Sunday, March 29, 2015

Xi'an Famous Foods, Flushing, Queens, New York, New York

Xi'an Famous Foods started in 2006 as a tiny basement stall in Flushing at 41-28 Main St.  Eventually it added Biang! a few steps away.  Biang! is an onomatopoeia word reflecting the reverberating sound a noodle maker creates when slapping noodles onto a table.  The amazing sauces/spices are identical.





entrance, but don't expect any sign of restaurant

Castle Gould, Sands Point Preserve, Long Island, New York

Castle Gould, a copy of Kilkenny Casle, was built in 1900 by Howard Gould, son of railroad tycoon Jay Gould.  Part of the castle was used as racing stables.  Ironically, the Goulds did not like the castle and built Hempstead House in 1912, and the Goulds sold the estate to Daniel Guggenheim.  In 1917, he donated the estate to the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences.  The U.S. Navy held it from 1946 - 1967.  The U.S. Gov't gave the deed to Nassau County in 1971.












Hempstead House, Sands Point Preserve, Long Island, New York

Hempstead House measures 225 ft long and has an 80 ft tower.  It was built in 1912 and is part of the most lavish estate (Gould-Guggenheim) on Long Island's Gold Coast.

porte cochere









Gould Estate Gate House, Sands Point Preserve, Long Island, New York

"G" for Gould






Friday, March 27, 2015

1 World Trade Center and 7 World Trade Center, Manhattan, New York, New York

Just glorious...


view from W Hotel

Loew's Jersey Theatre, Jersey City, New Jersey

There are 5 Loew's Wonder Theatres in greater New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Jersey City) all built in 1929, only Brooklyn fully restored. The Jersdey Loew's was designed by Rapp & Rapp in a Baroque/Rococo style.  It was triplexed in 1974 and closed in 1986.  It was saved from demolition and purchased by the City in 1993.  The auditorium originally had 1900 seats plus 1200 balcony.  A Seth Thomas animated clock features statues of St. George and the Dragon.  The Strokes shot a music video in 2011 in  the lobby for "Under Cover of Darkness."

organ rotates/elevates

view from 2nd floor lobby balcony





view from 2nd floor towards lobby entrance


Saturday, March 14, 2015

Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York, New York

The land that eventually became the museum grounds was previously the undeveloped portion of Cedarmere, poet William Cullen Bryant's retreat. In the 1890s, his family sold all but 7 acres to former congressman Lloyd Bryce, who hired Ogden Codman, Jr. to build a Georgian Revival mansion on the high ground in the middle of the property, overlooking nearby Hempstead Harbor. He named it Clayton.  In 1919 Bryant’s heirs sold the estate to Henry Clay Frick, the co-founder of U.S. Steel, for his son, Childs Frick. The architect Sir Charles Carrick Allow was commissioned to redesign the facade and much of the interior. Childs Frick and his wife Frances lived at Clayton for almost 50 years, until his death in 1965.

Clayton



Chaim Gross

Fernando Botero

Youngs Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay, New York, New York

Teddy Roosevelt buried in 1919 in family graveyard set aside for Thomas Youngs in 1658.  He was vice president to McKinley, until he was assassinated in 1901.  He set aside 250 million acres of wilderness including the Grand Canyon. 

Teddy Roosevelt grave

presidential seal on gravestone