USA

#notmypresident

I can’t continue my Canada posts at the moment. I keep telling myself to plow forward, just fight but I can’t shake my mood for the past few days. This is the first time ever I have felt I don’t belong in my country. Today is the 5th day after the election and the GOP/Trump have not condemned the spike in hate crimes. My Dad use to tell me stories of America the great, the melting pot, no other country was like ours. How we are the American melting pot because we are mixed, how everyone from everywhere came over for their dreams, how his family came over to build the railroads in the 1800s we, should be proud, there’s a place for everyone. Them not condemning the violence pretty much shows me they only value the whites and fuels the violence even more. Where is the America I was proud to be a part of? He will never be my president. I will never stand behind a government that does not speak out against the rise in hate that their campaign created, making it okay to harass people of color, LGBTQ, etc. As far as I’m concerned the government elect turned their backs on us. It’s the strangest feeling to go your whole life feeling more American than anything else to see you don’t matter because of the color of your skin.

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Since things are going to be this way for a while, we need to fight back. Go out and protest, donate to the ACLU, NAACP, Planned Parenthood, NRDC. We worked too hard to have our rights taken away. We will fight, we will persevere. Remember, keep the protests peaceful, we have to be the better person. We can’t allow them to Make America Trash Again.

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CONEY ISLAND OVERHAUL SHOP & TOWER

Choo choo!!! I just love trains especially the old locomotives but those aren’t common place anymore. NYC’s transit system never fails to impress me. Yeah, we’re aggravated all the time about service and grumpy when the cars are crammed but you can travel far and get around really easy without a car. It is the busiest rapid transit system in the US and the world. In 2015, there were 1.76 billion rides, 5.7 million daily rides on weekdays and a combined 5.9 million rides each weekend. Continue reading →

Chinese Lantern Festival

For Memorial Weekend we hopped on a bus and stayed overnight in Philly. We go there a lot. We love it there. But this time around we wanted to check out the Chinese Lantern Festival in Franklin Square. It’s really cute. It opened April 22 and closes June 12th. It’s $17 a ticket for adults, kids (ages 3-17) $12, $15 for seniors and military, kids 2 years and under are free. They have performances, food vendors and stands where you can buy trinkets. Continue reading →

Elfreth’s Alley

Elfreth’s Alley is a street in Philadelphia and referred to as “Our nations oldest residential address.” It dates back to 1702 and is a National Historic Landmark. The cobblestone street and Federal and Georgian style houses that line the street were common back in the 1700s. It’s named after Jeremiah Elfreth, an 18th century property owner and blacksmith. Trades people lived on this street and was once full of printers, carpenters, and different types of crafts people. Continue reading →

NY Farm Colony & the Cropsey Legend

NY Farm Colony is located in Staten Island. It was a poorhouse, a government run facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy. The Farm Colony was abandoned in 1975. After sitting empty for so many years, the Farm Colony will get a second life. 5 of the ruin buildings will be rehabilitated and turned into senior housing for people 55 years and older, commercial space, green space, and parking. It will be called Landmark Colony. Some of the units will be set aside for affordable housing. One ruin, the men’s dormitory will be a stabilized ruin and the others will be demolished. The condition is so bad in some of the buildings they can’t be preserved. Continue reading →

Bialystoker Synagogue & Congregation Beth Hachasidim De Polen

Bialystoker Synagogue is at 7-11 Bialystoker Place which use to be known as Willet Street. The building was constructed in 1826 and was the Willet Street Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1905, the synagogue bought the church. Continue reading →

Old City Jail

As the city of Charleston was being laid out in 1680, this 4 acre lot was set aside for public use. A hospital, poor house, workhouse for runaway slaves, and jail were built here. This 4 story jail with an octagonal tower was constructed in 1802 and operated until 1939. In 1855, Charleston architects Barbot & Seyle added a rear octagonal wing, expansions to the main building and Romanesque Revival details. The 1886 earthquake badly damaged Charleston and the tower and top story of the main building were removed. Continue reading →

Edward Mooney House

At 18 Bowery in Chinatown (on the corner of Pell Street) stands the Edward Mooney House. It was built between 1785-1789. The land was seized from British Loyalist James Delancy and sold at auction for around $50,000. Edward Mooney was a wealthy merchant and ran a wholesale meat business and was a race horse breeder. He lived in the house until his death in 1800. Continue reading →

Bloody Angle aka Doyers Street

Doyers Street is an angled, narrow street that runs 1 block at a sharp angle from Pell Street into the intersection of Bowery and Chatham Square. In 1791, Dutch immigrant Hendrik Doyer bought the property and ran a distillery at 6 Doyers, the spot where the post office stands today. It was once known as the Bloody Angle for the many battles of the Tong gangs (On Leong Tong and Hip Sing Tongs) of Chinatown in the late 1800s and lasting into the 1930s. The term ‘hatchet man’ was used in the late 19th century to describe a Chinese assassin who carried a handleless hatchet. Continue reading →