à la Chien

The health department in NYC does not allow dogs in restaurants except in very special conditions. Federal Law under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that restaurants allow service and guide dogs at indoor and outdoor dining areas - beyond that they make recommendations only - states govern restaurant health laws (there recently has been some abuse of new rulings regarding pets needed for "emotional support"). Sidewalk cafes where no cooking is being done have been the only spaces where patrons can dine with their dogs. In France, where dogs abound, there are no such restrictions and even the finest of restaurants allow them, even welcome them. Small dogs frequently sit aside its owner or in their lap. Waiters will play with dogs and their toys. Many new visitors to France are actually quite shocked when first exposed to these customary practices. There are a few new dog friendly restaurants such as Fido Cafe where the special conditions of separation of dining and cooking areas have been created. There are several hundred thousand dogs in Manhattan, so any accommodations for dogs will be well met by the myriad of owners in the city. The large dog in the photo was observing the fine dining of his owners at Cipriani in SOHO - he (or she) seemed to be quite well behaved while doing his poor, hungry dog routine. Click here to see him being rewarded for his patience ...

Scrap Yard

Until recently, I did not know there was a retail graffiti business. I assumed the purveyors of the activity availed themselves of the various supplies from art and hardware stores. Like anything else, however, if there is a demand, someone will provide a supply. This small shop, the Scrap Yard at 300 West Broadway in SOHO just north of Canal Street, is owned and operated by Mark Awfe. It carries the requisite materials (paints, spray caps etc) and many other items such as T-Shirts, hats, DVDs, books, magazines, mixed tapes, fat caps, video graff, collectibles - all related to graffiti. Click here for a peek inside. In reading about graffiti, I found a world with its own language/grammar, images and culture. All of it foreign to me - the conversation on various graffiti sites was essentially unintelligible. There are many famous graffiti artists like the mysterious Cost and Revs whose work has appeared citywide. There are websites such as 12ozProphet (originally a magazine from 1993), akanyc and fourthehardway. Although the term graffito (plural graffiti) means to inscribe or scratch and goes back to Roman times, the term graffiti now generally implies vandalism - art done on a public surface without permission of the owner. I am seeing references in reading to legal graffiti, a strange concept since the essence of graffiti has been its outlaw rebel element. It will be interesting to see if this activity will morph in some way to become benign and more commercial ...

Rats R Us

Everyone knows rats are living among us - in the parks, the subway system, buildings and restaurants. But we don't expect to see hordes of them scurrying in plain view in a restaurant as recently witnessed at the Taco Bell-KFC in Greenwich Village. This was a major news item for all the local networks and papers on February 23, 2007. Click here for the Gothamist coverage - they had numerous articles spanning several days. And if you have the stomach for it, here's the video clip of the rats in action - this was run over and over on the day the news broke. Since this episode there have been many similar stories regarding other restaurants. I decided to stroll by the location last night and see the status. The place was completely closed of course. The only things of interest were the two Department of Health notices on the windows with an accumulation of comments written on them (click on the photo or this link to view a larger image for better reading). New Yorkers are extremely tolerant and adaptable. Very little really shocks us or for very long - even then, we bounce back rather quickly. And we have a good sense of humor, as evidenced by the comments on the notices. However, many doubt that Taco Bell will reopen at this location - how many would want to eat here? Tolerant or not, even New Yorkers can draw the line ...

W Hotel Union Square

This is the W Hotel Union Square at 201 Park Ave South and 17th Street. This Beaux Arts marvel is probably the most architecturally notable building in the Union Square area, with its granite and limestone exterior and mansarded roof. The structure was built in 1911 to the designs of D'Oench & Yost for the Germania Insurance Company. The company name was changed during World War I to Guardian Life. In 2000, it completed its transformation as the W Hotel Union Square. The W Hotel chain was launched by Starwood Hotels in 1999 as a "fun, hip" place - the "W" stands for their slogan "Whatever, Whenever." The hotel renovations were designed by the firm of starchitect David Rockwell. The coffered ceilings, mosaic floors and vaulted marble hallways were restored - the rooms themselves have been modernized. There is a grand mahogany and limestone staircase in the lobby, a Rockwell signature. Greenery has been added in the way of large topiaries and wheatgrass planters in the lobby. There is a streetside living room for hanging out...

Secret Society

I am fascinated by the places that are prominently located yet rarely mentioned. The plaque at 77 MacDougal Street says Tiro A Segno, New York Rifle Club. This address is just south of one of the most touristy, trafficked blocks in the city - the Figaro Cafe and Bleecker Street are within eyeshot. This very exclusive, members-only club occupies three entire brownstone row houses - 3 flags hang in front - one American, one Italian and one brandishing Tiro A Segno - which literally means "shoot the target" - (Tiros date back to eighth century Italy's bow-and-arrow groups). This is the oldest private Italian-American club in the US, founded in 1888 and in this location since 1924. And private is the operative word - you won't find much about this place - I had to really dig for this one. Visit their website and you will get the idea. Prospective members must be nominated by a current member and there is a quota on non-Italians. Members have included former mayor Fiorella Laguardia, Enrico Caruso, and Garibaldi. What goes on in there? Wine, fine dining (dining hall seats 110), conversation and rifle shooting in the basement gallery with three wood paneled ranges and a choice of targets. And charitable work is done e.g., in 2000, the Tiro a Segno foundation donated $500,000 to establish the Visiting Faculty Fellowship in Italian-American Culture at NYU. Apparently any vestiges of former members like convicted politicians Biaggi and Esposito are long gone ...

Spike

Here we have the classic NYC character - the city well tolerates this type of emboldened eccentricity, perhaps even encourages it. Frequently seen parading in full regalia, this baroque individual is an amalgam of goth/punk symbols and icons. He's got it well covered - iron crosses, medieval cross earrings (Noctis?), British flags, piercings with studs, a Clash patch and the requisite black leather jacket and boots (I learned a lot about these accoutrement this morning by visiting this British site - Gothic Style ). And don't miss that standout hair spire - his signature pièce de résistance. His militaristic persona was enhanced by his standing at attention for lengths of time. I have seen him a number of times before and this weekend saw him two days in a row. On this second occasion, a number of photographer friends and I were gathered in the park - our increasingly bolder and more obvious photo taking of the subject was not met by resistance. We agreed that perhaps he was a bit of an exhibitionist, n'est-ce pas?

Street Cuisine

One of the great joys of living in the city is the street life - this offers the type of experiences virtually nonexistent outside, such as sidewalk dining. The are over 10,000 food vendors in NYC selling from street carts. Most vendor's fare is quite ordinary - pretzels, hot dogs, ice cream and/or beverages. But there are those vendors that rise above the pedestrian and make really excellent food - many feel that some of the best, authentic cuisine can be had on the streets from these vendors, some of whom have achieved near celebrity status and are known throughout the city with individuals making trips to sample their food. In fact, street food now has its own culinary prize: The Vendy Award. This annual award is a fundraiser sponsored by the Street Vendor Project - it takes place in the courtyard of St. Mark's Church in the Bowery in September of each year. Visit the website where you can read about their goals/efforts and the award with past winners. One of the finalists for 2006 was Sri Lankan chef, Thiru Kumar who for the last 6 years has run a cart called NY Dosas (seen in the photo) with vegan cuisine, on the south side of Washington Square (he has received many execllent reviews and won numerous food awards apart from the Vendy nomination). His specialty is dosas, a south Indian type of crepe, which he cooks on site. In addition to the dosas he makes uthappam, idly, vada, sambar soup, ponidcherry masala, pattu and many other exotic sounding specialties. On a busy day there have been as many as 60 people waiting in line, many of whom are students from neighboring NYU. I found Thiru to be extremely avuncular - part of his popularity is the feeling he is taking you under his wing, making suggestions and helping those unfamiliar with his food decide what to order. He is open M-F and occasionally on Saturday. Thiru even gives out a card with his cell number and email for those wanting to check his schedule ...

Union Square

This is Union Square at night from 14th Street looking north. Union Square is the nexus of Broadway, Park Avenue South, 4th Avenue, 14th & 17th Streets, University Place, Union Square East and West - with Union Square Park as its centerpiece. It is a major subway station with 8 train lines (note the pagoda entrance bottom center). Union Square is its own neighborhood/district with a breadth and depth of services that are hard to match. On the photo left, we have Union Square West - there you find various retailers and several notable restaurants such as Republic, the Coffee Shop, Blue Water Grill and the Union Square Cafe (16th Street). The open area also on the left is the home of the famed Union Square Greenmarket which operates three days a week. On the north side (photo top) there is the city's largest Barnes and Noble superstore (occupying the entire 6-story, restored, former Century Building) and the W Hotel at Union Square. In the Park itself, we have the restaurant Luna Park, the Gandhi statue, dog runs and playgrounds Just out of the frame on the far right is the first big development on the Square - Zeckendorf Towers. On the south side, from where the photo was taken, there is the Virgin Atlantic Megastore, Filene's, a new behemoth Whole Foods market and the public artpiece Metronome. A myriad of other retailers, services and street vendors (such as Joe Ades) dot the perimeter of the park and the sidestreets. In this blog alone, I have done 9 posts which involve Union Square - note the links throughout this posting ...

Cigar Store Indian

The wooden cigar store Indian is still found in front of cigar/tobacco shops in NYC. Because Indians had introduced Europeans to the use of tobacco, Indian figures soon came to be used as an emblem of the tobacconist (the first ones appeared in England in the early 1600s and were referred to as Virginie Men). Visual emblems for shops were common at the time - e.g. barber poles for barber shops, gold balls for pawn shops, scissors for tailors and Indians for tobacco shops. Many reasons have been cited for this, among them illiteracy of the populace and immigrants unable to read English. It's surprising to still see these in the city, since some find this icon racially offensive in nature, similar to the black lawn jockey. I found this group in Western Spirit, a large Western Shop at 395 Broadway. There is an active trade in these in the antique market with some fetching as much as six figures ...

Extreme Camping

This photo was taken in front of Grace Baptist Church on Broadway and 10th Street - click here for second photo. At first glance, this looks like a typical homeless scene, but on closer examination of the photos I think not. Many of the clothes and bedding look newer and cleaner than people who have been living on the street. Also, note the relatively new looking backpack. It is also unusual to see the homeless as couples like this. So my conclusion - they are travelers passing through. In the summer one can see the occasional camping out of vagabonds in the parks. I have not seen this type of thing in the winter on ice in freezing temperatures. Staking out territory like this in front of a prominent church on Broadway is quite a brazen act. Homelessness and vagrancy are very politicized issues in NYC - views are seen differently of society's responsibility to its citizens and an individual's responsibilities to make reasonable efforts to provide for themselves. Attempts to get individuals off the street has to be done legally and carefully - homeless shelters have improved, but many reject them for a variety of reasons. And the cost of housing continues to soar ...

Equinox

This blue and green lighting at the Empire State Building last night was to celebrate Earth Day, which marks the exact moment of the Vernal Equinox occurs (the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere). This was last night at 8:07 PM EDT (on the equinox, night and day are the same length anywhere on earth). The idea of an international Earth Day was introduced in 1969 by John McConnell and in 1971, UN Secretary-General U Thant signed a proclamation to that effect. There are actually two Earth Days - yesterday's was the equinoctial Earth Day. The other Earth Day is on April 22. First celebrated in 1970, it started the environmental movement. The fact that there are two Earth Days can be somewhat confusing - if you would like to sort it out click here for the equinoctial and click here for the April 22nd. The Empire State building has a sophisticated lighting system with hundreds of lamps and fixtures - you can read about it here. The building is lit in different color themes to celebrate various holidays, seasons, celebrations and causes (it is lit white between color themes). Many wonder about the specific meaning of these themes - the official website maintains a schedule of tower light colors and their explanation - click here. This photo was taken from 14th Street overlooking Union Square. I love night photography, tall buildings, blue and springtime - this was the perfect photo op...

Winter Prospect

This is a view of Sullivan Hill from the Long Meadow in Prospect Park (click here for second photo of Lower Pool). The park, a 526-acre urban oasis located in the heart of Brooklyn, was designed by famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who also designed Central Park. This park and its Central Park kin are much more than just green oases - they have innumerable specialized environments and activities. Prospect Park features the 90-acre Long Meadow, the 60-acre Lake, the Nethermead, an Audubon Center, the Prospect Park Zoo, playgrounds, Children's Corner, the Carousel, Lefferts Historic House, Concert Grove, the bandshell (home of Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival), Dog Beach, ponds. Areas have been dedicated for baseball and other ball sports, tennis, ice skating, fishing, boating, horseback riding, barbecuing. One can bike, run or skate on its drives which are closed to vehicles (except during rush hours0. Here we have Brooklyn's only forest, with walking trails, streams, waterfalls and the Ravine. It also hosts many activities and events - click here for the official website. Also, for a free download of a color map, click here. Prospect Park is a world unto itself, heavily used, yet large enough to easily absorb all its visitors on a busy day. For NYC residents, parks are very important - they function as essentially the only real green outdoor spaces apart from leaving the city itself. The streets and parks are our backyards ...

Jackson Diner

I had heard a lot about the Jackson Diner over the years including recommendations from Indians as the place to go for authentic Indian food. Living in Manhattan, however, we have available two major Indian restaurant districts - the row on East 6th Street and the area on Lexington Avenue in the 20s, so there was little incentive to travel to Queens. I recently made the pilgrimage to Jackson Heights and have done three posts on the neighborhood - Jackson Heights, Indian Gold and the Patel Brothers. Along with the Jackson Diner, they are all located on the same block (74th Street), the primary shopping area in Jackson Heights. The diner, with its primarily North Indian cuisine, was opened in 1983 by owner/chefs Bobby Chhikara and Gian Saini. A few years ago, it moved to its current location into a much larger space with a modern decor - the space is quite roomy with high ceilings. It now has much more the feel of a cafeteria than of a diner. There is a $9.95 lunch buffet, which is what I had on my visit there. I particularly liked the fresh made dosas (upper right photo) which are included. Most reviews are very good, however there are the naysayers who say it is not like the original. But that's what they always say ...

Camper

New Yorkers do love the special, unique and unusual, as do the celebrities who patronize Camper in SOHO at 125 Prince Street. There are many fascinating talents behind this store with its 5 gigantic lamps that hang above a footwear runway - iconoclastic would well describe the shoes, interior designer and lighting designer. Camper is a Spanish shoe manufacturer with its roots going back to 1877 with shoemaker Antonio Fluxa. The company itself was started in 1975 with the first store in Barcelona in 1981 - read about it here on Camper's website. Their shoes are extremely distinctive and instantly recognizable - very important in a marketplace crowded with competitors. And apparently they have caught the fancy of the well heeled and well known - a formula for success. The interior was designed by Marti Guixe, a native of Barcelona, who has a enormous range of design work including products and retail spaces (and other Camper Stores), with museum exhibitions also to his credit. He has even done a book Toy Weapons. Check out his website here. The lamps are by Ingo Mauer - a lighting designer from Germany, also with a wide scope of work - check out his animated flash website here. Oh, and the quality of the shoes? I have no direct experience but I suspect they are well made ...

First Anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of New York Daily Photo! I have put together a small collage of 63 images from the hundreds I have featured on the website over the last 365 days. It has been quite a bit of work - I haven't missed one day and have done all the writing and photography with the assistance of Lucy until mid 2006 and her ongoing support and feedback since then. I would also like to thank photographer and friend Bill for his continuing help and whose passion for photography has been a great motivator. This photoblog has essentially taken over my free time, but it has been rewarding. I have learned things about the city I never knew and I now look at everything with a more scrutinizing eye. I do this for the daily visitors to this site - without your patronage I would not find the effort worthwhile. Thanks!

Aftermath

My downtown Greenwich Village neighborhood is still trying to assimilate and make sense of Wednesday's tragedy - see yesterday's posting (the photo shows De Marco's Restaurant where the first shooting occurred on the morning after). Now that there's been time to learn about the people who were involved and caught in the event, there's more knowledge of the horror and sadness that resulted. The details of the shootings have come to be revealed as much more violent and terrible than were known at the time. Reporters (see the New York Times' extensive coverage) have uncovered a lot about the lives that tragically intersected that night, and the devastation of those who have been left behind. It is one of those incidents that is senseless and violent, caused by a slow deterioration of a person who fell through the cracks of life and took out his frustration and paranoia on innocent bystanders. This type of violence has frequently occurred in other parts of the country, to the extent that a term has been coined - "going postal" but we in NYC have not had many such events. Perhaps because of this, many have felt a false sense of immunity. With so many individuals with disparate backgrounds crowded together and typically involved in a tragedy like this, the impact ripples out across a wide spectrum of people and parts of the city. Passing by that corner will certainly never feel the same again ...

Gunfight

A gunfight erupted last night on the streets of Greenwich Village, a neighborhood which is one of the safest in NYC. This is the lead story in every newspaper and local television network today (click here for full story). A gunman shot a bartender in the back 15 times at De Marco's Pizzeria and Restaurant at Houston and MacDougal Streets. Two unarmed auxiliary police officers chased the fleeing gunman and were shot by the assailant on Sullivan Street. Two armed police officers appeared on the scene and killed the gunman in a shootout on Bleecker and Sullivan Street that lasted about 5 minutes. The tragic shootout left 4 dead: the bartender, the assailant and both auxiliary police. The gunman was heavily armed - the police recovered one hundred rounds of unspent ammunition and two handguns. As bad as things were, the situation could have been much worse had not the police acted so quickly and decisively - Bleecker Street is a heavily trafficked with bars and restaurants. I live in the neighborhood and happened to be outdoors when a friend told me about the incident minutes after it happened. All the city blocks in immediate proximity were closed off but I was able to get a number of photos on Bleecker Street. More photos here ...

Pedicabs

Legislation was recently passed regulating the pedicab industry. And of course it is fraught with problems - disagreements, protests (even free rides are being offered) and threat of a lawsuit. The key elements of the new bill are requirement of liability insurance, limitation on total number which can operate in the city (325), ban on electric motors, ban on operation in Midtown from Nov. 12 through Jan. 7 and ability for police to restrict them in situations where there is heavy traffic, parades etc. Essentially, pedicabs are being brought to a level of regulation similar to the taxicab industry - the primary opposition. Taxi drivers allege they cause congestion, are dangerous and should be limited and regulated; pedicab drivers feel they are eco-friendly and the legislation is anti-environment and anti-small business. There is a novelty element riding in a pedicab, somewhat like a horse and carriage, but they can be pricey. I recently was returning home with a large number of packages. I thought I might take a ride and support the team - I was quoted $15 for 10 blocks (about $5 in a taxi). I decided to walk ...

Spring Fever

There's nothing temperate about this zone and people are taking opportunities to enjoy the hints of spring as soon as and whenever they are available. We have gone from a low of 11 degrees last week to a predicted 69 degrees tomorrow. Clothing is being shed, the streets and parks are filling up and windows are being opened. Window watching - from both sides of the glass - is a popular pastime in the city - the rewards usually payoff with all the activities to see. This brings back memories of the wonderful classic Hitchcock film Rear Window,starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly (the entire film takes place in the bedroom of a Greenwich Village apartment, where Stewart, confined to his apartment while healing from an injury, spies on neighbors and witnesses what he suspects might be evidence of a murder). The woman in the photo was precariously balanced on a window ledge 4 stories above the street on Broadway in SOHO - there was nothing to break her fall. Smoking a cigarette while balanced on a window sill gives a new meaning to living on the edge ...

FDNY

People have always been fascinated with fires, firemen, firetrucks and firefighting. So a large number of trucks and firemen in the city always attracts a large crowd of onlookers. And, owing to its pedestrian environment, residents of the city come into much closer proximity to firefighters on a regular basis. As you can see from the photo, citizens are intermingled with the firefighters themselves who go about their business quite unfettered. This call did not appear too serious - in a real serious situation, the area would be cordoned off, of course. However, in spite of the close familiarity, being in close proximity to a group of firemen with their regalia - heavy bunker gear, boots, helmets, axes, pike poles, radios etc. is still quite intimidating. The Fire Department of New York is the largest in the country and has been in operation since 1648. For a history - click here for the official FDNY website. Many of their firehouses are quite spectacular - click here and here for two previous posts I have done. Their motto, New York's Bravest, has always applied; September 11 has just brought their efforts more in focus ...

Wildlife Control

One of the hot topics of conversation right now in NYC is how restaurant wildlife is out of control. Everyone knows rats (and other vermin) are something we have to live with and that most restaurants probably have some sort of wildlife. However, we just don't want to SEE them cavorting in plain view. The recent incident at Taco Bell-KFC in Greenwich Village was a national story with a video of rats scampering about - it really was Rats Gone Wild. If you're not familiar with the story - click here. If you haven't seen the video - click here. In Park Slope, Brooklyn, squirrels and raccoons are a problem and someone known as Trapper John has repurposed an ambulance and setup shop to deal with it. I visit a friend who lives on the block where this fellow frequently parks. When I first saw these outrageous looking vehicles (he also owns the pickup truck in front of the ambulance) with their signage. I was astounded as every first-timer is; neighbors, of course, are somewhat inured. In any case, I felt had to take a photo of this and post it. According to a Brooklyn blog, the owner/operator of the vehicles and business is a Mr. Hoffman who is a 7th grade math teacher at MS 51. Only in New York ...

The Shore

Not only is NYC surrounded by water, but 4 of the 5 boroughs are islands or part of islands - we're an island nation. Only the Bronx is attached to the mainland. And as Brooklyn and Queens residents know, we have some very nice shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean with white sand beaches: Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Coney Island, Riis Park and Rockaway. This photo is of a rock outcropping on a sand beach at Coney Island - click here for an aerial view I took last summer from the Wonder Wheel. These beaches get quite crowded in the summer with over a million people on a hot summer day. This is also the home of the Iceberg Athletic Club and the Coney Island Polar Bear Club - the oldest winter bathing organization in the United States. Click here for their website. In what may come as a surprise to outsiders, I have met numerous residents of the Brooklyn beach communities who cite the ocean as their primary reason for living there and wouldn't dream of living anywhere else ...

Chocolate Bar

Love of Chocolate is certainly not new, but even popular trends morph and take on a unique character of the time. And the time is right for artisanal, fair trade, organic and vegan chocolate. Hudson Street/Eighth Avenue is becoming a small chocolate mecca with Jacque Torres and Li-Lac Chocolates just down the street from Alison Nelson's Chocolate Bar (seen in the photo). Located at 48 Eighth Avenue in the West Village, the shop is small pleasant space with an orange and brown decor. Click here for their website. It has been getting accolades from customers and a lot of positive press since its opening in 2002. They work with some of New York's finest chocolate chefs an offer an extensive range of chocolate delights: there are chocolates of course (Bon Bons, The Black and White, the Elvis), a signature line of chocolate bars (super dark, orange dark, mint dark, mild chocolate, bittersweet, white lemon) and a retro line (PB&C, Salted Pretzel, Caramel Apple, Key Lime Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Raspberry Jam). In addition they offer authentic New York Egg Creams, illy Caffe espresso and coffee drinks, several variations on iced and hot chocolates, fresh cookies, brownies and morning pastries. Chocolate (particularly dark chocolate) is now being promoted as having certain health benefits with its flavonoids and antixoxidants. Although studies are far from conclusive and the health risks of chocolate are well known, the mere suggestion of potential health benefits is more than adequate to please chocoholics and fuel guilt-free consumption ...

Grand Central

This is the place whose very name is synonymous with busyness and crowdedness - I grew up out of the city yet always heard that popular refrain about a place being like "Grand Central Station." Not an inappropriate reference since Grand Central is the world's largest train station. Officially Grand Central Terminal, the site has seen three different incarnations of the station going back to Grand Central Depot in 1871. Amazingly, Grand Central was actually under real threat of various demolition proposals by Penn Central - a decade long legal fight with efforts of many including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and a United States Supreme Court ruling succeeded in preservation. In 1976, Grand Central was designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1998, the terminal completed a restoration, including the renowned ceiling mural with its constellations and beautiful cerulean sky, originally painted by Frenchman Paul Helleu. The large American flag was hung after 911. These are in the main concourse as seen in the photo. This is much too large a topic to do any justice to in a daily photo blog, so I would recommend various sites for more reading - click here for the official site which gives not only a complete history, but also provides links for food (including restaurants and menus), shops, tours and events. Here are three links for previous posts I have done on the terminal - the exterior sculpture, the iconic clock and the Oyster Bar ...

Defiant Hydrant

Last night, a photographer friend alerted me to a slow leak in SOHO that he thought might be blog-worthy (BTW, after conversations last year regarding the curious and ubiquitous standpipe this friend got on a hydrant/standpipe kick and shot quite a number of excellent photos - click here to see his gallery.) We have been in a cold-snap in NYC the last few days and at 16 F, water moves quite slowly, hence the photo. In July of course, we see a different scenario - click here. I suppose a question that comes to mind is why fire hydrants don't normally freeze in the winter. The answer is there is no water in the hydrant and the valve is below the frost line. Water is supplied to the hydrant via a riser which is controlled by a valve rod, which in turn is controlled with that special pentagonal nut (using a large wrench and matching socket). Hydrants are also equipped with an anti-siphon valve, so that any water remaining in the hydrant drains back into the ground. This is the theory. In practice, we find defiant hydrants like those in the photo ...

Waterworld

NYU provides two window galleries for public viewing of art, Broadway Windows and Washington Square Windows (previously featured on this site - click here.) Both spaces are lit 24 hours a day. Broadway Windows, located at East 10th Street and Broadway, is currently featuring Waterworld by Bates Wilson. Wilson salvages scrapped metals and abandoned objects to create metal-finned fabricated fish that swim through the imagined waters of an otherworldly urban aquarium - one can find sun-fish, crested sail-fish and striped flying fish. "These fish are organicistically constructed of sheet metals, found objects and rivets. They have the feel of Jules Verne and could swim in the oceans of the metropolis. The idea is to make something new out of things old; to take that which is discarded and renew the life that it once had. Art should allow for a continuous evolution of materials and ideas." It's a pleasant surprise to happen upon displays of art like this while walking in the city ...

The Patel Brothers

Welcome to the only Indian food chain in the United States. The Patel Brothers now have 35 stores across the US, primarily along the eastern seaboard with stores also in Detroit, Houston and Indianapolis. They distribute Raja Foods and Swad ("taste" in Hindi). All total they are doing $140 million in sales annually. The business was started in 1974 by Talashi and Mafat Patel when they bought a small Indian store on Devon Avenue in Chicago. Mafat came to the US on an engineering scholarship and worked for Exxon as an electronic engineer, a position he kept until the late 1980s. I always thought of this type of store as unique to NYC, so it is surprising to learn that the Indian community has grown to such an extent to support all these retail locations. Indians have been very successful in this country - they are the second largest Asian group after the Chinese, the second most prosperous group after the Jewish-American and highly educated - according to the 2000 census, 64% have a bachelors degree or more. The photo is of the Patel Brothers grocery on 74th Street in Jackson Heights Queens. With 90% of the product line from India or Pakistan, a location in an Indian Neighborhood, a staff and customers dominated by Indian-Americans gives one an immediate sense of a seriously AUTHENTIC ethnic atmosphere when entering this store. With an entire aisle of rice - more brands than I knew existed - a section devoted to ghee, and of course enormous sections for spices and beans - these guys have no competition ...

Juggle This

This weekend is the 6th Annual NYC juggling festival, Juggle This, hosted at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn by the local juggling club (Jugglers Anonymous) with support from Manhattan's own club, the Carmine Street Irregulars - click here for links. Juggling has seen substantial growth in the last 30 years, particularly at the hobby level, with local clubs in high schools and universities nationwide. In addition to an annual national festival, there are numerous regional fests. The Pratt fest activities takes place in their enormous gym where jugglers of all ages, skill levels and demographics interact. There is nonstop juggling with workshops, games, vendors, a raffle and the Show, the highlight of the festival. This 2 1/2 hour extravaganza takes place in Pratt's Memorial Hall theater and features primarily professional acts - many of the performers travel from other parts of the country. Some attendees juggle alone at these events, but most take the opportunity to hone and share their skills with others. In a world where individuals share such a unique passion, social networking has become a big part of the festivals - new friends are made and old bonds renewed. The feel is that of a small, tightly knit family reunion ...

Soot of Armor

This is an archival photo taken on November 26, 2006 on East Third Street opposite the Hells Angels clubhouse, where I made several recent visits with the intention of a doing a post. I have been fascinated for years with the Hells Angels in NYC and their apparent ability to operate with virtual impunity regarding the law - members have been reported to perpetrate random acts of violence and engage in various criminal activities (click here for New York Times article), yet charges have frequently been dropped due to improper searches, lack of witnesses etc. And they rule that city block. I had been warned of the potential danger of being caught shooting their building plus they have six surveillance cameras. On a previous visit, I asked a block resident his advice on taking a photo and he said "I wouldn't do it. Don't be a hero." On my last visit with a friend, I approached a club member going into the building and asked permission to take photos (technically I didn't need it). He let me know that they owned the building, the sidewalk and he didn't want to be on my blog (with a few expletives thrown in). I decided that is was not worth the risk to have a camera wrapped around my head by a Hells Angel, so I slunk back across the street where my friend was waiting and took the above photo. It's interesting that all this occurred just before the recent major incident at the clubhouse - making all the news media (click here for the Gothamist's coverage.) So, instead of the Hells Angels clubhouse, we have a miniature suit of armor with red horns in a window gate AC cage with skulls hanging from it. I have no idea if there is some hidden meaning here or visual pun. Any ideas?

Passing Time

This is probably the most well known clock in the US - the ball clock above the information booth at Grand Central Station. Many have used it not only to tell time - its most important function - but it has also served as a meeting place for travelers for nearly a century. The four faces of the brass ball clock are solid opal - Sotheby's and Christie's have valued it at between $10-$20 million. It was built in 1913 by the Self Winding Clock Company, a firm started by Charles Pratt (oil tycoon and founder of Pratt Institute) and engineer Henry Chester Pond in a Pratt owned building at 205 Willoughby Street in Brooklyn, New York (later moved to Varick Street in Manhattan). From 1886 to 1957, the company built 50,000 clocks. These clocks were self powered by dry cell batteries and automatic spring winding and synchronization. When properly maintained, they were highly accurate. Their clocks were used everywhere around the world: the Metropolitan Tower clock, the House of Representatives, battleships, NYC and London subways, railroads, airlines, the Strategic Air Command, stock exchanges, hospitals, schools, hotels, universities, department stores and broadcasting systems. Over time, however, maintaining accuracy of all these historic clocks was a problem, so recently, all of the more than 55 clocks have been synchronized to a continuous satellite signal sent from an atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory - the clocks are now accurate to within two microseconds. Everything is controlled by the terminal's master clock, located behind locked doors near Track 117 on the lower level ...

The Oyster Bar

Legends, institutions and icons are frequently marketed to death and become tourist traps. It is a real pleasure to find a place that goes back nearly a century and has maintained integrity and standards for that which it became known. This is the Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant, renowned for its oysters (and its doorway and Whispering Gallery - click here). It opened when Grand Central itself did in 1913. All the reviews I have read advise against eating in the main dining room and sticking with the oysters at the oyster bar/counter itself. I am not an aficionado of fish but given all the warnings and my negative predispositions towards the place, I enjoyed my first visit to the Oyster Bar much more than I expected. Their menu of seafood is huge. The main dining room seen in the photo with its vaulted Guastavino-tiled ceilings is enormous, roomy and very comfortable. Although the service was not the warmest, I write off much of this as brusk New York Style - after all this place is IN Grand Central Station, a place synonymous with congestion and crowds. Finding such a place in Grand Central really brought back feelings of old, classic, quintessential NYC and that some good things endure - and this is one of them ...