Little Bytes Recommends...A Bicycle Tour

Maybe not this week with the frigid temperatures... but spring is right around the corner.  In November, my friend, Sarah, and I went on a bike tour into Brooklyn with a client who is bringing a large group of potential bike riders to the city next August. 

Our tour was operated by Bike the Big Apple and led by Jesse McDonough, an experienced cyclist and guide whose commentary on the city was interesting, articulate, and, above all, accurate. 

If any of you, like me, have resisted riding bicycles in New York--because of the taxis, the New Jersey drivers, the buses, the trucks, the odd door swinging open, the Rhode Island drivers, the ipod-budded pedestrian who steps out between parked cars, the horse-drawn carriages, the wheeled hot dog carts, and the Connecticut drivers--a bike tour is the perfect opportunity to ride and feel safe.  On a tour, you travel in a pack--the larger, the better. Six bikes riding in a group are treated like a car.  Twenty in a group are treated like a truck.  For big groups, one guide leads, one guide brings up the rear, and they usher their riders through streets that no longer seem as frightening.

And what an amazing way to relate to the city!  Fifteen minutes before the end of our tour, we were still on the Brooklyn Bridge, but we were soon coasting into the court district, riding on a plaza between courthouses, zipping through Columbus Park, turning up Mulberry, crossing on Jersey Street (a two-block street just south of Houston that, according to Jesse, tests the knowledge and patience of every bike messenger), and heading up Lafayette and Third to Union Square where we hung a right and arrived back at the bike store right on time. 

Riding down the east side towards the Manhattan Bridge.  Spending most of the first ride away from traffic gives you the chance to familiarize yourself with your bike and the skill of your fellow riders.

View north from the Manhattan Bridge.

The Manhattan Bridge, which partially opened for traffic one hundred years ago this month.

Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park between the bridges in DUMBO.

(I just read on their website that this state park forbids pets, alcohol, and bicycle riding.  Oops.)

Robert and Sarah with that amazing Brooklyn Bridge. 

 

Robert and Sarah ON that amazing Brooklyn Bridge.  Minutes later we would be shouting at tourists who were walking in the bike lane.  (Actually I wouldn't have to shout.  I deliberately rode in the back and let the riders in the front risk their lives to clear the path for me.  Sorry, Sarah.)

The Rat and the Bull and the Future Business Leaders of America

I gave a tour of Wall Street last week to a Pennsylvanian high school chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America.  As we passed through Bowling Green and approached the famous bull by Arturo di Modica, I noticed one of the rats available to rent for labor demonstrations throughout the city.  From all appearances, the rat was positioned incorrectly--instead of facing 26 Broadway, the object of the strike, it stood glaring at the bull. 

Which did make a funny (and foreboding) picture when the Future Business Leaders posed for a group shot:

Christmas Windows in New York

I do like the Twinkle Twinkle Little Snowflake story at Saks and the touchscreens at Macy's that allow you to write a letter to Santa.

But Bergdorf Goodman once again wins my personal Christmas Window Competition for 2009.

The photo on the left is by Rudy Pospisil who photographed this year's windows.  To see them all, visit About.com.

The Vanishing Woolworth Building

 

Say goodbye to most views of the landmark Woolworth Building.  Over the last couple of years, what was once the tallest skyscraper in the world (1913-1929), has been getting lost in the skyline.

The Woolworth was one of the only buildings New Yorkers could use as a frame of reference in images of Lower Manhattan after the attacks of September eleventh.  With the towers gone, the Woolworth was one of few buildings that told us what was north, what was south, what was up, what was down.

One of my favorite shots of the Woolworth was from the plaza of the World Trade Center (i.e., from the southwest).  That picture can no longer be taken.  See that boring new apartment tower above, to the right of the Woolworth? 

 

Here's that tower from the south.  Voila.  No more Woolworth. 

Here's the Woolworth from the west again, but notice the empty lot in the foreground...soon to host an obstruction.

At least the front of the building will remain visible...but only in the near vicinity, because as you can see below...

...8 Spruce Street, or the massive Beekman Tower by Frank Gehry, is climbing into the sky above the Newspaper Row and blocking the iconic view of the Woolworth from most of the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Ah, well.  Almost 100 years.  It had a good run.

The Leaves Are Beginning to Turn--Autumn Around the Pond in Central Park

 

  

 

Kosher Vending Machine

This shot is from new father, Walter Hershman, who found this kosher vending machine while his wife was getting her epidural.  24/6 I love.

Little Bytes Recommends...an Afternoon (Maybe Even an Eternity) at Green-Wood Cemetery

As reported yesterday, Green-Wood Cemetery opened in 1838.  Inspired by Mt. Auburn in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Green-Wood was landscaped by David Bates Douglass as one the country's first rural cemeteries.  Initially, people still preferred to bury their dead in churchyards and on family land, but in 1845 the widow of DeWitt Clinton, one of the most important New Yorkers in our history who died in 1828, had his remains transferred from a graveyard near Albany to Green-Wood.  For the rest of the nineteenth century, many of the most famous New Yorkers chose Green-Wood for their final resting place and visitors from across the country made it one of the most visited attractions in the United States.

Green-Wood was also an inspiration for Central Park and it probably wasn't coincidental that the winning proposal put forth by Olmsted and Vaux was called the Greensward Plan, a name that would surely evoke pleasant associations.  Green-Wood is 478 acres of rolling hills and valleys, thousands of trees, four lakes, and a myriad of avenues and pathways with names like Glade, Birch, Sassafras, Marigold, Vernal, Jonquil, and Garland. 

Besides the landscaping, the cemetery is home to some of the finest sculpture and mausoleums in America.  Sometimes called the Pere Lachaise of Brooklyn, there is stunning artistry almost everywhere you turn.

Green-Wood is huge (more than half the size of Central Park) with so many twists and turns and ups and downs, and almost 600,000 buried, you can't expect to see it all.  A friend and I were lucky to have had a security guard pick us up while we were walking along Sylvan Lake and took us for a tour in his air-conditioned car, showing us graves and remarkable sculptures we never would have reached on foot.  

On Wednesdays, at 1:00, the cemetery offers a tram tour for $15, which can be booked online here.  I'm actually planning to take that tour next Wednesday, 09/09/09.  Join me!

What family tomb is the largest private mausoleum at Green-Wood?  ANSWER AFTER THE JUMP...

Kalliopi Lemos at the Olympic Tower

During the tour season, one of my favorite places to sit and read near Fifth is in the atrium of the Olympic Tower.

It's a peaceful spot with the hushed sounds of a waterfall and features a coffee bar, accessible bathrooms and one of the city's most powerful hand dryers.  

Original plaster castings of marbles from the Parthenon also line the walls, and there's a small gallery for Hellenic art in the basement, a lounge to watch the World Cup every four years, and other temporary art displays.

This installation is entitled Perpetual Transitions and opened in July.  It was created by Kalliopi Lemos, a Greek artist living and working in London, who began making these beautiful boats in reed and plaster earlier in the decade. 

 

Pictures of the New Washington Square

 

 

 

 

Have a Great Weekend!

This man is actually sitting in a chair next to the fountain in Bryant Park, but he looked like he was living it up and almost inspired several of us to throw off our clothes and dive into the water!

Roxy Paine on the Roof

I took groups to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on six different days in May and June.  On five of these days, the Roof Garden was closed because of rain.  (The torrential spring of 2009 will go down in infamy.)  On the sixth trip, however, the weather was gorgeous and since I was one of the first people inside the museum, the roof was all mine for about thirty minutes.

The sculpture built for this particular rooftop is entitled Maelstrom by Roxy Paine whose work you might remember in Madison Square two years ago. 

 

 

 

Maelstrom will be on the roof until October 25th.

Another Friend Climbs to the Top of St. John the Divine!!

Why do I always miss this opportunity?!?  This was my second invitation and again I had to decline.  Both times I was busy writing and couldn't spare the morning.

But I do envy my friends who have taken this exclusive tour.  Here are some pictures from Doug Nervik's fancy new phone:

 

The nave as seen during the climb up.  To give you a sense of proportion, those red squares in the middle in the middle of the photo are chairs.

 

A close-up of one of the recently cleaned stained glass windows.

 

A shot between the buttresses.

 

This last shot was taken in the attic, above the vaulted Guastavino ceiling.  Here you can see the tiles.  From down below, it's far too dark.  This is the vault above the crossing where the Statue of Liberty could comfortably stand.  (If she ever came down off her pedestal.)

The Amazing High Line Park

I've been able to visit the Highline three times since the first third of it opened in June.  The section of the Highline that opened runs half a mile, from Gansevoort to 20th Street, winding over Tenth Avenue and passing beneath the new Standard Hotel and through the Chelsea Market Building.  This innovative new public park is exactly 6.7 times more brilliant and awe-inspiring than I thought it would be.  I look forward to many, many more walks.

Besides the Highline, Diller Scofidio + Renfro are busy renovating Lincoln Center, dramatically reshaping public space on the west side.  Visit their beautifully interactive website for information and photos on these and other projects.

 

More pictures after the jump.

Still Floating from a Beautiful Weekend

The spring was a moody, cold, humid, rainy one, but July has been about as perfect as they come. 

 

 

 

 

 

Acting Classes: Four Places in NYC to Hone Your Craft

PS 212--THE PROFESSIONAL PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL 

 

FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA HIGH SCHOOL OF MUSIC & ARTS AND PERFORMING ARTS

THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL

 

THE DAVID CARUSO ACTING CONSERVATORY

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!!

The Statue of Liberty as seen from Battery Park.  The photo makes it look like I've hacked my way through a jungle to reach the shore, but the trees are just part of a small but verdant copse at the southern end of the park.

Albino Manca's East Coast Memorial, 1961

 

The Yacht in the Bay: LE GRAND BLEU

Wondering about that enormous yacht in the Upper Bay?  Thanks to Doug Nervik for doing the following research:

"The ship is called Le Grand Bleu.  In 2008, it was the tenth largest private luxury yacht in the world.  Built in Germany in 2000, it is 370 feet long (that's 70 feet longer than a football field) and boasts two 3600 hp engines and a crew of fifty!

It's currently owned by Russian oil billionaire, Eugene Shvidler, and it was GIVEN to him by Roman Abramovich.  A 2006 article in The Sun claimed the gift was worth 75 million pounds (around $150 million), but today a boat like this would cost twice as much. 

It is one of the greenest boats out there--it features a system which can reuse wastewater rather than pouring it into the sea. 

It was originally built for one of the McCaw brothers of cellular phone fame and was then purchased by MicroSoft's Paul Allen.  (He traded it up for larger vessels, one of which carries two submarines.)

 

You can see two boats sitting on the deck of Le Grand Bleu.  These are called tenders.  One of them is a 74' sailing boat, which itself would cost well over $1 million!  The other is a 68' Sunseeker Predator, a $1.5 million yacht with three staterooms!!  This boat alone is a quite luxurious yacht which charters for thousands of dollars a day.

A helicopter is also on the deck.  You gotta get places, you know.

There's a "garage" on one side of the boat--open it and you will find four large jet skis, kayaks, scuba and snorkeling gear, and every toy imaginable.

And last, just in time for the Fourth of July fireworks, there's a wonderful little dock which has been affixed to the rear of the boat, so that others can pull up and park and where you can sit or sunbathe or jump off for a swim."

Mariah Carey Video at the Plaza

After leading my group out of Central Park today, I spotted lights and cameras at the Plaza.  Here are a few shots from my camera:

 

 

 

At the Central Park Bandshell

Californian Takes an Umbrella to the Top of the Empire State Building

He's from Los Angeles.

How would he know that an umbrella you buy on the sidewalk during a New York City rainstorm won't last to the corner if you don't know how to work with the wind?

And how would he know that, under no circumstances, do you open that kind of umbrella on the 86th floor observatory deck of the Empire State Building?

 

 

Liberty in the Fog

This entire season could be titled "Partly Cloudy with Chance of Rain."  Last week's fog though did give a visit to Liberty Island an eerily beautiful feel. 

No part of the Statue could be seen from the first three ferries.  Passengers boarded in fog, floated through fog and stepped out on an island completely isolated by fog.  It felt like a haunted place. 

My group from Idaho, who had arrived a day earlier in the rain and fog, had no idea how much was surrounding us.  They couldn't see the Manhattan skyline, Brooklyn, Staten Island, or New Jersey.  They could only see the occasional phantom boat emerge from the white and the ghostly outline of a colossal woman with arm raised.  The fog began to break by the time we left for Ellis Island around 10:00.

The Old St. Patrick's 200th Birthday

On Sunday, I told my group of forty eighth-graders to meet at 12:45 on Mulberry (which was completely empty) because I figured Mott would be too crowded. After letting them go, I walked over to Mott to learn that an entire parade (fire trucks, humvees, soldiers, and re-enactors) celebrating the 200th anniversary of the old St. Pat's would be rolling up Mulberry at exactly 12:45. Perfect.

 

(But, let the record show, I was still able to get the group to lunch in Times Square with five minutes to spare.)

 

Here they are lining up on Mott for their parade up Mulberry.

 

 

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Whenever I Get Tired of My Job, I Think of This Guy...

 

Nora Roberts and Lifetime Television...They Make the Best Ads!

With only five channels on my television, I didn't get a chance to catch Lifetime Presents the 2009 Nora Roberts Collection, the adaptations that ran on FOUR consecutive Saturday nights from March 21st until April 11th.  But I absolutely loved the ad campaign that greeted me at my nearest subway station every morning for the last month.

 

I would wager at least one agent received an angry phone call. 

 

But which of these eight actors would have been most embarrassed?  Maybe none...what do I know?

 

The more important question, however, which I asked myself every day as I stood in front of these posters and seriously contemplated each one of them (the stars, the poses, the chemistry, the pictures that hinted at the story):

 

If I could only see one of these movies, which would I pick?

After a month, I'm going to go with the green one.

I don't know why.

A Sewage Backup on Wall Street? You Can Say That Again

Two weeks ago, I stopped with a tour group at the Federal Hall National Memorial and gave them a chance to explore the Lincoln exhibit and to use the facilities. 

Unfortunately, I was told that the bathrooms were closed due to a "sewage backup on Wall Street."

I said, "That's one way of putting it."

That weekend I was on Wall Street with another group and took these photos of the sewage being pumped.

These show Wall Street getting a much needed colonic.  Hopefully, this will get the credit running again.