And now to conclude this walk, I give you three rooftop shots. The first one was taken from the block between 11th and 12th, but who's counting?
Mary Sargent © 2009 ………… click to enlarge
Mary Sargent © 2009 ………… click to enlarge
Mary Sargent © 2009 ……….. click to enlarge
It looks like tomorrow is a beautiful day. Maybe I'll get that long walk I've been longing for. Craving spring.
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Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge
Who could resist this color? Don't overlook the orange wrist band.
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Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge
There are two costume shops on this block, and in line with my plan to participate more, I decided to go shopping. Hmm, which one?
Mary Sargent © 2009 ………click to enlarge
Right! This one. Gothic Renaissance.
Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………….….. click to enlarge
Mary Sargent © 2009 …. click to enlarge
These are just a few of their costume and/or everyday items, depending on where you work.
So I bought a roll of spider web tape. Easy to carry.
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Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge
At the beginning of this walk, last Wednesday, we saw the spire of Grace Church up ahead. And here it is again, showing up behind this building. This is Grace Memorial House, part of the Grace Church Complex.
In the Landmarks Preservation Commission report of February 22, 1977, the point is made that this is a "terminal vista obtained by looking west on 11th Street toward Fourth Avenue," and that among the few other notable buildings in New York which provide such a view are Grand Central Station at the head of Park Avenue, The Metropolitan Museum of Art at the end of east 82nd Street, and the New York Public Library at the end of east 41st Street.
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is another at West 112th Street.
The Landmarks Commission report above is actually concerned with the Clergy House which is another building in this complex. For an interesting newspaper item from 1883 about the Memorial House, click here. I love to read old newspapers. They're so chatty.
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Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge
This is what the Cooper Station Post Office looks like to the 21st Century stroller.
Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge
I cropped the photograph to cut down the influence of the tall buildings around the post office and I'm imagining this is more what it looked like when it was built in the 1930s.
Does it surprise you that you can find reviews and stories of experiences at this post office on Yelp?
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Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………….. click to enlarge
Here's a nice uncomplicated posting. No research, no opinions, no videos, no links. I took this photograph to record my location (10th Street) and then became captivated by the oranges, reds and horrible neon yellow (oops, an opinion) accented by blue, the complement of orange.
The end.
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Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge
Does something seem to be terribly wrong at 65 Fourth Avenue? In case you can't see what that godawful mess of a façade is made of, here's a closeup.
Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge
I googled 65 Fourth Avenue and discovered that it is the home of Hakata Ippudo, apparently a famous and widely admired Japanese ramen chain. According to Rameniac, Ippudo is the John Coltrane of ramen. (If mediocre ramen is smooth jazz.)
I must say, the reviews and excitement about this noodle shop have got me ready to go right back down there.
Back to the visual mess. Since it's a chain, I guess they wanted to make it look like the shops in Japan, so they slapped these wooden slats onto a totally inappropriate building and walked away.
Actually, I was more interested in Lam's Garden when I took this and several other photographs, although it is probably not the John Coltrane of Chinese takeout, and is certainly not beautiful. What it does have is a certain East Village visual integrity.
BUT if this ramen is as good as they say it is, I'm prepared to breeze right past those wooden slats without a word of complaint.
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Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge
Fourth Avenue is the shortest of our numbered avenues, a mere six blocks long, and it also slants away from Third Avenue instead of behaving like all the other avenues and lining up in a very measured parallel way. Why did they make it an avenue, anyway? Originally, at 14th street, it straightened up and became a proper avenue, but then they renamed the northern part Park Avenue and Park Avenue South. If you care about such things, please see Forgotten New York for a thorough history of this avenue.
Above is an eye-level shot of the street across the street and below is a long shot of the same buildings. Don't you wonder what those apartments looked like when they were built? Imagine living on the top floor of the tall one.
Mary Sargent © 2009 …………click to enlarge
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