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Architecture of Doom

June 20, 2014 Bradley Farless2 Comments

A few months ago, or maybe half a year ago now, I came across a Tumblr blog called “Architecture of Doom“. As it’s name suggests, the blog is home to images of terribly uninspiring and depressing architecture. The effect is elevated by the clean, minimalist white blog theme that seems almost cheery by comparison.

Every time I walk past this set of four buildings in Upper Manhattan, I think of that blog:

These buildings literally straddle I-95.

That’s a highway, running below them. Is it an odd feeling, I wonder, knowing that every day thousands of vehicles roll beneath your feet, under your apartment? What would happen if there were an earthquake? Though I suppose if there were an earthquake in New York City it wouldnt’ matter if there were a highway under most of these buildings or not. They would almost all collapse anyway.

There’s something terribly depressing about this facade. It radiates poverty, depression, and despair. Whether that is true of the people that live there or not, I don’t know.

I walked past these buildings on Tuesday because I was going to the library on 179th Street. I discovered that there’s an app called Overdrive Media Console for iOS that makes checking out digital copies of the New York Public Library’s collection a snap. I hadn’t used my library card since I got it 3 years ago, so it had been canceled. Maybe they thought I was dead?

The Merchant’s House Museum

June 18, 2014September 4, 2021 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

There’s a building on 4th Street in Lower Manhattan that is a museum. It doesn’t really look like a museum. Not when you’re standing there in front of it and mentally comparing it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Guggenheim, but it was well worth the time I spent inside looking around. It takes about an hour and a half or two hours to look at everything. Maybe a bit longer if you want to just hang out and soak up the atmosphere. It’s not pricey either. 10 bucks for adults, 5 bucks if you have a student ID.

The building was built in the early 1800s and the furnishings and personal effects in the home were the property of the original owner, who bought the place in 1835. There have been a few modifications, like the addition of a fire escape for safety, bars on a few windows for security, and the removal of the outdoor latrine for sanitary purposes. Part of the garden was paved over with additional marble paving stones. Two indoor toilets were added for museum visitors. But, most everything else is authentic, like the cooking implements, clothing, hats, wash basins, and furniture. There’s even a pail of coal in the kitchen that one can pick up to experience the carrying load of a household servant or slave.

It’s a cool place and I’m looking forward to going again with my wife. I went by myself on a weekday afternoon. We’re particularly interested in attending one of the summer evening lectures in the outdoor private garden.

The Bethesda Terrace and Fountain in Central Park

June 13, 2014September 4, 2021 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

I’m really glad that this is turning into one of those months where I get to mark a lot of things off my bucket list! I’ve been meaning to visit this location for years, ever since I saw a person get killed there in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. If I remember right, the person was dumped into the fountain and left floating.

We got to the Terrace by walking up the Mall.

The Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are awesome places to hang out. There were a ton of tourists there.

Just beyond, on The Lake (yes, that’s it’s name and it’s capitalized on the map), people were boating.

A little ways down the road towards the west, the slope leading down to the lake was covered by people soaking up the sun.

And bordering on The Lake at Wagner Cove, the NYPD Mounted Patrol was preparing to go on patrol:

50th Annual Celebrate Israel Parade

June 11, 2014 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

My wife and I went to the 50th annual Celebrate Israel Parade on 5th Avenue on the 1st. It was a lot of fun. I was particularly struck by the amount of pride and patriotism that the participants displayed. It stands in stark contrast to the attitude Americans seem to have about America.

We didn’t realize it at the time, but the Philippines National Day parade is held on the same day, one street over, every year. We missed out. Next year we’ll do a double-header and catch two parades in one afternoon.

We didn’t stay for the entire Celebrate Israel Parade. It runs from 11 AM until 4 PM. We were there until about 1:30 and then took a walk through Central Park before heading uptown to a nice a Indian food dinner in the neighborhood. It’s amazing how many cultures one can partake of in a single afternoon in this city!

Please check out the rest of my photos of the parade in full resolution in my Flickr Gallery: 50th Annual Israel Day Parade – 2014

The Liberato Helicopter

June 9, 2014 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

The Liberato Helicopter

I’ve spent most of the last three days sick. Snotty, achy, fatigued sick. So, I spent almost all of this beautiful weekend either sleeping, sitting in bed, or sitting in front of my desk, trying to entertain myself with books. That was sort of hard because I was having trouble concentrating. Time Warner’s internet also went down for about 24 hours starting Saturday afternoon. That wasn’t very fun.

I would rather have been outside. It was such a nice weekend, or at least the weather app on my phone made me think it was a nice weekend.

I did manage to get out of the house for a little while this evening. I was tottering along the street. I joked to my wife that I felt like a zombie from The Walking Dead.

We were on a mission to find a mango, and I wanted a little fresh air. I also had some letters I wanted to mail and I needed to get a thank you card for a rabbi that hosted my wife and I for an evening this past Shavuot.

While we were out on this walk, looking for a mango, we went down Broadway and visited some stores we hadn’t seen before. That’s where I saw the cool helicopter mascot thing at Liberato, a small grocery store on the corner of 163rd Street.

Anyway, we wound up finding an Associated Supermarket on 161st and Broadway, which we hadn’t realized was there. I guess we never took enough time to explore the neighborhood when we moved here last year. We were always so busy. Associated had our mango. In fact, they had our mango on sale, so we got three, and it tasted great in our veggie sushi rolls.

The Would-be Burglar Was Arrested

May 3, 2014 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

Over the past few days, we’ve seen the person that attempted to break into our apartment and our neighbor’s apartment wandering around the building in the stairwells and out on the streets. My wife took the photo above. As you can see, the person did not even bother to throw away the hoodie. Or leave the area.

We stayed in contact with a detective that was working on the case. Me, my wife and the girl that lives next door told him that we’d seen the suspect around the building and neighborhood multiple times so he came and reviewed the security footage. Turns out it’s not a he. It’s a she, and she is a crackhead that used to live in the building and is sleeping on the roof. I couldn’t make out features under the hoodie and just assumed this person was a man, I suppose because it seems a little unwise to do breaking and entering as a woman, when there is a greater chance of being overpowered by anyone inside. She has been arrested before for breaking into people’s apartments and stealing in order to support her drug habit.

Yesterday, my wife and the girl whose apartment was almost burglarized saw the suspect in the morning and I saw her in the afternoon, out on the street. I called 911, but the cops never showed up. That’s really disappointing. I waited outside for almost 15 minutes and then gave up. I went into the subway to try to get the transit cops to come out and arrest her, but they weren’t interested in helping. Their conversation with their colleagues was too interesting, I guess. I went home, and when I got to my floor, the building superintendent told me she had gone into one of the apartments in the building. I called the detective to let him know and found out later that she had been arrested.

I’m not sure what she’ll be charged with, but hopefully it’s something that keeps her away from our building for a while, or permanently.

An Angry Telephone Eating a Person (Statue)

February 26, 2014 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

8th Avenue / 14th Street Subway Statues, a set on Flickr.

There are quite a few different statues (not sure what else to call them) located in the subway station at 8th Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan, NYC, but this is one of my favorites. He’s right down on the platform where the uptown A express and C/E local trains stop, pretty close to the elephant feet.

Turf-watching Cat

January 9, 2014 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

I was out walking my dog earlier today and right as we were coming to the corner of a block, this cat came strutting around the corner like he owned the place. Maybe he does? Maybe he lives in the building and hangs out there all the time?

Anyway, when he saw my dog, his demeanor changed right away and he walked to this spot by the wall and just sat there, watching carefully. My dog isn’t very big, so I doubt the cat was afraid. It was more as if he was keeping an eye on a visitor to his turf. Sort of like the dudes that hang out on the corners around here all the time.

The Beginning of New York City’s 2014 Snowpocalypse

January 3, 2014 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

Because we have a dog, we have plenty of opportunities to go out and experience the weather, even when we don’t particularly feel like it, like tonight, with wind and fairly heavy snow. I think this will be the last dog we own while we live in an apartment. It wouldn’t be bad if I could just open a door and let the dog out into the yard to handle his business, but owning a dog in New York City is time consuming. We walk him about three times a day and that eats up anywhere from an hour to an hour and 15 minutes per day.

Anyway, pet woes aside, the weather is nasty. Earlier today I was out shopping and I saw that someone had created a check-in on Foursquare called Snowpocalypse Winter 2013-2014. I don’t think it will be quite as bad as the snow cleanup fiasco in 2010, though. That was crazy. I even saw snow plows (or what passes for snow plows here, trash trucks with plow blades attached) getting stuck in the snow.

That’s not to say the weather outside is nothing to be concerned about, though. It’s ugly, and there was a weather alert earlier. Not that I understand the reasoning, except perhaps to convince people to not travel, but express trains were set to begin running local stops at 5:45 PM. Some dude even got on TV and said to not go outside if at all possible. That should go without saying anyway. Nothing says fun like getting blasted in the face with ice and snow, right? Better to hang at the house with a hot cup of coffee.

So, I took these photos: