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, 57th Street Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

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

We cannot leave this block without a photo of the great Carnegie Hall. I'm not a big fan of its architecture, but inside it has such warmth and such a feeling of authenticity and history, that I'm very happy it was saved from demolition in 1960.

Last night I was talking about The Metropolitan Tower; as luck would have it, I had a doctor's appointment on East 57th Street today and afterwards walked back to the West Side via that block, this time knowing what I was looking for.

I wanted to see how the Tower was constructed – a knife-edged triangle on top of a rectangle sounded kind of clunky. But this is how it is: the triangle starts out with just one side against the west side of the rectangle smack up against The Russian Tearoom. Then as it reaches the top of the rectangle, it opens up and overlaps it and rises straight up. And there's another section toward the back which I can't explain. It's very beautiful. If you want to go see for yourself, just stand in front of the building and hold on to a sign post and lean way out and look up.

OH, and I asked some workers about the building under construction I was talking about Monday night. They said it was a Hilton Hotel building but was going to be condominiums.

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Midtown, 57th Street Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 …… .. click to enlarge

This is a street level view of The Metropolitan Tower, the tall reflective building from last night's photo. As we were walking toward it, it looked as if there were a giant shimmery mural on the side of the building. If you're at all interested in architecture, you must read Carter B. Horsley's article on this building. He's quite enthusiastic and uses words to describe it like ferocious, belligerent and narrow-focused. But in a good way. Meanwhile, the AIA Guide sniffs that it is a "gross and insensitive intrusion." As for me, just slap some glass on it and I'll like it.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …… .. click to enlarge

Here's another view showing the sharp edge of the triangular tower that rises above the rectangular base. It's cozying up next to the Carnegie Hall Tower, built around the same time. The Metropolitan Tower was built in 1987 and the Carnegie Hall Tower 1986-1990. Grossly insensitive? They seem happy enough together to me. You decide.

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Midtown, 57th Street Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

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

Construction on West 57th. Don't know if it's a big deal building going up or just a run of the mill building. Can't find it on the web and didn't check around while I was there. It might look like a nice day and it's true, the temp was in the low 40's, but it was blowing a gale. It didn't encourage checking around.

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Midtown, 57th Street Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 ……… click to enlarge

We're looking across the street at the entrance to Le Parker Meridien (built in 1981), which was our destination last Tuesday morning. To quote the AIA Guide to New York City: "A 2-story vaulted colonnade of Tuscan columns leads to a skylit colonnaded atrium. Does the architect find this serious or a Post Modern jest? The hotel rooms, like the body of a 42nd Street theater, are on 56th Street."

We were there, Bill and I, on a quest to find the best breakfast in New York City. Norma's is touted as just that thing in certain circles. Click on the link for Gael Greene's panegyric. It's a breakfast all day kind of place, but do not think it is a diner. No, no, no. This is probably the Post Modern jest the AIA was referring to. It has a breakfast kind of look to it, but it is subtly luxurious. The table tops refer to formica but are not formica, that sort of thing. They brought us elongated shot glasses of an exotic smoothie as a welcome. The coffee came in a French Press and was good, and when it cooled off, they brought another at no extra charge. I had a Belgian waffle with berries (very large and heaps of very fresh berries) and Bill had an omelet filled with things I don't remember. Both were $20. It was good, luxurious and pleasant and it satisfied my curiousity so I'm glad we did it. Now it's done.

Of course, we all know there's no such thing as the best breakfast in New York City.

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Chinatown, Bayard Street Between Elizabeth and Mott Streets

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

I've just been inching along this street. So much to see, can't get enough of that doorway. But this is the last one for this walk.

On this frigid February night, I'm daydreaming about a warm spring morning when I get up early and go down to Chinatown for breakfast and then I walk around taking pictures until I get hungry and then I have lunch and then I walk around for a while and have some ice cream from the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and take pictures until I get hungry and then I have dinner. And then I nap on the subway coming home.

I'm putting that on my list.

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Chinatown, Bayard Street Between Elizabeth and Mott Streets

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

Too bad I had egg custard tarts at Jing Fong; I could've had ginger ice cream at The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory – or even one of their exotic flavors like cherry vanilla.

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Chinatown, Bayard Street Between Elizabeth and Mott Streets

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


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Chinatown, Bayard Street Between Elizabeth and Mott Streets

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

Imagine living in one of those 2nd floor apartments. I sort of like the idea, but the reality might be trying.

If anyone out there lives in Chinatown, let us know what it's like.

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Chinatown, Elizabeth Street Between Canal and Bayard Streets

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

We're standing on Elizabeth Street looking at its beginnings at Bayard Street.

This is after having dim sum at Jing Fong with Michael, Geofrey and Bella. Wow, it was really excellent, the place is huge which makes for a wide variety of dim sum; I had duck blood for the first time in my life and it wasn't bad. Kind of a soft tofu texture with a liver flavor. Bill had chicken feet, which I've found underwhelming in the past. Don't let me alarm you, though, there are many wonderful non-scary dim sum choices available, and those were mostly what we ate.

Michael and Geofrey were also downsized from the company I worked for which made for a cozy group, and Bella, who is Chinese, is Geofrey's girlfriend. She was responsible for the duck blood. Geofrey is also Chinese, but he's from Mississippi and doesn't eat duck blood.

After we all stuffed ourselves silly, we parted, and Bill and I took a teeny photowalk because it was frigid that day. Down Elizabeth to Bayard, Bayard to Mott and Mott back to Canal. A mere blip on the map.

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Chinatown, Canal Street Between Broadway and Lafayette Street

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


Technically Chinatown, but still just Canal Street.

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Tribeca, Canal Street at Broadway

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

Bill is in town for the long weekend and yesterday we met friends in Chinatown for dim sum. Since Broadway divides Tribeca and Chinatown, and this is the western side of Broadway, this must be Tribeca. Really, it doesn't look like Tribeca or Chinatown. It does look like Canal Street.

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Washington Heights, Audubon Avenue between 192nd and 193rd Streets

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


This is the building I mentioned earlier. I thought I'd stumbled on the state capitol or at least a major county courthouse. Quite an imposing building with wide front lawns you can't see from here.

This is the George Washington High School. After this, college will be a let down.

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue between 192nd and 191st Streets

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


This is the doorway to the Santana Restaurant. And that's all I know about that.

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue between 192nd and 191st Streets

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

This 99¢ store has an interesting concept: rather than promising you that you won't pay more than 99¢ cents for any item, they are promising you won't pay less than 99¢. Hmm.


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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue between 193rd and 192nd Streets

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

I shot this laundromat from across the street and now we get to see what's really going on. My camera holding hand is reflected in the window just to the right of the boy's head. Luckily, not my face. That would be too spooky.

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue between Wadsworth Avenue and 192nd Street

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

Snow! It was a downtown day today. First lunch with Claire at Tamarind on East 22nd Street. A lovely Indian restaurant with delicious food. After which, Claire in her infinte gracious wisdom persuaded me to chill at her place on lower Fifth Avenue (where I had a nice little nap) and then go to Myra's opening at Cornelia Street Café instead of schlepping up to 215th Street, turning around and going back downtown. Myra's photographs looked great, then a bunch of us stayed for dinner on site and finally I came home in the fresh snow. Perfect day.

Except. Well, dammit, you can't be everywhere and I missed the Potomac primaries on TV and Obama's speech. I'm a big fan of good speeches. Chris Matthews said he got a feeling up his leg listening to Obama's speech and I take that to mean it was a good speech.

Well, there's always YouTube. Come on somebody, get that speech up there!

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue between 193rd and 192nd Streets

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

Do you ever think things like, aren't we lucky to have clouds? The sky would be so boring without clouds. But of course we wouldn't know what we were missing. Now I'm thinking about red. What if we didn't have it, had never seen it? Life would be so drab, but we wouldn't even know it.

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue at 193rd Street

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


Some of you will have noticed that this is the very same corner as last night. You had to see what it looked like without the cars, didn't you?

Take a look at that building over on the next block. Looks sort of temple-like, wouldn't you say? We'll see it later on in this walk.

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue at 193rd Street

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


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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue Between Fairview and Wadsworth Avenues

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


Wouldn't you like to see this plopped down on stuffy old gray Park Avenue? Hmm. I'm thinking Photoshop . . . No! I would never do that. At least as of now. I'll keep you posted.

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Washington Heights, Ft. George Hill at Fairview and St. Nicholas Avenues

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

Well, this looks familiar. Last May, I walked up Ft. George Hill and it wasn't until I saw that sign, Fairview Avenue, that I realized I wasn't walking up Hillside Avenue.

The memories.

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue Between 193rd and 192nd Streets

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

St. Nicholas Avenue is named for – NOT Santa Claus. It's named for New Amsterdam's patron saint. The saint was the figurehead of New Netherland, the ship that brought the first colonists. (This information is from The Street Book by Henry Moscow.) It wasn't clear whether St. Nicholas became their patron saint before or after he was the figurehead of their ship. Also I'm not sure how it is decided who is your patron saint.

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Washington Heights, Wadsworth Avenue Between 191st and 192nd Streets

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


One short block over from St. Nicholas Avenue is Wadsworth Avenue, which starts at 174th Street, runs to 192, and curves back over to St. Nicholas at 193. This is that lovely curve with these pretty individual apartment buildings curving right along with it.

Here's a shot of the building with the cupola and the asymmetrical ionic columns, down there toward the end.

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

These all seem to be rental apartment buildings. My curiosity is stirred. I want to see the apartment(s) at the top. I want to know who lives here. I want-- oh, never mind. I have Super Tuesday to occupy myself with now.

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue at 191st Street

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


This is the northwest corner, catty-cornered from El Nuevo Caridad.

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue at 191st Street

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

I don't know about you, but I've been getting mighty tired of these cloudy, twilight, gray shots of Upper West Side apartment buildings, so when I woke up this morning and saw the bright blue sky and sunshine, I knew I'd have to drag my sniffly self out there.

So, after coffee with Chris Matthews, Meet the Press and the McLaughlin Group, I took the No. 1 train three stops to 191st Street which is a stop I'd never gotten off at before. An untouched area on my map, so exciting. What would be there?

El Nuevo Caridad Restaurant for one. Later, online, I discovered it's a well known hangout for Latin baseball players, frequented by Red Sox players when they're in town. These articles sort of make me wish I were a Dominican ball player.

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Morningside Heights, Broadway between 112th and 111th Streets

I'm home sick tonight, missing seeing Happy Days, by Samuel Beckett, which is supposedly the best play in our lifetimes, starring the fabulous Fiona Shaw. Instead, here I sit at my computer, learning Photoshop.

The first photograph is edited with Photoshop and the second with Picasa, which is what I've been using all along. See the difference? Not unless you enlarge.


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

I'm just a beginner, though; I should get better. Or at least know more. Picasa is great, easy to use and free, and its straightening tool is way better than Photoshop's, but Photoshop does about a thousand times more things, with more teeny distinctions than you can imagine.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………Picasa………....…….. click to enlarge
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Now I'm out of photographs since I couldn't go out today for a new photowalk. Things better improve tomorrow! It's one thing to miss Happy Days; it's quite another to miss a new photograph.

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Morningside Heights, Broadway at 112th Street

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


Across the street from Tom's.


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