New York Daily Photo Analytics

Saturday, March 24, 2007

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 ...

6 comments:

Pat said...

What a wonderful night photo. I think I've been there before but it would have been nice to have a little history before I went! Is this anywhere near to the flat iron building? I love that building and I never got any good shots of it.

My PAD and Guelph Daily Photo

An Honest Man said...

Brian - you blog says "on photo left we have Union Square West"m but the upper right of the photo shows a sign "W Union Square". Explain for this fool!

Merisi said...

Another beautiful shot of a square I love (my favorite being Washington Square).
Thank you for it, and all the memories that this brings back to me, amazing.

Brian Dubé said...

Pat - The Flat Iron bldg is at 23r and 5th/Bwy - about 6-9 blocks North.

an honest man - The is the W Hotel, an international hotel chain. The W Hotel's slogan is "Whatever, Whenever" (the W doesn't stand for "West")

Merisi - thank you.

Brian

Anonymous said...

I was part of the staff that opened the Barnes & Noble in Union Square back in 1995. The old Century building is a great space that had been used by ABC Carpet (around the corner) for storage until the Riggio's reclaimed it and made it a great place for bibliophiles.

lv2scpbk said...

Beautiful photo at night.