Friday, December 31, 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Friday, December 24, 2010

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Monday, December 20, 2010

1940s Xmas


From my dear departed Mother's collection

WESTBETH

Westbeth is among the first examples of adaptive reuse of industrial buildings for artistic and residential use in the United States. It is a complex of 13 buildings in Manhattan's West Village. The complex was originally the site of Bell Laboratories (1868–1966), one of the world's most important industrial research centers and home to many inventions, including the vacuum tube, the condenser microphone, an early version of television,[3]and the transistor. The complex was vacated in the middle 1960s, and remained empty until the Westbeth project started later in the decade. It created live-work spaces for 384 artists of all disciplines'; the project was the first public commission of Richard Meier, who later won the Pritzker Prize for architecture and is still a significant figure in modern architecture. Westbeth opened in 1970 for artists, dancers, musicians, actors, writers and film makers.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Why Mars Bar ?

Someone posted here, laughing about the ugliness of the Mars Bar. So let me explain why this is such a loss, one of many, probably of many more to come. New York City used to be a city of small neighborhoods, each with its own color and interests and unique people. There was no other city in America like New York. It looked different, felt different, smelled different. You could only get some things in New York and nowhere else. It retained its architectural heritage while the rest of America was overrun with shopping malls, suburbs and McDonald's. But not New York. Since 2001, money, mostly European, has flowed into the City, and much of New York has been gentrified. Gone are most of the old neighborhoods, the small businesses, the things that made new York unique. Now we have the same crap they have everywhere else. Just crap, crummy stores, crummy restaurants, chain stores, and tourists who want to experience "Sex in the City," who think that is New York (When I was a kid I thought New York was "Taxi Driver," "Annie Hall" and "Serpico," and, it was). So we cherish every vestige of the New York that was. As it disappears we lose the beauty that was, that connection to the past, and we lose the America that once was as well. And the new New York is surely not better. It's cookie cutter, prefab, with blue glass buildings, drunken girls and boys on every bar filled block, overpriced shops, shops that cater to wastefulness, indulgence, and plain old crap . The moneyed types (the investors, the developers, the same people who destroyed the economy) almost demolished Tin Pan Alley, until Brook's Lost City began blogging. We lost Cheyenne Diner, Moondance Diner, Munson Diner, Fedora, the classic old theaters in Times Square, Luchows, on and on. New York's history is being replaced with blue glass, folding chairs in Times Square, a future that looks like anywhere, USA. So we mourn Mars Bar. And its beautiful ugliness.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Friday, December 10, 2010

Closing!

Mars Bar, one of last East Village holdouts, is closing, reportedly for only two years....we've heard that before. It's surrounded by luxury condos, around the corner from the former CBGBS, now a John Varvatos eye sore. It's all over here kids...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

rounding the bend in Rio

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Brasilian Christmas

I spent Christmas 2001 in Brasil. Think I'll post some shots...

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Monte's on MacDougal, where Caruso ordered take out
Friday morning with Father Demo

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Monday, November 29, 2010

Right Said Fred

Sunday, November 28, 2010

man with problem, WSP

Friday, November 26, 2010

Can I order extra red in Photoshop?

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Do you want to know a secret?

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Sunday, November 21, 2010

7th avenue and 13th street

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Friday, November 19, 2010

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

the sun was out...

Monday, November 15, 2010

Blondie

Think I sawed off left side of her body in Photoshop...oh well....first attempt

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Street Performer

Friday, November 12, 2010

Hands across the water in Washington Square Park

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Roller Girls

Dance troupe in Washington Square Park

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Sax blows at Katz's; shopping cart lady stares

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Back in the 1960s, you'd travel cross country by car, eat at roadside diners, and most certainly pick up one of these 'wish you were here' travelogue mailers. Like this one, they'd fold out like an accordion, each side showing points of interest around the state. I found this unused one in my mom's things, and will post a few scans from in it days to come.
WELCOME TO THE TARHEEL STATE!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

a boy's best friend is his....

Thank you all for your very kind words; I was stunned with the level of response to my Mother's photo. I will reach out to each and everyone individually. Thank you again.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

My Mother 1925 - 2010

I never hope to gain cheap pity here; I think of each and everyone of you who pays me the honor of visiting my site as a friend. Please help me celebrate the life of my beloved mother, who passed yesterday at 1:25 pm. She's in a better place now.

Friday, October 22, 2010

West 10th Street

Thursday, October 21, 2010

on the Hudson

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Morton Street

Monday, October 18, 2010

Carmine Street pool (where Vicky and Jake La Motta met in Raging Bull)