Merry Christmas Manhattan!!!
It may seem that on Christmas Day everything is closed and finding yourself celebrating it abroad is not great, but for once it is not so.
When we went to Budapest we actually struggled to find open places to visit and where we could eat.
In New York live a lot of Jews who work during the holiday season so many activities are possible.
The Manhattan Bridge
While planning the trip I found a tour of the Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Our guide would have been a streetartist belonging to an association, whose members are responsible for advertising this artistic expression so in vogue in the area.
Bushwick is not just an area to indulge in sprays.
It welcomes artists from all over the world, eager to leave their “TAG” or something more, like immense multicolored walls.
Before the appointment, however, we enjoy a walk in perhaps the most photographed street in Brooklyn, that is the intersection between Water St and Washington St, which became famous thanks to the cover of the film “Once Upon a Time in America”.
From this point you can observe the Manhattan Bridge.
The glimpse is very suggestive and we are not the only ones to be present; in a very short time a queue of tourists is created ready to be photographed.
This suspension bridge was the last to be built, after that of Brooklyn and Williamsburg.
Think that its total length is about 2 km with a span greater than 451m!
And it is already a centenary bridge, in fact it was completed in 1912.
We take a walk in the area enjoying the view of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge from below and then return to Bushwick.
But first I make a visit to the bathroom in a large red brick building that houses several rooms.
The reason why I write it is obviously not the fact that she went to the bathroom, I do it very often, but that on a wall I find a dynamic picture.
This work of art reproduces you like a mirror using a camera and, through many tiny engines, changes the colors of the painting according to your movement.
Among the murals of Bushwick
Bushwick is a very interesting neighborhood, it looks infamous but in reality it is just more intimate, away from the chaos and loneliness of Manhattan.
Arrived at the door from which the tour should begin, a rather singular lady welcomes us, I would have said it immediately seeing her on the street that this was a graffiti artist.
The neighborhood is gorgeous, at every corner there are murals made with completely different paintings, techniques and styles.
The expense for this tour was about 40 €, in my opinion it is worth them all as long as you understand English well and you can book it here.
Keep in mind that the maximum number of participants is 10 people, with all the benefits that come with having few people around.
Super recommended!
First of all, the neighborhood is never the same; hardly the murals last for more than a year without being covered with new ones, even in this lies the beauty of street art, it is not forever.
History tips: the name of the district comes from the German and stands for “wooded hill”,in fact at the beginning it was this.
Subsequently, the German community that settled there began to clear the area to build many breweries and prospered.
Then prohibition came and so the area was depopulated, the factories closed waiting for new tenants.
Tenants who did not take long to arrive, the whole area was redeveloped and is now full of food factories; for the most part Chinese.
The guide tells us that on days of activity the smell of the food produced spreads through the air.
Streetartists convey messages with their art and if possible try to improve the landscape, so industrial, gray and cold areas are very popular.
Tags, Stickers and even Advertising
The guide explains that there are many forms of art: TAGs are simple signatures that can also be made on more complex murals and serve to give visibility.
Sometimes they are the signature of a single artist but often they are those of a gang, not in a negative sense by force of things, simply of a group of graffiti artists working together.
Then there are the STICKERS as another simple form, they can be made of paper or plastic materials, they are glued a little everywhere and their longevity often depends on the quality of the glue used.
He points out tags and symbols also made on the asphalt, or on the high peaks of the buildings, or even in areas visible only when you are on the subway.
One that I really liked is the FIVE, which in itself would not have meant, if it were not that it is made only in very high places so as to take on the meaning of HIGH FIVE ( beat five), and everything changes.
Then we have the graffiti market; many of these artists try to make a living from their art, and various situations can happen:
- the artist pays to be granted the use of a wall and does what he wants;
- the artist is paid to paint a wall but is bound in the subject that is often a product and therefore the mural acts as advertising;
- the artist is paid to use a wall and can represent whatever he prefers.
We saw two walls with advertisements but most were pure expression of the artists.
It’s not just cans!
We do not stop only at the explanation of the subjects but also shows us the different paintings; some of which fade immediately because of the sun; while others are almost immortal and seem more shiny and plastic.
She also made one of the murals, with some cute naked ladies who were immediately censored by someone.
She says this doesn’t bother her, often other artists tag or correct other people’s murals.
This is not seen as an act of vandalism but as a collaboration between artists who do not even know each other (even if it is often vandalism, they trace signs haphazardly just to dirty the drawing of another).
Some murals bring out the design only when viewed from a distance, while up close everything gets confused and seem meaningless; works created by pairs of artists in which one traces the background and guidelines and the other takes care of the details.
Around us is full of vans and trucks completely covered with tags.
For emerging artists it is important to put their name almost everywhere.
Even some murals are made with acrylic paint; which means consuming an infinity of brushes on the rough walls, but the effect is very nice.
The appearance of small installations is also considered streetart, such as a cute metal robot that is located in various points of the city.
To finish the tour, on top of an old abandoned shed shows us a large white writing, incomprehensible to me; it is the oldest mural in the neighborhood, which remained uncovered for about 20 years.
In practice, a piece of the prehistory of graffiti art, she was very excited and we understood how much it meant for her to still have that mural there.
The Brooklyn Bridge
Our next stop is the world-famous Brooklyn Bridge that connects the island of Manhattan to the Brooklyn neighborhood.
Taking pictures to the right and missing I focused on some tourists but above all it is the Orthodox Jews who capture my attention; I can’t do anything about it, in Italy it’s not so easy to meet them and they certainly notice each other.
I later found out that Jewish women when they get married shave their hair and start wearing a wig.
In this way only the husband will be able to see the new hair, which a bit like the rest of the woman, will be his property, and this worries me a lot.
History tips: this bridge was once the longest suspension bridge in the world.
Its length from one entrance to another is 2.36km, keep this in mind if you decide to take a “walk”.
It was also the first bridge they made entirely of steel.
They began to build it in 1869 and finished it in 1883.
The bridge is magnificent but unfortunately has claimed the lives of as many as 27 people, including its creator, the German engineer John Augustus Roebling. Most of the victims died from pulmonary embolisms while working in underwater excavation chambers.
Return to Manhattan: Chinatown
Arrived on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge, that is, in Manhattan, we go to explore the Chinatown district, I really like this part of the city!
All the houses are made of bricks with the typical fire ladders and Chinese writings everywhere, from a strange feeling because it seems to all intents and purposes to be in China but with the discordant note of architecture.
I wanted to find the famous Five Points, the place described in the movie “Gangs of New York”; but I’m not sure I framed it also because in all probability now it is a great crossroads.
History tips: its name came from the five corners of the main intersection and was for many years a poor and run-down neighborhood of Manhattan.
It began to populate in 1820, when the upper middle class migrated to other areas of the island, but had its real expansion in 1840 as a result of a huge increase in immigration (these were the years of the Irish famine).
In its heyday there were almost no other neighborhoods in the Western world that could rival the Five Points in terms of crime and prostitution.
A positive side, however, can always be found; here some foundations were laid for American racial integration. In this neighborhood coexisted the first freed African American slaves and the Irish, as well as the native New Yorkers.
In the Five Points many gangs were formed such as the Roach Guards, the Dead Rabbits and the more “wealthy” Bowery Boys.
Herbert Asbury writes that in 1862 the police arrested as many as 82072 people, about 10% of the inhabitants of the neighborhood; quiet place!
Inside Chinatown: the Mahayana Temple
Today the situation, fortunately, is no longer that of the first half of the 800.
The New York metropolitan area has the highest concentration of Chinese expats in the world. This Chinatown is one of the 12 that make up the huge Chinese community.
In a secluded shop we buy some bizarre sweets, I wanted to stay and eat Chinese cosette all day but we have more to see!
Anyway I ate a mochi and Matteo took a kind of salty cannolo with an unidentified cheese cream inside.
We end the exploration of the neighborhood with a visit to the Mahayana Temple.
This is a large Buddhist temple inside which is a golden Buddha almost 5 meters high.
You can’t take pictures inside, but I won’t forget my first temple.
All the musical instruments used during the rites are visible and on the walls there are many pictures depicting the whole life of Siddharta.
Greenwich Village and Friends’ Home!
Always on foot we arrive up to the Metronome of Union Square where we got lost in trying to understand what symbolizes.
I go to search the internet and simply measure the time: the first seven digits indicate hours, minutes, seconds and tenths of a second of the day; while the last seven digits are a countdown to the end of the day.
Wandering around the square we see several sculptures of famous people including Gandhi and we continue towards the university district.
Here is the New York University and the Washington Square Arch.
You will remember the latter if, like us, you are a fan of HIMYM.
In the Greenwich Village district I bravely order myself a coffee at Cafè Reggio.
This bar still owns an old coffee maker brought to America by the founder of the bar.
The coffee sucks as well as in all other parts, although the locare clearly has an Italian feel.
PS: I know that “crap” is not said, but I can not find other adjectives for that coffee.
Right now, even though we are now at the end of the holiday, I abandon all my remaining hopes of enjoying a decent coffee.
After the Café Reggio we arrive at the house of Friends, announced by the classic group of tourists.
The funny thing is to imagine what those who do not know the series may think; about twenty people photographing an apartment.
A metro station, a bit special!
We take the subway back to the Chelsea district, and we come across a beautiful stop.
The stations in New York are not like those in London, where at each stop there is a different decoration.
They are not even monumental like those of Moscow, architectural works in their own right.
But this one, at the intersection of 14th Street and Eighth Avenue, is really special.
Almost… Magic!
You will see many bronze sculptures depicting small industrious men.
It’s called “Life Underground” and it’s a work by artist Tom Otterness.
Otterness said the subject of the work is “the impossibility of understanding life in New York.”
He also describes the choice in arranging the pieces as “scattered in small surprises”.
Art critic Olympia Lambert said that: “the adorable bronze characters installed there are united by a common theme of implicit criminality mixed with an undercurrent of social anarchy.”
But he also labeled them as “too cute” (I couldn’t agree more), saying that this “undermines the critical aspect of the work.”
A frequent character is the little man with his head in the shape of a sack of money.
It is the representation made by the political cartoonist Thomas Nast of Boss Tweed and the corruption present in Tammany Hall at the time when the subway was built.
An evening walk to a galaxy far, far away…
We complete the Christmas day along the High Line, where you can still see the tracks of the old elevated line.
This railway brought food and goods all over the city and has now become a beautiful scenic walk to the Vessel.
Along the promenade there are many benches to relax, as well as some murals visible only if you walk there.
For a small stretch we are accompanied by music from an oriental instrument that I really like.
I would have gladly stopped to listen to him but tonight we have a much more important appointment.
We have to go to the movies to see STAR WARS!!!
“A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away… “
It was great: going to an American cinema; Christmas Day; be crazy nerds and see the latest film “The Rise of Skywalker” that has not yet been released in Italy.
And come out having understood the whole movie.
It filled my heart with joy.
If you do not know where we started and where we will end, click below!
