Midtown East, Second Avenue Between 37th and 36th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Early post to beat the New Year's Eve rush.

I love New Year's Eve and Day, the end of an old year, and thank god, the beginning of a fresh new one! With optimism that this one will be BETTER. Please. And I'm all for ritual. This is the first year of my blog, so I'm right now establishing a ritual. Tomorrow I'm posting something from 2007. This means I must get up, get out, and take some photographs, come home, select one, edit it, write it, all in time to leave at 4:30 for a New Year's Day party. I'm up for it!

Luckily my New Year's ritual before the blog has not involved late night parties and drunkenness, appropriate though that may be. On this one night, I like to get all serious and reflect and make resolutions and go to bed at a reasonable hour and wake up without a hangover. So it's probable that I'll be in good shape to get out there and photograph tomorrow.

I realize that I'm probably writing to myself, as this ritual will go unnoticed by most of my readers since they'll be involved in their own selfish rituals without a thought for me. That's okay! I understand.

So for the last posting of 2006, here are two views of a building on Second Avenue, taken on my December 28 walk. It's old, that's appropriate. And, as I've mentioned elsewhere, these buildings left standing while all around them new tall buildings are going up seem poignant to me and I feel like I must photograph them before they're gone. These two especially so, since it looks like their immediate neighbors were just stripped away. Oh, let me not get maudlin. For auld lang syne and so forth.

Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for visiting! Love you!

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Midtown East, First Avenue Between 36th and 37th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I love it when people match their clothes to their surroundings.

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Midtown East, First Avenue Between 35th and 36th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I began a new walk yesterday at lunch time. Pretty cold and windy, and at times, I shot with my gloves on.

I really don't know what to call this area. It's east of Murray Hill, which has its eastern border at 2nd Avenue. Kips Bay extends to the East river, but ends at 34th Street. Tudor City's southern border is 40th Street. Could this be an area with no name? I considered NoKi (north of Kips Bay, of course), but rejected it because the name is too cute for the area, which is not one bit cute.

I was thinking if you lived there, and people asked you where you lived, you might say the Queens Midtown Tunnel area, so that's what I'm calling it until I hear something better.

This photo is on the east side of First Avenue between 35th and 36th Streets, all fenced in. Waiting for big things to come, or just waiting?

And now I'm coming back from March 12, 2007 to say that I have it all sorted out and this falls in the Midtown East category. Not as interesting, alas.

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Nolita, Jersey Street Between Mulberry and Lafayette Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

At this point, I'm walking to pick up streets, although Jersey Street is pretty much an alley. There's another leg of it that runs between Lafayette and Crosby Streets and I remember walking it in the 80's and being a little apprehensive (I've been doing this map thing for a long time, but I've discarded maps as they fell apart and faded). And it was in the day time that I was uneasy. In my memory, the street wasn't even paved, which is probably not true, and there were human feces lying about, which is true.

Now it's dark and there's nothing to worry about; everything's neat and clean and neat and clean people are walking about.

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Nolita, Spring Street Between Mulberry and Lafayette Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Last night's post began the walk back from 11 Spring Street. I guess you'd say Spring Street begins at the Bowery, since the numbers start there and get higher as you go West where it ends at West Street at the river. Shouldn't it start at the river and go inland?

Here is Spring Street at Lafayette.

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Nolita, Spring Street Between Mott and Mulberry Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Hope everyone's Christmas and/or day off was splendid. As my Jewish boss said, it's always good to be away from work.

Now, we must return to Nolita to finish the walk of December 17. And we must finish before the New Year. Herewith, 34 Spring Street with matching van. I wish I could make out what the plaque says, but even with it enlarged, I could only read New York City. Of course, I'm making a note to go back and read it. Of course.

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Upper West Side, Columbus Avenue Between 66th and 67th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I have a few more shots to show from the Nolita walk, but I thought this was a better photograph for now, since I'm going to take off the next two days, and Christmas will be all over when I come back.

So, yesterday we got off work early and on the way home, I stopped off at Pottery Barn on Broadway and 67th to get some champagne flutes for Christmas Eve dinner, and got this shot on Columbus Avenue nearby. I love, love how they do these trees for the holidays.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and love to all.

Back Tuesday night.

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Nolita, Elizabeth Street Between Prince and Spring Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Okay, back to the world of non-events. Same day (December 17), same area. I walked around the block from 11 Spring Street and this is coming back the other way. Over the door of this graffiti covered building, where you can see the beginning of the number 209, it reads E. La Rosa & Son Bread, but inside they are now selling very expensive looking objects and there is an impressive amount of wasted floor space.

But, of course.


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Nolita, Elizabeth Street Between Spring and Prince Streets

So here's the shot that should have been first, the establishing shot that shows the front of the building on Elizabeth Street. Apparently local street artists painted over the murals that were shown in the The New York Times article because they were mad that some of the invited artists painted over their stuff on Houston Street. I didn't know this when I saw it and thought it looked pretty good.

Here's what Bluejake, had to say about it.





And here's the entrance. I had some idea of going inside, but the line stretched from the entrance on Elizabeth, across Spring Street to the Bowery, up the Bowery to Prince and then halfway across Prince. Un,uh.

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Nolita, Elizabeth and Spring Streets

I am so frustrated. I have been trying to get this post up for an hour and a half and I have to give up now getting it the way I want it. We are missing the first two photographs. I'll try again tomorrow. In the meantime, here are the last two.





Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Here it is, 11 Spring Street. Go to The New York Times for a good article. Briefly, this building has been a canvas for street art for quite a while, then the building was sold to be made into condos, but the new owners were sympathetic to the art, they invited internationally known street artists to come paint the five floors inside, and then they opened it to the public Friday through Sunday. Then, Monday, the inside was to be covered with drywall where it will be preserved in a "time capsule." So, what a happy story, yes?

The first photograph is at the front of the building on Elizabeth Street (you'll see the long shot tomorrow), and the second one is on the side on Spring Street.

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Nolita, Spring Street Between Lafayette and Mulberry Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Something new for the blog! You may have noticed that I don't do events; no Halloween or Thanksgiving parade, no Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. If I went to one of those things, I'd photograph it, but I don't usually do things like that. But I did go to an event Sunday and now you're going to see it. I'm fairly excited about this unusual timeliness.

This photograph sets the stage: we're in Nolita. No-lee-ta. Once upon a time in a land called Nolita, there lived a group of people who seemed strangely unaware of Christmas. In fact, although someone had put a little tree in the window of Gatsby's Lounge Bar & Grill, no one seemed to know what it was for and they simply shrugged their shoulders and went on shopping and talking on their cell phones . . .

This is actually true. That little tree is pretty much it for any signs of Christmas on the entire length of Spring Street in Nolita.

But I digress. Tomorrow night I'm jumping ahead to shots of 11 Spring Street, only 3 days after the actual event. Later, I'll come back and show you some photos taken on the way there. I'm a bit breathless at this deviation from routine.

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Upper East Side, Fifth Avenue Between 74th and 73rd Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Central Park in the winter sun. And looking beyond it to the West Side, you can see the twin towers of the San Remo, a 1930's Art Deco apartment building.

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Upper East Side, 77th Street Between Madison and Fifth Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This is one of those spots where I make a mental note to come back another time to see it in different conditions, like when the scaffolding comes down or when the doors are closed. But will I? Not likely. Too much walking to do first.

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Upper East Side, 77th Street Between Park and Madison Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

So after the test at Lenox Hill (this is still Wednesday, December 6), I walked across 77th Street to Fifth Avenue and then down Fifth to 72nd Street. A bit more photogenic than the Columbus Avenue walk, but not much.

This is one of the few, and it depends on the sunlight and the backlit man and the black and copper colored van. Who's ever seen a black and copper colored van? Perfect.

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Upper West Side, 97nd Street Between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Primary colors plus lime green. Certainly the most colorful thing I saw on this walk.

After this, I walked back to 96th Street and had a late breakfast at the, I think, Strand Diner, just off Broadway. Two eggs over easy, bacon, grits, whole wheat toast with grape jelly (is there any other kind in a diner?), orange juice and coffee. I hope diners will always be with us. Then fortified, I took the subway and bus to the East Side and Lenox Hill Hospital for the MRA.

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Upper West Side, 92nd Street at Columbus Avenue Looking West

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Don't know what the building is or what that oval opening is, but through the miracle of zooming in, I do know that the little object at the bottom of the oval is a vase of flowers. Some day when I go back to walk on West 92nd Street, I'll see the front of that building and all will be clear. Sheherazade, that's me.

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Upper West Side, Columbus Avenue Between 88th and 89th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Columbus Avenue between 86th and 97th Streets is mighty dull. Lots of tall, ugly apartment houses with their jutting terraces. This is the only shot I'm showing from Columbus Avenue, and it's only worth showing because of the cute little woman in the building colored clothes and hair.

If you're interested in what the plaque is all about, it's about the Phelps House.

I have this thought that once I've walked all streets in Manhattan (that is, when I'm really old), I'll go back to those blocks where I didn't get a photo and hang out there until I get a good one. I think if I waited long enough, I could.

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Upper West Side, 86th Street Between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Last Wednesday, my day off, I had therapy (psycho) early, then an MRA, with a 2 hour gap between. My head got a lot of attention that day. But I'm perfectly fine! Really. Anyway, the point being that I used the time to take a walk from my therapist's office on West 86th Street, up Columbus Ave to 97th Street and back down to 96th Street and the subway.

It was fairly cold, upper 40s, and bright sunshine. The first time I've had to deal with gloves while photographing. I admit to being apprehensive about cold weather ahead, being fairly weather wimpy.

So this photograph is across the street and down the block from my therapist's office. Not a memorable photograph, but when I look at it, I get a real sense of place and what that day was like. So I guess I'm doing it for me, not you. You can skip this one. Next one's for you.

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Greenwich Village, Sullivan Street Between Bleecker and Houston

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Final shot in my Greenwich Village walk of December 2.

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Greenwich Village, Sullivan Street at West Third Street

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Classic Village shot: young lovers walking down the street past the Shade Bar. Not that I've ever heard of the Shade Bar.

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Greenwich Village, Third Street Between Sixth Avenue and MacDougal

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Big guys with red hair wearing salmon pink sweatshirts have to expect to be photographed, and he must be used to it, as he paid me no mind while I walked around him and took five shots. Although, come to think of it, no one else did either.

This is the end of this happening little block. Third Street between MacDougal and Sullivan is pretty bland, the whole block being taken up by an NYU building, no shots there. Next up, Sullivan Street.

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Greenwich Village, Third Street Between Sixth Avenue and MacDougal Street

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I thought I was just shooting another Psychic Shop, but I got home to discover that I had shot the Village Psycho (enlarge to see), and not only that, if you look into the bottom of the left window, you can see the psycho himself, manipulating some poor wretch.

Actually, upon closer (closeup) scrutiny, I can see it's a TV screen, but still . . .

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Greenwich Village, Third Street Between Sixth Avenue and MacDougal Street

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Last Saturday I went down to the Clay Festival, a juried pottery show at St. Anthony's Church on Houston Street, where my friend, Myra Nissim had a table loaded with her beautiful bowls and jars. It was about 4:20, twilight, and a good time of day to be shooting. I walked across 3rd to Sullilvan Street and down to Houston. Third Street between Sixth and MacDougal was a bonanza of photos.

I had a hard time deciding whether or not to post this photo. I have a similar one I could have used which is better in one way but not as good in another. The problem with the one above is that it looks like a photograph of a restaurant; the restaurant sign is too prominent. Cropping didn't work. But I love the right side of it and hate to give it up. What I love are the different shades of red, magenta and orange next to the green door and the light in the staircase and the staircase itself. What I should do is go down there and take another photograph moving over to the right. But I don't have time tonight! Then what I should do is just not post it. But. . . What do you think? Should I have put the safer one up instead? Here it is to help you decide.



Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

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West Harlem, Morningside Avenue Between 124th and 123rd Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I guess we've crossed into West Harlem; Wikipedia defines it as west of St. Nicholas Avenue. Morningside Avenue runs from 113th Street to 125th with most of its length alongside Morningside Park. This block is just above the park. See map.

This is the last photo of the Harlem walk on the day after Thanksgiving. Here the strong sun is a good thing.

Central Harlem, 125th Street Between Frederick Douglas Blvd. and St. Nicholas Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I don't remember being frightened when I took this photograph but maybe I should have been.

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Central Harlem, St. Nicholas Avenue Between 117th and 118th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Nothing to say about this one except that I'm crazy about flat blank surfaces with oddly placed little windows. I get the same feeling when I look at this photo as I do when I smell cilantro, a brief moment of ecstatic pleasure. It might be a defective gene.

But you won't know what I'm talking about unless you enlarge it. It's so, uh, diminished when it's small.

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Central Harlem, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. at 116th Street

Mary Sargent © 2006 ………………….........………….. click to enlarge

I'm going to backtrack here because I should have mentioned Amy Ruth's when we were on the last block. We had been keeping our eyes out for soul food, Bill and I (see beginning of Harlem walk if you don't know who Bill is), and when we turned onto 116th Street, I spotted Amy Ruth's, a well known Harlem soul food restaurant. It was after 2:00 so we didn't have to wait in line, but it's not like there were many empty tables. Now I admit that I wasn't very hungry and so I had a smaller dish, the salmon croquettes, instead of their signature dish, chicken and waffles, so I'm not making a definitive statement here; I'm just saying I didn't think it was that great. And I know from southern cooking, folks. My mamma was from Mississippi and I've never tasted fried chicken better than hers – I think it was the bacon fat she fried it in. And the idea of putting honey on your fried chicken is bizarre to me. That's southern? No thanks. Sounds more Yankee to me. They put sugar in their cornbread, too.

Anyway, if you clicked on the Amy Ruth link, you saw that reviews were mixed. I might try their chicken with waffles someday, but I wouldn't make a special trip.

Okay, so here we have the First Corinthian Baptist Church, a well known Harlem church. It was originally built as a movie theater in 1912, the Regent Theatre. What must it have been like to go to a movie there? By the way, the link above has good photographs, worth seeing.

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Central Harlem, Lenox Avenue Between 119th and 118th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 ……………….........…………….. click to enlarge

Well, after spending hours on the problem of CAN'T UPLOAD, it's finally resolved. Seems a bunch of other bloggers at Blogger had the same problem and everyone was gnashing their teeth, no way to contact tech support, of course, but every now and then, one of them would drop a message in with a suggestion and finally one worked for me. Press Ctrl-F5. Oh, the relief.

So this is last night's post and I'll put another up tonight, if all goes well.

Please enlarge this photo; it comes to life bigger. If I had a way to make you enlarge every single photo you look at on this blog, I wouldn't hesitate to use that power. It's for the greater good, after all.

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Can't Post Photo Dammit

And the editing of text is primitive. I've been trying all night to get my photo up with no success. I'll keep working on it.