Manahatta week two

At the TKTS booth, Times Square

MONDAY

Chad, Rob, and I had a quick visit at Tommy's office, where we collected some theater tickets, then crossed the island to Lincoln Center for a farewell lunch with Art and Paul. Afterwards we walked across The Park, pausing at the skating rink. There was talk of a glass of wine or so at The Plaza, but I advocated for The Pierre. When we walked into the lobby on the side street, the greeting at the reception area was smiling, cordial and enthusiastic at a level that I wouldn't expect anywhere. The service of a glass of wine, a glass of water, and a glass of champagne was memorable, including some tasty complimentary nibbles ( "Festive Olives",  Russet potato chips, and chunks of Parm ). Picture the waiter, smiling, holding a tray with three glasses and two bottles. The glasses are placed, and each bottle is on the tray so that he can pick it up and present the label to the appropriate person.  He then serves it while the other bottle is still on the tray. Graceful, casual and precise and not a penny more than one might pay anywhere north of 14th Street.

By this time of day there was already considerable talk about the next snow storm coming in so that by the time we got to Buyer and Cellar for the 7:30 show Chatt determined it would be best to drive home to Boston after the show.

Buyer and Cellar, by the way, is hilarious. Michael Urie's performance as Barbara Streisand, her gate keeper, James Brolin, himself as the "storekeeper" in Bab's basement mall, and as his very gay boyfriend was a marvel to behold. As much with the shape of his body as anything, he moved from one character to the other in a schizophrenic second. Those in need of a good laugh should proceed directly to the theater. 

The Boston bound duo dropped us off at Katz's for a second go round of pastrami and half-sour pickles.

TUESDAY - SNOW DAY

A day of continual snow and wind kept us close to home, so I tidied up the first week blog, watched a little internet-tv, and kind of huddled close to the space heater while Rob too a series of naps.  By the time it was dark we made our way to East 12th Osteria where they were very glad to see us because all their reservations had cancelled. 

The snow had stopped but the wind had picked up and the temperature dropped by the time we started our  7 block scurry home.

WEDNESDAY - FREEZING COLD DAY

By morning it my car looked like this.

After spending some time in the morning trying to staunch the river of very cold air coming through the air conditioners at the front and rear of the apartment, I suited up and swept the very fluffy snow off the car. The good part of the snow was that there was just enough to cancel alternate side of the street parking for the rest of the week, so I didn't have to move the car from right in front of the apartment until we left town.

Early in the evening I headed uptown for a bit  of socializing. First to Jim and Nancy. for a quick drink and chat about all things New York.  I didn't include their last name because one fun part of the conversation was Jim confirming and adding to the idiosyncrasies of Miss Streisand, he having been to the Malibu digs and walked around the property with HER.  I wouldn't want him to be sued. 
It's been a very long time since I was in an apartment building elevator with two little perches in the corner to rest on the way up and a begloved operator who stayed at the 11th floor with me until Jim opened the door. The fire in the fireplace made the already spectacular view across the park  just a bit more so. 

After far too little time as far as I was concerned, I had to head out to meet up with Tommy for dinner and catch-up chat at his favorite Italian eatery,  Restaurant Gennaro. It's interesting how many small to medium-sized restaurants are now operating on a cash only basis. This place and Katz's are two that come to mind.  Hundreds of people spending $20 -$200 is a lot of cash.

THURSDAY

When I lived hereabouts in the 70's and 80's The Russian and Turkish Baths, sometimes called the 10th street baths, was for men only with the exception of Wednesday after noon and some other time. Now it's coed except for a few times a week. Thursday 12-5 is men only. This place is and always has been far from glamorous. Plywood on poured concrete for the benches in the Russian room which is so hot you have to constantly pour buckets of very cold water on yourself and keep the top of your head covered with a wet towel. Why this feels so good, I don't know, but it does. There are four other smaller rooms with different degrees of temperature and humidity and icy plunge.  By mid-afternoon the place was very busy with all kinds on men, some just like the ones who where there long ago, Jews with peyos hanging ( one had his head shaved except for those curly-cues ) , enormous highly muscled, clean shaven younger men speaking Russian, and a few neighborhood regulars  of a philosophical bent. There were also some new types; a few magazine model beauties,  a demi-celebrity ( Pauli Shore ), and some fairly flamboyant gay  men.  Picture a slim 5'6" man with a towel  turban , arms outstreched like wings, as he crosses the room full of mostly naked men, greeting his friend with the four syllable version of "Hi" ( Hah-y-ee-ee!)

A couple of hours and three or fours cups of sweat later, we headed over to B & H Dairy for a bowl of soup and some challah. The Lower East Side still provides lots of opportunity for living the village life in the city, by which I mean that, among other things, you can have conversation with the shopkeeper or the cook at the grill. For instance, when Rob asked for water with no ice, the guy behind the counter returned and announced, "Ice with no water, right?" or when we were nearing finishing, Rob spoke to a different person, "I'd like to take this with me." "Go ahead." was the reply. Rob complained that the knife didn't match his pattern but that we did need a salt shaker, etc.

It's always important to have a nap either after The Baths or before The Opera. We did just that for both reasons.

Rob, and certaily I, had never seen Rusalka and so off we went. I know now that Disney gave the same story a happy ending in The Little Mermaid. It is indeed pointless for me to offer critical comment on anything that happens in that house. Opera is notoriously ridiculous in the realm of realistic stories and this one was no exception. It's nice to know what they're singing about and amazing to think of everything behind it,  but it's the singing itself that really puts you over the top.

It was late enough by the finish that we had little choice but Fiorello's again, but that's really not such a bad thing.

While trying to help Rob with some function on his flip phone, I encountered the word "prepend" as one of the options. Do you know what it means? I looked it up then and have already forgotten.

FRIDAY

The first order of business was a couple of hours at the Metropolitan Museum. We made three displays our agenda.
The American West in Bronze, with the Charlie Russell's and the Remington's and such. Having spent a fair amount of time in a house loaded with Russell's work, it was interesting to see it in the context of others.
Jewels by JAR, After 30 or so precious-stone encrusted forms from nature my eyes started to glaze over from all the twinkle.
The Refusal of Time, a mutli-media William Kentridge installation which continues to provide food for thought. Nancy recommended this one and I'm certainly glad she did, because I never would have even thought of going.

Another walk across the park, this time from East to West, got us to lunch and chat with Stephen Pascal, who was a good friend of Uncle Richard and who edited The Grand Surprise, which included a fairly large number of letters to Richard. Stephen worked with Leo Lerman at Conde Nast for many years, so his take on what's going on is always very entertaining.  We were sworn to secrecy for some of the details. It's always a delight to spend some time with him.

We rushed downtown and back up, got to the theater early and adjourned to the Hyatt bar over Times Square to have a drink and wait for Tommy to join us for Pippin. If you can't enjoy yourself at this show, you need to adjust your meds. It can actually be said that there is something for everyone. It's English Pantomime meets Cirque d' Soliel on Broadway.

A return visit to Sardi's for a nibble put the cap on a fine NYC day.

SATURDAY

Another lazy start to the day and then up to Lincoln Center to meet up with Josh and Danny for a screening of Stranger By The Lake. OK, gay themed movies at art houses and high-culture movie venues have been around for a while. But ECUs of organs inserted and a money shot left me at Lincoln Center...this was something new. Aside from the shock to the above, which, BTW, was totally appropriate for a story set in a gay cruising spot, this is a very interesting movie. Josh pointed out that it  probably met the criteria for a Dogme 95 movie, meaning no artificial light, no music unless it would be part of the scene, no sets, no tracks for following, and quite a few other rules. The wind was musical and the sound of breathing was terrifying.

Danny had work to do, so the three of us stepped into Bar Boulud, more to get out of the snow than anything, and had a snack while we talked about the movie.  

By the time we were ready to make a transfer at Columbus Circle, Rob realized that he had left his bag somewhere, probably at the theater.  Happily it was at the snack counter when we got back and then we changed plans and decided to walk down to the TKTS booth at Times Square, but by the time we got there all the shows were ones we had seen.

We stopped by Veniero's to pick up some treats for the road, and after all the walking and the weather finally decided to just do a little cheese/cracker dinner at the apartment accompanied by some TV sort of stuff.

SUNDAY

Rob returned to the Russian and Turkish baths for the morning men-only hours and I bought us some tickets for a matinee of The Glass Menagerie.

While Rob had his post baths nap I did a tour of the neighborhood wanting to revisit a few places from times long gone by. The line at Russ and Daughthers, if you can call 25 people smushed into a tiny space holding their numbered tickets for sevice a line, propelled me directly back on to the street. Moishe's Bakery is still there. If you enlarge the picture at the link you'll notice how derelict the building is. But the goods are still the goods. Again in the realm of village life there were several amusing conversations between Moishe, the owner and customers. The best of these as follows. Customer speaking to a clerk, "Could I have a pound of those cookies?" Moise, from around the corner, " You could have a pound and a half." My hopes for challah French toast at B&H were dashed by the wall of people waiting for at stool. For those who know or remember it, the entrance to The Saint is now an Apple Bank lobby.

The Glass Menagerie a perfectly suitable last event. The set, even before the play began, told the whole story, the outline of the apartment floating on a black pool with a Caligari fire-escape providing all the exits and entrances. It made our mezzanine seats even better. The performances were all that you might expect from top-tier actors, even if some might quibble about interpretation.

We got back downtown in time for prix-fixe dinner at Lanza's, which is as close to the dearly departed Luna as any restaurant you might find. Kind of beat up interior with a big menu of delicious food.

MONDAY

We did a final loop down to Houston, picked up a couple of Pastrami sandwiches for the road and an assortment of smoked fish from Russ and Daughters before I dropped Rob off at JFK and hightailed it down to Hyattsville for a couple of days with Joe and Tom.

I hope you enjoyed the ride......I certainly did. Now I'm looking forward to letting my credit cards cool down a bit.