Trump Tower and Harlem
After two nights in the city, I still hadn’t visited Central Park. My mother bought the 1982 album The Concert in Central Park by Simon & Garfunkel, so I’d been familiar with the park from an early age. The park itself is amazing—and so narrow that you can easily step out for breakfast and slip right back in, which is exactly what I did to grab a bagel in the morning.
Peaceful early morning reflections in Central Park. It is also a reflection on the Stone Mind koan.
Orwashers Bakery
I opted for another well-established bakery for breakfast: Orwashers, founded in 1916 by a Hungarian immigrant family. They now have several locations, and I visited the one on the Upper West Side at 440 Amsterdam Avenue, near the corner of W 81st Street.
Eating a bagel with a view.
I ordered a classic New York–style bagel filled with schmear and lox (brined salmon). The bagel, which has Polish origins, became incredibly popular in New York. In fact, by the early 1910s, bagel bakers in Manhattan had their own union representing over 300 craftsmen. I wasn’t disappointed—my 2025 bagel was undoubtedly a more luxurious version of the original.
The weather was beautiful, and I realized that New York was much cleaner and more pleasant than I had imagined. This was partly thanks to a new congestion fee introduced in January 2025 for the area south of 61st Street—charging $9 per car, depending on the time of day. By the time I visited, the city had nearly five months of data evaluating the success of the Congestion Relief Zone. The program is on track to provide $500 million that was initially projected. The revenue will be used to improve the subway, buy new rolling stock, and invest in zero-emission buses.
Trump Tower
I had learned that you could visit Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan for free—and I wasn’t about to give the Trump family a single dime. I had to smirk when I found out why entry is free: in exchange for providing privately owned public spaces (POPS), Trump received a floor area ratio (FAR) zoning bonus that allowed him to add several extra floors to the building. By city law, POPS must be accessible from the street, offer seating, and not require any purchase. I’m sure he’d love to charge admission.
So, I wandered in, rode the famous escalator a few times, marveled at the golf balls in the Trump-branded store, and decided to use the publicly accessible restrooms, which had only two gender options. In 2025 Trump Tower, with its oversized American flags, feels dystopian.
The event which should have never led to success: Trump’s presidential campaign announcement in 2015.
Strangely, there was another souvenir shop inside Trump Tower—not the upscale store selling golf apparel, but a separate shop filled with the tackiest, cheaply made trinkets from China.
“Drain the swamp: remove entrenched bureaucrats and root out internal threats”
Pink marble all over the public restrooms.
Executive Order 14168
Section 2. Policy and Definitions. It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality. - January 20, 2025.
Corner of W 55th Street and 5th Avenue.
Harlem
Harlem has a very distinct vibe. Although it’s part of Upper Manhattan, it feels like a different world. Originally, the area attracted poor Jewish and Italian immigrants, but that changed with the Great Migration of African Americans beginning in the 1910s. In 1910, only about 10% of Central Harlem’s population was Black; by 1930, that number had risen to 70%. The Great Depression hit Harlem hard, and the neighborhood has long struggled with issues related to education, poverty, and employment. In recent years, Harlem has begun to be revitalized through gentrification—a process that is neutral in theory, but often results in rising housing costs and shifts in the cultural landscape.
“To the genocidal gentrifiers, Harlem is still a Ghetto”
I spent some time in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, where people were blasting loud hip-hop music. The National Jazz Museum was closed—it was a Monday—and I found myself contemplating what to do next. The list of influential figures who were either born in Harlem or left their mark on it is long: Tupac Shakur, Q-Tip (A Tribe Called Quest), Kurtis Blow, Puff Daddy, Nina Simone, James Baldwin, George Carlin, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington, to name a few. Even Marcus Garvey himself once stayed in Harlem.
The ATLAH World Missionary Church is led by an extremist pastor who believed in 2014 that Barack Obama was a muslim and not legally president. The church is located in the former Harlem Club building from 1889. In the late 19th century Harlem was a vibrant suburb for well-to-do Victorian gentlemen, but quite far from the club district. The Harlem Club attracted bankers, brokers, lawyers, and merchants. The building has been in use as a church since 1935.
When I spotted a Ghanaian restaurant, I abandoned my plan to get soul food—I was suddenly set on a Ghanaian soup with fufu. The place was tiny and didn’t have a restroom, so I spent half an hour wandering through Harlem in search of a public toilet. It was impossible to find one, so I ended up buying a $5 aluminum bottle of water at Chipotle just to get the restroom access code. At least after that, I could finally sit down at Accra Express and enjoy my soup in peace.
I ordered the yam fufu—as opposed to plantain fufu—and an egusi soup with mixed meat. Egusi refers to the seeds of a plant from the gourd family, Melothria sphaerocarpa, known as egusi in Yoruba. The Ga language of Ghana borrows the word from Yoruba. I’ve never been to Ghana or Nigeria, but I’m confident this egusi soup was as good as anything you could find in West Africa.
From Harlem I walked all the way down to 59th Street, where I caught the subway to the area near Madison Square Park.
I had to travel all the way to New York to discover the Indian vegetarian restaurant chain Saravanaa Bhavan—only to find out it’s also located in Amsterdam. But when I looked at the Amsterdam menu, I noticed it’s quite different from the one in New York. They don’t serve a thali plate there, which is a shame.
It is crazy to realise the Empire State Building held the title the tallest building in the world from its completion in 1931 until 1971. After visiting the Canton Tower in Guangzhou—briefly the tallest building in the world between 2009 and 2011—I’ve felt no urge to visit tall buildings. The elevator rides are expensive, and the views are not much different from what I see when looking out of an airplane window during takeoff. I can’t be bothered.
I spent the last hour of daylight in Madison Square Park. Manhattan’s smaller parks are absolutely wonderful. The iconic Flatiron Building is located there as well, though it’s currently under construction and wrapped in black cloth.
