May 2024 – Page 2 – Judy and Valerie On the Road

Walking along the Street

So many images that are so familiar from films (click on images to enlarge)

I found these a strange sight but you see loads of them in New York – vertical car parks. The cars go up and down.

Knish is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish snack food consisting of a filling covered with dough that is typically baked. In most traditional versions the filling is made entirely of mashed potato, kasha (buckwheat) or cheese. Schimmel’s also sell them filled with beef,chicken, sweet potatoes, black beans, spinach or various sweet fillings including apple strudel (Valerie’s choice).

Cannabis became legal in New York for over 21s in 2021 and there are many shops selling it. But … items on the local news indicate that there has been an increase in people over 65 being admitted to hospital with symptoms relating to smoking ‘weed’ – it’s so much stronger than it was ‘back in the day’!

Tenement Museum

Rogarshevsky’s apartment

We found our visit to the tenement museum at 97 Orchard Street in the Lower East Side fascinating. It was home to an estimated 7,000 peoplefrom over 20 nations between 1863 and 1935. The five-story tenement was built with 22 apartments, each consisting of just three rooms, and housing what was often a large family. We had a very good guide who showed us two different apartments, furnished as they would have been at the time. She told us about the lives of the two families:

A Russian Jewish family called the Rogarshevskys who lived in the building in the 1910s and an Italian family, the Baldizzis who lived there in the 1930s . The building was empty from the 1940s but in 1988 it was turned into a museum. The founders of museum advertised in the local press to find people who had lived in the building and managed to track down the daughter of the Baldizzi family and record her memories. We listened to some of the recording which was wonderful to hear.

Afterwards we wandered round the Lower East side and Harriet showed us the site of her father’s store there. She also showed us the famous Jewish knish shop, Yonah Shimmels and Valerie had her first knish.

The High Line

This is a high level pedestrian highway running north-south through west Manhattan. Originally it was a railway line whose trains carried meat, produce and dairy products into warehouses and factories. Now it’s a walkway with gardens planted amidst the old railway lines, and sculptures along the way. You can walk through gardens, view art, experience a performance, savour delicious food, or connect with friends and neighbours -all while enjoying a unique perspective of New York City.

Whitney Museum of American Art

We again walked down to the south end of the High Line to the Whitney Museum. There we met Harriet and entered this fantastic gallery. We were especially lucky as they were showing their Biennial 2024. (click on the photos to enlarge them)

Even Better Than the Real Thing.

Suzanne Jackson made these suspended paintings without canvas, slowly building up many layers of acrylic, detritus, gel medium and objects from the natural world including seeds from her garden. She says “I don’t call it collage because … it’s all paint – acrylic on acrylic. And it’s suspended: paint suspended in space….”

In Kiyan Williams’s outdoor sculpture Ruins of Empire II or The Earth Swallows the Master’s House, the north facade of the White House leans on one side, sinking into the floor, and is composed of earth. If you look carefully you can see that the flag is upside down – this symbol is used by people who believe that Trump did not lose the election.

Hopper

The museum had a great collection of paintings by Hopper.

Meeting the cousins

Harriet, Judy and Ellen in Washington Square

Harriet is my 2nd cousin – her grandfather and mine were brothers and Ellen is the next generation down. We spent the day down in Greenwich village where Harriet lives, having brunch, looking at family trees, chatting in Washington Square. The park was full of young people in brilliant purple gowns who were celebrating their graduation from New York University.

We also went to the Grey Art Museum where there was an exhibition of American artists who had gone to Paris after WW2. The GI Bill enacted in 1944 offered ex-servicemen a pathway to college, including an option to study abroad and many American artists took up this possibility.

Travels in America 2024

We’re off again on our travels but this time without the van.

During lockdown I got my DNA done and through that discovered that I have cousins in America. My grandfather came to London from the Crimea in the 1890s with his father and two brothers. In 1907 one brother (my great uncle) went to America with his wife and four children. The two sides of the family lost touch but these cousins are his descendants. Some live in New York and another in Los Angeles. So we’re travelling to the USA to meet them.

We’re away for a month, staying first in New York, then Los Angeles, then we’re renting a motorhome to have a leisurely drive up the Pacific Highway and finally staying in San Francisco.

Wow what an adventure!!