Walking Off the Big Apple

Hawks and Architecture: A Red-tailed Hawk Tour of Washington Square

2013-06-08T09:01:00.000-04:00

Many locals in Greenwich Village experienced big bird drama in early June as three baby red-tailed hawks took their first flights from their home ledge on NYU's Bobst Library in Washington Square. The first one fledged on May 31, an event I missed and that apparently produced much nervous excitement. The remaining two young hawks took off on Sunday, June 2, one in the early morning and another nearly twelve hours later. I saw some of it.

June 2, 2013 9:10 am Washington Square North. Parents and fledgling. Bobby (left), Rosie (middle), and fledgling (right, obscured by the tree branch).

June 2, 2013 10:39 a.m. Rosie is now perched on NYU's Silver Center for Arts and Science, one of the focal points for hawk activity on Washington Square East. Built in 1895 by NYU for academic and commercial purposes, the lower floors once housed The American Bank Note Company.

June 2, 2013 11:13 a.m. While watching the fledgling on Washington Square North, hawk watchers heard the cries of the one that fledged a few days previously. Then, we looked up and saw it perched on the circular ladder structure on top of the Silver Building.

June 2, 2013 11:33 a.m. The second fledgling continued to explore Washington Square North, landing on a window ledge at #3. This is no ordinary row house. The building was the longtime home of American painter Edward Hopper, who lived here from 1913 until the day he died in 1967.

Our human instinct is to wish young birds to soar high, as I suppose we project onto birds our dreams of flight and freedom and transcendent perspective. I think this would be especially true in the context of New York City, where inherent dangers lurk low on the pavement. Imagine, then, young red-tailed hawks, noble birds of prey, taking their first steps off a high window ledge. But instead of swooping up to the top of an Art Deco New York skyscraper, as we would fantasize in our big city dreams for them, they end up landing flat on their feathery young backs on a hard New York sidewalk or somehow flopping around on the windshield of a police vehicle or awkwardly landing in a bush or on a park bench during a crowded festival. Watching big young birds negotiate the hustle and bustle of New York for the first time is not for the faint of heart.

June 2, 2013 6:56 p.m. Sweet angel, this is not a good place for you! Fledgling #3 reportedly had a bumpy sidewalk landing shortly after 6 p.m. but then managed to flap/fly to a park bench nearby in Washington Square Park.

But, like everything, after some practice, the fledglings got better at flying and graceful landings, and within days, if not hours, they found their way to higher and higher floors.

June 2, 2013 7:06 p.m. Now this is a proper place for hawks! While sweet angel is negotiating the park below, this hawk perches on top of "The Row." The tall Art Deco skyscraper behind is One Fifth Avenue (1929, Harvey Wiley Corbett). At this point, I've started to lose track of which hawk is which.

June 2, 8:07 p.m. Jeez. While a crowd in the park fussed over the fledgling on the park bench, another ran into a bit of a jam on Greene Street between Waverly Place and Washington Place.

Mom and dad hawk - known commonly as Rosie and Bobby - are always near the fledglings. I would love to call them helicopter parents, but they probably have a different approach. The young hawks are still dependent on their parents for the delicious sustenance of eviscerated rats and pigeons and squirrels, and they will stick around the park a few weeks more to learn from them how to acquire such excellent breakfast and dinner for themselves.

Two days later...

June 4, 2013. Early Tuesday morning 7:56 a.m. NYU's student center, the Kimmel Center for University Life. The building houses the Skirball Center for Performing Arts. Washington Square South and LaGuardia Place. The 2001 building was designed by Kevin Roche Dinkeloo & Associates. If you can't see the hawk, click to enlarge.

Pless Hall, Washington Square East, built in the 1890s. June 4, 2013. Early evening. 7:55 p.m.

June 4, 2013. The colonnade of NYU's Shimkin Hall at 44 West 4th St. (southeast corner of Washington Square Park). The hall was built originally in 1895-96 as a warehouse and offices.

June 4, 2013. 8:16 p.m. Washington Square East. in the last light of evening.

Once they learn the work of birds of prey, they will fly away to parts unknown.

The next evening. June 5, 2013 7:41 p.m. Silver Center (left); Pless Hall (middle, with hawk); Washington Square East Galleries (right). The light on the rust-colored gallery building is something right out of an Edward Hopper painting.

Washington Square South/E. 4th. No hawks.

NYU's Education Building, 35 W. 4th St. The building houses the Frederick Loewe Theatre.
No hawks. That's a plane.

View looking north on Greene Street toward E. 8th Street.
No hawks, or none apparent.

Meanwhile, in their youthful airborne adventures, the hawks and their parents make excellent tour guides to Washington Square.

Washington Square Park, on the north side near Hopper's house. June 5, 2013. 8:01 p.m.

Night, hawks.

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Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from early June 2013. Clicking on the pictures enlarges them. For more images, see this set on Flickr WOTBA.

For dedicated and ongoing coverage of the hawks, I highly recommend the blogs Urban Hawks and Roger_Paw.

Event note: Hopper Drawing, an exhibition at the Whitney Museum, continues through October 6, 2013.

Back on Coney Island: The B&B Carousell

2013-05-31T07:01:00.002-04:00

Visitors to Coney Island can once again enjoy the sights and sounds of the B&B Carousell, the last great merry-go-round of New York's most celebrated beach playground. Next to the towering Parachute Jump and near the boardwalk entrance at Stillwell Avenue, the B&B graces the new Steeplechase Plaza.

Vividly alive in their authentic color and fierceness, the fifty hand-carved horses go round and around and around. The ride's equally historic and rare band organ adds a gentle and steady tune to Coney Island's thrilling cacophony of rickety roller coasters, drumming pop disco beats, and the distant cries of small children stepping into the waves.

In the early 1920s, the B&B made its debut here. All except one of the B&B horses were originally carved by Charles Carmel, an authority on Coney Island carousels.* Back at the turn of the century, the island enjoyed two dozen or so of the merry-go-rounds.

In 2005, when the B&B found itself the last remaining carousel, there were plans to sell it off. But just in time, NYC's E.D.C.(Economic Development Corporation) rode in on a white horse, offering $1.8 million to keep it. Now beautifully restored by carousel specialist Todd W. Goings in Marion, Ohio, using only dowels and glue, the horses are back on Coney Island.

The Rockwell Group designed the appropriately theatrical new pavilion.

Read more elsewhere:

* The lead horse, the one exception, is the work of MC Illions, credited for the Coney Island style of carousel carving. See this informative post, "A Portrait of Abe Lincoln on Coney Island's B&B Carousell," Amusing the Zillion, May 26, 2013

* See "Summer’s Steeds, Back Home" - NYTimes.com

* Press release by the Mayor's office. "Coney Island Summer Season Begins With the Unveiling of Restored Historic Carousel and Steeplechase Plaza." May 24, 2013.

On this website:

• "Back on the Boardwalk: Opening Day at Coney Island," March 24, 2013.

• "Episodes from a Natural and Social History of Coney Island: Primary Sources from the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries, with Historical and Contemporary Images," June 5, 2012.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from May 27, 2013.

The New Waterfront: Gantry Plaza State Park, Long Island City

2013-05-29T06:51:00.000-04:00

Gantry Plaza State Park in Hunter's Point of Long Island City, Queens features stunning views of midtown Manhattan across the way, but the award-winning designs of the park merit their own close-ups. Built in stages to transform an industrial landscape into a pleasing public space, the park does not erase the past. In ways that are reverential as opposed to cute and quotable, the gantries in the southern part and the grounds of the old Pepsi bottling plant in the north are not just acknowledged, they are celebrated.

The gantries of Gantry Plaza State Park

The 1998 design by landscape architecture firm of Thomas Balsley Associates accentuated Manhattan skyline views through the windows of the old railroad car float cranes (the gantries), a futuristic fishing pier, a great lawn, and stepping stone paths to the water. The lines of the paths and park ripple along in soft waves, mirroring the movement of the East River and the varying terrain of the riverfront. On the fishing pier, fishermen rest their poles in elegant notches on the railings and scrape their catch on a cleaning table worthy of a five-star New York restaurant kitchen. Their views have no peer. The 2009 additions to the park by Abel Bainnson Butz brought the park more spacious green spaces in addition to lots of lounge chairs. Future additions to the esplanade, currently under construction, include very High Line-ish features, meaning tufts of native grasses peaking up from rusty rail lines.

View from Fishing Pier 4

Through the gantry - the Chrysler Building and the United Nations Secretariat Building

We could talk about those glassy new residential towers that surround the park, but while in the park, focused attention tends to drift toward the gantries (fascinating, complicated machinery of the by-gone working waterfront), the landscaping, the river, and the Manhattan skyline rather than on the high-rises. The residents here must have nice views. If anything, the towers are most noticeable when checking out the 1936 Pepsi-Cola sign, a rather extraordinary monument of commercial signage. Both the sign and the residential high-rises are easily spotted from across the river in the streets near the United Nations and from Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island. This stroll fills the need of those curious to see these sights in closer proximity.

View of the United Nations. The small island in the middle of the river is U Thant Island, named after the former Secretary General of the UN.

Gantry Plaza State Park, looking north, with the Pepsi-Cola sign.
The Queensboro Bridge (59th Street Bridge) is in the distance.

The Pepsi-Cola sign was formerly on the top of the bottling plant and was moved to this location after the building was demolished.

The NY Waterway's East River Ferry stops near Gantry Plaza State Park at the Hunters Point South/Long Island City stop. For reasons illustrated here, you way want to get off the ferry and explore the new New York waterfront in Long Island City.

A stroll in Gantry Plaza State Park

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from Sunday, May 26, 2013. See also the previous post on Brooklyn Bridge Park. The two stops make a good compare-and-contrast look at the contemporary New York waterfront.

View The New Waterfront: Gantry Plaza State Park, Long Island City in a larger map

A Walk from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to Brooklyn Bridge Park: The City Past to the City Future

2013-05-19T12:21:00.000-04:00

A morning walk along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade most always seems like a good way to start a day in New York, offering sweeping views of the skyline of Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. So romantic! The promenade, high above the East River, would make it on my personal top 10 list for visitors to the city, especially in the context of walking through the handsome neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. An evening walk here turns the city into a dramatic spectacle of lights.

View from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade
The walk described here begins south at Montague Street and continues north toward the Brooklyn Bridge.

Or, so it would seem, especially for the morning. These days, due to the feverish building of the Brooklyn Bridge Park below, a lofty walk along the venerable promenade feels more at times like a visit to a construction site than a romantic stroll. It's also loud. But if you have a thing for the sights and sounds of tractors moving great mounds of earth, this is a spot for you. Some of these very same tractors are in the process of fashioning manmade hills along the park, ones designed to soften the sounds of the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) from both the park and the promenade. Wait a year or two, and things should look prettier.

View of Lower Manhattan from the promenade and a sign noting the Brooklyn Bridge Park below

Brooklyn Bridge Park under construction.

Arriving at Pier 1, one of the park's three completed piers, the largest, and the only one built on landfill, it's time to step into the unfolding future of the re-conceptualized Brooklyn waterfront. The repurposing of great swaths of the riverfront, away from the manufacturing and shipping uses of the past and toward the recreational purposes of our post-industrial economy, constitutes a momentous shift in the city's modern history.

skyline of Lower Manhattan and view of Pier 1 from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Back in the day, Brooklyn Heights itself was home to sea captains who could gaze down upon their ships docked below. Now, many of our workers are not bound by the physical locality of their work. They just want a decent wi-fi connection, one they will need to share with millions of tourists, and access to pleasant outdoor recreational facilities. Hence, this new park. And, yes, Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 1 and 6 have wi-fi.

The new Squibb Bridge makes for a seamless transition from the promenade to the park.

The Squibb Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge

For many months, walking from the promenade to the park below proved something of a hassle, involving a steep hill. Thanks to the new Squibb Bridge (pictured above), a walkway engineered to bounce and give along its zigzag path, the transition is now seamless. Symbolically, the bridge serves as a transition from the venerable old promenade, built in New York's post-war period of the 1950s, to the post-industrial landscape of contemporary New York. The descent into the park also feels also like a transition from middle age to adolescence, a reverse aging process that is further reinforced upon arrival in the park. (I'm glad I didn't wear heels.) This is not inherently a good thing.

Pier 1, built on landfill, features scenic views and a landscaped park

With its manmade hills and young green trees, a gurgling stream, and pristine pathways, Pier 1 comes off a wee bit like an amusement park. At least it did for me, as I instantly experienced a childhood flashback to "La Salle's River Adventure," a long-defunct ride at Six Flags over Texas that featured whirlpools, caves full of treasure, and fake Indian attacks along with other imagined trappings of France's New World imperial aspirations. (A link, if you care. I was already primed for nostalgic turns after stopping earlier in front of 8 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights, the fictional home of the Patty Duke Show's Lane family.)

Yes, this is the Brooklyn waterfront. You may recognize the bridge.

One of Pier 1's best features is the wide walkway directly next to the river. Long benches and colorful moveable chairs encourage visitors to stay and enjoy the views of Governors Island, Liberty Island, and Skyscraper Island (the island known as Manhattan). For those who grew up strolling the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, experiencing this low waterfront view of Manhattan for the first time may be a little jolting.

View of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty from Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park

View of Skyscraper Island (Manhattan). Have a seat.

To continue the adventure, consider lining up at the East River Ferry's Dumbo landing, directly next to Pier 1, and exploring additional stops along the river via boat.

View of the South Street Seaport and Lower Manhattan from the East River Ferry

Weee!

View of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade from the ferry, with the BQE just below, and the Brooklyn Bridge Park on the waterfront. A triple decker.

We’re on a boat again. (No whirlpools.)

View of the East River, the harbor, and Lower Manhattan

The next stop downriver is Pier 11. Beyond lies Wall Street, another walk, if not a speculative ride.

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Note on directions: Brooklyn Heights makes a quick trip from Lower Manhattan via subway. For example, take the R train from Prince Street and get off at the Court Street stop in Brooklyn, and you'll be in Brooklyn Heights in 20 minutes or so. From there, walk down Montague Street toward the river and the promenade. There are lots of places to pick up food for breakfast or picnic. Traveling from Brooklyn Bridge Park to Manhattan via ferry, or vice versa, is highly recommended.

View The Brooklyn Heights Promenade to Brooklyn Bridge Park: A Walk from the City Past to the City Future in a larger map

Related elsewhere:

• Official website: Brooklyn Bridge Park

• More on the Squibb Bridge - New York Times story: "A Zigzag Offers a More Direct Route to a Park," Lisa W. Foderaro. March 21, 2013.

Related on this website:

• This walk updates a post from March 11, 2010 - A Walk in Willowtown to the Future Brooklyn Bridge Park.

• New York's New Adolescence and the Play Impulse in Contemporary Public Art, July 1, 2010.

• The Advantages of a New Perspective: A Literary Walk in Brooklyn Heights (October 12, 2010)

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from Saturday, May 18, 2013.

The Summer Rolls in on the First Five Cars: A Warm Evening on the Battery

2013-05-17T07:42:00.000-04:00

Though the unofficial start of summer arrives on Memorial Day weekend, now a week away, a hint of the season arrived on Wednesday afternoon this week. At some point, the winds shifted from the north to the south, and when it was time for me to leave work and go home, a wanderlust took over. Upon these southern breezes, I made an impromptu decision to skip my home stop on the downtown 1 train and to stay on till the end of the line.

For many months in the aftermath of the hurricane, the South Ferry station was not an option for riders of the 1 train.
The older South Ferry station has been recommissioned. Riders must sit in the first five cars.

The end of the line seemed promising, not so much for the destination - the neighborhood of Battery Park and the ferry terminals - but in the actual subway stop itself. The 1 train currently ends at the old South Ferry station, the one that the MTA recently recommissioned in order to serve commuters to Staten Island. The hurricane of last fall had knocked out the newer and bigger one, turning it into "an aquarium," in the words of Governor Cuomo. Now the older station is unearthed, dusted off and operable. But due to its small size, commuters must ride in the first five cars to get off the train. Stepping off the cars into the gently rounded station feels like stepping off an antique carousel.

Decoration in the old South Ferry station, recommissioned in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

Once above ground, many choices present themselves for an impromptu jaunt around this waterfront neighborhood. A ride on the Staten Island Ferry is certainly one. Another would be a stroll around the water's edge through Battery Park and the Battery Park Esplanade. Another good choice would involve an exploration of the winding streets of the Financial District.

the intersection of Broad and Water Streets, Lower Manhattan

Sometimes, a good bar will do the trick, especially after a long work day. On this particularly dreamy late afternoon, I fell into convivial company upstairs at the Dead Rabbit, a watering hole (or more like a rabbit hole, if you order the right drink) on Water Street. The bar's ambience evokes an Irish pub of a hundred years ago. The experience feels like immersive theater, but in a good way.

The Dead Rabbit, exterior, 30 Water Street

The remaining light of the afternoon at the water's edge deepened my desire to extend the day. The sun appeared both enormous and soft, supernatural and nurturing. Before heading uptown, I slowed down the tempo to linger in the warm sunset.

the sunset in Battery Park

The impromptu decision to break from routine merely reaffirmed something I have come to know. Whenever a whimsical choice of staying or going presents itself, and sometimes that's rare, I am almost always glad, in retrospect, of the decision to go out, especially on my own. After years of solo walking and its resulting adventures, I long ago set aside any misplaced perception that a good time requires advanced planning and company. Even if it's just a little thing like skipping the normal subway stop, my world grows larger, just like this sun. And sometimes I discover new company, too, essential for sustaining a meaningful life in a city such as this.

Battery Park, with view of New York Harbor

While Fleet Week has been cancelled this year (the spectacle of sailors in their uniforms always reminds me of Our Town, the musical), we will have to find ways to compensate. Maybe the answer rests in casting off the personal anchors of expectations, not just for Fleet Week, but for other occasions. Make your own R and R. Work hard on the high seas, and when it's time to pull into New York Harbor, sail your own ship. On shore, you will meet others who have arrived the same way.

sailing, New York Harbor

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from Wednesday, May 15, 2013.

Let's Talk About Madison Square Park in the Spring, and Public Art

2013-05-09T07:31:00.000-04:00

Let's talk about one New York park that always seems to pop in the spring - Madison Square Park. The colors here are outlandish, and yes, while these photos may take the colors up a notch, they do not exaggerate by much. And let's talk about the challenges of creating public art in such a setting.

Madison Square Park, with the Empire State Building

The lawns in Madison Square Park seem overly green in the spring, and the colors of the flora render equally exaggerated. Not all works of art, courtesy of the Madison Square Park Conservancy's art program, Mad. Sq. Art (official site), can live up to the natural and manmade lushness of this place. Under certain circumstances, public art can wither here. Sometimes, the work seems too small and confined. On the other other hand, occasionally we get something big and daring, such as Antony Gormley's EVENT HORIZON (2010) with its life-size figures creepily perched on nearby rooftops (and in the park, too) or Jaume Plensa's ECHO (2011), a monolithic head. This year we have New York-based artist Orly Genger's RED, YELLOW AND BLUE (2013), an installation in three acts of highly textured nautical rope in the three primary colors. While Gormley's distant and stoic identical figures played with perceptions of the city itself, here we have a monumental though tactile crochet extravaganza on a scale that matches and yet challenges the park surroundings.

Orly Genger's RED, YELLOW AND BLUE (2013)

One advantage of setting work in Madison Square Park is that the park doesn't carry a lot of baggage, or at least the baggage was forgotten sometime around 1920. The park is malleable in meaning. This is by contrast with Washington Square Park, still a highly contested battleground for Greenwich Village's bohemian freedom-loving legacy, or Tompkins Square, with its East Village dissent and difference, or Union Square, with its history of labor activity. Madison Square Park was once the epicenter of New York fashion, but it slumbered for a few decades, settling into a state of shabby genteel. In recent times, it was neither here nor there, not uptown or downtown enough to warrant much attention. The park was like an Edith Wharton character that had slipped down the social ladder, the Lily Bart of the New York parks system. (Wharton's birthplace, just a skip down W. 23rd, is now an unremarkable building with a Starbucks at street level.)

Orly Genger's RED, YELLOW AND BLUE (2013)

Today the park is resurgent, buzzing with activity as part of the high-tech mecca known as the Flatiron District. As startup tech firms found the area congenial, visitors started flocking to places such as Eataly on the west side of the park, buying more kinds of pasta and gelato than they ever dreamed, or Shake Shack within the park, lining up for hamburgers at hours uncongenial for dining. Everyone wants some Flatiron action.

Orly Genger's RED, YELLOW AND BLUE (2013)

The scale of Madison Square Park is pleasing, with just enough lawn and mature trees to provide the comforts of nature within the city. It sits within direct proximity to the Flatiron Building just to the south, and the Empire State Building to the north. These buildings are showstoppers. The park's most famous feature may be the view it affords of the Flatiron, a view that can remarkably evoke the early twentieth century. During an evening rain, squint and you will see Edward Steichen's iconic image.

View of the Flatiron Building from Madison Square Park

Genger's RED, YELLOW AND BLUE, made of lobster-rope and painted in intense saturations, works well in the park because these three pieces are a bit too over scale, frequently obscuring long views of the park itself. On the other hand, the undulating ropes define or accentuate charming park vignettes. It's a teasing accomplishment, revealing the work to be that of a young artist yet to reach her summer or fall. For now, however, Madison Square Park has found a good companion for its spring.

Orly Genger's RED, YELLOW AND BLUE (2013)

Orly Genger's RED, YELLOW AND BLUE (2013),
detail

• Mad. Sq. Art 2013. Orly Genger: RED, YELLOW AND BLUE
Through September 8, 2013

For more on the artist, read in the article in The New York Times, The Rope Wrangler, Ideas Unfurling May 1, 2013.

Related posts here:
• After the Rain: Sights and Sounds from Madison Square Park, with Pet Sounds by Charles Long (May 23, 2012)
• In Madison Square Park, Jaume Plensa's ECHO. May 6, 2011.
• Playing With the City: Antony Gormley's EVENT HORIZON

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple. May 7, 2013.

Island Adventures: 16 Places to Go in the New York Archipelago

2013-05-04T08:35:00.002-04:00

Commuters in New York City need not be reminded that the city, at its geographical essence, is a vast archipelago. Every day over a million people venture forth through the city's network of islands and parts of islands, sailing through the New York Harbor from Staten Island to Manhattan or crossing the East River and Hudson River and the tidal straight of the Harlem River via car, bus, train, or bike to their appointed destinations.

Rockaway Beach

Thousands of people go to work in the New York islands every day just to work on boats. These island-hoppers include members of the commercial shipping trade, the tourist industry, local law enforcement, and the armed services. In addition, thousands of vacationers come and go from the archipelago, boarding ocean liners to explore distant islands with more swimmable waters.

In short, the New York archipelago is a beehive of activity at all times. For proof, take a gander at the Live Ships Map from MarineTraffic.com. The map shows passenger ships, fishings vessels, tugs, and so forth in real time. MarineTraffic has an app, too.

In the midst of this busy city of many ports of call, what are some of the best locales for a quick island holiday? While the following list does not to present itself as a novel idea, the places constitute a partial repertory of itinerant adventures. Not all have sand. With temperatures beginning to climb, our thoughts drift from our work to the fantasies of island leisure. Is that an ocean breeze in the air? Perhaps.

Is there anything better than an early summer evening on Coney Island?
In this picture from July 14, 2012, musician Billy Bragg celebrates the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie, who spent some of his happiest years living on Coney Island.

People often need a break from the everyday routine to get a new perspective. The list below includes many places with offbeat or unusual views of the city.

"There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs - commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme down-town is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Adventurous Perspectives: 16 Places to Go in the New York Archipelago

Battery Park

Battery Park. For a couple of centuries, before Ellis Island, immigrants arrived in New York at this point at the tip of Lower Manhattan, passing through Castle Garden. Today, visitors congregate near the rails to gaze at the harbor and the Statue of Liberty. more

Brooklyn Bridge Park. The new park, repurposed from working piers, features close-to-water views of Manhattan, offering a surprising new vantage point to those of us more accustomed to strolling the Brooklyn Heights Promenade high above the park. If you're up for it, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. more

City Island. Part of the Bronx, City Island is known for its boat building heritage. A major center for yacht building from the Civil War to 1980, the shipyards of City Island built many illustrious vessels, including some of the largest yachts of their day. Stroll through this New England-like community, and plan a stop at one of the island's seafood restaurants. more

Coney Island. A western barrier island in the Long Island chain, Coney Island was once separated from the mainland of Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek. In 1823, the island was connected to the mainland by a road made of seashells and later by landfill. more

East River Ferry. Operated by NY Waterway, the East River Ferry's regular weekday service connects two stops in Manhattan, one on E. 34th St. in Midtown and the other downtown at Wall Street's Pier 11, with four resurgent waterfront communities in Brooklyn and one in Queens. more

Governors Island

Governors Island. Public access to Governors Island resumes Saturdays and Sundays starting May 25, 2013. Visitors to Governors Island can walk the 2.2. promenade around the whole island and enjoy access to the northern part. The southern part is awaiting development. On December 7, 1988, President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Governors Island, then the headquarters for the Coast Guard, to discuss arms reduction. For a minute there, it looked like world peace. more

Intrepid Museum. The star attractions on these piers along the Hudson River are the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum on W. 46th and 12 Avenue at Pier 86, where everyone gawks at the ships, and the popular Circle Line Sightseeing tours that depart from Pier 83 to the south. Note: Near the Memorial Day weekend, the area usually serves as the focal point for Fleet Week, but in 2013, due to the federal sequester, Fleet Week has been cancelled. Boo. more

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. In addition to the sights of many birds flying overhead or darting furtively through bushes, a walk here offers distant views of the Emerald City. more

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge offers an unusual perspective on the city

Pier 15. The well-designed sleek pier just to the south of the South Street Seaport invites new perspectives of the East River, the bridges, Brooklyn across the way, and the changing skyline of Lower Manhattan. It's also a great place to catch an exceptional sunset. more

Pier 54. The RMS Titanic was supposed to have arrived at Pier 59, the home of the White Star Line. As we know, it never made it back. The RMS Carpathia, bearing the survivors of the doomed ship, dropped off the empty lifeboats at Pier 59 and then sailed back to Pier 54, the home dock for the Cunard line. Tens of thousands of people gathered around Pier 54 to hear the stories of the maritime disaster. You can still visit what's left of the pier, marked by a rusty arch that bears the faded lettering of the Cunard Line. more

Red Hook

Red Hook. This waterfront neighborhood in Brooklyn, hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, is a resilient place with good local distilleries, casual eateries, and exceptional views of New York Harbor. There's more to do here than shop at IKEA, although the superstore's ferry service makes for an easy and fun outing.

Riverbank State Park. In addition to a large sports complex, this sprawling park high above the Hudson River offers sweeping views of the river, the George Washington Bridge, and the Palisades. The park, opened in 1993, sits atop the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant. Don't let that deter you from a visit.

Rockaway Beach. The walk at Rockaway stretches a long 5.5 miles. Because of the size of this beach community in Queens on the south shore of Long Island, visitors on a day trip to Rockaway may not have enough time to experience all of its history and attractions except for a relatively small stretch of the beach. more

Roosevelt Island

Roosevelt Island. Taking a tram high over the East River should provide a good enough excuse to visit the island, once home to a smallpox hospital and an octagon-shaped asylum. The splendid ruins of the hospital are still there, and the asylum has been repurposed for swank housing. Stroll to the southern tip to visit the new Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, built from the original design by Louis Kahn. more

Staten Island Ferry. Commuters and hordes of visitors crowd the ferries to and from Manhattan. And what's not to like? It's a free trip on a boat with views of the Harbor and the Statue of Liberty. A round-trip on the ferry can provide a quick cure for cabin fever, or whatever we would label the feeling of being stuck in the concrete jungle. more

Times Square. Whoa. What thing is not like the other thing? Wait. There's an explanation for its inclusion on this list. Once upon a time, on the island of Mannahatta, a verdant paradise in a complex archipelago near the Atlantic Ocean, two streams came together in the area now called Midtown. The convergence of these streams naturally attracted people and wildlife. From a certain perspective, it's still there.

Times Square, where the island streams converge

View Island Adventures: 16 Places to Go in the New York Archipelago in a larger map

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from the archives.

City Lawns and Island Kites: Scenes from a Pair of Walks in Brooklyn

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A sunny Saturday with pleasing temperatures sent New Yorkers outdoors yesterday to collectively enjoy the spring. These pictures come from Brooklyn - specifically Prospect Park, the borough's main park, and Coney Island, the city's most popular beach destination. The two spots make a good combination for an afternoon excursion, providing counterpoints to one another in palette and tempo. While the park is an abundantly green and formal landscape, the island is wild and blue. Hitting the two spots in sequence can offer the pleasures of a moveable feast - a picnic in the park followed by a beer on the boardwalk. The subway provides the here-to-there.

Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn,
leaving the concrete behind

With a little tactical planning, a walk in Prospect Park can begin with a dramatic prequel. Monumental Brooklyn surrounds the park's entrance near Grand Army Plaza, represented by the Soldiers and Sailors' Memorial Arch (1889-1892), Brooklyn Museum (1893-1915 by McKim, Mead & White), the sidewalks of Eastern Parkway, and the Brooklyn Public Library (streamlined Beaux-Arts from 1941). Olmsted & Vaux, the park's designers, provided the designs for the plaza and parkway as well.

Brooklyn Museum

Eastern Parkway

The Brooklyn Public Library, main library

A pair of Doric columns announces Act I of the park walk, with the narrative leading through the Endale Arch (below) and into the wide vistas of Long Meadow.

Through the Endale Arch, Prospect Park

A spring day in Prospect Park

Prospect Park

wildflowers, Prospect Park

Act II introduces the characters of the Prospect Park Zoo, most of them in various states of repose. A swan rests its pretty neck; a red panda drifts into a nap; the sea lions swim round and round.

Swan at rest, Prospect Park Zoo

Sleepy red panda, Prospect Park Zoo

Swimming sea lions, Prospect Park Zoo

Subway ride (intermission) - Take the Q train from the Prospect Park station to Coney Island's Stillwell Ave station.

View A Pair of Walks in Brooklyn in a larger map

A first glance of Coney Island can be equally dramatic, via the elevated rails of the train. The Q train swings by Brighton Beach, and on a clear day, visitors can enjoy views of the blue ocean outside one side of the train windows and out the opposite side, distant views of the downtown Manhattan skyline. It's impossible to miss Coney Island.

Coney Island Amusement Park, through a window of the Q train

While over-the-top thrills always attract crowds to Coney Island, this day's trip featured the most charming of spectacles - fanciful kites, tethered together, soaring high above the beach in the brisk ocean breeze. If Dorothy Gale of Kansas had seen one of these, she may have surrendered.

Kites on Coney Island Beach, with the Wonder Wheel

Kites - woman with swim fins, Pegasus, and a witch on a broomstick

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from Saturday, April 27, 2013. (Reminder: Clicking on the pictures enlarges them.)

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary.

The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue

The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplifting. Like the city itself, a place of too many possibilities that can often paralyze decision-making (i.e. "Where do you want to go to dinner?" "I don't know" "Let's eat leftovers") , a satisfactory stroll through the Met necessitates editing out certain galleries and saving them for another day. On a recent Sunday, for example, I visited the Met to see Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity (through May 27, 2013), and just this one exhibit so overwhelmed me - all this flâneur stuff, you know, what with Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte and La Loge by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, together in the last gallery! - well, I just had to walk outside and sit on the front steps for a long time.

While a time-demanding pleasure palace, the Met is still within easy walking distance of many other spots, some of which involve great coffee, nature, books, sumptuous architecture, and world-class cocktails.

On this recent visit, I began my museum outing in the early afternoon with Viennese coffee and strudel at the Café Fledermaus inside the Neue Galerie. After the museum, I walked through the historic district, bought a book at Crawford Doyle Booksellers on Madison, and ended the afternoon with a drink at the handsome Bar Pleiades on E. 76th, just a little shy west of Madison.

So, when you find yourself sitting on the steps at the Met, recognize that many opportunities await nearby. Behind you to the west are treasures within the great leafy expanse of Central Park - the Ramble and the Shakespeare Garden, among them. In your line of sight, stare ahead at East 82nd Street and think about getting up to look at the mansion on the corner. Know, too, that within a block or so from here, formally-dressed bartenders are polishing their counters and ready to take your order.

Please don't attempt all 25 of the following things in one outing. Choose maybe three or four of them in combination with the museum. Curate thyself. Or, as they say where I grew up - be particular.

1009 Fifth Ave and 82nd St. 1899-1901

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

1. Metropolitan Museum Historic District. East side of 5th Avenue from E. 78th to E. 86th St. through Fifth and Madison Avenues (approx.) Fans of Beaux-Arts architecture, with its neoclassical riffs on Gothic, Renaissance, Romanesque, and other varieties, will enjoy looking at the many bas-reliefs, classical ornaments, and balustrades throughout the district.

2. Central Park: Pat Hoffman Friedman Playground, with Paul Manship's sculpture Group of Bears (1932, cast in 1963). The charming small playground just to the south of the museum makes a good spot to rest or to plan the afternoon.

View of the museum from the park

3. Central Park: The Ramble. A 38-acre site of wild woods, outcroppings of rock, man-made rustic features, and confusing trails, all set to the tune of birds, sits roughly between 78th St. on the north and 73rd St. on the south. More on this website.

4. Central Park: The Obelisk. The oldest man-made object in the park, and better known as Cleopatra's Needle, this granite monument indeed dates from the days of the pharaoh, circa 1450 BC. After it was carted over to the city, in February 1881 a large crowd watched in wonder as workers pulled the Obelisk into its full and upright position.

5. Central Park: Belvedere Castle, Delacorte Theatre, Shakespeare Garden. A trifecta of Central Park icons, grouped together. The Delacorte is home to The Public Theatre's Shakespeare in the Park. The garden next door features seasonal plantings accompanied by quotations from the Bard. Belvedere Castle, an architectural folly created by park co-designer Calvert Vaux, offers an excellent high view of the Park below.

6. Central Park: South Gate, Central Park Reservoir. The reservoir, named after Jackie Kennedy Onassis, was originally built as a water supply for New York. Decommissioned for that purpose, the Reservoir is a lovely thing to behold, especially as a home to many waterfowl.

Neue Galerie
Café Sabarsky

7. Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Avenue at 86th St. As described in a previous post, the collection encompasses the worlds of Vienna at the turn of the century and the art movements associated with the Weimar Republic. The galleries are housed in an elegant 1914 building designed by Carrère and Hastings. Website

8. Café Sabarsky, 1048 Fifth Avenue at 86th St. If you're not visiting the Neue Galerie (above), at least step inside the museum and get in line for the best Viennese coffee and pastry in the city. If the line is long, head downstairs to the more informal Café Fledermaus. Same menu, same coffee, same apple strudel.

9. Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 E. 79th St. The institute hosts exhibitions and events, open to the public, in the Harry F. Sinclair House (the former Isaac D. Fletcher House). The French Gothic building by C. P. H. Gilbert, 1897–1899, is a wee bit excessive, but so was much of the Gilded Age in America. Website

10. The New York Society Library, 53 E 79th St. Ambling east on 79th, you will encounter the library. Despite the snooty sound of the name, this noble institution was born of civic-minded types who wanted books to be made available to the public. After earlier locations in the southern parts of Manhattan, in 1937 the library settled comfortably into this Italianate house. More at the official website.

Carlyle Galleries Building (left)
The Carlyle, a hotel, on the right

11. Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Ave. One of several locations in the Gagosian art world, this gallery inhabits a space within the landmark Carlyle Galleries Building. A few years ago, the 5-story building served as the focal point of an intense preservationist battle between the Upper East Siders and developers wishing to construct a tower design by Norman Foster on its base. Gagosian maintains a fun art bookstore here, Books & Co.. Website

12. Bemelmans Bar, inside The Carlyle, 35 E. 76th St. The bar is named after the beloved children's writer Ludwig Bemelmans, the author of the Madeline books and the creator of the bar's charming wrap-around mural. He lived in the hotel, too. After a day at the Met, order a favorite cocktail and drink in the mood of the sophisticated city. Website

13. Bar Pleiades/Café Boulud, 20 E. 76th St., off the lobby of the Surrey Hotel. On the other hand, if you want something special to perk yourself up after a long day at the Met, walk into the Bar Pleiades and inquire after the Hanky Panky. This Jazz-Age concoction of gin, vermouth, and Fernet-Branca will have you dreaming of Paris in the twenties. Website

At Café Boulud

Let's Talk: I will interrupt this listage for a moment to state what's becoming obvious. Yes, we are going very "uptown" for this swing through this Upper East Side neighborhood. When in Rome, do as the Romans, etc. etc.. Though I am personally not fond of the luxury aesthetic in a general way, we will just have to pull ourselves together and wear smart clothes. Pull a $20 bill out of the wallet to cover the coffee and the strudel at the Cafe Fledermaus or wherever, and then another $20 (maybe a little more) for a drink in one of these smart hotel bars, and let's be done with it. We can always go home (or the hotel) and change into jeans and find cheap beer in the Village for later. We should also remember to join the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a member, so we don't have to agonize over the "suggested" price of admission or be sad about not getting the member discounts at the museum's formidable gift shop. All this walking around business is free. I'm glad we had this talk.

14. The Mark Bar/The Mark Hotel, Madison Avenue at 77th Street. The well-designed bar associated with The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges also features its own signature cocktails. At press time, these include a cucumber martini and a lychee raspberry bellini. Website

15. Ristorante Sant Ambroeus, 1000 Madison Avenue. One of three locations now - along with the West Village and Southhampton - this restaurant in the Milanese tradition offers a memorable risotto, among other fare, in addition to its worthy espresso and gelato. Website

16. Caffe Grazie, 26 E. 84th St. Likable Italian food in a townhouse atmosphere. Their Italian version of a Bento Box is some kind of genius. Website

17. La Maison Du Chocolat, 1018 Madison Ave. Expert chocolates from France. Website

18. Lexington Candy Shop, 1226 Lexington Ave. Luncheonette, circa 1925. The very wonderful word - "luncheonette." We need not say more. Website

19. William Greenberg Jr. Desserts, 1100 Madison Ave. A take-home bakery with delicious goodies, especially holiday cookies. Website

20. E.A.T., 1064 Madison Ave. Sandwiches, salads, sweets. Grab a proper ham-and-cheese baguette to go, and eat in the park. Website

21. Candle 79, 154 E. 79th at Lexington. A literal outlier on this list, the worthy vegan restaurant may provide a good choice for beginning or ending a museum outing on the Upper East Side. Website

22. Crawford Doyle Booksellers, 1082 Madison Avenue. A well-curated selection in an exceptional bookstore. After a staff member quickly took me to the section on travel literature and pulled out the book I was looking for, I quickly deduced that they stocked only good books.

23. Park Avenue Christian Church, 1010 Park Ave. at 85th Street. We're going to church. Twice. Our first stop is a French Gothic-inspired church with buttresses and Tiffany windows. The structure has served as home for the South Dutch Reformed Church, the Park Avenue Presbyterian Church, and now the Disciples of Christ. The latter shares space with the Reform Temple of Universal Judaism. A welcoming place in the interfaith spirit.

Park Avenue

24. Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue. Built in 1898 by the Jesuit-controlled Roman Catholic parish, the stately classical facade is a real head-turner on Park Avenue.

25. Park Avenue. While burdensome to walk at times, this stretch of Park Avenue is nicely landscaped, especially throughout the medians. Before heading to the 6 train on Lexington at either the 86th or 77th St. stops, take a final long look up and down the wide boulevard before heading home.

Final thought: Remember to stay creative and improvisational at all times. Cherish favorite places in the city, but never forget to experience new things. Like a museum, living in New York always presents familiar galleries, but the discovery of unfamiliar paintings in the next room is what really opens up the doors.

View Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a larger map

Images by Walking Of the Big Apple.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with view to the north from the steps

Mobile: You have a phone, yes? While sitting on the steps of the Met, locate "Walking Off the Big Apple" on your phone's browser and find the streamlined mobile version of this website, complete with interactive maps. You are good to go.

See related post:
• 25 Things to Do Near the Museum of Modern Art

A Walk at Sunset from the South Village to the Battery Park Esplanade, with Detours

2013-04-14T13:46:00.002-04:00

This walk from the South Village to the Battery Park Esplanade to watch the sunset over the Hudson River is much longer than it needs to be, but sometimes diversions and meanderings are a necessary part of the journey.

The beginning: South Village. Macdougal Street near Houston Street. 6:26 p.m.

King Street, looking west. The Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District. 6:30 p.m.

Varick Street, walking south, with the Woolworth Building in the distance. 6:37 p.m.

For example, I could have headed west to the river via Houston Street, but no, I felt like meandering through the pretty Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District and down Varick through Tribeca and then around the old warehouses of the Lower West Side. I seized the moment to make use of the pedestrian overpass near Varick and Laight Streets, the one that allows pedestrians to maneuver the Holland Tunnel without getting run over. While I walked to the river, One World Trade Center frequently remained in view to the south.

Pedestrian overpass near Varick and Laight Streets. 6:45 p.m.

View from pedestrian overpass near Varick and Laight Streets. 6:48 p.m.

I even made a whimsical decision at one point to climb up a back stairway at the Borough of Manhattan Community College to check out the views of downtown, but I briefly got trapped and had to back-track my steps.

Greenwich St. at Beach Street, limo. 7:02 p.m.

Detour: Borough of Manhattan Community College. Looking south to 1 World Trade Center 7:06 p.m.

Chambers Street walkway over West Street. 7:18 p.m.

Oh, well. I still made it to Battery Park City and the Hudson River in time for the sunset. We don't want to get to the theater too early, do we?

View of the Hudson River and New Jersey skyline from Nelson A. Rockefeller Park, Battery Park City. 7:21 p.m.

Cue the sunset.
Views of Hudson River and New Jersey from Battery Park City. (Below, a Mallard duck swimming south). 7:28 p.m.

The Battery Park Esplanade, resplendent with public art and seasonal landscaping, is varied and intriguing enough for a substantial walk.

Jumping jacks and running. The sun has set on the Hudson River. 7:42 p.m.

Marina, World Financial Center. 7:43 p.m.

Marina, World Financial Center, with masted ship. 7:50 p.m.

Battery Park Esplanade with moon. 8 p.m.

The walk, however, will likely give way to frequent stops in order to sit for a moment to take in the scenery or to lean against a riverfront railing to drink in the setting sun, the waters and the sky.

South Cove. last natural light of evening. 8:15 p.m.

All walks should have a meaningful ending. It may not even be the planned destination. You'll know it when it happens. Then it's time to go home.

The end: Battery Park, night. Statue of Liberty. 8:17 p.m.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from the evening of April 13, 2013 from 6:26 p.m. to 8:17 p.m. By the way, some talk yesterday that NYC would enjoy the effects of the Northern Lights, the result of a solar flare, prompted this walk in the first place. Though disappointed not to see any evidence of the rare electric green neon sky of a geomagnetic storm, I was happy enough with this rather everyday Hudson River sunset.

Note on the map: The map shows a long walk of over 3 miles beginning in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village and ending at Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park in Battery Park, but feel free to cut to the chase and find a more direct path. The 4, 5 trains at Bowling Green provide the means to return from whence one came without walking the whole way back. The place markers on the map note the locations of the pictures shown here.

View A Sunset Walk from the South Village to the Battery Park Esplanade in a larger map

In Central Park, a Leisurely Walk from the Pond to the Reservoir

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This suggested 2-mile walk in Central Park, most suitable for a lazy weekend afternoon (or a weekday, for the leisure class), begins at the Pond near 59th Street and 5th Avenue and veers north, in improvisational fashion, to the Reservoir.

The Pond in Central Park

The stroll takes in several highlights of Central Park, including the softball fields, Sheep Meadow, the Lake, the Ramble, Shakespeare Garden, Belvedere Castle, Turtle Pond, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the west exterior), the Obelisk, and the South Gate House at the Reservoir.

The Pond, looking back toward 59th St. and 5th Avenue.

I hope you like amorous turtles and curious waterfowl.

Denizens of the Pond

We will skip many other places on this walk - Bethesda Terrace and Central Park Zoo, for example - on the assumption that you've either been to these places or will come back another day.

We're looking for the change of seasons. I think we found it. This particular walk - and all walks are particular, in the sense that, after Heraclitus, you can't step into the same river twice - took in the last day of the season to skate on Wollman Rink.

Say goodbye to Wollman Rink for the season. Spring awaits (in top half of picture).

While walking, be willing to wander off of the paths. Always.

Heckscher Fields - Softball Field.

Climb high up on rocks for sweeping views of the city, or step down for the splendor of the grass.

Sheep Meadow.
By the way, a branch of Le Pain Quotidien is nearby, in case you are parched or in need of a mini brownie.

When the spirit moves, take a long break and lie down in Sheep Meadow. You won't be alone.

The south shore of The Lake

We're in no rush here. Let the landscape and the bridges guide the way. For example, Bow Bridge leads to the Ramble.

Bow Bridge

Heavy sigh. New York City.

Boaters in The Lake with the distinctive towers of The San Remo Apartments in the distance.

Behold. The Shakespeare Garden bringeth color.

Shakespeare Garden

And yonder lies Turtle Pond.

That would be Turtle Pond. Looking east.

The view is from Belvedere Castle, a "folly" overlooking Turtle Pond.

Belvedere Castle

Go east. An archway beckons. That's The Metropolitan Museum of Art ahead, if you want to go there.

Through the Greywacke Arch

At the end of this walk, venture up to the South Gate House at the Reservoir.

South Gate House. Central Park Reservoir.

More waterfowl. I promised.

At the Reservoir.

And the Guggenheim Museum to the east, from an uncommon angle. Worth the trip really.

The Guggenheim Museum, as seen from the Reservoir.

And more birds.

Looking north on the Reservoir.

It would be fun to keep walking and explore the north side of the Reservoir. Or maybe, that walk is for another day. Again, we're in no hurry here. The frantic pace is best reserved for other times and places in the city.

View In Central Park, a Meandering Walk from the Pond to the Reservoir in a larger map

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from April 7, 2013. A fuller virtual walk, via a slideshow on Flickr WOTBA may be found here.

Museum Exhibitions in New York City, Spring 2013, with Openings in April, May, and June

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(regularly updated) Many enticing exhibitions open at New York museums this spring, from comprehensive new views of well-known artists (John Singer Sargent and Edward Hopper, for example) to challenging looks at social and historical subjects (the American Civil War; the early years of AIDS). The list includes openings in April, May, and June 2013 and will be regularly updated throughout the season. Below are a few highlights listed in chronological order of their openings. Following these selections, please find the list of continuing exhibitions as well as the titles and dates of many of the upcoming openings at area museums.

Selected Spring Highlights at New York Museums

• Brooklyn Museum. John Singer Sargent Watercolors
Through July 28, 2013

John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925). Gourds, 1908. Opaque and translucent watercolor with graphite underdrawing, 14 x 22 in. (35.6 x 55.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased by Special Subscription, 09.822

A collaboration between the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston brings together their respective collections of John Singer Sargent watercolors for the first time. With 93 works on display, the exhibition provides a rare occasion to view the artist's work in this medium.

• MoMA. Claes Oldenburg: The Street and The Store
Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum/Ray Gun Wing
Through August 5, 2013

Claes Oldenburg. Pastry Case, I. 1961–62. Painted plaster sculptures on ceramic plates, metal platter, and cups in glass-and-metal case, 20 3/4 x 30 1/8 x 14 3/4" (52.7 x 76.5 x 37.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection. © 2012 Claes Oldenburg

MoMA presents an intensive study of the early work of Oldenburg's two major bodies of work, The Street (1960) and The Store (1961–64). In addition, the artist's Mouse Museum and Ray Gun Wing, works from the 1970s, will be on view in the museum atrium.

• Whitney Museum. Hopper Drawing
Through October 6, 2013

Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Study for Nighthawks, 1941 or 1942. Fabricated chalk and charcoal on paper; 11 1/8 × 15 in. (28.3 × 38.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase and gift of Josephine N. Hopper by exchange 2011.65

The Whitney is all about Edward Hopper, and this first major museum exhibition to focus on the drawings should help instruct how the artist built his iconic works out of preliminary sketches and polished drawings. His widow Josephine Hopper bequeathed some 2,500 drawings to the Whitney, many of which have never been exhibited before.

• Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Civil War and American Art
Through September 2, 2013

Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900). Our Banner in the Sky (detail), 1861.

Oil on paper; 7 1/2 x 11 1/4 in. Collection of Fred Keeler

Organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a fascinating look at the often overlooked view of the Civil War through the eyes of the country's major landscape painters. Particularly intriguing are the paintings by Martin Johnson Heade and others that seem to presage the bloody conflict in the darkening skies and the clouds. A few works depict an alarming meteor that lit up the sky in 1860. In another, Frederic Church saw the national flag in tatters (above). I happened to catch this exhibition while I was visiting Washington, DC late last year, and I found myself drawn back into the galleries for additional viewings.

• New-York Historical Society. AIDS in New York: The First Five Years
Through September 15, 2013

A group advocating AIDS research marches down Fifth Avenue during the 14th annual Lesbian and Gay Pride parade in New York, June 27, 1983. Mario Suriani/Associated Press

For those of us who lost loved ones during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, this exhibit will touch on those staggeringly difficult years. New-York Historical Society's exhibit draws from posters, ephemera, and photographs from several archives to tell the story of the early years of AIDS in the city.

• MoMA. Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes
Through September 23, 2013

Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) with Pierre Jeanneret. Villa Savoye Poissy-sur-Seine, France. 1929–31. Wood, aluminum, and plastic, 16 x 34 x 32" (40.6 x 86.4 x 81.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/FLC

The idea and practice of modern architecture necessarily involves a discussion of Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, 1887–1965), its grand theoretician and master. Arguably, most so-called modern architecture wouldn't have such a bad rap had the successors of Corbus not cut so many corners and veered away from his essential ideas. MoMA presents an exhibit on the sixth floor (almost always the advantageous spot in the museum for focused studies) that presents not just the architect but the interior designer, artist, master city planner, philosophe, and photographer.

• New Museum. Ellen Gallagher: Don’t Axe Me
June 19-September 15, 2013

Ellen Gallagher, Untitled, 2012. Oil, ink, and paper on canvas, 24 x 24 in (61 x 61 cm). Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Gallery.

Innovative in her use of media and distinctive in her statements on society, pop culture, and race, Ellen Gallagher (b. 1965) gets a proper US museum show at the New Museum. The exhibition will highlight the often humorous and insightful early works that won over curators at the Whitney Biennial as well as a new series of paintings. The exhibition on the Bowery will run concurrently with an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London.

• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. James Turrell
June 21–September 25, 2013

Rendering of installation for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2012. Artificial and natural light. Rendering created by Andreas Tjeldflaat

Let the rotunda be light! And there was purple light, or whatever artist Turrell casts its way. The Guggenheim gives the artist his first New York museum exhibition since 1980. The artist, known best in site-specific work, will carry out a new project in Frank Lloyd Wright's swirling space. Should make a wonderful match.

Spring 2013 Museum Exhibitions

Upcoming exhibitions below are noted in bold type. This list is constantly updated to reflect changes in the exhibition calendar.

American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Ave. at 66th Street:

• Bill Traylor: Drawings from the Collections of the High Museum of Art and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Through September 22, 2013

American Museum of Natural History (Central Park West and 79th St.):

• exhibits include Journey to the Stars; Spider's Alive!, and more.

• Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture
Through August 11, 2013

Asia Society Museum (725 Park Avenue at 70th Street):

Brooklyn Museum

• Patronage and Power: Selections from the Asia Society Museum Collection
Through August 4, 2013

Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street:

• TBA

Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York:

• Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui
Through August 4, 2013
• “Workt by Hand”: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts
Through September 15, 2013
• Käthe Kollwitz: Prints from the "War" and "Death" Portfolios
Through September 15, 2013
• LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital
Through August 11, 2013
• John Singer Sargent Watercolors
Through July 28, 2013
• Raw/Cooked: Michael Ballou
Through July 7, 2013
• Valerie Hegarty: Alternative Histories
Through December 1, 2013

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, 2 East 91st St.:

• East 91st main galleries closed for renovation. Reopening is planned for 2014.

The Drawing Center, 35 Wooster St.:

• TBA

El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street:

• TBA

The Frick Collection

Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street :

• Precision and Splendor: Clocks and Watches at The Frick Collection
Through February 2, 2014

Read more about The Frick Collection at the post, The Frick Collection at 75: Plain Citizens in a Rich Man's Home.

Grey Art Gallery (NYU), 100 Washington Square East:

• Alice Aycock Drawings: Some Stories Are Worth Repeating
Through July 13, 2013

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th St.):

Guggenheim Museu

• JAMES TURRELL
June 21–September 25, 2013

The Hispanic Society of America Audubon Terrace, Broadway between

155th and 156th streets, New York City

• Permanent collection on view.

International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street:

• A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial
Through September 8, 2013

Jewish Museum

Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street:

• As it were ... So to speak: A Museum Collection in Dialogue with Barbara Bloom
Through August 4, 2013
• Jack Goldstein x 10, 000
Through September 29, 2013

MAD (The Museum of Art and Design), 2 Columbus Circle:

• Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design
Through September 15, 2013
• Playing with Fire: 50 Years of Contemporary Glass
Through August 25, 2013

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue:

(a partial selection of many exhibitions at the Met)

New American Wing,

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Bashford Dean and the Creation of the Arms and Armor Department
Through September 29, 2013
• Plain or Fancy?: Restraint and Exuberance in the Decorative Arts
Through August 18, 2013
• Making the Invisible Visible: Conservation and Islamic Art
Through August 4, 2013
• Photography and the American Civil War
Through September 2, 2013
• Velázquez's Portrait of Francesco I d'Este: A Masterpiece from the Galleria Estense, Modena
Through July 14, 2013
• PUNK: Chaos to Couture
Through August 14, 2013
• (Roof Garden) Imran Qureshi
Through November 3, 2013
• Search for the Unicorn: An Exhibition in Honor of The Cloisters 75th Anniversary
Through August 18, 2013
• The Civil War and American Art
Through September 2, 2013
• Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective
June 18–September 22, 2013

* Consult the post 25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), 11 West 53 Street:

(a selection below)

MoMA

• Abstract Generation: Now in Print
Through June 24, 2013
• Wait, Later This Will Be Nothing: Editions by Dieter Roth
Through June 24, 2013
• Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light
Through August 13, 2013
• Hand Signals: Digits, Fists, and Talons
Through September 8, 2013
• Claes Oldenburg: The Street and The Store
Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum/Ray Gun Wing
Through August 5, 2013
• Projects 100: Akram Zaatari
Through September 23, 2013
• Ellsworth Kelly: Chatham Series
Through September 9, 2013
• Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes
Through September 23, 2013

* Also, consult the post 25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for nearby explorations.

Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street: 

The Morgan

• Subliming Vessel: The Drawings of Matthew Barney
Through September 2, 2013
• Illuminating Faith: The Eucharist in Medieval Life and Art
Through September 2, 2013
• Summer Sculpture Series
July 19-November 3, 2013

Read more about the renovated McKim Building at the post Mr. Morgan's Library.

Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue:

• Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers
Opens January 23, 2013
• A Beautiful Way to Go: New York's Green-Wood Cemetery
Opens May 15, 2013

Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the Moving Image, 35 Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria:

• permanent and temporary exhibitions on view

National Academy Museum, 1083 Fifth Avenue:

• Jeffrey Gibson: Said the Pigeon to the Squirrel
Through September 8, 2013
• Visualizing Time: Narrative Prints from the National Academy Museum, Selected by Andrew Raftery, NA
Through September 8, 2013
• Visions of Land and Sea: William Trost Richards
Through September 8, 2013

Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Avenue:

• Koloman Moser: Designing Modern Vienna 1897-1907
Through September 2, 2013

Read more about the museum at the post, A Visit to the Neue Galerie.

The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 235 Bowery:

• Center for Historical Reenactments: After-after Tears
Through July 7, 2013
• LLYN FOULKES
Through September 1, 2013
• Ellen Gallagher: Don’t Axe Me
June 19-September 15, 2013

New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West:

• AIDS in New York: The First Five Years
Through September 15, 2013
• From Colony to Nation: 200 Years of American Painting at the New-York Historical Society
Through September 8, 2013
• Swing Time: Reginald Marsh and Thirties New York
June 21-September 1, 2013

stairs, New Museum

New York Public Library (Stephen A. Schwarzman Building), 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue:

• Daring Methods: The Prints of Mary Cassatt
Through June 23, 2013
The NYPL maintains an extensive exhibition program, so check the library's website page for what's on display at the various branches.

Noguchi Museum, 3237 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City:

Read more about the museum at the post, A Sunday Ride to the Noguchi Museum.

Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows, Corona Park:

• TBA

Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street:

• Living Shrines of Uyghur China
Through July 8, 2013
• Fiercely Modern
Through September 16, 2013
• From India East
Through July 7, 2014

The Studio Museum in Harlem

Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton Street:

• Galleries include a variety of exhibitions.
* Read more about the South Street Seaport Museum in the post Views for the Porthole: A Visit to the South Street Seaport.

The Studio Museum in Harlem, 144 West 125th Street:

• David Hartt: Stray Light
Through June 30, 2013
• Fred Wilson: Local Color
Through June 30, 2013
• Mendi + Keith Obadike: American Cypher
Through June 30, 2013
• Ayé A. Aton: Space-Time Continuum
Through June 30, 2013
• Brothers and Sisters
Through June 30, 2013
• Harlem Postcards Spring 2013: Alex Da Corte, Ugo Rondinone, Jumoke Sanwo, Letha Wilson
March 28-June 30, 2013

Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue At 75th Street:

• Trisha Baga: Plymouth Rock 2
now open
• Sinister Pop
now open

Images of museum buildings by Walking Off the Big Apple.

Visiting New York on a Monday and want to know which of these museums are open? See the list here. Clicking on museum names above will link to their respective homepages.

Ready for their Close-Ups, or Not: A Walk in the Prospect Park Zoo

2013-03-30T10:59:00.000-04:00

New York is famously photogenic. Visitors and residents routinely snap photographs of friends in front of its famous buildings, the blissful landscapes in parks, sunsets over the Hudson, newsworthy scenes on the street, celebrities on the red carpet, or whatever fanciful food dish has just been set upon the table.

Australian King Parrot

We should in turn be accustomed, especially in this age of visual media - snapped, uploaded, and shared - to serve as the objects of this ubiquitous image-making. After all, we live under the surveillance of security cameras. Yet, while some individuals confidently pose in front of the camera, others shy away. Sometimes, we just want to get away from the crowds and the click-clicks of a thousand shutters. I was thinking these thoughts in the Prospect Park Zoo yesterday as I was taking close-ups of a Hamadryas Baboon.

Hamadryas Baboon

It's understandable, if rather unsophisticated, to anthropomorphize our fellow furry residents of New York City or to project onto them some inherent cuteness. Some are not "sweet," for example, although they might look precious. That dingo that looks like your dog may harbor predatory "feelings" toward the adorable "shy" kangaroo directly across the way. One is much easier to photograph than the other.

"Cameras Ready! Set! Action!"

Dingo

Western Gray Kangaroo

Dingo

Western Gray Kangaroo

By the way, a visit to the Prospect Park Zoo's Discovery Trail offers a sort of simulated trip to Australia. In addition to the Western gray kangaroo, the zoo also does its best to serve and protect rock wallabies, emus, and Cape Barren geese.

Yellow-footed rock-wallaby

Never underestimate the ability of a zoo visitor to misidentify an animal. I'm holding back from the cliché that city-bred New Yorkers are particularly prone to confusing members of the animal kingdom, but I would have liked a nickel for every time I heard someone yell out "Fox!" when spotting a dingo or this Red Panda.

Red Panda

Red Pandas. OK, well, these guys ARE cute. As much as I would like to bring one home, I couldn't offer an adequate supply of bamboo. Its nocturnal habits would likely pose problems. Best they stay in Prospect Park Zoo. Along with the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, New York Aquarium, and Queens Zoo, the Prospect Park Zoo is maintained and operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society (link). Aside from supporting conservation efforts - the Red Panda, for example, is endangered - becoming a member of the WCS is a good deal, providing free admission to all five parks.

Red Panda

We often speak proudly of New York City as "diverse." A trip to any one of the WCS zoos confirms that the diversity extends beyond humans. A visit should also reinforce the idea that we share a whole planet where biodiversity is in crisis - whether shy or camera ready, sleeping or alert.

At the Prospect Park Zoo

It's fun. I can't remember the last time I was so thrilled seeing a kangaroo hop across a patch of Brooklyn.

Visiting the Prospect Park Zoo: Consult the official website of the Prospect Park Zoo for times and admission.

Pallas's Cat

White-faced Scops Owl

Black-tailed Praire Dogs

View Prospect Park in a larger map

Getting there: I advise consulting MTA Trip Planner for customized trips. The Prospect Park B and Q subway is close to the zoo.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from March 29, 2013, with a Canon EOS Rebel T3 and 55-250mm lens. A camera phone would work fine for dingoes, prairie dogs, baboons, and the indoor birds, but not so much for kangaroos hiding behind bushes. See a full slideshow of 25 pictures on Flickr WOTBA.

Raffia Horses and Steely Birds: Art and Performance from Grand Central to Flatiron Plaza

2013-03-29T10:17:00.000-04:00

The holiday weekend this year is coinciding with the first hints of blossoms and spring in the city, well overdue. The blooming, in general, looks to be running well behind last year's season. Yet, from appearances of daffodils and eager buds on many a Callery pear tree, and a weather forecast that calls for temperatures in the mid-to-upper 50s, we may be in for a welcome weekend of natural and soulful serendipity. This could be the time, finally, when winter-weary New Yorkers emerge en masse from hibernation in their monochromatic city, rub their hands over their eyes, and awake to the sounds of migrating birds, the smell of lilies, and the spectacles of public art. If not this weekend, then the next one.

• Nick Cave. Heard•NY. Creative Time, MTA Arts for Transit. Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal. Through March 31, 2013.

Nick Cave. Heard•NY
Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal.

I see horses. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of New York's historic thoroughfare, presenters Creative Time, MTA Arts for Transit, and artist Nick Cave have shepherded 30 life-size horses into Vanderbilt Hall of Grand Central Terminal. In "Daily Crossings" at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. through March 31, a troupe of humans, working in pairs, animate colorful raffia horse costumes. They prance and dance and gently nuzzle the people who want to pet them. Accompanied by an engaging pair of musicians, one on harp and another on drums, the horses gradually ascend in tempo from a lyrical trot and canter into a fast and carnivalesque syncopated frenzy. The sound of rhythmic drums envelops the hall.

Nick Cave. Heard•NY
Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal.

Then, in reverse symmetry of their gaits, the horses slow down to their original positions. As the humans shed their fanciful horse costumes and return them to their sawhorses (of course!), the audience breaks out into applause. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes, but the spirit of horses lingers much longer. Nick Cave's Heard•NY is charming and joyous. (And popular. Due to the limited number of performances and because Heard•NY has become one of those things to see, arrive well in advance of the scheduled crossing. More information at creativetime.org.)

Nick Cave. Heard•NY
Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal.

From Grand Central, walk to Madison Square Park. (map at end of post)

Madison Square Park, green lawn.

• Will Ryman. Bird. Madison Square, near the Flatiron Building. NYC Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program and The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership. Through April 21, 2013.

Will Ryman. Bird. Flatiron Plaza.

Will Ryman. Bird. Flatiron Plaza.
The Flatiron Building is on the right.

I see a bird. What vision of Poe is this? A formidable 12-foot steel-gray bird made of five tons of real and prefab nails, standing above its nest of nails, caught with a limp rose stem in its beak, currently presides over Flatiron Plaza. Up close and at certain angles, the bird blurs into an abstract sculpture. There's nothing feathery about this bird, but as with manmade structures pounded together with thousands of nails, a bird is made up of an untold number of feathers. The rose stem will likely remind viewers of Will Ryman's installation of roses along Park Avenue from two years ago. Who knows? This bird may have plucked a rose from there and brought it south to Madison Square. On Thursday, Mother Nature and the steely Empire State Building collaborated with Bird to create a Gothic moment.

The Flatiron District with overcast skies, Bird, and the Empire State Building.

Walking from Grand Central to Madison Square makes for a relatively easy one-mile stroll. Taking Madison Avenue is the most efficient.

View Grand Central to Madison Square/Flatiron in a larger map

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from Thursday, March 28, 2013. See more events in the 2013 Spring Calendar.

Back on the Boardwalk: Opening Day at Coney Island

2013-03-24T17:08:00.000-04:00

I circled the date, March 24, back in January, because the opening day at Coney Island seemed distant and close at the same time. The winter has been long and cold in the city, and naturally, some of us long for beach days. (We even have snow in the forecast for late tonight and tomorrow.) But back in January, I looked forward to taking the subway ride out to Coney Island on Palm Sunday, too, because the day represented something larger than normal, and of course, I am talking about The Storm and its recovery.

Morning beach walk with birds, Coney Island

On some days, you just need a long walk on the beach. For many New Yorkers, Coney Island is affordable and accessible. When you catch it in the right light and the right time, the spot is incomparably beautiful.

The Parachute Jump at Coney Island is defunct but the tower remains a familiar icon on the boardwalk.

So on this bright morning, the day had come to revel in views of the famously blue waters of Coney Island, its resident birds, and the comfort of traditional images. Coney's repertory of familiar icons - the Parachute Jump, Deno's Wonder Wheel, the Cyclone, Nathan's hot dogs, among them - conspire to make the place worthy of a pilgrimage. The shell of the old Childs Restaurant could serve as its cathedral. The Polar Bear Club, out in their full shivering glory today, certainly make an inspired sect of some sort or another, worthy of miraculous chilly plunges. Lest I sound too sacrilegious, I would like to point out that the day's opening ceremony included the 29th annual blessing of the rides. United States Senator Charles Schumer was on hand and spoke to those assembled, blessing all with an announcement that the federal government would pay for one hundred percent of the recovery efforts.

For those who walk, the Boardwalk offers a fine opportunity for sun-drenched strolling.

So without further ado, may I present the sights of Coney Island on opening day.

Childs Restaurant, detail

Scream Zone

Condiments

Part of the original lure of Coney Island was the blueness of the ocean.

bird's eye view from the beach

Senator Charles Schumer speaks at the opening ceremony

Cyclone

Not all is back in business. The original Nathan's Famous on Surf Avenue is working toward reopening by Memorial Day. Its boardwalk location is open.

Deno's Wonder Wheel offered free rides today.

The birds gather for opening day at Coney Island.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from Sunday, March 24, 2013. Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City.

Related:
A Natural and Social History of Coney Island (2012)

A New York Spring Calendar, 2013 Edition: Blooming Times and Seasonal Events

2013-03-13T07:05:00.001-04:00

(updated) At this time of year, thoughts turn to spring. This past winter has seemed overly long, cold, and much too windy. So, let's spring forward to blooming times, the best locations for witnessing spring's beginnings, and springtime events in the big city. While the occasional snow will likely blow through the city, we're just weeks now from callery pears in bloom and opening day at the ballpark.

Duck in Azalea Pond. The Ramble.
March 10, 2013
The duck awaits the season.

Some of this information below has been posted here in previous years, but we can be somewhat reassured that some things stay perennial. The pictures - all new replacements - are meant to illustrate approximate blooming times. Several new events have been added to the 2013 spring calendar. We can't forget National Walking Day (April 3, 2013), can we?

Blooming Times

• Central Park Conservancy's website lists blooming times within the park. During the month of March we begin to see crocus, daffodils, forsythia, snowdrops, witch-hazel, and hellebores. Species tulips will emerge in several places, but the Shakespeare Garden and Conservatory Garden are particularly good places to catch the beginning of Spring blooms.

• Citywide Blooming Calendar from New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

April is usually the month when full blooms appear in New York City, and this NYC Parks website provides a handy monthly guide to the specific locations of blooming trees, flowers, shrubs, and buds.

LaGuardia Place, near Houston Street in Greenwich Village.
March 21, 2012.
Spring blossoms are running later in 2013.

• Heritage Crabapple Trees. New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

Celebrating the great beautiful flowering crabapples, this page on the NYC Parks site explains why you can't buy and plant a crabapple today and expect it to look as beautiful as those in Central Park.

• By late March or the first week of April, the callery pears should be in bloom, providing a soft white canopy on many New York streets. These trees can withstand urban pollution, but storms can wreak havoc on them.

Callery pear trees in bloom in front of the Rubin Museum of Art.
March 23, 2012.
The blooming of the callery pears are running later this year.

High Line. Spring Cutback.
March 2012.

• Check out The Orchid Show, a special presentation of a dazzling collection of orchids brought to you by The New York Botanical Garden in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Bronx River Parkway at Fordham Road Bronx. The special show continues through April 22, 2013. The Garden is open year-round, Tuesday-Sunday, 10am - 6pm and select Mondays. Check the website for exceptions.

• Walking Off the Big Apple's favorite spring walk is wandering in the Ramble in Central Park and meeting the duck.

• The High Line (left) features plantings around the seasons.

• Million TreesNYC. See how you can help this citywide, public-private program to plant and care for one million new trees across the City's five boroughs over the next decade.

In Clinton Community Garden.
March 9, 2013

• Visit the Prospect Park Alliance website for interactive guides to the park, seasonal events, and more. When visiting in person, locate the park's Audubon Center for a quick orientation.

• While many of the city's parks sponsor events for the season, Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan offers particularly good fitness opportunities in a spectacular setting. Consult the Fort Tryon Park Trust website for more information.

• While in Fort Tryon Park, visit The Cloisters. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval branch is one of the best places to see varieties of plants in bloom. Check out the museum's blog, The Medieval Garden Enclosed.

• For those seeking to understand the ecology of the city's landscapes, explore the Wildlife Conservation Society's Welikia project, the city-wide expansion of their popular Mannahatta.

• According to the Victory Seeds website, the average last frost in New York City is April 13.

Spring Events for March and April 2013

Belvedere Castle, Central Park
April 5, 2012

• Saturday, March 16, 2013 St. Patrick's Day Parade. Fifth Avenue, from 44th to 79th Streets. Begins at 11 a.m. Consult this St. Patrick's Day post from 2012 that includes Walking Off the Big Apple's awesome bar and parade map, plus bonus Judy Garland song.

• Sunday, March 24, 2013. Palm Sunday, beginning of Holy Week.

Palm Sunday procession
congregation of Trinity Wall Street walking from St. Paul's Chapel to Trinity Church
April 1, 2012

• Sunday, March 24, 2013 Opening Day at Coney Island. Click for pictures from this season's opening day.

Coney Island attractions open March 24, 2013.

• Sunday, March 24 - Sunday, April 7, 2013. Macy's Flower Show

• Sunday, March 31, 2013. Easter Parade. Fifth Avenue, beginning near St. Patrick's Cathedral. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 49th to 57th Streets. See pix from last's year parade.

What joy! Spring at Rockefeller Center.

• Monday, April 1, 2013. Home opener. Opening Day, Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees. 1:05 p.m. Yankee Stadium, Bronx. Official site.

• Monday, April 1, 2013 at 1:10 p.m. Home opener. Opening Day, San Diego Padres at New York Mets. Citi Field, Flushing, Queens. Official site.

• March 29-April 7, 2013. New York International Auto Show. Jacob Javits Center.

• A preview and list of art exhibitions in NYC museums this spring, with openings in April, May, and June. (Link to post on this website.)

• April 3, 2013. National Walking Day, sponsored by the American Heart Association. Get out of the car. (more on this website)

• April 6, 2013. A Saturday. Pillow Fight Day. 3 p.m. Location TBA.

Pillow Fight Day.
From April 7, 2012 in Washington Square Park.
Spring silliness.

• Sunday, April 7, 2013. 1 pm. Greek Independence Day Parade. Fifth Avenue. 64th to 79th Streets.

• April 17 - April 28, 2013. Tribeca Film Festival. Some of the special events take place outdoors. Tickets on sale now.

• April 27 - 28, 2013. 10 am - 6 pm, Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival - Sakura Matsuri 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Rain or shine. Free with admission. Celebration of Japanese culture and the blossoming of the garden's cherry trees. The cherry blossom season in the park is from April 1 - April 29. Also, consult the garden's Cherry Blossom Status Map for opportunities to visit.

Calla Lilies on Mulberry Street, Little Italy.

Religious Holidays

• Passover begins at sunset on March 25, 2013 and continues for 7 days until April 2, 2013.

• Easter Sunday falls on March 31, 2013.

First Day of Spring

• Vernal Equinox in New York City, First Day of Spring. March 20, 2013. 7:02 a.m.

Spring in Washington Square Park
Picture from March 20, 2012.

The Weather

• The National Weather Service can and does predict the weather, issuing long-range maps and outlooks for the months ahead. Their monthly and seasonal color maps for the upcoming months indicates that New York City will see above average temperatures, not just for spring but for most months ahead. Precipitation runs normal.

Animal Life

• Several good blogs and websites keep track of the city's animal life. Among them - Urban Hawks is especially observant of the adventures of our red-tailed hawks; Out walking the dog, the work of a playwright living in Morningside Heights, tracks wildlife on her daily walks in the neighborhood but also keeps an eye out for news and events; and The City Birder is a good source of information for birdwatching in the big city. Follow the continuing adventures of the hawks in Washington Square Park and other areas with Roger Paw. Read more about these hawks in a post on this website. The NYU's Hawk Cam in now up and running for 2013.

• New York City Birding: See the home page of NYC Audubon for events, trips, classes, and programs.

• Know your birds. Visit the New-York Historical Society's landmark exhibition, Audubon’s Aviary: Part I of the Complete Flock, through May 19, 2013. (www.nyhistory.org)

Bird photographers in Central Park.
March 10, 2013.
The spring migration has begun.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple. Clicking on the pictures above enlarges them. For a season-by-season guide to the city and suggested self-guided walks suitable for spring, please enjoy the NYC by Season page on this website.

The Difference the Day Made: Winter on Friday, Spring on Saturday

2013-03-10T10:16:00.000-04:00

New Yorkers woke up to a fast and furious snowfall on Friday morning. The snow was heavy, sloppy, and slick in many spots, inconveniencing the morning commute and overburdening trees with heavy burdens. Throughout the morning, the snow blew around the city and settled on stoops, the tops of cars and bicycles, windowsills, and park benches. It was as if an overly caffeinated Old Man Winter was shouting, "I am not ready to sleep. I am not done with you yet!"

Washington Square West. March 8, 2013. 8:08 a.m.

Sixth Avenue at Washington Place, looking north. March 8, 2013. 8:13 a.m.

Uptown in Morningside Heights and in Riverside Park, the frosty scene erased any notion we lived in a big city. A woman glided past on cross-country skis. If I hadn't turned around to see the dome of the General Grant National Monument and the spire of Riverside Church, I could have easily imagined it was Lake Placid.

campus of Barnard College, Broadway near W. 118th. March 8, 2013. 8:50 a.m.

Riverside Park near W. 120th. March 8, 2013. 12:14 p.m.

General Grant National Monument, left, and Riverside Church, right. March 8, 2013. 12:25 p.m.

By Friday afternoon, the snow melted as fast as it blew in, and temperatures moderated upwards.
On Saturday morning, we woke up to spring in the city. The excited relief was palpable. As the temperatures rose, more New Yorkers headed up and down the avenues for a stroll. Many people set out for Central Park, an intuitive gathering place for celebrating spring awakenings. By mid-afternoon, the temperature had risen to the upper 50s, and for the first time in many months, New Yorkers shed their outer layers. It was bliss.

Central Park. March 9, 2013. 2:43 p.m.

Central Park. March 9, 2013. 2:47 p.m.

Central Park. The Mall. March 9, 2013. 2:55 p.m.

Central Park. The Conservatory. March 9, 2013. 3:13 p.m.

The distinction between Friday and Saturday's weather inspired the Jungian collective unconscious to sing out the title of the song, "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes!," a tune popularized by Dinah Washington in her eponymous 1959 album. Yes, indeed -

"What a diff'rence a day made

Twenty-four little hours

Brought the sun and the flowers

Where there used to be rain"

- Music by Maria Grever (1934, originally written in Spanish as Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado) and English lyrics by Stanley Adams

Central Park. The Conservatory Pond. March 9, 2013. 3:15 p.m.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from March 8 and 9, 2013.

Four Months After the Storm: A Walk from the South Street Seaport to the Staten Island Ferry

2013-03-03T12:28:00.004-05:00

This walk from the South Street Seaport and Lower Manhattan, in part, examines the effects of Superstorm Sandy on the area four months later. The 2-mile walk begins on Broadway, continues east to the South Street Seaport area and then through the oldest streets in Lower Manhattan to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

Yep, you may as well call it a ghost town. If you've read that the South Street Seaport has been struggling to get back to normal, that would be correct. Many familiar places are still closed - the Bodies exhibit, many restaurants, and several businesses. (For comparison, read the post on this website, Views from the Porthole: A Walk to the South Street Seaport, from September 16, 2012.)

The main thoroughfare of the South Street Seaport at the end of Fulton Street near Water Street.

The Fulton Market building recently housed the Bodies exhibition.

Schermerhorn Row. Businesses are still shuttered four months after the storm.
The South Street Seaport Museum on the far right has reopened.

As some comfort, a few places are back in operation including the South Street Seaport Museum and Pier 17. A favorite restaurant and bar, Fresh Salt, is open. My favorite repurposed pier - Pier 15 on the East River Esplanade - is accessible, too.

The restaurant and bar, Fresh Salt (146 Beekman St.), is a favorite with locals. It is open.

Pier 15 is open.
The pier is just south of Pier 17 on the other side of the ships.

In recent years, the South Street Seaport area has been a kind of mixed bag. For some time, it looked as if Pier 17 and the surrounding area had become a sort of nautical-themed mall, succumbing to an unfortunate excess of commercial tourism. In most recent months - before the storm - the area kind of got cool again. The New Amsterdam Market brought people down to the seaport to enjoy locally-made foods, and artistic entrepreneurs opened up businesses in nearby stalls. Several innovative restaurants gave it a go in this historic area.

The red ship is the Ambrose, a lighthouse ship.

The storm in late October 2012 left a giant mess, forcing businesses to close and rebuild. Many owners are still struggling to reopen their establishments. According to a recent story by WNYC, "South Street Seaport Businesses Struggle Post-Sandy," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is quoted as saying, "They are having trouble negotiating leases with some of the landlords. They are facing trouble getting the kind of grants they need to stay open." So, if they can't acquire affordable leases, they will have to leave the area. While not being able to afford a decent rent may be the story of our city in general, it would be hard to watch the Seaport's recent rejuvenation end so quickly.

Through the weathered vessel, a view of the bridges and Brooklyn.

Some of the downturn may be seasonal in nature, and activity will pick up again in the coming warmer months. What's happened in the Seaport is mirrored in many other waterfront areas across the five boroughs. Beach communities such as Coney Island and the Rockaways are indeed dependent on summer visitors and anxious to complete preparations for the season.

Still, you have to wonder about the future. The waters are rising.

A bird's eye view of the East River Promenade.

While we wade through this prolonged shock to the metropolis, we should learn how to better appreciate the past and present of New York City by taking a good look at it - in person and on foot. What can and should continue to inspire the contemporary visitor to the city is the extraordinary landscape at the edge of river, harbor, and sky.

View A Walk from the South Street Seaport to the Staten Island Ferry in a larger map

This walk to the Seaport continues inland through some curious streets and small parks, evoking an older New York - compressed and weathered, full of texture. Just happening upon Stone Street is always fun, because it's hard to nail down exactly where it's located. One summer night, a friend and I were knocking around mostly empty streets downtown when we came upon the rowdy outdoor tavern scene on Stone Street. In the summertime, the street is lined with picnic tables filled with downtown workers drinking beer and eating nachos. Anyway, I compared the apparition to Brigadoon, the mythical Scottish town that appears only one day every 100 years.

Stone Street

From Stone Street, the Staten Island Ferry Terminal is not too far away. On this particular chilly Saturday afternoon, with intermittent light flurries, a cotton candy vendor stood at the entrance. On a gray day, he seemed otherworldly, an anachronism. Perhaps, he represented a sign. "Hope springs eternal?," I asked myself.

Or just spring?

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from Saturday, March 2, 2013.

In Chinatown: Overcoming Grief, Walking into the Year of the Snake

2013-02-10T17:50:00.001-05:00

It snowed. Late Friday night and early Saturday morning, it snowed in New York. The official measurements came in at around 11.4 inches at Central Park, far short of the historic storm accumulations on Long Island, in Connecticut, and up into New England. The city was spared the worst.

My dog died. I spent most of the day and evening of the storm at home with my elderly dog. She was sick and on antibiotics. I was looking forward to walking with her in the deep snow the next day. But sometime in the middle of the night, she died. The following morning, I found her slumped on a pile of clothes. It was a great shock, and I didn't know what to do. Fortunately, New York came slowly back to life on Saturday morning, even if my dog did not. The vet's office opened at 9 am for their usual hours, and the staff members were a great comfort. For the rest of the day, I didn't feel like getting out at all.

"A day of sorrow is longer than a month of joy." - Chinese proverb

I walked. When Sunday morning dawned, and it was too painfully quiet, I wanted another shot at a new year. So, I was glad to remember the Chinese New Year. And I knew where to walk. So, I pulled on my boots and set off on a stroll downtown. On Mott Street, Chinatown's main thoroughfare, the sun was shining, the snow was melting, and the sights and sounds of the 14th New Year Firecracker Ceremony began to lift my sorrows.

"One step at a time is good walking." - Chinese proverb

View Chinese New Year, Chinatown NYC in a larger map

Good dogs teach us that you have to get up and go out for a walk, even when you don't want to. - Walking Off the Big Apple proverb

“There is a good dog and a bad dog fighting within each of us. The one that is going to win is the one we feed the most.” - Chinese proverb

"From walking -- something; from sitting -- nothing." - Chinese proverb

Happy New Year.

Upcoming Chinese New Year event: 14th Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade and Festival. Sunday, February 17, 2013 1 p.m. See Better Chinatown for more information.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from Sunday, February 10, 2013.

Scenes from the Weekend: Grand Central at 100, Bryant Park, the NYPL, the Snow in Washington Square Park

2013-02-03T17:46:00.003-05:00

Weekends in New York City never seem to fall into the category of "a perfectly normal weekend." Something exceptional tends to occur to interrupt routines. In the case of this weekend, Grand Central Terminal celebrated its 100th anniversary. It was fun to visit. Because the terminal is so close to many other attractions, a stroll over to Bryant Park and the New York Pubic Library made perfect sense.

It was cold this weekend, too, and a constant wind made venturing out not so pleasant. Yet, a small snow came into the city on Saturday night, one of those gentle snowfalls that hushed the regular street noise of a Saturday night. An overnight snow makes for good sleep.

The snow in Washington Square Park transformed "the Village" into a little hamlet. You wouldn't even know this place was part of a big city. There's some evidence an angel visited Greenwich Village during the quiet snowy night.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from February 2 and 3, 2013.

Happy Birthday, Grand Central!

2013-02-01T20:30:00.001-05:00

Grand Central Terminal turned 100 today. In honor of this achievement, let's just remember every time we've uttered the cliché, "This place is busy as Grand Central Station!" (It's a terminal, but never mind the distinction for now.) Happy birthday, Grand Central!

Photos of Grand Central Terminal from the archives of Walking Off the Big Apple. A few of these were previously unpublished.

Official website

Winter in New York: A Sugary Snow for a Friday Evening

2013-01-26T13:22:00.001-05:00

It started snowing last evening around the time of the Friday commute home. The wind blew the snow around, like a whirl of granulated sugar. The snow sparkled as it fell and settled in small drifts.

The Village looks picturesque in snow. A walk around indicated that many people who ventured out into the snow - and it was a cold and windy evening - found ways to have some fun with it. For others, the snow just meant extra work and extra time getting home from work. It was hard to walk on this sweet stuff falling to the earth.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from January 25, 2013. Around Greenwich Village. Clicking on the pictures enlarges them.

Museum Exhibitions in New York City, Winter 2013, with Openings in January, February, and March

2013-01-06T14:47:00.000-05:00

Click here for the updated Spring 2013 list, with openings in April, May, and June.

Residents and visitors can look forward to several new exhibitions at New York museums during the winter season. Below are a few highlights listed in chronological order of their openings. Following these selections, please find the list of continuing exhibitions as well as the titles and dates of many of the upcoming openings at area museums. This list includes openings in January, February, and March 2013 and will be regularly updated throughout the season.

Selected Winter Highlights at New York Museums

• International Center of Photography. Roman Vishniac Rediscovered

Through May 5, 2013

Working for the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the world's largest Jewish relief organization from 1935–38, Roman Vishniac (1897–1990) created the most extensive photographic record of Jewish life in Eastern Europe between the two World Wars. In addition to representative works from this period, the ICP exhibition follows the photographer's career from the early 1920s through the 1950s. Another exhibition, We Went Back: Photographs from Europe 1933–1956 by Chim, will run concurrently.

Roman Vishniac, [Interior of the Anhalter Bahnhof, a railway terminus near Potsdamer Platz, Berlin], late 1920s–early 1930s. © Mara Vishniac Kohn. Courtesy International Center of Photography.

• Morgan Library and Museum. Drawing Surrealism

Through April 21, 2013

The Morgan will present the first New York exhibition to explore the central role drawing played in surrealist art. The show features more than 160 works on paper by 70 artists from 15 countries.


Francis Picabia (1879-1953) Olga, 1930 Graphite pencil and crayon on paper Bequest of Mme Lucienne Rosenberg 1995 CNAC/MNAM/Dist.RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource @2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

• The Frick Collection. Piero della Francesca in America
Through May 19, 2013
The first monographic exhibition in the United States dedicated to Piero della Francesca (1411/13–1492) brings together seven works by the master of the early Italian Renaissance.

Piero della Francesca (c. 1411/13–1492), Madonna and Child Attended by Angels, c. 1470s, oil (and tempera?) on wood transferred from panel, The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

• Guggenheim Museum. Gutai: Splendid Playground
Through May 8, 2013
The Guggenheim will open the first U.S. museum retrospective exhibition ever devoted to Gutai, the most influential artists collective and artistic movement in postwar Japan and among the most important international avant-garde movements of the 1950s and 1960s.

Saburo Murakami, Passing through, 1956. © Makiko Murakami and the former members of the Gutai Art Association, courtesy Museum of Osaka University

• MoMA. Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light

Through August 13, 2013
The museum offers a critical reevaluation of a leading figure in modernist photography, including a closer look at the photographer's role in shaping our understanding of British life in the middle of the 20th century.

Bill Brandt. Bombed Regency Staircase, Upper Brook Street, Mayfair. c. 1942. Gelatin silver print, 9 x 7 5/8" (22.8 x 19.4 cm). Acquired through the generosity of Clarissa A. Bronfman

Winter 2013 Museum Exhibitions

Upcoming exhibitions below are noted in bold type. This list is constantly updated to reflect changes in the exhibition calendar.

American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Ave. at 66th Street:

• Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed
Through May 26, 2013
• Women’s Studies
Through May 26, 2013
Featuring the work of Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Paul D. Humphrey, Nellie Mae Rowe, and Inez Nathaniel Walker

American Museum of Natural History (Central Park West and 79th St.):

• exhibits include Journey to the Stars; Spider's Alive!, and more.

• The Butterfly Conservatory
Through May 28, 2013
• Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture
Through August 11, 2013

Asia Society Museum (725 Park Avenue at 70th Street):

Brooklyn Museum

• The Artful Recluse: Painting, Poetry, and Politics in 17th-Century China
Through June 2, 2013
• Patronage and Power: Selections from the Asia Society Museum Collection
Through August 4, 2013

Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street:

• Bronx Lab — Style Wars
Through June 2, 2013

Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York:

• Raw/Cooked: Marela Zacarias
Through April 28, 2013
• Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui
Through August 4, 2013
• Fine Lines: American Drawings from the Brooklyn Museum
Through May 26, 2013
• “Workt by Hand”: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts
Through September 15, 2013
• Käthe Kollwitz: Prints from the "War" and "Death" Portfolios
Through September 15, 2013
• LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital
Through August 11, 2013

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, 2 East 91st St.:

• East 91st main galleries closed for renovation. Reopening is planned for Fall 2013.

The Drawing Center, 35 Wooster St.:

• Giosetta Fioroni: L’Argento
April 5-June 2, 2013

El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street:

• superreal: alternative realities in photography and video
Through May 19, 2013

The Frick Collection

Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street :

• Piero della Francesca in America
Through May 19, 2013
• The Impressionist Line from Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec: Drawings and Prints from the Clark
Through June 16, 2013

Read more about The Frick Collection at the post, The Frick Collection at 75: Plain Citizens in a Rich Man's Home.

Grey Art Gallery (NYU), 100 Washington Square East:

• Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg
Through April 16, 2013

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th St.):

Guggenheim Museu

• Kandinsky 1911–1913
Through April 25, 2013
• Zarina: Paper Like Skin
Through April 21, 2013
• No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia
Through May 22, 2013
• Gutai: Splendid Playground
Through May 8, 2013
• The Hugo Boss Prize 2012: Danh Vo
Through May 27, 2013

The Hispanic Society of America Audubon Terrace, Broadway between

155th and 156th streets, New York City

• Permanent collection on view.

International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street:

• Roman Vishniac Rediscovered
Through May 5, 2013
• We Went Back: Photographs from Europe 1933–1956 by Chim
Through May 5, 2013

Jewish Museum

Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street:

• As it were ... So to speak: A Museum Collection in Dialogue with Barbara Bloom
Through August 4, 2013

MAD (The Museum of Art and Design), 2 Columbus Circle:

• After the Museum: The Home Front 2013
Through May 26, 2013
• Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design
Through June 16, 2013

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue:

(a partial selection of many exhibitions at the Met)

New American Wing,

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• After Photoshop: Manipulated Photography in the Digital Age
Through May 27, 2013
• Bashford Dean and the Creation of the Arms and Armor Department
Through September 29, 2013
• The Path of Nature: French Paintings from the Wheelock Whitney Collection, 1785–1850
Through April 21, 2013
• Plain or Fancy?: Restraint and Exuberance in the Decorative Arts
Through August 18, 2013
• Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity
Through May 27, 2013

MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), 11 West 53 Street:

(a selection below)

• Performing Histories: Live Artworks Examining the Past

Through May 25, 2013
• Inventing Abstraction, 1910–1925
Through April 15, 2013
• Projects 99: Meiro Koizumi
Through May 6, 2013
• Abstract Generation: Now in Print
Through June 24, 2013
• Wait, Later This Will Be Nothing: Editions by Dieter Roth
Through June 24, 2013
• Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light
Through August 13, 2013

* Also, consult the post 25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for nearby explorations.

Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street: 

The Morgan

• Treasures from the Vault
Through May 5, 2013
• Drawing Surrealism
Through April 21, 2013
• Marcel Proust and Swann's Way: 100th Anniversary
Through April 28, 2013
• Degas, Miss La La, and the Cirque Fernando
Through May 12, 2013

Read more about the renovated McKim Building at the post Mr. Morgan's Library.

Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue:

• Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers
Opens January 23, 2013

• Designing Tomorrow: America's World's Fairs of the 1930s
Through March 31, 2013
• Stephen Burrows: When Fashion Danced
Opened March 22, 2013

Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the Moving Image, 35 Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria:

• permanent and temporary exhibitions on view

National Academy Museum, 1083 Fifth Avenue:

• Seismic Shifts: 10 Visionaries in Contemporary Art and Architecture
Through May 5, 2013
• The 2013 Annual
Through May 5, 2013

Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Avenue:

• German Expressionism 1900-1930: Masterpieces from the Neue Galerie Collection
Through April 22, 2013

Read more about the museum at the post, A Visit to the Neue Galerie.

The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 235 Bowery:

• NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
Through May 26, 2013

New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West:

• WWII & NYC
Through May 27, 2013
• The Dream Continues: Photographs of Martin Luther King Murals by Vergara
Through May 5, 2013
• Audubon’s Aviary: Part I of the Complete Flock
Through May 19, 2013

stairs, New Museum

New York Public Library (Stephen A. Schwartzman Building), 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue:

The NYPL maintains an extensive exhibition program, so check the library's website page for what's on display at the various branches.

Noguchi Museum, 3237 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City:

• Hammer, Chisel, Drill: Noguchi's Studio Practice
Through April 28, 2013

Read more about the museum at the post, A Sunday Ride to the Noguchi Museum.

Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows, Corona Park:

• The Rising Phoenix: A Dialogue Between Modern and Contemporary Indian Art (working title)
Through May 12, 2014 (tentative)

Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street:

• Modernist Art from India
Through April 29, 2013
• Living Shrines of Uyghur China
Through July 8, 2013

The Studio Museum in Harlem

Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton Street:

• Galleries include a variety of exhibitions.
* Read more about the South Street Seaport Museum in the post Views for the Porthole: A Visit to the South Street Seaport.

The Studio Museum in Harlem, 144 West 125th Street:

• David Hartt: Stray Light
March 28-June 30, 2013
• Fred Wilson: Local Color
March 28-June 30, 2013
• Mendi + Keith Obadike: American Cypher
March 28-June 30, 2013
• Ayé A. Aton: Space-Time Continuum
March 28-June 30, 2013
• Brothers and Sisters
March 28-June 30, 2013
• Harlem Postcards Spring 2013: Alex Da Corte, Ugo Rondinone, Jumoke Sanwo, Letha Wilson
March 28-June 30, 2013

Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue At 75th Street:

• Trisha Baga: Plymouth Rock 2
now open
• Sinister Pop
now open
• Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective
Through June 2, 2013
• Blues for Smoke
Through April 28, 2013

Images of museum buildings by Walking Off the Big Apple.

Visiting New York on a Monday and want to know which of these museums are open? See the list here. Clicking on museum names above will link to their respective homepages.

George Bellows in New York: Rambles and Excavations

2013-01-02T07:46:00.000-05:00

For those interested in the history and visual representations of New York City, you must visit the George Bellows exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1904, George Bellows (1882-1925) arrived in New York City. He was a big six-foot-tall dropout of Ohio State with an equally large personality, and he quickly found his way to his new art mentor, Robert Henri (1865-1929), and to the woman who would become his wife and a favorite painting subject, Emma Louise Story. Henri schooled his students, like Bellows, in the everyday life of New York, pressing them to push beyond the conventional boundaries of both art and the city. He encouraged his students (Bellows, Joseph Stella, Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, among others) to carefully observe the shoreline, construction sites, street life in the tenements, and rowdy rallies in the public squares.

George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York City). Rain on the River, 1908. Oil on canvas, 32 x 38 in. (81.3 x 96.5 cm). Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Jesse Metcalf Fund.

For Bellows, an artist with creative ambitions and a vigorous intellectual temperament, New York made an ideal subject for his pursuits. During the early years, 1904 to 1909 (the date of Stag at Sharkey's), he rambled up and down the city to take in its myriad spectacles. He returned home to paint the scenes from memory. As a flâneur of insatiable curiosity, he abandoned the main boulevards for the lushness of Riverside Park (Frederick Law Olmsted's park, nearly finished, was a favorite subject), the crowds at Madison Square, the excavation site for Pennsylvania Station, the kids at play on Coney Island, the private clubs where illegal boxing could be staged for paying members, the "river rats" of the East River, and much more. Unlike many other artists of his day, he never traveled to Europe. He remained in the city and studied the masters through frequent trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York City). Stag at Sharkey's, 1909. Oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 48 1/4 in. (92.1 x 122.6 cm). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection, 1133.1922

His paintings attracted attention from the start, appealing to both conservatives for his adherence to aesthetics and to radical modernists when he broke the rules. By 1910 he had married Emma and moved to a row house at 146 E. 19th Street (on a block near Gramercy Park known as "the Block Beautiful"). He taught drawing and composition at the Art Students League. While he wasn't a society painter, Bellows often painted dreamy scenes of the leisure class at play. A painting such as Summer Night, Riverside Drive (1909) can take your breath away.

George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York City). Summer Night, Riverside Drive. 1909. 35.5 × 47.5 in (90.2 × 120.7 cm). Bequest of Frederick W. Schumacher. Columbus Museum of Art.

Drawn to a city beset with class consciousness and warfare, Bellows embraced politics in more than a casual fashion. He was a big supporter of the I.W.W. and the anarchists, especially Emma Goldman. Yet, he broke with publisher Max Eastman, refusing to sign the clause that contributors to The Masses support an anti-war stance on the US participation in World War I. He created a war series of vivid tableaux compositions based on newspaper accounts of German soldiers committing war crimes on the citizens of Belgium. A room of these works at the Met contributes greatly to the exhibition's unfolding revisionist story of the artist.

George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York City). Massacre at Dinant, 1918. Oil on canvas, 49 1/2 x 83 in. (125.7 x 210.8 cm). Greenville County Museum of Art, South Carolina, Gift of Minor M. Shaw, Buck A. Mickel, and Charles C.Mickel; and the Arthur and Holly Magill Fund.

The Bellows exhibit at the Met, originating in Washington, DC at the National Gallery of Art and with a next stop at the Royal Academy of Arts in London (March 16-June 9, 2013), argues that Bellows has too often been folded into the figurative collection of painters known as the Ashcan School. Known for his hard realist knocks, celebrated for a handful of excellent pugilistic scenes, the artist in many ways exemplifies the school. Yet, the curatorial argument (courtesy of Charles Brock, associate curator, American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art) succeeds in singling him out, presenting a compelling visual case for an artist of great breadth and depth.

George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York City). Emma at the Piano, 1914. Oil on panel, 28 3/4 x 37 in. (73 x 94 cm). Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Bellows also changed artistically over the course of his life, making large figurative work in his final years that confounds easy understanding. His last major work, Dempsey and Firpo (1924), brought him back to the subject of boxing, but he rendered the prizefight in the style of Art Deco. The exhibit even hints in a loud whisper that Bellows displayed more raw talent than his friend Edward Hooper, a Johnny One-Note of loneliness, at least in comparison. But since Bellows succumbed to an early death, at age 42 in 1925 of a ruptured appendix, and Hopper, born a month before Bellows in 1882, kept on going until 1967, art history has sided with the popular painter of Nighthawks.

George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York City). Dempsey and Firpo, 1924. Oil on canvas, 51 x 63 1/4 in. (129.5 x 160.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Purchase, with funds from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.

Several works stand out in the exhibition, particularly those where Bellows documents historical change in New York City while experimenting with color and composition. With his Excavation series, the artist explored the literal rupture in the Manhattan landscape with the building of the monumental Pennsylvania Railroad Station. Pennsylvania Excavation (1909, below) unearths the construction site from 34th to 35th street and from 7th to 9th Avenues as both an industrialized workplace and a manmade monumental canyon. It is winter. Snow, steam, mud, and soot engulf the canyon. He shows men at work in the foreground, detailing the necessary human labor involved in the project, but these figures also reveal the scale of the enormous project below. Subsequent works in the series depict the rise of McKim, Mead and White's grand Beaux Arts Penn Station (1910). Of course, New Yorkers are so accustomed to discussing the notorious demolition of Penn Station in 1963 that these works complete the famous narrative by providing a beginning.

George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York City). Pennsylvania Excavation, 1907. Oil on canvas, 33 7/8 x 44 in. (86 x 111.8 cm). Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts. Gift of Mary Gordon Roberts, class of 1960, in honor of her 50th reunion.

Bellows maintained his studio in the Lincoln Arcade building on Broadway and 65th Street. Across the street was Tom Sharkey's saloon, the place where the former boxer staged illegal fights. Over subsequent decades, the rough-and-tumble area suffered from economic decline. In the 1950s and 1960s, Robert Moses and civic leaders considered the neighborhood a blighted area. The vast area was torn down and excavated to make way for Lincoln Center. Bellows, of course, was no longer around to observe the excavations. But when he was alive, he was fully alive, and he immortalized people and places when he could.

George Bellows continues at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through February 18, 2013. Consult the Winter Exhibitions post for comprehensive museum listings.

Walking Off New York in 2012: The Watery Shores and a Search for Higher Ground

2012-12-30T14:32:00.000-05:00

I suppose we do have a tendency in New York City to look at things high up - the lights on top of the Empire State Building; the staircase to the High Line; the red-tailed hawks raising families in lofty windowsills; the escalators leading us out of the subways or to a higher floor in department stores; the rising floors of One World Trade Center; a high full moon perched over the city; the great Wonder Wheel on Coney Island; the flybys of airplanes, helicopters, and a space shuttle; the splashy painted sunsets over the Hudson River; the prewar penthouses of our fantasies; the ball at the top of Times Square. We dream from tall buildings of dreamy people across town in the skyline.

January 9, 2012 Snowfall Central Park

So, in retrospect, I suppose we should not have been so surprised this year, having been accustomed to looking up as much as we do, to look down and find the waters rising over our feet. But on one level, it's always been this way in the New York archipelago. The city was born of the islands and of the harbor and the ocean, and after New Yorkers raised oysters and launched whaling vessels and thousands of merchant ships, we sent out boats and ferries to bring more people to build and sell the city and to play with us. We probably contributed unduly in our constructive energies and overuse of resources to make the waters rise. And the waters continue to rise, and we don't know how much time we have left. We learned that this year.

June 3 Coney Island

Just a few decades ago, we lived among the darkly beautiful and naked city of urban canyons. While the longshoremen loaded supplies on the wharves and the Dead End Kids played roughhouse on the craggy shores of the East River, financiers and mad men and sensational artists poured cocktails and made witty remarks in the smoky lounges of Midtown. We didn’t think about the shoreline too much then. It was always night in the city - film noir, Weegee's flashbulb crime photos, jazz clubs, Batman's cave, Gotham, Truman Capote's parties. (Please, God, let there always be jazz clubs.)

October 30 After Hurricane Sandy hit, Lower Manhattan lost power for many days.
View from Washington Square Park.
Welcome to Gotham.

Now, it is day, and we're either jogging fast along the brightly lit shoreline or strolling along the High Line. These days, no one murders one another that much anymore (the city's homicide rate is down again),* but all the same, the city of surveillance knows where you are.* The air in the metropolis is mostly clear, and on shimmering days of light winds, we can see faraway to see the giant cruise ships entering New York Harbor. We remembered the Titanic this year. Let's hope that the air stays clear enough for us to collectively take action on climate change.

June 17 Rockaway Beach

The new city of light, just like the older city of dark spaces, still manages to pull off the spectacular seasonal celebration. New York City seems to own spring, summer, fall, and winter. We can turn Easter into a parade, the 4th of July into the most amazing fireworks, the first days of fall into a spectacular art season, and the holidays into the intoxicating stuff of movies. We are really good at this New Year's Eve thing, celebrating the aforementioned legacy of owning the night.

April 5 Central Park

Whether looking up at the moon over the East River or down at the surging tide lapping over the shore, whether on a bright day in the park or at night in Times Square, it’s easy to see a city of incomparable, if questionably sustainable, beauty.

June 27 Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

Happy New Year, everyone. I wish you calm seas.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from 2012. A slideshow of 2012 highlights - somewhat extravagant on my part with 60 pictures, and I apologize - may be found on Flickr WOTBA.

Footnotes:
* "414 Homicides in ’12 Is a Record Low for New York City," The New York Times, Dec. 29, 2012.
* "Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy," The Guardian. Dec. 29, 2012.