Classes around NYC - Can search and filter by "single session" -great for rainy days and some offbeat ones- (two hour shoe making, glass blowing, stage fighting). Lots of cooking and craft classes. Also lists NYC experiences (sailing around Manhattan) and tours
The Apollo Theatre - 125th Street Btw Frederick Douglas Blvd & Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd. Amateur Night At The Apollo - a talent competition. Contestants brave cheering and booing.Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne and Billie Holiday launched their careers here. Fun evening. https://www.apollotheater.org/amateur-night/
Monkey Bar -54th Betw Madison & Park has been around since 1936 and is known for its good burger. The setting is retro and chic with red leather booths, low lighting and wall murals. Takes you back to earlier times in the city. https://nycmonkeybar.com/
Lincoln Center calendar of events: (New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater, Jazz, at Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center Theater and Lincoln Center Film Festival- good for booking for holiday events and Met opera: (lots of events for kids)
Field of Light Spanning 6 acres of Manhattan at Freedom Plaza features 18,750 lowlight, fiber-optic, stemmed spheres that illuminate with a slow change of hue. Guests are immersed in the installation as they walk a winding path through the landscape along the City waterfront
Oculus Outdoors (July 12 - August 24): Come experience Oculus Outdoors
Seaport Cinema (Various): Seaport Cinema on The Rooftop at Pier 17
Paramount+ Movie Nights in Brooklyn (June 7 - September 5)Fort Greene Park, Prospect Park, McCarren Park and Coney Island Beach for free, beginning at sunset.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Movies with a View (July - August):Movies take place Thursdays in July and August at Pier 1 Harbor View Lawn. Doors open at 6:00 PM, movies start at sunset.
Movies Under the Stars (through September): The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and NYC Parks bring more than 150 film screenings to parks throughout the five boroughs.
Riverside Park
Riverside Park Summer Eventsincluding films, workout sessions etc. July 5 to August 16. Seatig opens at 6:30pm and movie begins around 8:30pm.
Time Square Live TSQ Live invites hudreds of artists, performaers and producers to share their work - 80 free, open air events are lined up from DJ sets and live concerts to dance workshops and art activities. Participating insitutions include Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Alvin Ailey, Elsewhere, Soul Summit, Street Lab
Bric Celebrate Brooklyn
Celebrate Brooklyn The City's longest-running, free, outdoor performing arts festival at the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park
Hudson Classical Theatre Company promises the complete abridged works of Shakespeare this summer on the Patio of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at West 89th Street & Riverside Drive. Thursday through Sunday 6:30pm.
Buy discount designer bags , watch Chinese opera on Sundays, buy 13 dumplings for $5, sample Dim Sum and red bean ice cream & Chinese teas, visit a Buddhist temple, buy I love NY t-shirts, explore a Chinese food market sells everything thing from noodles to live frogs, browse a hip shopping street, and finish with a well loved New York independent book store
Best time: All year.
Length of trip:Keep you busy for hours. Satisfies everyone’s interests
Distance: Can be as long as you like - with lots of browsing
Suitable for: All age groups
Other Comment: Great for cheap gift buying
Advance Planning: Check www.chinatown-online.com for festivals and Chinese New Year celebrations - usually in January.
Further reading or films: "The Chinese Exclusion Act"a documentary by Ric Burns and Li-Shin Yu - can rent on Amazon at at other locations
According to Wikipedia the New York metropolitan area "contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia" and this Chinatown was the first their first New York City home.
START: Columbus Park where on Sundays in Spring and Summer you can watch Chinese opera, the practice of Tai Chi, people playing board games or enjoying their caged birds. Continue along the East side of Columbus Park until you reach Mosco Street and make a left. Your first stop will be Bangkok Center Grocery at 104 Mosco (marked on map as B) - they sell incredible Jasmine rice and import frozen coconut milk and fresh curry mixes from Thailand. Sadly these sell out fast.
Next door at Fried Dumpling at 106 Mosco that sells 13 tasty dumplings for $5.
Continue to Mott Street make a left. Walk north to Pell Street, make two rights and you will find Doyers Street. This was one of the first areas in Manhattan to be settled by immigrant Chinese in the mid 1850s. Most travelled on out to the West Coast during the Gold Rush of the 1840s and 50s or to work on the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. Eager to work long hours and for less in order to provide for families back home, they quickly came to be viewed as job stealers and the consequences of this hatred followed. During the 1870's congress declared that naturalization would only permitted for blacks. In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act became law and was the first race-based immigrant act. It banned current Chinese immigrants from becoming residents. Work permits were only granted to merchants, students or diplomats. In 1888 about 20,000 laborers who had returned to China to visit family were banned from re-entry to the US. Wives and children of immigrants already in the U.S. were also prohibited from entry. The act was only repealed in 1943. Isolated and unable to enjoy the benefits of citizenship, Chinese communities set up their own trade and community organizations. As black markets developed, gangs formed and it became a center for opium.
From"The Chinese Exclusion Act"a documentary by Ric Burns and Li-Shin
Chinatown became known for violent gang warfare and Doyers Street was frequently the location for battles. The street had easy access to a vast underground tunnel system and the bend provided a blind spot. It was often said that this street was built so the straight-line flying spirits would be unable to pass through but it also became known as “bloody angle”. Nowadays the focus of most businesses here is feeding good food to the crowds, many of the tunnels have long been blocked off - though keep an eye out for an entrance to the Wing Fat Shopping Mall at 5 Doyers Street which by all accounts has been closed to the public.
Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles is just down the street.
For Dim Sum - 4 restaurants are marked on the map:
Nom Wah Tea Parlor on Doyers
The Golden Unicorn - East Broadway (carts of dim sum circulate to tables)
Dim Sum A Go-Go -East Broadway
Jin Fong at 202 Court Street a longer walk north and the advice is to get there before 11am because it is very popular. (carts circulate the tables)
Dim Sum locations with carts:
How it works: Dumpling carts circulate the tables. Stop the cart server when you see something you like - point to it. The server stamps your card as they give you dishes – best are steamed shrimp dumplings, shrimp rice noodles, fried meat dumplings or fried pork and shrimp dumplings - try the chicken feet! The greens are also good and are served buffet style, bring your card with you to be stamped. When finished - take your card to the cash desk near the exit. It is fairly cheap.
When you reach the Bowery look at the map and make your way back to Mott Street via Pell Street. Mott Street is crammed with great small stores selling I Love New York t-shirts and cheap toys. Kids love these stores. Also bubble tea is always worth trying.
After, walk north (take a right) to Bayard where the map shows a few other tasty things to sample. It's worth buying at least one dish of take out rice noodles from Toni's Fresh Rice Noodle and sharing one or two roast pork buns from Mei Lai Wah bakery - all are delicious. Across the street is Chinatown Ice-Cream Factory (chinatownicecreamfactory.com)at 65 Bayard Street (good dessert stop – especially since it was invented in China - for something different try the red bean, black bean, or sesame ice cream).
Turn back to Mott Street for more exploring.
Mott Street: places to explore
Yunhong Chopsticks - 50 Mott Street(near Bayard) has a large selection of chopsticks for sale
Eastern States Buddhist Temple 64 Mott – peek in the window
Uncle Lou 73 Mulberry
Ten Ren Tea and Ginseng Co. at 75 Mott where you can buy and sample plum tea. (great gift to take home) and learn about Ginseng and other healing teas.
Ten Ren Tea Time 79 Mott to sample the recent phenomenon of bubble tea (mangos is a good choice).
Bubble Tea
46 Bakery - at 46 Mott sells Cantonese tofu pudding - Story has it that around 202 BC Liu An, a prince who lived during the Han Dynasty was trying create a pill to guarantee eternal life and in error added gypsum powder to a soy milk. The mixture curdled and became silken tofu pudding.
Explore the gift stores to find $1 billion bills
Walk north on Mott, cross Canal and continue north to Deluxe Food Market at 122 Mott Street - a Chinese grocery store – walk through to the exit on the other side – you’ll see frogs, turtles, eels (on your left before the stairs that exit to Elizabeth) and a wide range of dumplings and selection of foods. The store exits onto Elizabeth Street.
Frogs at Deluxe Food Market
If you still have energy you can extend the walk by following Elizabeth Street (one of the prettiest New York) north where you will find a wide selection of hip boutiques and stores – make a left on Prince Street and walk two and half blocks over to 52 Prince (between Lafayetter and Mulberry)– the home of McNally Jackson bookshop – a real find (http://mcnallyjackson.com)
Banh Mi from Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich at 369 Broome Street - Cheap and delicious
Climb up to the eves of the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, eat with your hands, explore the campus of Columbia University, sample New York City's best bagels and soul food. Discover the history of Bebop and the Beat Generation.
Best time to visit:All year
Length of trip: Minimum 2 hours
Distance: Short Subway Stop: Local Number1 train to 110th Street and Broadway then walk over to Amsterdam
Suitable for:All age groups
Nearby eating: See blog suggestions
Events: Check out the the Cathedral's events calendar - there's always something going on - some are spectacular. For the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the doors are opened to start the ceremony of blessing pets that belong to over 3,500 people (usually sometime at the beginning of October). Animals in the procession have included cows elephants, camels, horses, boar constrictors, cockroaches and bulls.Also check out their crypt tour on Halloween and the screening of the silent movie Nosferatu made more dramatic by the accompaniment ofthe booming Cathedral organ. Concerts are on the calendar to celebrate the holidays. Check the calendar for tours and Sunday organ recitals - when the Cathedral brings in musicians from all over the world to play.
Last years posting for the Cathedral's halloween extravaganza gives you some idea of the evening: The Cathedral’s annual Halloween celebration returns as we screenThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari(1920), complete with live organ accompaniment by Timothy Brumfield! Following the film, the full stretch of the Cathedral's Nave is at the disposal of Ralph Lee's Mettawee River Theater Company’s fantastic creatures of the night. Visitors are encouraged to brace themselves for increased ghostly mischief and ghoulish tricks. Seats closest to the action are for the bravest at heart, who may find themselves directly confronted with the hooked nose of a demon, the mossy nails of a witch, or the bulging, flushed cheeks of a ghostly manchild.
Advance Planning: The Cathedral offers a few different tours : the Vertical Tour climbs 124 ft up to the top of the Cathedral
and there are also tours that cover hightlights and the gardens: reserve spots (tour info link).
Columbia University offers guided historical tours that require advance reservations (tour link)
otherwise there is a downloadable podcast self guided tour available online (link)
Carvings at the Cathedral
START:The Cathedral is located at 110th Street and
Amsterdam. On the Vertical
Tour you will climb steps and pass
through doorways to rise 124 feet up onto the roof of the cathedral and look
down into the nave in true Hunchback of Notre Dame style.
It is one the 5 largest Gothic Cathedrals in the world-and seats
5,000.Construction started in
1892 and stopped with the outbreak ofWorld War II when church leaders decided the community needed more
support.This policy continued
until 1982 when the construction program was resumed.It is now 2/3 complete and work continues on a small scale –
a fire in 2001 re directed construction funds restoration. Work continues on the Cathedral. The central portal - the Portal of Paradise, was completed by British master carver Simon Verity who visited annually between 1988 and 1997 to complete his work. The figures are based on local people and friends of Mr. Verity. Younger family members will enjoy the Children’s Sculpture Garden nearby. Article about Verity's carvings featured in Citylore. There's a video tour of the carvings on the entryways to the Cathedral https://www.stjohndivine.org/visit/guided-visits/ - worth looking at to hear about how they were carved and why.
The Cathedral offers residencies to artist allowing carve out their own space and work in the Cathedral grounds. Past artists have included Judy Collins and Paul Winter as well as the high wire artist Philippe Petits who walked a tightrope strung 131 ft between the twin towers (1,350 ft above the ground lasting 50 minutes) of the World Trade Center in 1974 - this was an unauthorized walk and he was arrested immediately after. Petit during his work at the Cathedral in 1982 walked a rope 150 feet above the ground, crossing Amsterdam Avenue to the Cathedral.
Signage in the grounds of the Cathedral
An option for nearby lunch is V & T pizza on Amsterdam between 112th and 113th Street - the pizza is very popular, the restaurant has been around since 1945 and is a revered institution for Columbia alumni and students. Absolute Bagels a bakery and cafe at 108th and Broadway sells the best rated bagels in New York City. Massawa is an excellent Ethiopian restaurant on 121st and Amsterdam - food is eaten with hands - the experience was complete adventure for my 6 and 8 year old nephews. For dessert - Insomnia Cookies on Amsterdam between 110th and 111th streets or Levain Bakery between 116th and 117th and Frederick Douglas Boulevard (the very, very best cookies in my view). If you want to try out soul food make your way to Melba's at 114th and Frederick Douglas Boulevard. Tom's Restaurant at Broadway and 112th Street became famous when it was featured in Seinfeld as Monk's Cafe. It serves a diner menu and was a haunt of Columbia students.
Commencement at Columbia University
A walk through the campus of Columbia University will help blow off some steam - or sign up for the tour in the Advance Planning section above. Famous graduates include Richard Rogers, Oscar Hammerstein, Alexander Hamilton, Alicia Keys, Joseph Campbell J.D. Salinger and Stanley Kubrik. Four US presidents graduated from the University - Barack Obama, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Close by at 206 West 118th Street is Minton's Playhouse https://mintonsharlem.com/about-mintons/ where the Bebop started - a jazz movement that evolved as a reaction to the uniformity of the commercial Big Band of the World War 2. Bebop was about individuality and leaned towards spontaneity and free form. It is characterized by improvisation and harmonic complexity. At Minton's people came to listen rather than dance and it was home for the founders of Bebop- Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk and Max Roach. Other great jazz greats performer there including: Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and Sara Vaughn.
Jimmy Heath below talking about Bebop some direct insights and a funny story:
Bebop was followed by the Beat movement which was incubated in New York City at Columbia University when Allen Ginsburg, Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, Willliam S. Burroughs, John Clellon Holms and Herbert Hunke met as students. Below is a short interesting documentary placing the movements in context.
Evolution of Beat
Linking Bebop and Beat
Swing-a-Rings at 105th and Riverside
If you are walking down town - at 110th make a left on Broadway and walk until you reach Riverside Drive at 106th. Number 330 Riverside Drive. This was that mansion that was purchased by Robert Benson Davis the founder of Davis Baking Soda (which is still around today) in 1905. The house remained in the hands of the Davis family well into the 1950s. At the age of 78 Davis, in a case that became famous at the time, sued his much younger wife for imprisoning him and attempting to access his fortune by having him confined to an asylum. He escaped the building with the assistance of 2 nurses. There are many elaborate mansions along this route occupied during the first half of the 20th Century by famous names. Marion Davies (mistress of William Randolph Hearst) lived in number 331 with her mother, while Duke Ellington and his family lived in numbers 333 and 334 and Lothar Faber, of Eberhard Faber pencils lived in number 335.
A Short Film by the Parks Department about Riverside Park Rings
Make your way down to the Hudson River level. As you walk south you will come across what are known as the Swing-A-Rings at 105th Street - great for kids - it's a nice place to sit. During the summer there's table tennis and sometimes tight rope walking. Parents or adults on a nice summer evening can pick up drinks from a bar on the level above and relax as the sun goes down.
Extra listening: Jack Kerouac reciting
Jack Kerouac on the Steve Allen Show talking about On The Road
Explore the campus of Columbia University, climb up into the eves of the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, discover the history of Bebop and eat Sunday jazz brunch in the place it all started. Learn about the Beat movement and walk the neighborhood, make your way down to the Hudson River to try swinging on the traveling rings.
Best time to visit: All year
Time: Minimum of 2 hours
Distance: Short
Subway Stop: Local no.1 train to 116th Street & Broadway. Walk through the gates of Columbia University
Suitable: All age groups
Eateries: If you haven't booked brunch at
Minton's Playhouse - Jazz Brunch - 206 West 118th Street Btw St. Nicholas Avenue & Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. Book ahead for brunch https://mintonsharlem.com/
V&T Pizza -Amsterdam btw 112th & 113th Streets. Since1949 -revered by the Columbia community
Toms - 112th & Broadway - diner made famous in Seinfeld as Monk's Cafe
Hungarian Pastry Shop at 111th & Amsterdam another local favorite for desserts.
Absolute Bagels a bakery and cafe on Broadway at 108th Street
Massawa -Ethiopian restaurant-121st Street & Amsterdam. Spicy delicious food & my young nephews loved the fact that had to eat with their hands. https://www.massawanyc.com/
Insomnia Cookies on Amsterdam - between 110th & 111th Streets
Levain Bakery (best cookies) - Frederick Douglas Boulevard between 116th & 117th Streets
Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too - 366 110th Street (at Columbus Avenue). Good soul food
In the summer time try the Ellington in the Park, in Riverside Park around 105th Street - lots to do for kids and adults. Relaxed outside seatings with front row view of the traveling rings - also fun to try https://www.theellingtonny.com/location/the-ellington/
Events & Advance Planning:
Book & reserve in advance where possible.
Minton's Playhouse is now back to hosting Jazz Brunch on Sundays (Noon & 2pm) or else is good for adults, an evening of jazz and dinner see link.
Columbia University offers guided historical tours that require advance reservations and a downloadable self guided tour (see link) .
Check out the Cathedral's events calendar - there's always something going on-
For the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the church opens its doors (sometime around the beginning of October) to welcome a procession of as many as 3,500 pet lovers and their animals to be blessed. The processions have included, cows, elephants, camels, horses, boa constrictors, cockroaches, camels and bulls. Guided tours - pre book the tours that include the Vertical tour (climb up 124ft into the eves of the Cathedral), a Halloween Crypt tour, Highlights and a tour of the grounds. Concerts celebrate the holidays and musicians from around the world come to play here - concert calendar.
The Blessing of the Animals
At Halloween there's a showing of the silent movie Nosferatu accompanied by the booming Cathedral organ. " Seats closes to the action are for the bravest at heart, who may find themselves directly confronted with the hooked nose of a demon, a mossy nails witch, or the bulging, flushed cheeks of a ghostly manchild."
Beat Generation in New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac's City by Bill Morgan
START:
1. 116th & Broadway. Columbia University was as granted a charter under British rule in 1754, was founded as "King's College" and originally located at Trinity Church downtown. In 1775 Myles Cooper who was a royalist and president of the college at the time was chased by patriots out of the city and boarded a ship bound for England. During the American Revolution the college was seized and occupied by the British in 1776 and used as a hospital and classes were suspended. Many students were supportive of the occupation but some includingAlexander Hamilton, John Jay, Gouverneur Morris and Robert Livingston became part of the founding of America. John Jay and Hamilton re-opened the college in 1784. The campus opened in 1897 as Columbia College at its current location.
Famous graduates include Richard Rogers, Oscar Hammerstein, Ira Gershwin, Alexander Hamilton, Alicia Keys, Joseph Campbell, Art Garfunkel, J.D. Salinger, Alan Ginsburg and Stanley Kubrik. Four US presidents graduated from here - Barack Obama, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
2. Walk through the campus and exit at Amsterdam Avenue - the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is located at around 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. According to the website (https://www.stjohndivine.org/ it is the largest cathedral in the world and seats 5,000 and is not complete. Construction started in 1892 and stopped with the outbreak of World War II when church leaders decided the community needed more support. Work was resumed in 1982 though spending policy continues to place an emphasis on supporting the local community. The central portal carvings around the entrance were completed by British master carver, Simon Verity who visited between 1988 and 1997. The figures are based on local people and friends of Mr. Verity. South of the Cathedral is the Children's Sculpture Garden.
The Cathedral offers artist residencies and has attracted people like Judy Collins and Paul Winter as well as the high wire artist Philippe Petit, who in 1974, took an unauthorized tight rope walk in the early hours of the morning between the two towers of the World Trade Centers. The walk took 50 minutes, 1,,350ft above the ground and he was arrested immediately after. Petit during his work at the Cathedral in 1982, walked rope 150 ft above the ground crossing Amsterdam Avenue to the Cathedral.
3. This area is also in the neighborhood of where Bebop, a movement that revolutionized jazz, was developed - at Minton's Playhouse at 206 West 118th Street https://mintonsharlem.com/about-mintons/ - the style evolved in the 1940s as a reaction to commercially driven escapist music of the Big Bands of the World War 2 era. Amongst its originators were - Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk and Max Roach. Charlie Parker said he was "bored with the stereotyped chord changes that were being used". The musicians started to jam at Minton's Playhouse. The sound they created was free form and spontaneous. In these sessions Parker and Gillespie combined their technical ability with their deep knowledge of musical theory. Bebop is about individuality and is characterized by improvisation and harmonic complexity. At Minton's people came to listen rather than dance - jazz switched from being escapist and care-free entertainment to something much more visceral and deep. The new style required artistry and virtuosity. Minton's was also frequented by Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and Sarah Vaughan.
Jimmy Heath talking about Bebop
The ethos of Bebop spread to literary creatives and inspired the Beat movement which was incubated in New York City at Columbia University when Allen Ginsburg, Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, John Clellon Holms and Herbert Hunke met as students in the early 1940s. The movie below explains the link with Bebop.
Context of Bebop and Beat
4. Walk back to 110th Street & Broadway
5. If you walk south, down town on Broadway - make a right at 110th on and walk until you reach Riverside Drive at 105th Street. 330 Riverside Drive is a mansion that was purchased in 1905 by Robert Benson Davis the founder of Davis Baking Soda (still around today). Not long after, Davis in his who was in his early 70s, sued his much younger wife for imprisoning him and attempting to access his fortune. She had him locked in a room and controlled his mail and food. He eventually devised an escape by addressing a letter to a friend and throwing it out the window. It was found and delivered and not long after, Davis filed for divorce having escaped to California. The case became sensational news and strangely the couple returned to living together at 330 Riverside. Jennie Weed in fact died before her husband and the house was eventually passed on to their daughter and her husband.
Finishing off the day: Make your way down to Riverside Park off 105th Street at Riverside Drive. The set of Traveling Rings here over look the Hudson River and there is great people watching on a warm evening if you don't feel up to trying them. The Ellington Cafe is open during the summer months and if its a nice evening you can't ask for more. At the same location there is soccer, soft-ball and table tennis nearby as well a dog run with lots of benches around 106th Street at the upper level of the park (ask anyone for directions).
SoHo -became a center of city industry during the late 19th Century. Fifty years later the large commercial spaces were falling into disrepair. During 1960s, 70's and 80's artists took up residence here and they partied, collaborated, performed, played music and turned the art world upside down. SoHo is where the minimalist and American modernist art movement was focused and three small museums in the area provide a glimpse into its vibrancy. Finish at McNally Jackson book store at 52 Prince Street to find the books written by these creators.
Best time to visit:All year at but check websites for opening museum opening hours
Length of trip: As long you like
Subway Stop: R train to Prince Street and walk south on Broadway to Spring Taxi: Spring Street and Broadway
Suitable for:All age groups interested in art
Nearby eating: Balthazar for very good brasserie dining (off Broadway on Spring Street),Alidoro - for old timeItalian sandwiches (105 Sullivan Street).
There are some great burgers to be had in this neighborhood at Balthazar (listed above), Black Tap Craft Burgers and Beer (529 Broome Street) and Fanellis a New York icon that has been around for decades (94 Prince Street). Mexican - Cafe Habana (17 Prince Street). Lighter fare good salads etc- Jack's Wife Freda 224 Lafayette or Cipriani (376 West Broadway) Advance Planning: Check museum websites for opening hours. Since most are small some require online booking in advance. To reserve a table for dinner or check the menus Balthazar Restaurant
The Soho Arts Network has created a map of non-profit art galleries to visit in the area click on the following link: New York Art Maps The Whitney Museum, The Guggenheim and MoMa also house and exhibit works from this era.
Documentaries about the art scene:
"Herb and Dorothy" a documentary directed by Megumi Sasaki
"The Artists Studio: Donald Judd" directed by Michael Blackwood
"The Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art" directed by James Crump
"The Karamazoffs: A walk on the SoHo Years" directed by Juan Gamero and Carmen RodrÃguez Reading: "I think I'm built for this kind of life" by Christina Patterson, The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interviews/philip-glass-i-think-im-built-for-this-kind-of-life-i-train-like-an-athlete-1688870.html "Soho: The Rise and Fall of an Artists' Colony" Richard Kostelanetz
Granary Books Archives: Patty (Olenberg) Mucha Archive: New York City Artworld in the Sixties and Seventies https://granarybooks.com/collections/mucha/index.html
"Illegal Living:80 Wooster Street and the Evolution of SoHo" Roslyn Bernstien and Shael Shapiro
"112 Green Street" Jessamyn Fiore about the building which was established as an experimental art space for any artists interested in collaborating it also housed a pay-as-you-wish restaurant
Jonas Mekas, Andy Warhol and many of the artists have written books.
Typical cast iron building front Soho
Cipriani Soho on West Broadway
SoHo: South of Houston- As you walk north on Broadway onto Mercer and continue to West Broadway. There are 250 cast iron buildings in the city and the majority are in Soho. Fronting buildings with cast iron became popular in the late 19th century. Cast iron was a cheaper and a more lasting method for making decorative facades. Broken pieces could be easily recast and it allowed for quick construction. The strength of the metal allowed for larger windows and higher ceilings.
As textile manufactures left after World War two, the area began to face dereliction and Robert Moses the great New York City planner, was ready to demolish the buildings to make way for a highway. Seeing an opportunity for bargain rents, artists began to move in during the 1950s.
The early 20th Century modernists movement had already started to turn its back on traditional concepts in relation to art. By the 1960's there was a rising rebellious mood seeking a new vision that questioned accepted conservative values. The Vietnam War served as a further catalyst for change.
In the early 1970's the appeal of low rent and giant light filled space that could be used as both for living drew artists to SoHo. Residents simply cleared industrial debris and ignored the lack of kitchen or bathroom. It was possible to purchase a whole building at that time for $80,000. By the 1980s gallery owners moved in and the area became trendy. A whole new minimalist, absurdist, a experimental art movement had been spawned.
American painter and photographer Chuck Close lived in a loft on Green Street between Canal and Grand during this time. He said he "lived with no heat, with plastic on the windows so you couldn't see out." He said it was a time when ... "you wanted a purging of all associations of art historical associations as much as possible and as much as possible separate yourself from what was being made in the loft next door. So this is diversity or pluralism of the time allowed for both minimal painting and pop art in a sense to reign simultaneously, at the same time conceptual works, and earthworks, and various kinds of realism.."
Swedish born pop artist Claes Oldenberg came to New York in 1956 and eventually settled in SoHo. He said it was "like a college campus; you just walk out on the street and you bump into someone" -like Montparnasse in Paris an area of artists cut off from the rest of the city.
Jonas Mekas talking about the role of George Maciunas in developing SoHo
George Maciunasand the Fluxus Movement (1939-1978) was labeled "the father of SoHo" by the New York Times and was founder of the Fluxus Movement. His ambitions was to free the world of art and replace it with Fluxus -art that could be created by anyone, anywhere. He was against the concept of museums and saw no value in the idea that education is required to understand art. Maciunas said Fluxus was a fusion of " Vaudeville, Cage and Duchamp" and was a loose collective of artists, musicians and designers. Maciunas did not believe in ownership, never signed any of his work and if pressed to define Fluxus he liked to play recordings of geese honking or dogs barking. He developed the concept of a 3-day Flux-Olympiad, with soccer on stilts, balloon shot-put and slow speed bicycle races. Though Maciunas died of cancer in 1978 and never lived to stage the event, the Tate Gallery in London held an Flux-Olympics in 2008.
Yoko Ono was a member of the movement and her bed-in with John Lennon was a Fluxus influenced performance. Laurie Anderson was also very influenced by Maciunas' ideas. He collaborated with and influenced the work of pop artist Andy Warhol.
Maciunas, who had trained as an architect was also interested in urban planning and came up with the idea of co-op spaces for artists where they would share work and living spaces. This he called the Fluxhouse. With an initial grant of $20,000 form the National Foundation of the Arts and the J.M. Kaplan Fund he set about purchasing buildings. According to the George Maciunas Foundation "By offering shares at about $1 per square foo and charging minimally for renovation, he was able to take in enough deposits to make the $50,000 down payment". In all he created 11 co-operative units involving 17 buildings creating a "Fluxcity" a "collective estate which offers the space for art to flourish"
credit: The Tate Maciunus' fluxus olympiad
Jonas Mekas, died in 2019 and is considered a founding father of experimental film. His spirit and energy shaped the SoHo community of the 60's and 70's. Mekas was one of the first artists to purchase space in one of the first Maciunas artist co-op spaces in SoHo at 80 Wooster Street. Maciunas' idea appealed so he fundraised to purchase the space and establish Cinematheque I with the backing of one of his wealthy supporters. Cinematheques as Mekas planned would be " a place where the public will have to take chances with new artists and new works of estblished artists" ... "this will be our workshop our testing ground where anything goes". It became a center for festivals and screening but frequently faced financial difficulties. Mekas eventually established Anthology Film Archives where he showed experimental film and video and staged Fluxus events and concerts by Yoko Ono and John Lennon.
John Cage 1912-1992once said " I don't like meaningful sound. If sound is meaningless, I'm all for it" . Be believed composers should free themselves from conventional musical language to open the doors of creativity to minimalism, and experimental music and performance art. His work inspired debate and at times incited fury - sometimes audiences walked out. Critics had a hard time accepting the range of instruments he used such as flower pots and cow bells. Cage whose father was an inventor was never deterred and sought out innovation. His musical training was varied until he persuaded Schoenberg. Cage moved to New York City in 1942 and eventually met up and worked with Merce Cunningham who he ended up living with until his death They collaborated and toured on ground breaking new performance pieces.
John Cage performing "Water Walks"
Beach Birds - choreography Merce Cunningham, music John Cage
Merce Cunningham established the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953 and revolutionized the approach to dance. With John Cage ee collaborated with a number of artists including Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol.
Pop Art was also underway. Roy Lichtenstein while working as an professor of Art at Rutgers University in 1961 was producing large scale comic strips. Swedish born artist Claes Oldenberg settled in New York City in the 1950s and set about creating art from everyday things..Andy Warhol was to follow and add a social and rock music to his area of interest.
Claes Oldenberg talking about his work
Whitney Museum short set of interviews about Andy Warhol
Warhol's interest extended to music and he took on the management of the Velvet Underground. Jean Michel Basquiat, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Twyla Tharp and David Bowie mixed and collaborated through the 70s and 80s.
John Cale interviewing himself about the Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol's screen test of Lou Reed
"Jonas Mekas talks about Andy Warhol's 8 hour movie "Empire" Heni Talks
A glimpse of Basquiat
Walter de Maria a sculptor influenced by the San Fransisco jazz scene of the 1950s moved to New York City in 1960. He is known for his minimalist and conceptual art and environmental installations (for more information on the movement watch the documentary "The troublemakers: The Story of Land Art"). He also had a sideline interest in music. Having learned how to play the drums as a kid Walter became the drummer for a band called the Primitives in 1964. The other musicians were Lou Reed and John Cale. Not long after he left the group, it was taken up by Andy Warhol and renamed The Velvet Undergound. The band was too serious for his liking and he was quick to move on.
"...And it was very tiring to bring all the drums around, you know, and then after playing all night, you couldn't do anything during the day and this was a period of months. I thought, are you going to play or are you going to do the sculpture? You know, are you going to be an artist or a musician?
(transcript of the interview with him done by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art - a really interesting read where he talks about his life and his influences:
He continued to play drums for a less ambitious and maybe more offbeat band - The Druds. Friends (also artists) LaMonte Young, played saxophone, Larry Poons was on guitar, Patty Mucha (married to Claes Oldenburg) was lead singer and Jasper Johns wrote lyrics. Andy Warhol periodically sang back up.
Later in life he maintained a lower profile and described the art scene in New York as "a hundred people pillow fighting each other blindfold and swinging knives instead of pillows". De Maria died of a heart attack in 2013 and left behind an expansive collection of work - there are two installations in this neighborhood. The New York Earth Room was created in 1977 is at 141 Wooster Street and The Broken Kilometer - created 1979- closed for the summer) is at 393 West Broadway, Check the links above for hours.
Gordon Matta-Clarke lived in SoHo and set up the restaurant Food. In this Whitney Museum short film, Jane Crawford, Matta-Clarke's wife talks about his work and early death at the age of 35.
Jeu de Paume short film explaining the work of Gordon Matta-Clarke
George Condo working in his Soho loft. Condo was part of the 1980s Soho artist scene
The short film below shows the seemingly arbitrary path many artists followed. "Dickie" Landry has had exhibitions and performed at major museums and venues. He has performed with Philip Glass, Paul Simon, Talking Heads, Bob Dylan and the Band and Robert Plant.
Donald Judd -Visit his studio and home at the The Judd Foundation at 101 Spring Street can be visited by booking an appointment online. See link above. Judd is considered to be one of the most important artists of post war America and has been described as a minimalist, however, he did not agree with the classification and preferred to refer to himself as a minimalist. MoMa will be holding a retrospective of Judd's life work in 2020 and describes his artwork as "untethered from the traditional frameworks of painting and sculpture, focusing instead on an investigation of "real space" or three dimensions, using commercial materials and an emphasis on whole unified shapes..."
Judd purchased 101 Spring Street as his home and studio in 1968 for under $70,000. His daughter Ranier Judd runs the foundation and was interviewed by W Magazine about her father, his work and the building she grew up in. https://www.wmagazine.com/story/rainer-judd-donald-judd-101-spring-st
Judd died in 1994 and left directions for his art and the art of his friends such as Claes Oldenburg, John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin to remain where he had hung them. In 2010, $23 million was raised from the sale of more than 30 Judd sculptures to fund the full renovation of the outside and inside of the building as well as the installation of humidity controls. It's worth listening to the foundations "Oral History Project" on their website https://juddfoundation.org/research/oral-history-project
The Drawing Center has been around since 1977, is at 35 Wooster Street. As its name suggests is a museum that focuses on historical and contemporary drawings.
An installation at the Drawing Center
Fran Lebowitz the social commentator, writer and occasional actor talks with Marc Balet about his loft apartment which when he purchased it 30 years ago was used as a dance studio. This New Yorker video gives a glimpse of how a typical loft space used to look. Marc Balet was Art Director of Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine He has since created Plunge a wedding resource for men and runs an online business agency.
There are now few of the original artists who maintain their studios in the area. Most buildings have been transformed by developers into luxury residential and retail space.
Apart from the classic cast iron fronts of the buildings here keep an eye out for giant hand painted ads by the Colossal Media company which is bringing back the art hand painted ads. The Gucci art wall is at 91 Crosby Street.
