How an âOpen Streetsâ Operative Spends His Sundays
Kyle Gorman spends much of the day touring parts of the city that are participating in the popular outdoor program.
Kyle Gorman, center, visiting a pedestrianized street in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.Credit.Hilary Swift for The New York Times
By Alix Strauss
June 4, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET
Last month, Open Streets, an initiative started during the pandemic to clear up to 100 miles of city streets for pedestrians, cyclists, outdoor dining and cultural programming, was made into a permanent program by Mayor Bill de Blasio. And many of this yearâs mayoral candidates are considering how to improve it going forward, including more options in low-income communities (Eric Adams) and public safety measures like retractable bollards (Kathryn Garcia).
My last indoor dining experience of 2020 was in early March. I had crispy roast duck, watercress and assorted dumplings at Wu’s Wonton King, at the junction of Chinatown and the historic Jewish Lower East Side. Located at the foot of the Forward Building, Wu’s occupies the site of the old Garden Cafeteria, what used to be the center of New York Jewish intellectual life. Where tanks of jostling Alaskan king crabs are found today, Forward writers and Yiddish literati once kibitzed over kreplach and kugel.
Wu’s wasn’t a random dinner choice. The day before, I heard Wellington Chen, executive director of Chinatown Partnership, and James Beard Award-Winning chef Grace Young on public radio, urging New Yorkers to eat and shop in Chinatown. Chinatown was New York’s first coronavirus victim even before the first diagnosis. News of the virus from Wuhan spurred many Chinese immigrants to start social-distancing early. skipping their Lunar New Year family banquets.
The Uncertain Recovery of Manhattanâs Chinatown
Alternate-side parking: In effect until March 28 (Passover).
Image
Credit.Andrew Seng for The New York Times
Jenny Wu, 28, planned to have her wedding banquet next year at Jing Fong, the largest restaurant in Chinatown.
For many, the dim sum palace was the prime spot to hold weddings, birthdays, graduations and reunions. But that is no longer possible: After 28 years in operation, the banquet hall closed down this past Sunday.
The restaurant will continue to offer takeout and some outdoor dining. But Jing Fongâs banquet hall was geographically and symbolically at the heart of Chinatown, and the shutdown underscored the uncertain recovery of one of New Yorkâs most famous immigrant neighborhoods.
流浪枪手_文学城博客 wenxuecity.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wenxuecity.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.