Staten Island; that red-headed step child of the five boroughs. Living in New York, one sometimes can get the idea that it’s not really part of the city. And in a lot of ways its not. Staten Islanders do tend to go their own way. They’re the only borough that’s majority Republican, if that tells you anything. They also have the highest percentage of Italian-Americans of any other borough, which shouldn’t tell you a thing, really. Nevertheless, me and my fruitful side-kick, Dr. Manassas T. Woodchuck, decided to venture to the bastard-child borough for a closer inspection.
The first thing one should realize about the island is that it seems to be closed on Mondays. You can get there easily enough, but just about everything interesting seems to operate on a Wednesday to Sunday schedule. There's a colonial era "living museum" (think Colonial Williamsburg), a Tibetan Museum, a botanical garden ; a whole menagerie of the kind of nerderific cultural attractions me and the good Doctor simply adore. We were actually quite excited by the prospect. After all, who assumes there's anything on Staten Island except a garbage mountain and bitter Republicans? Yet they were all closed. Every last one of them. Thankfully we found this out well before we left so our expectations were suitably humbled. So, with that in mind, we decided on a three pronged attack; Fort Wadsworth, food, and Snug Harbor.
FORT WADSWORTH
Fort Wadsworth is one of a handful of forts built in anticipation of the War of 1812. It's a pretty imposing brick and mortar structure looking out over the straights now straddled by the Verrazano Bridge. We figured it would afford us a descent view of both the straits and the bridge so would be worth the trip. Also, as a historical site that isn't being used for anything practical (and thus should have minimal staff) we assumed there shouldn't be any reason for it to be closed to the public on a Monday. Oops! I guess we should have remembered what happens when we assume.
In fact, the view was so nice we almost overlooked a tiny geographical problem. The fort is situated in the south-east of the Island, a good clip from the terminal. It's not an insurmountable distance, but we were under a modest time constraint so hoofing it back wasn't an option. We could have walked to the train, or to Richmond Town - the little colonial village that was closed - but everything else we wanted to see was back up by the ferry. Not particularly good planning on our part. So we skipped Richmond Town and headed back through the not-so pretty parts of Bay St.
ADOBE BLUES
Our next stop was a little beer joint in Snug Harbor called Adobe Blues. This time we ambled our way there and again, the neighborhood was less than idyllic. The road we followed traced the line of the water. The view was probably beautiful, but we would never know. That’s because the water was hidden from us by dead smoke stacks and old warehouses that harkened to a time when the port was more lively and jobs more plentiful. In fact, everywhere we went seemed to have the feel of a mini-rust belt. Lots of mechanics and seemingly shuttered warehouses, but not a whole lot else. Little wonder then, that locals were casting snide glances at us, like angry hermits who would rather keep visitors away then try in vain to organize the mess their world had become. Certainly some of SI was and still is beautiful, but this side of the island at least seems one the residents would rather have kept hidden.
After a little bit of a hike (in which we vowed to make better use of Google Street View in future) we finally came upon our destination: Adobe Blues. The place turned out to be a nice little diversion from all that worn out industry. Outside, it looks a little like an old El Torito. Yellow stucco, Spanish arches, painted cactus – that sort of thing. Inside, the decor seemed like it couldn't decide if it was old west or New Mexico. But despite that, it has descent food at a descent price and a bottle list that’s enough to make you do a Tex Avery.
The highlight of the lunch was definitely the Black Dog Ale. It was a very dark red that looks like it wants to wallop you upside the head with mail-fisted flavor. But in reality it’s a nicely balanced beer with the taste of a slightly nutty bread. Manasass had the Abita Purple Haze - a raspberry beer that tasted so eerily like the fruit in question that it caused her to blurt out an excited "ooh!" when it passed her lips. Definitely not her usual reaction. For me? I’ve never been a fan of fruit beers and in this one, the raspberry taste is so accurate that I found it almost undrinkable. Still, to each his own, as I always say -Ultimately we decided that Adobe Blues would be best for its reasonably priced bottled beers (the draft list was a yawner) and frequent local music nights. Thumbs up, but not way up.
SNUG HARBOR
This was the last thing we visited on SI and it was also the only thing we saw that was worth coming back for. It seems the Cultural Center at Snug Harbor was founded in the 1830's as a retirement home for aged sailors. The trustees who established the endowment must have been very well endowed. The entrance to the grounds looks like a college campus or a museum or the estate of a egomaniac. However, it seems everything on the grounds was used well into the twentieth century in it's original capacity; as an 18th century assisted living community. This is defiantly not your granny's nursing home. The grounds were a simply stunning display of eighteenth century architectural largess. We only got to see a fraction of the total village, owing to a combination of waning hours and that inexplicable Monday's policy SI seems to have adopted. However, it certainly was an enticement to return and gave us new hope that there were other gems hidden somewhere in NYC's least appreciated borough.
TTFN
