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Not so super blocks

Today I walked home from church through a neighborhood I know very little about. It's the area between the Upper East Side and Spanish Harlem. While I still found the place to be interesting and wonderful, I got a strange feeling while walking through. The area seems to have almost completely embraced the "super block," which isn't so conducive to foot traffic or community building in my opinion. I'll refrain from criticizing as I struggle to form an official opinion. I would love to have seen what the place looked like before it was gutted though.

Los jovenes emo

This report is fascinating on so many levels.

Meatpacking

We all know The Meatpacking District is well past it's prime, but it's still got some charm to it. AND. It's still got meatpacking. (I checked.) There's not a lot of things to do there unless you have thousands of dollars to go clothes shopping, but I found the remaining decay of what once was there to be still quite enthralling.

A couple of finds along my walk:

The corner of Washington St. and Bank St.

Westbeth artists housing complex

an old hotel sign along the West Side Highway

an old restaurant in ruins that appears to have been called Shak

Automatic Slims

Weehawken St.

Gavin Brown's enterprise

Just an old building in New York

On the left is Joanne Hendricks Cookbooks. It's located in an amazing old 2-story building on Greenwich Street. The lady in the store told me there is nothing special about the building's history. But I think just about anything that old surviving in Manhattan is special.

Quitting before the sun does

As I was leaving work today, I realized that it was still light enough--and warm enough--to go exploring. (Thank you Spring.) So, given the circumstances, I did what any sensible human being would do. I walked right past my usual subway portal and straight down into Tribeca for some good old-fashioned urban exploration.

Highlights of my journey included:

Joanne Hendricks Cookbooks--a tiny bookstore in an old colonial house, books about food only

Johnson Trading Gallery--currently showing the work of architect Mario Dal Fabbro

Greenwich Street--a dream for any fan of vintage Manhattan

Barnes & Noble--where foreign affairs expert Samantha Power was speaking about her latest book (She's the one who recently called Hillary Clinton a "monster" and got kicked off of Obama's team.)

"Survivor Staircase" at Ground Zero--A vital piece of WTC history. It's been moved from it's original location to a new home at the end of Greenwich Street.

Alexander Hamilton's grave--my favorite plot of land in all NYC

One year in New York

Today marks my one year anniversary of moving to New York City. It really snuck up on me fast.

What did I do to celebrate, you ask? I purchased the PBS New York documentary box set, of course. (Who knew Amazon sells it for so cheap?)

At this milestone in my life, my thoughts are with the people who were so instrumental in helping me get out here last winter. I'd like to honor Mom, Dad, Sasha, Scott, Derek, Aaron, Bishop Freedman, Marty, Zelig, and Jon. Thanks a million guys! I could never have done it without you.