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Published: April 23rd 2012
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As usual, the subway was our starting point. Upon arriving at the 5
th Ave station we found some mosaic art I hadn’t seen before. After walking from the Plaza Hotel end of Central Park, we wound up at 42
nd Street and the NY Public Library. I showed Gracie the location of my very first real job, across 5
th on 39
thSt, where there was a 3-floor Woolworth’s that had seven different food counters, from pizza slices to full meals. I started working there a few days after I turned 16 in 1965, once I got my “working papers” out in Flushing somewhere, which was my introduction to NYC bureaucratic systems. My sister took a job at the same Woolworth’s the following year when she turned 16. We worked all of the food counters at one time or another, working a few nights a week, all day Saturdays, and full-time on school breaks and summer vacations. I stayed there until graduating from HS in June 1967. On breaks I’d go to the big library across the street, or to Bryant Park behind it, which held free concerts during lunch hour in summer. Woolworth’s is no longer there, of course, but the library looks
pretty much the same, only with more and larger trees, and more tables and benches outside. Gracie took a self-guided tour of the library, and I wandered the grounds.
Our next area was the Fashion District. Many of the shops are exactly the same as they were years ago: storefronts below, and sample garments in the 2
nd-floor display windows. We passed the Parsons School of Design, then went looking for Mood Fabrics. We were expecting a real store with a sign outside. Instead we were directed to a regular office building and an elevator to the 3
rd floor, where Mood is actually located, like a secret organization or an old-time speakeasy: “Heidi Klum sent me.”
Inside, Mood looks just like it does on Project Runway. Gracie wanted to wander among the bolts, but I felt the need to rest, so I found a stepstool and sat. Immediately, Swatch, the store’s Boston terrier, became my new BFF. We bonded while I rubbed his tummy and he smiled with the light of true love. We parted, weepily au revoir-ing. Ah, well, we’ll always have West 37
th Street. Here’s a link to some cute shots of him taken long before we
broke one another’s hearts:
http://ny.racked.com/archives/2009/07/31/store_sidekicks_swatch_at_mood_fabrics.php Gracie and I were hungry, but the rush-hour traffic made us a little nervous about making curtain, so we headed uptown found a little Italian fast-food place right around the corner from the George Gershwin Theater. It was outstanding food, and shockingly cheap for the area. They used whole milk mozzarella on the eggplant parm and on Gracie’s pizza. The portions were so big we couldn’t finish. Full and happy, we walked around the corner to the theater.
Wicked is very entertaining, and the leads were every bit as good as the original stars. I’m glad we got to see it in its natural habitat, in a small theater. The set was very good, costumes and orchestra were excellent.
The short subway ride back to Astoria ended another amazing day.
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atty
non-member comment
culcha, gotta love it
Gee, I thought that libraries were dead...now that we have the interwebs. O, to live in a real city populated with literates. or at least occasionally VISIT a real city populated with them. I truly envy you guys.