The Wooden Houses of Manhattan

Last Saturday I went to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where I was born and lived for many years, to check out what turned out to be an unimpressive museum show. The plan was to take advantage of beautiful weather and commute back home with a ferry ride downtown instead of the standard subway ride. (NYC is a watery town, with not only spectacular beaches and bridges, but also ferry rides for commuters and day trippers - the world famous Staten Island ferry between Staten Island and Manhattan is one of many ferries between various boroughs and neighborhoods.) This plan brought me from the museum on a northern stretch of Fifth Avenue to the ferry dock on 90th Street and the East River in the Yorkville neighborhood. 100 years ago Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest people in the United States, lived nearby on 5th avenue and 90th Street. Only four avenue blocks away from Carnegie's home, the Ruppert's Brewery cranked out millions of bottles of a really excellent dark beer that I miss…