Midtown South, 24th Street Between Sixth Avenue and Broadway

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………click to enlarge

Although this is the Masonic Hall, its official address is on 23rd Street, so this must be the back door or the delivery entrance. It is said to be quite a grand place and photographs of the interior on their website seem to support that claim, so you may want to tour it.



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Chelsea, 24th Street Between Seventh and Sixth Avenues

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These two roaring or yawning lions are sitting outside of Olde Good Things. And in case you're inclined to think this is a modest, unassuming little shop with a couple of lucky lions, take a look at one of their trucks.



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

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

I only had time to skim their website, but I saw enough to recommend it if you're interested in this kind of thing. They have an excavation archive where they show jobs they've done and artifacts they've salvaged, including the Nathan's sign from 42nd and Broadway.

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Chelsea, 24th Street Between Seventh and Sixth Avenues

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I never knew hip and humble went together, but apparently they do here at the Hip & Humble Home. Below are some of the things they are offering for your very own hip and humble home. If anyone out there actually has a hip AND humble home, please send photos.


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Chelsea, 24th Street Between Seventh and Sixth Avenues

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This is the headquarters of The Korean American Association of Greater New York. I was surprised to read on their website that it is one of about 500 Korean American organizations in the New York Metropolitan area. 500!! Pretty impressive. According to the website, there is a Korean American population of 500,000 in the metropolitan area. I was also surprised to read about the annual Korean Parade, held this year on October 6. I'm not much for parades, being short, and not liking much to stand around anyway, but this one sounds small enough and short enough and unfamiliar enough to appeal. Here's a short video on youtube:



The parade proceeds down Broadway from Times Square to 23rd Street, so a good viewing point would be in the mid 30's, so that when one becomes fretful, tired, hungry and thirsty, one can nip over to one of the Korean restaurants there in Koreatown. Just read about those restaurants! This is starting to sound like a really good idea. Let's get up a group and go next year.

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Chelsea, 24th Street Between Seventh and Sixth Avenues

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I think I'm going to like this block.

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Chelsea, 24th Street Between Seventh and Sixth Avenues

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As I said, regarding clouds.

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Chelsea, 27th Street at Seventh Avenue

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Across the street from the bastion of fashion is this friendlier, more playful, definitely more colorful group of stores. I just hope those toothy critters are friendly.

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Chelsea, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street

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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

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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.



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

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Washington Heights, Broadway Between 156th and 157th Streets

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Who knew New Caporal Fried Chicken was one of the ten best fried chicken places in the USA? According to USA Today.

Just google it and you'll find accolades all over the web. I had no idea. Ever clueless.

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Washington Heights, 155th Street at Broadway

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The Church of the Intercession is behind me and I'm heading for the subway on 157th Street. I didn't cover a lot of territory on this walk, but it seemed to be unusually packed with stuff we need to know about. There's nothing you need to know about this photograph.

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Washington Heights, Broadway at 155th Street

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Thank goodness, back on Broadway where things are normal. See that man and his, uh, vehicle? In a second or two, the whole thing will tip over and he won't be able to right it and he will be upset. I just want you to know that unlike some coldhearted photojournalists who would've stood there photographing this disaster, I actually helped him get the thing back on its wheels. You scoff? How could I have helped, you wonder? Well, I'll tell you. I supported the bike while he untwisted the front part. Yes! And then we were both happy and went our separate ways. You'll just have to imagine the pictures I would've taken if I'd been heartless.

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Washington Heights, 155th Street Between Riverside Drive and Broadway

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We're walking up 155th Street toward Broadway. Washington Heights and The Audubon Terrace Museum Group on one side; Harlem and the Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum on the other. Just don't ask me who those figures are between the pillars or how the street suddenly became paved with bricks.

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Hamilton Heights, 155th Street Between Riverside Drive and Broadway

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The map gets kind of strange here with 155th Street going under Riverside Drive – see that railing on the right? That's where it goes under, but of course there's a split because this is the upper part of 155th Street. Then Riverside splits here and curves way in to 158th Street and almost to Broadway and then curves back out. Of course this necessitates some pretty curvy buildings, which I always enjoy, marveling that they can get those bricks to bend.



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The map link below shows it pretty well.

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Hamilton Heights, Riverside Drive Between 153rd and 155th Streets

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There's the George Washington Bridge. And there's the sky. Do you ever think how lucky we are to have clouds? I used to live in a town of 7,000 in flat Illinois and I spent a bit of time thinking about clouds.



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Not so pretty here. This is the western border of the cemetery where they are doing some kind of construction work. Yes, even here!



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Another view over the wall, this at the northwest corner. See how dark it's gotten? That's because I had paused to talk with the woman below after she noticed me photographing her. Strictly friendly!


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She grew up in this neighborhood and we talked about changes and such.

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Hamilton Heights, 153rd Street Between Broadway and Riverside Drive

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In my determination to find an entrance to the cemetery, I abandoned my plan of walking straight down Broadway to 145th Street. Now I'm walking west down to the river. I'll walk around the whole cemetery, if necessary.

Don't you love this sidewalk? It's so uncitylike.



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And here a nice demonstration of the power of nature. Wouldn't you have liked to have been here when it first cracked?



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Here's another chained gate, this time with a sign telling me I may not enter without permission. So that's it. There are important people buried in here after all.



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Well, they can't stop me from taking photographs.

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Hamilton Heights, Broadway Between 155th and 153rd Streets

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As I started to say last night, Trinity Church, downtown, purchased this property in 1842 and created Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum after New York passed an ordinance prohibiting further burials in lower Manhattan. The thing to know is it's the last remaining active cemetery in Manhattan. That means you can be buried there! Ed Koch just bought a plot.

I wanted to get inside. It won't happen here. Right here on Broadway, they have this rusted and chained gate. They ought to be able to do better than that. Active, but not welcoming.



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Not an entrance in sight. I'm not giving up.



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This is looking across Broadway to the eastern part of the cemetery next to the Church of the Intercession.

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Hamilton Heights, Broadway at 155th Street

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We're looking at Harlem from across the dividing line of 155th Street, and this is the Church of the Intercession.

I've just been on an internet wild goose chase due to my mistaken belief that the name of this Church was Trinity Church – probably because the Cemetery across the street is named Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum. There are many Trinity Churches in Manhattan but none of them is located at 155th and Broadway. I was frustrated. I was ready to take the subway back up there and bang on the door demanding to know what was going on. Then I happened to read in the Los Angeles Times (yes!) in an article entitled "City Living: West Harlem" that the "noteworthy" Church of the Intercession is located at 155th and Broadway. Well! That explains it.




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And this is what's on the west side of Broadway. It seems that the famous Trinity Church downtown ran out of burial space and created – but let me save this for tomorrow night. I was going to do both tonight but I've exhausted myself with all this brain work. Don't worry, I have more cemetery photos.

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Washington Heights, Broadway at 156th Street

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Doggone it, I meant to put this one up last night, so you could see the building from the front. This is at the end of the walk after I'd modified it and gone around and come back up on the other side of Broadway. By this time, it has started to get dark. Tomorrow night, I'll pick this up in proper sequence so it'll get light again. You can do anything on a computer.

This is the part of the complex which houses Boricua College.

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Washington Heights, Broadway Between 156th and 155th Streets

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Last night when I was trying to get this post up, I got overwhelmed with all the different types of material associated with this complex. I couldn't get a handle on it. Couldn't subdue it. There are all the original components: The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, The American Numismatic Society, The American Geographical Society, The Church of Our Lady of Esperanza and the Museum of the American Indian-Heye Foundation. and then there are the organizations that replaced some of them: Boricua College, The Hispanic Society (but there's conflicting information on this one). There's the complex as a whole, The Audubon Terrace Museum Group and the man, Archer Milton Huntington, who put it all together. There's John James Audubon and there's his book: Birds of America (and if you follow this link, you can view his book, page by page).

So tonight I just decided to list them and you can go figure it out. Or better yet, go visit! They don't get enough visitors way up here.

This photograph is taken from the courtyard facing Broadway. To the left is the original American Geographical Society, now Boricua College and to the right is the original Museum of the American Indian, now occupied by The Hispanic Society (I think).

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No Photo Tonight

Uh, I just can't get it together tonight. Many apologies.

Washington Heights, 156th Street at Broadway

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So, just as I was thinking, ho hum, just a typical section of Broadway, blam, here's this major building. As you can tell, I don't usually research before I go; I like to come on things unexpectedly, just as any casual walker might, although many casual walkers are probably better informed than I am.

This building, originally the home of The American Geographical Society, and now the site of Baricua College, is part of a complex of buildings, built as The Audubon Terrace Museum Group in 1911. More tomorrow.

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Washington Heights, Broadway at 157th Street

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Today was one of those days when I had nothing scheduled and I could look at my map and pick any place at all for a photowalk. I like those days. It may be anticlimactic to tell you I decided to take the subway to 157th Street and walk down Broadway to 145th Street and take the subway home. But if you could see my map, you'd understand. There are only 4 more sections of Broadway to cover. Once that's done, I'll have a connection the length of Manhattan.

However, it was not to be. I did get off at 157th Street. Right here, in fact. This was about 4:40 on a beautiful fall day. Take a look down the street because this is all you will see of the block between 157th and 156th. A typical Broadway block. Then across the street is a little triangle with benches and trees. I don't know if it has a name, but it is a pleasant, if spartan place to sit and gaze up at pigeons in the trees.



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Central Park, Conservatory Garden, Fifth Avenue at 105th Street

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Oh, dear, debate night again and now it's late and I'm too tired to write this up. You might say, well, why didn't you do this earlier, before the debate? The answer is I had to watch the pre-debate talk about what the candidates had to do. And then, of course, post-debate, I had to watch the talk about whether they did it. I'm beginning to understand sports fans.

Anyway, I'll tell you this much: This is the South Garden and here's a link that will explain the different styles of the three sections and what this lily pond is about and all the plants that are there in the spring. They don't seem to have a fall newsletter.



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

Notice how delightfully casual yet impressively controlled these plantings are.



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

Oh, but I have to tell you about this one; otherwise you won't know why it's here. There's a hummingbird just off center. See the little blurry thing? Oddly enough, in this photo, you don't get the sense of just how small they are. If only my foot were in there for comparison. When I first saw it, I thought, wow, that's a really big insect, but then I saw it was a really small bird. It always feels magical to see a hummingbird.

I know these sentences are not flowing in my usual polished style but they will have to do for now. Maybe I'll edit tomorrow. Maybe not. Because tomorrow I need to go on a new photowalk.

Goodnight all. I hope the debate was good for you.

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Central Park, Conservatory Garden, Fifth Avenue at 105th Street

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And now, our destination, the Conservatory Garden in Central Park. This is at the entrance. Already I am calmed.

The garden is in three sections; this is the Central Garden which is Italian in style. I gather it is spectacularly beautiful in the spring with crabapple trees around the perimeter and wisteria on the pergola at the back. If you are planning to get married, say, next spring, you might give a thought to a wedding on the pergola.

The North Garden is classic French in style and the South Garden is English. More on these tomorrow.



Mary Sargent © 2008 ……… click to enlarge

And this is on the other side, looking back at Fifth Avenue. The building dead center and continuing to the right is El Museo del Bario. If you have really good eyes and squint really hard, you might be able to see signs of the renovation.

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Spanish Harlem, Fifth Avenue at 105th Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 .... click to enlarge

The renovation is to El Museo del Barrio, just one of the museums on Museum Mile. But that's for another walk. Just now I'm interested in how this woman has dressed for her surroundings with style and panache, right down to her shoes.

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Spanish Harlem, 106th Street Between Park and Madison Avenues

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This blast of color is on the school yard of the Jackie Robinson Educational Complex. That's the Park Avenue viaduct behind. Time Out called this The Graffiti Hall of Fame, so now I've been looking at websites and videos, and getting all excited and involved and spending way too much time on this. The Hall of Fame apparently refers to the famous graffiti artists who've painted there. And it changes every summer. Look at this:



Isn't that great? I was finally motivated enough to learn how to include videos.

This is what I love about doing this. I go somewhere and see something I think is interesting and then I try to find out something about it and sometimes I find out that a lotta, lotta people already know about it, just not anybody I know, there's just this whole group of other people really interested and involved. Then I compare that and what I now know with remembering me just walking along, innocent and clueless, and thinking, wow, that's interesting, I wonder if anyone knows about that? You know what I mean? It's like there's so much out there and if you look a little further, you find out there's even more. This is a great, great, great city.

Here's something else I'm thinking and this is mainly for us artists of the studio type. You know how they've been saying for years that painting is dead? And we've, some of us, just kept on painting anyway (I was a painter before this)? Well, this stuff out here on the walls is the real answer to that. What could be more alive? Let me hear from you, you artists! Anyone else, you too, of course.

Spanish Harlem, Park Avenue at 106th Street

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If you're curious about this viaduct running up Park Avenue beginning at 96th Street (I think), and its renovation about 10 years ago, Christopher Gray had a Streetscape column about it in February 1995.

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Spanish Harlem, 106th Street Between Lexington and Park Avenues

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Turning onto 106th Street, we see important buildings. I can't identify this one, though. One source says that it's P.S. 72, but P.S. 72's online address is at East 104th Street. What's a blogger to do at 12:02 a.m.? Leave it to you, of course. Someone out there must know.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………click to enlarge

This one is easy: St. Cecelia's Church, built in 1883-87 by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons. The AIA guide to New York City calls it "one of East Harlem's special treasures." I agree.



Mary Sargent © 2008 ……… click to enlarge

And this one? I'll just have to find out and bring it back to ya.


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Spanish Harlem, Lexington Avenue Between 107th and 106th Streets

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Checking the boundaries of Spanish Harlem in Wikipedia, I see someone has changed them and I think I like these boundaries better. This makes East Harlem and Spanish Harlem one and the same, so now there's no more East Harlem (on the blog, I mean).

New boundaries: northern: 141st Street at the Harlem River; eastern:, the East River; southern: 96th Street; western: Fifth Avenue.

I'm reserving the right to change the northern border, other alternatives are 125th or 116th Streets.


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

If you enlarge this photograph, you can see the changes that were made to the building. See how the doorway is split in half by the turquoise paint? So it seems that on the painted side of the building, the stairway was removed, the door was closed up and made into a window, and the entrance was put on the ground floor. This may or may not interest you.

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