Pico Iyer and New York (2)

Been thinking about Pico Iyer's essay on New York in "Tropical Classical"...

Published in 1990, a lot of what it says about NYC remains pertinent...maybe younger people today don't think of New York (or anyplace) in Black and White, but the sense of angularity, expressionistic/Mondrian imagery and the sense of griminess ( particularly after a trip down in the subway) remain, that's for sure...

Also the play of light and shadow that seem so much part of New York...

Of course, New York City is more than Manhattan ( or downtown Brooklyn, which has a Manhattan-ish feeling), but when people talk of New York, they are usually thinking of Manhattan...

The BBC has a New York correspondent, Peter Franklin ("the Gabby Cabby") who loves New York and is always urging people to get out into the neighborhoods when they visit...but people coming from Britain ( and elsewhere) tend to remain somewhat fixated on Manhattan....( keep remembering subway signs in Brooklyn that used to say " To the City" meaning towards Manhattan)...

It IS a good idea for people coming from elsewhere to get out to "the Boroughs," where they will experience a different city (cities), but Manhattan remains the beacon that draws people here... to that Fritz Langish skyline of the "Metropolis" and everything it symbolizes.

"Art is Work" (?)

Used to know what this building was, Beaux-Arts survivor on 32nd Street in Kips Bay/Murray Hill.

Sign above door says simply "Art is Work"...let's see, I believe this is a Design Center or an Art School or something...

Well, it's nice to know Art is not all fun and games, like Vincent Van Gogh...

Guess slogan like this reflects a certain defensiveness on the part of people in the arts...and true, look at atmosphere of Bush administration -- War is Necessary, Art is Frivolity... will America never lose its Puritan/Calvinist prejudice against the Arts?

Getting to know Pico Iyer (1): " Tropical Classical"

It's always interesting to read a well-known author you've never encountered before, and thus I have set out to discover the works of Pico Iyer.... the international writer ( born in England of Indian parents, brought up in California and England, graduate of Oxford. teacher at Harvard, writer for Time magazine, the New York Review of Books and tons of other publications...)

Iyer, who chooses to live in Japan because he will always be an outsider there, he says...that's his favorite viewpoint as a writer about "far flung places." 

His essay on New York City, written in 1990, is a little dated ( and how could he have possibly foreseen something like 9/11) but still essentially accurate--" a cultural pawnshop cluttered with bric-a-brac," and always, in memory anyway, a city in black and white, with something vaguely nightmarish about it....its skyline the inspiration for Fritz Lang's futuristic city in "Metropolis."

I think Iyer is wrong on one point: he seems to think dreams are impossible in New York-- whereas I, who live here, see it as a city of dreamers as well as doers... people who go on endlessly working as bartenders and waitresses waiting for their crack at Broadway ( or Off-Broadway); and, of course, these days, people filled with Greed and Ambition on a scale ranging from the ordinary to the $50 billion schemes of a Madoff. 

And I live in a neighborhood where, contrary to what Iyer says, children are everywhere... including countless mothers and nannies with their cute blond charges. ( Iyer's essay was written in 1990, before gentrification had wrought its many changes on Manhattan).

One comment really resonates, though: " No one makes a mark on New York, and New York leaves its mark on everyone."  Even in the post 9/11 world, in a city filled with yuppies and populated mostly with people from other places, this seems so oddly true...

"Entertainments " to Avoid

Hollywood pushes some of its "product" big-time, and currently it has done its best to sell you on the merits of Duplicity .

Don't buy it. This is a glossily made, well-edited and produced film that is at its core staler than the popcorn you're likely to get at the Multiplex.

Julia Roberts and Clive Owen are the romantic leads in a tale about industrial espionage that reminds you of every cliche and every spy movie you have ever seen... to its detriment. What it reminded me of most was the  "Spy vs. Spy" cartoons in  the old Mad Magazine.

I can't spoil anything about its silly outcome because I left halfway through...

The Jimmy Fallon Show must be the worst thing to ever hit late night TV.

The big problem is Fallon. Not only is he not funny or likeable, he sucks the entertainment value out of his guests...no mean feat in some instances. They just sink with him...

I was never a big fan of Conan O'Brien, but the show at least had a grain of cleverness to it.

Courtyard in Murray Hill

A scenic courtyard invites people eating lunch

into its enclosed space..

You can't tell from this photo, but darkened wall in center is small waterfall with a pool at the bottom...provides extra comfort to this escape from traffic and crowds in immediate vicinity.

Compare this courtyard to "Alphaville" one a few posts back...

"Modern " Sculpture

They've Been Redoing the front of this apartment building on Second Avenue in Murray Hill for over a year... 

They had ripped out whole area in front of building and then completely rebuilt it.

"Modern" sculpture is flanked by little fountains..

This whole project must have been budgeted long before the current economic downturn and they just plodded along with it...at times it seemed it would never be finished. 

Don't know if I like sculpture or not...thinks it just takes a little getting used to.

Fast Food Establishment

Elaborate Fast Food Outlet at 40th Street and Second Avenue..it's big, it stretches way around the corner.  Think it's cheerful...

Don't eat much fast food myself..a lot of people are really down on it these days.

It certainly appeals to people on the run, however, and that includes tons of people in Midtown Manhattan...

Actually, I like Baskin & Robbins ice cream and Dunkin Donuts coffee ( avoid the ice cream and  donuts to save my waistline, which at my age spreads quickly).

The First Green Shoots...More than the Economy!

Incipient Daffodils are just now starting to show in the neighborhood... in another few days or so, they will be the first real flowers of spring. 

Occurs to me I'm getting obsessed with the weather..

this hasn't been such a bad winter but it's been an awfully long one. 

Real Spring doesn't come in New York until late April anyway, after a lot of the famous April showers.

"Alphaville"

Jean Luc Godard  made a movie about 30 years ago or so (have been informed it was actually 44 years ago...wow) about people living in a futuristic world of apartment blocks ( such as were just then being built on the outskirts of Paris)...called "Alphaville"-- where the weirdness of life reflected the monotony and sterility of the architecture.

Alienating and monotonous especially compared to the classic Parisian neighborhood...

These buildings aren't so bad, actually, but what is this weird concrete ampitheater- like construction  supposed to be-- people sit on it in the summer, by the way...they have to sit somewhere.

On a grey day, it seems particularly unwelcoming... I wonder what my sister, who is a landscape architect, would make of all this. She probably knows the theory behind it...there must be some reason it was designed to look this way.

Dreams of Spring 2009

Spring is Officially Here, but true natural signs of it are still few and far between in Manhattan...

It's one thing to see live flowers for sale in Union Square, quite another to see them shooting up somewhere in the City...

March is going out like a lamb ( as compared to in the Middle West), and winter has lost its grip ( as compared to Upper New England)...but I have yet to see a single daffodil , for instance.

I am going to be going to Central Park and other places soon to look for the first signs of Spring... probably a little too early yet, but I may find something.

If Spring won't show, I'll just keep looking around for other points of interest.

The Market in Union Square

Live flowers for sale are a sign of  early Spring in busy Union Square, where the vendors offer vegetables, fruits,

arts and craftworks  over a great area--

just how many acres I don't know, but it's big.

One of Manhattan's most successful and largest greenmarkets, a warm day brings out hordes of shoppers who have a yen for anything locally grown and particularly organic food..

Remember all the changes this Square has been through: from site of discount department stores  and left-wing rallies to drug dealing center to sterile strictly patrolled open space...

All the streets around the square are packed with shoppers and tourists too. Only the frenetic subway station ( where three lines meet) has never improved that much, just gone through some half-hearted renovations...the Lexington Avenue ( what we used to call the IRT) line in particular is a relic of New York's Public Transit history.

Emma Lazarus House

The Poetess Emma Lazarus, among others,

lived in this historic house on West Tenth between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.

Her famous lines, " Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." are inscribed at the  Statue of Liberty in New York harbor and have become associated with America's development as a country of immigrants seeking new aspirations in a new land....

Historic West Tenth Street- North Greenwich Village

West Tenth Street in the North Village has all kinds of historical associations, and associations with the Arts--further west, William Merritt Chase had his famed Tenth Street Studio; Winslow Homer had a studio, and the noted Salmagundi Club still exists nearby on lower Fifth Avenue.

"In A New York Minute" - (2)

This Florist Shop and Pretty Neon Sign also vanished very quickly...New York City used to be known for its neon signs, which went out of fashion and then came back in again..

Times Square, of course, is something else ( but I won't show Times Square because you see it all the time).

"In A New York Minute" - (1)

This Diner on 86th Street was there for 50 years or more and then got pulled down ( along with adjacent buildings) recently...

Loved the old neon sign of the "Comfort Diner"...and the typical NYC newstand that was in front of it. 

Flip side of the "New York Minute" is the "New York Decade (or More)" -- some projects take forever to get finished...or maybe never get done  ( will World Trade Center site be finished in our lifetimes?).

The Dreaded Midtown Tunnel

The Midtown Tunnel affects a large area of this part of the East Side of Manhattan...its tentacles of exit and entrance streets cut through many city blocks and contribute to the constant traffic in the area.

Life around here is dangerous for pedestrians...

My windows are about thirty yards from one of the entrance streets. Hate to think how much traffic exhaust I am breathing when I have the windows open....

Local Public Library - Kips Bay Branch

I have heard the local branch library described as "that strange building" by some passing tourists...and it is unusual for public libraries in NYC, which are usually neo-classical in design.

It's very good for a small library, but is always overheated...understand it needs a new HVAC system which it is unlikely to get with all the budget cuts going on now...was looking first for works by Pico Iyer. Needed the librarian's help to put holds on them...

By the way, the whole NY Public Library has no books by Eric Tomb--(as I have been reminded, Eric's books are all in coloring book form and not liable to be found at libraries. If your bookstore doesn't have them, you can get them through AbeBooks). Meant to check on works by Deborah Eisenberg, which it more likely has, but forgot-- will look next time.

Keeping in Touch

Lately I have been contacting friends from high school --in some cases, people I haven't spoken to in 40 years or more.  The results so far have been great.

High school was "the worst of times, the best of times"-- and I was fortunate to know a large number of creative, usually renegade, personalities.

If you either know me from the past or are new to this blog, please post a comment on it...looking forward to your remarks.

Armenian Cathedral- The Great Gathering Place

Hard to get a good photo of local Armenian Cathedral, much less one that shows its gold roof glittering in the sun...

Didn't feel like braving the crowds on Fifth Avenue this St. Patrick' s Day and trying to get shot of parade or St. Pat's cathedral...

Armenian Cathedral is much more ecumenical gathering place.. their assembly hall is venue for labor union meetings and all sorts of ethnic gatherings..including Tibetans who frequently picket the Chinese Mission to the U.N. on next street.

Cathedral is busy all the time...has nice chimes that I haven't heard that often lately...think of famous Hitler quote, "Who remembers the Armenians" when generals were uneasy about mass destruction of the Jews of Europe...

To me, Cathedral activities and heritage are always reminders of need for religious tolerance and understanding in the world. We have so little of it...just look at conflicts everywhere .

PineTree Lodge, West 35th Street

The Pine Tree Lodge is a friendly bar all lit up at night in an otherwise very dreary block...

I don't drink there ( I haven't had a drink in 15 years-- much easier than quitting smoking, by the way--maybe because while maybe not an alcoholic,  I am addicted to cigarettes--)--which reminds me, today is day twelve without smoking...went to Nicotine Anonymous meeting today.

People at pine Tree very friendly...checked with them first before I took photo and explained about my blog.

Funny, I am now living up to pledge I took when  I was confirmed as a Methodist 50 years ago in Evanston, Illinois-- I don't smoke, drink or gamble! Not going back to Church however ( like my sister, am a Unitarian Universalist but I rarely go -- )-- think people should practice any religion they want, or NO religion if that's what they want. World has been too wrecked by religious intolerance-- Mahatma Gandhi is one of my favorite heroes in history, as much as I have heroes...

For the Spy Who Has Everything...

If you want spyware of some kind, guess this is the place to go for it. 

Just one of many unusual shops around here.

Actually think this store is kind of unique..been all over New York and never seen anything quite like this one. It's like seeing an office for a Private Detective, or something else from the movies.

Connecticut Road

Connecticut countryside is both wild and cultivated at same time...rocky outcroppings, stone walls and white New England churches all over as you move back from the coast...my parents lived there for a while years ago...not that far from NYC, it changes greatly with seasons and mostly people usually paint it in fall when trees are colorful...this is from memory.

Smoking is always all of my mind but am going to try and mention it less and less.

Today is not good for photos in NYC, will wait until we get some more spring sunshine before I get some new neighborhood pix.

Pizzeria Statue

This kind of street figure is disappearing in Manhattan as neighborhoods get gentrified more...is a reminder of what the "old neighborhood" was like.

Is Rosa's Pizzeria better than its newer competitors? Possibly--will have to check this out.

The Neighborhood Psychic

Rents are high around here and I wonder how much call there is for a psychic (they also read tarot cards).

Smoking Cessation

Quitting Smoking Again...this time I have joined a support group and using lozenges. Let's hope it works!