Times Square, 42nd Street Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

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

Saturday late afternoon Luka and I went to see The Wrestler at AMC Empire 25 on 42nd Street. The crowds were unbelievable. The ticket line, or should I say, ticket blob, was out the door. Maybe it's always like this on late Saturday afternoon and I've just never been here then. We were early enough to get tickets, though, since we'd allowed extra time to get a fast meal. So we missed our fast meal and settled for popcorn and coke, which was, ummmm, delicious. The Wrestler was also good although there was too much wrestling in it.

Afterwards I took a few shots in the swirl of 42nd Street. I especially like this one, partly because of its yellow-red overcast which I decline to remove. Please enlarge it, just as a favor to me.

P.S. Obama's speech tonight was great. Thrilling.

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Times Square, 41st Street at Seventh Avenue

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

This shot was taken in Times Square on Christmas Day one year ago and it looks like Happy New Year to me.

If you were out in Times Square tonight, well, bless your freezing fingers and toes, and Happy New Year to you.

I stayed inside nice and warm, pondering my New Year's resolutions. Let's see . . . No. 1. Go on photowalk January 1.

There, that's enough.

Good night! Health, happiness and wealth to all in 2009!

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Times Square, 48th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge

And now at the end of the block, it looks like a typical residential street, so familiar and comforting.

After this shot, I sped up Ninth Avenue to Chez Napoleon (two blocks) and was exactly on time. We had a splendid dinner to celebrate Ilana's birthday; I had quails, Ilana had steak and Carolyn had, I think, duck a l'orange, all delicious.

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Times Square, 48th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues

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


This is a piece of the Belvedere Hotel, built in 1930. Above the first story, it's nothing to give a second glance at, but this first story – well, now that I think of it, it could be a setting in the fairy tale I started telling last night.

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Times Square, 48th Street Between Eighth and Ninth Avenues

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

This enchanted scene was shot through the bars of the Marian S. Heiskell Garden. It is not for mortals to enter. But maybe if you choose your clothes carefully, they will make an exception for you, as they seem to have done for the couple on the right. The beauty on the left is telling them, don't be afraid, come this way. She is not mortal.

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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.

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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.

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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, 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.

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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, 50th Street Between Ninth and Eighth Avenues

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

In a city where restaurants turn over so fast that often you don't even bother to remember their names, as in, where did you eat? Oh, you know, that restaurant on the corner of Broadway and whatever. As I was saying, in such a city, I'm always surprised when every ten years or so I see that Seeda Thai still stands. In 1982 when I was a temp at Equitable Life Insurance around the corner on Broadway, my friend June came to town and we had lunch at Seeda Thai. In 1982 Thai food in New York was basically sweet food; think pineapple and marachino cherries. I don't think we had yet heard of pad thai. Be that as it may, I have no recollection of what I ate that day.

So here it still is. I walked on by and over to Thalia where I had my first gin and tonic of the warm weather season. Can't find a link to Thalia that shows its beautiful bar. By the way, they have hooks under the bar that you can hang your bag on. So smart.

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Times Square, 50th Street Between Ninth and Eighth Avenues

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

Ah, my destination. Originally, in January, I think, Carolyn and I booked dinner at Chez Napoleon, knowing nothing of it, only because it was across the street from William Finn's Make Me a Song, a theatrical review we thought we were attending. Alas, it turned out that the production had already closed unbeknownst to us since I had ignored the notification from Ticketmaster, thinking it just another annoying email.

Soooooo, we went to a movie instead. No Country For Old Men, a pretty good movie with a really scary villain.

And then we had dinner at Chez Napoleon. Oo la la. This is unrepentant French food, the full fat, uninventive, tried and true version. Snails in garlic butter, the best I've had maybe ever. The night turned out to be pretty fine after all.

So on our recent visit, our third, Ilana also came in celebration of her brand new American citizenship. I guess we should have taken her to, uh, an American place.

Nah.

They had my book.

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

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


Doubling up again, I need to get out of April. But these are very much like they could be shot today, yes?


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

I love these photographs. I would never live anywhere else.

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Times Square, Ninth Avenue between 44th and 45th Streets

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

L'Allegria is one of many restaurants in this area offering pre-theater menus. I know nothing about the place, but based on the tacky Italian theme music that plays at their site, I wouldn't set a foot into it. Ordering pizza from them may be a different story.

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Times Square, 43rd Street Between Eighth and Ninth Avenues

Over two weeks ago, on April 23, Wednesday, after Cathy took me out for a birthday lunch, I took the subway to 42nd Street and walked up Ninth Avenue to 50th Street. I wanted to pick up a book I had left at Chez Napoleon on Saturday night. The book? A History of Venice. You can understand why I needed it. I was going to Venice.

Here are two photographs from 43rd Street.


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

I was intent on the twin narrow buildings still standing in the midst of this parking lot wasteland and didn't notice the odd appearance of the baby car in the midground until I got home and saw it on the computer monitor.



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

Note the hands of the children reaching out through their cage – I mean playground fence – waiting for their ices. The sign on the cart says Dominican Ice's, mango, cherry, tamarindo, coco, rainbow.

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Times Square, 41st Street Between Eighth and Seventh Avenues

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

Um, Happy New Year. It's theoretically the next day, that is, January 1, 2008, but we who are still up know it's not. It's still 2007. Let's all go to bed and wake up very late and face the New Year bright eyed and rested. Good night.

Oh, yes, forgot to say, this is the theater where Rent is playing. Rent, which is based on La Boheme, which takes place in Paris. But based in New York, it's called Rent. But of course.

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Times Square, 41st Street Between Eighth and Seventh Avenues

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

A quiet, you might almost say tranquil, shot, with those pale colors. Remember this is in the midst of flashing, neon Times Square.

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Times Square, 40th Street at Eighth Avenue

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

Here's one these old buildings, complete with fire escapes, dear to me. I like to imagine living there.

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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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