Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A Tour of Gracie Mansion

Today, I took a wonderful group tour of Gracie Mansion. Since Mayor Bloomberg does not live there, we were able to view the second floor.






No photos were permitted inside the mansion. So after the tour, I enjoyed Carl Schurz Park.


Monday, March 29, 2010

Sunday, March 28, 2010

"The Beats in Greenwich Village," a walking tour

It was a dreary, cold, and rainy Sunday afternoon. I met the group from St. Francis College Departments of English and Communication Arts at 2:30, and we began the tour across the street from 130-132 MacDougal Street, where Louisa May Alcott wrote "Little Women."


This is a view of MacDougal Street, looking in the other direction. In this photo, you can see the original location of Kettle of Fish, at 114 MacDougal Street. It is to the right of the blue Frequency awning and behind the yellow taxi on the left.


This is Minetta Tavern restaurant.


This is Minetta Street. You can see the walking tour group on the right.



This is the site of the old Pony Stable Inn, where Gregory Corso met Allen Ginsberg.


This is 48 Morton Street, where David Kammerer lived.


This is 69 Bedford Street, where William Burroughs lived.


This is a view of the White Horse Tavern at West 11th Street.


And this is where the tour ended. I was happy I wore comfortable shoes.


Here are some extra shots I took along the way:



In this photo, you can see the current location of Kettle of Fish at 59 Christopher Street. It is behind the white tents in the distance on the left.


And Bob Dylan lived in this building above the Tic Tac Toe lingerie shop.


Please listen now to: this.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Backstage at the New York City Opera

Well, my plans took a detour today. I joined my TTN for a fantastic backstage tour of the New York City Opera at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center. Then we went for a late lunch at Josephina. I had the chicken campagnole and it was incredible. Then, I went to see "The Runaways." It was nasty in NYC, with a slow steady light rain falling all day. But, glorious NYC always has activity.








I love this photo most of all. As we were standing on the stage looking out at the vast theater, I took a photo of the backstage area. The reflection of the women of my TTN group was captured in the set piece on the left.