New York, New York – Part 1

Last year I returned from a remarkable and invigorating few days around St. Patrick’s Day (17^th March for those who don’t know!) in what we must now consider the Big Green Apple. I had been in New York City four times before (lastly in 1984) but always connecting or briefly on visit and had never gone just as a visitor. What a visit this turned out to be, made special by some special friends and reunions not to mention the present wife who had never been there and was wide eyed at the scale and bustle of this unique city!  Indeed so enjoyable was the 2012 trip that we retraced our steps this year to NYC for a second St. Paddy’s Day including a Sober St Paddy’s Day. Keep reading, New York, New York, a city so great we visited it twice!

The Irish tricolour on the mast of The Empire State Building

A suitably illuminated  Empire State
Building on St Patrick's Day

First we had to get there. Now many years ago I boycotted British Airways, after they left me stranded in Dublin for three days, but for this trip the boycott ended as we were flying on a BA 747 from Terminal 5 across the Atlantic. It is with a heavy heart I have to concede BA and their terminals were somewhat superb. Terminal 5 worked a dream even though it repeats the basic BAA mistake of being an overpriced shopping mall with an airport attached. Arriving in JFK BA’s Terminal 7 was calm, well run and relatively small scale. It was far better than I remember Terminal 4 where the Aer Lingus flights arrive with its larger scale and long immigration queues.  These days getting into USA is no mean feat – strange as 9/11 exposed that 20 people used rubbish security on INTERNAL flights to do their dastardly deeds so the  response by the Bush bureaucrats who couldn’t see a Mack truck coming at them was to tighten security on EXTERNAL flights. In the immortal word of one H. Simpson of Springfield, DOH!

Still, as the shambles of British Immigration and border controls continues it is worth making a comparison with the way the US knows what it’s doing as much as the UK has not got a clue. In fairness it is done efficiently and with indefinite visas cancelled (such as the B1-B2 I had!) they now charge you $14 to file your ESTA form online – a gesture which really says “Welcome to America!”  Immigration is now efficient and largely automated, neither was the case the last time I went in. The investment in technology shows as you are now digitally photographed and finger printed on entry in in less than a minute. In defence of the US at least the know who has gone in and have their photo, ID and accurate details (from ESTA) and as they clock you out they know exactly who is in, who is out, who has overstayed and can ID them. Contrast this with the UK and its laughable Border Controls which actually do none of the above? The other thing about US immigration law (if you are not a citizen of God’s own country) is everything is on the basis of strict liability. In other words one false declaration (hence the tedious ESTA stuff asking if you were a member of the Nazi Party, participated in genocide, intend to commit an act of terrorism (!!!), etc.;) and you are kicked out, no ifs, buts or maybes. There would be no question of arguing that you have established a right to family life in the US because you have a pet cat, as an illegal immigrant successfully argued in the UK!

The Light of Liberty enlightening the World

British Airways at JFK goes into Terminal 7 which is fairly compact and new compared to what I remember as the bedlam and chaos of Terminal 4 where I (and half of the Caribbean and South America!) used to arrive on the Aer Lingus flights. From JFK to downtown Manhattan is 45 mins on a good (non rush hour) day and the fixed taxi fare is $45 plus tolls and a tip, say $55 - $60. As two in an uncomfortable (and not very accessible for those with mobility issues) minibus would cost $38 plus tip, the cab wins on convenience and door to door service with luggage for only a small premium.

"Imagine" The Strawberry Fields memorial to
John Lennon in Central Park

The Dakota Building

Coffee New York style!

The Garment District

The first sight of Manhattan from the expressway into town never fails to seduce. The skyscrapers lit up at night across the East River are one of the iconic enduring images of our world and what an amazing island Manhattan is. Only 13 miles long and 2.5 miles across at its widest point Manhattan means the “hilly island” in the Algonquin language.  It is only at the northern end of the island you get the idea the wooded hilly place seen by the first settlers from Holland who founded Nieuw Amsterdam at the southern tip of the island. This was a commercial venture by the Dutch East Indies Company which also commissioned one Henry Hudson to explore the North West Passage to the Indies. He travelled up the river now named after him believing this led to another sea. A not unreasonable assumption as the “Hudson River” is in fact a deep fjord and contains salt water for its first 150 miles.

It is the island of Manhattan set in one of the world’s greatest natural harbours which made this place so coveted as the gateway to the Americas and in 1664 the British Colony of New England to the north annexed it from the Dutch and named it after the 17th century Duke of York, James Stuart, future James II and VII of England and Scotland. The Dutch were allowed to stay and continue trading and their names are preserved in Harlem, Brooklyn, The Bronx and the street named after the defensive wall they built, Wall Street. The river is also the secret to New York’s economy. The entry point to the huge interior of America was up the Hudson and across to the Ohio River on the Erie Canal from which you could connect to the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas and Red River basins. Hence the financial services to support a merchant economy began in New York as well as all the other supply functions such as clothing as exemplified by the Garment District.

St Giles The Court Hotel in Murray Hill, Midtown East

We were lucky in our choice of a base in the Big Green Apple; St. Giles The Court on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 39^th Street set in the somewhat happening area of Lower Midtown known as Murray Hill. The hotel is well located within walking distance of Grand Central Terminal, the Chrysler Building and Fifth Avenue. More importantly the immediate area has a good selection of restaurants, diners and convenience stores, some of which open 24 hours.  What attracted me were the room sizes having stayed in some rabbit warren hotels in NYC in the past. Originally opened as part of the fashionable “W” chain its rooms are larger than average at around 400 ft2. Each room comes with the same basic amenities, including a 27-inch flat-screen interactive TV, comfortable pillow-top mattress, luxury linens, down pillows, luxury toiletries, bathrobes, a mini-bar, and 24-hour room service.  Our room had a great view of the Chrysler Building and a walk in closet and dressing area as well as an ensuite. The bed was huge and probably the comfiest I’ve experienced in a hotel and along with a proper sitting area it provided a relaxing base for six days. Along with the in-room amenities, there is a cafe downstairs called Icon that serves breakfast but we didn’t use it instead going to Blooms Diner at the next corner.

The view from our room: The Chrysler Building

Grand Central Station

There is a very snazzy reception area and the desk staff and Concierge were friendly and helpful, with 192 rooms St Giles The Court is small scale and restful, not like the railway station concourse feel of some of the larger hotels.  The Court Bar is billed as a meeting place for movers and shakers with a designer ambience and windows onto Lexington Avenue. It cites some celebrity customers such as the purple artist formerly known as Prince but the night we were there it had young self-regarding New York lawyers in trying to tell the girls what super jocks they were. Not a pretty sight. It also has a sister hotel next door, St Giles The Tuscany where the bar is called Audrey’s as Audrey Hepburn lived in the area and was an habitué. There is a business Centre in The Court and a Gym in the Tuscany available to residents of both hotels. There is also a Beauty Spa as part of the Court which also does hairdressing and the usual laundry, room service and so on. The location, large rooms, small scale and helpful staff made it a good and relaxing place to stay in this hectic city.

Meeting the Irish Wolfhounds who lead the Parade

The next morning it was the main event, St. Patrick’s Day, an event which is older than the United States. The St. Patrick's Day parade was first held in New York City on 17 March, 1762 when Irish soldiers with the British garrison marched through the city fourteen years before the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Today it is the largest parade in the world. The first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York was held on lower Broadway in 1762 by a band of homesick Irish ex-

Mike Bloomberg, Mayor of New York

patriots and Irish military who served with the British Army stationed in the American colonies. This was a time when the wearing of green was a sign of Irish pride and was banned in Ireland. The parade participants revelled in the freedom to speak Irish, wear the green, sing Irish songs and play the pipes to Irish tunes that were very meaningful to the Irish immigrants who had fled their homeland. We had a great viewing position at the start at the corner of 47 th Street and 5th Avenue where we met a number of wonderful Old Hibernians who filled us in on the spectacle.

A spectator in full regalia

For the background to St. Patrick see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/st-paddys-day-blog.html

The iconography of the Parade is revealing. When the great wave of Irish migration to the United States started after the Potato Famine the Irish flooded into New York having first having to go through quarantine and vetting at Ellis Island.

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/gorta-mor-irelands-great-hunger.html

Penniless and without connections they settled in the worst area of New York, the notorious Hell’s Kitchen, now renamed “Clinton” by that never knowingly undersold group, The NY realtors. They suffered discrimination and worse, for this was the era of NINA, No Irish Need Apply.

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/no-irish-need-apply.html

Little by little, like so many immigrant groups before and after, they dragged themselves up and fought back. In days when strikes were broken up by Police and the hired thugs from the Pinkerton Agency the Irish were at the fore of the organised labour movement, the took part in politics aligning themselves with the Democratic party and they joined the Police and the City administration, often in the most menial roles but working their way up. They allied themselves with other groups, particularly the Italians as they went to the same schools and churches and they joined the Union Army in their thousands to fight in the Civil War against slavery and for a land which had rejected the rule of a British King and asserted “that all men are created equal.” Soon the Irish made themselves part and parcel of the story of America to the extent that over 40 million Americans claim Irish heritage. So here in New York there are no floats and displays but the emphasis is on the people marching and their achievements. So you get the Police Forces, the NYPD, the Colleges, the county associations, the Irish Bands and Dance schools, the historical societies, the fellow Celts from Galicia, Brittany and the Basque Country, The Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Emerald Societies and much, much more. And in this, the 252 nd year of the Parade, all these associations and the Mayor of New York, Mike Bloomberg, the 17th richest man in the world, parade before the Cardinal Archbishop who reviews the Parade on the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

The Parade Grand Marshall

South Street Sea Port

The wonderful book commemorating the
250th St. Patrick's Day Parade

The iconography is clear, the Irish may have been treated with scorn by the WASP establishment when the fetched up on these shores but slowly and surely they have taken Manhattan and then some. After 9/11 the Parade was rededicated to the heroes of that day and for me the most moving spectacle is the fire-fighters of the NYPD carrying 343 Stars and Stripes, one for each of their comrades who died on that fateful day.

New York Firefighters carrying 343 Stars and Stripes - one for each of their comrades who perished on 9/11

After the Parade we went to a remarkable and hopping event a “Sober St. Patrick’s Day Celebration.” At Regis High School on East 85^th  Street. As well as great musicians it had contributions by Fionnula Flanagan, acclaimed Irish actress, Malachy McCourt, actor and author, Tara Conner, Public Advocacy Consultant for Caron Treatment Centers and Former Miss USA, Noel Kilkenny, Consul General of Ireland, and many others. I was delighted to catch up with an old buddy from Bolton Street College over 30 years ago Pat Carroll who was there with his wife Joan Burton, the Irish Minister for Social Protection who spoke at the celebration and sagely observed it was an idea whose time had come.

“We’re not anti-drink, we are anti-drunk ” The audience at the Sober St.Patrick's Day celebration in Regis High School.

Ruth Riddick at the Sober St Patrick's
Day Celebration NYC

http://www.soberstpatricksday.org/

Sober St. Patrick’s Day began in 2011 when William Reilly, an Irish-American television producer, attended the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City. As he looked out onto the crowd, a young twenty-something man’s outfit caught his eye. His green shirt read: “ST. PATRICK’S DAY TODAY, HUNGOVER TOMORROW.” Reilly decided to approach him – politely asking where he bought his shirt. Beer-in-hand, the young man responded, “In my local mall in New Jersey. Isn’t it cool?”

The sober party in full swing

Writer Malachy McCourt regaling the
Sober St. Pats party goers

After nearly losing a family member to alcoholism, Reilly didn’t exactly see it as “cool.” Surely this man wasn’t the only person in New York celebrating the holiday in such a way, but there was something about this encounter that resonated with Reilly. Disappointed with how the Irish were being portrayed, alas, this was the moment that Sober St. Patrick’s Day was born. Aiming “to reclaim the true spirit of the day and to change the perception and experience of what St. Patrick’s Day can be,” the inaugural event began in 2012, drawing nearly 800 attendees to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day the sober way. This year in 2013 the event has grown so the original party was sold out with an overflow party also taking place and events taking place in other cities, not just in the United States, but across the world. This step change is due to the great energy and vision of the organisers including my good buddy Ruth Riddick who is the organisation’s Development Director.

Next morning we met for that great New York tradition Sunday Brunch with some good buddies Jessie, Ruth and Yvonne in the fashionable Chelsea eatery, Cafeteria. A popular celeb hangout in hip Chelsea this eatery is open 24/7 and I can heartily recommend the Smoked Salmon Benedict washed down with at least one Jalapeño Bloody Mary! Breakfast of Champions!

http://www.cafeteriagroup.com/

Washington Square, Greenwich Village

Ladies who Brunch

Cafeteria, Chelsea NYC

That night we went to an amazing trad session in “Alphabet City” in the East Village hosted by Tony de Marco and among the musician dropping in was Sean Keane from the Chieftains! It was all the more enjoyable for being in the company of our remarkable friend Jessie, no mean singer herself who we had last met in O’Donoghue’s in Merrion Row. Located on 11th street between Avenue A & B, the 11th street bar is open every day until 4am with Happy Hour from 4pm to 9pm every day ($2 off everything). 11th St. Bar is available to host a variety of events, such as live music, poetry readings, pub quizzes, live sports and birthday parties. Live Music with no cover charge from 9pm-11pm every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and also their famous live Irish Seisiun every Sunday starting at 10pm.

http://www.11thstbar.com/

http://tonydemarcomusic.net

The craic in the 11th St Bar. Siobhain Butler dancing,
Sean Keane from The Chieftains  (who had played Carnegie
Hall the night before) on fiddle

The next day we strolled a couple of blocks from our hotel which brought back memories of my first night in America in 1981. For on that occasion I had a somewhat distorted view of America for I stayed at 301 Park Avenue within walking distance of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Rockefeller Centre. That address is better known as the famous  Waldorf –Astoria Hotel and I was stunned at this 48 storey Art Deco landmark. I stayed in the Towers and before I got to enjoy the wonderful vistas from our room at the “top of the house” you experienced the basement car park with its wall-to-wall limos and its lift which could take Franklin D. Roosevelt’s car directly from the platform at the adjacent Grand Central Station as he went to the Presidential Suite where all US Presidents stay when they are in New York. Then you had to walk through six lobbies to get to the huge reception (the hotel has 1,450 rooms) where by tradition all reception staff are mother tongue French speakers. Only then did you go to the room in the Towers to enjoy awe inspiring views of Manhattan.

The lobby clock, Waldorf Astoria

“Basildon Room”, Waldorf Astoria

There is a local connection with a stately home near us Basildon Park. In 1929 when the Waldorf-Astoria was rebuilt the owners bought the contents, including the panelling of the Ballroom of the house and many of the decorative fittings can now be seen in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York where fittings and wall panels from the house form the “Basildon Room”.

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/basildon-park.html

For me I have always loved the fact that the great American songwriter Cole Porter lived in a suite at the Waldorf for over 30 years. His piano is in the lobby and to this day the hotel only permits Cole Porter’s music to be played on it.

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/well-did-you-evah.html

Monday and Tuesday was taken up with the “tourist stuff” doing an excellent 5 ½ hour tour in a small bus with the guide walking you to the sites at the stops with OnBoard Tours and that evening going to the “Top of the Rock” at the Rockefeller Centre for amazing vistas of NYC at night. On Tuesday we did the wonderful Circle Line Cruise for 3 hours around the island of Manhattan with a wonderful commentary by Mike, a captain on the line and author of several guides. Afterwards the magic of Macey’s, which despite the hype is like a Museum of Retailing with poor customer service values and a Visitor Desk which conspires to be as unhelpful as possible to visitors!

Rockefeller Centre

The new World Trade Centre rising above New York

Ellis Island

Fred Koch's New York residence at 6 East 80th Street, just 

off 5th Avenue on "Museum Mile " opposite the Metropolitan 

Museum. The centre "McCann" House was 

(March 2012) on the market at 90M USD

Brooklyn Bridge

On Wednesday we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art one of the World’s great repositories and around the corner on East 80^th Street to see 3 of New York’s finest Townhouses built by Frank Winfield Woolworth for his three daughters. Designed by Charles P. H. Gilbert they were built from 1911 to 1915 on East 80th Street. These were for his three children: Edna (Mrs. Franklyn) Hutton, at 2 East 80th; Helena (Mrs. Charles) McCann, at 4 East 80th; and Jessie (Mrs. James) Donahue, at 6 East 80th Street. The Donahue house is owned by Frederick E. Koch and it has a seamless addition on the top, designed in the 1990s by the architect Charles T. Young. The centre "McCann" House was (March 2012) on the market at 90M USD. 

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/villa-torre-clementina-roquebrune-cap.html

Afterwards we headed down on a balmy day (not typical March NYC weather) to Greenwich Village where I fulfilled a quest by paying my own personal tribute to Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo in Jones Street, Greenwich Village NYC. Suze Rotolo  appeared with Dylan on the cover of his breakthrough album “Freewheelin' Bob Dylan” walking down a snowy Jones Street in Greenwich village and he wrote "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time." about her.

Freewheelin' DaithaiC paying his tribute in Jones Street

Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo in Jones Street,
Greenwich Village

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/suze-rotolo.html

Then it was over on the subway to Brooklyn to see Manhattan for the last time from the historic district of Brooklyn Heights before heading for JFK and home.

More on forthcoming Blogs on Sober St. Patrick’s Day, New York Redux, New York Eats and much more. Stay tuned dear Blogistas!