East Harlem a.k.a Spanish Harlem
It's official! I can finally say that I have visited and seen what East Harlem looks like. I have always wanted to explore Spanish Harlem. The reason for my curiosity and my desire to do so has been particularly for its distinctively known Latino community. As a Latina myself, it brings me lots of pride and joy to know that there exists a place in Manhattan where the Hispanics can all come together, reside in one place, and celebrate their ethnicity.
Spanish Harlem is colloquially recognized as "El Barrio." "El Barrio" is a neighborhood uptown of Manhattan (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Ever since the late 19th century, when it was developed, it has served as a home to several different ethnic communities (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). East Harlem was very similar to upper Manhattan in the middle of the 19th century, since it had a completely rural appearance (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Due to a rapid increase of train services in 1880, development occurred and construction of apartment buildings flourished in this area. The construction of apartment buildings in East Harlem were for the German, Irish, Scandinavian, and Eastern European immigrants that moved to this region (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). A new ethnic group that would soon come into the mixture of the already German and Irish neighborhood were the Italians. In the later years, East Harlem became known as Italian Harlem because of the hundreds of Southern Italian immigrants that migrated to this section of Manhattan. Italian Harlem was the original "Little Italy" in Manhattan (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). More than 100,000 Italian Americans were already living in this community by the 1930's. A disturbing yet historical fact about this particular Italian neighborhood was that at one point in history, it was controlled by the Genovese family (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The Genovese family is a formed "family" that dominate organized crimes of New York City as part of a Mafia. Because of the steady movement of the white middle class moving into East Harlem in the 1970's, the number of Italians living in this neighborhood decreased dramatically. Today, only a trace of the Italian culture still reside primarily on 116th Street centered around the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
The name of "El Barrio" came into effect when a vast number of Puerto Ricans moved to East Harlem after World War 1 (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The new Puerto Rican immigrants that resided in East Harlem were of very poor economic social class. As a result of their poverty, construction of large housing projects became prevalent to low income residents in the neighborhood. A housing project of 13 buildings was created and completed in 1958. These large housing buildings were named after a famous African-American scientist, by the name of George Washington Carver. Carver Houses, the name of these housing buildings, still exist. According to Professor Russo, only 11 Carver Houses remain standing today. From the appearance of the outside, these housing buildings have no distinctive design or structure. They are really plain, boring to look at, and have nothing special to offer. Carver Houses seem to be made of poor quality with little or no luxury to them. Professor Mike told the class that Carver Houses are made up of small apartments with one or two windows built in them, and like the stairways to these apartment buildings, these buildings usually have an odor of mildewy smell that appears to never go away.
Our day started off at 11am SHARP! The entire class met up at Penn Station. From Penn Station we headed off to the Subway station and took the 6 train to 103rd street. The first few observations that I took into account were the residents in East Harlem. From looking right to left, walking north to south, I noticed only Hispanics. In particular, I witnessed a very large amount of people with Puerto Rican background. Professors Damian and Mike decided to take the class to explore the Museum of the City of New York. Before we arrived to the museum, we passed a few Carver Houses. As I had imagined, there was nothing flattering about them. All I thought to myself was, are people really happy to live here? And, is this what people really call their home? The thought of calling a small and smelly apartment building with strangers in it a home sort of freaks me out. I know that I could never be truly happy or be fully satisfied with myself if I were ever to live in a place like a Carver House. I feel bad for the residents of these homes because I'm pretty sure for most of them, living in a Carver House is not even an option due to their financial status. The Museum of the City of New York had a gallery full of graffiti art. I found it very impressive how certain portraits of graffiti had a powerful message behind them in their own artistic way. Graffiti is not simply made up of bubbled letters that are gang related like many people believe it to be. Graffiti is a form of art movement with an illustration and a purpose. Graffiti art is created for entertainment purposes or to deliver a realistic thought about life to the viewer. My favorite part of the entire museum was when I watched the 22-minute spectacular film on how the city of New York was created. This fascinating film demonstrated to the audience the very beginning of the early European settlements that moved to Manhattan. The film also showed the spectators how each borough was brought about, their origins of their names, and the era from when Manhattan flourished in business, trade and industrialization, to the era where the Great Depression took place. Surprisingly, the short movie took into account the tragic incident of 9/11 and how the spirit of New York City was crushed by this tragedy. However, the short films ends on a positive note showing the viewers how New York City overcame this unfortunate obstacle by people having faith, unity, and support among each other. Other galleries that I explored in the Museum of the City of New York were the Coney Island gallery, the Gustavino tiles gallery, the paintings of the timeline of New York City, and the Vanderbuilt gallery.
After we left the museum, my class headed off to meet with our tour guy, Luke. Luke met us in front of El Museo del Barrio. Let me start off by saying that Luke has a phenomenal voice. He sang a poem accapela to our class. Everyone from our class was startled with his voice and his lyrics to his poem. As a matter of fact, Luke made it very easy for my classmates and I to visualize in our minds about that pretty girl in the subway that he spoke about in his poem. Luke gave the class an excellent tour. Luke showed the class some well recognized murals from "El Barrio." The first mural we came in contact with was the mural dedicated to Revolutionist Pedro Pietri. Pietri was a lifelong resident of East Harlem, born in Puerto Rico, and a community activist. The second mural across the street that Luke showed us was the massive mural of the "Spirit of East Harlem." Manny Vega is in charge of maintaining and restoring this mural. "Spirit of East Harlem" captures the Latin influences on street life in East Harlem in the 1970s (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Luke also took the class to see the Modesto "Tin" Flores Garden. What makes this particular garden so unique is the fact that two inspiring art pieces are found in this garden; the "Seed of Growth" and the "Soldadares" mural. Luke managed to squeeze time from his tour to pay a small, but captivating visit to La Casa Azul. La Casa Azul is a children's bookstore in East Harlem with both Spanish and English written books for children to read and enjoy. La Casa Azul is the first and only children's bookstore located in East Harlem. It was very cute and children friendly. What was most friendly about La Casa Azul was the owner of the bookstore. A Mexican-American young lady who's dream was to always open a bookstore so that children could distract their minds from their everyday struggles in their neighborhood through the magic of literature. The last place that Luke took our class to see was to Justo's Botanical shop. In this Botanical shop, one can find natural herbs and homestyle remedies for any pain, stomach upsets, or any sort of health concerns. Justo's Botanical shop is also a spiritual store where good and evil are both found through statues and plants. In this shop, one can get their cards read as well.
We ended our day with a very long but beautiful walk through the entire Central Park. Central Park has lots of enchanting sceneries for the viewers. Professor Russo took the class to see the Boat Pond where people enjoy the serenity of the park through a slowly moving boat for peace and relaxation. He also took us to see the turtle pond. I got to see two baby turtles swimming in this pond. In addition, I got to see a really big turtle heading its way to the pond. In front of the turtle pond stands a huge bronze monument of the king of Poland, King Jagiello. I think its a pretty cool statue because of the position the king is sculpted in. It appears as if the King is ready to fight a battle. King Jagiello sits confident in his horse with his two swords above his head as if he's prepared for the unpredictable. Professor Russo briefly took the class to walk through the Ramble. Unfortunately, the class didn't get to see much of it. However, we did get to pass the Strawberry fields, which was dedicated to the memory of the former Beatle group member, John Lennon (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The class also got the chance to walk around the entire water reservoir of the park. I really enjoyed the magnificent view of the Bethesda Terrace. The Bethesda Fountain leaves many, including myself in awe. The lake in front of the Bethesda Terrace is the largest body of water in Central Park (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). We ended our busy touristic day with a final walk through the Central Park Zoo. By the time we arrived through that section of Central Park, the zoo was closed. On a brighter note, this will give me a motive to pay back a visit to Central Park in the near future.
**10 Important Facts of the Day**
1. The most oldest part of Central Park is the Egyptian Obelisk. This monument is 3,500 years old, making it the oldest monument in the city of New York (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The Egyptian Obelisk is most commonly referred to Cleopatra's Needle.
2. The most beautiful thing in Central Park is the Belvedere Castle. The Belvedere Castle was designed by Olmstead and Vaux in 1869, which was built out of schist (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Surprisingly, the Belvedere Castle is actually not a castle, but a structure for decoration purpose only.
3. The most saddest thing in Central Park is the place where the Strawberry Fields are located. This part of Central Park was designed and dedicated in memory of John Lennon. John Lennon was a singer from The Beatles band. He was very famous and had tons of fans worldwide. Mr. Lennon was on his way home when an obsessed fan shot and killed him. Lennon was only 40 years old when he died (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
4. The most healing part about Central Park is the Bethesda Terrace. The angel at the top of the fountain has a biblical meaning and a story behind it. The lake at the Bethesda Terrace allows visitors to rent a boat to enjoy all the nature's beauty that the park offers. Water has always been a representation of healing, relaxation, and a therapeutic measure for many people.
5. Pedro Pietri was the founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
6. The fountain sculpture, "Seed of Growth" represents a female's fallopian tubes with ovaries. The "Seed of Growth" was designed by Lina Puerta whose work explores the female body and female experiences (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
7, The Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo was married to the famous Mexican paintor, Diego Rivera.
8. The mural "Soldadares" is a tribute to the struggles of the Puerto Rican and Mexican residents of East Harlem and the ties that bind these two communities together (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Frida Kahlo and Julia de Burgos were both political radicals, feminists, and fiercely devoted to their native homelands (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
9. Luke, our tour guy is a poet and currently works for El Museo del Barrio. His nationality is Puerto Rican.
10. Gentrification is already present and is moving at a steady pace in East Harlem. The big question is - Will "El Barrio" retain its unique multicultural flavor or simply become an extension of the exclusive Upper Eastside? (Russo & Cullinan, 2014)
Spanish Harlem is colloquially recognized as "El Barrio." "El Barrio" is a neighborhood uptown of Manhattan (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Ever since the late 19th century, when it was developed, it has served as a home to several different ethnic communities (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). East Harlem was very similar to upper Manhattan in the middle of the 19th century, since it had a completely rural appearance (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Due to a rapid increase of train services in 1880, development occurred and construction of apartment buildings flourished in this area. The construction of apartment buildings in East Harlem were for the German, Irish, Scandinavian, and Eastern European immigrants that moved to this region (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). A new ethnic group that would soon come into the mixture of the already German and Irish neighborhood were the Italians. In the later years, East Harlem became known as Italian Harlem because of the hundreds of Southern Italian immigrants that migrated to this section of Manhattan. Italian Harlem was the original "Little Italy" in Manhattan (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). More than 100,000 Italian Americans were already living in this community by the 1930's. A disturbing yet historical fact about this particular Italian neighborhood was that at one point in history, it was controlled by the Genovese family (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The Genovese family is a formed "family" that dominate organized crimes of New York City as part of a Mafia. Because of the steady movement of the white middle class moving into East Harlem in the 1970's, the number of Italians living in this neighborhood decreased dramatically. Today, only a trace of the Italian culture still reside primarily on 116th Street centered around the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
The name of "El Barrio" came into effect when a vast number of Puerto Ricans moved to East Harlem after World War 1 (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The new Puerto Rican immigrants that resided in East Harlem were of very poor economic social class. As a result of their poverty, construction of large housing projects became prevalent to low income residents in the neighborhood. A housing project of 13 buildings was created and completed in 1958. These large housing buildings were named after a famous African-American scientist, by the name of George Washington Carver. Carver Houses, the name of these housing buildings, still exist. According to Professor Russo, only 11 Carver Houses remain standing today. From the appearance of the outside, these housing buildings have no distinctive design or structure. They are really plain, boring to look at, and have nothing special to offer. Carver Houses seem to be made of poor quality with little or no luxury to them. Professor Mike told the class that Carver Houses are made up of small apartments with one or two windows built in them, and like the stairways to these apartment buildings, these buildings usually have an odor of mildewy smell that appears to never go away.
Our day started off at 11am SHARP! The entire class met up at Penn Station. From Penn Station we headed off to the Subway station and took the 6 train to 103rd street. The first few observations that I took into account were the residents in East Harlem. From looking right to left, walking north to south, I noticed only Hispanics. In particular, I witnessed a very large amount of people with Puerto Rican background. Professors Damian and Mike decided to take the class to explore the Museum of the City of New York. Before we arrived to the museum, we passed a few Carver Houses. As I had imagined, there was nothing flattering about them. All I thought to myself was, are people really happy to live here? And, is this what people really call their home? The thought of calling a small and smelly apartment building with strangers in it a home sort of freaks me out. I know that I could never be truly happy or be fully satisfied with myself if I were ever to live in a place like a Carver House. I feel bad for the residents of these homes because I'm pretty sure for most of them, living in a Carver House is not even an option due to their financial status. The Museum of the City of New York had a gallery full of graffiti art. I found it very impressive how certain portraits of graffiti had a powerful message behind them in their own artistic way. Graffiti is not simply made up of bubbled letters that are gang related like many people believe it to be. Graffiti is a form of art movement with an illustration and a purpose. Graffiti art is created for entertainment purposes or to deliver a realistic thought about life to the viewer. My favorite part of the entire museum was when I watched the 22-minute spectacular film on how the city of New York was created. This fascinating film demonstrated to the audience the very beginning of the early European settlements that moved to Manhattan. The film also showed the spectators how each borough was brought about, their origins of their names, and the era from when Manhattan flourished in business, trade and industrialization, to the era where the Great Depression took place. Surprisingly, the short movie took into account the tragic incident of 9/11 and how the spirit of New York City was crushed by this tragedy. However, the short films ends on a positive note showing the viewers how New York City overcame this unfortunate obstacle by people having faith, unity, and support among each other. Other galleries that I explored in the Museum of the City of New York were the Coney Island gallery, the Gustavino tiles gallery, the paintings of the timeline of New York City, and the Vanderbuilt gallery.
After we left the museum, my class headed off to meet with our tour guy, Luke. Luke met us in front of El Museo del Barrio. Let me start off by saying that Luke has a phenomenal voice. He sang a poem accapela to our class. Everyone from our class was startled with his voice and his lyrics to his poem. As a matter of fact, Luke made it very easy for my classmates and I to visualize in our minds about that pretty girl in the subway that he spoke about in his poem. Luke gave the class an excellent tour. Luke showed the class some well recognized murals from "El Barrio." The first mural we came in contact with was the mural dedicated to Revolutionist Pedro Pietri. Pietri was a lifelong resident of East Harlem, born in Puerto Rico, and a community activist. The second mural across the street that Luke showed us was the massive mural of the "Spirit of East Harlem." Manny Vega is in charge of maintaining and restoring this mural. "Spirit of East Harlem" captures the Latin influences on street life in East Harlem in the 1970s (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Luke also took the class to see the Modesto "Tin" Flores Garden. What makes this particular garden so unique is the fact that two inspiring art pieces are found in this garden; the "Seed of Growth" and the "Soldadares" mural. Luke managed to squeeze time from his tour to pay a small, but captivating visit to La Casa Azul. La Casa Azul is a children's bookstore in East Harlem with both Spanish and English written books for children to read and enjoy. La Casa Azul is the first and only children's bookstore located in East Harlem. It was very cute and children friendly. What was most friendly about La Casa Azul was the owner of the bookstore. A Mexican-American young lady who's dream was to always open a bookstore so that children could distract their minds from their everyday struggles in their neighborhood through the magic of literature. The last place that Luke took our class to see was to Justo's Botanical shop. In this Botanical shop, one can find natural herbs and homestyle remedies for any pain, stomach upsets, or any sort of health concerns. Justo's Botanical shop is also a spiritual store where good and evil are both found through statues and plants. In this shop, one can get their cards read as well.
We ended our day with a very long but beautiful walk through the entire Central Park. Central Park has lots of enchanting sceneries for the viewers. Professor Russo took the class to see the Boat Pond where people enjoy the serenity of the park through a slowly moving boat for peace and relaxation. He also took us to see the turtle pond. I got to see two baby turtles swimming in this pond. In addition, I got to see a really big turtle heading its way to the pond. In front of the turtle pond stands a huge bronze monument of the king of Poland, King Jagiello. I think its a pretty cool statue because of the position the king is sculpted in. It appears as if the King is ready to fight a battle. King Jagiello sits confident in his horse with his two swords above his head as if he's prepared for the unpredictable. Professor Russo briefly took the class to walk through the Ramble. Unfortunately, the class didn't get to see much of it. However, we did get to pass the Strawberry fields, which was dedicated to the memory of the former Beatle group member, John Lennon (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The class also got the chance to walk around the entire water reservoir of the park. I really enjoyed the magnificent view of the Bethesda Terrace. The Bethesda Fountain leaves many, including myself in awe. The lake in front of the Bethesda Terrace is the largest body of water in Central Park (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). We ended our busy touristic day with a final walk through the Central Park Zoo. By the time we arrived through that section of Central Park, the zoo was closed. On a brighter note, this will give me a motive to pay back a visit to Central Park in the near future.
**10 Important Facts of the Day**
1. The most oldest part of Central Park is the Egyptian Obelisk. This monument is 3,500 years old, making it the oldest monument in the city of New York (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The Egyptian Obelisk is most commonly referred to Cleopatra's Needle.
2. The most beautiful thing in Central Park is the Belvedere Castle. The Belvedere Castle was designed by Olmstead and Vaux in 1869, which was built out of schist (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Surprisingly, the Belvedere Castle is actually not a castle, but a structure for decoration purpose only.
3. The most saddest thing in Central Park is the place where the Strawberry Fields are located. This part of Central Park was designed and dedicated in memory of John Lennon. John Lennon was a singer from The Beatles band. He was very famous and had tons of fans worldwide. Mr. Lennon was on his way home when an obsessed fan shot and killed him. Lennon was only 40 years old when he died (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
4. The most healing part about Central Park is the Bethesda Terrace. The angel at the top of the fountain has a biblical meaning and a story behind it. The lake at the Bethesda Terrace allows visitors to rent a boat to enjoy all the nature's beauty that the park offers. Water has always been a representation of healing, relaxation, and a therapeutic measure for many people.
5. Pedro Pietri was the founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
6. The fountain sculpture, "Seed of Growth" represents a female's fallopian tubes with ovaries. The "Seed of Growth" was designed by Lina Puerta whose work explores the female body and female experiences (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
7, The Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo was married to the famous Mexican paintor, Diego Rivera.
8. The mural "Soldadares" is a tribute to the struggles of the Puerto Rican and Mexican residents of East Harlem and the ties that bind these two communities together (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Frida Kahlo and Julia de Burgos were both political radicals, feminists, and fiercely devoted to their native homelands (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
9. Luke, our tour guy is a poet and currently works for El Museo del Barrio. His nationality is Puerto Rican.
10. Gentrification is already present and is moving at a steady pace in East Harlem. The big question is - Will "El Barrio" retain its unique multicultural flavor or simply become an extension of the exclusive Upper Eastside? (Russo & Cullinan, 2014)
Morningside Heights and Harlem
My trip to Morningside Heights was really nice. I was overwhelmed with the beautiful architectural designs that I saw from building to building. I noticed that the area of Morningside Heights that Professors Damien and Mike took the class to, were very clean. I rarely got to see any garbage pilled up in the middle of the sidewalks. I also observed that traffic wasn't as hectic and as intense as it is in Midtown Manhattan. It was busy but never out of control. I also noticed that in Morningside Heights people are out and about with their daily activities. I didn't see much of that rushed and "always-on-the go" type of crowd. People seem more relaxed, less stressed out, and are not uptight with their schedules. Furthermore, I didn't witness any black smoke or pollution in the air from either traffic or the sewers. Morningside Heights had fresh, clean air to smell as opposed to other neighborhoods in Manhattan. Morningside Heights is part of Manhattan's Upper Westside. I can easily flaunt out to my fellow peers and say to them that, "I have been to the rich and snooty Upper Westside of Manhattan!" Morningside Heights is an area that is mostly known for having one of the highest concentrations of interesting historic sites in New York City (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Before Morningside Heights got its name, it was originally called Vandewater's Heights. This region became noticeable during the American Revolution at the site of the Battle of Harlem Heights. The Battle of Harlem Heights is most important because it was Washington's first battlefield victory during the war (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). George Washington was in a scary and critical position during this battle. He was confronted by a British army over twice the size of his own. The British army totaled around 5,000 men and Washington's army totaled around 1,800 men (en.m.wikipedia.org/.../Battle_of_Harlem_...). Washington successfully managed to push the British back, restoring the confidence of his army after suffering several defeats (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
Morningside Heights was undeveloped until the year of 1816. In 1816, New York Society Hospital transferred its Bloomingdale Insane Asylum to the place presently occupied by Columbia University (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The main occupant of Vandewater's Heights was the Asylum. Morningside Park was built in the 1880s, which led the community to be recognized as Morningside Heights (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). A rapid development happened in the area of Morningside Heights when IRT train service began in 1904. During this time period, the sale of the Insane Asylum to Columbia University began to attract several educational institutions to the area, including Teacher's College, Barnard College, and Union Theological Seminary (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Morningside Heights started to experience the same economic recession that Harlem and East Harlem did in the 1950s. Consequently, Columbia University took advantage of this economic decline and began to buy a lot of the real estate in the neighborhood. Thus, making Columbia University one of Morningside Heights largest property owners (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
Today the class visited the GE building and briefly took a look at the Rockefeller Center. We learned about the significance of the architectural style that John D. Rockefeller used for constructing his buildings. After paying close attention to the intricate and eye-catching Art Deco style that many Rockefeller buildings have, we headed off to explore the MOMA (Museum of Modern Arts) exhibition. This museum has 4 main types of art styles. They are Indexical, Symbolic, Impressionist, and Expressionist. Indexical style is art pointing out to something. As if something in the piece of art work is supposed to stand out. Symbolic type of art is a representation of an object or thing. For instance, a Campbell soup can. It is symbolic because I can recognize what it is. It stands for something. Marilyn Monroe is an example of symbolic art because everyone that knows about her recognizes her for being an icon to fashion, beauty, and Hollywood. Impressionist style of art is one trying to make out what the art really is. For example, pointalism is a perfect example of impressionist style of art. Pointalism is an art work made out of colorful or colorless points forming a picture. However, it is not crystal clear. The viewer has to carefully observe what the picture is trying to represent. According to Professor Damien, "Impressionist is an outside internal world." One has to interpret the outside from one's own perspective. Expressionist style of art presents an emotion to a non tangible object. As soon as we finished seeing the Museum of Modern Arts, we headed off to Hell's Kitchen for some tasty Thai food. The name, Hell's Kitchen in reference to the section Midtown West of Manhattan is believed to have been acquired from either a neighborhood gang or the local police (www.nypl.org). By the time of the American Civil War, Hell's Kitchen was an extremely violent, impoverished slum. Lots of crimes, gang related murders, and poverty surfaced in this area. In fact, it was a gang related murder in 1959 that made local officials call the neighborhood "Clinton" (www.nypl.org). Hell's Kitchen served home to hundreds of poor working-class Irish Americans after the potato famine. We had the honor to take a moment from our busy day to visit the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. The cathedral was spectacular to look at. It had 16 chapels with lots of pretty decorations and stained glass windows. Professors Damien and Mike to the class for a walk through Columbia University campuses. I had the opportunity to see clearly the tall and fancy buildings that many students pay a minimum of $40,000 a semester. Yikes! No, Thanks! I'm very happy at Molloy, even though Molloy is still costly for me.
We ended our day by doing two historical sites at Harlem. We walked our way to see the enormous statue of Harriet Tubman. I believe this statue couldn't be placed in any other better place than Harlem. Harlem has a high population of African Americans. Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist. She made a huge impact in terms of freeing hundreds of slaves and risking her own life in return for a better future and lifestyle for her people. For 10 years she smuggled hundreds of slaves through the Underground railroad finding freedom and ownership to their lives. The African American culture has a more profound and relevant reason for Tubman's existence and memorial in their community. We made our final stop for the day in front of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building. Professor Russo told the class the Bill Clinton has his office in that same exact building!
**10 Important Facts of the Day**
1. Gentrification is occurring at a steady pace in Harlem.
2. The wife of John D. Rockefeller came up with the idea for creating the Museum of Modern Arts. This museum contains paintings and sculptures from the 1880-1940 (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
3. Hell's Kitchen has some of the most affordable places to eat in Manhattan (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
4. The GE building is best known for being the headquarters of the NBC television network. It's also one of John D. Rockefeller's many buildings (Russo & Cullinan, 2014)
5. The Rockefeller Center represents the peak of the of Art Deco architecture and style in New York City (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
6. The reason for the enormous statue of Harriet Tubman is to represent the importance of the individual.
7. The General Grant National Memorial has the tomb of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife. Grant was commander of the Union army during the Civil War and president of the United States from 1869-1877 (Russo and Cullinan, 2014).
8. The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine is currently bigger than the Saint Patrick's Cathedral.
9. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was an American politician and pastor who represented Harlem in Congress for many years.
10. The famous stoops upon the entrance of Brownstone houses were originally from the Dutch. The Dutch built stoops to have their houses above sea level.
Morningside Heights was undeveloped until the year of 1816. In 1816, New York Society Hospital transferred its Bloomingdale Insane Asylum to the place presently occupied by Columbia University (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The main occupant of Vandewater's Heights was the Asylum. Morningside Park was built in the 1880s, which led the community to be recognized as Morningside Heights (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). A rapid development happened in the area of Morningside Heights when IRT train service began in 1904. During this time period, the sale of the Insane Asylum to Columbia University began to attract several educational institutions to the area, including Teacher's College, Barnard College, and Union Theological Seminary (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Morningside Heights started to experience the same economic recession that Harlem and East Harlem did in the 1950s. Consequently, Columbia University took advantage of this economic decline and began to buy a lot of the real estate in the neighborhood. Thus, making Columbia University one of Morningside Heights largest property owners (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
Today the class visited the GE building and briefly took a look at the Rockefeller Center. We learned about the significance of the architectural style that John D. Rockefeller used for constructing his buildings. After paying close attention to the intricate and eye-catching Art Deco style that many Rockefeller buildings have, we headed off to explore the MOMA (Museum of Modern Arts) exhibition. This museum has 4 main types of art styles. They are Indexical, Symbolic, Impressionist, and Expressionist. Indexical style is art pointing out to something. As if something in the piece of art work is supposed to stand out. Symbolic type of art is a representation of an object or thing. For instance, a Campbell soup can. It is symbolic because I can recognize what it is. It stands for something. Marilyn Monroe is an example of symbolic art because everyone that knows about her recognizes her for being an icon to fashion, beauty, and Hollywood. Impressionist style of art is one trying to make out what the art really is. For example, pointalism is a perfect example of impressionist style of art. Pointalism is an art work made out of colorful or colorless points forming a picture. However, it is not crystal clear. The viewer has to carefully observe what the picture is trying to represent. According to Professor Damien, "Impressionist is an outside internal world." One has to interpret the outside from one's own perspective. Expressionist style of art presents an emotion to a non tangible object. As soon as we finished seeing the Museum of Modern Arts, we headed off to Hell's Kitchen for some tasty Thai food. The name, Hell's Kitchen in reference to the section Midtown West of Manhattan is believed to have been acquired from either a neighborhood gang or the local police (www.nypl.org). By the time of the American Civil War, Hell's Kitchen was an extremely violent, impoverished slum. Lots of crimes, gang related murders, and poverty surfaced in this area. In fact, it was a gang related murder in 1959 that made local officials call the neighborhood "Clinton" (www.nypl.org). Hell's Kitchen served home to hundreds of poor working-class Irish Americans after the potato famine. We had the honor to take a moment from our busy day to visit the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. The cathedral was spectacular to look at. It had 16 chapels with lots of pretty decorations and stained glass windows. Professors Damien and Mike to the class for a walk through Columbia University campuses. I had the opportunity to see clearly the tall and fancy buildings that many students pay a minimum of $40,000 a semester. Yikes! No, Thanks! I'm very happy at Molloy, even though Molloy is still costly for me.
We ended our day by doing two historical sites at Harlem. We walked our way to see the enormous statue of Harriet Tubman. I believe this statue couldn't be placed in any other better place than Harlem. Harlem has a high population of African Americans. Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist. She made a huge impact in terms of freeing hundreds of slaves and risking her own life in return for a better future and lifestyle for her people. For 10 years she smuggled hundreds of slaves through the Underground railroad finding freedom and ownership to their lives. The African American culture has a more profound and relevant reason for Tubman's existence and memorial in their community. We made our final stop for the day in front of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building. Professor Russo told the class the Bill Clinton has his office in that same exact building!
**10 Important Facts of the Day**
1. Gentrification is occurring at a steady pace in Harlem.
2. The wife of John D. Rockefeller came up with the idea for creating the Museum of Modern Arts. This museum contains paintings and sculptures from the 1880-1940 (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
3. Hell's Kitchen has some of the most affordable places to eat in Manhattan (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
4. The GE building is best known for being the headquarters of the NBC television network. It's also one of John D. Rockefeller's many buildings (Russo & Cullinan, 2014)
5. The Rockefeller Center represents the peak of the of Art Deco architecture and style in New York City (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
6. The reason for the enormous statue of Harriet Tubman is to represent the importance of the individual.
7. The General Grant National Memorial has the tomb of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife. Grant was commander of the Union army during the Civil War and president of the United States from 1869-1877 (Russo and Cullinan, 2014).
8. The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine is currently bigger than the Saint Patrick's Cathedral.
9. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was an American politician and pastor who represented Harlem in Congress for many years.
10. The famous stoops upon the entrance of Brownstone houses were originally from the Dutch. The Dutch built stoops to have their houses above sea level.
Lower Manhattan
Today I had the honor to visit the World Trade Center Memorial for the first time, and I discovered the beauty and tranquility that Governor's Island provides its visitors with. In addition, we had the opportunity to visit two religious sites; the Trinity Church and Saint Paul's Chapel. We started our day by going sight seeing and learning about a few of the historical buildings that provided order and structure in New York City. These buildings with impressive architectural designs are the New York City Hall, the Municipal Building, the Woolsworth Building, and the Tweed Courthouse. Each of these buildings served a purpose with unique functions and duties that stood out from one another. The Civic Center is a neighborhood that is occupied with most of the city's governmental offices (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). In this neighborhood, New York City Hall can be found. New York City Hall is home for the Offices of the Mayor and the City Council (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). New York has had a total of 3 city halls built in history. The first was built in the 17th century by the Dutch. The second city hall was made on Wall Street in 1700, which later became the Federal Hall (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). A competition was held in the year of 1802 to design the 3rd New York City Hall. A Frenchman by the name of Joseph Francoise Mangin won the competition. The 3rd New York City Hall was built and completed in 1811. It was made out of limestone, granite, and brownstone (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The Municipal building is one of the largest governmental buildings in the entire world (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). Up until 2009, 18,000 people were married each year in the chapel located on the 2nd floor of the building. The Municipal building is home of 13 municipal agencies of the City of New York (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). This building has one of the finest Gustavino tile work built on the arcaded south wing. The Woolsworth Building is one of the oldest skyscrapers in the United States. It has 57 stories and it is one of twenty tallest buildings in New York City. This neo-Gothic tower is one of New York City's most recognizable landmarks. According to Professor Russo, the Woolsworth company use to be a famous department store, as fancy and as well-known to that of Bloomingdales. Today, the Woolsworth building is home to many Elite New Yorkers who can afford luxury condominiums. The Tweed Courthouse was governed by one of New York's notoriously corrupt politicians, William "Boss" Tweed. His son was the creator for making the Tweed Courthouse into a reality. Tweed had formed an alliance with his most closest associates referred to as the "Tweed Ring." Tweed had given complete authority to the "Tweed Ring" for all of the city's spending. They, however, directed and placed large amounts of money into their own pockets. Years later, when Tweeds career was abruptly coming to an end, Tweed and his associates were claimed to have abducted $200 million. Furthermore, Tweed had pocketed $10 million alone. Today the Tweed Courthouse serves as the headquarters of the Education Department in New York City (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
I was happy to have attended to the African Burial Ground National Monument. In this exhibition I learned how the African Americans were treated less than a human being. To their landowners, they were seen as property. The African Americans served as slaves for numerous years to their owners. They devoted their entire life to them. What I found disturbing was how their landowners found them dispensible. They were easily replaceable to them. Such lack of care, appreciation, and respect was shown by their landlords that the Africans had to berry their loved ones behind their landlords back or whenever they had a moment in their busy labor day. They had to provide their deceased with a special ritual and learn how to move on with their lives. Their landlords didn't give the bereavement any time off or personal days to morn. The African Americans had to learn the very hard way that life continues and that their daily tasks were waiting for them upon their arrival. After all the suffering in history that African Americans have faced, it's the only right and moralistic thing to do. The African Americans deserve to have their ancestors rest in peace with a dignified, respectable, and memorable manner. The African American slaves played a fundamental role in the development of New York City.
**10 Important Facts of the Day**
1. The Trinity Church was burned 3 times.
2. Caroline Astor was the Queen of New York Society. She came from a wealthy merchant family around the 1830s. She held a ballroom of 400 people. If you were not in the list of 400 people, you were not part of the "In Crowd" of that level of society. She is buried in the cemetery of the Trinity Church.
3. Saint Paul's Chapel is the oldest building in continuous use in New York City. It is the oldest surviving church in Manhattan as well. (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The section of the church in memory to the 9/11 victims is very touching to look at.
4. Saint Paul's Chapel was finalized in 1776 (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). When the terrorist attacked the Twin Towers in Sept. 11, 2001, a sycamore tree in its cemetery protected the chapel by avoiding any debris from damaging the church.
5. The 9-11 Memorial is one out of 5,201 submissions for the much anticipated design of a 9-11 memorial (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
6. The attack on the World Trade Center killed 2,977 victims on Sept. 11, 2001. Thus, making it the worst terrorist attack on American land and the nation's history (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
7. Fort Jay and Castle Williams were built to control the harbor and the United States Army.
8. The reason why Governor's Island was named Governor's Island was because Governors were the only people allowed to visit and stay over in the island. 9. An estimated 20,000 free Africans and slaves were buried from 1690 to 1794 in the burial ground on the African Burial Ground National monument (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
10. The Woolsworth Building was the tallest building in the world. Until May of 1930, the Chrysler building beat Woolsworth Building.
I was happy to have attended to the African Burial Ground National Monument. In this exhibition I learned how the African Americans were treated less than a human being. To their landowners, they were seen as property. The African Americans served as slaves for numerous years to their owners. They devoted their entire life to them. What I found disturbing was how their landowners found them dispensible. They were easily replaceable to them. Such lack of care, appreciation, and respect was shown by their landlords that the Africans had to berry their loved ones behind their landlords back or whenever they had a moment in their busy labor day. They had to provide their deceased with a special ritual and learn how to move on with their lives. Their landlords didn't give the bereavement any time off or personal days to morn. The African Americans had to learn the very hard way that life continues and that their daily tasks were waiting for them upon their arrival. After all the suffering in history that African Americans have faced, it's the only right and moralistic thing to do. The African Americans deserve to have their ancestors rest in peace with a dignified, respectable, and memorable manner. The African American slaves played a fundamental role in the development of New York City.
**10 Important Facts of the Day**
1. The Trinity Church was burned 3 times.
2. Caroline Astor was the Queen of New York Society. She came from a wealthy merchant family around the 1830s. She held a ballroom of 400 people. If you were not in the list of 400 people, you were not part of the "In Crowd" of that level of society. She is buried in the cemetery of the Trinity Church.
3. Saint Paul's Chapel is the oldest building in continuous use in New York City. It is the oldest surviving church in Manhattan as well. (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). The section of the church in memory to the 9/11 victims is very touching to look at.
4. Saint Paul's Chapel was finalized in 1776 (Russo & Cullinan, 2014). When the terrorist attacked the Twin Towers in Sept. 11, 2001, a sycamore tree in its cemetery protected the chapel by avoiding any debris from damaging the church.
5. The 9-11 Memorial is one out of 5,201 submissions for the much anticipated design of a 9-11 memorial (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
6. The attack on the World Trade Center killed 2,977 victims on Sept. 11, 2001. Thus, making it the worst terrorist attack on American land and the nation's history (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
7. Fort Jay and Castle Williams were built to control the harbor and the United States Army.
8. The reason why Governor's Island was named Governor's Island was because Governors were the only people allowed to visit and stay over in the island. 9. An estimated 20,000 free Africans and slaves were buried from 1690 to 1794 in the burial ground on the African Burial Ground National monument (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
10. The Woolsworth Building was the tallest building in the world. Until May of 1930, the Chrysler building beat Woolsworth Building.
Lower East Side
**Important Facts of the Day**
1. Ruckter's Square was renamed Strout's Square. Strout's Square was named after Nathan Strouts. Nathan Strouts was one of the famous Strouts brothers who owned Abraham & Strouts and Macy's.
2. Nathan Strouts was historically famous for introducing Pasteurized Milk. He also came up with the idea for having children public libraries. This idea was considered a radical idea for the 1890's.
3. One of the owners of Macy's died on the Titanic.
4. The Jewish Forward building is the largest Jewish Newspaper in the world. It has over 250,000 subscribers. For years and years the Jewish newspaper has been published and assembled there.
5. The Sewer Branch Library was the most active and busiest library for years and years in the entire system of New York City. It only got eusurped in the last 15 years by the library in Flushing because of the huge Asian population.
6. The Sewer Park was advocated for by Lillian Wald and was the 1st public park in NYC in 1897.
7. Gramacy Park is one of only two private parks in the whole city.
8. Central Park was not New York City's first public park because it was created by the state, not the city.
9. Henry Street Settlement became a historical place for the evolution of Nursing. Lillian Wald was a young nurse who provided decent health care to residents of New York's Lower East Side. She was the founder of the Henry Street Settlement and activist in providing Visiting Nurse Services. This is how the idea of visiting nurse services came about in the Nursing profession.
10. The old Educational Alliance has had a long history of famous people coming through there. Robert Sarnoff was famous for bringing radio station and radio companies to America. He learned English there. Arthur Murray is a famous dance instructor. He learned to dance there. Elanore Roosevelt taught in the old educational alliance. Marc Twain lectured here as well.
11. The first tenements in the country were in New York City around 1833. They were located in East 12th Street, where it meets the river. By 1867, they passed the very first tenement law. The law was, if you have 20 people living in a building, you have to provide them with running water and you have to provide them with an escape ladder in case there's a fire.
12. In recent years, Chinatown has grown in abundance and has stretched as far as taking over many parts of what was formerly Little Italy and the Lower East Side. What was once a small seven blocks of Chinatown has turned into a stretching 55 block area (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
13. The Chinese Restaurant that Professors Damien and Mike took the class to was very delicious.
1. Ruckter's Square was renamed Strout's Square. Strout's Square was named after Nathan Strouts. Nathan Strouts was one of the famous Strouts brothers who owned Abraham & Strouts and Macy's.
2. Nathan Strouts was historically famous for introducing Pasteurized Milk. He also came up with the idea for having children public libraries. This idea was considered a radical idea for the 1890's.
3. One of the owners of Macy's died on the Titanic.
4. The Jewish Forward building is the largest Jewish Newspaper in the world. It has over 250,000 subscribers. For years and years the Jewish newspaper has been published and assembled there.
5. The Sewer Branch Library was the most active and busiest library for years and years in the entire system of New York City. It only got eusurped in the last 15 years by the library in Flushing because of the huge Asian population.
6. The Sewer Park was advocated for by Lillian Wald and was the 1st public park in NYC in 1897.
7. Gramacy Park is one of only two private parks in the whole city.
8. Central Park was not New York City's first public park because it was created by the state, not the city.
9. Henry Street Settlement became a historical place for the evolution of Nursing. Lillian Wald was a young nurse who provided decent health care to residents of New York's Lower East Side. She was the founder of the Henry Street Settlement and activist in providing Visiting Nurse Services. This is how the idea of visiting nurse services came about in the Nursing profession.
10. The old Educational Alliance has had a long history of famous people coming through there. Robert Sarnoff was famous for bringing radio station and radio companies to America. He learned English there. Arthur Murray is a famous dance instructor. He learned to dance there. Elanore Roosevelt taught in the old educational alliance. Marc Twain lectured here as well.
11. The first tenements in the country were in New York City around 1833. They were located in East 12th Street, where it meets the river. By 1867, they passed the very first tenement law. The law was, if you have 20 people living in a building, you have to provide them with running water and you have to provide them with an escape ladder in case there's a fire.
12. In recent years, Chinatown has grown in abundance and has stretched as far as taking over many parts of what was formerly Little Italy and the Lower East Side. What was once a small seven blocks of Chinatown has turned into a stretching 55 block area (Russo & Cullinan, 2014).
13. The Chinese Restaurant that Professors Damien and Mike took the class to was very delicious.
Impressions of New York
New York Gotham Expedition in Molloy was truly an honor and a privilege for me to take. The fact that Molloy allows their students to choose their last liberal arts elective is very meaningful because it makes a difference to the student. This class, by far, has been one of the best and most interesting course's that I have taken throughout my entire Molloy career. It is one of my favorite classes that Molloy has offered to its students. New York Gotham Expedition is an incredibly awesome class and a delightful experience. I would highly recommend it to any student at Molloy that likes and enjoys trips to New York City. Not only were the trips to New York City fun, but they were very educational and informative. As a New Yorker myself, I had no idea how much history we have in New York City. It's really sad to know that there are plenty of people out there that live in New York, and all they know is Long Island. It is even more sad to know that many New Yorkers, like myself, don't even know what subway lines to take and lack knowledge knowing the directions and destinations that different subways take you to. It's as if people live in a bubble. That is exactly how I felt before taking this course. As a New Yorker, it's ashame not to know the history behind New York City. NYC is more than just the beautiful billboards and the colorful lights of Times Square. There is A WHOLE LOT more to New York City. I knew very little or nothing at all about the sites we learned and explored in class. To have New York City only an hour away from my home, is priceless. To have access to New York City, whenever my little heart desires, is called being lucky. To form part of New York and call New York my home, is something to be really proud of. Professor Mike Russo builds your adrenaline and gets you excited to start each and every class session. He is very knowledgeable and a fun instructor to have. I have a much different impression on New York City. I have so much more respect. The history from when the Europeans settled in Manhattan, to the creation of skyscrapers, to the subway system that saved New York City from the over crowdedness of immigrants, to the beauty of the nature and serenity of Central Park, and to the magnificent view of New York City skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge or Governor's Island. I always knew that New York was very diverse and multicultural. But after taking this class, I now know the reason why New York City is called the Melting Pot. Every neighborhood of Manhattan resides a different ethnic group. Each borough of New York City has a history and a story behind it. New York City is made up of different neighborhoods that carry their own ethnic flavor. For instance, Spanish Harlem has a Latin flavor making it authentic from any other place. Likewise, Harlem has a distinctive flavor rich in African American culture sharing history, music, and black entertainment. The same applies for China town. The same goes for economic and social classes. We see the rich and wealthy reside in specific places of Manhattan. We see the less fortunate reside in other neighborhoods further away from Manhattan. But in the end, we form a whole city with different stories, different ethnic backgrounds, different belief systems, different customs and traditions, different economic and social classes that form ONE diverse, multicultural, capitalistic, and democratic city; the one and only New York City!