Tag Archives: New York

Train Trip Diary: Philadelphia and New York

I chose Philadelphia (May 5-6) as the stop because of all the large cities in the U.S., Philly is one that I’d never been to. Still, it was a very short trip, basically one day sightseeing in the rain since I spent the second day on a day trip to New York, and only slept in Philadelphia before leaving the following morning.

The AirBnB was on N. 3^rd Street in Old City Philadelphia, just a couple of blocks, literally, from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

After settling into the lovely studio apartment (huge, btw: bigger than my entire apartment here square footage-wise; plus there was a lovely deck for use in back, which I could not use because it was pouring rain!) (see photo below)I had to decide on just a couple of things to do since I had merely one day to see the sights.

My choices were Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, The Philadelphia Art Museum, and the scary Eastern State Penitentiary (the exterior of that building only). I also walked to the Delaware River and out onto the Race Street Pier. This pier might also have been cruisy, or maybe I was just reading that into something that wasn’t there. There were a couple of guys I thought might be cruising there, but did not pay much attention to it as I was out of my element and certainly not ready to act on anything there (most certainly not!). It was a working dock area previously, now restaurants and lofts, art spaces, things like that, reminded me of the Embarcadero in SF, and it also has a massive, very impressive bridge (the Benjamin Franklin Bridge) over the river right there (to Camden, NJ).

My dinner restaurant was the Race Street Café, recommended by Dan, the AirBnB owner. It was a bar with food, but very good food. Being a Friday, at the time I went there was also some after work cocktail hour thing going on, but it was OK for me since the food arrived quickly. I did feel a bit odd being by myself at this happy hour location. Anyway.

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Afterward, we all walked over to the new Whitney Museum and I toured it with Neil Greenberg, some of their Biennial Exhibit. We then walked the High Line but it was cold and windy down there, and Neil had to go home to take a nap before his performances later that night. I went uptown to Central Park and walked around and sat on a bench taking in the city (on Central Park West) for awhile. I walked back to Penn Station and took train back to Philly for the overnight.

Worthwhile to note that although Philly has a gayborhood, I did not get a chance to see it. I think it’s also part of the Center City area but I didn’t get over there. As opposed to my last trip like this at age 40 or so, when seeing it would have been the first priority. Now, not so much. Again, a time and energy thing. Maybe next time. As it was, I only got a rainy glimpse of the city and would have liked more.

Liberty Bell

Blogger at Independence Hall

Independence Hall

Good message for our times/Philadelphia

Rodin: St. John the Baptist

The AirBnB where I stayed/Philly

Celebration I came upon/Philly

Eastern State Penitentiary (can you say haunted)

Awesome frieze at Philadelphia 30th Street Station

View of old Philly from AirBnB window

Blogger (on right) with Neil Greenberg in NYC

View from new Whitney toward lower Manhattan

Another view from new Whitney

View from High Line uptown

Central Park West – where I love to sit on benches and watch NYC parade by.

Joan Arnold, 1920 – 2013

Joan Helen Arnold

Tomorrow — Friday, August 16 2013, we will memorialize and bury my aunt Joan Arnold, who died last week (August 8, 2013) in a New York hospice at the age of 92.

The day before she died she told us that she wanted to get strong enough to return to work: “You know, I’m a workaholic,” she said. A pretty amazing force of nature, Joan had one job – and still had it the day she died – for at least 70 years, all of which were spent at Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Which means she started working for that company – which was only a local bookstore back then – during World War II. She once joked to me that they had to keep her on, at least to shelve the books, because she was the only one there who knew the alphabet, a not so subtle dig at how educational standards have fallen.

A single straight woman who never married and had no children, Joan was always a role model for me as she was so totally comfortable in pursuing her single life in the big city, always fiercely independent, even last year refusing to be walked up to her apartment door by a middle-aged relative. “I do this by myself every day,” she said, adamantly.

She led an enormously busy life as well. A season ticket holder to the Metropolitan Opera, I think she also saved every single Playbill for every play she ever attended – and she went to the theater constantly. Not odd, as she was a former actress and stage manager, having appeared in many Off and Off Off Broadway plays in the 1940s and 50s.

“Rehearsal–Robert Carson, director of the Tophatters, gives final instruction to his leading ladies before curtain goes up … on the off-Broadway group’s presentation of ‘The Wallflower’ at the Central Y. M. C. A., Hanson Place. At left is Joan Arnold. Beverly Zatt, center, plays the title role.” (1952)

One of the things I always admired about Joan was her volunteerism – within the last couple of years, she was still helping out at her church, where she made sandwiches for the homeless, as well as at the Natural History Museum (close by in her Upper West Side neighborhood) where she was working on a project cataloguing local island birds.

In the past, she was honored by former mayor Ed Koch for her work with the blind.

Next week we’ll leave her apartment forever to the NYC rental wars. This is bittersweet. This is the first place I ever stayed in NYC, as an impressionable child attending the 1964 New York World’s Fair, as well as the launching pad for my first solo European trip in 1974. When I visit New York in the future, I won’t have a living relative here, which seems very odd.

Yet Joan leaves an enormous legacy of spirit. I’m always searching for appropriate models to guide me on that future path. She’s always been near the top of that list, and will continue to be. Farewell, Joan. I’m honored to have walked you home.

A little bit more on Joan’s life, from my dad:

Joan was born in Akron, Ohio. The family moved to the New York city area in the 1920s and eventually settled In the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn. Joan graduated from Our Lady of Angels grade school and Bay Ridge high school, and completed her education at Alfred University in upstate New York.

She graduated magna cum laude, majored in English and drama and won her class literary prize. Joan liked to travel. Besides seeing most of the USA, she also made trips to Russia, China and Egypt as well as western Europe.

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farewell

(Services were Friday, August 16 2013 at the Crestwood Funeral Home in New York; burial was at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, NY.)

Just a few words on America’s crumbling infrastructure . . .

Houston train station. Depot is the small building in the BG. This is the only platform. Note crumbling canopy similar to the one in Rochester.

Cleveland Amtrak station, waiting for the train. The depot is a small structure between the freeway and lakeside structures.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/U4CtltBrGyA[/youtube]

I know that infrastructure refers to much more than just train tracks and stations — however, that’s the most recent infrastructure I’ve had the opportunity to take a good look at.

Media is from recent train trip: Crumbling infrastructure all over, but I particularly noticed it in a few areas specific to train tracks, train stations and bridges. I’d have to say that most – but not all – of the train stations east of the Mississippi, from Toledo to Albany, were in some need of major overhauling. One thing I did notice were that the platforms and canopies (see pix and video clip – which I believe is Rochester, New York) are all the same vintage. To my uneducated eye, they look like they were likely built in the 1930s or 40s.

They all seem to be falling apart at the same rate.

One of the most embarrassing stations of all was Union Station in Washington, D.C., which has the same deal with the crumbling platforms. Luckily, they just announced an upgrade is on the way. Imagine you’re a businessperson from Europe on your first trip to D.C. from New York and this is your first impression of our nation’s capital? Kind of pathetic, compared to what you’re used to seeing in Western Europe or Asia.

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For me, the most disappointing of all was Houston, Texas, which is the nation’s 4th largest city, right there behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The Amtrak station in Houston is a garbage-strewn wasteland of one crumbling platform stuck under a freeway. Again, I wonder if Houston’s city fathers and mothers really want that to be the first impression visitors get of their fine town when they roll in on the train?

My point with the post is not to vilify certain cities or regions (sorry Houston and Ohio) but to just point out what’s probably obvious to anybody anywhere in America these days: Yes, our infrastructure is crumbling, and falling behind the rest of the world. We have people who need jobs who could rebuild it; we have money available at the lowest interest rates in decades to finance it.

Why isn’t anyone in our government doing anything about this? Well, for one, I know the Republicans pretty much hate the trains. At least their candidate says he’d pull funding from Amtrak if elected. Yet the trains were full. I’d love to know your thoughts.

Not to be completely gloomy, there were some bright spots: NOLA’s completing a new light rail line, Los Angeles just opened a new light rail line, there were well kept up small town stations in places like Tuscaloosa and Meridian. And, there’s a new intermodal station in Milwaukee.

Amtrak Pass #3: New York and the Crescent Train to New Orleans

The view outside during a big downpour.

Dakota, 72nd and CPW

I liked the look of this store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

View of Manhattan from East River Ferry docks in Brooklyn

Williamsburg Bridge and view of the new WTC building being built (on right)

Another view of New York from Brooklyn

fooling around in the hotel room!

with my friend Neil Greenberg in New York

Waiting for the New Orleans train

Scared straight, I don’t want to be here.

View rolling into Philly station

Birmingham from the train.

I loved the look of this abandoned train car

Interesting building with “roots”

Had a great time in New York seeing friends (including Neil Greenberg, see photo!) and my aunt, though was only there for a couple of days which is too short.

The Amtrak Crescent goes from New York to New Orleans in about 30 hours. Major stops included Philadelphia, Wilmington, Washington, Charlottesville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans – plus a ton of smaller cities. Talk to me sometime about kids on trains, though! Earplugs, a great invention! I will say, though, this train was on time and had the best climate-controlled environment so far on my 30-day pass (read: it was not freezing on this train. Yay!)
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Enjoy the pix and the video – which includes clips from D.C. which include the Washington Monument, Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham (which those of you who know the “Ghost Hunters” shows will recognize) and pulling into Birmingham station itself. I liked that there was a truck parked there labeled “Dixie.” Indeed, I’ve arrived in Dixie. I’ll be here in New Orleans till Friday – more pix and videos coming.

Goodbye to St. Vincent

I’m really sorry to see this NYC landmark hospital close its doors – a beacon to the community for over a century, and also helpful to out-of-towners like me to know when I was in the Village. I’m grateful for the opportunity to include a scene there in “Benediction” — they were the best in fictional priapism treatment!

St. Vincent’s Hospital Closing
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Happy Saturday everyone. I’m starting back at yoga in Palm Springs this morning.

New Gay Filmmaker Group in New York (oh, and Happy New Year, too!)

Hey everybody, happy new year, even that salutation gets a little old after about 10 am on New Year’s Day (or maybe only to those of us with short attention spans?) and it’s already January 2.

I actually went out this NYE, to a bar first (The LA Eagle) and then to a sober celebration just down the street. Now I know why I don’t go out on New Year’s Eve. Truthfully, both venues were fine and each had it’s attractions (the Eagle – lots of hairy, muscular men; the sober celebration, diet root beer, food, and lots of people I knew) but the noise level at both really got to me much more quickly than I thought it would. Luckily, my partner in crime (Harry W) wanted to leave at 12:01 am just like I did so the entire affair wasn’t painfully drawn out.

You’re probably thinking, geez, he’s just no fun AT ALL. Now just calm down. So this post will give you something that does sound like fun:

There’s a new gay filmmakers group in New York. Meeting monthly at the Gay Center there, this nascent group of film artists is looking for a project, and considering several short scripts which have been posted on their site, GayFilmmakersNYC, including one of mine, Hell for the Holidays. You can read a pdf of it there.
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I think it’s a great idea to bring together folks interested in making movies as that world is so incredibly collaborative and it is so hard to get a movie made, even if you have a story, even if you have people, even if you have some money. It’s just like pushing a 3-ton rock up a gravel hill. The group makes it easier, and I’m looking forward to seeing some interesting things to come out of this.

If you’re interested and live in NYC, by all means check them out. I think you can even become a member if you don’t live there, but the interaction would be limited, but it looks like they’re posting most things online, and they’ve got some great referrals, which I only suppose will grow.

The site again: www.gayfilmmakersnyc.com