West Village, 14th Street at Eighth Avenue; Eighth Avenue Between 14th and 13th Streets

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So Friday late afternoon, FL and I head downtown to meet Myra to go for a walk on the just opened newly done High Line. High excitement. And FL consented to go early so I could get a photowalk in. And not only did it not rain, the sun came out. Things to be thankful for.


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

Tonight I'm going to show you two buildings, the old and the new. Well, part of the old. This was originally the New York County National Bank, built in 1907. If you crave to see the whole building, click on the above link. Can you guess what it is today? Why, a men's spa, of course. Nickel, by name. They have designed it to look like the inside of a submarine which results in a "masculine yet sophisticated environment." Funnily enough, the Chinese massage place that FL, Myra and I dropped into after dinner for $10 worth of massage each also looked like the interior of a submarine. There's where the resemblance ended. Sophisticated, it wasn't.



Mary Sargent © 2009 . click to enlarge

Now, around the corner on Eighth Avenue, we have One Jackson Square, almost finished. What recession?

FL was taken with the building, especially the shiny parts, but objected to the brick. She thought it should be some kind of gray metal.



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

Surprise! It has a long side, too. Along Greenwich Avenue. It does look better on this side where no brick is showing, don't you think?


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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?

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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.


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Times Square, Eighth Avenue Looking North From 39th Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 ……… click to enlarge

Here's a shot of this fabulous building which we saw from another angle in November 2006. At the time, I didn't know what it was, I was just totally startled and delighted. Later I discovered it is the Westin Hotel built in 2002. It's so easy not to keep up in this city. Nyc-architecture.com has more photographs and reprints of articles by 5 critics. I was surprised to see that Paul Goldberger, a critic I usually like, writes a stodgy, disapproving article. Apparently many people think it is in bad taste. Dear me.

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Times Square, Eighth Avenue Between 40th and 39th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Color! XX DVDs! I should have realized I was walking in the wrong direction.

Here's a long shot. Should we come back in a year and see if these buildings are still standing?

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Times Square, Eighth Avenue Between 40th and 41st Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

So back to the beginning. I got off the A train at 40th Street and the brand new New York Times building was the first thing I saw. For a good review by – who else? – New York Times writer, Nicolai Ouroussoff, click here. Also, on that page, look for the link to a slide show of dramatic photographs, showing inside and out and up and over, which I can't do here.

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Columbus Circle, Eighth Avenue at 58th Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


Why is it that New Yorkers never take these carriages? That's a rhetorical question; we all know it's because only tourists take them. I think I'm going to take one. Right after I take a pedicab.

There's currently renewed controversy about allowing horses to do this in New York, since a few weeks ago a mare got spooked by loud music and crashed her carriage into a tree, injuring herself and dying from shock. Here's a link to the sad story, along with other accusations about bad working conditions for horses.

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Theater District, Eighth Avenue at 42nd Street

Mary Sargent © 2006 ……………………….........…….. click to enlarge

And now at 42nd Street and the last photo of this walk of 2 weeks ago. This is the bottom western corner of the theater district.

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Theater District, Eighth Avenue Between 43th and 42nd Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 ………. click to enlarge

Sometimes I feel like the rawest tourist. Is this building believable? Doesn't it look like a graphic design? Why haven't I heard about it? I have the feeling everyone knows about it but me.

Looking at this, you know you're in the theater district.

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Theater District, Eighth Avenue Between 46th and 45th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2006 ……………………….........…….. click to enlarge

Same walk of November 4; I've just crossed into another neighborhood, turning onto Eighth Avenue and walking downtown to 42nd Street to get the subway home.

There're two ways these old buildings, only 4 stories high, still stand. One way is when it's squeezed between tall, tall newer buildings and the other is this way, standing all by itself, isolated. Well, there are more than two ways, but these two ways seem especially poignant to me. I hope I'm not identifying with old buildings.

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