It was an early start today for the four P's as we elected to go to the Brooklyn Tabernacle for the 9am service. Our 3 cohorts would meet us later in the morning.
We left our hotel at 8:15 for the subway to Brooklyn. Trains we have found are not quite as reliable on some days as they could be closed for various reasons......as on Sunday when they are closed for track maintenance. All things considered we arrived at the Tabernacle only a few minutes late. Today was special as there was a large choir visiting, with choir members from around the globe, along with the in house choir which has about 130 members there was an additional 200. The service was lively with lots of singing, standing, swaying and clapping. We were told to greet our seat mates, join hands and praise the lord! The church community were friendly and welcoming. The service lasted just over one hour. We next made our way, by subway to another part of Brooklyn, Bushwick collective on Troutman St. where we were meeting up with Judy, Marion and Joan at a cafe. We joined them for coffee and awaited Brent who we had engaged to take us on a graffiti street tour. It was quite interesting to people watch the very artsy types in this area.
When Brent arrived he gave us a little history of the area and how the graffiti movement got started. The area encompassed a few square blocks that is mainly light industrial, buildings made of corrugated tin, low rise for the most part. There is a young fellow, age 30, named Joe whose father owned a factory in the area. Joes father passed away quite tragically, he was mugged and murdered, shortly after this his mother became ill with cancer and passed away. Joe was left with his fathers factory, and he wanted to do something in the neighbourhood. There were young people tagging buildings and he took charge encouraging businesses to have their walls, which were ugly grey and industrial painted by these talented young artists. This artistry grew and now many buildings are beautifully decorated and people come from all over the world to view them. The Painters are from Japan, Los Angeles and also the locals who were born and raised in the area. The art changes, pretty much once a year most of the art is turned over. At the beginning of June the artists take two days and whitewash over the art readying it for new work. This two day period turns into a giant party scene. There are three styles of art, bubble, which is basically fat lettering, wild and mechanical. To learn more about this fascinating area you can go to you tube bushwick collective style wars (1983). There are well known graffiti artists whose work you can follow....@whiste, @sipros_sipros , @leehill and @leaf. Our guide Brent is leaf. After a very interesting tour of the area we went to Brents studio and participated in making a large canvas of our very own graffiti art. It was fun to learn how to apply the spray paint and we all enjoyed it very much.
Definitely a highlight for us all.
Brent told us of a good restaurant in the area where we got very fresh Mexican food. We then made our way to the subway for our trip back to Manhattan. . We arrived back at our hotel to put our feet up and prepare for dinner out. Drinks on the 23rd floor till 7 then we walked out to the Fig and Olive restaurant. Everyone had a wonderful meal!
On the way back we enjoyed the window displays at Bergdorf' Goodmans.
Tea in the party room and a few laughs and agreement on a meeting time for breakfast tomorrow.
Goodnight New York!
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