A Bit of Color Left on Seventh

This building, on Seventh Avenue and Second St., has been the topic of much debate over the years ( Brownstoner, NY Times, Here's Park Slope), seen as both a blight on the neighborhood, and (a minority opinion) a worthy remnant of a more freewheeling past.  The safety issue (chunks of the building falling on passers by) is clearly a legitimate concern, but I, for one, have a great fondness for its colorful dereliction.  What a lone rebel it is on an avenue of mainstream conformity.

Cathedral Club, 1968

I love this '68 home movie, shot around Sixth and Flatbush.  You can find out more about the Cathedral Club here.

Fourth Avenue & Seventh

Meanwhile, at the OTB Corner...

Today a worker at the former OTB site told me that the next business would be a Mexican restaurant.  I'm sceptical, having been told by earlier workers that it would be a supermarket/grocery store.  These may just be stock responses to nosey passers by.  If a Mexican restaurant sets up there, this will mean competition for Tacos Nuevo Mexico, two doors away.  Even though I preferred the earlier incarnation of Tacos Nuevo, when it was a more local joint, it's marketed itself to a wider clientele pretty successfully, and has been a stalwart presence on the block for a number of years.  I'd hate to see it threatened..  But this is not a very solid piece of information.  Tomorrow I may hear we're destined for a bank, a cupcake store, or 99c. pizza.

Late Afternoon Blues

Running around all day, doing tedious errands. Went to take a smallish parcel to be mailed by UPS & was quoted $220!!! US Postal Service it had to be. Was heartened by the Eagle sign in the late afternoon, & even though it's been photographed five zillion times, it still looks pretty great. Whilst wallowing in a kind of end of the day melancholy, let's have a song.

314 12th Street

The construction of this fine building started in 2008, but work seems desultory at this point.  The building's had a bunch of stop orders, but there aren't any listed right now.  What gives?

Seized for Non-Payment of Taxes

Harry Boland's Pub (9th & 5th)

Mea Culpa.  After yesterday's rather snarky report about the vintage thrift opening on 13th, I have to report that the store is affiliated with the Chai Lifeline charity.  They only take donations, which are arranged through a buyer, & are staffed by volunteers.  Good luck to them.  That doesn't mean that the Army days (sloping floors, mountains of cheap goods, a lively cross-section of shoppers) weren't sweeter by far.

Wines & Liquors on Fourth Avenue

At 10th Street

and

12th Street (500 Fifth)



Stanley Bard Wants Back in at The Hotel Chelsea (Gothamist)

More Vintage for Fifth

It's taken four years, but 515 Fifth (the "eco" condo building at 13th Street) has finally got a tenant for its retail space.  Life Emporium, a somewhat upscale vintage store (no Beacon's Closet or Monk vibe here) opened yesterday.  There are two floors of clothing, and also a smattering of furniture.  I tried a joke about it being "just like old times" (remember the Salvation Army thrift store that used to be there?), but it was sniffily received by the staff.  Of course it's nothing like old times anyway.  The Salvation Army offered a trove of good finds over the years, & the prices couldn't be beat. 

Update & apologies. Well I have to say that this place does say not-for-profit (for children with cancer), so perhaps I was unduly harsh.  Still, with $450 pieces of broken furniture, it ain't Salvation Army land.

No Zs at ABC

Twin Marquis - Ludlow & Canal

A new Walkers in the City essay from Romy Ashby, posted today.  Read it!

Sunday

NY77:The Coolest Year in Hell  (via Flaming Pablum)

Ladder

The February school break is here, & this means a chance to escape the whole commuting routine.  I actually like my train ride, but will be happy to sleep in for a few days. Let's just throw in one more early morning station shot then, to make up for missed opportunities in the week ahead.  Obsessive?  I think not!

Sun Bo Bo lives again!!  After its mysterious closure last week, Bo Bo is up & running again.

On the Platform

Know Your Bartender: Betty Collins, Timboo's (Here's Park Slope)
Pacino's 70's (February 18 - 24, playing at Film Forum)

Forty Eight Green Bottles

Before the Snow Disappears

Seen on Sunday ...

We Do Quality Work (14th & 5th)

The customers seem quite large...

New Lease for the Coney Island 8? (Amusing the Zillion)

Adam Purple and The Garden of Eden plays at the Lower East Side Film Festival this month (last screening on Feb. 25th).  Jeremiah's Vanishing New York interviews Harvey Wang, one of the directors, whose photography show about The Garden can currently be seen at Fusion Arts on Stanton St.

First report of nighttime adventures - Marty After Dark!  (found via EV Grieve)

Found in Brooklyn - Last Post

Found in Brooklyn bows out, and will be missed.  Lisanne, good luck in whatever you're up to next (keep us informed), and keep taking those beautiful photographs.  We'll miss your voice. 

End of the Day Valentine, Eleventh & Fourth

Valentine, Fourth Avenue

New Utrecht

Got rerouted to the N line today, and had to switch at New Utrecht.

Waiting for the B63, Old Style

So the MTA is rolling out the text option to figuring out when the damn bus will arrive, and the B63 is a pilot route.  I waited for the B63 at Fifth & 41st today, where the text instructions are clearly displayed.  Too bad they've taken away the option to actually read a bus timetable, so those of us disinclined (or unable) to find out the bus location by phone are left in the dark.  At this stop the only timetable left is for buses going in the other direction. Seems like a way to abandon schedules altogether, under the pretext of passenger convenience.  Good move, MTA.

Mutual Hardware Corp.

Sun Bo Bo still shuttered.  I fear the worst.  Something going on at the former Sea World, over on the next block.  Poor old Sea World - a whiffy establishment with dull-eyed fish.  That catch had been hanging around for a while.

Some sections of Jackson Avenue, in Long Island City, still haven't seen much in the way of snow shovels.

Krypton Neon

Off Vernon Boulevard

What's up with Sun Bo Bo?

Sun Bo Bo this afternoon. Say it isn't so...

This looks sort of entertaining. The Penguin Pool Murder (1932) is a mystery/comedy, featuring  schoolmistress turned sleuth Hildegarde Withers, and it has interior shots of the long gone New York City Aquarium (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York).
Report on Freddy's opening night (Found in Brooklyn).  Have to cast off winter sloth & get down there!

5th Avenue Locksmith in Earlier Days

I only just noticed this photograph of 5th Avenue Locksmith today. I'd seen pictures inside the shop before, but perhaps this one was put in the window fairly recently?

Afternoon

Work continues.  If you like watching construction work, you can catch a more extreme version, as Sandhogs reruns on WNYE.

Morning

Clean as a Whistle ...

Old school laundry van (three wheeler!) residing on Park Avenue

Primates on Fifth

The Neergaard window dressing team has an odd obsession with babies, human or otherwise.  Right now there are a bunch of orangutans whooping it up in the window, along with a tiny baby stranded in a bath that is much too BIG.  It's all a bit disquieting.

Two Styles of Doorway

Seventh Heaven

Waiting (& waiting) for the B67, next to the soon to be opened Cheeburger ...

Station Repair

A Lot of This Today

Neil Genzlinger - The Problem with Memoirs  (NY Times, via Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Yes.