Three fast days in New York City

NEW YORK CITY: SATURDAY JUNE 13, 2009—We have stayed at a hotel on Broadway near West 48th several times because it’s located at the heart of that special New York City magic, the Theater District… a place where one can truly say that this 24-hour city never sleeps.

This time, however, we found that the aforementioned cliché has been taken to its wildest extreme. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has turned the Times Square area into a pedestrian mall, closing two sections of Broadway to vehicles, from 47th to 42nd Streets and 35th to 33rd Streets. No cars are allowed, not even the ever-powerful Yellow Cabs. The “mall” is like a scene from some Fellini film, a no-man or -woman’s land, but also an arena for the wild and curious.

Vibrantly-colored lawn chairs sit in the middle of the streets, as bodies of all shapes spill over their plastic weaved seats. Hundreds, if not thousands, come to sit and watch others like themselves push their way through the mob. Old and young line up for anything with a name they have heard of back home. There were lines of eager customers at Bubba Gump Shrimp and Planet Hollywood. Huge Jumbotron screens covering the lower skyline hawk some of the country’s best-known brands. M&M’s candy and Planters’ Peanuts have big stores and giant billboards that light up their part of the street. The signs compete with the stretch pants, jeans and bright, splashy tops with which visitors from somewhere else, adorn themselves, in competition with the hyper-stimulating environment.

Scene from Times Square Pedestrian Mall

This weekend is special because the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade has taken place in the city, drawing thousands more into the center of the action in this sort of urban theatrical set.

At dusk, a new ensemble of actors appear as if from nowhere. Dozens of Africans carrying huge bundles filled with fake Prada, Coach and Dior “knock-off” handbags, wallets and sunglasses, open their blankets and spread their wares on the sidewalk. Customers fight amongst themselves to give them money for these counterfeit goods.

Over the course of our three-day visit, the crowds never cease. At about midnight, the retail merchandise stores close their doors, but the comedy clubs and bars are just getting started. We’ve been to New York many times, but this is different. I think the White House should send photographers to Times Square and post the pictures on all those social networks as their reply when people charge that this country is in recession-depression. Just show these happy-go-lucky Americans freely spending their cash.

Anyone can get into the fun and action without spending a dime. Just pull up a chair on the sidewalk and watch.

SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2009—One of the best reasons to travel to the Big Apple is to catch the Bay Area’s own talented actor and movie star Delroy Lindo in Things of Dry Hours at the New York Theater Workshop. It is powerful, compelling and tackles a subject seldom explored, the issue of the American Communist movement in the 1930’s deep South. Lindo made his Broadway debut in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come And Gone, winning nominations for both Tony and Drama Desk awards, and later stared in Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys on Broadway. But it was his role in the film Cider House Rules that solidified his star quality on film and television. He has also been featured in many other films, including my HBO favorite Lackawanna Blues.

I thought I’d never see the day when people would pay $55 to tour Harlem, but it’s happening these days. On our annual visit to the historic, 200 year-old Abyssinian Baptist Church, we were surprised to see them, but there they were, lined around the block: scores of people without dark skin, waiting to attend the Sunday service. Abyssinian is the home church of the late, flamboyant Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, for whom one of the widest boulevards in Harlem is named. Though the now-famous pastor Rev. Calvin Butts, III was present on this particular day, the sermon was delivered by one of his protegees, Rev. Patrick Young from the First Baptist Church of East Elmhurst. His sermon’s title stays with me: What God has for you, is for you; all you have to do is want it, too.

Then after having eaten at several fancy, Manhattan small-portions restaurants, we had a taste for some “down-home” barbecue–and where did we find it?  Not in Harlem, where I’m sure there is good “Q”, but just around the corner from our hotel. Right off Broadway and West 44th Streets was Virgil’s, where the pulled pork sandwich is the best, and the ribs were not bad either.

Everything was just as Rev. Young had spoken: we had wanted to catch a quick dose of New York’s vibrant culture this weekend, and we did. It was a wonderful blessing, just for us.