Discount Electronics Stores

Fifth Avenue in Midtown has long been a place for discount electronic stores...right along the tourists routes.

Think you take a risk if you buy anything from these places..but many people do. Bargains seem too good to resist.

Lottery Man

"The stuff that dreams are made of..."

These cardboard cut out signs are all over, reminding people in NYC of one of their favorite obsessions.

I do not play the lottery myself...

Street Sculpture- Budweiser Bottle

Giant Budweiser bottle outside Little Italy Pizzeria on 33rd Street just east of Fifth Avenue.

Have walked past this many times and never noticed it before...

Macy's Winodws-2

Christmas is, first of all, for kids it seems..

Here is tourist father getting shot of daughters in front of a window at Macy's ( window was going through a change of scene at this point and not very interesting).

Macy's Windows- 1

The store windows I saw at Macy's today were done in a kind of animated way...that is, they would shift from scene to scene ( no one individual scene all that spectacular).

Crows watching them, of course. Bigger crowd in Herald Square waiting patiently for a long time for some break dancing exhibition that never took place.

3 monkeys

Classic little Oriental "3 monkeys" in shop window on 34th Street...

Since when did anyone ever really follow that phrase, " speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil"?

How dull life would be if people really followed that old adage.

Macy's and Herald Square Shopping

"Black Friday" was supposed to be the mob scene but today was a real mess over at Macy's and all the other stores around Herald Square.

Lots of beffudled tourists and the natives seemed disoriented too.

Reminds me why I do as much as my shopping as possible via internet.

Side street shops

Life goes on as usual at side street stores in lower East Midtown...

Slow day after Thanksgiving.

Empire State Building lower floors

The Empire State Building wasn't attracting a lot of tourists today...

Lower floors are not all that grandiose but there is that high ceilinged lobby.

Quiet 34th Street

Late afternoon on 34th Street on "Black Friday"--so quiet, all the shoppers long gone.

Home Decor Shop

Are these deer antlers or driftwood or what?

From window of modern home decor shop on 34th Street.

The End of Fall 2010

Drizzly and cold Thanksgiving Day really makes you aware Fall is giving way to Winter...

Actually, there are a few more mild days left starting tomorrow.

Thanksgiving in NYC- 2010

Cold and grey this Thanksgiving Day, but drizzle held off until Macy's parade was over.

Pedicab struggles up Lexington Avenue in the drizzle ( getting worse all the time)....

Yoghurt poster reminds everyone to eat healthily on Thanksgiving.
Except Vegans...they don't eat yoghurt, do they?

Do You Like This?

Seems like there was an era (maybe it is not really over) when all big new buildings had to have a statue of some kind in front of them.

This is what stands in front of the big building that also houses Norman Thomas High School ( most students there probably don't know who Norman Thomas was...well, maybe I am being a little too cynical).

Do you like this piece of statuary? I have no reaction to it at all hardly...I barely give it a second glance when I pass by. Guess that means it wouldn't matter if it weren't there.

Suspiciously late blooming flowers

Walking up Second Avenue, I noticed these nice flowers...a little late-- November 23 --to be so radiant...

Saw some also in a window box nearby. Suspect these were just put in recently by some avid gardener....

Pizza Sign

Yet another local pizza place, this one with interesting signage.

Chain pizza places try to open in this area but the outlets don't last long.

Maybe there are enough pizza places around as there are...and maybe their customers are loyal. (?)

Say all this not knowing if this "Revdup Pi" is a chain or not...doesn't look like it would be one though, does it?

Garbarge

High density Midtown/Murray Hill produces an incredibly amount of garbage, which they try to process and recycle as best they can.

Very few plants for converting garbage into energy in NYC...most goes to landfill.

Kiosk

In the Good Old Days (?), place like this would have sold a lot of cigars and cigarettes.

Now probably depends mostly on people buying lottery tickets.

Empire State Building photographer

Mood was festive around Empire State building...lots of people like this woman taking pictures of course.

Double decker tourist bus came down Fifth Avenue and people on top cheered when they saw Empire State building!

It must be the weather..mild and pleasant today.

Eateries on34th Street

Lots of diversity of food around here..

Man hands out samples of cake on 34th Street.

Turkish and Thai restaurants adjoin each other on busy street.

Evelyn

Evelyn is the assistant super at my building...

She is very cheerful and efficient.

Wonder if she really likes her job...I didn't want to put her on the spot by asking her.

I will find out eventually.

Roche Bobois Furniture Showroom

Roche Bobois showroom is located in Murray Hill...

It used to be part of the Maurice Villency showroom until Villency shut down their operations in the City.

Used to do a newsletter for Villency employess many years ago...long before computers.

Amazing how complicated and time consuming it was to put together...

Relief Figures

Sculptured figures in the stonework on East 40th street add character to street level view of shop windows...

Modern Sculpture- 2nd Avenue

This modern sculpture ( didn't like it when I first saw it...but it grows on you)...changes with the light and the season.

Autumn Foliage 2010

Fall colors are peaking a little later than usual this year..should really get up to Central Park...

Park Avenue Tunnel- Southern end looking North

Looking north from southern end of Park Avenue car tunnel..

Sunlight wipes out image of Met Life building on horizon, which is OK because building is not much to look at.

This tunnel dates from the era of streetcars ( for which it was built) -- Grand Central Terminal was originally at 34th Street and then got moved uptown to 42nd Street...

This photo is from a couple of days ago...has been too overcast lately to take pleasant photos --mostly. Sometimes it doesn't matter...

Pizza Man Again

Seeing this bit of street sculpture at Rosa's Pizzeria always cheers me up...funny how Pizza Man seems more aggressive the closer you get

Kips Bay Contrast

Typical urban scene: older buildings in shadow of newer high rises.

Derelict

Don't see this very much in Murray Hill, but it happens...less and less as winter comes.

Deserted Office Space

Old Office Depot space ( escalators lead to huge basement) was transformed for a month into a Halloween store...

Now will probably be vacant for months again.

Traffic Jam

Traffic jam today was much worse than it looks here ( of course, you can't hear all the horns).

They closed down the Midtown Tunnel for maintenance and obviously saw a lot of people caught off balance by it.

One man in a big car actually got into an argument with a traffic cop about it.

Miss K's

Never noticed this place before, though it looks cheerful enough..

How many Italian names begin with "K" though?

Homeless?

You see this on occasion around here but not all that often...

Is this man homeless or just in despair?

Probably both.

Kips Bay

Most of the modern architecture you see around here is in the Kips Bay area...Murray Hill remains pretty traditional ( except, of course, for the high rise apartment buildings of the last 40 years).

White building facade center left belongs to "All Green" condo...they must be big into recycling, too.

Dogwalking

Most of what you see around here is kids and dogs in the afternoon...it peaks at about 3:30- 4 p.m.

Then another round of dog walkers later , in the evening.

34th Street- Astro Gems and Minerals

OK, this is the last photo of Astro Gems and Minerals for a while...liked the vases in this.

No, Old Storefront did not read "South Bronx"

This place has a past, obviously...now undergoing renovation, it was once a
"South Something"...

Not South Bronx but in present state, that's what it makes you think of.

Actually, last visit I made to South Bronx I was surprised to see how much renovation and even gentrification had gone on...also some major subway stations REALLY cleaned up and fixed up compared to how they used to be ( hellish).

34th Street- Astro Gems and Minerals

Trying to get photos that show how attractive the gems and minerals are on display at this store ( and artifacts made from them)-- difficult because of store window reflection etc.

Love this place.

"Warp and Weft" Store, Carpets

Lower 30's near Lexington Avenue is still "Oriental and other carpet Land"-- last pictured here is a store called "Warp and Weft" which gives you an idea of the feel of the area.

Seems to me there used to be a lot more stores around this area....lots of them have Middle Eastern sounding names.

Union League Club

Manhattan has a number of prestigious clubs for business people...

The Union League Club in Midtown/Murray Hill goes way back to the time of the Civil War..founded by supporters of the Union cause.

Have been inside to cover business seminars etc. during my career-- it has large, handsome meeting rooms and a very nice two story library...

This is a little too big to be called a "gem" of a place, but it has those qualities.