My new friend Jerry, with his quick wit, easy story-telling nature, and admirable insight and honesty, patiently directed and redirected me via cell phone through the maze of streets that surround Bowery. Just as I start to think I'm figuring things out, I go south of Union Square and realize there is still a third of the island I have barely skimmed the surface of, not to mention four more boroughs. After wandering in circles for thirty minutes to walk what I later learned was three blocks, I at last I see him dancing across the street, literally. I close my umbrella as he leads me into an old ale house replete with rough dark wood tables, walls laden with historical clippings, and sawdust covering the floors.
McSorley’s Old Ale House, established in 1854, keeps it simple. You are given a choice of light beer or dark beer and served two small mugs at one time along with a plate of sliced white cheddar cheese with a still sealed ¼ box pack of saltine crackers tossed on top. Dark seemed a better match to the rainy weather outside though when they set two mugs down, I thought I’d never be able to drink them both. Much to my surprise it was, truly, the best beer I’ve ever had. I actually liked it. I never like beer. Three rounds, six beers, and several stories later I was ready to be declared a McSorley’s regular. I would be in good company. As the oldest continuously operated saloon, it has welcomed through its doors everyone from Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley to Norman Mailer and Woodie Guthrie, though women weren’t officially admitted entrance until 1970, and then only with a ruling by to the Supreme Court! e.e. cummings even wrote a poem entitled Sitting at McSorley’s in 1923 referring to the ale “which never lets you grow old.” Another good reason to become a regular!
Jerry and I at McSorley's: 
From McSorelys, we made our way to the Morgan Museum and Library - such a wonderful treat for a bibliophile like me. The expansion just finished in 2006 integrated the previous Annex, the library building, and Jack Morgan’s former brownstone residence, and added 75,000 square feet to the campus, doubling the exhibition space and adding several notable amenities. While the new structure with its soaring glass and modern architecture is impressive, nothing captures my awe like a room full of books. The library was built just after the turn of the century and considered by many to be Charles McKim’s masterpiece; an “Italian Renaissance-style palazzo with three magnificent rooms epitomizing America’s Age of Elegance.”
The first of the three rooms, the study is indeed striking, with oversized fireplace, and beautiful renditions of Italian renaissance art, but the library… the library was beyond words, millions of words in fact. Over half a dozen languages are represented by the books upon the three tiers of shelving, including French, (the majority in fact) as well as Italian, English, German, Flemish, Dutch, and Spanish. There are also examples of Armenian, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopian, Arabic, Persian, and Indian manuscripts. The collection actually includes three Gutenberg Bibles, three, not to mention the sole surviving manuscript of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, edited by his wife and daughters at his direction, as well as Charles Dickens's manuscript of A Christmas Carol, Henry David Thoreau's journals, Thomas Jefferson's letters to his daughter Martha, and manuscripts and letters of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, and John Steinbeck, and several other rare finds. In the music collection one can view the actual manuscript of Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Sonata no. 10 in G Major, op. 96. and an autographed manuscript of Mozart’s Haffner Symphony. The collection continues to grow as new works are added.
I was fortunate to arrive the last weekend of the winter exhibitions and had a chance to see Fragonard and the French Tradition, Mozart at 250: A Celebration, and Bob Dylan’s American Journey, 1956 -1966. I even learned a thing or ten I didn’t know about Bob Dylan – him being just a few years “before my time” (thank god someone is). I was particularly impressed with the Saul Steinberg exhibit entitled Illuminations (which will remain until March 4th). Steinberg is best known for the hundreds of drawings he did for the New Yorker though he was a famed cartoonist in Milan, as well as a propagandist, illustrator, fabric and card designer, muralist, fashion and advertising artist, stage designer and, of course, illustrator in his beloved New York City. I found his wit keen, his style particularly engaging, and his sense of humor so wry and present that you often couldn’t help but laugh out loud when his point dawned on you. A security guard quipped at a laughing patron – “Yep, Steinberg’s been known to draw forth an insuppressible snicker now and again.” The exhibit will go on to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in D.C. and the Cincinnati Art Museum before concluding at Vassar College in 2008. It is worth a walk through if you happen to be in the same town.
We rounded out the day with Starbucks and chatted until I had to leave to meet up with my Italian language group. It was my first real day on the town doing something other than walking and interviewing. Thanks, Jerry, for the company, insight, experience, and treat!
Comments