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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Midtown, 58th Street Between Seventh Avenue and Broadway

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I know some of you have been impatiently waiting for a truck shot. Here it is.

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Midtown, 58th Street Between Seventh Avenue and Broadway

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This is the front of the building I've been stuck on for the last couple of nights. See those painted green squares? I did a little checking on the web and discovered that a square is a construction symbol that means remove. I confess I said Oh, No! to myself.

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Midtown, 58th Street Between Seventh Avenue and Broadway

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………. click to enlarge

I wanted to show you this photo last night, along with the other two, but it got so late and I was all snarled up in Photoshop, so I gave it up. Not that I changed it today. I gave that up, too. I just wish sunlight was hitting those towers.

Notice the small building in the middle. That's the one from the first two photos; here it's seen in a larger perspective. I've mentioned before my fondness for these old small buildings left standing alone with their sides exposed. It's not clear to me if this one is due to be demolished or it's just going to have a new neighbor. Anyway, you see it here surrounded by its taller, clunky and undistinguished neighbors. And off in the distance gleaming like the Emerald City of Oz are the ethereal towers of the Time Warner building.

OR, off in the distance, tall and menacing, are the cold, inhuman towers of the TIME WARNER BUILDING.

Read it as you will, but you must admit, it does seems to have many elements of the contemporary New York streets. And I haven't even mentioned the dumpster in the foreground.

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Midtown, 58th Street Between Seventh Avenue and Broadway

Mary Sargent © 2008 ……… click to enlarge



Mary Sargent © 2008 ………… click to enlarge


Bill and I parted at Seventh Avenue; he was getting the bus back to DC and I was going home. I walked this block last year on October 10, but then I was walking west to east and showed only photos of a truck I was smitten with. Now I show you some actual street.

I have to find out what those orange pieces are on the side of this building. I need to know more about construction and demolition. I don't seem to know any construction workers.

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Midtown, 58th Street at Madison Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


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Midtown, 58th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


I wanted to show you a photograph of Bergdorf Goodman's Men's Store across the street from the main store on Fifth Avenue, but this awful, intrusive truck was in the way. ha ha ha ha ha! Isn't it gorgeous?

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Midtown, Fifth Avenue at 58th Street

Time for some color! We haven't had any since the flowered taxi post a week ago.



Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

That's F A O Schwartz, the famous toy store.

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Midtown, 58th Street between Sixth and Fifth Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

The buillding on the right with the sloping facade is the north side of Sheldon Solow's building known as 9 West 57th Steet and built in 1974. For the pros and cons of sloping facades, and more photos, check this out.

This is across the street from the Plaza Hotel.

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Midtown, 58th Street Between Sixth and Fifth Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This is the side of the Plaza Hotel where much work is taking place. I confess I haven't kept up with the Plaza, and on a first pass, the most current information I could find was from 2005. But you might want to take a look at the National Trust Historic Preservation site anyway, which is pretty interesting. If you're interested in that sort of thing.

See map.