With the number of times that I’ve flown into New York City, I have spent very scant time doing anything there. The first time I made it into the city was in 1994 when the Sons of the Desert Convetion was held in Tareytown, on the far northern outskirts of the city. My family and my friend John Poe took a train into Grand Central and walked around, doing little else but gawking. My friend Peter guided me to Yankee Stadium once and to Manhattan another time during a pair of my Chiller excursions, but we did little but eat at the Hard Rock Cafes in each location. This is all my way of saying that there was lots and lots and lots of stuff that I needed to see.
Unfortunately, neither Bob nor I had the time before the trip to work out a specific itinerary for trip, only having a loose idea of how we’d approach the two weeks that we spent in the state, the first week primarily in Manhattan in a few of the other five burroughs around the city. By the end of the first day, I knew that this trip would only be Part One of my adventures in New York City. It would be imperitive that I go back.
The trip began on Sunday, May 26, 2013. The Manhattan segment of the trip was one that had been arranged by the A.C.T. tour group (the same one that I traveled to Guatamala and London with), but this time I arranged my own flight and then just stayed in the room with Bob. I had found cheaper one-way flight leaving from Cincinnati, so that morning I left home, kissed Carolyn goodbye a week, and got to my Mom’s by 9am. We took my car to the Cincy airport where I caught my first flight at noon, where I sat next to a black guy who spread his legs to far. However, he did offer me a Life Saver and I accepted.
I arrived at my layover in Charlotte, North Carolina at 1:23 for my layover and Burger King lunch until 2:45. From there the next plane went to Newark, New Jersey. There was a gigantic black lady by the window, then a smaller black lady in the middle, then me. The smaller lady eventually got up and moved, leaving an empty seat with ample leg spillover in the middle, but that was okay. I got to Newark at 4:41. Bob and the gang from L.A. weren’t scheduled to arrive for about an hour, so I waited at the baggage claim area and watched some Burns and Allen and The New Adventures of Old Christine on my laptop until they showed up.
We then all caught a shuttle that took us from the airport to our hotel in Manhattan via The Lincoln Tunnel. We got to the Paramount Hotel on 46th Street (on the north end of Times Square and the Theatre District) at around 7:25. It was a very nice hotel with a swinging lobby and pretty livable rooms with complimentary fruit. That was nice. We checked in and toted our stuff to our room and then Bob and I immediately set out to experience our first NYC attraction…food.
The Paramout Hotel on 46th Street where we stayed
The swanky lobby
A few blocks from our hotel was Gazala’s Place, which had been featured on the International Eats episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Their specialty was Israeli cuisine and I went with the goat cheese and sun-dried tomato boureka served with a salad and hummus. It was interesting and pretty tasty, yet dry. Bob ordered the bare minimum as he wasn’t thrilled with the cuisine. I thought we were lucky to get a seat at all in the closet-sized place, without having a reservation.
DD&D #63: Gazala’s Place in New York, New York
A mighty fine and flaky boureka and some swell hummus
Bob and I enjoy the cuisine, one of us more than the other
After we ate, we walked down to the Port Authority Bus Terminal to check out the TV Land statue of Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners. These statues are on my bucket list, in case you were unaware. We then walked back to the hotel, stopping so Bob could browse the cheap ties at one of the many shops to carry them, and so Bob could eat a more substatial meal of pizza. Times Square was extremely crowded for a Sunday night and we deduced that this was because it was Memorial Day weekend.
TV Land statue of Ralph Kramden at the Port Authority bus terminal
Bob takes Manhattan
On the streets of New York City
Bob’s real dinner
The sights and sounds of Times Square
We got back to our room at around 10pm and started to plan our next day’s activities. That was when I knew that I would need to come back to New York City no matter what. It seems that the Statue of Liberty had been closed since Hurricane had hit it and the area had sustained damage in October of last year. It will not be open again until the 4th of July. Sigh.
But the next morning – Monday/Memorial Day – we headed to that area of the city anyway. We started at around 8:30 and walked through Times Square to the subway station on 42nd Street and purchased subway passes that were good for 7-days. This was a steal at $30. Our first subway ride took us to Wall Street and the Financial District in lower Manhattan. It was here that we would see the National September 11 Memorial & Museum – on Memorial Day no less where we ironically arrived at 9:11. We had about a 50 minute before it opened, but we decided to stick it out to make sure we got in pretty quickly.
The statue of George M. Cohan, the man who stole Broadway, in Times Square
Okay, one more Times Square shot…just because. It was actually rather quiet at 8:30am
This is where all those people stand outside the Good Morning America window
The New York City Police Department station in Times Square
Security at the memorial is thick, and one cannot simply just ‘see’ the Memorial without jumping through lots of hoops including a very long line (longer if you didn’t already have a ticket), a plea for a donation, airport-like security, and massive crowds. But it was so worth it. The memorial is one of the most amazing and poignant I’ve ever seen. It is basically two giant pools with water violently falling into a pool of stillness and then disappearing down an abyss – with obvious symbolism in its structure. Surrounding the pools are barriers displaying the names of each of the 2977 victims of the 9/11 Terrorist attacks as well as the 6 who were killed in a terrorist bombing at the site in 1993. There is also a building onsite that will serve as a museum, but it is not yet open. Bob and I visited both pools, and also utilized the computer look-up to find the name of David Angell, a writer/producer who has worked on Cheers, Frasier, and Wings, and had been killed on the plane that crashed into the North Tower. After stopping in the gift shop, we left the memorial site around 11am.
Entering the 9/11 Memorial on Memorial Day
The South Pool
With the new World Trade Center behind me from the South Pool
The North Pool
Pointing out the name of David Angell
It could have been any of us…
With some Marines at the Memorial site
Next we headed over to the Trinity Churchyard and the cemetery, where there were a few important interments. The first was probably the most important: Alexander Hamilton. Not only a Founding Father, the first Secretary of the Treasury, victim of a gunshot adminstered by Vice President Aaron Burr, and the face on the U.S. ten-dollar bill, but a signer of the United States Constitution as well. Also in the churchyard are Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat; Hugh Williamson, signer of the United States Constitution on behalf of North Carolina (interred into the family grave of his son-in-law); and Francis Lewis, signer of the Declaration of Independence on behalf of New York. Incidentally, Trinity Churchyard was the original burial site of U.S. Constitution signer William Livingston, but he has been relocated to Brooklyn. More on him later…
The grave of U.S. Constitution signer Alexander Hamilton
With industrialist Robert Fulton
The Apthorp family vault, in which U.S. Constitution signer Hugh Williamson is buried
The marker for Declaration of Independence signer Francis Lewis, indicating that he is buried in the cemetery
Inside the Trinity Church
Walking by the New York Stock Exhange (now heavily and understandably guarded), we made our way to the location of Federal Hall, the site where George Washington was first sworn into office as our first President. It has been New York City’s city hall and the the first United States Capitol, at which time it served as the inauguration site. Sadly, it was demolished in 1812, but standing on the site is the Federal Hall National Memorial – which really looks nothing like the original building. More details of this site can be found in the George Washington posting here.
The heavily guarded New York Stock Exchange
At Federal Hall
One of these four doesn’t belong here…
It was a little after noon by this point, so not only was it time to press on northward, but it was time to grab a couple of hot dogs from a street vendor, which I did capably. We caught the nearest subway, and made our way to Greenwich Village. Although primarily a residential area of Manhattan, I was interested in its role in pop culture, and more specifically locations used in a trio of sitcoms.
The obligatory New York hot dog photo
The obligatory subway station photo
The obligatory subway photo. This ride was only for one stop and when we got off, Bob told the crowd, “he just needed the picture.”
It took a bit of walking, more than Bob would have liked for sure, but we managed to locate the building that was used as apartment in Friends, the home of the Huxtables used in The Cosby Show, and Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment in Sex and the City. The first one was the easiest and naturally there was a tour group gawking at that one. There was also New York’s ‘skinniest house’ nearby, but I forgot about it until we had already passed it. The Cosby Show was the most difficult to find as most of the addesses on the internet are incorrect. The spot where it ‘should’ have been, it simply wasn’t. Eventually I located it at the same number, but a different street. I had written down the address of the Sex house, but hadn’t intended on scoping it out – until I noticed that the houses in the area looked very much like it, and realized that it was right on our way. The owner knew that there would be gawkers too, and requested donation for homeless animals. Another tourist posing as the home owner jokingly told me that photos weren’t allowed and before I realized that she wasn’t the owner, I said, “Sorry, too bad” and snapped away.
The Friends apartment…home of Joey and Chandler and Rachel and Monica
The Cosby Show dwelling…under some major construction
Carrie Bradshaw’s home in Sex and the City
We then hiked back to the subway station and took one back to 42nd Street, then stopped at one of the famous Pizza by the Slice eateries and had a slice. It was a swell chicken pizza and it was a even sweller deal. Bob and I then walked to four different theaters in the district to pick up our tickets for the four Broadway shows that we planned to see that week. We went back to our room for about 90 minutes to rest and let Bob get his power nap.
There are plenty of interesting people in Times Square… like these New York City cops…
…and this person apparently
The power nap in progress
At around 6pm, we met up in the lobby with a couple named Sergio and Rosa, and we all caught a subway to Citifield located in Flushing Meadow-Carona Park in Queens. This had been the home of the New York Mets since 2009, replacing the immensely popular Shea Stadium. We bought our tickets to the game and then scoped out the location in the parking lot where Shea Stadium’s home plate used to be located. The game that night was a hometown rivalry between the Yankees and the Mets. Bob got his traditional handicap seat, but I soon moved over to one of the cushy folding chairs when those ticket holders didn’t show up. The Pepsi and hot dog, while quite good, cost $12.50.
At the location of home plate where Shea Stadium stood
Bob with Sergio and Rosa
Citifield
Bob and me in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda in Citifield
Me and the scoreboard from our seats
Some Monday night baseball action
A nice hot dog and soda from our seats
Bob and I left during the Seventh Inning Stretch, with the Yankees up 1-0, but while were were in the restroom on the way out, the Mets hit a home run and tied the game. We left anyway, and consequently missed the Mets rally to a 2-1 victory.
You might assume that the day was over, but after taking the subway back to Times Square, we stopped off for a 10:00pm late night dinner at Planet Hollywood. After enjoying a fair share of New York pizza and hot dogs, I ate a bit healthier with this meal, getting the turkey club and side of fruit. We arrived back at our room at about 11:30.
Back on 42nd Street, Bob waits for the escalator to start working
Planet Hollywood, New York City
More swell eats with my pal
One of Tom Hanks’ outfits from Forrest Gump
Straightjacket from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Saxaphone used by Robert De Niro in New York, New York
I guess my shirt didn’t really work well here
It has been an insanely productive day, and I was starting to get in the New York groove. I’d become even more accustomed to getting around via subway – which was really quite simple – before the weekend was thought. I missed my girl and I missed being at Mom’s Memorial Day picnic, but I was really digging New York City.
New York City will continue…
Bypass the Manhattan portion and jump to the road trip…
Bypass the trip and continue with 2013…
It looks like the two of you had a great vacation to NYC. The photo captions had me laughing, as usual!
Dave Chasteen
July 7th, 2013