Times Square, 48th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues

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

And across the street. . . Well, there's no getting around it, the residents of this block must do something about that awful awning at Maria's Mont Blanc Rest. First, petition Maria, in a nice way, of course, to please hire someone with at least one scintilla of design sense to replace the awning. Maybe chip in a few bucks to help out. It would be worth it. Then if that fails, the most daring and law breaking among them must take it down. Wait for a dark night.

See map.

Times Square, 48th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues

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

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………click to enlarge

Turned onto 48th Street and the first thing I see: construction! I think this is the building. A sliver building.

See map.

Times Square, Eighth Avenue between 49th and 48th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …….. click to enlarge



Mary Sargent © 2008 …….. click to enlarge

I am not attracted to sports bars, but that doesn't mean I won't photograph one, especially if it is red. Here is Social Bar and Grill, outside and in. The word on the web is that the food is better than you might expect, especially the fries, but it can be kind of dull what with all those bankers coming in to drink.

Bankers?

See map.

Times Square, 49th Street at Eighth Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………click to enlarge

How I know I was in a big hurry is I only have one shot of this little beauty. William Eggleston, one of my photographic heros, supposedly said he never took more than one shot of a scene because it took too long to choose one of them. He may have a good point. This one shot is pretty perfect, don't you think?

As for Ciro, seems to be an average Italian restaurant.

See map.

Times Square, Eighth Avenue between 50th and 49th Streets

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


As I was saying, Friday night I was meeting Carolyn and Ilana at Chez Napoleon to celebrate Ilana's birthday, and I planned to get in a good photowalk beforehand. As so often happens, it was considerably shorter than planned; this time, due to a chat with a man with a camera. So, now, being rushed, I have only a couple of shots on Eighth Avenue and the block of 48th Street from 8th to 9th. I just hope I live a long, long life.

This is the entrance to One World Wide Plaza, part of a complex completed in 1989 that covers the entire block from 49th to 50th and Eighth to Ninth Avenues, and includes a large nice plaza. This entrance is the least successful part of the whole project in my opinion. How gloomy, how depressing to enter your office through this ponderous dark corridor. That is the doorway to Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, one of their most important tenants. Paul Goldberger wrote an interesting assessment of the project in 1990.


See map.

Inwood, Just off Broadway Between Isham and 212th Streets

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

A new wall painting. I passed this last night on my way to the A train to 50th Street. I was going on a short photowalk before I met Carolyn and Ilana at Chez Napoleon. More tomorrow night. It's too damn late tonight.

See map.

Midtown, Sixth Avenue at 33rd Street

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

This is finally the end of this walk which began two weeks ago as a quest to find a tank top in the right size and color. It's 8:30 and sarting to get dark but the destination Gap is up here on 34th Street on the right. I was prepared to go to every Gap in the city to find this tank top, but no need. The maroon red-purple color was featured,; they had multiple tank tops in my size, as well as other styles, and all I had to do was try to restrain myself.

So if you see a petite woman in a flowered silk skirt and maroon tank top taking pictures, stop and say hello.

See map.

Midtown, Greeley Square Between 32nd and 33rd Streets

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


Well, look at this! Isn't this lovely? Isn't this civilized? Isn't this . . . European?



Mary Sargent © 2008 ……… click to enlarge

This is Greeley Square, named for Horace Greeley, famed New York newspaperman and reformer of the nineteenth century.

The kiosks are closed now (it's about 8:15 p.m.), so it looks as if people have brought drinks and snacks in with them. There is some grumbling on the web about the still not opened Wichcraft kiosk. It's a Craft tease, they say.

See map.

Midtown, Sixth Avenue Between 31st and 32nd Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………cclick to enlarge

The old, the about to be gone, and the new. The new being the tall bluish building in the middle back with lines of text running down it which you can't read, but I can through the miracle of enlargement. It says on the left verticle:

THE EPIC.COM............212 554 2700.............TTEXT "EPIC" TO 78247

On the right verticle:

GREEN RENTAL RESIDENCIES ...............................LIVE GREATER

I went to the epic.com, but you're on your own texting "epic" to 78247.


See map.

Midtown, Sixth Avenue Between 31st and 32nd Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………… click to enlarge

Does this make you think of orange hard candy wrapped in cellophane? No?

See map.

Midtown, 30th Street at Sixth Avenue

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


I have crossed Sixth Avenue now and I'm standing on 30th Street, shooting north. No, more like northish. Northwest. It's important to be oriented.

Construction is everywhere – it's also on the south side of 30th (out of the picture).

See map.

Midtown, 30th Street Between Seventh and Sixth Avenues

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

So nice we can wear dresses again.

See map.

Midtown, 30th Street Between Seventh and Sixth Avenues

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

I have a feeling a police station is on this block. Or rather, Traffic Control building. (And note unusual angle parking.)



Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge

Yes, here we have it.

This was built as the 23rd Police Precinct Station House in 1907-08. What a fantasy building! It is officially Medieval Revival Style – because the police commissioner wanted a building that looked like a police station.

If this building had been in any one of the lesser cities I lived in before moving here, it would have been highly visible and well known; after all, how many cities have a medieval castle in their midst? But here, it's on a lightly traveled side street and it's just one of the many amazing sights in Manhattan. Ho hum.

It is in what used to be called the Tenderloin, the most crime ridden area in New York City (and thus, the country) in the 19th century. If you're interested in New York City history, I recommend the report of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The architect, R. Thomas Short, was of the firm Harde & Short, which designed the Red Hovse on West 85th. We were there in January last year.




Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge

This is an automobile entrance. That's what it says.

See map.

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).

See map.

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.

See map.

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.

See map.

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.

See map.

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.

See map.

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.

See map.

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.

See map.

Upper West Side, 94th Street Between West End Avenue and Broadway

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

Have you noticed more and more fruit stands are becoming fruit and vegetable stands? That's eggplant and summer squash in those baskets.

It's back to Broadway now and the end of this walk. At last. Time to move on.

See map.

Upper West Side, West End Avenue, at 94th Street, looking north

Mary Sargent © 2008 … ….. click to enlarge


This shot was taken at 8:15 p.m., as the sun was winding down and so was I. Would you have thought West End Avenue was so hilly? (You won't see it unless you enlarge.)

See map.

Upper West Side, 94th Street Between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue

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

Enough of greenery and monuments! Back to the vibrant and gritty streets.

Remember two nights ago I was talking about Much Ado About Nothing and not knowing much about it? Well, thanks to Rita, a visitor, I can now pass along a link to the theater group, Hudson Warehouse. They refer to themselves as The Other Free Shakespeare in the Park.

The play runs July 10 - August 3, Thursday through Sunday. Did you catch that it's free?

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive at 93rd Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge

Remember how you've seen that Riverside Drive sometimes splits into two streets, one the main two-way Riverside Drive and the other a local one-way northbound Riverside Drive? When it does that, there's something between the two streets. Well, there has to be, or it wouldn't be two streets. There is a three block split between 92nd and 95th Streets and in the middle is the Joan of Arc Island.

Joan, of course, was a 15th century French heroic figure and I'm not sure why we wanted to commemorate her, but you can read all about it here and figure it out for yourself. I think we used to have affection for the French. Lafayette, we are here, for example.

The statue, by the way, was the work of Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington, yes, a woman.

And now I've shown you two monuments on one walk. I know it's excessive, but sometimes it just comes out that way.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive at 89th Street

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

I walked around the monument (see last night) and ran into this couple sharing his i-pod.

Then as I approached the back, I began hearing what sounded like declaiming, and lo and behold, it was a theater group rehearsing Much Ado About Nothing.


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

I watched for a while from the stairs. One of the actors told me they would be presenting it at the end of July in this space, but unfortunately, I have forgotten the name of their website, and though I have googled much, I can't come by any information. Maybe there will be a notice as the time draws close.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive at 89th Street

Okay, everybody, vacation over. It was lovely, weather perfect, and oddly, I did not gain any weight. We're resuming the June 25 walk.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………click to enlarge


Wow. Before I took this walk, if you had asked me if I'd ever seen the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, I would've said, yeah, I think so. But, no, I certainly had not. I recommend you go to the nyc-architecture site for some great old photographs and all the information you'd ever want. But at least go for the pictures. By the way, this is for soldiers and sailors of the Civil War, union side only.

See map.