Sunday, May 3, was a walking day for me. Long story short, I decided on a MetroCard-free weekend day, so I walked through Central Park from east to west to the Community Garden on West 89th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, for the final day of their 2015 Annual Tulip Festival. Here’s a link to their website: www.westsidecommunitygarden.org. On a calendar page posted at the garden gate, I also saw that they sponsor Sunday evening concerts at 6:00pm in June. I might try to check out one or two of those. The flowers were spectacular and included daffodils as well. I’m sure that there were other blooms on display, but the 12,000 (or so) tulips sort of overwhelmed everything else—in a good way, though.
My trek from east to west had taken me across the top of the Great Lawn, so on the way back I ventured north, using the bridle path to guide me from west to east. Since I had a little time to kill before my next adventure, I ate my modest home-packed bag lunch while sitting on a park bench near the North Meadow. Then I wandered farther north to another of my favorite spots, the Conservatory Gardens at Fifth Avenue and 105th Street. I was there two weeks ago, and their tulips were not in full bloom yet. They sure were on Sunday. The three linked gardens were all in beautiful condition; the crabapple-tree allées were in bloom, and all three fountains were functioning. I’ll skip next Sunday because I’m sure it will be very popular for Mother’s Day, but I’ll be sure to check back again in a few weeks.
My next stop was the meeting place for a Jane’s Walk of Lost and Found Murals of East Harlem. Jane’s Walks, which were new to me, are a series of walks informing on a wide range of subjects—they are led by citizens because “everyone is an expert on the places they live, work and play,” according to the Jane’s Walk website. They are named for Jane Jacobs, who was an urbanist and activist, and many walks took place in NYC and around the world on May 1, 2, and 3. I’m glad I was able to take part.
There are many murals in East Harlem, some of which I’ve seen while riding city buses. Some of the ones that were a focus of the walk were by James De La Vega while others were by Manny Vega. In East Harlem, a lot of the focus is on Puerto Rican themes, including independence for the island nation. Another narrowing focus for the murals that we saw on our walk was that more than a few of them are on the walls of Hope Community Inc. buildings—in fact, HCI is actively involved in the renovation and restoration of some of the most famous of the murals. Of special interest to me were the mosaics of Manny Vega. His materials are very expensive, so he has also devised a technique where he uses colored paper to act as mosaic tiles and then shellacs or varnishes them.
The walk itself was very informative, and our leader and her assistant played tag team in sharing information about the artists and the murals, themselves. The walk ended at the installation titled the Graffiti Hall of Fame at Park Avenue and East 106th Street. It’s impressive, even though quite a few newer ‘tags’ mar the overall design.
So I urge all of you to find out whether there will be Jane’s Walks in your community next May, and to take advantage of them, if you get the chance. Or better still, create your own. Tweeting and Facebooking were actively encouraged. It’s a big city/world out there, and finding the smaller microcosms can be a lot of fun.
ConcertMeister
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