NYC Then and Now

The Pianos Are Coming Back 6/1-6/16-2013

Thanks to Sing for Hope. Keep your eyes and ears open or check out the Map and the details here .

Weight Watchers Expect Amazing "Race" 5/18

As a paying lifer, I am currently above goal weight (which I did maintain for over a year) but I know I can lose the weight again. I still do believe in Weight Watchers so I decided to join in Saturday's fun walk. 

As a tour guide, I found that the route was quite a lot of fun. What I didn't realize until I put these posts together is what a great route this is for a walking tour. I also did not realize how many posts I have written about the area surrounding the route in the last 3.5 years. Take a tour with me sometime and see what you missed.

 We started near Madison Square, the home of the first two Madison Square Gardens.

I have written several posts about the neighborhood that are illustrated with vintage post cards and modern pictures.

The first one was about Madison Square Park when the Jumpers were here.  The second post looks at the Flatiron building and the Museum of Sex. In Spiritual Paths, we see some of the churches in the area.

In Kids and Theater 3, I talk about some un Weight Watcher like restaurants and the (I believe) first edition of Madison Square Eats which is still happening today. Tada Theater is a great alternative to Broadway for kids.

I picked up a Weight Watcher friendly snack at Madison Eats during the walk - kale, sesame and garlic salad.

One last newcomer to the area is the Museum of Mathematics or MOMATH for short.

Now, on to Herald Square.

Expect Amazing Herald Square

Herald Square in time to hear the statue bells. Macy's, the host of the Thanksgiving Day Parade,is also the inspiration for my favorite Thanksgiving to Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street.  Not far away, you will find the Third Madison Square Garden and the Post Office.

Then onto the Fashion District, which is formerly known as the garment district.

Statues to the workers....

 

and plaques in the sidewalks in honor of the designers. Remember to look down as well as up while exploring New York City.

While Betsey Johnson voluntarily filed for bankruptcy protection last year, you can still buy her clothing through her website.

 

 

 

 

And there's a special exhibit about Stephen Burrows on at the Museum of the City of New York until the end of July. See it! And see the exhibit about teeny tiny apartments and the newest exhibit about Greenwood Cemetery. Actually, Greenwood could be another destination for a Weight Watchers walkabout!

On to Times Square and the Theater District.

 

 

 

WW Expect Amazing Times Square

My first post was about Times Square, the center of the NYC universe for some visitors. Most people love the crowds and lights in the evening but "my time of day" (see Guys and Dolls Frank Loesser) for Times Square is early in the morning.

I took this picture of the Armed Forces Recruiting Center because many many years ago on the bus home from a healthy weekend (near vegetarian food, fresh air and plenty of exercise) at the Omega Institute, I sat next to an amazing 80 something year old woman named Marie Runyon. I lost touch with her until I read about her in the New York Times trying to enlist here with the Grannies against the war. By then she was 91. We have remained in touch.

 

While doing the Tribeca Open Artist Studio Tour 3 years ago, I discovered an artist, Regina Silvers who was also taken by the Grannies. 

This picture was taken at Marie's 98th birthday this year.

Marie's healthy near vegetarian eating style has probably been a factor in the quality of her long amazing life.

 

 

 

 

The Expect Amazing instructions said that "this Musical's title, people might say, is the look our female members have today, because they changed their lifestyle the Weight Watchers way". Mama Mia the movie, should remind all of us that Mediterranean diets are healthy. (Now how many of you know that the Winter Garden used to be a horse trading arena?)

On to Rock Center, Central Park and the Finish!

 

WW Expect Amazing Rock Center Central Park - the finish

We talked about looking down when visiting NYC. Next time you are in Rockefeller Center head to The Top of the Rock.  You won't exactly see this view - it is from the Twilight Zone - but if you look South you will get a great view of the Empire State Building todayl.

On 49th Street you will find Christies, the auction house. This is a hidden gem. Step inside and you will see world class art that is briefly on view to the public before going back into private hands (and the restrooms are nice).(I'm still wearing baggy clothes there).

This statue of Atlas should remind us that Power foods and strength training are all part of Weight Watchers 360.

Now on to Central Park South which lost a lot of branches and trees in the snowstorm before Halloween a year before Hurricane Sandy.

These tree stumps have since been removed.

 

 

One last photo of an interesting version of the Metropolitan Life Tower that we first saw in Madison Square.

Then on to  the end, a Weight Watchers store that was dedicated to the founder Jean Nidetch on the 50th Anniversary of Weight Watchers. The store is located at 139 E 57th St 4th Floor. 

Great day! Great fun! Nice FREE goodie bag. (Now if only it contained a hat instead of a visor then my head AND my eyes would be protected from the sun)

Let's do this again some time.

Azalea and 54 Below

Happy birthday to ME! When in doubt, think about dessert first.  Charlene,my friend and "blog boss" (she talked me into writing this blog), wanted to catch up and celebrate my birthday in some way. We decided to go places we hadn't been before.

First stop was Azalea, a lovely Italian restaurant hiding in plain sight in the theatre district. The food tasted as wonderful as it looked. The photos are by Charlene who also writes the Street Art blog in this group. It was fun to go early (5PM) and enjoy some extra attention before the place totally filled up. It also seems like a great place for small groups.  I noticed over a dozen people thoroughly enjoying themselves on the way out.

 

Then, it was on to 54 Below, a great cabaret space below what used to be Studio 54. Broadway star Rebecca Luker sang known and unknown songs by Jerome Kern. I also saw how the P G Wodehouse lyrics to the song Bill inspired the Tom Lehrer song She's My Girl. 

We ate at Azalea. Thanks to Theater Development Fund tickets, we had no cover or minimum but I must say that everyone around us seemed to be enjoying their food and drink.

 

Central Park - Birkenhead Park - Liverpool

Frederick Law Olmsted modeled his design for Central Park on Birkenhead Park in Liverpool. It said so in so many of the articles and books that I have read about the Park. I've never been to Birkenhead. The two years I lived in the UK were long before I fell in love with Central Park.

Anyway, for the first time in a 150 years, the head of Central Park, Doug Blonsky, paid a visit to Birkenhead. From the pictures and the video connected to this article on the Central Park Conservancy's website, you can really see the source of Central Park's inspiration. Now the Central Park Conservancy is sharing it's expertise with Birkenhead Park.

Birkenhead is now added to my bucket list for my next trip to the UK.

The first place on the list is Hinton Waldrist , a village in Oxfordshire recently identified by Brian May of the rock group Queen as the source of his steriopticon collection.  

 I first heard about Brian May's book A Village Lost and Found at a lecture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art which is located in Central Park.

Daniel Cainer - Limmud Catskills NY - London Cries - Cornelia St Cafe 5/9/13

I first heard Daniel Cainer at a Jewish Learning conference sponsored by Limmud NY in the Catskills in January 2012. This year's conference I am sure still had the energy but lost the Catskills nostalgia.

Back to Daniel. I am a sucker for accustic guitar players who can sing, write lyrics, and have great voices and stories to tell. See my prior post about David Roth and Phil Ochs.

Recently, Daniel made a video called London Cries. Honestly, while it is a great detour to London, I think an equally great NYC video could be made with the song as sound track.

Daniel will be performing at the Cornelia Street Cafe tomorrow Thursday May 9, 2013 at 6:00 and I am going to go and listen. I hope to see you there.

May 2013 - so much is going on (1)

MOMA's Weimar festival continues until the first weekend in May. The Tribeca Open Artist Studio tour is the first weekend in May. It is a great opportunity to see how artists live.

For those of you who want to walk "all around Manhattan" the 2013 Great Saunter on May 4th provides you with that opportunity. More of my back story to this walk can be found here.

Sunday May 5th brings The Five Boro Bike tour from Bike New York. I volunteered on this for years and I even rode a 10 person bike in it once. (NOTE - the ride is still on although some pyro technics at the start have been cancelled and there will be increased police presence.)

On the 5th, I will be heading to the NY Botanical Gardens early in the morning to walk a 5k to raise funds for psoriasis research. I signed up for this walk last year but when I broke my wrist a few days before the walk, I didn't do it. This winter, I went to the Gardens for the Train Show with the Guides Association and I vowed to return and do the walk this year.  You can support my effort  on my personal page.

Speaking of Gardens, I recently went to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden after a visit to the Brooklyn Museum with the Guides Association.  If you want to make your trip a day and an evening event, I would go to the Garden on Saturday May 4th and then continue into the Museum for First Saturday.

There is another (CRF) cause related fitness event on Saturday May 5th that will make Times Square busy early in the morning. It is the Revlon Run/Walk for Women.

If any of you locals want to volunteer and receive passes to New York Fringe Festival Performances or work (for little money) the Fringe NYC annual Job Fair will be held on Sunday May 5th. I was pleased to discover at a FODOR's New York Travel Board meetup that one of my readers has enjoyed volunteering at the festival for a few years. She found out about the festival from my many posts over the years. I may volunteer this year too.

More to come. I've only gotten to May 5th and I haven't even mentioned Cinco de Mayo.

 

April 2013 - Tribeca Film Festival - MOMA Weimar Touch

In March, I had more tour work and much less time to post. I hope work will get in the way of some of the movies I'd like to see this month but these festivals represent a small set of the great movies you can see in April that are not being advertised on your commercial TV screens.

The Tribeca Film Festival starts April 17 but single tickets will be available to American Express Card holders starting Tuesday April 9th. (If you can't make it to NYC some of the films will be streamed during and after the festival. I have written many posts about the Tribeca Film Festival in past seasons. Here is one of them. (NOTE - the Tribeca Open Artist Studio Tour aka TOAST will take place the first week in May this year.

The Weimar Touch festival at MOMA is another reason to think about buying a MOMA membership.

On April 22nd the 9th NYC Downtown Short Film Festival begins. It is a less expensive off the beaten track very NY alternative to Tribeca.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center is honoring Barbra Streisand this month.

For uptown edgier films near some great dining visit the Maysles Cinema.

In Brooklyn, BAM has one of many great independent film centers.

For great films in Greenwich Village head to Film Forum or the Independent Film Center.

Enjoy!