The Photos, The Trip, Recommended Stuff and NYC Trivia cont'd

Photos: January 25-27, 2002

all articles and graphics by me and lucy of table 5, so don't grab them without askin' first

As you can see from the photos, we had perfect weather, most unusual 
for January - in the sixties all weekend and beautiful blue skies.

Mandatory Stop on Any Trip To NYC - Central Park and Strawberry Fields

Strawberry Fields - Central Park West at 72nd St. Look up from the Memorial -  "Imagine" - the inlaid mosaic and surrounding walking areas,  and you'll see the Dakota Apartments, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived until his death in 1980. Their aparments were in the upper part of the building. Strawberry Fields is a triangular-shaped piece of land and the main focal point is that beautiful circular mosaic of inlaid stones sent in from all over the world. The area is beautifully landscaped with gardens blooming in the spring and summer.

Central Park is an 850-acre of preserved recreational land, located in the center of NYC. It covers 51 blocks, between 59th and 110th streets.  There are jogging and bicycling trails, a wildlife conservatory, romantic hansom cab rides through the park, several lakes and open fields, numerous playgrounds and statues. Millions of New Yorkers and visitors come to this park every day.

In 1857, some 20,000 workers - Irish laborers, German gardeners, and native-born stonecutters, workd to create this landscape. After blasting out rocky ridges with  gunpowder, workers moved nearly 3 million cubic yards of soil and planted more than 270,000 trees and shrubs. The city also built the reservoir immediately north of an existing rectangular receiving reservoir. The park first opened for public use in the winter of 1859 when thousands of New Yorkers skated on lakes constructed on the site of former swamps.

You can tour the park in a horse-drawn carriage, by bicycle or just walk it, which is the best way to enjoy it. You can go horseback riding or rent a rowboat. There are a bunch of hot dog stands and an outdoor cafe, or bring a picnic lunch and park it on the grass. In winter, you can rent ice skates at the Wollman Rink and show off your best spin. And let's not forget the free outdoor concerts at the bandshell. One of the most famous sites in the park, and one i loved as a kid, is the Delacorte Clock, near the entrance to the wildlife conservatory. The clock's wild animal sculptures circle around the belltower as the clock chimes every  hour. And Cleopatra's Needle - The Ancient Egyptian obelisk dates from 1600 B.C. and was a gift from Egypt. It's close to the  Metropolitan Museum of Art, where you'll find the Temple of Dendur and lot of Ancient Egyptian artifacts and treasures.

the central park photos - click to view

The Dakota	"Imagine" Memorial Mosaic	lucy in front  of The Dakota
the topiary park	wollman rink		delacorte clock
	the walk through Strawberry Fields

NYC Trivia, continued

• In 1667, houses varied in size and were one, two or three stories high, and were made of wood, or red, black or yellow brick brought from Holland as ship's ballast. The settlers had lush veggie gardens and fruit trees. On most of Manhattan Island, Indians and settlers hunted deer, fox and bear and caught beaver, trout, oysters and perch in lots of small streams and ponds. Forests on Manhattan Island grew to 80 feet high.
   
  

• Street lighting was introduced in 1697. An ordinance was passed that required "every seventh householder, in the dark time of the moon, cause a lantern and candle to be hung out his window on a pole, the expense to be divided among the seven families". The aldermen were expected to enforce this lighting code.
  
  

• In the 1700's, English-style taverns were all over the city and had elaborate signs and names. A typical tavern had a fireplace in the center of the room to cook hot lunches and for heating.  Customers were all men, and they drank porter and ale, rum, brandy and Madeira.  Dinners were usually served cold, and visitors would find overnight accommodations in a small room on the tavern's second story. 
  
  

• The surface temperature of an average new york city street during a hot summer day is 150 degrees. Eggs fry at 145 degrees.
  
  

• In 1845, the potato famine in Ireland led to an increase in Irish immigration to the city
  
  

• In 1856, makeshift campgrounds for the homeless existed in alleyways and courtyards around tenement buildings because at that time, 40,000 men were out of work in NYC
  
  

• NYC's first apartment house was built in 1869 and was at East 18th st. near Irving Place
  
  

• Between 1880 and 1919, more than 23 million people immigrated to the U.S.,  with 17 million of them entered by way of NYC. The largest groups were the Russian Jews and the Italians, and most of them remained in NYC.
  
  

• In 1884 the city suffered it's last major earthquake. There are no building regulations speciafically meant to prevent earthquake damage in the city and at least two fault lines run across upper manhattan. hmmmmmm.
  
  

• In 1904, the city's first electric subway line ran from City hall to 145th St. The fare was five cents.
  
  

• There are now 469 subway stations in the city. only 109 of them have working bathrooms.
  
  

• An average of 80 women go into labor on the subways each year
  
  

• In 1932, there were 17 shantytowns in Central Park, the largest was occupied by 450 men. In 1935, there were 21,000 homeless living in city shelters. In 1987, there were 25,000 homeless
  
  

• There are almost 3,700 buses in NYC. Fifteen percent of bus-driver wannabes fail their training period. 80% of city buses are equipped with wheelchair lifts. The Transit Authority pays nyc delicatessens $50 to allow their drivers to use their toilets en route. A city bus requires a maintenance inspection after 3,000 miles.
  
  

• Cab facts (averages): 200 million people (or sardines, depending on how many are in the back seat) take the cab each year. The average number of fares a cabbie picks up each day is 30, miles traveled per day 141. Hours per day they drive, 12.  Average in fares and tips that a driver grosses each day is $190. Eighty course hours are required for those wanting to be a cabbie but don't know a heck of a lot of english. forty hours required for those who think they do but don't know their way arouand new york city. The Gypsy cab is unlicensed by the city. Cabs are yellow, gypsy cabs can be any color at all.  The fine for a taxi driver who refuses to make multiple stops when requested to do so is $200-500. In 1996, 36% of cab drivers failed the english proficiency test. Over 90 percent of new cab driver applicants are immigrants, 50% are from Pakistan or India. Only 10% are American-born.