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).