a view within a view 

the new improved Columbus Circle 

…it’s hard to tear yourself away from endless walking and poking around and looking at ordinary people, going about their business. Like this guy:

a man, a phone, an outfit 

Why use this photo in a post titled ‘immigrant edification?’ Because a lesson learned here is that nonconformity may be the best way to survive mediocrity (not to suggest anything about the stunningly colorful gentleman with the striped sock in the photo). How so? Well, I read in the Washington Post today that Bush, a weaker debater by far as compared to Kerry, may easily “win” the debate this Thursday. Why? Because he has developed his own style of debating, one that breaks all rules of traditional reasoned argument, but one that has indeed served him well in the past. The WPost notes that he has a love of using only one or two syllable words and he manipulates his expressive face maximally to win the audience. The news article suggested that the debates will ultimately push the undecided into one of the two camps. If they do, it will be a push based on style rather than substance. Now that is an interesting lesson for an immigrant like me to learn about the political process.

Thirty-eighth street pre-election diary*

moving down the blocks... 

A Sunday respite! Thirty eight days ‘til the election? Big deal! Thirty-eighth street garment district? Roll out those dresses!

it's all about garments 

It’s morning. Nothing has happened thus far. But yesterday… Yesterday! I walked 5 separate and distinct districts: SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, Lower East Side and the Snootty district.

You’re begging to be asked. Start with SoHo.
No no. Don’t start there. I went there because I wanted to visit Café Café – I have a t-shirt from Café-Café and I am loyal to places of t-shirt-acquisition fame.

Did they welcome you again with open arms?
Err, they were closed for Yom Kippur.

So then?
I ate lunch in NoHo. Never mind that. Let me move on.

Move on then. Little Italy. You seem to love this place. You think it’s like being in Italy, don’t you?
No, without a doubt, today I felt I was on a movie set. It has been said that Little Italy is a dying community – that the vibrant Chinatown is encroaching on blocks that used to be full of cannelloni and amore. But scroll down to the San Gennaro procession below. Does it give the appearance of a dying ethnic community?

enduring ethnic pride 

the Monalisa smile 

No, it looks like the scene straight out of the Godfather. And Chinatown? Does it look like a scene straight out of Chinatown (the movie)?

Actually, on a Saturday, it reeks of fish and other unidentifiable food stuffs. But oh, is it colorful!

always the lanterns 

I like the name better than "Will-Kill" back in Madison 

Then you went down to the Lower East Side. Describe!
Well, first of all, these neighborhoods aren’t as distinct as you would imagine. The overlap is quite evident.

So which is it -- Jewish? Chinese? 

Lower East Side views 

Secondly, guess what the worst day would be to visit Orchard Street, the commercial hub of the old Jewish settlements?

Yom Kippur?
You got it! Brilliant! I was there! All those pickle shops? Closed!

Closed, but one can imagine the varieties  

still a place to shop 

a new pride in an old way of life 

have these changed significantly in the last 150 years? 

Okay, so you saw a neighborhood at peace. That can be rewarding as well.

In the doorway of a Synagogue 

What’s the Snooty district all about?
Don’t make me sound off about the rudeness of people that live and shop in and around Madison Avenue between 59th and 79th. Just don’t make me go there. Even though I had to go there. To make an exchange of a bag (not mine!) purchased from one of the snooty stores.

Oh, they weren’t cooperative?
They looked at it and they looked at me and they didn’t they say it, but they were thinking: "oh, she would try to repair a broken bag rather than throwing it away!" The second snooty exchange I had was of a political nature. You can imagine how that went. Ah well. I am about to embark on a Sunday in New York. That, btw, is a movie title as well.

(*for explanation of post title, see first post from September 22)

Thirty-ninth street pre-election diary*

Moving from the forties to the thirties (to be precise: 39th street, 39 days) is disconcerting: the streets change character, the election is getting closer. We are in a gray and grave area of town and a gray and grave period in time.

somber tones, somber times 

“An 1881 New York Times article refers to a tenement on this block as 'Hell's Kitchen': "Vice in its most repulsive form thrives here, despite efforts of the police to root out the horde of vagrants, petty thieves, and utterly depraved prostitutes who make the locality their headquarters." The name seems to have spread from the tenement to the entire neighborhood.”

One notable difference between the economic policies of the two presidential candidates is that Kerry is adamant in pushing for a 36% hike in federal minimum wage. I am reminded of 1938, when President Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, setting, for the first time a minimum wage for labor.

Variously called the fashion district or the garment district, you see store after store with rolls of fabric, button displays, sewing equipment.

store after store of wholesale and retail fabric 

an old-timer in the neighborhood 

Why are we still concerned today, in 2004, about working conditions and wage violations in the garment industry? Has it something to do with the fact that the recent administration has cut the number of federal inspectors, so that there are now some 800 wage and hour inspectors working for the Department of Labor, policing some 6 million sites? The DOL estimates that 4,500 of NYC’s 7,000 garment factories are sweatshops.

Diversions and excursions:

Everyone needs a break occasionally. A night at the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy does the trick. Hey, what’s the difference between this and the Taste of Madison? Take a look and draw your own conclusions:

(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)

now that's Italian! 

supremely sweet 

you gotta love that Italian sausage! 

what part of town am I in? 

Italian sweets 

the best dessert!