About Patty

Patty Enrado was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the Central Valley of California. She has an BA in English from the University of California at Davis and an MA from Syracuse University's Creative Writing Program. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. When she is not writing about health information technology, volunteering at her children's schools and raising her family, she is writing fiction and blogging about life after 50.

New York, New York: Tenement Museum, United Nations, and Yankee Stadium

Posted on August 18, 2016 by Patty

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
– Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32^nd President of the United States

Our seventh full day in New York marked the end of our family vacation. David and the kids were going to leave the next morning, while Heidi and I stayed for the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) 2016 Biennial Conference at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Midtown Manhattan. We made our last day memorable and full. Before we left the Bay Area for vacation, David’s boss recommended going to the Tenement Museum, if we enjoyed learning about local history and immigrants. We had never heard of it, but our interest was piqued, so we added the museum to our growing list of places to see.

Talk of New York City tenements and immigrant sweatshop workers led me to recall a poem written in 1989 by poet and activist Safiya Henderson-Holmes, who grew up in the Bronx and lived in Harlem at one time. She recited it at a welcome reception for her after she had accepted a position as assistant professor in Syracuse University’s Creative Writing Program in the spring of 1990, which was my last semester there. Her poem, rituals of spring (for the 78^th anniversary of the shirtwaist factory fire), introduced me to the March 25, 1911, Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory fire, which killed 145 sweatshop workers, most of whom were immigrant teenage girls who didn’t speak English. The tragedy lies in the fact that their deaths were preventable, given that no sprinkler system was installed, the fire hose was rotted and its valve rusted shut, and the girls were denied evacuation by locked doors, a difficult-to-access fire escape, and a single elevator that eventually broke down. With the heat and flames upon them, many girls plunged down the elevator shaft to their death. Those who took the stairwell found the door locked and were burned alive. Still others jumped to their death from the windows. The fire, which occurred on the top three floors of the Asch Building on the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, near Washington Square Park, galvanized advocates to successfully fight for legislation to protect workers.

This display about the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory fire was in our Little Italy neighborhood.

rituals of spring is too long to include here in its entirety, but I do want to entice you to read the whole poem by sharing the first five stanzas of this heart-achingly beautiful and poem. An aside, I was greatly saddened to discover that Henderson-Holmes was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999 and died at the age of 50 on April 8, 2001.

rituals of spring
(for the 78^th anniversary of the shirtwaist factory fire)

from bareness to fullness flowers do bloom
whenever, however spring enters a room
oh, whenever, however spring enters a room

march 25^th, 1911
at the triangle shirtwaist factory
a fire claimed the lives of 146 people, mostly women,
mostly children in the plume of their lives,
in the room of their lives
begging for spring, toiling and begging for spring

and in my head
as I read the history, afraid to touch the pictures
i imagine the room, i imagine the women
dressed in pale blues and pinks,
some without heads or arms – sitting
some without legs or waist – hovering
hundreds of flowering girls tucking spring into sleeves,
tucking and tugging at spring to stay alive

and so a shirtwaist for spring
a dress with a mannish collar, blousing over breast,
blousing over sweat, tapering to fit a female waist,
tapering to fit a female breath
sheer silk, cotton, linen
hand done pleats, hands done in by pleats
hands done in by darts and lace

colors of spring
pale blues, pale pinks, yellows, magentas, lavender, peach,

David’s black-and-white version of 97 Orchard Street.

The Tenement Museum: immigrant stories come alive
With that poem in my head, I looked forward to going to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum (103 Orchard Street, 212.982.8420), the destination of which was a healthy walk from our apartment. Aside from the walking tours of the immediate neighborhood, all tours are within 97 Orchard Street, a tenement apartment building erected in 1863 and home to nearly 7,000 working-class immigrants. Ruth Abram, local historian and social activist, wanted to establish a museum that honors America’s immigrants by preserving and interpreting “the history of immigration through the personal experiences of the generations of newcomers who settled in and built lives on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, America’s iconic immigrant neighborhood.” Abram and co-founder Anita Jacobson discovered 97 Orchard Street, which had been shuttered for more than 50 years and subsequently abandoned in the 1960s. They deemed it to be the ideal building for their museum because its interior resembled a “little time capsule,” with many artifacts left as is, “as though people had just picked up and left,” Jacobson recalled.

Sign above the historic building (photo by David).

It took years to restore the apartments and dig through archives to create an accurate depiction of tenement life. Established in 1988, the Museum, a designated National Historic Site, opened its first restored apartment – the 1878 home of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family – in 1992. Thus far, the Museum has restored six apartments, the newest being the home of the Moores, Irish immigrants who resided there in 1869. In 2007, the Museum acquired 103 Orchard Street, which serves as the flagship building for the Visitors Center, exhibitions, classrooms, and small theater that airs documentaries.

Sign for the 1870s German saloon of John and Caroline Schneider (photo by David).

The Tenement Museum offers five different tours with extremely knowledgeable docents. The Sweatshop Workers tour, which we signed up for, visits the Levine family’s garment workshop and the Rogarshevskys’ Sabbath table at the turn of the 20th century. The Shop Life tour highlights the 1870s German saloon of John and Caroline Schneider, and is accompanied by interactive media to bring to life stories of turn-of-the-century kosher butchers, a 1930s auctioneer, and 1970s undergarment discounters. The Hard Times tour paints a picture of how immigrants dealt with economic depressions between 1863 and 1935 by showing the restored homes of the Gumpertz family, whose patriarch disappeared during the Panic of 1873, and the Italian-Catholic Baldizzi family, who lived through the Great Depression. The Irish Outsiders tour introduces the Moore family. An extended tour of Hard Times includes a longer visit of the Gumpertz and Baldizzi apartments and discussion on various immigrant themes.

A scene when Orchard Street was a bustling immigrant haven (photo by David).

A photograph of a bustling Orchard Street (photo by David).

I’m not sure how excited the kids were about the historical tour and the museum – we also saw an excellent documentary about the immigrants into Little Italy and surrounding neighborhoods – but David, Heidi, and I appreciated the focus on immigration, which is still relevant today and elicits strong feelings in our country and around the world. With civil wars creating a spike in mass immigration, we ought to gain a greater understanding and lessons learned from what happened more than 100 years ago in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Had we known that they would be taking down the flags at the end of the day, we would have taken exterior photos before we went in (photo by David)!

The United Nations: doing good in the world
After lunch, we also took a tour of the United Nations Headquarters (46^th Street and 1^st Avenue, along the East River). Once you clear security, you can conduct your own exploration, but we opted for a guided tour to gain more knowledge about the UN. We were lucky in that the iconic buildings, which were designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and completed in 1952, were not too crowded and our tour group was a manageable size. The buildings comprise the newly renovated General Assembly Hall, Security Council Chamber, Trusteeship Council Chamber, and Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Chamber in the renovated Conference Building.

A sphere, a gift from Italy to the UN, graces the courtyard after security clearance (photo by David).

Sphere within a Sphere by sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, a gift from Italy to the UN, graces the courtyard after security clearance (photo by David).

Oh, there are the flags! From the inside looking out, a grassy field and statue.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt first coined the concept “United Nations” in the Declaration by United Nations of 1 January 1942, during World War II, when 26 nations pledged to band together to fight against the Axis Powers. On June 26, 1945, after representatives from 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, the United Nations Charter was signed. United Nations Day is celebrated on October 24^th every year, honoring the day in 1945 that the Charter was ratified and the United Nations officially came into existence.

The mural “Mankind’s Struggle for Lasting Peace” by José Vela-Zanetti of the Dominican Republic under a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (photo by David).

A mosaic based on American artist Norman Rockwelll’s Golden Rule. It was presented to the UN in 1985 as a gift by the United States by then-First Lady Nancy Reagan (photo by David).

According to the UN charter, the organization is tasked with five missions: maintain international peace and security through the prevention of conflict, assistance to parties in conflict to make peace, peacekeeping, and the creation of conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish; promote sustainable development by developing and engaging in programs that offer prosperity and economic opportunity, greater social well-being, and environmental protection; protect human rights through legal instruments and activities in the field; uphold international law by establishing “conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained”; and finally, deliver humanitarian aid through the coordination of humanitarian relief operations in areas of need where national governments cannot cope on their own.

One of the UN’s missions.

Our very own peacekeeper.

As a child I had seen pictures of the United Nations Headquarters – its row of country flags unfurling and its two more famous iconic buildings, the domino-shaped tower and low sloping building. Who knows – if I had toured the UN as a child I might have wanted to work for such an organization, given its missions, and, of course, to live in New York City – that would have been a grand dream. Some of the memorable moments of our trip included a real-time monitor and exhibit on the daily military expenditure worldwide. The exhibit’s title comes from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: “The world is over-armed and peace is underfunded.” At 3pm local time, the daily total starting at midnight spent on world military expenditure had topped $2,289,586,428 billion. While the annual military expenditures sit at $1747 billion, only $30 billion is spent on official development assistance to least developed countries, $2.6 billion for the UN regular budget, which covers its five missions, and $.69 billion for international disarmament and non-proliferation organizations.

Our tour guide explaining the lopsided funding for war and peace (photo by David).

The General Assembly Hall, where many important sessions are held (photo by David).

Heidi, Isabella, and Jacob in the General Assembly Hall.

Colorful panels of art, interpreting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, graced a large portion of a wall. In Paris on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed General Assembly resolution 217(III) A as the “common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations.” This groundbreaking document identified the fundamental human rights to be protected around the world.

Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Article 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We also saw artifacts retrieved after the August 9, 1945, bombing on Nagasaki, including the statue of Saint Agnes which was found amid the ruins of a Roman Catholic Cathedral. The statue’s back is charred and mottled, a result of intense heat and radiation. Our guide reminded us that although the atomic bomb dropped 71 years ago, the people of Japan are still suffering from the effects of radiation, most notably in the form of cancers.

Saint Agnes statue from Nagasaki (photo by David).

The empty General Assembly Hall boasted symbolic paintings on either side.

We quietly walked through sessions in progress, one of which dealt with rape as a war crime. The hashtag #norapeinwar was prominently displayed in the front of the meeting chamber. While rapes have always occurred during wartime, in June 2008 the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1820, which declared that “sexual violence in conflict zones is a matter of international peace and security.” One can debate the impact that the UN is making in a seemingly more dangerous world ravaged by civil wars, poverty, terrorism, and growing immigration issues, but having glimpsed what it’s trying to do, I can only appreciate its mission, accomplishments, and aspirations – all things the world clearly needs more of. Our visit left me both sobered and hopeful. We perfectly timed the end of our tour because when we exited the United Nations Headquarters we set off for our day’s last adventure.

Isabella much prefers the bus tour over a baseball game (photo by Heidi)!

While Jacob, David, and I headed to Yankee Stadium (photo by David).

New York Yankees: celebrating Jacob’s 16^th birthday
To celebrate Jacob’s 16^th birthday, David and I took him to a New York Yankees game in the heart of the Bronx (E 161st Street). Since Heidi was in town and Isabella loathes baseball games, Heidi treated Isabella to a bus tour, and afterwards they walked home and had dinner at a neighborhood restaurant. So everybody had a good time our last night!

My panoramic view of Yankee Stadium from right-center field.

Our seats with a view (photo by David).

Selfie time without Isabella!

The original Yankee Stadium, dubbed “The House that Ruth Built,” was built in 1923. It suffered a period of deterioration and underwent restoration in the mid-1970s. In 2006, the Yankees began construction on their new stadium in the parking lot next to the existing structure and officially closed the old stadium after the 2008 season. Debuting in April 2009, the new Yankee Stadium, which boasts a capacity of 54,251, relocated Memorial Park, the Hall of Fame that honors prominent former Yankees, from the old stadium to a section near our bleacher seats in right-center field. The bleacher section is pretty spacious. We got front-row seats, with the bullpen below us, beyond the concrete wall topped with decorative grasses. Whereas the New York Mets’ Citi Park Field is steep and you look down into the playing field, Yankee Stadium is expansive and spread out – just like the Los Angeles Dodgers’ stadium.

The beauty of the zoom lens on David’s camera.

Checking out the bullpen below and the Memorial Park to the right.

Nice sunset over Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees aren’t very good this year, and it showed in their 4-8 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Carlos Beltran made some embarrassing, lazy gaffes in right field. One good thing about the home team losing is that the stadium empties out before the game ended. We didn’t have to contend with the crowds going out as we did arriving before the game, and we had an easy return commute on the subway, which I’d say we mastered by then.

Yankee Stadium all lit up.

One last photo before we leave.

Last night in New York City
As we walked back home our last night, I realized that the bakery near our apartment was identified as the first bakery in Little Italy, according to the documentary we saw at the Tenement Museum. So I took a picture of it. I regret not taking pictures of our apartment interior, but early the next morning when David and the kids were ready to leave for the airport, Heidi had the presence of mind to take a picture of us in our 7^th Floor Mulberry Street Airbnb home. We did everything I wanted to do with the kids. The only thing missing was catching a Broadway show. Next time. There is always a next time.

A historic bakery, the first, in Little Italy, right across from our apartment (photo by David).

Good night, Mulberry Street! Good night, Little Italy (photo by David)!

Our only photo of our apartment! Saying goodbye to David and the kids (photo by Heidi).

New York, New York: Brooklyn Bridge, Intrepid Museum, and Central Park Zoo

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Patty

One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.
– Tom Wolfe, American author and journalist

Monday morning, our sixth full day in New York, we got up early and walked from our apartment to the Brooklyn Bridge on the Lower Manhattan side. This is something I wanted David and the kids to experience. I have walked the bridge twice – in September 2012 and January 2013, both times with my sister Heidi. Now it was with the family and in the summer. Here’s a bit of history on the Brooklyn Bridge, which the National Park Service and the New York City Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission have designated a National Historic Landmark. Construction began in 1869, and when it opened in 1883 – connecting the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan – it was the longest suspension bridge in the country, spanning 1,595 feet across the East River. More than 150,000 people crossed the bridge, which cost $15 million to build, on opening day.

Turning around and seeing Manhattan through the cables (photo by David).

Bikes and pedestrians against the Maine granite towers (photo by David).

Like ropes suspended on a ship, the steel cables rise to the sky (photo by David).

It’s actually a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge, which is 5,989 feet long, with the pedestrian walkway across the bridge slightly more than 1.1 miles long. The towers, which rise 276 feet above the water, are made of granite from Maine quarries – no doubt from Stonington, where my friend Jack Beaudoin has an island home. The open-truss design is in the Neo-Gothic style. Four huge cables comprise more than 5,000 steel wires. Only cars cross the bridge now, with the bicycle-pedestrian walkway built above the roadway. At one time, elevated trains and streetcars ran on the bridge, until 1944 and 1950, respectively.

Looking up at the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn side (photo by David).

Looking up at the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn side, with the American flag flying since 9/11 (photo by David).

The other side, with greenery (photo by David).

We walked around the Brooklyn Bridge Park (334 Furman Street, Brooklyn), an 85‐acre sustainable waterfront park stretching 1.3 miles along Brooklyn’s East River shoreline. I’d never been to the park before, just along the promenade the other two times. We had a leisurely lunch before catching the subway back to Lower Manhattan. When we reached Manhattan, we gave the kids their choice of what they wanted to do for the rest of the day. They could each pick one place to visit when we went down the list of potential things to do that we hadn’t already done.

Brooklyn Bridge Park (photo by David).

Enjoying the view and each other's company (photo by David).

Enjoying the view of Manhattan and the Manhattan Bridge, and each other’s company (photo by David).

Skipping stones on the water’s edge with the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan in the distance (photo by David).

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum: Jacob’s pick
Not a surprise, Jacob chose the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum (Pier 86 at 46th Street) in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood on the West Side of Manhattan. As you walk along the waterfront heading toward the museum, the first thing you see is the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, which is a National Historic Landmark. According to the pamphlets, the museum is dedicated to “the exhibition and interpretation of history, science and service as related to its home aboard the Intrepid.” Launched in 1943, the Intrepid survived five kamikaze attacks and one torpedo strike during World War II. It went on to serve in the Cold War and the Vietnam War, with service as a NASA recovery vessel in the 1960s, specifically the Mercury-Atlas 7 (1962) and the Gemini-Titan 3 (1965) space missions. Decommissioned in 1974, it is the namesake of this sea, air, and space museum.

The massive Intrepid at Pier 86(photo by David).

One of the other major exhibits at the museum is the Growler, the only American guided missile submarine open to the public since it was brought here in 1989. This was the first exhibit we saw upon entering the museum. We got a firsthand look at what life was like for the sailors who lived in this submarine. Can you say tight quarters? Not for anyone who is claustrophobic. We also got to see its once “top secret” missile command center.

Jacob in front of a torpedo in the Growler submarine (photo by David).

When we ascended the expansive deck of the Intrepid, we were amazed at the number of aircraft on display. Temperatures were soaring, so while Isabella and I found a sliver of shade, we let David and Jacob explore the various aircraft. One such star was the British Airways Concorde Alpha Delta G-BOAD, which recorded the fastest Atlantic Ocean crossing by any Concorde on February 7, 1996, at 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds. So, one has to ask why they were retired. British Airways cited technical and safety challenges. Others, particularly from the Save the Concorde Group, say it’s all about politics. At any rate, I was disappointed that we couldn’t board the plane, as I love airplanes and what they represent – travel and adventure!

Our two space cadets in some spacecraft.

Inside Intrepid, the Space Shuttle Pavilion offered up the impressive space shuttle Enterprise, the prototype NASA orbiter that would help shape the U.S. space shuttle program. This area features interactive exhibit zones, original artifacts, photographs, audio, and films depicting the science and history of Enterprise and the space shuttle era. This isn’t the kind of museum I would choose to visit, but the various air, sea, and space craft were astonishing to see up close, and Jacob was in heaven.

Central Park Zoo: Isabella’s choice
When we touring Central Park in our horse-drawn carriage, we caught a glimpse of Central Park Zoo (64th St and 5th Avenue, 212.439.6500), which is part of New York City’s integrated system of four zoos and the New York Aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Begun in the 1860s as a menagerie, it became the first official zoo to open in the city. The zoo was modified in 1934, with many new buildings erected, including the quadrangle around the sea lion pool. The zoo was renovated in the mid-1980s and reopened in 1988, dispensing with the old-era cages in favor of more natural environments. This is a tiny park, easily walked through with all animals seen in a few hours, although we didn’t venture into the Tisch Children’s Zoo.

Victoria crowned pigeon (photo by David).

A seasoned parrot (photo by David).

Another beautiful bird in the rain forest (photo by David).

David’s close-up of this shimmery, colorful bird.

I caught the other side of him or her.

We all enjoyed and spent a lot of time in the Tropic zone: the rainforest, where we saw beautiful birds such as the Victoria-crowned pigeon. We did not see, however, the exotic and color frogs and snakes. The Central garden and sea lion pool anchors the park, and we caught the sea lion feeding and show. Off to the side, we watched the harbor seals cavort and the spirited penguins dive and swim past us like torpedoes. We saw snow monkeys, snow leopards, grizzly bears, and the cutest red pandas, which looked like a cartoon bear. While we appreciated seeing these wonderful and majestic animals, I came away rather sad because I felt the enclosures were too small for them. The poor red pandas kept circling the same path over and over. I suppose you could expand out into Central Park to give them more room, but that seems highly unlikely.

The snow monkey (photo by David).

Okay, just one more photo of the red panda (photo by David).

The very adorable red panda (photo by David).

The grizzly bears Betty and Veronica, who were rescued from Montana and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming because they had become too bold with their interactions with humans, first were moved to the Bronx Zoo in 1995. They were subsequently moved to Central Park Zoo in September 2014, a year after “bi-polar” bear Gus, who lived in the Central Park Zoo for the previous 25 years, died in 2013. Apparently, Gus had “spent countless hours swimming laps in his small pool and was eventually diagnosed with depression.” Gee, I wonder why! And nobody thought that Gus ought to live in better environs? Or have a companion? I didn’t want to spoil Isabella’s time by pointing out the tight confines of the zoo, which was one of the highlights of her trip. Let’s just say that one hopes some local citizen our group of citizens decides to focus on the animals’ happiness and not the visitors’ happiness.

Betty or Veronica taking a nap (photo by David).

The awesome snow leopard (photo by David).

We had to get back to our apartment by a certain time in the evening because my sister Heidi was coming into town to join me for the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) 2016 Biennial Conference that was going to take place later in the week at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice in Midtown Manhattan. Following the recommendation of our Airbnb host, we ordered pizza from a pizzeria beyond the borders of Little Italy, and had a little family reunion of sorts in our Mulberry Street abode.

Looking back at my recollection of Central Park Zoo, I leave you with this quote from Peter Matthiessen, author, co-founder of The Paris Review, explorer, naturalist, and activist, from the Snow Leopard: “And then there was the small matter of the snow leopard, whose terrible beauty is the very stuff of human longing. Its uncompromising yellow eyes, wired into the depths of its unfathomable spirit, gaze out from the cover of innumerable editions. It is, I think, the animal I would most like to be eaten by.”

New York, New York: Whitney Museum, the High Line, and Empire State Building

Posted on August 11, 2016 by Patty

There is no place like it, no place with an atom of its glory, pride, and exultancy. It lays its hand upon a man’s bowels; he grows drunk with ecstasy; he grows young and full of glory, he feels that he can never die.
– Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist

We celebrated Father’s Day on our fifth day in New York. It was another great outing – except that David didn’t get the Father’s Day gift I was hoping to give him, but more on that later. In the morning, we headed to the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort Street, 212.570.3600), in the Lower Village and Meatpacking district sections of lower Manhattan. As we walked through Chelsea Market, we passed Budakkan (75 9^th Avenue, 212.989.6699), a cavernous Asian fusion restaurant where David and I had a memorable dinner back in September 2008. It was one of the best meals I ever had. We went to the Budakkan in Philadelphia a few summers back, but it was not as good as the one in New York.

View from the Whitney Museum terrace (photo by David).

View from the Whitney Museum terrace, with the World Trade Center Tower in the background (photo by David).

View from the left of the Whitney Museum terrace. You can see the southern entrance of the High Line Park (photo by David).

You can see the Empire State Building to the right (photo by David).

The Hudson River is behind the museum (photo by David).

The Whitney Museum: for modern art aficionados
The Whitney Museum, which was founded in 1931 by socialite, sculptor, and art collector Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, moved into its fourth home in May 2015, along the Hudson River. The new main building of glass and steel, designed by Renzo Piano, comprises nine stories and spans a total of 200,000 square feet for indoor galleries, outdoor exhibition spaces, theater, research areas, dining, and other spaces. It is an impressive piece of architecture, embracing industrial, sculptural, and contemporary aesthetics. The top floor boasts an outdoor terrace with amazing views of Lower Manhattan buildings before us and the South entrance of the High Line Park below us. The next two levels below feature outdoor galleries, and all three floors are connected by exterior stairways.

Outdoor sculpture.

David’s architectural shot, looking down at one of the terraces.

My interpretation of the terrace below.

The museum’s collection focuses on 20^th and 21^st century American art, with more than 3,000 artists – mostly living, which is an emphasis – represented. More than 22,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, prints, videos, films, and other artifacts compose the museum’s permanent collection. Back in 1907, recognizing that American artists with new and innovative concepts were finding it difficult to show and sell their artwork, Whitney became their advocate by purchasing their art and building a formidable collection. In 1914, she opened up the Whitney Studio in Greenwich Village to showcase these artists. When the Metropolitan Museum of Art declined Whitney’s offer to contribute more than 500 pieces of art from her personal collection and the newly opened Museum of Modern Art’s collection focused on European modernism, she decided to exhibit her art by founding a museum in 1930. The first museum, which was located in Greenwich Village, opened in 1931. The museum moved in 1954 to a building connected to the Museum of Modern Art on 53^rd Street, but moved again to Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side in 1966 when it needed more space for its growing collection. Growth was again the reason for its move to its current location, which is such a lovely, open-feeling space.

Self-portrait by Edward Hopper (photo by David).

Self-portrait (oil on canvas), 1925-1930, by Edward Hopper (photo by David).

Summer Days (oil on canvas), 1936, by Georgia O’Keefe.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Building (gelatin silver print), 1955, from the series The Americans, by Robert Frank.

Nine Jackies (acrylic, oil, and screenprint on linen), 1964, by Andy Warhol.

Cool wire art that is reflected against the wall (photo by David).

This enormous statue is made of wax that continuously burning (photo by David).

This enormous statue is made of wax that is continuously burning (photo by David).

While I’ll admit that some of the artwork didn’t resonate with me – I’m thinking of the videos of this one Chinese-American artist who put together vignettes of her mother’s life in an enclosure surrounded by objects from her childhood and home – I did appreciate the opportunity to be exposed to these types of avant-garde works. When the kids and I descended one flight of exterior stairs to the lower level and were confronted by a flat-screen television exhibiting (literally) one artist’s penis-filled video, they turned around and smirked at me. Isabella wanted to know how this was art. I just shrugged. It’s in the Whitney Museum, so it must be art!

Jacob, David, and Isabella with New York skyline.

Next stop: The High Line Park, below the Whitney Museum.

High Line Park: revitalization at its best
As I mentioned earlier, the southern entrance to the High Line Park is right next to the Whitney Museum, so once we were finished with the museum, we ascended the steps to the linear park, which was a great revitalization project that began in 1999. In its heyday, the early 1930s, the train line was part of the West Side Improvement Project, running from 34^th Street to Spring Street’s St. John’s Park Terminal. “Designed to go through the center of blocks, rather than over the avenue,” trains on this line carried goods to and from Manhattan’s largest industrial district, according to the park’s site. The interstate trucking industry all but displaced the trains by the 1980s. When a group of property owners banded together to get the train line demolished, Peter Obletz, a Chelsea resident, activist, and railroad enthusiast, went to court to preserve the line.

Along the walk you can see the old rails with vegetation happily filling in (photo by David).

Interesting buildings all around. Here are three different styles side by side, with a block in black seemingly inserted into the brown building (photo by David).

Interesting buildings all around. Here are three different styles side by side, with a block in black seemingly interlocked into the brown building (photo by David).

And artwork rising up from the grasses.

More cool buildings (photo by David).

In 1999, Joshua David and Robert Hammond, who lived in the High-Line neighborhood, founded Friends of the High Line, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the High Line and converting it into a public open space. Design competitions took place, the transportation agency that owned the line donated it to the City in 2005, and groundbreaking began in 2006. The entire process took 15 years, with section 1 from Gansevoort Street to West 20^th Street completed in 2009, section 2 from West 20^th Street to West 30^th Street completed in 2011, and the final section, which is the northernmost section of the park, to the Rail Yards, completed in September 2014.

All different styles of buildings along the High Line – some modern, some older (photo by David).

Art on buildings in between buildings (photo by David).

Echinacea flowers abloom along the way.

Two twin block-long buildings of an older vintage (photo by David).

Various activities are scheduled throughout the High Line, from dance parties to performances to star-gazing and arts events to horticulture tours. A covered section of the High Line features vendors peddling organic popsicle, gelato, and other tasty treats, as well as photographs, artisan goods, and High-Line swag. We walked almost to the end, getting off to make a direct beeline for our next destination of the Empire State Building. The temperatures were climbing and at some points we were walking in a line like bumper-to-bumper traffic, but we had our moments of just enjoying a walk through this elevated park and enjoying the fruits of preservationists’ labor.

While Jacob and I shopped, David played with his camera (photo by David).

More experimentation with the camera (photo by David).

Steel walkway with Jacob in the foreground and me in the background (photo by David).

Greenery everywhere.

I noticed when we were heading from our apartment to our friend Mason’s condo in the Queens along the Hudson River an abandoned elevated stretch of train tracks that ended abruptly. As this part of town, the Hudson, is being built up, I’m imagining another such park in the sky waiting in the wings.

Cool modern building (photo by David).

Pedestrians beware!

Resting under the shade of trees.

Railway and plants living harmoniously together.

Empire State Building: the center of Midtown Manhattan
When I think of the Empire State Building (350 5^th Avenue between West 33^rd and 34^th streets), I am reminded of a story my father told me and my sisters when we were young. Every morning on his way to work, he used to walk by the Empire State Building as it was being built. My father was in New York around 1929, and construction began in March 1930. My father loved New York. He called it the City. When he and his cousins moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s, after WWII, he called Los Angeles the country, and when he moved to Terra Bella – between Bakersfield and Fresno in the Central Valley of California – he called it the camp. At the time of his storytelling, my initial reaction was, “Wow, Dad, you’re old!” Since then, however, I marvel at what he was witnessing – the building of this great building. Once construction began, the building rose 4 ½ stories each week. In 1931, the building, with its beautiful art-deco interior, opened, with President Herbert Hoover hitting a button in Washington, DC, that turned on the lights of the Empire State Building.

Restored art-deco interior of the Empire State Building (photo by David).

As far as the eye can see (photo by David).

David singles out the Flatiron Building.

Close-up of the Chrysler Building (photo by David).

Thankfully, we encountered short lines and small crowds. Again, I think this is because it was mid-June and people hadn’t all gone on vacation yet. We ascended to the 86^th Floor observatory. I’ll admit to being acrophobic, so I took photos with caution. The sky was clear and you could truly see forever. According to the guides, you can see five states on a clear day – New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. The views were amazing, and the kids were in awe of all those buildings all around us. As we descended, David and I mentally crossed off going to the Empire State Building from our list of things to do in New York.

Hudson River in the background (photo by David).

I believe that is the East River in the background (photo by David).

Coming around with the view (photo by David).

Moving to the left (photo by David).

I believe this is the Hudson River in the background (photo by David).

Inglorious ending to Father’s Day
The only blot on our day was planning our evening around what we thought would be a Golden State Warriors Finals victory and celebration. We bypassed the recommended Katz’s Deli (205 E. Houston, 212.254.2246) on our way home. We walked in, but nobody was in the mood for foot-tall sandwiches that just seemed too much of a good thing. Instead, we grabbed Subway sandwiches – slumming it – back to our apartment. Suffice it to say, the Warriors lost the championship that was theirs to win, and there went my Father’s Day present to David. Not that Isabella cared in the least. We tried to remember that we were still on vacation. By morning, at least for me, I woke up thinking about the day’s adventure before us.

Building close-ups down there, looking like building blocks.

More close-ups with the Chrysler Building peeking out.

The smaller skyscrapers!

Fox on a building on our way home (photo by David).

New York, New York: Guggenheim Museum, Grand Central Terminal, & walking Broadway

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Patty

And New York is the most beautiful city in the world? It is not far from it. No urban night is like the night there…. Squares after squares of flame, set up and cut into the aether. Here is our poetry, for we have pulled down the stars to our will.
– Ezra Pound, expatriate American poet and critic

On our fourth day in New York, we changed our itinerary when we found out that our friends Jack and Fay Beaudoin, who live in Maine, were in town for the premier of their daughter’s play. More on that later. So we opted to see the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1071 Fifth Avenue), on the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan. The Guggenheim Museum, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is home to a growing collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary as it rises to the top of its ceiling skylight – is meant to convey “the temple of the spirit.” When you walk into the atrium, you are immediately taken by the lightness, the sun through the skylight, and the spiraling whiteness that seems to lift you up as you begin your journey.

When you first walk in and look up…. (photo by David).

More curves (photo by David).

Like strands of a modern necklace.

The skylight ceiling (photo by David).

Close-up of the skylight ceiling (photo by David).

Looking straight up at the triangular-shaped stairs.

Ascending the triangular-shaped stairs (photo by David).

All the way up, looking down (photo by David).

Coming down, another view of the entrance with pool (photo by David).

The museum’s namesake belonged to a wealthy mining family and collected traditional works from the old masters going back to the 1890s. When he met artist Hilla von Rebay in 1926, she introduced him to European avant-garde art, he changed his aesthetic. When his collection outgrew his Plaza Hotel apartment, he established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1937 to “foster the appreciation for modern art.” We took the audio tour, and I have to admit that many of the interpretations struck me as pretentious. I’m not what you would consider a true art aficionado; I like what I see, which is the way our artist friend Gary Stutler told us many years ago we ought to view art. At any rate, I recognized many famous artists, including Constantin Brancusi, Marc Chagall, Vasily Kandinsky, and Piet Mondrian. At least I could appreciate them, thanks to my college art history class. At any rate, here are photos of interesting paintings and exhibits.

Red Cross Train Passing a Village (oil on canvas), 1915, by Gino Severini (photo by David).

Painting with White Border (oil on canvas), 1913, Vasily Kandinsky.

Painting with White Border (oil on canvas), 1913, by Vasily Kandinsky.

Woman Ironing (oil on canvas), 1904, by Pablo Picasso.

Composition 8 (oil on canvas), 1914, by Piet Mondrian.

Peasant with Hoe (oil on canvas), 1882, by Georges Seurat. A favorite for obvious reasons.

Dancers with Green and Yellow (pastel and charcoal on several pieces of tracing paper, mounted to paperboard), 1903, by Edgar Degas.

And now for the more recent art installation pieces. Two exhibits struck me deep. Untitled (Ghardaïa) by Kader Attia, who was born in France but works in Algiers, Berlin, and Paris, was installed in 2009. According to the information on the piece, “Attia sculpted a model of the Algerian city of the title in couscous, a regional culinary staple. The fragile and ephemeral structure is accompanied by two prints portraying foundational Western modern architects Le Corbusier and Fernand Pouillon, and by a copy of a UNESCO certificate that officially designates the city of Ghardaïa a World Heritage Site. Attia’s work calls attention to the fact that both designers borrowed from and reworked the Mozabite architecture native to the city of Ghardaïa, and to the ancient Mzab region, without acknowledging their inspiration, itself derived from France’s 19^th century colonization of Algeria and subsequent exploitation of its resources.” Wow, what a powerful statement that resonates in today’s dangerous and sad world.

Untitled (Ghardaia) (Couscous, two inkjet prints, and five photocopy prints), 2009, by Kader Attia.

Close-up of the buildings made of couscous.

The other exhibit that really caught my attention was Flying Carpets by Tunisian artist Nadia Kaabi-Linke. The following is background information on her inspiration for this stainless steel and rubber artwork: “Illegal street vendors – primarily of African, Arab, and South Asian origin – often congregate at Il Ponte del Sepolcro in Venice to sell counterfeit goods to tourists. To avoid unwanted encounters with authorities, they are often required to scoop up their wares in the rugs that they use for display and flee across the bridge. This journey to temporary safety is not only physical but also metaphorical insofar as it encapsulates both the whimsical orientalist fantasy of the flying carpet and the harsh realities experienced by undocumented immigrants who cross the Mediterranean in search of better lives. The proportions of Kaabi-Linke’s sculptural meditation on this scenario – a complex assembly of suspended grids – come directly from those of the vendors’ rugs.” After having read the backstory, I saw her installation – at a glance, just steel and rubber – transform before me and take on a deeper meaning that is, again, so relevant and heartbreaking in today’s world.

Flying Carpets (stainless steel and rubber), 2011, by Nadia Kaabi-Linke (photo by David).

Flying Carpets (stainless steel and rubber), 2011, by Nadia Kaabi-Linke. You can see the multiple shapes of rugs created by the hanging installation and reflected on the walls and polished wooden floor. The overlapping “rugs” gives it a claustrophobic feel (photo by David).

Another view of Flying Carpets (photo by David).

Different shapes and spaces occupied by Flying Carpets (photo by David).

Close-up of Flying Carpets (photo by David).

We decided against eating museum food and instead hopped on the subway to get to the Grand Central Terminal (the out-of-towners say Grand Central Station) (89 East 42^nd Street) and take pictures of the famous station. The terminal was built in 1903 in the Beaux Arts architectural style and is made primarily of granite. According to a 2013 article in World Nuclear Association, because the building is made with so much granite it actually emits relatively high levels of radiation. Good thing we are only passing through! In 2013, 21.9 million visitors passed through the terminal, making it one of the world’s most visited tourist attractions. Grand Central Terminal covers 48 acres and has 44 platforms – more than any other railway station in the world. The other interesting fact about the terminal is that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority does not own it – private firm Midtown TDR Ventures.

Next stop…. (photo by David).

Grand Central Terminal was built in 1903 (photo by David).

I believe the flag was raised in the terminal after 9/11 (photo by David).

The American flag was raised in the terminal a few days after 9/11 (photo by David).

The other side of the main concourse.

Letter box detail (photo by David).

Checking out the departures board (photo by David).

The grandness of Grand Central Terminal.

Heading out, one can get lost in the many tunnels of the terminal (photo by David).

We were also advised by a number of friends to eat at the famous Oyster Bar. Instead of sitting down at the bar, which resembled a 1950s luncheon counter, we opted to eat in the restaurant. The food was good, reminding us of Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley, which has a 1950s ambiance to its decor. Let’s just say that this was the most expensive meal we had in New York! But our seafood was fresh!

Just follow the signs.

The very retro interior of the Oyster Bar. I kept waiting for the Godfather to walk in….

Pony up!

My big scallops.

Jacob and Isabella each ordered their own plate of soft-shell crabs.

David orders some kind of fish.

Still getting along on our vacation on day four.

We could have eaten at the counter!

After our late lunch, we decided to take a leisurely walk to where we were going to meet Jack and Fay. First, we headed to the New York Public Library (5th Avenue at 42nd Street), which is a grand building. Founded in 1895, the NYPL is the largest public library system in the country, comprising 88 neighborhood branches and four scholarly research centers. With 51 million holdings, including books, e-books, DVDs, and important research collections, NYPL serves more than 17 million patrons yearly, and millions via online access. Behind the library is Bryant Park, home to Project Runway’s runway finale. From there, we hiked to Times Square for a brief sprint, just so the kids could see where everyone gathers on New Year’s Eve. Time Square, which is located in Midtown Manhattan, begins at Broadway and Seventh Avenue and spans out from 42^nd Street to 47^th Street. We couldn’t get away fast enough. It was a hot day and there were too many people and cars in the area.

Walking up the steps of the majestic New York Public Library (photo by David).

Walking up the steps of the majestic New York Public Library, which was designed in the Beaux-Arts style (photo by David).

Either Patience or Fortitude, one half of the pair of famous marble lions, which was a part of the Beaux-Arts-style building when it was dedicated on May 23, 1911 (photo by David).

Sunning itself on a hot Saturday afternoon is either Patience or Fortitude, one half of the pair of famous marble lions, which were a part of the Library when it was dedicated on May 23, 1911 (photo by David).

Detail of the NYPL building (photo by David).

Looking up once you reach the top of the stairs of the NYPL.

Stairs leading to the upper floors of NYPL (photo by David).

An enterprising writer sets up shop in front of the NYPL. What a great idea!

An enterprising writer sets up shop in front of the NYPL. Meet the author, indeed! What a great idea!

David and the kids hemmed in by Times Square, people, and a sea of taxis behind them.

We kept walking downtown on Broadway, taking note of how the neighborhood was changing from the glitz of Times Square to some gritty areas. At any rate, one of the points of destination was the Flatiron Building (174 5^th Avenue), which David and I had seen in 2008 but did not have a picture of since we didn’t bring a camera on that trip. At the time it opened in 1902, the 22-floor, steel-framed triangular-shaped building was considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper. We took a little respite at Madison Square Park (at the intersection of 5^th Avenue, Broadway, and 23^rd Street), a.k.a. a nap, before continuing on our walk.

The majestic Flatiron Building (photo by David).

We met up with Jack and Fay, daughters Camille and Genny, and Genny’s friend, for drinks at Narcissa Restaurant (25 Cooper Square). We had a great time, marveling at the fact that we could end up in New York City at the same time and being able to get together.

The Beaudoin and the Enrado-Rossi clans.

Afterwards, since we were already downtown or in Lower Manhattan, we walked all the way back to Little Italy. I can assure you that we easily logged ten thousand or more steps that day. Our friend Sandy recommended The Egg Shop (151 Elizabeth Street, 646.666.0810) since it was in our neighborhood. Her mother, who had recently visited New York, had gone to and liked The Egg Shop. So we had a late dinner at this cute little café that serves – you guessed it – all kinds of dishes, especially creatively concocted sandwiches, made with organic and locally sourced eggs. It was a quiet way to end another packed day of walking and touring.

David’s El Guapo, slow-cooked pork shoulder, honeyed spaghetti squash, tomatillos and pumpkin seeds in achiote cola mole with egg white queso fresco, served with blue corn tortillas.

My tasty Bec Burger and fries comprised a beef burger, sunny-up egg, white cheddar, black forest bacon, tomato jam, fresh pickled jalapeno on a panini roll.

Jacob’s hearty BEC Burger and fries comprised a beef burger, sunny-up egg, white cheddar, black forest bacon, tomato jam, fresh pickled jalapeno on a panini roll.

My B.E.C., which is basically the same as Jacob's dish but instead of a beef burger, mine was just a broke yoke. And it was still very filling!

My Egg Shop B.E.C., which is basically the same as Jacob’s dish but instead of a beef burger, mine was just a broke yoke. And it was still very filling!

A nice homey feel to the Egg Shop.

New York, New York: the Met(s), Central Park, and Natural History Museum

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Patty

But if I had to choose a single destination where I’d be held captive for the rest of my time in New York, I’d choose the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
– Tim Gunn, American fashion consultant, television personality, and actor

Our second full day, we planned a trip to the American Museum of Natural History – the kids are big fans of the Night at the Museum movies – and catching a New York Mets game at Citi Field Park. I’ll admit that I was lukewarm about going to the Natural History Museum. At every natural history museum we’ve attended in past cities, I would check out the exhibits for a bit and then sit down and hang out until David and the kids were done looking around. While the Natural History Museum (Central Park West at 79th Street, 212.769.5100) was impressive in terms of its fossil and mammal halls, I still could only take so many dinosaurs and mammals in their natural habitat. I will say that the dioramas, which were beautifully rendered, were my favorite parts of the museum.

The entrance to the American Museum of Natural History (photo by David).

One of many, many dinosaurs (photo by David).

Up close of a squirrel in winter (photo by David).

Close-up of a squirrel in winter (photo by David).

White sheep on a narrow ledge above an Alaskan fjord (photo by David).

One of the current exhibits, The Dark Universe, was shown in the Hayden Planetarium. Featuring detailed scenes based authentic scientific data, the movie “celebrates the pivotal discoveries that have led us to greater knowledge of the structure and history of the universe and our place in it – and to new frontiers for exploration.” Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, well-known science communicator, and current Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, narrated the show. David and the kids really enjoyed learning about the revelations and mysteries of the universe that science has given us through space exploration. I enjoyed the cushy seat and air-conditioned room – a welcomed respite after walking around the museum’s expansive floors.

The kids with Teddy (photo by David).

Citi Field Park: Mets versus Pirates
Our evening event was a night game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Mets in their fairly new ballpark, Citi Field Park, located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens. Citi Field Park, which was completed in 2009, replaced Shea Stadium. Ebbets Field (Brooklyn, 1913-1957) served as inspiration for the main entry rotunda and exterior façade made of red brick, granite, and cast stone. With a 41,800-seat capacity, Citi Field Park also contains the 3,700-square-foot Hall of Fame & Museum, which displays memorabilia, interactive kiosks capturing great moments in Mets history, and highlight videos celebrating the Mets biggest feats, including the 1969 and 1986 World Series championships. This stadium reminds me of the Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards in that the stadium is tall and you look down into the playing field, as if you were at the top looking down into a bowl. It makes for a cozy atmosphere.

Coming out of the subway and approaching Citi Field Park in Queens (photo by David).

The Big Apple outside the stadium (photo by David).

When you walk in, you enter the Jackie Robinson Rotunda.

Me and Mr. Met (photo by David).

We got to see Andrew McCutchen – sans his famous dreadlocks – and his Pittsburgh Pirates play against the Mets, who were led by former Oakland A’s players, starting pitcher Bartolo Colon and left-fielder Yoenis Céspedes. Yes, Jacob got a Mets Céspedes shirt. The Mets dominated the game, leading 5-0. Unfortunately, we left the game midway to return to our apartment to watch the Cleveland Cavaliers beat our beloved Golden State Warriors. Jacob didn’t want to leave the park; we should have heeded his request because the Pirates came back in the eighth and ninth innings to make it a game, although they came up short in the end, 5-6. Our cuisine for the day was as touristy as you can expect – bland museum food and ballpark hot dogs. But it’s New York, which meant that it was pricey museum and ballpark food!

Looking down on the field from where we sit (photo by David).

The most famous Pittsburgh Pirate – Andrew McCutchen.

Still pitching strong after leaving the Oakland A’s – Bartolo Colon, who even had a base hit.

Family portrait - with Isabella's book on iPad (photo by Apple).

Summer vacation family portrait – with Isabella’s book on iPad – a requirement in order for her to sit through a baseball game (photo by Apple).

The other Met: Metropolitan Museum of Art
On our third day, we returned to Central Park to take in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue, 212.535.7710), which was nearly an all-day experience, though it still wasn’t enough time to see everything. We spent a good deal of time looking at all the Impressionist paintings. The Met is home to so many famous paintings – Vincent Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat, Edgar Degas’ ballet dancers in paintings and statues, Édouard Manet’s Boating, Claude Monet’s Water Lilies and Rouen Cathedral – and all the major painters – Mary Cassatt, Alfred Sisley, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Georges Seurat, Johannes Vermeer, Paul Gauguin, Diego Velázquez, John Singer Sargent, and El Greco. Not unlike my Modern Museum of Art experience in New York a few years back, I would walk into room after room after room and see all these famous paintings that I learned about in my art history class in college.

Entrance to the Met (photo by David).

Inside the entryway of the Met – beautiful domes (photo by David).

Portrait of a Young Woman with a Fan (oil on canvas), 1633, by Rembrandt (photo by David).

Amazing lace detail (photo by David)!

One small room was devoted to drawings, which David and I both loved. This is called Intimacy (Conte crayon), 1890, by Theo Van Rysselberghe (photo by David).

One small room was devoted to drawings, which David and I both loved for their detailed rendering with pen, pencil, or crayon. This is called Intimacy (Conte crayon), 1890, by Theo Van Rysselberghe (photo by David).

Close-up of Intimacy. Look at the incredible attention to detail (photo by David)!

One of my favorite paintings from my college art history class: Joan of Arc (oil on canvas), 1879, by Jules Bastien-Lepage (photo by David).

Close-up of Joan of Arc (photo by David).

The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (bronze, partially tinted, with cotton skirt and satin hair ribbon), modeled ca. 1880, cast 1922, by Edgar Degas (photo by David).

Close-up of The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (photo by me).

Close-up of The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer by Degas (photo by David).

Another view of The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer by Degas.

Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (oil on canvas), 1887 (photo by David).

Ophelia (mezzotint etching and stipple on chine colle; proof), 1866, by James Stephenson after John Everett Millais. Millais painted the original masterpiece, which is one of my all-time favorite paintings. Stephenson’s print is a masterful print reproduction.

This caught my eye! Interior of the oude Kerke, Delft (oil on wood), ca. 1650, by Emanuel de Witte (photo by me).

This caught my eye! Interior of the Oude Kerk, Delft (oil on wood), ca. 1650, by Emanuel de Witte.

Young Woman with a Water Pitcher (oil on canvas), ca. 1662, by Johannes Vermeer.

Moonlight, Strandgage 30 (oil on canvas), 1900-1906, by Vilhelm Hammershoi, reminds me of our artist friend Gary Stutler. The Danish painter found inspiration in his apartment in Copenhagen.

Another haunting painting reminiscent of our friend and artist Gary Stutler. Here, is The Doors (oil on canvas) by Belgian Xavier Mellery.

So I chose this to show because we had a cheap reproduction above our piano in my childhood home. This is Two Young Girls at the Piano (oil on canvas), 1892, by Auguste Renoir (photo by me).

I chose this to show because we had a cheap reproduction above our piano in my childhood home. This is Two Young Girls at the Piano (oil on canvas), 1892, by Auguste Renoir.

The Organ Rehearsal (oil on canvas), 1885, by French painter Henry Lerolle.

Close-up of The Organ Rehearsal.

Another favorite of mine: Pygmalion and Galatea (oil on canvas), 1890, by French painter Jean-Leon Gerome.

The Boulevard Montmarte on a Winter Morning (oil of canvas), 1897, by Camille Pissarro.

Rouen Cathedral: The Portal (Sunlight) (oil on canvas), 1894, by Claude Monet.

Boating (oil on canvas), 1874, by Edouard Manet.

La Grenouillere (oil on canvas), 1869, by Claude Monet.

Awesome close-up of reflections in the water in La Grenouillere.

Madame Manet (Suzanne Leenhoff) (oil on canvas), 1880, by Edouard Manet.

Close-up of the brushstrokes of Madame Manet.

Closer still!

Knights on horseback in the Arms and Armor Hall (photo by David).

Jacob in the Arms and Armor Hall.

The Temple of Dendur
The kids’ favorite exhibit was The Temple of Dendur, an Ancient Egyptian temple built by Petronius, the Roman governor of Egypt, around 15 BC. It was dedicated to Isis, Osiris, and two deified sons of a local Nubian chieftain, Pediese and Pihor. Neither tomb nor tribute to a pharaoh, the cult temple honors the Egyptian religion’s gods and mythology. In response to the U.S. government helping to save many Nubian monuments from going under in the floods when the Aswan Dam was built, the Egyptian government gifted the temple to the United States in 1965. Many cities vied to house the temple in their museums, but in 1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It took nearly 10 years for the sandstone temple, which was disassembled and shipped in 661 crates, for the complete temple to reach New York City, and the exhibit wasn’t fully open to the public until 1994.

Impressive (photo by David)!

Column detail (photo by David).

More details, which would have been vividly painted at the time (photo by David).

In 2015, through research, surveys and analysis of painted objects in the museum, the Met Museum Media Lab was able to determine the original colors of the temple, as temples in Egypt and the Ancient World were often vividly painted vividly. Since the temple was built during the reign of Augustus Caesar, two scenes on one of the walls depict Augustus wearing the traditional pharaoh garb. Interestingly, the temple bears three different graffiti marks made over the course of a few thousand years – some words written in colloquial Egyptian script in 10BCE, Greek Coptic Christian inscriptions in 400ACE when the temple was briefly converted into a Christian church, and “Leonardo 1820” by travelers of that year. The temple is displayed in The Sackler Wing in such a way that mimics the temple’s location in Egypt. The reflecting pool in front of the temple represents the Nile River, while the sloping wall behind the temple represents the cliffs of its original location. The wing’s designers positioned the glass on the ceiling and the wing’s north wall to be stippled in order to diffuse the light and make it resemble the lighting in Egypt. You can actually rent out the wing for weddings and other special events, which I’m sure costs a pretty penny, but what a way to impress your family and friends, eh? All in all, it is an impressive exhibit.

Inside the temple (photo by David).

Photo opp (photo by David).

David and I love sculpture, so we spent time admiring the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts wing. What’s an exhibit without a Rodin? Of course, there were many Rodins to appreciate here. The Met clearly deserves another go around, so we expect to come back and make sure we cover the wings and rooms that we breezed through.

Hall of statues. The museum wasn’t too crowded, which was nice.

The Burghers of Calais (bronze) by Auguste Rodin. Modeled in 1884-95 and cast in 1985. The 1895 original is installed in front of the old town hall in Calais, France (photo by David).

Close-up of The Burghers of Calais (photo by David).

Ugolino and His Sons (marble) by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, 1865-67 (photo by David).

Ugolino and His Sons (marble), 1865-67, by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (photo by David).

Close-up of Ugolino and His Sons (photo by David).

Another close-up (photo by David).

Winter (bronze) by Jean Antoine Houdon, 1787 (photo by David). Hey, that’s me in the background.

Close-up of the beautiful and haunting Winter (photo by David).

We ate lunch at the American Art Café at the Charles Engelhard Court on the first floor, which afforded us views of Central Park on one side and views of the Neoclassical facade of the Branch Bank of the United States, originally located on Wall Street, inside the museum. On the opposite side, we also enjoyed our courtyard view of the Louis C. Tiffany-designed entrance loggia at Laurelton Hall, his country estate on Long Island. In between, 19th-century marble and bronze sculptures are adorned throughout the court, with the centerpiece being the gilded Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

The expansiveness of this atrium and courtyard was breathtaking – the facade of the Branch Bank of the U.S. (photo by David).

Under the shifting light of the sun (photo by David).

Another view with the shifting light of the sun (photo by David).

The statues before the bank facade.

The loggia, with the cafe on the right.

Another meh lunch at a museum, but at least we had a great location and view!

Central Park by horse
Since the museum is across the street from Central Park, we wandered into the park and walked around at first and then in search of a horse-drawn carriage. This has become a staple of our urban vacations for Isabella’s sake – taking a tour by horse. We did so twice in Philadelphia – in Amish country and in the city. Once we found horses and carriages galore further down 5^th Avenue, we got a tour of one part of the park, which included the zoo, pond, and buildings in the background that were made famous in movies. Isabella even got to lead the horse for part of the tour.

Ready for a carriage ride (photo by our carriage driver).

David and Isabella, before she took our driver’s invite to lead our horse through Central Park.

Isabella and friend (photo by David).

Beautiful view of the lake (photo by David).

Sibling quiet time together (photo by David).

Sibling quiet time (photo by David).

We closed out the day with dinner at Uncle Boons (7 Spring Street, 646.370.6650), a Thai restaurant in the NoLita (North of Little Italy) district not too far from our apartment. The food was good, but the portions were tiny (advertised large plates were in fact small, for example). It seems that many of the restaurant spaces here are tiny and tables are packed as a result. We found the noise level too high in many of the restaurants we patronized. But you can’t beat New York for the variety and the number of restaurants to satiate your hunger after a busy day touring.

Thai dish with clams and shrimp.

Ambiance of Uncle Boons.

New York, New York: Lady Liberty, Ellis Island, 9/11 Memorial Museum

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Patty

There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless.
– Simone de Beauvoir, French author and philosopher

When I was a child, we took trips to Los Angeles, where many of our relatives still lived after we moved to Terra Bella. A bunch of our families went to Morro Bay and Cayucos in the summertime for a few years; we kids swim or played in the cold water and watched as our parents fished. I spent a summer in the Philippines when I was ten years old – right before Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. But outside of that, we didn’t have traditional family summer vacations.

We got spoiled on our cross-country flight – this Southwest Airlines plane was less than 24 days old! More leg room and they put those darn pamphlets on the upper part of the backs of chairs. Plus the overhead compartments are more streamlined.

As a parent, I look at family summer vacations as opening up the world for my two kids. Since I’m an urban lover, we focused on exposing them to major cities in the United States – San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Since I was going to be attending the FANHS 2016 Biennial Conference in New York in June, we decided to tack on a family vacation before my conference. I’m a little late in posting about this vacation. Usually, as many of you know, I’m up late the night of each vacation day, tapping away at the laptop to capture my memories and all the details, to keep everything fresh, mostly for my kids’ sake. But there wasn’t time during our trip, so August is a good time to reflect on this family vacation.

I’ve been to New York on business a number of times, and David joined me for one trip. We didn’t go to some of the obvious points of interest because we knew at some point we would take the kids. Let’s just say that we packed it all in this family summer vacation. One thing we did was purchase the City Passes, which was a great deal because we used every pass in the book, which is something we also did when we were in Chicago.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Airbnb in Little Italy
We stayed at our first Airbnb apartment on Mulberry Street right in the middle of Little Italy, which was a great location to catch many subway lines and to walk around in the evenings. When you walk out of our apartment building, you basically step out into Little Italy. The streets are blocked off to traffic on the weekends, big Little Italy signs flashed overhead, tourists walked up and down the street, and aggressive maître d’s tried to lure us to dine at their establishment. This scene reminded me of North Beach in San Francisco.

Our apartment with a view – the Empire State Building (photo by David).

Walking around the neighborhood in the evenings.

The view from our bedroom. Impressive art.

We were on the 7^th floor, and we had a nice view of the Empire State Building. There were eight floors with four units on each floor. Our little apartment comprised one small bedroom, a closet-sized bedroom, bathroom, and a kitchen/living space, which was just right for us. The only thing about being on the 7^th floor – without an elevator – is that at the end of the day, when you’re an exhausted tourist, you have seven flights of steps to your bed and sofa. If we had Fitbits, we surely would have logged thousands of steps each day. That first evening, we ate at Café Habana (17 Prince Street, 212.625.2001), a Cuban restaurant several blocks down; we were advised by our Airbnb owner that you don’t want to eat in any of the touristy Little Italy restaurants. We enjoyed the Cuban sandwiches – fresh citrus marinated roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles on hero bread with chipotle mayonnaise – while the kids had roast pork plate with yellow rice and black beans. On the way home, we found the local grocery store so we could stock up on breakfast food and bottled water. I’m surprised that they don’t have a plastic bag ban in the City, especially since people shop more often during the week because there isn’t a lot of storage in people’s homes and most take public transportation to and from the grocery stores. That’s a lot of plastic bags. At any rate, we truly experienced the Airbnb marketing slogan: “Experience a place like you live there.” And so we did.

Looking up at Lady Liberty (photo by David).

‘Liberty Enlightening the World’
The next day, we headed to the ferry at Battery Park in Manhattan to catch the boat to the Statue of Liberty. The beauty about going on vacation soon after school lets out is that it’s not too hot yet and many schools elsewhere haven’t been let out yet. As a result, neither the ferries nor the destination points were crowded. It was great to see in person such a famous statue and symbol that we’ve grown up knowing all our lives. We have tons of photos of Lady Liberty from all angles across the bay, Liberty Island, and the observation level (we didn’t have crown access). What was most interesting was walking through the museum and learning so many interesting things such as the face of Lady Liberty belonged to the sculptor Auguste Bartholdi’s mom and Gustave Eiffel designed the statue’s internal framework. At the time, 1886, the Statue of Liberty – atop its pedestal – was the tallest structure in New York City and the tallest statue in the world.

My teenagers with Manhattan in the background (photo by David).

Up close (photo by David).

In 1865, a group of French intellectuals led by Edouard de Laboulaye, who were protesting political representation in their country, decided to honor the ideals of freedom and liberty with a symbolic gift to the United States, who was looking toward its centennial. Given the hot topic of immigration in our country these days, it was important for the kids to see what the Statue of Liberty meant at the time. While the country was grappling with massive immigration in the late 1800s, it was responding with a growing number of restrictive immigration laws. In 1883 young writer Emma Lazarus wrote a poem for the statue’s pedestal fundraiser called “The New Colossus,” after the Colossus of Rhodes, which was an ancient statue that became Bartholdi’s inspiration. In 1903, the poem was inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal, which really remains true today as it was back then:

The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

No, it’s not a Trump political poster. It’s a post-1980 Peace Corps Volunteers campaign that ends with: There are those who think you can’t change the world in the Peace Corps. On the other hand, maybe it’s not just what you do in the Peace Corps that counts. But what you do when you get back.

Life-size model of the statue’s face (photo by David).

In all her majesty (photo by David).

Back on the ferry with Manhattan before us (photo by David).

I asked the kids what they remembered most about their trip to Liberty Island. Jacob remarked that he didn’t realize how it was built – that the hammered copper pieces were riveted into place on the internal cast iron and steel framework. He says he isn’t interesting in studying engineering, but he certainly has a mind for it. Isabella, on the other hand, touched on an ironic fact that I was excited that she noted. It stood out for me, too. At the 1886 dedication, women were not allowed to participate in the unveiling or the parade. Imagine that! However, an enterprising and determined group of women took several boats out to Hudson Bay to celebrate. Good on them!

I got chills when we disembarked and approached the entrance of Ellis Island’s Main Building.

Ellis Island: first step to America
We hopped on the ferry to our next destination – Ellis Island, a place I was really looking forward to seeing. The Ellis Island Immigration Museum is big – I’m sure we didn’t see every little room. Stepping into the Registry Room, or the Great Hall, you get a sense of what it must have been like being an immigrant coming off of the ship and being herded into this enormous room, hoping that you’ll be able to walk out and onward to New York City. The island was named after its owner Samuel Ellis, who purchased the land in 1774. The federal government purchased the island for harbor defense in 1808 and built Fort Gibson in 1811. Between 1855 and 1890, individual states processed immigrants. Castle Garden, which is now Castle Clinton National Monument, served as the immigration station for New York State.

The Registry Room from the ground floor (photo by David).

The Registry Room from the second floor (photo by David).

In 1900 the current Main Building opened. From 1901 through 1910, some 8.8 million immigrants arrived in the United States, with 6 million being processed at Ellis Island alone. A record 11,747 immigrants arrived there on April 17, 1907. When WWI broke out, immigration was curbed and enemy aliens were detained at Ellis from 1914 to 1918. In the 1920s, federal laws set immigration quotas based on national origin. When WWII broke out, German, Italian, and Japanese aliens were interned at Ellis Island. In 1954, the Ellis Island immigration station closed permanently. In 1965, national quotas were abolished and Ellis Island became part of the Statue of Liberty Monument. The buildings sat deserted and in a state of decay, but restoration began in the 1980s and the Main Building opened as an immigration museum in 1990.

Lookey here! Filipinos are mentioned twice in the Ellis Island Museum timeline.

Second reference to Filipinos in America!

A total of some 12 million people came through Ellis Island. In the Registry Room, inspectors grilled immigrants with up to 31 questions. They had to give their name, hometown, occupation, destination, and amount of money they carried. One “trick” question asked was whether the immigrant had a job lined up already. You would think that the answer would be yes, but that isn’t what the inspectors wanted to hear because it meant that the immigrant was taking away a citizen’s job. While a third of those who “passed” stayed in New York City, the rest headed to other destinations. Those who were deemed mentally unfit were marked by chalk with an X on their lapel, which meant that they were going to have a difficult time getting through. While 20 percent were held back for further medical or legal examination, according to our guide, only about two percent were denied entry. One such denial was recorded by the granddaughter who retold the story in an audio file. Everyone in her family was let in, but her grandmother was sent back to Russia. The family never saw her again. That story haunts me still. And the granddaughter, now an elderly woman, wept with the retelling.

Goodbye, Ellis Island, as we chug back to Battery Park (photo by David).

Alexander Hamilton’s grave in Trinity Church’s cemetery, near the World Trade Center (photo by David).

9/11 Memorial Museum: ‘a place of solemn reflection’
Who knew that we still had plenty of time left when we docked at the ferry station at Battery Park? With the new World Trade Center building rising in the sky before us, we decided to take in the 9/11 Memorial Museum. My sister Heidi and I saw the 9/11 Memorial in September 2012, when the museum was in a tiny space and we had to wait in a long line to walk through the small building that housed the artifacts from the attacks. At the Memorial Plaza, David and the kids took in twin waterfall memorials somberly and in silence. It’s quite a scene to behold, and all you want to do is stare into the bottom of the memorial and still not quite imagine what happened here. The first time I came to New York in 2008, I couldn’t help staring at the enormous crater as my Super Shuttle van zoomed by. Yes, that’s Ground Zero, my driver told me. Still a gaping hole.

The Memorial pool with the Museum in the background (photo by David).

The new World Trade Tower (photo by David).

The design of the lower part of the new World Trade Center tower pays tribute to the fallen towers (photo by David).

The flow of the memorial pool water into the basin pays tribute to the design of the original Towers (photo by David).

Close-up of the lower part of the new World Trade Center tower (photo by David).

The gleaming roof of the 9/11 Memorial Museum (photo by David).

Jacob in contemplation (photo by David).

Jacob deep in contemplation (photo by David).

The 9/11 Memorial Museum is an impressive, cavernous building, which is unique looking on the outside with all that shiny steel glinting in the June sun. It houses 110,000 square feet of exhibition space and is located within and surrounded by remnants of the original World Trade Center site. When you first walk into the entry of the Pavilion, you are in the atrium, which allows for a view of the South and the North memorial pools. The Foundation Hall, which is the largest space within the museum topping 60 feet at its highest point, contains remnants, including the slurry wall and the iconic Last Column.

The Tridents - two 80-foot tall steel columns that was part of the North Tower's exterior facade (photo by David).

The Tridents – two 80-foot tall steel columns that was part of the North Tower’s exterior facade – in the Pavilion’s atrium. Taken while going up the escalator (photo by David).

The 36-foot Last Column is covered with memorial inscriptions, mementos, and missing posters affixed by rescue workers, ironworkers, and others (photo by David).

September 11, 2001, is the main historical exhibition, which comprises “three parts that explore the day of 9/11, what led up to the attacks, and the immediate aftermath.” Tribute Walk is a long hallway or alleyway with multiple artistic expressions created in response to 9/11. Memorial Hall is situated between the Twin Tower footprints. The quote – No day shall erase you from the memory of time – from Book IX of The Aeneid by Virgil, the ancient Roman poet, is emblazoned across the wall. The letters of the quote were forged by New Mexico blacksmith Tom Joyce from steel recovered from the World Trade Center. Surrounding the quote is a beautiful art installation around it called “Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning” by reflecting artist Spencer Finch. Comprising 2,983 individual water-color drawings, the art installation captures a unique shade of blue representing all the victims of both the February 26, 1993, and September 11, 2001, victims.

Virgil’s enduring quote and Spencer Finch’s beautiful art installation (photo by David).

Understanding that everything about this museum is moving, one of the most emotional exhibits is the Memorial Exhibition. Along several walls are portrait photographs of all the victims. Housed in the middle of these walls of faces is an inner darkened chamber where you can sit on the bench lining the wall of the room and listen quietly to shared stories – by turns heartbreaking, heartwarming, amusing, and somber. “In Memoriam,” is a “quiet, contemplative space that invites you to honor and to learn more about each person killed in the two attacks.” When a family member, friend, or former colleague spoke, a picture of their loved one was projected on the wall, with a short biography and story. I remembered one story in particular that struck me as tragic among the tragic – of a young man in his twenties who worked his way up from being a janitor at the World Trade Center to being a trader for one of the firms there. He left a wife and three young children. I couldn’t help thinking, if only he were still a janitor, he would have already done his job the night before and not been in the building that fateful morning.

A moment of silence and reflection.

The Museum opened on May 15, 2014. At the Museum’s one-year anniversary, the National 9/11 Flag, which is a tattered flag that was recovered from Ground Zero and, through the work of the nonprofit New York Says Thank You Foundation, subsequently restored via “stitching ceremonies” held across the U.S. was displayed. It is a heartfelt artistic endeavor that shows how united our various communities can be and how much love can be showered in a world darkened by fear and hate.

Remembering and not forgetting.

I was so glad we as a family got to experience the 9/11 Memorial Museum. It’s a loving tribute to all the victims, their family and friends, the responders and their families and friends, and the resilient city of New York. Isabella wasn’t even born and Jacob wasn’t quite fifteen months old at the time. David and I were glued to the television set, watching CNN 24/7, and worried that Jacob would never live to adulthood because all we heard about was the threat of bioterrorism being unleashed around the world. Nearly 15 years later, there’s more hope in the world, despite the ever-present roiling dark clouds. Still, Virgil’s words are alive in my head: “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” Amen.

With the Museum in the background….(photo by David).

The Dress at 50

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