J. G. Melon and... Grade Pending

Throughout New York City, one sees a variety of "grades" posted in windows of all kinds of restaurants and coffee shops; any place that serves food.

There are three grades, well four actually: A (the best), B (not bad apparently) and C (well, it isn't as bad as it sounds). The fourth rating is "Grade Pending" which can be taken several ways.



The idea is that the greatest city on earth should have the best restaurants on earth... and maybe... they should have some sort of hygiene standard, a regulated "official" kind of standard.

Enter the NYC Health Department which promises to visit, and pass judgement, on every coffee shop, food cart, bagel shop and restaurant in the five boroughs of New York City, and do it every year. Most of the food carts are Halal and serve the same hot dogs and pretzels throughout the city, so that's easy enough. Boring comes to mind. Vancouver's food cart business is extraordinarily different from what we saw in NYC.


Most establishments show the posters in their windows and most of the signs we saw were A or B. In our travels we didn't come across any establishment boasting about a C. The designation made a difference to us though I'm not sure why. Our favourite coffee shop was rated A, yet cited for some minor infractions, including providing possible entry to vermin. Lupa, the popular restaurant in SoHo where Justin Timberlake's doppelganger works, was given an A, though the unisex washrooms (common in Manhattan) were slightly off-putting.






A wonderful find for us was actually rated "Grade Pending." J.G. Melon on 74th Street and 3rd Avenue on the Upper East Side has been around since 1972. One would think they would have a handle on the New York City Health Department by now, but no, the hygiene rating is "Grade Pending."









J.G. Melon doesn't have a website. They don't take cards. They don't have a cash register or any POS terminals. One lone video screen hangs from the ceiling and it doesn't seem to have any volume. Classic hits from the 70s and 80s can be heard, but only just, making conversation with a neighbour possible and enjoyable, and New Yorkers delight in the adventure of conversation, as did we.We talked with other patrons and with Neil of course.


Neil was our bartender and he poured generously, as would I if cash were the only denomination of choice. Sherry asked for sparkling wine and Neil said "No sparkling wine here. Just champagne." Well. I'm not sure if Neil and I have the same understanding of the actual definition of champagne, though it didn't really matter. Jeem, of course, was continuing his quest to try a variety of bourbons and Neil was helpful and generous in that regard.










The place seems a throwback to another time. I don't know if it is the 1970s or something trying to be the 1970s, but time seems to have stopped around 1973 in this Upper East Side institution. It was a weird and wonderful place in which to find ourselves after a rainy afternoon in Central Park, regardless of the Health Department grading.




J.G. Melon provided the background for a scene with Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman in the 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer. The former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, said the burgers here are the best in the world. On Urban Spoon it has a rating of 86%. On Trip Advisor it gets 4 of 5 stars. And its decor, apart from a kitschy and post-Nixon time frame, devotes most of its wall space to pictures of watermelons. What does that tell us I wonder?

Though Jeem was tempted, especially after seeing a few go by, he passed on the burgers. After all the hygiene grade is still pending. However. The drinks, the people and the substance of the place are first rate all the way. This is a place... to come back to one day. Soon. I hope Neil is still here.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

You can see all NYC restaurants and their ratings here on the NYC Health Department restaurant ratings map from the New York Times, interactive and updated regularly.

New York City at night... and poverty and homelessness

Sometimes the photos can speak for themselves.












The rain and the lights and the people. This is a bright, brassy city even in the rain.






Everywhere we walked in the city through the night, on any night, it felt safe and comfortable. After an off-Broadway show it was easy to walk and take the subway to our next destination, which might be home or to a late night meal.

There is another side to NYC that we didn't really see. Perhaps if we had spent more time, or had stayed in a different neighbourhood, we would have seen some of the poverty and homelessness that plagues this great city. We know about American cities and their homeless; they must be here somewhere. And they are.



In New York there are about 54,000 sheltered homeless people. About 22,000 are children. These folk can be measured because they spend nights in municipal shelters. There are many thousands more living rough, sleeping in parks, subway stations and the narrow streets of the CBD. No one knows the number of people living on the streets. We do know from the measured homeless that about 53% are African Americans and 33% Latino, sightly disproportionate with the general population.




We also know that poverty is a serious issue here, though walking around doesn't give that impression. This city appears to be all that one would expect from the richest city in the richest country on Earth. However, according to the federal government 21% of all New York residents fall below the official poverty threshold. For those 65 years and older, almost 20% are below the poverty line. In this great city, fully 33% of all families headed by a single mother live in poverty.

Manhattan has the dubious distinction of having the biggest income gap of any city in the US. The mean income of the lowest fifth of the population is $9635. The top fifth of residents has a mean income of $389,000 while the richest 5% showed an income of just under $800,000.



This is a beautiful city, full of wonder at every turn. And if the numbers for New York City trouble you, please recall that 20% of all families in BC now live below the official poverty line, and homelessness in Vancouver has increased by 350% in the past three years alone. Numbers, just numbers. Or...

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

Signs of the times in NYC

Well of course, they never saw it coming, but what does this have to do as an ad for storage rental? And is it coming again? Will having a storage locker really help?

Thomas Jefferson said this in 1787. Actually he quoted it in Latin as part of one of those long-winded speeches of his about that democracy thing he was always going on and on about. This sign appears in Brooklyn.

Two from the Upper East Side. What happens if you don't smoke on 2nd Ave? And whatever you do, don't sit down on your way.

Maybe sitting, or otherwise lounging around, might be okay here. Apparently not standing.

We could always go for stand-up. New York City is full of these comedy clubs. This one sounds good. I think it might have a Russian theme. Odd entrance for a night club though. Even Russian.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014. 

New York's Central Park

Central Park in Manhattan. One of the pre-eminent urban parks in all the world. Thirty-five million visitors come to Central Park every year to enjoy its 315 ha. It is about 4 km in length and 800 m wide. In comparison, Vancouver's Stanley Park was created in 1888 and is 405 ha in size. About eight million visitors come to Vancouver's urban park annually.

Established with some sort of vision in 1857, Central Park has struggled through the years. The first struggle came when 1600 people living in the area, mainly poor Irish-Americans and poor but free African-Americans, were displaced from their neighbourhoods in order to create the park in the first place. Theirs were neighbourhoods with names like Seneca, Harsenville and The Piggery District. That might discount the fact that in the beginning years of European settlement in the area that became NYC, First Nations people had to be displaced too, though that was probably seen as an ending rather than a beginning.

In any event. Central Park went through some problems, largely with political corruption, often from the Democratic Party machine, and later, in the 1960s and 70s with sheer neglect and crime. Still, it was always a place for New Yorkers to come to relax and enjoy some peace within their city. Beginning in the 1980s Central Park's image and management changed significantly and today the park is central to the city, and it is clean, safe and tranquil.








In summer there are free concerts in the park featuring jazz, opera and more. While we visited on several days over the course of our visit we saw buskers performing jazz, hip hop and opera. This young woman performed brilliantly for about eighty and was ever so grateful for the applause she received for her operatic performance.


















Central Park is also home to Strawberry Fields, which is across from the Dakota building on the Upper West Side. The foot path memorial is simple beyond words which is all the more appropriate for just another Liverpudlian immigrant to New York, even though Nixon tried to send him away.

















And we all shine on. Like the moon and the stars and the sun. And Central Park.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

Le Moulin a Cafe on the Upper East Side

Le Moulin a Cafe is located on the Upper East Side. It is simple and inviting and a good place for coffee.

Independent and singular in its operation, Le Moulin a Cafe opened in 2011. It a combination bistro-cafe-bakery and it also sells a small variety of products imported from France.



According to an article in the Times, most of the patrons during the day are French expats, many with children attending the nearby Lycee Francais. The cafe is an interesting place, crowded and noisy when we were there on le weekend. The young woman taking our coffee order had the look of Paris and a French accent, while the young man calling out that our drinks were ready was most assuredly from the Bronx or Queens. It might seem a bit of Paris, but this is still very much New York.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.