In the fall of 1983, I moved to New York City to attend art school. While there have been interruptions, some have been a couple of years even, mostly it has been my home (until Newfoundland entered the picture, but that is another story).
Almost 30 years of living in New York and there are still things to discover. For example, this:
It is a statue representing Asia on the northeastern corner of the old Customs House in lower Manhattan. Look who is sitting in her lap. It is Buddha at the moment of his enlightenment, when he touched the ground. A little research indicates that most of the other symbols surrounding the seated woman are rather paternalistic and come from an imperialist mindset, but I can appreciate Buddha looking northward, surrounded by the heavy duty karmic forces at play in the financial district. Maybe he needs to be just a little bigger, actually.
And then, this:
It is Stone Street, also in lower Manhattan. I was amazed to discover this street that I had never seen nor heard of before. It is in the shadow of Goldman Sachs building at 85 Broad Street. Past history and history being made at this very moment. It is all there at the tip of this little island off the northeast coast of the United States.
stone street was the first PAVED (with stones, D'oh!) street in NYC.
ReplyDeleteIt was home to many local breweries (back when it was new amsterdam, not the stuffy english)--and when the order when out for streets to be paved, the breweries/bars where the first with ready cash!
the current cobble (Belgian paving blocks to be technically correct) stone are not the original.
(I love my home town, and know all sorts of fun details..
--like did you hear about the guys on corner of Comming and Seaman Streets, who were to meet some chicks on the corner of Broad and Beaver (streets)?
--both are real corners (one on the norther tip, the other on the southern tip of manhattan)