Hurricane Sandy and the "Frankenstorm"

Supermarkets and other stores ran out of bottled water as early as Friday night as people in Manhattan started frantically stocking up on that and on--it seemed--just about any kind of food available in the preparation for enduring Hurricane Sandy and the "Frankenstorm."

They call it the Frankenstorm because it is so huge, and looks now like it will be unprecedented in terms of its size and the amount of damage it will cause along the East Coast of the United States from Virginia up to Massachusetts.

As of Friday night, New York's Mayor Bloomberg had ordered evacuation of low lying land in NYC that will be flooded by the storm surge Monday evening--affecting something like 375,000 people. 

In City-owned projects, people were herded out on Friday afternoon, with the gas, electricity and  turned off...

One of the areas that will be hit worst will be Battery Park City down on the Southern tip of Manhattan.

These pictures do not convey the intensity  of last minute shopping ( lines inside stores were gigantic and it took forever to get out of the stores..)

Woman in bottom picture gets out of a Rite Aid at Kips Bay Plaza where the line inside was enormous...

Following the storm has become a major project for the media, with constant updates...

One of the worst aspects of the storm is that it will sit over the New Jersey- New York area for some 36 hours ( whereas Hurricane Irene last year just flew through).

All coastal areas will suffer major damage in terms of erosion and flooding...

Halloween coming--and "Frankenstornm"

No one is really sure what Halloween is going to be like in NYC because of the enormous "Frankenstorm" coming this way ( and maybe peaking on Tuesday, October but heavy winds and rains still around on the 31st...this is supposed to be one monster storm being whipped up by Hurricane Sandy, and NYC is preparing for the worst (including subway floodings- there will definitely be a shutdown of subway service at some point)--and , again, no one knows if lower Manhattan could be flooded by high tides and storm surges...

This storm will be spread out over a larger area than Hurricane Irene last year and cover a much larger area...in some places it will mix with a western snowstorm coming in...it will also last a much longer time in NYC than Irene, which was gone in about 48 hours...this storm should be here Sunday and still not really slowed down a lot until late Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the City has been preparing for weeks for Halloween...everything from"Halloween Pub Crawls" and the usual parties and decorations, to the pumpkin pies (wait a second, isn't that more a Thanksgiving thing? Well, it is coming early this year...and also, finally, one window of the Museum of Sex down on Fifth Avenue in the 20's has one window devoted to a somewhat spooky scene...

So, for the moment, it's "batten down the hatches" and get ready for everything the "Frankenstorm" may bring, including power outages and knocking out landline service for telephones...

Farmers Market at Kips Bay Plaza Strip Mall are still fall of Fall fruit harvest...wonder how many more Sundays the fresh produce will still be available...

The weather has been on the mild side with chilly nights in the City, --leaves on trees are just beginning to turn yellow in some cases...mostly still summer green.

But area farms outside the City tend to have cooler weather than in town, especially at night...

Hope the fresh strawberries will still be available next Sunday, looking at the photo it reminds me again how important it is for me for strawberries in particular to be fresh for me to enjoy them...so what if they are a little pricey.

Restoration and Renovation- old Midtown houses

There is a trend in the renovation of old houses now towards something more like "Restoration" than just renovation...

A lot of people LIKE the period detail of old houses ( some of which have been badly updated in the past) and in current renovations they often go out of their way to try and recapture the historical look of the houses-- architectural detailing and windows and window treatments, etc.

People do this not just because it is mandated by local community authorities ( as it is so tediously in Greenwich Village, for instance, where so many older structures have been "landmarked")...they may also feel a restoration feel is classier and improves the dollar worth of the building....

Of course, all kinds of styles of renovation of older buildings are applied as gentrification in Manhattan goes further and further all the time. ( And of course, sometimes less interesting structures are demolished and newly designed ones put up....with mixed results).

Other detail also shown here is where in an interesting renovation someone decided to get "artistic" with the new fencing around the house ( maybe to detract from the fact that it looks like security concerns were definitely on their mind and they didn't want the place to look too much like a grim fortress in some respects).

 

Haircuts, traditional and "European"

Euro (Unisex) Beauty haircutters on East 28th Street and the Classic Barber Shop, not far away, offer two different approaches to the tonsorial experience...

Interestingly enough, the Classic Barber Shop seems new and deliberately retro while Euro Beauty ( "Men, Women and Children") seems more actually retro, dating from the 1970's or 1980's it would seem, when the idea of Unisex Hair places was new and somewhat daring.

Both places were pretty busy on a recent Saturday afternoon, and seem like neighborhood fixtures...

Since I am very loyal to my favorite place, Svetlana's ( also both for men and women) and the very skilled Robert the Russian barber way up on Third Avenue in Carnegie Hill (well worth the trip for me) I have not tried either of these places but they both seem like they would be reasonably priced and from external appearances, probably pretty good places.

Repertorio Espanol- with English on headphones

 

Found this place, the Repertorio Espanol Theater, really interesting right away. 

It pops up suddenly on East 27th Street in what is otherwise a dense Asian (mostly Indian) area of shops and restaurants....at a facility called The Gramercy Arts Theater, a name which is a little off because it is near Gramercy Square but since it is North of 23rd Street, not really in that area proper.

I really want to get a chance to go to see one of the productions there ( they are in Spanish with English translation via headphones--maybe not an ideal solution but a functional one, they say).

Variety of productions here, some with music and dancing, based on the works of well known Hispanic authors...

You can read about current productions at this site

http://www.repertorio.org/