Exploring my neighbourhood

This week  I ventured into Alphabet City.  Alphabet City is an area in the Lower East Side that is bounded by Avenues A through D to the east of First Avenue, 14th Street on the North and Houston Street on the South.  In the 70s this area was notorious for violence, drug use and poverty.   Fear and avoidance of this area was so great that when I exited the cross-town "L" train on the southeast corner of First and 14th Street, I would race across First Avenue, a superstitious behaviour to protect me from some some unspecified ever-present,  imminent danger.  I recall going to Alphabet City only once when I lived in NY - four of us (two men, two women) took a cab to a jazz bar, and arranged for the cabbie to pick us up some time later so that we would not be have to risk wandering the streets to hail a cab.

Today Alphabet City is a reclaimed part of the city.  It is not as upscale as the East Village, its neighbour to the west, but is walkable and liveable.  The streets and cafes are alive with the sights and sounds of young adults, Latinos and Latinas, and gay men.  Many of the buildings have been cleaned up or renovated, Tompkins Square Park offers safe passage from Avenue A to B,  and the community gardens  found along the side streets are sources of pride.

In the 70s Tompkins Square Park was a not so safe injection site. Today it is a park for all ages and at least two species. The gardens are beautiful and thick with a large variety of plants and trees, including towering elms which provide relief from the heat. Although it is very hot and very humid, the many basketball courts  are filled with young men shooting hoops and playing one-on-one, or two on two, half-court games.  Ping pong and chess are played on specially designed concrete tables.  There are  playgrounds for children and the biggest dog run in the city.

The  dog run has three sections, one for small, medium and large dogs and 3 swimming pools.  I can't help but compare the freedom of Mattie and Thea (and their many walkers) in Yukon, with the dogs and people of Alphabet City who frequent the Tompkins Park dog run.   But these runs do work for dogs, and for dog owners because the rules of the game - of which are many - are practical and clear: 

• No dogs without people. No people without dogs.     
• Neuter your dog (Puppies under 6 months are allowed to keep 'em.) 
• but just in case...No dogs in heat.  
• Clean up after your dog, shovels provided to assist with the dirty deed.

I saw only one man urinating in a bush. There are no signs asking people to relieve themselves in the public toilets.  Maybe there should be.

Elementary schools in NYC resemble what I imagine the style of Communist-era, Soviet architecture to be: large, square, squat buildings devoid of character.  Adjacent concrete playgrounds surrounded by cold, high metal fences.  The names of schools are purely functional:  PS (public school) followed by a number. Even when the yards are filled with children laughing and playing, the look and feel is more like a correctional centre than a school.

Not so for PS 63, located on East 3rd Street; the front doors are painted bright red with ABCs and 1-2-3, the walls of the basket ball courts are canvases for student murals; the front steps and porch are lined with large and carefully tended planters and trellises.  A banner draped along the front fence introduces us to the school's values:  Diversity - Community - Leadership - Excellence.   The school proudly proclaims, "small classes...big difference."  The spirit of the students, teachers and parents is clear - PS63 is a community school, a school without walls.

Not everyone is happy with the changes that have taken place in this part of the city.  The Mars Bar which operated from 1984 to 2011 has closed, the property having been sold for condo development.   Notwithstanding the legendary filth (and the approximately 850 fruit flies recently found on inspection by the Department of Health), it was a place for local artists of all descriptions and talents to showcase their work on every surface in the bar and on the outside walls.  Every month or so the outside wall facing 1st Street has featured a new mural; the current and final mural is named The Last Summer.

While I can empathize with the patrons of the Mars Bar, it is the loss of Tannenbaum's Bakery on Houston Street that I grieve.  Tannenbaum's was a Jewish bakery where I used to buy rye bread, bagels, and biales (a flattened bagel flavoured with fried onions and extra salt.   I guess Tannenbaum's couldn't compete, or maybe it is no longer welcomed, in a neighbourhood taken over by Crate and Barrel, American Eagle Outfitters, and Adidas.

Thank you to those who have commented on the blog in personal emails to me - I hope you are vicariously enjoying your trip to New York.  A special thanks to Emily who sent me the link to the YouTube video, "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys - it will inspire you - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8  and Wynne for flagging the TED talk on the High Line,
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/robert_hammond_building_a_park_in_the_sky.html.

Enjoy the day!