highbrow/lowbrow

I spent the past two days in New York City, seeing various parts of town and hanging out with Perlick. After a long day of walking around town, I felt like having an afternoon snack. I was considering a break at Starbuck's, while writing some post cards… Perhaps a latte with a lemon poppy scone, or maybe a cappucc...

"MISTER SOFTEE ICE CREEEEAAAAMM!!!"



Well, you can see which side won.

I might be accused of obsessive-compulsive blogging on this trip; I hope it's not too boring for my readers. Part of it is my boredom at home, but another reason is future reference: identifying the places I have visited (as opposed to relying on vague memories and my Google-Fu).

• Dad drove the family in to the city, and I realized he's totally turning into an old man driver. He's driving at about 50; the slow lane on the highways around here is at least 60. School buses were blowing past us.
  
  
• To celebrate Perlick's birthday, we went to dinner at Momofuku Noodle Bar in the East Village. A strong recommendation—their pork buns are very non-traditional but incredibly yummy. The ramen noodles with pork neck were great—nice chew to the noodles.
  
  They proudly post that they use Berkshire pork; I was curious—from the Berkshires of MA? Actually, it's a variety of pig that is "recognized all over the world for their perfect combination of juiciness, flavor and tenderness."
  
  
• This was followed by a comedy show: Giant Tuesday Night of Amazing Inventions And Also There Is A Game!!!, which is self-described as, "a weekly extravaganza showcasing New York City's best stand-up, sketch, character and musical comedy." It was uneven, but the funny parts were howlingly good. It also felt a bit hip and undiscovered—I guess it pays to know cool swinging people who live in the city. And Perlick too. (Oooh, ouch! Sorry, P).
  
  
• The evening wrapped up with drinks at the Korova Milk Bar--"An East Village spot specializing in milk-based cocktails"--another recommendation from Perlick's friends. I would guess that it is the only Clockwork Orange themed bar out there, but I'll admit that it does it very well (i.e., it's the place to go when you and your droogies feel like a bit of the moloko)--complete with creepy-looking mannequins!
  
  
• The next day, a quick lunch at Katz's Deli (of When Harry Met Sally fame)—a knish was just what I was looking for.
  
  
• Spent the afternoon at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum; they have a former tenement building that they are in the process of restoring to various periods in its history. Right now, they have a German-inhabited apartment from the 1880's, and a Sicilian place from the 1920's-1930's. There's not too much there yet, but I still found it very interesting. It was pretty interesting to see the Jacob Riis-style dark tenements firsthand. Also, they stated that over 7000 people lived there during the building's time as a tenement... pretty impressive.
  
  An important note: it is not a normal walk-through museum; you need to buy tickets and go on a guided tour. I'd recommend buying tickets in advance—I had an hour plus to kill before going on the tour.
  
  
• A few blocks away from my sister's apartment, there is a huge industrial building with smokestacks that I have not identified. I wandered over there to take a look: it is the former Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) Company Power House Building, now operated by Con Edison. It's an amazingly well-decorated building, which is surprising for a power generation station.
  
  
  
  As described in this web site on New York City architecture, The main power house ... at 59th Street and West End Avenue, could easily have been a typically innocuous, industrial structure. Instead, it is a magnificent Beaux Arts building designed by Stanford White. Decoration of municipal buildings is a tradition that seems mostly dead, but one exception I can happily report is the new water works in Cambridge, over by Fresh Pond. It also has public art elements, such as a map of the Cambridge water system, as a terrazzo floor, which has probably since been covered up due to terrorism fears.
  
  This web site on the New York City subway system goes into excruciating detail on the IRT power house, but it has some old photos at the bottom.

When I'm in the city, I'm a bit embarrassed that I'm constantly taking photos of buildings around me. But I realized: there's a lot that's worth taking pictures of, especially when you compare it to, say, the strip mall Generica that I'm often stuck in. Think of how many worthwhile photos you could take of the IRT Power House, compared to, say, a Home Depot-Staples-PetCo-Pier One power center.

Long Island today and tomorrow; back to the city for Friday and Saturday.