Final Journal Entry

I had a prior class that I had to spend time exploring few sites in NYC by myself.  It was interesting and flexible time wise.  But I ended up spending too much time with some of the visits because I did not know what to focus and how much information to gather from visiting the sites.  I was excited signing up for this class.  I knew it will be guided tours and I would have professors and other students to discuss what to focus on the visits. 

The experience of this class was wonderful.  If it was not because of this class, I would have never visited MOMA, 5 Pointz, the Strawberry Field, the Poets House, and more.  I loved the amount of walk we did.  The research and reading for the papers and journal entries enhenced my knowledge about NYC.  A lot times, when we have friends and relatives come to New York, they only know places like Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, 5th Avenue for shopping, etc.  Actually, I probably knew less about NYC than the tourists.  It's a shame living in New York City and not knowing much about the city.  This class helped me a lot to know the history and the neighborhood culture of the city.  It also showed me how much I can do and learn about the city.  I will certainly explore more in the city in the future, either by myself, with family, or guiding visitors. 

My only suggestion for this class is the safety walking in the city.  I joke about following the group.  I exaggerate the fact by saying I either get lost or get hit by a car crossing streets to catch up with the class.  Walking fast is good, but we have to stop periodically for everyone to catch up since we are such a large group.  I indeed got lost a few times and I had to call the professor to catch up with the class.  I was calm because I know how to get around in the city.  If it was someone who has never been in the city by her/himself, it will be terrifying and scary. 

Overall, I give this class an 'A' for the experience I had.  We did more than we thought we could.  For example, everyone walked through Brooklyn Bridge in the heat wave after a long day.  Everyone had a good time walking, talking, and have fun together.  I feel the sense of completion and success after the class is over.  I will miss the group.  Thank you so much for the experience!

Journal Day #7



Federal Hall National Museum



NY Stock Exchange

 Wall Street was our first tour of the day.  We walked through the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall National Memorial.  New York Stock Exchange is he largest exchange in dollar value in the world.  Because of this, New York is the preeminent city of the capital world (BG 68).  The Federal Hall National Memorial is the place where George Washington took his inauguration on April 30, 1789 as the first president of the United States (BG 69).  The building was then served as home to the first Congress, the Supreme Court and Executive Branch Office (http://www.nps.gov/).  The building was demolished in 1812 after the capital was moved to philadelphia in 1790.  The current structure was built in 1842 as a Customs House.  Later it became the US Sub-treasury in 1862 until the Federal Bank replaced the Sub-treasury in 1920 (http://www.nps.gov/).   The metal statue standing in front of the building is George Washington at the moment of his inauguration (BG 70). 

 

Trinity Church






the Trinity Root



The Trinity Church is only a block away from the Federal Hall.  The church has a very interesting sculpture sitting in the right side church yard, called the Trinity Root.  It is in replacement of the giant, nearly a century old sygamore tree in St. Paul's Chapel which was knocked over by collapsing WTC debries during the attack.  Sculptor Steve Tobin installed this sculpture to metaphor for our connectedness and our strength through this Remnant of the Sycamore Roots (info. obtained from the poster by the sculpture).  The church was one of the first Gotic revival churches in the city as well as in the nation.  The church's entrance doors are featured with decorative bronze sculptures of biblical scenes.  The church was once the wealthiest parish in the neighborhood.  It is now probably the most famous house in New York for worship due to its dramatic setting.  The church's beautiful 2-acre graveyard is the welcome spot of green for the Financial District (BG 66).   



St. Paul's Chapel

WTC construction site



We walked through WTC sites where the new buildings are under construction and then we arrived at St. Paul's Chapel.   This is Manhattan's only remaining colonial church  built in 1766 (BG 77).   After the WTC attack, it served as a place for workers at Ground Zero and a temporary memorial for visitors who attached messages and memorials tot he fence in front of the church (BG 77).  The church still has a lot of messages from the visitors and pictures of the 9/11 attack victims. There are also pictures to show memorials on the fence after the attack. 



Tom & Jerry's Bar

 Before lunch, we stopped in Tom and Jerry's bar for a drink and listened to the bar culture presented by the bartender at the bar.  It was fascinating to hear bar culture from an experienced bartender.  It is sure not a easy job that everyone can handle.  After the bar, we had lunch in Congee Village in Chinatown.  The food tasted good but not challenging.  I guess we have to consider the consumers of all different cultural background and choose the most safe and popular food.   



Museum at Eldrige Street

 We had a guided tour in Chinatown after lunch.The guide did a good job introducing the neighborhood history to us.  I am a little disappointed that he did not mention much about the Chinatown history.  He talked about the street cleaning, the Dumb Bell Tenement buildings in revolution of the regular Tenement building condition, S. Jarmvlowsky's Bank for immigrants, the Museum at Eldrige Street, and the Doyer Street was called the Bloody Angle due to the gangster shootings, and the 5-points where the buildings were built on top of a huge spring, etc. 



S. Jarmvlowsky's Bank

 Chinatown began its story in the mid-18th century when the Chinese traders and sailors came to the US.  These Chinese population only had small numbers stayed and married in NY.  Chinese arrived in large numbers in the 1840s - 1850s during the gold rush and the Central Pacific Railroad construction (http://www.ny.com/).  At the end of gold rush and completion of the railroad, Chinese went into cheap labor industries.  Mob violence and discrimination started by the white laborers fearing Chinese taking over the jobs.  This drove Chinese into larger cities such as New York.  in 1880, some Chinese immigrants settled in Five Points doing hand laundries (http://www.ny.com/).  

In the beginning, Chinese immigrants clumped together for safety reasons.  It continued to grow through the end of 19th century. And it grew rapidly in mid-20th century when the immigrants quota was raised in 1965 (BG 108).  Most Chinese immigrants came from Mainland China at that time.  They bought buildings with cash and turned them into garment factories and office buildings.  The rent in Chinatown are some of the highest in the city despite most of the buildings are tenements.  There is a saying about expensive Chinatown: "every inch of land worths an inch of gold."  The Chinatown in NYC lower eastside became the largest Chinatown in the US and the largest concentration of Chinese in the western hemisphere (http://www.ny.com/). 



Street view of Chinatown



Chinatown is largely self-supporting, with internal structures of governing associations and businesses which supplies jobs, economic aid, social services and protection.  While many other ethnic groups are shrinking in Manhattan, Chinatown surges with energy and it is expanding into the Lower Eastside and northard into Little Italy (BG 107).  The East end of Canal Street, the second largest jewelry district, formerly opened by the Jews fleeting from Nazi Germany, are now mostly owned by Asians (BG 109).  Visitors from all over the world come to Chinatown for food, knockoff designer bags, and other merchandise.  It is a great place for all the wonderful goods with bargain prices.  However, Chinatown's housing and business space is substandard. It supports underground economy including sweatshop labor in restaurants and garment factories, counterfeiting trademark handbags, and smuggling of illegal immigrants (BG 108).

Journal Day #6



Custom House Lobby

 Our journey started in Battery Park City today.  We could see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from South Ferry.  However, it was drizzling and the sky was foggy.  We did not have a clear view of the beautiful sites.  We first went to the Former US Custom House which was built in 1907. It is now the National Museum of the American Indian.  We only toured the main lobby.  The great rotunda sits in the center of the lobby.  The ceiling was constructed of tiles and plaster designed by Rafael Guastavino, whose work also shows up in the St. John the Devine Cathedral, the Registry Room of Ellis Island, and the Grand Central Station (BG 43).  The murals below the dome were painted by Reginald Marsh, showing the early explorers and ocean liner entering New York Harbor (BG 43).



Skyscraper Museum Exhibits



We did not stay to check out the American Indian Museum but moved on to the newly opened Museum of Skyscrapers nearby.  This museum showed some of the skyscrapers in the world by models and pictures with panels of description and facts.  It also showed different factory models from the US and other countries.  From modern factories and contemporary factories, to the future factories, it talked about cleaner and greener industries for the benefit of the entire neighborhoods and towns.  The museum has its educational contents, but it does not contain enough exhibits and information to be an attractive and worth-visiting museum. 

We then went into the World Financial Center.  The main lobby is the spectacular Winter Garden.  It's decorated by palm trees with benches under them, and marble stairs leading to a round platform where you can see through the front round galss window, overlooking the WTC site.  The site looks so familier to me. I realized that I came here once on my cousin's wedding more than 10 years ago.  The place looked almost the same to me.  I wondered how much damage it suffered from the 9.11. attack since it is so close to the WTC.  I found out from the Blue Guide that the glass dome windows were broken from the debries of the twin tower.  The palm trees which were brought from the Sonoran desert could not survive the cold rain throught the cracked window and died.  It only took about a year, the building was reopened in September 2002.  The palm trees were replaced, and the marble floor and steps were repaired (BG 61).  It looks like nothing had ever happened to it.  Great job!

I love the Poets House on River Terrance.  It is a great place to have a peace of yourself, and emersing yourself in poems of any kind you like.  The staff were very inviting and friendly.  We were showed to the upcoming events room, the children's room, and the library where we sat down and read some poetry books on our own.  The house has collections of 50,000 volumes of poetry.  The Reed Foundation Library is the largest and most comprehensive poetry collection in the country in open stacks available to the public (poetshouse.org).  At this place, poets and poetry lovers can listen to poetry on tape, watch on video, or read and write poetry at their own pace.  There is also a copy machine available if one wants to take a poem to go.  I got a poem for this class after the visit to the Poetry House:



Pipe Waterfall in Chelsea Market



On journeys through the city we start,

We dwelled in every neighborhood and historical site,

We walked through the Brooklyn Bridge,

We passed through Chelsea and Battery Park,

We make trials of ourselves and invite others to join us,

We walked in the heat, in the rain,

and we say to ourselves,

fear not, be challenging, be enthusiastic,

be the explorers, be the walkers,

We willing learners of all, teachers of all, and lovers of all.

 

Our lunch was settled in Chelsea market.  I had seafood nd it was delicious!  Chelsea Market was opened by the former Nabisco factory in 1995 (BG 186).  The ground floor is filled with high-quality food shops, also store that sell wine, flowers, and kitchenware.  There is a waterfall made of a metal pipe with cool lighting and brick work around it.  This art piece blends in nicely with the market setup. 



The High Line Park

After lunch, we took a walk on the high line starting from 14th Street.  I never knew such a beautiful park existed before.  What a brilliant idea!  This high line is decorated as a long path park, with bushes,  flowers, lighting, benches, and some nice artwork blended into them.  This 13-mile high line railroad was constructed in the 1930s to solve the railroad traffic problem.   It ran through mid-block between or right through the buildings for the freight trains to go Albany and beyond.  After the freight gave away to trucking in 1950s, this rail was left to rust.  In the late 1990s, a local advocacy group defeated the demolition proposal and had this park constructed over the 1.6 mile rail from 14th to 30th Street (BG 188).  This high line park and the surrounding luxury buildings added beauty to the Chelsea skyline. 
 After inspiration of the marvelous perenial garden of the high line, we toured through some art galleries on Chelsea.  I thought some of the art pieces were crazy and some of them were childish.  What I liked the most is the artwork done by Li, Songsong.  His thick, dented painting with hidden pictures show him as an impressionist.  I thought that was my style of art. 


Painting by Li, Songsong from Chelsea





Paper #2

The Legendary Robert Moses

Robert Moses was the “Master Builder” of mid-20^th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County.  He transformed the neighborhoods by changing the shorelines, building bridges, tunnels and roadways, etc.  He was never trained to be a planner, architect, lawyer, or engineer.  He attained unprecedented power without ever being elected to public office (en.wikipedia.org, 2011).  However, without him, there will be no Triborough Bridge, Jones Beach State Park, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Westside Highway, Long Island Parkway System, Niagara and St. Lawrence Power projects and the United Nations Headquarters, Lincoln Center, the New York Coliseum, and the 1964-1965 World's Fair facilities, and a lot more (Goldberger, 1981).  He built 658 playgrounds in New York City, 416 miles of parkways and 13 bridges.  He was not only a builder, but also a major theoretical influence on the shape of American cities.  His work in NYC proved a new model for the nation.  His vision of a city with highways and towers influenced the planning of the cities around the nation (Goldberger, 1981). 

Robert Moses was born on December 18, 1888 in New Haven, CT to a Jewish family of three children.  His father Emanuel Moses owned department store business and became a millionaire after he retired.  The family moved to New York City in 1897 after Emanuel’s retirement (en.wikipedia.org, 2011).  Robert Moses graduated from Yale University in 1909 at age of 21 (2 years younger than regular graduates), received a Master’s degree in political science from Oxford University in 1911, and a PhD from Columbia University in 1914 (Thomson, 2011).  Robert married Mary Louise Sims in 1915, and they had two daughters Barbara and Jane in their marriage (Thomson, 2011).  After his wife died in 1966, Moses married Mary Grady who was a staff member of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (Goldberger, 1981).  Moses’ family lived at 1 Gracie Terrace in Manhattan and a small house in Gilgo Beach in Long Island (Goldberger, 1981). 

Moses was appointed as a technical adviser to the Mayor John Puroy Mitchell’s Civil Service Commission in 1914.  He was removed from the office when Mayor Mitchell lost his re-election.  Moses worked briefly again with the Bureau of Municipal Research and the US Food Commission.  Then he became New York Governor Alfred Smith’s key adviser for a commission charged with reorganizing the state’s administrative structure in 1918-1924 (Thomson, 2011).  These experiences in practical politics prepared Moses to be the “Master Builder” later on in his life.

Moses started his first “Master Builder” work in 1924 when he was appointed by Gov. Smith to the presidency of the newly created Long Island State Park Commission (Thomson, 2011).  Moses fought for automobile highways and recreational facilities on Long Island.  Every success increased his power as a planner and a builder.  The Northern and Southern State Parkways on Long Island and the development of Jones Beach for Public recreation was a huge success (Wright, 2008).   He did enormous amount of work to modernize New York City in his career.  He had Tompkins Square Park designed with many small patches of green interrupted by curving walkways to prevent crowd gatherings (Wright, 2008).  The steel arched 2000-feet long Henry Hudson Bridge over the Harlem River was originally built by Robert Moses in 1936 (Wright, 2008).  Daniel Chester French’s statues of Manhattan and Brooklyn formerly stood near Manhattan Bridge on Brooklyn side were removed to the Brooklyn Museum due to Moses’ proposal of an expressway through lower Manhattan in 1960s (Wright, 2008).  Coney Island was originally settled by the Dutch.  Its golden age began around the 20^th century when Steeplechase Park, Luna Park, and Dreamland opened from 1897 to 1904.  It was very crowded from the 20’s to the 30’s.  However, the crowd started to thin down in the 40’s due to over-crowdedness.  Moses was the one to build parks and beaches to lure people to more salutary forms of entertainment in Coney Island and regained Coney Island’s popularity (Wright, 2008).  Flushing Meadows Corona Park was built from dump to the park of the first World’s Fair in 1939-40 by Robert Moses (Wright, 2008).  These are only few examples of Robert Moses’ master builder work.  

From 1924 to 1968, Moses occupied 12 positions, including NYC Parks Commissioner, head of the State Park’s Council, head of the State Power Commission and chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.  In these 44 years, he built parks, highways, bridge, playgrounds, housing, tunnels, dams, beaches, zoos, civil centers, exhibition halls, and the 1964-65 New York’s World’s Fair (Goldberger, 1981).

Throughout his career, Moses was pointed with pride of “getting things done” ability.  He gained his administrative power to get things done “his way.”  He was one of the most powerful figures in the 20’s.  Franklin Roosevelt had conflict with Moses during Gov. Smith’s administration.  When Roosevelt became the Governor in 1928, he could not remove Moses from his position in the park system which was appointed by former Gov. Smith (Thomson, 2011).  Moses’ growing network of political connection and his good relationship with Mayor Fiorello LaGuadia helped him going through the Great Depression and other political changes invulnerably.  He ran for Governor in 1934 which was defeated by his opponent Gov. Herbert H. Lehman (Goldberger, 1981).  He lost by an enormous margin due to his speeches with hostile attacks on his opponent.  After Lehman became the Governor, he was not able to remove Moses from his position, either.  When Roosevelt was the president of the United States, he attempted to remove Moses’ federal assistance for his $44 million Triborough Bridge project.  Moses was able to take the matter to the press and forced the administration to back down (Thomson, 2011).  Moses’ powerful management ability also allowed his projects survived through the great Depression and WW II.  Many officials believed that they could not have public projects built without Mr. Moses’ help.  Moses worked way pass his retirement age for state officials.  He was finally relieved from his final position – head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in 1968 when he was almost 80 years old.  Governor Rockefeller had to regularly sign special extensions to permit him to stay on the job (Goldberger, 1981). 

Moses once said: “Those who can, build; those who can’t, criticize” (Goldberger, 1981).  Sure enough, his reputation began to suffer when Robert Caro published the book “The Power Broker” in 1974.  This book was written for the newer approach to city planning and re-development.  It criticized Mr. Moses of destroying traditional fabric of urban neighborhood and callously removed neighborhood residents undergoing urban renewal of auto-mobilization (Goldberger, 1981).  This book was the only full-length biography of Moses ever.  The book won the Publizer Prize and got a great amount of attention from the public.  Moses was deeply hurt by this book.  He spent his remaining 13 yeas promoting his favorite projects and defending himself against the large scale autocratic planning opponents who held public attention in the 1970s (Thomson, 2011).  Later on, Moses understood the difference between him and the mainstream city planners and politicians. He published an autobiography of things he presented in 1969, which he called “Public Works: A Dangerous Trade” (Goldberger, 1981).  He was happier after that.

Robert Moses left behind millions acres of state parks, hundreds miles of parkways, more than a dozen of bridges, two dams, hundreds of playgrounds, and numerous historical public buildings.  He spread his urban public works through consultations in other cities in the nation.  His public authority power and impact are unique.  He was not a trained professional planner, but a genius political scientist eager to put his talent and education to work for the public welfare.  He only accepted salaries from a few of his positions.  Ironically, with all the parkways he built, he never learned to drive a car himself (Goldberger, 1981).  He is a great person to be remembered for his work, his effort, and his contribution to the neighborhood, the city, and the nation.  

 References

en.wikipedia.org. (2011, June 8). Retrieved June 23, 2011, from www.google.com.

Goldberger, P. (1981, July 30). Robert Moses, Master Builder, is Dead at 92. Retrieved June 23, 2011, from www.nytimes.com.

Thomson, G. (2011). Robert Moses Biography. Retrieved June 23, 2011, from http://www.bookrags.com/biography/robert-moses/.

Wright, C. v. (2008). Blue Guide New York. New York: Blue Guides Limited, a Sumerset Books Company.

Journal Day #5 - NYC Eastside

Our first tour site of the day was Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It's referred to as the "Met."  It is the largest and most comprehensive art museum in the world (BG 326).  The museum has vast collections of Robert Lehman collection, modern and contemporary art, Medival art, Greek and Roman art, European sculpture, painting, and decorative arts, Egyptian art, Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas,  ancient near Eastern art, Arts of the Arab lands, Turkey, Iran, central Asia and later south Asia.  It also has exhibitions of music instruments, prints, drawings, photographs, costumes, and some special exhibitions (BG 327-364).  It is impossible to even walk through all the exhibits in one day tour.  We started with American artist Richard Serra's drawings.  His drawings look very simple in color, shape, and material.  They are mostly done with ink, charcoal, lithographic crayon, and black paint sticks on handmade paper, canvas or linen. 

We also viewed some other artists' work such as French artist Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, and Georges Braque, Dutch artist Vincen van Gogh, Swiss artist Felix Vallotton, and Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, etc.  They all have different styles and expressions, but they are all phenomonon artworks. 

As I came down to the first floor, I visited the Art Gallery of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.  I saw beautiful exotic wood carvings of spirit canoes, Asmat Bis Poles, masks, and animal figures from mostly New Guinea.  I saw some beautifully carved jewleries from Southeast Asia.  When I tried to exit the museum, I walked through the Greek and Roman Art gallery.  I was amazed to be around all these ancient nude status.  Although I am not an artist, it feels great to be surrounded by the world finest artwork. 

After lunch, we went back to Central park to see the Boat Pond and the Strawberry Field.  The Boat Pond is a Conservatory attraction site created in late 19th century, a place for people to experience the pleasure of boating.  The pond also has an Alice in Wonderland statue to the north, and a sculpture of children's author Hans Christian Anderson reading his tale"The Ugly Duckling" to the west (http://www.centralpark.com/).  It is a great place for kids and adults to enjoy nature with fun.  The Strawberry Field was named after the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" to honor John Lennon, a singer and songwritter, who was assasinated in the courtyard of the nearby Dakota Apartment (BG 290).  It is a quiet and peaceful zone for people to mourn and rest in the park. 

We took a stroll down the Fifth Avenue before going to the St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Fifth Ave between 49th and 60th Street is lined with prestigious shops and is consistently ranked among the most expensive shopping streets in the world.  I had no inttention of looking around the shops because I know I am not one of their customers, at least not at this time.  


The Great Organ

 I am more interested in the St. Patrick's Cathedral.  The Cadthedral is the largest Gothic style cathedral in the US and it has been recognized as a center of Catholic life in this country.  The Cathedral was first built and opened in May 1879.  The church has two organs, the Gallery Organ (the Great Organ) and the Chancel Organ.  The great organ is located below the Rose Window above the 5th Ave entrance.  It has 7,855 pipes, and was built and installed in 1920s.  It took three years and $250,000 to build it. The Chancel Organ is located in the north Ambulatory next to the Chapel of St. Joseph.  It has 1,480 pipes encased in a carved oak screen.  I have never seen this types of organ my life.  I did not even realize what I saw above the entrance was an organ! The Cathedral has total of 39 pictorial stained galss rose windows in place.  Each window tells a bible story.  The cathedral can accommodate 2,400 people at a time.  It receives over 3 million visitors a year.  The building was declared to be a National Historic Landmark since 1976. (The above information was obtained from fliers from St. Patrick's Cathedral visit.)



Lego Lion



Our last target was the New York Public Library.  I actually have been to the place for research purpose once.  I was in a rush to get my paper done, so I did not pay much attention to the library itself.  I did not know the two marble lions in front of the main entrance are named Patience and Fortitue.  I did not realize it is one of the most significant research libraries in the US.  We visited the first floor the exhibition room for "Celebrating 100 Years" of the library.  I saw Sumerian cuneiform tablets, a letter opener made with a cat paw, and George Washhington's manuscripts, etc.  We also went upstairs to the main reading room.  Besides the millions of books on the shelves, the beautifully decorated ceiling, the tall arched windows, and the furniture are all breath taking viewpoints.  The New York Public Library is an irreplaceable and complex institution, wonderful to use and always easy to access. 



Journal Day #4

Time Square was known as Longacre Square in 1904.  It was a place consisted of horse exchanges, carriage factories, stables, and blacksmith's shops back then (BG 217).  Time Square was flourished in the 1920s when theaters, hotels, restaurants, and thearetical clubs were built (BG 217).  We started our day walking throgh Time Square today.  I used to work near Time Square.  The place today have changed a lot.  If I came by myself today, I would not be able to tell where I was.  I love the seating with tables among those green plants and flowers in the middle of street, creating oasis in the center of this fast-paced city.  This setting also slows down traffic in midtown, which decreases MVA with pedestrains. Visitors can use the seats to rest and appreciate the view of Time Square; people who work in the city can sit outside of their offices and breath fresh air during their lunch breaks.  I think it is brilliant idea of the previous Mayor Giuliani.  I absolutely love it!  As we walk down the street, we ran into a bicycle show.  We had the chance of watching the skilled bikers very closely.  It was great experience. 

After the great bike show, we walked to Rockfeller Center.  Rockefeller Center, originally known as Radio City is a complex of buildings developed in the midst of the Great Depression. The complex consisted of 14 buildings initially.  The tallest building was the RCA building (known as the GE building today) which has 70 stories.  it was planned for the Metropolitan Opera, owned by Columbia niversity (http://www.aviewoncities.com/).

However, the stock markert crashed in 1929 and caused the Metropolitan Opra to abandone the ambitious project. Rockefeller then launched a plan for a corporate complex to house the new radio and television corporations. Radio City was born.  By 1940, Radio City became Rockefeller Center.  In 1959 and the early seventies, Rockefeller Center was extended with 5 additional buildings along sixth Avenue(http://www.aviewoncities.com/).  

Ever since 1933, the famous annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, which marks the unofficial start of New York's holiday season, has taken place here. Rockefeller Center also known as a 'city in the city' - is an exceptional example of civic planning. All buildings share a common design style, Art Deco, and are connected to each other via an underground concourse, the Catacombs. The complex is nevertheless well integrated in the city of New York, especially along 5th Ave (http://www.aviewoncities.com/).  

I believe I am not artistic.  When I saw the artworks in MOMA, it was hard for me to appreciate them.  I understand that the American artists were trying to develop distinct American forms of avant-garde art from European style after WW II.  And the size of the work reflecting the artist's grand ambitions for American art.  However, some of the artwork still look like regular paint jobs to me.  However, Robert Rauschenberg's Bed looks extraordinary to me.  It is a combination of life and art, and it is his self portrait in an abstract Expressionism. 

We stopped by the Studio Museum in Harlem.  It was a little disappointing that they did not have much exhibition to show African culture.  The Studio was small and it only has some exhibits of basket products such as lamps, tables, mirrors; and exhibition of musician Benjamin Patterson's life story and achievement. 

Our next stop was General Grant National Memorial. I saw many historial buildings along the way.  Most of them are very detailed in decoration.  They are all beautiful to me.  Ulysses S. Grant, victorious Union commander of the Civil War, led to victories in the Battles of Vicksburg and Chattanooga and Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox.  He was elected twice to serve as President of the United States, from 1869 to 1877.  Grant settled in New York City after his presidency. He died in 1885 in throat cancer.  His granite and marble structured tomb was completed in 1897 and remains the largest mausoleum in North America (http://www.nationalparks.org/).

On our way back, we went through Columbis University and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Devine.  Columbia is the oldest institution of higher education in New York State, the fifth oldest in the US.  It is a Colonial College founded before the American Revolution (en.wikipedia.org).  The college has many campuses around NYC, most of them are historial buildings.  The Cathedral Church of St. John teh Devine is located in Morning Heights in Manhattan.  It is the 4th largest Christian church in the world.  The cathedral was designed in 1888 and began in 1892, undergone stylistc changes and interruptions of the two World Wars.  It started as Byzantine-Romanesque style, changed to Gothic design in 1909 (en.wikipedia.org).  I did notice some smoke traces on the outside of building blocks.  Sure enough, I found out that the church had a big fire in December 2001 and it was closed for repairs and reopened in November 2008.  It still remains unfinished with construction and restoration in process as of today. 

Journal #3- Eastside, NY

It was very nice weather in the morning.  It was even better when we started our tour in the central park by the reservoir.  I love green parks.  The Central Park itself was peaceful and relaxing to beggin with.  When I saw the Reservoir in the Park, I really loved the beautiful skyline views across the water.  The Reservoir sits in the middle of Central Park, was once part of the Croton system, supplying drinking water to the city from 1862 to 1993 (BG 296).  As we continue walking, we went through a Conservatory Garden right in front of the El Museo building.  The six-acre garden was built as a Works Progress Administrtion project to provide employment during Depression (BG 297).  We went through the north part of the garden.  It's formal and French style.  The center is a fountain with bronze Three Maidens Dancing (BG 297). 

We visited the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Upper Eastside of Manhattan.  This world's remarkable Modernist building is Frank Lloyed Wright's only master piece in the city (BG 367).  It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and Contemporary art.  lso features special exhibitions throughout the year. From the street, the building looks like a white ribbon curled into a cylindrical stack. Its appearance is in sharp contrast to the more typically boxy Manhattan buildings that surround it.  Internally, the viewing gallery forms a gentle helical spiral from the main level up to the top of the building. The top of the building is a beautiful skylight.  Paintings are displayed along the walls of the spiral.  I don't understand most of the displayed artwork, but I was thrilled to see such a modern architecture in front of my eyes.  Guggenheim Museum is part of the Museum Mile on 5th Avenue between 82nd and 105th Street.  The other museums are the Museum of the City of New York, the Jewish Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and more.  The annual Museum Mile Festival traditionally takes place on the second Tuesday in June from 6-9 PM here.  It was established in 1979 to increase public awareness of its member institutions and promote public support of the arts in New York City (http://www.museummilefestival.org/).  It is the same day we visited the place.  Too bad we could not go back to join the festival.  We should have scheduled our class tour later today so we could havemade it. 

Compare to the Guggenheim, the Museum of the City of New York feels so much closer to me.  I can relate myself to the displayed pictures in the Museum.  It is located at the northern end of the Museum Mile, between 103rd and 104th Streets.  The museum's collections include paintings, drawings, furniture, and photographs featuring New York City and its residents.  The Stettheimer Dollhouse exhibition is most impressive part of the museum.  The tiny copies of the paintings and sculptures made by Stettheimer's artist friends for the dollhouse looked so close to reality except their miniature size.  It is really amazing art work.

Our day ended with walking through the Upper Eastside, touring the historial and modern buildings of NYC.  Too bad I fell behind the goup and did not get chance to go inside the deco Waldorf Astoria Hotel.