Tag: Manhattan

Washington Square Park

Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

My mother’s side of the family has lived in New York City since my great-grandmother immigrated here from Spain (via Puerto Rico) in 1930.  Ever since I was a kid, I came here to visit family every summer and then, about every 2 to 3 years.  My family has always lived in the East Village and I remember when I used to step out on the streets in the morning and see used syringes in the cracks, but I don’t recall that I’ve ever been to Washington Square Park before last Wednesday.

Arch at Washington Square

It’s possible.  They’ve renovated it a lot recently.  In fact, they were still doing renovations on about half the park when I went through there last week, but I’m pretty sure I’d remember that big arch at the entrance.

Washington Square Park

Washington Square Park is a really nice, quiet, classy type of area.  It’s surrounded by NYU buildings so the crowd is diverse but generally classy.  It’s the type of place I’d want to go for an afternoon of reading or people watching.  I wish I had more time for that, but lately I’m always so busy.

Weekend Outing to Times Square

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Times Square, New York City
Times Square, New York City, June 3, 2012

This past weekend was the only weekend in my one and a half week break between the end of Spring Semester and the beginning of Summer classes.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.  My wife was encouraging me to relax and have a good time.  I was thinking about doing some heavy reading and trying to get ahead on the books assigned on the syllabus for my first summer class.

I never did get around to that, mostly because I decided to migrate my blog from Blogger to WordPress.  It’s taking a lot more time to complete than I thought.  The import was a little complicated.  I had to export from Blogger, import to WordPress.com, export from WordPress.com, and then import to my WordPress installation.  Needless to say, there are tons of formatting errors, not the least of which is that images are either really blurry or not loading at all, depending on the browser.  I have to fix that.  I’ve been working on getting the categories and tags set up first though.  Maybe I’ll be done by next weekend!

Anyway, I didn’t want to spend all weekend in front of my computer screen.  Luckily, one of my wife’s teachers from med school was in town so we went out to meet up with him at Times Square.  After chatting and walking around with him a bit, he left to meet up with other friends, so my wife and I did the tourist thing.  I pulled out my camera and started taking photos.  We did some shopping and window shopping and wound up eating out.  It wasn’t a spectacular day but it was a great day and a good weekend outing.

East River Park Running Track
East River Park Running Track. One of these ladies tried to steal our water bottle.

Sunday, we hit the track and ordered pizza.

Now, the time for fun and games are over.  I have to get ready for the first day of my first summer class: Islam in the West.  It should be exciting!

First Snow for New York City (Winter 2011)… in October.

Bradley Farless10 Comments
First Snow For New York City 2011
First Snow For New York City 2011

It’s looking like a mini-blizzard out there.  I didn’t expect to see this in October!  I do remember it being so cold we had to bundle up tight for Trick-or-Treating when I was a kid though, back in the 80s, and that was in Maryland.  Maybe this isn’t so unusual after all.  Maybe it’s more like things going back to the way they were before.  Regardless, it’s snowing, and it’s getting me in the Christmas spirit before we’ve even gotten past Halloween.

It’s not supposed to stick, thankfully.  I can do without piles of snow on the roads for a few more weeks at least.  I’m planning on moving to a new apartment and I have absolutely no experience driving in snow.  Hurricanes, yes.  Snow, no.

Lazy Postal Workers? East 14th Street “POS” Office

Bradley Farless10 Comments

East 14th Street USPS, NYC

As it’s name implies (see above image), this “POS” office performed poorly today.

Despite the fact that there was more than one person in our apartment all day (excluding the ‘must have been in the bathroom and didn’t hear when I knocked’ excuse), I found a missed delivery notice in the mailbox, stating that I can pick up my package at the post office.

The postal worker never even came up to the apartment to try to deliver the package.  The worker was either too lazy to take the elevator and walk a few steps, or didn’t bother to bring the package with them from the post office in the first place.  It’s especially ridiculous considering it’s a tube mailer for a poster.  It’s not heavy.  It’s not something that would be difficult to deliver.  It was just laziness.

I asked around and heard that this is a common problem for this post office.  The delivery person regularly leaves the ‘missed delivery’ notice without actually trying to deliver the package first.  In fact, this post office in particular seems to have a lot of problems, judging from the Google maps reviews page.  Is poor service the standard at this post office?

I remember hearing on the news that the USPS is about to start running in the red, presumably because of lack of business and competition from private sector alternatives like FedEX and UPS.  Is it any wonder that people are choosing slightly pricier, but more reliable alternatives who will actually deliver the package?  The shipping costs I paid for that package was to have it delivered to my door, not for me to have to go pick it up.  With me having to go pick it up myself due to lack of proper service, you could even say that the USPS stole money from me, since they haven’t rendered the service I paid for.

The USPS, at least this “POS” office, is one more overpaid and underperforming government office that needs to have the fat trimmed to stay reliable and solvent.

Secret Pigeon Farm in New York City

Bradley Farless9 Comments

Secret Pigeon Farm in New York City.

I’m not sure how many times I’ve walked past this and thought I just saw two air conditioning units hanging from windows, which is not an uncommon site.  I even thought that maybe it was just pigeons sitting on a ledge that was part of an air conditioning mount.  So, I zoomed in with my camera, took a photo, and what do you know?  It’s not an air conditioner at all.  It’s a pigeon coop.

Somehow, I doubt this is legal, but what I really want to know is why is it pigeons?  I mean, are they eating them?  Eating pigeon eggs?  And, is this where the next strain of bird flu is going to start?

I just don’t get it.

Fight Spills Into 14th Street, Causes Traffic Jam

Bradley Farless4 Comments

Yesterday, I was coming back into the city from New Jersey on the PATH train and got off at 14th street.  My plan was to hop on the bus and then go back into the subway at Union Square to head uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I wound up having to get back off the bus and walk, though, because punks don’t know how to behave in public.  One kid jumped another kid and the result was a big traffic disaster on 14th street between 6th and 5th avenues.

Cops on the street after a fight broke out on 14th street between 5th and 6th Ave.

As soon as I got seated on the bus I started seeing flashing lights and the bus just sat there, so I took a look out the window and saw that the street was jammed with police cars.  There was a tour bus going the opposite way, but stopped in the road with all the tourists on the open upper deck leaning over the rail and gawking.  I saw a black guy being led away in cuffs.  I waited a while and then got off the bus to take a few pictures and then walk to Union Square.

Cops on the street after a fight broke out on 14th street between 5th and 6th Ave.

While I was standing there taking photos, I heard what happened from a woman that had been handing out sales fliers.  Apparently, a bunch of kids from a nearby school had just left class and one kid jumped on another kid and busted the side of his face up.  The kid that got attacked took off into the subway station I had just left. The guy I saw being handcuffed was the one that did the attacking.  While she was telling me this, the police were yelling at the crowd of kids, which I assume were classmates of the kids that were fighting, telling them to go home or at least leave the area.

Girl crying because her boyfriend was arrested for fighting on his birthday.

When I was walking away, a girl (brown coat in the above picture, surrounded by friends) started crying, saying it was “[her] man’s birthday.”  I can only assume that the guy that got arrested is, or was, her “man”, and they weren’t going to be doing much partying that night.  He must not have wanted to celebrate his birthday anyway or he wouldn’t have done something illegal in the middle of a crowded street.  People just don’t think anymore, do they?

Cops on the street after a fight broke out on 14th street between 5th and 6th Ave.

On the left, you can see the M14A Crosstown I got on, then got off, stuck on the side of the road because of all the police vehicles.

Foremost taxi is an undercover New York City police car. Cool, right?

The only redeeming factor in this whole fiasco, besides giving me something to blog about, is that I got to see an undercover NYC police car that looks like a taxi cab.  In the photo above, the foremost taxi (facing right, just behind the cop car) is an undercover vehicle.  You can see the red strobe light in the center of the dashboard.

Donation Point For Japan in Union Square (Manhattan) Today

Bradley Farless3 Comments

New York Japanese-American Lions Club in Union Square requesting donations for Japan.

Earlier today, on my way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I saw members of the New York Japanese-American Lions Club in Union Square, asking for donations for relief efforts in Japan.  I made a donation myself, directly to the Japanese Red Cross through Google’s Crisis Response page.  Even so, I found myself wanting to donate more, but I had just gone to the bank and only had big bills on me.  I know that sounds cheap, but I have a budget I have to follow too, so I don’t wind up looking for handouts.  I wish I had more to give, but it’s encouraging that companies and prominent individuals are also giving donations to Japan.

New York Japanese-American Lions Club in Union Square requesting donations for Japan.

I saw a Tweet a few days ago that was reminding people to not forget that the tsunami in 2005 (?) killed about 230,000 people.  I wonder why it is that this earthquake and tsunami in Japan is eliciting such a greater response?  Or am I misremembering what happened in 2005?  I might have missed the outreach efforts.  I spent part of that year in Kuwait and the rest of it in Singapore and I just don’t remember it being reported on much.  I had actually forgotten about it until I went to Phuket in Thailand with my wife and saw a memorial there for the people who had died on that beach in that tsunami.  Is it because Japan is important economically?  Is it because it’s a world power?  Or is it because of the character and history of the people?  Personally, I’ve always been fascinated with Japanese history, the ancient history more than the recent history, and I do enjoy Japanese anime and I’ve been toying with learning Japanese for some time.

New York Japanese-American Lions Club in Union Square requesting donations for Japan.

Anyway, if you haven’t taken the time to donate money to the relief efforts in Japan, there are still plenty of ways to get it done.  They’re a wholly deserving people in a time of great need.

That Damn L-Train

Bradley Farless2 Comments

Friday morning I had an adventure with the L-Train.  Sort of an adventure.  Well, mostly it was just a pain in the ass that made me late for class.  There was something wrong with the 7 train, so all of the people that normally take the 7 to get into Manhattan were taking the L.  I didn’t know this, of course, until after I was already in the station and on the platform.  I don’t have to take the L.  I could just take the bus from Avenue B to Union Square.  The L is usually a bit faster though.  Sometimes I’ve stood around for 20 minutes waiting on a bus, only to see three of them show up at the same time.  The L is usually more reliable.  Usually.  But when it fucks up, it really fucks up.

So, like I said, I swiped my card, walked through the turn-style and then down to the platform.  I stopped for a moment to take in the huge crowd of people.  They were packed in tight from the edge of the platform back, with barely enough space for people to squeeze through behind them.  That should have been my first indication that something was wrong, but I rarely ever take the train that early in the morning.  This was at 8:30 AM.  I have one class per week that starts in the morning and it only meets once per week.  Anyway, I took my position at the back of the crowd and waited.

About 10 minutes later, a train arrived.  The doors opened and people came flooding out, trying to push through the crowd.  Before they’d finished getting out, people were fighting to get in.  You know how it is.  The person running the train is playing the “Please stand clear of the closing doors” message before people even finish walking off the train.  Before I’d even managed to take one step forward, the people boarding were fighting to hold the doors open while they got onboard.  I got to the front and realized I couldn’t squeeze in, no matter how I tried, so the doors closed and the train left.

Ok.  That was disappointing, but I could just get the next train right?  Wrong.  About 10 minutes later another train approached the station.  Then it left the station, without even stopping.  Damn.  By this point, I was thinking I should have just taken the bus.  I’d have been at Union Square by then.  But I thought that by the time I got out of the subway and got to the bus stop, and rode the bus, another train would come and I’d waste even more time.  Besides, I wasn’t sure I could manage to get some sort of pass and I didn’t want to pay again.  I didn’t have an unlimited card.  So, I just waited.

15 minutes later another train finally showed up.  People streamed out of it, and then the crowd surged in.  I grabbed the pole in the middle of the train, between the doors and listened to a girl next to me screaming about some asshole who threatened her.  She had stepped off the train to let people out, and when she tried to get back on, someone stupid got confused and thought she didn’t have a right to get back on ahead of him.  Morons.

So, I was finally underway.  Maybe I wouldn’t be too late.  Or so I thought.

The train pulled into the next station, 3rd Avenue, and the conductor got on the intercom and told us that the train would be bypassing Union Square and not stopping until 8th Avenue. What the fuck?  So, I managed to get ONE station before having to get off the train and walk anyway.

When I got to Union Square I got in line at the ticket booth just in time to watch an old man scream at the guy for not letting him back into the train station for free after he had a problem with the L Train.  He screamed “Fuck you!” and then stomped over to the turn-style and paid again to get into the station.  That wasn’t very reassuring.  When I got up the counter, I presented my case, and for being courteous I was let into the station without having to pay again.  A small blessing.

So… to get from 1st Avenue to Union Square took me almost an hour Friday morning.  Thanks to the L train.  And the fun and games didn’t stop there.  By the time I got to the school I was thirsty, but all I had was a 20 dollar bill and the café and cafeteria wouldn’t give me change, so I had to leave the campus again, back the way I came, to go to a convenience store to get a drink.  What fun.

Luckily, when I got into the classroom, no great fuss was made about my being late.  Word of the 7 and L trains’ problems had preceded me.  I think from now on I’ll just take the bus, or walk, to Union Square.  The L train is too much of a pain in the ass to even bother with.

First Snow For the Year in Lower Manhattan Last Night

Bradley Farless12 Comments

Yesterday afternoon when I was out, we were just about to step into the Food Emporium at Union Square when I noticed snow flurries.  They were light and sort of disappeared by the time we left the grocery store to head home, but when we were walking up the street to our apartment building we noticed them again.  The snow continued to come down late into the night.  I took the following photos from our balcony.

First snow in Manhattan, Winter 2010.

First snow in Manhattan, Winter 2010.

First snow in Manhattan, Winter 2010.

First snow in Manhattan, Winter 2010.

I was really excited to see snow again.  I hadn’t seen any in years.  I always managed to be out of the country in deserts or the tropics, or in a part of the country where it didn’t snow, during winter.  This year, if there is any heavy snow (and it looks like there will be) I’ll get to see it all first hand, for better or worse.

First snow in Manhattan, Winter 2010.

The snow last night was light, and it didn’t last too well through the day today, but I’m sure there’ll be more.  It’ll be exciting for sure, at first at least, until the novelty of it wears off.

New York City Graffiti and Wall Murals – Part 2

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Wall mural of black man with fan and robe at 5th Street and Bowery, Manhattan.

This wall mural, located at 5th Street and Bowery, caught my eye right away.  I have no clue what culture the figure is supposed to represent, but it looks like a fusion of African and Asian to me.  The mixed background patterns and colors were a nice touch.  If you look on the left side, there’s a small depiction of a blonde girl, with her hair up in short pig tails.

Here’s a view from the building opposite the mural:

Wall mural at 5th and Bowery, with Cooper Square in the background.

The photo has some blurry looking spots because I took the picture through a window screen.  That’s Cooper Square in the background.

As a bonus, I found this image on a large metal shipping container on the street in front of and to the right of the mural:

An artistic rendering of right wing denial of global warming and climate change.

This is obviously an artistic rendering of the right wing denial of climate change and global warming.  The figure in the image is intentionally covering her eyes to scientific fact.  The way the image has been slightly torn away just makes it more interesting, to me.  Haunting in a way, too, sort of like something you’d find in a post apocalyptic city where denial of science and fact has led to catastrophic disaster.

If you enjoyed this post, keep your eyes out for more.  I’m constantly keeping an eye out for cool images and wall art like this scattered around New York City.