Samurais, Cars and the Sixties

If you have some free time this summer, you should spend some time up at the northern end of Manhattan’s Museum Mile and visit the Museum of the City of New York located on 103rd St. and Fifth Ave. It’s a small museum compared to the Metropolitan Museum or the Guggenheim, both located about 20 block south. However, it puts on some great exhibits.

I originally went there to view the exhibit on the first Japanese Embassy to visit the United States in 1860. The exhibit takes up the second floor main corridor and is really limited on the number of artifacts on display and focuses on the most popular member of the Embassy - teen heartthrob and junior translator Tateish “Tommy” Onojiro.

The second exhibit-Cars, Culture and the City- is much larger and a must for any auto enthusiast. Not only does it describe how city planners needed to incorporate the explosive growth automobiles in Manhattan and the outer boroughs during the first half of the 20th Century , but covers the number of early automakers based in the city.

The final, and in my opinion the best exhibit is on the two terms of Mayor John V. Lindsey. While the first two exhibits felt a bit on the light on content, the Lindsey exhibit was a great snapshot of what New York City faced in the Sixties - crippling deficits, crime, labor strife and social upheaval. Although you can easily cover the Japanese and car exhibits in about 30 minutes, give yourself and hour or two for Lindsey.