West Village, Seventh Avenue Between 12th and 11th Streets

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

Okay, I'm starting all over again, this time at the beginning.

It's a good thing I have a therapy appointment at 11:00 once a week because it gets me out of the house. You know all those times when I say I got a late start, didn't get out of the house until 4:00? Those are the days I don't have a therapy appointment. It's true I'm tired on therapy days from getting up so early, but I'm at least I'm out and can operate a camera.

So I took the No. 1 to 14th Street, but got off at the 12th Street exit. This is what you see when you emerge. We are in the Village now, even though it doesn't look village-like. 14th Street is the northern border. This is one border that doesn't change.

This is St. Vincent's Hospital. It's been around since 1849, beginning as a mere 30 beds in a small brick house on 13th Street. At that time it was one of the few charity hospitals in the city. St. Vincent, himself, was the patron saint of charities and hospitals. Um, there's probably a connection there.




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

Okay, here's one of those complicated intersections where three streets cross, and on the east side of the avenue, the streets cross perpendicularly, but on the other side, they take a steep turn south. Please pay attention. The girl walking toward us is walking across Seventh Avenue with the south side of St. Vincent's on the left. Now see the small red building in the middle? To the left of it is 11th Street and to the right is Greenwich Avenue. But on the other side of Seventh, 11th Street will cross over and head downtown and so, be south of Greenwich.

I hope you're still awake because it gets snappier now.




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

Now if I turn my head to the right, this is what I see. Hmm. One of those new boutique coffee shops. I could use a good cup of coffee.

By the way, this is Greenwich Avenue.


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Chelsea, Seventh Avenue at 23rd Street

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

I took the No. 1 to 23rd Street, the plan being to walk across 23rd to 5th Avenue, then up to 24th Street and the Wyndham Garden Hotel.

Across 7th Avenue was this hot dog joint, looking a little more ambitious than the usual. Go to Yelp to read 24 impassioned reviews and a little back and forth on Grey's vs. Chelsea.

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Chelsea, Seventh Avenue at 25th Street

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

I have finally left 26th Street – this blog was eight nights on one block. Not one street, one block. A pretty good block, I thought.

Now I've turned onto Seventh Avenue on my way to Whole Foods and Garden of Eden on 23rd Street. This is the northwest corner of 25th and Seventh.



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

And up above, we have one of those old faded signs. If you like old signs and signs in general, go immediately to New York City Signs – 14 to 42 Street. Another obsessive – of the best sort.

Tomorrow I hope to start a new walk.

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Chelsea, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street

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

This is one of the buildings of the Fashion Institute of Technology, more commonly known as F.I.T. It is but one of the buildings on this "campus" which extends to Eighth Avenue and spans 27th Street, but it is the only one we will see today. Lunch awaits.

I understand all the buildings look different. This one appears to be from the school of Grim. Perhaps it is meant to intimidate those of us with no style. At some future date I will dress myself in black and infiltrate and bring you back a report.

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Chelsea, Seventh Avenue at 28th Street

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

Last Friday, I had a date to meet Claire for lunch at my new favorite restaurant, Ilili. More about that later. Since I had time between getting out of therapy at noon and lunch at 1:30, I took a photowalk on the way. No 1 train to 28th Street, walked Seventh Avenue to 24th Street and over to Fifth. It was a bright, sunny day, chilly when the wind was blowing, warm when it wasn't. You'll see people in a variety of jackets, coats, shirtsleeves and bare arms.

No less an authority than Cynthia Heimel once wrote that wearing high heels, in spite of what you might say about why you shouldn't wear them, are excellent for getting cabs. If I remember correctly, she said she was tall to begin with and when she was wearing high heels, she made a commanding figure and taxis would come from two blocks away, screeching to a halt in front of her. I'm not sure this lady is tall enough to have that effect, but she did, indeed, get this taxi. But it might have been because her bag matched the color of the cab.



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

Farther down the block (toward 27th Street) this man is saying, hey! what about me?

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Midtown, Seventh Avenue at 30th Street

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

On the second floor, we have the Relax Center where men and women can get a back rub or a foot rub, 20 minutes for $22. Notice they kindly provide illustrations of these services. It was tempting, but I was on a quest (see July 13).

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Midtown, Seventh Avenue Between 31st and 30th Streets

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

I posted this photo in spite of its pathetic unsharpness because I like the Manheimer Building. It's a forgotten old building, dirty and uncared for, but it was probably a pretty thing when it went up, with its jade green accents. And what were the windows like? Also I thought since it had a name, I'd be able to find out something about it. No. At least not through Google. The red sign in the bottom window says Psychic Readings, Tarot. I should have gone in to get a reading so I could see the inside. The letters next to it say Honor Realty.

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Midtown, Seventh Avenue at 32nd Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge

This is fuse – you can see the last two letters of its name up there in the left top corner. I had no idea what it was – for all I knew, it could be a cosmetics store – but the signage sure got my attention.

Came home and found out it's a TV station. There's an exhausting, I mean exhaustive, article about them and their arresting façade on BNET, which uses words like interactive vitality, young, forward thinking, oh here, I'll just give you a quote:

fuse has an incredibly tech-savvy audience, one that is fully-wired and engaged in a two-way dialogue with the network via the Internet, cell phones, pagers and other wireless devices.

There you have it. And don't go telling me everybody already knows about this; this news is two years old. I'm sure at least several people out there were just as clueless as I was.

I left the enlargement oversized, so you can read the sign.

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Midtown, Seventh Avenue between 33rd and 32nd Streets

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

This building feels like a mystery to me, although it's actually very simple. Penn Station is down, Madison Square Garden is up. I've been to Penn Station dozens of times, Madison Square Garden, um, I really don't know. Did I go to a soccer game once with Richard? Do they have soccer games at Madison Square Garden? I went to an Elton John concert in the 80's. Was it at Madison Square Garden? Some of the events I go to are more or less other people's ideas and I just put one foot in front of the other and retain very little memory of it. Except I know they owe me! Big time.

So, these folks at the taxi line are obviously from the Penn Station part of the building, just so glad to be back home and please can I get a taxi soon and please let my apartment be just as I left it, with no burglaries and no broken pipes. Please. That's all I ask.

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Midtown, Seventh Avenue between 33rd and 32nd Streets

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

This group of sidewalk proselytisers was down the block from the entrance to Madison Square Garden. (I'm standing behind them shooting out toward the street.) They are advocating a new 9/11 investigation because, to state it in the mildest possible way, they think there are many questions which still need to be answered. Let me just say, the name Dick Cheney was mentioned.

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Midtown, Seventh Avenue between 34th and 33rd Streets

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

Okay, the quest. Guys and sensible women may want to skip this part. The rest of us can bond in frustration and despair. See, last summer I saw this lovely skirt of unusual colors; a purplish color and sort of puce and maybe mauve wheatish and ivory- grayish something. A skirt that neither white nor black looked exactly right with. In other words, I was going to have a hellova time finding something that looked good with it. So I bought it. This summer, and I'm still looking. Then one day, at the Gap, I picked up a redish purple tank top on sale even though it was a size too big and discovered it was an exact, I mean exact, match. As if made for. If only it fit.

So the quest was to find the right color in the right size. I went online to Gap store locater. I made a list in descending order matching convenience with photowalk potential. If necessary, I was going to go to every store in the city. The store on 34th street was number one.

And now I must go on my walk. I'll tell you what happened at the end of it.

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Midtown, Seventh Avenue at 34th Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 …….. click to enlarge




Mary Sargent © 2008 …….. click to enlarge

Last night I set out on a quest. I arrived at 34th and Seventh Avenue at 7:30 p.m. Late to be starting on a quest you say? Not at all. I walked down Seventh Avenue to 30th Street and walked east to Sixth Avenue and back up to 34th Street where I arrived at my destination: The Gap. You were thinking the Empire State Building, maybe.

Let me set the scene. It was a beautiful, a perfect summer evening. Warm, not hot, not humid. Lovely breezes. These things can be appreciated even on Seventh and 34th. At 7:30 it's still like rush hour, so I have to stand out of the way.

Here are two shots of the Empire State Building from afar. In the first one, the spire is visible above the Delta sign, and a little farther down the block, there it glistens.

I'll tell you about the quest tomorrow night.

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Chelsea, Seventh Avenue between 22nd and 23rd Streets

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

Along about now seemed like a good time to sit down with a glass of wine and watch the world go by. I can't remember now whether I had the thought and then spotted Porters or spotted Porters and then had the thought. I sat at the middle table there on the edge.

If you're thinking why would anyone want to sit outside on a cloudy, chilly day on an unlovely stretch of street and watch (not the world) but the traffic go by, then maybe you're just not cut out for this urban life. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

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Chelsea, Seventh Avenue Between 20th and 21st Streets

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

Seventh Avenue looks kind of like Lexington Avenue with these old tenements and small shops, and in thinking why I don't have the same affection for it, I concluded it was because Seventh Avenue is wider than Lexington. Lexington feels more human size, I guess.

In other news, I am now unemployed. Yes, I got laid off due to hard times and the boss's son, but I got 4 month's severance pay and a wonderful feeling of freedom. Bill tells me that feeling doesn't last, but I plan to enjoy the hell out of it as long as it does.

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Chelsea, Seventh Avenue between 19th and 20th Streets

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

I used to print color film at Print Space on 19th Street around the corner. A couple of days after 9/11/2001, three of us went to Peter McManus (on the far left) after printing and had a few gin and tonics. This was a deadly combination – alcohol and 9/11 – and I believe I did wish I was dead before it was over. Missed work the next day, the whole bit.

Oh, the memories.

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Chelsea, Seventh Avenue at 14th Street

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


I do have a fondness for these newspaper boxes.

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Midtown, Seventh Avenue between 55th and 54th Streets

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

Midtown, Seventh Avenue at 55th Street

The famous (or infamous) Carnegie Deli, across the street on Seventh Avenue.

Long ago when I was a vistor here, seeking a job at the College Art Association convention at the Hilton close by, I ate at the Stage Deli just a block down the street here, not knowing it was but a pale imitation of the Carnegie. Now, of course, I know Katz's is the real deal.

And I didn't get a job. That's why I live here and not in South Dakota. It's true! I was a finalist for a teaching job in South Dakota.

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