Our Neighborhood in New York City

Welcome to our New York City neighborhood.  While we are here on our mission, we live on the Upper West Side at the intersection of 66th Street and Columbus Avenue.  Our apartment building, "2 Lincoln Square,"  sits right around the corner from the Manhattan Temple where we serve five days a week.  

This is a view of our crazy corner from our building.  We have traffic on the street and people on the sidewalks all day and night.  Notice all the taxis!

This is one of several doormen who are always on duty, 24/7, to keep our building safe, to open the door for us, and to greet us when we come in at night with, "Welcome Home!"   These doormen know all the people who live in the 320 apartments in our building and are good at keeping track of us.  

Curt stands in the doorway of our apartment.  We feel so lucky to have such a nice place to live.  Our simple one-bedroom apartment is roomy by New York City standards.

Across the street from our building is the headquarters of ABC Television. Several of their network programs are broadcast from this location, including the national nightly news and "The View."  It is handy to look out our apartment window and read the latest news headlines and get the weather report from the banner on the ABC Building. 

Curt points to the station sign at at our subway stop.

This is the subway station just a half-block from our apartment.  The trains are such a handy way to get around the city.  We left our car at home and rarely miss it, except when we want to get groceries.

This view from the top of our 37-story building shows Lincoln Center, the home of the New York City Ballet, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Company, and many other world-class performing groups. On the right of this photo is the Juillard School.  Right near the bottom center of this photo you might be able to pick out the Angel Moroni statue which tops the Manhattan Temple. The two streets crossing like an "X" are Columbus Avenue and Broadway.  At the back of the photo you can see the Hudson River.

New York is home to countless food trucks.  A favorite on our street is this one serving "halal" food.  

Curt is a regular customer at this sidewalk fruit and vegetable stand just two blocks up from our apartment.
He was delighted to find that the produce available here is reasonably priced and of excellent quality.

Garbage collection New York style:  three times a week the trash from our building is bagged and hauled out to the sidewalk where it is picked up by (very noisy) garbage trucks.

 Our street is lined with lots of interesting shops and restaurants.
This shop specializes in gourmet mustards, oils, and vinegars.
There are hundreds of little eating establishments within walking distance of our apartment.  The bakeries are especially enticing.  Here are the Magnolia Bakery (specializing in cupcakes and banana pudding) and tiny Levain Bakery (offering absolutely amazing $4 cookies).

We walk several blocks to buy groceries.  We have a nearby Trader Joe's as well as this grocery store named, ironically, "Western Beef." (The logo is a cactus dressed as a cowboy!)  It, of course, caters to the needs of our diverse neighborhood.  For instance, 25 feet of aisle space in the cramped store is devoted to various varieties of rice, and almost that much space is devoted to pastas.  I do not recognize many of the items in the produce aisle.

 On Thursdays and Saturdays the small plaza by our building, bordered by Broadway and Columbus, is the site of a small outdoor market.  Farmers and bakers and florists bring in their wares to sell to passersby.
 These apples and fresh cider were brought in from upstate New York.
The "black and white" cookies are a local New York specialty, supposedly traditionally Dutch.

The Manhattan Temple sits serenely and unobtrusively on busy Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets.  The building, owned and used for many years by the Church,  was remodeled in 2004 to include a temple, built as a building-within-a-building. The temple is a huge blessing for the local Church members who previously had to travel to Boston or Washington, DC to participate in temple ordinances.  It provides for them a peaceful respite from the bustle of the city and offers the supernal blessings of temple worship.

Tess and Rue Visit New York City

We were so pleased that Sam, Tatum, and their girls, Tess and Rue, came for a short visit.
We walked across Central Park on a blustery day and stopped at the Alice in Wonderland sculpture.
Tess sat on a toadstool and got acquainted with all of Alice's friends.

Later, she discovered another of the Park's sculptures, this one of friendly bears.

Tess and Rue especially responded to the art in the modern and contemporary collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rue thought that New York hot dogs were the best!

We enjoyed making gingerbread men cookies together.

Out mission has been such a blessing to us and our family.  Even though we haven't been able to go and visit our children and grandchildren, they have ALL been able to come and visit us!  It has been a joy to share New York City with them!