• If you are going elsewhere in North America too, we can help with your itinerary and hotels.
- Tips to start with – we'd be glad to send more (as well as information on flights, hotels, B&Bs...)
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•Capitalism explains New York's vitality and you will instantly perceive it.
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• We would like to show you something else!
- How Americans dress
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• Fashion, stores and neighborhoods
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" 'Barneys' is a high-end department store where fashion-design students dream of being represented. The store is relatively empty because it is so expensive and wandering through the floors without crowds of shoppers is a pleasure. I've worked with many of the designers and can tell you the pros and cons of their production..." |
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For contrast: 'Century 21', a discount designer store, a few steps from Ground Zero, where change is coming at last. That can mean exploring Lower Manhattan's many neighborhoods – the Lower East Side, which Jewish writers made famous; huge Chinatown; Wall Street; trend-setting Soho... |
• The fashion museum – and its environment
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"There's a New York museum that is dedicated to the art of dress, which visitors rarely know about. It's part of FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), the school I attended. I would love to take travelers there, because of the excellence of its award-winning exhibits. The latest of these explores fashion's relationship to the environment, focusing on re-purposing and recycling of materials, fiber origins, textile dyeing and production, craftsmanship, labor practices and treatment of animals. Earlier exhibits have dealt with major designers, such as Isabel Toledo, who is a cult figure in U.S. fashion..."
Cicerone – Joel Forrester, who is known for his compositions and as an accompanist for silent movies: the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay have invited him to play. He was Thelonious Monk's only student, and can describe the great jazzman's last years and unconventional way of teaching.
This artist's perspective on the United States is exceptional: he chose prison rather than conscription to Vietnam and has written a musical comedy that satirizes the religious Far Right. He is working on its sequel.
For a New York Times piece (May 2010):
For videos and more information: http://joelforrester.com/
• Gospel (the music of black urban churches)
"The congregation of Grace Gospel Church in the South Bronx is elderly and sings a kind of music that is difficult for most young musicians to play, not to mention compose. That 's one reason why I, a white man, am their pianist. Another reason : a welcome to the outside world. You will find great hospitality." |
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This museum is located in the heart of one of the most upscale areas of Manhattan - "Chelsea", in the southwest, once the plebian meat-packing district, now a place for art galeries and excellent restaurants. Many designers have stores here. To see the collections all together, go to Barney's. To see them one by one in the environment where they are worn, come here.
• A Manhattan of bums, immigrants and music
" 'The Bowery', where I have lived for 30 years, was where bums flopped until it became gentrified about a decade ago. It is next to the neighborhoods Barbara's visit mentions. You can see them with either of us – or both, because our visions are different. With me, we end at my loft, where you might like to hear some music."
(Joel's account of people he knew on the Bowery:: joelforrester.com/THREE_MEMORABLE_DRUNKS.html )
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- The "East Coast elite"and an excursion outside the city
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Until at least the 1960's this group dominated the hubs of American money and power, and it remains very powerful. That dominance explains its ironically-meant nickname : "wasp" (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant). Although American culture is extremely varied, starting with that of the "wasps" is an excellent introduction. |
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Their ties with France are deep (please CLICK). But except for black musicians (please CLICK) and Cajuns, the rest of the population has few. That helps explain "heartland" suspicion of France – which has more to do with relationships between Americans themselves than between Americans and the little-known French. |
The train trip takes half an hour. To get to the station, the easy way is to take a taxi, and the interesting way, to take the subway. It's raucous, complicated – and basic New York.
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A graduate of Vassar College (a celebrated "wasp" bastion), she understands the elite whose world you will discover.
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• America's equivalent to Europe's "high" culture
"I'll meet you at the station. We'll drive to two beautiful places: the home of President Theodore Roosevelt (built in around 1880) and the Nassau County Museum, where superb contemporary sculptures dot the rolling lands.The people who built these sites come as close to your nobility as one can get in the United States, and Teddy Roosevelt's domain is our equivalent to your châteaux. But they are very different...
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• Costs
° To cicerone: Half-day $250, full day, $485. For currency rates: www.xe.com
° To PEF: 20% of the guide's fee, and annual dues.
° Transport with the guide is included, restaurants and entry fees are not included.
•To proceed, please CLICK.
Credits: cowboy / Jaber, Tunisian artist who lives Paris; urban art, New York, 2008, artist and photographer unknown; wedding picture / Jeff Akers