No Escaping Harry Potter

How long has the Harry Potter thing been going on now? It seems forever... Isn't finished quite yet I guess...

Wonder how it will endure as a piece of popular children's ( or adult's) literature.

I have never read any of the books, just seen the movies. I liked the first one but after that I found them boring.

Bartending School

I wonder how many bartenders in New York have actually attended a bartender's school..

Many, many years ago when I used to drink I remember hearing one of them talk about it...

When I was young, knew a lot of men who wanted to moonlight as bartenders.

Most men seemed to think they had a natural great talent for being a bartender. I think it's harder than it looks.

Gentrification Continues

On the one hand, I keep reading the real estate market in NYC is not really doing all that well, but that does not stop all these renovation projects from going on.

This rather run down building on a side street is already advertising street level apartment for future "Prime Medical Space."

Apartment House Gardens

Some apartment buildings in Midtown do more with their garden space than others...

This one seems to have a nice variety of plants that are all doing well despite the rather raw and chilly weather lately.

Elevators to Subway

In Herald Square, women wait for elevator to take them down to subway and PATH trains...

Woman with her back to camera has a kid in a stroller...

Very few elevators like this. There are some between levels in some main stations... This is only one I have seen with a street entrance. Some very deep stations have them --one in Bronx I can think of.

See women struggling down subway steps with strollers all the time....people usually help them.

There was a time when the economy was better when there was a big campaign by advocates for disabled people to have elevators in all the major ( and other) subway stations.

Price of building and maintaining them would be enormous...even in good times it was ruled not practical.

People in wheelchairs take the buses, which have special platforms to lift them.

Flowers versus Litter

Someone tends to this little plot on the street and takes care of the flowers..

It is a very busy part of Second Avenue.

As you can see, maintaining this little space means removing a lot of litter.

Forsythia

Forsythia, so plentiful once you get outside Manhattan ( there may be a lot in Central Park, too)-- is very rare in Midtown.

This is one of only two examples I have seen in my walking around.

Bag Sale

In Herald Square shopping district, they are hawking inexpensive bags and seem to be drawing a lot of customers..

Wonder if some of the bags have designer labels in them.

Old Building Being Renovated

Old building on Broadway being renovated --for new purposes? Condos?

There are a lot of old buildings like this on Broadway between Union and Herald Squares that have been converted.

School Buses

School buses ( there were several more) outside Private Academy in Midtown...

There are tons of private schools in Manhattan but I am not sure how many of them have their own school buses.

Perfume Outlets

Lot of small stores near Broadway and 30th Street..

Some of them specialize in perfume, like this one.

Counterfeit perfume of course has become a big problem.

There was a big crackdown on dealers in Chinatown last year.

The counterfeiting on merchandise is an enormous business, as you probably know.

First Zen Institute of America

Rinzai Zen was brought to America by Japanese master who I think at first founded his organization at the Buddhist Institute of America..

This place has been on 30th Street in Manhattan since 1930.
Never noticed it before.

Herald Square Hotel

Good example of how old hotels have been refurbished is the Herald Square hotel just south of the Square on a side street...

They went wild with the gold paint, didn't they? Still thinks it looks cool.

Free Pizza Samples

Pizza samples in front of place that calls itself "New York's healthiest pizza" or something like that vanished fast on Third Avenue...

Amazing how fast they were gobbled up by passers-by.

Yes, Another Psychic

On a block in Midtown I have not visited before with camera, up pops another place that does psychic readings.

Again, surprised hardware store is not Ace or True Value, who seem to have driven everyone else out of business.

Sunday in the Sun

These benches on 34th street really attract people all the time...

Seems most natural on a sunny Sunday afternoon, when I took this picture.

Suspicious blooms

Daffodils might have grown in these urns but purple blooms look like they have been put in just recently.

Art for Sale on 34th Street

Art and photos are sold for very little money at this stand on 34th Street.

Never seen such items being sold on 34th Street this way before...there is a lot of it down in Union Square ( and a dispute about what space belongs to greenmarket people and which to art sellers)...

Also a lot of them up at the Metropolitan Museum.

Lane Bryant 34th Street

Lane Bryant has been around for a long, long time and I think used to be on Fifth Avenue.

I would have no idea how to rate the kinds of fashions it sells or how to characterize them.

More Herald Square

Part of Herald Square ( where Macy's and other stores are) has been made into a special area with tables and chairs.

Mayor Bloomberg is now proposing a similar area in Times Square that would also have table service from nearby restaurants. This is running into a lot of opposition for all sorts of reasons.

Woman takes picture of what I take to be a family grouping visiting the Square...

James Gordon Bennett

Tourist takes picture to impressive statue in Herald Square.

It is dedicated to James Gordon Bennett, who founded the New York Herald in 1835. In ten years time it had the largest circulation of a daily newspaper in the country and went on to be very influential although it often supported unpopular causes.

One of the paper's feats was to send the explorer Stanley to find Livingstone in Africa.

It also sponsored some other expeditions that were not a successful, such as a failed one to the North Pole.

It merged with the New York Tribune in 1887 and lasted as the Herald Tribune into the later 1960's.

Rare Public Toilet

Mayor Bloomberg announced over a year ago that the city would start installing self-cleaning public toilets in all sorts of key locations ...this is the first I have seen, at the North end of Herald Square.

Old "Little India"

Back in the 1980's, Indian immigrants began opening shops and restaurants around 28th Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

Successive waves of people from India have formed larger areas in other parts of the city and in New Jersey...

This old "Little India" area is really pretty small but very lively.

Beading Store

Here's a kind of store I haven't seen before: one that does beading and threading of beads, pearls and semiprecious stones.

This place is close to the old "Little India" section and I wonder if there is some cultural connection.

Norman Vincent Peale

Motivational speaker and writer Norman Vincent Peale was perhaps the first of his ilk to really make it big time...

His books and seminars, like "The Power of Positive Thinking", influenced several generations of Americans and paved the way for many more such movements.

Statue is behind fence draped with "Peace Ribbons" in response to America's involvement in current wars at the Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue.