On Demand
These streets are made for walking
By Claudia La Rocco
August 8, 2008
Yesterday was my first full day back in the city, and I celebrated with an hour-long walk through Brooklyn from my apartment to my brother’s studio. I’m a sucker for theatricality of all sorts, which makes long walks through New York irresistible to me - there’s a performance on every block, from made-for-opera screaming matches between couples to runway-worthy walks by teenage girls wearing entirely too little clothing. It’s a veritable feast, and that’s without taking into account all of the fabulous street performers making their living here.
I would love to hear about people’s favorite walking circuits - not the big touristy ones, but the side streets and unexpected pleasures - and any street performers who are must sees. The most magical performance experience I had this summer was probably the Movement Research parade through the village.
Of course, not all New York neighborhoods are worth walking through (insert Park Slope or Upper East Side joke here), so some other outdoors things you might do this weekend include:
Listening to Michael Pollan discuss “Taking the Plant’s Point of View” in the P.S.1 courtyard tonight. This is where I would be if I weren’t working elsewhere. If anyone goes, please let me know how it went, and especially if any cranky cannibals showed up to heckle him.
Swinging by the Prospect Park bandshell to catch this Celebrate Brooklyn concert honoring Bill Withers tomorrow night - or skip the organized stuff and go find the various drum circles and capoeira practitioners who inevitably find their way to the park.
Heading indoors for an hour and a half to see “Man on Wire,” the film account of what might just be the greatest outdoor performance in this city’s history. Not all memorable walks happen at street level.
Comments
Comment from brian rogers
Date: August 8, 2008, 2:07 pm
It’s kind of a cliche, but definitely worth doing - broadway from the bronx to the lower tip of manhattan. if you do it in one stretch you get the most amazing picture of neighborhoods colliding & bleeding together. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve done this walk, though, so it’s possible that things have homogenized…..I’ve also walked the length of broadway in brooklyn. very interesting. and I still love walking arthur avenue in the bronx, though it’s a bit touristy nowadays.
Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 8, 2008, 2:17 pm
You know, I’ve always wanted to take that Broadway walk - perhaps it could be the first Culturist field trip. I’m thinking late fall …
How long did the Brooklyn Broadway walk take?
Comment from Evan
Date: August 8, 2008, 2:41 pm
I love running around the central park reservoir, particularly at this time of year when there’s a fabulous mix of athletes, tourists with cameras, young couples walking hand in hand, and dog-walkers. Yesterday I saw an elderly woman doing yoga in the grass, and nearby a group of kids were getting a pep talk from their soccer coach. The reservoir is a great spot for people watching, but unlike many of Manhattan’s streets, it’s still serene, and quite beautiful at sunset. I also love hearing bits of conversations - in myriad languages - as people race by me on the running track.
Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 8, 2008, 5:31 pm
Sounds divine - one of the best things about my walk yesterday came at the end, when I was sitting in a little park off Third Avenue. I sat on a bench near this guy who I assumed was just taking a break like me, or was a parent of one of the kids playing on the nearby jungle gym. Then he donned black gloves and began to do pull ups on the monkey bars - he was nonchalant in that way people are when they’re totally conscious of being watched. It was a great performance.
Comment from Beg to Differ
Date: August 8, 2008, 11:24 pm
I’m very disappointed that you endorsed “Man on Wire”—is it the latest trendy must-see? I walked out in disgust after 20 minutes. I was ready to leave after 5 minutes, but it took me 15 more to steel myself to face the mid-afternoon heat outside, which, in the end, proved infinitely preferable to the torture of sitting through this intensely irritating movie. The movie was stylistically derivative of Errol Morris, & Petit himself was insufferably narcissistic & self-dramatizing. And what was all the fuss about? “Work of art”? Please.
Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 9, 2008, 11:07 am
Hiya Begs - I haven’t yet seen the movie, but am planning to in the next week or so and will get back to you on its merits as a film. I was careful not to comment on that in the post, because my endorsement was for Petit’s act - I absolutely think his walk was art, magical performance art (Insufferable he may be, but if we discredited every work because the artist is insufferable, well…).
He changed that space, activated it in an incredible way - what more does one want from site-specific performance? Tell me why you think I’m full of hot air on this one.
Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 9, 2008, 4:47 pm
And speaking of walking. Check this out, traffic-free Manhattan play days: http://tinyurl.com/6xbhh7
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