NEW YORK! NEW YORK!

My first visit to New York in 1985 was for both business and pleasure. The business side of the trip was for my Interior Design business. I wanted to catch up on all that was available, and happening in this field for my work.  I  always thought that there could be more to learn and more to see in America.

        Apart from this I had wanted to see this big and exciting city...

'The Big Apple'......

I loved most movies and novels set in New York. Every time I heard Sinatra sing ...'
Start spreading the News...I'm leaving today! 
I just wanted to pack a bag and go too!

        Also my interest in art drew me towards New York......

The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and of course not forgetting the famous Guggenheim, the fabulous building designed by world famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The building itself is indeed a work of art.

                             

I had been a collector of Australian contemporary art for some time, and I was very interested to actually see American contemporary artists work in reality.

I was very keen to see Jackson Pollock's works. I loved his 'Blue Poles' painting in our National Gallery in Canberra. Plus, I was keen to see the collection of works held at M.O.M.A. not to mention other smaller galleries..... I just wanted to see it all!

                                    

                                                          

       I arrived at Kennedy Airport after about one and a half hours spent in 'stacking' mode, waiting to land..... a'la..shades of  'Out of Towners' with Jack Lemmon.

We had been advised of procedure regarding our luggage, and the availability of transport for our destination. We were also advised of expected cost for cab fare into the city would be between twenty and twenty five dollars.

     After collecting my luggage, and wheeling it around the extremely crowded departure lounge searching for the taxi rank...I was loudly ordered to join the long cue and ,,,,,
'STAND THERE ! and WAIT !

I watched a very noisy and chaotic, but well organised  team of very big tough looking women shouting and blowing whistles, as they waved the cabs to speed up to them, and screeching to a halt at their signal to STOP! Then one by one, a 'cue stander'  would be grabbed out of the cue, and dragged, running to the cab as they yelled

 'COME ON! .....MOOOVE!!.....MOOOVE!!.......scary stuff!....

When it came to my turn, I was also grabbed and hurled along ..with a loud... 'MOOOVE!' blasting in my ears and pushed into the back of the cab, followed by my luggage thrown in on top of me. I yelled in pain as a corner of one of my bags struck my leg!... 'Oh! for God's sake!' I screeched! Look at my leg! it's bleeding!..........She just slammed the door in my face!......blew her whistle, then signaled  the driver to........'MOOOVE!!......On!!!!

                     This was getting scarier?.....

 The yellow cab was old, it rattled and didn't smell too clean, in fact it was a smelly old rattler, driven by another big burly tough looking woman!

       It seemed to be taking a long time to get into the city, and then I realized why. We were going around in circles, I was certain I was seeing the same streets more than once. I had given this surly driver the address of my accommodation. The Pickwick Arms Hotel..... 230 E. 51st . which was somewhere between 2nd and 3rd Ave.

I was a bit too nervous to say anything to this big butch driver, so we went around a couple more times and finally came to stop in front of my hotel. I asked her how much I owed for my fare...'Forty five dollars!'....she has overcharged me I thought  as I fumbled around trying to gather the American dollars, From the back seat of the old cab I handed her the exact amount of dollars.......' What? No TIP?'......

THAT WAS IT FOR ME!.... I was ready to hit her with some good old Aussie gusto abuse!....
'Listen here! When I was pushed by one of you lot, into this old banger of a cab, my luggage was thrown in on top of me! I now have one of my bags with its' handle broken off, not to mention a cut on my leg, you've doubled my fare because you have been driving around in circles, my leg is still bleeding and you want a tip??.

                                         'You have got to be kidding! I shrieked!

With that she got out of the cab, slammed the door, pulled out my luggage and me and pushed us all  on to the footpath... side walk whatever!...and it was now raining!...

Gob smacked! I watched  as she cursed and jumped into her heap on wheels and took off!

After I had gathered myself and my luggage together I stared at my next problem......

Oh! My God! ..........Revolving Doors !

The only way in to my hotel was through revolving doors?                                                                      

 How was I going to get my luggage through  these bloody revolving doors!

I thought of my fathers' saying at times like this..... I could hear his voice loud and clear as if he were standing next to me:

              'Well..... you don't have to be dead to be stiff..Do You!
                                                       

My first night in New York was a disaster I thought as I was trying to gather and maneuver my luggage, which was almost impossible without a handle on one of the bags!

Somehow, I managed to get them all set to push them one at a time into the swirling glass doors.
Each time I was ready to push, someone would want to exit.
The bags became jammed stopping the whole procedure.
 People were impatient to get inside, out of the rain......and I just I wanted to disappear out of sight!
  I felt like I was in an 'I Love Lucy' episode.

Finally the manager came to the rescue,  cursing and grunting as he pushed, shoved, and squeezed the bags out and into the foyer.

By this time it was around midnight, and all I wanted to do was to get into my room,
 and collapse in a heap!
                                                                                                               

When I tried to open the door to my room, it seemed to be stuck.  I pushed it until it half opened enough for me to squeeze myself into see the tiniest room I have ever seen.
It was so small that my luggage completely covered the floor, leaving no room for me to stand, or even walk to the small bed! I had to walk on top of and over the bags in order to get to it!

                 I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  So I did both!

  Finally I staggered over my luggage and managed to squeeze myself out of the room again.
 I headed for reception to demand that I be moved into another room, a 'normal' size one!...one that allows room for one to stand and walk in!

         The manager looked up from his desk...'Yeah?...can I help you?'

'Yeah! you sure can! I whipped back at him...'I would like to have another room!........something bigger!......Please!

                'Ms Watson you booked for a single room! he barked.

Yes! I snapped, a single ROOM not a bloody CLOSET!
I booked for a single room, with my own shower and toilet.....I didn't see them in that ridiculous room....or are they hidden under that stupid bed!

We stared at each other for a few seconds, and then he checked in his reservation list, and said
 Okay... we do have another room with shower and toilet, but it will cost more..... okay? .......
'Yes that is fine! I'll take it!

        My luggage and I were moved up on to the next floor to another room...which was larger, but very small by our standards. This one had two single beds, pushed close together, at least I could put my bags on one of them, which would allow floor space to stand on,  and even walk a few steps to my 'ensuite'!

My en suite? ...well it was 'different'....the toilet was just inside the door, I should say inside the doorway, leading off the tiny bedroom.  But there was no door and it was so close to the shower I had to climb over the toilet to be able to get into the shower!

The toilet? Well that was another story.
 When I sat down on the seat...my knees and head were back inside the bedroom!

I am really very tired, I thought!

                                                                  

          When I awoke the following morning, I was still fully dressed, and lying stiffly on the edge of the narrow bed. I had gone to sleep all ready to charge out in to the Big Apple and look for another hotel.  I thought of the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel,  and the'Plaza' on Central Park!

I said 'I thought ' about them!...and while I was 'thinking' about them, my eyes were moving slowly around my room.  The ceiling and walls were white....a very bright white! A clean white! Well at least that is a start I thought as my eyes circled the whole room (took but a minute or two), but I could see that it was a very small white room.......small but clean.

        I am always 'sus' about hotel beds.

That is why I had slept fully clothed and on the edge of this bed.  It was so late last night, and the lighting not too bright, I wasn't able to inspect the bedding.

This paranoia began when a friend of mine Carl who managed a hotel back home on the Gold Coast, told me the story about how a man had died in his hotel room.
 And due to the lift being so small the poor man could not be carried out on a stretcher.
So Carl and a member of his staff had no other choice but to dress the man in a coat and hat before dragging him into the lift, where they propped him up against the wall  between them.
They all stood tall as the lift made an express ride to the basement where an ambulance awaited!

        With this in mind, together with my acute fear of bedbugs, I checked out 'this bed'.
 It did look clean with crisp white sheets, so this was a huge relief!

I checked out the rest of the room and it was very white!

I looked at my luggage sitting on the other bed.  Oh my God! Could I even be bothered trying to drag them downstairs and through those bloody swinging doors?....... I needed a coffee!

I went downstairs and was faced with a sign propped up against the wall behind the desk:
         

                                                  NO COFFEE

                                                  NO TEA

                                                  NO RESTAURANT

                                                  NO HEATERS

                                                  NO FANS

                                                  NO HAIR DRYERS.............

                                                  SO  DON'T  ASK!

                                                          

                                                                                                                    

            

             After I had found a diner nearby and had coffee and bagels I was feeling a little better.
  I am in New York! This thought made me feel excited again.

             It was then that I decided to have another look at my room that had been recomended to me. I was told that it was very central, clean and quaint.
But the words weird and quirky were never mentioned.

And keep in mind, this was before weird and quirky was seen as cool or desirable.
However, it was very white and looked very clean. And it was in a  central location.
  I just hoped that the bed  had no weird 'history'.

Don't think about it! I told myself!

****************
                                                  

   I found that once I had unpacked a few clothes and placed my cosmetics, perfume etc on the little shelf in the 'ensuite' (that somehow escaped the blast of water from the shower),
the room didn't look so bad.  And I was going to be out most of the time discovering this wonderful city.

I thought 'what the heck' this is it!

                                                 

After I had reorganized my room, and mopped up all of the water that had blasted over every surface of the ensuite  during  my first shower. I was wondering if I could cope with this added dilemma when there was a knock at the door.
Ah! the cleaner. This lady turned out to be very friendly and sympathized with the water problem going all over the place.
 She told me not to worry as she would leave me a few extra towels to spread over the toilet and floor whilst I showered.
******************

                                                     

My first day was spent doing the Guided Circle Island trip and having various land marks pointed out to a boat load of passengers, followed by trying to find my way around the city.

Even though I had researched as much as I could about Manhattan Island, it is one thing to look at and read maps showing the layout of the grid system of the city, that was fine.
 But it is another to actually be smack bang right in the middle of the concrete jungle of the tallest buildings I had ever seen!

            After walking for what seemed like miles around the city, and feeling weary,
 I decided to have an early dinner and then head back to my hotel.
I had appointments at  a couple of Design Centres for the next day, so an early sleep was needed.

After showering and dutifully mopping up the so called ensuite, I was ready for bed.
I was so exhausted I fell into a deep sleep, only to be awakened later by the most incredibly loud and  raspy gravelly voice I have ever heard.

 'SHUT UP! SHUT UP! ...SHUT THE f### UP!.....ALL YOU DO.. IS TALK! TALK! TALK!!!

            Before I was fully awake I was standing. My legs jammed in between the beds!
'What! What I screamed! I thought that the voice was in my room!

I managed to switch on the tiny bedside lamp. I looked around.  No one there!  But the voice was still screeching out the same obscenities over and over!

The voice was so raspy and gruff I could not tell if it belonged to a male or female, but after a while I realised that it was coming from the room next to mine!

          The voice went on for an hour or so and then finally all was quiet . I checked the locks on my door again, and then I too settled down with eyes and ears wide open for the rest of the night.

When the cleaning lady came early in the morning I told her of what had happened,
she quickly said 'Oh! No!....Look don't worry . I will speak to the manager about it
...stay here until I come back okay?'

            After a few minutes she returned and said 'Don't worry! the manager said he will attend to this, and to tell you that this will not happen again'.

Wondering what in the hell was going on, I hesitatingly agreed to give this place another go!

            After another day spent keeping appointments, walking, talking and looking in wonder at what this city was all about, I returned to my hotel.

As I was about to enter my room, I noticed something different about the door to my next door noisy neighbour's room. On further inspection I saw that there was news paper jammed and protruding from  the surrounding frame of the door and floor.
 It looked as though the paper was filling all gaps to enclose anything from seeping in or out of the room!
 My first thought was  'Oh my god!... They have gassed 'the voice' ?!
.....it was so quiet! What is going on?

I quickly went down to reception and reported what I had seen.

'Oh yeah!... Mam! That's okay...she is a permanent resident in our Hotel.

She's been with us for years, she is er...harmless...she just goes off a little whacko every so often... know what I mean?..,...Sorry you had to hear all that  noise. We put the paper all around the door like that to make the room sound proof...you shouldn't hear anything any more... we don't usually book your room out because of this.....We only use it when we are booked out!

"OH! I said...............what more could I say?

     I went back to my room, locked the three locks to my door, checked outside my window to make sure there was no ledge the 'voice' could crawl on towards my room?   I had a shower, mopped up the floors and went to bed.  With the little lamp light switched on for the entire night!

                                                               

So after that, all was quiet, and the days went by as I learned and loved more about the city.
 I found most people friendly. Not only in the Design agencies, and Art Galleries but also I found the staff  in stores such as Bergdorf Goodmans, and Bloomingdales stores very friendly.
 They were fascinated with my Aussie accent, and wanted to know all about my country.

          I loved the galleries, and I discovered a few new artists.. One being Susan Rothenburg. I was very taken with one of her works at  M.O.M.A. of a horse in flight,  as though it was coming at me out of the canvas. Very dramatic to me, and I loved her application of paint and brushwork. I did set about extensive research to find out about her, plus Galleries who represented her work, (which sold for many thousands of dollars!)

Paintings by Susan Rothenberg

Another artist I was very fascinated with was Keith Haring, the Graffiti artist. What an interesting story tags his life and career, of which I will write about in my next blog.
( I will wet your appetite with a photo of his 'Barking Dog' work, that has been featured on walls of the New York subways, where electric trains roar beneath The Big Apple!

Painting by Keith Haring

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 I became used to the heavy traffic, the constant sounds of horns blowing, and the screaming sirens of N.Y.P.D. cars speeding in and out of the forever choked traffic. Yellow cabs racing everywhere picking up and dropping off their passengers. I loved the action, but, each night when I returned to my funny and quirky hotel I felt secure in the smallness of my room.

    It was a Friday evening, I was tired, and I had just spoken to my daughter back home. I mentioned that I was not going out, as I was too tired. 'What?..on a Friday night?...You are in New York and you are not going out?... are you crazy?  Janelle exclaimed!

When I was off the phone, I thought ...'This is crazy! I should go somewhere.

I had always wondered about 'SARDI's restaurant, and what it would be like. It was down town on Broadway...so I decided to make the effort and go!

   It was still light outside so I decided to walk, but after awhile it began to rain, so I hailed a cab....'Sardi's Restaurant please driver!

 A few minutes later we were driving into the Time Square area....the streets and the Park were crowded...

The cab driver turned to me and in his fast and clipped New York accent said......


'You know Mam, you are very stoopid to be walkin' around this city on your own.'...he pointed over to the park and said 'Look over there Mam, there's a mugging goin' on there right now!.. as we look!...and sure enough I watched as a couple of guys were struggling and punching at each other....'See that? he added....it's going on all around us, and here you are a woman, walkin' around on your own!... you're just askin' for trouble!...you have to be very careful around here! ....

         As I paid him for my fare, I nervously laughed and said that I would indeed be careful!.....
'I hope so Mam...I mean it!...You know...they usually pick on someone alone, 
or the weak or the blind .....

          So Mam.....remember  if you break a leg..... DON'T LIMP!

Yellow Taxi by Bette Watson

                           

                        

 Well I did enjoy Sardis, the place was packed of course, and among the crowded room sitting at a table nearby was my favorite actor, none other than Dustin Hoffman!  My waiter told me that he was appearing in the play..'Death of a Salesman' which was showing at the theatre right opposite the Reaturant. 'Dustin eats here most nights' he added.

Sardi's in Broadway

 I had been chatting to a couple at the next table, and we were all excited about seeing Dustin...and decided that as we were leaving the restaurant we would try and get a closer look.
 But, as we neared the exit,  we were all leaning towards the area of Dustin's table and, trying to catch a glimpse of him when  an arm reached out and directed us on our way out.
The arm belonged to Dustin's very tall, muscular, and cartoonishly hansome male body guard.

The Bodyguard by Bette Watson

When we were ushered outside the reasturant, there were cops running everywhere around us!  Whistles were blowing, and battens flying as they ran from one area to another, and then to an ambulance waiting to load the wounded.

We were told to stay in the cue for a cab...
     and 'DON'T MOOVE!' ...

        There had been two muggings in lane beside Sardis!

OH HOW I DO LOVE NEW YORK!