New York City Day 3 - April 2, 2008

The tour was worth EVERY penny and then some. I don’t even know if I can remember everything we saw to get it down in this journal. The guide was an older fellow that reminded me of Fire Marshall Bill by Jim Carrey on In Living Color. He knew more interesting facts about this city than any one person really should. He talked constantly and VERY fast for 5 ½ hours. I really wished I had brought a video recorder or at least a note pad. Let me see how much of it I can get on paper here while it’s still fresh in my mind. We saw:

· The exact spot where John Lennon was shot (he died later at the hospital) and heard some info about the guy who assassinated him. Apparently, there’s a movie about what was going on in this guy’s head. He traveled a long way from across the nation to do this, decided not to, went home, then came back, got John’s autograph on an album earlier in the day, then decided to do it, and shot him later that day. Huh….????
· Yoko Ono’s “apartment” – the entire top floor of the building entrance where John was shot on Central Park West – about 20,000 square feet. Sting lives in the building, too, on a lower level.
· Madonna’s apartment and Angelina Jolie’s apartment and Robert DeNiro’s apartment. This area along Central Park West is actually very clean and simple and elegant. I like it.
· Central Park police on horses.
· Central Park (again) and Central Park West. Apartments sell for an average of $46 Million dollars. Some apartments you can buy outright if you can finance it, but many others such as along Park Avenue (which isn’t even park-side, by the way – it’s three blocks away) are extremely exclusive and you’re buying into a co-op, like a business. You have to present full financials, go before a review board and be accepted. This is where it pays to “know somebody” and have connections. I wonder how long the waiting lists are? The owners of these places are world leaders and captains of industry.
· We learned that most of the construction companies and almost all of the construction in New York are run by the mafia. Trump has his own companies (and probably his own knee-busters), but that’s about it.
· 15 years ago, this city was NOT a safe place to be. You couldn’t walk down hardly any street without being approached by a prostitute, crack addict or gang member. But the city started to make some money, and they really cleaned it up. The guide told us not to mind the bums lying on the side of the street, because it’s probably a cop in disguise pretending to sleep. Sneaky….
· Columbus Circle (again) – by Trump International Tower, CNN, Time Warner, etc. and he told us a bunch of facts about the statues and artwork in the area (how much the Columbus Statue in the center weighed, yadda-yadda). One solid gold piece was a tribute to the men of the downed USS Maine.
· We saw the Seinfeld Restaurant and the bakery where the girls from Sex and the City always met for breakfast.
· We drove by the Museum of Sex. No, we didn’t go in, but I did pause and think…a museum? Really? Whatever.
· We say the townhome-style apartment where Will Smith “lived” in the movie, “I am Legend”, which I haven’t seen yet, but want to now. White door…9B, I think?
· We saw Hell’s kitchen, the Five Points (remember the movie, “Gangs of New York”?), Greenwich Village, SoHo, NoHo, Tribeca, and the meat packing district, the bowery, Battery Park. It’s interesting that each of these neighborhoods are really only a few blocks apart. Manhattan Island is only 13.5 miles long and 6 miles wide, and all of the sights are really on the lower half, so about a 6 mile by 6 mile area, roughly. There’s SO much here, but it’s all vertical. The guide told us that the population of Manhattan is 1.3 million people, but when folks from the outer districts come in to work every day, it swells to 3 million. Many people live in other areas, but keep an apartment in Manhattan for work during the week. What kind of family life is that?
· The guide told us that the yellow-colored cabs were sanctioned by the city and are the ONLY cabs that are supposed to be in Manhattan. Other cabs on the outskirts are other colors. The license for ONE car in the city is almost $400,000.00. Unbelievable.
· We learned that the theater district is made up of over 500 theaters and Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theaters are all mixed together in terms of location. Many, but not all, are on the street named Broadway. “Broadway” is defined as any theater that is over 500 seats. Off-Broadway means theaters that are less than 500 seats and off-off Broadway is any theater less than 250 seats. The draw for actors and actresses is that it’s LIVE and it’s a very intimate setting. These are not huge theaters, and there’s interaction with the audiences. It stretches their acting muscles.
· George Washington lived on Cherry Street in Manhattan. No kidding.
· We saw an apartment building in Chinatown that had almost 800 apartments in it. There were so many families in this building, that it contained its own school for all the kids. Our guide spewed a bunch of facts about Chinatown that I can’t remember now.
· The eastern seaport, where we took some fabulous pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Brooklyn skyline. Our guide told us that the bay where the Hudson and the East Rivers meet the ocean used to be home to over 350 species of fish and the largest oyster bed in the world. I wonder how many species are able to live there now in the polluted waters? My new friend, Valarie, said, “Oooh, I love oysters.” I said, “Mmmm…I love pearls.” Ha.
· We rode the Staten Island Ferry and it was so incredibly windy, it took my breath away. We couldn’t stay on the outer deck for very long for fear of getting blown overboard (several security guys were keeping an eye on the people on the decks), but we braved it long enough to get some great pictures of the Manhattan skyline. The ferry holds 6500 people and moves very quickly. Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York (Staten Island, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens make up “New York City”) and is home to 500,000 people. That’s almost the entire state of Alaska living on one very little island!! We got some great pictures of Ellis Island (old immigration check in location) and the Statue of Liberty. Our guide recited the poem for us so reverently; it brought tears to my eyes. Seriously, he was good.

o “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning,

and her name Mother of Exiles.

From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

· The financial district: Wall Street wasn’t quite what I’d envisioned. I thought it was an actual street that cars could drive on, but it’s more like a narrow alley for foot traffic. Definitely wall to wall buildings and hundreds of people, all in black suits. I mean ALL of them in black, all carrying the exact same briefcase and about half of them talking on their phones while they walked. A very serious crowd, for sure. We saw the front of the New York Stock Exchange, but since 9/11, security is tight, and we’re not allowed to go inside and see the trading floor anymore. Our guide quipped, “If there are any single ladies in the group, THIS would be the place to go shopping for a man.” I was mildly offended, but had to giggle.
· We saw a Federal Reserve building that had a sub-structure that went 100 stories below the ground. 75 floors down housed billions of dollars in 100 dollar bills, 100 floors down housed billions more in gold bouillons. Wow. Forget knocking over a Vegas casino - that would be the building to target, eh? The money is all moved around using robots, humans don’t go down there. Especially chlosterphobic ones. Ha.
· Trinity church at the end of Wall Street is gorgeous. It houses the grave of Alexander Hamilton – father of the treasury. There’s actually only one active cemetery in north, excuse me, upper Manhattan. All the others are full and they’re ancient. The churches here really stand out against the sleek skyscrapers. They look like Old English structures with astoundingly intricate architecture. They’re so beautiful.
· We saw the outside of Grand Central Station. I’d like to go back and see the inside if we can manage it.

- The flatiron building. Cool architecture, eh?
· The Triangle S

hirtwaist Factory which caught on fire In March 1911. It was the largest disaster in the history of the city of New York, causing the death of 148 people (mostly young peasant girls) who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. It was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until 9/11. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers in that industry (have they made any progress?). The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Building, also known as the Asch Building and as the Brown Building, is still standing today and was named a National Historic Landmark. I actually didn't remember all those facts, I looked some of them up when we got back.
· The World Trade Center – 16 square city blocks. It’s just a big huge hole in the ground right now, with lots of re-construction going on. They’re building a new complex of 4 buildings, one is complete, the others are in progress. One will be “Freedom Tower” – 1776 floors high, for the year 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed. There will be a memorial constructed as well, that is a concentric 3-square fountain, that looked like a neat design concept. Hard to describe in writing, though.
· St. Paul’s church – directly across the street from The World Trade Center. This is the most inspiring, faith-building story I’ve heard in a long time: when the twin towers came down on 9/11/01, the force from the tumbling buildings blew over a huge Sycamore tree in the yard/cemetery in front of this tiny little church. The roots of this tree were so big that it protected the church from the blasts. Huge steel structures were destroyed all around the area, windows blown out everywhere, and in the middle of the financial district, this VERY old (200 years), VERY little brownstone church, DIRECTLY across the street, was literally unscathed. Every window was in place, not a scratch anywhere. God certainly was making a point there about what is important to Him, wasn’t He? It became a working ground / clearinghouse for volunteers after the disaster. Every worker had to sign in and they had copies of the sign in books on display. Over 20,000 volunteers passed through this church, which is no more than 4,000 square feet total, if that. There were pictures from kids hanging on the walls, badges and sweaty hats from workers (fire, police, EMT, all kinds). It was VERY cool. I certainly felt compelled to pray in this place.
· We saw all the University clubs – a street with buildings displaying flags for Harvard, Yale, Columbia, NYU, a few others. These were clubs for the alumni, apparently, to meet, workout, conduct business, network, whatever. Sounds snobby to me.
· We saw the store where Mrs. Lincoln bought her china.
· We saw Macy’s – the largest department store in the world, and Saks Fifth Avenue. I don’t dare go in, of course. I’d never make it home.
· We stopped at a souvenir shop and got some t-shirts for Mom and Dean, and I bought a New York Fire Department sweatshirt for myself. Then we stopped at the little bakery across the street and got a piece of cheesecake. Yes, it was scrumptious.

What a tour. I’m exhausted and need a nap, but I really feel like I painted the town today. The guide recommended a book called “Gotham”. He said it was a must-have for any tour guide and covers all the history of New York from its very beginnings. I looked it up on Amazon and its 1500 pages and ONLY takes us up to the turn of the century – nothing past the year 1900. It starts from when Indians were settled here, to the Dutch (“The New Amsterdam”), to African-Americans, to Irish, to Italians, the Asians (90% Chinese), and so on. I might pick it up, it sounds fascinating, but I do wish there was some modern day information in there.