I’m probably going to be in NY close to Christmas with a couple of days to fill while my wife attends a conference (en route to the UK for a knees-up with the extended family in Ireland).
What should I try to do – with wood-working or tool-making in mind?
Malcolm
Replies
Malcolm, First, Google up Garrett Wade For directions and large map to their store at 161 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)(Corner of Spring Street) It is roughly in lower Greenwich village close to Chinatown ,Little Italy, Holland Tunnel and a short walk from my favorite destination ,Canal Street You'll need a pocketful of quarters to ride the busses,
Their store (161 6th Ave,)is in a large white industrial building with a wide set of stairs at it's entry.
(Can't miss the large '161' lettering atop the Facade.) When you reach the lobby, just look to your right and there's a short stair up to their Mezzinine showroom/sales counter'
Lots of free catalogues, a selection of end cuts of rare wood.. ie: ebony,teak,walnut etc.Their showroom displays some of the finest wood working machines and tons of gorgeous hand tools from Europe and US manufacturers
Canal Street, has tons or shops selling surplus tools/hardware/plastics/ metal goods/electric and electronic supplies.
Walk a few blocks south to get to Canal turn left (east) and there are stores all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge on both sides of the broad street
As you approach Center Street, turn left Center and Lafayette street is home to all manner of Machinery.
You're in the Chinatown/ Little Italy area now . Don't miss 'Vincents' on Mott Street (The best Calamarri and shrimp purveyor in the US of A For dessert, (And espresso)walk two blocks east to Ferrara's for Cannolis, Rum Babas, and my favorite,Sfogliatella
Steinmetz
Edited 8/2/2006 12:17 pm ET by Steinmetz
Edited 8/2/2006 12:23 pm ET by Steinmetz
Stein,
Is Delancy St. of any value for Malcolm? Also, do you know if Steinway does tours...of there cutting edge turn-of-the-century production facilities...that's 1900 not 2000.
Delancy Street is famous for delis, bargain clothing shops (Open Sundays) and pickles. No woodworkSteinway has a beautiful showroom (Glass enclosed)on West 57th street and is open to small visitors. The vaulted ceilings are a joy to behold. In their basement repair and restoration shop, they employ master finishers. Also have special rooms for piano tuners and the occasional Maestro who'll practice on his own instrument in the acoustically sound room. Many's the time,I have observed their craftsmen hand lacquer and french polish Grand and Baby Grand pianos and perform various restoration work on keyboards and do soundboard restringing The whole workday is continuously filled with the cacophony of tinkling ivories. That whole district is replete with other piano showrooms and music salesrooms (Their being close by Carnagie hall and The Metropolitan)I,ve had to do lots or restoration in that building (One of New York's oldest) Their two massive sliding pocket doors at the building's entrances and all the interior showroom doors were in seriousl disrepair
The basement floor is paved with thick blocks or 2x4x2-1/2" mahogany pavers (to ease the movement of the pianos. They once had on hand, a large crate full of those blocks for replacements. I used to turn chisel handles from them
Back in the eighties, The building's owners were instrumental in being the first to allow placement of a pair of caged Peregrene Falcons on their roof with the help of student volunteers and (I think,)Columbia University. They nurtured several young chicks and were successful in transplanting several others atop other high buildings in the city' I remarked to the building manager that that was a very thoughtful and
'altruistic'thing for the owners to do.My friend, (the manager,) lowered his voice and in a 'sotto'voice said, "Yeah, sure....?" "They only did it to rid the building of those ^&*$%&g pigeons wholive off those horse droppings over on Central Park South!?Steinmetz Edited 8/2/2006 5:00 pm ET by SteinmetzEdited 8/2/2006 5:11 pm ET by Steinmetz
Edited 8/2/2006 8:17 pm ET by Steinmetz
Stein,
"My friend, the manager lowered his voice and in a 'sotto'voice said, "Year sure.... They only did it to rid the building or those ^&*$%&g pigeons from those horse droppings over on Central Park South!"Now, there's the NY I know and love....lol...it's all how you spin it
Aint Knots just wonderful!
Not only do I get an up to the minute guide, with a personal invitation to visit, but I get social history, a walking guide, and some advice about where to get good coffee!
Any further advice much appreciated. I'm busting to get there!
Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
Malcolm, Don't visit NY unless you patronize the hotdog venders (they are all over) A word of advice: Only buy Sabrett hot dogs. never on mondays or before one PM other days avoid thosae streetvenders who park their wagons atop a storm drain grate sewer) ask for mustard and krout
or mustard and red onion sauce. Watch when he serves others first observe the thickness of the dogs some are little thicker than a fountain pen. Move on to another who has plumper dogs (Tube steaks)In NY, we call them "Dirty water dogs" Some unscrupulous venders start out the morning (about 11/30) and unload the previous days leftovers until they are sold before loading in the fresh stuff. The stuff they foist on you on monday is called "Road kill" Steinmetz.
On the carts do they sell the natural casing or the skinless?
Since the house is on fire let us warm ourselves. ~Italian Proverb
I think natural?? On Sabrett
Steinmetz and others,
I'm pretty sure that GarrettWade has moved. I went there in the spring and found them packing up. I don't know where to.
DR
I absolutely recommend spending time at the Metropolitan.
The Garrett Wade Store is gone,
The Machinery district on Canal Street is Gone.
We are the only Tool store in about a 200 mile radius. You can come visit. Goto the metropolitan Museum for the best furniture collections you will see almost anywhere. joeltools for working wood
27 West 20th Street Suite 507
New York, NY 10011m-f 10:30 - 6:00
If you like Arts & Crafts....
http://www.stickleymuseum.org/
Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Go to the Met Museum and check out the furniture. You will not be sorry....
Go to the Metropolitan Museum and see the furniture, also the marquetry rooms
Go to Katz's Delicatesson down in SoHo and get the pastrami on rye (Oy!) and a bottle of Dr. Brown's. Get into an argument with one of the cooks there.
Go to Orchard St (Near Delancey) on Sunday to get a hint of what the Lower East Side was like 100 years ago
Eat at #11 Mott St in Chinatown, Hong Ying Rice Shop and order the Lychee Duck...it's not on the menu
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhatten to God's country (ya doity bum ya...) If ya get to the old neighborhood, watch the kids play stickball
While you're in Brooklyn and if you have the $$, go eat at Peter Luger's and have the porterhouse MR. You will remember that the rest of your life.
Spend an afternoon uptown at the Cloisters
Sit in Peacock Alley at the Waldorf and sip your coffee and watch how the other half lives
Stand at the front window of the front car of the #4 train as it sails from 14th to 42nd and just watch.
Do these and you'll start to understand what makes a NY'er
If it is woodwork you are interested in, don't forget the bars. I haven't been in NYC in years, but I was always awed by the wooden bars in various drinking establishments. Cedars Tavern on University Place stands out in my memory as a fantastic example. Exquisite craftsmanship, carved gargoyles, etc. Or maybe I was just a bit sozzled. But checking out the woodwork is a good excuse for barhopping as any.
If you have about 3 hours for a meal and your cholesterol is in check, look up Sammy's Famous Romanian Steakhouse. You will leave well stuffed and very entertained. If you don't mind crowds go see the big tree in Rock Center. And if you still need something to do, let me know and I'll get you a backstage tour at a broadway show.
Andy
"It seemed like a good idea at the time"
AndyE,
If Malcolm takes you up on the backstage tour...and he's at Rockafeller Center...it won't take a minute to stop at St. Pat's and light a candle...he may need it....lol
We'll probably be staying at the 'Hilton New York Hotel & Towers located in the heart of Manhattan at 1335 Avenue of the Americas', which is where the conference is located, does that help the NY experts with advice?
Malcolm
It's right in the heart of the midtown - go west to eat decently. It's a block from both the musuem of modern art and the Crafts museum and walking distance to all of midtown, the park and the theatre district. and right next to the subway. Take the f train from right near the hotel downtown to 23thrd street and 6th ave and we are only 3 a/2 blocks away. ( you can walk it but it will take about 40 minutes but it's an interesting walk.
Thanks
Looking forward to my first visit to NY.
Once got a close as Washington DC!
There's an outside chance I'll be in New Jersey early in 07 as well, but that'll be a different story!
Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
You'll be at the corner of 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas)Walking east to 5th ave will take you to St Pats also the whole Fifth Avenue shopping experience: Saks Fifth Avenue,Godiva chocolates,Trump Tower, Tiffanys, Van Cleve and Arpels Going north (to 59th street' you'll find The Plaza hotel It's on Central Park South.A gentle stroll through the lobby will open into The Palm Court. (An elegant indoor old world cafe Take your camera Sit under the palm trees and order tea and cakes You won't believe the choice of treats they wheel in on their dessert cart. Walk all around the lobby and on one wall hangs the famous oil painting of Elloise ( The imaginary pretty girl who supposedly haunts the plaza and reportedly plays tricks on the hotel staff) Directly across is the beginning of Central Park. There's the famous enclosed Carousel and skating rink Close by is the Zoo, where you can rest your feet and watch sea lions cavorting in their outdoor pool.
Have a great trip and take pics Steinmetz
Edited 8/5/2006 11:07 pm ET by Steinmetz
THe Plaza is closed - being turned into condos.
Didn't Eloise haunt the Pierre??? (I could be wrong having never read the book - the Pierre is still around tho)ps -don't waste your time on Godiva - if you like Chocolate there are several boutique chocolate houses that are not mass market like godiva and really something.
testtest,
"Eloise" was the Plaza, there was a made for TV movie about 50 years ago. I still recall her birthday presents..full dress harley, a free standing one-way sign, etc.
Malcolm,
Stop in a restrauant around there for breakfast and it'll cost about $10. Across the street from the Hilton is a street vendor(So. of main entrance) with great coffee and H&H bagels for dirt cheap...and your wife gets breakfast in bed.
"THe Plaza is closed - being turned into condos."
Oh lord....say it ain't so. I used to frequent the Oak Room. What's next, The Waldorf converted to a new Disney paradise?
THe oak room might survive. there was a big preservation fight and I think the lower public floors will remain but I am not sure.
Make sure you go to Dim Sum Go Go. Walk along Canal to the Bowery. Turn South. It's several blocks down, on the left. When I lived in NY, I could get there with my eyes closed. Well, not quite, but I have to admit I didn't know the address, so I looked it up. (See below). This place has some amazing dumplings and a seafood soup that I'll never forget.
-Andy Dim Sum Go Go
5 E. Broadway, New York, NY 10038
between Catherine St. and Chatham Sq.
VT Andy, I remember Chatham Square when there was an overhead elevated Railroad Station and platform above the 'Square'
Great tall copper rooved stairways down to street level.
That was one of the elevated stations of the old Third Avenue Railway As a kid (8ys old,)I used to get on the 'Third Ave El'in the Bronx, and for five cents , ride the old wooden trains all the way to South Ferry at the foot of Manhattan then back,on the same nickle.The old cars would shake and rattle like a Toonerville Trolley.
The seats were bright bamboo colored rattan or wicker(Resembled buttered corn on the cob.
I preferred to stand in the first car and stare at the view out the open doorway (had a chain across it to provide some safety.Actually, if you knew all the 'transfer' stations, you could ride the whole subway system on that same nickle All the way out to far Rockaway even To Brooklyn and Queens. The Old Third Avenue El was torn down in the 50's, but I and tons of New Yorkers rode the trains on the last day/days on the commemorative farewell tour. Even today my wife recalls that ride because I took her along on one of our first dates. She thought I had gone 'off the deep end' Still does 51 years later . Steinmetz.If anyone remembers seeing the movie with Ray Milland en titled,
'LOST WEEKEND'you'll recall him playing the part of a down and out 'lush' scopeing out the pawn shops along the Bowery with the rickety sounding El trains passing overhead. The sunlight and shadows flickering to the pavement in a weird staccatoI,particularly Enjoyed peering into the many second floor windows of all the Bowery 'flop houses' where if the weather was too cold a bum could rent a 'stall' for a quarter. Fleas and bedding (Straw) were free )Edited 8/6/2006 3:00 pm ET by Steinmetz
Edited 8/6/2006 3:10 pm ET by Steinmetz
Steinmetz,
So I guess you've never had Dim Sum at Dim Sum Go Go?
-Andy
Andy. I lived and worked in New York over sixty years. I must confess, I've frequented Chinatown many times (although I'd never heard of Dim Sum until 1980)
When visiting Boston and Cambridge Mass, (My eldest son attended MIT) Ed Jr, directed me and his mother to a beautiful oriental restaurant in Lexington Mass one Sunday, for Dim Sum.( Seemed all his friends prefered to eat soul satisfying hearty meals early Sundays before the tourists arrive.
Since it was barely noon time and not being ready to experiment with rice and soy and the usual MSG loaded ("One from column A and Two from column B" )fare, I finally succumbed to his glowing descriptions of those steamed cakes filled with tasty morsels of 'lord knows what'What a pleasant surprise! Ed ordered a selection of his favorites for all of us to sample. I wolfed those puppys down. The baskets kept coming, one after another and we washed it all down with rivers of hot tea.
It was well after Ten that evening before I even thought of eating..By the way, we supped at Legal Sea food, when back in Boston.Tell the truth, that was the first and only time I enjoyed that treat. I live in Connecticut and I know of several Dim Sum eateries nearby, but can't tempt my wife or any of friends to 'take the plunge' Steinmetz !Edited 8/9/2006 1:10 am ET by Steinmetz
Edited 8/9/2006 1:17 am ET by Steinmetz
Hi Steinmetz,When you're next in the city with your wife or friends, Dim Sum Go Go would be a good place for them to start -- no "mystery" ingredients. The restaurant is the result of the collaboration of Chinese restauranteurs and a French food writer. The Dim Sum dumplings are filled with very very tasty and fresh ingredients that are listed exactly on the menu. So, it's not "traditional" Dim Sum, but it also isn't Americanized. It's the Dim Sum equivalent of a diner that serves your hamburger on a roll that is actually good bread. Hard to describe but you have to taste it to believe it.
Perhaps after they enjoy a meal or two there, they will be ready for the "real" Dim Sum houses up the street. (I still refrain from the chicken feet when they come around with the carts!).Cheers,
Andy
Chicken feet??So that's why I grew feathers and get up at the crack of dawn! Ed from Ct.
Actually guys - and I KNOW this way off topic - I once has chicken feet at a Chinese restaurant in Northern Malaysia, and they were very tasty! Along with the softshell crab and seafood caught from the tanks right there in the room!
Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
Those chicken feet in the tank were food for the crabs silly
My eight year Grandson loves chicken nuggets but I've've often told the kid that chickens don't have nuggets (Or fingers). Once when headed out to McDonalds, he told his mom to buy him chicken Nuggets,I whispered in his ear that there's no such thing.He then shouted to his mom, " Grandpa said that chickens don't have nuggets" Before my daughter could reply, I said, "Well....some of them do!"
My daughter, (who was driving,) had a snorting fit.
Steinmetz.
Edited 8/14/2006 1:47 am ET by Steinmetz
To be a woodworker and not visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art would be a crime. Check with Steinway Piano, they give tours, but they are generally booked months in advance for a group tour (I know, I've done it), but they might have an opening. You could drive out to Southampton, and it's a loooong drive, to check out the Pritham and Eames Gallery.Food? Depends on your budget: For steaks, nothing on this planet beats Peter Luger, one in Brooklyn, one in Great Neck, and you better make a reservation days in advance, and no credit cards. Go to the TKTS booth in Times Square and get half price tickets for Broadway and off-Broadway.
Daryl, The TKTS booth is not in Times Square for the time being. It has been moved a block south and a half block west into the tunnel of the Marriott Marquis. I know this because I have to wade through the crowds to get across the street to work. The plan calls for the booth to be back up and running in the old location by the holidays, but those of us who watch the daily progress are sceptical. And any one who goes to buy tickets at TKTS should keep in mind that it is CASH ONLY.AndyAndy"It seemed like a good idea at the time"
One thing to keep in mind also is that on this side of the ball, during the holidays, we get winter. Bring the gloves and galoshes. Snow in the city looks pretty 'til the first flake hits the ground. After that it becomes the sort of grey slosh you imagine goes down the drain in a restaurant kitchen sink.Early one day take a walk around the windows of Macy's on 34'th St. There really is no good time to look once the windows are up and running. Chances are during the holidays, in one stroll around that block, you will see more people than live within a hundred miles of your mailbox in NZ.So what is the conference for?AndyAndy"It seemed like a good idea at the time"
The conference is "Emergencies in General Practice". My wife is a General Practitioner/Family Doctor - not sure what the American equivalent is.
http://www.symposiamedicus.org/calendar/bro1013/schedule.htm
Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
I think the equivalent here is GP/FD also.Does she know anything about thyroid disorders? Just had my neck dissected on Tuesday due to a papillary carcinoma.Sounds like a fun conference. I can see the need for activities of your own while she is busy.
Andy"It seemed like a good idea at the time"
Malcolm,
She'll be rolling her eyes quite a bit with those presentations. Great technical stuff, but, I'll bet not one of the presenters has ever built and managed a primary care practice....or else every topic would include a large portion on treating the mother of the patient...lol.
THIS is one of the absolute best times to be in NYC. If you like art, go to the Musuem of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Consider attending a New York Philharmonic concert at Lincoln Center. No matter what, attend at least a few Broadway musicals. I love walking around Rockefeller Center, seeing the tree and St. Patties. Window shopping is a blast. Go to the Radio City Music Hall for the "Christmas Spectacular" which you will love. It you are lucky, you might be able to attend Tuba Christmas which is annually performed on the ice at Rockefeller Center. Additionally, go to the top of the Empire State Building -- awesome!
Finally sir, if you run out of things to do in NYC, take a Metro North train up to the scenic Hudson Valley. I will pick you up in Poughkeepsie and show you the Vanderbilt and Roosevelt Mansions and we will lunch at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.
Sincerely,
Jim of the Town of LaGrange
PS Forget too many NYC hot dogs.
I grew up in New Jersey. My advice is to spend as little time in New Jersey as possible.
On a more positive note, I lived in the area in the 1970's, and NYC was a real pit back then. Now, the city is a wonderful place. I couldn't believe when I stepped into Grand Central Station a couple of years ago: it's been restored to an incredible state; 'almost worth the trip to NYC just to see it.
And as others have said, the Metropolitan Museum is one of the world's great treasures, up there with the Louvre in Paris and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. I had the priviledge of going to high school just a few blocks away. It''s an amazing place.
Edit: For basic conference-attending cities. NYC is one of the good ones. As the "city that never sleeps", there's plenty of things to do once the day's work is done. Just hope your wife never drags you to a conference in some place like San Jose. Those Silicon Valley workaholics roll up the streets by 10 pm!
Edited 8/13/2006 5:43 am by BarryO
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled