Our plan is to meet up with Claire Sexton, of the SLO Dover clan, to meet 5 week old baby Charles. Claire and her husband, Jonah Herbert, were our house guests 2 years ago when they were in SLO for Maddie Dover and Albert Benavidez's wedding. Claire suggested we try Tom's Restaurant for lunch before meeting them at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
Tom's Restaurant is an old-fashioned diner with a storied past. In 1937, at age 9, Gus Vlahavas started working in his Dad's restaurant, named Tom's. Nowadays the running of the restaurant has been turned over to his nephew, but Gus and his mother still show up to help out. When we arrived, Mom was reigning beatifically at the register.
Tom's has been visited by scores of dignitaries and celebrities but no one out-ranks the King of Sweden who stopped in for an egg cream.
The restaurant and Gus are beloved by neighbors. So much so that in the 1970's, when the neighborhood was engulfed in race riots that threatened local businesses with looting, residents gathered at Tom's and circled the building holding hands to protect it from angry mobs.
You won't go hungry at Tom's.
Just as we were leaving, Mrs. Vlahavas approached us, holding hands with her son, to ask where we were from and to invite us back again.
Ahem, case in point on friendly New Yorkers.
Walking to meet Claire and family, we noticed a chalkboard community wall art project inviting passersby to answer the prompt, "Before I die I
will _______." A poster explains that this wall project (which is
erased each evening so new posts can be made each day) was inspired by a guy
who saw a young man in the neighborhood gunned down, and rushed to his side
while the young man lay dying. The writer recalled how he urged the young
man, "Brother, don't struggle, they'll be here soon." Sadly, the young man didn't't make it.
Having seen a young life cut short, it made this guy reflect, "what is it I want to do before I
die?" He heard about artist Cindy Chang in New Orleans, who created
the first "Before I die" wall project and he created a similar
project on this construction site wall in Brooklyn.
What do YOU want to do before you die?
Arriving at the Botanical Garden entrance, we were approached by three
young Jewish men, who said, "Hello, are you Jewish?" We said,
"No, but why do you ask?" One young man was carrying willow
branches tied into a bundle and another carried an unripe lemon. They
explained that they were looking for fellow Jews as part of their celebration
of the holiday Sukkot.
They said fresh plant material was very important to Sukkot and that the
holiday had to do with awaiting their Messiah. Though they were willing
to have their photo taken after our conversation, they stressed that they were
forbidden to pose for photos on Sukkot. I snapped several unposed
pictures. Then they headed off to find Jews.
We were so glad to meet Claire and Jonah again. Now they have produced darling baby Charles, who arrived to meet us sound
asleep, nestled against Mama's bosom. Soon proud Papa was strapping
Charles into a snuggly, and none of this handover disturbed his slumber at all.
We strolled through the beautiful garden on this glorious sunny day. Claire is an Arts Administrator and she worked at the garden briefly during an employee's maternity leave.
She led us through the Japanese
Garden, where we took a little breather to watch the carp gliding just under
the pond surface.
Next we passed by the Children's Garden and stopped to snap a picture of
the new family.
Claire then led us on a popular walk that highlights Brooklyn's many famous sons and daughters. There are a lot of them - such as Carl Sagan, Neil
Diamond, Mel Brooks, and the one I chose to snap... Carole King.
Back to earlier this morning, Libby, Ben and I explored our neighborhood while Garrett chilled and read his book. We peeked in the window of Loren, a custom jeans shop. Owner, designer, and tailor, Loren Cronk, worked for Levi and opened his own shop to make and sell high quality jeans made right in Brooklyn.
Though $300 sounds steep for a pair of jeans, the craftsmanship and
fabric (not to mention supporting clothes made in the USA) was persuasive.
Loren also carries lower priced jeans also made in the US. He
promotes and sells wares of local young designers.
Loren told us about
visiting sewing sweatshops around the world. He found conditions in China
to be modern and safe but he said the very worst sweatshops were in LA, where
he saw workers toiling in extremely unsafe conditions. Gives one pause.
It was time to rush off to our next new obsession - tickets for that holy
grail, Book of Mormon. 9 Tony awards and sold out tickets.
Our work-around? Another lottery try and back up plan - the Standing
Room Only ticket line. Ben was now on board. We arrived in time to become persons 2 and 3 in the SRO line.
Lottery came and went. A crowd of 200 who gathered to participate, cheered for the 12 winners, who were not us.
Number 1 in SRO line was a droll German guy who just wanted to see
a traditional catchy Broadway musical, like 42nd Street. Why he
decided on Book of Mormon is a mystery. Right behind us were young
tourists from Singapore, Joshua and Danitza, who were as sunny and positive as
our German friend was dour. We happily chatted with them until the ticket
window opened at 7, giving them NYC tips and inviting them to California.
Now
we want to visit Singapore!
In the meantime, I invited Alison to join us for the SRO adventure and she accepted. At curtain-time we were positioned behind the last row of seats (and
warned by the usher not to laugh in the ears of the patrons seated in front of
us). What an experience for $27. The show was over-the-top, totally irreverent, true to its South Park DNA. We never
minded standing and we had a great view.
Garrett and Libby had attended a guerilla concert in Brooklyn which featured Libby's friend Stoddy. It was held in a loft and they said it was a kick. Now they were packing up for their 3 AM trip accross Manhattan to the Newark Airport. They left full of New York stories.
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