All Hallows Stupid

From Ribbon to Ribbon

A Walk to the ol' Ballpark (well over the old one to get to New Yankee Stadium)

Last Monday was my last day off from work before a 12 straight day stretch at the James Beard House. Knowing this, I decided to get some exercise and see something besides the same West Village neighborhood I live and work in. So since there was a game between the Yankees and Rangers I decided I would walk the 10 miles from my apartment on Bedford thru the village, Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen, Time Square, Central Park, Harlem, and finally to the Bronx. It was a trek, but I badly needed the exercise and it was the last time for the next two weeks that I was going to get some. Plus, It was a fairly nice day and I was excited to walk thru Harlem and the Bronx-two boroughs I have not explored much. The walk started great, I walked up Bedford and waved to my former co-workers thru the windows. They were wrapping up the lunch shift. That was a great way to start, knowing that I don't have to work those lunch shifts anymore and seeing someone doing it for me really put a smile to my face that I hid so they couldn't see how happy I am now that I have escaped from that place. Then I walked up 7th past all the pseudo chains that attract the bridge and tunnel crowds. Then past the old St.Vincent's(the last hospital in the village just recently closed and was and still is a site of protests), the JB House, thru Chelsea, and as I come up to the back of Madison Square Garden I see a crowd gathered in front of the large Postal Center. As I get closer I see my guvna! And Bloomberg! My first time seeing either in person. I get to where I'm about 20 feet from both of them and listen to them talk about a groundbreak for a new transit center there. Patterson was actually great- he's legally blind so there were no teleprompters he was just doing this 20 minute speech from memory. And what midgets both those guys are. I mean Patterson is the anti-guvanator- a blind, black, midget who everyone hates. But at least he was born in the states arnald you bastid! I continue my walk up 7th and meet C.C. in front of her office at France Today magazine. We hung and got a coffee and then she had to go back to work and I went to White Castle for a mini cheeseburger to give me energy to make it to 161st St. I continued up Time Square, stopped and made Rupert at Hello Deli take a picture with me and then into Central Park for a lovely 50 block romp over and under bridges, thru woods, by the Boathouse, and up into Harlem. Harlem was a lot easier than I thought it would be. It was still daylight so the riffraff hadn't got into full gear. I walked right up the hill in Marcus Garvey Park and right back onto Malcolm X Blvd. I stopped by a health food store and they made me a blueberry, hempseed, maple syrup, and kangen water(something that is very big in this area of Harlem, many stores have signs letting you know they serve it). Then a right on 145th, and there it was, the bridge to the Bronx and New Yankee Stadium. I'm so close I can smell the $6 hot dogs from here. But not really. That was just a hot dog cart on the corner. Even though I can see the stadium I still have a really ugly 30 minute walk under a highway and past a cheap big top. But once I get close I get a sense of the excitement while people illegally start to light up their grills and pop their Miller Lites. I go across up some stairs that go over some train tracks and then there she is. The torn up, flattened old stadium lays before me and in the background is the pearly white new one. Quite an unbelievable view actually. Then we walk literally over what was the old field to get to the new one. Pretty amazing. As much as I am not a Yankee fan what so ever, it was still a sight. I walked up to the stadium and touched it. That was it. The end. I've been to the new stadium before and I didn't have a ticket and thought about scalping but I figured I'd save the cash and spend it when the Hurricanes and the Heels come to play at MSG. So I took the express train home. After 3.5 hours of walking, stopping, talking, and taking pictures, I was back on 14th st in 20 minutes. Had a great time watching the game at home too.