very simple

Thanks to a well-timed reminder from a friend the other day, I managed to snag a ticket for this weekend’s opening of Discovering Columbus. Artist Tatzu Nishi has done this with other monuments around the world, and here’s he’s created a living room set piece surrounding the statue of Christopher Columbus so that he becomes a really large coffee table display. Sure, it’s a little weird, but it gives people a rare opportunity to get up close to a piece of art (and views!) that is ordinarily out of reach at the top of a 70-foot pillar. It also serves as a preservation effort – once the exhibit is done, the scaffolding will remain so that the heavily worn marble statue can undergo its first restoration effort in over 20 years (why people continue to think that a soft, easily-worn stone like marble is a good medium for statues that spend all their time exposed to the elements escapes me, but the choice was made well-before the current decision-makers were born).

In any event, the photos are a bit repetitive, what with there being the one statue (and the 3 good views out the windows), but hopefully they’re enjoyable. I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance – it’s free, but you need to get a ticket to reserve a time slot for crowd-limitation purposes. The public art fund website appears to have crashed (or they forgot to pay their bill!), but tickets are also available on the third floor of the Time Warner Center.

I’m winding down my off-time in the city, with my new engagement starting after labor day and next week being spent with various iterations of the family unit in the country, so I decided to go visit the high line yesterday. I’ve been a few times before (2009, 2011), but I think this is the first time I’ve been at the height of summer. They’ve also opened up an entirely new section, from about 21st street to 30th street, so this is the first time I’ve been up this far.

click on the thumbnails for the full images and descriptions

I start a new engagement for my company with a different client in a few weeks, and they’re a little less business casual (as in, not business casual at all) than the last engagement. Or any job that I’ve had in about 12 years. I’ve got plenty of black pants and cute jackets and can certainly make do, but I thought it would be nice to get a few new items to just freshen everything up a bit, so I hit bloomie’s.

It’s much nicer to shop there now that they’ve finally moved the “women’s” department (the fancy name for plus-sizes) out of the basement/subway station where it had languished for years. I mentioned this to the sales ladies and they were in vehement agreement. That lower-level part of the store is now part of the men’s department – maybe men don’t mind shopping (and working?) so close to quite so much…vermin?

I sometimes think I could wander around the city taking pictures of nothing but signs for the rest of my days, and I would never run out of subjects. Random building in midtown.

This bust of Washington Irving sits in front of Washington Irving High School, which is at the corner of 17th street and Irving Place, across the street from the Washington Irving House and one block north of concert-venue Irving Plaza.

The irony, of course, being that Washington Irving never actually lived here (despite the plaque to the contrary). He apparently had a nephew that lived nearby that he visited a few times, and that was close enough for some civic-minded folks to lay claim to the entire neighborhood on his behalf.

My friend Darcy lives in one of the tiniest apartments that I’ve seen (at least of the one-bedroom variety), but to make up for the size of the apartment, she has exclusive access to the roof right outside. I love the old east village roofline of mismatched buildings. Plus, hanging out all afternoon at our own private oasis in the middle of the city is pretty nice as well (you can’t see the hammock because I am sitting on it!).

I’ve certainly been in the neighborhood plenty of times recently, but I don’t think I’ve actually stepped inside Washington Square Park in several years. Back in the early 90s when I would come into the city on my day off and just hang out here people-watching, I wanted desperately to live in this neighborhood (and did live on 9th street and 5th avenue for one summer back in 1998). Views north (up 5th avenue) and south (to the new World Trade Center).

Even as Columbus Avenue gets further overrun by shiny glass-fronted banks and “cute” shops that pretend to have character but really don’t, there are still a few holdouts from the old days. I particularly like the modesty of this coffee shop, what with only assigning itself 3 stars.

In addition to the giant parks throughout the city, there are also a lot of vest pocket parks wedged in between buildings, built on what would otherwise be empty lots or alleyways.

I discovered this one when I decided to take a slight detour from my normal walk around the neighborhood. I think I may have to return to take more pictures, and also to just sit for varying lengths of time, because it’s just so…inviting.

I think my favorite part is that, according to the sign, a few years ago they decided to fancy up the place by giving it a latinate name. Before? it was called “seventy-first street plot”.

and, for my last post of the day (I think I may have set a record here), the random cool signs I encountered while wandering aimlessly through the west village and the flatiron neighborhood.