OK--Say that 5 times fast: Unique New York, Unique New York, Newique Yew York, Nuyeek New Nork, etc... Try it out loud right now and you'll see what I mean. I suppose that every little city or town has some unique aspect to it, some feature or other that sets it apart and perhaps helps define it. Mine certainly does--doesn't yours? Well, if that is so, then in a city of THIS size one must anticipate a LOT of such uniquenesses. I've chose to end this section of the blog (Entry #51!) with a photo survey of some of the [View Full Entry]

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Of course I had experienced all the varieties of weather before in my life. But having them occur HERE is like experiencing them anew. What is 'rain' like when it falls on a city of twelve million? How does the quiet of a new snowfall sound in the City? Do New Yorkers play in snow or simply see it as an inconvenience, hindering their ability to conduct business at a 'New-York-minute' rate of speed? How is the sight of all those skyscrapers transformed by fog? These images show some of the answers... Dan [View Full Entry]

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Getting around a city this large is always a challenge, especially when you're a tourist and not really sure where the heck you ARE. You can always rent a car, but then you're in danger of being swallowed by a pothole that New Yorkers seem to be able to avoid. AND, you have to PARK the darned thing, which is a difficulty--and expense--far beyond what most of us are used to. Luckily, when in New York one can hire a private car & driver, a limosine, a horse-drawn carriage, or a bike-rickshaw: all options I have chosen not to cover [View Full Entry]

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I have no idea as to the origin of that quote, but I first saw it scrawled on the wall of an old building in Berkeley, CA where it resembled the handwriting of a street person being pushed over the edge of mental stability by the sheer inundating power of the beauty around him. It's amazing what you see when you really look... So these images are all "stuff I happened to notice while on my way elsewhere," hurrying down the street to get here or there by some appointed hour when my attention was snagged by something wonderful that [View Full Entry]

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Hello again-- Sorry to keep perseverating on buildings, but there are just so MANY of them here that have interesting architectural, historical, &/or visual features... So maybe this will be the last blog on this topic. I don't have a lot to say about this group, so I'll attach any information needed to the photos themselves, with this exception--you probably haven't heard of most of these buildings, unless you really enjoy architecture. But, as you can see from the photos, many are very beautiful and interesting. Now here's the best part--three of them (Bowery Savings Bank, The Ch [View Full Entry]

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Since 9/11, the management companies of many well-known buildings in New York have closed their doors to visitors. Others will allow you to enter the lobby but not take any photos, photography evidently being the hallmark of terrorists and tourists alike (can you imagine Osama with his Nikon?). Virtually all require some form of coded identification to enter security gates before gaining access to the elevators or stairways. It is against this backdrop that structures like Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building, which allow both visitors and photography in their lobbies, seem to [View Full Entry]

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This area is probably familiar to most of us--we've maybe walked through the Center on a visit (it's centrally located and near both Times Square and St. Patrick's Cathedral), watched the New York City Christmas Tree being lit on a news program, seen the ice skating rink on post cards, can recognize the gold-colored sculpture of a man behind the rink, or know the shape of the building beyond (known commonly as either the GE Building or the RCA Building) from Saturday Night Live or the David Letterman Show. Actually, however, the Center is much larger than that, and consists [View Full Entry]

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Of the many beautiful buildings in Manhattan, this is probably the hands-down favorite. Built in a little over a year and a half (for a while they averaged four floors a week) and completed in May of 1930, the Chrysler Building was for a time the tallest building in the world. It is now the third tallest in New York, a distinction it shares with the New York Times building: they are the exact same height. Designed by architect William Van Alen as the home of the Chrysler Corporation, it utilized automobile designs in an Art Deco style. On the [View Full Entry]

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Have you ever gone to a movie and noticed all the "product placements" that appear, as various companies pay the producers to advertise their products in the film? Sometimes it's hard not to notice when every character is drinking a Coke or driving some variety of Ford vehicle or wearing only New Balance shoes, the brand name always facing the camera. Well, the next film you see count the number of American flags that appear. This is less obvious, watching in the States, than it is when seeing the film in another country, where the branding becomes more apparent and [View Full Entry]

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Actually, the NY Philharmonic was in North Korea when this concert, featuring the Julliard Orchestra, took place, but it was in their home theater in Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall. Having been to the other two buildings around the central courtyard there (The Metropolitan Opera House and the New York State Theater for ballet--see earlier blogs) we attended this performance to complete the trifecta. The concert included a variety of classical and modern works as well as some that featured particular musicians, but I confined my photo taking to shots prior to or after the concert itse [View Full Entry]

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