25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (the map follows the list below)

While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society.

The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's sculpture garden. These townhouses at 7 and 5 W. 54th Street are part of a longer row representing a time when millionaires lived in this part of Midtown. The building at 7 W. 54th dates from 1900 and was built for Philip Lehman of Lehman Brothers.

25 Things To Do Near The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

1. Paley Park, 3 E. 53rd St.
This small urban park built in 1967 on the site of the former Stork Club is considered a model of successful public places. William S. Paley, the founder of CBS, donated the park and named it after his father. The waterfall at the back of the space, when turned on for the season, softens the noise of the street. A frequent gathering place for a sack lunch.

2. Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E. 52nd St. website
Before entering, please step back to look at the acclaimed architecture of this 2002 building. Architectural theorist and practitioner Raimund Abraham designed the slender 24-story building on E. 52nd Street, built in 2000.

3. King Cole Bar, St. Regis Hotel, 2 E. 55th St. website
Order the signature Red Snapper at the King Cole Bar inside the St. Regis Hotel. Enjoy Maxfield Parrish's Old King Cole, the delightful mural stretching behind the bar.

4. Henry Bendel, 712 5th Avenue. website
The roots of Henri Bendel rest not in Paris but in French Louisiana, but as a famous designer and retailer, Bendel would cultivate Parisian connections. Speaking French greatly helped his cause. According to all reports, Bendel maintained a personal connection to the citizens of his native Lafayette, Louisiana throughout his life. While here, be prepared for running the gamut of perfume representatives.

5. Rockefeller Center, 48 to 51st Street, from Fifth to 6th Avenue. website
Architect Raymond Hood, as head of the design team, bore the main responsibility for negotiating among the many interests to make "the City within a City" a reality in limestone. While speaking the language of cost and efficiency, he argued that Rockefeller Center needed roof gardens, open spaces, and works of great art if it was going to succeed. Almost everyone else at the time thought it was going to fail. They were wrong.

6. Paris Theatre, 4 W. 58th St. ‪website
See a movie here for a charming experience. The Pathé Company opened this arthouse cinema on September 13, 1948. The company owned the theater until 1990. A perfect place to see The Artist.

7. Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave. website
The great 57th Street cultural corridor began in 1891 with the opening of Carnegie Hall, the symbol of music world success. A year later, the Art Students League moved into the new American Fine Arts Building, an elegant French Renaissance building at 215 West 57th Street. Developing by small increments, by the late 1920s the blocks of West 57th Street between 8th Avenue and 5th Avenue had become a major center for cultural life in the United States.

8. Rizzoli Flagship Store, 31 W. 57th St. ‪website
Browse one of the city's historic bookstores. The store, occupying three floors of an historic townhouse, harkens back to the day when bookstores were actually glamorous.

9. 57th Street Galleries
In addition to MoMA, visit the contemporary galleries along 57th Street, including Marian Goodman, Marlborough, and Laurence Miller.

10. Sony Wonder Technology Lab, 550 Madison Ave. website
An interactive museum highlights the visual culture of the high tech age.

11. Ziegfeld Theatre, 141 W. 54th St. website
The "new" Ziegfeld Theater opened in 1969, built near the original theatre of the same name and based on drawings by Emery Roth & Sons architects, with designs by Irving Gershon and John McNamara, the interior designer. See a movie in a true movie palace of the old style.

12. St. Patrick's Cathedral, 14 E 51st St. website
Designed by James Renwick, Jr., the Gothic Revival-style St. Pat's remains the heart of the city's Roman Catholic community. According to the church, five million people visit the cathedral every year. (Event note: This coming Saturday, March 17, St. Patrick's Day, several thousand people wearing green will march down Fifth Avenue toward the cathedral.)

13. Onassis Cultural Center, 645 5th Avenue. ‪website
Olympic Place explicitly asserts a connection to classical Greece as it serves as the home to the Onassis Cultural Center. The center features galleries with free admission and is open to the public Monday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

14. Paley Center for Media, 25 W. 52nd St. website
Revel in the history of television, radio, and emerging media. The Paley Center frequently gathers the casts of popular TV shows to talk about their programs.

15. Lever House
The 1952 building is famous for introducing the world to the glass curtain wall, and while some may hate them for their evil spawn, the building has aged well. The Lever House Art Collection displays works of art in the building's courtyard and adjacent spaces. (Event: See the inspiring aquarium art by Paula Hayes, "Land Mine," through April 27, 2012. link to art collection website)

16. Municipal Art Society, 457 Madison Avenue website
Since 1893 the society has worked hard to build and sustain a livable New York. Learn about their upcoming programs and tours. Every Wednesday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. the society gives tours of Grand Central Terminal.

Where's Cindy? New York Location Shots in the Work of Cindy Sherman

In light of the current Cindy Sherman retrospective at MoMA, let's ignore the usual question, “Who is the real Cindy Sherman?” and instead pose an important but less discussed one, “Where is Cindy Sherman?” And as it relates the evolution of modern New York culture, we should also ask, "When?"

Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still #21. 1978. Gelatin silver print. 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 (19.1 x 24.1 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Horace W. Goldsmith Fund through Robert B. Menschel

One of the most often reproduced images of the series, this photograph is shot near 26 Broadway, originally the Standard Oil Building, in the Financial District (left). The modern glass building on the right at 2 Broadway was originally built in 1958-1959.

Before we get to the where and when of Cindy Sherman, a few words are in order about art theory and the shifting practice of art. When Sherman attended art school in the mid-1970s, young artists faced a whole new set of possibilities with respect to their direction, and many were set adrift. Feminist artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s, older by a few years than Sherman, had questioned many long-held assumptions in art - the idea of the singular male art genius, the valuation of painting over other media, objectifications of women's bodies, and the patriarchal practices of the art establishment. Their questions helped bring down the reigning paradigm of modernism and replace its sort of certainty with the give-and-take of postmodernism.

Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still #24. 1978. Gelatin silver print. 6 7/16 x 9 7/16 (16.4 x 24 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase

The backdrop is one of the Holland Tunnel ventilation towers near Canal Street on the west side.

Postmodern practices, with the bent toward investigating the position of the reader/viewer with respect to the object, turned out to be much more fun than plain old modernism. It could be totally cool, for example, if you could make a picture of your self in some kind of socially conventional costume but also be the one taking the picture. So, if a woman were to do this at a time when people started really looking hard at media representations, let’s say, she could make a mark on the art world. In addition, minimalism was having its moment in the mid-1970s, and for many younger artists, minimalism seemed totally boring, as it didn't engage their searches for identity or connect with the urban landscape. Film seemed a better option than taking up a brush and drawing even stripes with masking tape.

Walks for the Weekend: Exploring the East River

A new Friday feature on Walking Off the Big Apple continues today - Walks for the Weekend. These compilation posts are based on previously published material on this site and highlight a different theme. 

This week's subject is the East River. We won't call it mighty, but we can describe it as a complicated but lovable character straight out of a classic Hollywood movie. While the Hudson River on the west tends to play a leading role, as subject of romantic landscape paintings and historic river discoveries, the East River is handed the minor part of the tough smart-talking kid. In the past few years, however, as the city revamps itself as a recreational playground, direct access to the shoreline - meaning something beyond the always exceptional walk across the Brooklyn Bridge - has received more attention in the form of improved shoreline pathways along the east and west shores and the new ferry service. It's time for the East River to land that leading role.

The East River, looking north from Waterside Plaza

Explore the East River from many view points, north and south -

• Tentative Steps along the East River Park Promenade (East Houston to E. 10th)
While the river is historically important, serving as a major shipping lane for centuries, teeming with sailors, markets, tenements, wharves, and industrial sites, the fast-flowing East River still carries a lot of baggage. Deep associations with the rough-and-tumble world of the Dead End Kids or gritty crime dramas - bodies tossed in the East River, don't you know - may keep some away. The glamorous Hudson River often gets the good press, upstaging its eastern counterpart. Brooklyn, over yonder, may have established better relations with the East River than Manhattan, as their creative new Brooklyn Bridge Park, with its repurposed piers, has already afforded new close-up views and access to the waterway. (Their view of Manhattan is kind of nice, too.) Yet venturing out on the new refurbished promenade of the East River Park on the Manhattan side should appeal to those best suited to strolling among the basic elements of river, bridge, sky, and smokestacks.

• Flow On, East River: Brooklyn to Manhattan, Once Again Upon a Ferry
For two hundred years, crossing the East River by ferry was a commonplace activity although often unpredictable. Residents of Brooklyn routinely commuted to Manhattan by this variable way of water, subject to storms and tides, no doubt a stomach-churning experience during a fierce storm or frightening during the icy waters of winter. During the 18th century, in addition to weather hazards, commuters often complained about inebriated boatmen or boats overloaded with cattle. With its inaugural service in 1814, the steam-powered Fulton Ferry made the voyage not only safer and faster but much more pleasurable. Poets like Walt Whitman could then focus on the metaphors of "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" as opposed to simply hoping to reach the other shore.