Activity #1 - Maria Popa

Once every couple of weeks I take the train to see my parents up in Westchester. Most of the time I’m too engrossed in finding a ticket booth and making my train to even realize how grandiose Grand Central really is. But spending some time there as an observer made me realize that Grand Central represents New York City for what it is, a melting plot.

A tourist is presented with the diversity of New York from the moment he steps into Grand Central. From the suit clad businessmen shouting into their phones, down to the homeless man outside holding up an overused cardboard sign telling everyone who cares to look that “I’m an honest man. I need money to buy beer”, every group in the city is represented here.

I felt like a creep standing on top of the staircase and watching the people below me go about their day. And as an impatient person, I didn’t think I could stay there for more than 10 minutes. Yet quickly enough my attention was caught by a young guy sitting on the steps right bellow the staircase I was on. He wasn’t particularly attractive, but he was intriguing. He had on a bright yellow scarf and was scribbling away in a composition notebook unaffected by, or at least unaware of, the dozens of people who gave him dirty looks after almost tripping over him on their way down the stairs. He never raised his head from his notebook, so I doubt he was an observer like I was.

I was brought back to reality by my friend exclaiming “Whoa that lady’s coat is swanky!” It wasn’t hard finding her; everyone was staring. The woman who was wearing a floor length fur coat was accompanied by two men clad in black suits, and on their way to the balcony bar caught the attention of everyone lingering on the stairway like us. The overdressed party of three came back down in a couple of minutes, but I doubt they were in a rush to catch their train.

Other than these two standouts, on a Friday afternoon Grand Central terminal is also graced with the presence of suburban adolescents ready to “fist pump the night away in the N.Y.C” (this is a direct quote, I really couldn’t make it up). There are also families returning from a day at the museum, with souvenirs in paper bags from the MOMA, the Met, and American Museum of Natural History. There were women with handfuls of shopping bags, as well as white collar workers going home after a long day of work, and many other people you see on the streets of the city on a regular basis.

What I found most surprising was how many people stopped to admire and take pictures of the chandelier in the grand hall and the architectural design. I never really stopped to “ooh” and “ahhh” and take pictures from every angle possible of the ceiling and chandelier. But most people who weren’t rushing anywhere stopped to do so. I suppose they were tourists because those who use Grand Central regularly, like I do, have seen it so many times that its beauty became part of the ordinary.

Activity # 1- Nicole McGuire

Nicole McGuire
2/9/10
Activity #1

As I was walking through Manhattan Mall on February 4th, I never realized how big it was inside. I have passed it numerous times but only looked through the door and saw one or two stores but lots of people. There were two floors filled with the most popular stores in America such as Victoria Secret and Bath and Body Works. But I decided to sit on the lower level of the mall near the food court to observe the different things that was going on.

Many people in the mall were shopping but a lot of people were window shopping. People were looking at certain expensive items and heard a few couples promise their children that in a few weeks they would buy them that certain thing they wanted. There was a group of teenage boys hanging out by the food court trying to talk to the different girls walking past. While I was watching the different groups of people in the food court, I realized that some people have a lot of different shopping bags and some only had one or two. There were all different types of races shopping together. There were black, white, Spanish, and Asian people. Even though there were all these different backgrounds I mainly saw white people shopping in the different stores. This mall was a lot different than the one near my house in Long Island. Until recently most of the people that shopped at the mall were white, until they created a bus system to the mall from other towns and more minorities started shopping there also. This actually makes the mall feel safer because it is more diverse. “But unless eyes are there, and unless in the brains behind those eyes is the almost unconscious reassurance of general street support in upholding civilization, lights can do no good” (Jacobs, 42). In the Manhattan Mall I felt safer because there was this consistent flow of different people walking around and watching everything. “

One instance that I saw at the Manhattan Mall was these two security guards telling this homeless man he has to leave. I saw this as I was leaving the mall and the homeless man started to shout back “I deserve a right to be here too”. Many people were looking at him as if he was crazy and started to give him dirty looks because of his stench and the outfit he was wearing. His hair and face was covered in soot from lying in the streets, at least ten different sweat shirts on, ripped jeans, and he was carrying a huge cart with him that had nothing but bags of clothes in it. But nobody said anything to him; they just ignored him and continued with their shopping. The sad part about this situation is that anyone of these people including myself could lose all the money we have and be homeless just like him one day. Will other people just walk past us and ignore the situation? It does not surprise me that people just stared and acted like this homeless man was not even worth acknowledging because of all the other numerous homeless people, people ignore on a daily basis. But it still amazes me that even though we have all these shelters and programs for the homeless people and the city promotes these ads showing strangers helping the homeless that people are left stranded with nowhere to go. Jane Jacobs’ states in her introduction “Civic centers that are avoided by everyone but bums, who have fewer choices of loitering place than others” (4). This proves Jacob’s point in saying that the city has wasted countless dollars on trying to rebuild but instead of making it better they only made it worse for the people living in the cities. No one living within the urban areas has benefitted which hurts the city as a whole.

Activity #1-Tamon Charles

Tamon Charles

Urban Life 101

Activity #1-Be a Flaneur

The place I have chosen for this exercise was the Atlantic Center that is located in Brooklyn. As I entered the mall, I am noticing people are gathered in groups at time whether as a family (I assume that with some couples with strollers) as well as a clique of friends. Everyone is engaged whether at the McDonalds grabbing a quick snack are being helped by customer service associates in the stores of choice.

I have observed that admits the chattering that some of the trendy stores that are geared towards attracting younger shoppers like Mandees-also use the tactic of playing “hip” and updated music to get turn consumers into perspective customers. I have also observed that in the groups of shoppers-they appeared to be of the same age and of the same sex. For example, at the Victoria Secrets store which is conveniently located next to the Mandees- the same bunch of young women who are having a great time together and enter both stores to enjoy their experience.

I also noticed that more families whether single parent or nuclear and so on preferred using the store Target on the Upper Level of the Center and that more kids are having the time of their lives running in the huge spaces in the aisles of Target rather than the more trendy store-Daffy’s which is adjacent to it. The lighting, various departments and use of colors and lots of open space can be factors that contribute to this. And also, children are more attentive in stores like Mrs. Fields and Mc Donalds as opposed to stores like Daffy’s even if there are items for their age group.

I believe that my observations tell me that urban life is very much about the availability of goods in close proximity that is very convenient for New York City citizens. We have the access to these basic needs or wants and the availability of the transit system that allows us to be at our destinations as quickly as possible. The Atlantic Center for instance is conveniently located above the train station that run locally as well as to the surburbs by use of the Long Island Railroad for instance. And also, there are many bus lines to travel back and forth this Center as well.