Category Archives: Photography

Rockefeller Center

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The Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings in Midtown Manhattan part of New York City, located between 48th and 51st Streets and between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. The buildings are among the best examples of the Art Deco and International architecture styles in New York City. They were built in the 1930s around the time of the Great Depression, so at the time it was a source of employment for a lot of people in New York. Today these buildings are home to offices and the center building, the GE Building (30 Rockefeller) is the headquarters of NBC, one on the main television broadcasting companies in the United States. It’s a major tourist destination in New York City with the NBC’s Today Show broadcasted every morning from there, and occasionally the anchors would go out and interview crowds of visitors watching as the show being shot live. During the Christmas time, there is a nice Christmas display outside the the RCA Building, and there is also an ice skating rink open to the public. And nearby within there is also the famous Radio City Music Hall, a performance hall that at the time it was open in 1932 was billed as the largest and most opulent theater in the world. Since then it has hosted many big events like the Grammy Awards and the Tony Awards.

I’ve visited the Rockefeller Center like many tourists coming to the New York City. The buildings were definitely impressive; you really get the sense that you’re in New York City among the skyscrapers when you stand in front of the GE Building and look up to see the 70-story building standing tall in front of you. The Rockefeller Plaza Christmas Tree and the ice skating rink area are also interesting to visit, though you might have to wait in line for a while during the holiday season to even just see the Christmas Tree. During a visit one afternoon, as I sat near the ice skating rink resting and people watching, I saw people’s attention drawn to the center of the ice skating rink. It turned out that there was a television show shooting at the ice skating rink. I think it was a scene from a TV show called Monk.

The photo below was taken at night on the Fifth Avenue part of the complex. It is a large sculpture depicting Atlas carry the world on his shoulders. At night, it was lighted quite nicely, and you can see the tall GE Building in the background.

Atlas

Chinatown

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The Chinatown in New York City is located north of the Financial District area of Lower Manhattan. It is one of the largest Chinatowns in the United States, and one of the oldest ethnic Chinese enclaves in the western hemisphere. Today in New York City area there are also the Flushing Chinatown and Brooklyn Chinatown where large concentration of Chinese can be found, but the Manhattan Chinatown remains to be a popular destination for tourists given its easy to reach location in Manhattan.

My first visit to Chinatown was during my first trip to New York City almost twenty years ago. We went there for dinner as a tour group for dinner, and we had the option of looking for Chinese food in Chinatown or Italian food in nearby Little Italy. Having spent my first few months in the United States as an exchange student in a small town in Michigan where there were not many Asians around, it was quite a shock to the senses to see so many Chinese around, walking on crowded sidewalk of Canal Street with street vendors selling souvenirs, luxury goods knockoffs, snacks, etc. and seeing stores and restaurants with Chinese signs.

Many years later, after spending years living in bigger cities where you can find more ethnic diversity, it’s no longer a novelty to visit Chinatown. But I still go there when visiting New York; you can still find good Chinese food there.

The photo below was taken during one of those meals at Chinatown. This one was at Joe’s Shanghai Restaurant, which is known for its Shanghai-style soup dumplings (xiao long bao). The little steamed dumpling actually has soup inside, so you have to eat it very carefully; put the dumpling on a spoon, bite the skin a little bit so you can drink in the soup, then you finish with the rest of the dumpling.

Xiao long bao (soup dumpling) at Joe's Shanghai

South Street Seaport

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The South Street Seaport is a historical area within walking distance from New York City’s Financial District. What used to be a harbor / pier is now turned into a modern shopping mall while preserving the Pier 17 building architecture, and a Maritime Museum with several historical ships was set outside the building. From the Pier 17 building, you can also see a nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge that connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

I’ve visited the South Street Seaport area several times while doing walking tour in the Lower Manhattan area. The nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge from there and the interesting contrast of having the historic ships with modern office buildings in the background make this place a good photo destination while in New York City. The Pier 17 shopping mall is also a nice place to stop and rest before continuing a walking tour.

The photo below was taken in an afternoon when I visited the Seaport. You can see the historic ships and Pier 17 in the photo.

Pier 17

Trinity Church

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Only one block away from the NYSE Building on Wall Street, there is another historical building that seems to be out of place with the tall buildings around. The Trinity Church, located at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway, was founded in 1697. The current building is the third building built on the same place in 1846. The architect of the building was Richard Upjohn, who was one of the co-founders of the American Institute of Architects.

The Trinity Church is one of the Episcopal churches in New York City. The church also has a chapel few blocks away from the main church building called the St. Paul’s Chapel. Opened in 1766, the St. Paul’s Chapel is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan. George Washington worshipped at this chapel after his inauguration as the first President of the United States. In 2001, it became known as ‘The Little Chapel That Stood’ as it remained standing after the nearby World Trade Center twin towers collapsed during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

I’ve passed both the Trinity Church and the St. Paul’s Chapel when I did a walking tour around the Financial District. On one visit to the Trinity Church, I ended up not going in to see the church interior because there was a service going on. I did visit the churchyard next to the church. It was a nice oasis in the middle of the Financial District to retreat for a moment from the hustle and bustle of the city. One of the people buried there was Alexander Hamilton, the first United States Secretary of Treasury (his portrait appears on the US $10 bill).

The photo below was taken during my visit to the Trinity Churchyard. I noticed this cool reflection of the churchyard on the church’s door glass pane — an interesting perspective to see churchyard with the big office building next to it.

Trinity Church

Wall Street

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Not far from the Battery Park in New York City where you can board the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, you can find the center of American financial industry, the New York Financial District with its famous street, Wall Street. On 11 Wall Street you can find the New York Stock Exchange building. The NYSE is the world’s largest stock exchange by market capitalization. Inside the NYSE building is the trading floor where the day-to-day business of the stock market is being conducted. Since the September 11 attacks, the trading floor is closed to public. Today if you want see the action inside in person, you can follow one of these suggestions on eHow: go on educational program or visit as part of a college class, apply for an internship at the NYSE, get a trading license and become an actual stock trader, or start a company and take it public.

I’ve only visited the NYSE as part of a walking tour in the area outside. Just right across the street from the NYSE building, there is another building that is also historically significant, the Federal Hall. The Federal Hall was the site where George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States, and the building was also home of the first Congress, the first Supreme Court, and the first Executive Branches. It’s worth the visit especially given its significance in the birth of the United States of America as a country.

The photo below was taken in front of the NYSE building. It’s the pediment part of the NYSE building facade, designed by John Quincy Adams Ward. Entitled “Integrity Protecting the Works of Man,” it depicts the 22-foot figure of Integrity in the center, with Agriculture and Mining to her left and Science, Industry and Invention on her right, representing the sources of American prosperity. The waves on either extreme of the pediment symbolize the ocean-to-ocean influence of the Exchange.

NYSE Building