hard to pull off! Before Daryl led us into the actual museum, he did mention something about primary sources. Normally, a college kid’s primary sources include textbooks, journals, scholarly articles, etc., but all people had back then for information and to identify someone were photographs. He even said that the people who ran the museum had no idea who Victoria was until they were shown a photograph of her by the Confino family.
After this, we actually began our tour of the museum. Victoria escorted us into the bedroom, and insisted that we all take seats and make ourselves comfortable. Some things I learned about Victoria from my experience at this museum were that rent was $20 a month at the time, and that people would often brush their teeth with a toothbrush and salt and then rinse with Listerine (yes, the same brand of mouth wash that is used today). We then followed her into the kitchen and she said that kitchens in tenements did not come with stoves already in them, people had to often invest in them on their own (they cost $22.50 at the time). The group also learned that coal was purchased through subscriptions and that was how they would fill up their coal for the stoves and fireplaces to cook and keep warm. We asked Victoria if she danced, and she said that it was the “fun thing to do on weekends” back then (which is very similar to today’s society) and even showed us a few basic steps of the Foxtrot—she’s got some moves!
Our time with Victoria went much quicker than expected, and before we knew it we were outside and going over some final things with Daryl. He told us that Victoria had married at the age of 19 and had a son who became a physicist and worked for NASA, that’s really cool! Later on Victoria passed away, but her story still continues on in this museum. After the entire class met up again outside the entrance of the Tenement Museum, it was time for us all to say goodbye because that was the end of the last Gotham: NYC class. It was very sad to part from the other classmates, but I will probably see them around campus in the Fall—Molloy’ not that big of a school!
Diana, Amanda, Chris, and I actually continued on with the professors and their colleagues after class was over to get a real taste of the city (well—Brooklyn, in this case). We crossed the Williamsburg Bridge in our travels, and I was absolutely in love with all the graffiti that decorated it! We made our way into Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and took in all the scenery of beautiful Brooklyn at dusk. When it got dark we headed over to a beer garden, Radegast beer hall, for a few drinks after class. Unfortunately I had to leave a bit early since it was my cousin’s birthday, but I really cannot thank you guys enough for being awesome professors and for hosting such an amazing class. It truly was a remarkable experience, and I hope you guys continue to do great things and go on exciting adventures with the future Gotham: NYC classes to come!
External Sources:
1) <http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/infrastructure/williamsburg-bridge.shtml#history>
2) <http://www.henrystreet.org/about/>
3) <http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/exclusion.html>
4) <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2386.html>
5) <http://www.poetshouse.org/about/mission>
6) <http://www.tenement.org/about.html>
Journal 9: Lasting Impressions of New York
New York City has always been called home to me. Ever since I was a child, as I’ve mentioned before, I have gone into the city many times with my grandmother and grown to love it even more with each visit. Although I have already known much of what the city has to offer before beginning this class, I can honestly say that I learn more about it each and every time I visit it as well.
This class has taught me that the city, like one of its many nicknames, holds its own unique type of aesthetic beauty to it. Although New York City is called the “art capital of the world,” there is no defined type of beauty it holds. It is not defined by the “gothic” or “classical” types of architecture it displays, or the “expressionist” or “minimalist” types of work it shows. The city revolves around art, and that is what gives it its mass appeal. Art is everywhere, and it can even be created and expressed in different forms: from the abstract works of Pollock to minimalists like Rothko and Johns, to pop artists such as Warhol and Rauschenberg; even all the way to the architectural works of George B. Post and Stanford White, art is everywhere in this city and it’s how it is interpreted that makes it so beautiful. Most people are afraid to express themselves, but in New York City no one will judge anyone because people understand the meaning of expression and “being yourself”.
So, I have learned to be like the artists whose works I have encountered over the course of these last four weeks: expressionism is a form of art, and it’s how you express yourself both inside and out that defines you and even the environment around you. Everyone and everything that makes up New York City is a part of its beauty: its artists, architects, sculptors, musicians, and even tourists, natives, and passers-by are what defines its beauty. New York City, in short, is one big mural: and everyone in it is a part of the painting.
Even ending this post on that note is not enough to convey all of my feelings about the city. This class has opened up my eyes to many more secrets of the city, and one of them being that it is definitely somewhere I would want to live in the near future. Thanks to Professor Hey and Russo’s numerous lectures about gentrification and micro-houses, I think I know what I’ll be saving up some money for now! I am so grateful to each of them and to my fellow classmates for sharing in this wonderful experience, and I hope that others in the near future will savor every moment in the city that I am so proud to call my home.