DAY #5: OUR 2ND LOVELY VISIT TO THE EAST SIDE

        Our day started with exploring the streets of Spanish Harlem. I was a bit nervous because I really did not like our first trip to Harlem, but I knew it would be different. Our first stop was to El Museo del Barrio, which means the museum of the neighborhood in Spanish. El Museo del Barrio consists of Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Latin American Art.
Also, El Museo was founded in 1969 by community activists, teachers, and artists, mainly Puerto Ricans (BG, 376). Our tour guide Megan explained how the museum used to be an orphanage before it became El Museo del Barrio. The building and the structure of the museum appeared to look like apartment buildings. The outside of the building had an interesting quote, “the artist learns to communicate. The public learns to make connections, stating how art work can teach people a great amount. The front of the building also had two figures of a bride and a groom skeleton that represented the celebration of El Dia de Los Muertos, which means the day of the dead in Spanish.

        We later had a working tour with Megan around the streets of Spanish Harlem. Megan demonstrated to have a great knowledge about the city and its history and I learned quite a good amount of information.We learned that Spanish Harlem is known to have a big immigration population because of the easy access of transportation, like trains, to get around to other parts in the city.

African- Americans make up most of the population in Harlem, however a large Puerto Rican and Latino population is in the area known as El Barrio or Spanish Harlem(BG, 437). Also, Spanish Harlem is going through gentrification, where they are beginning to have luxury complexes in these areas and not just condos and projects. The construction of the elevated transit to Harlem in the 1880s urbanized the area, leading to the construction of apartment building and brownstones. Harlem was first populated by German immigrants, but soon after Irish, Italian, and Eastern European Jewish immigrants began settling in Harlem. We also passed through amazing pieces of art works throughout our tour. I was impressed at the art of Manny Vega, who was an important figure to the Latin American culture created his artwork around the neighborhood.

Manny Vega for many years has been teaching visual arts for organizations such as El Museo del Barrio, Arts Connection, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Caribbean Cultural Center. I was also amazed to the see the graffiti hall of fame, which started in the 1980s, where graffiti artists started their work located along the walls of a school. We later got back to El Museo Del Barrio where we got to explore the amazing and interesting pieces of art. I was upset that I wasn’t able to take pictures of the wonderful artwork in the museum, but I did learn a good amount.

        After our tour around Spanish Harlem, we had a lunch break, where I got to eat delicious Mexican food at El Paso. After lunch, we headed to the Museum of the City of New York. The Museum of the City of New York offers exhibitions that explore the city’s complex history from its early days as a Dutch colony to its present importance (BG, 376). In addition, The Museum of the City of New York was founded in 1923 as a private, nonprofit corporation; the Museum connects the past, present, and future of New York City. What I enjoyed about the museum was the lovely but sad exhibit to our former Twin Towers.

The museum provided a timeline from the beginning of the construction of the towers until the end. Several ongoing exhibits document the theater in New York and the city’s importance as a port; a 25-min film gives an overview of the city’s growth from its beginnings as a struggling settlement to the present (BG, 376). We got to watch the 25 minute video, which explained the landscape of New York City in the past until this day.

        After exploring the museum, it was time to explore Central Park. I was completely shocked when Mike told the class we were walking all of Central Park, which was about 100 blocks, I thought I was going to pass out, but made it in one piece. I loved to be able to walk through Central Park and analyze the beautiful sunset, the water and the buildings of New York City.

Central Park is the heartland of Manhattan, 843 acres set aside for the recreation of New Yorkers and visitors alike (BG, 279). About 25 million people visit the park each year, which takes a toll on the landscape and facilities (BG, 281). Central Park was brought by the City of New York in 1853, located between the City of New York and the village of Harlem. In 1857, the city of New York organized a competition for the design of the new park, which had competition with the beautiful parks in London and Paris.

Central Park’s landscape and scenery are man-made designs by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux (BG, 279). We finally then arrived to our destination of Strawberry Fields. Strawberry Fields is a 2.5 acre area near Central Park West, which honored John Lennon, the song writer, singer, and member of The Beatles, who was assassinated in the courtyard of the nearby Dakota Apartments in 1980 (BG, 290). Strawberry Fields was created to remember John Lennon’s life, talents and memory, on March 26, 1981, City Council Member Henry J. Stern named the area Strawberry Fields, which was named after the title of the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever”.

We finally ended at 59th street, where most of my classmates, including myself took the train to 34th, while others continued to walk down to 34th street, most of us at this point were exhausted and just wanted to get home. Overall, I am proud of myself for doing all of that walking, and completing everything while at the same time learning amazing information.