Monday, July 30, 2012

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Summer on the Hudson

Hot, humid, dark, sultry, oppressive, sweaty, grey, thick, muggy, sticky, steamy, stifling, heavy...

But the clouds are awesome.

On the Hudson

On the Hudson

(Oh, yeah, that's the space shuttle Enterprise sneaking by in the background)

Friday, July 20, 2012

PSA: Help keep St Mark's Bookshop in the East Village

It's going to be a beautiful; weekend - why not enjoy it by buying some books at St Mark's Bookshop and help them raise funds to relocate to a new storefront in the East Village?

If the creek don't rise...

Details:
Cash Mob!
When:  Saturday, July 21, 2012
Time:  3pm
Where:  31 3rd Ave (at 9th St)

There will be after-drinks and socializing at Bar 82 on 2nd Ave (just north of St Mark's Place)

More information about the Cash Mob can be found at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

To sweeten the deal, there is an incentive:  The first 20 people to spend $10 and say "Jeremiah sent me" will receive a $5 gift certificate toward their next visit to St. Mark's Bookshop.

Heads or tails?

We hope to see you there!  For anyone who can't make it, you can still show your support and buy books from the shop online.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Shut-in

Walking down Bowery one afternoon, I heard him shouting.  He got louder and more impassioned as I looked up and met his eyes.  Smoke snaking from his cigarette, he persisted with his unintelligible angry screaming.  I'd intruded on his dream of the outside world.

Creepy Guy

Monday, July 16, 2012

5 Pointz

The days are numbered for the Long Island City graffiti mecca, 5 Pointz.  Anyone who hasn't visited should get over there now to see this visually stunning bastion of colorful artwork before the bulldozers arrive to make way for yet more residential high-rises.

Pictures just don't do it justice, but here are a few from this past weekend:

5 Pointz

5 Pointz

5 Pointz

5 Pointz

5 Pointz

5 Pointz

See more photos at my Flickr page.

For many more photos, just do a GIS for 5 Pointz.

With the loss of 5 Pointz and NYC real estate so out of control, where will artists go for affordable work studios?   Will there be any place left in the city for young (and old) creatives when every scrap of land is turned into luxury housing and retail?

To visit, get subway directions here.  And, while you're there, check out MoMA's PS1, which is just across the street.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Terminal Stores

The Terminal Stores building (261 11th Avenue) is one of my favorites in the city.  Taking up the entire block bounded by 11th and 12th Avenues, and 27th and 28th Streets, it's an enormous structure.

Terminal Stores Building

Originally built in 1890 by the New York Terminal Warehouse Company, the Central Stores (as it was called) was connected by tracks to the rail yard on W 30th Street.  Trains could transport goods directly from the yard into the warehouse.

According to the 2008 West Chelsea Historic District Designation Report -
The company also had operating agreements with the Erie and Lehigh Railroads, which had tracks leading out the Twelfth Avenue facade to transfer bridges along the Hudson River waterfront, from which car floats could transport whole freight cars to New Jersey and the westward-bound rail lines traversing the country’s interior. In addition to the Central Stores, the Terminal Warehouse Company owned the Rossiter Stores at West 59th Street and the West Shore Stores in Weehawken, New Jersey.

You can read a detailed history of the building beginning on page 87 of the report.

Terminal Stores Building

One thing that amazes me about this building is it's still being used for its original purpose, which was storage.  Despite several companies now existing within the building and parts of it being used for other things (there was once a nightclub on the eastern end), its primary use is still as a warehouse.

Another thing I love about this building is the design.  Nothing fancy, but the brick work and arched windows are beautiful.

Terminal Stores Building

On weekends, when the businesses are closed, the 27th Street side feels deceivingly desolate and abandoned.  Walking along this block, one feels dwarfed by the massive structure.

Terminal Stores Building

The Belgian block paving stones are wonderfully preserved.

Terminal Stores Building

It's hard to believe this is just a block away from luxury condos and the tourist mecca that is now the High Line.  On this block, one can forget about the modern age and still get a sense of the old city and the days of industry.


See more photos of the Terminal Stores building on my Flickr page.