Midtown, 56th Street Between Lexington and Park Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………                                  ………….. click to enlarge

WOW, would you look at this!  What I've wanted from the very beginning.  I'll take it while I can because as we all know, the computer giveth and the computer taketh away and one never knows why or when.  Of course I'm talking about the size of the photograph.

Now I want to redo all my photos.  

This funny little building has Republic of Zimbabwe in letters above its door, so I assume it's the consulate, but I can't confirm it.

Midtown, Lexington Avenue at 56th Street

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………………….. click to enlarge

Here you are, walking in midtown, seeing the everyday sights and suddenly you glance downtown and there's.a scene from a Russian fairy tale.  Actually it's  a synagogue.  Central Synagogue.  I was surprised.  From the front, it's not so exotic; it's impressive, but not surprising.  Go here, to learn everything there is to know about Central Synagogue.

Midtown, 56th Street Between Third and Lexington Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 …………………………….. click to enlarge

The same building in a less festive mood.

Midtown, 56th Street at Third Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2010 ….....……………….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

I think of Johnny Rockets fondly because it was there in the DC train station that I accidentally had a scrambled egg cheese sandwich and knew it was good.  I still think of it from time to time.  After that, I tried the Egg McMuffin at McDonalds and I'm sorry to say, it was not in the same league.  The DC Johnny Rockets also had a good juke box. 

Hmm.  I just checked their menu and breakfast is not on it.

Now I am confused.  I just googled Egg McMuffin and discovered it's made with a fried egg.  I could swear I had a scrambled egg McMuffin.  I had to have or how could I compare them.  Unless I had a fried egg at Johnny Rockets.  No!  It was scrambled!

Midtown, Third Avenue Between 57th and 56th Streets

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Just the facts tonight.  Can't keep eyes open.

1.  Behind those 4 red awnings lie the famed textile company Scalamandre. 
2.  Bernice Abbott photographed this spot in 1936 when it was Sumner Healey Antiques.  
3.  Bernice Abbott was a famous American photographer who photographed New York extensively.

Midtown East, 57th Street Between Second and Third Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….………………….. click to enlarge

Midtown East, 57th Street Between Second and Third Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ……………… ………………….. click to enlarge

This is a shot of 57th Street from Second Avenue looking west.  Has a touch of the exotic, I think.  I was imagining a sultan's palace back there.  It must be the trees, they're not your typical New York City trees, they're foreign looking, they're, well, what the heck are they?  If you type "flat topped tree" into Google, you'll discover that they are either acacia trees or they look exactly like them, and acacia trees are African.  There you go.
  



Mary Sargent © 2010 ……………….. click to enlarge

Midtown East, Second Avenue Between 58th and 57th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…………......… ………………….. click to enlarge

Now, turning down Second Avenue - Yikes, school's out!  Teenagers one by one are great.  I like em.  It's probably because I still identify with rebellion and all that.  But in packs, they lose all charm, doncha think?
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In other news, please take the time to view this beautiful short film.  Up There, directed by Malcolm Murray.  It's about 12 minutes long, interesting and poignant  About the (dying) craft of painting signs.  Filmed in New York.

Midtown East, 58th Street at Second Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2010 ……………….....….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

Oh, if only I were Kate Lowenstein.  This gal would go right in Public Eye.

Midtown East, 58th Street Between Third and Second Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 …….....…………….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

Farther down the block is Chola which turns out to be the best value dining of the block.  Chola has Zagat ratings of 23 for food (as high as Dawat) and the lowest prices of all:  $39.  Check out the menu; it looks pretty interesting.  Now I'm going to have to talk someone into going there for dinner.

Midtown East, 58th Street Between Third and Second Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

And now in the next block, three restaurants in a row.  Eenie, meenie, minie . . .  No, I actually made a conscious choice.  Dawat would've been the wisest choice because it had the highest Zagat ratings for food (23) and the lowest for price ($48 [for dinner]).  And I have wanted to go there.  But Indian food for lunch by myself didn't appeal.  You need at least one other person, so you can try more than one main dish and you need to eat the wonderful bread and the pickles and other condiments.  Save Dawat for dinner.

So then it's a choice between two Italian restaurants.  I rejected Mia Dona, simply based on seeing a lot of guys standing around, I don't know why, it just didn't appeal to me at that moment, but it turns out maybe I should have tried it.  Its Zagat ratings are 21 - $53.

So I picked Nino's 208, with ratings of 21 - $58.  Way to go, Mary!  Value oriented, you're not.  Luckily, it was a wonderful lunch.



Mary Sargent © 2010 …………....……….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

Midtown, 58th Street Between Lexington and Third Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………………….. click to enlarge

Yes, we're still at One Beacon Court.  I couldn't help it.  It looks as if people and cars sort of mingle together in this court without worrying too much about it.  If only we could all get along like this!





Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………………….. click to enlarge

And here is Le Cirque, mentioned last night, complete with man on important call leaning against post.  We know it's important because he's still clutching his napkin in his hand.

And speaking of lunch . . .  It won't be at Le Cirque, so it's time to leave One Beacon Court and




Mary Sargent © 2010 ……………………….. click to enlarge


get back to the street.

Midtown, 58th Street Between Lexington and Third Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ....................................click to enlarge

There.  Isn't this surprising and wonderful?  A curved, glassy courtyard.






Mary Sargent © 2010 ....................................click to enlarge

While I was standing there photographing, an old lady approached me to talk about the building:  what is it, anyway, and isn't it surprising, and wonderful.  We were in agreement.  Then the talk shifted to politics, because I mentioned Bloomberg, as being somehow connected to the building (see sign).  She didn't approve of Bloomberg, but admired Giuliani and I respectfully disagreed.  Then she said, but that President!  I said Obama?  I love him.  You love him?  He hates everybody, he hates Catholics, he hates . . .  Then I accused her of listening to Fox News and then she said she listened to everything and stomped off.






Mary Sargent © 2010 ....................................click to enlarge

I should have been more diplomatic.

Bloomberg was the major tenant the developers needed.  If you're interested in New York City development, go to The City Review for a pretty comprehensive outline with many photographs.  As I mentioned last posting, this courtyard is just a small piece of the project, which covers the whole block, yes, including the awful Container Store.  And by the way, the courtyard is a drive-through between 58th and 59th Streets.  Also, by the way, Le Cirque has relocated here, a restaurant where if you're well-known, you're fawned over and if you're unknown, you're treated as if you shouldn't be there, as Ruth Reichl, the new New York Times Restaurant critic in 1993, proved by going there before she was known.  Let's all boycott Le Cirque!

Midtown, 58th Street Between Lexington and Third Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………………….. click to enlarge

I had hardly finished deploring The Container Store when this stunning sight caused me to stop in my tracks.  What IS that, I said, but not out loud.  As I later learned, this was only a small piece of a massive development designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates.  But this small piece is my favorite part.  There will be more to come; for now, it's bedtime.

Midtown, 58th Street at Lexington Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………….… ………………….. click to enlarge

I ask you, does this store belong on a Manhattan street?  Right you are, it most certainly does not.  It's big and bright and clunky and has no design sense - just look at the name on the metal thing over the door.  It's just wrong.  And the colors aren't bad, but they aren't used well.  It's a store that wants to make an impact but doesn't want to pay for it.  It belongs out on a highway far, far away.

I admit I was a little excited the first time I walked into one of their stores.  A whole giant store devoted to containers!  I thought I would see interesting, clever and beautiful containers.  Containers that surprised.  Adorable containers.  Containers I couldn't live without.  Instead, what I saw was rows of metal shelving filled with very ordinary plastic boxes.

This is a big box store. 

Midtown, 58th Street Between Park and Lexington Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ……………….. click to enlarge

And on the other side of the street - the downtown side - is one of the former locations of the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, built in 1928.  The Society has moved around a bit, and is now located on West 44th Street.  Read all about it in Wikipedia.






Mary Sargent © 2010 …………….. click to enlarge

Next to that building is this building, providing some of that contrast so beloved by New Yorkers.

Midtown, 58th Street Between Park and Lexington Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………....….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

You needed to see the lady with the pink socks.  This is in front of a branch of the New York Public Library on East 58th Street.

In other news, remember Chow Bar?  Tonight Luka and I went there to check out their Lucky Rice Restaurant Week offering.  Too bad tonight was the last night.  Twelve dollars for a plate of dim sum, which included their famous barbecued spare ribs, and was delicious.  That and happy hour cocktails for $6 made for a beautifully affordable dinner.  Or would have if I hadn't had a second cocktail, apparently after happy hour had ended, so it was $12, and Luka hadn't had a cup of tea, and then we hadn't had to try their chocolate fondue type dessert.

Midtown, 58th Street Between Park and Lexington Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 …………………….. click to enlarge

I've walked this block many times because my doctor's office is here, but somehow I've never seen it looking quite so festive as it does here.  I was unable to find out anything about the sculpture.  Anyone know?

Midtown, 58th Street at Park Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2010 ……………………….. click to enlarge

Yesterday the weather was perfect, sunny, warm and breezy, and I had to return some shoes to the Naturalizer store on Lexington Avenue.  Great day for a photowalk and an opportunity to pick up a block left behind.  After I returned the shoes, I started the walk.  It was about 1:30.  I walked back to 58th and Park and continued on 58th Street to Second Avenue.  Down Second one block to 57th, over 57th one block to Third, down Third one block (the left behind block) to 56th and then 56th to Broadway, and back home.

I'm pretty sure no one is interested in that information, but that doesn't stop me.  I have to say it.

See map.

West Village, 10th Street at West Street

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………….....……….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

Although this building is on the north side of West 10th, it has been included in the Weehawken Street Historic District Designation Report, and so we can know just about everything there is to know about it.  You'll be happy to know I'm not going to tell you everything there is to know about it, but it's good to know it's there.

It was built in 1903-04 as a hotel, the Holland Hotel, and over the years it has been home to many businesses, including Peter Rabbit, a gay men's bar,* and, lately Uguale Restaurant, followed by the present tenant, Antica Venezia Ristorante.

I used to go here when it was Uguale, not that the food was more than pretty good, but the space was nice, with the big windows looking out over the sunset and the West Side Highway. 

Now for architecture talk.  The style is neo-Renaissance and the facade materials are buff brick which has been painted, terra cotta, and a pressed metal cornice.  It features a round corner oriel.  What the heck is an oriel, I wondered.  Naturally, I googled.  The definitions all came up "oriel window", and said it was a projecting window which does not extend to the ground.  To me, the oriels in this building do not look like windows; they look like rounded spaces projecting from the building that have windows.  BUT they do not extend to the gound.  Anyway, I think we get the idea, and in the future, we will be able to impress our friends by throwing the term around.  Try to be casual.

For an explanation of why the building was included in the historic district, here's a quote from the report:

Built during the third significant phase of the historic district’s development, when it continued to be improved with residential, industrial, and commercial structures after the turn of the 20th century, this handsome 3-story, neo-Renaissance hotel, one of the last surviving hotels located along the Hudson River waterfront, contributes to the historically-mixed architectural character and varied uses – much of it maritime-related – of the Weehawken Street Historic District.

There will be more about the District itself when I photograph Weehawken Street.


*For a story about Peter Rabbit, go to Bent, "the place where disability and queerness meet head-on."

West Village, 10th Street Between Weehawken and West Streets

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………........….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

Oops, here's another street.  Weehawken is one block long and referred to as an alley by Forgotten New York (scroll way down the page to find Weehawken).  It seems there was once a Weehawken Market which opened in 1834, where New Jersey farmers came to sell their produce.  Uh, oh, I just found the Weehawken Street Historic District Designation Report, which will tell everything we need to know.  But it's too late to start on it now.  Yes, I should have started earlier.  It will have to wait.





Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………………….. click to enlarge

This is the one block between Weehawken and West Streets.

West Village, 10th Street Between Washington and West Streets

Mary Sargent © 2010 ……………….. click to enlarge

Here is the last block of West 10th Street before we hit the highways and the river.





Mary Sargent © 2010 ………….....……….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

And on the other side of the street, although lacking dramatic slanting sunlight, we have a cute little bike in front of a mini-storage building.  Mini-storage or self-storage refers to a business that rents units to individuals in which to store their excess goods, like old term papers and baby carriages.  There are many such buildings in New York with its notoriously small apartments.  This is a fairly not bad-looking building, but go here to see some really ugly mini-storage buildings.  Remember quonset huts?  I think that's where it all started.

West Village, 10th Street Between Greenwich and Washington Streets

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….……………... ………………….. click to enlarge

I must say this sounds like a wonderful school.  It almost makes me want to get married and have another family so I could send my children there.  There I go again, believing what I read.  You read it and see what you think:  Village Community School.

See map.