Washington Heights, Riverside Drive Between George Washington Bridge and 165th Street

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

Just walking along the highway, sidewalk's gone. Happy to see signs of human life before me.

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Washington Heights, Riverside Drive at 181st Street

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

That is, I am standing at the western end of 181st Street, looking down at Riverside Drive. It dawns on me why they call this area Washington Heights. After I finish looking down, I look across, and there, by golly, is the George Washington Bridge, reminding me of when I drove my little red Fiat to New York in 1982 and drove across this very bridge right into the Bronx. Luckily, it wasn't Bonfire of the Vanities time and I just turned around and came back, no harm done.

But I digress. Today, I mean last Saturday, I am standing there with my brand new haircut which I got in someone's kitchen in an apartment on this street, planning to descend to Riverside Drive and walk along the Drive, which is only partly sidewalked, and under the elevated highway, which seems to be leading to or from the bridge, until I can return to civilization at 165th Street.

The haircut, by the way, was cut by a professional and is perhaps the most successful one of my life. And I'm not publishing her name because she works out of her home. Email me if you must know.

This kind of walk is a duty walk. Walking along highways is not my favorite kind of walk, but I am looking forward to marking it off my map. And the weather is pleasant, in the 50's and sunny.

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Spanish Harlem, 110th Street at Madison Avenue

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

I'm going to end it here although I had a few more shots to show you. It's spring now and you don't want to be looking at snow any more, I know.

By this time in the walk, Bill and I had stopped for cappuccino and coffee at La Tropezienne, a French café located on First Avenue at 110th Street. Gentrification, I thought, ever alert. But, no, they've been there for, I think they said, six years, and it didn't look like anything had changed in that time.

And we had had lunch at St. Francis de Asis (unless that's the name of a church), but no, Chowhound has a posting about it and calls it San Francisco de Asis. I wasn't too hungry so thought I'd just have guacamole, but that order caused some consternation and the waitress seemed to be telling me it wasn't good. Either that or the Spanish version of "you no like." I once again told myself: just learn Spanish dammit. So I had a soft taco with spicy pork, which was fine. Wouldn't go back though, as the music was unrelenting and loud. I have forgotten what Bill had but I do remember that the music didn't bother him. You decide.

When we left the restaurant, the weather had changed to cold and windy, no more blue skies, as you can see in photo above.

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Spanish Harlem, 111th Street Between Second and First Avenues

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

Window guards are very common in New York, especially at street level, but I don't believe I've ever seen them painted pink before. And not only that, the metal covers in the sidewalk are pink. Truly inspired. And now I'm craving to come back at dusk when those globe lights come on.

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Spanish Harlem, 111th Street Between Third and Second Avenues

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

Now we're in Spanish Harlem which is part of East Harlem. Boundaries are 96th Street to 125th Street, Park Avenue to East River. All I can say is somewhere in Spanish Harlem is a genius colorist who put those two colors together.

For more evidence, view abstract photos one and two.

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Spanish Harlem, 111th Street Between Madison and Park Avenues

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

This is the side of last night's building. Behind the fence, what looks like a junk yard is actually the winter time look of a community garden. Obviously this would make a good summertime visit. Not all community gardens have such a good backdrop.

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Spanish Harlem, Madison Avenue at 111th Street

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

We've crossed Fifth Avenue and here is Madison; that means we're in East Harlem now. Here's one of those buildings that gets to me every time.

One more photo: La Pequena Grocery at the base of the building.

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Central Harlem, 111th Street Between Lenox and Fifth Avenues

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

I hope someone likes this is much as I do.

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Central Harlem, 111th Street Between Lenox and Fifth Avenues

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

And here is P.S. 185, the sister school to P.S. 208 from last night. I'm giving you two views of it, but they're both from the back. Someday, I'll get to the front on 112th Street. Remember, that unbelievably white stuff is snow.




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

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Central Harlem, 111th Street Between Lenox and Fifth Avenues

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

I've just been reading online about P.S. 208, fronting on 111th Street and P.S. 185 next to it, but fronting on 112th Street. They are called sister schools, with 185 having pre-K through 2nd grade and 208 having grades 3-5. There's something that seems so sweet about that. 185 is apparently one of only a few city schools limited to early childhood grades. I feel like going over to help out.

This is one of the walls of P.S. 208. See that white stuff? That's snow, snow white snow, a rare treat for us New Yorkers. The white part, I mean.

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Central Harlem, 111th Street Between Lenox and Fifth Avenues

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

And this is the side of the 2nd Canaan Baptist Church, toward the back of the building. If you enlarge this photo, you can see that the window with the air conditioner in it is a stained glass window.

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Central Harlem, Lenox Avenue at 111th Street

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

The 2nd Canaan Baptist Church at 10 Lenox Avenue.

In other news, the people have spoken. Three of them, anyway. All vehemently opposing Wikipedia's crazy idea that Midtown Manhattan extends to 14th Street. See comments at March 11 entry. So be it.

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Central Harlem, 111th Street Looking Down Lenox Avenue

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

Bill came for a visit and on Saturday went with me on a photowalk in Spanish Harlem. When he comes with me, we make it a point to walk somewhere where we think we can find something good for lunch. We'd had our second snowstorm of the year on Friday, but Saturday it was sort of nice. Not too cold and the sun breaking through. This is where we got off the subway at 111th Street. We're looking down Lenox Avenue to the northern edge of Central Park.

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Midtown, 51st Street between Park and Lexington Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2007 ………. click to enlarge

And so, back where I started, at the 51st Street Subway station. This is at the base of this building.

Just wondering what you think should be done to the person who placed the metro card sign on the post? What it comes down to, is should he suffer or just be put out of his misery. Or she.

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Midtown, Park Avenue between 53rd and 52nd Streets

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

One block down and across the street from the Lever House, another famous modernist building. Not modernist, you say? Well, you're right; the Racquet and Tennis Club across the street is not modernist by a long shot (it was built in 1918 by McKim Mead & White), but I'm referring to the Seagram Building which I'm standing in front of in order to photograph this Calder mobile, dated 1969.

You can actually see the building by following the above link to the New York Architecture Images site. You may notice that sometimes this building looks bronze and sometimes it looks black. I can't explain that.

Other photos: Calder sculpture with Seagram Building as background, Seagram Building with Sabrett Umbrella

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Midtown, Park Avenue Between 54th and 53rd Streets

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

Well, see? Just turn the corner onto Park Avenue and right off the bat, here's the Lever House. And a bunch of other tall glassy buildings I can't identify. The Lever House, though, is one of the early important Modernist buildings, "a seminal work of Modernist architecture," according to Carter B. Horsley, who writes a spirited and interesting article about it. And please go here to see a photograph that shows clearly how breathtaking it was when built in 1951 (and still is).

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Midtown, 54th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2007 ………click to enlarge

And now on East 54th Street a brief respite from the tall important buildings and traffic of Lexington and Park. Here's a long shot of the street. This white building is down the block on the right.

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Midtown, Lexington Avenue at 54th Street

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

This is St. Peter's Church, a Lutheran church, which was built in 1977 after joining in a condominium with Citicorp. Try to imagine what went on in those discussions. Let's see, St. Peter's already had a church on that spot, an old Gothic style church. And I guess Citicorp didn’t want that old church snuggling up next to their fine International style building, so they made them an offer. Wait! I have no idea what really happened; this is just idle speculation. But if you want the official story, not the back story, go to the above link, which has lots of information, even including a couple of pages about Martin Luther and a photograph of the old Gothic church.

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Midtown, Lexington Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets

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

As promised.

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Midtown, Lexington Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets

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

I checked out the entry for Midtown on Wikipedia, just wondering if this area is in a subset of it, and discovered that the boundaries have changed since I last consulted it. This author has decided in quite the decider way that all of New York is divided into three parts: Uptown, Midtown and Downtown, and that the boundary between Midtown and Downtown is 14th Street. So Midtown now runs from 14th to 59th Streets, river to river. There is something logical and appealing about that to me because it makes classifying areas much easier; however, it's hard for me to think of midtown being as far south as 14th Street.

What do you think?

For those of you just sick of seeing photographs of cars and trucks, be forewarned: Another one is coming up tomorrow (but it's good!). But then it's clear sailing for about a week.

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Midtown, Lexington Avenue at 51st Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 ……. click to enlarge

A week ago Thursday, March 1st, a not too cold day, lower 40's, at lunchtime I took the subway up two stops to 51st Street, walked up Lexington to 54th, then over to Park, back on 51st, and subway back to work.

To set the midtown scene, here is a photo of tall buildings.

Let me pause here to praise the internet (thank you, Al Gore). I know you all know this but I can't help saying it again. See, the building on the left seemed distinctive enough to make me want to know something about it. Couldn't find any information in my usual sources, including books, maps and websites. So as a last resort I googled art deco buildings new york and here it is: the General Electric Tower. So satisfying. Is anyone else interested in architecture?

Here is a link to ground level, showing the base of the GE Tower with some nice art deco touches; also showing that other scene setter: Traffic.

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Hamilton Heights, Convent Avenue at 145th Street

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


And for the final shot of 145th Street, here is the imposing Convent Avenue Baptist Church. For a closeup of the window, go here. And you might also like to see the more modest Mt. Zion Lutheran Church on the corner across 145th Street.

We've been on 145th Street now for two weeks and two weeks is the absolute limit. Midtown tomorrow.

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Hamilton Heights, 145th Street Between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues

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

Across the street from those charming town houses are apartment houses, along with a couple of red doors that I wanted to photograph, but the shadows were so obtrusive and the contrast so great that nothing worked until I got this shot. The shadows and washed out quality make it kind of noirish, if a photo with red and yellow in it can be called noirish. I guess the shadowy man also has something to do with it.

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Hamilton Heights, 145th Street Between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues

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

Farther down the block is the red columned Baton Rouge (link highly recommended), which gets good ratings on menupages.com. In fact, Mae Jackson says "You will stomp your feet and wave your hand in the air after one bite of the food."



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

And here's a group leaving the Baton Rouge. Although they probably had a good time, I don't think they had as good a time as the folks on the restaurant web site did. After all, it's the middle of the day.

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Hamilton Heights, 145th Street Between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues

On to the next block, a shorter block, all residential on the south side. Of the two photographs below, I was torn between showing the closeup with a link to the long shot, or showing the long shot with a link to the closeup. Finally, and since I don't trust you to follow the link, I came to this sensible decision. And of course you know, on this blog, I am the decider.



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

I urge you to enlarge the above photo so you can see the pretty grillwork on the doors.



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

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Hamilton Heights, 145th Street Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue

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

Right across the street from the library McKim, Mead and White designed to look like an Italian palazzo is El Puerto. And that's what I like about New York.

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Hamilton Heights, 145th Street Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue

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

This is the doorway to the Hamilton Grange Branch of the NY Public Library. The building was designed by McKim, Mead & White, opened in 1907, and designated a landmark in 1970. Inside, it's up to date with all the stuff they’ve put in libraries since I last used one. I should get a library card.

Here's a photograph of the façade, but it doesn't give you an impression of the weightiness of the building. For that, take a look at the small ugly photo on this web page.

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Hamilton Heights, 145th Street Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue

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

There are many, many food carts on the streets in Manhattan, but this is the first one I've seen with a cold weather enclosure at the window. I imagine it was more for the guy at the window than for the customers; those guys get very cold standing in there all day. They were selling tacos.

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Hamilton Heights, 145th Street Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue

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

I could say that I'm showing this photograph because of the poignant contrast between the hopeful message of the Boys & Girls Club sign and the decrepit surroundings, but really I just like the way it looks.

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Hamilton Heights, 145th Street Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue

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

Here's one of those shots I have a weakness for: flat with squares and rectangles fitting together, color (though not necessary), doesn't hurt, and a little detail, as in the delicate iron work, is always nice.

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