Day 8 – March 9, 2024 – New York City
Last full day in New York is there. It’s time to visit our last remaining borough that neither of us visited to this day. We take the train of Subway B and go for a long ride. It takes half an hour to get there from our place on 71st Street.
Plan is to get the feeling of Bronx, take a short stroll and then go back to Manhattan. And so we drove all the way to Yankee Stadium and walked around the neighborhood. We stopped at the Edward L Grant Highway, got to the nearest subway and went back to Harlem.
For Saturday lunch we chose Harlem Shake. They make tasty smash burger with fries and also delicious milk shake. Restaurant was founded in 2013 by Jelena Pasic. She visited Harlem for the first time 10 years earlier and fell in love with the place. Harlem Shake became so popular that it’s also visited by celebrities and politicians. Interior is made in style reminding of the 50s and it’s really cozy looking. We arrived in perfect time when restaurant was empty and before we left, it was already crowded.
We wanted to visit some more museums and since it started raining, it was perfect time. First visit of the day was The National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Located on the Malcolm X Boulevard, the museum provides interesting look into history of jazz. There’s plenty instruments on the showcase, stories about jazz legends from Harlem and other places as well. On the walls you can find oil paintings by Meclina Gomes, Noland Anderson, Kamil Peters and more. At the time of our visit, there was also event called Jazz & Samba Conversations Series with Sam Martinelli featuring Chuck Redd. Sam is a Brazilian drummer while Chuck is also a drummer but a vibraphonist too. He gained recognition while playing as part of the Charlie Byrd Trio.
Design after Jazz. We got recommendation for another museum to visit and so we seized the opportunity and drove to the 5th Avenue. That’s the location of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Interesting exhibition for example showing how Traffic Symbols were created. What caught my attention at their store were Laguna Cork Sunglasses and also a Dot Watch, which is the world’s first braille watch.
Last concert of the trip took place at Village Vanguard. Legendary jazz club opened in 1935 by Max Gordon in Greenwich Village offers the best of jazz. The club hosted names like Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk or Bill Evans. John Coltrane recorded some of his albums at Village Vanguard next to many other musicians including Joe Lovano or trio Hank Jones, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Night of March, 9 brought not only tons of rain but also Peter Bernstein Quartet. Absolutely filled Vanguard enjoyed great concert of the jazz legend. Born in New York City, Bernstein first played piano but later switched to guitar.
As always, here’s a little gallery
JK Art 
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