5. East Harlem & Central Park
I was dreading today's trip into the city for the simple reason of the rain, which we were planning on getting a lot of. I got into the city and it seemed to clear up, which I was thankful for. Our days seemed limited here especially with the threats of the MTA strikes starting this upcoming Saturday, Mike and Damien were trying to figure out what our last week is going to entail. Today was going to be the longest one yet so I prepared myself mentally for retaining a lot of information and long walking, little did I know the day would fly right by.
We started with subway hopping (which is what I call it) by jumping on the 3 train to the shuttle, which i learned is a train that runs from one location to another without making any other stops along the way. Out by me shuttles are busses so this was a different kind. From the shuttle we got on the 5 train uptown to 86th street and then took the 6 to 103rd street which put us in East Harlem. Growing up on Long Island I've always heard about Harlem but never been to or seen it and any time it was ever brought up it was always in a negative light such as "It's not worse than living in Harlem." So I was expecting some really bad sights in this neck of the woods. "East Harlem is know as Spanish Harlem or, more colloquially, "El Bario"-is a uptown neighborhood of Manhattan (eny, p.75). Mike explained to us that in 1811 when the grid of New York City was established this area was a farm land and that it wasn't until the steam trains were developed that brought people in to this area in the 1880's. The immigrants that settled here were primarily Italians and Germans which eventually got out of hand with the Genovese Italian mob family running the area. After WWI there was an influx of Puerto Ricans, with this happening and Robert Moses building the "PJ's" housing projects, by the 60's this was not a good place. Mike explained when you have a lot of poor people secluded in one area it leads to higher crime, disease, single parents, unemployment which most often only gets worse. We were standing right by a housing project building and I recall looking at the basic red brick with only windows and thinking that it felt very institutional and boring. Harlem had the highest amount of housing projects and the crime kept rising which is where it got its poor reputation from. Very slowly the area is becoming gentrified and we noticed one of the buildings similar to the ones we saw in Long Island City. We then walked over to the Museum of the City of New York http://www.mcny.org. One of the first rooms we started in was one that showed off the excellent graffiti art work that can be found all over the city. This was a collection that Martin Wong put together, it was written on one of the walls in the museum that graffiti started in the 1970's and was basically tagging and then evolved into colors and pictures. When you walk into this room there is a giant wall made of basic silver spray cans, all of the work I felt speaks for itself. I noted one artist right away which was Keith Haring, his works are mostly outlines of people with simple lines indicating what movement they are making. There's also a wall that shows the debate of whether graffiti is a form of art of if its considered vandalism. The great thing about graffiti is that it's in places you can see everywhere, subway walls, bridges, underneath over passes etc which is what makes it so scandalous. To spray or not to spray, that is the question. We watched Timescapes a 22minute movie about the history of New York. There were a few things that stuck out, the first was about the Lenape indians and how they first settled in the boroughs of New york. The next was the comparison the film made between the tenements and the upper class living such as the Astors. They showed this by having two screens one on the left the other on the right and seeing the two lifestyles at the same time really got the point across of the differences between them. Finally, they put the events of September 11th in towards the end and not that I feel that this wasn't a historical event because it was one of the largest the city had faced. But It became very real very quick, and to see the photos on the film of people crying, the police and firefighters covered in debris the buildings broken down, it immediately saturated you with the emotion you felt 13 years ago. If you ask anyone they will tell you where they were and what they were doing, it amazes me that I was a senior in High School and was now watching the historical event I lived through in a museum. We made our way through the Coney Island room which had photographs of people on the beach from the 1960's. One was a body builder with a great build however in the background there are two people making love on the sand, I thought that was funny. The next thing was the Gilded age, and this had objects such a paintings, jewelry, clothing, flasks and much more that the wealthy all used. The final part of the museum was learning about Raphael Guastavino and his love for Spanish ceramics we saw all of the beautiful walls, ceilings and floors that were done using this technique. The quote on the stairs that I choose was, "New Yorkers talk VERY LOUD, VERY FAST and all together, if they ask you a question, before you can utter three words of your answer, they will break out upon you again, and talk away" (John Adams, 1774). This is very true, New Yorkers are always being ridiculed for how fast we speak, our go go go personalities and our great accents.
Next we met Luke who is a Spanish poet and full of life. He started with a poem that spoke truth about a way of life and listening to people's songs or stories. While we were standing in the circle and he was preforming his poem and man from the street walked over and stood with us. He explained to us that El Museo Del Bario started off as a box with little collectables in it that represented Puerto Rican culture. We began our walk down the street and Luke later told us that the man that approached him was a percussionist and asked if he ever wanted to get together. Luke explained to us that this is how this community is. We passed by older men sitting on chairs on the sidewalk "shooting the sh*t," which wasn't familiar to many of us. What I learned from Luke and Spanish Harlem was that everything is based on perception, especially here. If you walk into this neighborhood and say to yourself, "this is the slum, there's graffiti on the sides of buildings and people sitting on the street" your not going into it with an open mind. Verses saying "this is an area that started off really terrible with a lot of poverty and crime and now is building its way up with people of different cultures and backgrounds that are trying to good for their community." You never know what someone else's struggles in life are, and once you figure that out chances are, their struggles are very similar to your own, maybe worse. There is a quote by Dela Vega, "Be mindful even if your mind is full." We stopped at book store La Casa Azul which a teacher started by raising $40,000 online to help her get started. The store has many books from authors of many different cultures, which i felt was really great for the children of this community being able to have books they could relate to. We saw murals by Dela Vega, one of Pedro Pietri, Luke read us deep poem by Pietri. "Born in Puerto Rico, Pietri was a lifelong resident of East Harlem, a community activist, and the founder of Nuyorican Poets Cafe" (eny, p.77). Across the street was a huge mural by Manny Vega of "The Spirit of East Harlem" which shows the people of harlem doing what they do everyday. We then walked into the Modesto "Tin" Flores Garden" which was a very shaded, small quiet but colorful garden that had small ponds and wooden bridges it. There was a mosaic statue in the middle and a beautiful mural on the back wall of two very important women. "the mural depicts Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (1917-1953) with their hands and hearts intertwined with the flags of their respective counties behind them" (eny, p.78). We took a break after this and ate lunch a El Paso, a great Spanish restaurant I had a Mango Margarita and a burrito, it was perfect before a long walk in the park.
Next was Central Park, we started at Vanderbilt Gate on Fifth Ave and 105th. Mike explained to us about how the park was purposely created so the people have a place to get away from all of the clutter. In the 1850's the population in NYC had quadrupled, "New Yorkers often recreated cemeteries to escape for a few moments the harsh realities of their turbulent urban lives" (eny, p.63). It became a place for poverty stricken immigrants would often stay and the area wasn't being taken care of the way it should have. Then in the 1980's "the not-for-profit Central Park Conservancy was formed to raise funds for the park and restore it to its former glory" (eny, p.64). The Conservatory Garden was one of my favorite spots, beautiful fountains and lilly pads, they almost looked fake that how perfect they were. We sat on the schist (the natural stone found in central park) and had a discussion about the class. The people from New York here were all exercising, biking, walking with strollers, it made you want to join in. We headed over to one of the oldest parts of the park and that is the 3,500 year old Egyptian Obelisk. "In a gesture of good will towards the United States, the Khedive of Egypt gave the Obelisk to the city of New York in 1881 to facilitate good will and improve trade between Egypt and the United States" (eny, p.68). This was difficult to see at the moment because the hieroglyphics have endured much erosion over time so they are trying to restore it. Next was the Belvedere castle and this was considered the most beautiful. The castle was built of the natural stone schist found in the park and really catches your eye when you see it for the first time. This building was , "used as a weather station since 1919" (eny, p.69). The Bethesda Fountain was created in 1968 and has the angel of waters at the top. The base of the fountain was very large and people were sitting around it, children were splashing the water and people were taking pictures. In this common area they had people offering massages in massage chairs, ice cream, and fun activities for kids like making giant bubbles. Next we moved on to one of the most saddest sights which was Strawberry Fields. "On December 8, 1980 Lennon was returning home from a recording session and was fatally shot y obsessed fan, Mark David Chapman" (eny, p.70). Five years later Mayor Ed Koch dedicated a memorial site that is black and white tile which says imagine in it. Mike told us that he would put fresh roses on it every day until his recent passing . We also got a view of The Dakota where Yoko Ono still lives today, Mike showed us the window with the white shutters. We continued to walk to the pond with all the sailboats that you could rent which was a pretty sight and after that we walked back to Penn Station.
On my train ride home I experienced one of the most beautiful sunsets I've seen in a long time, I really appreciated the pink and purple skies to look at to end my day.
We started with subway hopping (which is what I call it) by jumping on the 3 train to the shuttle, which i learned is a train that runs from one location to another without making any other stops along the way. Out by me shuttles are busses so this was a different kind. From the shuttle we got on the 5 train uptown to 86th street and then took the 6 to 103rd street which put us in East Harlem. Growing up on Long Island I've always heard about Harlem but never been to or seen it and any time it was ever brought up it was always in a negative light such as "It's not worse than living in Harlem." So I was expecting some really bad sights in this neck of the woods. "East Harlem is know as Spanish Harlem or, more colloquially, "El Bario"-is a uptown neighborhood of Manhattan (eny, p.75). Mike explained to us that in 1811 when the grid of New York City was established this area was a farm land and that it wasn't until the steam trains were developed that brought people in to this area in the 1880's. The immigrants that settled here were primarily Italians and Germans which eventually got out of hand with the Genovese Italian mob family running the area. After WWI there was an influx of Puerto Ricans, with this happening and Robert Moses building the "PJ's" housing projects, by the 60's this was not a good place. Mike explained when you have a lot of poor people secluded in one area it leads to higher crime, disease, single parents, unemployment which most often only gets worse. We were standing right by a housing project building and I recall looking at the basic red brick with only windows and thinking that it felt very institutional and boring. Harlem had the highest amount of housing projects and the crime kept rising which is where it got its poor reputation from. Very slowly the area is becoming gentrified and we noticed one of the buildings similar to the ones we saw in Long Island City. We then walked over to the Museum of the City of New York http://www.mcny.org. One of the first rooms we started in was one that showed off the excellent graffiti art work that can be found all over the city. This was a collection that Martin Wong put together, it was written on one of the walls in the museum that graffiti started in the 1970's and was basically tagging and then evolved into colors and pictures. When you walk into this room there is a giant wall made of basic silver spray cans, all of the work I felt speaks for itself. I noted one artist right away which was Keith Haring, his works are mostly outlines of people with simple lines indicating what movement they are making. There's also a wall that shows the debate of whether graffiti is a form of art of if its considered vandalism. The great thing about graffiti is that it's in places you can see everywhere, subway walls, bridges, underneath over passes etc which is what makes it so scandalous. To spray or not to spray, that is the question. We watched Timescapes a 22minute movie about the history of New York. There were a few things that stuck out, the first was about the Lenape indians and how they first settled in the boroughs of New york. The next was the comparison the film made between the tenements and the upper class living such as the Astors. They showed this by having two screens one on the left the other on the right and seeing the two lifestyles at the same time really got the point across of the differences between them. Finally, they put the events of September 11th in towards the end and not that I feel that this wasn't a historical event because it was one of the largest the city had faced. But It became very real very quick, and to see the photos on the film of people crying, the police and firefighters covered in debris the buildings broken down, it immediately saturated you with the emotion you felt 13 years ago. If you ask anyone they will tell you where they were and what they were doing, it amazes me that I was a senior in High School and was now watching the historical event I lived through in a museum. We made our way through the Coney Island room which had photographs of people on the beach from the 1960's. One was a body builder with a great build however in the background there are two people making love on the sand, I thought that was funny. The next thing was the Gilded age, and this had objects such a paintings, jewelry, clothing, flasks and much more that the wealthy all used. The final part of the museum was learning about Raphael Guastavino and his love for Spanish ceramics we saw all of the beautiful walls, ceilings and floors that were done using this technique. The quote on the stairs that I choose was, "New Yorkers talk VERY LOUD, VERY FAST and all together, if they ask you a question, before you can utter three words of your answer, they will break out upon you again, and talk away" (John Adams, 1774). This is very true, New Yorkers are always being ridiculed for how fast we speak, our go go go personalities and our great accents.
Next we met Luke who is a Spanish poet and full of life. He started with a poem that spoke truth about a way of life and listening to people's songs or stories. While we were standing in the circle and he was preforming his poem and man from the street walked over and stood with us. He explained to us that El Museo Del Bario started off as a box with little collectables in it that represented Puerto Rican culture. We began our walk down the street and Luke later told us that the man that approached him was a percussionist and asked if he ever wanted to get together. Luke explained to us that this is how this community is. We passed by older men sitting on chairs on the sidewalk "shooting the sh*t," which wasn't familiar to many of us. What I learned from Luke and Spanish Harlem was that everything is based on perception, especially here. If you walk into this neighborhood and say to yourself, "this is the slum, there's graffiti on the sides of buildings and people sitting on the street" your not going into it with an open mind. Verses saying "this is an area that started off really terrible with a lot of poverty and crime and now is building its way up with people of different cultures and backgrounds that are trying to good for their community." You never know what someone else's struggles in life are, and once you figure that out chances are, their struggles are very similar to your own, maybe worse. There is a quote by Dela Vega, "Be mindful even if your mind is full." We stopped at book store La Casa Azul which a teacher started by raising $40,000 online to help her get started. The store has many books from authors of many different cultures, which i felt was really great for the children of this community being able to have books they could relate to. We saw murals by Dela Vega, one of Pedro Pietri, Luke read us deep poem by Pietri. "Born in Puerto Rico, Pietri was a lifelong resident of East Harlem, a community activist, and the founder of Nuyorican Poets Cafe" (eny, p.77). Across the street was a huge mural by Manny Vega of "The Spirit of East Harlem" which shows the people of harlem doing what they do everyday. We then walked into the Modesto "Tin" Flores Garden" which was a very shaded, small quiet but colorful garden that had small ponds and wooden bridges it. There was a mosaic statue in the middle and a beautiful mural on the back wall of two very important women. "the mural depicts Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (1917-1953) with their hands and hearts intertwined with the flags of their respective counties behind them" (eny, p.78). We took a break after this and ate lunch a El Paso, a great Spanish restaurant I had a Mango Margarita and a burrito, it was perfect before a long walk in the park.
Next was Central Park, we started at Vanderbilt Gate on Fifth Ave and 105th. Mike explained to us about how the park was purposely created so the people have a place to get away from all of the clutter. In the 1850's the population in NYC had quadrupled, "New Yorkers often recreated cemeteries to escape for a few moments the harsh realities of their turbulent urban lives" (eny, p.63). It became a place for poverty stricken immigrants would often stay and the area wasn't being taken care of the way it should have. Then in the 1980's "the not-for-profit Central Park Conservancy was formed to raise funds for the park and restore it to its former glory" (eny, p.64). The Conservatory Garden was one of my favorite spots, beautiful fountains and lilly pads, they almost looked fake that how perfect they were. We sat on the schist (the natural stone found in central park) and had a discussion about the class. The people from New York here were all exercising, biking, walking with strollers, it made you want to join in. We headed over to one of the oldest parts of the park and that is the 3,500 year old Egyptian Obelisk. "In a gesture of good will towards the United States, the Khedive of Egypt gave the Obelisk to the city of New York in 1881 to facilitate good will and improve trade between Egypt and the United States" (eny, p.68). This was difficult to see at the moment because the hieroglyphics have endured much erosion over time so they are trying to restore it. Next was the Belvedere castle and this was considered the most beautiful. The castle was built of the natural stone schist found in the park and really catches your eye when you see it for the first time. This building was , "used as a weather station since 1919" (eny, p.69). The Bethesda Fountain was created in 1968 and has the angel of waters at the top. The base of the fountain was very large and people were sitting around it, children were splashing the water and people were taking pictures. In this common area they had people offering massages in massage chairs, ice cream, and fun activities for kids like making giant bubbles. Next we moved on to one of the most saddest sights which was Strawberry Fields. "On December 8, 1980 Lennon was returning home from a recording session and was fatally shot y obsessed fan, Mark David Chapman" (eny, p.70). Five years later Mayor Ed Koch dedicated a memorial site that is black and white tile which says imagine in it. Mike told us that he would put fresh roses on it every day until his recent passing . We also got a view of The Dakota where Yoko Ono still lives today, Mike showed us the window with the white shutters. We continued to walk to the pond with all the sailboats that you could rent which was a pretty sight and after that we walked back to Penn Station.
On my train ride home I experienced one of the most beautiful sunsets I've seen in a long time, I really appreciated the pink and purple skies to look at to end my day.
6. Midtown & Morningside Heights
WOOHOO NO MTA STRIKE!!!!!! Thank god for that, I think everyone in the class including Mike and Damien are relieved. Today we didn't take any subway, instead we walked right out of Penn Station until we hit Broadway and W 36th street. This used to be an old Lenape trail and unlike the streets and avenues it runs diagonal, which is what gives us Union Square, Columbus Square and Herald Square. They really aren't squares, ironically they're triangles but they are spots for people to sit and rest. "In 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg designated the entire stretch of Broadway between 33rd and 47th streets into pedestrian zones with the two blocks of Broadway between 33rd and 35th streets completely closed to all vehicular traffic" (eny, p.33). Many New Yorkers felt that this would decrease sales when in fact it did just the opposite and made for more business for these stores. Mike told us that originally it was called Long Acre Square but in 1904 it got its name Times Square "when The New York Times moved into a new skyscraper on 42nd street" (eny, p.33). By the time it was the 1970's it was well known for its pornographic paraphernalia and prostitutes. Mayor Rudolph Guliani cleaned up Times Square getting rid of all the sleezy vendors. Mike doesn't seem to care for what it looks like today describing it as a almost "sterile" environment. There certainly was a lot going on personally, I couldn't help but look in every direction at the flashing lights, massive television screens and people everywhere. The teachers pointed out some buildings from the 60's which were very boring in appearance.
We then came up to the Rockefeller building Mike pointed out the art deco style explaining that anytime there is black marble with brass, sunburst design or things that represented what they thought the future would be. You immediately saw this as soon as you walk into the building, then we came up to 3 panels that look like they belonged in Italy in a church somewhere, similar to Michelangelo style art with paintings of men in very little clothing exagerating the musculature of their bodies. "Installed in 1934…The first three panels represent the stages of man's conquest of physical world and the final one his ultimately destiny with Jesus Christ" (eny, p.36). The original mural was by a Mexican artist named Diego Rivera that Rockefeller hired because at the time he couldn't afford the very best artists. This mural was called "Man's new possibilities from his new understanding of material things," However Diego incorporated communist figure V.I. Lenin into the mural and Rockefeller wasn't a fan of this so he then hired Jose Maria Sert to create "The Triumph of Man's Accomplishments Through Physical and Mental Labor," in which he included Abraham Lincoln. These murals are glorifying work and have a capitalist ideology to them. We then went outside and looked at the structure of the building which has the set back style getting smaller in diameter towards the top. There are 14 buildings in all and have the same art deco style.
Our next stop was my absolute favorite of the day, The Museum of Modern Art http://www.moma.org. Damien spoke to us about all the different styles and periods of art such as abstract vs representation, indexical vs iconic/symbolic and impressionistic vs expressionistic. We started with looking at Wyeth and Seurat who is known for his technique of pointillism both examples of impressionism, clearly you can make out what these are pictures of. Van Gogh and the painting of the olive trees is another example, clearly showing that they are trees however, Van Gogh put curves in the trunk and branches of the trees giving them a fluid like moving appearance. We looked at Picasso's painting of the women (prostitutes), this being a classic form of abstract art with the deformity of the faces by using cubism (the use of geometric shapes). Damien mentioned that he would often dehumanize his subjects in his paintings by giving them an African mask look as seen in this painting. There was a painting that used primary colors, squares and lines that looked very simple to re-do yourself but is probably impossible to replicate making it known for its indexical style. Another artist that comes off as looking like anyone can do what he did was Jackson Pollock, he used expressionistic style. Raw emotion shown on canvas by the balance of positive and negative space, color distribution throughout the entire painting and depth. Kooning in his painting woman was an example of indexical, with the woman in the photo looking like she's being eviscerated, colors meshing, very chaotic and violent. Jasper Johns and Rauschenberg were two artists I never heard of or maybe didn't remember. It was fascinating to see how Johns used depth by collecting newspaper and then painted over them, he showed this in the green painting, the target and the American flag all presented in a very neat fashion. Although they were good friends Rauschenberg was the extreme opposite using things he found off of the street and his art reflected the same style. We also looked at Andy Warhol's 32 campbell's soup cans, which I loved! Warhol seems to be in his own pop art category of style, and knowing so much about him after writing my paper i really appreciated what i was looking at. I also checked out his silk screen golden marilyn and the violent silk screens in red and black of a bad car accident that he did. I think its fair to say when you get goosebumps looking at paintings/pieces you've heard about but never seen or knew the background story on, you truly have a love for these artists and their work. Last were some minimal style pieces done by Reinhardt, Newman and Rothko. These were paintings that had what looked like only the use of solid colors, but if you actually look closely you realize there were different tones of color some darker some lighter. Mike mentioned that they use very simple lines here and then calling them zips. That ended our museum time, I felt like it was way too quick but I know we had a lot of things to see and a schedule to stay on. We went and ate Thai food at Yum Yum Bangkok in Hell's Kitchen which really was very good. "By the turn of the century, Hell's Kitchen was certainly one of the most dangerous communities in the United States, being controlled by various gangs that roamed the streets and later organized by crime" (eny, p.40).
After lunch we jumped on the #3 train and got off at 96th putting us in Morningside Heights, mike showed us examples of Beaux Arts style building it was only a CVS but the outside was beautiful. We met our guide Jim who walked with us for the rest of the day. "By the 1950's Morningside Heights began to experience the same sort of economic decline experienced by harlem and East harlem. Taking advantage of this situation, Columbia University began to purchase much of the real estate in the neighborhood and remains one of it's largest property owners" (eny, p.81). We started by looking up at the towering Cathedral of St. John the Devine, Mike pointed out the gothic style and we learned that this was one of the largest churches in the U.S, Jim couldn't give us a date because the Cathedral is still being built today but was started in the 1890's! We walked inside and this place literally takes your breath away with the cathedral ceilings, stained glass windows and beautiful structure. We even saw some tiles that had very similar look to the Guastavino tiles we learned about. We then headed over to Columbia University, where Jim pointed out the Columbia library has a dome but it is half the size of the Cathedral we just looked at and this style was completed by Mckim. There were large pillars and the tops of them were decorated in ionic style. The campus was very relaxing, there were students walking around, the grass was neatly cut and think that alone sold some of the students in our class and made them want to attend. Jim walked us over to Ulysses S. Grant's National Memorial. He was a U.S president from 1869-1877, "he died of throat cancer in 1885, his body was temporarily interred in a brick tomb in Morningside Park. When the new memorial was completed in 1897', Grants body was interred here, with his wife Julia joining him after her death in 1902" (eny, p.85). We made our way to Morningside Park and caught a beautiful view from up above, then we had a lot of stairs to walk down, which we were all thankful for instead of having to walk up. We continued through Harlem and suddenly we weren't in Kansas anymore. I personally became uncomfortable very fast, guys were calling out to us and asking us strange questions, thankfully nothing bad happened. Everyone was outside, vendors, children, musicians playing music. "During the period from 1950 through 1980, Harlem would become synonymous with urban blight, its neighborhoods afflicted by violent crime,, its housing stock falling into disrepair, and its economic life in ruins" (eny, p.89). When they started to build Upper Manhattan known as the Empowerment Zone, was when Harlem made it's come back and gentrification started. We saw the Harriet Tubman statue, which i enjoyed because when I was younger I always felt like she was such a hero for African Americans leading them through the underground railroad. On her dress there where faces of slaves and attached to the back of her dress were roots coming out. Jim explained to us that this was as if she was uprooted like a tree and left the horrible place she came from and ran for her freedom. We got to see the famous Apollo theater where it "became an important venue that launched the careers of such notable black entertainers as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson Five" (eny, p.90). Jim discussed with us the Adam Clayton Powell Jr State Office Building was part of the efforts to help Harlem in the 60s.
This was probably one of my favorite trips into the city, I loved learning about all of the art that we saw and seeing all of the historical sites that followed in the laster afternoon. We all got on the subway and took the express train back to Penn Station and called it a day.
We then came up to the Rockefeller building Mike pointed out the art deco style explaining that anytime there is black marble with brass, sunburst design or things that represented what they thought the future would be. You immediately saw this as soon as you walk into the building, then we came up to 3 panels that look like they belonged in Italy in a church somewhere, similar to Michelangelo style art with paintings of men in very little clothing exagerating the musculature of their bodies. "Installed in 1934…The first three panels represent the stages of man's conquest of physical world and the final one his ultimately destiny with Jesus Christ" (eny, p.36). The original mural was by a Mexican artist named Diego Rivera that Rockefeller hired because at the time he couldn't afford the very best artists. This mural was called "Man's new possibilities from his new understanding of material things," However Diego incorporated communist figure V.I. Lenin into the mural and Rockefeller wasn't a fan of this so he then hired Jose Maria Sert to create "The Triumph of Man's Accomplishments Through Physical and Mental Labor," in which he included Abraham Lincoln. These murals are glorifying work and have a capitalist ideology to them. We then went outside and looked at the structure of the building which has the set back style getting smaller in diameter towards the top. There are 14 buildings in all and have the same art deco style.
Our next stop was my absolute favorite of the day, The Museum of Modern Art http://www.moma.org. Damien spoke to us about all the different styles and periods of art such as abstract vs representation, indexical vs iconic/symbolic and impressionistic vs expressionistic. We started with looking at Wyeth and Seurat who is known for his technique of pointillism both examples of impressionism, clearly you can make out what these are pictures of. Van Gogh and the painting of the olive trees is another example, clearly showing that they are trees however, Van Gogh put curves in the trunk and branches of the trees giving them a fluid like moving appearance. We looked at Picasso's painting of the women (prostitutes), this being a classic form of abstract art with the deformity of the faces by using cubism (the use of geometric shapes). Damien mentioned that he would often dehumanize his subjects in his paintings by giving them an African mask look as seen in this painting. There was a painting that used primary colors, squares and lines that looked very simple to re-do yourself but is probably impossible to replicate making it known for its indexical style. Another artist that comes off as looking like anyone can do what he did was Jackson Pollock, he used expressionistic style. Raw emotion shown on canvas by the balance of positive and negative space, color distribution throughout the entire painting and depth. Kooning in his painting woman was an example of indexical, with the woman in the photo looking like she's being eviscerated, colors meshing, very chaotic and violent. Jasper Johns and Rauschenberg were two artists I never heard of or maybe didn't remember. It was fascinating to see how Johns used depth by collecting newspaper and then painted over them, he showed this in the green painting, the target and the American flag all presented in a very neat fashion. Although they were good friends Rauschenberg was the extreme opposite using things he found off of the street and his art reflected the same style. We also looked at Andy Warhol's 32 campbell's soup cans, which I loved! Warhol seems to be in his own pop art category of style, and knowing so much about him after writing my paper i really appreciated what i was looking at. I also checked out his silk screen golden marilyn and the violent silk screens in red and black of a bad car accident that he did. I think its fair to say when you get goosebumps looking at paintings/pieces you've heard about but never seen or knew the background story on, you truly have a love for these artists and their work. Last were some minimal style pieces done by Reinhardt, Newman and Rothko. These were paintings that had what looked like only the use of solid colors, but if you actually look closely you realize there were different tones of color some darker some lighter. Mike mentioned that they use very simple lines here and then calling them zips. That ended our museum time, I felt like it was way too quick but I know we had a lot of things to see and a schedule to stay on. We went and ate Thai food at Yum Yum Bangkok in Hell's Kitchen which really was very good. "By the turn of the century, Hell's Kitchen was certainly one of the most dangerous communities in the United States, being controlled by various gangs that roamed the streets and later organized by crime" (eny, p.40).
After lunch we jumped on the #3 train and got off at 96th putting us in Morningside Heights, mike showed us examples of Beaux Arts style building it was only a CVS but the outside was beautiful. We met our guide Jim who walked with us for the rest of the day. "By the 1950's Morningside Heights began to experience the same sort of economic decline experienced by harlem and East harlem. Taking advantage of this situation, Columbia University began to purchase much of the real estate in the neighborhood and remains one of it's largest property owners" (eny, p.81). We started by looking up at the towering Cathedral of St. John the Devine, Mike pointed out the gothic style and we learned that this was one of the largest churches in the U.S, Jim couldn't give us a date because the Cathedral is still being built today but was started in the 1890's! We walked inside and this place literally takes your breath away with the cathedral ceilings, stained glass windows and beautiful structure. We even saw some tiles that had very similar look to the Guastavino tiles we learned about. We then headed over to Columbia University, where Jim pointed out the Columbia library has a dome but it is half the size of the Cathedral we just looked at and this style was completed by Mckim. There were large pillars and the tops of them were decorated in ionic style. The campus was very relaxing, there were students walking around, the grass was neatly cut and think that alone sold some of the students in our class and made them want to attend. Jim walked us over to Ulysses S. Grant's National Memorial. He was a U.S president from 1869-1877, "he died of throat cancer in 1885, his body was temporarily interred in a brick tomb in Morningside Park. When the new memorial was completed in 1897', Grants body was interred here, with his wife Julia joining him after her death in 1902" (eny, p.85). We made our way to Morningside Park and caught a beautiful view from up above, then we had a lot of stairs to walk down, which we were all thankful for instead of having to walk up. We continued through Harlem and suddenly we weren't in Kansas anymore. I personally became uncomfortable very fast, guys were calling out to us and asking us strange questions, thankfully nothing bad happened. Everyone was outside, vendors, children, musicians playing music. "During the period from 1950 through 1980, Harlem would become synonymous with urban blight, its neighborhoods afflicted by violent crime,, its housing stock falling into disrepair, and its economic life in ruins" (eny, p.89). When they started to build Upper Manhattan known as the Empowerment Zone, was when Harlem made it's come back and gentrification started. We saw the Harriet Tubman statue, which i enjoyed because when I was younger I always felt like she was such a hero for African Americans leading them through the underground railroad. On her dress there where faces of slaves and attached to the back of her dress were roots coming out. Jim explained to us that this was as if she was uprooted like a tree and left the horrible place she came from and ran for her freedom. We got to see the famous Apollo theater where it "became an important venue that launched the careers of such notable black entertainers as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson Five" (eny, p.90). Jim discussed with us the Adam Clayton Powell Jr State Office Building was part of the efforts to help Harlem in the 60s.
This was probably one of my favorite trips into the city, I loved learning about all of the art that we saw and seeing all of the historical sites that followed in the laster afternoon. We all got on the subway and took the express train back to Penn Station and called it a day.
7. Lower Manhattan
Today is our last week of class, I found it funny that when this class started I was nervous and unsure almost like a foreigner trying to use the LIRR and navigate. This morning people were asking me, "Is this the train to Penn?" So I guess Im finally starting to look and feel the part of a true city slicker! We started on the #3 train to the last stop the World Trade Center which is considered Lower manhattan. Mike taught us that St. Paul's Church was one of the oldest in Manhattan. In 1764 this church was considered to be way up town because things weren't developed yet. Trinity church at that time was the downtown parish. St Paul's is literally right across the street from where the twin towers used to stand and managed to make it through the attack on September 11, 2001. When we went inside we need to search for three things; George Washington's Pew, alter by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, and the memorial for 9/11. I noticed some of our class members getting emotional, because the first thing you noticed when you walked in was the 9/11 memorabilia. You feel the effects from that day hit you and you start imagining what it would of felt like to be here during that day and what all the people involved felt like. There were quotes and signs that people wrote, pictures looking for missing people and something that stood out for me was all of the different police patches. There were patches from different counties, states and departments all supporting what New York went through. Mike mentioned that many of the fire fighters and police officers slept here during 9/11 and then would go out and work again. George Washington's Pew came up next which was just a single chair and pew by itself. The alter piece had what looked like gold but was gilded decoration over it and really was quite beautiful. They say the reason the church didn't get destroyed was because of a huge tree that blocked it, but there might have been some divine intervention that played a role also.
Our next walking stop was the Woolworth building, right away we noticed the neo-gothic style architecture and its massive height which was designed so you can see it from the Brooklyn Bridge. "Because of it's gothic ornamentation, during it's opening celebrations, the building was nicknamed the "Cathedral of Commerce" (eny, p.46). The building was owned by the very rich, Frank Winfield who owned all of the chain Woolworth stores. This was the tallest skyscraper from 1913-1930 until the Chrysler building was built in 1930. It appears to have set backs in the architecture towards the top of the building but Mike stated that those didn't really count and that the zoning laws came out after the building was created. New York City Hall was our next sight and unfortunately we didn't get to go inside because they were doing renovations. This building houses the office of the mayor and city council. In 1898 the consolidation of the boroughs happened and it wasn't big enough to house all of the city agencies so a second one needed to be built and that one is now called Federal Hall. One of the most interesting things I learned was that the French Renaissance style was applied to the front of the building by using marble and limestone which faces the front of downtown, however he back of the building is made of cheap brownstone. The reason for this was in 1802 nothing was behind this building because lower Manhattan ended here. Mike showed us an example of post modern style architecture with the example of the 8 Spruce Street building. We sat on the steps of the Tweed Courthouse building and learned that "From 1866 to 1871, members of the so-called "Tweed Ring" essentially controlled all city spending , diverting obscenely large amounts of public funds into their own pockets" (eny, p.45). Mike mentioned that Boss Tweed stole somewhere from 10 to 14 million dollars, considering that is a lot of money in todays world it was astronomical back then. Although he hated immigrants, Thomas Nast brought this issue to the publics attention by drawing comics of the obese Boss and people caught on to the corruption. The Municipal building is across the street and you can's miss the style of this building was Beaux Arts classical revival with corinthian columns and created by McKim Mead and White. This was for sure Mike's favorite building, he couldn't stop mentioning how great it was. I have to agree the architecture was beautifully designed especially when you walk inside and see the Guastavino tile arches towering above you. We saw some neoclassical buildings next that mike explained have been used on the show Law and Order. One building was the Thrugood Marshall United States Courthouse was one and we sat on the steps while Mike taught us about water problems this area experienced. The city used the water from the pond as drinking water but once they started building around the area the water became polluted. "The building currently houses the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York" (eny, p.44). Down the road is the New York State Supreme courthouse another neoclassical style building with corinthian style columns in the front.
The next site that we visited was the African Burial Ground National Monument. This site was not attractive and I felt like it could have been designed better than what it was. It was a stone wall with a saying engraved into it regarding the African American slaves that died and were buried here, unfortunately no one knew and built buildings on top of the burial site. We went into the museum and watched a short film and on the situation. There were a few students in the class that it really effected, it was sad to see what this group of people went through. I liked the fact that in the movie they changed the name from negro burial to African American burial. I mentioned this in class, I feel that we are all proud of where we come from and out heritage and culture that we've been raised with. I wouldn't appreciate it if someone referred to me as a "guinea" which is a slang word for an italian. These people need to be associated with their country just as the Irish, Germans etc. Damien told us a situation that occurred where a slave woman killed her child because she knew the life that it would have but wasn't charged with murder because the weren't considered humans so they couldn't be charged with that crime. Instead she was charged for damaging property. I can understand why she would kill her children, and couldn't even imagine what a day in the life of a slave would of been like and the hardships and abuse they faced.
We walked over to the Freedom tower and looked at the September 11th memorial fountains which were really breath taking. Everyone was leaned over the walls of this massive fountain just looking down, which Mike explained was the theme of the memorial. You looked down into this square hole which then drains into a smaller darker hole, as if all the souls lost that day disappeared into a never ending hole. We also saw the survivor tree which lived through the attack on the twin towers and was taken to a nursery to regrow. Then it was put back into it's original spot and Sandy hit and needed to be repaired again before it could be placed back into the ground. I think its great that they saved it's a great sign of hope that if this tree can make it after getting knocked down and possibly dying then you can get through too. I actually like the look of the freedom tower, as much as I appreciate older architecture I can also understand the new modern looking mirrored structure that disappears into the clouds. We walked through Zuccotti Park "originally called Liberty Plaza when it was created in 1968, the park is one of the many public-private hybrid parks in the city of New York" (eny, p.49). We sat down and grabbed a bite to eat.
We stopped by the Trinity Church next which is where we saw, " In the courtyard outside the Church you’ll see the Trinity Root (2005), a Bronze sculpture by Steven Tobin created as a memorial to the sycamore tree that protected St. Paul’s from falling debris on September 11th" (eny, p.50). You can walk in and out of the roots, they are very big and almost looks like a gigantic spider. We had a ferry to catch to Governors Island http://www.govisland.com/html/home/home.shtml and Mike and Damien started hauling to the ferry's. The ferry ride was only 7 minutes across the way and the breeze felt great on this hot day. "For over 200 years (from 1783 to 1996) the island served as a United States Army Post and then as a Coast Guard installation" (eny, p.55). We got to see the prison cells that kept POW in, a lot of them were big but there were also isolated confinement cells which were not big at all. There were many spiral staircases that seemed to go on forever and if you went down them too quickly, you felt like vomiting. We got to see the large canon at the top which our guide Jen told us they started using different armory that shot further. A large group of us headed over to the hammock park where we laid down, rested our feet and swung in the hammocks peacefully, which put most of us to sleep. We had to catch the 6p ferry because it was the last one for the night!!! we all got on and said our goodbyes from there.
Our next walking stop was the Woolworth building, right away we noticed the neo-gothic style architecture and its massive height which was designed so you can see it from the Brooklyn Bridge. "Because of it's gothic ornamentation, during it's opening celebrations, the building was nicknamed the "Cathedral of Commerce" (eny, p.46). The building was owned by the very rich, Frank Winfield who owned all of the chain Woolworth stores. This was the tallest skyscraper from 1913-1930 until the Chrysler building was built in 1930. It appears to have set backs in the architecture towards the top of the building but Mike stated that those didn't really count and that the zoning laws came out after the building was created. New York City Hall was our next sight and unfortunately we didn't get to go inside because they were doing renovations. This building houses the office of the mayor and city council. In 1898 the consolidation of the boroughs happened and it wasn't big enough to house all of the city agencies so a second one needed to be built and that one is now called Federal Hall. One of the most interesting things I learned was that the French Renaissance style was applied to the front of the building by using marble and limestone which faces the front of downtown, however he back of the building is made of cheap brownstone. The reason for this was in 1802 nothing was behind this building because lower Manhattan ended here. Mike showed us an example of post modern style architecture with the example of the 8 Spruce Street building. We sat on the steps of the Tweed Courthouse building and learned that "From 1866 to 1871, members of the so-called "Tweed Ring" essentially controlled all city spending , diverting obscenely large amounts of public funds into their own pockets" (eny, p.45). Mike mentioned that Boss Tweed stole somewhere from 10 to 14 million dollars, considering that is a lot of money in todays world it was astronomical back then. Although he hated immigrants, Thomas Nast brought this issue to the publics attention by drawing comics of the obese Boss and people caught on to the corruption. The Municipal building is across the street and you can's miss the style of this building was Beaux Arts classical revival with corinthian columns and created by McKim Mead and White. This was for sure Mike's favorite building, he couldn't stop mentioning how great it was. I have to agree the architecture was beautifully designed especially when you walk inside and see the Guastavino tile arches towering above you. We saw some neoclassical buildings next that mike explained have been used on the show Law and Order. One building was the Thrugood Marshall United States Courthouse was one and we sat on the steps while Mike taught us about water problems this area experienced. The city used the water from the pond as drinking water but once they started building around the area the water became polluted. "The building currently houses the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York" (eny, p.44). Down the road is the New York State Supreme courthouse another neoclassical style building with corinthian style columns in the front.
The next site that we visited was the African Burial Ground National Monument. This site was not attractive and I felt like it could have been designed better than what it was. It was a stone wall with a saying engraved into it regarding the African American slaves that died and were buried here, unfortunately no one knew and built buildings on top of the burial site. We went into the museum and watched a short film and on the situation. There were a few students in the class that it really effected, it was sad to see what this group of people went through. I liked the fact that in the movie they changed the name from negro burial to African American burial. I mentioned this in class, I feel that we are all proud of where we come from and out heritage and culture that we've been raised with. I wouldn't appreciate it if someone referred to me as a "guinea" which is a slang word for an italian. These people need to be associated with their country just as the Irish, Germans etc. Damien told us a situation that occurred where a slave woman killed her child because she knew the life that it would have but wasn't charged with murder because the weren't considered humans so they couldn't be charged with that crime. Instead she was charged for damaging property. I can understand why she would kill her children, and couldn't even imagine what a day in the life of a slave would of been like and the hardships and abuse they faced.
We walked over to the Freedom tower and looked at the September 11th memorial fountains which were really breath taking. Everyone was leaned over the walls of this massive fountain just looking down, which Mike explained was the theme of the memorial. You looked down into this square hole which then drains into a smaller darker hole, as if all the souls lost that day disappeared into a never ending hole. We also saw the survivor tree which lived through the attack on the twin towers and was taken to a nursery to regrow. Then it was put back into it's original spot and Sandy hit and needed to be repaired again before it could be placed back into the ground. I think its great that they saved it's a great sign of hope that if this tree can make it after getting knocked down and possibly dying then you can get through too. I actually like the look of the freedom tower, as much as I appreciate older architecture I can also understand the new modern looking mirrored structure that disappears into the clouds. We walked through Zuccotti Park "originally called Liberty Plaza when it was created in 1968, the park is one of the many public-private hybrid parks in the city of New York" (eny, p.49). We sat down and grabbed a bite to eat.
We stopped by the Trinity Church next which is where we saw, " In the courtyard outside the Church you’ll see the Trinity Root (2005), a Bronze sculpture by Steven Tobin created as a memorial to the sycamore tree that protected St. Paul’s from falling debris on September 11th" (eny, p.50). You can walk in and out of the roots, they are very big and almost looks like a gigantic spider. We had a ferry to catch to Governors Island http://www.govisland.com/html/home/home.shtml and Mike and Damien started hauling to the ferry's. The ferry ride was only 7 minutes across the way and the breeze felt great on this hot day. "For over 200 years (from 1783 to 1996) the island served as a United States Army Post and then as a Coast Guard installation" (eny, p.55). We got to see the prison cells that kept POW in, a lot of them were big but there were also isolated confinement cells which were not big at all. There were many spiral staircases that seemed to go on forever and if you went down them too quickly, you felt like vomiting. We got to see the large canon at the top which our guide Jen told us they started using different armory that shot further. A large group of us headed over to the hammock park where we laid down, rested our feet and swung in the hammocks peacefully, which put most of us to sleep. We had to catch the 6p ferry because it was the last one for the night!!! we all got on and said our goodbyes from there.
8. Lower East Side
Today was our last day of class, I jumped on the 9:11a train out of Ronkonkoma and prepared for our day in the Lower East Side. From Penn we got on the F train and took that to Delancy st. Mike mentioned that in the 1850's the Irish and Germans came here to settle. In the 1880's many Jewish came to this area because of pilgrims and their organized persecutions in Russia and Eastern Europe. There two kinds of Jewish people ashkenazi and sephardic these were primarily Ashkenazi's that came to New York. Many of the sephardic migrated to North Africa and Spain and then came here. "Despite these differences, however, the Jews of the Lower East Side were united by their common faith and the Yiddish language that many Ashkenazi Jews tended to speak" (eny, p.65). Later the Italians and Chinese came over and the area was very poor and most populated place in the 1920's. After new immigration laws were passed it wasn't as easy for immigrants to come over which put the big wave to a halt. Many of the Jewish crossed the Williamsburg Bridge, so many that they called it "Jews Highway." Many lived in railroad style apartments and were set up by having the bedroom, living room and kitchen all in one line. "But like many areas of New York City, the demographics of the Lower East Side changed dramatically in the 1990s, when waved of young, hip New Yorkers began moving into former tenement buildings, where rents were a bargain by Manhattan stan-dards" (eny, p.66). Now its a much more desirable place to live. We went over to Kossars Bialy's to get breakfast, I had an onion bialy and wasn't impressed at all. It was nice to sit in the park and rest while everyone finished eating and while we were waiting for out tour guide from Harlem, Jim.
Jim started by telling us how the Lower east Side started out as three farms, stuyvesant farms, Delancey farms and Rutgers. Rutgers farm used to be Rutgers square but it was renamed Strauss Square and was know at the time for having pasteurized milk. The first tenement was built in 1833 on East 12th st and in 1867 they passed the law to have a ladder and running water. Then in 1901 the next tenement law was there must be cold running water. In 1916 the tenement law came out stating that any tenement building built after this time had height restrictions and the fire cases must be fireproof, so if a fire started you could escape via the stairs. We continued walking along East Broadway and saw a Beaux art style building with initials "ATH" on it. "The Arnold Toynbee House of the Grand Street Settlement (hence the ATH carved above the doorway), the mission of which was to help Jewish immigrants to assimilate into American society" (eny, p.68). We stopped at the Henry Street Settlement which was funded by Lillian Wald a nursing student at that time. She hated the tenement life, and all of the diseases that were killing people, "in 1893 she founded the Nurses’ Settlement to bring nursing care, education and the arts to the immigrant population of the community" (eny, p.69). We passed Seward park which was named after one of New York's governor's and gave children in the tenements a public place that was safe to play in. There were many churches and synagogues, some churches even had a structure of a cross over a window that had the star of david. Jim thought that maybe the church didn't have the funds to completely replace it. The most beautiful synagogue that really stood out was the Eldridge Street Synagogue. "One of the architectural masterpieces of the Lower East Side, this synagogue was constructed in 1887 and was the first synagogue in New York built by Eastern European Jews" (eny, p.71). I immediately fell in love with the stained glass windows and big circle window on the front of the church. We entered into Chinatown and it smelled so horrible I wanted to gag. I work in a hospital so I smell some really terrible things, but this was worse than what I deal with at work! Not only that but on a perfectly sunny day everyone had umbrellas!!! I get that they were blocking themselves from the sun, but really everyone? It was very strange. "The influx of new arrivals from China in the late 20th century has helpedswell the population Chinatown" (eny, p.73).
I have to say Chinatown was the least exciting day for me, and I feel like I didn't really absorb as much information as what I normally do. It could of been the horrible smells saturating my brain, but I didn't really get what I wanted out of the day. After Jim was done walking us around we went and had lunch with Mike, Damien and Jim. The food was excellent and we had so many Chinese dishes to choose from. We said our "goodbyes" and all went our separate ways.
Jim started by telling us how the Lower east Side started out as three farms, stuyvesant farms, Delancey farms and Rutgers. Rutgers farm used to be Rutgers square but it was renamed Strauss Square and was know at the time for having pasteurized milk. The first tenement was built in 1833 on East 12th st and in 1867 they passed the law to have a ladder and running water. Then in 1901 the next tenement law was there must be cold running water. In 1916 the tenement law came out stating that any tenement building built after this time had height restrictions and the fire cases must be fireproof, so if a fire started you could escape via the stairs. We continued walking along East Broadway and saw a Beaux art style building with initials "ATH" on it. "The Arnold Toynbee House of the Grand Street Settlement (hence the ATH carved above the doorway), the mission of which was to help Jewish immigrants to assimilate into American society" (eny, p.68). We stopped at the Henry Street Settlement which was funded by Lillian Wald a nursing student at that time. She hated the tenement life, and all of the diseases that were killing people, "in 1893 she founded the Nurses’ Settlement to bring nursing care, education and the arts to the immigrant population of the community" (eny, p.69). We passed Seward park which was named after one of New York's governor's and gave children in the tenements a public place that was safe to play in. There were many churches and synagogues, some churches even had a structure of a cross over a window that had the star of david. Jim thought that maybe the church didn't have the funds to completely replace it. The most beautiful synagogue that really stood out was the Eldridge Street Synagogue. "One of the architectural masterpieces of the Lower East Side, this synagogue was constructed in 1887 and was the first synagogue in New York built by Eastern European Jews" (eny, p.71). I immediately fell in love with the stained glass windows and big circle window on the front of the church. We entered into Chinatown and it smelled so horrible I wanted to gag. I work in a hospital so I smell some really terrible things, but this was worse than what I deal with at work! Not only that but on a perfectly sunny day everyone had umbrellas!!! I get that they were blocking themselves from the sun, but really everyone? It was very strange. "The influx of new arrivals from China in the late 20th century has helpedswell the population Chinatown" (eny, p.73).
I have to say Chinatown was the least exciting day for me, and I feel like I didn't really absorb as much information as what I normally do. It could of been the horrible smells saturating my brain, but I didn't really get what I wanted out of the day. After Jim was done walking us around we went and had lunch with Mike, Damien and Jim. The food was excellent and we had so many Chinese dishes to choose from. We said our "goodbyes" and all went our separate ways.
9. Final Impressions of New York
My final impressions of New York City are both positive and negative. I still stand by my original feelings of after being in the city for one day I'm ready to go home. The rush of the city never changes it's always that go go go feeling, especially during a fantastic gotham class following behind Mike and Damien. I really enjoyed the sites especially Queens Museum, the Moma, the Merchant house, the Brooklyn Bridge and brownstones, and all the great buildings and architecture in lower Manhattan. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Spanish Harlem were also some other favorites of mine. Things that were least memorable for me were, Coney Island, Harlem and Chinatown. I came into this class not knowing anything about the city, subways, skyscrapers, major people or movements and now I feel like Im leaving the city with a plethora of knowledge. Not only that but I got to know two very funny and passionate professors who absolutely love teaching this course and it showed in the 100% they put in everyday we were there. I also got to meet students that were in other majors besides nursing, the experience is much different than sitting in a class room and most of these classmates became friends of mine. Just because I say that I could never live in New York City doesn't mean I don't respect the great history that remains there. I'm glad that got to experience places for myself instead of going by other people's biases. Although it was hot and our days were long this was an excellent course and I'm glad I made it part of my Molloy curriculum