Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter 
To advertise in Downtown Post NYC, email [email protected] 
 

 
DOWNTOWN
POST NYC 
 
News and Events
in Lower Manhattan
 
 
Volume 2, No. 48  June 11, 2015
IN THIS ISSUE

Quote of the day: 
"Our public assets and our public trust should never be bargained away."
    - J. Gorman, a South Street Seaport resident, in a letter to the editor, commenting on The Howard Hughes Corporation's proposals for the Seaport. 

* Hermione exhibit at the World Trade Gallery 
* Bits & Bytes: Leasing 28 Liberty St.; Star chefs coming to FiDi; Connection bus contract
* Downtown Bulletin Board: Sailing on the solstice; Chorus auditions; Get Low Tuesdays
* Letter to the editor: Howard Hughes' 'gross mischaracterizations'
* Community Board 1 meeting: Week of June 8
* Governors Island weekend
* Calendar: Week of June 8
 
WEATHER INFORMATION: For current weather information, click here.

IF YOU LIKE DOWNTOWN POST NYC - Downtown Post NYC is emailed free to subscribers, but if you like DPNYC and want to support it, you can do that in three ways. 1) Support Downtown Post's advertisers by clicking on their ads, and if you use their services, tell them that you read about them in DPNYC. 2) Consider advertising in DPNYC if you have a business, service or event that you want to promote. 3) Tell people about DPNYC and suggest that they subscribe. They can sign up at www.DowntownPostNYC.com.

Go to www.DowntownPostNYC.com for updates on breaking news.

All ads in Downtown Post NYC have clickable links. Click on an ad for more information.

MASTHEAD PHOTO: Ship's figurehead on display at the World Trade Gallery.  June 5, 2015 (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) 



HERMIONE EXHIBIT AT THE WORLD TRADE GALLERY

Doug Smith, owner of World Trade Gallery at 120 Broadway with a painting of Hermione by Laurent Dareau and a ship figurehead belonging to the South Street Seaport Museum. (Photos: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

The frigate Hermione is coming to the South Street Seaport on July 1, and what a sight she will be with her three tall masts supporting 19 sails. She will be docked at Pier 16 until July 4, and will be open for tours.

This ship, a replica of the one that brought the Marquis de Lafayette to the American colonies in 1780, is already drawing crowds in Virginia, where she docked in Yorktown and then in Alexandria after a 27-day trip across the Atlantic Ocean from the River Charente in Port-des-Barques, France.

Hermione will visit Annapolis, Baltimore and Philadelphia before arriving in New York City, and will go on to Greenport, Newport, Boston, Castine, and Lunenberg in Halifax, Nova Scotia before heading back to France.

A model of the frigate, Hermione.
In the meantime, paintings of the ship by Laurent Dareau and a model of the vessel belonging to Bertrand Lortholary, Consul General of France in New York, can be seen at the World Trade Gallery, 120 Broadway.

The South Street Seaport Museum has lent a ship's figurehead to the exhibit and a triptych showing the Port of Old Amsterdam, Washington landing at the foot of Wall Street in 1789 prior to his inauguration as the first president of the United States, and the Port of New York as it looked in 1830 when steamships already plied its waters along with majestic sailing ships. A model of the museum's 1885 schooner Pioneer is also part of the exhibit.

A copy of the certificate signed by George Washington on May 9, 1778 in which, Lafayette, already a major general in the Continental Army, says that he will defend the United States against Great Britain's King George, hangs on the wall of the World Trade Gallery. Lafayette was only 20 years old at the time. He and Washington became devoted friends. Lafayette supported Washington during some of the most difficult years of the American Revolution, when disgruntled colleagues wanted to relieve Washington of his command. Lafayette came to Washington's aid in many other ways as well - on battlefields and in the French court, where the wealthy and well-connected aristocrat persuaded the French government to send 6,000 soldiers to the colonies, to be commanded by Gen. Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau. In the war's final battles at Yorktown in September and October 1781, a French fleet blockaded the harbor while Lafayette, in command of 400 men took Redoubt 9 after forces under Alexander Hamilton took Redoubt 10 in hand-to-hand combat. The British general Cornwallis surrendered on Oct. 19, 1781.

Lafayette so loved Washington and the American cause that he named his son George Washington Lafayette. The United States never forgot Lafayette. In 1824, when the young nation was about to celebrate its 50th birthday, Lafayette returned to the country that he had helped to found. He arrived in New York City on Aug. 15, 1824 and was surrounded by Revolutionary War veterans who had fought at his side. For four days and nights, the city celebrated their illustrious visitor. Then he left for Boston, where cheering crowds lined his route.

Lafayette had outlived most of the men with whom he had fought the great war that inspired the revolution in France. Like Hermione, which is only a replica, but nevertheless a faithful one, he was viewed as a vestige of the past and a way of coming in contact again with that heroic time.

- Terese Loeb Kreuzer

For information about Hermione and the events celebrating her stay in New York City, click here. There will be a parade of ships on July 4 and a 51-gun salute at Castle Clinton in The Battery. The National Park Service will host a day of events at Federal Hall, Broad and Nassau Streets, and the Fraunces Tavern Museum at 54 Pearl St. will be open that day with an admission charge of $1 per person. Sponsored by the Fraunces Tavern Museum, the events on July 4 will be preceded by an all-night walking tour that visits places associated with Lower Manhattan's Revolutionary War history. It will end at 7 a.m. at Trinity Church with a wreath-laying ceremony on the graves of Alexander Hamilton, Gen. Horatio Gates and Marinus Willett. For more information about that tour, click here.

For information about the World Trade Gallery at 120 Broadway, click here. The gallery is open daily.




Bits & Bytes
LEASING 28 LIBERTY ST.; STAR CHEFS COMING TO FIDI; CONNECTION BUS STATISTICS; THE LAST WTC TOWER'S DESIGN REVEALED 
The free Downtown Alliance Connection bus. (Photos: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

"Fosun hires former Vornado leasing vet to lead 28 Liberty," The Real Deal, 6/5/15. "Fosun Property hired a former Vornado Realty Trust leasing veteran to spearhead the search for tenants at 28 Liberty, the company's 2.2-million-square-foot office tower in Lower Manhattan," says The Real Deal. "Tom Costanzo, who spent 15 years brokering deals at the massive real estate investment trust before leaving in 2013 to work at Callahan Capital Partners, will join Fosun Monday as the company's director of leasing. He'll work alongside a JLL team handling leasing at the building, formerly known as One Chase Manhattan Plaza." For the complete article, click here.

"Wylie Dufresne to Open Hotel Restaurant in the FiDi; Floyd Cardoz Plans His Own Indian Restaurant," Eater.com, 6/9/15. "Six months after closing his trailblazing modernist restaurant wd~50, Wylie Dufresne has a new restaurant in the works," says Eater.com. "This one will be a hotel restaurant, in the AKA Wall Street, which is currently in development in the Financial District. Dufresne, according the the Times, hasn't figured out what the restaurant will be called or what it will be like yet, but he has some time - it's slated to open in early 2016. Don't, however, expect this to be a wd~50 2.0. Since announcing the closure of the restaurant (which is now being replaced by condos), Dufresne has slowly changed his tune from wanting to relocate to hinting that a future restaurant could be very different. Just last month he told a Canadian paper that he was unlikely to ever open another wd~50, though he was actively looking to 'continue opening restaurants.'" For the complete article, click here.

Connection bus stats: At its board of directors meeting on June 8, the Battery Park City Authority renewed its commitment to help finance the free Connection shuttle bus run by the
A family on the Downtown Alliance's Connection bus.
Downtown Alliance - but not without the usual discussion as to whether the BPCA could get some of the large corporations in Battery Park City to kick in some of the money to fund the bus. The BPCA contributes $632,000 annually toward the cost of running the Connection buses, which run daily between the South Street Seaport and Broadway near City Hall. The total annual budget for the buses is $1.478 million. Downtown Alliance ridership surveys have shown that 46 percent of survey respondents live in Battery Park City, with an average of 48.5 percent of riders surveyed boarding or alighting in Battery Park City, in both directions. Most of the riders appear to be people with children, the elderly or people who have gone grocery shopping at Whole Foods. Although the BPCA would certainly like to get its corporate tenants to kick in some funds for the bus, it does appear that few of their employees are among the riders. The buses run from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., with seven buses during the week and five buses on weekends. In the late fall, the current operator will be replaced by an operator called "Golden Touch."

"Revealed: The Inside Story of the Last WTC Tower's Design," Wired.com, 6/9/15. "When Bjarke Ingels set out to create the fourth and final skyscraper at the reborn World Trade Center earlier this year, he faced the same dilemma that has burdened every architect who has ventured onto New York's most hallowed and expensive construction site," Wired.com observes. "Would he design a stately tower, respectful of the history of the property, where some 3,000 people died in 2001? Or would Ingels, a brash Danish prodigy, follow his instincts and steer the building in a more adventurous direction-and risk running into the controversy that has dashed the ambitions of many a World Trade Center architect before him? Not surprisingly, Ingels - the founder of the firm BIG and the author of a book called 'Yes Is More' - decided his skyscraper could be both things at once." For the complete article, with photographs, click here.





Downtown bulletin board
SAILING ON THE SOLSTICE; CHORUS AUDITIONS; GET LOW TUESDAYS; JULY 4 FIREWORKS; YOGA IN THE PARK; DOWNTOWN POST PORTFOLIO


Steve Colgate, owner with his wife, Doris, of the Offshore Sailing School, at the tiller of one of the school's Colgate 26 sailboats. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
North Cove sailing: On June 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Steve and Doris Colgate's Offshore Sailing School will mark Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, with "Summer Sailstice Celebrations" at North Cove Marina, Brookfield Place. Offshore Sailing School instructors will take guests for a one-hour ride aboard the sailing school's Colgate 26 sailboats. Tickets: $35. Minimum age 7 accompanied by an adult and minimum weight, 50 pounds. Minimum of two passengers and maximum of five per boat. Advance registration is requested and will be confirmed on a space-available basis. To book, call North Cove Sailing School at (212) 786-4888 or email [email protected]. Payment in full is required when booking. Walk-ups may be accommodated if space is available.

Open auditions for Downtown Voices:
Trinity Wall Street is looking for experienced volunteer singers to join Downtown Voices, a new choir bringing together the best professional and non-professional singers in the New York metro area. The choir will rehearse once a week and perform Benjamin Britten's St. Nicholas, James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross, and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in the 2015-2016 season. Stephen Sands will direct. If you have choral experience and are interested in singing alongside members of the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street, audition for Downtown Voices. Click here for more information on audition requirements.

Volunteer for the South Street Seaport Museum: The South Street Seaport Museum has a fleet of six historic ships and a workshop barge, all of which need constant upkeep. Schooner Pioneer and Lettie G Howard rely on volunteers to not only maintain them, but to sail them. Both are recipients of the Tall Ships America - Adventure and Education Under Sail "Sail Training Program of the Year" award (2012 and 2014 respectively). All are welcome to join the crew - no experience necessary! Training is provided as you go, and there are numerous possibilities for participating, learning and growing into a skilled maritime preservationist and traditional sailor. Email [email protected] for more information.

Yoga in Wagner Park: Wednesday evenings through Sept. 30 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy offers free yoga in Wagner Park (at the southern end of Battery Park City, opposite the Statue of Liberty). Instructor Mary Ryan Barnes has been teaching yoga for more than 25 years. All levels of experience are welcome. Bring your own mat or borrow one from the BPC Parks Conservancy. Click here for the BPC Parks Conservancy calendar, with updates on this class and listings of the other classes and events that the Parks Conservancy offers.
 
Get Low Tuesdays:
The Downtown Alliance has launched "#GETLOW Tuesdays," a new summer promotional campaign that will provide a 20 percent discount at nearly three dozen Lower Manhattan restaurants. In addition, participants who share the program using social media will be entered to win a four-day, three night trip to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Created by the Downtown Alliance, the program will be driven by social media. Participants can utilize 11 social media platforms to spread the word about the campaign, using the hashtag #GETLOW. Available platforms include: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, Vine, Snapchat, Foursquare, Flickr, Pinterest and Tumblr.

Participating restaurants are: 121 Fulton Street; Atrio Wine Bar | Restaurant; Barbalu Restaurant; Bavaria Bierhaus; Beckett's; Blackhound Bar; Church & Dey; Cowgirl SeaHorse; Da Claudio Ristorante & Salumeria; Dina Rata; The Dubliner; Felice 15 Gold Street; Financier Patisserie; Fresh Salt; GRK; Harry's Caf� and Steak; Industry Kitchen; Lonestar Empire; Lumpia Shack; Mad Dog & Beans Mexican Cantina; Merchants River House; Nelson Blue; Pound & Pence; Ramen Burger; Red Hood Lobster Pound; St. George Tavern; Schnitz; Seaport Smorgasburg; Smorgas Chef; SouthwestNY Restaurant; Stone Street Tavern; and Watermark Bar & Lounge. The campaign is also receiving support from the Millennium Hilton and Hilton Amsterdam.

To learn more, click here.

July 4 fireworks:
This year's Fourth of July fireworks display, presented by Macy's, will again take place over the East River. The best places to see the show will be from Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and along the east side of Lower Manhattan. The light show starts at 9 p.m., but it would be best to arrive early. For more information, click here.
Battery Park City Parks Conservancy summer programming: The Battery Park City Parks Conservancy organizes free art, gardening, science, yoga, tai chi and sports programs that run from early May through late October in BPC's parks. The programs are for children as young as three years old to adults. Some are drop-in programs. Others require advance registration. For more information, click here.
 
Downtown Post Portfolio: Downtown Post Portfolio is a regular feature in Downtown Post NYC, showcasing artists and photographers who live and/or work south of Canal Street or who create images (paintings, drawings, photographs) of Lower Manhattan.

To have your work considered for publication in Downtown Post Portfolio, send up to seven high-resolution jpeg files attached to an email to [email protected]. (One of the photos should be a picture of you.) Several of these photos will be published in Downtown Post NYC, along with a short artist bio and a statement about the work submitted, including whether or not it is for sale and how to purchase it.

Not all entries can be published. Copyright remains with the artist. Before publication, each contributor will be asked to sign a release stating that Downtown Post NYC has the right to publish the work in the emailed newsletter and in the Downtown Post archives, and that there is no payment.

Downtown Little League opening day photo gallery
: The Downtown Little League kicked off its 2015 season on April 18. This year, there are just under 1,100 players on 81 teams. For photos of the opening day, click here.

Whitney Museum of American Art photo gallery: The Whitney Museum of American Art at 99 Gansevoort St. opened to the public on May 1. For photographs of the Whitney Museum's new building and of its opening exhibition, click here.

South Street Seaport Museum Opening Day: The South Street Seaport Museum opened its 2015 season on April 25 with events on Pier 16 and activities for kids and their families in the lobby of the museum's 12 Fulton St. building. For photographs of the museum's opening day, click here.

Downtown Post Portfolio: Jay Fine: Jay Fine is a New York City fine-art photographer and photojournalist, based in Lower Manhattan whose work was featured in Downtown Post Portfolio (DPNYC, 5/6/15). To see some more of Fine's work on the Downtown Post NYC website, click here.





Letter to the editor
HOWARD HUGHES' 'GROSS MISCHARACTERIZATIONS'

A Howard Hughes rendering of its proposed South Street Seaport tower on the site of the New Market Building.

To the editor:
(Re:  The Howard Hughes Corporation's letter of June 3, 2015 to Mayor de Blasio on the South Street Seaport, DPNYC, 6/7/15): On June 3, David Weinreb, CEO of The Howard Hughes Corporation, - holder of long-term leases on parts of the South Street Seaport - wrote a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio in which he referred to the "gross mischaracterization of the Seaport's redevelopment process."

Like a boomerang, any "gross mischaracterization of the Seaport's redevelopment process" comes right back where it belongs - at The Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC).

Not until after Pier 17 got New York City Council approval in March 2013, and not until public demands for full disclosure grew louder and louder, did HHC reveal the rest of its plans relating to a 'mixed-use project', even though a 2010 Letter of Intent made between the Economic Development Corp. (EDC) and HHC had this in its scope.
 
HHC now talks about its proposed 'Mixed Use Project' (euphemism for tower) as if it were always out in the open, and always to be considered as part of an integrated project development plan for the Seaport. Yet, by presenting their intentions piece by piece, they were able to avoid the full scrutiny and full environmental impact analysis such a major development affecting historic inland and historic waterfront sites demanded.
 
Well, the fan is spinning, and it's blowing back  ---  to HHC and EDC ---  all the behind-the scenes, out-of-public oversight, secret bargaining that went on and is still in play to try to gain control over the historic South Street Seaport - a very special public asset.

Money can buy a lot, but you can lose much more than you buy when you let it be the only thing you weigh in on.

Our public assets and our public trust should never be bargained away.

- J. Gorman
Seaport resident,
Co-founder,  Friends of South Street Seaport

From the editor:
We welcome letters to the editor. Email them to [email protected]. We reserve the right to edit them for clarity and length.
 




COMMUNITY BOARD 1 MEETINGS: Week of June 8

A rendering from The Howard Hughes Corporation of the shopping mall that it is building on Pier 17 with rooftop crowds come to experience what HHC describes as "the World's Premiere Boutique Entertainment Venue."


All Community Board 1 meetings take place at 49-51 Chambers St., Room 709, starting at 6 p.m. unless otherwise indicated. Bring photo ID to enter the building.

June 11: Landmarks Committee - 6 p.m.
   Location: Southbridge Towers
   90 Beekman St., Community Room
* South Street Seaport Pier 17 and Fulton Market Building - Update by Howard Hughes Corporation
* Buildings 111, 112 and 114, Governors Island, landscape revisions, conversion of windows to doors and exterior installation of mechanical equipment - Resolution
* 178 Church St., application storefront replacement - Resolution
* Support for 2015 Borough Board/Community Board Resolution Recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the NYC Landmarks Law and Value of Preservation - Resolution
* 13 Worth St., reconsideration of resolution

NOTE: On Tuesday, June 16, the New York City Economic Development Corporation is scheduled to appear before Community Board 1's Seaport/Civic Center Committee to discuss the New Market and Tin Buildings. That meeting will be held at the Southbridge Towers Community Room, 90 Beekman St., starting at 6 p.m.





GOVERNORS ISLAND WEEKEND

Governors Island is just 800 yards away from Manhattan, with historic forts, shady parkland, bicycle riding paths and cultural events. It is open daily through Sept. 27.

The ferry slip at Governors Island. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

All Weekend:
Indoor Exhibits:
"The Gallery at Building 110"- LMCC:  Building 110 upper level, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.
"What's Happening on Governors Island": Building 110 upper level, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
"M�-Math: The Mobile Unit to Promote Mathematical Thinking": Building 11, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.
"2015 New York Electronic Art Festival" presented by Harvestworks: Building 5A & 5B, 12 p.m.-5 p.m.
"Art Kibbutz": Building 6A, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. - (Sundays only)
"Laws of Attraction" Sculptors Guild: Building 15, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.
"Better Than Jam Handmade Gift Shop": Building 410A, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
"Brooklyn Artery": Building 10B, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
"Billion Oyster Project": Building 20A, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
"The Art of Intuitive Photography" Building 16, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
 "The Holocenter's Summer Museum" The Center for Holographic Art: Building 19A, 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Admirals House - open daily
Figment: Buildings 4A&B, 6A, 20B, 406B and 407A&B

Activities:
Bike and Surrey Rentals: Blazing Saddles - Colonels Row, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Free Art Island Outpost: Children's Museum of the Arts. Nolan Park Building 14, 11 a.m.- 3 p.m.
Earth Matter Compost Learning Center, Enter at the Park Oval, 12 p.m.-4 p.m.
GrowNYC's Teaching Garden, Enter at the Oval, 12 p.m.-4 p.m.
Figment: Minigolf, season-long sculpture and treehouse open this weekend, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
(No free kayaking)
Imagination Playground - Lawn in front of 403, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

National Park Service Activities:
Castle Williams: Courtyard open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Fort Jay: Courtyard Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.- "Explore Castle Williams"- Tours of Castle Williams, including a visit to the roof. Tours leave hourly on the bottom of the hour and last 30 minutes.
11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. - "An Island Star!" Every Hour; Tours are 30 minutes.
2:30 p.m. - "Hike through History" - Walking tour of the National Monument and Historic District. Meet at Soissons Landing. Tours last 90 minutes.

Food:
    *    Guest Food Vendor at Kings Ave.: Valducci's - pizza, sandwiches and desserts
    *    Both Liggett Terrace and Kings Ave. will be open
    *    SI Caf� at Building 403 will be open this weekend
    *    Beer is available at Little Evas in Liggett Terrace and at the Governors Beach Club
    *    Governors Beach Club will be open Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. with food vendors, bar, and D.J. during the day.

Events:
    *   PEN Writers Workshop: Building 20B, 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday)
PEN will host a writing workshop for workers represented by trade unions including nannies, maids, taxi drivers and farmworkers. Participants will read their work to the Governors Island public audience, and they'll be giving away free frisbees!
 
   *    Jazz Age Lawn Party, Colonels Row, 11:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. (TICKETED) (Saturday and Sunday)
Tickets are required and can be purchased on island day of or in advance.
Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra will play music, set up a dance floor and conduct dance lessons. Activities will include 1920's Motorcar Exhibition, vintage clothing dealer and boutique milliners, croquet games, horseshoe toss, and tug o' war!
    *    11 a.m.-11:45 a.m.: 1920's Antique Phonograph DJ MAC and Michael W. Haar
    *    11:45 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: Beginner Charleston Lessons
    *    12:30 p.m.-1:15 p.m.: Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra (Set I)
    *    1:15 p.m.-1:30 p.m.: Virtuoso Piano-Man and Crooner Peter Mintun
    *    1:30 p.m.-2 p.m.: Set #1 - Queen Esther and Her Hot Five featuring the Minsky Sisters
    *    2:20 p.m.-3:05 p.m.: Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra (Set II)
    *    3:15 p.m.-3:45 p.m.: Set #2 - Queen Esther and Her Hot Five and Charleston Dance Contest
    *    4 p.m.-5 p.m.: Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra (Set III)
    *    Pie Contest is scheduled for 2 p.m.-3:45 p.m.

Workshops:
Summer Meditation: Presented by the Rama Meditation Society
Nolan Park / Building 17 / 11:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.
The Summer Meditation event includes mediation sessions, guest speakers, and an exhibit about meditation and the brain.
   
Getting there: Ferries run from the Battery Maritime Terminal in Lower Manhattan all seven days and run from Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 6 on Saturdays, Sundays, Memorial Day and Labor Day. There is a $2 round trip fare for adults and children over the age of 12. There is no fare on 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. ferries from Manhattan on Saturdays and Sundays. There is also no fare on the 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. ferry from Brooklyn on Saturdays and Sundays. These ferries are free to all. For more information, click here



 
CALENDAR: Week of June 8


Surrounded by Black-Eyed Susans, a man reads a newspaper in Battery Park City's Wagner Park. Tour the park's Cool and Hot gardens on Saturday with a horticulturist from the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy. For more information, click here.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

June 12: This is the 14th year that the Sunset Singing Circle has been held on Friday evenings in Battery Park City, led by singer/guitarist Terre Roche. As the sun sets over the Hudson River, novice and experienced singers sit on the lawn and sing folk songs (with words provided in the Sunset Singing Circle Songbook). Players of acoustic instruments are encouraged to add their skills to the mix. Place: Wagner Park. Time: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Free. For more information, click here.

June 13: Tour Wagner Park's Cool and Hot Gardens with a horticulturist from the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy. Each of these jewel-like gardens has hundreds of plants in bloom. Learn about the innovative and sustainable horticulture methods used throughout the parks in Battery Park City. Time: 11 a.m. to noon. Free. For more information, click here.

June 14: Atlantic Salt, Inc. will present its third free public maritime festival at its wharf at 561 Richmond Terrace in Staten Island. The centerpiece will be the U.S. Coast Guard training ship Eagle, which will be open for tours. The festival will feature music, entertainment and free food and beverages in addition to cadet-guided tours of the Eagle. Staff from the Noble Maritime Collection, the Chamber of Commerce, the Alice Austen House and Staten Island MakerSpace will offer activities for children and adults. The 295-foot barque is one of two sailing vessels commissioned by the United States military. Each summer she deploys cadets and officer candidates from the US Coast Guard Academy for training voyages and regularly makes calls at United States and foreign ports as an ambassador of good will. Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free. For more information, click here.

June 14: A Municipal Art Society tour of Downtown's Lower West Side with Joe Svehlak, "I Remember New York: Lower Manhattan's Western Route" will show what's left of what was once a thriving immigrant neighborhood and a unique commercial area before two acts of eminent domain wiped out "Little Syria" and Radio Row, New York's first electronics district. As the approaches to the Battery Tunnel were being built, Joe remembers walking the old, narrow streets where his immigrant family used to live over a hundred years ago. Hear his family stories about life on the Lower West Side before the World Trade Center and the Battery Tunnel. View a former Syrian church, the Downtown Community House and a few remaining tenements and Federal townhouses. Hear about the struggle to preserve the memory and few remaining buildings of this former unique melting pot neighborhood where 27 nationalities were counted living here in an early 1900s report. The tour ends at New York's oldest Catholic parish, St. Peter's, where noted New Yorkers and various immigrant groups worshiped. Meeting place will be confirmed after tickets are purchased. Time: 10 a.m. Tickets: $20; $15 (Municipal Art Society members). For more information and to buy tickets, click here.  
   
 
Ongoing
: Celebrate summer with a sail aboard the South Street Seaport Museum's historic schooner, Pioneer, and get a new perspective on New York City. Bring a picnic lunch or dinner, snack, beverage or dessert. Pioneer was built in 1885 as an iron-hulled sloop to carry cargo along the Delaware River and is the oldest ship regularly sailing in New York Harbor. For more information or to buy tickets, stop by the museum's Visitor Service Center at 12 Fulton St. or ask the Museum's Associates on Pier 16. Afternoon Sails: Tuesday-Friday 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets: $38; $28 (museum members); $32 (students and seniors); $20 (children 2 to 11 years old); $5 (children uner 2 years old). Sunset Sails:
Tuesday-Sunday 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets: $45; $35 (museum members); $25 (children 2 to 11 years old); $10 (children under 2 years old). For more information or to buy tickets, click here.

Ongoing: Governors Island is open daily through Labor Day. For a calendar of events, click here
 
Ongoing: The historic lighthouse tender, Lilac, berthed at Pier 25 near North Moore Street in Hudson River Park, is hosting a three-month exhibition of artwork through Aug. 15. It focuses on three themes inspired by the ship's story - "Steam," "Work + Labor" and "Restoration/Reinvention." The exhibition features the work of more than 25 artists, with several site-specific installations.  Performances, artist talks, film screenings, readings, community activities and educational events accompany the exhibition. For more information about the Lilac, click here. For a video about the Lilac, click here. For more about the art series, click here.   

Ongoing: "America in Circulation: A History of US Currency Featuring the Collection of Mark R. Shenkman," an exhibition at the Museum of American Finance, showcases around 250 rare examples of American paper money accompanied by large, interactive touch screen displays. From Colonial times, American money has told a fascinating story of the country's struggles and successes. Often local and national currencies competed and coexisted with each other, while economic depression, war and counterfeiting drove constant advances in design. The exhibition spans the period from the Colonial era to the present day. Highlights include rare examples of currency bearing the signatures of signers of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence; a complete set of notes from the Educational Series of 1896, renowned for being the most beautiful paper money in American history; and rare examples of high denomination notes including $5,000 and $10,000 bills. Through March 2018. To see an online version of the exhibition, click here. Place: 48 Wall St. Museum is open Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission: $8; $5 (students and seniors); free (museum members and kids 6 and under). For more information, click here.

Ongoing
: "Cer�mica de los Ancestros: Central America's Past Revealed" displays 155 ancient objects from the National Museum of the American Indian's rarely seen collections of Central American ceramics. The exhibition examines seven regions representing distinct Central American cultural areas that are today part of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, where Central America's first inhabitants lived. Dating back to 1000 B.C., the ceramics help tell the story of the innumerable achievements of these ancient civilizations, each with unique, sophisticated ways of life, value systems and arts. Through January 2017. Place: 1 Bowling Green. The National Museum of the American Indian is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Thursdays, until 8 p.m. Free. For more information, click here.  

Ongoing: The Museum of Jewish Heritage presents "Designing Home: Jews and Midcentury Modernism," an exhibition that explores the cultural context in which many Jewish �migr� architects and designers created a distinctly modern American design that still has wide appeal today.  Walk-up tours will be offered on Sundays in May (except May 24) at 12 p.m. with no reservations necessary. Through January 2016. Place: 36 Battery Place. For more information, click here.

Ongoing: The Skyscraper Museum's new exhibition, "Ten Tops," surveys all buildings in the world today, completed or under construction, that are 100 stories and taller. Of these 24 towers, the exhibition focuses on 10 (plus a few more), zooming in on their uppermost floors to see how they were designed and constructed. Through September 2015. Place: 39 Battery Place. Hours: Noon to 6 p.m., Wednesdays to Sundays. Admission: $5; $2.50 (students and seniors). For more information, click here.

Ongoing: The Woolworth Building was designed by Cass Gilbert to house the offices of the F. W. Woolworth Company and was the tallest building in the world from 1913 until 1930. With its ornamental gothic-style exterior, it dominated the New York City skyline and served as an icon of American ingenuity with state of the art steel construction, fireproofing and high-speed elevators and it was dubbed "the Cathedral of Commerce." The building is still privately owned and operated, and has long been closed to the public. Tours of its magnificent landmarked lobby featuring marble, mosaics, and murals have only recently been made available and can be taken for 30-minutes, 60-minutes or 90-minutes. Custom and Private tours for groups of 10 - 35 can also be arranged. Place: 233 Broadway. Various times. Tickets: $20, $30 and $45, depending on the length of the tour. For more information and to buy tickets, 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: "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: "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: The lobby of the South Street Seaport Museum at 12 Fulton St. on Schermerhorn Row is open three days a week with interpretive displays and activities. Access to the museum's upstairs galleries is by appointment or for education programs only. For private tours of Schermerhorn Row and its old hotels, email [email protected]. Lobby access: Fridays to Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
 

Downtown Post NYC is emailed Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 
To subscribe to Downtown Post NYC, click here

Editor: Terese Loeb Kreuzer

We welcome comments, questions and letters to the editor. Send them to [email protected]

To advertise, email [email protected]

Previous issues of Downtown Post NYC are archived at www.DowntownPostNYC.com

All articles and photographs in Downtown Post NYC are copyrighted and
may not be reprinted or republished without written permission.
� 2014