The last time that I was in Manhattan, Bloomberg was mayor, Christo & Jeanne-Claude were still alive (and their "Gates" installation was on display in Central Park), and the trio of Radcliffe, Watson, & Grant were promoting "Goblet of Fire" on Total Request Live. In 2002, I had made the trip to Brooklyn to see Elton John, but was surprising myself how rarely I visit the rival city further down the Atlantic Seaboard, As Vogue was preparing for the Met's celebration of Karl Lagerfeld, I was thinking "This is my moment.".
During Boston Calling, my plans were taking root. A friend told me about his sister's seeing Paramore at the Madison Square Garden, and I thought "OMG, "the City" is right there.". I picked my moment. June 17th's one week after the Joan Jett / Bryan Adams show, and one week before the Dead & Company's Fenway Park show. I ordered my tickets on Amtrak, and started planning out my sightseeing stops while watching the forecast. SoHo, the Ghostbusters' firehouse in Tribeca, the Flatiron Building, the NYPL Central Branch (with Bryant Park right behind it), Central Park, and the Met. Expecting rain late in the afternoon, I felt that it was wisest to be in the museum during that time, and run back to Penn Station in time to grab my train back.
I made good time in getting to Back Bay Station in time that morning. Remembering the Scorpions / Thundermother trip to Connecticut from last year, I remembered which side of the train car to sit in order to watch the landscapes change I plugged my phone into charge while I watched YouTube videos and listened to podcasts. It's cool that there are some YouTube channels simulating the experience of Saturday Morning Cartoon blocks right down to a simulcast streaming of the launch. After an hour or two, I tapped out and listened to an episode of Vogue's podcast "the Run-Through". As if my New York bagel breakfast wasn't enough, I was going to immerse myself in that Manhattan vibe. After pulling into the Moynihan Train Hall (technically, a separate building than Penn Station), I made my way through the station, up the stairs, and into the daylight. Mindful of my surroundings, I wasn't going to put in earbuds, put mentally, Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York" was playing in my memory. You'd think that I would reference music by New Yorkers like Jay- Billy Joel, Lady Gaga, or Lou Reed, but T-Swift sings about NYC from the perspective of a fellow out-of-towner. Someone else who would refer to New York as "NYC".
Just like with my 2005 trip with my students from my art school, I wasn't planning on taking the MTA, and remembered how walkable Manhattan can be. I checked Google Maps, and first made my way toward Hook & Ladder Company 8. I've been a huge Ghostbusters fan since getting my Real Ghostbusters Peter Venkman action figure in 1987. My brother and I would watch and rewatching VHS recordings of the movies and TV shows so often, that my parents were convinced that Valkyries were as much creations for the series as Werechickens and the Copycat ghost. As "the firehouse" comes into view, I started fully grasping that this is the same city same city block through which the Ecto-1 would make comical U-turns. Watch clips if you don't believe, 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinels weren't built to handle such high speed turns. They're too lovably boxy. The day of my visit, Jason Reitman was shooting stunt driving scenes for the next Ghostbusters movie where the Ecto-1's handling becomes more about the art of "drifting" into the center of a Manhattan intersection. While I was definitely taking photos of this global icon, I also made a point to place my hand on the doorway to the garage, thinking about how these are the same bricks and mortar that were in the scene when Ray Stantz's unbridled enthusiasm was welcomed by Rhoda Gemignani's real estate agent character. Gemignani's also famous for playing Mrs. Rossini in "Who's the Boss" if you're trying to place a face to the name. Thanks to Bill De Blasio and Steve Buscemi, the hundred year old firehouse still stands today and remains operational.
My next stop was SoHo. My original goal was just to go sightseeing, but forgetting my sunglasses at home, I found reason to stop by Uniqlo's famous location (the SoHo store was one of the company's first in the country). Now, I have a pair of cat eye sunglasses in tortoise which were bought in a famous shopping destination. I also picked up a canvas tote that features a printed design from New York. I started making my way back, and saw streets dedicated to late stars such as Whitney Houston and Gilda Radner. I bought some replica television scripts from very distinctive man who's displays were milk crates on a folding table. A nice disposition, but he seemed to have a more objective view of the scripts. When I mentioned that I was a fan of "How I Met Your Mother", he agreed, saying that it sells well. On my way back toward Midtown, I took some photos of the Beacon Theater (with signs advertising for the Tribeca Festival).
Next, I paid my respects at the Stonewall Inn's memorial garden dedicated to a lost generation of LGBTQ community members who had come and gone during the fight for equal rights. In an age of "the Dorothy Code", the Stonewall was one of the few locations where gay and transgender people would be able to congregate and enjoy a sense of community. This was before the age of social media platforms or message boards, and homosexual activity was illegal. 1969 police raids on the Stonewall Inn prompted riots and marked the beginnings of what's considered Pride Month and the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Like with the Ghostbusters' firehouse, I touched the building and meditated on everything that those very bricks had witnessed. Referencing another Ernie Hudson movie, it's like when the Crow can pick up residual energy and memories when touching historical objects. Stopping in the Garden, I thought of my godfather and his boyfriend (late members of Boston's old South End gay community). The boyfriend is someone who I had only gotten the chance to meet once, but I honor him as the uncle that he could have potentially have been if AIDS hadn't taken this couple's lives. The loss hasn't prevented me from praying to my uncle and the man known only as "Michael", and I like tp think that they had been providing guidance as I found my place among the LGBTQ community. Visting Stonewall during Pride Month seemed even more appropriate for me as trans visitor to the city.
I would be remiss not to acknowledge the 1966 riot at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. It's the lesser known and long forgotten uprising. Drag queens, crossdressers, and trans women pushed to the further margins by alienating transphobia among the gay community found one another in the Tenderloin location of Compton's Cafeteria, Both homophobia and transphobia had left these individual with little options for income other than sex work (and often prostitution). The Compton's Cafeteria Riot wasn't so much a response to raids, but a response to police general harassment of drag queens, crossdressers, and trans women. Though the restaurant was demolished a few years after the riot, the moment was commemorated in 2016, with a rededication of the city block and a formal recognition by the city of San Francisco.
My next stop was to check out the Flatiron Building, but I wanted to stop by the nearest Trader Joe's on the way. I was just looking for a quick snack for as I power on through the day. The Trader Joe's in Chelsea is so spacious that it reminded me of the Coolidge Corner store in Massachusetts. Not to far off was the Flatiron Building. Covered in scaffolding, it was covering some of it's unique grandeur, but it was still nice to see the building again. Especially since I've started watching more Architectural Digest videos. Along the street level was this great LEGO store! I had some of the sets, but what stood out were the little $9.99 New York souvenir sets. I bought one of a Yellow Cab (circa early 2000's), and a "Brickheadz" interpretation of Lady Liberty.
The next stop on my trip was the NYPL Central branch. This library with a famous facade featuring twin lion statues is full of amazing architecture, and was the setting of the Ghostbusters' encounter with the Gray Lady / "the Library Ghost". This is the scene where a card catalogs are emptied by psychokinetic activity, and a witness mentions a family member's believing himself to be St. Jerome, Like exploring the Boston Public Library's Copley Branch, I was taking the opportunity o photograph many architectural vantages. Unfortunately, the Rose Main Reading Room was exclusively open at the time for people there to study. To clarify, my timing was unfortunate. It's wonderful that such a renowned space still serves its intended purpose, and it's not my place to disturb people's studies with my tourism. Behind the library is the famed fashion landmark Bryant Park. As a fan of the "Tim & Heidi" years of Project Runway, I was thinking about the Fashion Week exhibitions in that same park.
From there on, I was focused entirely on the Met exhibit. I had ordered my pass while on the train, and once I got in... I wasn't sure how to find my way to the Lagerfeld exhibit. When I attended a Van Gogh exhibit at the Met eighteen years ago, there weren't online queues, and QR code readers hadn't become commonplace. Receiving a map from the information center, I realized that a main hub of the second floor was being renovated, and that left me exploring Asian art collection. That's where I found out about the online queue for the exhibit, and I gave it a try. As an impressionist painter myself, I wanted to at least see some Renoirs before I left the museum, and I got increasingly stressed the more that I looked for the Impressionist work. At 6pm, I had to leave get home.
The sidewalks had gotten much more congested even within a few hours. Routinely checking the time on my phone, I was maneuvering my way over to 9th and 33rd. I get into Moynihan Train Hall and check the onscreen train schedule, and see where the New England bound train is, and I repeat that it was currently at the platform. I get to the top of the escalator, and ask th Amtrak employee if the New England train is still there. "What train number?" he asks, and ass I'm digging up the PDF, he follows with "The Boston train? It's just left.". So aggravated, I go to the service counter, and explain my predicament. For a small fee, I can have a ticket on the next train to Boston, but that wasn't arriving in New York until the next morning. I go on Greyhound's website and search for options. The first is to go to Washington Heights to catch a bus at 8:10. I instead decided to catch an 8:30 bus out of the Port Authority terminal at Times Square. While the it was probably far more dangerous decades ago, the Port Authority bus terminal was still pretty seedy. I was approached by two prostitutes and some guy who wanted substantial tips in exchange for directions when he had no idea which berth my bus was going to. I ended up having to ask people in each line if they were on the Boston bound bus because the bus driver for the only bus clearly indicated for Boston was very clear about his bus not being the right trip number. Finally on the right Greyhound, I embarked into the night. I was using backup battery packs to give my phone any electricity that it could have. Condensation regularly had to get cleared off the windshield, making a long trip longer. With nothing better to do, I wrote a first draft for a blog about how this was a "dry run" in my Lagerfeld quest. I get to South Station in Boston at 1:20 in the morning. Not having time for two subway lines, I ran to Dowtown Crossing to catch the last Orange Line trip of the night. The train paused at Tufts Medical Center for 10 minutes just in case anyone else need to catch the Orange Line, and I was wondering why the T was making such a concession there and not earlier on the route. Doubtful about available buses, I was preparing to walk home from the subway terminus at 2 AM if I had to. There was one bus left, which continued to wait for another 10 minutes in case there were stragglers wanting that bus.
At 3 in the morning on a Sunday, I was eating a dinner from Amy's Kitchen while watched a DVR'ed episode of the Nanny. Completing the taxi cab LEGO kit, I was trying to figure out when to make a second attempt at seeing the Lagerfeld Exhibit. With more prepared planning and time management next time.
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