Tuesday, February 28, 2006
10 yrs. from now
This is over on E. 4th across from Swift's. They're actually using explosives at the construction site there. I don't know if I've seen that before in the city. I love that the neighborhood has to learn blast whistle codes.
Weekend fights on the corner
This is a couple weekends ago, but it could be any weekend lately. This past Friday even Spiro the Cordato guy was out on the sidewalk.
The first fight on this particular night involved this guy in the white shirt on the corner going back to his car to get the billy club you see there in his hand.
But it was later in the evening that the real rip snorter came. It's a little hard to tell, but that circle is yelling at each other.
Here we go. Every time, at some point the "hold me back" part ends and the brawl begins.
The fellow in gray with his back to us is getting punched in the face.
The "winners" keep an innocent-looking distance. On the near corner you see the guy in gray and his friend knocked out. Actually, the friend got up on his own steam, but the guy in gray was out cold. That's the screaming girlfriend there with them, there's always at least one screaming girlfriend.
The cops finally arrive after friends of the guy in gray literally carry him into their car. The cops do the classic "up against the car!" technique. Note the corner under the Do Not Enter sign now has an overturned garbage can. Before the cops came, one girlfriend freaked out and threw the garbage down the block, then a friend freaked out and I think he broke something in front of the deli.
The cops just kept coming. I had called 911 back when the guy in gray wasn't moving. I've called 911 once before for a guy who wasn't moving. It seems only appropriate. Calling 911 never brings this many cops though. I'm thinking one of the businesses called in a panic when the fight was over there.
It's like the friggin' Blues Brothers out there.
The first fight on this particular night involved this guy in the white shirt on the corner going back to his car to get the billy club you see there in his hand.
But it was later in the evening that the real rip snorter came. It's a little hard to tell, but that circle is yelling at each other.
Here we go. Every time, at some point the "hold me back" part ends and the brawl begins.
The fellow in gray with his back to us is getting punched in the face.
The "winners" keep an innocent-looking distance. On the near corner you see the guy in gray and his friend knocked out. Actually, the friend got up on his own steam, but the guy in gray was out cold. That's the screaming girlfriend there with them, there's always at least one screaming girlfriend.
The cops finally arrive after friends of the guy in gray literally carry him into their car. The cops do the classic "up against the car!" technique. Note the corner under the Do Not Enter sign now has an overturned garbage can. Before the cops came, one girlfriend freaked out and threw the garbage down the block, then a friend freaked out and I think he broke something in front of the deli.
The cops just kept coming. I had called 911 back when the guy in gray wasn't moving. I've called 911 once before for a guy who wasn't moving. It seems only appropriate. Calling 911 never brings this many cops though. I'm thinking one of the businesses called in a panic when the fight was over there.
It's like the friggin' Blues Brothers out there.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
When did they put that there?
This is more than you want to read on a photoblog, but since I did the research I might as well post it.
With the all the discussion of whether a Home Depot in Hudson Square would sound the death kneel for small hardware stores in Lower Manhattan, I was suprised to get that "when did they put that there?" feeling as I passed a small hardware store at Church and Chambers. It looks new and I don't remember it being there before. Sure enough, The Real Deal shows it having a lease issue date of March 2006: "Hardware store signs five-year lease with one five-year option for its fifth location. The space also has a 400-square-foot basement. The store expects to open in spring 2006." So I guess they're ahead of schedule. Basics Plus is a local NYC chain with 5 stores. I'm not saying it won't get clobbered by Home Depot, but still, how often do you see a small local hardware store open?
P.S. It used to be a gift shop.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Bowery green
Looking south on Bowery, it almost looks like green tarp is a standard building material.
Expanding grid
That's the downtown Ritz-Carlton on the right. This building is going up right next to it. It's also the building that has blocked my building's view of the Statue of Liberty.
Fire truck red
This was an experiment. It's a night photo of a red truck parked in front of the red neon sign of Pronto Pizza.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
170
When deciding where to buy a lottery ticket, are previous winning tickets a sign that a place is lucky or a sign that they've used up their luck and lightening won't strike again in this place? For the coming Mega drawing I'm going with the luck magnet theory and bought at this place which has had three second place winners.
Rising
The building next to St. Peter's (across from the Woolworth Building on Barclay St.) is making some vertical progress. At this height, the two make an interesting juxtaposition. It's hard to show how deep a hole there was at the start, but notice the size of the construction guy in the photo below from last June.
