New York, It’s A Helluva Town
By
Richard J. Garfunkel
August 2, 2006
Maybe that lyric best describes the vicious weather that has enveloped Gotham over the past few weeks. On Saturday we ventured into the “baked” Apple to see the Washington DC spoof, “Capital Steps” at The Supper Club, located at 240 West 47th Street. Thankfully saner out-of-towners stayed away from the City and since traffic was lighter than usual, parking was available on 10th Avenue.
We found a small vest-pocket type eatery on 46th Street called the Hour Glass Tavern. This eclectic place, located right in the theater district, is squeezed into an ancient brownstone. Up the timeworn stairs we were able to find a nice window table with our fellow adventurers; Dr. Herbert Schoen and his wife Marian. The food was good and reasonable. Can you imagine a dinner for $14.95! Everyone had something different, while I stayed with one of my favorites, tortellini!
Of course “Capital Steps” made mince meat out of the current movers and shakers in Washington. But, it wasn’t only the GOP that took it on the chin, as Al Gore and Hillary were also targeted with their barb-like lyrics. After almost two hours of belly laughs we exited out into the scalding sidewalks and started to look for ice cream to cool our now warm palates. Strangely we found our way up town on Broadway near Barnard College, Linda’s alma mater. Finding a space on Broadway we dropped in to La Monde, which has an outdoor café area.
Today it’s another scorcher here in the Hudson Valley. Linda was hosting a cocktail party for new young associates being considered by Charlesbank Capital Partners, and our Israeli cousin Dr. Ami Raz from Tel Aviv and Arad was in town, so I decided to take him to the Jewish Heritage Museum. So it was 100+ degrees! So what! For all of you strangers to Babylon on the Hudson, the museum is on Battery Street, just south of the new ultra expensive Stuyvesant High School and west of “Ground Zero.” After a quick and effortless trip south on the West Side Highway we fortuitously found a space on the street two blocks from the museum, and after a short walk by the watery edge of Lower New York Harbor along with a great view of Lady Liberty, we meandered our way to the museum. For all of you that haven’t been there, go!
So after a two-hour or so visit we headed up the FDR Drive to Houston Street and Katz’s Deli. It was 95 degrees at 7:00 pm! Wow! After we wolfed down two lean pastrami sandwiches, along with French (freedom) fries, cole slaw, Dr. Brown’s cream soda we were off to Charlesbank on East 55th Street. (On the corner there is a Maserati dealer!) The town was so empty that we made it fifty blocks from 2nd Street in 7 minutes! We parked on Park Avenue, which was alliterative and went up to see her offices, pick up whatever beer and goodies were left, and pack up and go home. Mind you, it was still 92 degrees at 9:00 pm so don’t let any one tell you New York City is not a “helluva” town.