City Of Memory

Manny's Music

2009-06-22 19:41:14.628849+00

Manny's Music was one of the few music stores left on block W. 48th St. know as Music Row. It closed down at the end of the May, 2009. It will become an affiliate of Sam Ash Music (another long-time occupant of Music Row).

The El in East Harlem

2009-06-18 15:46:15.699091+00

I grew up in East Harlem, in a neighborhood that was once the largest Italian community in America. I lived on Third Avenue at 116 Street, so the Third Avenue EL would run outside my window. I could see the tracks from my window and watch the trains

Crack the Whip

2009-06-18 15:12:41.422051+00

It was early twilight, the hour when homework was completed. I donned a roller skate key secured with a ribbon. After traversing up and down all of the Hills called Murray on roller skates, I was joined by my best friend, Margie. We would amble up to

Just Joe

2009-06-18 14:57:49.031616+00

One of my household chores in 1946 was my familys food shopping. This job took me regularly to that great wreck of a store where I would select the freshest of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, escarole, apples, pears, grapes, and my favorite fruit, c

Elevated Thoughts

2009-06-18 14:39:27.327862+00

There it stood, looming large and tall, on Third Avenue, majestic and mysterious, from 1886 until 1955. This structure defined all the neighborhoods it ran through along Third Avenue from South Ferry to Tremont Avenue. Powerful black iron latticework

Kool Herc and Coke La Rock

2009-06-17 19:48:09.847114+00

Two icons of Hip Hop, Coke La Rock and DJ Kool Herc, perform together again in the Bronx.

Doughboy Park

2009-06-04 16:01:39.461818+00

Students in the 2nd grade at PS 11 Queens explored their neighborhood and made personal connections to special places...

Patrons Grocery & Flower Shop

2009-06-04 15:53:05.645664+00

Students in the 2nd grade at PS 11 Queens explored their neighborhood and made personal connections to special places...

Elizabeth's Deli & Grocery

2009-06-04 15:48:43.865883+00

Students in the 2nd grade at PS 11 Queens explored their neighborhood and made personal connections to special places...

Peace Token Fishing Tackle Corp.

2009-06-04 15:43:25.857596+00

Students in the 2nd grade at PS 11 Queens explored their neighborhood and made personal connections to special places...

PS 11 Queens p.2

2009-06-04 15:26:08.416527+00

Students in the 2nd grade at PS 11 Queens explored their neighborhood and made personal connections to special places...

PS 11 Queens

2009-06-04 14:59:24.44615+00

Students in the 2nd grade at PS 11 Queens explored their neighborhood and made personal connections to special places...

Tour introduction

2009-06-04 14:35:29.309979+00

Students in the 2nd grade at PS 11 Queens explored their neighborhood and made personal connections to special places...

Lower East Side Flower Children 1968

2009-05-29 22:09:31.736331+00

It's 1968 and we're Flower Children sitting around at benches in the Eatery Cafe. Some of us have been panhandeling on St. Mark's Place all day so that we can come inside this cafe and have our first meal of the day. The Cafe opens around 8p.m. Ma

just for a trial

2009-05-13 15:19:45.451582+00

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec at odio ut erat tempus venenatis. Phasellus lacus mauris, posuere a lacinia et, fermentum in orci. Aliquam tempor facilisis libero, in faucibus tortor ultricies at. Quisque suscipit digni

Forgiveness on Yom Kippur

2009-04-24 16:50:08.874381+00

Orthodox Jews perform a ritual on Yom Kippur, one of the high holy days, in which they clear themselves of their sins by swinging a live chicken around their heads. Rabbi Meir Fund, a spiritual leader in the Brooklyn Orthodox community, discusses the meaning of forgiveness in relation to Yom Kippur and Orthodox Judaism.

Ritual Apologies

2009-04-24 16:21:14.809773+00

Between the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Orthodox Jews apologize to all those who they feel they may have offended during the past year. In this story, Israeli author and editor Yori Yanover demonstrates the importance of apology in accordance with Jewish law.

The Meaning of Chametz

2009-04-24 16:10:43.729235+00

Orthodox spiritual leader Rabbi Meir Fund lives with his wife and children in Brooklyn. Each year before Passover, the Fund family scours the house in search of chametz, the leavened bread that cannot be consumed during Passover. Rabbi Fund reflects upon the spiritual meaning of chametz in the Jewish faith.

Jewish Boxer Dmitry Salita

2009-04-24 15:55:30.738245+00

Dmitry Salita, a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine, has been boxing since his youth and now boxes professionally in the junior welterweight division. He also happens to be an Orthodox Jew who observes the Sabbath and challenges the notion that sports and Orthodox religion are incompatible.

Chevra Kadisha

2009-04-24 15:26:00.032615+00

Even in death, Orthodox Jews treat one another with deep care and respect. At the Queens chevra kadisha, or burial society, men and women perform the traditional tahara to purify the bodies of the dead and accompany their souls before burial. The tahara consists of a ritual cleaning and dressing of the body in accordance with Jewish custom. For the next eleven months, the family of the deceased will recite kadish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, while the volunteers at the chevra kadisha will continue to perform the tahara daily to ensure that all members of the community are buried with dignity.

Sicily and Spirituality in Borough Park

2009-04-10 19:09:19.036891+00

Gioia Timpanelli, often called the Dean of American Storytelling, was one of the founders of the worldwide storytelling revival beginning in the 1960s. Respected as both a master and scholar of storytelling, she has won numerous awards for her work, including two Emmy awards for Stories From My House, the Womens National Book Association Award for sharing the oral tradition with the American public, and the 1999 American Book Award Sometimes the Soul: Two Novellas of Sicily. She describes her future plans as turning inward and allowing herself to go wherever the present moment takes her. In the near future, she will be working on writing books, participating in a child psychology conference, and performing with fellow storytelling masters.

Tiny Burials in Borough Park

2009-04-10 18:45:56.253823+00

On March 26th, 2009, Laura Simms performed these stories from her childhood in Borough Park at the 92nd Street Y.

What's a happy ending without sugar?

2009-04-01 04:46:40.160819+00

And what's a meal without a fitting dessert I asked myself as I biked along the beautiful streets of Park Slope and made pretend I lived there. I don't think I fooled anybody as I am in a constant state of dishevelment. When I saw the Ladybird Ba

I always deserve Juice

2009-04-01 04:39:06.367117+00

The Falafel was just the energy I needed for the ride down to Prospect Park. By the time I got there (it took awhile as I just had to stop in at this tempting chess store) I was quite parched and juice was on my mind. As it often his. Surprisingly it

First Stop: Falafel

2009-04-01 04:33:56.719547+00

I'm the first to admit I'm a glutton. But really, I just loooove food. I could eat all day until my body grows eight new folds in the stomach area, each one by-stepping billions of years of evolution to form mouths that all yell at me, Andy, stop

Connecting Highway

2009-03-18 18:30:13.070275+00

This was a stretch of city highway that connected Queens to brooklyn. But during the early 60's it was known by street racers as "the connecting". It was the scene for some of the best street racing in the city. It was a perfect spot akin to an a

Friends

2009-03-13 20:45:24.092826+00

I finished my journey at 120th street after my legs were begging for the luxury of a subway ride home. I stumbled upon this statue just as the moon tucked the sun into sleep. It immediately struck me as a gleeful combination of turn of the century ch

Imagination

2009-03-13 20:43:42.553621+00

*a poem inspired by Alice in Wonderland The cool-side of the pillow magic carpet ride She lives behind my eyelids Her name dances on my tongue. Someone calls to her, Alice, why are you running? Is that my voice? Shes gone now, replace

The Worker

2009-03-13 20:41:29.939984+00

I looked up and had to apologize thinking I had interrupted his work. It took me a second for it to sink in that he couldn't be bothered by a parade of elephants let alone me. Encased in bronze, the Garment Worker (1984) is a life size testament to

The Walker

2009-03-13 20:38:20.657302+00

I thought this statue of Mohandas Gandhi was a fitting continuation on my trip uptown given his eternal pose of stepping forward. The statue was sculpted by Kantilal Patel and was dedicated on Gandhi's 117 birthday, October 2, 1986. It was commissio

A forgotten arch

2009-03-13 20:36:38.36423+00

From far away, the arch leading to the Manhattan bridge seems unspectacular. It isn't until you brave the zipping traffic and step onto the cobble-stoned plaza that you see just how wrong you are and just how out of place it really is. How can you a

Test

2009-03-06 16:15:51.024986+00

Just Testing

Yodeller

2009-03-01 14:56:40.731982+00

The Yodeler In a hurry not wanting to miss Peter's reading scheduled at a smoky, dim, hung with red flags and photos of Lenin, too-hip, Manhattan bar I hustled down the stairs toward a waiting train empty of people and going nowhere its

Wash. Heights Storefront: Reynold's Bar

2009-02-27 18:11:58.546179+00

REYNOLDS BAR has been in continuous operation since 1932. The neon sign is from 1964. This bar has been here since 1932. It was called Bills Café back then and the owner was an ex-cop who ran the place for 32 years. When he retired, he sold the bar to Jim Reynolds in 1964 and he put up the neon sign that you see today. The interior, however, is still the same, and dates back to Prohibition. This is the last of the old Irish bars in the whole neighborhood. There were dozens of them at one time. But this is the last one left around here. I started working the bar here 32 years ago when the neighborhood was mostly Irish. Now the neighborhood has totally changed and most of the Irish and Jewish people have left and lots of Dominicans have moved in. There used to be a lot of problems in the area around ten years ago with drugs and crime but now the neighborhood has really improved. Most of our business is Spanish-speaking customers, especially at nighttime, but we have no problems and havent been robbed or anything. We plan to stay here for many more years to come. Pat Smith, manager/bartender

Sunset Park Storefront: Luigi's Pizza

2009-02-27 17:58:04.986987+00

LUIGI'S PIZZA has been in business since 1973. It is now being run by the second-generation family member, Giovanni Lanzo. My father, Luigi, emigrated here from Calabria, Italy. He was a farmer but learned to cook well from his mother. He opened this pizza place in 1973 using his family recipes. He has retired now but still grows many of the fresh ingredients we use such as tomatoes and herbs at his farm in Staten Island. Yes, he actually has a farm! It's hard to believe that there is a farm anywhere in New York City but he has a small one. I think that's what makes our pizza taste so good-the fresh ingredients. Our specialty is our fresh mozzarella pizza, which is sprinkled with our home-grown fresh herbs. We own this whole building, thank god, and that's why we are still here today. This area between Sunset Park and Park Slope has gotten so expensive that we would never be able to afford the rent. And yeah I call it area because this neighborhood in Brooklyn really has no name so we've created the name Greenwood Heights for ourselves. Sunset Park won't include us in their holiday festivities and either will Park Slope. Lots of people who live here now like to say that they live in Park Slope but I grew up in this neighborhood and back in the late 70's and early 80's it wasn't so desirable. There were lots of abandoned buildings and crime was really high. As a kid, my parents wouldn't even let me walk on 7th Avenue. I remember when the City was selling whole buildings in Park Slope for $1.00. If you lived in the building and you wanted to buy it, they were actually offering it to you for a dollar. Now of course, the neighborhood has changed but it's still a big melting pot of different nationalities. Giovanni Lanzo, second-generation owner

South Bronx Storefront: C&N Everything

2009-02-27 17:43:27.94831+00

C&N EVERYTHING STORE is a family-owned business run by Cobert and Novil Seward that has been in operation since 1956. The sign is the original one taken from our old store on 165th Street and Teller Avenue. We moved to this location in 1977 because the landlord raised the rent so high at the other store that we were forced to move. My husband and I ended up buying this whole building so that would never happen again to us. We took with us all our shelving, cabinetry, and merchandise so the inside of the store still looks very much like it did in 1956 except that maybe its a bit more crowded with merchandise now. We literally sell everything in here from candy to pipe fittings. We are open 7 days a week, every day of the year except for Christmas Day. I really dont have a most popular item, I just sell what I can. We used to sell more food items like milk and eggs but business is slower now so I dont stock perishables anymore and Ive cut back on the amount of newspapers I carry. I used to sell every New York paper including the New York Times but now I only carry the Daily News and the Post because they are the only ones that let me buy only a few a day, otherwise youve got to buy in bulk and I cant afford that. Ive been in this neighborhood so long that Ive watched many of my customers grow up and now some of them even bring in their grandchildren. I know most everybody by name and I treat all of them like family. One of the biggest things happening in this neighborhood lately is that theres lots of new construction. I dont know who can afford the rents they are charging. Most of these new buildings are empty and youd think the owners would lower the rents instead of them staying empty but I guess theyd rather leave them unoccupied. If we didnt own this building we would have been out of here long ago. Novil Seward, owner

Harlem Storefront: Brand's Liquors

2009-02-27 17:16:53.695253+00

BRANDS WINE & LIQUORS has been in business since the 1920's. Moon Lee, the current owner, bought the store in 1980 from the original owner's grandson. This liquor store dates back to before the prohibition. The wooden showcases are from the 1920's and the big marquee sign is from the 1950's. Over the past few years, the City has been trying to get me to take the sign down because there is a new law that says that storefront signs can't stick out from the building more than 18 inches. But I don't want to take it down because I realize the historical importance of the sign. So I am fighting the City to keep it. This sign is the last of its kind on the block. West 145th Street was once lined with old stores with big marquee's like this one, but little by little the City has forced the owners to remove the signs by giving us summonses and tickets. Every time the city needs money, they start pressuring me and issuing more tickets, but I won't give in. Moon Lee, owner of Brands Wine & Liquors (In late 2005, Moon Lee lost his battle with New York City and was forced to remove the sign and replace it with a new flat version) I lost the battle with the City to keep the marquee sign when they decided to fine me for the sign retrospectively from the time I bought the store. The fine amounted to over $50,000 and I couldnt afford that so I agreed to remove the sign and replace it with a flat version they approved of. The removal of the sign was a kind of harbinger of the neighborhood changing. Down comes the past along with the entire character of the neighborhood and in comes gentrification. This area was once the outer rim of a ghetto area and now luxury condos are being built and rich people are moving in. This block is going to look like 96th Street with chain stores and expensive housing. Its good for my business but I still feel terrible about the loss of the neighborhoods character. Moon Lee, owner

Bed-Stuy Storefront: Katy's Candy

2009-02-27 17:04:18.219751+00

My store is the last of the penny candy stores in New York. I still sell candy for a penny and I even sell C&C colas for 25-cents. I keep my prices low by buying everything in bulk. The colas I buy in cases of 100 and the candy I buy pounds and pounds of each variety. My most popular selling items are my ten different flavors of Tootsie Rolls, including pink lemonade, and the new cola flavor. I also sell balloons because I supply candy for a lot of parties and to fill pinatas. I am known around here as the "Dinosaur of Tompkins" because I've been open for so long. I was born and raised in this Bed-Sty neighborhood and I've seen a lot of changes. I was here when it was all Jewish and Italian and when it changed to Spanish and black. I've been through the dope, crack, and everything else this neighborhood has thrown at me. I speak three languages, English, Spanish, and Motherfucker. You've got to be tough to survive around here. Catherine Keyzer, owner

Staten Island Storefront: Pastosa Ravioli

2009-02-27 16:39:52.344335+00

PASTOSA RAVIOLI was founded by Anthony Ajello over 25 years ago. The main store and manufacturing location in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn has been in business since 1962. I opened my first store in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in 1962 after working for Polly-O Cheese Company for many years. I was born here in America but my parents are originally from Naples, Italy. My father had a latticini, a dairy and cheese business in Naples. He made his own ricotta and mozzarella cheese on his dairy farm before moving to New York. I came up with the name Pastosa for the store because in Italian pastosa means honesty and integrity. So to me Pastosa equals tasty because my business takes pride in their honesty and integrity and that makes for tasty products. My son, Michael and my grandson, Anthony are running the businesses in Brooklyn and Staten Island now because I am pretty much retired. Anthony Ajello, founder

Dylan Thomas' Haunt

2009-02-26 21:49:18.085681+00

It is said that on a dreary night at the White Horse Tavern in the West Village Dylan Thomas haunts the barstool of his last drink. From his poem "Before I Knocked" he eerily anticipates his own gloomy death. I who was rich was made the richer

Jimmy Hoffa Found?

2009-02-26 21:44:33.760503+00

With the Bronx Bombers casting sail from longtime Stadium at East 161st Street and River Avenue, the city is not just saying goodbye to almost a century's worth of historic baseball moments. The longtime home of the New York Yankees has also reporte

Pennies From Heaven

2009-02-26 21:43:01.048558+00

By: Andy Ollove Harold Powell, 30 years old, was sent to the Emergency room in critical condition early Thursday morning. He was on his way to work at a midtown Law Firm when he was struck by a falling penny dropped by a delinquent youth from the

Red Velvet Cake

2009-02-26 21:41:12.239853+00

It was about a week ago I was at the Waldorf-Astoria with a date of mine who happens to be an avid/amateur/fantastic baker. (That last adjective is hers not mine). After a rather delightful meal of salmon and salad I thought to impress the af

Alligators!

2009-02-26 21:38:57.811887+00

Is that what I think it is? No. No, it can't be I think as I hesitantly approach the storm drain where I just saw a sliver of a green tail disappear. I mean let's look at the facts. I didn't get such[it.] a good look at the thing, a

Cemetery of NO

2009-02-25 18:50:11.417071+00

The Linden Hill United Methodist Cemetery lies right on the border between Bushwick, Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens. The Linden Hill part corresponds to the location of the congregation, not the cemetery, much like Bayside Cemetery isn't anywhere

The Imprisoned Merry-Go-round

2009-02-18 04:32:17.584666+00

Dubbed the imprisoned merry-go-round by Bruce Kershners in his book Secret Places of Staten Island, this remarkable ruin from a bygone playground, surrounded by overgrown bushes and trapped by trees growing in and around the iron, stands on th

High Line

2009-02-13 21:09:36.082826+00

The High Line, an elevated freight railroad track that runs from 13th Street to 34th Street along the West Side, is one of the most explored and documented abandoned places in the country. Before its recent rediscovery and subsequent transformation i

Roy Pierre's J'Ouvert Mas Camp

2009-02-13 15:26:40.965729+00

Roy Pierre describes his 2008 presentation for the daybreak pre-carnival celebration J'Ouvert. Mr. Pierre, now 62 years old, has been participating in the West Indian Mas tradition, including the Brooklyn West Indian Carnival parade and the Brooklyn J'Ouvert celebration, for his whole life and has won numerous awards for his work.

Pickle Store

2009-02-09 22:39:35.859166+00

This is my story

Imagine all the people

2009-02-09 11:23:21.160709+00

story to follow

New Generation Mas Camp

2009-02-06 21:10:56.414691+00

Bronx Bees: Apiary of Roger Repohl

2009-02-06 20:11:47.994375+00

For the audio, Roger discusses how he began keeping bees and explains why the community needed bees to pollinate the foods they were trying to grow in local gardens. Once the buzz and their Queen arrived, he learned of the deliciously syrupy benefits they drew from the Linden-lined streets of the Grand Concourse and the 250 acres of plants that comprise the Botanical Garden's collection. In the accompanying slide show, Roger and interviewer Makale Faber don beekeeper suits to take a look at the honey quantities remaining at the end of the season. They start by passing smoke over the bees to make them more peaceful. Roger creates the smoke using pine twigs which burns like incense, causing him to comment on how beekeeping is a sensual experience--most of the senses are used--sight, touch, taste, and smell.

In the Tombs

2009-02-05 05:06:44.23959+00

I was going to paste in the story of my 3 days in the Tombs, and then come back and post the second half of the story in Rikers Island. But a 400 word limit? That's silly. The Tombs part is over 600, the Rikers part is a few thousand because that to

Long Island City Lullaby

2009-02-05 04:56:40.759624+00

A childhood memory.

Sesame Flyers Limbo Performance

2009-01-30 20:36:39.758604+00

Long Island City Lullaby

2009-01-28 04:33:22.721713+00

Jim Pignetti recalls his childhood.

Long Island City Lullaby

2009-01-26 03:58:57.568016+00

Jim Pignetti currently lives on Roosevelt Island.

Long Island City Lullaby

2009-01-25 23:16:11.708579+00

Jim Pignetti runs a metals factory in Astoria.

Long Island City Lullaby

2009-01-25 23:02:49.889275+00

A memory from Jim Pignetti's childhood.

Long Island City Lullaby

2009-01-24 15:07:34.532354+00

A stop on Jim Pignetti's tour of his childhood Astoria.

Long Island City Lullaby

2009-01-24 14:24:47.807787+00

I wrote this poem in 2004, and set it on my street, in and around my father's shop, Pete's candy store.

Puerto Rican Schwinn Club

2009-01-23 18:56:00.503118+00

Now in its 27th year, club members have turned a personal obsession into a community service.

The Molina Family: Fire in Bushwick

2009-01-23 18:25:29.190521+00

This tragic injustice is one of the many unfinished stories of the 1970s...

Memories of I.S. 291 from John Napolillo

2009-01-23 17:58:19.32098+00

Ron Carritue and the Bushwick "Fire War"

2009-01-23 17:47:15.462268+00

Ron Carritue has spent virtually every part of his life in Bushwick, and through it all he has kept smiling. The Bushwick he grew up in during the 1950s was a world apart from the one he fought to save from the flames during the firestorm years of the 70's. But through it all he kept fighting, and laughing off the flames. He rose through the ranks to be captain of one of NYC's busiest fire units, Ladder 112, the "house of pain." In 2008, The city honored the dedication of the company by addressing the decrepit state of their house. They built Engine 277 and Ladder 112 new facilites. At the time of this filming, in April of 2007, both companies were sharing splitting a firehouse on Gates and Ralph Aves.
About Bushwick
Bushwick is more than a community district in Brooklyn. It is a window onto the long and tumultuous history of NYC. Founded in 1660, it was one of the original 5 Dutch towns of Brooklyn. By the late 19th century, it was a major brewing center for the US. But by the 1970's, it also became a symbol of urban crisis in America. Bushwick's struggles were not unique. Elsewhere in the city and across the country, urban areas experienced the difficult transformation from a predominantly industrial economy to a service economy. What sets Bushwick apart is the lasting impact that urban planning has left on the community. In this virtual tour, we explore the community at its lowest ebb, and along its slow and inching progress towards recovery. Between 1965 and 1980, the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fought over a million fires. This period is often referred to as "The Fire War". Fires burned in different areas of the city--most infamously the South Bronx. But in Brooklyn, Bushwick was the hardest hit. The neighborhood was vulnerable to fire because of its deteriorated housing stock of connected wooden frame homes. To make matters worse, this was a time of economic crisis and municipal neglect. In the midst of the 1975 Budget Crisis, firemen were laid off and fire houses across the city were shut down. While no firehouses in Bushwick were closed, they did lose many firefighters, forcing surviving Bushwick fire companies to spread themselves thinner and thinner. With longer response times, each fire did more damage. The earlier fires were accidental, the product of overcrowding and lax fire protection. But as houses burned and then blocks, the cause of the fires shifted. By 1975, an epidemic of arson was destroying Bushwick. As more houses were abandoned, the fires grew into a destructive firestorm, leaving a scarred landscape of abandoned buildings in its wake. By the end of the decade, Bushwick had lost one third of its population to relocation, and in the areas hardest hit, 50% of residents were gone. Bushwick took three long decades to come back to its bustling current status, aided by public and private investment. More recently, gentrification has driven up property values and led to both new long time residents being pushed out by greedy landlords. Added to this situation is the recent crash in the real estate market and economy at large, which directly impacts Bushwick which has one of the highest foreclosure rates in Brooklyn. After a long road back Bushwick is currently on the verge of losing what makes it unique as a community. That is reason enough to pause and remember those that made it through the flames, and who now are being threatened by another kind of destruction.

Long Island City Lullaby

2009-01-21 04:32:45.37767+00

Memories of Long Island City High School, 1969

Awash with Fear

2009-01-06 04:21:44.844926+00

I like doing the laundry. I actually like going to the Laundromat. Throw my stuff into machines and sit around and wait. The hum of the machinery provides a wonderful white noise background for reading. It reminds me of the subway, only safer.

Riding the Subway 1930's Style

2008-12-28 00:07:04.246994+00

My plans to meet a friend over the Thanksgiving weekend were foiled by the seemingly whimsical nature of weekend express service on the New York subway. I was trying to get to NYU from midtown, but the train I was on decided to skip straight from Un

Bridges and Movie Sets

2008-12-27 23:50:19.077904+00

The bridges (Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Manhattan) never cease to amaze me. The scale, the details, the beauty; its particularly breathtaking when standing between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges in DUMBO park. While I (foolishly) didnt take any

Xmas on the Subway (excerpt)

2008-12-20 15:38:57.440809+00

Lets have a Christmas party of our own! Just for Jewish kids. Phyllis Drapkin offered her house. But we had gotten used to unsupervised evenings. Lets decorate a subway car. It came out of my mouth without one thought behind it. Here we

Xmas on the Subway (excerpt)

2008-12-20 15:11:57.164657+00

Subway Christmas Party

2008-12-20 14:34:51.8364+00

In the late 50s and early 60s, kids needed places to hang out where they could totally avoid parents. Before kids had malls to hang out in. Before backpacks. Before family rooms. Before computers, multiplex theaters, and cell phones, suburban kids ca

Pelham Parkway Christmas House

2008-12-18 16:44:50.211294+00

Every year, for the past 30 years, from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, the Garabedian family has decorated their home and property into a Winter Wonderland spectacle. Nearly one hundred figures make up the annual display, which is a combination of religious figures, Disney characters, Victorian-era characters, Christmas figures, ballroom dancers, and pop-culture icons.

Obama Rules!

2008-12-16 16:26:57.505194+00

Nothing like feeling the love on election night! Honking, cheering, and crowds take to the street in Harlem!

asf aswt wag woeiut

2008-12-15 16:00:07.718273+00

Projects, so possibly it could be removed after contacting them. Their policies on rights or with regard to challenges to content that has been posted are not stated anywhere explicitly. However, it does seem clear, from the FAQ information that on

Perico ripiao

2008-12-12 21:40:51.478572+00

El Puente

2008-12-12 21:07:08.097647+00

An Interview with Frances Lucerna, one of the founders of El Puente. El Puente is a community human rights institution that promotes leadership for peace and justice through the engagement of members (youth and adult) in the arts, education, scientific research, wellness and environmental action. Founded in 1982 by Luis Garden Acosta, El Puente currently integrates the diverse activities and community campaigns of its Center for Arts and Culture and its Community Health and Environment Institute (CHE) within its three neighborhood Leadership Centers and its nationally recognized public high school, the El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice. Organizing in North Brooklyn and beyond, El Puente remains at the forefront of community/youth learning and development issues and as such, initiates and impacts social policy both locally and nationally.

Christmas Displays from Dyker Heights and other Brooklyn Neighborhoods

2008-12-12 21:04:49.336873+00

Los Muralistas

2008-12-12 21:01:32.834048+00

El Puente Muralistas have completed over eight community murals, spanning over a decade, involving youth and community in expressing community issues throughout Williamsburg and Bushwick under the leadership of artist Joe Matunis. Here Joe explains some of the process involved in creating the murals. The murals seen here are the ones entitled: "Ashes to Ashes," at the corner of Berry St. and South 4th; "Living with Asthma," at the corner of Hewes St. and South 4th; and the Espiritu Tierra Community Garden on South 2nd.

Paco finds a dollar

2008-12-12 18:38:35.324466+00

It was shortly after I moved to NYC. All I had in the way of money was $1.50. I was hungry and knew a Mamoun's falafel would satiate my hunger perfectly. Unfortunately at that time they cost $2.50. I was walking down Houston St., wondering what I co

Danko's Gas Station

2008-11-22 14:44:10.812279+00

Danko's gas station at Christmas

Queens Community Garden

2008-11-14 23:19:46.582038+00

On May 15th, 2004 ground was broken for some garden beds on an acre of land owned and adjacent to the First Presbyterian Church of Newton. The garden beds grow strawberries, raspberries, beans, cucumbers, squash, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, herbs, and other greens which are donated to local food banks and homeless shelters. This project, called Greens for Queens Urban Farm Project, was started by Mary Sutak-Jenkins, the wife of Reverend Stanley Jenkins, and is a collaboration between the church, Green Guerrillas, and the South Asian Youth Action, a non-profit after-school program which operates out of the church's basement. The church (the oldest in Queens, dating back to 1652) donated more than 1,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables in its first year.

Home - Fran Lebowitz

2008-11-14 20:35:09.824355+00

...

Home - Pete Hamill

2008-11-14 19:55:49.157508+00

In New York anything is possible and, in fact, it is ONLY in New York that some things are possible.

Home - Robert Council

2008-11-14 19:34:01.093553+00

...

Home - Rosie Perez

2008-11-14 19:06:09.988407+00

...

Home - Colin Quinn

2008-11-14 18:28:12.482553+00

...

An

2008-11-14 17:12:45.865687+00

Wanted by the Campania Region in 2006, the New York edition of my project (leposedelcaffe.org) uses, this time, the "espresso" as a great excuse to make known to most people, those Italian-American that despite the frantic rhythm imposed them by a

Man in Hot Pants

2008-10-30 11:52:31.518264+00

I was sitting in that little triangular park at the corner of 6th Ave and Bleecker eating a slice of Joe's Pizza with a friend. We were surrounded by the full spectrum of West Villagers: old ladies in wool sweaters, teenagers speaking Spanglish, dog walkers, the (and not so smartly) smartly dressed. Soon a tall, lean man wearing nothing more than flip flops and a pair of silver hot pants walked across the park to Joe's Pizza; he was accompanied by a quite boringly dressed male friend. They moseyed across the square, stood on line at Joe's, got their slices, and returned to the park, occupying a bench a few feet away from us. They sat and chatted and ate their pizza, surrounded by the young and rowdy, the old and dowdy, Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Muslims, you name it. No one turned their head to look at them. No one even noticed they were there. This was not long after the murder of Matthew Shepard, and I remember thinking, 'this is why I live in New York.' A man in silver hot pants can eat his slice in peace. In New York City, people can be who they are without living in fear. And I fell in love with my city all over again. I live in London now. It's not the same. I'll be back.

Love of my life

2008-10-20 15:43:13.728386+00

i met him near the 7train for the first time, i dragged him all around my neighborhood and we talked for hours, 2 and half years later hear we are engaged

Out of Gas

2008-10-18 19:53:29.793214+00

It was January, 1981 and the weather was...you know...cold! I was helping my uncle with some deliveries around the City. We were traveling in an old Volkswagen Type 2 (also known as The Transporter, similar to the one in the picture but in pretty wor

J'Ouvert: Daybreak at Carnival

2008-10-10 15:51:07.913288+00

I've Got a Home in that City Up Yonder

2008-10-09 18:38:36.604204+00

Harlem Fish Cries

2008-10-03 18:31:56.006468+00

Welsh Poetry: Far Rockaway

2008-09-26 16:13:26.271434+00

Off the Page

2008-09-25 21:14:31.025323+00

In the mid-1970s, soon after I had moved to Manhattan from my native Philadelphia, a journalist friend of mine who was visiting from Philly invited me to join him and some other writer colleagues of his in an informal get-together in apartment on Jan

Trans-Lux Lost

2008-09-25 19:22:50.258241+00

In the old days, every New York neighborhood had its own special movie house, and the Trans-Lux 85th Street Theatre on Madison Avenue was the gem of the Upper East Side.

Politicos and potatoes on wall street.

2008-09-24 18:34:26.775211+00

New york is famous for our street vendors, from pretzels to nuts to hot dogs. But down on Wall Street, there used to be a guy who had a small cart that looked like an old stream train engine. He sold potatoes. Regular, sweet, buttered, cheesed, sour

Guss' Pickles

2008-09-23 23:32:09.505577+00

Formerly located on Essex St but now at 85 Orchard St, They are the best, in spite of the fact that the pickles are no longer made in the Lower East Side but are trucked in from Long Island. Full sour, half sour, pickled hot peppers, pickled mixed ve

Fare Play, NYC Style!

2008-09-23 17:35:40.370308+00

This quintessentially New York incident occurred on a bus I boarded at this location back in what I think was the early 1980s. Anyway, it was at a time well before Metro cards, but long after exact change was required to board city buses. On a crowde

My Daughter's First Collection

2008-09-19 21:11:27.34063+00

N/A

Extempo War Breaks Out in Brooklyn

2008-09-19 15:58:09.119633+00

Picong, a light comical banter, usually at someone elses expense, is part of the Trinidadian Calypso tradition...

Some Wild Tourist Photos

2008-09-16 17:58:58.845338+00

At the tip of the Bronx, at Spuyten Duyvel, there is an train crossing, right where the east river meets the hudson. There is also a rock outcropping that an amtrak line runs through with a "C" on it. My sister and I used tyo climb this rock when w

Marjorie Eliot's Weekly Concerts

2008-09-12 19:37:17.280481+00

Every Sunday for the past eight yearsrain or shine, with no vacationsa jazz concert takes place in the parlor of Marjorie Eliot's home.

I heart NY

2008-09-12 19:29:56.050314+00

I moved to NYC all by myself, and moved into my studio apartment at this address. This is where I fell completley and totally in LOVE with New York. I had always hearted NY, but this is where I fell in love with the city. A southern girl, all alon

Tears to the Stills

2008-09-12 12:32:15.123255+00

Crying so much I cant even see straight. I've loved you for so long I cant take it. Last night in town, last chance. I have to make this work. I have to make us work. He broke me and it's everything you aren't. Let's go fall into eachothers arms

Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie

2008-09-10 20:09:25.911444+00

N/A

Flamenco at Fazil's

2008-09-05 15:11:10.50346+00

...

I Am Waiting For NYC

2008-08-20 15:01:14.135941+00

I Am Waiting For NYC by Esther K. Smith I am waiting for New York City to reverse time for the bocci courts to come back to the playground at 1st and 1st for studio space to get cheaper I am waiting for the World Trade Center to un

Requiem for a Building

2008-08-15 18:10:46.203498+00

This is all about a building; a requiem for a building; but more specifically, a factory that once stood at the corner of Crescent Street and 43rd Avenue in Long Island City, New York; 4300 Crescent Street, to be precise; two blocks south of the Quee

From Staten Island to Shangri-la

2008-08-05 22:41:56.17563+00

The Jacques Marchais Center of Tibetan Art is a not-for-profit corporation, established in 1945 as an educational center dedicated to the awareness and preservation of Tibetan art and culture. The Center's founder, Jacques Marchais (1887-1948) was a

Folklore Center

2008-07-30 18:27:32.263858+00

The fifties are ending in the Village; the time of Kerouac is about to give way to something that no one can imagine. Im off high school for the summer and MacDougal Street is baking in the sun. In the cooler basement stores some irresistible gi

The Kiosk at the Tram Station

2008-07-29 21:46:47.973681+00

In 2003 I read that there was a kiosk that was about to be demolished. It was one of the five trolley station entry kiosks that originally stood at the Manhattan side of the Queensboro Bridge. The trolleys were long gone and only one kiosk remained

The Castle on the Hill - M&A

2008-07-23 21:33:33.976148+00

Actually the important address was the front door which was on St. Nicholas Terrace, not the Avenue. It was here that for many years, from 1936 to 1984, high school students would gather before and after school to make plans, exchange notes and gene

Coliseum Books: My Manhattan

2008-07-23 15:13:06.978436+00

In 2002, the Coliseum Books fell victim to real estate, chain stores and the Internet. The shop sadly closed its doors at Broadway and 57th Street, where it held court for nearly 30 years, inviting customers into a world of classical music and book browsing a gateway to the Upper West Side.

Dan Stampler's Steak Joint

2008-07-22 23:06:32.120312+00

My memories of the Steak Joint span as far back as I can remember to the summer of 1964. It was my parents favorite restaurant and I started going as a tiny baby whom they would leave with the coat check lady while they ate the meal. (I have no id

Where Has All the Flour Gone

2008-07-21 22:10:07.932745+00

by Ruth Starer

Where do the animals live?

2008-07-21 14:55:22.340246+00

On one of our walks around the condominium, Abby Dog and I came across an older gentleman out for his afternoon walk. We paused near a swath of brush and weeds (beautiful: tall sea grass, Queen Annes lace, a fragrant weed I dont know the name of in

Crab Angels at Work

2008-07-21 14:35:54.217165+00

When we still lived in Grasmere, Victor and I decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was early evening when we started. We did some shopping first, then as we left the parking lot, he headed in the wrong direction. Oops, he said when he noticed

72nd Street Station

2008-07-17 20:09:58.575012+00

For over twenty years, Harry Nugent gave commuters on the one train something to smile about.

A Proposal

2008-07-11 01:06:09.304422+00

My girlfriend Dorothea got off the LIRR from Manhattan after a hard day of work on April 18, 2008. She walked down the stairs from the train with her iPod headphones on. She noticed the limo across the street, but didn't think much of it until I p

Russian Purim Play

2008-07-07 18:34:02.197583+00

242nd Street Van Cortlandt Park Terminal

2008-07-07 16:47:10.701796+00

Leopold Forstner in New York

2008-07-05 17:34:28.514897+00

Leopold Forstner was one of the not so well known Austrian Art Nouveau artists, who lived and worked most of his life in the small town of Stockerau, less than an hours drive from Vienna. He was one of the few artists specializing in mosaic art, but

cockaroach song

2008-07-02 22:57:56.229664+00

It was 6 oclock in the morning, I looked upon the wall, The roaches and the bedbugs were having a game of ball. The score was 6 to nothing the roaches were ahead, The bedbugs hit a homerun and knocked me out of bed. "Oh shake a,shake a, shake a"

Where I'm From

2008-07-02 22:23:04.914561+00

Alicia Vasquez I Am From: A Crown Heights, Brooklyn Tale I am from ducking bullets by the bedroom window with Mom in 1974 where a tree grows in Crown Heights, Brooklyn I am from flicking bottle caps filled with tar across white chalk line bo

OLHC Schoolyard

2008-07-02 17:22:17.817796+00

OLHC Schoolyard (now Midwood Cathloic) was the center of our grammar school universe in the 1970's and '80's...from playing dodgeball, stickball, punchball and skelly in those pre-video game years to the plaid uniforms and clip on ties...plus the

Rudy King and the Steel Drum

2008-07-02 16:24:21.205986+00

Rudy was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and took part in carnival and steel band music as a youngster. He moved to New York in 1949, anxious to pursue his music and teach New Yorkers about this new instrument. He heard about some large empty metal drums at a Brooklyn hospital, and in a friend's van swiped several. Hammering dents in one of the pans in his Harlem apartment, he was doused with water from a window. When he moved to a park where he lit a fire inside the drum to temper the metal, a policeman threatened to arrest him. But the drum got made and Rudy proudly pioneered the pan in New York in the 1950 Harlem West Indian Carnival parade, which ran along 7th Avenue. Rudy became the first pan maker in the city, and the first pan player accepted into the musician's union, Local 802. He traveled all over the U.S. with calypso bands, and is a beloved figure in the West Indian Carnival community. Tragically, he passed away in March, 2004.

Greenpoint Manufacturing & Design Center

2008-06-27 21:23:59.447128+00

...

Steamship Stories

2008-06-26 19:32:36.733667+00

Collector and steamship historian Ralph Mendez relates the stories of two ships that were part of the steamship migration of Puerto Ricans to the mainland. The first story is about the ship called the Carolina, which was sunk during World War I and was memorialized in the song by Puerto Rican percussionist, Cortijo, called "Plena espanola." On June 2nd, 1918, the ship was torpedoed by a u-boat off the coast of New Jersey near Atlantic City. The San Jacinto and the Coamo were sunk during World War II. The other story is about the legendary Marine Tiger, a name familiar to many Puerto Ricans. This lecture was part of a program at the Brooklyn Historical Society on April 20th, 2008 sponsored by the Mayor's (Im)migration Heritage Week 2008. The program was organized by Elena Martinez of City Lore and Sady Sullivan of the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Chelsea Jeans

2008-06-24 20:53:18.242065+00

Giglio Festival in Williamsburg

2008-06-24 15:33:18.036806+00

High above Williamsburgs rooftops every July rises a gracefully tapering, gaily painted spire, sixty-five feet tall, called a giglio (pronounced jil-yo). The giglio is the focus of a fifteen-hundred-year-old feast honoring St. Paulinus, the southern Italian saint whose statue surmounts the huge tower

A My Name is Alice --street game 1950's

2008-06-23 21:33:14.994545+00

A My Name Is Lee Schwartz A my name is Alice and my husbands name is Al, we come from Alabama and we sell Apples. Then on to B: My name is Betty and my husbands name is Bob, we come from Boston and we sell Bananas. C my name is Carol and m

Breathless in Rockaway

2008-06-21 23:08:21.282867+00

What Goes Around Comes Around

2008-06-21 12:27:12.509558+00

This is a chapter from a misspent youth in Brooklyn of the nineteen-sixties. Look for the Pit no more for like Tara it is gone with the wind.

Steamship Migration #2

2008-06-20 19:27:26.543609+00

For close to 50 years beginning in 1896 Puerto Ricans migrated to the mainland, and in particular, New York City, by steamship. The Porto Rico Line docked in Brooklyn, before it eventually docked at the South Street Seaport in the late 1920s. So for many in the early Puerto Rican community, Brooklyn was their first glance of New York. In this story Ester Cortes from Ponce, Puerto Rico relates her story of arriving by ship into Brooklyn in 1934. She was met at the docks by her uncle and she lived at 581 Court Street. This interview is part of the Puerto Rican Oral History Project that was collected between 1973 and 1975. It contains close to 80 interviews and is housed at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Steamship Migration #1

2008-06-19 20:48:18.35941+00

For close to 50 years beginning in 1896 Puerto Ricans migrated to the mainland, and in particular, New York City, by steamship. The Porto Rico Line docked in Brooklyn, before it eventually docked at the South Street Seaport in the late 1920s. So for many in the early Puerto Rican community, Brooklyn was their first glance of New York. In this story Flora Acosta who was born in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico in 1895 relates her story of arriving by ship into Brooklyn. This interview is part of the Puerto Rican Oral History Project that was collected between 1973 and 1975. It contains close to 80 interviews and is housed at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Sutter's Bakery and environs

2008-06-16 11:55:57.952213+00

In the late 60's I used to go to Sutter's Bakery which was on Ninth St and Greenwich Street (near Sixth Avenue) where I woed my sweetie with butter scotch sundaes with coffee ice cream) and cakes, glorious mocha apricot cakes! Sutter's was a real bakery with the smells of a bakery and a list of the pounds of butter and numbers of eggs used that week. Always crowded as I recall. I knew of Sutter's from my days in Brooklyn (Boston creme cakes) but it was nothing like this place. I later met people who knew Sutter's from the Bronx. Next door closer to Sixth Avenue was a women's house of detention (now the site of a community garden) were friends (mostly pimps) would shout encouragement and conversations with their "friends" who were incarcerated. Across from the "house" was the original Balducci's (later on for years on Sixth Avenue between and 10 th Streets) were "elderly" Italian men would help pick-out fruit (I remember pineapples) ripe and ready to eat. Next door was Cheese of All Nations, where my wife to be, introduced me to runny Brie. They would mount a sign in the window "The Brie is Running" when the cheese was ripe.

Shopping For Mrs. Grossman

2008-06-15 15:18:42.178515+00

As a kid growing up in the Bronx life felt carefree and we spent loads of time sitting on our stoops, playing double dutch and hitting stoop ball with our spalding - the little pink ball which we called "spaldeen" By the time I was a decade old, I

coming out hollywood diner

2008-06-12 18:27:47.56556+00

it was january 2000. perhaps the first weekend of the new year. i sat my dad down at the hollywood diner and told him about my trip to san francisco, when i visited jeff. there was no other way to say it but "i'm gay". his eyes bulged a bit and h

Good old 14th Street now Fab. MPD

2008-06-12 17:05:28.963932+00

When my parents first immigrated to this country we first lived in Harlem Heights, this is the area uptown where Harlem meets Washington Heights..funny a mix of soul and merengue. We lived there till my father lost his job as the super in our buildin

Always Will Be Home

2008-06-11 03:14:03.268231+00

I grew up on 96th St./Columbus in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I remember when the Westmont and Key West were empty lots. Johnny's candy store on 96th St., where the deli is now. We use to go there for Now & Laters, Lemon Heads, Boston Baked Beans, Ita

The Piccirilli Sculpture Studio

2008-06-10 20:16:54.584534+00

The six Piccirilli Brothers operated a sculpture studio here from 1893 to 1945. They were immigrants from Massa Carrara in Tuscany. Original Piccirilli sculptures in NYC include The Maine Monument in Central Park near Columbus Circle, The Firemen's

Cafe Figaro, Blimpies, Cafe Figaro

2008-06-10 03:47:29.897441+00

I was a teenager in the Village in the mid-1960's and I spent many an afternoon or evening at the Cafe Figaro. Friends would come and go over the course of an afternoon with a table expanding and contracting. I even remember sitting there Christmas

Chalk Horses

2008-06-10 03:35:12.132248+00

I was around 6 or 7 years old making it was around 1957. I was swinging on the swings in one of the playgrounds in Washington Square Park, though they have been redone so many times since I don't remember which one, when my mother came to find me. (The fact that a middle-class child of my age was allowed to play without parental supervision in a playground in Washington Square is in and of itself striking to me.) She was very excited as led me to with her to the plaza area surrounding the fountain. There circled by a large crowd of watchers was my friend and classmate drawing an extremely realistic life size chalk picture of a horse. As she was drawing many of the onlookers were tossing coins at her. I remember being fascinated by her ability and the attention it was getting her. My mother was clearly also dismayed at this young child drawing for money (again there without any supervision.) The child was Rory Block, now a successful blues singer, and her father owned Allen Block Sandals on West 4th Street. Some days later we passed the shop and my mother stuck her head in to alert Allen as to his young daughters activities. My mother later informed me, clearly disturbed, that his response indicated pride rather than concern....

Straight Up

2008-06-09 19:17:16.394935+00

I moved to the Manhattan nieghborhood of Chelsea from Indiana in 1971. Basketball is huge in Indiana, so right away I went looking for a game. I found it, a half-court affair at a corner playground on 17th between 8th and 9th Avenues.

A Nickel A Pickle

2008-06-09 18:06:56.986228+00

In the 1940s, Blake Avenue, for the length of about 3 or 4 blocks, was lined on both sides of the street with pushcarts. The vendors mainly sold fresh fruits and vegetables, while the retail shops carried dry goods and foods familiar to their Eastern

Catholic School Childhood - Bensonhurst

2008-06-09 17:46:35.18303+00

I grew up in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. My mother's family settled here when they came to American from Naples in the 1910s. Back then much of this area was farm land and my great grandfather owned a small far where John Dewey High School

Saturdays at Alexander's

2008-06-08 23:09:06.053385+00

Fordham Rd. & the Grand Concourse was the center of a northeast Bronx teen's years in the mid-1960's. On a hot summer day, crossing Fordham just east of the Concourse, the hot tar would actually stick to your shoes or let you leave a footprint. O

The Limelight in the Mid 90's

2008-06-08 21:35:12.999896+00

1995 I was 18 and for the first time went to The Limelight. The night was "Disco 2000" run by infamous club promoter Michael Alig. It was at a time when Raves were big in NYC and Club Kids dwelled around Chelsea and the Village. Platform sneakers,

Wooden Folding Chairs

2008-06-08 16:09:52.209225+00

In those days (1949? 1950?) air-conditioning was almost unheard of, and certainly would never have been present in those five-story walkups that lined these Bronx streets. For relief, and for companionship, on warm afternoons many of the mothers (it was still the era of stay-at-home Moms) would bring their children (either ambulatory or confined to strollers, baby carriages, etc.) and a folding chair and congregate on the sidewalk to catch some fresh air. These were NOT today's light-weight contraptions of aluminum and plastic webbing. Rather they were all-wood -- wood frames and wood slats for seats and backs. They must have been heavy, but no one minded because...was there any choice? On that block, Leggett Ave. has a gentle downhill slope, making it ideal for the risk-taking youngster to ride his/her tricycle downhill, feet off the pedals. The children played on the sidewalk, the ladies chatted, and soon the ice cream truck would come by, clanging its real bells, not some recorded jingle. And soon it would be 4:30, time, to pack everything up and trek back to the apartment with its fabric slipcovered-sofa and fans in the open windows whose roaring paddle-like blades convinced you that they were cooling off the room. It was time for the kids to watch the new television with its tiny black-and-white screen (the letters L, C, and D were just parts of the alphabet then, and Plasma was something in your blood) and time for the mothers to cook supper and wait for the fathers, due home from work soon. Maybe this is why I still love a city sidewalk!!

May Write Sonnet 'bout my Easter Bonnet

2008-06-06 16:50:24.3491+00

The Easter Parade, a New York tradition since the mid 1800's, sashayed into my life around 1980, during my quest to photograph all things quintessentially New York. At that time, I was also involved with the Harvest Moon Ball, which held dance cont

Did we make a mistake moving here?

2008-06-06 16:27:19.248268+00

On April 18, 2006, my family was moving from Stuyvesant Town on 16th Street and First Avenue to Roosevelt Island. My wife had gone on ahead to meet the moving truck and I was to pick up the kids from a sitter, put the cat into a carrier, and carry a

Crossing Brooklyn Bridge

2008-06-05 17:35:23.711341+00

Crossing Brooklyn Bridge to Walt Whitman I too have gawked in awe at the undeniable skylinethe bridges that hyphenate the boroughs. I too am a comrade of chafed boots and soiled aprons

Dead Man Sitting - The 2003 Blackout

2008-06-03 16:17:18.182024+00

When the power failed, I walked down the 50 flights from my office to the street, rested for a few minutes to allow my rubber legs to return to normal, then walked home and up -- 17 floors -- to my apartment. Hey, no big deal, a piece of cake for a

149th Street Block Reunion

2008-06-03 16:05:08.828153+00

This wonderful map was reprinted in the book "City Play," edited by Amanda Dargan and Steve Zeitlin, and published by Rutgers University Press in 1990.

The Gates

2008-06-03 00:13:04.035037+00

The Gateway By Linda Lerner (The Gates, Central Park, NYC, Feb. 12--28, 2005) when things got so bad we couldnt take it anymore a sinkhole formed beneath this city and we fell thru gray air flamed....my eyes tasted what wafered on my to

Youth Wants To (A Chelsea Tale)

2008-06-02 21:17:51.570752+00

Youth Wants To (A Chelsea Tale) I didnt know. First it was the grim room on W. 20th I didnt know it was grim, just knew it was mine high ceiling peeling paint someone elses sheets rickety bureau.... Large brownstone window thankfully looki

The Children's Crusade (Sept. 11, 2003)

2008-06-02 16:49:33.236941+00

The Childrens Crusade (September 11, 2003) The Dead are smiling again on West Street. Their mothers and brothers, husbands and wives, Carry their photographs through the Winter Garden: Birthdays, showers, vacations, christenings. On the sec

Park Avenue Purim

2008-05-30 12:27:12.10655+00

From 1999-2002, I wrote a weekly column for NIW, (Nieuw Israëlitisch Weekblad) Holland's oldest Jewish newspaper, documenting my observations of American Jewish life. More than fun, these columns were a lifeline for my Dutch readers, who had lo

An unexpected dance at Hotel Roosevelt.

2008-05-30 11:53:50.891782+00

In 15 years of marriage I never danced. In Puerto Rico you are born dancing. Once divorced I took a trip to N.Y. with a Spanish boyfriend who didn't dance either and when he did, it was a sad spectacle. I had relunctantly already made peace with my

A Heavenly Place for Dancers

2008-05-28 03:05:02.20127+00

Clark Center for the Performing Arts, under the leadership of Louise Roberts, was a part of the life of dancers in NYC during the 70âs and 80âs.

Moon Dance Diner

2008-05-25 13:59:15.342429+00

MOONDANCE DINER 80 Sixth Avenue by Kathryn Adisman May 2007 I walk down lower Sixth Avenue from the West Village. I havent eaten, and suddenly I remember Moondance Diner. Is it still there? I look for the unique neon sign: a rotating ye

At the Bleeker Luncheonette

2008-05-25 13:55:36.046517+00

BLEECKER LUNCHEONETTE (ca. 1984) from NYU Days Corner of Carmine Street & Ave of the Americas, current site of Trattoria I have this memory of being in Bleecker Luncheonette with Dad (this is during the struggle to buy my dream apartment on Uni

Jamaica Queens Theaters: circa 1940

2008-05-21 21:50:46.723968+00

The small village of Jamaica, Queens prior to WW II, was home to many first generation European immigrant families; melting pot Americans who adored Hollywood movies but looked for the best bargains. Jamaica Avenue was th

Vegetable Garden

2008-05-21 19:41:27.125281+00

VEGETABLE GARDEN 233 Bleecker Street (next to the old Pizza Joes, near the corner of Carmine Street) Nuts and dried fruits said the sign above the storefront. Like so many other customers, I would come here for the variety, as well a

Purim Celebration

2008-05-16 21:29:49.907084+00

Rita Kagan organized this year's Purim celebration which took place at the Millenium Theater (above the Atlantic Ocean Restaurant).

Saint Petersburg Trade House

2008-05-16 21:20:37.842007+00

Saint Petersburg Trade House is said to be the largest Russian bookstore outside of Russia. It caters to the Russian and Ukrainian community of Brighton Beach.

The Jazz Ministry at St. Peter's Church

2008-05-15 18:22:51.261159+00

The St. Peter's Lutheran Church had its beginnings on the second floor above a feed and grain store n 49th St. and 3rd Avenue. Around 1870 the church was moved over to Lexington and 46th St., and around 1900 moved to its current site (though in 1978 it was renovated to its modern look). The church became associated with jazz through the Pastor John Garcia Gensel. From Puerto Rico, he had been the first "pastor to the jazz community" and started his Jazz Ministry part time at the Advent Lutheran Church at 93rd and Broadway around 1960. By 1965 he had moved over to St, Peter's. As part of the Jazz Ministry the Pastor maintained close relationships with jazz musicians and started the Jazz Vespers--an evening mass on Sundays (so the musicians who arrive home late from Saturday gigs don't have to wake up too early to get to Sunday mass) where the mass is accompanied by jazz music and the hymns are sung in a jazz idiom. Although nowadays there are jazz masses held in other churches around the country, the Jazz Minsitry here and its masses was the first one. St. Peter's has also been the place for funerals and memorials for many of the biggest names in jazz--Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Miles Davis--Strayhorn even donated his Steinway piano to the church and it is there in the chapel. Pastor Gensel retired in 1994 and Pastor Dale Lind took over many of this duties. This was a natural fit since Pastor Lind was also a jazz fan, and worked as a bartender at a jazz club (where he heard just as many "confessions," and later opened Preacher's Cafe next door to the Bitter End in the Village. While the Bitter End was know for its folk musicians, Pastor Lind would hire jazz players from Stan Getz to the latest fusion players. In this audio piece Pastor Lind explains why he thinks jazz music and the religious mass go so well together; as well as relating an incident that occurred at one of the memorials there.

Invisible Contact

2008-05-14 07:23:54.714045+00

INVISIBLE CONTACT A guide dog leads his mistress eastward. A woman in black glasses taps her white cane, westbound, along the Lighthouse display window. When left meets right, two mouths mutter excuse me from the middle of their ind

How to Catch a Flyball...

2008-05-13 14:40:37.722339+00

How to Catch a Flyball in Oncoming Traffic

Federation of Black Cowboys

2008-05-02 21:00:07.929997+00

"If you notice here in New York City, there's lots of people who've never been near a horse..."

Stickball Blvd.

2008-04-11 20:55:01.284288+00

Stickball Blvd. in the Soundview section of the Bronx brings stickball teams together all spring and summer long every year. Many Latin music musicians and dancers attend the events and remember how stickball anad music were intertwined for them as they were growing up.

The Death of Black Benjie

2008-04-09 19:23:03.832838+00

The death of Black Benjie, while tragic, helped bring about the peace he was trying to achieve.

Guardian Angels on the 4 Train.

2008-04-04 09:10:55.147392+00

Founded by Curtis Sliwa in 1979, many of the original Angels worked at the east Fordham Road McDonald's in the Bronx where Sliwa was a manager, and had been members of Sliwa's volunteer garbage clean-up group, The Rock Brigade.

Orchids on the Number Six Line

2008-03-23 15:21:11.042111+00

I was riding the number six line downtown really early one Monday morning - about six o'clock - trying to reach a class in Princeton where I am doing a Ph.D...

TWOSEVEN INC.

2008-03-17 18:09:33.019066+00

TWOSEVEN INC makes windows look pretty.

Greg O'Connell, Red Hook Developer

2008-03-17 16:37:10.229693+00

Greg O'Connell speaks!

The Waterfront Museum & Barge

2008-03-14 21:45:12.741013+00

BAAAAAAARGE!

Juan Pablo Duarte Blvd.

2008-03-13 19:48:20.230306+00

Comedor Economico

2008-03-13 19:42:26.254595+00

The Statue of Juan Luis Guerra

2008-03-13 19:35:17.936399+00

Ivan Dominguez, the director of music and cultural programs at Alianza Dominicana discusses the significance of singer Juan Luis Guerra and one of his most famous songs, "Ojala que llueva cafÃ©!

Quisqueya Park

2008-03-12 22:44:15.781673+00

Cobi's Place

2008-03-10 23:20:48.759223+00

Dodgers Sym-Phony

2008-02-29 16:29:23.237334+00

The Brooklyn Dodgers were not a ball club, the Brooklyn Dodgers were a religion...

Fresh Kills Landfill

2008-02-25 18:58:46.433418+00

The Dorothy Day Cottage

2008-02-22 18:41:04.576718+00

There comes a day...

I am the Statue of Liberty...

2008-02-21 19:56:36.277351+00