Lower New York Bay

7 December 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  7 minutes

Brighton Beach © Billy Hathorn/cc-by-sa-3.0

Brighton Beach © Billy Hathorn/cc-by-sa-3.0

Lower New York Bay is a section of New York Bay south of the Narrows, the relatively narrow strait between the shores of Staten Island and Brooklyn. The southern end of the bay opens directly to the Atlantic Ocean between two spits of land, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Rockaway, Queens, on Long Island. The southern portion between Staten Island and New Jersey, at the mouth of the Raritan River, is named Raritan Bay. The Hudson Canyon, the ancient riverbed of the Hudson River which existed during the last ice age when the ocean levels were lower, extends southeast from Lower New York Bay for hundreds of miles into the Atlantic Ocean. The nearby part of the Atlantic Ocean between New Jersey and Long Island is the New York Bight.   read more…

New York University

29 October 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  7 minutes

Washington Square Park, with its gateway arch, is surrounded largely by NYU buildings and plays an integral role in the University's campus life © Jean-Christophe BENOIST/cc-by-3.0

Washington Square Park, with its gateway arch, is surrounded largely by NYU buildings and plays an integral role in the University’s campus life © Jean-Christophe BENOIST/cc-by-3.0

New York University (NYU) is a private research university based in New York City. Founded in 1831 by Albert Gallatin as an institution to “admit based upon merit rather than birthright or social class”, NYU’s historical campus is in Greenwich Village. The core of NYU consists of buildings that surround Washington Square Park. As of fall 2019, the university has a total of 51,848 enrolled students, including 26,733 undergraduate students and 25,115 graduate students. Undergraduate admissions is highly selective NYU is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”.   read more…

The Narrows in New York

11 September 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  5 minutes

One World Trade Center, Upper New York Bay, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and Staten Island © flickr.com - Anthony Quintano/cc-by-2.0

One World Trade Center, Upper New York Bay, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and Staten Island
© flickr.com – Anthony Quintano/cc-by-2.0

The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. It has long been considered to be the maritime “gateway” to New York City and historically has been one of the most important entrances into the harbors of the Port of New York and New Jersey.   read more…

Federal Hall National Memorial in New York City

10 August 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  11 minutes

George Washington statue © flickr.com - Ken Lund/cc-by-sa-2.0

George Washington statue © flickr.com – Ken Lund/cc-by-sa-2.0

Federal Hall is a historic building at 26 Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. The name refers to two structures on the site: a Federal style building completed in 1703, and the current Greek Revival-style building completed in 1842. While only the first building was officially called “Federal Hall”, the current structure is operated by the National Park Service as a national memorial called the Federal Hall National Memorial. The current structure, one of the best surviving examples of Greek Revival architecture in New York City, was built as the U.S. Custom House for the Port of New York. Later it served as a sub-Treasury building. The current national memorial commemorates the historic events that occurred at the previous structure.   read more…

Hunts Point in the Bronx

31 July 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City, Shopping Reading Time:  12 minutes

Former Hunts Point Avenue station, now serving shops © Jim.henderson

Former Hunts Point Avenue station, now serving shops © Jim.henderson

Hunts Point is a neighborhood located on a peninsula in the South Bronx of New York City. It is the location of one of the largest food distribution facilities in the world, the Hunts Point Cooperative Market. Its boundaries are the Bruckner Expressway to the west and north, the Bronx River to the east, and the East River to the south. Hunts Point Avenue is the primary street through Hunts Point.   read more…

Roosevelt Island in Manhattan

8 July 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  15 minutes

© FEMA - Kenneth Wilsey

© FEMA – Kenneth Wilsey

Roosevelt Island is a narrow island in New York City‘s East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to its west and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to its east. Running from the equivalent of East 46th to 85th Streets on Manhattan Island, it is about 2 miles (3.2 km) long, with a maximum width of 800 feet (240 m), and a total area of 147 acres (0.59 km²). Together with Mill Rock, Roosevelt Island constitutes Manhattan’s Census Tract 238, which has a land area of 0.279 sq mi (0.72 km²), and a population of 11,700. The island was called Minnehanonck by the Lenape and Varkens Eylandt (Hog Island) by New Netherlanders, and during the colonial era and later as Blackwell’s Island. It was known as Welfare Island when it was used principally for hospitals, from 1921 to 1973. It was renamed Roosevelt Island (after Franklin D. Roosevelt) in 1973. Roosevelt Island is owned by the city but was leased to the New York State Urban Development Corporation for 99 years in 1969. Most of the residential buildings on Roosevelt Island are rental buildings. There is also a cooperative named Rivercross and a condominium building named Riverwalk. One rental building (Eastwood) has left New York State’s Mitchell-Lama Housing Program, though current residents are still protected. It is now called Roosevelt Landings. There are attempts to privatize three other buildings, including the cooperative. The FDNY also maintains its Special Operations Command facility at 750 Main St. on the island. Due to its proximity to the headquarters of the United Nations, Roosevelt Island is home to a large number of diplomatic sector employees. At one time these included then-United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.   read more…

Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan

29 June 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  24 minutes

Vintner Wine Market © flickr.com - Jazz Guy/cc-by-2.0

Vintner Wine Market © flickr.com – Jazz Guy/cc-by-2.0

Hell’s Kitchen, sometimes known as Clinton (named for Governor George Clinton), is a neighborhood on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City, west of Midtown Manhattan. It is traditionally considered to be bordered by 34th Street to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the east, and the Hudson River to the west. Until the 1970s, Hell’s Kitchen was a bastion of poor and working-class Irish Americans. Though its gritty reputation had long held real-estate prices below those of most other areas of Manhattan, by 1969, the City Planning Commission’s Plan for New York City reported that development pressures related to its Midtown location were driving people of modest means from the area. Since the early 1990s, the area has been gentrifying, and rents have risen rapidly. Home of the Actors Studio training school, and adjacent to Broadway theatres, Hell’s Kitchen has long been a home to fledgling and working actors.   read more…

Asbury Park in New Jersey

8 May 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  8 minutes

Asbury Park Boardwalk © Sk5893/cc-by-sa-3.0

Asbury Park Boardwalk © Sk5893/cc-by-sa-3.0

Asbury Park is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, located on the Jersey Shore and part of the New York City Metropolitan Area with a population of about 15,500. It was ranked the sixth-best beach in New Jersey in the 2008 Top 10 Beaches Contest sponsored by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium.   read more…

Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive in New York City

27 March 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  11 minutes

© flickr.com - Bob Jagendorf/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Bob Jagendorf/cc-by-2.0

The FDR Drive (officially referred to as the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive) is a 9.68-mile (15.58 km) limited-access parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It starts near South and Broad Streets, just north of the Battery Park Underpass, and runs north along the East River to the 125th Street / Robert F. Kennedy Bridge / Willis Avenue Bridge interchange, where it becomes the Harlem River Drive. All of the FDR Drive is designated New York State Route 907L (NY 907L), an unsigned reference route. The FDR Drive features a mix of below-grade, at-grade, and elevated sections, as well as three partially covered tunnels. The parkway is mostly three lanes in each direction, with the exception of several small sections.   read more…

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