For Presidents Day: U.S. Presidents in New York City

In celebration of Presidents Day, enjoy this compilation of presidential-themed posts previously published on Walking Off the Big Apple.

George Washington, Washington Square Arch, Washington Square Park.
February 21, 2011.
The arch served to commemorate the Centennial of Washington's Inauguration, an event that took place downtown. The pier statues were added later -"Washington at War" on the left of the arch by Herman MacNeil in 1916 and "Washington at Peace" on the right by Alexander Stirling Calder in 1918. Yes, Calder was the father of the famous mobile artist, Alexander Calder.

• The President on Sullivan Street
Jul 29, 2010
I've become so familiar with President Barack Obama's frequent trips to my neighborhood, such as his appearance last night at a fundraiser at Vogue Editor Anna Wintour's townhouse on Sullivan Street, that I know the routine by heart. ...

• The Reagan-Bush-Gorbachev Meeting on Governors Island: A Debriefing and a Walk
Aug 15, 2010
On December 7, 1988, President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George HW Bush met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Governors Island, then the headquarters for the Coast Guard. Documentation of the events that day remained secret ...

• Chester A. Arthur's Neighborhood, and A Hint of Vindaloo Masala
Jan 14, 2009
President Hayes asked him to leave his post. Later, as President, he ran a clean administration, signing the Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, and he vetoed a bill that would have limited the immigration of Chinese laborers. ...

• A Walk to Grant's Tomb and Morningside Heights
Jan 05, 2009

Grant Memorial

When was the last time you visited the final resting place for Civil War General and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and his lovely wife, Julia Dent Grant? For me, I had a hard time remembering, and still won't say, the year I last ...

• The Presidential Candidate from the Bronx
Jan 13, 2009
The President's future wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, was born in East Hampton, Long Island, but the Bouvier family kept an apartment at 765 Park Avenue near 72d Street. After JFK's death she moved to 1040 Fifth Avenue, close to her ...

• Walking Broadway with Abraham Lincoln: The Visit to New York for the Cooper Union Speech
Jan 09, 2009
This walk is the third in a series of Presidential-themed walks exploring the role of U. S. Presidents in New York City and in celebration of the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. ...

• The South Tip of Roosevelt Island: Ruminations on a Planned Memorial
Jun 10, 2008

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace

For at least 35 years, an effort has been underway to construct architect Louis Kahn's planned memorial toPresident Franklin Delano Roosevelt in this very place. For the island that was renamed in anticipation of the project, ...

• We're Not All Like Dubya: A NY Map for Texas Independence Day
Mar 02, 2008
Not all Texans are like the former governor of Texas who currently serves as President of the United States (324 days left, and counting). I have to explain this difference when I meet some New Yorkers and they find out where I'm from. ...

• A Special Date Night in the Village: The First Couple Dines at Blue Hill
Jun 01, 2009
After hearing a little earlier the helicopters fly over and then the sound of police sirens, I had a hunch thatPresident Obama and the First Lady were somewhere in the neighborhood. I walked over to the park, and sure enough, ...

• FOCUS on POTUS: The Two Washingtons of the Washington Square Arch
Feb 18, 2008
Officially, it's still called Washington's Birthday, though President's Day has become the accepted name, mostly as a way to include President Lincoln. The day's meaning usually signifies a break from work or school or the arrival of a ...

• Theodore Roosevelt, the Boy, on E. 20th Street
Jan 07, 2009
Seems like our senator (we functionally have only one right now) wants more attention to be paid to the only US President to be born in New York, and in this spirit he appeared in downtown Brooklyn last week to announce that a new ...

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple.

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25 Radical Things to Do in Greenwich Village

A list of 25 things to Do in Greenwich Village with history of protest, old cafes, and signs of change. Hipstamatic iPhone images of contemporary Greenwich Village by Walking Off the Big Apple (Revised and updated.) Flipping through Greenwich Village: A Photographic Guide by Edmund T. Delaney and Charles Lockwood with photographs by George Roos, a second, revised edition published in 1976, it’s easy to compare the black and white images with the look of today’s neighborhood and see how much the Village has changed. A long shot photograph of Washington Square taken up high from an apartment north of the park, and with the looming two towers of the World Trade Center off to the distant south in the background, reveals a different landscape than what we would encounter today. On the north side of the park, an empty lot and two small buildings have since given way to NYU’s Kimmel Center and a new NYU Center for Academic and Spiritual Center Life. The Judson Me...

Museums in New York Open on Mondays

UPDATED July 9, 2024 Please consult the museum websites for changes in days and hours. • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) 10:30 am - 5:30 pm • The Metropolitan Museum of Art 10 am - 5 pm • Whitney Museum 10:30 - 6 pm • American Museum of Natural History 10 am - 5:30 pm • Jewish Museum 11 am - 6 pm • International Center of Photography (ICP) 11 am -7 pm • Guggenheim 10:30 am - 5:30 pm • The Museum of the City of New York 10 am - 5 pm • Cooper Hewitt 10 am - 6 pm • Neue Galerie 11 am - 6 pm The Whitney Museum of American Art General Information American Museum of Natural History Central Park West and 79th Street See the post, Big Things to See at the American Museum of Natural History . Cooper Hewitt 2 East 91st St. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum 1071 Fifth Ave Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Ave The Metropoli...

10 Short Walks from Grand Central Terminal

(updated March 2017) Famously crowded Grand Central Terminal functions as a major crossroads for the city, hosting busy commuters as they come and go from the suburbs via the Metro-North Railroad or within the city via a few subway lines, but the terminal also happens to be a good place to launch short walks. With its south side fronting E. 42nd Street and its massive structure interrupting Park Avenue, Grand Central provides quick access to many of the city's most well-known attractions. The New York Public Library and Bryant Park are only a couple of blocks away from the terminal, a quick jaunt on 42nd Street. And from there, Times Square is just another block or two farther west of the library, its neon shimmering in the distance. One wonders, standing near the intersection of 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, how many souls have been lured away from their well-meaning library studies by the beckoning lights of the Theater District. Grand Central Terminal : Before setting...

From Penn Station to New York Landmarks: Measuring Walking Distance and Time in Manhattan

(revised 2017) How long does it take to walk from Penn Station/Madison Square Garden to well-known destinations in Manhattan? What are the best walking routes ? What if I don't want to see anything in particular but just want to walk around? In addition to the thousands of working commuters from the surrounding area, especially from New Jersey and Long Island who arrive at Penn Station via New Jersey Transit or the Long Island Rail Road, many people arrive at the station just to spend time in The City. Some have questions. Furthermore, a sporting event may have brought you to Madison Square Garden (above Penn Station), and you want to check out what the city offers near the event. This post if for you. The map below should help you measure walking distances and times from the station to well-known destinations in Manhattan - Bryant Park , the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Empire State Building , Times Square , Rockefeller Center , Washington Square Park , the High Line ...

25 Things To Do in Chelsea

On the High Line, with the Whitney Museum of American Art (revised and updated 2018) The phenomenal popularity of the High Line on the West Side has no doubt introduced many visitors to the pleasures of Chelsea , the multifaceted eclectic neighborhood that stretches out below. On the west side of the rails, between W. 14th and W. 29th Streets or so, the Chelsea Gallery District is home to hundreds of contemporary art galleries in repurposed warehouses. New luxury residences rise up around these spaces, taking advantage of the stunning Hudson River views. On the east side of the line, the iconic Empire State Building comes into the picture, but closer in, the Gothic Revival outlines of the General Theological Seminary represent the neighborhood's roots in an earlier century. Chelsea is a remarkable neighborhood bound together by an artistic and visual history, but it's also a community held together by social institutions - schools, historic houses of worsh...

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

(updated 2016) 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. (A 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 scu...

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