It was ex-pat day for the "glampers" — Day Four of our December adventuring around Manhattan's museums, cafes, theatres and shops. The four of us had discovered the delights of traditional British fare in the heart of Greenwich Village during last year's visit. Late breakfast at Tea & Sympathy (shop and cafe pictured beneath) are top of the list for the staunch British/American posse.
Around the corner, Myers of Keswick (purveyors of delicious British bangers and other traditional sausages and pictured above) is the proverbial "kid in a candy shop" pit-stop for Brits abroad.
Tea & Sympathy's cozy eatery is open Monday - Thursday from 11.30am - 10.30pm, Friday & Saturday from 9.30am - 10.30pm and Sunday from 9.30 am - 10.00 pm. Click here for menu.
The store is open daily from 11.00am - 10.30pm.
If you've a hankering this holiday season for a box of Turkish Delight, Chocolate Matchsticks, a tub of Quality Street Chocolates, a box of Mince Pies, Tea & Sympathy's store's handy online shop is just the tickets for U.S. addresses. Tea & Sympathy's Nicky Perry is a legend in her own unfussy afternoon tea hour. Click here to read about her winning battle earlier in the year to keep Cadbury's British-made chocolates coming into the U.S. market.
Chelsea Market, a block long and a block wide and a short walk from the Hudson River by the historic Meatpacking District, is a vibrant indoor food hall with over thirty-five vendors selling all sorts of gourmet offerings to eat on the spot or to take home. It was our Sunday morning shopping destination of choice. This popular artisan market with several great pop-up seasonal high-end craft markets within a market pulls in more than 6 million visitors each year. It felt like most were there on the same Sunday as us, given the bustling holiday shopping crowds.
Long before New York was settled by the first non-natives, The Algonquin Indians traded game and crops on the banks of the Hudson River at this same spot.
Through to 1980 trains of the nearby High Line served wholesale butchers lining the streets below the tracks. Fresh provisions were cooled with blocks of Hudson River ice. The National Biscuit Company established a factory in the neighborhood that is now the stripped down brick Chelsea Market.
One of my favorite finds in The Chelsea Market this visit was the pop-up booth by The Local Branch. Proprietors and artisans Mackenzie and Blaine are self-described explorers, travelers, makers, pioneers. Their focus is not only on making well-crafted artisan apparel, leather goods, and accessories by hand in the USA, but actually made throughout the USA.
The enterprising couple is constantly traveling the country - living and working out of their mobile Airstream workshop. Every product is tagged with a description of their inspiration and the exact American location in which it was created, giving every item a truly unique heritage.
The Chelsea Market is located at 75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011. Weekday & Saturday hours are 7 am to 9 pm, Sunday 8 am to 8 pm.
Photo: Lesley McCullaugh
The Highline runs behind The Chelsea Market and is a New York City-owned 1.45 mile art-filled public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th and 12th Avenues.
Following decades-long growth in the interstate trucking industry, the last train ran on the High Line in 1980, pulling three carloads of frozen turkeys. A group of property owners lobbied for demolition while Peter Obletz, a Chelsea resident, activist and railroad enthusiast, challenged demolition efforts in court. Friends of the High Line was founded in 1999 by Joshua David and Robert Hammond, residents of the High Line neighborhood, to advocate for the High Line's preservation and reuse as public open space.
The City accepted ownership of the High Line in 2005/2006 and the first section opened to the public in 2009. Since we visited in 2014, The Whitney Museum of American Art had opened (May 2015) at the foot of the High Line in the Meatpacking District. Touted as New York City’s newest world-class cultural destination in one of the city’s most dynamic and distinctive locations, this is indeed, a spectacular setting.
Photo: The Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art was the brainchild of sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and her advocacy on behalf of living American artists.
In the early twentieth century, artists with new ideas struggled to exhibit or sell their work in the United States. Gertrude recognized this and started buying and showing their work. She was the leading patron of American art from 1907 until her death in 1942.
The first Whitney Studio was established in Greenwich Village in 1914. Gertrude presented exhibitions by living American artists whose work had been disregarded by the traditional academies.
According to The Whitney Museum: "By 1929 she had assembled a collection of more than 500 works, which she offered with an endowment to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. When the offer was refused, she set up her own museum, one with a new and radically different mandate: to focus exclusively on the art and artists of this country. The Whitney Museum of American Art was founded in 1930, and opened in 1931 on West Eighth Street in Greenwich Village".
The Museum moved to West 54th Street in 1954. After outgrowing that building it acquired its Marcel Breuer-designed building on Madison Avenue at 75th Street, which opened in 1966. The Whitney's new building at 99 Gansevoort Street opened on May 1, 2015.
If you go, it's a good idea to book tickets ahead of time. Plan on a minimum of two hours for a multi-floor presentation of more than 400 artists and 600 works from The Whitney's permanent collection, including pieces from Andy Warhol, Edward Hopper and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Twilight view from the first floor balcony at The Whitney. Spot the Statue of Liberty far left. The Studio Cafe is located on the 8th floor of the Whitney Museum and is accessible to museum-goers only. In warmer months, I'd imagine it's quite lovely to spend an hour at outdoor balcony seating, taking in this extraordinary view of the city and river.
Though you don't have to be inside the museum to dine at sleek and modern ground floor restaurant Untitled, I'd definitely book ahead and reserve a table if you fancy it. We instead took a hot tip from Nicky Perry at Tea & Sympathy and, after the museum, walked off the bangers and mash with a wander along to a terrific Tuscan restaurant in the area, Bottino.
The Whitney Museum of American Art is located at: 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 10014
Comments