Sunday January 19, 2025 – At Sea between New York City, and Miami, FL
A restful Sunday at sea with a nice ecumenical Church Service conducted by the Captain, followed by a very interesting talk by Nelson Aspen – A Peak Behind The Velvet Robes. He is a famous Hollywood reporter who knows all the stars and had some interesting stories. He had been the entertainment reporter on a morning news program in England for some 10 years and then the main morning news program (Sunrise) in Australia. He is originally from New York, but lived a good part of his life in Los Angeles. He now is back in New York and an author, who has written two books (one about his life in NY and the other LA and will publish his third book in March). All a semi fictionalized story of his life among the stars, changing the names and trying to tell the story as closely as he remembers the various incidents.
Dr. Seth Gopin – The Rise of The American Skyscraper – the sky scraper was the uppermost sail on a ship. He showed the area of Manhattan that was owned by the Native American tribe then lower Manhattan known as New Amsterdam when the Dutch held the area and finally as the British owned what is now Eastern Canada and Virginia but were missing the area that was owned by the Dutch, so the Duke of York financed a war to throw out the Dutch. It was thus named after him- New York. Due to so many different nationalities, settling there for trade, the straight Streets to convey merchandise quickly east – west were numbered and the longer Avenues were also numbered. A Wall to keep out the Native Americans from entering the British New York, along what is now Wall Street, was constructed. Broadway, the only road that goes from the upper West Side to the Lower East, was an old broad road that was used by the Native Americans and was all that was kept. All buildings were a maximum of 6 floors as occupants had to walk up and the building materials would not allow any taller. However with the advent of steel, the flatiron building (shapes like an old flat iron) was the first “skyscraper”. This was followed by the Metropolitan Life building built on the style of the old Campanella in Venice, which at the time had just collapsed was the second skyscraper. The third was the Woolworth Building which was paid for in cash by the giant of the “Five and Dime Store” magnate. Woolworth was from Watertown NY where his family owned a farm. He wanted nothing to do with farming so went to work at a local store. A customer came in and suggested that the owner would get more sales if he had a table with all items worth 5 to 10 cents. The owner rejected it, but Woolworth opened his first store in Utica NY, which was a failure so moved to Lancaster PA where he found success, then moving the HQ to New York City.
We then enjoyed lunch & a Music Quiz at The Golden Lion Pub !!. After Tea, Siesta and Dinner we enjoyed the Theatre show which was the Canadian Comedian (from Edmonton) – Andrew Grose. A low key amusing chap.
Roger & Anne Travels 