The Eras Tour of Washington Irving
The Eras Tour of Washington Irving
He's giving Folklore (I say as someone who knows like 2 Taylor Swift songs)
Happy to report that my weekend was truly Fall AF with a trip to The Cloisters on Saturday and a trip to Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown on Sunday. I cannot stress enough how badly you need to visit The Cloisters during the in between seasons, but I think especially during Fall. Spend some time in Ft Tryon Park, you will not regret it. Sleepy Hollow was also a delightful little trip (only about an hour drive from Brooklyn, though also very easily accessible by train). We hiked to (allegedly haunted) Raven’s Rock in Rockefeller State Park and then took a tour of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (highly recommend). However, we did hightail it home when we were quoted a 2 hour wait at Bridge View Tavern 🫠
This weekend is another full one for me because I’ll be cat sitting a sweet little guy named Patches and also volunteering at Open House NY. It’s a super cool weekend festival that has lot of NYC buildings that are usually closed off to folks…open! I’ll be stationed at one of their largest open access events at Brooklyn Navy Yard on Saturday - if you see me say hello! I also have 1 ticket available for the Audubon Mural Tour on Saturday that I would love to gift to someone so hit me up if you’re interested.
This week I’m highlighting a Bushwick eatery inside a gas station (which is literally peak Bushwick). Also, I learned a lot about the inspiration behind the story of the headless horseman, so get ready to hear yet another tale from the cemetery’s most famous resident: Washington Irving! Brush up on some past Irving mentions below:
Sure this isn’t a NYC-specific ghost story, but it’s one that was written by one of NYC’s most influential writers - Washington Irving. Irving was born in NYC in 1783, so his early years overlapped with NYC’s brief stint as the nation’s capital (1785-1790) and he proudly received a pat on the head from his namesake, George Washington, just before the first presidential inauguration. When Irving was a teenager, he began making regular trips upstate to Tarrytown to escape the disease/garbage filled streets of the city (lucky). North Tarrytown actually wasn’t renamed Sleepy Hollow until 1996; in Irving’s time the area was known as Slapershaven or "Sleeper's Haven" by the Dutch and that’s why he gave it the nickname “Sleepy Hollow” in his story. The town actually renamed themselves Sleepy Hollow as an homage to the headless horseman story. Time is a circle…
Irving quickly became a very prolific writer and was famous for his short stories that combined supernatural elements with small town locales (literally the precursor to the adventures of my beloved Winchesters in Supernatural). One of his most famous short stories is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (you can read the full text here). This story follows Ichabod Crane, a superstitious teacher from Connecticut. He travels to Sleepy Hollow to woo Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of a wealthy farmer, in order to get in on her family's wealth, because apparently even in 1820 teachers did not make a livable wage. While at a party, he’s told the story of the Headless Horseman, the notorious ghost of a soldier decapitated by a cannonball. The Horseman is supposedly buried in a churchyard in Sleepy Hollow and rises from his grave every night to search for his missing head. After Ichabod proposes to Katrina and gets turned down, he leaves the party in tears and has an encounter with the horseman, who throws his spooky pumpkin head at crybaby Crane. Ichabod is never heard from again, but a smushed pumpkin is found, suggesting the severed head was just a jack-o'-lantern and that Crane was the victim of some small town bullying. The story has been adapted multiple times and I’ll admit that I’m a fan of the 1999 Tim Burton movie version of it.
So what inspired Washington Irving’s ghostly tale of the headless horseman? Well it turns out he took a page out of Taylor Swift’s book and based a lot of the characters on people he knew. Ichabod Crane was a real person! Irving and Crane crossed paths while serving at Fort Pike in Sackets Harbor, New York during the War of 1812. Though the two men likely had little contact, Irving thought the name “Ichabod Crane” was cool (it is) and remembered it when writing his story a few years later.
The actual character of Ichabod Crane, though, was likely a mishmash of two other men - Jesse Merwin and Samuel Youngs. Both of these men were teachers and friends of Washington Irving. I guess Irving thought they were both kinda gold diggers though, since his Crane character basically tried to schtup Katrina Van Tassel to get her family’s money. Just goes to show that you should never piss off a writer because you’ll either end up killed by a headless horseman or name dropped on Taylor’s latest album.
The Van Tassels were also real! Irving’s sister lived with them for a bit and they may actually have ties to the headless horseman. Yep, the headless horseman is real too, bet you bitches didn’t see that one coming. During the American Revolution, Hessian (German) soldiers who were skilled sharpshooters often fought alongside the British . In 1777, British solders burned down the farm of Cornelius and Elizabeth Van Tassel. However, Elizabeth realized that her baby, Leah, was still inside the home and a Hessian soldier ran inside and saved the baby from the fire. Later, during another battle nearby, a Hessian soldier was killed and apparently the bullets all hit him from the neck up…basically decapitating him. As a way to show their thanks for the soldier who saved their baby, the Van Tassels insisted on burying the headless soldier in their local cemetery.
So while Irving certainly took some liberties with his story, a lot of it was clearly based on real people and local legends. It was the combination of the real and surreal that made it so interesting to folks at the time. They could visit the actual cemetery where the headless horseman was allegedly buried and trace Ichabod’s journey from the Van Tassel house to the bridge where he was last seen. Some of the most interesting stories are born of the melding of fact and fiction that leaves readers wondering what’s true.
So was Washington Irving the Taylor Swift of his time? He was certainly one of the most prolific American storytellers of his time and his works included biographies and satire, in addition to his short stories. But like, if someone wanted to perform a one man show of a Washington Irving Eras Tour, I wouldn’t be mad.
I mentioned the opening of Blue Hour a few months ago but only recently made my way down Myrtle Ave to give it a try because I’m a dumb shit. Blue Hour is located in a little alcove in the BP gas station on Myrtle that’s kinda near the White Castle. It is incredibly easy to miss from the street, but I feel like by now it’s become pretty well known in the underground eatery-in-gas-station community.
The spot is run by a few guys who already have a good amount of restaurant experience under their belts - they operate Little Flower and Sami’s in Queens and Dunya Kabab House in Brooklyn. When the owner of this BP told them that a fried chicken place was on its way out, they swooped in and zhuzhed up the little corner of the gas station. The goal with Blue Hour was to “halalify” some classic late night foods. Their name is meant to evoke that twilight hour between night and day and on weekends they’re open til 3am at a time when, post-pandemic, NY can barely qualify to be called “the city that never sleeps” anymore.
There isn’t anywhere to eat after you order (literally a gas station), so be prepared to take your food home, squat on a sidewalk somewhere, or walk 10 minutes down Irving to Maria Hernandez Park to grab a bench. I’ve only tried a couple menu items so far, but I’ve been really fucking impressed with each.
Their cwunch wap supweme is what Taco Bell’s crunch wrap wants to be when it grows up. Now, I love me a crunch wrap so I’m not saying this is a replacement, but it is definitely a great take on it. The cwunch wap is thicc AF and actually has all of the fillings fairly evenly distributed within. Again, I love Taco Bell, but some of the crunch wraps they’ve been giving me have been downright haphazard. Why am I getting a bite of all lettuce? Why can’t we have nice things? My only complaint is that this big boy lacks some of the crunch of the original, which is likely due to its size. But it’s a trade off - do you want an actual filled cwunch wap or a thin ass crunch wrap with all the tomatoes piled on top of one another? There’s a time and a place for each.
The items that I keep going back for, though, are the chicken tendies and the tots. You get 3 tendies with an order and they’re so big that I usually only eat 2 and give Lorenzo the third. The breading on them is so light and flaky, but still provides an amazing crunch. I don’t know exactly what seasoning they’re using on this shit, but it is phenomenal. I think there’s some citrus/citric acid/MSG combo going on because they taste delightfully tangy and salty in the most perfect way. The tots allegedly have some sort of mushroom powder on them and to me they taste very similar to the chicken tendies. I’ve heard some folks say the tots are soggy but they’ve always been perfectly crispy little potato pillows in my experience.
The burger, on the other hand, is definitely very wet. But it’s a good wet! It’s topped with cheese and sauteed onions that combine to create a slightly sweet gloopy goop. It also has some more sauce (I think their charred onion aioli) that provides a slight spice. Grab extra napkins for this bad boy. A single is $7 and a double is $10, which feels like a good deal, but I also live in NYC so my prices are forever skewed.
When I get over my chicken tendie fixation, I want to try their chopped cheese and dragon boy chicken sandwich. Their menu has also changed a couple times since opening over the summer, so I imagine they’ll be cycling items in and out here and there and I’m very down to try whatever else they have to offer.
Flying Fox Tavern in Ridgewood is having a spooky murder mystery dinner party - The Witches of Ridgewick. They have seatings on Nov 1 and 2 and for $66 you get a 4 course dinner + a cocktail while participating in the dinner mystery.
The Flatiron area literally always has random fun shit going on and this Oct 28-Nov 1 they’ll have Dia de Muertos activities in the plaza. There will be food, dancing, crafts, and I really hope I get to stroll through one day and see what’s up!
St John the Divine has a Halloween Extravaganza event coming up on Oct 25. They’ll be screening of The Phantom of the Opera with live organ accompaniment and “ghouls and goblins from the Mettawee River Theater Company will emerge to scare and delight audiences” whatever the fuck that means. Tickets are $44 and this tik tok makes it looks pretty cool.
Lazy Suzy in Bushwick has a Fall Market next Sat Oct 26. There will be a bunch of vendors offering handmade goods and tasty food. If you RSVP to the event and check in there, you’ll also be entered to win prizes that will include apparel, candles, ceramics, haircut, and even an apartment cleaning!
You can attend the Fungi Fest this weekend for free! Experience “a multi disciplinary mushroom event covering mycology, food, mushroom growing, art, spirituality and more.” Full programming is available here. You can also use code BROOKLYNMUSHROOM to get $5 off one of their higher tier tickets.
I rarely post same-day events, but this one is super low key - it’s a free movie! Alamo in FiDi is hosting a free screening of Ghostbusters. Doors open at 6pm, movie starts at 7pm, and there will be free popcorn.
The city also just because the recipient of a giant pigeon on the High Line! This new sculpture, dubbed “dinosaur” has taken the place of the cool red tree that was there. Mad props to the High Line’s social media team for the exquisite post.
Every year I tell myself I’m going to go to Union Square’s Harvest in the Square because it looks so cool and every year the tickets are a few hundred dollars. But this year they’ve got an early bird special going on! Thru Oct 25 the code HARVEST125 will get you a ticket for $125, which is actually very cheap for this event. You get actual unlimited treats from all of these businesses and I just feel like the whole thing will feel very fancy ✨ This is still a little outta my budget, so if anyone wants to sponsor me paid subs are ON baby!
