Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 45.

New York's outer environments - Brooklyn and the Bronx.

This week's photo album, although still in New York, will focus away from Manhattan and focus more on Brooklyn and its connecting bridge over the East River. Then, from Brooklyn, I travel in the opposite direction from the hostel to the Bronx to spend a day at the New York Botanical Gardens.

I marvelled at the superb engineering required in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Like the Sydney Harbour Bridge, this one, spanning the East River, also carried a footpath and a cycleway alongside the main road (but not the railway, as the Sydney Bay Bridge does). Instead, the cycle/footway is suspended above the road, providing traffic-free views of Lower Manhattan from one end and, at the other end, the Watchtower Society's headquarters in Brooklyn. In 1998, the Manhattan skyline was dominated by the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The main "Watchtower" logo, which was lit up at night, looked across the river at the twin towers, as if wishing they weren't there. If only we were to learn about 9/11, 2001. Since then, the Watchtower headquarters moved to Warwick, New York, in 2016. At present (2025), the buildings at 124 Columbia Heights are taken over by a school.

A view of the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River.

The town of Brooklyn itself provided a pleasant environment. In 1998, the Fulton Street Mall was dominated by a dental surgery, the second floor of a two-storey building. The first floor, i.e, the ground floor, accommodated a pizzeria. It would have been more ironic had the ground floor been rented out to a chocolateer! Since then, the whole plaza has been rebuilt, and the dentist has been replaced by a new building which houses a Primark store. Indeed, as with Lower Manhattan, any present-day visitor would experience a different environment from the one I was familiar with.

From walking across the East River from the Brooklyn Bridge, I headed south towards Columbus Park, a wide concrete space on which stood the statue of Henry Ward Beecher, a known abolitionist against slavery. Further on, the handsome white building, dominated by Roman-style columns, a pediment, and topped by a clock tower, looked over the wide, tree-lined quadrangle. This building was the Brooklyn Town Hall.

These features set Brooklyn apart from Manhattan. Although its streets were buzzing with pedestrians, especially at Fulton Street, along with its flow of traffic, this town was somewhat more sedate than Manhattan, and walking its streets and taking in the environment was a worthwhile experience, especially with a view of Lower Manhattan as seen across the East River from Piers 2 and 3.

On another day, I took the Subway train to the Bronx to visit the New York Botanical Gardens, an island of pure nature in the midst of the city. The Botanical Gardens is smaller in area than Central Park, and from the air, it's irregular in shape, due to the surrounding street layout. I used Line 1, which terminated at Van Cortlandt Park Station in the Bronx. This was due to being unfamiliar with the area, as this was my first visit there. Had I taken Line 2, I would have arrived at Bronx Park Station, allowing a shorter walk to get to the Garden's entrance.

But that didn't matter. By alighting at Van Cortlandt Station, a terminus of the line, I had a chance to check out the Bronx itself. Although this area, mainly residential, was probably named after the 17th-century Swedish colonialist Jonas Bronck, at present, the borough takes its name from the Bronx River, which flows through both the Botanical Gardens and the Bronx Zoo, to join the East River as it flows towards the Atlantic Ocean via Upper and Lower Bays.

After visiting the San Diego Zoo just a year previously in 1997, I knew that no other zoo would match it. As this Southern Californian venue had lush palm trees, cactus, and a semi-tropical feel, here in New York, no way would this venue come close! But I was interested in the adjoining Botanical Gardens. It's forested area, banking both sides of the river, remaining unlogged throughout the centuries, gives a clear impression of how Manhattan Island looked before anyone arrived to settle there. The original Manhattan Island was covered in thick forest, mainly deciduous trees, and was probably home to bears, wolves, and other wildlife before succumbing to the demands of human beings.

But during the whole of the 1998 New York and Boston trip, I missed the palm trees, the mangroves, and other tropical and subtropical vegetation. The rivers and bays were unfit to swim in, let alone snorkel, as I did over the Great Barrier Reef. Yet, the area lies at a 40-degree north latitude, an imaginary line that also crosses Southern Italy, where palm trees flourish in abundance. Even in the southwest coast of England, especially in Cornwall, there are palm trees that are happy to thrive on a 50-degree north latitude, ten degrees nearer the Arctic than New York.

Thus, the Botanical Gardens of New York lacked the palm trees and other subtropical vegetation, such as the Pear Cactus, abundant in southern Italy, Sicily and more so in Malta, but nowhere to be seen where I was visiting. Yet the latitude wasn't very different in my opinion, with Sicily around 36 degrees north.

However, the Gardens had a beauty of their own, especially the virgin forest bordering the Bronx River. This, to me, exceeds the natural beauty of Central Park, as this rectangular strip of greenery is entirely man-made. True enough, there was enough horticultural handywork to satisfy any enthusiast, but for me, the virgin forest, which once flourished across Manhattan Island, intrigued me the most. 

The Bronx is mainly a residential borough. However, back in the nineties, the area had a dodgy reputation. Before taking off to New York, my friends warned me that if I visited the Bronx, I should take special care. They were right. After I had finished visiting the Botanical Gardens, I passed a terraced house while on my way to the subway station at Van Cortlandt Park. A couple of young black men were assembled at the gate, although neither of them approached me, but threw sneers as I walked by. I felt my skin crawl as I paced fast, looking straight ahead. To them, I was one of those white, wealthy tourists who came from afar to visit the parks. And indeed, while they may be struggling to afford the essentials, to them, I was loaded and throwing money around.

How far their thoughts were from reality! If I were wealthy, I would have rented a room at a luxury hotel on 5th Avenue, not sleep in a dormitory at a hostel with a dubious kitchen with no crockery or cutlery. Then again, there is something special, something very appealing about a working-class fellow backpacking the world and living on basics.

Click here for the link to the Index to the main Biography, covering Weeks 108-112.

Photos of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Town.

The cycle and footway are suspended above the road.

Looking northwest towards Lower Manhattan.

Facing southwest towards Brooklyn.

Watchtower headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Montague Street, Brooklyn Heights.

At the Brooklyn waterfront.

Piers 2 & 3 as they were in 1998.

Brooklyn Town Hall looks across Columbus Park.

The Statue of abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher.

Dental Surgery at Fulton Street Mall.

Fulton Street shopping mall, Brooklyn.

Downtown Brooklyn.

Photos of the Bronx area.

From the station, I passed through Van Cortlandt Park.

The Grand Concourse, the Bronx.

The beauty of the New York Botanical Gardens.

At Rock Gardens.

Rock Gardens creek and waterfall.

A creek flows rapidly to the Bronx River.

There are plenty of cultivated flower beds here.

The Bronx River passes through an unlogged forest.

The River cascades over a weir.

The waterfall was built to power this snuff mill.

Reflections at Bronx River.

To think that this covered Manhattan Island.

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Next Week, I will arrive in Boston, Massachusetts.

Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 44.

Comparing New York with my childhood hometown, London.

As one who loves to travel, whether I'm drawn to cities depends on their location, fame, character, and the surrounding environment. I was born in London, and for the first eleven years, I grew up in London, in Pimlico, to be more precise. Hence, I see London as my home city, even to this day.

In visiting New York, which I did in 1978, 1995, and this time in 1998, I saw some similarities between the infrastructure of the two cities. Even New York's rapid transit has lines which are very similar to the London Underground system, both in its tube structure, as well as Lines 1 and 2 resembling London's Metropolitan, District, and Circle Lines, except that in New York's version, four tracks run alongside. The inner two were used by non-stop trains (Line 1) while the outer two were used by stopping trains, that is, all stations between 103rd Street, where our hostel was, and 42nd Street, which passes through Times Square. Hence, by boarding a Line 1 train at 103rd Street Station, I was at 42nd Street within minutes. 

In 1858, Fredrick Law Olmsted designed New York Central Park after he was inspired to create open green spaces in city centres. London's Hyde Park offered such inspiration, although it was not intended directly after it. While Hyde Park is basically a large lawn crossed by a network of footpaths and features the Serpentine, Central Park is more varied, almost divided in two by the Onassis Reservoir, along with several other ponds, and it also has the Great Lawn featuring baseball diamonds and a forested area. Also featured at Central Park is Belvedere Castle, a fancy structure overlooking Turtle Pond, and offering views of the Great Lawn, an area which was once underwater, covered by the Onassis Reservoir.

However, on the geological foundation, London, as with Paris, is built on a bed of clay. Hence, their original buildings weren't that high. In turn, the geological bedrock of Manhattan consists of three hard, metamorphic rocks: Schist, Gneiss, and Granite. Therefore, tall skyscrapers make up the character of Manhattan, which sets this city apart from London or Paris. Only in recent years that the construction of tall structures, such as the Shard, been possible by driving piles deep into the ground.

However, even though, to some degree, I felt at home in New York, there are differences between Manhattan and my former hometown of Central London. Apart from the forest of tall, cubic skyscrapers, the street pattern between the two cities is quite different. New York streets, like most American cities, have a symmetrical grid layout, an idea borrowed from many ancient Roman townships, even if the Lower Town area is more like the streets of London, forming an irregular pattern. Within this symmetrical grid layout, Central Park appears from a pilot's eye view as a perfect rectangle.

Also, unlike London, which is bisected by the River Thames, Manhattan is an elongated island, with the Hudson River to the west and the East River on the other side. North of Manhattan, the Harlem River joins the East River to the Hudson River, separating Manhattan from the Bronx, where I visited the New York Botanical Gardens. South of Manhattan, the two rivers merge. Through this area of water opening out to the Atlantic Ocean, the border between New York and New Jersey runs, with the Statue of Liberty in New Jersey.

The 1978 pic below shows me inside the statue's head after a stiff climb. As it was Summer, the interior was as hot as a sauna, and here I was, soaked in sweat. In the years to follow, some visitors passed out while inside the head. By 1998, the statue was closed to admissions during the summer months. Therefore, in July 1998, although I stood on Liberty Island, the Statue was closed to the public.

Inside the head of the Statue of Liberty, 1978.

This week's collection includes pics of the World Trade Center, taken in 1998, before the 9/11 disaster in 2001. And here remains one regret: In 1998, I didn't ascend to the rooftop observation gallery. My only visit there was in 1978, as pictured last week. As I glanced up at those twin towers in admiration from the Liberty Island ferry, it had never crossed my mind that, just over three years later, these towers would be no more. Instead, I stood on the observation gallery at the Empire State Building, looking across the length of Manhattan at the World Trade Center, two fingers sticking up from the horizon, three miles away. The opening pics of this week's album are taken from the Empire State Building, including one taken at night during my second visit, to include some night photos.

Anyone standing at the lookout at the Empire State Building at present would see a different skyline from the one I have seen. And so, I refer to a photo taken in August 2018 of one of our MPs, Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Tory relic from the Victorian Era, and dressed appropriately in a business suit and tie, in 30 degrees Celsius (86 deg F). And what did he see with his family? Where the Twin Towers once stood, in their place, the Freedom Tower reaches a height of 541 metres (1,776 feet), which is 124 metres higher than the taller of the Twin Towers, which was 417 metres (1,638 feet) high.

Click here for the Index link to the main Biography covering New York 1998, Weeks 108-122.

Photos of New York.

View of the East River from the Empire State Bdg. 

Zoomed in view of the Chrysler Building. 

Zoomed in view of Midtown Manhattan.

Penn Station and the Hudson River.

Zoomed in view of Lower Manhattan.

Actual view of Lower Manhattan.

The United Nations Bdg is centre-right.

Looking towards the East River.

Pier 17 shopping mall and restaurant.

Piers 15 and 16.

Brooklyn Bridge taken from Pier 17.

The World Trade Center taken from a ferry.

The boat approaches Liberty Island.

The ferry sails from Lower Manhattan.

The ferry passes the statue before docking in.

Manhattan skyline as seen from Liberty Island.

I look up to the Statue of Liberty.

This is Greenwich Village.

Jefferton Market Courthouse, Greenwich Village.

Here, I called out, Who won? Answered back, France!

Natural History Museum, 8th Avenue.

A stranger posed as I snapped these Dinosaurs.

I walk through Central Park. This is North Woods.

Harlem Meer Pond.

Onassis Reservoir.

Turtle Pond.

Belvedere Castle looks over Turtle Pond.

Meditating at Belvedere Castle lookout.

Once underwater, the Great Lawn, Central Park.

With woods like this, it's easy to forget the city.

The forested wonder of The Ramble.

Sheep Meadow, South Central Park.

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Next Week, the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn town, and the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.