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Published: November 26th 2007
Time Square Movement
A little manipulation, but the colors and displays around Times Square sometimes feel like I'm already in a cartoon.NYC - Not just a city from Comic Books
When you think about New York City, what comes to mind? Do you think about Central Park or Times Square? Maybe you think about New York Style Pizza and the I ❤ NYC t-shirts. Some might remember the 9-11 attacks and the World Trade Center towers. And then there are those that will always think about the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and the Brooklyn Bridge. No matter what you think about, New York City is more then just Skyscrapers filled with towering concrete and windows. "The Big Apple" or "The City that Never Sleeps" are just a few nicknames for this enormous metropolis we call New York City. With 5 boroughs, New York City is the United State's largest city at a whopping estimate of 9 Million people. As you walk down the streets, you'll undoubtedly hear one of the 170 languages spoken there. You'll find amazing food from all around the world and be able to spend hours shopping until your credit limit is reached. You can visit any number of museums, galleries, one of a kind department stores, or take a stroll through the nations most visited
Grand Central Terminal
Largest Train Station in the world by platforms. city park. With so many activities, it would be almost impossible to not find something you'd enjoy. New York is definitely an amazing place with life, history, and loads of culture.
Arrival For my 6 days in New York, I wanted to see as much as possible and experience everything. As always, I was going to pack in as many museums, tourist attractions, and restaurants that I could into these next few days. New York is mainly built on three islands, Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and Long Island. I was staying right in the heart of Manhattan in Midtown, centrally located, hence the name. Now if anyone has been to New York City, you know that things are not cheap. So instead of my unappealing option of staying in a New York City Hostel, I decided to upgrade just a little and stay in a small contemporary style hotel called
The Pod Hotel. Now why do they call it a Pod Hotel you may ask, well that is because the rooms are mainly pods, or very small living spaces. They have shared bathrooms and showers on each floor, but have different size rooms. I got a single, which was
Water Feature
A water fountain with water running down screw like objects. pretty much a little bigger then a closet with couch/bed, small sink, hangers for some clothes, free wireless Internet, a flat TV on the wall, and a phone next to an Ipod alarm clock. Not too shabby for $150 when you really just need a place to sleep and shower and the alternative hotels in the area go for as much as $600 a night. Although having to use shared bathrooms was kind of an undesired European style, the rooms were equipped with small occupancy lights, letting you know when you could sprint from your room to use the toilet or shower. All in all, it was a great place to stay even though it was not as social or inexpensive as a hostel. I have to admit, the speakers in the bathroom were also a nice touch for background ambience.
First Night Walking around on my first night, I noticed many things.
1. I couldn't stop looking up!! The building surrounding you tower over everything making the next block seem invisible until you come to it.
2. There were a lot of people here!! On every corner, there were people going somewhere, talking on the streets,
Street Market
The street was closed down for at least 10 blocks with clothes, food, and other gifts. or rambling off on their cell phones.
3. This truly was a melting pot. With 170 languages spoken in New York, walking down any street will expose you to everything and anything but the English language.
4. New York was HUGE! Just walking around Manhattan was 23 square miles, which took more then a hop, skip, and a jump to get anywhere.
5. The subways were 24 hours. Nice in helping you get home from a drunken night at the bars or to just avoid a long 2 mile walk from the movie theater.
This first night, I had called up Naomi and Reuben, an engaged couple that I had met at Justin and Sara's Wedding last year. Conveniently enough, Reuben was going to an art exhibit opening, so we met in Greenwich Village, the artsy area of Manhattan. Filled with art galleries, comedy clubs, jazz bars, and a lot of history, Greenwich Village is a hip cosmopolitan area of lower Manhattan that at one point housed the start for many comedians, singers, and even radical anti-war safe houses. The art exhibit was nice, with very large canvases hanging on white walls, tons of artists standing around chatting and
Bathroom Occupied?
The indicator in the hotel rooms letting you know if the bathroom was in use. drinking free beers, and a few stragglers wandering near the walls, giving their opinions of color and translation. We hurried off to meet some of his friends for a night on the town, also catching up with Naomi. The night locations were a wide range of bars, french fry stands, different styles of music, beers, and taco stops. A great night to start off the trip giving me a small taste of what a typical Saturday night was like for these local New Yorkers.
I think my feet hurt? Walking out out of my hotel in the morning, I stumbled into a street market that had taken over at least 10 blocks of pavement. As hundreds of people brushed past me, I stopped for a chicken kebob and snapple and to just take in the sights and people watch for a bit. The crowds were filled with people of all ages and nationalities, flocking to the tents for cheap clothes, ties, smoothies, or matted photography of local landmarks. Hmmmm, there's an idea. Later I actually confronted one of the ladies selling photos and asked which camera she used and how long she's been taking photos. The answers
Construction Skyscraper
No matter where you are, you feel the need to look up. They are always building and rebuilding. were vague and the photos looked awfully similar to the ones 4 blocks away. I get a sneaky suspicion that a lot of the photos sold on the streets are just cheap prints, possibly even purchased stock photos, then printed from their computer and distributed all over the city. After a long walk, I headed over to Grand Central Terminal, the largest train station in the world of 44 platforms, accomodating a total of 67 tracks on two levels. Seen in many famous movies, I had always wanted to see it and take a few photos of course. I continued to walk towards Time Square to see the depth of this famous area during the day. By chance, I felt the need to walk into the large Toys R' Us on the corner, not surprisingly finding many things an adult kid could be excited about. This enormous store even had it's own kid themed indoor ferris wheel. Every section of this store had items to give a kid a minor heart attack of excitement from towers of LEGO Empire State Buildings to a large scale moving dinosaur. Even Superman was crashing through the roof holding back a large semi truck
Toys R' Us Ferris Wheel
Yes, this was indoors. Largest Toys R' Us in the world. from engulfing the cash registers. As the worlds largest Toys R' Us, I was finding out New York definitely has it's Big Apples. Speaking of apples, the elegantly, out of place Apple store on 5th Avenue was a shining glass cube with its floating fruit logo above downward spiraling glass stairs. Underground was the guts of this store, with hundreds of people grabbing up iPods or checking their emails on the many demo computers. During peak times, lines will form outside of this 24 hour Macintosh paradise. After a final walk to Rockefeller Center and the NBC store, I headed back to the hotel with tired feet.
Hungry for something only in New York, I stopped in at a place called
Good Burger. Could this place be so pretentious to actually give itself my predetermined opinion. The answer is yes, they really were good. I'd almost say change the name to "Great Burger". They have a multitude of choices from single patty, doubles, turkey, and even portobello mushroom sandwiches. Toppings included choices of your standard fair, but added a nice extra option of crispy breaded or grilled onions. Don't forget some fries or beer battered onion rings. Although the price
Lego Empire with King Kong
Some of the lego towers and displays even moved. after everything came out to around 13 dollars, it was cooked to order and felt more like a sit down hamburger joint then a fast food place. If you compare it to Carl Jr's six-dollar burger, it definitely surpasses that hands down. Although Reuben had told me of another burger joint that was much better, I never actually got to that one so it's on my list of next times. After the
Fergburger in New Zealand and
Grill'd in Australia, I feel I'm starting to become a connoisseur of world hamburgers. Next stop, Kobe, Japan. 😊
New York has Museums, yes, plural. With hundreds of museums in New York, I only had time to visit the most famous ones. With a map in hand, I set out one day to hit as many as possible, but knew I would only be able to see a few today and a few tomorrow. Here is a link to just a few of the websites for these
museums. My first stop was the International Center of Photography. The exhibit was showing works of Robert Capa as well as Gerda Tapo and focused on photos of WWII. The ICP also holds
Hot Dogs in Time Square
Famous Hot Dog stands around New York, this one in front of Broadway where many famous musicals have played. photography workshops and has continuing education classes online or in person. It was really great to see black and white contact sheets from the mid 40's and try to compare it to the same procedures that I'm currently processing in my black and white film class at Santa Monica College.
My next stop was the
Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. MoMA was an amazing museum with many different types of exhibits and collections ranging from furniture to sculptures to some famous paintings that everyone has heard about. Cezanne, Matisse, Van Gogh, and Picasso are just a few of the famous artists with works hanging on the many walls of this must visit museum. Some of the most famous pieces of artwork include
Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory" and
Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night". At a student discount of $12 entry, I continue to find my student ID a well valued perk of attending Photography classes in Los Angeles. 😊 Give yourself at least 2-3 hours to visit this museum as I found the 6 floors containing a lot more then I expected to be interested in.
A museum that needs no introduction is the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, or what most people refer to as "The Met." The Met has such an enormous
Rainbow Room
The NBC observation deck and gift shop at 30 Rockefeller Center. collection of paintings, sculptures, ruins, photographs, artifacts, and a reconstructed temple that it will take you a full day to see it all. The Met is one of the worlds largest and most important museums. My audio guide came in handy, as I wandered from room to room, looking at ancient Roman armor and Egyptian writings. The exhibition room had more famous modern paintings, including some by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Kandinsky, Rothko, Klee, and Rembrandt. One open hall was filled with old statues where art students were sketching their figure, shading, and details. I wandered around for hours but then hurried off to visit a family friend for a late lunch. Next trip, I'm definitely going to set aside more exploring time.
Another museum that people talk about in New York is the
Guggenheim, owned and operated by Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. This amazing artistic building of spirals ramps with a large central skylight make this
Frank Lloyd Wright design a must see in itself. The exterior of the building is under current renovations and is scheduled to be completely finished by late spring 2008, but is still open to the public. The current show was a Richard Prince collection of
30 Rockefeller Center
The famous ice skating rink and statue in front of 30 Rockefeller Center some interesting stuff and some stuff that was just large colored paintings with words stenciled on them. I guess I'm not as artsy conscious as some, but it quickly walked past most of those to see the remaining exhibits. However, I did enjoy one of the large pieces which looked as though the canvas was made of old blank checks glued together and then covered with paint.
The last museum that I had a chance to see briefly was the
American Museum of Natural History. Although I could have spent countless hours in here learning about animals of the world or trees and rocks, I mainly came for the planetarium, which I missed the last showing by 15 minutes. I did however get to see a light show of the Big Bang Theory, then walk a spiral ramp and read about the evolution of material over the last 13.7 billion years. As I was leaving, I walked past a computer tied to a monitor showing all the earthquakes in the US within the last 24 hours, California being one large collection of circles. Looking for something to do now, I headed through Central Park back towards the hotel.
Wandering through Central Park,
The Bronze Statue of Prometheus
A well known vision in Rockefeller Plaza, seen in many movies and sitting next to the ice skating rink. I noticed that this was not just a large sized park. I knew that Central Park took up a large portion of the Upper East and West Side of Manhattan, but I didn't know it was a large rectangle of 2.5 miles by .5 miles. As I walked my brisk 1.5 miles through the trees, jazz performers, 2 ice skating rinks, a large reservoir, and an outdoor amphitheater, I wondered if I'd run into a character from Friends or Seinfeld. It's amazing how many TV sitcoms come to mine when you think about New York. Although reports of crime has some visitors weary of entering, Central Park now has it's own police precinct, and crime has had a huge decline since the 80's. As of 2007, the Central Park Conservancy has invested approximately $450 million dollars to restoration and management of the park, explaining why it is the most widely visited city park in the US. Currently, the parks real estate value is estimated at around $528,783,552,000. I wonder if they'll take Visa?
Bus Tour, Beer Gardens, and Seeing old friends On one of the nights I was walking around in Times Square and patiently waiting for
NYPD
New York's finest patch. the ball to drop that never did, I decided to take a double decker bus tour of the city. This exciting night tour went near Ground Zero, by the Empire State Building, past historical buildings, along the waterfront, and over to Brooklyn to get a view of the city. The trip lasted about 2 hours and was an excellent way to see the city once the sun goes down, especially on a nice, clear night. The tour picked up and dropped you off in Times Square and cost about $35. The tour guide was friendly, funny, and very knowledgeable about NYC buildings, history, and culture. I didn't get a chance to do one of their day trips, but they were always full of people as they drove by, seemingly all having a great, educationally fun time.
Towards the end of my trip, I found out that my California friends Sara and Justin were heading through NYC on their way to Europe. So one night we all met up in
Astoria, Queens at our friends house. Reuben and Naomi had told us about a popular
Bohemian Beer Garden that we had to try, and being that it was October, who was I to
Reflection of Empire State
This is a reflection of the Empire State Building through some trees in a park. argue. We had some Greek food at a local place down the street and then headed over to the gardens. Astoria was a very nice neighborhood, with cool little multiple story houses with roof access to enjoy the views of New York over the East River. Astoria was mainly settled by the Dutch and Germans, but later saw waves of immigration by the Greeks, Czechs, Italians, Irishs, and now Arab and Lebanese. After many cold, frosty beers, a quick game of Deer Hunting, and a long talk with the doorman about photography, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I was great to hang out with some friends in an unfamiliar area. Special thanks to both Reuben and Naomi for all their hospitality. Lastly, I also wanted to mention that Reuben is an amazing artist with some unbelievable work. Check out his website at
www.cobotenuss.com.
And last but not least, The Statue of Liberty On my last day, unfortunately a cloudy one, I got a chance to take a 75 minute cruise down the Hudson River to Liberty and Ellis Islands to see the Statue of Liberty from the water. Boarding at Pier 83, the
Brooklyn Bridge
An amazing bridge built in 1883 is a must see and walk across icon of New York. Circle Line tours seemed the easiest choice and at only $20, it couldn't be beat. Although the speaker systems and narration were not the greatest, the view of the statue was still amazing. Even on a cloudy day, the green copper shell stood out against the gray clouds still symbolizing freedom and enlightenment. I tried to imagine what it was like to be on a boat for weeks at a time, crammed into small rooms with thousands of other immigrants with possible diseases or other health issues. Some had almost no money in their pockets, no family, and had just left all that they know behind, to then all of the sudden come out into the Hudson and see this towering green symbolic statue inviting them in with a golden torch and book in hand. I'm sure it was a emotional feeling for many with this idea of hope to start new lives. Around 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, some being admitted while others were turned away due to health reasons. These two islands have served a big part of New York's history and are well worth visiting if you have time.
Time to go home Finishing
View of Financial District
The View of Wall Street from the Brooklyn Bridge. up with my last subway ride, I hurried off to the airport for my trip back to LA. After 5 days, the Big Apple definitely held up to my expectations. I had some great food, saw some amazing museums and architectural feats, saw some friends, and learned that it is possible to pay 5 dollars for a corn dog. Next time, I'll definitely bring a few more George Washington's to spend on 5th Avenue. I'm also going to plan my museum trips a little better so that I can see more of what they have to offer. I'll enjoy seeing my friends again and I can't wait to enjoy another night on the town at a new bar, old bar, or happening dance club. I'm ready for the next time, all I need is an excuse. 😊 Although I didn't buy an I ❤ NYC t-shirt, I can now see why so many have.
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Mike (Crusher)
non-member comment
Capturing the spirit of a city
Nathan, your travel articles and pictures keeps getting better and better. From your opening paragraph on, you allow the reader to visit the city by your side, experiencing life in the crowded streets, peaceful park and numerous museums or attractions. It's an excellent guided tour and the pictures are wonderful. I especially like the night photos and detail shots throughout the city. Marvelous. Thanks for sharing!