East Coast Whirlwind, Pt. 4

After breakfast and a tour of Greenwich Village, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the next few hours before I took the Amtrak Keystone Service to Philly. The entire trip, I kept seeing the Empire State Building, but never really thought about visiting it, assuming I had done so numerous times. Just to make sure, I looked at my website and realized I was wrong. While I had photographed the historic landmark from the street many times, I hadn’t been inside since my Junior High school field trip!



What makes this building so famous? Edited from the Empire State Building website:

The Empire State Building was completed on May 1, 1931. Construction began on March 17, 1930, so the whole build took one year and 45 days. The steel frame went up at about four and a half stories a week to reach 102 stories. The Empire State Building was developed by Empire State, Inc., a company formed in 1929 by John Jakob Raskob. Shreve, Lamb, & Harmon Associates were the architects, Starrett Bros. & Eken were the builders. The Empire State Building was built as a speculative office tower, originally intended to be the world's first building of more than 100 stories. Its backers bought the original location of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1928 and had the hotel demolished to make room. The 102 stories they finished in 1931 made it the world's tallest building for the next forty years. The Empire State Building is famous for how fast it went up and how long it stayed the world's tallest building. Its film career started in 1933 with “King Kong.” The recognition came later: one of the seven greatest engineering achievements in America's history in 1955, a New York City landmark in 1981, a National Historic Landmark in 1986, and number one on the American Institute of Architects' America's Favorite Architecture list in 2007.



The interior lobby is art deco design at its best.



One can’t help but feel small in the towering lobby area.



The ceiling:



Celebrating its 95th anniversary, the lobby had a number of historic displays.



The choices of how to get to the observation deck were a bit overwhelming, not to mention overpriced. If you want to have the express visit where you get whisked up immediately for access to the 86th and 102nd floor observation decks, get ready to cough up roughly $80. I chose the basic ticket which is $46 and has you walking around corporate sponsored “exhibits” and winding queues. Not for those who are short on time. Themed elevator doors:



I think I want this for my living room ceiling:



I finally made it up to the 86th floor observation deck!



In this day and age, a selfie station is a given. It was festively themed for the season.



The views were worth schlepping through all the people, faux exhibits, and winding queues.



I was fortunate with the weather, too, as the rain had subsided and the clouds had departed.



The obligatory selfie. Oops…I cut off the “E.”



On a clear day, you can see forever…



including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island:



No, King Kong was not up there.



Final view:



When I was done, I had to hightail it back to the hotel to get my luggage and then briskly get myself to Moynihan Hall to catch my train!



Until next time, NYC — you were fantastic!

See more Empire State Building photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley, Soda, and More

Legend has it that W.C. Fields (shown above with Baby LeRoy) once said, “Never Work With Children Or Animals.” Why? Because invariably they are either unpredictable and/or they will steal the scene from the adults. In truth, humorist and author Leo Rosten once joked ABOUT Fields saying “Any man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad,” which eventually morphed into being attributed to W.C.

Shirley Temple never had to worry about that; whether as a child, a teen, or an adult, she always held the focus of the audience, and was never afraid to share a scene with an animal, especially a dog, as seen below.



From the accompanying caption:

Shirley Temple makes friends with Soda, the pet English bulldog appearing with her in “Since You Went Away.” The picture was taken on the set of this Selznick International Picture directed by John Cromwell with an all star cast including: Claudette Colbert, Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones, Monty Woolley, Robert Walker, Hattie McDaniel and others of note.



Shirley had previous experience with a bulldog in “The Blue Bird” (1940). She didn’t have many scenes with the dog though, as the animal was transformed into a human early on in the film and played by Eddie Collins:



What a cutie!



Shirley surrounded by Collins and Gale Sondergaard:



Back to Soda…Shirley’s affection for dogs is visible throughout the film with this lovable bulldog.



The publicity machine continued to generate “news” about Shirley and Soda even as she was making her next film without him.



Favorite pin-up boy on the wall of Shirley Temple’s dressing room on the set of Selznick International’s “I’ll Be Seeing You” is Dick Whittington, English Bulldog who recently appeared with Shirley in David O. Selznick’s “Since You Went Away.”

Shirley truly loved dogs and had them throughout her life On set it was Soda; at home it was her beloved Ching Ching:



Below is an image of Shirley and then husband John Agar outside their home:



A 1949 image at home with Agar and her collie:



Shirley from 1960 at home with her Boxer, Chris:



See more “Since You Went Away” photos at my main website.

East Coast Whirlwind, Pt. 3

Part three begins at a little neighborhood Italian restaurant I found down the street from the Walker Hotel, Da Andrea Ristorante.



Just the kind of local “joint” that is the best part of travel for me - stumbling onto a cool place that is not part of a predictable national chain.



The beet salad:



I stayed with my usual and got the bolognese:



Dessert was a Tortino di Cioccolato (chocolate cake, salted caramel ice cream). In any language, it was yum.



Before hitting the pillow, I took a nighttime shot of the Empire State Building from my window:



The next morning was all sunshine; literally! I ventured out into the Village again, and reshot a few photos of the Jefferson Market Library without any interference from the gray clouds and rain. Much better!



Another great find was this Seinfeld-esque diner, The Waverly Restaurant.





Inside was festively decorated for the season:



The waffles and bacon were diner perfection.



The one disappointment was that I didn't get to see (and photograph) this sign at night. Always something for the “to do list.”



Downing Street Playground was a beautiful little space with plenty of shade trees:



An Armillary Sundial was at the center of the playground:



Gemini was looking good.



If I ever decide to move to New York, I would be sure to contact the Wizard of Moving.



ClairVoyant was closed; guess she didn’t know I was coming. Some psychic.



Nearby is the apartment made famous by Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in “Sex and the City”:



It still looked good, but the owners have definitely made it less accessible to fans since I first saw it in 2005:



The address is 66 Perry Street; is the 1866 plaque on the right to fool gawking fans? It didn’t seem to do any good while I was there, as a crowd was gathered at the foot of the steps.



Magnolia Bakery, also made famous by SATC.



The cupcakes were ok, but I never thought they were worth the hype. The candy corn cake in the window looked fun, though!



At the nearby Bleecker Playground I saw The Family Monument, a bronze sculpture by Chaim Gross.



This wall decor looked like it had come straight out of the French Quarter:



The Halloween tableaus were impressive:



Last one for my journey around the Village is of Squad Company 18, built in 1892.



Still plenty more to come! See more New York City photos at my main website.