5) Ethnically Exciting East Harlem… So like always we meet Mike, minus Meritta this day :-(, at Penn Station. This morning Mike is taking us on a journey into East Harlem, better known as "El Barrio". El Barrio is an East Harlem uptown neighborhood of Manhattan. The geographical area known as East Harlem is bordered by the Harlem River to the north, E96th Street to the south, the East River to the east, and 5th Ave to the west (ENY, p. 162). Our first stop that morning was at the Museum of the City of New York on 5th Avenue between 103rd and 104th Streets…
The museum was founded in 1923 and originally housed in Gracie Mansion. The museum moved however in 1932 when the city offered the land between 103-104th streets (ENY, p. 163). The city also paid for the Georgian Revival building that currently houses the museum. One of the highlights at the museum in addition to the changing exhibits all focused on the history of New York City, was the 22 minute long "Timescapes". This is the ongoing multimedia documentary of the history of New York City (ENY, p.163)
After we left the Museum of the City of New York we walked north toward another museum. This museum is called El Museo del Barrio. We did not actually enter the museum however our neighborhood guide Luke was there awaiting out arrival. El Museo del Barrio was founded in 1969 in a public school classroom in PS 125 by Puerto Rican activists from East Harlem in an attempt to preserve their cultural heritage (ENY, p.163). We were fortunate enough that Luke our guide took the time to walk the neighborhood with us and explain to us a lot of what we were seeing, Luke explained to us that the neighborhood of East Harlem or "el barrio" is a close knit one with a great sense of community pride. We passed some very interesting art work that had it not been explained to us, we may have mistaken it for graffiti. Once the significance of it was explained to us by Luke, and we took the time to stop and actually look at it, the artwork was quite beautiful. It's not just random spray paint on the sides of buildings. Some of the artwork actually tells a story. We were also able to wander through one of the community gardens. This garden is located right next to the East Harlem Cafe on Lexington Avenue. It is called Modesto "Tin" Flores Garden and is operated in collaboration between Hope Community and Grow NYC (ENY, p. 163) This garden is unique from some of the other community gardens scattered around the city because it is filled with some inspiring works of art.
In the center of the garden is an outdoor fountain called "Seed of Growth". It was designed by Lina Puerta who is known for her works exploring the female body and experience (ENY, p.164) As our guide Luke explained, it is an actual fountain sculpted to resemble the fallopian tube of the female anatomy. Along the back wall of the garden is a beautiful mural depicting Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos. These two women are very important figured as they wet both political radicals, feminists, and fiercely devoted to their native homelands (ENY, p.164).
In the center of the garden is an outdoor fountain called "Seed of Growth". It was designed by Lina Puerta who is known for her works exploring the female body and experience (ENY, p.164) As our guide Luke explained, it is an actual fountain sculpted to resemble the fallopian tube of the female anatomy. Along the back wall of the garden is a beautiful mural depicting Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos. These two women are very important figured as they wet both political radicals, feminists, and fiercely devoted to their native homelands (ENY, p.164).
We ended our time in East Harlem aka "el barrio" with an authentic ethnic lunch. We spoke to the owner of the restaurant while we awaited our lunch to be served. He informed us that it is a family run place and he is the 4th generation of family to manage and oversee the restaurant. The main goal being to keep it "authentic" as his mother, grandmother, and great grandmothers had prepared meals. We lunched on delicious roasted chicken, with red beans and rice and ended with a cup of very strong coffee with steamed milk. Just the way I like it!
We left East Harlem that day by way of Central Park. The northeastern tip of Central Park borders Harlem on 5thAve. The entry gate to Central Park is all that is left of the Vanderbilt Mansion. This end of the park, I thought, was beautiful. It is not what you typically think when you hear Central Park. There were no joggers, no bike riders. Just tranquil grounds. The three gardens at this end of the park are the Italian Gardens when you first enter through the gate, followed by the French Garden to the right and then the English Garden as you move onward. Our journey back to Penn Station took us the entire span of the park. The long walk was well worth it. I thought no better way to unwind from the excitement of East Harlem than a tranquil long stroll through Central Park.
6)Still Harlem but a whole lot different from "El Barrio"!… Lower and Central Harlem. So we hop on the subway and venture into another section of Harlem with Mike and Meritta. This time it's not to El Barrio, but to an area of Harlem populated by and rich with African American culture. We came out of the subway onto the street and the first sight was of Harlem Hospital. Yes it is indeed a hospital but the facade boasts a beautiful mural celebrating the culture of the neighborhood surrounding it. Our guide through Harlem, Jim, met us on the corner to begin the tour.
This area of Harlem was much different than where we were the week prior. This area had a much busier feel to it. The uptown neighborhood of Harlem, which is where we explored today, is bordered to the west by Morningside Heights, to the east by East Harlem(El Barrio), and is just north of Central Park (ENY, p. 173). Harlem has always been a melting pot. Harlem is an area rich with churches and mosques and is also the area where jazz became a distinctive form of American music and the soul of African American culture in this country .
Central Harlem has some of the best preserved residential streets in the city. If you walk along west 138th and 139th streets between Adam Clayton Powell Jr and Frederick Douglas Boulevards you will come upon an area known as Strivers Row. Within these two blocks you can see the 130 preserved row houses originally built for upper middle class white families. These homes were the result of plans from contractor David H King after the land was purchased in 1890 from the Equitable Life Assurance Society. The row houses on these two streets were all built between 1891 and 1893 and but King used three different architectural firms to design the homes. He did this in an effort to avoid all the homes looking the same. Each of the three firms worked on different sections of the development but all the homes boasted sophisticated details, woodwork and amenities uncommon for middle class homes at the time (ENY, p. 181). The plan to build these homes for middle class whit families did not happen though. Most of the homes failed to sell and with the white flight of Harlem and an economic depression. Many of the homes sat empty until 1919 when they were sold to black families for a price of $8000 (ENY, p. 181). While we walked down these two blocks I turned and also had a nice view of the City College of New York. The college is actually in the Hamilton Heights section of the city but you can see it from the end of West 139th street towering above.
The richness of African American culture in this section of Harlem was most evident as we walked back to the subway, along 125th street. As we walked, we past the Adam Clayton Powell Jr State Office Building. built in 1973. The state office building was the idea of then Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1966 in an effort to revitalize the surrounding community (ENY, p. 177). The building was originally named the Harlem State Office Building when it was completed but later remained in 1983 after Adam Clayton Powell Jr who represented Harlem in Congress for many years (ENY, p. 177). As we continued on past the state office building you could here the music being played by street musicians, watch people in the community actually dancing on the sidewalks or stop by one of the many street vendors that line 125th Street.
7. Lower Manhattan…the area where it all started… Lower Manhattan is the area basically where it all began. This is the section of the city between New York Harbor to the south and City Hall to the North (ENY, p. 39). Our day began with a tour of City Hall. New York City Hall is located in the heart of the Civic Center area of lower Manhattan, and houses the offices of the NYC Mayor as well as the City Council. The building is actually the third City Hall. This was completed in 1811 and is the oldest city hall in the country (ENY, p. 41). When you pass through security and approach the building you do so via the central pavilion. The pavilion is leads you up the stairs, which have been the site of numerous civic events and demonstration, even current day. When you enter the front of City Hall you are greeted by a life-size statue of George Washington (don't forget to rub the toe of his boot for luck!) to your right and one of the most stunning staircases you will ever see straight ahead. The Staircase is directly below the dome above the rotunda. You cannot help but gaze up toward the dome.
As you ascend the staircase from either the left or the right you then are on the second floor of City Hall directly infront of the Governors Room. This room is filled with historical remnants including the desks of both George Washington and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (ENY, p. 41). The room is filled with portraits of some of New Yorks most influential citizens as well. Just around the bend from the Governors Room on the second floor is the chamber of the City Council. The New York City Council meets here to make decisions regarding rules, regulations, laws and planning for the city of New York.
After we left our tour of City Hall we were able to walk around the area and see the architectural design of buildings like the Tweed Court House, The Thurgood Marshall United States Court House, the Municipal Building etc etc. Mike and Meritta then took us to see the African American Burial Ground National Monument located on the first floor of the Ted Weiss Federal Building. This was something I never even knew existed. Between the years of 1690 and 1794 it is estimated that some 20,000 slaves and free African Americans were buried in a 6.6 acre burial ground on this site (ENY, p. 44). At the time the area was the outer boundary of New York City but over time it was developed over and basically forgotten about. Until it was rediscovered in 1991 during construction of the Ted Weiss building. The memorial opened in 2007, and stands to serve as a memorial to highlight the importance African slaves played in the development of New York City (ENY, p. 45).
We toured a lot of the financial district this day. We past Trinity Church and also made our way over to the World Trade Center Memorial. I happen to be older than most of my fellow students in the class so I remember the day the World Trade Center Towers went down, and I remember it vividly. Walking into the memorial park had a feeling like stepping onto hallowed ground. It is the sight of the worst terror attack in the history of the country and something no one will ever forget.
So after we separated for lunch but before we had to meet up again with Mike, what he doesn't know is that Maria and myself went on a short journey of our own with Meritta! We were supposed to meet back up in front of the municipal building but on the way, the three of us decided to pull a "Mike" and try to charm our way into one of the buildings not scheduled as a stop that day. Using her charms Meritta convinced the security guards to allow the three of us into the Surrogate Court Building across the street from the Municipal Building!! Unfortunately we were not permitted to take pictures inside the building but trust me when I say, it was nice and worth seeing if you too can get Meritta to charm her way in with you…
8. A day on the Lower East Side and Chinatown… The fact that New York is a city of immigrants is no more evident than it is on the lower east side (ENY, p. 65). The lower east side encompasses neighborhoods such as ChinaTown and Little Italy. The working class area known as the lower east side is located at the southernmost part of Manhattan. This is the area of New York City where in the mid nineteenth century, many immigrants poured into the city to escape European famine and wars (ENY, p. 65). Our day began at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum located right off Delancey Street on Orchard Street. The museum is actually a preserved 1863 tenement building and is truly representative of how people lived in these overcrowded cramped spaces. Having family that immigrated from Italy and resided in the Bronx in tenements, I found this to be interesting because I was able to see how they actually lived. Three small rooms with many family members sharing the space. In the museum itself our guide explained to us the story of the families that actually lived in the two restored apartments.
We then ventured over to ChinaTown for the "ChinaTown Challenge". Mike and Meritta gave us written directions and sent us off in groups to tour the neighborhood. While we were out and about we heard almost no english being spoken, we sampled some Chinese specialties like pork buns and Chinese Ice Cream, and we also visited a Buddhist Temple.
After a Chinese lunch at Congee Village, Jim, our guide through Harlem met up with us to take us on a tour around the lower east side too. Mike, Meritta and Jim took us past the BialyStoker Synagogue on Willets Street. The synagogue was founded by Jews that came from Bialystoker Poland in 1865 and then later merged it with another congregation from Poland (ENY, p. 67). We then continued on and ventured past the Henry Street Settlement. This was founded by Lillian Wald. As and actively practicing Nurse and a nursing major this settlement has significance to me. Lillian Wald was a 25 year old nursing student appalled by the living conditions she found on the lower east side while volunteering to teach classes on home health care to immigrant women (ENY, p. 69). In 1893 Wald founded the Burses Settlement to bring nursing care and education to the immigrant population. Twi years later it would receive a permanent home in the federal style townhouse at 265 Henry Street (ENY, p 69).
9. FInal impressions of New York City… When I registered for this course I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about New York City. I am however glad I took the course because I now see there was so much I didn't know. Mike and Meritta took us on full day journeys through different areas of the city, not like tourists, but as New Yorkers. They exposed us to the diversity of cultures from one block to the next, differences in how neighborhoods evolved, architectural design differences and the list goes on and on. I now have a greater appreciation for how neighborhoods are influenced by the people that actually reside in them and just how quickly neighborhoods can change thanks to issues of gentrification and urban development. I have a better understanding of the importance of public green space verse private space as well. I also have a greater appreciation for how each area of the city can be impacted by change. The example I will always think of now, most likely because I'm a nurse is the closing of St Vincents Hospital in the village. The land that was for many years a hospital for the community surrounding it. It is now a construction site for luxury condominiums. This was a non nursing course however now that I saw the community first hand, health care standards in that section of the village will stick with me from this class. I will be following the statistics of health care standards, mortality rates, EMS response times etc etc to see how the city manages to still take care of the acute health care needs of the population in that area of the village.
Overall I found this to be a very interesting course. I'm glad I took, would and have recommended it to other students. Thanks to this course I feel I have a better understanding of the city we call Gotham….
Overall I found this to be a very interesting course. I'm glad I took, would and have recommended it to other students. Thanks to this course I feel I have a better understanding of the city we call Gotham….