that was never meant to be as long, but felt much longer on my feet.
I headed downtown to go to the New Museum’s Block Party with the plan of spending some time there and then walking home along the river. But do my wanders ever turn out as planned? I went from the Block Party (fun – good music, lots of stuff for kids) to the Museum to see new Ghosts in the Machine exhibit that I didn’t really get to see during my flyby visit on Tuesday.
I really don’t know the Lower East Side well at all despite recent forays and decided to have a wander on a gorgeous, sunny day. Didn’t have my camera, but had my phone and @travellingcari has a few thousand photos or so. This one, to me, sums it up though. The Lower East Side (and neighboring Chinatown and Little Italy) is a mix of old and new. From Bowery Mission to the New Museum, from the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral to the Whole Foods on Houston/Chrystie … it’s a fun land of contrasts.
Highlights today included**:
- original St. Patrick’s: very cool but hard to get a good shot since there’s so much traffic and congestion aroun dther
- Bowery Savings Bank: ditto the above and even more so as it’s in the thick of Chinatown on Grand St.
- 240 Centre Street aka the Police Building. Catches my eye every time – especially as you look down toward Centre. Definitely fits in better with City Hall and its neighboring buildings than its current surrounds, however it’s also a nice homage to European origins of Little Italy
- Germania Bank Building aka 190 Bowery. It looks abandoned but its roots are amazing and it’s now a single family home!!
- Bialystoker Synagogue aka Bialystoker the Beautiful aka I got cursed at in yiddish for my tats. Still an amazing building.
By the time I finished traipsing on the LES and across to the river, I didn’t check off much mileage on my Manhattan loop. Only from Corlear’s Hook Park to E. 10th, but it was a gorgeous day
**and now I blame Tim for putting Hart Island on my NYC bucket list.