Journal 1
Impressions of New York City
Over the years I have traveled into the city for many different things, and each time the experience was different but unique. Going to Manhattan is always an adventure, because there are so many people living so close to one another in such tight spaces. When you arise from the underground world of Penn Station and you are met by giant buildings and thousands of yellow taxis you know you are in the greatest city in the world. The most interesting thing to me about not just Manhattan but NYC in general is the diversity and how quickly it changes from block to block. One second you can be in a quite Italian cafe, then you make a turn down one block and you feel like you have been transported into the heart of China.
My favorite thing about going into the NYC is going up to the Bronx and watching the Yankees. I have been to countless games and no matter win or loose it is an awesome time. The camaraderie of the fans on the train, and the heckling of the opposing team always adds to the adventure.
Over the years I have traveled into the city for many different things, and each time the experience was different but unique. Going to Manhattan is always an adventure, because there are so many people living so close to one another in such tight spaces. When you arise from the underground world of Penn Station and you are met by giant buildings and thousands of yellow taxis you know you are in the greatest city in the world. The most interesting thing to me about not just Manhattan but NYC in general is the diversity and how quickly it changes from block to block. One second you can be in a quite Italian cafe, then you make a turn down one block and you feel like you have been transported into the heart of China.
My favorite thing about going into the NYC is going up to the Bronx and watching the Yankees. I have been to countless games and no matter win or loose it is an awesome time. The camaraderie of the fans on the train, and the heckling of the opposing team always adds to the adventure.
Quixotic Queens
Our last class :’(…… After overcoming the emotional burden that this would be our last class meeting it was a race to Grand Central Terminal. I had been here once before with my grandma when I was younger so I didn’t really remember how amazing and important this place was to the city. Although it is supposed to be a train station with the amount of high end restaurants and shops that are within they should rename it the Grand Central Mall. The Chrysler Building was next on the agenda. We stood in the lobby and got a brief history of the building from Mike and a history of the art work and architecture from Don. Don gave us an interesting fact that the lights that are used to illuminate the top of the building are actual Chrysler headlights from their cars at the time the building was built. We continued “Moving on up to the East Side” as we walked past the United Nations in our effort to go to the Air Tram at the 59th Street Bridge.
After a brief, scary, and oxygen deprived ride we landed safely on Roosevelt Island. The island is named after one of my favorite presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We walked along the east side of the island past the sketchiest hospital I have ever seen to FDR Park. This park was just simply breathtaking and allowed me to just lay down relax and take in the beautiful views of NYC. The thing that impressed me most about this park was that I was sitting no more than ¼ a mile away from the busiest city in the world yet there was total serenity. With everyone’s stomach growling we headed off to catch the F train to queens for some much needed lunch.
I will reserve my comments about the area and choices given to students who did not want to eat Indian cuisine and jump straight to my favorite museum of the class….
After losing 1/3 of the class after lunch we made our way to the Museum of Moving Images. This museum was AWESOME!!! The third floor of the museum housed a wide variety of all the different cameras used to film movies of the years. It was amazing to see how far technology has come in such a short time. The second floor was my favorite…housing a ton of Star Wars movie props along with costumes and props from countless other movies. If you are a movie buff I highly recommend you take the time to check this place out, I promise you will not be disappointed.
As our last class was nearing an end I had to continue to fight back tears…we got a chance to visit MoMa PS1 was I actually liked a lot better than MoMa itself because it was more creative and eye opening bizarre artwork than some works we has seen at MoMa. We then walked across the street and went to 5 Pointz… this place although it smelled like complete garbage was pretty neat. Not being a huge fan of graffiti art it was nice to see that they had their own place to express their art without being bothered.
We made our last long journey back to the East River where we got a view of the city from yet another beautiful perspective. Mike wrapped up the class and sent us on our way home. But…..it wouldn’t be a true New York experience if we didn’t have train issues. Instead of taking the train to Penn then getting on the Babylon branch like every other day we had to take the 7 local train to Woodside, then wait for a train to Jamaica, then finally transfer to our train home.
Overall I can say that I enjoyed this class and I am glad that Mike fought hard for Molloy to offer it. I highly recommend that everyone take it because no matter how much you may think you know about NYC Mike will be sure to teach you so much more!
Our last class :’(…… After overcoming the emotional burden that this would be our last class meeting it was a race to Grand Central Terminal. I had been here once before with my grandma when I was younger so I didn’t really remember how amazing and important this place was to the city. Although it is supposed to be a train station with the amount of high end restaurants and shops that are within they should rename it the Grand Central Mall. The Chrysler Building was next on the agenda. We stood in the lobby and got a brief history of the building from Mike and a history of the art work and architecture from Don. Don gave us an interesting fact that the lights that are used to illuminate the top of the building are actual Chrysler headlights from their cars at the time the building was built. We continued “Moving on up to the East Side” as we walked past the United Nations in our effort to go to the Air Tram at the 59th Street Bridge.
After a brief, scary, and oxygen deprived ride we landed safely on Roosevelt Island. The island is named after one of my favorite presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We walked along the east side of the island past the sketchiest hospital I have ever seen to FDR Park. This park was just simply breathtaking and allowed me to just lay down relax and take in the beautiful views of NYC. The thing that impressed me most about this park was that I was sitting no more than ¼ a mile away from the busiest city in the world yet there was total serenity. With everyone’s stomach growling we headed off to catch the F train to queens for some much needed lunch.
I will reserve my comments about the area and choices given to students who did not want to eat Indian cuisine and jump straight to my favorite museum of the class….
After losing 1/3 of the class after lunch we made our way to the Museum of Moving Images. This museum was AWESOME!!! The third floor of the museum housed a wide variety of all the different cameras used to film movies of the years. It was amazing to see how far technology has come in such a short time. The second floor was my favorite…housing a ton of Star Wars movie props along with costumes and props from countless other movies. If you are a movie buff I highly recommend you take the time to check this place out, I promise you will not be disappointed.
As our last class was nearing an end I had to continue to fight back tears…we got a chance to visit MoMa PS1 was I actually liked a lot better than MoMa itself because it was more creative and eye opening bizarre artwork than some works we has seen at MoMa. We then walked across the street and went to 5 Pointz… this place although it smelled like complete garbage was pretty neat. Not being a huge fan of graffiti art it was nice to see that they had their own place to express their art without being bothered.
We made our last long journey back to the East River where we got a view of the city from yet another beautiful perspective. Mike wrapped up the class and sent us on our way home. But…..it wouldn’t be a true New York experience if we didn’t have train issues. Instead of taking the train to Penn then getting on the Babylon branch like every other day we had to take the 7 local train to Woodside, then wait for a train to Jamaica, then finally transfer to our train home.
Overall I can say that I enjoyed this class and I am glad that Mike fought hard for Molloy to offer it. I highly recommend that everyone take it because no matter how much you may think you know about NYC Mike will be sure to teach you so much more!
Bodacious Brooklyn
As soon as my alarm clock started with its annoying little cherps at 8:30 I knew it was time to get up and start a day that would be taking me all over Brooklyn. I make my way over to the Rockville Centre train station to await my 10:11 train, which not to my surprise is a few minutes late. After a short ride in I arrived at Penn. Penn Station is one of my favorite place in NYC believe it or not. There is just something about the atmosphere and the fact that it is probably one of the top 10 places to people watch if I had to take a guess. Once the class met up and discussed what our adventure of the day would be I was a both excited and dreading it at the same time. We walked one block west over to 6th ave and caught the “F” train to Coney Island. I have never been to Coney Island so I was not sure what to expect other than an amusement park and Nathans :D! As we made our way from the Subway to the beach we passed a little Asian man urinating in public right in front of us, it was at this point I knew I was in for a treat. We made our way to the “Beach” where I was more worried about getting sand in my Jordans than anything else. In our time granted for lunch I knew there was only one place I should go and that was Nathans, after chowing down on a hot dog and fries I took a little stroll around the amusement park and looked at some of the attractions. Let’s just say I was very creeped out and I will most likely not be returning to Coney Island.
Our next stop of the day took us to the Transit Museum where we had a brief but informative tour by a rat loving lady. The coolest think about the museum was the fact that they had some of the earliest subway cars preserved and open for us to walk on. It was neat to not only see the changes in the types of cars but to also see how much the advertisement and prices of things have changed.
After a nice peaceful walk through Brooklyn Heights and along the East River on through DUMBO we went. Stopping at Janes Carousel for a brief breath catching minute. We then started out what would be the most physically challenging but beautiful part of our day. After a quick shot of Illy espresso it was over the Brooklyn Bridge we went. The walk across the bridge and the great up-close view of Manhattan was truly one of the greatest experiences of my life. 20 minutes later we were standing in Manhattan right outside of City Hall. At this point all the non-adventurous people ran back to the nearest subway station while a few of us headed over to the South Street Seaport for a few cold adult beverages.
At around 8:00 we started to make our way back to Penn Station where all I wanted to do was have a “delicious” slice of Roses Pizza. On the LIRR and back to Rockville Centre I went where I barely made it home without falling asleep.
After seeing all of the awesome things we saw on our first day I couldn’t wait to come back to class on Tuesday to continue this Gotham experience!!!
As soon as my alarm clock started with its annoying little cherps at 8:30 I knew it was time to get up and start a day that would be taking me all over Brooklyn. I make my way over to the Rockville Centre train station to await my 10:11 train, which not to my surprise is a few minutes late. After a short ride in I arrived at Penn. Penn Station is one of my favorite place in NYC believe it or not. There is just something about the atmosphere and the fact that it is probably one of the top 10 places to people watch if I had to take a guess. Once the class met up and discussed what our adventure of the day would be I was a both excited and dreading it at the same time. We walked one block west over to 6th ave and caught the “F” train to Coney Island. I have never been to Coney Island so I was not sure what to expect other than an amusement park and Nathans :D! As we made our way from the Subway to the beach we passed a little Asian man urinating in public right in front of us, it was at this point I knew I was in for a treat. We made our way to the “Beach” where I was more worried about getting sand in my Jordans than anything else. In our time granted for lunch I knew there was only one place I should go and that was Nathans, after chowing down on a hot dog and fries I took a little stroll around the amusement park and looked at some of the attractions. Let’s just say I was very creeped out and I will most likely not be returning to Coney Island.
Our next stop of the day took us to the Transit Museum where we had a brief but informative tour by a rat loving lady. The coolest think about the museum was the fact that they had some of the earliest subway cars preserved and open for us to walk on. It was neat to not only see the changes in the types of cars but to also see how much the advertisement and prices of things have changed.
After a nice peaceful walk through Brooklyn Heights and along the East River on through DUMBO we went. Stopping at Janes Carousel for a brief breath catching minute. We then started out what would be the most physically challenging but beautiful part of our day. After a quick shot of Illy espresso it was over the Brooklyn Bridge we went. The walk across the bridge and the great up-close view of Manhattan was truly one of the greatest experiences of my life. 20 minutes later we were standing in Manhattan right outside of City Hall. At this point all the non-adventurous people ran back to the nearest subway station while a few of us headed over to the South Street Seaport for a few cold adult beverages.
At around 8:00 we started to make our way back to Penn Station where all I wanted to do was have a “delicious” slice of Roses Pizza. On the LIRR and back to Rockville Centre I went where I barely made it home without falling asleep.
After seeing all of the awesome things we saw on our first day I couldn’t wait to come back to class on Tuesday to continue this Gotham experience!!!
A Tale of Three Villages
The second day of class had arrived and just like the previous class I arrived at Penn where we discussed our gameplan for the day, and before I the ink on the attendance sheet was dry Mike had us hustling and right on the subway for the Village.
After a short walking tour where a ton of beautiful buildings where pointed out to us we ended up at The Merchant House. The Merchant House was owned by the Tredwells and was truly a beautiful house. While it was nice to get a brief history of the family and the house I could have done without the room by room lecture and explanation of every piece of furniture in that room. Being a History buff it was cool to see how people of this time period lived and the conditions in which they lived in.
After getting accosted by an old senile lady about where the class crossed the street we took a nice walk through and around Washington Square Park. Washington Square Park was not always a place you could just walk through freely, the crime and filth that used to pollute this park made it unsafe at most times of the day or night. I was nice to see that NYU had bought a majority of the buildings surrounding the park (BG) and is now using them as offices and classrooms.
The last part of our day took us on a tour I will never forget but would most certainly like too. Bill and Bill took the class on a tour of a community garden which to me was a new concept to me, around to some buildings that had meaning to the history of the squatters, and to Tompkins Square Park. Learning the factual history of all these locations was good because you need to learn past to succeed in the future. The community garden is a good idea and can bring the community together and make for a greener environment. The personal views and opinions that Bill had I could have gone without hearing especially since they were so against what I believe and how I feel.
In all the day itself was interesting and to learn how just a group of people who stood up for their neighborhood could accomplish so much really intrigued me. The Lower East Side is certainly a wild and crazy place where it seems like almost anything can happen.
The second day of class had arrived and just like the previous class I arrived at Penn where we discussed our gameplan for the day, and before I the ink on the attendance sheet was dry Mike had us hustling and right on the subway for the Village.
After a short walking tour where a ton of beautiful buildings where pointed out to us we ended up at The Merchant House. The Merchant House was owned by the Tredwells and was truly a beautiful house. While it was nice to get a brief history of the family and the house I could have done without the room by room lecture and explanation of every piece of furniture in that room. Being a History buff it was cool to see how people of this time period lived and the conditions in which they lived in.
After getting accosted by an old senile lady about where the class crossed the street we took a nice walk through and around Washington Square Park. Washington Square Park was not always a place you could just walk through freely, the crime and filth that used to pollute this park made it unsafe at most times of the day or night. I was nice to see that NYU had bought a majority of the buildings surrounding the park (BG) and is now using them as offices and classrooms.
The last part of our day took us on a tour I will never forget but would most certainly like too. Bill and Bill took the class on a tour of a community garden which to me was a new concept to me, around to some buildings that had meaning to the history of the squatters, and to Tompkins Square Park. Learning the factual history of all these locations was good because you need to learn past to succeed in the future. The community garden is a good idea and can bring the community together and make for a greener environment. The personal views and opinions that Bill had I could have gone without hearing especially since they were so against what I believe and how I feel.
In all the day itself was interesting and to learn how just a group of people who stood up for their neighborhood could accomplish so much really intrigued me. The Lower East Side is certainly a wild and crazy place where it seems like almost anything can happen.
East of the Park
When I woke up and saw the weather forecast for today I was none the bit excited about possibly having to walk around in the downpour. As soon as I made it to the platform of the RVC train station the skies opened up and it heavily rained for a solid 15 minutes. With a hope and a prayer I got on the train hoping we could complete our class.
Our first stop of the day was uptown on the park at the Museum of the City of New York. When we arrived at the museum we where given a few minutes to peruse the exhibits as we pleased. The first exhibit I saw where the collection of marine paintings which were very detailed and provided a look at what ships that helped build this city looked like. The second exhibit was entitled “Activist New York” this collection displayed the history of activism in the city from its very early days up until the most recent events at Occupy Wall Street. After viewing these exhibits the class watched an awesome and very informative short film! The film was entitled “Timescapes: A Multimedia Portrait of New York” this film really broke down NYCs history and gave us viewers a better understanding of where the city began and how it got to be as big and populated as it is now. For a guy who thought he knew the complete history of the city this really made me realize how much more I had to learn.
Next we where off to “El Barrio” to meet up with Peace Poet co-founder and activist Luke Nephew and get a walking tour of the area. Luke took the time to ask everyone their name and to give him one word how we were feeling; this was different from other tours so far because it made me feel at least that we were just walking around learning things from a friend rather than an educator. Our first stop was at a beautiful mural that was painted on the side of a building in the Modesto Flores Garden. The painting was of Frida Kahlo and Julia de Burgos. The painting itself was very simple and just showed the two ladies sitting down holding hands, from what Luke said it really meant a lot to the women of the area. The next painting we saw was the “Spirit of East Harlem”, originally painted by Hank Prussing than later restored by Manny Vega this painting depicted life in all aspects as it was in the 1970’s. Fortunate enough for us while Luke was going over the painting a local stopped by and explained to us the little things that have since disappeared or have been made illegal that have severely impacted the neighborhood. As we walked past Saint Cecilias Church we made our way to the Graffiti wall of fame. This wall was cool because it gave the world’s best artists a place to legally show off their form of art and finally be appreciated for it rather than arrested for it. We wrapped up our short but awesome tour with Luke at the Julia de Burgos community center where Luke performed one of his poems entitled “The Lady on the D Train”. This poem left me amazed because I really felt as if I was on that train with the lady as she belted out her tune. After a quick lunch and a nice refreshing drink it was back to Mikes NYC marathon…..
We walked through Central Park North taking in views and sites of the city I had never seen. Walking along the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir you where able to see most of the beautiful skyscrapers the city skyline has to offer. After heading south on 5th ave we arrived at the MET and headed inside for a gander at some of the most world renowned art along with some of the other 2 million works the museum had to offer(BG). But unfortunately like some other stops in the class this one had to be rushed but not because of our jam packed schedule but instead because the museum was closing in 15 minutes!! A quick tour of a temporary exhibit called “Chaos to Couture” which displayed outfits that where both bizarre but intriguing at the same time.
As the skies started to look more and more like they were going to open up and ruin our day we forged on to Strawberry Fields. To many including myself who is a Beatles fan, this area of the park is almost like sacred ground. John Lennon loved this part of the park and spent some time here writing songs and just living life. Tragically he was killed just a few short paces away outside of his residence at the Dakota Hotel.
With this stop being our last we headed back to the A train and began our journeys back home and successfully avoided the rain all day :D!!
When I woke up and saw the weather forecast for today I was none the bit excited about possibly having to walk around in the downpour. As soon as I made it to the platform of the RVC train station the skies opened up and it heavily rained for a solid 15 minutes. With a hope and a prayer I got on the train hoping we could complete our class.
Our first stop of the day was uptown on the park at the Museum of the City of New York. When we arrived at the museum we where given a few minutes to peruse the exhibits as we pleased. The first exhibit I saw where the collection of marine paintings which were very detailed and provided a look at what ships that helped build this city looked like. The second exhibit was entitled “Activist New York” this collection displayed the history of activism in the city from its very early days up until the most recent events at Occupy Wall Street. After viewing these exhibits the class watched an awesome and very informative short film! The film was entitled “Timescapes: A Multimedia Portrait of New York” this film really broke down NYCs history and gave us viewers a better understanding of where the city began and how it got to be as big and populated as it is now. For a guy who thought he knew the complete history of the city this really made me realize how much more I had to learn.
Next we where off to “El Barrio” to meet up with Peace Poet co-founder and activist Luke Nephew and get a walking tour of the area. Luke took the time to ask everyone their name and to give him one word how we were feeling; this was different from other tours so far because it made me feel at least that we were just walking around learning things from a friend rather than an educator. Our first stop was at a beautiful mural that was painted on the side of a building in the Modesto Flores Garden. The painting was of Frida Kahlo and Julia de Burgos. The painting itself was very simple and just showed the two ladies sitting down holding hands, from what Luke said it really meant a lot to the women of the area. The next painting we saw was the “Spirit of East Harlem”, originally painted by Hank Prussing than later restored by Manny Vega this painting depicted life in all aspects as it was in the 1970’s. Fortunate enough for us while Luke was going over the painting a local stopped by and explained to us the little things that have since disappeared or have been made illegal that have severely impacted the neighborhood. As we walked past Saint Cecilias Church we made our way to the Graffiti wall of fame. This wall was cool because it gave the world’s best artists a place to legally show off their form of art and finally be appreciated for it rather than arrested for it. We wrapped up our short but awesome tour with Luke at the Julia de Burgos community center where Luke performed one of his poems entitled “The Lady on the D Train”. This poem left me amazed because I really felt as if I was on that train with the lady as she belted out her tune. After a quick lunch and a nice refreshing drink it was back to Mikes NYC marathon…..
We walked through Central Park North taking in views and sites of the city I had never seen. Walking along the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir you where able to see most of the beautiful skyscrapers the city skyline has to offer. After heading south on 5th ave we arrived at the MET and headed inside for a gander at some of the most world renowned art along with some of the other 2 million works the museum had to offer(BG). But unfortunately like some other stops in the class this one had to be rushed but not because of our jam packed schedule but instead because the museum was closing in 15 minutes!! A quick tour of a temporary exhibit called “Chaos to Couture” which displayed outfits that where both bizarre but intriguing at the same time.
As the skies started to look more and more like they were going to open up and ruin our day we forged on to Strawberry Fields. To many including myself who is a Beatles fan, this area of the park is almost like sacred ground. John Lennon loved this part of the park and spent some time here writing songs and just living life. Tragically he was killed just a few short paces away outside of his residence at the Dakota Hotel.
With this stop being our last we headed back to the A train and began our journeys back home and successfully avoided the rain all day :D!!