I’m a big fan of sandwiches. It’s just a perfect food form. So one of the two things I told Gina I wanted to do in NYC for sure was to go to a classic New York City deli. We slept in on Day 4 and headed to Katz’s Deli in the Lower East Side. I got a corned beef sandwich, aka a Ruben without the horrifyingly awful sauerkraut. It was excellent. Katz’s is one of those places that’s now famous for being famous. They’ve got hundreds of signed celebrity photos all over the walls and they really play up the fact that the fake orgasm scene in “When Harry Met Sally” was filmed there.
After eating we went over to the nearby New York City Tenement Museum and spent much of the afternoon. The museum doesn’t allow photography, so no photos to show. The museum is an old building that was built in the 1860s and you choose one of several tours in which you are shown parts of the building and told the story of a family who once lived there. The building was closed up in the 1920s and no one went inside until the late 80s, so much of the building looked just like it did in its heyday. The tour group was very small so it was very interactive with the tour guide, a snooty hippie type. Nothing in the building is roped off or behind glass so you can get very close to the exhibits. But they frown on the tourists touching anything, which I found out when I leaned ever so lightly on a fireplace mantle and the snooty hippie nearly ripped my hand off.
Then it was on to B&H Photo, the superest of photography superstores. I didn’t take any photos inside because I didn’t see anybody else do so and I was afraid it wasn’t allowed. Ironic, huh? It was an interesting place, especially how they deliver your purchase to the cashier via a series of conveyer belts. But I guess the Internets have destroyed the superstore buying experience. While it was neat to play with some of the fancy cameras and lenses, the likes of which I’ll never own, I didn’t buy anything because I can get anything I need delivered to my house. It’s not like I had to stock up because I might never get to a store like that again.
Then it was on to Grand Central Station to see where the word bustling was coined.
Gina met me underneath the clock in the main concourse. She told me she’d be easy to spot, what with the half-drunk Coke in her hand.
The subways fascinated me. I’m a big fan of engineering marvels and the subway qualifies. This is going to sound yokelish, but I’ve never actually been to a city with effective mass transit. It was very nice to be on vacation and not have to worry about operating, parking, fueling and locking a car. Someone should make a reality show that involves a subway in some fashion.
That night, tired of eating notable meals, we went out looking for the local Chipotle in the sleet and passed this scene behind the Gershwin Theatre on W. 51st Street. It looked quintessential New York City to me with the cab driving by and the steam coming out of the sewer. The picture doesn’t do it justice.
I urge you to check out the Saw Lady’s new album.