Cats and Clocks
And yes, one more thing in a sidewalk
And just like that, we’re back to our regular programming! I somehow managed to stay very busy even while planning my walking tour last month, so I am now #blessed with an insane backlog of stuff to share with you. One would think that’s a good thing, but now I’m at a loss for where to start! How can I possibly follow up my magnum opus about stuff in sidewalks? How about with cats and clocks?! I gotta say, Stan Lee was onto something when he named his characters alliterative names, it just feels right.
This week, I’m throwing it back to a morning of cat yoga that I recommend to anyone who 1) likes yoga and 2) likes cats, duh. Topic #2 is actually something I first posted about years ago back when I was posting weekly NYC trivia in my company Slack and I swear it’s just a coincidence that I’m writing about another object embedded in a sidewalk. Or maybe that’s just my personality now?
Barthman Sidewalk Clock Broadway & Maiden Lane Neighborhood: Financial District
I promise you that I will write about things other than stuff in sidewalks, but I just so happened to pass by something that’s been in a sidewalk since 1899: the Barthman Sidewalk Clock. The clock and its history are interesting enough, but I also want to take a quick detour to shout out just how incredibly cool watches and clocks are. The mechanics behind watches and clocks are incredibly complicated. So complicated, that the tv show Heroes literally made it a superpower to be able to so completely understand how they work. I was a skeptic my whole life (why not just look at the time on my phone?) but I am not exaggerating at all when I say that the Ologies podcast on Horology changed my life. If you have 40 min to spare, it’s definitely worth a listen.
The Barthman Clock is a relic from the Financial District’s days as a Diamond (and watch) District. Today, NYC’s Diamond District is located along W47th St in Midtown, but until the 1920’s it was actually located along Maiden Lane in FiDi. Increased rents caused tenants to move uptown after the 1920’s and when the Diamond Dealers Club, an exclusive club and organization that had its own synagogue (due to the large Jewish population in the trade), moved uptown in 1941 that solidified the district’s move to Midtown.
But back in the Diamond days of Maiden Lane, one business knew it had to do something to stand out from the rest. William Barthman Jewelers, originally located at 174 Broadway, had been selling watches since 1884. In 1896 Barthman, along with one of his longtime employees, Frank Homm, devised a plan to embed a clock right into the sidewalk because wouldn’t that be hoot! That initial clock took two years to complete and was a mechanical jump hour clock with numbered tablets that would flip over on the hour/minutes. It even had little hidden lightbulbs that would illuminate the clock at night. I know this sounds so incredibly basic today, but electricity was still a novelty in the 19th century so this little clock ended up being quite the gimmick! That said, it was also an insanely complicated piece of machinery that only Barthman and Homm knew how to repair via a little room under the sidewalk. When both men had passed away by 1917, the poor little clock ended up in disrepair.
The mechanical pieces of the clock would frequently break, so much so that the sidewalk clock quickly shifter from a beloved attraction to a shameful display of ineptitude. The Barthman employees would frequently cover the clock with cardboard rather than have onlookers observe it malfunctioning. Sometime around 1940 they finally switched out the complicated timepiece for a more traditional round clock with hands to tell the time, very similar to the one that’s there today. Little did they know that shortly after updating the clock, Ida Wyman would snap a photo that would bring the public’s attention back to the sidewalk timepiece. The sidewalk clock would sort of be discovered and rediscovered repeatedly over the years and has been a curiosity for so long that Barthman’s keeps a log of stories written about the clock. A jeweler in England, Dyson & Sons, even made their own copycat sidewalk clock in 1949.
Even in Wyman’s 1947 photo, it was clear that the clock had seen better days. The glass covering was getting foggy due to 50,000+ people walking over it daily. In the early 2000’s a delivery person actually dropped a heavy pallet on the clock that shattered the glass, so it had to be removed and repaired. And on top of that, Barthman’s wasn’t even located on Maiden Lane anymore! They’d relocated to a shop next to the NYSE years earlier and had actually tried to install a new sidewalk clock there, but the NYC government wouldn’t allow it. According to them: there is only one New York Sidewalk Clock.
Cat Yoga @ Meow Parlour 43 Essex St, New York, NY 10002 Neighborhood: Lower East Side Offered every other Sunday Cost: $40
Can you believe that this was the first time I’ve done cat yoga? I always thought it was a gimmick. And it’s not not, but I actually enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I’m obviously no stranger to cat cafes (I visited Koneko Cat Cafe not too long ago) and during the pandemic I practiced yoga daily (though I currently have very little to show for it), so this should be right up my alley! I’m very grateful that Susannah recommended a weekend cat yoga session to get me out of my shell and finally try something new.
Like Koneko, Meow Parlour is a cat cafe where you can pay to hang out with cats and also grab yourself a little snack to enjoy. All of the cats at MP are adoptable and the back wall has posters up that’ll tell you about each of them; Sassy is incredibly independent and sweet, Double Stuffed Oreo is very outgoing and curious and protective of his bonded friend Wink, and Smooch is a derpy little orange guy. They actually don’t partner with a rescue, but rather have their own nonprofit division to adopt out cats and provide educational opportunities to the public. And I suppose one of those educational opportunities would be cat yoga!
The yoga session is divided into three parts: 30 minutes to play with the cats, a 45-minute yoga class and 15-minute cooldown. They also provide mats, but you’re welcome to bring your own if you’d like. I think opening the session up with cat time was great, because it allowed everyone to trickle in and get acquainted with the cats that would be joining us in our yoga practice. It was a bit early, so a lot of the cats were still a bit sleepy, but some of the younger ones had that crazy kitten energy and were happy to bounce all over the place. There had to be about 20 cats in the room with us hiding in cubbies, lounging on cat trees, and climbing on top of the various surfaces.
When it was finally time for yoga to begin, our instructor gave us some extra instructions to help us practice alongside our furry friends. The cats always came first (obviously) and we should yield to them when moving through any asanas. A lot of her instructions were along the lines of “now place your left foot forward, if there isn’t a cat in the way, and if there is, then just do the best you can.” If you’re looking for a yoga class to really practice your moves, this isn’t the one for you. But if you want to get in a morning of light stretching while surrounded by cats, then this certainly does the trick. At one point I was chosen by not one, but two cats, and the entire class paused to gawk at my luck. #blessed.
I was also super lucky to meet Jenny Pierson of Cats About Town Tours there! I’ve linked her tours in here before, though I haven’t been able to take one myself yet. She let me know that she’s working on opening NYC’s first Cat Museum and I can’t wait to be there on opening day. Jenny also very kindly gave me some tips to help me pass the NYC Tour Guide exam, so Jenny if you’re reading this - thank you!
Bryant Park’s giant game of musical chairs returns on Mon June 2! The game is free, starts at 6:30pm, and check-in is on a first come first served basis. Players will compete in small groups until they’ve whittled it down to the final few to compete for the grand prize (which is a mystery!). I’m going to try really hard to attend this year’s game, so let me know if I’ll be seeing you on the lawn - be there or be chair!
One of my favorite tour guides - Shiloh in the City - has a new tour starting May 31: Central Park Women’s History Walk. Contributions by women in the park aren’t as obvious as the numerous nods to men, but they’re in there! I’d really love to go on this walk if anyone is interested in joining me, if only to hear someone other than me fawn over Bethesda Fountain for a change.
The Van Gogh Flowers exhibit is now open at the NY Botanical Garden thru Oct 26 and is included in General Admission! Were you burned by the “interactive” Van Gogh exhibit that rolled through the city a couple years ago?? Maybe this is your chance for Van Gogh redemption! This looks very cool and is also something I very much want to make time to visit.
I missed the last popup and I miraculously have no plans yet this Sunday, so I’m hoping the weather is cute and makes for a nice walk over. Jordan will have Spring inspired treats available for purchase starting at 12pm this Sunday at @kyobrooklyn in Bed-Stuy AND because this pop up also kicks off Pride Month, 20% of proceeds will be donated to @callenlorde to continue providing LGBTQ healthcare in NYC. We stan.
The Met is hosting a daylong festival to celebrate the opening of the Michael C Rockefeller Wing on Sat May 31. The day will begin with a ribbon-cutting ceremony from 9-10:30am and festival activities will take place across the Museum from 12-6pm 9 (I imagine you’ll need to pay for museum admission to participate, but it’s pay what you wish for NY residents!). This will be the public’s first chance to view the new wing, which has been closed since 2021 to undergo a transformative renovation.
I think about the boat race episode of Hey Arnold a lot (and you can’t convince me that it didn’t take place at the model boat sailing pavilion in Central Park). Well, turns out there’s a similar boat race happening this weekend on Sat May 31 - The Red Hook Regatta! It’s free to attend and you can watch particpants take on an obstacle course along Red Hook’s picturesque waterfront with their remote-controlled, 3D-printed, and DIY boats.
The 2025 Bushwick Collective Block Party is also this Say May 31. It alleges to combine “graffiti, street-art, music, food trucks and local vendors, to bring together the best of the community.” I think it tends to just be a big crown of people paying a lot for food that shouldn’t be expensive, but you do you! I do like the graffiti that comes out of it, but it might be better enjoyed on a less crowded weekend.
Cat yoga was so magical, but I loved the afterparty we had at Supermoon bakehouse! My Ube redemption 😍
Thank you for a shout out! Looking forward to meeting you!