22 Jun, 2009
Traces of Poland in New York
Posted by: Michał In: bits and bobs| so very Polish| travel
I had a bit of a break and enjoyed a week in New York. But even while there you can’t escape all things Polish.
Every five minutes I saw ads for Sobieski, the Polish vodka, which seems to be getting a big marketing push in New York (and I’m guessing elsewhere in America too):
The posters and even video ads were very visible, but unlike their UK equivalent from last year they were in English.
Belvedere, another, more exclusive Polish vodka, also had a lot of exposure there. But before you accuse me of spreading alcoholism, let me switch to other traces of Poland in New York I noticed.
Williamsburg in Brooklyn is a nice, trendy enclave a couple of Subway stops from Manhattan. With funky bars, chilled out cafes, a few book stores and a few galleries. But it’s also a few minutes from Greenpoint, traditionally a Polish district in New York, a place where generations of working class Poles settled in their search for a better life across the Atlantic.
Whether they’ve found it, I don’t know, but they did turn that part of Brooklyn into Little Poland. And even though I never visited Greenpoint itself, Williamsburg was full of Polish faces, Polish language and a couple of Polish places like this one:
But the biggest surprise was this fantastic exhibition of Polish posters at the Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan:
The best examples of the Polish Poster School are on display there and even though it’s not a massive display, you can see some of the best posters created in Poland between 1945 and 1989 by such great artists as Franciszek Starowieyski, Henryk Tomaszewski or Jan Sawka.
If you happen to be in the area, do visit the Museum, it’s worth it.
Seen any other Polish traces? Wanna share them on this blog? Drop me an email: 
