Touring New York's "Cathedral of Commerce"

In 1878, Frank Woolworth invented the concept of the "five and dime" discount store - a place where everything cost either 5 or 10 cents, and all the merchandise was on display.  Shoppers could see and touch what they wanted to buy; they didn't need shop assistants to fetch things for them.  We take this practice for granted these days but back then, Woolworth's retail model was revolutionary.  And his customers loved it so much that by 1911, when Mr Woolworth formally founded his company, he was worth many millions of dollars.

Business was going so well that Woolworth hired a famous architect named Cass Gilbert to design his company's corporate headquarters on Broadway, further requesting that it should be the tallest building in the world.  Gilbert had designed the beautiful US Customs House in New York a few years before, so Woolworth was confident he would design something extra special.  Gilbert got to work and two years later, in 1913, The Woolworth Building was complete.

 It stood proud at 793 feet tall and was, as requested, the tallest building in the world (at that time).  To secure such a record, Woolworth is purported to have kicked in the cash for the building's tower out of his own pocket (more than $13 million!).  But the investment was worth it because at the opening ceremony, the majestic Woolworth Building was declared by many to be New York's "Cathedral of Commerce".

Now back in the early days of skyscrapers, the giant Woolworth Building would have been a tourist drawcard in itself.  People marveled at the neo-Gothic architecture, the gargoyles, and intricate carvings around the main entrance.  But inside, office workers had down time at the indoor swimming pool, the day spa, the observation deck, and the restaurant and retail stores in the lower level.  And the subway even used to run right underneath, so commuting to and from the tallest building in the world was a breeze.

All of these attractions aside, I reckon that even back when the Woolworth Building was first constructed, people must have remembered it for the same reason that we do today: the lobby.  When he designed the lobby, Cass Gilbert totally outdid himself.  It is a beautifully ornate, almost church-like space.  The ceiling has tiny mosaic tiles all over it,  some of which have been coated with gold leaf to give them extra sparkle.  Tiffany won the contract to design the lobby's elevator doors, and they are especially fancy.  There are marble carvings in the cornices - some of them depict leading figures of the time (including Cass Gilbert himself, cradling a plaster model of the building - see below), but other carvings are those of nonsense characters, put there for a bit of fun.

Another fun detail is the inclusion of salamanders in the carvings.  Did you know that according to legend, salamanders are impervious to flames and can actually extinguish fire?  Apparently, lots of buildings all across New York City have salamanders featured in their carvings and metalwork etc to protect the buildings from fire hazards (figuratively, at least).  The Woolworth Building was constructed to stand the test of time - fire safety was foremost in Cass Gilbert's mind and the only wood in the whole place was actually in the banisters in the internal stairwells.  Superstitious though it may be, you can see the salamanders in the gold work of the mailboxes in the Woolworth Building lobby (see him on the bottom left of the photo here?).  Needless to say, I will have to keep my eyes open for more salamanders in other buildings from now on!

You used to be able to wander in off the street and browse the Woolworth Building lobby but not anymore.  These days, access is by guided tour only (you can book them online here), but it's absolutely worth it.  The lobby of the Woolworth Building is just beautiful.  I did a one-hour tour yesterday and our guide (Lisa) was sensational.  She confessed to spending much of her private time at the New-York Historical Society, reviewing the original plans of the building and reading the original correspondence about its construction and development, which they have stored in their archives there.  The trivia Lisa shared with us came from her own exhaustive research, not from anything she parroted from the internet or read off some tired tour script.  It was absolutely wonderful and well worth the $30 ticket price.  I only pasted a couple of photos from the tour because so many of them were blurry, or just didn't do the splendor of the lobby justice.  I would definitely encourage you to add the Woolworth Building to your bucket list of NYC adventures.

When water and yeast meet barley and hops

Coopers is Australia's largest brewery and is 100% owned by Australians.  Under the leadership of the fifth-generation descendants of Thomas Cooper, the family-owned company produces 12 beers and a range of home brews, and it maintains a 5% share of Australia's beer market.

Mercifully you can buy Coopers here in the US - I've seen it at Whole Foods but also at The Australian pub in New York.  And when I'm back home, I am definitely a loyal customer (though I admittedly can't decide which of their beers I prefer).

If your exposure to Coopers has only ever been from the consumption side, you might be interested to know that you can tour the brewery and see what makes this South Australian icon tick.  Even if you think you don't like beer, give tour guide Frank one hour of your time and he'll take you though the impressive fermentation facilities, bottling and distribution, and quality control centre at Coopers.  You'll work up a thirst, but your tour ends with a tasting of 10 delicious beers - and Frank is a generous pour.

Tours cost about $30 and can be booked online here.  All proceeds go to the Coopers Brewery Foundation, to support a range of philanthropic projects across Australia.

I did a tour of the brewery on my recent visit back home - check out my photo album below:

Post by The ABCs of NYC.

Wandering Williamsburg

When it's a warm, sunny day and you don't have anywhere in particular to be, it pays to get outside and just walk this amazing city.  But if randomly roaming is not your style, you can always latch on to a professional tour guide to shepherd you along and help you explore.  Such was my experience today over in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I was up early this morning and walked over to the subway station at 14th Street and 8th Avenue, and took the L train over to Brooklyn.  My ears popped as we left Manhattan behind, and sped far under the  water of the East River.  Surfacing at Bedford Avenue, I walked on the sunny side of the street  until I arrived at the meet-up point.  Before long, Jeff Stirewalt from Brooklyn Unplugged Tours arrived and our small group set off on the company's signature two-hour walking tour of the area.

Joining me on today's adventure was a friend from home who works for a travel agency, and neither of us know Brooklyn very well at all.  Under Jeff's guidance we wandered the streets, and heard stories about the demographics of early Brooklyn (before it was officially part of New York).  We learned about "The Great Mistake of 1898" which resulted in the merger of the five boroughs to comprise New York - refer the great article here.  We talked about the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903, which finally made it possible for thousands of impoverished immigrants from the Lower East Side tenements of Manhattan to get to the rich, gentrified neighbourhoods of Brooklyn - and neither place was ever the same again.

 But we also celebrated the modern-day artists, artisans and craftspeople of Williamsburg, passing by some great street art.  Jeff told us that there are three types of street art in the City:  no-permission, which is the illegal graffiti; permission, which is when a building owner gives an artist approval to paint their mural on the building's facade; and commission, which is when the building owner actually commissions the artist to put some work up, and then pays them for it.  Jeff showed us examples of all three types of street art today, but my friend and I agreed that the "permission" works were our favourites.  I just loved all the colours - some people are so clever.

Speaking of clever artwork, we called in to the sculpture workshop of Israeli-born artist Boaz Vaadia who does some really impressive work with pieces of slate (many of them life-size, but also smaller ones that I think might look just right on my mantlepiece).  By chance, we found the artist in residence today, and he was kind enough to share some of his memories with us about what it was like to live in the neighbourhood when he bought his building in the 1980s.  We talked about the Mob dumping bodies nearby, that prostitution was everywhere, and drug use was rampant.  What a difference 30 years makes!

We had some tasty chocolate treats at Mast Brothers Chocolate, who hand-craft their delights on-site.  I chose this moment to use the restrooms at the fantastic German restaurant and beer hall next door (of course). This place only has a narrow frontage, but is really sprawling inside and is a wonderful vintage throwback to the original German immigrants who settled here and kicked off the craft beer-brewing industry that is now so popular in Brooklyn.

As we headed towards the East River, we passed the fantastic Brooklyn Brewery, and found ourselves opposite an old barrel-making factory - a cooperage - which  has now been restored and repurposed into the Wythe Hotel (with a great restaurant downstairs and fantastic rooftop bar upstairs).  To our left we could see the old Domino sugar factory which is currently home to an amazing art installation by Kara Walker, but which will soon be turned into a hideous modern apartment complex (trust me - I saw the artist rendition drawing).

Before we knew it, we had arrived at the waterfront, bustling with people enjoying the tasty delights of the outdoor food festival, Smorgasburg.  When our tour ended and we said our goodbyes, my friend and I found a shady spot along one of the brick walls and enjoyed some delicious treats and refreshing lemonade from one of the nearby stalls.

With the sun warming me all the way down to my bones, we finally parted ways at the East River Ferry and I made my way back to the subway.

It was great to have Jeff walk us around the Williamsburg neighbourhood, giving us the inside scoop on places I've only ever walked past before.  Jeff has lived in Brooklyn his whole life and his expertise is obvious - we really enjoyed the visit.

I've only posted a couple of photos from today's walking tour on this page, but you can see the other ones in the photo album here.