Harlem and Central Park 6/17/14
Hey everyone. So as usual we start again from Penn Station. Everyone reached there on time without having any problem. Today, the weather is little warm so I hope we enjoy our class. During today’s class, we are going to explore Harlem and Central Park. I have been to Central Park before but it was long time ago. I have never heard of Harlem before. This was first time I was going there. From Penn Station we took a subway to go to Harlem. I don’t remember which train we took but we changed our train and than we reached East Harlem. When we reached East Harlem, I looked around. It was the same buildings, crowd, smell, etc. I was thinking it’s going to be a boring day but I was wrong.
East Harlem is also known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio. People in East Harlem were very nice and friendly. Harlem was originally established as the Dutch community of Nieuw Haarlem by Pete Stuyvesant in 1658 and named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. After the English took control of the Dutch colony, they tried to change the name of the community to “Lancaster,” but eventually settled on the Anglicized “Harlem.” During the Battle of Harlem Heights, the British army retaliated against colonial resistance in northern Manhattan by burning Harlem to the ground in 1776. (ENY, 78). By the 1890s, Harlem had become one of the most exclusive residential areas in Manhattan, filled with fashionable row houses. (ENY, 77).
As we were walking down and talking about old buildings and apartments, we went to the Museum of the City of New York. We went on the second floor to watch a 20-minute film about New York City. While we were waiting outside of the room, we saw a very pretty dollhouse. After watching a film, we saw some artwork. I must say this artwork was much better than we saw at Chelsea art galleries.
After coming out of the museum, Luke came to tell us the history about East Harlem and the artwork in East Harlem. He is an art instructor and he has so much knowledge about art history. First we introduced ourselves and after introduction he started talking about the museum. As we started walking we saw some artwork on the street walls. Each artwork we saw had a meaning behind. Luke told us a little bit about the history of each artwork we saw. Than we went in a community garden “Tin Flores Garden”. The theme of the garden is strength of women. The park was originally a vacant lot and dumping ground when it was converted by East Harlem resident Ernesto “Tin” Flores into a garden for the neighborhood’s inhabitants (ENY, 88). In the middle of garden was a fountain sculpture, which looks like fallopian tubes. The Fountain sculpture is called “Seed of Growths,” designed by Lina Puerta. On the wall there was also a painting of two women sitting and holding hands. This painting shows women are very strong and powerful.
After the community garden we walked across the street and went to an antique store. The name of the store is “Justo Botanica” and it’s located on Lexington Ave. When we walked inside, an elderly man was sitting there. He is the owner of the store. I don’t remember his name but he gave us brief information about his store. His father started an antique store in 1930 and he sells herbal medicine and statues from every religion.
Now it was a lunch break. After coming out of antique store, we went to a Mexican restaurant. I ordered a Mexican salad. It was not bad. After we finished our lunch, we went to the Central Park. Central Park was the most unsafe place in New York and by 1873, central park was essentially completed and became the first major public park created in any city in the United States ( ENY, 58). Central Park is so big but we saw only a few parts. We entered from the north gate. The day was very hot. So many people were walking, jogging, kids were playing; men were playing soccer, etc. We walked through English Garden. We saw a 3,500 years old Egyptian art piece called Cleopatra’s Needle. Everyone was so tired so we set on grass for a while. After taking a quick break, we walked through rambles. Soon we came out of rambles; there was a sign of a strawberry field. The shape of the strawberry field was a teardrop. The strawberry field is dedicated to the memory of a former Beatle and peace activist, John Lennon. This was our last stop. By the end of the day, we all were so tired and everyone just wanted to go home. Soon we finished our last stop, and we all left.
Hey everyone. So as usual we start again from Penn Station. Everyone reached there on time without having any problem. Today, the weather is little warm so I hope we enjoy our class. During today’s class, we are going to explore Harlem and Central Park. I have been to Central Park before but it was long time ago. I have never heard of Harlem before. This was first time I was going there. From Penn Station we took a subway to go to Harlem. I don’t remember which train we took but we changed our train and than we reached East Harlem. When we reached East Harlem, I looked around. It was the same buildings, crowd, smell, etc. I was thinking it’s going to be a boring day but I was wrong.
East Harlem is also known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio. People in East Harlem were very nice and friendly. Harlem was originally established as the Dutch community of Nieuw Haarlem by Pete Stuyvesant in 1658 and named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. After the English took control of the Dutch colony, they tried to change the name of the community to “Lancaster,” but eventually settled on the Anglicized “Harlem.” During the Battle of Harlem Heights, the British army retaliated against colonial resistance in northern Manhattan by burning Harlem to the ground in 1776. (ENY, 78). By the 1890s, Harlem had become one of the most exclusive residential areas in Manhattan, filled with fashionable row houses. (ENY, 77).
As we were walking down and talking about old buildings and apartments, we went to the Museum of the City of New York. We went on the second floor to watch a 20-minute film about New York City. While we were waiting outside of the room, we saw a very pretty dollhouse. After watching a film, we saw some artwork. I must say this artwork was much better than we saw at Chelsea art galleries.
After coming out of the museum, Luke came to tell us the history about East Harlem and the artwork in East Harlem. He is an art instructor and he has so much knowledge about art history. First we introduced ourselves and after introduction he started talking about the museum. As we started walking we saw some artwork on the street walls. Each artwork we saw had a meaning behind. Luke told us a little bit about the history of each artwork we saw. Than we went in a community garden “Tin Flores Garden”. The theme of the garden is strength of women. The park was originally a vacant lot and dumping ground when it was converted by East Harlem resident Ernesto “Tin” Flores into a garden for the neighborhood’s inhabitants (ENY, 88). In the middle of garden was a fountain sculpture, which looks like fallopian tubes. The Fountain sculpture is called “Seed of Growths,” designed by Lina Puerta. On the wall there was also a painting of two women sitting and holding hands. This painting shows women are very strong and powerful.
After the community garden we walked across the street and went to an antique store. The name of the store is “Justo Botanica” and it’s located on Lexington Ave. When we walked inside, an elderly man was sitting there. He is the owner of the store. I don’t remember his name but he gave us brief information about his store. His father started an antique store in 1930 and he sells herbal medicine and statues from every religion.
Now it was a lunch break. After coming out of antique store, we went to a Mexican restaurant. I ordered a Mexican salad. It was not bad. After we finished our lunch, we went to the Central Park. Central Park was the most unsafe place in New York and by 1873, central park was essentially completed and became the first major public park created in any city in the United States ( ENY, 58). Central Park is so big but we saw only a few parts. We entered from the north gate. The day was very hot. So many people were walking, jogging, kids were playing; men were playing soccer, etc. We walked through English Garden. We saw a 3,500 years old Egyptian art piece called Cleopatra’s Needle. Everyone was so tired so we set on grass for a while. After taking a quick break, we walked through rambles. Soon we came out of rambles; there was a sign of a strawberry field. The shape of the strawberry field was a teardrop. The strawberry field is dedicated to the memory of a former Beatle and peace activist, John Lennon. This was our last stop. By the end of the day, we all were so tired and everyone just wanted to go home. Soon we finished our last stop, and we all left.
Midtown and Morning side Heights 6/19/14
As usual we started again at Penn Station. Today our first stop was Time Square. I have been to Time Square so many times before. Any time I go there, I always see so many crowds. Most of the crowd is tourist. People come from all around the world to see Time Square. Time Square is the busiest place in midtown. We began walking from Penn Station. Weather was not too hot today. It was a little cool and there was light rain. We start walking east one block and passed Macy’s and we reached Broadway and 7th avenue. Broadway is the oldest street in NYC. The entire length of Broadway runs 13 miles through Manhattan and the Bronx, and continues an additional 18 miles through Westchester County, terminating is Sleepy Hollow (ENY, 32). Macy’s is the largest department store in the United States (ENY, 32). We did not talk much about Macy’s. When we reached 42nd street, we were at Time Square. We stopped there for 5 minutes. So many people were there taking pictures, enjoying the view of Time Square. Also, there were cartoon characters, and kids were taking pictures with them. Time Square was a farmland, and by the mid-19th century, the area became known as a center for New York’s horse carriage industry and was named Long Acre Square, after the city of London’s own carriage center, Long Acre (ENY, 33). In 1904, the street got its own name, Time Square, when The New York Times moved into a new skyscraper on 42nd Street (ENY, 33). After spending a few minutes in Time Square, we start walking. We passed little Brazil Street and reached the GE building. Originally, GE building was called the RCA Building when it was completed in 1933 (ENY, 36). The GE building number is 666, which means devil. As we were walking the south corridor, we saw some interesting artwork on the walls. After exiting out of the building, we reached Rockefeller Center. Everyone was tired so we took a 10-minute break. Some people sat on the benches, and some used the restroom.
After Time Square and Rockefeller Center, our next stop was the Museum of Modern Art, also known as MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art is one of the most important and influential museums of modern art in the world; MoMA houses an impressive collection of important works of art from 19th and 20th centuries (ENY. 39). We saw eight different artists’ artwork; Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Ryman, Mark Rothko, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso. All of these are famous artists during their time. As I said in the beginning of the semester when we visited art galleries in Chelsea, I don’t understand art. I don’t know why people paint. All of the painting we saw didn’t make any sense to me. One painting really made me angry. It was a white color on a canvas. When I looked at the painting, I wondered what would be the point of painting a white canvas. What was the author thinking at that time? I wish could ask him all these questions. The museum was full of people. I guess people like to see artwork.
After finishing our tour at the museum, it was time to have Thai food. we went to a YUM YUM Bangkok restaurant. I was nervous about trying Thai food because they eat almost everything and I was hoping I don’t order something that I can’t eat. Professor Mike helped me order food. I only ate the spring roll and had to throw everything else out because it was disgusting,
Now it was time to go to Morningside Heights. We took 1 train to go to Cathedral Station. When we reached there, Jim ,our tour guide was waiting to give us a tour for entire town. Our first stop was a Cathedral church of Saint John the Divine. It is located on Amsterdam Avenue and 112th Street. The largest church in the United States and the largest Gothic-style cathedral in the world, the Cathedral has room for 3000 worshippers and spans a length of over 600 feet (ENY, 70). It was the most beautiful church I have seen so far. I just loved it. When the professor told us we could go inside. I was very excited to see the inside of the church. This was the first time I was to see inside. One thing I didn’t like about the church was that I saw bathrooms in a holy place and people were walking with their shoes on. I was wondering that holy places are supposed to be clean, but I saw bathrooms inside the church. Then we went to see another church. Riverside Church is the tallest church in the United States. It has 20 floors. It was built in 1927 (ENY, 75).
Now it was time to see Columbia University. We were running out of time so we didn’t spend too much time there. We saw few artworks in there and we also went inside the library. The statue in front of the library is the bronze Alma Mater, the symbol of the university, designed by Daniel Chester French in 1903 (ENY, 72). Our last stop of the day was City College of New York (CCNY). We walked a few blocks to go to CCNY. We had to walk up to the hills. Walking up the hills made me so tired. Now it was time to end our class. We end our class in front of Grove college of Engineering. On the right side of Grove College was the Hampton House. It was not open so we saw it from outside and ended our class there.
As usual we started again at Penn Station. Today our first stop was Time Square. I have been to Time Square so many times before. Any time I go there, I always see so many crowds. Most of the crowd is tourist. People come from all around the world to see Time Square. Time Square is the busiest place in midtown. We began walking from Penn Station. Weather was not too hot today. It was a little cool and there was light rain. We start walking east one block and passed Macy’s and we reached Broadway and 7th avenue. Broadway is the oldest street in NYC. The entire length of Broadway runs 13 miles through Manhattan and the Bronx, and continues an additional 18 miles through Westchester County, terminating is Sleepy Hollow (ENY, 32). Macy’s is the largest department store in the United States (ENY, 32). We did not talk much about Macy’s. When we reached 42nd street, we were at Time Square. We stopped there for 5 minutes. So many people were there taking pictures, enjoying the view of Time Square. Also, there were cartoon characters, and kids were taking pictures with them. Time Square was a farmland, and by the mid-19th century, the area became known as a center for New York’s horse carriage industry and was named Long Acre Square, after the city of London’s own carriage center, Long Acre (ENY, 33). In 1904, the street got its own name, Time Square, when The New York Times moved into a new skyscraper on 42nd Street (ENY, 33). After spending a few minutes in Time Square, we start walking. We passed little Brazil Street and reached the GE building. Originally, GE building was called the RCA Building when it was completed in 1933 (ENY, 36). The GE building number is 666, which means devil. As we were walking the south corridor, we saw some interesting artwork on the walls. After exiting out of the building, we reached Rockefeller Center. Everyone was tired so we took a 10-minute break. Some people sat on the benches, and some used the restroom.
After Time Square and Rockefeller Center, our next stop was the Museum of Modern Art, also known as MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art is one of the most important and influential museums of modern art in the world; MoMA houses an impressive collection of important works of art from 19th and 20th centuries (ENY. 39). We saw eight different artists’ artwork; Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Ryman, Mark Rothko, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso. All of these are famous artists during their time. As I said in the beginning of the semester when we visited art galleries in Chelsea, I don’t understand art. I don’t know why people paint. All of the painting we saw didn’t make any sense to me. One painting really made me angry. It was a white color on a canvas. When I looked at the painting, I wondered what would be the point of painting a white canvas. What was the author thinking at that time? I wish could ask him all these questions. The museum was full of people. I guess people like to see artwork.
After finishing our tour at the museum, it was time to have Thai food. we went to a YUM YUM Bangkok restaurant. I was nervous about trying Thai food because they eat almost everything and I was hoping I don’t order something that I can’t eat. Professor Mike helped me order food. I only ate the spring roll and had to throw everything else out because it was disgusting,
Now it was time to go to Morningside Heights. We took 1 train to go to Cathedral Station. When we reached there, Jim ,our tour guide was waiting to give us a tour for entire town. Our first stop was a Cathedral church of Saint John the Divine. It is located on Amsterdam Avenue and 112th Street. The largest church in the United States and the largest Gothic-style cathedral in the world, the Cathedral has room for 3000 worshippers and spans a length of over 600 feet (ENY, 70). It was the most beautiful church I have seen so far. I just loved it. When the professor told us we could go inside. I was very excited to see the inside of the church. This was the first time I was to see inside. One thing I didn’t like about the church was that I saw bathrooms in a holy place and people were walking with their shoes on. I was wondering that holy places are supposed to be clean, but I saw bathrooms inside the church. Then we went to see another church. Riverside Church is the tallest church in the United States. It has 20 floors. It was built in 1927 (ENY, 75).
Now it was time to see Columbia University. We were running out of time so we didn’t spend too much time there. We saw few artworks in there and we also went inside the library. The statue in front of the library is the bronze Alma Mater, the symbol of the university, designed by Daniel Chester French in 1903 (ENY, 72). Our last stop of the day was City College of New York (CCNY). We walked a few blocks to go to CCNY. We had to walk up to the hills. Walking up the hills made me so tired. Now it was time to end our class. We end our class in front of Grove college of Engineering. On the right side of Grove College was the Hampton House. It was not open so we saw it from outside and ended our class there.
Lower Manhattan and Governors Island 6/24/14
Today is the second to last day of our class and I am getting little bit emotional. Anyways, so again here we are at Penn Station. Weather is very lovely today, not too warm. Our plan was to explore lower Manhattan and Governors Island. From Penn Station we took 3 trains and after a couple of stops we got off on Park Place. The southernmost tip of Manhattan is where the Dutch has established their colony of Nieuw Amsterdam in 1624. In the 17th century about 1000 people lived in the Dutch colony, although most were of non-Dutch origins (ENY). On Park Place, the first thing we saw was Wool Worth Gothic building. From 1914 to 1930 it was the tallest building. At that time it cost so much money to built a Gothic-style building.
We continued walking to 209 Broadway and we reached Saint Paul’s Episcopal Chapel of the Trinity Parish. It is the oldest church in lower Manhattan and it was opened in 1764. All around the church there were so many old graves. As you walk through a graveyard, you can see Freedom Tower. The inside of the church was not too big. George Washington used to attend a service at this church. The chapel has become a memorial to those who died at Ground Zero. Although it was directly across the street from the World Trade Center, the chapel miraculously survived the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 that destroyed the nearby Twin Towers without even a broken window (ENY).
Now it was time to go to City Hall. This is the third City Hall in New York City; Dutch built the first City Hall. This is the oldest City Hall in the United States, and it was built in 1811. When it was built, City hall stood on the northern edge of New York City. Since no one at the time anticipated that the city would expand beyond that point, City Hall faces south (ENY). A big thanks to professor mike that gave us an opportunity to go inside of the City Hall. Our tour guide gave us a tour of the inside of the building. We saw thedgovernor’s room. Inside the room was George Washington’s table, where he used to sign important documents. The color of the room was Irish green. This color is a landmark. During the 19th century, the public business for New York City was undertaken in City Hall. When five boroughs joined together to form the greater City of New York in 1898, it soon became apparent that more room was needed to house the city’s numerous governmental agencies (ENY). After City Hall, we continued walking down Broadway and made a left onto Chambers Street. In the middle of the block is the Tweed Courthouse, which is also known as Old New York Courthouse (ENY).
Finally, we headed towards 911 Memorial and the Freedom Tower. Freedom Tower is the tallest building in New York City right now. As we reached there, the professor gave us few minutes to walk around. When I looked at the memorial site, I got emotional. I just looked at the site, took picture and walked away. I sat on stair while everyone was looking around.
After we finished our 911 Memorial tour, we headed towards Wall Street. We saw Trinity Church on Wall Street and roots of the survivor tree. And then we passed through the financial district, Federal Hall, where we took a 5-minute bathroom break, and past the New York Stock Exchange. We walked further more and we took a 5-minute ferry ride to go to Governor’s Island. For a ferry ride you have to Pay $2. It was 3 o’clock and everyone was hungry and asking when we are going to have a lunch break. Governor’s Island tour was an experimental tour for professors and for us as well. We were going there for the first time. No one knew if a food court was available or not. We reached there 3pm and we had 2 hours to visit the entire Island. I didn’t enjoying spending time there because most of the time we spent searching for food court. If you have more time, you can rent a bike and take a tour of the entire Island. At 5 pm we took ferry back to Lower Manhattan.
Soon as we get off of the ferry, we walked to Battery Park. This 23 acre park was named after battery of canons that the British kept here from 1683-1687 to protect the harbor. In the 19th century, the location of the park by the harbor made it an ideal spot to become the nation’s first immigrant receiving station. Today, Battery Park is the largest recreational part of Manhattan Island (ENY). When we came out of Battery Park, we went to see the Museum of the American Indian. Admission was free to the museum but we were running out of time so we couldn’t go inside.
Our last stop of the day was Fravnces Tavern Building. It is located on Pearl Street. We went inside of the building. The place was very small, and humid. Some women were sitting there wearing old fashion outfits. This is the place where George Washington gave a farewell speech to his troops. I looked around for 5 minute and went outside because the building was too hot and here we ended our class.
Today is the second to last day of our class and I am getting little bit emotional. Anyways, so again here we are at Penn Station. Weather is very lovely today, not too warm. Our plan was to explore lower Manhattan and Governors Island. From Penn Station we took 3 trains and after a couple of stops we got off on Park Place. The southernmost tip of Manhattan is where the Dutch has established their colony of Nieuw Amsterdam in 1624. In the 17th century about 1000 people lived in the Dutch colony, although most were of non-Dutch origins (ENY). On Park Place, the first thing we saw was Wool Worth Gothic building. From 1914 to 1930 it was the tallest building. At that time it cost so much money to built a Gothic-style building.
We continued walking to 209 Broadway and we reached Saint Paul’s Episcopal Chapel of the Trinity Parish. It is the oldest church in lower Manhattan and it was opened in 1764. All around the church there were so many old graves. As you walk through a graveyard, you can see Freedom Tower. The inside of the church was not too big. George Washington used to attend a service at this church. The chapel has become a memorial to those who died at Ground Zero. Although it was directly across the street from the World Trade Center, the chapel miraculously survived the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 that destroyed the nearby Twin Towers without even a broken window (ENY).
Now it was time to go to City Hall. This is the third City Hall in New York City; Dutch built the first City Hall. This is the oldest City Hall in the United States, and it was built in 1811. When it was built, City hall stood on the northern edge of New York City. Since no one at the time anticipated that the city would expand beyond that point, City Hall faces south (ENY). A big thanks to professor mike that gave us an opportunity to go inside of the City Hall. Our tour guide gave us a tour of the inside of the building. We saw thedgovernor’s room. Inside the room was George Washington’s table, where he used to sign important documents. The color of the room was Irish green. This color is a landmark. During the 19th century, the public business for New York City was undertaken in City Hall. When five boroughs joined together to form the greater City of New York in 1898, it soon became apparent that more room was needed to house the city’s numerous governmental agencies (ENY). After City Hall, we continued walking down Broadway and made a left onto Chambers Street. In the middle of the block is the Tweed Courthouse, which is also known as Old New York Courthouse (ENY).
Finally, we headed towards 911 Memorial and the Freedom Tower. Freedom Tower is the tallest building in New York City right now. As we reached there, the professor gave us few minutes to walk around. When I looked at the memorial site, I got emotional. I just looked at the site, took picture and walked away. I sat on stair while everyone was looking around.
After we finished our 911 Memorial tour, we headed towards Wall Street. We saw Trinity Church on Wall Street and roots of the survivor tree. And then we passed through the financial district, Federal Hall, where we took a 5-minute bathroom break, and past the New York Stock Exchange. We walked further more and we took a 5-minute ferry ride to go to Governor’s Island. For a ferry ride you have to Pay $2. It was 3 o’clock and everyone was hungry and asking when we are going to have a lunch break. Governor’s Island tour was an experimental tour for professors and for us as well. We were going there for the first time. No one knew if a food court was available or not. We reached there 3pm and we had 2 hours to visit the entire Island. I didn’t enjoying spending time there because most of the time we spent searching for food court. If you have more time, you can rent a bike and take a tour of the entire Island. At 5 pm we took ferry back to Lower Manhattan.
Soon as we get off of the ferry, we walked to Battery Park. This 23 acre park was named after battery of canons that the British kept here from 1683-1687 to protect the harbor. In the 19th century, the location of the park by the harbor made it an ideal spot to become the nation’s first immigrant receiving station. Today, Battery Park is the largest recreational part of Manhattan Island (ENY). When we came out of Battery Park, we went to see the Museum of the American Indian. Admission was free to the museum but we were running out of time so we couldn’t go inside.
Our last stop of the day was Fravnces Tavern Building. It is located on Pearl Street. We went inside of the building. The place was very small, and humid. Some women were sitting there wearing old fashion outfits. This is the place where George Washington gave a farewell speech to his troops. I looked around for 5 minute and went outside because the building was too hot and here we ended our class.
The Lower East Side 6/26/14 Today is last day of our class :(. We meet again on Penn Station. We came out of Penn Station and took the F train from 34th street. We got off on Delancey Street and reached Lower East Side. Lower East side is located in the southeastern part of the New York City. It is known as lower-class worker neighborhood. In 1860’s this town was known as German’s town, it was filled with Germans until the Williamsburg’s Bridge was finished. Lower East side is best known as having once been a center of Jewish Center. After the completion of Williamsburg Bridge all the Jews from Lower Manhattan moved here and Williamsburg Bridge was known as Jewish Bridge.
Our first stop was the Tenement Museum. It is located on 105 Orchard Street. Tenement means 3 or more unrelated families living in a same building. Another name of Tenement is apartment. At the museum, we divided into two groups because rooms in the building were too small and we couldn’t fit there. We met our tour guide. She has been working there for last two years. She had so much knowledge about history, especially the Tenement Museum. She told us history of the Tenement Museum. It was built in 1863. This building is 151 years old. From 1863 to 1935 7,000 people lived here from over 20 nations. Inside the building were 20 apartments and four bathrooms outside the building. Each apartment had 3 rooms and one window and the size of each apartment was 325 square feet. 1901 was a big year for Tenements. New laws was passed to build indoor bathrooms and to have a window in each apartment. We can only imagine how people spent their lives at that time.
Out of 20 apartments, we saw two apartments. First apartment we saw was a Gumpert family. In 1873 Julius and Nathalie lived there with four children. Julius left his wife and four children and he never return home. No one knows what happened to him. There is some evidence in Ohio of Julius. Their infant son died because of diarrhea. For survival and to pay rent Nathalie sewed cloths. In 1883 Nathalie receives a letter that her father-in-law passed away. The apartment was very dark and there was no heat. I don’t know how they survived. Our tour guide takes us to another apartment. Italian family lived there until 1935. Adolfo came here to earn some money. His plan was to earn money and go back to his country but he decided to stay here. However, the immigration laws were changed and he brought his wife Rosaria illegally through Canada. Adolfo worked as a carpenter to raise his family.
When we finished our tour, Professor Mike broke us down into small groups. We had more than an hour and he gave direction to visit Chinatown and the Buddhist temple. We started walking and when we reached Chinatown, I thought that the place was smelly, disgusting, and there were only Asian people everywhere. My head started hurting because of the fish smell and crowd. I would never go there again.
We had lunch break at Chinese restaurant. I only tried mix vegetables and little bit of sesame chicken. Food was not good at all. Our tour guide joined us for lunch. He is a great tour guide; he has so much knowledge about New York City. We then went to see the first settlement House established in 1886 on Eldridge Street, which is now known as University Settlement. We were walking back and forth on the same streets for almost two hours. We saw first Settlement house, stopped at the Economy Candy store, stopped at the Saint Mary’s Church on Clinton Street, and our last stop was the Lillian Wald House. This was the end of today’s class and our course. After the end of the class, Professors Mike and Don planned to walk over the Williamsburg Bridge. This bridge is covered with graffiti art. We had a nice walk and then we stopped at the restaurant for few minutes and this was it. After spending some time, we all left.
Our first stop was the Tenement Museum. It is located on 105 Orchard Street. Tenement means 3 or more unrelated families living in a same building. Another name of Tenement is apartment. At the museum, we divided into two groups because rooms in the building were too small and we couldn’t fit there. We met our tour guide. She has been working there for last two years. She had so much knowledge about history, especially the Tenement Museum. She told us history of the Tenement Museum. It was built in 1863. This building is 151 years old. From 1863 to 1935 7,000 people lived here from over 20 nations. Inside the building were 20 apartments and four bathrooms outside the building. Each apartment had 3 rooms and one window and the size of each apartment was 325 square feet. 1901 was a big year for Tenements. New laws was passed to build indoor bathrooms and to have a window in each apartment. We can only imagine how people spent their lives at that time.
Out of 20 apartments, we saw two apartments. First apartment we saw was a Gumpert family. In 1873 Julius and Nathalie lived there with four children. Julius left his wife and four children and he never return home. No one knows what happened to him. There is some evidence in Ohio of Julius. Their infant son died because of diarrhea. For survival and to pay rent Nathalie sewed cloths. In 1883 Nathalie receives a letter that her father-in-law passed away. The apartment was very dark and there was no heat. I don’t know how they survived. Our tour guide takes us to another apartment. Italian family lived there until 1935. Adolfo came here to earn some money. His plan was to earn money and go back to his country but he decided to stay here. However, the immigration laws were changed and he brought his wife Rosaria illegally through Canada. Adolfo worked as a carpenter to raise his family.
When we finished our tour, Professor Mike broke us down into small groups. We had more than an hour and he gave direction to visit Chinatown and the Buddhist temple. We started walking and when we reached Chinatown, I thought that the place was smelly, disgusting, and there were only Asian people everywhere. My head started hurting because of the fish smell and crowd. I would never go there again.
We had lunch break at Chinese restaurant. I only tried mix vegetables and little bit of sesame chicken. Food was not good at all. Our tour guide joined us for lunch. He is a great tour guide; he has so much knowledge about New York City. We then went to see the first settlement House established in 1886 on Eldridge Street, which is now known as University Settlement. We were walking back and forth on the same streets for almost two hours. We saw first Settlement house, stopped at the Economy Candy store, stopped at the Saint Mary’s Church on Clinton Street, and our last stop was the Lillian Wald House. This was the end of today’s class and our course. After the end of the class, Professors Mike and Don planned to walk over the Williamsburg Bridge. This bridge is covered with graffiti art. We had a nice walk and then we stopped at the restaurant for few minutes and this was it. After spending some time, we all left.
Post Experience of New York
First of all I want to say a BIG thank you to Professor Mike and Professor Don. They gave me this opportunity to see amazing places in New York City. People like me, who don’t know anything about the New York City, should take this class. To me New York City was an ordinary city. After taking this class and learning about the history I realized the reason people are so crazy about New York City. I must say, I m a lucky person that I’m living here.
First of all I want to say a BIG thank you to Professor Mike and Professor Don. They gave me this opportunity to see amazing places in New York City. People like me, who don’t know anything about the New York City, should take this class. To me New York City was an ordinary city. After taking this class and learning about the history I realized the reason people are so crazy about New York City. I must say, I m a lucky person that I’m living here.