Tag: Exploring New York City

Day Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Artist Party-Ruth Asawa-Member’s Night at the MoMA November 22nd, 2025

Day Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Artist Party-Ruth Asawa-Member’s Night at the MoMA November 22nd, 2025

The front of the Museum of Modern Art on 11West 53rd Street

https://www.moma.org/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60763-d105126-r1040038069-The_Museum_of_Modern_Art_MoMA-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

There is always a lot of excitement when a new art exhibition is ready to open. It is even better when the museum opens it to its members first before the public gets a glimpse. It gives a chance to see the exhibitions before it opens to the public.

The long line of MoMA members waiting to get into the museum for the opening night of Artist Ruth Asawa’s exhibition

I noticed this year especially and right before Thanksgiving, all the museums are throwing open their doors for Member’s Nights. I have been invited to five Members Nights at museums all over the City. You can’t attend them all.

The excitement the museum creates for these evenings

Video of entering the museum at the start of the opening with 80’s Japanese Pop Music

I think in an economy like this, these Members Nights are one of the best ways to engage with the membership for both donations and renewals of memberships especially before the holiday season. Plus it gives the members a wonderful night out to see the exhibitions ahead of time and enjoy the evening after a long week at work.

The opening of the Ruth Asawa Retrospect

Artist Ruth Asawa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Asawa

Home

The biography of the artist and her works

https://www.moma.org/artists/21-ruth-asawa

Biography of Artist Ruth Asawa:

(from the Museum of Modern Art website)

Born on a farm in Southern California, Asawa began her arts education when she was a teenager and she and her family were among the thousands of persons of Japanese descent who were forcibly incarcerated by the US government during World War II. It was at the internment camp that Asawa began taking classes in painting and drawing. After her release, Asawa studied to be a teacher but was unable to get a license because of her Japanese heritage, so she enrolled at Black Mountain College, an experimental art school in North Carolina. Asawa took classes from and worked alongside fellow artists Josef Albers, Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham, and R. Buckminster Fuller. Black Mountain was also where she met her husband, the architect Albert Lanier.

I loved her wire woven sculptures.

The wire woven sculptures were the standouts of the exhibition

I thought these were a unique design

I liked here colorful paintings, these are of her child’s footprints. I loved the idea that her children were involved with the art

The patrons enjoying the art

The display of the wire art

The displays were impressive and graceful

The colorful faces looked tired

The look of nature in the wire art in the form of trees

I loved her works of food

At the end of the exhibition and the evening, I joined everyone on the main floor where the bar and gift shop were located. The main floor was the busiest part of the museum. I wondered if some of these people even went upstairs to see the exhibition or just stayed downstairs to socialize.

The main floor of the museum is always packed with people

Share in the excitement of the Membership opening

These evenings always get my mind off the stress of life. It is nice to just be in Midtown Manhattan and be in the moment. It is nice to see art, hear music and walk through the museum.

Third Shearith Israel Cemetery 98-110 West 21st Street New York, NY 10011

Third Shearith Israel Cemetery 98-110 West 21st Street New York, NY 10011

Third Shearith Israel Cemetery

98-110 West 21st Street

New York, NY 10011

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2260432/third-cemetery-of-congregation-shearith-israel

Third Shearith Israel Cemetery

Open: Closed to the Public but you can see it from outside the fence.

The Cemeteries of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue Shearith Israel

My review on TripAdvisor:

Closed to the public

The cemetery sits behind the former ‘Ladies Shopping District’ department stores

The front of the cemetery

When I was finishing my walk of the streets of Lower Chelsea, I came across this quiet and respectful cemetery in the middle of a busy neighborhood. This small graveyard was the third of series of moves that Shearith Israel made to bury their dead since the original cemetery open on the edge of what is today Chinatown.

Like its earlier counterparts, the cemetery is locked to visitors. So you can only admire it from a far. The graves date back to the early 1800’s.

The History of the cemetery:

(From the New York City Cemetery Project and Find a Grave)

This cemetery is located on 21st Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, in use 1829-1851. Shearith Israel, the first Jewish congregation in North America, was formed in 1654 by Spanish and Portuguese Jews who journeyed from Recife, Brazil, seeking refuge from the Inquisition.

The entrance to the cemetery is always locked

The sign for the cemetery

While New Amsterdam’s city fathers did not recognize freedom of worship, they respected the Jews’ right to their own consecrated burial ground. Shearith Israel purchased the cemetery plot on West 21st Street in 1829 for $2,750. It, too, was on the outskirts of the expanding city, which for sanitary reasons had prohibited interment below Grand Street after the yellow fever epidemic of 1822.

The view of the cemetery from the fence

In 1832 the congregation bought land extending the cemetery east to Sixth Avenue and south to 20th Street. Fifty years later the land was sold to Hugh O’Neal, who built a dry goods store there. Shearith Israel used the cemetery for burials until 1851.

The graves are from the early 1800’s

That year, New York City prohibited burials south of 86th Street and the establishment of any new cemeteries within city limits (Find a grave.com).

The side section of the cemetery and pathway

The view of the cemetery and its quiet respect to those buried there

The history of the Cemetery from the Congregation of Shearith Israel The Spanish & Portuguese Synagoge website:

According to rules of ritual purity, Cohanim are prohibited from coming into contact with the deceased (except for their immediate family.)  This means that ordinarily Cohanim cannot participate in any of the mitzvoth related to burial.  One particularly commendable priest, Mr. Lewis I. Cohen, realized that the consecration of a new and unused cemetery afforded him an opportunity to participate in a mitzvah usually off limits to Cohanim.  So it was Mr. Cohen who volunteered to dig the first grave for the first burial of the new cemetery in November 1829.

Some of the notable persons laid to rest in the 21st Street cemetery were Moses Levy Maduro Peixoto and Isaac Seixas, ministers of our congregation, and Harmon Hendricks, founder of one of America’s first great industrial companies and whose descendants are still members of our congregation today. Perhaps the most influential person to be buried in the 21st Street cemetery was the great Jewish diplomat and proto-Zionist, Mordecai Manual Noah.

In 1851, the city prohibited burial in Manhattan below 86th Street.  Rather than continue to look north (as Trinity Church did), the Congregation searched outside of Manhattan for its next burial ground.  Together with Bnai Jeshurun and Shaarei Tefila, the congregation purchased a large plot of land in Ridgewood, Queens.

Day Three Hundred and Fifty-Five Private Members Morning ‘Oasis in the City’ tour at the MoMA August 9th, 2025

Day Three Hundred and Fifty-Five Private Members Morning ‘Oasis in the City’ tour at the MoMA August 9th, 2025

The entrance to the Museum of Modern Art 11West 53rd Street in New York City

https://www.moma.org/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d105126-Reviews-The_Museum_of_Modern_Art_MoMA-New_York_City_New_York.html

The sign for the gardens

What I love about being a member of the museums in New York City is that there is an opportunity to see the museum in the early hours for private events. This morning I got up early to experience Manhattan on a spectacular sunny morning for the event ‘Oasis in the Garden’, a talk on the design, purpose and art in the MoMA outdoor garden.

We met inside the museum before the tour

Since the museum opened at 9:30am and there was no one at the museum at that hour, we had the outdoor garden to ourselves for almost an hour and a half.

The outdoor garden at the MoMA at 10:00am in the morning

Our tour guide led about fifteen of us through a history of the creation of the gardens, the purpose in the museum, its renovation in 2004 when I joined and the sculpture in the garden.

She also talked about taking her students here and that some of them wanted specific answers to what the art meant rather than forming their own opinion. It is funny how I see this in my own students.

What I liked about our tour group was that it was an older, very educated crowd of people who brought different opinions on how the art we were seeing should be thought about. From the time the artist created it to it modern interpretation by the ‘politically correct police’, I was amazed by the other members take on each piece of art.

The gardens are a refuge from the noise and crowds of the museum and the City

Video of the fountain

The Albert Giacometti ‘Talk Figure III’

Each piece of sculpture we touch upon was chosen specifically for the gardens and we talked about its place from when it was made to the modern interpretation and how they differ. Our first discussion was about the Albert Giacometti sculpture ‘Tall Figure III’. Some people talked about hunger and the stance on poverty. I asked if her students had different thoughts of the statue when it was made versus today.

She explained everything is seen differently through the artist’s eyes versus the modern I perception. It was hard to compare the two opinions without a debate. I thought today’s students needed to lighten up a little and stop taking art at face value and just enjoy it. The context of work over a hundred years ago is very different from how it can be looked at today.

We had time to talk and relax between art pieces and I swear the sound of the fountains relaxed me so much I almost feel asleep.

The fountains were so calming that morning

Video of the Japanese fountain

The August’s Rodin ‘St. John the Baptist Preaching’

We talked about the religious standpoint of the sculpture versus its place in modern society. I thought it was a naked guy hitchhiking. It’s funny how you see art.

The Jacques Lipchitz ‘Figure 1926-30’

With the ‘Figure’ many of the member talked about their interpretation of the modern take of Cubism and some members asked about whether these were arms and legs or something else.

The back of the gardens

The back of the gardens were so peaceful. I stood back from the tour so I could just hear the water rumble.

The Henry Moore sculpture ‘ The Family Group 1948-49

We discussed the modern family unit of today versus when the sculpture was created.

The back of the gardens

The Henri Matisse ‘The Back (III) 1913-16

The Aristide Maillol ‘The River’

We talked about the fall from God. One person said it looked like someone was tripping into the fountain. I thought that was clever.

The Jean Dubuffet ‘Study for Tower with Figures’

This was the last figure we discussed and we were asked as a group what was the first thing that came to our minds when we saw this. I said ‘Juxtaposed’. So much going on and a lot being said. We talked about children and their make up in the family unit. How they change things.

I have to say that I saw the art in a different light this morning. It was interesting to hear the artist’s interpretation versus what members thoughts were on what the art meant. I thought it was a good take away when we finished the tour. There were so many interesting opinions on the art. What I liked was the weather was so amazing, and it was so nice to be outside.

The garden as the public entered later that morning

I know I got a lot out of the tour. It’s always nice to see different points of view of what the art means and how we interpret it. This is why it is fun to be a member of the MoMA. It’s nice to see the museum when it is quiet and you can just take your time.

The gardens really are an “Oasis in the City”.

Coney Island History Project c/o Deno’s Wonderful Wheel Park 3059 West 12th Street Brooklyn, NY 11224

Coney Island History Project c/o Deno’s Wonderful Wheel Park 3059 West 12th Street Brooklyn, NY 11224

Coney Island History Project

C/O Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park

3059 West 12th Street

Brooklyn, NY 11224

https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/

Open: Sunday-Saturday 1:00pm-7:00pm (summer months only-May 24th-September 1st)

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60763-d4777489-r1014119112-Coney_Island_History_Project_Walking_Tour-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The front of The Coney Island Project

I came across this interesting museum/gallery when I was walking around Coney Island. The museum is a few small rooms located in one of the buildings in Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park. The museum is not related to the Coney Island Museum on Surf Avenue.

The small gallery space has a wealth of information and some interesting artifacts on Coney Island’s history both past and present.

The main room had artifacts and pictures of Coney Island’s past amusement history. There were many photo’s of the old parks, especially Steeplechase Park before its closing in 1965. It shows its development, growth and changes after the 1907 fire that destroyed the park.

There was all sorts of artifacts from that time as well as the former Astroland that was replaced by the new Luna Park. If you know the history of Coney Island, this can fascinating to read.

The second room had the later history when the Island’s amusements fell into disrepair and the whole island seemed to fall apart. The pictures show a very run down Coney Island.

The outside pictures show Coney Island in its heyday when during the 1930’s and 40’s before and during WWII, the island being a place of relief for so many New Yorker’s especially the working class.

The inside of the gallery

The main gallery

The Steeplechase Exhibition

Coney Island in ruin in the 1970’s

The history of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park

The display outside the museum

The mechanical display that sings and dances

The Miss Coney Island robot is a throwback to old technology and campy robotics that is fun to watch. For a quarter, you can take an interesting video with this robot.

The Deno’s Map of the park

The history of the park

The History of the Museum:

(From the Coney Island Historical Coalition website)

The Coney Island History Project’s 2025 exhibition center season begins Memorial Day Weekend with a combination of free indoor and outdoor exhibits.  Visitors to the exhibition center are invited to take free souvenir photos with Coney Island’s only original Steeplechase horse, from the legendary ride that gave Steeplechase Park its name, and the iconic Cyclops head from Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park’s Spook-A-Rama, Coney Island’s oldest dark ride. 

The real Midway

I took pictures after the Mermaid Parade and showed how busy the amusement section was that day. There is so much potential to update the amusements and modernize the area with new rides and concessions. There is so much that can be done here. I already see new luxury apartment buildings being built and the revamping of the main shopping drag.

The Boardwalk at the end of the evening.

The Coney Island Boardwalk at twilight