A TALE OF TWO CITIES
It’s the Big Apple versus the City of Brotherly Love ... but which wins out in Michael Kealey’s tussle to find the top tourist spot?
There is a popular parlour game: ‘Who was the greatest American president?’ The past tense is important. Its saves the current president from embarrassment and dinner parties from descending into rancour.
Names that crop up regularly include George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. For me, it is America’s only three-term president and the man who guided his nation through the Great Depression and World War II: Franklin D Roosevelt. There will be more of him later.
A ranking of US cities is also the subject of regular debate. There are many to choose from but let’s look at the merits of two east coast near neighbours, New York and Philadelphia.
The New York subway carries advertisements for an online real estate business. They encourage readers to: ‘Find, rent and buy your place in the centre of the universe.’ Surely Philadelphia cannot compete with the ‘centre of the universe’.
Well, the contest is a lot closer than that. So here’s a highly subjective look at the cities under a range of headings. It’s what parlour games are all about.
ART
NEW York is one of the world’s great art capitals. With typical chutzpah and no little exaggeration, it has christened part of the Upper East Side Museum Mile. Ah, but the galleries there!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a world-class gallery that rivals the Louvre and British Museum in scale and content. A $25 ticket allows entry on three consecutive days. Take advantage of it; you will want to return.
Nestled directly across 5th Avenue is the Neue Galerie, specialising in German and Austrian art. Its centrepiece is Gustav Klimt’s shimmering masterpiece, Portrait Of Adele Bloch-Bauer. Better known as the Woman In Gold, it has been the subject of its own movie. Starring Helen Mirren, it culminates in the sale of the painting for a staggering $135million to cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder.
Mere minutes away is the Frick Collection, housing masterpieces by Vermeer, El Greco and Rembrandt. Those with an interest in English history will love the Holbein portraits of Thomas Cromwell and Sir Thomas More, placed so that the great adversaries look into each other’s eyes. Both lost their heads when, with seeming inevitability, they fell foul of Henry VIII.
Another short walk leads to the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Guggenheim Museum. It has appeared in movies as diverse as Men In Black and Woody Allen’s Manhattan.
Don’t forget the outer boroughs. The Brooklyn Museum of Art has wonderful paintings only outdone by its extraordinary collection of ancient Egyptian and Assyrian artefacts.
If you want to see great sculpture without crowds, try the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens. This somewhat undervalued borough is also home to the Museum of the Moving Image, a must for film lovers.
How can Philadelphia possibly compete with all this? Quite well, as it happens.
Having thrown your arms aloft at the top of the ‘Rocky steps’, keep going into the neo-classical Philadelphia Museum of Art, the country’s third largest fine art instillation.
A central premise of the museum is that art and artefacts are best enjoyed in sympathetic surroundings – ‘a walk through time’ in the words of an early curator.
Visitors are thus treated to rooms like medieval cloisters, a Buddhist temple and a Japanese tea house. That’s before they can marvel at the miniature majesty of Jan van Eyck’s Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata and one of the six remaining Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
If that isn’t enough Van Gogh, visit the Barnes Foundation, crammed with Impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces. There are more Manets, Monets, Cezannes and Seurats than one can imagine. That’s before the Picassos, Modiglianis and ballet dancers by Degas.
With the Van Goghs alone worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the insurance costs must be eye watering.
Founded in 1805 and still a prestigious art school, the building that houses the Pennsylvania Museum of Fine Arts in downtown Philadelphia is so gorgeous that is almost overshadows the art inside. The highlight is its collection of American Art. Returning to the parlour game, it houses a large collection of portraits of the first President, George Washington. Winner: New York
HISTORY
THERE’S a clear winner here.
New York is, of course central to the history of the US, reflecting both the immigrant experience and its role as a global financial powerhouse.
To experience the former, the relatively new Lower East Side Tenement Museum gives informative tours. These include one focusing on the Moore family, ‘Irish outsiders’, who lived in the building in the late 1860s with their three daughters, one of whom did not survive to adulthood. Entry to the tenement is only possible on a tour so advance online booking is recommended.
However, as the first seat of government, Philadelphia holds the better cards. Independence Hall is where the second Continental Congress met to hammer out the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
The Constitution was also written there. So important and beloved is that document that it gets its own museum. The National Constitution Centre in Philadelphia houses more than 100 interactive and multimedia exhibits, including speeches by Franklin Roosevelt.
One of the joys of New York also features FDR. For the price of a subway ride, a cable car crosses the Hudson River from 59th Street to Roosevelt Island. Running parallel to the Queensboro Bridge, the views of central Manhattan are unbeatable. The island is an oasis of tranquillity and now boasts the Franklin D Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, highlighting his vision for a post war world. (Told you he would feature again).
There are other excellent modern museums in Philadelphia. The Museum of the American Revolution perhaps underplays the importance of the French in helping George Washington defeat the British, while the wonderful National Museum of American Jewish History gives insights into the experiences and achievements of another significant immigrant community. Winner: Philadelphia
ARCHITECTURE
SOME of the world’s most iconic buildings are on the 60 square kms of Manhattan Island. The art deco magnificence of the Chrysler Building and the merger of functionality and beauty of the Flatiron building spring to mind. That’s before one considers the Empire State Building and One World Trade Centre.
Awe-inspiring through these buildings are, the Georgian architecture of the early colonists, exemplified by Philadelphia’s Old City and Society Hill, is of a more human scale. This includes photogenic spots such as Elfreth’s Alley. Fluttering early US flags greatly add to the atmosphere. Winner: Philadelphia
SHOPPING
FOR centuries, New York’s entrepreneurs have been seeking ever more imaginative ways to part men and women from their money.
It remains a shopping paradise, ranging from the highest fashion to the stack them high philosophy of Old Navy and Century 21. You can get anything here. Fancy a silk Kimono? Try the Pearl River Mart in Lower Manhattan. An out of print book? Go to the Stand Bookstore. And don’t forget to seek out the new malls in Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan or the newly opened Hudson Yards shopping centre on the West side of mid-town.
However, Philadelphia is no slouch. While it involves a 30-minute drive out of the city, the King of Prussia Mall is one of the US’s largest retail shopping complexes. It includes six major department stores, so you don’t need to be in New York to browse in Macy’s, Bloomindales, Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus. It even has the first Penney’s on the continent. Winner: New York
FOOD
IF Michelin stars are your thing, there’s no contest. New York trumps its east coast cousin. However, most visitors want something a little less exotic and affordable. That’s where the debate gets more heated.
Looking for a top-rank Jewish deli to gorge on chicken soup and a pastrami sandwich. New York has Katz’s Deli (where Meg Ryan famously faked an orgasm in When Harry Met Sally) and the 2nd Avenue Deli.
However, I would challenge anyone not to agree that Philly’s famous Fourth Street Deli isn’t just as good.
Looking for a top French brasserie? Try Balthazar in Soho. However, Parc bistro, overlooking Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, is cheaper and has better views.
Philadelphia is also home to two great restaurants serving food inspired by the Middle East – Zahav and Suraya.
Want calorific street food? It’s hard to beat the traditional New York food trucks and diners. The Philly cheese steak is, however, the doyenne of good ‘bad food’. Whisper it though, savvy locals now head to Love And Honey for fantastic fried chicken. Winner: A draw