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DOWNTOWN
POST NYC
News and Events
in Lower Manhattan
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Volume 1, No. 143 Nov. 20, 2014
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Quote of the day:
"Clearly right now the issue of citywide, statewide, national and international focus is the Seaport."
- New York State Senator Daniel Squadron addressing Community Board 1 on the night after The Howard Hughes Corporation finally revealed its proposal for Seaport development.
* Howard Hughes new Seaport proposal barely budges from old one * Bits & Bytes: Banker found dead in FiDi; Verizon tower conversion; 1 Wall St. apartments * Letter to the editor: South Street Seaport survey beats drums for Howard Hughes plan * Downtown Alliance: Fall Fun Food returns to Albany Street plaza * Downtown Bulletin Board: Tenant Town Hall and Resource Fair; Battery Park City boot camp * Calendar
For breaking news, go to www.DowntownPostNYC.comAll ads in Downtown Post NYC have clickable links. Click on an ad for more information. Rector Place and South End Avenue in Battery Park City. Nov. 11, 2014.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
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HUGHES' NEW SEAPORT PROPOSAL BARELY BUDGES FROM OLD ONE | |
Julie Finch speaking at a meeting of Save Our Seaport on Nov. 19 following Howard Hughes' presentation of its latest Seaport plans to the Seaport Working Group.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
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On Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. all who cared about the fate of the South Street Seaport were thinking about what was going on in the office of Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. That was the day, the place and the appointed time when Howard Hughes executives finally revealed their latest proposal for South Street Seaport development to the Seaport Working Group - a committee of elected officials, Community Board 1 members, Seaport residents, business owners and other Seaport stakeholders that had met for four months to create guidelines and principles for Seaport development.
The meeting was closed to the public.
Immediately after that meeting ended, four members of the Seaport Working Group appeared at a Save Our Seaport meeting to recount what they had heard. The members of Save Our Seaport want to preserve the historic Seaport and its maritime heritage.
One of the most contentious aspects of The Howard Hughes plan has been its proposal to demolish the New Market building - constructed in 1939 for the Fulton Fish Market - and build a luxury apartment tower on that site next to the Brooklyn Bridge.
"The original tower height a year ago was about 650 feet," Michael Kramer, a member of the Seaport Working Group, told the Save Our Seaport meeting. "The height of the new design is down to 494 feet."
This was greeted with incredulous laughter by the 100 or so people who were in the room.
Kramer went on to explain that the proposed building would have retail at its base, three stories devoted to a middle school and around 150 market-rate condominiums.
"The most interesting part of the whole evening," Kramer said, "was not only the absence of the South Street Seaport Museum in this presentation but also that the South Street Seaport Museum has not reached an agreement yet with The Howard Hughes Corporation."
It turned out, as other snippets of the Hughes proposal emerged, that HHC wants to eject the South Street Seaport Museum from Schermerhorn Row on Fulton Street, where the museum's primary galleries had been located until Superstorm Sandy destroyed the museum's electricity - not yet repaired. Howard Hughes proposes using Schermerhorn Row as the site of 60 to 70 units of affordable housing and to relocate the South Street Seaport Museum to a 5,000-square-foot facility on one of the Seaport piers.
Landmarked Schermerhorn Row was built between 1810 and 1812 and was one of the finest and most expensive buildings in the city at the time. It housed commercial offices and warehouses, and was subsequently called New York City's first World Trade Center. Within its walls and embedded in its very structure are many artifacts of great historical importance that for decades have been in the public domain. A 5,000-square-foot space for the South Street Seaport Museum would be just slightly larger than one of the apartments in the proposed Howard Hughes tower.
Joanne Gorman, a member of Save Our Seaport, called The Howard Hughes proposals "an affront." That view seemed to be shared by all of the people in the room.
The response of the elected officials who are members of the Seaport Working Group and who helped to form it, was along the same lines.
On Wednesday evening, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer issued a statement in which she said, "I question whether the proposal from Howard Hughes for a huge tower on the New Market site meets the Seaport Working Group's guidelines developed over many months of discussion with the community, urban planners and other stakeholders.
"Historical context, building heights, and maintaining the vitality of the area are all elements which must be factored in to any final project in this crucial Manhattan neighborhood-the neighborhood where, in many ways, New York City began. As I've said before, building a tower at the South Street Seaport is like building a tower at Colonial Williamsburg.
"Council Member [Margaret] Chin and I have requested that the Seaport Working Group convene a meeting right after Thanksgiving to discuss the HHC proposal presented tonight and evaluate it against the Guidelines and Principles the working group developed. I will withhold final judgment until after discussion by the working group."
City Councilmember Chin was even more forceful in her response to what Howard Hughes had put on the table.
"Unfortunately, it's clear that the Howard Hughes Corporation has not fully considered all of the guidelines put forth by the Seaport Working Group," she said. "I can't support the proposed tower in its current form, and I can't support the development proposal overall in its current form. There's still a lot of work to be done to make sure this plan truly serves the Seaport community, and we must strongly consider alternatives to the proposed tower. I look forward to continuing the discussion with Howard Hughes, the Mayor's office and Borough President Brewer and the other members of the Seaport Working Group, as we seek to protect the uniquely historic nature of the Seaport, while also creating a vibrant community for residents, visitors and local workers."
Speaking at Community Board 1's full board meeting on Nov. 20 - the night after Howard Hughes had made its presentation to the Seaport Working Group, New York State Senator Daniel Squadron said, "Clearly right now the issue of citywide, statewide, national and international focus is the Seaport." He went on to say, "It is critical that anything that moves forward moves forward around the guidelines .... Until those guidelines are met or until the Seaport Working Group feels that, for some other reason, those goals have changed, I don't believe that something can move forward."
He remarked that the Seaport Working Group was comprised of representatives of all parts of the Seaport community, and that the guidelines themselves represented compromise.
With large sums of money at stake, Howard Hughes has been waging a public relations campaign to drum up support for its proposal. On Nov. 20, it held a meeting at the office of SHoP Architects, the designer of the tower and of other parts of the proposed development, to present details of its proposal along with numerous slides.
This was a closed meeting to which only some news outlets were invited. Downtown Post NYC was not among them.
Simultaneously, Howard Hughes is apparently behind a telephone survey of New York City residents (described in the "Letter to the editor" in this issue of Downtown Post NYC) in which they are asked about their knowledge of what's happening at the Seaport, and then asked leading questions about the community amenities that Howard Hughes has folded into its plan.
According to Jenifer Rajkumar, who reported receiving a phone call about the Seaport, she was asked by the survey taker, "Did you know that the South Street Seaport redevelopment plan includes a middle school? Does this make you oppose or support the plan?"
What was not mentioned was that this proposed middle school would be 71,000 square feet - a size that Paul Hovitz, a member of Community Board 1's Youth and Education Committee said would be too small to meet the community's needs or to warrant the trade off. The proposed middle school was also going to double in some way as a community center, according to The Howard Hughes plan.
The Seaport Working Group will meet again on Dec. 3 for further discussion of the Howard Hughes proposal.
"The public is encouraged to come to CB1's special Landmarks meeting on Dec. 10 to see HHC's presentation for themselves and make up their minds," said Catherine McVay Hughes, chairperson of Community Board 1. This will be the first of two meetings that CB1 will hold to discuss the proposal. The second meeting will take place on Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 - both meetings at a location yet to be determined.
Meanwhile, people both for and against the Howard Hughes proposal are gearing up for an epic battle that could conceivably include legal action.
Billions of dollars are at stake along with the future of one of the most historic neighborhoods in New York City.
- Terese Loeb Kreuzer
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Bits & BytesBANKER FOUND DEAD IN FIDI; VERIZON TOWER CONVERSION;
LANDMARKED 1 WALL ST. TO GET CONDOS AND RENTALS
 | The landmarked Barclay Vesey building, formerly known as 140 West St. and now with the address of 100 Barclay St., is being converted into condos and retail space.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
"Banker found dead with throat slit in apparent suicide: cops," New York Post, 11/19/14. "A prominent banker was found dead in the tub of his posh downtown apartment with his throat slashed - in what detectives suspect is a suicide, " the New York Post reported on Wednesday. "Shawn D. Miller, 42, who traveled the world for Citigroup as one of its top environmental policy experts, sliced his neck and wrists with a knife inside his home at 120 Greenwich St, the sources said. His body was found by a doorman Tuesday, after his boyfriend called building operators and said he was worried for the banker's safety." For the complete article, click here. "Ben Shaoul's Verizon Tower Conversion Actually Looks Nice," Curbed.com, 11/20/14. Renderings for Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate Group's conversion of Tribeca's Verizon building into condos have surfaced," says Curbed.com, "and like other Ralph Walker-designed tower conversions before it (Walker and Stella), it looks lovely. The Magnum and CIM Group-led redevelopment of 100 Barclay Street, formerly known as 140 West Street, will bring 161 apartments ranging in size from 1,200 to 3,500 square feet to the 32-story building's top 22 floors." According to Curbed.com, "the building has launched its teaser site which says occupancy will begin in 2015." For the complete article, click here. "Retail space at old Verizon HQ sells for $40M," Crain's New York Business, 11/20/14. "The developer converting the upper portion of Verizon's former downtown headquarters to residential condominiums is going to transform its ground floor retail space by adding high-profile new tenants as lower Manhattan's resurgence as a shopping district nears fruition," says Crain's New York Business. "Ben Shaoul purchased 140 West St., which is just across the street from 1 World Trade Center, last year with the CIM Group for $274 million. Since then he has rebranded its residential address as 100 Barclay. Now he has gone further, cutting a deal to acquire the art-deco tower's roughly 40,000 square feet of retail space for about $40 million." For the complete article, click here. "Macklowe's moment: Condos and rentals slated for FiDi biz tower," Daily News, 11/20/14. "Real estate titan Harry Macklowe will convert one of the Financial District's iconic towers into rental units and condos," says the Daily News. "The historic Art Deco building at 1 Wall St., formerly home to the Bank of New York Mellon, will have approximately 350,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floors and close to 800,000 square feet of residential up top, split evenly between rentals and for-sale properties, the developer said last week. The project will be one of the largest downtown office towers to be converted to residences in recent years." The Daily News goes on to say that, "Macklowe bought the 50-story property from the bank this spring for $585 million. The building at the luxe corner of Broadway and Wall St. was finished in 1929 from designs by architect Ralph Walker. It was originally the headquarters of the Irving Trust Co., which had outgrown its headquarters at the Woolworth Building." For the complete article, click here. |
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Letter to the editor
SOUTH ST. SEAPORT SURVEY BEATS DRUMS FOR HOWARD HUGHES PLAN
 | | Howard Hughes executive vice president Christopher Curry listening to elected officials at the standing-room-only public forum on Nov. 10 to discuss the future of the South Street Seaport. The officials unanimously said that any proposal for the Seaport would have to respect the Seaport Working Group's guidelines. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
To the editor:My phone rang just now (around 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 19). It was a research poll. The woman identified herself as from "Kalamata Research." I will attempt to summarize what she said as best I can. She asked me if I'd be willing to participate in a survey about the neighborhood. I agreed. All her questions were about the South Street Seaport development. The questions asked how much I value a marina in the area, a grocery store with fresh organic produce, affordable housing, a middle school, and open space. Then, the questions went right to the Seaport development plan, without mentioning Howard Hughes' name. The questions were all about if I knew that the South Street Seaport development plan was so wonderful. "Did you know that the South Street Seaport redevelopment plan includes a middle school? Does this make you oppose or support the plan?" "Did you know that the South Street Seaport plan has cut the tower by 100 feet, which will ensure that no residents' views are blocked, etc. ?" "Did you know that the South Street Seaport development plan will create all these new units of affordable housing? Does that make you more likely to oppose or support the plan?" "Did you know that the development plan will create X number of jobs for New Yorkers?" "Did you know that the development plan will be good for the ships at the South Street Seaport?" "Did you know that the South Street Seaport plan will revitalize the area so that those in the area will not have to travel to Battery Park for shopping?" The questions went on like this for some time. Then there were a few short questions at the end, summarizing what opponents (referred to as "a small group of activists") of the plan say and asking if I believe their assertions. The poll also asked "Do you live in Southbridge Towers?" The poll asked if I live below Canal Street. The poll also asked where I get my news from. It included as options Downtown Express and the Broadsheet, in addition to the New York Post, the Daily News and the New York Times. It also included as options news channels such as NY1. I asked the survey taker whether she was commissioned by Howard Hughes. She said "they never tell us who our client is." Jenifer Rajkumar From the editor:On Nov. 21 at 11:05 a.m., I received a phone call from Kalamata, the research firm that called Jenifer Rajkumar. In response to questions from me, the man who called said that the firm was based in Florida and that he wanted to ask about the South Street Seaport. He asked me if I was a resident of New York City. I said that I was. Then he asked if I was a member of the news media. I said yes. "We can't go any further with this survey," he said, and hung up. 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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Downtown Alliance
FALL FUN FOOD RETURNS TO THE ALBANY STREET PLAZA
 | | Matthew Mellina and Mike Mare of Secret Engine and Jimmy Carbone of Jimmy's No. 43 at Fall Fun Food .(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
It isn't clear whether Jimmy Carbone, event producer and owner of Jimmy's No. 43, a restaurant on the Lower East Side, would have been willing to face a blizzard when he and his crew returned to the plaza at Albany and Greenwich Streets on Friday, Nov. 21, for the second installment of Fall Fun Food, but anything short of that would have been water off a duck's back. Their determination wasn't tested. Friday is clear and cold. Carbone and his colleagues are prepared. They have outdoor heaters, courtesy of the Downtown Alliance, and several grills around which they and their customers can gather and warm up." In addition, said Carbone, "there are hot cider and gumbo soup." Bill's Bar & Burger, Jimmy's No. 43, Tito King's Wings, and Kuma Inn are supplying the food. New York State beers, ales and hard ciders come from Clinton Hall, the craft beer restaurant at the corner of Washington and Rector Streets, and from Secret Engine, a brewery based in Brooklyn. A band called "House of Waters" is playing a couple of sets. Admission is free. Food ranges in cost from $6 to $10. Fall Fun Food starts at noon and continues until dusk. Until a few months ago, the plaza at the northwest corner of Albany and Greenwich Streets was where tourists lined up for entry to the September 11 Memorial. After the barrier fences came down, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, owner of the space, made it available to the Downtown Alliance for use as a public plaza. The Alliance outfitted it with tables, chairs and free games sheltered by some oak trees left over from the plantings around the memorial pools. On Tuesdays, the plaza hosts a Greenmarket from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. selling baked goods, fruit and juices. For more information about the market, click here. - Terese Loeb Kreuzer
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Downtown bulletin board
SQUADRON HOSTS TENANT RESOURCE FAIR; TRIBATTERY POPS SEEKS MUSICIANS; BATTERY PARK CITY BOOT CAMP; STORIES & SONGS
 | New York State Sen. Daniel Squadron addressing Community Board 1 on Nov. 20.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
Tenant Town Hall and Resource Fair: Of the approximately three million housing units in New York City, around one million are currently subject to rent regulation laws, New York State Sen. Daniel Squadron told Community Board 1 at its full-board meeting on Nov. 20. With these laws set to expire next year and an inadequate supply of affordable housing in New York City, tenant issues have never been more pressing. The composition of the New York State Senate, controlled by Republicans in the aftermath of midterm elections, may make it more difficult than ever to renew and strengthen rent regulation laws in the city, Squadron said. In collaboration with other elected officials and with Community Boards 1, 2 and 3, Squadron is holding a Tenant Town Hall and Resource Fair on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m. to answer housing-related questions that were raised at his annual Community Convention. Place: PS 142, 100 Attorney St., Manhattan (between Delancey and Rivington Streets). Time: 6:30 p.m. To RSVP, call (212) 298-5565.
Musicians wanted for the TriBattery Pops: Lower Manhattan's volunteer big brass band is looking for musicians for the 2015 season. The music, says conductor Tom Goodkind, "will be mostly pop from the 1960s and we have gigs lined up in some big clubs as well as the Little League and 4th of July" The season runs from April to July, with practice from January to May.
"This is our 12th season and 12th album," says Goodkind. Recognizing that the members have jobs and other commitments, Goodkind says, "We only practice two Friday nights a month and play only on weekends - six dates, and you'll wind up on a great album." For more information, call the Church Street School for Music and Art at (212) 571-7290 or email Goodkind at TomGoodkin@aol.com/ For more information about the TriBattery Pops, click here.
Boot Camp fitness class in Battery Park City: Battery Park City Parks Conservancy's latest adult fitness program, Boot Camp, with instructor, Alan Courtenay, takes place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Boot Camp is a structured fitness class designed to help participants reach their fitness goals such as weight loss, toning or preparation for a full/half marathon. The classes are adaptable for all fitness levels and utilize a variety of equipment and training methods. The instructor strives to keep all workouts interactive, fun and exciting. Equipment used includes bands, rope, ladder, TRX, viper, and kettle-bells. Alan Courtenay is the CEO/Founder of NYC Boot Camps and recipient of the High Impact Trainer of the Year award. Register now! Tailor the schedule to your needs. With each package you can come to any session:
* $264 for a package of 12 classes through Dec. 19
* $396 for a package of 18 classes through Dec. 19 There will be no classes on Nov. 26 and Nov. 28 and no refunds for missed classes. Place: 6 River Terrace. Time: 6:15 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. To register or to get more information, call (212) 267-9700 x363, or email 6riverterrace@bpcparks.org Stories & Songs: The Battery Park City Parks Conservancy's popular program for infants, toddlers and preschoolers introduces and integrates musical performance into their lives. BPCPC's Stories & Songs is a 14-week program of participatory music and stories for young children accompanied by an adult. Through musical performances by a rotating roster of professional musicians, Stories & Songs develops active listening, socializing, and cultural literacy. When: Tuesdays, Jan. 6 - April 7, 2015; Wednesdays, Jan. 7 - April 8, 2015 SESSIONS: Session 1: 9:40 a.m. - 10:20 a.m. (6 months - 3.5 years) Session 2: 10:30 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. (13 months - 3.5 years) Session 3: 11:20 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (13 months - 3.5 years) Place: 6 River Terrace in Battery Park City. Cost: $335 for 14 sessions, siblings: $315. Space is limited and advance registration is required. For more information or to pre-register, call (212) 267-9700 ext. 363, or email registration@bpcparks.org. Payment can be made by check to BPCPC, or by Visa or Master Card. Battery Park City Parks Conservancy offers a 5% discount to siblings enrolled in Stories & Songs. For more information about the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, click here.
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CALENDAR: Week of Nov. 17
 | | The Grammy Award-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra plays at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center on Nov. 21. (Photo: Courtesy of TribecaPAC) |
Nov. 21: Gibney Dance launches its inaugural presenting season at 280 Broadway with "DoublePlus," a six-week series of performances by emerging artists curated by artist/mentors Miguel Gutierrez, Jon Kinzel, Bebe Miller, Annie-B Parson, RoseAnne Spradlin and Donna Uchizono. The second program in the series pairs Daria Fain and Gillian Walsh, as curated by RoseAnne Spradlin. Also Nov. 22. Place: 280 Broadway. Time: 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $20; $15 (seniors, class card holders and students). For information and tickets, click here.
Nov. 21: The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, a two-time Grammy Award-winning salsa and Latin jazz band, comes to the Tribeca Performing Arts Center with authentic, New York-style, hard-core salsa. Place: 199 Chambers St. Time: 8 p.m. Tickets, $45 and $35. For more information (including video clips of a performance) and to buy tickets, click here.
Nov. 21: In conjunction with the exhibit, "Glittering World: Navajo Jewelry of the Yazzie Family" at the National Museum of the American Indian, Emerald Tanner of Tanner's Indian Arts presents a trunk show at the museum featuring works by a host of world-class Navajo jewelers. Also, Nov. 22. Place: National Museum of the American Indian, One Bowling Green. Time: noon to 5 p.m. Free admission.
Nov. 22: During the first four weekends in November, Out to See is transforming the 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.Place: Melville Gallery at 213 Water St.; Little Water Street; Front Street; Cannon's Walk and more nearby locations. Also, Nov. 23. Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on Out to See, click here.
Nov. 22: Joyce Gold, who teaches Manhattan history at New York University, is leading a tour about the Jews of Colonial New York. The first Jewish immigrants to Manhattan arrived in 1654 when their ship was blown off course as they attempted to get to The Netherlands. Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch Director-General of Nieuw Netherlands (the Dutch colony that included Nieuw Amsterdam) reluctantly allowed the 23 men, women and children to stay, but with considerable restrictions. Among other places, Gold shows where Stuyvesant lived, the site of the first synagogue in North America (now a parking garage), the Minuit Plaza flagpole with its inscription honoring the city's first Jewish residents, and the site of the Jewish ghetto. No reservations necessary. Place: Meet at Bowling Green in front of the National Museum of the American Indian. Time: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets: $20; $15 (seniors). For more information, click here.
Nov. 23: Guest instructor Lee Marchalonis, a visiting teacher from Parsons School of Design and the Center for Book Arts, will teach fundamental bookbinding and letterpress printing techniques at Bowne Printers on Water Street. Bowne is part of the South Street Seaport Museum and owns a variety of antique printing plates that will be available for students to use. They will learn how to print these plates on the shop's Vandercook proofing press to create unique sheets that they will bind into their books. Each participant will take home a book that he or she has sewn, reinforced and finished with an original hard cover. No prior experience is required. All materials are supplied. For ages 16 and up. Place: Bowne Printers, 209 Water St. Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets: $150; $125 (South Street Seaport Museum members). To register, click here. Ongoing: "Glittering World: Navajo Jewelry of the Yazzie Family" opened on Nov. 14 and continues through Jan. 10, 2016. The exhibit includes more than 300 examples of beautifully crafted jewelery, most of it made by the Yazzie family, with some from the National Museum of the American Indian's collection. Through a video, photographs and a handsome catalog, the exhibit shows how the jewelry expresses Navajo cultural values and way of life inspired by a majestic landscape of buttes, mesas and desert. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and on Thursdays until 8 p.m.; closed December 25. Admission is free.
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.
"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: 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.
Register now: On Sunday, Nov. 30, learn how to print posters from wood type. In this three-hour workshop at Bowne Printers on Water Street, participants will collaborate on designing and printing a broadside poster from moveable wooden type. Bowne has a collection of more than 100 fonts that can be used for this project. The first step will be to spell out bold words or phrases and then test print them on a hand-operated proofing press that dates from the 1890s. Next, the class will learn how to arrange and prepare their phrases for printing on Bowne's vintage Vandercook cylinder press. The final step will be to lock up the composition on the press bed and learn about inking, registration, proofing and make-ready. Everyone will get a chance to operate the press. Each student will go home with test prints and three copies of the group's poster. Place: Bowne Printers, 209 Water St. Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets: $75; $60 (South Street Seaport Museum members). To register, click here.Sunday, Dec. 7 is the date for the next "Block Party" at Bowne Printers. In a three-hour workshop, resident printer Ali Osborn teaches the basics of carving and printing linoleum blocks. He begins by showing how to sketch out an idea and then transfer it to a linoleum block, where his students gauge away the backgrounds, leaving lines and desired dark places in high relief. Then Osborn brings out ink and rollers so that students can print their blocks by hand. The final step is to arrange everyone's work on the bed of Bowne's vintage Vandercook press and make a poster. Each student goes home with his or her own block, individual prints and one poster of the combined effort. All materials are supplied. There are a maximum of six people in each class. For ages 12 and up. Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets: $50; $40 (South Street Seaport Museum members). To register, click here.
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Downtown Post NYC is emailed Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Editor: Terese Loeb Kreuzer
All articles and photographs in Downtown Post NYC are copyrighted and
may not be reprinted or republished without written permission.
� 2014
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