Saturday, March 20, 2010
The Williamsburg Bridge Today
I have not blogged in ages because getting to the computer has been impossible. To be fair, nobody has really asked what's going on. So, today I plan on crossing the Willey-B. I'll make some calls to friends who have come before or have been interested in joining me in the past to see who is game. Maybe, I'll stop at Peter Luger Steak House for lunch?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tonight Cancelled
Due to the weather and my wife not going to bed last night and sleeping all day and not waking up and leaving me with our son the one foot wonder, I will not be touring tonight. I will probably do this tour another time and take on another one next week. Sorry fans. Calling it a night.
It Has Been Impossible.....
I've been trying desperately to get on here and blog. Due to long hours and days at work and my son at home with his broken foot, I've had little opportunity. I am sooooo going on my tour tonight even with the rain. Everyone that was going has bowed out due to the rain. The irony is, this tour is supposed to be indoor art galleries and restaurants. The info is on the left side view bar with the start point and start time. If anyone is interested, you need to email me. You could even post a comment. Until people start going again, I'm going to continue going and blogging about it. As always...I hope to see you on a tour.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Lower East Side Tour
Thank God I love my child. He erased most of my pictures from my camera as well as the video I took. I will allow him to live another day. However, a few pictures did remain and I will of course update these as I go.
First off, this was the longest tour I've done. It lasted 6+ hours and covered a great deal. It started with a camera failure and ended with a meal that made my tummy very happy.
The camera I had been using so far on these tours contained an internal rechargeable battery that no longer wanted to recharge. I got it for my birthday. Not a birthday a decade or even a few years ago, but the one that just passed. So, not making that mistake again, I went and got a new one at Toys R Us. Why there? They had a large camera selection there and with the aforementioned child I was familiar with the store and where everything was, so I made my purchase there. Boy would that come back to bite me in the buttocks! To begin, the store's parking lot is on the roof and you have to ride an escalator about 5 stories down to the store and then 5 stories back up to get to your car. Once inside the store I chose a 10 mega-pixel camera. I know squat about mega-pixels. All I know is more is better than less so I bought the one with the most. For all I know a pixel is made of fairy dust and somewhere Tinkerbell is dying. So, with Tinkerbell's demise I hope everyone will enjoy the pictures I take. So, the camera can take pictures but not keep them unless I buy a memory card. So, with the help of a Toys R Us sales aid, who was barely escaping puberty, I bought a memory card and the fun began. After making my purchase I ran up the escalator with joy and excitement to where I had parked my car. Thanks to all the thieves in America it was wrapped in plastic strong enough to make the blood vessels pop on my head and the veins bulge from my neck. Of course once I broke through them with a nail clipper's pointy part of the nail file I keep in the car(cause I'm such a prissy-sissy) the package cut my hands real nice. With sweat poring from my head, I get all the extra plastic encasing off the camera and I pull out the memory card from bag. Now, I go through the same torture removing the memory card from it's protective plastic to discover the memory card is smaller than the slot on the camera. So, down the escalator I went in a run. Now, let me mention I am very overweight and running confuses my stomach into thinking there's a cheeseburger at the finish line or it's time to digest, it never knows which. So, I go to the returns counter, they get the same brilliant young pubescent stranger to come to the counter, see my problem with camera in hand I might add and he goes and brings over a memory card adapter set. With the exchange I actually save $2.00 and get a small refund. Yay me! Maybe I will afford the cheeseburger and avoid the toilet? Well, with glee out the store I go and run up the escalator to my car again. Once I get the memory card adapter into the camera which did fit, the camera comes on to tell me the memory is full. HUH?!? I take it out, turn it around several times and make sure I stuck it in the camera correctly as if maybe the ritualistic act of spinning the memory card around will confuse the camera, I stick the card back in and still reads memory full. Back down the escalator I go and now my stomach is realizing no cheeseburger will be coming so it's time to evacuate the doo-doo factory. As I approach the counter I am standing in great discomfort and crossing my legs as behind myself as possible to avoid actually grabbing the derriere cheeks with my hands in front of the brilliant staff at Toys R Us when again they get the same jackass kid to come to my rescue. On his return from behind his counter(for the third time) he realized, he didn't have to sell me the adapter at all and could have just given me the full sized card for this camera the whole time. I wish a pimple to grow on his face, swell up and then back down, and reappear on his but making it impossible for him to sit or do what rhymes with sit. So, after my acquisition, this time I try it at the counter and it worked...THANK GOODNESS...and off to the Toys R Us bathroom I went. With all the toys to play with at Toys R Us, wouldn't you think people would have other things to play with instead of what's in the bathroom? I leave you with that thought and move on to the actual tour from there.
I rode in on the J train to Essex and Delancey to catch the F train. At the Delancey station is fantastic tile artwork. Unfortunately, the pictures I took of this were deleted. The F train took me to the starting point when I got off at the East Broadway station. Now, the card had totted there would be very few linen shops but at least one would remain by the name of Harris Levy at 278 Grand. When I arrived there, there was no longer a linen shop and after the next major stop on the tour I would discover why.
The Tenement Museum is located at 97 Orchard Street, but you must go to 108 Orchard Street where you buy a ticket to go on a tour into 97 Orchard street.
108 Orchard is a shop which has an amazing display of books, post cards, nick nacks and all kinds of goodies that range from New York City memorabilia to toys to ethnically traditional items.
You would have to go there to understand what I'm describing. But, I wanted to do a tour, so I got on line to buy a ticket. On your way up to the counter you are literally given a menu of the tours available.
Each tour provides something rich in history of this once heavily crowded and culturally diverse area of New York using the building at 97 Orchard Street as a portal to the past in it's mainstay from 1863 till eviction day in 1935.
I chose the tour "Getting By: Past and Present". It just so happens to be a very interactive and participant driven tour and lasts 2 hours.
It was rich in history and culture. The tour guide, Adam, brought us into the building and sat us in what is called the kitchen. Inside this first room you enter are multiple tables and chairs.
What I did not realize was that these tables were antiques and were made of metal. They were exquisite in design and really sturdy. We were invited to sit down around these tables and to introduce ourselves and divulge if comfortable our ancestry. Fortunately, all were very comfortable and we openly shared our histories. With each introduction and divulging of what countries our families hailed, the guide was quick to point out very intriguing and impressive facts. Queens, the guide pointed out, now is the hub of where foreign born Americans now settle when they come to New York, over 45%. One of the members of my group was African American and either her great or great great grandmother was a slave. From this, we delved into the history of the Jim Crowe laws and how her family migrated from the South to the North to escape those segregation laws. With this open forum, each person was permitted to ask a question and I had the fortune in my life to once meet a Tuskegee Airman. I shared how this airman told me how he joined the Tuskegee Airmen to get away from those same prejudices only to discover they existed up north as well, but with less segregation. This led my group member of African American descent to tell the tale of her mother working as a chambermaid and how hard it was to get work outside of these labor intensive occupations as an African American. Low and behold, this had the guide describe how this would come back to be an important part of our tour that day. From here we gathered up and entered the hallway. These buildings were not made with running water, proper lighting, proper spacing, safety or even proper toilets. When it was first built, it had 4 outhouses outside with the clean water pump right next to them. To set up disaster, these apartments were not made with comfort but greed in mind. 5 floors housed 20 apartments and on average had over 100 tenants residing in the building at the same time. Reason being, mostly immigrants moved into these tenements trying to build and start a new life. So, they say you shouldn't crap where you eat. Well, neither should you drink near where you poop. All that waste near the fresh water supply contaminated the water and a great many got Cholera and died. Now, there was a ton of info, so I'm gonna jump to facts to keep this rolling:
-Attending school was the law but not strictly enforced until the Great Depression. Why? Men were out of work and started taking the jobs the children used to do and since the children were out of work, families figured they better have their kids do something to fill their time and keep them out of the way of the parents trying to work and make ends meet so off to school they went. So, the Great Depression is greatly responsible for education taking hold in America for all children.
-Each law that came to upgrade the building was not retroactive or supported financially by the government so, the tenants were forced to pay or forced to leave. With the huge number of immigrants coming into America, new tenants willing to pay the higher rents were easy to find.
-Many of the tenants in these buildings ran their own businesses making garments in their homes.
There are plenty more facts and items of interest in the tenement building. But, it wasn't until near the end we discovered why Harris Levy disappeared at 278 Grand. After the tour of two apartments in the museum we got back together for tea and cookies and a closing round table discussion. One conversation lead to another and which point it was discussed that September 11, 2001 interrupted the busy season for garment workers. For those that don't know, the busy season is September to October for the Christmas rush. As a result of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, the city closed down almost completely around the busy season. As a result these small garment shops went belly up as they couldn't ship within their own city. Till this day, retailers in NYC get their garments from New Jersey and Connecticut. What a shame. All the Tenement Museum pictures come from their website www.tenement.org. As always, there is much more to that location, but you either had to be there or hopefully, you'll go there and check it out. I highly recommend it.
After the museum, the card had me walk all over the neighborhood and had me walk backwards from how they lay out the next series of food attractions.
Katz Deli was supposed to be last per the card, but it was the first I was led to. Let me tell you all the bad, it's CROOOOOOWDED. There were no available tables also. Each sandwich was more than $15.00. Now, hold your hats...IT WAS AAAAAALLLLLLLL WOOOOOORTH IIIIIIIIITTTT!!!! When you get up to the counter and order, they cut the meat right in front of you and give you a taste while you wait. God himself must have cooked the meat. I'm drooling remembering. I ordered a Pastrami on rye and 3 other sandwiches of which some where Corned Beef for my lazy family waiting at home. I shoulda ate them all on the train if I knew the sandwich was gonna taste as good as it did. This location is where the famous When Harry Met Sally scene is shot. I don't think Meg Ryan faked it...I think she was reacting to the food. WOW! If you never had one, and you are anywhere near Katz, get a pastrami, corned beef or Ruben sandwich. You'll thank me...and God for Katz.
Next was Russ and Daughters where great caviar is sold. I was too late to go in, so I don't know what else they really carry.
Finally I ended at Yonah Shimmel Knishery. I went in and asked what they recommend. They were actually soon to close so I grabbed what they had. I had no idea they made so many kinds of Knishes. The knishes were okay. I liked the fact they had so many options but my goodness where they filling. Boy did I have a stomach ache after I ate my Katz sandwhich and a quarter of a piece of four different knishes. One was a regular potato, one was a raspberry cheesecake, one was blueberry and the other was kind of a meat-pie kinda thing. Eh, I'd pass on the knishes and get the sandwiches at Katz. Well, it took 4 days to get this thing up here. Hope you appreciate it. Till next time.
First off, this was the longest tour I've done. It lasted 6+ hours and covered a great deal. It started with a camera failure and ended with a meal that made my tummy very happy.
The camera I had been using so far on these tours contained an internal rechargeable battery that no longer wanted to recharge. I got it for my birthday. Not a birthday a decade or even a few years ago, but the one that just passed. So, not making that mistake again, I went and got a new one at Toys R Us. Why there? They had a large camera selection there and with the aforementioned child I was familiar with the store and where everything was, so I made my purchase there. Boy would that come back to bite me in the buttocks! To begin, the store's parking lot is on the roof and you have to ride an escalator about 5 stories down to the store and then 5 stories back up to get to your car. Once inside the store I chose a 10 mega-pixel camera. I know squat about mega-pixels. All I know is more is better than less so I bought the one with the most. For all I know a pixel is made of fairy dust and somewhere Tinkerbell is dying. So, with Tinkerbell's demise I hope everyone will enjoy the pictures I take. So, the camera can take pictures but not keep them unless I buy a memory card. So, with the help of a Toys R Us sales aid, who was barely escaping puberty, I bought a memory card and the fun began. After making my purchase I ran up the escalator with joy and excitement to where I had parked my car. Thanks to all the thieves in America it was wrapped in plastic strong enough to make the blood vessels pop on my head and the veins bulge from my neck. Of course once I broke through them with a nail clipper's pointy part of the nail file I keep in the car(cause I'm such a prissy-sissy) the package cut my hands real nice. With sweat poring from my head, I get all the extra plastic encasing off the camera and I pull out the memory card from bag. Now, I go through the same torture removing the memory card from it's protective plastic to discover the memory card is smaller than the slot on the camera. So, down the escalator I went in a run. Now, let me mention I am very overweight and running confuses my stomach into thinking there's a cheeseburger at the finish line or it's time to digest, it never knows which. So, I go to the returns counter, they get the same brilliant young pubescent stranger to come to the counter, see my problem with camera in hand I might add and he goes and brings over a memory card adapter set. With the exchange I actually save $2.00 and get a small refund. Yay me! Maybe I will afford the cheeseburger and avoid the toilet? Well, with glee out the store I go and run up the escalator to my car again. Once I get the memory card adapter into the camera which did fit, the camera comes on to tell me the memory is full. HUH?!? I take it out, turn it around several times and make sure I stuck it in the camera correctly as if maybe the ritualistic act of spinning the memory card around will confuse the camera, I stick the card back in and still reads memory full. Back down the escalator I go and now my stomach is realizing no cheeseburger will be coming so it's time to evacuate the doo-doo factory. As I approach the counter I am standing in great discomfort and crossing my legs as behind myself as possible to avoid actually grabbing the derriere cheeks with my hands in front of the brilliant staff at Toys R Us when again they get the same jackass kid to come to my rescue. On his return from behind his counter(for the third time) he realized, he didn't have to sell me the adapter at all and could have just given me the full sized card for this camera the whole time. I wish a pimple to grow on his face, swell up and then back down, and reappear on his but making it impossible for him to sit or do what rhymes with sit. So, after my acquisition, this time I try it at the counter and it worked...THANK GOODNESS...and off to the Toys R Us bathroom I went. With all the toys to play with at Toys R Us, wouldn't you think people would have other things to play with instead of what's in the bathroom? I leave you with that thought and move on to the actual tour from there.
I rode in on the J train to Essex and Delancey to catch the F train. At the Delancey station is fantastic tile artwork. Unfortunately, the pictures I took of this were deleted. The F train took me to the starting point when I got off at the East Broadway station. Now, the card had totted there would be very few linen shops but at least one would remain by the name of Harris Levy at 278 Grand. When I arrived there, there was no longer a linen shop and after the next major stop on the tour I would discover why.
The Tenement Museum is located at 97 Orchard Street, but you must go to 108 Orchard Street where you buy a ticket to go on a tour into 97 Orchard street.
108 Orchard is a shop which has an amazing display of books, post cards, nick nacks and all kinds of goodies that range from New York City memorabilia to toys to ethnically traditional items.
You would have to go there to understand what I'm describing. But, I wanted to do a tour, so I got on line to buy a ticket. On your way up to the counter you are literally given a menu of the tours available.
Each tour provides something rich in history of this once heavily crowded and culturally diverse area of New York using the building at 97 Orchard Street as a portal to the past in it's mainstay from 1863 till eviction day in 1935.
I chose the tour "Getting By: Past and Present". It just so happens to be a very interactive and participant driven tour and lasts 2 hours.
It was rich in history and culture. The tour guide, Adam, brought us into the building and sat us in what is called the kitchen. Inside this first room you enter are multiple tables and chairs.
What I did not realize was that these tables were antiques and were made of metal. They were exquisite in design and really sturdy. We were invited to sit down around these tables and to introduce ourselves and divulge if comfortable our ancestry. Fortunately, all were very comfortable and we openly shared our histories. With each introduction and divulging of what countries our families hailed, the guide was quick to point out very intriguing and impressive facts. Queens, the guide pointed out, now is the hub of where foreign born Americans now settle when they come to New York, over 45%. One of the members of my group was African American and either her great or great great grandmother was a slave. From this, we delved into the history of the Jim Crowe laws and how her family migrated from the South to the North to escape those segregation laws. With this open forum, each person was permitted to ask a question and I had the fortune in my life to once meet a Tuskegee Airman. I shared how this airman told me how he joined the Tuskegee Airmen to get away from those same prejudices only to discover they existed up north as well, but with less segregation. This led my group member of African American descent to tell the tale of her mother working as a chambermaid and how hard it was to get work outside of these labor intensive occupations as an African American. Low and behold, this had the guide describe how this would come back to be an important part of our tour that day. From here we gathered up and entered the hallway. These buildings were not made with running water, proper lighting, proper spacing, safety or even proper toilets. When it was first built, it had 4 outhouses outside with the clean water pump right next to them. To set up disaster, these apartments were not made with comfort but greed in mind. 5 floors housed 20 apartments and on average had over 100 tenants residing in the building at the same time. Reason being, mostly immigrants moved into these tenements trying to build and start a new life. So, they say you shouldn't crap where you eat. Well, neither should you drink near where you poop. All that waste near the fresh water supply contaminated the water and a great many got Cholera and died. Now, there was a ton of info, so I'm gonna jump to facts to keep this rolling: -Attending school was the law but not strictly enforced until the Great Depression. Why? Men were out of work and started taking the jobs the children used to do and since the children were out of work, families figured they better have their kids do something to fill their time and keep them out of the way of the parents trying to work and make ends meet so off to school they went. So, the Great Depression is greatly responsible for education taking hold in America for all children.
-Each law that came to upgrade the building was not retroactive or supported financially by the government so, the tenants were forced to pay or forced to leave. With the huge number of immigrants coming into America, new tenants willing to pay the higher rents were easy to find.
-Many of the tenants in these buildings ran their own businesses making garments in their homes.
There are plenty more facts and items of interest in the tenement building. But, it wasn't until near the end we discovered why Harris Levy disappeared at 278 Grand. After the tour of two apartments in the museum we got back together for tea and cookies and a closing round table discussion. One conversation lead to another and which point it was discussed that September 11, 2001 interrupted the busy season for garment workers. For those that don't know, the busy season is September to October for the Christmas rush. As a result of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, the city closed down almost completely around the busy season. As a result these small garment shops went belly up as they couldn't ship within their own city. Till this day, retailers in NYC get their garments from New Jersey and Connecticut. What a shame. All the Tenement Museum pictures come from their website www.tenement.org. As always, there is much more to that location, but you either had to be there or hopefully, you'll go there and check it out. I highly recommend it.
After the museum, the card had me walk all over the neighborhood and had me walk backwards from how they lay out the next series of food attractions.
Katz Deli was supposed to be last per the card, but it was the first I was led to. Let me tell you all the bad, it's CROOOOOOWDED. There were no available tables also. Each sandwich was more than $15.00. Now, hold your hats...IT WAS AAAAAALLLLLLLL WOOOOOORTH IIIIIIIIITTTT!!!! When you get up to the counter and order, they cut the meat right in front of you and give you a taste while you wait. God himself must have cooked the meat. I'm drooling remembering. I ordered a Pastrami on rye and 3 other sandwiches of which some where Corned Beef for my lazy family waiting at home. I shoulda ate them all on the train if I knew the sandwich was gonna taste as good as it did. This location is where the famous When Harry Met Sally scene is shot. I don't think Meg Ryan faked it...I think she was reacting to the food. WOW! If you never had one, and you are anywhere near Katz, get a pastrami, corned beef or Ruben sandwich. You'll thank me...and God for Katz.
Next was Russ and Daughters where great caviar is sold. I was too late to go in, so I don't know what else they really carry.
Finally I ended at Yonah Shimmel Knishery. I went in and asked what they recommend. They were actually soon to close so I grabbed what they had. I had no idea they made so many kinds of Knishes. The knishes were okay. I liked the fact they had so many options but my goodness where they filling. Boy did I have a stomach ache after I ate my Katz sandwhich and a quarter of a piece of four different knishes. One was a regular potato, one was a raspberry cheesecake, one was blueberry and the other was kind of a meat-pie kinda thing. Eh, I'd pass on the knishes and get the sandwiches at Katz. Well, it took 4 days to get this thing up here. Hope you appreciate it. Till next time.
Lower East Side Tour TO BE POSTED
Sorry followers, I got home really late from yesterday's tour and have yet to download video and pictures. I assure you there will be plenty to share and show. It may take more than a day to get it all up here so, please be patient. Usually I get home before 5 p.m. after a tour. Yesterday I got home after 7 p.m., I was exhausted and starving. By the time I finished dinner at 7:45 p.m. I was ready to pass out. I went to bed around 9 p.m. and slept like a champ or down right dirty bum, your choice. The tour was awesome and another solo adventure. I did and saw a lot and can't wait to write about it later today. Look forward to feedback from those of you who read these, so I assure you, it's a goodie. Till later tonight....
Friday, March 5, 2010
Sunday March 7-Lower East Side 1
Haven't had a chance to blog as my son has broken his foot, he was on the computer more and I got a stomach bug and was bed ridden so, I couldn't get to the computer. This was the first real opportunity I've had so I hope you all don't think I forgot about this.
This tour starts at Canal and Essex Streets. Best way to get there is by taking the F train to East Broadway. Sites include Harris Levy a linen shop, the Tenement Museum and it's shop at 90 Orchard Street, Eldridge Street Synagogue, Romanian-American Synagogue, Yonah Schimmel Knishery, Russ and Daughters and Katz's Delicatessen. By the way, I will not be doing any faking of any kind in the delicatessen as Meg Ryan should not be topped. Katz's is where the famous Harry Met Sally scene occurred.
Gonna grab a knish at the Knishery and a sandwich at Katz, so I won't be bringing a lunch. If you come along, I'd recommend the same. As always, hope to see you on tour.
This tour starts at Canal and Essex Streets. Best way to get there is by taking the F train to East Broadway. Sites include Harris Levy a linen shop, the Tenement Museum and it's shop at 90 Orchard Street, Eldridge Street Synagogue, Romanian-American Synagogue, Yonah Schimmel Knishery, Russ and Daughters and Katz's Delicatessen. By the way, I will not be doing any faking of any kind in the delicatessen as Meg Ryan should not be topped. Katz's is where the famous Harry Met Sally scene occurred.
Gonna grab a knish at the Knishery and a sandwich at Katz, so I won't be bringing a lunch. If you come along, I'd recommend the same. As always, hope to see you on tour.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Mmmmmmm, Homemade Pizza and Mozzeralla and Tomatos
Little Italy, you don't stop amazing me even after I've left. My wife rocks too by the way! She made this amazing white pizza with the tomato and mozzarella salad on the side from the fresh mozzarella and ricotta cheese I bought at Alleva. Oh my God was this delicious. Then we went out and rocked out with the rock band Black Ice at Woodhaven House here in Queens. Couldn't help but post this after yesterday's amazing day. Hope to see you on the next tour which will be of the Lower East Side. Until next time...hope to see you on a tour.
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