Fraunces Tavern Museum Update

The Fraunces Tavern Museum and restaurant are at 54 Pearl St. For information about current programming, click here. (Photo: The Long Room in the Fraunces Tavern Museum. © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

 PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS

 With 91 percent of the votes counted, Christopher Marte won the Democratic primary for City Council in District 1. He received 64 percent of the vote. His name will be on the ballot for the general election in November. Susan Lee came in second, with 30 percent of the votes. The New York Times is posting more information about election results as they come in, To access that article, click here.


In an online talk, historian Jonathan H. Rees discussed his new book "The Fulton Fish Market: A History" (Columbia University Press, 2022). Among other things, Rees described the market’s workings and significance, tracing the transportation, retailing, and consumption of fish. Today, the once bustling fish market in lower Manhattan's South Street Seaport is a rebuilt retail destination with a new kind of marketing – but from its founding in 1822, through its move to the Bronx in 2005, the Fulton Fish Market was an iconic New York institution. At first a neighborhood market for many different kinds of food, by the late nineteenth century, it became the nation’s largest fish and seafood wholesaling center. Thousands of immigrants worked at the Fulton Fish Market and introduced the rest of the city to their seafood traditions. In popular culture, the market evoked images of the animated East River waterfront, late-night fishmongering, organized crime, and a vanished working-class New York. "The Fulton Fish Market: A History" can be purchased on Amazon.com, the McNally Jackson Bookstore at 4 Fulton St. in the South Street Seaport and elsewhere.

Jake Johnson is the manager of the National Museum of the American Indian store at 1 Bowling Green in Manhattan. "This iteration of the store opened in January 2018," he said. He added that he has been "stationed at NMAI-NY in my role since April 2016." Johnson is standing next to a totem pole carved by Francis Horne, Sr., a member of the Coast Salish, whose once little-known art he has helped to preserve. A self-taught artist, he is also a carver who has created both major totem poles and sculptures for international commissions. He teaches carving and practices First Nation spirituality. This totem pole costs $20,000.  Around three-quarters of the items in the store are handmade and are one of a kind. The National Museum of the American Indian is open from Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer 2018)

Unclaimed funds in New York: The New York State Comptroller's Office reports that it is holding nearly $14 billion in unclaimed money for New York residents who may have been charged superfluous fees or overpaid a bill, among other reasons for the money to end up in that office. Manhattan has the largest number of unclaimed funds in the New York area with just over 1.5 million potential cases. To search the comptroller's database and verify if you have unclaimed funds, click here or call (800) 221-9311 for more information.

Responding to hate crimes: New York City and New York State have launched programs to combat and report hateful and bias crimes against the LBGT, Muslim and immigrant communities. The City's initiative includes expansion of the Human Rights Commission information line to let people know about their legal rights and protections when confronted with, or witness to, bias and hateful events. They have also created a resource page for impacted communities. To see it, click here.


To report bias, discriminatory or hateful crimes, call these numbers:

• NYC Commission on Human Rights, (718) 722-3131

• The New York Police Department Hate Crimes Task Force, (646) 610-5267

• Manhattan District Attorney Hate Crime Hotline, (212) 335-3100

• Gov. Andrew Cuomo Special Unit to Investigate Hate Crimes, (888) 3923644


Robert Wilson, Bowne & Co.'s head printer, showed a mid-19th century printing press to a visitor. Bowne & Co. uses seven of the South Street Seaport Museum's antique printing presses and the museum's extensive collection of antique typefaces to print stationary, broadsides, greeting cards and other materials. (Photos: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

The ribbon-cutting on May 16, 2023 for Century 21 New York's store at 22 Cortlandt St. was attended by a rapturous crowd of eager shoppers.

South Street Seaport Museum Collection Online 

The South Street Seaport Museum’s free Collections Online Portal now features over 3,500 pieces on virtual display, allowing audiences from around the globe to explore New York City’s past through the archives, artifacts and photographs of the South Street Seaport Museum. In addition to the newspaper clippings, the latest update, recently released, also includes 150 paintings covering a variety of historical subjects and themes relating to the growth of New York City as a world port. This searchable database features selected items from the Museum’s permanent and working collections of over 60,000 items, encapsulating the rich maritime heritage of New York City. Whether you’re a friend of the Museum browsing casually from home or a researcher investigating a topic, you can explore the ever-growing Collections Online Portal at your leisure. For more information, click here.

People lined up at the Downtown Boathouse on Pier 26 in Hudson River Park to participate in the Downtown Boathouse's free kayaking program on the Hudson River. (Photos: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

New York State Lifts

Covid-19 Restrictions


June 15, 2021: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was brimming with happiness and eloquence when, at the World Trade Center in Manhattan, he announced that State-imposed Covid-19 restrictions would be lifted immediately. On Day 427 since the Covid-19 crisis came to public attention and Cuomo began his daily, unrelenting crusade to corral and fight the pandemic, he announced that 70 percent of New Yorkers, aged 18 and older, have received the first dose of their Covid-19 vaccination series and that the positivity rate in New York State is .40% — the lowest of any state in the United States. When all of this started, New York State had the highest positivity rate in the nation, and in fact, said Cuomo, the highest positivity rate on the globe.


Cuomo had a long list of people to thank, especially "the essential workers" who, he said, "came forward and whose effort and courage brought us through this day." Cuomo called them "our heroes."


To resounding applause from the audience, representatives of each group of essential workers were called to the stage and Cuomo gave each of them a plaque honoring their service: building service workers, the National Guard, food and hospitality workers, people who work in sanitation, transportation, retail stores and making deliveries. He cited hospital staff, teachers, corrections officers, government employees, EMT and ambulance workers, utility workers, people who work in construction and manufacturing, police officers, firefighters, doctors and nurses.


As Cuomo often said during the pandemic, these were the people who showed up for work to keep the city and the state running so that the rest of us could safely stay home.


Now, said Cuomo, "you want to honor the essential workers? I'll tell you how. You get vaccinated so you don't need the essential workers again."


Tonight, in honor of these people, all New York State assets such as the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center will be lit up in blue and gold. Also, there will be fireworks displays at 10 locations throughout the State. In Manhattan, they will be near The Battery and will start at 9:15 p.m.

Free Citizen Public Health

Training Program


Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of a Citizen Public Health Training Course for New Yorkers to teach preparedness for and prevention of public health emergencies. The free, online course is being taught by "top public health experts."


The training was developed by Cornell University's Master of Public Health Program and is being delivered through eCornell. It is a four-part online training program to equip New Yorkers with expertise and tools to help build and support community-led initiatives surrounding prevention, detection and response in the event of public health emergencies. After completing the training, participants will be designated a "NYS Citizen Public Health Leader" and will be informed about how they can volunteer in support of their local public health operations - especially during emergencies - as well as how to find, use and share verified information about public health matters from reliable sources.

Program participants will learn about COVID-19, public health emergency preparedness and response, and other public health issues, while gaining insight into information and resources that will benefit their communities. Those interested in enrolling or getting more information about becoming a NYS Citizen Public Health Leader can go to the program website by clicking here.

New State-wide paid sick leave benefits: As of Jan. 1, 2021 New Yorkers can begin using sick leave benefits under New York State's newly enacted paid sick leave law. This legislation, which was advanced in the Governor's 2020 State of the State address and enacted as part of the FY 2021 Budget, secures paid sick leave for workers at medium and large businesses and paid or unpaid leave for those at small businesses, depending on the employer's net income. Under this groundbreaking law, New Yorkers can use guaranteed sick leave to recover from an illness themselves, care for a sick family member, or address safety needs if they or a family member are the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking. More information is available on the state's Paid Sick Leave website. Click here.

New City Council District Map for Manhattan

The New York City Districting Commission has just published new City Council district maps that will be in place for the next decade. The maps resulted from over eight months of work during which there were 20 public meetings and hearings where public testimony was presented both in person and virtually. To see an enlargement of the map, click here.

SCRIE and DRIE application assistance: The Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE, also known as the NYC Rent Freeze Program) freezes the rent for head-of-household seniors 62 and older who live in rent-regulated apartments. A companion program, the Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE, also known as the NYC Rent Freeze Program) is an exemption against future rent increases for eligible disabled persons living in rent-controlled, rent-stabilized, Mitchell-Lama and other eligible apartments. It turns out that many New Yorkers who would be eligible for this assistance are not using it. For information about how to apply for SCRIE and/or DRIE, click here.


City's archives now open on Saturday mornings: One of the unsung gems in city government, the New York City Municipal Archives and Library (managed by the city's Department of Records and Information Services) is now open on Saturday mornings. The additional hours provide greater access to the historical and contemporary records of New York City. Visit to learn about your family's history; explore historical records, mayoral collections, and government publications; and tour the exhibition of Police Department surveillance materials, "Unlikely Historians." Specialized researchers should email research@records.nyc.gov in case archival records must be pulled from offsite storage. Place: 31 Chambers St., in the historic Surrogate's Courthouse. Hours: 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday); 9:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. (Thursday), and 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 pm (Saturdays).


COVID-19 testing: On May 17, 2020  Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a new website that will help New Yorkers to find sites where they can be tested for COVID-19.  The URL is https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-testing


Robert Warner retires as South Street Seaport Museum's shopkeeper and master printer


Robert Warner, who transformed the South Street Seaport Museum's shop at 211 Water St. into a charming emporium of old-fashioned, artistic and idiosyncratic treasures, has retired both as shopkeeper and as Bowne & Co. Stationers' master printer. For the last 24 years, he has been a beloved part of the museum's staff. As curator of the shop, he selected and stocked its wares, decorated its windows and its streetscape, greeted customers and sometimes gave classes in collage. At the back of the shop Warner often demonstrated his printing expertise on some of the museum's antique printing presses. Warner was one of a kind and irreplaceable. He will be missed. 

(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Estuarium Design Meeting


On Feb. 27, Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) had an online meeting regarding the Estuarium which HRPT is going to build on the upland side of Pier 26. The purpose of the meeting was to solicit ideas from the public as to some of the things that should be considered in the design.  The Estuarium will educate visitors about the Hudson River, including its land and water environment and will conduct research on the river and its ecosystem. The Hudson River Park Trust, through its River Project, will be the operator of the Estuarium. The Hudson River Park Trust recently hired a comprehensive design team led by a Tribeca-based firm, Sage and Coombe, as the Architect of Record and EHDD Architecture, as the Design Architect for this project.


Before starting the building design, the team is incorporating community comments. It is also confirming survey and geotechnical information, verifying flood zone requirements and determining Hudson River water and aquatic wildlife support systems.


The participants in the online meeting were broken up into smaller groups so that everyone would have a chance to comment. The comments reflected a broad range of interests and backgrounds, depending on previous interactions with the River Project and with the Hudson River itself.


Additional comments for the design team can be sent to
estuariumproject@gmail.com


Bowne & Co. Stationers


When Bowne & Co. Stationers at 211 Water St. in the South Street Seaport reopened after a pandemic hiatus, its shelves and tables were filled as formerly with art supplies, notebooks, greeting cards and stationary printed on the South Street Seaport Museum's antique presses, plus all manner of intriguing curios. If you've been looking for a ship in a bottle or a carved whale, look no further. Notebooks and journals with decorative covers are piled high on the tables next to brightly colored pencil sharpeners and brush pens, crying out to be used.


The shop is housed in a historic 19th-century storefront with brick walls and a beamed ceiling that once served as a warehouse for heating stoves. A painting of Robert Bowne who founded Bowne & Co. in 1775 hangs on the wall. The venerable shop that bears his name is New York’s oldest operating business under the same name.


Bowne & Co. is open from Wednesdays through Sundays between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.  Entry to visit the Bowne & Co. store is free with no museum admission required. For more information, click here.

Online Shop
For those who are unable to visit Bowne & Co. in person, check out the Bowne & Co. Online Shop which features a selection of  offerings from Bowne & Co.: journals, writing paper, books, and house-designed notecards and broadside posters. Totes and other Seaport Museum branded merchandise are also available for purchase. Orders can be shipped anywhere in the United States via UPS Ground and are also available for local pickup. Click here for more information.

Some of the people who worked in the Fulton Fish Market in 1933.

City of Water Day in

Lower Manhattan


City of Water Day 2022 took place on July 16. It has become an annual summer tradition in New York Harbor designed to raise awareness of the fact that New York City is mostly built on islands and is an archipelago surrounded by water. The Hudson River on the western flank of Manhattan and the Bronx and the so-called East River separating Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens (the East River is actually a tidal strait connected to Long Island Sound) are only two of New York City's numerous waterways. The Harlem River is a tidal strait flowing between the Hudson River and the East River, separating Manhattan from the Bronx. The Bronx River (the city's only fresh water river) separates the East Bronx from the West Bronx and then flows southward before emptying into Long Island Sound.


This is just a small sample of New York Harbor's waterways. City of Water Day used to provide a fun opportunity to go for a ride on some of the harbor's many boats in order to get a closer look at our maritime environment. Now City of Water Day is primarily land based with activities and exhibitions designed to make us aware of our vulnerability to climate change and sea level rise.


In Lower Manhattan, these activities included the following:


In Battery Park City's Rockefeller Park, you could learn about "environmental stewardship" by taking a nature walk culminating in an art project.


On Pier 40 in Hudson River Park, you could get a guided tour of the Wetlab, a research aquarium that is free and open to the public. This flow-through aquarium houses dozens of species of fish and invertebrates that were caught in the Hudson River.


The fireboat John J. Harvey was at Pier 66 in Hudson River Park with spectacular water displays and a chance to learn more about this historic vessel. There were also free public trips aboard John J. Harvey. .


In the South Street Seaport, an installation called "Art at the Blue Line" was installed to raise awareness of the risk of coastal flooding from rising sea levels and the failure to address climate change, The Blue Line refers to the projected high-tide line in 2100. Three artists are represented in this exhibiton on Piers 16 and 17. It will run through July 29.

Pride Week 2020













The Pershing Viaduct was among the New York State landmarks that were lit in honor of Pride Month and the LGBTQ community.


Because of Covid-19, there were no large communal celebrations to mark the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall Inn uprising in Greenwich Village and the 50th anniversary of the first Gay Pride parade, which took place on June 28, 1970. However, New York State governor Andrew Cuomo observed Pride Week in other ways. On June 28, 2020, he announced that New York veterans who were denied honorable discharges due to their LGBTQ identity can begin submitting applications under The Restoration of Honor Act. This will allow veterans who were denied an honorable discharge because of their sexual orientation or gender identity to have their New York State veterans' benefits restored.
 
The Governor also announced an action by the New York State Department of Financial Services to futher protect LGBTQ New Yorkers from discrimination in healthcare as the federal government continues to remove or erode these protections.
 

Proposed structure for the site at 250 Water St.

NYPD First Precinct Community Council Meetings

Monthly meetings of Manhattan's NYPD First Precinct Community Council take place starting at 6 p.m. at 16 Ericsson Place. The Community Council welcomes residents and businesses interested in police and security issues. Crime statistics and crime prevention tips are presented and quality of life issues are discussed. For more information, contact the First Precinct Community Affairs Officer, Nicolaos Iordanou at (212) 334-0640 or nicolaos.iordanou@nypd.org

Whitney Museum Gay Pride Observances


The Whitney Museum of American Art at 99 Gansevoort St. is located in New York City's former Meatpacking District on the West Side of Lower Manhattan. In the 1970s, the area began to be known not just for meatpacking and other industries but for night clubs catering to a gay clientele and for prostitution involving transsexuals. Beginning in the late 1990's, high-end boutiques opened in the area, and by 2004, the Meatpacking District had become fashionable, abetted in June 2009 by the opening of the first segment of the High Line.


The Whitney opened on May 1, 2015 near the southernmost entrance of the High Line. This is a museum noteworthy for its embrace of artists of varied backgrounds and for often mounting shows with politicized messages. So it's no wonder that the Whitney celebrated Gay Pride Month with a multitude of events that acknowledged the years when the streets around the museum were a hub of gay activity. The museum stated that "Whitney Pride is part of the Museum’s ongoing commitment to support LGBTQ+ artists and communities and offer an inclusive space for all to gather and enjoy American art."


On June 5, with the New York premiere of an HBO Documentary Film called "The Stroll" (2023), the Whitney celebrated the history of the Meatpacking District and honored the transgender women who helped shape it with a free after-hours event featuring music, dancing, and refreshments in the Museum’s Griffin Hall. "The Stroll" (2023) is a documentary film that explores the history of New York City's Meatpacking District through the eyes of the transgender women of color who lived and worked there. The film is titled after the block of 14th street between Ninth Avenue and the Hudson River where trans women, shunned from the workforce, turned to sex work as a means of survival. Their perspectives and insights contribute to an essential archive  documenting how heavy policing, discrimination, violence, and gentrification created Manhattan’s built environment today. Though the Whitney'sscreening has passed, "The Stroll" became available as of June 21 on HBO and will be available to stream on Max coinciding with LGBTQ Pride Month.

Con Ed Power Outage

Causes Downtown Post NYC to Go Down


Dec. 15, 2023: Starting late on Dec. 14 and continuing until 10 a.m. on Dec. 15,  Downtown Post NYC lost Internet, telephone and television access because of the power outage at a Con Edison plant in Brooklyn. As reported by the New York Daily News, "a power substation in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, experienced an isolated high-voltage malfunction late Thursday, officials said. Con Edison, New York City’s largest utility supplier, said that a transmission line failed around 11:55 p.m. on Thursday. Most of New York City was likely affected by the momentary power outage, according to Con Edison. The disruption stemmed from a fault in a 27-kilowatt feeder at Con Edison’s Farragut Substation that also sparked a small fire at the riverside substation, said Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency management commissioner."


Downtown Post NYC uses computer Internet links for telephone and television access, so when the Internet went down, all means of communication and information were disrupted. Downtown Post NYC's Internet carrier's equipment in the Con Ed substation was damaged by the outage and the Internet carrier's technicians were unable to gain access and to make repairs for many hours after the initial transmission line failure. Undoubtedly many other businesses were also affected by the Con Edison outage. — Terese Loeb Kreuzer

How to Support Your Community: Donate!

South Street Seaport Museum: The evocative upper floors of Schermerhorn Row in the South Street Seaport have been mostly closed to the public since Superstorm Sandy destroyed the electrical system in the buildings on Oct. 29, 2012. During October 2018, the South Street Seaport Museum offered guided tours of the 4th floor where visitors could see the remnants of two hotels that in the 19th century provided accommodations for seamen, traveling salesmen and other visitors. Want to make a contribution to the South Street Seaport Museum to support its programs and services? Your money would go for educational programs, for curating and interpreting its collection of 27,000 works of art and artifacts that document the rise of the New York port, preserving and actively using its historic ships and printing presses and supporting the corps of nearly 300 volunteers and interns that make the Museum's work possible. For more information and to donate to the South Street Seaport Museum, click here. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

A fisherman holding a blue crab that he just caught in the Hudson River.  (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Christopher Marte, the incumbent, is in his first term of representing Manhattan District 1 in City Council

On City of Water Day in 2018, kayakers put out into the East River from a naturally formed beach on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Discussions have been under way off and on since then about making that beach permanently accessible to the public, but so far, it hasn't happened. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

South Street Seaport Museum

Book Club

The South Street Seaport Museum is hosting a maritime-themed book club in partnership with McNally Jackson Books at 4 Fulton St., where the book club meets. Seaport Museum staff and special guests lead the discussions on the last Monday of every other month. Each book selection is announced at least one month in advance. The book club meets at 6:30 p.m. and is free. If desired, the books can be purchased at McNally Jackson with a 10% discount. Advance registration is encouraged.

Throughout the year, the Battery Park City Authority sponsors art classes, most of them free with materials provided.

(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Downtown Post NYC photos for sale:If you would like to buy prints of a photograph that has appeared in Downtown Post NYC, email editor@downtownpostnyc.com with your request for more information about sizes and prices.


Preparing for emergencies: Lower Manhattan is no stranger to natural and manmade disasters. Ready is a national public service campaign that was launched in 2003 to help people to prepare for, respond to and mitigate emergencies. Ready and its Spanish language version, Listo, recommend: (1) staying informed about the kinds of emergencies that could occur and their appropriate responses (2) making a family emergency plan, (3) building an emergency supply kit, and (4) getting involved in your community's efforts to prepare for emergencies. As we have seen in Puerto Rico, sometimes government help is not immediately available and neighbors will have to care for neighbors until other help arrives. Ready says that an emergency preparedness backpack should contain copies of important documents, non-perishable food and water, a battery-generated radio and flashlight for use if you have to shelter in place or evacuate. For more information, click here.  

Community Board 1 website: Community Board 1's website includes information updated daily on alternate side of the street parking, garbage collection, subway schedules and school openings. There are also links to the Manhattan Borough President's Office, the New York City Mayor's Consumer Services Unit, the Department of Sanitation, 311 and other City departments and services. Community Board 1 meeting dates and agendas are listed in addition to reports that CB1 has prepared.Applicants for liquor licenses, newsstands, sidewalk cafés and landmarking will find the guidelines on the website. Presentations related to Wagner Park in Battery Park City and to The Howard Hughes Corporation's construction plans in the South Street Seaport are listed under the heading "External Information" where a link to the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board can also be found. The website URL is http://www1.nyc.gov/site/manhattancb1/index.page 

"If You See Something, Say Something"
New Yorkers are reminded to stay alert to their surroundings, and to report any suspicious activity.
Reports can be made to the Counter Terrorism Center at the New York State Intelligence Center via its terrorism tip line: (866) SAFENYS (866-723-3697); or by email: ctcenter@nysic.ny.gov. New Yorkers can also download the See Something, Send Something app on your smartphone to inform authorities of a potential threat. Go to https://www.ny.gov/programs/see-something-send-something for more information.


The interior of the McNally Jackson bookstore at 4 Fulton St. in the South Street Seaport, which is co-sponsoring a monthly book club with the South Street Seaport Museum. 

(Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

 Appellate Court Greenlights 325-Foot Tower at 250 Water St.


June 6: Today the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: First Department handed down a unanimous decision overturning a ruling by a lower court that had denied a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) allowing the Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC) to erect a 325-foot- tall  building at 250 Water St. within the South Street Seaport Historic District.  The COA had been granted by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) of the City of New York. Now, the Howard Hughes Corporation can go ahead with building its tower. "We are gratified by the court’s decision, which confirms what we have maintained all along: The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s approval of our project was proper and made in full compliance with the landmarks law,” Howard Hughes co-president Zach Winick said in a statement.

The five judges who heard the case, selected at random from the 14 who hear cases in this court, were Tanya R. Kennedy, Jeffrey K. Oing, Barbara R. Kapnick, Peter H. Moulton and Manuel J. Mendez.

Fiddler on the Roof cast album


A cast album of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbine's production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is available from Amazon.com and elsewhere.


Directed by Academy Award-and-Tony Award winner Joel Grey, the Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof  received universal positive praise from critics, including landing a place as a New York Times’ Critic’s Pick.” The Yiddish language Fiddler on the Roof is based on the Tevye the Dairyman vignettes by Sholem Aleichem and was translated by Shraga Friedman.


 For Downtown Post NYC's review of the production plus some additional photographs, click here.

DOWNTOWN POST NYC BULLETIN BOARD 
(WITH EVENTS PAST AND PRESENT)

Bowne & Co. Stationers

Bowne & Co. Stationers at 211 Water St. in the South Street Seaport has shelves and tables filled with art supplies, notebooks, greeting cards and stationary printed on the South Street Seaport Museum's antique presses, plus all manner of intriguing curios. If you've been looking for a ship in a bottle or a carved whale, look no further. Notebooks and journals with decorative covers are piled high on the tables next to brightly colored pencil sharpeners and brush pens, crying out to be used. The shop is housed in a historic 19th-century storefront with brick walls and a beamed ceiling that once served as a warehouse for heating stoves. A painting of Robert Bowne who founded Bowne & Co. in 1775 hangs on the wall. The venerable shop that bears his name is New York’s oldest operating business under the same name. Bowne & Co. is open from Wednesdays through Sundays between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.  Entry to visit the Bowne & Co. store is free with no museum admission required. For more information, click here.

Century 21 reopens


“Century 21 is back!” a shopper rejoiced. On May 16, 2023, the beloved department store finally reopened after having been closed for three years.
 
Century 21 was not just a store. It was a talisman for local shoppers in search of luxury goods at discounted prices, a tourist attraction, and a fixture in Lower Manhattan for decades.
 
It was founded in 1961 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, eventually expanding to include 13 stores from New York to Florida. The flagship store was in Lower Manhattan, close enough to the World Trade Center site that it was significantly damaged during the attack on Sept. 11, 2001. Nevertheless, after a few months, it rebounded. However, it didn’t rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, the Gindi family, the owners of Century 21, filed for bankruptcy.
 
Although on May 16 the store at 22 Cortlandt Street wasn’t scheduled to open until noon, some shoppers were waiting in line as early as 6:30 a.m. After a few hours, the line stretched around the block.
 
Century 21 now occupies only four floors instead of six as it did before the pandemic but the quality of the merchandise and the discounts of at least 50 percent off haven’t changed. “So many things catch your eye!” said one woman. “It’s like a feast for the fashionable.”

Whitney Museum's Gay Pride Observances


The Whitney Museum of American Art at 99 Gansevoort St. is located in New York City's former Meatpacking District on the West Side of Lower Manhattan. In the 1970s, the area began to be known not just for meatpacking and other industries but for night clubs catering to a gay clientele and for prostitution involving transsexuals. Beginning in the late 1990's, high-end boutiques opened in the area, and by 2004, the Meatpacking District had become fashionable, abetted in June 2009 by the opening of the first segment of the High Line.


The Whitney opened on May 1, 2015 near the southernmost entrance of the High Line. This is a museum noteworthy for its embrace of artists of varied backgrounds and for often mounting shows with politicized messages. So it's no wonder that the Whitney celebrated Gay Pride Month with a multitude of events that acknowledged the years when the streets around the museum were a hub of gay activity.


On June 5, with the New York premiere of an HBO Documentary Film called "The Stroll" (2023), the Whitney celebrated the history of the Meatpacking District and honored the transgender women who helped shape it with a free after-hours event featuring music, dancing, and refreshments in the Museum’s Griffin Hall. "The Stroll" (2023) is a documentary film that explores the history of New York City's Meatpacking District through the eyes of the transgender women of color who lived and worked there. The film is titled after the block of 14th street between Ninth Avenue and the Hudson River where trans women, shunned from the workforce, turned to sex work as a means of survival. Their perspectives and insights contribute to an essential archive  documenting how heavy policing, discrimination, violence, and gentrification created Manhattan’s built environment today. Though the Whitney'sscreening has passed, "The Stroll" became available as of June 21 on HBO and will be available to stream on Max for the immediate future.

(Left) Part of the Meatpacking District and West Street as seen from the Whitney Museum of American Art at 99 Gansevoort St. (Right) The exterior of the Whitney Museum of American Art. (Photos: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer).

250 Water St. in the South Street Seaport Historic District has been the site of litigation for decades.

Some Election Day Results for

Lower Manhattan

Midterm election results for New York City have not yet been certified as final by the New York City Board of Elections, but many contests affecting Lower Manhattan show no doubt as to who won. Because of redistricting, some incumbents ran in districts that they had not previously represented. Here are some numbers:

Manhattan State Senate:

District 27: With almost 96% of the votes counted, incumbent Brian Kavanagh garnered 58,674 votes compared with 2,526 votes for his opponent, Eric Rassi. (Before redistricting, Kavanaugh represented District 26.)

District 47: Brad Hoylman led his two opponents with 85,039 votes compared with 4,690 for Maria Danzilo and 1,437 for Robert Bonrick.

Sign up for Notify NYC

New Yorkers are encouraged to sign up for Notify NYC, the City’s free emergency communications program, for the latest information and updates on storm and emergency events in NYC. To sign up for Notify NYC, download the free mobile application, visit NYC.gov/NotifyNYC, call 311, or follow @NotifyNYC on Twitter. For more severe weather information, go to  www.NYC.gov/SevereWeather.


Community Board 1 Concerned About Future of Free Hudson River Kayaking

In 1994, the Downtown Boathouse opened on Pier 26 in Hudson River Park and has been offering free kayaking ever since. As of the 2022 summer season, the Downtown Boathouse has enabled around half a million kayaking excursions, mostly on the river and also on Governors Island, where the  Boathouse maintains an outpost. The Downtown Boathouse is staffed entirely by volunteers and operates as a non-profit organization. Donations are welcome but not mandatory. The Boathouse declares that its mission is "to encourage safe public use of the harbor waters of New York City and thereby provide residents of this space-constrained city with increased recreational opportunities."


Now, all of this may be coming to an end. The Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT), the Downtown Boathouse's landlord, issued an RFP on Oct. 18, 2022 for boathouse operators to take over four locations within the park, including Pier 26, where the Downtown Boathouse is located. Community Board 1 was blindsided by this. It was neither informed nor consulted about this development. In addition, HRPT apparently has no plans to involve Community Board 1 in the selection process.


In response, Community Board 1's Waterfront, Parks and Cultural Committee has drafted a resolution expressing dismay and disappointment. This resolution was discussed and voted on by CB1's full board at its meeting on Nov. 22, 2022. The resolution was approved. It notes that the committee had heard "only very positive feedback and comments regarding the current operators of the Downtown Boathouse and how responsive they were and how they worked very well with families and others with limited kayaking experience."


The resolution "strongly urges the HRPT to share the responses it receives from this RFP and to provide the Community Board with an opportunity to offer our comments regarding the applicants and their boathouse plans."


Of course, the Hudson River Park Trust is under no obligation to do so.

The South Street Seaport Museum on Schermerhorn Row once housed several hotels for seamen. In 1952, the writer Joseph Mitchell and Louis Morino, who owned a restaurant called Sloppy Louie's on this site (92 South St.) used this old elevator shaft to enter the boarded-up Fulton Ferry Hotel (in operation from 1874 to 1935) where they found iron bedsteads, bureaus and signs reading "All Gambling...Strictly Prohibited." (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Downtown Post NYC

Volunteer on Governors Island


Governors Island is a 172-acre island, 800 yards from Lower Manhattan and around 400 yards from Brooklyn. The National Park Service administers a small part of the northern side of the island as a National Monument. The Trust for Governors Island administers the remaining 150 acres as a public park. This part of Governors Island relies on volunteers for a variety of jobs. They include providing information for visitors, serving as tour guides on in-depth public walking tours, helping the horticultural staff to care for the island's meadows, forest groves, ornamental flower beds and landscaped hillsides and performing seasonal gardening tasks such as planting and pruning. Volunteers must be at least 16 years old. For more information and to apply, click here.

Historic Fireboat John J. Harvey Hudson River Trips


From time to time, the public is invited to travel aboard the historic fireboat John Jay Harvey for cruises in New York harbor and on the Hudson River.

For more information about the John J. Harvey and/or to donate, click here. In 2018, the John J. Harvey traveled up the Hudson River to Waterford, N.Y. For more about the September 2018 Hudson River trip aboard the John J. Harvey to Waterford, N.Y. and back, click here.

(Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)