Exploring the last inches of Manhattan

Here is a map of the entirety of Manhattan

OK, you've seen it before, but have you ever paid any attention to the northern-most reaches of Manhattan? Of course not. Most people know that Central Park ends where Harlem begins at 110th Street. Well, today I decided that since the Scott & Susie NYC Adventure is nearly over I had better get to the last bits of Manhattan. Since it was supposed to be 67 freakin' degrees today I would take a trip wayyy north to Inwood, Ft George and Washington Heights. Past Harlem. Whoa... Here is a map:

OK, early start. Take a crosstown bus across the island and then a subway allll the way to the last stop at 207th Street. Many New Yorkers don't even know 207th exists. Inwood is home to the Dominican community who have been here for a very long time. The area is completely filled with 6 story apartment buildings. Large ones but only 6 stories. That is the max for no elevator by code. Fine area, no biggee. Not much English on the street, all of the signs in Spanish. Many moons ago this area was considered far from "New York". If you were traveling from "New York" (NY used to be only the area just below Wall St) to Albany or Syracuse you would have stopped here for your first night before getting the ferry to the area where Jonas Bronk had his farm (the Bronx). There was a tavern here called the Blue Bell which was built in 1725. They tore it down in 1925to build the fabulous new RKO Coliseum for moving pictures, which has since become a live theater venue, but the site is marked and remembered. George Washington used the Blue Bell for his HQ in 1783.

I walked to Overlook Drive which is situated on a bluff. North Manhattan was not manually leveled like the lower portions of the island. All of Manhattan used to be rocky and hilly. When the street grid was instituted by Mayor DeWitt Clinton in the early 1800s there was a massive initiative to level the island. The Irish labor force literally manually smashed the island flat, extending its East and West girth by dumping the material (rocks and soil) into the rivers on either side of the island. This area was not modified and is thus hilly and rocky.

Further South Fort George is all about George Washington. He built a fort here to defend America against the British. It didn't work so well. The British occupied the fort for a while and then George and his posse whupped up on the blokes and they gave us our country back. The fort is long gone but a park is in its place and is surrounded by attractive apartment. You can't believe how many similar 6 story apartment buildings line each and every street.

I moved further South to Washington Heights which is home to a large Jewish community and Yushiva University. This is their headquarters.

Washington Terrace is a 1/2-block long street that was the brainchild of Daniel Murphy, a resident of Bayonne, New Jersey, who was interested in real estate. Not to be confused with the supreme guitar player from Soul Asylum whose Les Paul sound I try to emulate daily (with literally zero success). The original plot of land for this site was purchased in 1898 by Murphy who filed plans for 18 tan three-storied houses with right angled stoops and porches. Each unit cost $4,500. The 175-foot by 166-foot terrace allows the passer-by a chance to view the street as a whole.. They had been really well preserved and at some point Yushiva started buying them. Well, they decided they wanted to expand their campus and began tearing down these beautiful historic homes. It is so sad. Now there are only half a dozen left and they'll probably get demo'd before too long. It isn't what either Dan would have wanted.

Washington Heights is also home to the oldest house in Manhattan. Lower Manhattan had all kinds of problems with fires plus the value of the land is so crazy that buildings get torn down all the time. Up here things have had a chance to be preserved. Except the Washington Terrace houses.

The Morris-Jumel Mansion, Manhattan's oldest house, was headquarters to General Washington in September and October of 1776. After Washington's departure, the Mansion played host to a succession of British and Hessian military leaders, served briefly as an inn for weary travelers, and finally returned to its role as country house. And that's just the beginning of the fascinating history of this stately mansion built on a hilltop in 1765.

I decided to take the bus home so I could stay above ground and see what I was passing by. It was pretty pleasant as bus rides go. Exploring the northern most reaches of NYC was satisfying in the sense that I feel like I have seen most of New York.

Of the box of "50 walks" that we were given before arriving in NYC I have done 42. Seriously, I need to do the final 8. Of those 4 are in Queens or the Bronx. Not that I won't do them, but it will require a bit more of this 65 degree weather.

4 more weeks of NY. Pretty close to the end.

Trying not to gloat

60 degrees, sunny, no wind, we haven't yet had serious snow. Minnesota is going to suck. Loves my peeps but man, 60 and sunny?

That about sums it up...

Merry Christmas

Cover your 4 year old's eyes, I do not want to destroy any young minds. I ran across this jolly group of Santas in Cooper Square and patiently waited for the perfect moment to get the trifecta: The cigar, the bottle of Jack Daniels and the passed out Santa.

Way to represent Santas!

Interestingly, 20 percent of the population consumes 80 percent of all alcohol. More significantly, 7 percent of the population consumes 50 percent of all alcoholic beverages.

UnSilent Night

Dearest blogger-dom, I know I have had many loyal readers and I know your enthusiasm for AdventureNYC must be waning as my posts are less frequent. My apologies. I am still loving New York and still doing things. As a matter of fact we had back-to-back-to-back guests for the past week. It is great to see everybody and we have had a blast but the blogging gets left at the curb.

Nevertheless (I love a legitimate multi word, so German!) I participated in an art event this past weekend with my friend Nik from Boston called UnSilent Night. There is a guy who produced a 45 minute musical track that is mystic and weaves with bells and chimes and sort of floats on the air. He makes cassette tapes of this track available and invites 100s of people to bring portable tape players to an assigned meeting point. Tapes are distributed and on a coordinated start everybody simultaneously plays the track and walks through NYC.

We met in Washington Square and went to Tompkins Square. I took 15 minutes of video but I edited it down to 1-1/2 minutes. I tried to hold my camera steady so I hope you don't need a barf bag. 

9 tries for the video upload. Giving up. Hungry for lunch and the outdoors. Later...

The Long & Short of it

I figured Broadway was the longest street in Manhattan because it starts literally at the very bottom by Wall St and diagonally stretches up into the Bronx. What I didn't know is that the name of the street changes somewhere in the Bronx to Route 9 and it stretches into what many consider the longest street in the nation, almost to Canada.

How about the shortest street? As with most things related to the history of the City there is some disagreement. There is a street which is marked but literally does not exist. Temple Street in lower Manhattan, where the development of huge building has made for some interesting changes, has literally been erased although the street sign remains.

There is an "alley" in Harlem which I suppose technically is a street called Moylan Place. It is marked and it has some pavement. I assume it must have been a larger street and as buildings usurped the land on which the street was laid it just shrunk.. At the moment is is just barely long enough to contain one car. It is a cut-through under the 125th Street viaduct.

I was hoping for something more "real" in the way of an actual street or alley. I have decided Weehauken Street in the West Village is the winner. Google Maps and Google Earth have been very helpful. Basically this is a judgement call. There are probably 10 streets and alleys which are about the same length. Weehauken St dates back to 1843 and was home to a market that catered to the ships docked on the New Jersey side of the island. Still sporting cobbles Weehawken is a charming mini street. Prior to the construction of the market and Weehauken St the Newgate prison was on the site.

A Dutch treat

Guest post by Betsy who is living in Amsterdam:

Tonight the Dutch celebrate the eve of Sinterklaas, or St. Nicks day. Since I now know someone with young children it has been fun to learn more about the holiday this year. Sinterklaas arrives on a boat from Spain in mid November and from the day he arrives to today kids leave their shoes out for presents. Today kids get off from school early and Sinterklaas brings presents, a poem and a chocolate letter for your first name. Blah, blah, blah, what is your point Betsy..........while this part is fun, the most intriguing part of this story.......Zwarte Piet (ie Black Piet). Sinterklaas does not have cute little elves all dressed in green and red, and there is no north pole. Nope, Black Piet delivers the goods. There is no sleigh, rather a white horse. Now lets get back to Black Peit. This little guy is ALL OVER in shops, window displays and even as I discovered......the free wrapping paper at Toys R Us. So...........Sinterklaas is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful outfits, modelled after 16th century Spanish clothing. During the Middle Ages, Zwarte Piet was apparently a name for the devil. Having triumphed over evil, it was said that on Saint Nicholas' eve, the devil was shackled and made his slave. Although the character of Black Piet later came to acquire racial connotations, his origins were in the devil figure. From about 1850, Piet was said to be an imported African servant of Saint Nicholas. Today however, a more politically correct explanation is given: Piet's face is said to be "black from soot" (as Piet has to climb down chimneys to deliver his gifts). However, when I ask people about this they say Americans are just uptight about race and that it really does not bother them. I also pressed as to how you explain the curly hair, but I get shrugged off. Nevertheless, the tradition has been accused of being racist, and attempts have been made to introduce Gekleurde Pieten (Coloured Piets), who are coloured blue, red, etc., instead of black, however I have yet to see a Piet any color other than black in any shop or ad. The explanation given to the suckers (read children) for this was that "Sinterklaas passed through a rainbow with his boat and it colored the Piets". So here is how disturbing black Piet is........I walked past a shop the other day and they have black Piet kits for kids.....ie makeup for black face. Yes people, kids paint their faces and run around. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEk.