Hungry? It's Lunch Time!

Lunchtime.

It is so much a part of our lives, but has anyone ever really thought about it?

This midday meal has a history, and the New York Public Library is currently exhibiting Lunch Hour NYC discussing this very unique New York City phenomenon. 

It was probably one of the most interesting exhibits I've ever seen...

I read about it a few days ago on one of my favorite blogs, I Love Old NY, and I immediately made plans to go later that day.

First of all, I love the elegant NYPL building on 42nd and 5th Avenue. The place is dripping with ornamentation in classic Beaux-Arts style... When I walk in, I feel as if I'm entering into a palace. 

In a nutshell, the exhibit begins by explaining that historically, the largest meal of the day was eaten at midday and called dinner. This was the case in Europe, as well as in America, for centuries. However, when business, commerce and manufacturing took off in New York City at the start of the 20th century, people no longer had time to take a lengthy midday break, and instead would eat a smaller meal. This became known as lunch. 

Throughout the past century, lunchtime has taken on a unique role in New York City, more so than in any other part of the world.

Pretzels.

Hot Dog stands.

Pizza.

Delicatessens. 

Chinese takeout.

Sushi.

Each of these food items became famous in NYC, and Lunch Hour NYC traces them through the century and describes their significance. (Kinda cool, no? I never knew food could have so much of a history!).

My favorite part of the exhibit was the part about the Automat, a very unique self-service food apparatus:

You basically put a coin in a slot and then opened a door that held a single serving of the food you desired.

Automats were all over the city from the 1920s-1940s. They started closing in the 1950s when labor and food costs began to rise, making it difficult for Automat proprietors to maintain their commitment to fresh, elegant and cheap food. The last Automat closed in 1992.

I left the exhibit quite hungry... after all, I had just spent an hour looking at nothing but food!

There is so much to see in this exhibit and I highly recommend it. Make a day trip out of it and visit the Children's Center and Bryant Park while you're there.

If you can't make it to the exhibit, there is loads of information on their website: http://exhibitions.nypl.org/lunchhour/exhibits/show/lunchhour

Enjoy!

All photos are courtesy of the NYPL website.

A/C on the Street

I had to catch a bus this afternoon at 67th and Lexington Avenue, right in front of Hunter College.

It was 97 degrees outside, so I found a shady alcove to stand under while I waited for the air conditioned bus to arrive.

One wall of the alcove had a large vent.

As I stood there, I started to feel a nice cool breeze. And then I realized that the vent was seeping cool air from inside Hunter College right onto me! It wasn't much, but just enough to keep me cool. What a relief! (Environmentalists, not to worry - it wasn't full blast AC seeping out of the building).

If you're ever walking down Lexington Avenue during the hot summer months and need a bit of cool air, either step into a store, or stand near this vent on the NW corner of 67th and Lex!

Out and About: Los Angeles Edition

Favorite moments from my week-long trip to LA!


Tornado shelter in Denver (stopover) - you'll never see that in NYC!


Clear crossing instructions in Santa Monica (would be nice to have in NYC):

Sunset at the beach:

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Cookies and Cream Iced-Blended! Yummmmm... (They don't have it in NY yet!)

Cool fountain at the Grove:

Credit: www.pecuniarities.com

Third Street Promenade (with cool fountains):

Taking the Big Blue Bus (kinda felt like I was in NY):

Credit: www.getsolar.com

And finally, on my way home from the airport in NY, I spotted a man wearing a sombrero:

A nice welcome home. It's good to be back.

An Outdoorsy Feel, Inside

Over the past few weeks, I've been completely engrossed in studying for final exams. I had zero time to do what I love... travel around the city and explore.

But my life wasn't totally void of excitement (I can't stay away from adventure for too long :-))...

When I study for tests, I try to find quiet places in the city to set up shop and study uninterrupted. I wrote about some of my favorite study spots a few months ago, but I recently discovered a truly incredible urban oasis.

Credit: www.aeccafe.com

Located in the heart of Lincoln Center, the David Rubenstein Atrium is a gathering center for neighborhood residents, with dozens of tables to relax and eat, and a cafe to buy a small snack or coffee.

The David Rubestein Atrium has a wonderfully pleasant ambiance, and I found myself going back again and again to study.

Notice the wall colors. I love the modern design; it makes the room feel all fresh and airy.

Credit: Flickr user Kenzo*

If you look closely at the photo above, you'll notice a bunch of pipes hanging down from the ceiling. Those pipes are actually my favorite feature of the entire atrium.

It's a fountain!

Credit: www.archtober.com

Water drips out of the pipes directly into the cup-like holders on the bottom. It is a soft and gentle fountain, and it contributes to the peacefulness of the space.

Once again, take a closer look at the above photo, and notice the greenery hanging from the wall.
There is also one on the other side of the Atrium:

Credit: Flickr user Kenzo*

It's a very cool "vertical garden." At first I didn't believe that the plants were real, but then I went over and touched it and discovered that it is 100% authentic, live greenery.

A worker told me it is automatically watered every morning at 3am. Wow.

The entire atrium is illuminated with really cool light fixtures that create a natural light effect.

Credit: Flickr user Kenzo*

With the vertical garden intact, the natural light effect, and the fountain nearby, I almost feel as though I am sitting outdoors.

The Atrium also has free events from time to time. Check out their website for more information.

P.S. The David Rubenstein Atrium is one of 500 Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) in New York City. I just discovered that term while researching the Atrium. I think that POPS's are awesome, and I would love to discover more of them around town! Anyone care to join?

A Fountain's Acrobatics.. and an Awesome Surprise!

Last night, I babysat at a family in Lincoln Center (the same family who has the amazing view from their window).

On my walk over to their apartment, I passed the Revson Fountain, a very beautiful and creative fountain in the center of Lincoln Center. It was designed as a traditional fountain, and at set times to be a fountain show. Whenever I am in the neighborhood and I pass by the fountain, it is always in its "relaxed" form.

But as I passed the fountain last night, it was far from relaxed. The fountain was doing some serious acrobatics. I finally saw the fountain show!

A very impressive fountain :-).

Later that night, as I sat and studiously worked on a final paper for one of my classes, I was suddenly interrupted by some strange noises... 

"Boom!" 

"Crack!" 

"Crackle!"

"Bang!"

I honestly thought there was a massive gun fight going on in Lincoln Center down below.

I looked out the window, and realized immediately that it was FAR from a gun fight...

There were FIREWORKS over the Hudson River! 

(Remember how I said the apartment has an amazing view? Shout out the E family for allowing me to feature your apartment's amazing view in my blog).

I haven't confirmed this, but I believe the fireworks were in celebration of Fleet Week which is going on right now.

Check out this video I captured of the awesome fireworks show:

The entire night sky literally lit up. It was so beautiful. What a nice treat! How often do you get to see fireworks when it isn't July 4th?

On the Platform

A few days ago, I got onto the no. 1 uptown train at 59th street.

But the train doors wouldn't close.

After about five minutes, the conductor announced that the train was going out of service because of a broken door.

This was during Rush Hour, so the train was packed!

Hundreds of people piled out of the subway cars and onto the crowded platform.

I snapped a picture of it. The 59th street station is curved, so it provides a clear view all the way down the platform.

I just realized that there's a man sticking out his tongue in the foreground! Haha! The unexpected always happens in candid photographs....

EDIT (5/25/12):
Yesterday I experienced another crazy traveling story!!

I was sitting peacefully on the bus ride home from school (I take a bus from my college to the train station, and from the train station I take 3 additional trains home), totally absorbed in my book. We just passed over the Van Wyke Expressway, a long stretch where the bus makes no stops for a few minutes.

All of a sudden, the bus stopped. Absorbed in my book, I hardly noticed the commotion around me. After about 30 seconds, I glanced up... and noticed that the bus was surrounded with dense white smoke!! So dense that I could not see anything outside the windows!

The bus driver had left the bus to investigate. I watched him closely out the window through the smoke. About 10 seconds later, he ran back on the bus and commanded that everyone EVACUATE immediately!!

My instincts told me to get as far away from the bus as possible. Along with the other passengers, I pushed my way out of the bus and began walking as fast as I could away from the smokey bus. Eventually I walked the rest of the way to the train station, about a quarter-mile distance.

Here is a photo I snapped of the bus surrounded by smoke. A large wind came, dissipating some of the smoke by the time I took the picture, but you can still see the effect:

Some people were very calm and some extremely nervous. I don't remember how I felt; I just wanted to get as far away from the bus as possible in case it blew up (as my mother says, I was "catastrophizing").

I have no idea what happened to the bus. But it was certainly a crazy afternoon!

Costello's Planters

Some readers ask me if I will ever run out of things to write.

Honestly, I don't think I will. Every day is filled with brand new exciting discoveries (I have a whole list of things waiting to be written about!!).

Like today, when I saw this video on the Eyewitness News website:




about a man named Costello who beautifies his neighborhood on West 102nd Street by planting exquisite flowers boxes around the trees, as well as elaborately decorating the front doorways of his building and others.

(if you can't see the video, go to the original article).

And I absolutely had to check it out.

So I trekked all the way uptown to 102nd street...

Wow!!! The planters were even more beautiful than the video!

(Maybe because it was sunny when I went, and the video was taken on a cloudy, rainy day).

I so wish I could live on this block!!

Whoever you are, Costello, I think your work is wonderful.

I love how you add beauty to the normally mundane city streets.

I'm all for that, you know.

Adding beauty where you least expect it, that is.

And can it get any better than this?!

I mean, you even put fountains outside your building's front entrance!

Lucky neighbors.

Keep up the awesome work, Costello!

Maybe you'll make your way down to my block someday.
That would be amazing.

P.S. Check out this great album filled with pictures from 102nd street. But I strongly suggest checking it out in person... it's so much better in real life.

Street Vendors

All around the city, vendors set up their wares on the city streets. Some sell very cheap looking goods, but every once in a while I will come across some vendors selling items that I absolutely love (and look quite expensive).

I'll tell you a secret - a lot of my beautiful costume jewelry has been bought at street vendors.

I love hand-made unique items, and usually the artists themselves sell the items. I like to talk to them about their products, how they come up with designs, how they make them, etc.

I picked up these stunning earrings last year, handmade by a local UWS artist:

But some jewelry sold by street vendors are handpicked at trade shows.

These earrings are my absolute favorite:

Sometimes I'll see a very unique table, like this one with adorable handmade sock puppets:

Keep your eyes peeled! You might find some great treasures. Let me know if you come across any cool finds.

Note: make sure that you buy from a licensed street vendor - they have a name-tag, so make sure the photo matches the face.

A Tale of Survival

The National September 11th Memorial opened on the 10th anniversary of 9/11/2001. I've been meaning to go for a while, and I finally made my way down there two weeks ago.

It was... how do I put it... rather eerie. There I was, standing in the spot where 3,000 innocent people were killed.

I took the no. 1 train downtown to the Rector Street station. The Cortlandt Street/West Broadway station is still closed after 10 years. The attacks completely destroyed the station on September 11th, 2001. Without a tunnel, the 1 train now travels "above ground while still underground" at the same time.

I made my reservation to enter the Memorial for the 7pm slot. I wanted to be there during sunset and watch the lights turn on in the surrounding buildings.

After an international design competition, the chosen design includes two huge reflecting pools (essentially waterfalls) in the footprints of the former twin towers.

Credit: www.911memorial.org

Also on the site is the National September 11th Memorial Museum, which was closed when I visited the Memorial.

Engraved along the outer rim of each pool are the names of those who perished in the 1993 and 2001 attacks.

I was struck by the contrast between old and new:

If you think about it, those old buildings behind the Memorial somehow managed to survive the attack. They bear witness to the atrocities that happened on that day.

I walked around the perimeter of each reflecting pool, thinking about how two gigantic buildings once stood in these spots.

On my way out, I passed through the beautiful plaza, filled with dozens of swamp white oak trees.

One tree stood out from the others:

This tree is the only tree to survive the attack. Upon discovery, the tree was moved to a nursery where it has been re-growing for the past 10 years.

As I left the Memorial, I turned around and saw the new Freedom Tower rising above the scene. The lights had turned on by then.

It felt so serene at the Memorial. Rather quiet, with a light breeze and beautiful weather. What a difference from the turmoil I remember in 2001.

I see the Memorial as a tale of hope and survival. The old buildings, the surviving tree... those who escaped alive and those who didn't... and now the rebuilding.

I think the Memorial is very well done. Drop by to check it out, but be sure to make reservations first. It's free.

Two for One

I noticed this today:

The Childrens Center and the Chryler Building in one picture.

So cool.