New York City (Addendum)

 October 20th, Addendum -- Someone asked about the "skinny building," specifically how tall it was.  Here is probably more than you want to know.

It is called the Steinway Tower.  But in the following information (from the Web) it is referred to by its address.

Manhattan’s classic skyscrapers are a powerful combination of optimistic expression and technical invention. 111 West 57th Street updates that heritage for today.

 

 

With a total height of 1,428 feet, the residential tower at 111 West 57th Street is among the tallest buildings in New York City. As a prominent new local and regional landmark, it bears a special responsibility to contribute meaningfully and elegantly to the shared skyline. We achieved that goal by carefully shaping the tower’s profile, and by developing an innovative approach to using an authentic material from the golden age of the Manhattan skyscraper: terra-cotta.

       

 

The tower’s form is a bold interpretation of what is possible within the requirements of the Midtown Manhattan zoning envelope. Mandated setbacks were multiplied where the building form contacts the sky-exposure plane, resulting in a feathered rather than a stepped profile. The setbacks serve as sites for a finial at the top of each column of the terra-cotta ornament that rises on the east and west facades. Without mimicking historic precedent, this approach unifies the massing of 111 West 57th Street in the tradition of classic towers such as One Wall Street, 30 Rockefeller Center, or the Empire State Building.

 

Terra-cotta is one of the most beautiful and adaptable materials available to architects today.  For 111 West 57th Street, blocks of sequentially varying profiles were modeled, extruded, glazed, and then stacked into an involuted pattern, like a softly breaking wave, that appears at once novel and familiar.  Staggering those elements across the facade creates a distinctive moiré that changes dramatically when seen in different lights or from various distances.

 

New York City

Sunday, October 19th, Midtown to the Bowery along the east side of Manhattan.  The weather remains nice.

Today was a walking day, with an attempt to explore parts of Manhattan we had not seen before.  We ended up walking 7.2 miles, first south past the UN Plaza complex, and then out to the riverside on the East River Greenway, which should have allowed us to get to the Lower East Side.  But the path was blocked at East 15th Street, so we were forced to turn back to 18th Street and go inland.  

St George slaying the Dragon (of war?) inside the UN Plaza.

We explored an area called StuyTown (actually the place is called Stuyvesant), a large apartment complex with a central courtyard and abundant green space (for the city).  According to the internet, StuyTown covers 80 acres, has 11,250 apartments in 110 buildings.  StuyTown was originally planned as a post-war housing development during the early 1940's in anticipation of the returning World War II veterans.  This East Village complex was developed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, which owned it until 2006.  Since then it has been sold to the first of 3 different property companies.  It currently houses about 30,000 people.  There are very few places that cars can go on the property.  Lots of people were outside enjoying the mild day and the small farmers market (produce brought in from New Jersey).  We bought some breakfast pastries and apples.

Looking up the East River, Manhattan on the left, Roosevelt Island in the middle, and Queens on the right.

A repeat photo that shows the Empire State Building (on the left) and the Chrysler Building (in front the nearly back building on the right).  The Empire is 1,454 feet tall, counting the antenna; the Chrysler is 1,046 feet tall.  So which building best represents NYC skyscrapers?

StuyTown central courtyard - there are lots of amenities (playgrounds, skating rink, fitness centers, nearby grocery stores, etc.) for residents.

After leaving StuyTown, we went further south to Tompkins Square Park, where we ran into multitudes of people.  Several streets were blocked off and we noticed dogs that were "dressed up."  It turns out that the square was hosting the annual Halloween Dog Parade.  We picked a spot on the parade route that was moderately crowded.  After standing for 30 minutes and having hordes of people pack in around us, we saw a bit of the parade (BTW, this was the 35th year of the parade).  It was impossible to get any decent photos of the dog walkers and their dogs because of the crush of folks and the fact that press photographers who were allowed on the road would jump in front when a photogenic person came by.  Here is what I glimpsed - Betsy saw even less.  The dogs seemed very tolerant of the whole business.  We suspect the parade had at least two sections - small dogs (who were mostly either carried or pushed in carts/wagon/prams) and big dogs, who probably walked ,although we gave up before they appeared.

The parade finally kicks off 20 minutes late.

Many of the flamboyant walkers played to the crowd.  Note, the chef and her carried companion on left.

Couldn't see the dog given the crush in front of us.

The military-themed outfit was creative with the little dog likewise kitted up.

I liked this one -- a woman with scratches on her body with her dog as Audrey II, the carnivorous plant in the musical The Little Shop of Horrors.  The girl is dressed as Audrey and her guy as Seymour.

Being interviewed.

Cookie Monster.

Wondering what all the fuss is about.

After extracting ourselves from the human crush, we wandered west and south, to find a place for a break.  We entered the Bowery District and a found a bar/restaurant -- Ainslie at 199 Bowery.  It was a nice wide open space with few people inside, and quite nice bathrooms.  After eating and hydrating, we walked further south to the center of New York City, seeing massive government buildings, courthouses, and the City Hall.

Approaching the governmental center of New York City.

A city administrative building.

The Brooklyn Bridge is only a short distance away.  Note the hordes of people walking across the bridge (dedicated pathway on the left).

City Hall.

We then walked over to Allen Street, which becomes 1st Avenue, to catch a bus uptown to our apartment.  We passed under the road leading to the Brooklyn Bridge and past 1 Police Plaza, home of the NY Police Department.  It is commonly known as "1PP" in all of the TV shows.

We caught the bus and easily got back to the apartment.  The buses use the same fare systems as the subway and got us much closer to our final destination.

New York City

Saturday, October 18th, Manhattan -- The weather remained great, with temperatures ranging between 49 and 66 degrees.

The morning was spent catching up on the blog, with lots of editing and identifying of photos taken the day before at the Bronx Zoo.  We left at noon to walk to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, to attend a matinee performance of Ragtime.  It is a revival that restarted on October 16th, following a limited run in 2024 at the New York City Center.  Our friends Audrey and Ken saw it then and recommended it to us.  The show is fantastic and surprisingly relevant today with the current deteriorating situation in the country.  The original debut was in 1998.  

Briefly, it tells the "story of three groups of people whose lives and fortunes intertwine in NYC at the turn of the 20th century."  There is a Jewish immigrant, there is a rich white family, and there is a Black piano player and his girlfriend.  They are all striving for the American dream.  There are some triumphs and several tragedies, which are still resonant 100 years later.  It is based on a historical fiction book written by E. L. Doctorow, in 1975.  The production was terrific, with great imaginative scenery, a full orchestra, and wonderful singers, especially the actors who played Coalhouse Walker and the Mother.  We had splurged for seats in the Orchestra Row G, so we were very close to the action.  Like First (or Business) Class seats in an airline, this might get to be a habit.

We walked over to the theater and returned after the show, also by walking.  Here are a few photos taken along the walking route we followed.

A different side of the NBC Studios.

The corner for Radio City Music Hall.

"No Kings" March near Times Square - the crowds didn't seem that dense at this point.  There were also many people (mostly guys, often with selfie sticks and/or GoPros) ridng skateboards, bike and scooters across the city on 50th (not sure if it was connected, but they had a police escort on scooters and motorcycles).

Columbus statue at Columbus Circle.  Curious fact, this is the only traffic roundabout in Manhattan.

The entrance to the theater.  Ragtime is in neon at the upper left, in red.

A repeat photo of the Juilliard School in reflection.

More reflections.

On the way back to the apartment, we passed Carnegie Hall.  We got there (but not inside) by not practicing.

A very tall, very skinny building that was featured on a PBS show on great engineering challenges.  The construction involved creating a foundation which did not disturb the Steinway Building,  the light buff building to the left, and was able to  counter the projected sway of the new structure.

The Louis Vuitton Trunk building on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street.  Note, for those interested (as I am), NYC roads are laid out in a regular grid pattern, with the distance between avenues equal to that of 5 streets.  Both of these distances measure 1/4 mile, so 1 mile equals 4 avenues or 20 streets.

Besides the points of interest shown in the photos above, we also passed through the furniture design and supply district, and an area of fancy watch stores.  Don't ask how much the watches cost...

We ate dinner in our apartment, finishing leftovers from previous dinners out, along with a salad bag.

New York City

Friday, October 17th, New York City to Bronx and return -- The weather continues pleasant with clear skies and cool temperatures.  Our day was spent traveling to the Bronx, visiting the Bronx Zoo (in a word, "amazing"), visiting "Little Italy" and Arthur Avenue with dinner at Enzo's, before heading home via a short bus ride and longer subway ride.

The Chrysler Building, some think this is more representative of NYC than the Empire State Building.

We had breakfast in our apartment before walking to a subway entrance at Lexington and 59th.  After entering the first entrance we found ourselves on the wrong side of the tracks -- downtown line only.  To go uptown, we had to exit the station, walk across the street and find another entrance.  Back down underground (way down, with no escalator) we loaded our new OMNY cards, entered the station, and boarded the subway for the ride north to the Bronx.  After about 20 stops, we got off at East 180th Street.  We walked over the Asia Gate of the Bronx Zoo.  The rest of this blog is mostly photos of the variety of animals we saw in the zoo.  Note, the zoo is 265 acres, has 11,000 animals spread over 640 species, and is focussed on species conservation.  It uses the monicker WCS, which means Wildlife Conservation Society.  This grew out of the American Bison Society, which was created to save bison and started by the first zoo director, Theodore Roosevelt and others in the early 1900's.

To say that this is an impressive zoo is an understatement.  I wrote down over 40 exotic species that we saw (that are noteworthy), among the many birds and small animals in several other buildings we did not have time to visit. Many of the animals were firsts for us - we had never seen them before anyplace.  We were pretty well burned out after 4 hours, so skipped a number of the exhibits - there is always next time. . .

The Bronx River, which runs through the Zoo.

The Asia Gate, southeast corner of the zoo.

The Zoo layout - north is to the right.

Ibis.

The monorail, a ride around Asian animal exhibits/paddocks.  The ride is 1.6 miles in length, took about 30 minutes, and the conductor narrated what we were seeing.  The animals in these paddocks could be viewed only from the monorail.

Crossing the river.

Przealski's Horse, an early evolution of horses only found in Siberia.  The species has been brought back from extinction by organizations like the Bronx Zoo.

Gaur or Indian bison.  It is the largest living wild bovine, weighing over a ton.

One-horned Asian Rhino.

Some of the many varieties of Asian deer.

Ditto.

Asian Mountain Goat.

Red Panda.

Asian Otters.

Exotic turtle, wearing a leaf.

Tree Kangaroo scratching its chin.

Archerfish.

Puffer fish (tiny but toxic).

Monkeys in the mist.

Tapir.

Tree frog species.

Tree Monitor.

Gharial, a type of alligator.

Grevy's zebra.

Mongose or shrew.

Hornbill.

African Painted Dog.

Sifaka.

Silver-backed Gorilla (male).  

Ditto.  He chest-bumped the glass just before sitting down here.

Gorilla (female).

Flamingoes.

Komodo Dragon.

Leaf-Tailed Gecko.

The zoo is celebrating its 125 year anniversary.

The Rockefeller Fountain.

Lots of lemurs in the Madagascar House.

Ring-Tailed Lemur.

Ring-Tail Mongoose.

We left the zoo at near closing time and walked about 5 blocks west to Arthur Avenue, the Belmont district and location for Little Italy.  (Thanks to Ken Kane for this tip.)  We walked up one side of the street and down the other, enjoying the shops and cafes.  We had skipped lunch so opted  for an early dinner.

Lasagna and Chicken Rustico, preceded by a Cesar's salad and accompanied by Gavi de Gavi wine.  Everything was excellent.

The lasagna was 4 inches square and just about that high.

The waiter at the restaurant was friendly and advised us on how best to get back to Midtown Manhattan.  It involved a bus ride on Fordham Avenue (which runs next to Fordham University) and then the subway ride to the same stop we boarded in the morning.  What an interesting day.....