Recent updates
-
The Cloisters (Metropolitan Museum of Art – Medieval Gallery)
The Cloisters is the medieval art branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located in Fort Tryon Park in upper Manhattan. The building that houses the galleries is an amazing conglomeration of multiple monasteries from Europe that were crated up, shipped here to New York, and then reconstructed on site using a mix of original and modern materials. The attempt was well done and walking through the Cloisters feels like walking through an old monastery. There’s a main chapel, a smaller chapel, gardens and exhibit halls. The gardens are full of growing herbs and plants that were used during the medieval period, from nightshade to hops.
Going to the Cloisters is a pretty short trip. You can easily see everything in a day, and that’s if you take your time walking around and reading all of the inscriptions. The Met advertises that you can pay at either the main branch or the Cloisters and then access both branches in the same day, but I think that’s a bit of stretch, unless you do it on a Friday or Saturday, when the main building doesn’t close until 9 PM. Also, keep in mind that the prices listed at the entrance are “suggested” prices, meaning that’s what they recommend. You don’t have to pay that much to get in, so if you’re a little tight for cash, you can give them a dollar or two and they’ll still let you in.
Another great thing about the Cloisters is the park it’s located in. Fort Tryon park has some great views. Unlike most parts of Central Park, Fort Tryon Park is extremely hilly, with lots of paths, stairs, and great places for photo opportunities. When my wife and I went to the Cloisters, we rode the bus in from the train station, but on the way out we walked through the park. We’re looking forward to going back to the Cloisters in the near future, but we’re looking forward to exploring the park just as much.
-
Rite Aid Hired Professional Graffiti Artists to Redecorate Exterior for Grand Re-Opening
Just up the road from us there’s a Rite Aid. The place looked pretty sleazy when we first moved in, but over the last few weeks they really fixed the place up. It looks modern and new and doesn’t have that cramped, dirty feel to it anymore. In addition to fixing up the outside of the store, the management decided to turn the dingy, yellowing paint on the exterior of the building into something fresh and new.
We walked up on these guys spray painting the outside of the building in the evening. It seems as though they were given a lot of freedom in their choices, but they did have to redo a portion of their mural which contained a space ship. Apparently, that wasn’t what the Rite Aid management was aiming for.
This bee replaced the spaceship they had originally painted.
This bee is missing its pupils.The finished product is pretty cool. I wonder if people are doing this outside of New York City now, and especially down south? I don’t remember graffiti being recognized as art or encouraged down there. Not that anyone in Georgia was painting murals like this, or anything on par with most of the graffiti in New York City, anyway.
-
Abandoned Buildings on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd (AKA 7th Avenue)
These are some pictures of two old, abandoned buildings we saw on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd (which is also Seventh Avenue). I have no idea what these buildings were originally built for, but the narrower one had been repurposed at least once. The arched openings had been sealed over with concrete blocks that had narrower doors set into them, equipped with drop-down security gates found on most stores in New York City that were built within the last twenty or thirty years. I got an approximation of an address (2341 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd) for the narrower building from Google Maps and then searched for property records, but all I found was a record listing the place as a “Theater/Performing Arts” venue. I couldn’t find any information on the other, larger building.
I like abandoned buildings. I always have. One of my earliest memories is of me and my brother exploring an abandoned building in a small town called Bell, in Germany, where we were living temporarily while waiting for on-base housing. I loved castle ruins too. It’s fun to see historical artifacts in a museum, but it’s a very different experience when you’re looking through a place where people used to live their lives, trying to put together an idea of what might have happened there.
As a bonus, I realized that in the background of some of my photographs is the Abyssinian Baptist Church. The congregation that eventually constructed the church at its current location, which was completed in 1923 at a cost of roughly $334k, was established in 1808 as a result of a walkout from the First Baptist Church in lower Manhattan, when black parishioners were told to adhere to segregated seating. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who that portion of Seventh Avenue is named after, was a pastor at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, which was named in honor of the place of origin of most of the founding members: modern Ethiopia.
-
Jackie Robinson Park in Manhattan, New York City
New York City is full of parks. The more my wife and I walk around, the more obvious that becomes. There are many more parks here in the northern part of Manhattan than there are on the Lower East Side, or at least it seems that way. Everywhere you look, there are trees and grass. Not that that’s a bad thing. It helps to break up the monotony of concrete and high rise buildings. It gives a greener, fresher scent to the air up here. And, best of all, it makes our walks and jogs a lot more visually appealing.
Edgecombe Avenue by Jackie Robinson Park
Edgecombe Avenue by Jackie Robinson Park
Edgecombe Avenue by Jackie Robinson ParkJackie Robinson Park isn’t exactly a park you can jog through though. It’s a narrow strip that runs north-south from 155th Street down to 145th Street, between Edgecombe Avenue and Bradhurst Avenue.
The view from Edgecombe Avenue, looking out over the park and into the city.
The view from Edgecombe Avenue, looking out over the park and into the city.
The view from Edgecombe Avenue, looking out over the park and into the city.Half of the land occupied by the park is a steep slope that’s mostly unusable, except for sets of stairs spaced at intervals to help people get from Edgecombe to Bradhurst, and vice versa. The area that is flat has been used to build playgrounds for young kids, basketball courts, and a pool complex. It’s actually pretty nice looking.
Looking down into Jackie Robinson Park from above.
Jackie Robinson Park as seen from Bradhurst Avenue.
Jackie Robinson Park as seen from Bradhurst Avenue, near the pool complex.I’m almost always impressed by how good city planners are about utilizing every bit of space in Manhattan, though I shouldn’t be surprised. When you’re working with a limited resource, you have to make the most out of it.
-
The August Loot Crate: Cake, Caffeine and Zombies!
August 2013 Loot Crate Contents This is the fourth Loot Crate I’ve opened. The Loot Crates seem to be a little hit-or-miss for me in terms of whether or not I like what’s in them, but I suppose that’s the nature of a service like this. You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time, right? This time, I was pleased.
Caffeine Chemical Structure and Stat Changes t-shirt by Shirt.Woot! My favorite item from the box this time around is definitely the shirt. It has the chemical structure of caffeine shown in a cartoon way with the molecules smiling and holding coffee cups. Underneath there is a set of stat changes, as if caffeine were an item in an RPG. Very fun. Very cool.
Funko and AMC Walking Dead Mystery Mini (Front) 
Funko and AMC Walking Dead Mystery Mini (Back) My second favorite item is the AMC Walking Dead Mystery Mini. This little guy is really cool, and I’m definitely interested in checking out the other figures in the series. It’s sort of an anime looking take on the zombies from The Walking Dead. More of these can be found here: Funko: The Walking Dead Blind Box Mystery Mini Figure
*
Portal: The Cake is a Lie The other stuff in the Loot Crate wasn’t bad either. The theme for this month was “Cake”, and as almost any person who regularly plays games can tell you, even if they haven’t played Portal, the cake is a lie. Well, except, this time it really wasn’t. I got cool Aperture (fictional company from Portal) branded stuff. I think I can manage to get some use out of the lanyard, though I’m not sure about the wrist band or the fake tattoo. I’m not sure who I know that might want those, but I’m not sure I want to just toss them either.
The Cake booklet marked as issue 1 is a better and much improved version of the informational card that used to come in Loot Crates that let’s you know what it is, exactly, that you’ve unboxed, as well as providing a theme introduction, information about a featured looter, the monthly Mega Crate, and some photo contest details. It’s very well done and full of bright, colorful pictures. I suppose that plays into the second purpose of Loot Crate as a business model: send out samples at reduced cost in return for drumming up business for the companies that provided the products.
So, will I do more business with the people that provided the products for this month’s Loot Crate? I’ll definitely be checking out Shirt.Woot!, considering a $5-off coupon was included, and even with Loot Crates, I’d still buy Jelly Belly jelly beans.
*Disclosure: The Funko Walking Dead link is affiliated, meaning if you buy something after hitting Amazon through that link, I get a kickback.
-
The High Bridge Trail
The High Bridge, as seen from the High Bridge path in High Bridge Park The High Bridge, officially known as the Aqueduct Bridge, was originally used to bring water onto Manhattan Island from the Croton River. Construction began in 1837 and was completed in 1848. The bridge had the appearance of a Roman stone, arched aqueduct. In 1928, the bridge was rebuilt using steel construction that worked well for quite a few years, but since the 1970s, the bridge has been closed to all traffic. New York City is working on changing that as part of an effort to create a network of trails and paths for biking, jogging and walking.
So far, the renovation looks good. It’s not done yet, by a long shot. My wife and I went down the long flight of steps from High Bridge Park in Washington Heights to take a look around. The trail is closed and all we could see was the very entrance to the bridge. We decided to check out the trail, which is well done. It’s wide, new, offers some interesting views, and opens onto either Amsterdam or Edgecombe Avenue.
The remnants of a party that looks to have gone terribly wrong. There is also a dirt trail that you can walk on. At first, it narrows down to little more than a well-worn deer path, but then it opens up into something that looks like the city is maintaining it. There were a lot of people walking through there, mostly with dogs and their kids, but it looks like it could be a pretty spooky and dangerous place at night. We saw remnants of wild parties, and there was a kid just hanging around by the entrance of the path (where it opens onto Edgecombe near 155th) with a mobile phone in his hand. He had a I’m-the-lookout-for-my-robber-friends kind of vibe, so I kept my eyes open.
I wonder if the city is planning on paving that section and extending it through the deer-trail portion so it connects with the rest of the paved High Bridge trail that will lead over the bridge into the Bronx? I’m also curious as to how this section of bike/jogging/walking paths will hook up to the rest of the path system in Manhattan, because at the bottom end of Edgecombe, the only sign I saw that might be part of the paths seemed to double back to the north along Harlem River Driveway towards Harlem River Drive. Maybe one day I’ll go down there and see if there’s a way to double back again and head south along the river.
I really need to get a bike. It would make exploration faster. There’s so much to see in New York City that I doubt I could ever see it all just by walking.
-
Mostly Naked People and Huge Crowds at Times Square
Last Thursday night my wife and I went downtown to meet up with an old friend who was in town for the week and we decided to walk through Times Square to take some photos. You know, the tourist thing. I even bought a few “I Love NY” magnets at a souvenir shop.
Times Square is always packed but with the weather being so mild, it seemed like there were even more people out than usual. Besides the crowds, it seemed like the number of panhandlers had increased as well. We saw a few “acts”, but in Times Square, you mostly find people who are dressed up in unusual ways that try to get you to pay them for having your photograph taken together with them.
The last time we were there, there were only a handful of people dressed up as animated characters. Now, there are dozens, sometimes with two or three of the same character standing right next to each other. Sort of takes the magic out of it, if you ask me. Not that there was much to start with, but if a kid sees three Iron Mans standing next to each other, how is he supposed to feel excited about having his photo taken? You have to at least let the kid pretend you might be the real deal, right?
There were also people dressed up in costumes to bait adults into paying for photos. A few years ago, there was only one naked cowboy; now there are two naked cowboys, a naked Indian, and some naked women as well. Well, not completely naked, but mostly naked, stripped down to their underwear and, in one case, panties and pasties.
It was fascinating watching my wife’s friend’s reaction to all this. She seemed shocked. I asked her if she wanted her photo taken with the half naked cowboys, with their junk hanging out, and she seemed really disturbed. She had earlier described the hoochie shorts women in America wear, that leave the bottom half of their butts hanging out of their shorts, as scandalous. She probably thought the mostly naked people in Times Square were scandalous too. I suppose it is. People wear less at the beach, but maybe it’s more about wearing clothes appropriate to the situation. And I suppose that’s the point of those people showing up there half dressed. They’re counting on the shock value to pay off in real money that people will shell out to have their photos taken with “crazy people” who are almost naked in Times Square.
We wound up staying in Times Square until around 11 PM. I don’t think we’d ever been there that late before. I was surprised by how bright the area still was at that time of night. Because of all of the electric billboards, it might as well have been noon on an overcast day.
