Manhattan

While up north we had occasion to visit our journalist son in Lower Manhattan and we visited Zuccotti Park the site of the Occupy Wall Street protests. The tents had been removed the previous week and the place was cleaned up and the crowd smaller but orderly - chanting their chants and displaying their posters - some clever - others vulgar. The police presence was minimal but their vans were tactically at the ready. Street vendors hawking their wares and at this site on lower Broadway it was far removed from the Wall Street business area. I worked in this area in the late 1970s and had not been back in ten years. We stopped in to Sardi's restaurant to view the celebrity sketches on the wall. The late Vincent Sardi used to come to your table to greet you and the place still displays his influence. And for a touch of nostalgia we stopped in to the Algonquin Hotel where the lobby was already decorated for Christmas.
 Matilda the cat is no longer there and the tiny bells on the tables - for summoning the waiter - have been removed but the lobby was filled with after theater goers and the tradition goes on. It is nice to see that some things don't change. New York is a great town to lift your spirits and drain your wallet and I was jolted to find a cash only restaurant down in the East Village that must have trusted their waiters. But the tree in Rockefeller Center was lit last week and if any of you can get there during the holidays you won't be disappointed.
tjs
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