East Village, Avenue C at 14th Street

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

Standing on the eastern end of 14th Street at Avenue C, there's nowhere to go that makes sense but back where I came from.

Across the street is a view.of a corner of Stuyvesant Town, looking like any other housing project.  There are 35 of these buildings, containing 8,757 apartments, making this development much larger than an Illinois town I once lived in with a population of 7,000.  That was a grim two years of my life, and I imagine living here would be equally grim.  For me, anyway.  I know it has its fans.

Please enlarge the map below to get an idea of how truly huge it is. You have to click the View Larger Map link and then click the plus sign a few times.  I know it's a few steps more than you want to take, but believe me, it's worth it.


View Larger Map

East Village, Avenue C at 14th Street

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

My map shows 14th Street continuing to Avenue D and ending at the FDR Drive, so I was surprised to be stopped by the blue fence.  I learned from a guard who stopped me from photographing behind the blue fence, that it was closed off for security reasons after 9/11.

East Village, 14th Street Between Avenues B and C

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I was taken by the rhythm of those cornices.




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Here's the straight-on shot.

See map.

East Village, 14th Street Between Avenues B and C

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This is a small piece of Stuyvesant Town, much in the news lately.

East Village, 14th Street Between Avenues A and B

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And sometimes it takes two people wearing turquoise shirts to make the picture.

East Village, 14th Street Between Avenues A and B

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I didn't know until tonight that these two stores plus the three adjoining were destroyed by a fire in May.  It seems someone was installing a fire door (see the irony?) when his welding torch "apparently set some grease on fire."  And now the neighbors lament the loss of the only good pizza in the East Village.

East Village, 14th Street at Avenue A

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Sometimes you just don't want people in a shot.

Back from Maine, and, you will not be surprised to hear, it was beautiful, the weather was blissful and the lobster was plentiful, cheap and good.  We had boiled lobster, lobster salad, lobster rolls, lobster in a seafood pot pie, and lobster omelet.  The last night, I had a steak and red wine.  It was strangely satisfying.

East Village, 14th Street Between First Avenue and Avenue A

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LAST POST UNTIL NEXT TUESDAY. IT'S VACATION TIME! MAINE AND LOBSTERS! 

Use your time well.  Maybe browse the archives.


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East Village, 14th Street Between First Avenue and Avenue A

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

A Hallmark card for you.

East Village, 14th Street Between First Avenue and Avenue A

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

I apologize for the erratic postings lately.  As soon as my life gets less erratic, so will my postings.  Rest assured, this Project will be done (if I live long enough), and some day, maybe soon, I will get to that block you've been waiting for.

Meanwhile, the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is apparently badly run, if one can believe two complaints posted at Complaint.com.  This is a fairly strange website, as it seems posting a complaint has no more effect than if you'd written it in your diary.  Anyone up for submitting a complaint about Complaint.com?

East Village, 14th Street Between First Avenue and Avenue A

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This church began life in 1896 as Grace Chapel and Hospital, an Episcopal mission for Grace Church in the West Village.  In 1943,it became the Immaculate Conception Church, a Catholic church.  Do you know what Immaculate Conception refers to?  Wrong!  It's not the Virgin birth.  It's that Mary was born without original sin.  If anyone desires to see a baptism in this very church, you can find one right here.

East Village, 14th Street Between First Avenue and Avenue A

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

East Village, 14th Street at First Avenue

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

Sunday evening, I went downtown to East 14th Street to the Booker Prize Book Club where we were discussing The White Hotel, a most demanding book.  But good.  Afterwards, I walked 14th Street to the river, or so I thought.  I was looking at an old map.  Since my map was made in the 80's, 14th Street from Avenue C to D has been demapped.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  This is the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue.

The East Village is on the south side of 14th Street and Stuyvesant Town is on the north side.  We'll be looking mostly at the south side.

I started at about 7:15 on a pleasant summer evening.

Lower East Side, Orchard Street at Delancey

After walking two blocks, I stopped to look at my watch - I mean, cell phone - and realized this photowalk was over.  The tour was starting soon, so I hustled over to, uh, Joe's Fabric Warehouse, and took one last photo.


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

Even though it looks like these people are waiting to get into Joe's, they are actually waiting for a tour.  The Tenement Museum Gift Shop is back there somewhere, and the tours start and end here.

Luka and I went on the "Getting By" Tour which took us to two apartments:  the first restored to 1863, the second to the 1930's.  It was so good, so interesting. They've really done a good job.  Luka's father grew up on the Lower East Side, she thinks Rivington Street, so she has a special interest.  But you don't need a special interest to find this fascinating.  Please put this on your list before you forget about it.

Now, as to Joe's Fabric Warehouse, it opened in 1998. and according to The New York Times, was a harbinger of a new kind of Lower East Side.  If you'd like to see a copy of the real thing on Joe's website, complete with photos, but absent 2 other fabric stores, click here.

Lower East Side, Chrystie Street Between Houston and Stanton Streets, Stanton and Rivington

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Playing basketball surrounded by large trees seems kind of idyllic, don't you think?





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On the other side of the court is this group of ball players, composed of those who wear long pants.  It's hard to take them very seriously.



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The park continues for seven blocks, to Canal Street, but here at Stanton, it almost looks like a different park.  All business, no idylls.

Lower East Side, Chrystie Street at Houston

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

Okay, it's a dull photo, and you're wondering why I put it up and what you're supposed to see in it.  It's strictly because of the Whole Foods Market across the street.  I was surprised to see it here and I think my reaction was to kind of grumble to myself about how Whole Foods is everywhere now.  I had no idea I was in the presence of the most wonderful Whole Foods in existence.  Yelp has 203 reviewers, most of whom write at length about how much they love this particular Whole Foods.  The dining area upstairs!  The beer room! The spaciousness!

I'm sure stopping in next time I'm here.

Lower East Side, Houston Street at Chrystie

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Last Wednesday, Luka and I were determined to go on a Tenement Museum tour, so we actually made reservations like normal people do.  On my way to meet her at the museum, I did a short photowalk down Chrystie.  Had to stop after two blocks because the tour was starting soon.

This is the entrance to the Sara D. Roosevelt Park on Houston Street.  Not Eleanor, Sara.  Franklin's mother.  Why on earth would they name a park for the president's mother, I wondered.  The Parks Department was there with the answer:

The park was named by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1934 for Sara Delano Roosevelt (1854-1941), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's mother, as a way of currying favor with the new Roosevelt Administration. She held the distinction of being the only Presidential mother, after Mary Washington, to live to see her son take office.

This was from a recent press release about the ribbon cutting on a new and improved $5 million dollar renovation of the Hester Street Playground at the final block of the park between Hester and Canal.  Can't wait to see it.


See map.

Lower East Side, Allen Street at Broome

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

For the last shot of this one-block photowalk, I give you Composition in Beige and Green.

Tomorrow, a two-block photowalk.

Lower East Side, Allen Street Between Broome and Delancey

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

So this is the renovation that demonstrates "what could and might be done in the future with the Allen and Pike Street Malls."  I must say, I'm underwhelmed.  After pondering this for a while, I realized it is the walkway that's the problem.  It's not integrated into the natural setting.  It looks like a strip of linoleum laid down on top of an asphalt walkway.  Do you agree?

Lower East Side, Allen Street Between Delancey and Broome

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

You may remember the plan was to go to the Tenement Museum and take a tour, but the plan fell through.  However, here right on Allen Street is a glimpse of the rear yard reconstruction of the tenement at 97 Orchard Street.  Below is a view of the rear yard.

This building was a great find for the organizers of this museum because it had been boarded up for 50 years.  The landlord couldn't or wouldn't pay for the mandated upgrades to the building, so he evicted the tenants and closed off the upper floors, using only the street level commercial space. 



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

It wasn't until 1895 that running water was provided to the building; before that, tenants come to the rear yard to get their water and to use the privies, shown here at the left.  There were four stalls serving the entire building and the patrons of the bar downstairs.