Something to Declare

Special Post

November 3, 2023

It’s a cliché that New Yorkers see and do less in New York CIty than tourists. Odd, since we seem to be saying “been there, done that,” when we might not have really been there or done that, or at least not recently.

So for my 74th birthday (today) we decided to treat the week as a sort of vacation, as it were, abroad at home. (Stef insists that I note that “abroad at home” is not a politically-incorrect reference to herself.)

Our chosen celebration venue was the restaurant Robert, on the top floor of MAD. For you out-of-towners, “MAD” refers to its location atop the Museum of Art & Design at Columbus Circle. No reservations available for either November 3 or 2, so we went on Tuesday evening, October 31.

Yeah, Hallowe’en. Which made for an interesting walk from 72nd Street to Columbus Circle. (Dodging hundreds of trick-or-treaters of varying sizes, like bumper cars). My costume? Button-down shirt, slacks, sport jacket, and leather shoes I haven’t worn since Covid, back in 2020. My doorman asked if I was going trick-or-treating (funny guy). I replied, “Yeah, I’m going as an ‘adult.’” Stef also very grown-up, in a nice dress and shoes that she reported were not nearly as comfy as her “Allbirds.”

The restaurant was lovely (thank you again, Natalie!), with wonderful views of Columbus Circle and Central Park.

Dinner was outstanding: Shared crab cake appetizer, scallops for Stef, pork for Stan, and we split a dessert (as shown). We questioned the sommelier about a white wine that would complement both scallops and pork, and he suggested the Sancerre. Good choice.

Continuing on with the birthday festivities, my son Matt took me on November 1 to dinner at small, excellent Indian restaurant in Brooklyn.

On Friday, November 3, my official birthday, our tourism extravanganza went into high gear. This morning, we set out on foot for the Met through Central Park. The walk was beautiful, including some Fall(ing) Foliage.

Central Park was in the process of being set up for the New York City Marathon (on Sunday, November 5), including lots of fencing, detours, and a medical tent.

Got to our destination, the Met, and we were lucky enough to gain almost immediate access to the superb Manet/Degas exhibit.

That was the good news. The less-good news was that the place was a literal mob scene (which we should have expected, actually). So our perusal of the art was on an eclectic, pragmatic basis: Whatever painting didn’t have a crowd around it.

Learned a lot about these two guys, the most memorable being that Degas tended to have the subjects in his portraits in a seated or reclining position, and that Manet’s were usually shown standing. An exception would be
“Olympia:”

Another interesting factoid is that Manet used the same models for a number of his works. The two ladies shown above were portrayed in at least two other works, both clothed.

Manet and Degas both loved horses and horse racing. Consistent with the sitting/standing dichotomy noted above, Degas’ horses were shown standing around before the race started, while Manet’s were shown at full gallop.

For our birthday lunch, we dined at Sarabeth’s on Central Park South:

Crowded and tourist-y (What could you expect? And we were playing tourists after all.) Delish mushroom scramble with a popover for Stan and a tasty egg-white omelette with spinach and a puffy English muffin for Stef.

Lunch ended in time for a brief stroll through the still-elegant Plaza Hotel:

and a floral photo op:

Right outside the Plaza, we met up with our Untapped New York walking tour group, and set off on the “Gilded Mansions of Fifth Avenue” excursion.

Our guide, Richard, was full of info, and there were vigorous discussions about the second season of The Gilded Age. Turns out that the Van Rhijn family was Old Money, like Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, while the Russell family is a stand-in for the Vanderbilts (New Money).

Those were the days! LOTS of money to be made and spent, and no income taxes. The older chic areas of town (around 14th Street) were getting crowded in the late 19th century; the squalid Lower East Side had as many people then (around 1.75 million) as the entire island of Manhattan does now. Encroaching riff-raff, you know, and less and less room to build your mansions (can’t have that!). So Mrs. Astor moved to the 30s, and later to the 60s.

We were told that, while Mrs. Astor did get somewhat accommodated to the New Money, she would not tolerate the presence of any Jews (the very thought!) in her exclusive 400 Club that constituted “high society”. Wonderfully ironic, therefore, that her east 60s home was eventually razed and replaced with Temple Emanu-El.

The Fletcherson-Claire mansion was built around 1900 in the “Vanderbilt Gothic” style. It’s now the home of the Ukrainian Institute of America on East 79th Street:

We also saw the home of the Duke family, of tobacco fame. When we got to the 80s, just south of the Met, Richard told us about the retail magnate, Frank Winfield Woolworth, who had three daughters, Jessie, Helena and Edna. He wanted to keep them close. So, right around the corner from his own mansion on 5th Avenue, he built three separate adjoining houses, one for each daughter:

What a nice Dad!

We ended up where the day had started, at the Metropolitan Museum. Originally, from 1873 to 1879, the Met had been located on 14th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues. It moved to the East 50s briefly, before settling in at its current location at 5th Avenue and 82nd Street, opening in 1902.

Richard pointed out that this smaller part, with the eight columns shown above, was once the entire museum (which, as we know, has since spread out notably to the north and the south).

Here’s where our tour ended, and where Richard distributed a turn-of-the-century photo of 5th Avenue and the park, looking north, along “Millionaire’s Row.”

I hope you enjoyed this domestic blogpost. All for now, gang. Stay tuned.