I will gladly take this opportunity to start, as the process of youth culturalization has officially begun. I hope you'll read along as more places are gone to and things are done :)
My sister Kerry is graduating from FIT this month. She's a fashion illustration major and a tremendous artist. A piece of her artwork was displayed at her senior showcase last week, so we went to support her, in all her graduating glory. This particular sketch of a Harpers Bazaar magazine cover had been on display in our living room at home for a while, but seeing it matted and framed up on a wall was really special. The amount of talent the students at FIT have is incredible. Walking through the school was like walking through a gallery; everything from the toy making and fashion/jewelry design to the graphic art and illustration was, as a designer named Christian Siriano once said, fierce.
I've always really enjoyed museums. I think spending summer vacations in Colonial Williamsburg and Salem, Massachusetts, has given me a soft spot for historical preservation. Yesterday, Rob and I went to a seriously awesome museum in Brooklyn. Right on Boerum Place, what looks like any other subway entrance, is actually the entrance to the New York Transit Museum. In an ironic twist, the very mode of transportation I was going to see immortalized in a museum was actually preventing me from getting there! Weekend track work turned an otherwise straight shoot from the Upper East Side to Brooklyn Heights into a transfer fiasco, but nonetheless I made it. The museum details the history of NY's public transportation system from the days of trolleys and cable cars right up to the modern system we all know and rely on daily. With a ton of history to read up on, a good 2 hours is needed to appreciate all this place has to offer. There are incredible black and white photos of transit workers down in the tunnels at the turn of the century blasting their way through the abyss of the underground. (100 years later this system is still being improved upon, with the addition of the 2nd avenue subway.) What we LOVED about this museum is that there are actual trains dating from the early 1900's up through the 1970's on display that you can walk, sit down and strap-hang in!
Stepping into these train cars, complete with ads from their respective eras, is literally taking a step back in time. (Back to a time in 1940 when it only cost 5 cents to ride the subway. oy gavolt, i wish!) The progression of the trains is remarkable, from ceiling fans and detailed wood work to air conditioned cars and the metal and plastic seats we're used to today.
I really enjoyed seeing the cheeky humor of the LIRR in the '50's with "The Route of the Dashing Commuter" logo. This later turned into "The Route of the Dashing Dottie, Sprinting Sally and Rushing Rosie." (The woman's workforce needed love too!)
In addition to the subway system, the museum also pays tribute to the bridges and buses that connect all 5 Burroughs. I definitely say to anyone who's ever ridden on a bus or train in NYC: go to this museum. It really makes you appreciate the history of the system. Just thinking of all the millions of people who've gone through those turnstiles, its pretty intense. http://www.mta.info/mta/museum/ - $5 a person.
Till next time, stand clear of the closing doors ...
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