New York Public Library Walk of Fame...plus more plaques further East

Speaking of the New York Public Library, I have a book out now to look at while my broken toe improves to the point where I can actually get out and do more shooting again.

Plus, the library robot voice called yesterday to announce that a book has arrived for me that I had on hold. I guess I will hobble over there and pick it up today ( it is another gorgeous June day, not the kind to be stuck inside all day for).

At the moment I am relying on using photos I have not published before or just using old ones as a springboard for new story ideas. There are so many associations with a lot of the photos ( such as one I took of the now Manhattanizing Long Island City across the East River in Queens) that there are new aspects to explore. Such as writing about Women's Wear Daily and more about NY as a fashion center...

East 41st Street East of the Library is notable for all the plaques in the sidewalk with illustrations and quotes from famous writers, from Marcus Aurelius to Ernest Hemingway to one funny one by the humorist and children's book author E.B. White ( "Stuart Little," "Charlotte's Web" that I am showing today.

It is sort of amusing that as you go under Park Avenue viaduct and get to the other side, you find MORE sidewalk plaques-- of famous  Midtown buildings-- put in by the developer named Kalikow who was once briefly also owner of the New York Post.

The Sculptor Gregg Lefevre did a nice job with the plaques...imaginative designs for most of the quotes. Some of course are more ingenious than others but it all is a pretty classy little touch for the area, especially because during the daily rush I doubt few people really pay that much attention to them. But Midtown Manhattan is crammed with all sorts of flourishes and interesting touches...including, of course, all sorts of memorial plaques on buildings and the somewhat annoying extra street signs naming a street also for someone famous who might have lived there or something (like Katherine Hepburn---down near the United Nations).

This is sort of a bizarre quote for Francis Bacon, but I have the feeling whoever chose these quotes had a lot of fun..

The books between the chicken bookends are White's, and some, like "One Man's Meat" are the kind of period pieces that amused people back when they were written ( from the 1920's to the 1950's) but are only known to literary buffs now.

And of course Kalikow's set of plaques on the other side of Park Avenue...this one gives you the idea