these vagabond shoes are longing to stray

East River State Park, June 18, 2011


Manhattan, from the Williamsburg waterfront, June 18, 2011


As seen from a terrace, 36th and 5th, June 18, 2011


Green-Wood Cemetary,Brooklyn, NY, Memorial Day, 5/29/2011


Green-Wood Cemetary, Brooklyn, NY, Memorial Day, 5/29/2011


Green-Wood Cemetary, Brooklyn, NY, Memorial Day, 5/29/2011


Green-Wood Cemetary, Brooklyn, NY, Memorial Day, 5/29/2011


8th and Forty-Deuce, May 21, 2011



Looking south from 42nd St, May 20, 2011



Central Park from a window Mt. Sinai, May 17, 2011

it's full of stars

. . . okay not really. It's Christmas lights on a tree branch outside the Whole Foods at 59th Street. I just like to pretend it's a galaxy. Here's a broader perspective:

my favorite season: autumn in new york

There's a chill in the air that says fall is here. I'm not excited about the rain coming our way, but cold crisp fall days, and the explosions of color on the street as the leaves change, that is just the best. Some highlights from autumns past:



A close-up of foliage from a photowalk at The Cloisters last year. This is the full wall:



Foliage at the New York Botanical Garden:



And also on my street:

view from the boom boom room

New York, Dec. 31, 2009

I have a superstition about New Year's Eve, i.e. that how I spend it will affect the year to come. For 2010, I chose to go to the Standard Hotel. I only went into the Boom Boom Room briefly, before the actual party. (Afterwards I spent the evening in my room with my sister, eating delicious room service and watching Green Day on TV.) It was just as glamorous as everyone says it is, even mostly empty. Here are some views from the windows:

The end of the High Line:



West Side Highway and the Hudson River:



And one of the ceiling from the way in:



2010 has been marked by a lot of travel. In fact, this new year's eve, I'll be in Glasgow, among old friends.

lost worlds: Tavern on the Green

Tavern on the Green ( Wikipedia entry ) as one of those places I had always heard about, as a fancy Place to Go in the city. I was sort of absent-mindedly curious about it, but not enough to actually go there. It was expensive, after all, and also, as best I could tell, full of tourists, thus making it the dining equivalent of Times Square. Then last summer the news came out that it was going to close, at which point I decided I had better go if I was going.

I was glad I did. I stopped in for tea on a weekend afternoon -- one of the less pricey options, and no reservations required -- and it was gloriously ridiculous, in the best over-the-top New York LOOK WE GLITTER kind of way. It was also a little bit like having tea in a faerie garden.

As of right now, talks to re-open a restaurant on the site have collapsed (again), but foodtrucks will be parked across the street.

Here are some examples of what it used to look like:


Lanterns on an inside wall

I always think of this picture when contemplating why people would fall in love with this restaurant. For some reason it makes me think of Cinderella and coaches that turn into pumpkins at midnight.


Lights and flowers outside

The Tavern is right on the edge of Central Park; Sheep Meadow, a huge expanse of green grass, is just beyond it. Here is where the dirty grimy noisy seething city can start to fade away.


Tiffany chandelier inside

There were an ENTIRE HALLWAY full of these things. Also a cabinet full of glittery statuary. It was stunning, in the sense that I felt like I'd been bonked in the head with a glitter stick. Also, I totally loved it.


Lanterns in the trees in the inner courtyard

It took some finagling to get seated (there is, or was, a strict hierarchy of tablecloths!) but when I finally did: it was fabulous.


The dining room, facing the courtyard

I experienced a pang that I would never be able to attend (or hold) a function in this dining room, and be able to see it all lit up at night.

The furnishings that made the Tavern what it was were sold; this particular iteration of the Tavern will never be again. Hopefully the new one, if there is one, will shine just as brightly.

in passing: street art (willamsburg and east village)

New York City has a lot of public art. Some of it is formal. Some of it is . . . not. Here's some I've photographed in my travels, mostly on the way to concerts.


East Village brontosaurus, on the way to Webster Hall

I use this one as a landmark. Walk TOWARDS the brontosaurus to get to the show! God forbid they ever paint over it, I'll be totally lost. Also, it's kind of cute.


Williamsburg wall, near the Knitting Factory

And a detail of the alien:



Same neighborhood, amid a bunch of automotive related businesses:

We're on our third day of grey, wet weather here. Some brightly colored things as a pick-me-up:



Found these in Brooklyn on my way to a lunch date. It was ungodly hot outside and I was hiding from the daystar in a convenient foyer.



From my local garden, aka Convent Garden. There are all kinds of statues and figurines and bird baths and stuff in this garden, it is like the backyard for the entire neighborhood and everyone has just one thing they want to put out. I just liked the juxtaposition of ivy and Pietà.

A little further uptown, there's the (one of) the gardens at The Cloisters, as of early July:



And finally, some daffodils, found near the train station in Providence, Rhode Island in early August:

nyc summer: unexpected palm trees

I felt like I was seeing them everywhere. But maybe just at a few places, like at the pier next to the East River:



And on the beach at Governor's Island:





And then, for flavor, a real palm trees, on a fancy roofdeck:

wayback machine: the gates, 2005

The snowman expresses how I felt today:



That's Christo and Jeanne-Claude's The Gatesin the background there. I was living in New Jersey at the time, and I had to make a special trip in to town to see them. In addition to being snowy, it was raw and cold and slippery, and a goo many pictures from the set are blurry and strange, probably because my hands were shaking.



I really did like the Gates, even though they were kind of ridiculous. Perhaps because they were ridiculous. They were just such a beautiful burst of color in the snow.



After tottering around Central Park I took myself out to lunch at Alice's Tea Cup, which at the time was a significant extravagance. I was already kind of sick, and I think it was after this that I came down with the world's worst case of bronchitis.

It was worth it, though.

Nathan's, Original and Best, Coney Island, July 3, 2010

Taken on the way to the train, after a baseball game. It was 4th of July weekend, hotter than the surface of the sun, and the sidewalks were packed. Nathan's is one of those places I gravitate towards when I see an outpost on the road, a gustatory touchstone, if you will. Simple. Uncomplicated. Delicious.