Hudson Heights, Broadway Between 181st and 182nd Streets

Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

My obsession has advanced. I now feel as though I should post a photograph of every block. When I began this blog and was more rational, sometimes people interpreted the project as posting a photograph of every block and I would be quick to correct them. Oh, no, I would say, that would be impossible! No, every street, not every block.

Well.

Sometimes I find myself thinking I should post a photograph of every building, even. I'm feeling a little like the director in Synecdoche, who tried to create a copy of everything in his world. I hope mine doesn't end like his did.

Anyway, this is this block.



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West Village, Seventh Avenue South Between Commerce and Barrow Streets

Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Caliente Cab Co. seems to be overwhelmingly disdained for its mediochre overpriced food, but it's so cute and the location is so good, and there're so many people in the world who haven't yet been there, that it stays in business. How long has it stayed in business? Since 1984. I was here soon after it opened. Everyone has to go once. Your turn.

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Manhattanville, 126th Street Between Broadway and Old Broadway

Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

As I walked along 126th Street, I noticed that the north and south sides of the street were very different, at least on the first few blocks. This is the south side.

And below is the north side.



Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

We saw this building from Broadway back in February.

This day in May was brilliant. The sky was that blue and the trees were that green. There was an expansive lawn around the tall building, but no people were taking advantage of it. On the south side, however, men sat around in chairs on the sidewalk. They wouldn't let me take pictures. Uhn, uhn, they said, shaking their heads.


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Washington Heights, 173rd Street Between St. Nicholas and Wadsworth Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

You may have noticed that when I got to the end of 173rd Street, I just turned around and went straight back the way I came. Usually I walk back on another street, but as I've said a few times already, it was cold.

I'm dreaming of long, long warm days.

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Alphabet City, Avenue A Between 4th and 5th Streets

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

We have now come to Alphabet City, a subset of the East Village. It's obvious why it's called Alphabet City (Avenues A-D), but I have been trying to find out when it got its name, with no success. Anyone out there know?

Here's something that's bothered me forever. Why didn't they start the numbered avenues in the west and go east, instead of going from east to west? When you read a map, it's backwards. Why wouldn't you start the numbers at the left, the way we read? (AND of course, the Avenues A-D go west to east, the right way.)

This is Etherea, a small and well-regarded record store.

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East Village, 4th Street Between Bowery and Second Avenue

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

Will you look at that color? I'm putting in a label for color. By that, I mean colorful buildings. Signage doesn't count, being colorful by nature.

Okay, label's in, but I'm only through 2006 so far.




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

When I took this shot, I had no idea how interesting the KGB Bar would be. You must check out the link. Now I want to go there. And maybe the Comedy Club, too.

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Midtown, 44th Street Between Third and Lexington Avenues

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


Somehow I feel like I'm in a British crime novel. "Furtively glancing about, she quickly slipped the locket into her purse and silently exited."

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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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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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Theater District, Eighth Avenue Between 43th and 42nd Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 ………. click to enlarge

Sometimes I feel like the rawest tourist. Is this building believable? Doesn't it look like a graphic design? Why haven't I heard about it? I have the feeling everyone knows about it but me.

Looking at this, you know you're in the theater district.

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Theater District, Eighth Avenue Between 46th and 45th Streets

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

Same walk of November 4; I've just crossed into another neighborhood, turning onto Eighth Avenue and walking downtown to 42nd Street to get the subway home.

There're two ways these old buildings, only 4 stories high, still stand. One way is when it's squeezed between tall, tall newer buildings and the other is this way, standing all by itself, isolated. Well, there are more than two ways, but these two ways seem especially poignant to me. I hope I'm not identifying with old buildings.

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Hell's Kitchen, 46th Street Between Ninth and Eighth Avenues

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

Now we're back into civilization. You can tell because here there be restaurants. In fact, this block is called Restaurant Row, and I'm sorry I can't tell you how many restaurants on it, but I didn't think of counting them at the time. A lot of pre-theater business.

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Murray Hill, 28th Street Between Third and Lexington Avenues

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

This is the last shot from my lunchtime walk a week ago Friday, ending in a crescendo of color and complexity. Very different from the beginning.

After shooting this scene for a few minutes, I was stimulated enough that I could face going back to my beige office with the metal filing cabinets.

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Inwood, Henshaw Street Between Dyckman Street and Riverside Drive

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

This is right across the street from the shot in last night's photo. I remember the first time I lived where zoning was relaxed, and commercial and residential uses existed on the same block. This was in Springfield, Illinois, the state's capital, where I had moved with my husband and children. I was a child of the suburbs, and it seemed exotic to me and charming. I still find it interesting and desirable. I want to be able to go downstairs and get a newspaper or a cup of coffee! Well, dammit, the block I live on now, in Inwood, is strictly residential. I just can't afford to live in a mixed environment, I guess.

Of course, I'm getting a bit far afield here as this block doesn't exactly offer newspapers and coffee. It doesn't have that quality of being in the thick of things, which is part of the appeal to me. But I'm still charmed.

See map.

Hell's Kitchen, 58th Street Between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues

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

Next building down the block. That's a sleeping man in the corner there.

Inwood, Tenth Avenue Between 202nd and 203rd Streets

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

And now, back to the waking world. This was one of several arresting sights I saw walking up Tenth Avenue on my way home from my Labor Day walk.

Another was a small live chicken shop where they slaughter them to order and maybe also sell them live if you want to do your own slaughtering. One of the guys came out when he saw me with my camera and wagged his finger at me, no.

Inwood, Ninth Avenue at 208th Street

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

Ninth Avenue begins downtown at 14th Street, and later becomes Columbus Avenue, which ends at 110th Street. Completely ridiculously, it picks up again at 201st street (that's 91 blocks!) and stumbles along 7 blocks until it comes to an ignominous end right here. Do we call this an avenue?

However, I love these streets on the edges; they're my favorite places to walk. There's such surprising color and design in these very practical, and very unbeautiful places. Can you believe that arrow? By the way, the sign on the building says New York City Transit Authority, Ninth Avenue Unit Shop.

I also did a tight shot of the doorway, which I can't resist showing you, thus violating two rules with one photo.
1. Show only one photo per day. 2. Show one view only per site.


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

There.

West Village, Cornelia Street

Mary Sargent © 2006

Last Sunday, that miserable rainy day, I had brunch at Inside on Jones Street (fried oysters and baked grits with white cheddar and, of course, a bloody mary). A lovely little restaurant with windows opening onto a quiet street.

Attentive followers of this blog may remember that a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned looking forward to eating at Inside and photographing Cornelia Street. Luckily, by the time we arrived, the rain had stopped and stayed stopped long enough for me to fulfill that wish.

Upper East Side, 78th Street Between Second and Third Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2006

I won’t say it again. Tomorrow we leave this and move to the more retrained and austere Upper West Side.

Upper East Side, 78th Street Between First and Second Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2006

Who knew the Upper East Side was so colorful? Or did I already say that?