Today Is Not Over Yet

The South Street Seaport in the City of New York

On my first trip to New York, I spent ten days in the city, but did not really have the opportunity to see much.  We were rehearsing all day, and performing all night, and the only time off I spent going to the other shows on 42nd Street.  I did go to Central Park, and the top of the Empire State Building, and spent a couple afternoons walking around the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but always had to head back to our beautiful hotel in the East Village of New York. No one I was with on that trip had spent much time in the city so we were all just kind of wandering around a bit lost.

A few years later I went back just for three days, and stayed with my friend who was born and raised in the city.  That is when I got the full tour, of the small hidden treasures, as well as the history, and a bit of the touristy things too.  We walked all around the city one night, and ended up at Five Points, the legendary stomping grounds of the terrible gangs from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  But then we made our way just a bit more South, and ended up walking through the South Street Seaport.

This is a great place for finding restaurants, and very good spot for shopping, but we were there manly for the view.  The Brooklyn Bridge and the borough can be seen standing at the edge of the dock, and at that time of night the bridge was lit up and incredible breathtaking.  When the bridge was first opened, activity at the port sharply declined, as before there was a ferry service, and now people could get there themselves.

However, after years of falling into decay, the Seaport was renovated in 1983, and is now not only great place to find some peace, but during the operating hours of the stores, the restaurants and the nightclubs, this has become once again the hopping place it was in the 1920’s.  Walking through a city such as New York is a great way to learn about it all, without the hustle and bustle of the daytime activity, but just be sure you have a guide as knowledgeable as the one I found in my friend.