Morning Walk #88

66 degrees (Yay!), 67% humidity and sun

Excellent morning weather

Lights were still on in the first park I encountered

Two other small parks are still locked up tight

A woman starts a conversation. She is 65 and starting an accelerated LPN program at NYU. You go, girl!

Message on a bag:  If you want to be cute, eat veggies and fruit

Goorin Bros, Bold Hatmakers since 1895

The mysterious ceramic mural at 88 Perry Street.  It says Ano 1865 on a building that went up in 1900 but may not have been installed till 1972

Steps: 6083

Morning Walk #62 - SoHo, West Village

67 degrees and 61% humidity

Another quiet day in the city. Has everyone left early for those August vacations?

Lots of restaurants with plenty of places to sit

It is amazing how quickly the neighborhoods change block by block...commercial, residential, rundown, chi-chi

I thought I had headed towards unknown areas but I found some familiarity

The Beasty Feast sounded like an interesting restaurant till I got closer and saw that it was a business for pets

The Sweetery Food Truck parked near the Rickshaw Dumplings truck

A stop at a post office with a seriously helpful person at the counter

The meatpacking district has little to do with meat any more but in 1900 was home to 250 slaughterhouses and packing plants. Prior to that after the Civil War it became more about manufacturing with turpentine and camphene distilleries.  These businesses called for a railroad which was later elevated as the High Line to transport goods.  After a decline and some less savory businesses it has become home to some expensive designer clothes boutiques and restaurants.

Getting tired of those last few blocks to home.  North, south, east or west...they've all become very familiar so I have to look harder for something different

Steps: 6573

Morning Walk #59 - West Village

Surprise!  It's 66 degrees, gray and 53% humidity!

Still 84 degrees in my apartment...

Lots of bikes parked outside the fitness center

The Second Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, 1805 - 1829, on West 11th Street.  I've seen the Third Cemetery but not this tiny triangular one.  Apparently it was bigger until some graves were moved uptown to make way for the continuance of 11th Street.

The fountain and sprinklers are running in Washington Square Park

A bust of Alexander Lyman Holley (1832 - 1882) says "In Honor of Alexander Lyman Holley Foremost Among Those Whose Genius and Energy Established in America and Improved Throughout the World The Manufacture of Bessemer Steel - This Memorial is Erected by Engineers of Two Hemispheres."

Two questions:  Why is this Brooklyn resident immortalized in this particular location in Washington Square Park?  And how many of the engineers of 2 hemispheres decided on and/or erected this monument?

It still amazes me that whole neighborhoods of the West Village could be used as sets of movies and television shows set in the 1830's to the 1880's just by removing the cars parked on the streets.

Speaking of television, I walked by a recent shoot for the show "Elementary"

Walked past 75 1/2 Bedford Street, said to be the smallest house in NYC at 9 feet 6 inches wide.  It was home to Edna St. Vincent Millay from 1923 - 1924 and later to Margaret Mead.

Who would have guessed that the Maine-born Millay would be named in part after St. Vincent's Hospital where her uncle's life was saved shortly before her birth.  Unfortunately St. Vincent's Hospital's life was recently extinguished and new construction marks the spot.

This is my 100th post...not so long in the blogworld...but still hard to believe I've kept at it this long.

Steps: 7825

Morning Walk #56 - SoHo, West Village

Wall art in the projects

76 degrees and 78% humidity

The Holland Tunnel was started in 1920 and opened in 1927. It was the first of its kind at the time. It connects Manhattan with Jersey City by going through the bedrock under the Hudson River. (I don't like to think about this when traveling through the tunnel.) It also had an innovative ventilation system at the time which directs air in at road level and removes exhaust at the ceiling. The fans remove the air every 90 seconds.  It was named after its first engineer who died before completion of the project.

The Grand Sichuan restaurant offering a "holiday special" on lobster....just not sure what the holiday is...

Houston Hall...it looked like a historic place till I got up close. Instead it's a beer hall and a new one at that though the interior is old timey looking.

McCarthy Square - an odd shaped tiny parcel of land (.04 acre) with a flagpole that was originally located at the 1939 World's Fair in Queens. It's named for the first Greenwich Village resident to die in World War II.  Bernard Joseph McCarthy, a marine, was killed at Guadalcanal in 1942.

Steps: 6006

Morning Walk # 44 - Hudson Riverwalk & West Village

75 degrees, gray clouds, 93% humidity

Some of the tall buildings have lost their tops in the low hanging clouds

Wow...is it quiet in the city!

I've never noticed the Tipsy Parson but then I see that it is on the fishmonger's block that I usually avoid for the odor...they seem to be closed today

Cushman Row - 7 Greek Revival brownstones built in 1840 across from Clement Clarke Moore's Seminary

Heading over to the Riverwalk at Chelsea Piers only to discover it's blocked off and closed...a park employee telling runners to exit.  Probably closed for fireworks preparation but disappointing anyway

Turning south, the Riverwalk is much quieter than usual

A black SUV driven by an NYPD officer drives behind a runner on the Riverwalk.  Is he trying to get through or providing protection for the runner?

A young man riding a bike - smiling and singing "I don't care" over and over

A lone man standing on a paddleboard...paddling his way up the Hudson

A red tugboat, a barge and a few pleasure boats but no high speed ferries

A young man says "Happy 4th of July" to everyone he passes

Cutting back over through the West Village

A stop for bread at the coldest grocery store in Manhattan.  The windows are covered with condensation.  As I exit my glasses steam up. It takes 3 blocks for them to clear up.

Bits of blue sky peeking through the gray clouds

Happy Independence Day!

Steps: 8282

Morning Walk #38 - West Village

75 degrees...same ol'....

It feels slightly cooler than my apartment

The quiet streets with 1800's brownstones look like movie sets

The Portsmouth built in 1888

Jefferson Market Library, a Victorian Gothic building constructed 1875 - 1877, was originally a courthouse.  Harry K. Thaw was tried here for the murder of Stanford White (a trial immortalized in E. L. Doctorow's "Ragtime".)  It became a women's court in the late 1920's.  Mae West was tried here on obscenity charges related to her Broadway show "Sex".

I was not heading for Washington Square park but those tangled streets got me again

Several people are sleeping on the lawn. They don't look like the homeless...maybe they escaped hot apartments though a rainstorm last night could not have left the ground dry

A park employee on a riding mower starts circling the lawn...no one moves at first though the noise is enough to wake the dead.  Eventually 2 people move a little east but that will only give them another half hour before the mower approaches

The scent of newly mown grass evokes childhood memories...till I realize my eyes and face are not appreciating the dust and grass bits rising in a light cloud

The Northern Dispensary (1831) sits vacant after years of treating patients including Edgar Allen Poe and Jenny Lind

The Stonewall Inn (originally built as stables in 1843 - 1846) was the site of the Stonewall Riots in 1969 which led to the gay liberation movement

Another stop at Abingdon Square Park which was well populated until everyone got up and left.  Was it me?

Do you remember when people walking down the sidewalks talking aloud to themselves were thought to be mentally ill?  Now it's just people talking on cellphones...which may be a different type of mental illness...

Steps: 7526

Morning Walk #37 - West Village & Hudson Riverwalk

74 degrees, hazy & slightly less humid than yesterday

The donut cart on the corner is gone...a sign of the end of school in the neighborhood

Heading through a bit of the West Village before cutting over to the river

Getting a little lost when the already tangled streets are closed due to construction leading to detours

Reading email in Abingdon Square Park

A man with a very short haircut combs his hair over and over and over

A woman attempts (in vain) to hail a cab on the West Side Highway - the traffic travels too fast here to stop easily

There are more and more runners on the Riverwalk as the weather heats up

Between the runners and work crews there are few other people along the river in the early morning

A group of young men in camouflage pants, Army green t-shirts and heavy looking vests runs by

The waves are gently rolling and hypnotic

A stop at the coldest grocery store in Manhattan

Teetering across cobblestone streets

Steps: 5917

Morning Walk #28 - West Village & Hudson Riverwalk

66 degrees with puffy white clouds in the blue sky

Lots of crossing guards out early this morning

Heading down to less familiar parts of the Village

White Horse Tavern built in the 1880's was a longshoreman's bar in its' first life.  It became a literary hangout in the '50's & '60's for Dylan Thomas, Norman Mailer, Jack Kerouac and more.

The Church of Saint Luke in the Fields, 1822, a maze of buildings and gardens was built on land originally given to Trinity Church by Queen Anne in 1714

The 1853 Italianate home at 81 Barrow, built for the merchant class not the wealthy (what?)

Thirty-eight Commerce Street, originally an 1817 silo on the Gomez farm gave way to a brewery in 1834, followed by a tobacco warehouse, a box factory and then since 1924, the Cherry Lane Theater

The Barrow and Commerce neighborhoods still have lots of older buildings along the narrow streets

I hadn't planned on visiting the riverwalk today but after blocks of tangled Village streets heading west for a familiar sight seemed a good idea

Wind blowing, white caps dipping, squawking geese, the buzzing of a lawnmower and the smell of newly mown grass

The 14th Street Park that has no built-in seating or benches...just plastic chairs...but it does have free wifi and lots of traffic noise from the Westside Highway

Steps: 8015

Morning Walk #26 - West Village

67 degrees and cloudy

It's a Monday and several people bid me a good morning

An NYPD Communications Command Post van parked on the street

An 1832 Federal Style home with 2 dormers on West 10th Street

A growth of ivy shaped into a peace sign on the front of another home

The 1846 gothic Grace Church made from marble mined by Sing Sing inmates

Seven people sleeping on the concrete steps around Union Square Park

A woman carrying an iPod in one hand and a comb in the other

A man peeling hard boiled eggs

The 1882 Baroque Church of St. Francis Xavier

A man in a black and white checked shirt carrying laundry wrapped in another black and white checked shirt

Steps: 7063

Morning Walk #22 - West Village & Washington Square Park

57 degrees, sunny & breezy

Either people didn't check the weather reports or they dressed for the afternoon temps

Women shivering in spaghetti strap dresses, tank tops and shorts

Reading names of businesses:  Mark Twain Garage Corp, Charlie Mom Chinese Cuisine, Think Pink Nails, Bombalulu's

The Go Burger food truck preparing for the day

The "Original" Joe the Plumber truck

Down to the narrow streets of Minetta Lane & MacDougal

Lucky 777 Chili, Saigon Shack, Creperie, Ninestreet Bubble Tea, Artichoke Pizza, Off the Wagon Bar & Grill, The Grisly Pear

Thunder Jackson's Urban Roadhouse, The Back Fence, The Red Lion, The Malt House, Wicked Willy's

Washington Square Park:  a colorful woman with purple hair, royal blue dress, and lime green purse

A saxophonist at the foot of the Garibaldi statue

A man wading in the fountain and filling a baggie with coins

Insomnia Cookies - "Warm cookies delivered late night"

School crossing guards wearing blue surgical masks at their posts near construction sites

Steps:  7740

Morning Walk #21 - West Village & East Village

70 degrees, gray and rainy

The Citibike racks in Chelsea and the West Village are mostly empty. Where did the Sunday riders leave all the bikes?

Lots of people out on a rainy morning

Sidewalks seem smaller when every pedestrian is carrying an umbrella

Looking for covered sidewalks for a respite from the rain

The New York Eye & Ear Infirmary established 1820 to serve the needs of the working poor

Murals on the walls of buildings

Stuyvesant Park with its original 1847 iron fences

The statue of Peter Stuyvesant, director general of New Netherland 1647 - 1664 - apparently intolerant of religions other than Dutch Reformed and also not so friendly with the Native Americans.  Maybe having a wooden leg made him grumpy.

At The Friends Seminary (established 1786) a woman bids everyone a Good Morning and shakes the hand of each child and parent entering the school

The GreenMarket on a wet Monday morning...still has some eager customers

Drenched people on their way to work and school...rain, Monday and wet clothes a not so winning combination

Steps: 9610

Morning Walk #16 - Union Square Park, West Village

Pigeon cozies up to me, hoping for a handout but turns shy when the camera comes out

Cool but sunny. I can finally wear the sunglasses again!

Breaking in some new walking shoes

Positive thinking when naming your business: Excel Dentistry & Good Restaurant

A doorman watering the sidewalk agrees with me that it is very quiet this morning

A dog decides to do his business in the middle of the crosswalk as the light changes.  He won't move.  His panicked owner waves her arms and mouths "I'm sorry" to those driving around them. Not even the cabdrivers honk. Business done. Walk resumed. Light changes. A lone turd lies in the middle of the crosswalk.

A very small GreenMarket with very light traffic

Fresh vegetables loaded into the Jean Georges restaurant van

I add my compost to a nearly empty container

Gandhi who has been walking Union Square since 1986 currently occupies a lush corner thanks to the rain

Steps: 7610

Morning Walk #13 - West Village, Union Square Park & the GreenMarket

Finally! A bathroom just for me! And apparently one where I can lie down for a nap.

How can it be 59 degrees outside and 83 degrees in my apartment?

Another gray morning but glad to see no rain

A pile of empty clam shells in the street

A man and dogs playing in the storefront window at Biscuits and Bath

At the tiny park: no dogs allowed, no smoking, keep out of planted areas. I appreciate the sentiments but Wow! The negativity!

Dropping off my compost at the GreenMarket

Yay! First rhubarb sighting!

Ostrich jerky & bison jerky

8:24am - Picking up a prescription at the crowded drugstore

Admiring a large bottle of magic bubble making liquid

Coincidentally, seeing a man making bubbles on the corner of 6th & 23rd moments later

The Happy Child Transport bus: first person off, an unsteady elderly woman helped by not one but two people. I hope I'm a Happy Child when I reach her age!

Saying hello to those resting in peace in the Third Shearith Israel Cemetary (first burial in 1829 when 6th & 21st was considered the north edge of the city). It looks peaceful but not sure the dearly departed appreciate the modern hustle and bustle.

Steps:  8373

Tulip Bondage

You lose your flower and you get tied up

Morning Walk #9 - West Village & Washington Square Park

Streetcleaner vehicles out in force

Seems like there is big construction every other block

Seems like there is a park every other block

Signs in parks: do not feed the pigeons, no skateboarding, no swimming in the fountains

A cop at an ATM

A man with a baby strapped to his chest, a dog leash in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other

A woman in a long flowered skirt with a very expanded purple suitcase

Another multi-tasking man, brown bag in hand, with a baby girl in a stroller and 2 dogs

Man riding lawnmower, no hands on the steering wheel...too busy texting

A green parks van emblazoned with "Mr. Playground"...is it wrong that my first thought was that sounds like a setup for child molestation?

A man walks out of his apartment building with a briefcase in one hand, a newspaper under one arm and a huge load of dry cleaning in the other arm.  Based on the checked sportcoat he was wearing I think he waited too long to get to the dry cleaners!

A man in a business suit and a woman in a hoodie kissing while her dog drops a load on the sidewalk

Steps: 7815

Morning Walk #8 - GreenMarket

Multi-level bike parking on the Do Not Enter sign

Plastic catering trays of fruit & brownies in Jackson Square - an offering for the hungry

Teenager holding a lit cigarette - wavering between defiant and uneasy

Business suit clad man hails a cab which stops then takes off immediately

Halfway up the same block a cab stops and attempts to solicit me as the next fare

Older, frail woman leans heavily on a cane while her leashed dog tries to pull her along

Middle-aged woman using a cane sees her bus and takes off running with the cane held aloft

Homeless man tucked behind a mesh screen at a construction site - he's propped up on the ground reading a magazine as if he's reading in bed.  I guess he is.

Graffiti message on a table top leaning against a building: F*** School!

Restaurant staff shopping for fresh vegetables at the GreenMarket. (I hope they change their white chef's coats when they get back.)

Mountain Sweet Berry Farm selling only ramps - a lot of ramps

Park cleaning crew hanging out in a group of 5 - chatting much, working little

A woman calls to her curious dog, "Come on Sniffy Snifferson!"

Steps:  8784

Morning Walk #7 - West Village & Hudson Riverwalk

If you have to have scaffolding in front of your building you might as well decorate the posts with twigs and twinkle lights!

Bright sun & 42 degrees

 

I tried to head south but was drawn to the west

 

Streets paved with bricks are quaint but look like a sprained ankle waiting to happen

 

Interesting shop names - Splendid Dry Cleaners, Mint Julep, End of History

 

Lots of joggers

 

A group running through exercises at Pier 45

 

Trash floating together along the pier - styrofoam cups, a water bottle, 2 volleyballs, a 3 ft molded plastic case

 

Ducks swimming through the weathered wooden pillings

 

Cars being towed - women pulling rolling suitcases - people hailing cabs

 

Steps:  6309