EAST OF THE PARK
As usual we met in Penn station, but this time we were heading up to East Harlem.
We took train # 6 to go to East Harlem. According to the MTA train # 6 runs locally in Manhattan through Lexington Avenue. As soon as we got out of the subway, we walked to the Museum of the City of New York. This museum displays exhibitions of New York in the past and in the present. It was opened in 1923 and has thousands of different art collections. Also the museum has films and documentaries about the history of New York (BG p 376). The exhibition that I liked the most was the fashion display. The designer of the “When Fashion Danced” is Stephen Burrows. He is the first African-American man to have succeeded in the fashion world. Then, we went to watch a film about the history of New York. I have to say that this film was fabulous! It took us back to history and showed how New York was divided when the Indians inhabited New York. It also recounted how the Dutch arrived and settled along the Hudson River, and little by little people from other countries came and formed part of New York. Furthermore, this film explained that New York was called New Amsterdam and later on its name was changed to New York. Overall, this movie broke up the periods and geography of New York which was an excellent learning experience.
We continued on our adventure to meet our tour guide Luke. We met at the Conservatory Garden. Luke explained that the picture on the back wall was Frida Kahlo and some other famous artist. The picture wall is remarkable because it shows that women have a voice in society. Frida Kahlo is one of my favorite artists. She is a Mexican artist that succeeded in the earlier 1900s. We also learned that East Harlem is a Hispanic and African-American community, including Puerto Rican, Dominicans and Mexican people. We continued to walk in the streets of East Harlem (105th, 103rd) and we observed different paintings done in the walls of buildings. Our tour guide explained that these paintings tell the story of its residents or I should say of the people living inside the buildings (the community).Apparently, many years ago people were more family oriented than it is today. People had a sense of community more than it is today, so one of the paintings showed people playing dominos, and of course a resident by the name George told us that people used to play dominos outside on the streets; It was a normal life back then, but now if people play dominos outside on the streets would get arrested. I thought that George’s input was very appropriate for our class. The tour guide also mentioned about the El Museo del Barrio. This museum was founded in 1969 and is focused on Hispanic culture (BG p 376-377).
Our final stop with the tour guide Luke was the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center. This organization is focused on the social, cultural and economic aspect of East Harlem residents. They offer educational programs for artists and for the public in general. Here our tour guide, Luke made a performance of one of his poems. His performance was wonderful. Luke seems to have a passion for art, and his ideas are deeply rooted in the conservation of our cultures. He inspires others to have voice in the community and the world through art.
Next, we broke up for lunch. There were many Hispanic and Caribbean restaurants from which to choose. I ate Caribbean food, rice with glandules, sweet plantain, and fish. It was healthy and filling. After our lunch, we began our adventure to Central Park.
Central Park is the biggest park in Manhattan. This park was designed by Frederick L Olmstead and Calvert Vaux. In 1844, this park was a desolate piece of land that had some crops and rocks in its field. There was also lots of garbage and even animals (pigs and goats). Eventually, the city bought the 843 acres of land and Olmstead and Vaux were chosen to design this landscape. The project included different spaces for sports and reservoirs for water receiving aqueducts from Catskill (BG p 279-284).
Our Central Park tour began on the Conservatory Garden. This is a 6 acre garden. It was open 1937. This garden has been renovated throughout the years. Here we could appreciate the beautiful flowers and plants that give the air an uplifting scent. In this park there are different statues and fountains, each with a specific style (Italian, French and American) which makes this park spectacular.
The Reservoir is located between 86th and 96th streets. This reservoir supplied drinking water to the city between 1862 and 1992. Today people love to go around this pond to enjoy nature and the view to the mansions across. The Pond was also transformed by Olmstead. The pond was once used by swans and later on, the swans were replaced by ducks. Furthermore, The Dairy is a place that offers refreshments to the pedestrians. There is also a carrousel that delights to thousands of children every year. The Bethesda Terrace and Fountain is a place to observe nature and rest. During our walk through Central Park our instructors spoke about the Museum Mile. The museums are located between 82nd and 105th streets. Most of these museums used to be homes of wealthy people known as “Millionaires Row” (BG p 365). For example, The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum contains more than 4000 thousand pieces of art. The architectural design of this building has been controversial throughout the years, but now it is greatly admired by the visitors (BG p 368-370).
Next we visited my favorite museum, The Metropolitan Museum. This museum is one of the largest museums in the world. More than five million of people visit this extraordinary museum every year. The Mets exhibits pieces of art from all over the world (BG p 328-364). I have always been amazed by this museum, and this time was not the exception. Unfortunately, our tour in this museum was too short. Anyway, I liked the fashion exhibition PUNK: Chaos to Couture. I believe that the costumes were great pieces of art. For instance, there was a dress made of black plastic bags that impressed me the most because I would never imagine making clothes making clothes out of “garbage bags."!! Certainly, the designers were very creative, but the thing I did not like was the sounds and videos inside the show room, I thought that they were very disturbing!!!
Next, we head up to The Strawberry Fields - this is a place to honor John Lennon. Lennon was one of the members of the famous band, The Beetles. This band was very popular back in the 60s. John Lennon was killed closed to Central park, in front of Dakota Apartments, and Strawberry Fields were named in honor of his song. Currently, Lennon’s wife lives on the sixth floor of the Dakota Apartments Building (BG p 290-292). It was quite pleasant to hear Lennon’s story from the mouth of the “mayor” of the Strawberry Fields.
We took train # 6 to go to East Harlem. According to the MTA train # 6 runs locally in Manhattan through Lexington Avenue. As soon as we got out of the subway, we walked to the Museum of the City of New York. This museum displays exhibitions of New York in the past and in the present. It was opened in 1923 and has thousands of different art collections. Also the museum has films and documentaries about the history of New York (BG p 376). The exhibition that I liked the most was the fashion display. The designer of the “When Fashion Danced” is Stephen Burrows. He is the first African-American man to have succeeded in the fashion world. Then, we went to watch a film about the history of New York. I have to say that this film was fabulous! It took us back to history and showed how New York was divided when the Indians inhabited New York. It also recounted how the Dutch arrived and settled along the Hudson River, and little by little people from other countries came and formed part of New York. Furthermore, this film explained that New York was called New Amsterdam and later on its name was changed to New York. Overall, this movie broke up the periods and geography of New York which was an excellent learning experience.
We continued on our adventure to meet our tour guide Luke. We met at the Conservatory Garden. Luke explained that the picture on the back wall was Frida Kahlo and some other famous artist. The picture wall is remarkable because it shows that women have a voice in society. Frida Kahlo is one of my favorite artists. She is a Mexican artist that succeeded in the earlier 1900s. We also learned that East Harlem is a Hispanic and African-American community, including Puerto Rican, Dominicans and Mexican people. We continued to walk in the streets of East Harlem (105th, 103rd) and we observed different paintings done in the walls of buildings. Our tour guide explained that these paintings tell the story of its residents or I should say of the people living inside the buildings (the community).Apparently, many years ago people were more family oriented than it is today. People had a sense of community more than it is today, so one of the paintings showed people playing dominos, and of course a resident by the name George told us that people used to play dominos outside on the streets; It was a normal life back then, but now if people play dominos outside on the streets would get arrested. I thought that George’s input was very appropriate for our class. The tour guide also mentioned about the El Museo del Barrio. This museum was founded in 1969 and is focused on Hispanic culture (BG p 376-377).
Our final stop with the tour guide Luke was the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center. This organization is focused on the social, cultural and economic aspect of East Harlem residents. They offer educational programs for artists and for the public in general. Here our tour guide, Luke made a performance of one of his poems. His performance was wonderful. Luke seems to have a passion for art, and his ideas are deeply rooted in the conservation of our cultures. He inspires others to have voice in the community and the world through art.
Next, we broke up for lunch. There were many Hispanic and Caribbean restaurants from which to choose. I ate Caribbean food, rice with glandules, sweet plantain, and fish. It was healthy and filling. After our lunch, we began our adventure to Central Park.
Central Park is the biggest park in Manhattan. This park was designed by Frederick L Olmstead and Calvert Vaux. In 1844, this park was a desolate piece of land that had some crops and rocks in its field. There was also lots of garbage and even animals (pigs and goats). Eventually, the city bought the 843 acres of land and Olmstead and Vaux were chosen to design this landscape. The project included different spaces for sports and reservoirs for water receiving aqueducts from Catskill (BG p 279-284).
Our Central Park tour began on the Conservatory Garden. This is a 6 acre garden. It was open 1937. This garden has been renovated throughout the years. Here we could appreciate the beautiful flowers and plants that give the air an uplifting scent. In this park there are different statues and fountains, each with a specific style (Italian, French and American) which makes this park spectacular.
The Reservoir is located between 86th and 96th streets. This reservoir supplied drinking water to the city between 1862 and 1992. Today people love to go around this pond to enjoy nature and the view to the mansions across. The Pond was also transformed by Olmstead. The pond was once used by swans and later on, the swans were replaced by ducks. Furthermore, The Dairy is a place that offers refreshments to the pedestrians. There is also a carrousel that delights to thousands of children every year. The Bethesda Terrace and Fountain is a place to observe nature and rest. During our walk through Central Park our instructors spoke about the Museum Mile. The museums are located between 82nd and 105th streets. Most of these museums used to be homes of wealthy people known as “Millionaires Row” (BG p 365). For example, The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum contains more than 4000 thousand pieces of art. The architectural design of this building has been controversial throughout the years, but now it is greatly admired by the visitors (BG p 368-370).
Next we visited my favorite museum, The Metropolitan Museum. This museum is one of the largest museums in the world. More than five million of people visit this extraordinary museum every year. The Mets exhibits pieces of art from all over the world (BG p 328-364). I have always been amazed by this museum, and this time was not the exception. Unfortunately, our tour in this museum was too short. Anyway, I liked the fashion exhibition PUNK: Chaos to Couture. I believe that the costumes were great pieces of art. For instance, there was a dress made of black plastic bags that impressed me the most because I would never imagine making clothes making clothes out of “garbage bags."!! Certainly, the designers were very creative, but the thing I did not like was the sounds and videos inside the show room, I thought that they were very disturbing!!!
Next, we head up to The Strawberry Fields - this is a place to honor John Lennon. Lennon was one of the members of the famous band, The Beetles. This band was very popular back in the 60s. John Lennon was killed closed to Central park, in front of Dakota Apartments, and Strawberry Fields were named in honor of his song. Currently, Lennon’s wife lives on the sixth floor of the Dakota Apartments Building (BG p 290-292). It was quite pleasant to hear Lennon’s story from the mouth of the “mayor” of the Strawberry Fields.