The Yankees

Ok. More November: I took the red-eye back from LA and thanks to my mom and aunt, slept though most of it. Yay?! to staying up all night drinking completely made-up cocktails with your giggly mom and aunt. That said, after sleeping for a few hours in my own bed, I was welcomed back to NY with bagels, a subway ride and romp around Riverside Park. On that one, here's to friends who make you get out of bed?! And here's Riverside Park.

Riverside Church from Grant's Tomb. Grant's Tomb. Civil War dudes had enviable facial hair as shown here. Nick and I being Yankee fans.

And with that, I'm a New Yorker again.

I finally made it out to The Putting Lot — 9 locally-designed mini-golf holes — this afternoon.

Are you wet yet?, hole 3, by Openhop in the forefront.

Pachinko Putt-Putt by Meat Pallet, hole 7.

The Art Market by Skewville, hole 6.

The Living Lot by Interface Studio, hole 9.

Check it out should you happen to be in Bushwick.

The Putting Lot, 12 Wyckoff Ave., Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY

Willaimsburg, the (a)bridge(d) version

Oy Vey, indeed! The sign for incoming traffic read, "Welcome to Brooklyn. You name it... we got it!" Conversely, at the other end of the Williamsburg Bridge, you're merely greeted by a sign reading, "Welcome to Manhattan." Yawn.

Stenciled by a hipster no doubt.

Iron Maiden Voyage

I went for a walk this evening through Hudson River Park to try out my new camera. I came across sunset vistas, warehouses and geese waddling around to the sounds of Matt and Kim playing on Pier 54.

Positively New Jersey.

Nick documented the learning curve.

I then made my way to The Village where I was pleased to find that construction in Washington Square Park is finally complete. Yay!

Camera phone holiday special from Queens

We're in Queens, mofos! Long Island City to be precise. DUQB or Down Under Queensboro Bridge. So, it's not as catchy as DUMBO. Give it time.

And as a bonus, from The Great Gatsby: "The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge, is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world" The following two shots were taken at Deitch Studios on the waterfront. You can see more photos of the current installation, Pig, here. Random mural showing an oddly angry-looking Queensboro Bridge monster. Manhattan skyline from the Pulaski Bridge. The most interesting thing about this bridge just might be that it is that it's the halfway point during the NYC Marathon. Taken on the Pulaski Bridge. Home, like no other place in the world! As much as I enjoy these camera phone round-ups, I'm pleased to announce that my new point-and-shot should be arriving in the mail any day. Yay! A little camera, that's only a camera!

island hopping

Not wanting my fatigue or the late afternoon hour to get in the way of my usual weekend exploration, I decided that it was time I ventured out to Staten Island. It is the only borough I have never visited and it operates a free ferry. When I arrived in lower Manhattan as the sun was setting, I thought, "This plan is really coming together: a free sunset cruise on the Bay and a return cruise after dark!" Thoughts of a glittering lower Manhattan danced in my head as the gates were open and we, the tired, cold and huddled masses, boarded our ferry.

Being a spontaneous, late in the day sort of thing, I hadn't beefed up on what's what or what's to do in Staten Island. Short of having seen Madonna's Papa Don't Preach video a hundred or so times and having heard that Staten Island is the most suburban of the five boroughs, I really didn't know what to expect. After disembarking the ferry, Nick and I walked up and down a few quaint, but lonesome streets, eventually stopping by a local bar where a bunch of 20-somethings were blowing up inflatable palm trees and wrapping buckets in bamboo-print material to make festive stands for tiki torches.

At this point, chilled and completely caught up on our 90s popular rock, we headed back to the ferry. And while I didn't see Madonna in her Italians Do It Better t-shirt, I did watch some French rapper shooting a video on the outer deck as we passed Ms. Liberty clutching her glowing torch.

It was a good day.

nostalgia train

When I first heard the city would be running a vintage subway train from 1931 - the Nostalgia Train - each Sunday during the holiday season and that each subway car features wicker seats and ceiling fans, you know, I was thinking rich earthy browns, plums and for some reason, decorative palms. Ok, I know, they're subway cars not luxury trains, but I think the wicker seats and ceiling fans just inspired a completely different image in my mind. Either way, I enjoyed wandering between cars during the ride from Lower East Side/2nd Avenue to Queens Plaza and listening to fellow passengers who rode these trains in their youth reminisce; the trains ran through the early 70s. Too bad there's little chance I'd wait an hour outside for a chance to ride the Nostalgia Bus.

Other riders captured festive and vivid subway car interiors; follow the link above.

read all about it

Too bad I was running late this morning. If I hadn't been power-walking, intent on getting to work, perhaps I would have noticed people distributing copies of a fake New York Times featuring dreamy headlines. Did anyone get a copy?

There's a website, too.

it's time for tricks it's time for treats... it's halloween

Last night I attended my first Village Halloween Parade. I work near the end of the parade route, 23rd and 6th Ave., and had watched the police laying out barricades while on my lunch break and exited my office building after work amid packs of people in costumes heading downtown. I called up Nick and we decided to meet-up, maybe mistakenly, opting to take the F train down 6th Avenue to West 4th Street. We were obviously not the only people with this idea, because while we were both able to get on a packed train, we were herded through the underground in mass, to exits on the west side of 6th Avenue. Surprisingly, we found a somewhat less-peopled corner to meet and wandered around the West Village, finding side streets that were surprising quiet off the main drags swarming with revelers.

We were both hungry and the parade wasn't going to make it's way up to our vantage point any time soon, so we wandered and stumbled on a German Beer Hall. To Nick's delight, it served Berliner Weisse, so we stopped in. We ordered heaping plates of German salads and sour krauts and drank a beer among costumed people in Lederhosen and the cast of The Wizard of Oz. After our refreshment, we continued wandering and eventually made our way over to 6th Avenue - the parade route. We could hear that the parade had made it, but couldn't see anything - not because it's a night time parade, but because of the rows of people 10 deep and streams of people moving at a snail's pace. We finally made our way near the parade. I stood on a concrete wall, clutching an iron fence and watched floats with rock bands and hundreds and hundreds of people marching in costume.

The only way I can think of describing the scene is like a less-debaucherous Mardi Gras. There wasn't much vomiting and for the most part people were well-behaved. The route's only a little over a mile and supposedly draws a couple million people; pretty impressive I think.

So, popular costumes. Palin - not so much, Joe the plumber - I saw a couple, Joe Six-Pack - I saw one. There were lots of teenagers wearing Obama-themed gear: big "O"s, Obama masks... Confusingly, there were lots of costumed police officers and fire fighters, I saw tons of bloodied people, a couple of Ghost Busters (awesome!), there were robots, Viking gods and surprisingly, lots of Marios and Luigis! I still think Nick and I would have rocked those costumes hard; we've got the necessary height differential!

Being bridge and tunnel folk, I sometimes think of Escape from New York and well, last night... we decided, short of walking across one of the bridges, our best bet to get off the island was to maybe get on the L at it's stop farthest west. So, we set out. And on the way stumbled on a quiet square that was filled with lit jack-o-laterns and some crazy smaller parade led by a huge, gold devil's head and swirling red banners and some guy trying to stir-up some debauch among the NYU crowd.

When we arrived at the subway around 10, it was practically a ghost town! Spooky. My fear of not being able to get on a train was wrong. Everyone was above ground! And when we made it to Brooklyn, deciding to stop off in Williamsburg for a drink, we found the same. Creepy. Everyone was in stinking Manhattan living it up.

blathering has no end

What an exhausting day. Today I discovered that getting to the eastern corner of Prospect Park from my little corner of the borough is completely inconvenient. Although, the final leg of the journey, the Prospect Park Shuttle, delights me to no end. I digress. And why exactly would one make such an effort — three transfers — to get to the eastern part of Prospect Park? Well, that's where the Brooklyn Museum, Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Public Library are located. It's a pretty spectacular little corner of the borough.

It being another rainy day, a visit to the museum, even if out of the way, was a pretty ideal way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I only spent time on the 4th and 5th floors, but wandered through the decorative and American art exhibits, a contemporary Brooklyn artists exhibit and checked out the Center for Feminist Art which was showing Ghada Amer. Hubba-hubba most certainly, but completely interesting nonetheless.

Having worked up an appetite, my friends I headed to Park Slope for a bite and just past the Grand Army Plaza spied Maggie Gyllenhall pushing a stroller.

And here I am, home, exhausted, happy to be off my feet and looking forward to my next journey to Prospect Park.

the one where I reference the guys from Devil in the White City a lot

It's fall this evening after what I hope was the last of summer Sunday. The sky's looking rather painterly; all periwinkle with fluffy dusty rose clouds and there's a chill in the air. I'm anticipating fall, but think I need a few sweaters. Nick and I got library cards over the weekend. I've read the first Sherlock Holmes mystery mostly during my commute — it's short. Did you know it's about Mormons? Mysterious indeed.

Anyway. We had our first guests Friday night. Two Philly friends came up for a concert at Radio City Music Hall. Their bus was arriving in Chinatown around the same time Nick and I were finishing work. With a handy bit of coordination Nick and I met underground and then they met us at our stop. We had a surprisingly good supper at a divey Vietnamese spot, then Mike, Sarah and I hopped on the F train up to Radio City and Nick walked to The Village to spend an evening exchanging music trivia with a fellow DJ and talking to a Chicago ex-pat.

I'd never been inside Radio City Music Hall. It's a bit like walking into 1937. The band was good, the light-show blinding at times, but all in all a good time. Afterward, Mike and Sarah realized they wouldn't be able to catch the last Chinatown bus back to Philly, so I gladly offered them use of our new pull-out bed, blow-up bed, whatever they wanted. They agreed, we stayed up chatting and the next morning I walked them to the M.

Nick and I headed out a little later in the afternoon. We wandered around the Jefferson Market Library where we got our aforementioned library cards and then wandered around Central Park. I think we walked from 86th Street to 61st! The park really is amazing. It smells like the outdoors, not like out of my door, but like nature.

Otherwise, I discovered Madison Square. It's really near where I work, only I never realized it was there. It's pretty crazy, they've got this faux-beach set up between lanes of traffic on Broadway outside the park. There's no faux-ocean, just sand glued to the pavement, potted palms, assorted flora and tables and chairs. The park itself has an oddly European air and there's a spot called the Snack Shack all done up with hanging lights. On the south end of the park is the Flat Iron Building. I hope to spend my lunch hour there soon.

Hot off the presses: Nick just got us tickets to see Stereolab at Irving Plaza, near Madison Square, in a few weeks. It's the forth and final show of the series and special because the opening band will be the lead singer of Sterolab's side project, Monade. How she intends to pull off all of that singing off I don't know, but am anticipating watching her try.

in a (coco)nutshell

So, I got that day off and I'm spending it waiting. Waiting for the handyman to return and waiting for the gas company to arrive. I really hope the gas company comes! As much as I enjoy a challenge, I'm sure coming up with inventive ways to cook using an electric wok will get old shortly! Although, this past week I made a good vegetarian paella and Nick, some tasty gnocchi.

In other news. I enacted my planning plan yesterday! I took a minute to google "best happy hour + mahattan," cross referenced a couple Best of lists and came up with a few places in the Village to check out. I settled on The Boxcar Lounge on Avenue B. I met Nick in Union Square after work. In an attempt to mix it up, I took a different route to get there — I took 17th Street! Approaching the square from a different side did oddly provide a fresh perspective. We proceeded to walk down 14th Street into the Village. On the way I bought a bag of those fragrant roasted nuts I love so much — only I bought coco nut. I'm coo-coo for roasted coconuts. As we walked we spied some fun stuff: Artichoke, a pizza shop I'd been inexplicably drawn to, we later confirmed why I trust my gut, and the Shrunken Skull — wait for it — a tiki bar!

We made it to Avenue B and Nick fell in love. Believe it or not, it's a not quite completely gentrified corner of Manhattan. He agreed with my theory in this situation, you see, we'd walked up Avenue A the other day and just as I suspected, something we liked a whole lot better was just around the corner, aha! Anyway, we had a happy hour at The Boxcar and on the way to the subway opted to stop and check out the Shrunken Skull — come on, it's tiki bar! Nick dropped off a demo and in the end, we decided to queue up and get a slice of pizza from Artichoke — the definite highlight in my opinion. This place only serves a few types of pizza: a Sicilian, a plain slice covered with huge basil leaves, an artichoke pizza and crab pizza! Nick got the regular slice and I went all pesco-vegetarian ordering the crab. We took our slices and sat on a stoop. I'm pretty convinced this spot doesn't have seating on purpose. People standing around eating delicious slices of pizza is pretty great free advertising; we were asked more than once by a passer-by about the place. So, now I'm in love. Happily this place is at the 1st subway stop in Manhattan on my line.

So, that's it. I found a few spots on 14th and good pizza to boot! I intend to continue taking new routes and doing a quick google search here and there. In a city full of possibilities, you just need a starting point and a little perspective, I think.

Developments: It looks like I'll have a couple more weeks to master the art of electric wok cooking and more reason to hit up that pizza joint. National Grid, the incompetent gas company, decided to not come today and we have to wait until the 25th to get our cooking gas set-up! I, not at all regretfully, used a few expletives on the phone. Looks like some nasty letter writing is in my future — sans the expletives. It's a good thing I took the afternoon off so I can get started!

some sharp provolone with that whine

It's been a week. A week that makes me feel a bit like the number one wet blanket. While Nick's of the This is amazing! I left my apartment 20 minutes ago and am now standing in the middle of Union Square! mindset. My feeling is far more, er, pragmatic. I'm like, Yah, I walk through Union Square on my way to and from work everyday. Arg.

I think I need a day off. I think I need a copy of the Village Voice. I haven't had much time for wandering as my New York existence has felt like one big shuffle from Brooklyn to the office and back. I think my wandering should be more disciplined. You're right, that's not wandering. That's a plan. I need a plan.

Don't fear for me completely, friends. I do recognize the uniqueness of my surroundings. While walking up 6th Avenue to work in the morning I am fortified by the sight of the Empire State building and the smell of roasted nuts from a street side vendor. I take pleasure in impromtu Free Jazz being played in Tompkins Square Park and Jazz Manouche in the subway. I enjoy the hustle and I like New Yorkers. It's only been a week. I'll take a personal day soon.

I'll post some road trip photos, pictures taken at Nick's Dad's cabin and some photos taken from my bedroom window next as the story continues...

New York, New York

We've arrived. We're here. We're home. It hit me Thursday that I'm not leaving. That this isn't another couple of days spent in New York City. This is where I live now and it's kind of weird. Weird like my neighbor's rooster that cock-a-doodle-doos every morning at dawn. Weird in a way that surprises, but oddly amuses.

More to come...