Midtown, 56th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…………… ……....................…………….. click to enlarge

I shot this building because it is old and small and good looking.  Then later I learned the sad story of the Joseph Patelson Music House. It has apparently been closed for over a year, victim of the economy and the internet.  Sad, because it has been at this location since 1947, and being located across the street from Carnegie Hall's backstage entrance, has long been a hangout for visiting musicians as well as local music lovers.  The Times has a good story, worth a look.





Mary Sargent © 2010 ……………..........…….………...............................…………….. click to enlarge

And here is the back of Carnegie Hall at Seventh Avenue.  We saw the front in February 2008.

Midtown, 56th Street Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…….……… ……………..................…….. click to enlarge

Here's Topaz Thai, so Carnegie Hall must be nearby.  I remember eating here a couple of times years ago, and liking it, but the last time, I ordered a dish I'd had before but this time it was so spicy, I couldn't eat it.  And I haven't been back since.  A little mistake like that and it's over.

Midtown, 56th Street Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…….……… ………………….. click to enlarge

Now in the next block, it's all big city.  No more 3-story buildings.  Don't you love that little WOW half way up the buildings?

Midtown, 56th Street Between Fifth and Sixth Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…….……… ………………….. click to enlarge

56th Street between Fifth and Sixth looks back at big buildings to the east (see half of the broken pediment of the Sony Building on Madison), and forward to big buildings to the west, but here on this block, there are lots of old 3, 4 and 5 story buildings, as you can see here in this long shot.




Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…….……… ………………….. click to enlarge

And there's the uptown version of Joe's Shanghai, famed for its soup dumplings (the soup is inside the dumplings, and they are good, good, good).  However, long before soup dumplings existed in Manhattan, Bill and I and FL and I made the arduous journey to Queens to try soup dumplings at Goody's, and my loyalties lie with Goody's as having the first and the better dumplings.  Later, they opened a branch in Chinatown on East Broadway, and later than that, they closed.  As far as I can tell, they no longer exist at all.  Oh, it's so sad.

But back to 56th Street.



Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…….……… ………………….. click to enlarge

And these two cuties, one housing Sushiya.  If you check out the link, you can read a review that mentions the line at Abercrombie and Fitch's.  It seems to be an everyday thing.

Midtown, 56th Street at Madison Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…………… …….....…………….. click to enlarge

I do want to talk about this notorious building with its Chippendale pediment, but I can't do it justice at this late hour.  This is the Sony Building, formerly the AT&T building, of Philip Johnson, one of the leading architects of the modernist period.  Come back tomorrow.  It's worth getting into.
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6/3 - Okay, so Philip Johnson championed the International Style of architecture and introduced it to the United States in a show he helped organize at The Museum of Modern Art in 1932, featuring, among others, the European architects Le Corbusier and Mies Van der Rohe.  The principles of the style, according to Johnson, were 1) emphasis of volume over mass, 2) asymmetry and 3) NO decoration.  The Seagram Building is a perfect example of this style.  See also the United Nations, designed by Le Corbusier.  However, Johnson lived a long time (98 years) and there came a time when he got bored with the International Style.  But you know how people get upset when you change.  Just think of Bob Dylan.  So when he built the AT&T Building and put a split pediment on top of it, looking like the top of a piece of furniture, some people carried on quite a bit about it.  This was in 1984, a couple of years after I moved here, and I remember the complaints.  Now, however, it is seen as one of the first expressions of postmodern architecture.  A good thing.  Witty and fun.

Note how I managed to get the pediment in the photo.  But you'll get better views and lot of them at New York Architecture images.

Midtown, 56th Street Between Lexington and Park Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………                                  ………….. click to enlarge

WOW, would you look at this!  What I've wanted from the very beginning.  I'll take it while I can because as we all know, the computer giveth and the computer taketh away and one never knows why or when.  Of course I'm talking about the size of the photograph.

Now I want to redo all my photos.  

This funny little building has Republic of Zimbabwe in letters above its door, so I assume it's the consulate, but I can't confirm it.

Midtown, 56th Street Between Third and Lexington Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2010 …………………………….. click to enlarge

The same building in a less festive mood.

Midtown, 56th Street at Third Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2010 ….....……………….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

I think of Johnny Rockets fondly because it was there in the DC train station that I accidentally had a scrambled egg cheese sandwich and knew it was good.  I still think of it from time to time.  After that, I tried the Egg McMuffin at McDonalds and I'm sorry to say, it was not in the same league.  The DC Johnny Rockets also had a good juke box. 

Hmm.  I just checked their menu and breakfast is not on it.

Now I am confused.  I just googled Egg McMuffin and discovered it's made with a fried egg.  I could swear I had a scrambled egg McMuffin.  I had to have or how could I compare them.  Unless I had a fried egg at Johnny Rockets.  No!  It was scrambled!