Considering our late night the night before, Bob and I managed to get up relatively early, get ready and head out for our second day in New York City, on the morning of Tuesday, May 28, 2013. Readers of this blog will already have some idea of the types of things that were on our radars for the day. Needless to say there are lots and lots of things to do in New York City, but most of the things I was focusing on during this first visit had to do with either the entertainment industry or Presidential/historical sites. And a little bit of sports I suppose. It was just a bit after 8am as we began our day, heading from our hotel on 46th street toward the subway stop on 42nd street, Bob opting to stop at McDonalds for a quick breakfast on the way.
Our train took us to 72nd street, which was about midway up the west side of Central Park. When we got off, we came up onto the street to see a giant building above us. This building was The Dakota, the apartment complex of the rich and famous that housed such notables as Judy Garland, Lillian Gish, Leonard Bernstein, Boris Karloff, and most infamously John Lennon. Infamous because not only was it his home, it was the site of his murder on December 8, 1980. Obviously we weren’t able to go inside, or even inside the front gates, but the friendly doorman gave us the details and let us take pictures. Lennon was actually shot just inside the gate – which at the time did not have a gate. I can still remember hearing about this event the next day as a boy of nine, so being here was especially poignant.
In front of the majestic Dakota
It was inside those gates that John Lennon was shot
Bob and me at the Dakota
Across the street from The Dakota is Central Park, and a section of it where he used to often walk was dedicated to the memory of John Lennon in 1985. The area is called Strawberry Fields and it includes many trees donated from countries around the world and a giant Imagine mosaic donated by Naples, Italy. Bob and I had to dodge the massive tour groups which seemed to be on an endless parade through the area, just to get our photos with the mosaic.
Strawberry Fields… forever… at Central Park
The famous Imagine mosaic
It only took us about fifteen minutes to see all of this, and then we headed off to our next iconic location: Tom’s Restaurant, located on Broadway. You might think that this was in the heart of the city, but Broadway runs nearly the entire length of the island, and this was not easy to get to. It required a train ride and quite a lengthy walk, which took over a half-hour altogether. Why the fuss to get here? You’ll understand just as soon as you see the photos, which shows the diner exterior that was used throughout the entire run of one of my all-time favorite sitcoms, Seinfeld. Being completests, Bob and I not only had to see it, but eat in it. So I ordered the tasty corned beef hash and eggs.
The Seinfeld diner…not quite as recognizable when just a small part of a much larger building
Unmistakable
It was a nice breakfast, but the interior looked nothing like the show of course. The diner dead feature plenty of photos and news articles about Seinfeld though. Before we left, I got up to use the restroom and Bob left the table, not realizing that I had left all of our maps and information there. By the time I caught up with Bob and realized he didn’t have the stuff, the waitress had thrown them in the trash and doused them with coffee. So for the rest of the trip, I carried around a brown stained map.
The breakfast about nothing
The next stop was in walking distance, but Bob opted to hire a taxi to take us over the tomb of President Ulysses S. Grant. Unfortunately, we were not able to answer the age-old question of “who is buried in Grant’s tomb,” as remarkably, the tomb was CLOSED on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This infuriated both of us, but me especially since I had never seen it and needed to add it to my Presidential grave visits. I posed for photos outside and even rebelliously jumped the barrier to get closer to the monument – but I still knew that this location would require a re-visit. Fortunately, one came sooner rather than later. (More Grant details can be seen in his official posting here.)
As close as I could get to Grant’s tomb without circumventing the fencing
Locked out of yet another landmark, this being the visitor center
As close as I could get to the tomb after circumventing the fence
By the time we finished at Grant’s Tomb, we had a little over an hour to work our way to the next subway station and catch a series of trains that would lead us into The Bronx for a tour that we had scheduled of the new Yankee Stadium. Sadly, this was not the original Yankee Stadium that had opened in 1923. That one had given its final tour in November of 2008. This new one had opened up in April of 2009. When we got there, we found that it was now raining once we exited the subway stop. Then I got calls from Stephen telling me that Ashleigh had broken up with him. When it rains, it pours. Their relationship would eventually see reconciliation, but the rain just got worse.
A lot of it replicated the look of the original (which I never got to see), but of course it was much larger. The tour hosted by Carlos wasn’t all that terribly extensive, focusing mostly on the New York Yankees Museum, the Yankees Monument Park, and then brief stops in the Press Box and Yankee dugout. The tour lasted about an hour and then they rushed us out.
A Yankee welcomes me to the stadium
Displays in the Yankee museum
World Series rings from the Yankees’ victories
The Yankees Commissioner’s Trophies from 1977 and 1978, hot on the heels of the Big Red Machine
Displays dedicated to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig…and our tour guide Carlos
Massive array of autographed baseballs. No one could tell us how many there were.
The autographed balls simulate the trajectory of the last ball that Don Larsen pitched for the Yankess in the only perfect World Series game
Entering the outdoor Monument Park area of the ballpark
With plaques honoring Mickey Mantle, George Steinbrenner, and Joe DiMaggio
Fun in the Pressbox
With two of the seats from the original Yankee Stadium, which apparently can be bought
Two Yankees in the dugout
Looking out from the dugout
Rushed through taking just one more picture…in the rain
Since we were right there anyway, we popped into the Hard Rock Cafe, built into Yankee Stadium. This was not a new Hard Rock for me, as I had visited there with my friends Peter and Bill in October of 2010. I wasn’t very hungry either, so I just went for the Twisted Mac & Cheese appetizer. It was still raining when we left there around 2pm.
Another visit to the Yankee Stadium Hard Rock Cafe
That same old giant Yankee guitar
The Mac & Cheese would suffice for this visit
Our luck had run thin with the Presidential site earlier in the day, and the our plans to visit the Teddy Roosevelt birthplace and some Chester A. Arthur locations proved to be equally all wet… literally. We went as far as taking the subway to the Gramercy Park area, but before we could even exit the subway station, I called it off. The rain was coming down, I had no umbrella, and it was quite cold – so we hopped right back on the subway and we headed back to 42nd Street. I bought an umbrella along the way, but it just simply was not a good day to be out and about. We made one stop at a theatre to pick up our last show tickets for the week.
The next two hours or so were spent in our hotel room at the Paramount. I mostly played on the computer while Bob napped. By the time we were ready to head out again, the rain had slowed up a bit. Our play for the evening was The Trip to Bountiful at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, starring Cicely Tyson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat, and Condola Rashad. But before we had to be at the theatre, we had some dinner at Sardi’s.
Sardi’s has been a fixture in the Theatre District of Times Square since it opened in 1927. With the walls adorned with autographed celebrity caricatures, it is basically New York City’s version of the Brown Derby. It is very common to spot celebs eating out. We didn’t…but we thought we might have. There was a lady a couple of tables over who resembled Ann Morgan Guilbert, enough so that I arranged to bump into her and ask her if she was in fact who we thought she might be. This would have been a spectacular encounter had it been her. But she said that she wasn’t. So rats.
In any case, the food was outstanding. I enjoyed the Cannelloni au Gratin, which was beef and pork that was flavored with Porcini mushrooms and rolled in a French Crepe with Supreme Sauce.
Ready to dig into a fine meal at Sardi’s
I really enjoyed the play and we had very good seats on the floor. It was especially cool to see the performance of Cicely Tyson, who just 12 days later would be awarded the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. The show itself had been nominated for Best Revival of a Play but did not win.
A rainy night and A Trip to Bountiful
After the show, Bob and I naturally waited with other fans to see if we could get autographs and photos of the cats members. Sadly, only two of them came out. The first was Condola Rashād, daughter of Ahmad and Phylicia Rashād, the latter of whom I also met following her performance in a play. Condola had begun her within the last five years and had already been nominated for a Tony. She was very sweet and very willing to sign autographs and pose for pictures, before departing the the theatre on foot.
With the lovely Condola Rashād
The next and final actor to come out was Tom Wopat of Dukes of Hazzard fame, whom I had just recently met just seven months earlier at a Chiller Theatre show. He too was friendly and completely willing to sign and pose before he mounted the bicycle that he was carrying and pedaled off into Manhattan. You can check out both of my encounters with Tom Wopat here.
Just a couple of good ol’ boys
Bob and I continued to wait around, even after someone had come outside to tell us that all of the performers had left. It was a bummer not to meet any of the other three principal actors in the show. We sullenly made our way back to our hotel, which was located directly across the street from the Imperial Theatre where the show Nice Work if You Can Get It had just let out. As we approached, we saw cameras flashing and sped up to see who had come out. Turns out it was Matthew Broderick, who was high on my list of performers to meet. And so we did – which you can read more about here.
Buzzing off that last encounter, but a little annoyed that I hadn’t brought my Ferris Bueller photo with me, I hit the sack around 11pm. There’d be more shows – and more opportunities to get an autograph from Matthew Broderick the next day.
New York City 2013 will continue…
What is the, “Big Red Machine?”
Also, regarding the Yankee Stadium Hard Rock Cafe, I remember that when we went with Bill in October 2010, you called or texted Bob who said it was “The Worst Hard Rock in the World” — that made a big impression on me, and frankly, I’m surprised that you went back, let alone with him!
Peter
September 5th, 2013
Well the food’s the same no matter which Hard Rock you go to. I guess he was saying that it was not only the smallest, but sorely lacking in the rock memorabilia department. Frankly, having been to 45 of them, so far I have to concur.
“The Big Red Machine” is the nickname given to the Cincinnati Reds during the early 1970’s. They won the World Series for two years in a row prior to the Yankees. I guess it’s a little more of a hometown thing, and probably slightly before our time.
Brad
September 5th, 2013
From Cincinnati.com website:
The Cincinnati Reds baseball team that dominated the National League from 1970 to 1976 is recognized as among the best in baseball history. Over that span, the team won five National League Western Division titles, four National League pennants, and two World Series titles. The team’s combined record from 1970-1976 was 683 wins and 443 losses, an average of nearly 98 wins per season.
The Big Red Machine, as that team is known, was skippered by Sparky Anderson and included Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez, as well as Pete Rose, Dave Concepción, George Foster, César Gerónimo, and Ken Griffey Sr.
Dad
September 8th, 2013