Friday, August 18, 2006
New York, Day Two
Had a terrific night's sleep. Not even my brother Kevin's upstairs neighbor, a Persian lady who screams four-letter words at the TV, woke me up.
Kevin had the day off from work. In the morning we went to New York University. My brother shot a video for a support group of students that is affiliated with the school, and he was there for the premiere screening. Afterward we walked around Greenwich Village, which is right next to the campus.
Next up was downtown. We walked around the World Trade Center site, which is now in the first stage of reconstruction, to the World Financial Center. There was supposed to be a kite exhibit in the concourse, but we found that the true spectacle was the stores and eateries in this indoor shopping mall.
After walking through the WFC we went to Century 21. This is an enormous department store across from the WTC site. What sets this one apart is that most of the goods are designer duds marked off at unbelievable rates. I saw famous makers like Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and Evisu at 70% off. Of course the store was buzzing with swarms of bargain hunters. I bought one item: a jacket from a brand I'd never heard of. This jacket, with a putative original price of $138, was mine for just $21. Too good to be true? I'm sticking to this story — who wouldn't drop their jaw after hearing a $100 markdown?
In the afternoon Kevin and I went uptown to MoMA. The most popular exhibit this day was a Dada retrospective. I thought most pieces, which were upsetting when they were made after the first World War, had since lost their shock value. I liked much better the installation by the architectural team of Herzog & de Meuron.
After the museum we walked around Times Square and stumbled upon an Off Track Betting parlor. Neither of us had ever been inside one; our curiosity got the better of us and we went in. This OTB was half full. Nerdy lowlifes who thought they could make a fortune by poring over books of stats and records. All men. Thousands of worthless slips of paper littered the floor. Long bouts of tedium were interrupted every now and then by races, broadcast by satellite. The bettors glued their eyes to the monitors and commanded their horses to go faster. After the race you heard a few groans but no cheers. (The few who won knew better than to gloat.) Kevin spotted a familiar face, an employee at a Chinese takeout place near his office. He shook his head at the sight of this guy blowing his hard earned dough.
We met Kevin's friends at a midtown Korean restaurant called Han Bat. After dinner Kevin and I went to the South Street Seaport. There was a free concert by none other than the punk legends the New York Dolls. I recognized maybe half of the songs, which were from their first album, but the stuff that came out on this year's album sounded good, too.
New York Dolls at South Street Seaport
