Coming full cycle

A new bicycle store has opened on West 72nd Street near Riverside Drive. It is most appropriate. During the "Bicycle Craze" of the late 19th century, Riverside Drive was a favorite thoroughfare and folks would pedal down West 72nd Street to get there - the street had a sort of primitive bike lane and was lined with planters and trees. A favorite destination - the Claremont House, a famed inn not far from where Grant's Tomb stands today.

Bicyclists on Riverside Drive in the 1890's. These folks must have felt truly liberated.

An Important Book Yet to Be Written

Yesterday I visited the new museum at the African burial ground. It does a fairly good job of explaining the role of African slaves in the early development of New Amsterdam and New York. But visiting brought up another issue - why no one has written a definitive history of Blacks in New York City.

Sure, you can pick up the story in pieces. Stories of slavery, of early settlements in Greenwich Village, black blocks near the Ladies Mile, San Juan Hill and Harlem, but no one has yet tied it all together. San Juan Hill, a ghetto located where the Metropolitan Opera stands today, is of particular interest to me, probably because my apartment looks out on it. I know DuBois lived there, and Thelonious Monk was raised there, and it featured regular Saturday night brawls with the Irish neighbors from Hell's Kitchen. But I can't find out much more.

Please - somebody write this book!

A snowy walk in Riverside Park

Trader Joe's 72nd Street store confirmed!

The West Side independent confirms that there will indeed be a Trader Joe's opening on the corner of Broadway and West 72nd Street some time in 2010. Based on the progress of the construction, my guess would be for the first half of the year, perhaps even the first quarter.