Big City of Dreams

This past March I was gifted with the opportunity to see New York City for the first time! I had always wanted to go there. I knew it would happen eventually, but I am thankful and blessed that the time had come.

I wish I had more finished work to bring with me, as I do whenever I go somewhere, but that will have to be on the return trip. I took this time to keep an eye out for galleries, art museums, and similar establishments. I spoke a little with some of the gallery attendants, but kept the mention of my work to a minimum since I didn't have much to show.

About to hop on my flight at Detroit Metro Airport.

I'm relatively new to the whole flying game. The flight there was my third time. Taking off doesn't scare me though. The idea of getting to go someplace far away is too exciting for me to care about much else. I wasn't even sure what I was going to see besides a Broadway show, but there were a lot of possibilities and four days to cover some of them.

We stayed at The Hampton Inn in Manhattan. It's a very nice hotel with equally nice staff and a complementary breakfast every morning.

Main lobby

View from the room.

I talk a little later on and throughout the post about the different areas of New York. It's a big city, so it's split up into a lot of smaller sections so people can find places easily in a place with a lot of places. I figured I'd break it down for you now so you can keep it in mind as you progress.

There is the big city that is New York.

• The city of New York is split up into 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. 
• Each of these boroughs is then split up into districts and neighborhoods. Little Italy, Chinatown, SoHo, TriBeCa, Midtown, Greenwich Village, the Garment District, and the Financial District are all neighborhoods or areas in the borough of Manhattan. And that's not even all of them. There's NoLIta, Alphabet City, Hell's Kitchen, Washington Heights, and a bunch of others. 

Because of the number, I won't be listing every neighborhood in all five boroughs. The neighborhoods with weird capitalization (that wasn't a writing choice, they're capitalized like that on signs) stand for acronyms. TriBeCa stands for TRIangle BElow CAnal Street, SoHo stands for SOuth of HOuston Street, and NoLIta stands for NOrth of Little ItAly. After this post I won't capitalize them like that because it's weird to read it that way. SoHo will be the one exception.

Just outside the lobby.

My first subway ride. When the car isn't packed like a can of sardines it's actually really nice. I enjoy it anyway.

Illustration by Jillian Tamaki.

Times Square

The D is everywhere, ya know? (Discovery Channel Store)

Broadway

I like the more ornamented buildings. This one's a hotel above an Italian bar and restaurant.

I'm skeptical, but I couldn't tell you because I've never seen it. I wonder how well advertising like that works though. Would you be more likely to come into a gallery if there was a huge banner saying "BEST ARTIST OF THIS CENTURY"? I mean you wouldn't really know for sure whether you're right or wrong until you checked it out for yourself, right? Of course, anyone doing something like that would probably receive a lot of hate and negative commentary from people on all sides. At that point you're not just talking about a whole production involving lots of people, just the skill of one person.

I'm no longer Catholic or a follower of any religion, so it's been some years since I've attended a mass. I still appreciate religious art and architecture though.

Fancy looking place with an interesting storefront and cool doors.

Picture-stitch of The Lyric Theater.

Three-story Irish pub with a roof patio. I like my drinks with a view.

Part of that view, across the way.

photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza  

Restaurant with a cool design, great food, and nice people.

photo credit: ? (left), Carolyn Sohoza (right)

I met a Broadway star. No joke. Her name is Lara Seibert Young (Twitter @seibertyoung). She starred in Chicago as Velma Kelly at the Ambassador Theatre. She's also performed in Big Fish, Pippin, A Christmas Story, Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, and Young Frankenstein.

photo credit: Janet Seibert

The woman on the other side of her is my mother, Carolyn. I call her Ma. She also does some theatrical performances in community theaters around Downriver, usually in Wyandotte.

The Empire

The Tonight Show's building has a pretty cool Christian mosaic.

After the show we decided to head over to the Rockefeller Center.

"Prometheus teacher of every art brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends." - Aeschylus

Then we stopped by Grand Central Station.

Late night view of the Chrysler Building.

I really liked their subway ads.

The city that doesn't sleep is a nice place for a guy who doesn't like to sleep either.

The next day I headed to Harlem. It was the first of several stops around the city's boroughs looking for four particular murals commemorating hip hop legends 2pac, Biggie, Big L, and Big Pun.

Harlem projects.

I saw EDO (top left) up in a lot of nice spots in Harlem and the Bronx.

There's several murals of 2pac in New York. I was looking for the one in Harlem that says "Makeveli"at the bottom beneath his face and name and has lyrics to the left of it. It's supposed to be on 145th St., but I walked all up and down that street in both directions and didn't see it. I decided to ask a few different people from the area. Only one of them was even familiar with it, and they weren't sure where it was either. There's one on the Lower East Side that I probably could have found (it's more popular), but I don't like that it emphasizes the more violent side of his memory in hip hop. I get it, because he did die in a violent manner, but his connection to violence is also why more conservative people blindly disregard and look over his music, so I don't think it should be one of the more broadcasted things about him.
After walking up and down the street and not finding it I decided to move on and look for the Big L mural which, thankfully, was pretty easy.

It's a shame one of the most talented MCs of his time had to go out the way he did. He was coming up with complex verses and switching styles up at hip hop's peak in the 90's even though his professional career outside battle rapping had only just started. His first album had been released and he had started working on a second. He walked around these blocks with his crew that ran Lenox Ave trying to make money all kinds of ways. He died, just a few blocks from here and where he grew up, from multiple gunshots to his head and chest in a drive-by shooting. A statement from his brother and what is known about the killing points to retaliation as the reason. Apparently, the people responsible felt disrespected enough to come after one or both of L's brothers for something they did, and they couldn't find either of his brothers so they went after L.
Ironically, his song "Street Struck" talks about that being the possible fate of someone who stands on the corners with criminals that don't mess around.

"Stay off of them corners; that might be your best plan. Before you catch a bullet that was meant for the next man." - Big L 

Park across the street.

photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza

Cool mural that looks like it's painted on the glass.

Next I was jumping back on the subway to make it over to the Bronx, where Big Pun is from.

The Bronx

I couldn't find the mural I was looking for. There should be one that looks like his album cover for Endangered Species. This is the only one I could find though. It's not terrible, but the street sign concept and font being used that large makes it a bit boring to look at. It's plain, which isn't a word I would use to describe Pun.

Social commentary mural. Know your rights.

"You have the right to observe and document police activity as long as you are not obstructing them in any way."

Biggie's mural and the other 2pac mural were in Brooklyn, which is on a different island than Harlem, the Bronx, and Manhattan (where I was staying). The bridge to that island was on the other side of the island I was on. After having walked around a lot already and only finding one of the murals I had set out to find, I decided to head back and call it quits.

Their subway stations are so cool. The art makes a big difference.

The mosaic tiles are my favorite.

Central Park

General William Tecumseh Sherman

Central Park Zoo

I usually make a point to visit the zoo in each city I go to if they have one. I like animals, what can I say?

They have a nice open-air rainforest aviary. This is a Victoria crowned pigeon.

The zoo's main attraction.

They were some pretty friendly seals.

New York is all about the art.

Alice in Wonderland-themed mosaics.

The Fresh Prince coming back to his block.

The next day we checked out what I'm going to refer as my Kingdom of SoHo. For now that's just a joke. SoHo is a neighborhood of Manhattan with a lot of museums, galleries, studios, boutique shops, and other creative-type destinations located in and around it. Being a shortened, easier version of my last name to say, it was one of the temporary nicknames given to me when I was younger. An artistic kid with a name similar to an artistic area in New York, which is one of the biggest go-to cities for artists, was a pretty nice and convenient coincidence.
I took a lot of pictures from this trip, so I'll show you guys more of the kingdom tomorrow.

New York is the birthplace of contemporary graffiti as we know it today. It evolved here, in the 70s and 80s, from simply writing a nickname and what street you were from in markers on the inside of subway cars and bathroom stalls to elaborate monikers painted on street walls and the entire sides of subway cars in all different fonts and styles. The new style of writing words as art spread and became a global phenomenon. It was hated by a lot of the general public, and the artists didn't get any money or direct publicity for what they did. Still, the desire to push the limits and gain the respect of other graffiti artists led many to risk getting fined and in some cases, possible jail time.

Probably the fanciest CVS building you'll ever see in your life.

 After figuring out the boundaries of my kingdom, I walked over to Little Italy to get some authentic New York Italian pizza with Ma.

We found the perfect spot for pizza, beer, and wine at Sal's. A very nice family runs it.

photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza

Meet Sal.

photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza

Little Italy recently had a whole large-scale mural project that turned out really nice.

Nothing could be more epic than giant Hulk-babies in battle stance.

Space Invader was up everywhere.

I was glad to see some Bernie Sanders supporters. Feel the Bern!

You know you're in Chinatown when…

Chinese aesthetic.

There's some nice Chinese architecture and what's in the bodega? Starbucks.

For a moment I thought Coffee World had no coffee, because the store under the sign wasn't selling any. But the signs go around the building. The entrance was on the side. Caffeine crisis averted. 

More subway art and mosaics.

At this station they had miniature scenes encased in glass spaced apart going down the wall.

There were a bunch of these little guys at another station. They remind me of a flea circus since they were all small and bug-looking but were each doing their own different human activities.

I headed down to Battery Park in South Ferry, at the very southern tip of Manhattan.

There's an aquatic-themed carousel in there.

The name and rank of marines lost at sea 1941-1945.

From here you could take a ferry to Staten Island or the Statue of Liberty.

Battery Maritime Building

View of the Brooklyn Bridge, heading up South St.

A short walk north puts you right in the financial district.

I found this cool patio that overlooks the street where these two skyscrapers join on an angle. Probably where all the suits gather for lunch.

There was this lounge-like bar next to a pier with tables that lit up in different, changing colors.

View of the bridge from the pier.

They had some ships docked on a lower pier beside the one I was on.

I like the older-looking ships, with the masts and riggings.

Making 100's on Wall Street.

Glass lobby with astroturf, picnic tables, and palm plants.

Sadly, this is as close as I came to Brooklyn. Next time.

Fun fact: I climbed a fence and balanced on it to take this. Also, just a little ways left this view is where the old Fulton Fish Market used to stand. There's a new Fulton Fish Market that's no longer on Fulton over at Hunt's Point in the Bronx. Back in the day at the old Fish Market, boats used to catch the fish right from the river and restaurant owners would come in before their businesses opened to buy fresh fish for the day caught early that morning.

South Street Seaport, Financial District

I read somewhere that the J and Z train lines are what Jay-Z derived his name from.

Swans mate for life. Most humans don't.

We were back in Little Italy again later at the Mulberry Street Bar (formerly known as Mare Chiaro, a.k.a. the Sinatra Bar). It's a bar with a lot of character and it has been featured in a lot of movies going way back including: Contract on Cherry Street, Kojak, The Pope of Greenwich Village, 9 ½ Weeks, Out of the Darkness (Shadows and Fog), Men of Honor, The Godfather Pt. III, State of Grace, Night and The City, Donnie Brasco, the episode "Wiseguys" on A&E's Biography, The Sopranos: season 4 episode 4 and season 5 episodes 4, 6, 12, and 13. It can also be seen in episodes of Law & Order.

photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza

That framed painting on the far wall behind the bartender is a scene from the bar from a long time ago. The view is facing the tables and kitchen opposite of the bar.

photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza

I had the mystery beer with the handgun tap. Even our bartender wasn't sure what it was. It did the trick though, and tasted good.

photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza

Check out my beard in that reflection.

After a few drinks a bit of food it was time to head back.

Winter lights between Little Italy and Chinatown.

Subway residents.

They've been at it since January. I think you might need a new method. Of course, it would also help if lazy people decided to throw their garbage in the many garbage cans available at every subway station. There's usually at least four. Two on the platform between the benches and two at the bottom or the top of the stairs at either side of the entrance.  

Some really cool doorways that remind me of the Gungan city from Star Wars.

The Empire State Building from below.

The next morning I was walking through Hell's Kitchen.

This must be why all dogs go to Heaven.

Then Ma and I went to see the State Building up close.
On the way from the hotel, a Chinatown graphic away from Chinatown.

The State Building's lobby has a cool ceiling.

Emblem of an empire.

As of 2015, the Empire State Building is America's 5th-tallest skyscraper, and the 30th-tallest building in the world.

New York from 86 stories (about 1,050 ft) up. You can see a tiny bit of Central Park behind the skyscrapers.

The Flatiron Building in the middle towards the right.

Madison Square Park is to the side of it.

One thing I didn't get to do that was disappointing was hang out on some rooftops. Of course, I was already on a much higher rooftop, but I wanted to hang out on some that weren't highlighted places for tourists to visit. Somewhere you could just chill.

Looking over Midtown and Midtown East.

The Chrysler Building, the Queensboro Bridge behind it, and Queens beyond that. Astoria, which is a neighborhood in Queens, can be faintly seen to the left of the Chrysler Building's spire.

The New York Life building with Gramercy Park and East Village behind it. Brooklyn is visible beyond the Williamsburg Bridge.

TriBeCa, Lower Manhattan, and Greenwich Village in the foreground. Jersey City is just across the Hudson River, with Elizabeth and Newark on the horizon.

I like heights.

This is Success, the pigeon, who endlessly flapped his mighty little wings to rise above all those other bread-fed park pigeons. He's probably looking down on your nest from here.

Kip's Bay and Murray Hill, the East River, and the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn beyond it. You can see Newtown Creek splitting off from the East River going farther into Brooklyn. Across the creek from Greenpoint is a little bit of Long Island City, which is a neighborhood in Queens (both Queens and Brooklyn are on Long Island).

Scoping out my future penthouse.

photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza

Looking fly on my tourist game, getting my Instagram up.

photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza

Just below the skinniest part of the spire is the 102nd story - the very highest point you can be. There is a 103rd story above it, but it's not open to the general public.

At the very top. 102 stories (1,224 ft).

You can see Brooklyn on the left past the Bridge. This is the skyline facing South.

New York skyline, facing North.

Looking at Midtown, the Garment District, and Hell's Kitchen. West New York in New Jersey is across the Hudson. Central Park and its big lake are visible to the right. The Condé Nast Building, currently occupied by H&M, is off to the left.

Where Chelsea, the Garment District, and Midtown meet. Madison Square Garden is the aptly-named circular building peaking out from behind the rectangular Chase Bank building on the left. One Penn Plaza is dead center at the base of the tall dark building. Weehawken township in New Jersey is across the Hudson.

That view pretty much wrapped up the trip.

We went back to the room, finished packing, and left on the next train towards the airport after that. I didn't really sit still for that long anywhere during my trip, so even though I had brought along drawing stuff, I didn't get much of a chance to use it. There was a lot to see and do, and I wanted to do and see as much as possible.

I did get a chance to draw at the airport though, since we had a fair amount of spare time before our flight left. So here is the only drawing from the trip: two ladies across from me, also waiting for their flight at LaGuardia airport.

It was a lot of fun. I cannot wait to come back and bring some art with me. If you get the chance to go, don't hesitate. There's literally something for everyone here. I walked through several boroughs and neighborhoods in four days and still didn't come close to seeing half of what New York has to offer.

Check back in to see the neighborhood of SoHo I've set my sights on.