Month: April 2016

Our friend Sancha, who is coming to NY in September with her husband John for the first time, asks us what makes New York a great city.  We have been cogitating for a few days and we believe that this is a great city because of its vibrancy and energy.  It is true that it is a city which never sleeps, but there’s so much more to the Big Apple.  It’s a city which is very welcoming, caring and safe.  It’s a city which is more tolerant than any we know in the world.  It’s a true mixing pot of cultures, languages and cuisines.  You can be yourself in New York without fear of judgement, no matter what yourself is.  They are a very polite and caring people, who look after each other.  It is a series of communities which make up one big community.  The East Village, Greenwich, Chelsea, Little Italy, Chinatown, Meatpackers, Midtown etc.  The architecture is great, not all beautiful but a wonderful skyline.  On the subway there are loonies who no one takes any notice of.  A tramp with an enormous shopping trolley, piled literally 6 feet (we’re still imperial here) high with trash (cans and bottles for recycling, clothes, bibs and bobs) and no one turns a hair.

A lone man will get on a subway and start singing…..the other day he sang On The Sunny Side of the Street….all by himself and very loudly. Not particularly well, but not hideous. He walked around with a cup hoping for some coins whilst singing, and when no one reached into their pockets, he kept singing anyway.  He thanked us all at the next station where he alighted, and no doubt took the next subway to test his luck. A couple may have an argument on the train, but no one takes any notice.  I’m sure they would if it got violent, but this is just everyday stuff lived out in public, and the public tolerates it happily. It’s a densely populated city yet still there are lots of parks and public spaces.  This is a city which cares for its community.  It’s a city rich in cultural and artistic life, and one which encourages a social life for all.  It’s possible to live quite cheaply in New York and yet still have a good lifestyle. Clearly it’s a financial and business capital as well, which contributes to it being a great city, but it has a ‘feel’ like no other to me. I just can’t get enough of it. Cherrie has had enough of it…you can get the girl out of the country but you can’t get the country out of the girl.

So, our last week in New York, week 4, has come to an end.   As I write this we are at the airport to board our flight to London in two hours time.  We got here early and sailed through check in and security, so are now relaxing in the lounge after our action packed week.  The weather has been variable this week.  We have seen some rain, some hot days (18◦C), some cold days (2◦C) and some rain.  But none of it got in our way.

Many of my friends will be flabbergasted, and no doubt appalled, that Cherrie and I have spent 4 weeks in New York and not seen a single Broadway show.  Some of those same friends would have calculated 28 nights and 10 matinee opportunities and seen 38 shows.  We have not seen one.  Had there been something really compelling we would have made the effort but there wasn’t and so we didn’t.  Outrageous, I know.

We’ve had a busy week, doing what locals do.  We have been to the legendary jazz club Birdland on W44th, where we supported the benefit Broadway for Africa, which is a group of theatre workers who use theatre techniques to teach literacy and confidence to African kids.  Amongst the stellar line up was our friend Tony Sheldon, who sang a wonderful ballad written by fellow Australian Matthew Robinson called Madness in the Air, which he sang with such passion and confidence.  He brought the house down.  And the finale was a trio of Tony, Nick Adams and Will Swenson (the original stars of Priscilla Queen of the Desert on Broadway) in the rousing number from that show called We Belong Together.  We sat with Aussie actor/writers Tony Taylor and Amanda Bishop, ate good food and thoroughly immersed ourselves in this historic (well, founded in 1949) venue which has hosted the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Joe Louis, Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Sugar Ray Robinson.  And now, Cherrie McDonald

We went to the Iguana Club on West 54^th for a night of dancing and dining.  But we avoided the dancing, because the other guests were phenomenal jitterbuggers, jivers and ballroomers.  A treat to listen to the wonderful swing band that is Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks.

Our table, consisting of Susan Lyons, Judy Morris, Brendan O’Connell, Amanda Bishop and Cherrie and myself tapped to the beat all night.  We stayed far longer than planned and danced all the way home at midnight.  See, you can dance in the streets in New York without arrest.

We drank cocktails with Amanda on the top floor of the Standard Hotel on the Highline at Chelsea, with wonderful views down the river, or uptown, depending on which side of the lounge you sit.  We did both of course, but the rain dampened the river view somewhat (if you’ll pardon the pun).

We went to Ellis Island, by ferry from south wharf, on the very southern tip of Manhattan.  The Island was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the US from 1892 until 1954.  It’s a really good museum and we learned lots.

 and our photo editor, Cherrie, took this great shot of Liberty and Freedom together (ie the statue and the Freedom Tower, where the World Trade Centre stood).

We were particularly arty this week with several stops along Museum Mile including visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is overwhelming in its size and can only be visited in short bursts.  A wonderful collection which never fails to inspire, including these horses and dancers by Degas, along with the van Gogh’s which never fail to set my heart alight.

 We felt secure at the Met too, as the boys in blue were keeping guard outside

We went to the brand new Met Breuer (named after the architect Marcel Breuer, pronounced Broy-er) which opened only two weeks ago and houses some of the Met’s modern and contemporary art and exhibitions.  Their first exhibition Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible is a fascinating display of unfinished works by major artists.  The reason for the incompletion is not always known and frankly to our untrained eyes many of them did not look incomplete.  Here are some samples from Warhol, Klimpt and van Gogh

 We popped into the Guggenheim where the building is every bit as beautiful as any artwork inside.

 We visited the Smithsonian Museum of Design which houses many fascinating models and ideas.

Still on Museum Mile is the Neue Galerie (pronounced Noy-er, as in New in German), started by art dealer Serge Sabarsky and philanthropist Ronald Lauder, Estee’s son. Sabarsky and Lauder shared a passionate commitment to Modern German and Austrian art and this gallery is housed in a wonderful old building on 86^th and 5^th.   Many great Klimpt’s, including the portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer, which was the subject of the Helen Mirren film Woman in Gold.  We were lucky enough to see a Munch exhibition too, including the famous The Scream, which inspired one of Dame Edna’s favourite frocks.

 

 We walked the usual many kilometres this week, as you do in New York and we made a special trip to Bryant Park to give it Ros’ love as instructed

And we even let off some steam

 We assumed this was the New York Jockey Club but no, it’s just a restaurant

 Sometimes we take the train and we were delighted at this series of small brass and bronze figures at 14^th St Station

 We spent some time watching an apparently unassuming young man practice his turns on ice at the Rockefeller Centre

 And delighted in the Spring blooms at the Centre.

 That’s a swimming pool at the other end, god only knows why

 

That would be a rock pool wouldn’t it?

A visit to the Top of the Rock never fails to delight in the wonderous views

And where we took our only ever selfie

More public art in 6 1/2 Avenue, a small walkway between 6^th and 7^th

 And in Central park

Beautiful St Patricks Cathedral wedged between modern buildings on 5^th Ave

 And we’re always taken with the general community feel of New York

 

New York is definitely a city for walking and walk we do.  We also pop into shops, stick our heads into interesting buildings and marvel at the number of tulips and daffodils which have blossomed since our arrival.  We love the many street vendor food vans, all supposedly serving halal hot dogs and pretzels as well as falafels.  And, the nut carts, ‘nuts 4 nuts’ they’re called. And the street vendors selling beanies, scarfs and tacky tee shirts.  They are all friendly and jolly and happy to greet as you walk past, with no intention of purchasing.

It seems that at least 50% of New Yorkers have dogs and they are all walked, on leash, at least twice a day, sometimes 6 at once.  Everyone cleans up after their dogs.  No poo on these pavements.

On a glorious sunny Sunday, with Amanda, we wander around the Dumbo markets and then walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, south to north.

 

This one is for you, John and Quinnie

We caught up for dinner with our friend Ben Cameron who has moved from New York to Minneapolis for work but who flew in to see us. We dined at the Café Luxembourg and had a wonderful night.

With Susan and Jefferson we went to the New York Philharmonic in the lovely David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Centre and heard Suppe’s Poet and Peasant Overture, Strauss’ Oboe Concerto and Beethoven’s sublime 6^th Symphony, the Pastoral.  Just in case you were worried that we might have been starving ourselves, we had dinner prior in the Lincoln Kitchen.  It’s always good to be out and about with Jefferson, who is a mine of information about almost everything and we learned that the Lincoln Centre stands on the site of what were tenement blocks, indeed where West Side Story was filmed.

On Sunday night we were delighted to visit Dizzy’s Club at Columbus Circle with our friend Marsha,  a real treat to catch up with her again.   Dizzy’s is a jazz club with the most fantastic views from its picture window.

We heard the jazz singer Sutton Tierney and her extraordinary three piece band comprising the ubiquitous piano, bass and drums, but these boys were quite outstanding.  A great evening with really lovely music in a glorious room.

Our month in New York has come to an end and yet not everything is struck off our wish list.  I guess that means another visit…….

From the moment we boarded the train in Philadelphia for our return to New York on Monday evening, Christine coughed.  She coughed all the way home and spent Tuesday and Wednesday in bed.  Cherrie got out and about a bit, wandering around our old stamping ground where we stayed on our last extended holiday in NY, in Chelsea.

 

Fortunately, Christine was well enough by Wednesday evening to return to Carnegie Hall to see the great jazz singer Dianne Reeves in concert.  We first became aware of Reeves when she provided the vocals to George Clooney’s film Good Night and Good Luck, and subsequently saw her at the grand old opry house with the Sydney Symphony.  Wow, what a voice and what a superb band at this concert comprising piano, guitar, bass and drums.  Really fine musicians all of them, making really great music.  Reeves is a great raconteur and was very amusing.  She even asked if anyone could get her tickets to the hottest show in town, Hamilton, to please meet her at stage door afterwards!  Made us feel better that we can’t get tickets to the only show we want to see, when we hear that even the lauded stars can’t get them.

Before the concert, we dine at the iconic restaurant The Russian Tea Room.  We have only one course and one glass of wine each, since we hope to eek out our retirement funds for a little time yet.  But, neither of us has been here before and we figured, what the heck.  Great décor and matching history.  It was founded in 1927 by former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet as a meeting place for expatriate Russians.  This is where Madonna worked as a coat check chick before she found fame, or did fame find her?  It’s been used a lot as a film set, most notably for one of Dustin Hoffman’s scenes in Tootsie, as well as Woody Allen’s Manhattan.

If we ever worry about over eating, and our continued walking not countering it, we turn to this blackboard for inspiration.

We had heard about the cruise that circumnavigates the island of Manhattan and so we find it and take it from Pier 83 on 42^nd Street and Riverside Drive.  We cruise down the Hudson River, into the harbour and up the East River, back into the Hudson.  It’s a great perspective on this dense city and its fabulous skyline

 

You will note that the skyline is now dominated by the new Freedom Tower, built on the site of the World Trade Centre Tower One

 

It’s the tallest building in these photos and if you look carefully see air space next to it.  This is where Tower Two stood and that air space will be preserved in memory

 We get up close and personal to Liberty

 

 we cruise under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges

Past the power station

Old piers (as opposed to old peers, many of whom are now also old sticks)

 

Buildings of rental apartments, many of which are owned by corporations and are strictly for rental

 the United Nations building, with the security council building in the front

 past Gracie Mansion, the home of the NY Mayor,  which is every bit as impressive (from the outside at least) as Kirribilli or Admiralty Houses

And we  even went past  a golf driving range!

All in all, it was a terrific 2½ hours.

 

We go to the Theater for the New City in the East Village to see Charles Busch’s Cleopatra.  Being two farm girls from Berry, we have never heard of Charles Busch, but he is apparently a terribly famous drag queen of immense talent with a huge following in both the straight and gay communities.  We specifically go to this show because Tony Sheldon, an old friend (and son of Toni Lamond), is in it and we want to see him.  We are surprised how much we enjoy the show.  It’s very funny and very irreverent.  Charles Busch plays Cleopatra (of course) and Sheldon plays Caesar and Lepidus but his piece de resistance is his Calpurnia.  It’s wonderful.  We have coffee with Tony post show (yes folks, coffee only) and get the subway home.  Sheldon is looking wonderful and is very happy in New York, he’s been here 5 years now and says NY is home.

New York’s weather this week is like a yo-yo.  Two (relatively) sizzling days of 23◦C with another two down to 6◦, one with a fierce wind making it even colder.  Plus we’ve had some rain.  Our plans for the walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and the Highline are blown out the window, as it were.

Instead, we head to the new Whitney Museum.  But we inadvertently catch the wrong subway train (as we have done previously, although unreported in this blog for fear of ridicule until we realise that this is a common mistake made even by the most seasoned locals) which has us on the other side of town.  So, we wander through the lower east side, through Little Italy and Chinatown and through Washington Square with its charming gardens

And we visit the Tenement Museum, which we had booked a week ago so popular is it.

Based in an actual tenement building in the lower east side, on Orchard Street, the museum preserves the history of immigration through the personal experiences of the generations of newcomers who settled in, and built lives, in this part of New York over the end of the 19^th and the first half of the 20^th Century.

 

 It’s  a great experience although the “Museum” word was a bit scary to Christine, as she recognised first hand almost everything in the “museum” kitchen…..soap in little metal cages to whisk in the sink water to wash dishes in, Bay Rum hair oil, Borax, Maxwell House Coffee in screw top tins, Chicory in bottles…… oh the list goes on.  Where did those years go?

A little weary after the museum, we consider a movie and decide to walk a mere 29 blocks to Union Square to see Helen Mirren’s new film Eye in the Sky.  En route, down Lafayette Street, we are diverted to the sidewalk on the other side of the road because of filming on this side.  We note the snow on the pavements, and the cameras and cranes and other filming paraphernalia set up, and we see the two actors being filmed as they stroll down the street, apparently chatting.

 Hang on, who is that?  Is that?  No, it can’t be.

But it is.  Dame Helen Mirren.  Filming right in front of us.  Just as we’re going to see her other film!!  I wanted to tell her of the coincidence, but modesty prevented me.  Only in New York….

Eye in the Sky is a terrific film.  An interesting study in morals, ethics, politics and strategy.  One for you, Tim.

We meet up with our friend Marsha at the Lincoln Centre for lunch.  It’s so lovely catching up with old friends, although we are concerned for Marsha as she looks so tired and drawn.  Her partner is battling the late stages of cancer and things are not looking good.  Marsha has very few opportunities to get out and have any time to herself, so we are grateful for these couple of hours.  Marsha asks if we have been to the Gay Bars.  Christine, as is her want, immediately responds before Cherrie is given the opportunity with “Oh no, that’s not our scene”.  “What do you mean?” asks Marsha “It’s great”.  “No no, nowe don’t do those gay bars” says the deaf one.  “Not gay bars – Zabar’s.  It’s an absolutely wonderful gourmet deli on Broadway which you will adore”.

And we did.

Saturday night brings drinks at Susan and Jefferson’s gorgeous upper west side apartment, near Columbia University, and the lovely surprise guest in Judy Morris.  Judy is one of Australia’s leading actresses, who in recent years has branched out into directing and writing for cinema, very successfully.  She spends much time in the UK working and time in the US visiting family.  Her daughter, brother and sister all live and work here.  We then all go out to S&J’s local for a delightful meal.

Sunday we have brunch at Ronnie’s apartment, which is owned by one of the corporations referred to earlier. Ronnie is on a 12 month lease and subject to rental market increases.  Her apartment has been recently renovated by the landlord and is very comfortable.  Ronnie tells us that some tenants in the building have been there for 40 years or more and are subject to rent control, whereby the rent is fixed until they vacate.  To qualify for rent control a tenant must have been continuously in their apartment since 1 July 1971. Subsequently some of these people are living in almost squalor, as their apartment have not been renovated or restored in any way by the landlord since they moved in.

We then retire ‘home’ for a restful day.  The wind is too fierce to be out and about.

But this week, despite sick time off, we have walked many kilometres, as it is so easy to do in this big, bustling, exciting city. There is so much to see, so many weirdos to observe and sometimes avoid, and never a chance of boredom.