Restless

Plaza Arcade Signs

2012-02-13T07:00:00.006-05:00

The 47th St. end of the arcade
Plaza Arcade cuts through the middle of the block from the 48th St. side of Rockefeller Plaza to the "diamond district" on 47th St. between 5th & 6th Aves. Its main tenant is Ross Metals, and (beyond the beaded witnesses in the window, left) its main attraction is the signs.

There's the fetching Arcade Coffee signs above.

And the Ross Metal signs above and below, whose strong (mystical system?) style reminds me of Paul Laffoley's work.

And then there's the best NO sign I've ever seen on Ross Metal's door: NO DRINKS, NO CARRIAGES, NO FOOD, NO RADIOS, NO SMOKING, NO UMBRELLAS, NO SOLICITING, NO LOITERING!

Note: First Illusions

2012-02-11T17:20:00.002-05:00

For the record, I just added three paintings I did back in prehistory, in the early 1990s.

56th & Park Construction

2012-02-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

They've torn down the building in the middle since the earlier photo, leaving just the beams.

But the world's longest exhaust is still there, above right.

Cattelan Conglomeration

2012-02-06T07:00:00.002-05:00

Friends took me to the Maurizio Cattelan show at the Guggenheim the day before it closed; here are some photos in case you missed it. Roberta Smith panned the show and artist in her review A Suspension of Willful Disbelief:

The effect is initially startling, but ultimately disrespectful and perverse ... the show suggests that Mr. Cattelan knows what he’s about: he’s always been uneven and now he is running out of ideas.

Still, the show was a crowd-pleaser, stringing up the artist's "lifetime" output -- pieces normally shown isolated in plenty of space -- like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Whatever its merit as retrospective, it was interesting to see how sculpture normally planted on the ground looks floating in space, from above and below.

Port Authority Ventilation

2012-02-01T07:00:00.003-05:00

Above and below, exhaust systems in between the halves of the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 41st St.

To the left, at 40th & Dwyer, yet another bus winds its way up the ramps to deliver its fumes (and passengers).

William St. & Maiden Lane 3

2012-01-30T07:00:00.003-05:00

Back at the castle-like Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In a better world it would have a dungeon, full of bankers and corporate moguls.

[William St. & Maiden Lane 2]
[William St. & Maiden Lane 1]

9th Ave. & 42nd St.

2012-01-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

Plenty of red, yellow & blue...

...near the Port Authority, past the blasted flag below left.

William St. & Maiden Lane 2

2012-01-23T06:17:00.002-05:00

Back around William & Maiden downtown, near the poison wellspring of high finance. The tall building centered above is the American International Building, which was owned by scumbag Wall St. enabler AIG before it collapsed. When new, the building sported double-decker elevators that served two floor at once. Of course the top floors of the building are now being turned into luxury condos.

The castle below the tower above left and below is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; the nicely lit white building above right is 80 Maiden Lane.

[William St. & Maiden Lane 1]
[William St. & Maiden Lane 3]

Steam to Haze to Fog

2012-01-18T07:00:00.003-05:00

Clockwise from the left: The gold dome of the New York Life Building partly obscured by steam, from University Place below Union Square. Above, haze lit from within above 6th Ave., from below Herald Square. Below, the dome of the Met Life Building wrapped in fog, from the northeast.

North from 3rd & 21st

2012-01-16T07:00:00.009-05:00

The view north from 3rd Ave. near 21st St. The church tower belongs to Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church on 22nd St. In the background above, the Empire State's spire; in the background below, the gold domes of both the Met Life Building (left) and the New York Life Building (right). [All That Glitters]

Bryant Park Ice Fountain

2012-01-11T07:00:00.001-05:00

A week ago at Bryant Park.

48th St. Ladders

2012-01-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

Still no time, but I still have a backlog of photos. Above and below right, four ladders climb the face of 48 West 48th St. Below left, earlier, some exhaust.

Favorite Photos 2011 2

2011-12-29T06:00:00.006-05:00

Judson Memorial Church	8th Ave. & 31st St.
Alwyn Court	5th Ave. & 26th St.
Woolworth Building	Municipal Building
6th Ave. & 37th St.	Times Square

The rest of my favorites for 2011; click thumbnails for larger images. Maybe first among favorites for me is "8th Ave. & 31st St." with the water tank Burger King crown and the tiny old man airing himself out on the fire escape.

Favorite Photos 2011 1

2011-12-28T06:00:00.005-05:00

Last Supper Floor Show	Newtown Creek
Snow Flower	New York Life Building
51st Ave. & 23rd St., LIC	51st Ave. & 23rd St., LIC
Surrogate's Courthouse	Above the Clouds

Half of my favorites from Restless over the past year; second half tomorrow. As always, click thumbnails for larger images.

The NYC Christmas Song

2011-12-25T07:43:00.012-05:00

Bloomberg roasting on an open fire
Wailing, in spite of billions, at his woes
Screeching carols sung by Murdoch's choir
Frying in grease dripping off his toes

Lord knows that cooking billionaires
Helps to make the season bright
Pudgy toes with sculptured nails aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight

We all know Wall Street Satan's on his way
With more bonuses and ways to make crime pay
And ninety-nine mothers are going to have to die
So one "job creator," and similar pigs, can fly

And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety-two
Although its been said many times, many ways
A Merry NYC Christmas to you...

More holiday cooking and cursing:
[Escape from New York Recipes]
[A Curse on Rupert Murdoch]

Van Cleef & Arpels Windows

2011-12-16T06:00:00.001-05:00

Not a jewel in sight at the corner of 5th Ave. & 57th St., though I'd guess the huge, furry beast below left is well strung.

Silhouette meets shadow play above right, while below... a vampire ball in an ice palace?

Tifanny's 2011 Holiday Windows

2011-12-15T06:00:00.004-05:00

At 5th Ave. & 57th St., bread and circuses.

Bergdorf 2011 Holiday Windows 2

2011-12-14T06:00:00.002-05:00

Above, a glitter grizzly wears a chef's hat, ready to eat everything else in the window.

Below left, there's a leg in there somewhere. Below right, can't Bergdorf afford to put in a window without a big bar blocking the view?

And above, a squirrel gazes at, then melts into, the sky.

Macy's 2011 Holiday Windows

2011-12-13T06:00:00.003-05:00

I'd like to believe that Macy's Herald Square will remain its stately but homely, human self forever, or at least until I drop dead.

Above, puppets inside and out. Below, you can never go wrong with more snow.

Bergdorf 2011 Holiday Windows 1

2011-12-12T06:00:00.002-05:00

White haired women dominate these windows at Bergdorf Goodman's 5th Ave. store. Above, I didn't even try to fit the giraffe on the right into the shot. Below left, a snow white 'fro scares the horses.

Above right, ballroom birds pose in front of winged-reindeer wallpaper. And below, a white haired spectator admires a stuffed, brassy window.

Proudly Serving the 1%

2011-12-06T07:41:00.004-05:00

Still no time, but... The luxury towers continue to rise as more and more of us sink into an economic hole we'll never escape. The Powers That Be in NYC continue to proudly serve the 1%, erasing any sign of life that does not serve its interests. And Washington is useless, turned into an industry funded by the 1%, thanks to a GOP that's slavishly served it for decades.

Still, it's good to be reminded which way is Up, and Paul Krugman does a great job of summing up the GOP primary and answering the question of what you get when the party appeals to the deluded base it's cultivated, the 50% of voters who side with the 1%. See Send in the Clueless.

Taking a Break

2011-11-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

Paying the rent is sucking up all my time right now; hope to be back soon. (Note I'll still publish a photo every day at my NYC Photo Blog.)

Double Signs

2011-11-10T07:00:00.002-05:00

Above and below left, the Doubletree sign at 51st & Lexington.

Above right and below, window signs on 34 W 46th St.

Warren Building Scaffold

2011-11-08T07:11:00.010-05:00

The Warren Building on Broadway at 20th.

Bloomberg & Occupy Wall St.

2011-11-07T07:00:00.011-05:00

A laughable quandary: Demonstrators Test Mayor, a Backer of Wall St. and Free Speech.

The mayor wonders "...why don't you [Occupy Wall Street] get out there and try to do something about the things that you don't like, create the jobs that we are lacking, rather than just yell and scream?"

He's unaware, because of the billions clogging his empathy gland, that not everyone is a member of the divine Job Creator class he belongs to.

He figures he's engineered the perfect NYC, where anyone with initiative is worth millions, and where the rest of us should be content to Occupy Ourselves with the corporate morphine dripping out of iPhones and advertising as we underbid each other for the honor of running errands for the rich.

The mayor's done everything he can to make the city dependent on and servile to his Wall Street / 1% cohort, which has drowned the power of all speech but its own and turned democracy into a joke by purchasing the political process (see Oligarchy, American Style).

A few years after our banker-inflicted crisis, the world economy is still hostage to hidden dependencies buried in the shadow system built by Wall Street "innovation," with 29 global banks deemed 'too big to fail' and with a distant collapse bound to have side effects here (see Sad Proof of Europe’s Fallout).

But nothing's been done about debt, employment, or the next brewing crisis, and we can't do a thing about it through the political process because nowadays, thanks to people like Bloomberg, meaningful citizenship is restricted to the 1%, and its money chokes out any form of life that does not serve it.