Broadway and Brooklyn
I spent the weekend at the Palace Theatre on Broadway and eating pizza in Brooklyn. Life’s tough isn’t it?
I got tickets to see the Saturday matinee of West Side Story. It was quite a good performance and I had really good seats. If you haven’t seen West Side Story it is set in the 50s and is basically about the tensions between two rival ethnic gangs – the Sharks, first generation American-Puerto Ricons, and the Jets, ’true’ Americans. Tony, one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernado, leader of the Sharks. Maria wants Tony to stop an ensuing Jet-Shark confrontation, however, Tony’s intervention only aggravates the situation with devastating consequences. Finally, it is Maria who ends the violence. No photos though – no cameras are allowed inside but check the photos on the MoMA post for pictures of the Palace Theatre.
Sunday I did the Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour. If you want to see Brooklyn quickly and easy and eat some pizza along the way then I highly recommend this tour. The comfy air conditioned bus is handy during a New York heat wave too.
The tour begins in Manhattan near Union Square – I almost missed the bus because I got the meeting place confused, East 13th Street and 4th Avenue not East 14th Street and 3rd Avenue. Lucky I had my trusty iPhone to help me out. We leave Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge – not the Brooklyn Bridge because apparently commercial vehicles are not allowed. There you go. Once in Brooklyn, first stop is the picturesque Brooklyn Bridge Park. A quick walk through and a few stops for some happy snaps. We then continue on to the Fulton Pier with views across the East River to lower Manhattan. A short walk up from the Pier is Grimaldi’s Pizza – our first pizza stop.
Opposite Grimaldi’s is Jehovah Witness HQ, Watchtower (yes that is also the name of their join-us-or-go-to-hell publication). The building is quite substantial, as you will see in the photo I kindly included below, and the tour guide informs us that they actually housed and cared for quite a lot of people following September 11 as many were unable to get home due to the chaos. How many of those people they tried to convert however, tour guide did not know. Next to Watchtower is the Eagle Warehouse Storage Company Building. Tour guide tells us that this was the first building to go ‘condo’. Condo refers to the conversion of old warehouses into apartments and apparently is a serious business in New York, particularly the area around Brooklyn Bridge Park. In the photo you might be able to see a round window at the top of the left side of the building. That area is actually one entire floor and is owned entirely by one gentlemen. Big deal, right? Big indeed considering a one bedroom apartment in the same building goes for about $800,000. This guy has an entire floor. Poor bastard.
Up at Grimaldi’s, we have arrived right on opening time and already there is a line outside. Tour guide informs us that the line is nothing, it usually goes around the block (we get to bypass the line, haha suckers). Tour guide tells us that Grimaldi’s is coal-fired brick oven pizza and was the first pizzeria established in America. The style of pizza they make is a ‘fast’ pizza because it cooks fresh in less than 3 minutes. Not bad if you’re hungry and at the end of the line that’s around the block. They take our drink orders and a few minutes later the pizza is brought out and I hope it tastes better than it looks. Not that it looked bad – just kind of boring. Grimaldi’s pizza is a margarita pizza, made up fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil on a thin crust. It smells pretty good and tastes good too, but what a disappointment. People really line up and wait hours for this? They could just make it at home! And while they were at it, put some goddamn meat on it too. Still I had 4 slices – I was hungry.
After Grimaldi’s, it is back on the bus for a bit more sightseeing around Brooklyn. Tour guide shows us around the various neighbourhoods and most parts are very nice areas – hardly the crime-ridden stereotype that Brooklyn is often cast. We went past a few of Brooklyn’s mansions – I included some photos – and tour guide showed us one mansion that is actually the original style of house first built in the New York area (it’s the stone house that looks a bit like a smurf’s house). We also drive past one of Brooklyn’s golf courses, which is opposite Fort Hamilton – the only active military base in metropolitan New York. Tiger Woods’ father was stationed at Fort Hamilton and during his off time would play golf at the course opposite. It was at this same golf course that Tiger first became interested in and learnt to play golf. There is now a special section of the course that is the Children’s Course sponsored by Tiger Woods’ father, where American children can bring their own clubs and learn to play for free. That one’s for the golfers.
An interesting part of the tour was the inclusion of various movie clips that feature parts of Brooklyn. So as we drove down 86th Street of Bay Ridge, we also watched the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever, where John Travolta swaggers down the street stopping at various spots along the way. Check the photos for a Lenny’s Pizza – this is where Travolta stops and gets two slices of pizza which he then eats stacked on top of one another (tour guide says this is NOT how Brooklynites eat their pizza). That one’s for the oldies.
We then arrive at our second pizza stop – L&B Spumoni Gardens. Spumoni is a different kind of pizza to Grimaldi’s – Sicilian pizza, which is square with a thick crust. Like Grimaldi’s however, is the disappointment - where is the freakin topping? Just cheese and sauce - you can add some dried parmesan and herbs, but whoopy doo. It was good though and although the crust was thick, it just melted in your mouth and didn’t sit in your gut, clogging up your colon. Spumoni is actually a type of Italian ice cream – like ice cream but with more ice. There was a little Spumoni counter and you could get a cup for $2. It was good stuff.
Back on the bus for the last leg of the tour in Coney Island and Brighton Beach. Coney Island has a large amusement area along the boardwalk of which the Island is famous for. In particular, there are three major attractions – the Parachute Jump, the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel. Although no longer in operation, the Parachute Jump was the first ride of its kind where riders were hosited into the air before being dropped using parachutes. It hasn’t be used since the late 60s (probably because it maimed and killed a few people) but remains a Coney Island landmark. The Wonder Wheel is a huge ferris wheel that has an interesting feature of both stationary and rocking cars. The Cyclone is one of America’s oldest wooden rollercoasters still in operation. It is very steep and fast, and is used as a model for many rollercoasters around the world. Check the photos for a happy snap of the Atlantic Ocean.
After a pleasant drive back to Manhattan, tour guide bid us farewell and handed out pizza doggy bags. A great tour – money well spent.
Peace out.
Can’t wait for the photos of those “sumptuous” pizzas. Sounds like it was bread dough and cheese served hot. There’s no substitute for meat. I’m glad there are Sicilian pizzas that are square. My next pizza I make will be a square one with plenty of cheese and I won’t hold back on the meat.