New York, New York - Day 4 - SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, Harlem and Beautiful The Musical

On Day 4 of our New York trip, we started the day with breakfast at Bouchon in the Rockefeller Centre again, and sat inside so that we could watch the goings on at the Today show, filmed right next door.

We then set off for the first of our Free by Foot tours - Soho, Little Italy and Chinatown, led by Lori.

Lori told us a lot about the architecture of SoHo (South of Houston) as we walked on through - here is a sampling of the buildings that we discussed:

For Sex and the City fans, Lori pointed out the Louis K Meisel Gallery, where Charlotte worked:

And for fans of the cronut, she pointed out Dominique Ansel Bakery, where people apparently still line up for over an hour in the early morning for cronuts:

The Dr Seuss fan in me was delighted to find Mulberry Street:

We moved on to Chinatown, which was an experience in exotic sights, sounds and chaos:

I was a little disturbed by the number of basement hatches left open and unfenced in the bustling Chinatown area - you have to pay attention to where you are walking to avoid serious injury.

The lamp posts in Chinatown bear this symbol:

I don't know its significance, but I have seen it hanging in the cars of Chinese friends.

We also saw the very small area which is Little Italy:

Lori pointed out some restaurants of significance in Little Italy, including where the Real Housewives of somewhere eat, but she said it's mainly a tourist trap these days.

We then continued walking until we reached Columbus Park, where Chinese locals play chess and mahjong and traditional Chinese instruments, and generally socialise, which according to Lori even happens in the snow:

After this tour ended, we boarded the subway bound for Harlem, where we were doing another walking tour (and incidentally, it was Malcolm X's birthday, so there were celebrations going on in Harlem).  We stopped for lunch at Hong Kong Chinese Food in Harlem, where the $6.50 lunch special bought me a rather delicious chicken and broccoli with a free can of soft drink (the alternative was a free egg roll!):

Our Free by Foot tour of Harlem, led by Derrick, started at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which has this very impressive mosaic in the entrance hall:

 
We had a brief look at the displays in the Schomburg centre before heading outside, where Derrick explained the significance of this striking mural on the Harlem Hospital Centre:

We continued walking, past this striking mural protesting against police treatment of black people: 

and stopped outside this traditional gospel church, where the Sunday service goes for around 4 hours: 

 

Derrick continued to lead us through the streets of Harlem, pointing out sites of significance.  I liked these gates which alluded to the days before cars:

 
We also saw rows and rows of brownstones:

 
We stopped at the Shrine Bar and Restaurant, a world music venue, for a refreshing drink:

 
I loved the interiors of the Shrine:

 

The ceiling and walls were lined with record sleeves, and there were also records on the walls:

 

 
After a brief respite from the heat, we continued our tour, and stopped at the New Amsterdam Musical Association, being the oldest Afro-American musical association in the United States:

 

 

 
Derrick completed our tour by leading us past more sites of significance in Harlem, old and new, including Red Rooster, the popular Marcus Samuelsson restaurant:
 

 
and the famous Apollo Theatre:

Our tour finished almost an hour later than we expected, so there was no rest for us - we raced back to our hotel and showered and changed for dinner before our theatre visit that evening.

We had dinner at the Brooklyn Diner, squarely in the theatre district and just across the road from our theatre engagement:

 

The staff at the Brooklyn Diner were very welcoming, and facilitated us having dinner within the half hour before our show began.

 

The ambience of the Brooklyn Diner is old school elegance:

 

 

Here's the dinner menu:

 

 
I started our meal with a carafe of Zinfandel:

 

while Tim opted for a pale ale:

 

 
For main, Tim ordered the bacon cheeseburger ($22.75):

 
 while I ordered the Cuban Chicken with saffron rice ($23.95):

Tim declared my dish to be the winner, and I have to agree that it was tasty.

After finishing dinner at lightning speed, we dashed across the road to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre for a performance of Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, which had been recommended to me by Alan from my cardio and fitness class: 

We both enjoyed the show, and were surprised at how many classic songs Carole King either wrote or co-wrote.  One of the most memorable experiences of my trip was the military precision by which the staff at the theatre directed the inevitable queue for the women's bathrooms at interval.  It was so efficient - the queue moved quickly, and there was no queue jumping - fabulous.

After I bought a Beautiful souvenir T-shirt, we headed back to our hotel, with the gorgeous fairy lights of  Rockefeller Plaza nearby:

Free Tours by Foot

112 Suffolk St

New York, NY

United States

Ph: +1 646 450 6831

Columbus Park

Mott Street & Baxter Street

New York, NY

United States

 

Hong Kong Chinese Food

527 Malcolm X Blvd

New York, NY 10037

United States

 

Shrine NYC

2271 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard

New York, NY 10030

United States

Ph: +1 212 690 7807

 

Brooklyn Diner

155 W 43rd Street

New York, NY

United States

Ph: +1 212 977 1957

 

Beautiful

The Carole King Musical

Stephen Sondheim Theatre

124 W 43rd Street

New York, NY

United States

Ph: +1 212 239 6200