Rockefeller Center Christmas Preview

Christmas at Rockefeller Center – I never get over the thrill of it, and I’ve lived in New York City my entire life. I took my class to Rock Center today and had a chance to do a bit of drawing myself. Man, it was coooold! But I got a great (indoor) spot over looking the skating rink and held my ground against the throngs of tourists waiting for me to get up! I can’t blame them for coming here, the Christmas decorations and skating rink are magic. The golden statue of Prometheus watches over you while you whirl around the ice, giant toy soldiers and white angels guard you and you feel like part of an art deco painting. I love this rink – it was built in 1936 and my grandparents got engaged while skating here. That tradition lives to this day, although more of the couples getting engaged here now are tourists than natives, I suspect.

So, I finished my drawing and stopped to watch the zamboni go by (love that word!) and then ventured outside to draw the tree…

The Christmas tree at Rock Center has been a constant in my life through good times and bad. That tree gives me happiness, I kid you not. The child at bottom right of my drawing didn’t seem to share my happiness – there was some kind of power struggle over chocolate going on, and Mom was winning – oh well. Anyway, this years tree is a 72 foot Norway spruce from New Jersey. How’s that for the American immigrant experience? The first Rock Center tree was put up in 1931 by the construction workers building the complex. The story goes that it was the middle of the great Depression, and they were so happy to have a job that with their first paycheck they bought a Christmas tree! I love that thought…I think that Rock Center is truly an American monument. It’s the New York Art Deco Cathedral, with beautiful art everywhere celebrating idealism and the progress of humanity. To me, it’s New York’s answer to the many beautiful cathedrals that dot the European landscape. It certainly is a pilgrimage destination for the many American, European and Japanese tourists that flock here every December. I drew a few that I found especially fashionable —