B'ridge
09/30/03
Wanna buy a bridge?
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
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Greenpoint industrial debris
09/29/03
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
10:53 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
LIRRain
09/28/03
Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn
Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica Station
Mineola
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Soundwalk
09/27/03
I took these pictures along the Soundwalk for the 5 and 6 trains in the South Bronx.
This is the most diverse restaurant I've ever seen. I count Italian, Salvadorean, Jamaican, Mexican, Greek, and whatever cuisines heroes and burgers are. Astounding. (I think it beats its competition, but it's a close call.)
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Religion and commerce in Crown Heights
09/26/03
Here we have a soon-to-be-church with the trappings of a soon-to-be-business:
That was on the church-to-be. I've seen hundreds of abandoned buildings with what I assume are squatters' codes: I'm guessing the X and "R.O." stands for "roof open." Does anyone know more about these codes? Are they painted by would-be squatters or by property owners? Or maybe by the fire department?
Note that the next storefront is simultaneously a storefront church and a furniture store. (Why choose just one?) The pastor's name is also Joe. On this particular block, of the 21 storefronts that showed signs of past or present use, six and a half were storefront churches.
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
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Crown Heights Hasidim
09/25/03
The Crown Heights Lubavitcher Hasidic community has split, since the death of Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, over whether he was the messiah (Moshiach).
His picture is everywhere, even on fake mini police vehicles. (NYPD uses these too; I wonder if they realize how silly they look.)
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
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Bushwick Avenue, part 4
09/23/03
Businesses named after physical features of their buildings would do well to maintain those features.
Broadway Junction, Brooklyn
Are we all tired of Bushwick Avenue? Here's a sneak preview of what's next:
Also: Ruavista: Signs of the City. Why have I only found this site now? It "strives to promote a new form of urban tourism based upon visiting ordinary streets and paying attention to details rather than famous spots and beautiful architecture." I wholeheartedly approve. (In a stroke of beauty, the site's creator was born on rue du Pourquoi-Pas -- "Why-Not Street" -- in Toulon. I, alas, was born on the rather pedestrian East 77th.)
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Bushwick Avenue, part 3
09/22/03
Bushwick, Brooklyn
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A note on graffiti
09/21/03
First, familiarize yourself with this entry, and note Lauren's comment.
Then, take a look at this. Apparently it only lasted a couple weeks after I took my photo.
Is there anyone who lives in the area and can comment on whether it's been repainted, or how often this happens?
I love New York.
Gratuitous graffiti shot, from the 7 train in western Queens:
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Bushwick Avenue, part 2
09/21/03
(More by this graffiti artist)
Bushwick, Brooklyn
From today's Times: audio walking tours of Chinatown, Times Square, DUMBO, the Lower East Side, and the Bronx.
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Bushwick Avenue, part 1
09/20/03
(First thought: mmm, cognates. Second thought: remake of this?)
East Williamsburg, Brooklyn
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New new new
09/18/03
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Williamsburg, Brooklyn (David points out that the laundromat sign has been edited.)
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Surreal
09/14/03
Nevins Street, Brooklyn
Staten Island waterfront
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Odds and ends 2
09/13/03
East Harlem
Chinatown
57 Street/6 Avenue station. Someone told me this station still had old-fashioned phone booths, but that appears not to be the case.
Rosebank, Staten Island
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Tribute in Light
09/11/03
From the 39th floor in Midtown, I thought, "Is that it?"
By Houston Street, it blew me away.
"Is there something I can do for you in return?"
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MOB #8
09/10/03
MOB #8, tonight at 42nd Street and 6th Avenue, was the final New York flash mob. The instructions read: "At 7:41, a performance will begin on the sidewalk....Be an enthusiastic audience...disperse at 7:46 no matter what the 'performer' does...."
The intended performer was a recorded message on a boom box. Instead, a man with a bright neon sign reading "Cafe Thou Art" in a suitcase hijacked the mob by displaying his sign and making a peace sign with his right hand. (Who carries a neon sign in a suitcase?) The crowd, playing along and not realizing the neon sign was an interloper, briefly chanted "Peace, peace, peace!", drowning out the boom box.
Fred Hoysted has pictures of the neon sign; I was behind it and couldn't get any. Fred also says that where he was standing, the boom box was audible. Where I was, it certainly wasn't, and I didn't know it even existed until afterward.
The crowd waiting for anything recognizable to happen:
The crowd watching Neon Sign Guy:
The glow from the neon sign:
After the mob, Neon Sign Guy posed for pictures (and also accepted a dollar from mobber Bryan Fitzgerald of Connecticut).
On the whole, I thought this was a fitting end to the Mob Project, and in a way even its hijacking by an unidentified performance artist worked. (No one could hear the boom box, anyway, and the impenetrable message on the neon sign lent an air of surreality to the whole thing.) Better that it be hijacked by incomprehensible art than by a corporation; nobody wants to go to an AT&T Flash Mob.
Thanks, Bill, for starting this project, coming up with mob ideas, and ending it at the right time. It was just the thing for a humid, rainy New York summer.
More coverage: Fred Hoysted, Glowlab, Cheesebikini, bjoseph, Moist and Tasty, Ginger
( MOB #2 at Macy's | MOB #3 at the Grand Hyatt | MOB #4 at Otto Tootsi Plohound | MOB #5 in Central Park | MOB #6 at Toys R Us | MOB #7 at St. Patrick's Cathedral )
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Civic duty
09/09/03
Are there really more Korean speakers in Brooklyn than, say, Russian speakers? Or even in New York as a whole?
I must say that the mural inspired me to carefully consider my choices. Not that I had very many:
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Budget chowhound
09/09/03
This is what you get for your dollar at Deluxe Food Market, 79 Elizabeth Street:
Eat the huuuuge, delicious pork bun -- it's bigger than it looks in the picture -- and take the quarters back to the counter and get another. There are also veggie buns, just as huge but not quite as tasty, distinguished by the red dots on top. And if you can pass up the chance to brag that you just had a delicious meal in Manhattan for a dollar, there are also 50-cent desserts. The sushi on the Mott Street side is pretty good as well, and coming from me "pretty good" is high praise for sushi. Stand at the counters, or sit at the tables, and watch old Chinese people gossip while you eat.
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South Bronx
09/08/03
Mott Haven, The Bronx
Melrose, The Bronx
Willis Avenue Bridge
At Glowlab, "a new photo series of the faces that quietly watch us from lamp posts, street signs and shadowy doorways."
8:30 PM | Comments (140) | TrackBack (0)
Staten Island signage
09/07/03
Rosebank, Staten Island
Tompkinsville, Staten Island
Stapleton, Staten Island
St. George, Staten Island
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Fort Wadsworth
09/06/03
Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island
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Means of transportation
09/05/03
This car appears to be missing a bumper. I just happen to have one available.
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Canal Street, Manhattan; Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn
Albertson, Long Island
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Steamy night in Bed-Stuy
09/03/03
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
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Hard times
09/01/03
I knew the economy was bad, but I didn't realize times were quite this grim:
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn