Sunday with Susan
Met Susan at Penn Station at noon and had a fun day...walking, talking, "Stomping" and eating! We took the subway down to 14th St & First Avenue, and walked for a couple of hours. I shared with her the places where her Mom and I lived, went to school, played in Tompkins Square Park, and the churches we were married in. And later, the apartments where my husband and I lived and the neighborhood restaurants we ate in. It was fun to have refreshing lemon ices from the same old Italian pastry shop that I remembered from 60 years ago! I didn't have the heart to ask...I know in the old days the lemon flavor came from freshly squeezed lemons..wonder if it's now made with lemon "flavor." The coarsely crunchy texture seemed the same, and the shop had that same almondy aroma, tiled floors, and bakery cases of Italian cookies and pastries.
Lanza's is still an Italian restaurant, but part of a chain. They did keep the stained glass "Lanza" over the front entrance, but not the wooden screen in the rear that shielded the table for "special customers."
Our old grade school, P.S. 122 is now an off-broadway performance space, and the facade is crumbling, with scaffolding and lots of graffiti.
Susan noticed the beautiful architectural details on the facade of 115 St. Marks Place, where Ann & I both lived until we got married. That's what women did in the "olden" days...you lived at home until you married. No "bachelor" pads for girls back then. As a kid, I just went in the front door and climbed the four flights to our "railroad apartment" and never noticed how pretty this Eastside tenement building was. St. Stanislaus' Church looks to be in great shape, but St. Bridget's has lost its steeple and is boarded up, hopefully for restoration.
I couldn't point out the old Polish National Home (later known as Andy Warhol's disco club called "The Dom"). I'm sure it's still there, but they may have altered the facade so much I didn't recognize it. We stopped for lemonade before the show...lots of New Yorkers sharing brunch with their dogs. A huge Bassett hound who couldn't decide if he wanted to carry his bagel or not, was really funny.
"Stomp" was very loud and very creative. It's amazing the things that can be used to create musical beats....cigarette lighters, empty water cooler jugs, newspapers, kitchen sinks, etc. The troupe of 8 performed for two hours, without a break. It's understandable why the show has been running for more than 10 years. The theater is small and so our seats in the 6th row Orchestra were really good.
We had some time to kill before dinner at "Apiary" so we did some more walking...from Union Square to 5th Street and back.
We had an early dinner reservation for 5:30 p.m. so Susan could get home at a reasonable hour. Nobody has dinner that early, so for more than an hour we had the place to ourselves. Well, of course, service was outstanding! The menu is quite small, but there is something for everyone...fish, pork, steak, chicken. It was the interesting combinations of ingredients that made the dishes delicious and pretty to look at. By the time we were ready to leave around 7:30 p.m. the place had filled up and the noise level had risen quite a bit. It was then back on the subway at Union Square to Penn Station; Susan for LIRR; NJT for me. I got home before 10:00 p.m.; Susan before 11:00 p.m.
Unusual for this blog...I brought my camera, but we were so busy walking and talking, and the streets were so crowded...a beautiful sunny afternoon in New York City would be....that I never snapped a shot. I plan to go back some weekday in the Fall, and take pictures of all our old haunts, but I didn't want to include all those tourists with their cameras.
Without photos, this is probably not a very interesting blog, but for me, a way to record my day in the city with Susan.
When I got home, I had a message from a former neighbor who was visiting from Florida, and wanted to spend Monday in NYC....oh, no....I'm getting too old for this! But we made plans to meet at a reasonable hour...11:00 a.m., so that gave me enough "recovery" time.
Lanza's is still an Italian restaurant, but part of a chain. They did keep the stained glass "Lanza" over the front entrance, but not the wooden screen in the rear that shielded the table for "special customers."
Our old grade school, P.S. 122 is now an off-broadway performance space, and the facade is crumbling, with scaffolding and lots of graffiti.
Susan noticed the beautiful architectural details on the facade of 115 St. Marks Place, where Ann & I both lived until we got married. That's what women did in the "olden" days...you lived at home until you married. No "bachelor" pads for girls back then. As a kid, I just went in the front door and climbed the four flights to our "railroad apartment" and never noticed how pretty this Eastside tenement building was. St. Stanislaus' Church looks to be in great shape, but St. Bridget's has lost its steeple and is boarded up, hopefully for restoration.
I couldn't point out the old Polish National Home (later known as Andy Warhol's disco club called "The Dom"). I'm sure it's still there, but they may have altered the facade so much I didn't recognize it. We stopped for lemonade before the show...lots of New Yorkers sharing brunch with their dogs. A huge Bassett hound who couldn't decide if he wanted to carry his bagel or not, was really funny.
"Stomp" was very loud and very creative. It's amazing the things that can be used to create musical beats....cigarette lighters, empty water cooler jugs, newspapers, kitchen sinks, etc. The troupe of 8 performed for two hours, without a break. It's understandable why the show has been running for more than 10 years. The theater is small and so our seats in the 6th row Orchestra were really good.
We had some time to kill before dinner at "Apiary" so we did some more walking...from Union Square to 5th Street and back.
We had an early dinner reservation for 5:30 p.m. so Susan could get home at a reasonable hour. Nobody has dinner that early, so for more than an hour we had the place to ourselves. Well, of course, service was outstanding! The menu is quite small, but there is something for everyone...fish, pork, steak, chicken. It was the interesting combinations of ingredients that made the dishes delicious and pretty to look at. By the time we were ready to leave around 7:30 p.m. the place had filled up and the noise level had risen quite a bit. It was then back on the subway at Union Square to Penn Station; Susan for LIRR; NJT for me. I got home before 10:00 p.m.; Susan before 11:00 p.m.
Unusual for this blog...I brought my camera, but we were so busy walking and talking, and the streets were so crowded...a beautiful sunny afternoon in New York City would be....that I never snapped a shot. I plan to go back some weekday in the Fall, and take pictures of all our old haunts, but I didn't want to include all those tourists with their cameras.
Without photos, this is probably not a very interesting blog, but for me, a way to record my day in the city with Susan.
When I got home, I had a message from a former neighbor who was visiting from Florida, and wanted to spend Monday in NYC....oh, no....I'm getting too old for this! But we made plans to meet at a reasonable hour...11:00 a.m., so that gave me enough "recovery" time.
posted by Irene's Images at 8:17 AM
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