Five places in New York that will take you back in time
'01.03.2024'
Alina Prikhodko
There are establishments in the Big Apple that can transport you back to a time when radio was the main source of entertainment, and the back of drugstores was the best place to drink a glass or two of whiskey. Time-out I have collected five places where you can feel like Jay Gatsby or Daisy Buchanan - “that very girl” from the story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The Back Room
Sip a cocktail in a teacup at this legendary 1920s speakeasy on the Lower East Side. You'll have to do some digging to find The Back Room. Look for THE LOWER EAST SIDE TOY COMPANY sign and go through the gate, down the alley and then up the stairs to a sparkling bar and a loud party.
Cocktails are poured into tea cups, just like during Prohibition. The bar actually operated during this era and hosted many of the era's celebrities and gangsters (such as Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano, and Meyer Lansky). They used this place for “business meetings.”
Exhibition The Harlem Renaissance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
During the 1920s and 1930s, black artists shaped a culture centered around self-awareness and dignity, with Harlem at its epicenter. In the exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the art created during that era.
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Explore 160 paintings and sculptures by black artists from the Harlem Renaissance. Don't miss copies of the magazines that were a central part of that movement. These include Alain Locke's The New Negro and Fire!! Aaron Douglas, on whose pages such taboo topics as sex and queerness were discussed.
The Chrysler Building lobby
In 1928, construction began on the Chrysler Building, and in just two years this Art Deco masterpiece took to the skies. Its fame has spread through the decades, turning this building into one of the most famous in the world.
Although this is a private office property, you can walk through the lobby and take a look inside at some of the Art Deco design elements. Plus, the metro station has a lot to see - all kinds of decor and design straight out of the 1920s. (Look for the subway sign on East 43rd Street between Lexington and Third Avenues).
Women's Work at the New York Historical Society
The Women's Work exhibition explores the history of women in manufacturing from the 1740s to the present day. For items from the 1920s, check out the typewriter ribbon, designed to show the history of women working as typists, secretaries and stenographers. Although office work conditions were attractive, they were required to quit if they got married, a requirement that continued into the 1970s.
The exhibit explores, among other things, how women's work during World War I (which ended in 1918) helped motivate the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in 1920.
Fabulous Fanny's
On your 1920s style journey, you'll definitely want to look the part, and vintage glasses can take any outfit to the next level. Fabulous Fanny's has a collection of vintage sunglasses as well as replicas. Berwin 46 glasses, presented in the retro store, look like they came straight from Jay Gatsby's wardrobe.
