Visiting Louis Armstrong's House

Roar! Today I went to out to Queens to visit my last Key to the City location in the borough, Louis Armstrong's house! I love jazz and Louis Armstrong is one of my favorite Jazz performers! I can't wait to see what this site has to offer!

Here I am outside of Louis Armstrong's house in Corona, Queens. It sure is a nice looking place! He moved here with his wife and lived here for most of his life up until his death in 1971. It was the only house he ever owned. The tour of the house was really cool but there were no pictures allowed. Apparently Louis made recordings of himself and his wife doing things around the house and they played some of these recording for us on the tour. It sure was spooky to stand in Lousis Armstong's dining room and listen to him and his wife talk about Brussels sprouts!

We were allowed to take photos in the gallery part of the home. Here is one of Louis's sweet trumpets! Roar!

The Key to the City location was also in this part of the house. Here I am in front of a special door only my key can unlock! I wonder what will be behind it...

Oh my gosh, it's another one of Louis's many bathrooms with a photo of Louis's behind! I never thought I'd ever see that!

Outisde of the house there was a sweet Asian inspired garden! They like to have jazz concerts here during the summer. I had planned to come to one the previous night but unfortunately got rained out!

Roar! Look at all those sweet Koi! They sure were surprised to see a T-Rex! Don't worry guys I'm not going to eat you!

Across the street from the Louis Armstrong house is this sweet mural all about jazz!

Roar! When I got back home I decided I should pick up my trumpet and do a little practicing. I was never very good at it on account of my short arms and claws but I bet Louis Armstrong never let excuses keep him from playing! I decided to try my claws at an old jazz favorite of mine, Ja-da! I hope you enjoy my Louis Armstrong impression in the middle! Roar! 

Gracie Mansion, Patsy's Anniversary, and Keith Haring saves the day!

Roar! Today was so crazy! First, I went up to visit Gracie Mansion in the Upper East Side and visit my last Key to the City location in Manhattan. Then I went over to Patsy's Pizza on 117th Street to celebrate their anniversary. And then after that, the afternoon got a little weird but I'll get to that later.

Here I am in front of Gracie Mansion. It was originally the home of Archibald Gracie, a wealthy Revolutionary-era shipping magnate, who was later bankrupted in the War of 1812. The home then went through a bunch of different owners before becoming the property of the Parks Department where it now serves as the home for the Mayor of New York City. Though, strangely, Mayor Bloomberg chose not to live here, he decided to stay in his five story townhouse by Central Park. Go figure?

My key opened a closet in the master bedroom of the mansion. I wonder what will be inside?!

Why, it's a photo of Archibald Gracie and a framed check that he once issued! How fascinating! The rest of the tour of the mansion was also really cool. They have a lot of great Federal period furniture, portraits, and etchings. It was also cool to see all the books that Bloomberg is reading!

Gracie Mansion sure was cool but I was getting pretty hungry. Luckily for me Patsy's was celebrating its 77th anniversary!

Roar! Every year when Patsy's celebrates its anniversary it rolls its menu back to original 1933 prices. That means a whole pizza is 60 cents, a steak dinner is 90 cents, a Caesar salad is 35 cents, and drinks are 10 cents! That's crazy! 

There were even these sweet Ford Model A's out front. Some guys had driven them over to get their 1933-priced pizza. I like the way the color of the car complements my skin! Roar!

The firemen of the 26th Battalion showed up to take part in the annual Patsy's pizza eating contest. The record is apparently 14 slices. That's nothing for me! I tried to sign up to compete but the folks at Patsy's said it wouldn't be fair for a dinosaur to compete! Why does everyone say that when I want to enter an eating contest?!

After waiting in line for 4 hours I finally got inside to eat. I ordered mussels, an anchovy pizza, a Caesar salad, a tomato and mozzerella salad, a veal parmesan dinner, and 4 drinks! My total for everything came to just over 2 dollars! What a great deal! Next year I'll be sure to get here earlier!

After all that food I was feeling pretty stuffed but I could still go for some dessert.

Strangely, I ran into this bear who said he knew where I could get some dessert on the cheap!

Roar! Turns out he was trying to sell me drugs! Luckily we were right near the Crack is Wack Playground so I could set him straight!

Thanks Keith Haring! Because of you I was able to help get a poor lost bear back on track! What a strange end to a strangely awesome day! Roar!

Centro Cultural Ricon Criollo

Roar! Today I decided to make one last trip up to the Bronx to do the last Key to the City stop I had there. I needed to visit the Centro Cultural Ricon Criollo which is a Puerto Rican cultural center and community garden. Sounds neat!

Here I am outside of the gate for the garden my key opens! It a pretty little patch with a bunch of great looking plants inside. Let's open it up!

Woah! Check out this scarecrow! I am sure am glad they didn't have a scare-rex in here! That would have been terrifying! Roar!

This garden is pretty nice! Look how beautiful these chilis are that are coming in! I tried eating one and they were so hot I ended up breathing fire! Then everyone who saw me eat the chili thought I was a dragon! It was really funny because everyone knows dragons aren't real! Roar!

The guys at the community garden were really cool! They were all so proud to have their garden as part of the project and they spent a lot of time showing me the plants they were growing and everything they had done to make the garden as nice as it is! They had done some cool stuff like turn old broken drums into planters and even went so far as to trellis a grapevine over most of the back of the garden. It was so nice and shady, plus the grapes were delicious! Roar!

If you're up in the area be sure to stop by and check out this sweet garden! Roar!

Bronx Art Adventures

Roar! Today I went back up the Bronx to do anther Key to the City location as well as some exploring! I'd heard about a sculpture by the artist Richard Serra that was being stored in a yard somewhere in Port Morris. I decided to see if I could find it.

After riding around Port Morris for a bit I found the sculpture sitting in a yard by the water. It turns out I'd actually seen this sculpture once before, when it was being loaded onto flat bed trucks behind the MoMA. I still don't know what this thing is supposed to look like when it's set up! Roar!

It was pretty cool to go inside this big industrial sculpture in the middle of nowhere! Overall I'd describe the experience as being pretty surreal. It's not often you get to see art in this context!

Next I rode on up to the Point Community Development Center to visit another Key to the City location.

hmm... I guess my key opens this rusty door! Let's find out what's inside!

Roar! Turns out it's a big artists' collective and they want everyone who comes here to enjoy themselves and paint on the wall! Cool! I love painting!

I drew this self portrait on the ceiling! That way no one can look down on it! Roar!

There was also a lot of sweet art on the wall of the yard of the Point Community Development Center. This place is pretty neat. Besides the art studio they also have a community garden, a woodworking shop, and they even make boats! If you're in the area definitely check this place out! Roar!

Back in the Old Cheesecake Lines

Roar! National Cheesecake Day was today and Junior's Restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn was giving out 60 cent slices of cheesecake so I rode on over to get me some delicious cheesecake at a bargain price!

Woah! Just look at this line! I guess in today's tough economic times cheescake is a real luxury! It reminds me of the stories my great granddaddy P. Rex used to tell me about having to wait on the cheescake lines back during the great depression.

Roar! Old P. Rex sure loved his cheescake! He said he used to wait in line for hours every day just to get a slice! I can't wait to get my own!

After waiting in line for over 2 hours I finally got my slice of cheesecake! It was pretty darn delicious but I don't know if I'd wait in line that long again just for a cheap slice. In order for me to wait in line that long for anything the deal would have to be pretty amazing. Roar!

Mother India Zero!

Roar! Last night I went over to the Prospect Park Bandshell to see a sweet remix of the Bollywood classic Mother India! The show was free and I had a lot of fun at the park.

Here I am in front of the bandshell waiting for the show to start. It was a nice ride down to the park on my bike but I sure am thirsty! I wonder if they have anything around here for me to drink!

Roar! Luckily for me they were giving away free Vitamin Water! The lady at the sample table was really nice and was so surprised to meet a dinosaur that liked Viatmin Water. She thought all we liked was meat!

The Vitamin Water lady even gave me this sweet VIP ticket to get into the friends only section of the bandshell. All I had to do was write about Vitamin Water in my blog! No problem!

The opening band was a fusion group called Falu. They were pretty entertaining but I think they had a few too many instruments. Roar!

The remix of Mother India was super cool! The artist who remixed the movie and wrote the score for it was called DJ Tigerstyle! He did such a great job. The movie is the story of a mother living in a village with her sons and all the terrible things that happen to them. It's a classic Bollywood movie!

It was a really great night at the bandshell. I love when they do these free concerts at the park. Roar! In fact I just love summer!