Yesterday I woke up at 4:55 am to watch the coronation, took a nap, and then wandered through the city for a dozen or so miles. I started on the Upper East Side, cut across Central Park to the upper West Side, wandered up Broadway to Tom’s Restaurant (Monk’s in Seinfeld), past Columbia University (which I thought was somewhere else, so that was a surprise), then cut east through Central Harlem and back down to Central Park.
Some Central Park rhododendrons.
The West Side Community Garden. Once part of the grounds of the Elmwood estate (George Washington set up his headquarters there at one time), this area fell on hard times in the mid-1960s when it was used as a dumping ground for cars that had been stripped of parts. So the community raised the funds to turn it into a garden.
Tom’s Restaurant! It played the Monk’s Cafe in Seinfeld. They have banners with Elaine, Jerry, George, and Kramer’s names around the outdoor eating area.
First visit to Harlem! This is Louis Delsarte’s “Spirit of Harlem” mural. It was most recently in the news because a sneaker store moved into the building and covered the mural with a wall of black bricks. Fortunately the mural has been uncovered and restored.
A Harlem cat outside a convenience store.
Heading home past Rockefeller Center.
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