DAY #4: THE WILD WESTSIDE

         As I arrived into Penn Station, I knew the weather was going to be great, unlike our last class of all the rain madness. We stepped out of Penn Station and walked through the wonderful street of Broadway onto Times Square. As we worked our way to Times Square, I noticed the different lanes for pedestrians, cars and bikes.

Since we were such a large group, most of us were walking on the bike lane where we almost got hit by a very upset guy on his bicycle. Professor Cullinan explained to us how the different lanes for pedestrians and bikes are still a sociological issue that people are still fighting for. Pedestrian zones are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian only use. Converting a street or an area to only pedestrians is called pedestrianisation. Arriving to Times Square Mike explained to the class how in the 1960’s to the 70’s Times Square was the center for drugs, prostitution and pornography.

Before 1904 Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, was dominated by horse exchanges, carriage factories, stables, and blacksmiths shops (BG, 217).

        From Times Square we headed towards Rockefeller Center, but first making a stop at the General Electric Building. I was amazed at the beautiful artwork inside the building.

The GE building is the first to be constructed at Rockefeller Center and is still the most famous (BG, 248). Also, the skyscraper is the headquarters of NBC studios and houses most of the network’s New York Studios, such as 6A, Saturday Night Live, operations of NBC News, and MSNBC. We then finally arrived to Rockefeller Center, which is my favorite place during Christmas time.

I love going to Rockefeller Center during Christmas time where the huge Christmas tree is placed and ice skating takes place. Rockefeller Center was named after John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who leased the space from Columbia University in 1928, and developed it from 1930.

        We later headed to our next spot, the Museum of Modern Art. In 1929, when modern art was not considered art at all in many quarters, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and two wealthy, and socially committed friends, Lillie P. Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan, founded a small museum in rented space in what is now the Crown Building on Fifth Avenue near 57th St (BG, 260). I love going to museums of art, it reminds me of when I was in Spain. I was excited to see the different art works, and there was an advantage in that we had an excellent professor Don, who knows a great amount of information on modern art, and walked us through some pieces in detail. There was one art work that really caught my attention because of the colors and how it stood out as I observed it.

It is called Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin (1912) by Gino Severini. Gino Severini moved to Paris in 1906 where he studied the Impressionists, he was fascinated with Seurat’s paintings and met Signac. On February 11th, 1910 Gino Severini signed the Manifesto of Futurist Painting and became a co-founder of this style. The information provided in the museum stated that he pictures a woman with brown curls and a white, blue, and pink flounced dress as she dances to music in the Paris Nightclub Bal Tabarin. I believe the message behind the art work is amazing and extremely interesting. Overall, I loved being able to attend and experience all the art work in MOMA.

        After a long tour around the museum, we then headed to Yum Yum Bangkok to eat Thai food. I was a bit nervous on what to expect in Thai food, but I ended up getting things I really enjoyed eating.

I ordered the Thai salad and chicken with garlic sauce which was delicious and left me very full and satisfied in the end.

       We later made our way onto the train to explore the streets of Harlem. Harlem is a place that is going through a gentrification process. Harlem is the most famous center of African American life and culture in the US, African American blacks made up most of the population, though the area east of Park Avenue and north of 96th St, with a large Latino population (BG, 437).

After the American civil war, liberated African- Americans searched for a safe place to explore their new identities as free men and women, and they found Harlem. Housing executives planned to create neighborhoods in Harlem designed specifically for white workers who wanted to commute into the city. We got to pass through the Apollo Theater, which opened as Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theatre, for whites only, when the neighborhood was white and largely German-Jewish (BG, 440). We later walked up the long flight of stairs through the Morning Side Park, which was quite a challenge and was exhausting afterwords. We later passed the beautiful Riverside Church, and headed to the General Grants National Memorial. The General Grant National Memorial overlooks the Hudson River from the Morningside Heights of Manhattan. General Grant National Memorial is the largest tomb in North America. Grant's Tomb is not only the final resting place of the General but a memorial to his life and accomplishments.

At the General Grants National Memorial, some classmates and I got to hang out for a bit with the fire fighters and sit inside the fire truck. We got to experience what it felt to be a New York fire fighter as we got on the truck! We later passed through the Columbia University campus. It was such a beautiful campus and we got to sit down on the steps and analyze the beautiful surroundings.

Columbia University was founded in 1754 as King’s College by royal charter of King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States. Furthermore, we ended at the beautiful St Johns the Divine Cathedral. Unfortunately, the church was closed and we didn't get to explore the inside of the church, but the outside of the church was absolutely amazing, and I could imagine how beautiful the inside would appear.