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DOWNTOWN
POST NYC
News and Events
in Lower Manhattan
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Volume 1, No. 135 Oct. 26, 2014
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Quote of the day:
"If these walls could talk, I would love to hear what they had to say."
- Maria O'Malley, collections manager at the South Street Seaport Museum, commenting on the remnants of the Fulton Ferry and Rogers Hotels within the museum's buildings on Schermerhorn Row in the South Street Seaport.
* A haunting visit to the old hotels on Schermerhorn Row * Bits & Bytes: Howard Hughes buys 85 South St.; Revenue from 1WTC view; Real estate PAC * Letters to the editor: Destroying Seaport history; Peck Slip School at Tweed Courthouse * Halloween Puppy Parade charms in Battery Park City * Downtown Bulletin Board: South St. Seaport forum; Anti-fracking town hall; Out to See * Getting ready for Halloween: Part 4 * Calendar
For breaking news, go to www.DowntownPostNYC.comA girl at the Brookfield Halloween party in the Winter Garden . Oct. 26, 2014.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
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South Street Seaport Museum
A HAUNTING VISIT TO THE OLD HOTELS ON SCHERMERHORN ROW
 | Maria O'Malley, collections manager for the South Street Seaport Museum, standing in one of the old hotels within the museum's buildings on Schermerhorn Row in the South Street Seaport. (Photos: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
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Maria O'Malley, collections manager for the South Street Seaport Museum, led the way up two steep flights of stairs. A few light bulbs created crisp shadows on the brick walls of Schermerhorn Row, constructed by Peter Schermerhorn between 1810 and 1812. It was New York City's first "World Trade Center" and its most ambitious building, made of hand-molded Hudson River bricks with ceiling beams of heart pine.
"These were costly materials for the time," said O'Malley. "They were meant to last." | |
Schermerhorn Row on Fulton Street in the
South Street Seaport.
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Schermerhorn had the novel idea of building warehouses right next to the South Street Seaport waterfront so that cargo could be offloaded from ships and stored there and so that business could be transacted within sight and sound of the maritime traffic that animated the port day and night. New York City had one of the best natural harbors in the world. The South Street Seaport was its gateway, transforming the city year by year into a commercial powerhouse that grew from around 100,000 people in Schermerhorn's day to almost three and a half million a century later. The visitors who disembarked in the Seaport needed accommodations. They found those, too, in Schermerhorn Row. A couple of disreputable hotels opened on the South Street flank of the building in 1821 but, said O'Malley, "they weren't very legal. They were shut down within a year." Finally, in 1850, a Mr. Albert Rogers opened a hotel in Schermerhorn Row - "the first real hotel ever to be situated in the South Street Seaport," O'Malley said.  She paused in front of several layers of wallpaper pasted on top of plaster and lath. The patterns in the paper were still visible but the once vibrant colors had faded. "Rogers didn't skimp on the furnishings," said O'Malley. "This was a fine establishment. He had the finest wallpapers put up. He had custom linens with the name 'Rogers' woven into them." And though there were no bathing facilities in the hotel, he had water closets so that the guests - all of them men - would not have to use an outhouse. Remarkably, after 164 years, vestiges of Rogers' hotel and of several other hotels survive inside the South Street Seaport Museum's Fulton Street buildings. Rogers' hotel passed into the hands of the Sweets family and then was sold to the Lakes. They decided to concentrate on the restaurant that continued in business as "Sweets" until 1992. Sometime between 1919 and 1920, the Lakes boarded up the hotel. The windows were bricked in.  At the far end of Schermerhorn Row, on the South Street side, another hotel that belonged first to a man named John McKinley and then to the Lemmermann Brothers flourished for a while and then fell into disuse. That one was called the Fulton Ferry Hotel after 1875. Eventually, it became a boarding house. Around 1935, it was shuttered forever - bricked up and forgotten until famously, in 1952, the writer Joseph Mitchell and Louie Morino, who owned the beloved restaurant, Sloppy Louie's, used an antique elevator to ascend to an upper floor of the building where Morino's restaurant was located, and discovered the "old hotel," entombed in layers of dust.  O'Malley led the way past the cubicles where some of the guests of the Rogers Hotel would have slept to the end of Schermerhorn Row that Mitchell and Morino unveiled. The furniture that they saw is gone but the elevator shaft is still there and a handsome sign painted with gold leaf that says, "Fulton Ferry Hotel Bar & Billiard Rooms." The laundry room is also still there with large washtubs, a mangle to ring water out of the linens and drying racks. "Irish women would have worked in the laundry," said O'Malley. "They would have been the only women in the hotel." For many years, the old hotels had been all but forgotten. A few years after Mitchell and Morino disturbed the ghosts in the Fulton Ferry Hotel, someone ventured into the premises at 4 Fulton St., where Rogers and his successors had been in business. "They only had a small hatch that they could climb up and see what was up there," said O'Malley. "Someone climbed up there and found a lot of rooms with furniture still in them. Sadly, because all the windows were boarded up and bricked up, they couldn't remove any of the furniture without chopping it down. It was very beautiful, very fine furniture, but it had to be removed. I don't think anything was saved." What's left isn't much but it's enough - the faded wallpaper clinging to the lath, doors with custom-made locks, graffiti on the bricks and an ancient staircase, too rickety to use, with a hand pointing downward and the words, "Exit in case of fire." "If these walls could talk, I would love to hear what they had to say," said O'Malley, as she led the way back to the lower floors of the South Street Museum. Nothing that could ever be put in this museum could be as eloquent as the walls themselves and what remains of the people who once passed through Schermerhorn Row. They left their mark. - Terese Loeb Kreuzer
O'Malley recently conducted several tours of the old hotels of Schermerhorn Row. They proved so popular that the South Street Seaport Museum is considering making them available on a recurring basis.  |
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Bits & BytesHOWARD HUGHES BUYS 85 SOUTH ST.; REVENUE FROM 1 WTC VIEW; REQUIEM FOR 'REFINED' BUILDING AT BROADWAY AND FULTON ST.;
REAL ESTATE $$$ FUNDS REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES; ANTHROPOLOGIE
 | | The Howard Hughes Corporation has purchased the building at 85 South St. (center) for $20 million. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
"Howard Hughes adds to Seaport fiefdom with 85 South buy," The Real Deal, 10/27/14 . "Texas-based real estate development firm Howard Hughes Corporation picked up another site in the Financial District's South Street Seaport historic district - this time, an eight-story rental property at 85 South Street," says The Real Deal. "Ralph Tawil's Centurion Realty sold the 54,000-square-foot building last week for $20 million - double what the firm paid in 2004. The property, between Fletcher and John streets, holds 24 apartments and a ground-floor retail space occupied by high-end dog daycare and spa Fetch Club. The off-market deal does not include air rights. Queens-based Cord Meyer Development acquired the 60,000 square feet in air rights for $12 million in 2008. Including those rights, the site offers 114,000 buildable square feet, records show." According to The Real Deal, "The building sits roughly two blocks south of South Street Seaport, which Howard Hughes is redeveloping to include a 50-story, 300,000-square-foot condo-hotel tower next to Pier 17. Earlier this year, Cord Meyer entered contract to sell an 8,128-square-foot parcel at 80 South Street to Howard Hughes, as previously reported." For the complete article, click here.
"For Tourists, a $3.9 Billion View," Wall Street Journal, 10/26/14. "When One World Trade Center, the country's tallest and most expensive office tower, opens its doors to its first tenants early next month, its owners aren't just counting on rent from office space to pay the bills. They are counting on millions of tourists looking for a view," says the Wall Street Journal. "The owners of the skyscraper that cost $3.9 billion to build are expecting the observation deck-just three floors of the tower compared with 70 office floors-to bring in nearly one-fourth of the building's annual revenue by 2019, or a projected $53 million, according to representatives of the ownership group. More than 3.5 million visitors a year are expected to zip up high-speed elevators to an observation space 1,250 feet above lower Manhattan." For the complete article, click here. "Refined in an Era of Superlatives," New York Times, 10/24/14. "In the history of the skyscraper, the Mail & Express Building, built in 1892 at Broadway and Fulton Street, gets short shrift," says The New York Times. "It was not the tallest or the biggest or the first, but it was certainly the lightest, the most refined - which didn't save it when demolition came in 1920. In 1888, when Cyrus Field sold the Mail and Express to Elliott F. Shepard, the newspaper was losing money, a failing amalgam of other papers. But Shepard didn't care; he had other things in mind. In the same year, Shepard, a Presbyterian, bought control of the Fifth Avenue stage line to stop it from running on Sunday and violating the Sabbath. Shepard altered the Mail and Express into a religious enterprise, unusual for a mass-market newspaper, with a biblical text on the front page every day, and what The Chicago Daily Tribune said were editorials that were 'free from wickedness.' There were no gory details of murders, no prize fights and nothing you wouldn't want to talk about around the dinner table, at least one where grace was said. Instead there was uplifting news of the city's charitable, religious and educational institutions, although it appears a few murders slipped in." For the complete article, click here. "Brookfield, Extell give big pre-election boost to REBNY-backed PAC," The Real Deal, 10/27/14. "New York City's biggest real estate developers made a big splash in the political arena this month just before the election, forking out more than $2.5 million to Jobs for New York, a pro-industry political action committee backed by the Real Estate Board of New York," says The Real Deal. "The developers are bankrolling a PAC which is is spending lavishly to unseat several Democrats at the poll November 4, and to back Republican candidates in several open races, a review of the latest campaign filings show. Jobs for New York spent more than $4.9 million in city council races in 2013, after raising nearly $7 million, according to New York City Campaign Finance Board records. [City Councilmember Margaret Chin, who represents Lower Manhattan, received some of that money.] The top donor over the last month to the PAC was Brookfield Property Partners, led by CEO Ric Clark, which contributed $170,800." For the complete article, click here. "Anthropologie seizes the entire Dey Street retail space," New York Post, 10/22/14. "Quirky urban retailer Anthropologie has a lease out for 28,141 square feet at 195 Broadway, which would glom up the entire Dey Street corner retail space at the downtown office tower," says the New York Post. "The McDevitt Co. represents Anthropologie and parent Urban Outfitters, which has signed a lease at 180 Broadway across the street. If and when this deal is completed, it would leave just over 11,000 square feet on two levels at 195 Broadway for another retailer along Fulton Street. The 1,052,861-square-foot tower was once the headquarters of AT&T and has multiple huge columns in its landmarked lobby area, where new retail space is being created and has been approved by the city." For the complete article, click here. |
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Letters to the Editor
DESTROYING SEAPORT HISTORY; PECK SLIP SCHOOL AT TWEED
The Tweed Courthouse, the temporary site for Peck Slip School and home to the Department of Education. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
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To the editor:
Thank you, Terese Loeb Kreuzer, for your superb newsletter.
Catching up on reading recent issues of Downtown Post NYC, I was struck by the irony that the September 18 edition carries stories of Howard Hughes Corporation's plans to do something to Schermerhorn Row - which something they will not disclose, probably to avoid angry protests - juxtaposed to the story about "49 beautiful old New York buildings that no longer exist."
A reader from another galaxy would wonder how it can be possible that a people so apprised of the tragic and permanent costs of demolishing architectural history - whether by terrorists or greedy corporations - seem not to learn from past mistakes. But, here's a bulletin for the bullies at HHC: We of Save Our Seaport intend to stop the HHC from destroying our publicly owned and deeply cherished Seaport history.
Thomasina LaGuardia
43-year resident of Southbridge Towers
To the editor:
New partitions have been installed in the rooms being used by the Peck Slip School first and second graders at Tweed Courthouse. The partitions are approximately four feet taller than the old ones. (The topic was discussed at Assembly Speaker Silver's task force meeting last week, which three members of the Peck Slip School PTA attended.)
Next to the noisy classrooms is a "conference room" that the Chancellor has been asked by Peck Slip School parents to borrow for use as a classroom. I peeked into it last week and saw three Department of Education employees working on laptops. This was the first time I had ever looked in.
The room actually is a classroom being used as a makeshift employee space! It is next door to my son's class and is the mirror image of the classroom across the hall. All this time I thought that this was a real conference room, but it is not! Although the sign outside reads "Chancellor Conference Room," it is actually a classroom - and it looks like one. All they would need to do is pull the piece of paper out of the holder and insert a piece of paper that reads "classroom." Seriously, that is all that would need to happen. It was so unsettling to me that strangers were sitting in a class next to my child's class. It made all the time spent fighting for quiet space even more ridiculous. There is a very reasonable, simple solution!
The conference rooms are continuous school space that at some point in time the Chancellor claimed as office space. It doesn't really make sense that strangers (not sure if they are consultants or employees) are using the adjoining space right next to our children when there are conference rooms on other floors.
Stacey Vasseur
From the editor:
We welcome letters to the editor. Email them to editor@downtownpostnyc.com. We reserve the right to edit them for clarity and length.
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HALLOWEEN PUPPY PARADE CHARMS IN BATTERY PARK CITY | | An English bull dog named Dilley and a 14-month-old baby named Maddy dressed up as Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion for Halloween. They won a prize in the 13th Battery Park City Halloween Puppy Parade on Oct. 25. (Photos: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
Almost everyone along the Battery Park City esplanade was grinning on Oct. 25 as the stars of the annual parade of puppies sauntered past, stopping from time to time for puppy business such as sniffing and tail wagging. A pair of great Danes named Elvis and Madison were there, dressed as the Cookie Monster and Big Bird. A bull dog named Dilley showed up dressed as Dorothy from "The  Wizard of Oz," complete with ruby red slippers. Dilley was accompanied by a baby named Maddy dressed as the Cowardly Lion. Another baby named Addie was part of a family group that consisted of a sheep dog named Piper and another dog named Ryder, dressed as a lamb. Addie, who is six months old, was also dressed as a lamb. Miles, a dog who has been through a lot in his life, sported a Native American headdress and buckskin leggings. His owner, Julia, said he was a warrior. One small dog came as a peacock, another (a dachshund) as a hot dog with buns and mustard. There was also a small dog  named Summer who was attired as "Hazmutt" and a beauty named Laika who walked along the esplanade dressed as a geisha. Prizes were awarded for the best costume (for large breeds and small breeds); the best owner and dog combo; the best dog team costume; and a tail-wagging contest for small and large dogs. The judges must have had a difficult time selecting the winners, especially since all of the dogs were exceedingly charming when they got to the judging bench, licking hands, giving kisses and wagging tails.  Jeff Galloway, who founded the Battery Park City Dog Association with his wife, Paula, said that most of the dogs in the parade were from Battery Park City and knew each other. They seemed extremely eager to please and not unhappy with their attire. "Dogs have been living with humans for many thousands of years," Galloway said. "They like to socialize." The puppy parade was sponsored by Le Pet Spa and the Battery Park City Dog Association.
-Terese Loeb Kreuzer
A THANK YOU LETTER The Battery Park City Dog Association would like to thank the following people and businesses for participating and donating to our 13th Annual BPC Halloween Puppy Parade on Oct. 25: Bobby Concister of Le Pet Spa, our co-host for 13 years, who provided the top prizes; ABC Blooming Nails; Battery Park City Pharmacy; Deb Di Iorio; Downtown Veterinary Hospital; Dr. Margaret Mei of Optimum Rehab & Wellness; Gristedes; Inatteso Pizzabar Casano; Jane Kopelman, Dog Trainer; Laughing Man Coffee & Tea; Merchants River House Restaurant; New Fresh Cleaners; Pick-a-Bagel; Stanley's Cobbler Shop; and The Vince Smith Hair Experience. Also a huge thanks to our esteemed judges: Sheila Rossi, Ali Silber and Rich Brotman (who was also our stage manager and videographer). Another huge thanks go to our Park Enforcement Police - Capt. Paige Lener, Sgt. Jose Rivera, Park Officer Airris Awad, CSA Valerie Primous and CSA Samille Tyler who kept us safe on the parade route. And, of course, a giant thank you to all of the participants in the parade, both human and canine, for their enthusiasm, creativity and support for our annual community event. For pictures of the Puppy Parade, click here. - Paula and Jeff Galloway | |
Making nice with the judges.
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Downtown bulletin board
SOUTH ST. SEAPORT FORUM; ANTI-FRACKING TOWN HALL; OUT TO SEE;
HISTORIC DISTRICT COUNCIL NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION GRANTS
 | Hessian Lake at Bear Mountain State Park in upstate New York. Fracking has been proposed for New York State, with the potential to pollute the water shed.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
South Street Seaport public forum: Save Our Seaport (SOS), the City Club of New York and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliances are co-sponsoring a South Street Seaport Public Forum on Nov. 10 with the latest news about the Seaport. New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Councilmember Margaret Chin will be among the speakers. There will also be updates about the South Street Seaport Museum, the waterfront, the Historic South Street Seaport District and bringing back a public market. The audience will be able to question the panelists and give input about next steps for the Seaport. Place: The Spruce Street School, 12 Spruce St. Time: 6 p.m. Seating is limited. To RSVP, click here.
Anti-fracking town hall meeting: New York State Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick invites you to an anti-fracking town hall meeting on Oct. 29. A panel discussion will explore the effects of hydraulic fracturing on our water and food sheds, and strategies for keeping fracking out of New York State permanently. Speakers will include Walter Hang, President, Toxic Targeting, Inc.; Erin Heaton, Anti-Fracking Activist; Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick. Place: John L. Tishman Auditorium, University Center, 63 Fifth Ave., Room U100; Time: 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Free and open to the public. Event Cosponsors: Community Board 1, Community Board 2, Community Board 3, Community Board 4, State Senator Brad Hoylman, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Councilmember Corey Johnson, Councilmember Rosie Mendez, Bleecker Area Merchants & Residential Association, Downtown Independent Democrats, Downtown Progressive Democrats, Stonewall Democrats of New York City, Village Independent Democrats, Village Reform Democratic Club. Out to See: During the first four weekends in November, Out to See will transform South Street Seaport into a cultural festival and holiday market celebrating New York City makers, designers, artisans, artists, food entrepreneurs and musicians. New Yorkers will be able to shop, attend workshops, get 3D scans and prints and explore cutting-edge retail. Out to See will feature more than 60 local brands and businesses such as Red Hook's Tribe Bicycle Co.; Wool & Prince, the men's brand and $300,000 Kickstarter sensation who's been featured in Fast Company and HuffPo; women's brand One Crown in Glory (Henri Bendel, Town & Country, Today Show); The Makery pop-up with 3D scans and prints; New Museum's Airy Light; the ravioli rolling pin from Repast Supply; sustainable fashion from Modavanti; work from artist Albert Chao; Beltology belts; curated goods from By Brooklyn; Lululosophy's chocolates with Asian flair, Etsy New York Team's handmade crafts and many more. The Out to See festival was initiated by the community and is being presented by the Old Seaport Alliance, The Howard Hughes Corporation, the South Street Seaport Museum, the Little Arts Group, Arup and 100M Records. It is being curated by miLES (Made in the Lower East Side) and Imagination in Space. Place: Melville Gallery at 213 Water St.; Little Water Street; Front Street; Cannon's Walk and more nearby locations. Time: Weekends in November from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on Out to See, click here. Historic Districts Council: The Historic Districts Council runs a program that provides strategic resources to neighborhood groups at a critical moment so that they can reach their preservation goals. The program helps community activists learn to use tools such as documentation, research, zoning, landmarking, publicity, and public outreach to advance local preservation campaigns. The selected groups receive HDC's hands-on help strategizing and implementing all aspects of their efforts over the course of the 2015 calendar year, as well as HDC's continued support in the years to come. Since beginning this program in 2011, HDC has been able to help Six to Celebrate groups create two new National Register districts (the Bowery and Far Rockaway Bungalows) and two New York City historic districts (Bedford Stuyvesant and the East Village) with many others still in the works in all five boroughs (Bedford, Gowanus, Harrison Street, Port Morris, and Van Cortland Village). HDC has also assisted in leveraging more than $40,000 in private and public grants for these community-driven projects. Neighborhoods selected also get professionally designed websites and illustrated walking tour brochures. Dec. 1, 2014 is the deadline to apply. The Six to Celebrate awardees will be announced in early 2015. Mail the application along with all requested supplemental materials to Six to Celebrate, Historic Districts Council, 232 E. 11th St., New York, NY 10003. For more information, call (212) 614-9107 or e-mail Barbara Zay at bzay@hdc.org. For application forms, click here.
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GETTING READY FOR HALLOWEEN: Part 4 | The Halloween festivities in the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place this past Sunday,
Oct. 26. Lindsey Powers, who works for Arts Brookfield, dressed up as Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls. She made her eyeglasses using several shades of nail polish.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
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Make your plans now for Halloween. Here are some Downtown options: Haunted Poets House: A Halloween Reading and Celebration: Poets House celebrates Halloween on Oct. 31 by inviting people to "Come in costume and hear monstrous, spooky verse from poets such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Karla Kushkin, Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky, read by Poets House Children's Room Director Mike Romanos, who will also lead us in casting our own poetic spells to celebrate the day." Place: 10 River Terrace. Time: 5 p.m. Suggested donation, $5 per child. For more information, click here. Asphalt Screams: Asphalt Green Battery Park City's annual Halloween event, Asphalt Screams, features games like Zombie Freeze Tag, Spooktacular Soccer Shootout, and more. Wear your best costume and bring the whole family. The first 400 kids to arrive will receive a goody bag. While this event is free and open to the public, a suggested donation of $20 per family is welcome. All proceeds from the event will go toward the "Fit Kids Fit City" campaign, bringing free sports and fitness programs to more than 30,000 New Yorkers. Place: 212 North End Ave. Time: 4 p.m.-6 p.m. RSVP by clicking here. Ghost Ships: The South Street Seaport Museum gets into the Halloween spirit on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 with ghost stories about New York harbor told aboard the museum's 103-year-old barque, Peking. Spirits and ghouls of all ages should like these spooky tales. Place: Pier 16. Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets: $12; $8 (students and seniors); $5 (children 2 to 11); free (museum members and children under 2). For more information and tickets, click here. Ghouls After School: Visit historic Bowne & Co. Stationers after school every day through Oct. 31 and make a ghoulish collage with the help of Robert Warner, master printer. Bowne is part of the South Street Seaport Museum. Place: 211 Water St. Time: 3 p.m.-6 p.m. Free. For more information, click here. Trinity Church: On Friday, Oct. 31, Trinity Wall Street is hosting its annual Hometown Halloween event. From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., families with children are invited to trick-or-treat in the Trinity Churchyard, one of the oldest in Manhattan, as kids interact with historical characters from New York City's past. There will be hot apple cider and a photo booth - plus a drawing to win an iPod shuffle and iBoo speakers. From 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Trinity will screen the silent film "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925) while master improviser Justin Bischof creates a creepy musical backdrop live on the organ. Enter to win a year's supply of movie tickets! *Note the time change; event was previously scheduled for 5 p.m. Place: Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall Street. Free.
Charity photo shoot at Vince Smith Hair Experience: For the second year, Vince Smith Hair Experience at 300 Rector Place is throwing a Halloween party and photo shoot to benefit Save the Children. On Oct. 31, stop by the salon to get a professional portrait of yourself, your kids and your pets in costume for a $25 donation. Last year, Vince Smith raised more than $1,000 to benefit three communities aided by Save the Children. "They do amazing work," he said. "They give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When disaster strikes they put children's needs first. They advocate for and achieve large-scale change for children. They save children's lives." Come in costume and have your photo taken, or just stop by for some refreshments and make a donation. Place: 300 Rector Place. Time: 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, call (212) 945-1590. Halloween dinner special at Morton's: Morton's The Steakhouse at 136 Washington St. is offering a Halloween four-course meal on Oct. 31 with a choice of soup or salad, a choice of entrees (filet mignon, glazed salmon or chicken bianco), one side dish and dessert. The cost is $35 per person plus beverages, tax and tip. For reservations, click here.
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CALENDAR: Week of Oct. 27
 | | The South Street Seaport Museum's lightship, Ambrose, is open for tours from Wednesdays to Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Pier 16. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
Oct. 29: At the Museum of Jewish Heritage, author Sarah Wildman talks with June Thomas of Slate Magazine about "Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind." After her grandfather's death, Wildman, a journalist, came across a collection of his letters to his lover, Valy, who remained in Austria after he fled. Obsessed with Valy's story, Wildman spent years traveling the globe to uncover the woman's fate. Place: 36 Battery Place. Time: 7 p.m. Tickets: $15; $12 (museum members). To buy tickets or for more information, click here.
Through Oct. 31: Artist and photographer Elisa Decker has an exhibit of photographs entitled "Hudson River Park from My Perch" in the office of Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. Decker took the photographs from her Westbeth apartment, recording the transformation of the landscape through weather and seasonal changes. Place: 1 Centre St., 19th floor (bring photo ID to enter the building). Time: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free. For more information, click here.
Wednesdays through Nov. 20: Every Wednesday through Nov. 20, food vendors from Hudson Eats at 200 Vesey St. in Brookfield Place will offer free food and wine pairings in collaboration with Vintry Fine Wines, a store in Battery Park City's Goldman Sachs Alley. The kick-off on Oct. 23 featured wine and cheese, with the food coming from Skinny Pizza and Black Seed Bagels. Subsequent events will offer charcuterie and wine (from Mighty Quinn's and Umami Burger on Oct. 30), chocolate and wine (from Olive's and Sprinkles Cupcakes on Nov. 6), seafood and wine (from Dig Inn, Tartinery and Blue Ribbon Sushi on Nov. 13) and spice and wine (from Dos Toros, Chopt and Num Pang on Nov. 20). Registration is required. To register, click here. Time: 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free.
Weekends through Nov. 2: Art in the Park at Tompkinsville Park on Staten Island is a free ferry ride across New York harbor from Lower Manhattan, and a short walk from the ferry. Food, music and local artists. Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information about Tompkinsville Park, click here.
Ongoing: The Skyscraper Museum presents "Times Square, 1984: The Postmodern Movement," on view through Jan. 18, 2015. Times Square today is bright and crowded - a tourist mecca, entertainment district, retail powerhouse and pedestrianized precinct that matches in vitality, both economic and populist, any decade of its storied past. But 30 years ago, the future of Times Square was in limbo - caught between a series of false starts at clean-slate urban renewal by New York City and New York State and an emerging philosophy of urbanism that favored history, preservationist values, electric signs and semiotics, and delirious diversity. Place: 39 Battery Place. Open, Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Admission: $5; $2.50 (students and seniors). For more information, click here.
Ongoing: "A Town Known as Auschwitz" is an exhibit of photographs at the Museum of Jewish Heritage tracing the history of a town called "Oswiecim" in what is now Poland, where Jews and non-Jews lived side by side for centuries. When German forces occupied the town in September 1939, they renamed it "Auschwitz" and established a concentration and death camp there. More than 1 million people died at Auschwitz, including 90 percent of the town's Jews. The museum is at 36 Battery Place. For information the exhibit, click here. For information on the museum's hours and admission fees, click here.
Ongoing: Poets House in Battery Park City presents "A Painter and His Poets," the first major retrospective show of George Schneeman's collaborative paintings, collages, prints, and books, with portraits of his poet friends, spanning 40 years. "A sort of utopia in the visual field filled with pleasure, quickness and wit" is how Schneeman himself described his collaborative work with poets. Exhibition on view through Saturday, Nov. 15, during regular Poets House hours. Place: 10 River Terrace. Free. For information about Poets House, click here.
Ongoing: The South Street Seaport Museum's lightship Ambrose and its barque Peking welcome visitors Wednesdays to Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Pier 16 (on the East River at Fulton Street). The Ambrose, launched in 1908, once guided large ships through the Ambrose Channel into New York harbor. Peking was launched in Hamburg, Germany in 1911, one of the last commercial sailing ships ever built. She was used to carry goods from Europe to South America and to return to Europe with nitrate. The museum's Visitors Services associates explain all of the fascinating details of the ships and their relevance to the history of New York as a port city. Cost: $12 (adults); $8 (students, 12-24 and seniors); $5 (children 2-11); under 2, free. To buy tickets, click here.
Ongoing: "Defining Lines: Maps from the 1700s and early 1800s" at the Fraunces Tavern Museum. Twenty-seven maps provide a perspective on the evolving nation's place in history. A map from 1804, never before exhibited, shows the U.S. postal routes. Place: 54 Pearl St. Time: Noon to 5 p.m., daily. Admission fees: $7; $4 (seniors, students with ID, children, 6 to 8 years old. Children, 5 and under, free. Active military with ID, free. For more information, click here.
Ongoing: The National Museum of the American Indian is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission. It offers free films, docent-led tours of its exhibitions and tours of its premises, the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, designed by Cass Gilbert. The building, which was completed in 1907, is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One Bowling Green. Phone: (212) 514-3700. For the museum's calendar, click here.
Ongoing: "Give Me Liberty," a solo exhibition of new works by Brooklyn-based artist Sylvanus Shaw, is at the Fraunces Tavern Museum. In this site-specific exhibition, Shaw utilizes images from the Museum's permanent collection, invoking imagery of early American statehood in media ranging from oil on panel to collaged holograms, security envelopes, and other mediums.
Through March 16, 2015. Place: Fraunces Tavern Museum, 54 Pearl St. Museum hours: Mon.-Sat., noon to 5 p.m. Admission: $7; $4 (seniors, students, children 6-8); free (children under 5 and active duty military). For more information, click here.
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Editor: Terese Loeb Kreuzer
All articles and photographs in Downtown Post NYC are copyrighted and
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� 2014
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