Spring Forward
My friend Vic in LA calls it “stewing.†I’m doing it. It was Sunday morning, and I promise, you already know what it is. Stewing is when you set your alarm for 8:00 or 9:00 or even 10:00 on a weekend morning with grand plans for a workout or doing laundry or even some sort of religious service but instead you end up staying in bed hours after, basically laying there and well, “stewing.†It’s easy to do, especially now at the end of this long cold winter. You’re probably hung over; whether emotionally, physically or from ingested chemicals and turning over and over in your mind all your mistakes, from the night before, and probably, your entire adult life. Laying there in the cocoon of my bed, I came to the point of actually getting up after going over a new game plan in my mind. Springtime is coming after all, and with this upcoming changing season, no more of this ridiculous behavior I’ve been engaged in recently. I declare: Things Will Be Different. From Here on Out They Will Be Different (and I really really mean it this time).
I’ve got a plan to help you anticipate your own personal springtime as well as the actual one scheduled to hit New York City any day now.
First, you need something to eat on this journey. You’ll be on the west side of the city today, so I recommend stopping at my favorite bakery in the city, Claude’s Patisserie on West 4th Street. For $2.85 you can have a coffee with milk and the most perfect and delicious almond croissant this side of the Seine. It’s tradition for Americans to go to Paris to reinvent themselves, so do your little bit here. Bonus points, Claude is an actual older French man and in the shop most of the time to gruffly greet you, this is an authentic experience not to be missed. His pain au chocolate, raisin danish and plain croissant are also perfection if you’re not in the mood for the creamy almond paste filled treat. And do yourself a favor, don’t ask for decaf, they don’t have it and, frankly, object to its very existence.
Now, keep strolling westward, wind your way thorough the west village and uptown, you can cross over to the Hudson River Park, take in the lapping water, distant Statue of Liberty and grassy piers and think about how in actual spring you will lay out a blanket and soak up the sun on a lazy Sunday afternoon. For now, keep walking up to 28th street. Passing the teamster delivery trucks and dodging the occasional traffic, duck into Black and White Gallery.
You’ll come face to face with an oversized Prince. Or in the days of the late 1970’s captured here, Prince Rogers Nelson (we apologize but at the time of publication this exhibit closed). These photos of Prince were taken by Robert Whitman during the ascent of both of their careers, and the burgeoning artist is evident in Prince’s eyes, but charmingly so is some of his now evaporated self consciousness and awkward youth. His very weirdness pokes out at the edges (namely in his choice of accessories), but he’s still at the point of kind of trying to fit in, not sure if he’ll stifle his very Prince-ness or not. It’s like you know the end of the story, but at this point he could have ended up taking that job at the insurance company and having a normal life. Even though we already know what happens to him and it’s all already been done, I found myself rooting for him to chase his dream, leave Minneapolis and let his inner eccentricities unfold into stardom. The artistry of the portraiture is evident here and if you’ve found other photography inaccessible, you might enjoy this exhibit since you know so much about the later years of the subject. The end of the exhibit has blown up pages of contact sheets so you can see the Whitman’s process of choosing the best photos, further showing the stops and starts in what ends up morphing into the final art form.
Next, stroll until you don’t feel like it and hop the subway uptown to the Museum of Natural History. Head straight for the second floor to the recently reopened Butterfly Conservatory, tagline: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter! I knew what I was getting into, but the awe of this little room is one of those city experiences that legitimizes that crazy Manhattan rent. And you have got to have those types of experiences to enter another season of writing those checks. This is a heated room, technically a viviarium, of about 1,500 square feet. It is heated to tropical levels and filled with orchids, other plants and a kaleidoscope of hundreds of multi-colored gorgeous butterflies freely flying around feeding and landing on visitors. Yes, you read that right, you can go to a place in this city right now and have actual butterflies land on you. There are rules here that could be applied to life itself, like the first posted: “Butterflies are fragile, do not reach out to grasp them, let them land on you if they chose and let them stay as long as they like.†Placards outside detail the cycle of metamorphosis and scientists inside answer questions of the many children and camera happy parents inside but the palpable magic of the situation needs no explanation. You’ll know spring is on its way to you.
Escape Directions:
Patisserie Claude 187 West 4th Street between Barrow and Jones. (212) 255-5911. $2.85 for coffee and croissant.
Black & White Gallery. Chelsea Terminal Warehouse 636 West 28th Street, Ground Floor. 28th Street between 11th and 12th Avenue. Robert Whitman Prince: Pre-Fame runs thorough March 17 Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment. Free.
The Butterfly Conservatory at the American Museum of Natural History. Central Park West & 79th Street. Butterflies on exhibit through May 28. $16-$25 admission to entire museum. There is a live cam of the butterflies at www.amnh.org
