For us Washington, DC types, New York City can seem pretty daunting. But, with the right guidance and a spirit of adventure, it is also energizing and endlessly interesting. My guide for a short visit last week to “The City” as my mother used to call it (because she grew up in and around it) was one of my favorite people, Hanna, who I met way back in grad school in the 1980s.
Hanna met me at what is now called Moynihan Train Hall, aka Penn Station. The layout of the hall is confusing, and it took at least a half hour to figure out where to meet one another. (How did we ever find each other before cell phones?) I might have eventually found myself to her apartment in the Upper West Side (with an amazing view of the George Washington Bridge), but maybe not, so I really appreciated her city sherpa-like skills and willingness to fetch me.
During my first full day, Hanna and I had a morning nature walk along the Hudson River on the Fort Washington Park trail. She introduced me to the Little Red Lighthouse which is a testimony to the power of literature. The decommissioned lighthouse was in peril of being auctioned off in 1948m but was saved by lovers of a beloved children’s book by Hildegarde Swift and Lynd Ward. We also had a surprising encounter along the trail – see pictures below to find out what it was!
In the afternoon, Hanna walked me to the Cloisters, which is officially part of the Metropolitan Museum, located on the edge of Fort Tryon Park on a bluff above the Hudson. My curiosity to visit this relocated Medieval melange of buildings and artworks was piqued by recently reading the murder mystery, The Cloisters, by Katy Hays. (Encore, the power of literature?) Experiencing the atmosphere of somber gray stone and viewing masterpieces of religious art, tapestries, sculptures, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts and strangely shaped reliquaries made a couple of hours fly by. The gardens were not at their best in the winter, of course, but it’s a good reason to come back in the late spring/summer/fall sometime in the future.
Next day, I started off by visiting another museum I had never been to in NYC, the New York Historical Society, on the edge of Central Park. Hanna had business around 91st Street, so I walked from there to the museum’s 77th and Central Park West location, an adventure in and of itself. As my mother always explained, the numbered blocks in NYC are “short blocks” but by the time I reached the museum, they did not feel so short. The three floors of great exhibitions was worth the effort, though. I especially enjoyed the Tiffany Lamps, and learned that (of course) a woman, Clara Driscoll, designed most of them.
After Hanna caught up with me, we made our way to a Georgian restaurant, Chama Mama in Chelsea, and ordered that hot cheesy wonder, the khachapuri. Onward, fortified, to view the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial near (or even on) the NYU campus. Continuing on the power of literature theme, years ago I read the engrossing if quirky novel of historic New York, Dreamland, by Kevin Baker and never forgot the wrenching part about the fire and the (mostly young women) who perished in it.
The final exhibition visit was at the City Lore gallery, to view an exhibition on African American doll and puppet makers curated by another of my favorite people, Camila Bryce LaPorte, and friends/colleagues Diana N’Diaye and Phyllis May-Machunda. (The exhibition is only up for another couple of weeks, so visit fast if you’re in NYC or traveling there.)
After a jolly Japanese dinner with several NY area based folklore women, Hanna and I made our way back to her apartment (I definitely would have gotten lost on my own, as we transferred twice on this subway trip). Next day, after breakfast, she guided me back to Penn Station and I got on the train back to DC armed with “a bagel and a schmear” for the road.
A perfect post-retirement treat of a trip, all around, and largely thanks to Hanna. Here are some photos of the experience!
