Friday, February 20, 2009

Return of the Market Diner

Long abandoned, the Market Diner at 11th Avenue and 45st Street made a comeback late last year. And though it may be a little sterile for some, there is no denying this is a successful renovation of a beloved Hell's Kitchen landmark.  

Dig those angles!
The original sparkled floor tile!
More crazy angles, blueberry pie to die for.  
The horrible new sign. 
The workers are friendly, the food is fine....a blessing for a city about to go extinct..   

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Otis Elevator Company

The Otis Elevator Company is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems today, principally elevators and escalators. Founded in Yonkers, New York, USA in 1853 by Elisha Otis, the company pioneered the development of the safety elevator, invented by Otis, which used a special mechanism to lock the elevator car in place should the hoisting ropes fail. Otis made skyscrapers possible by providing safe mechanical transport to upper floors.

Otis has installed elevators in some of the world's most famous structures, including the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, World Trade Center, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Petronas Twin Towers, CN Tower and the Skylon Tower. This was taken somewhere in Chelsea….gallery I think…


Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Monday, February 16, 2009

Woolworth Building

That's it in the near foreground, with the Empire State Building in the far background. The Village is in there somewhere!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

11 Spring Street, 2006

This was a large, community sponsored art project at 11Spring Street. It's a sterile condo now, of course, but back in '06 the developers agreed to allow the graffitti inside the building to remain, and sealed it up in the walls....forever...like a time capsule.  

Street improvements!
Tumbling dice anyone?

Now we have all given up childish things... 

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Cheyenne / Market Diner

This was our beloved and soon to be departed Cheyenne Diner back in the day, sometime in the 60s by the looks of that super Yellow taxi. Market Diner? Never hoid of it!
And here it was this past summer, before it was de-signed and stripped for its trip to Birmingham, Alabama. Look for future Cheyenne sightings from Virginia at Birmingham Alabama Daily Photo 
We're counting on you Virginia!

Old Village Haunts

Arthur's Tavern, the place for cabaret
Village Cigars, don't forget your crutch
Marie's Crisis Cafe
Music Inn, old Bob Dylan hangout

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Monday, February 9, 2009

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

BNY III

Williamsburg Bridge in the distance

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Brooklyn Navy Yard II

You can almost see a giant battleship being built here.....a huge space...

Monday, February 2, 2009

Brooklyn Navy Yard Night

Spent an evening at the Brooklyn Navy Yards last week. Most of America's great battleships, think the Arizona, were built here.  The Yards are still home to local businesses (like DeVore Fidelity who I was visiting) like this experimental cogeneration plant operated by Con Edison. I'll be featuring night shots of the Navy Yard's dead tech beauty in the days ahead.  

The Old Rialto Theater

NYTimes: It was apparently the largest glass block facade in New York City, an unusual Art Moderne theater of blue and white glass with streamlined aluminum fins. Above a first floor of unexceptional storefronts, the second floor was composed of alternating deep blue glass with white marbling and strips of metal. Above these were protruding aluminum fins similar to those found on engines and other mechanical equipment. The third floor was composed entirely of cream-colored glass blocks in alternating curved and faceted bays.

The Rialto opened for Christmas of 1935 with Frank Buck's ''Fang and Claw.'' The theater's manager, Arthur Mayer, saw the Rialto as distinctly masculine in tone. Most theaters, he said in a newspaper interview after the opening, were ''rococo, luxurious palaces for the uxorious,'' both in styling and choice of films. His theater, both in styling and presentations, sought to satisfy the ''ancient and unquenchable male thirst for mystery, menace and manslaughter.'' He was soon called the ''merchant of menace.''

TODAY: A FAKE PLASTIC MOCKERY...

Located at 1481 Broadway, between 42d and 43d Streets, the old Rialto Theater was originally built in the 1930's to show first-run films. It was successful for a time, but saw its fortunes wane with those of Times Square, ending up as a pornographic-movie house by the 1960's. Attempts at rebirth followed, like a short-lived return to live theater and another spell as a legitimate cinema, while television studios upstairs featured Geraldo Rivera, Montel Williams and even Jane Pratt, the editor of a teen magazine (called Jane) whose television show (also called ''Jane'') bombed in the early 1990's.It sits on what will be the site of the new Reuters building, (the state owns all the land beneath the building.) The Old Rialto Theater is doomed, soon to be replaced by a 32-story corporate tower.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Algonquin 4-1817


Faded glory on 6th Avenue and Gay Street