Museum of the American Gangster tour

Over the past year, I have learned that the more you travel alone, the more you get used to hanging out with yourself. At 24 years old, I had my first meal alone in a sit-down restaurant in Springfield, Massachusetts waiting for my Amtrak to New York. And it was pretty peaceful.

I had already requested last Monday off of work to rest up after Maria’s graduation, and had the city of New York at my fingertips…but no one to do anything with (Oh, people work? And your family can drive back to Chicago?).

What was I to do? After a nice walk through Prospect Park in Brooklyn, I went to two places on my New York bucket list: a free exhibit in Midtown on surveillance photojournalism, and the Museum of the American Gangster in the East Village.

With a huge crowd at the two-room museum on a Monday afternoon (aka: me and the tour guide), I got a solo tour for more than an hour. He provided a refresher on the history of Prohibition and America in the 1920s, and explained the museum mostly portrays how things hit New York but had an impact nationally (about a 70:30 split). Coming out of the tour, I will have to do more research on Al Capone, the Chicago gangster prototype.

Americans, dominated by males, drank six times as much liquor as they do today before prohibition. Once liquor was banned, New Yorkers smuggled it in however they could: shipping alcohol from other countries and transporting it through an underground tunnel from the East River, mixing industrial alcohol with fruit, overstocking before the law was active or getting a prescription for a faux sickness to obtain liquor. People are serious about their liquor consumption!  

Finding the museum was a bit difficult, because when I arrived at the address, it was actually a theater and a bar. I didn’t think much of it, besides “You’re in New York, you can expect anything here.” After the history, the tour guide moved downstairs into the bar and explained that it was called Scheib’s, a popular speakeasy in the 1920s for NYC politicians and businessmen. Getting downstairs was an event in itself - since all basement entrances have been bricked up since Prohibition because the government could have found the bar. The bar was made with Cuban mahogany, an extinct wood, and we walked from the bar, into the theater (pointing out where the dance floor was), to a hole in the wall where servers would drop cash to gangsters. There is even a bullet hole next to it.

Although this was a small museum, I can probably name it one of my favorite museums in America due to the rich history of its location and how I learned so much in one tour. Another highly recommended New York destination!

A meal at Red Rooster

In Chicago, there are groups of restaurants that flood everyone’s recommendation list. Everyone knows that if you’re in the West Loop, you should try Au Cheval or Girl & the Goat. If you’re up North, you go to Kuma’s Corner. In River North, you go to one of Bill & Giuliana’s restaurants - Hub 51, RPM Steak or Italian, etc. No one will argue with these recommendations since they’re a combination of local and popular. The big city becomes small very quickly.

In New York, there are so many restaurants that I find it hard to establish a “you most go here” list of places that are authentic and not ridden by tourists. A few weeks ago on a work trip, my company’s CEO mentioned a restaurant in Harlem that she had dined at for her 50th birthday. When she said Red Rooster, everyone seemed to know what it was and nod right along. I fawned professionally, asked Kathryn if we could try it and made a reservation immediately.

Last week, we met in Harlem after work and had some of the most amazing Southern food of my life. We started with chicken & waffles and cornbread, and a pitcher of sangria. We split barbecue pork loin and parmesan fries for dinner, and were so full we couldn’t even eat dessert (which if you know my diet, is unheard of). I even got a souvenir tea for paying with a Mastercard, part of its priceless city campaign. If you’re in NYC, I highly recommend a trip to Harlem to try this place out.

Cornbread, chicken & waffles and sangria at Red Rooster

Kathryn with our dinner

Finally on Venmo

When it comes to emerging money technology, I’ve been a late adopter compared to most of my acquaintances. I have done the basics that 20-somethings have learned about the past few years, but have resisted making a habit of what’s next and new.

I have transferred money between accounts on my bank’s mobile app, taken a photo of a check to deposit it, use ATMs occasionally and friends have paid me back on Chase Quick Pay. But at the end of the day, I find comfort in walking in to my bank, speaking to the teller, depositing and withdrawing money in person and walking out the door with a lollipop.

Kathryn convinced me to innovate and finally download the Venmo app. After a slight hiccup in getting the bank connection up and running, I set everything up this morning and accepted my first transfer. The ease of doing so was not what shocked me; something else did.

Venmo has made money transfer inherently social. You can create your account with your Facebook login, automatically upload your phone and Facebook contacts and the photos carry over. The technology and trust factor has not only been overcome by teens and 20-somethings, but they’re using this money transfer app as a way to communicate both visually and verbally. I was dumbfounded at all of these emojis and comments for something as simple as paying someone back.

I look forward to not only using Venmo, but seeing what fun emojis I can use when paying people back :).

A screenshot of my Venmo screen

Is this safe?

Man riding a Citi Bike in Columbus Circle in NYC with a child, unbuckled, in the basket