Grand Central

Yes, below is a photograph of Grand Central Terminal in New York City. This is the one Cornelius Vanderbuilt plunked down for all to admire. It is a handsome structure, one used by literally millions of people every week.

Grand Central straddles Park Avenue. A taxi traveling north or south must go around the building. Just a few blocks north is the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. To the south is more of Manhattan. The trains coming and going from Grand Central connect the city not only to the suburbs, but to the world. Let’s go inside.

This is the main hall which now features a couple of good restaurants from which you can have a nice meal and watch all the people. Naturally on the next level down is a massive news stand, a bookstore, as well as several other shops. On the lowest level, where passengers actually board trains, there is a food court with seating, sanitary facilities, and a few other things like shoe-shines stands and such.

Back up at street level you will find this market on the east side of the building.

It is hard to walk through here without getting hungry. There is a butcher, a fish monger, several bakeries, Murray’s Cheese shop, fruit stands, flower seller, a few prepared food vendors, and a deli counter. And it smells great in there, a true culinary delight, with the most difficult part being the decision on what to have for dinner.

Grand Central is one of the crown jewels of New York City. If you plan to visit, put a stop here on your itinerary. Not only is it a magnificent building, it is also a way to experience the vibrancy of the city. The people here are on the move. They have places to be and things to do. Their energy is contagious. And if for no other reason, it’s a great place to have a snack or an ICE COLD Coca-Cola. Enjoy it and all that New York has to offer.

Published in: on July 3, 2008 at 12:04 am  Comments (1)  
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One Place to Write

As a film student at New York Unviersity’s Tisch School of the Arts, I had the opportunity to live in New York City. Of course, New York offers more chances at success and failure than perhaps any other place in the world (maybe Hong Kong has more of both). This is one of the unique aspects of the place that makes it attractive to people the world over.

Well, a friend of mine graduated from another program at NYU (not film school like me) and went to work for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. I went to visit one day and was given a private tour of the kitchens, the ballroom, all the behind the scenes stuff that goes on at a hotel. There’s plenty the guest never sees and that may be a good thing. By this time, I was writing steadily and one of the places I used to write was at a table in the Park Avenue Lobby. This area was called the Cocktail Terrace. Here’s what it currently looks like:

Not the greatest photo but the little round table there to the left of where that man is sitting used to be my regular spot. I was not yet twenty years old, but had a few decent suits and would put one on and go up town with my notebook and pen to scribble as long as the words kept coming. That piano in the frame was given to Cole Porter who used to have it in his suite. There was drink service and I consumed my share of Maker’s Bourbon and club soda at that table. A waitress named Gretchen used to enjoy the bits of stories I told her.

Here’s a longer view of the terrace:

The bar used to be in the back there. One of the fun things about sitting here was all the people watching. Well known people and strangers alike would come up those stairs from the Park Avenue entrance. It was possible to watch them without them watching you. Some of the things that happened after midnight were highly entertaining, if not a bit unnerving.

On the floor in the middle of this space is the Wheel of Life Mosaic, which was actually covered up for many years, until the entire hotel was remodeled in the middle 1980’s. Here’s a look at it:

It is worth a visit if you’re passing through town, especially given that many of the old style hotels like the Waldorf are going modern and losing this kind of older elegance. Some of them have become condominiums so they’re basically private residences.

For many years my mother was a florist and she loved to look at the flower arrangements in the big hotels. Here’s a look at what the Waldorf put on the day I took this photos:

Yes, they’re real and fresh and updated constantly. One more reason to pass through this lobby on your way through New York.

I’m grateful to my friend for allowing me to pass many nights at the Cocktail Terrace, and also to the management who never seemed to mind that I was there with my pen and paper. The stories I wrote here have yet to make it into print. They’re stashed away in a stack of scrawled notes. There’s some gems in there, I just have to make the time to mine them out.

Do you have a favorite lobby? Perhaps another space where you think or write or create? Let me know.

Published in: on July 2, 2008 at 8:42 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Church of the Vera Cruz, Segovia

Just down the hill from the center of Segovia, Spain, you will find the Church of the Vera Cruz. This twelve-sided church was built by that zany bunch known as the Knights Templar. To say they got around back in the day is perhaps the understatement of this blog to date. Whatever their secrets, causes, or acts, the Knights Templar built quite a few structures. Here is a view looking down at the chruch:

The church sits there on the hill, by its lonesome. It was alleged to have a piece of the true cross, hence the name. It is a Romanesque structure with heavy walls, small windows, and regular arches. The tower stands to the south.

What impresses me about this building and many others like it, is the durability of it. It is more than 800 years old and there have been quite a few wars, disasters, and plain old decay over the centuries. Yet the building remains. Surely it has been repaired along the way, but for the most part, it looks as it would have to the people who built it. They modeled it after the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which speaks to a certain continuity of thought that spans the extremes of the Mediterranean.

How many things are built in our time that will last this long? I understand the need to make improvements. However, once in a while I find myself wondering if constant architectural regurgitation doesn’t detract from a sense of community and permanence. Just one of the things I ponder now and then. Maybe you do the same.

Published in: on July 2, 2008 at 12:42 pm  Comments (2)  
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Belmonte Castle, Spain

Belmonte Castle (Spain) might have been taken from a story book. Or, perhaps it is the other way around. Whatever the case, this place gives the impression that the middle ages are not yet over. Here’s a first look:

The crenelated ramparts, the towers, the long walls down to the village, all lend themselves to medieval impressions. The best part is, you can walk right to the base of those walls, stare up, and wonder what kind of nerve it took to attack such a place. Madness perhaps?

I’ve never been inclined to write about this era. There are plenty of novels set in these times in various locations. Most of them don’t interest me. I’d like to read a book about building castles the way Ken Follet wrote about building a cathedral in Pillars of the Earth. That would be an interesting story. Here’s another look that shows most of Belmonte:

As you can see, there are multiple layers of defense, a gatehouse, a keep, all the trappings of a well designed fortress. It is compact, making it easier to defend with a smaller force. This castle, like so many of them, sits at the top of a hill and overlooks the town and surrounding plain. It would be a challenge to sneak up on this place. Again, I’m not interested in someone pouring boiling oil down on me. I’ll hold off until the battles over and the celebration begins.

In another post I’ll show the castle at Ballesteros de Calatrava. Stay tuned.

Published in: on July 1, 2008 at 3:30 pm  Comments (2)  
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