Street Sale Confab, Another Little Garden

This woman on 35th Street apparently is clearing out her apartment of all kinds of clutter and excess belongings.

Neighbors I guess drop by for a chat.

Hope this wasn't caused because woman had bedbugs and is getting rid of possibly infested items!

Think I had shown this shady little garden before. I love it.

Bike Army

Guess Manhattan could not exist without its army of delivery guys on bikes...

They talk to each other on cell phones now and tell each other about stolen bikes, etc

In one case, some bike guy actually saw the missing bike parked on a street somewhere and was able to rescue it.

Here one of them ( most seem to be Hispanic, but not all) keeps the bike in good repair on a hot afternoon.

Summer Swelter- Empty Playground

Normally busy playground is empty this afternoon because of the heat and humidity ( some diehards can be seen in the distance, one of them doing push-ups).

Better day to seek the shade.

Energy Vortex Around Here?.... Planters

Not just another psychic but a full fledged healing center...

It has been suggested that this neighborhood is some kind of energy vortex.

That explanation seems as good as any...

Planters grace 34th Street

Tourists with cameras

Good day to be a tourist in NY...

hot but not too hot, lots of cloud cover, humidity not all that bad...

34th Street area is just place where proximity to Empire State Building seems to inspire a lot of picture-taking.

Family keeps posing until dad gets the right shot..

And another prize photo being taken of the Empire State bldg.

Summer Swelter- the Parasol

Blazing hot sun....humid enough but the weatherman says it is low compared to what is to come!

Some people use umbrellas/parasols to shade themselves from the sun.

Does it work very well? I will have to ask someone some time.

Buildings with Same Name

Two apartment buildings less than two blocks from each other each claim the name of "The Murray Hill."

This shows you how this branding stuff gets silly.

Have already noted that all sorts of places well out of the historic boundaries of the neighborhood still claim the name "Murray Hill" somehow...

Think I posted not so long ago that there is a plaque that says the center of the old Murray farm was about 35th and Park Avenue...if that means anything.

Mystery Alley

Took picture through gate of very cool looking little alleyway off 36th Street...have shown this before.

Noted this time it is on the National Register of Historic Places ( there is a plaque which says no more than that!).

This is the kind of little nook that people in Murray Hill love...

Must cost a mint to buy one of the little coach houses though.

Man dozing; Tibetan women; serene garden

Some young guy sleeping it off(?) in doorway...you don't see this too often in upscale Murray Hill.

Tibetan woman gather in front of Armenian cathedral..

Just after I took this photo, a man came by who looked just like the Dalai Lama. Shame I couldn't get his picture.

Little oasis: garden behind big gate on 35th Street....

The Last Psyhic; Blue Drinks; Movie Poster

This is the last neighborhood psychic I show for a while, I promise...


Energy drinks at Rite Aid include the blue colored kind..someone says some people put in Windex bottles and drink it at games etc. as a joke...

Local movie cineplex has all these (now fading) posters up for classic movies...this, of course, is "African Queen"...

The City That Never Sleeps; Yes, another Psychic

A number of establishments around here ( like this CVS store) claim to be open 24 hours a day...

But not necessarily seven days a week ( Rite Aid is not 24 hrs on the weekends)...

A couple of delis are open all night but have a buzzer at the door...

Well, traffic never completely stops, not here around the Midtown tunnel, that's for sure.

You can hear one motorcyclist from my apartment late at night some times ( I assume it is the same person) who really revs up his engine as he heads through the local brick canyon on his way to the tunnel...

Yes. Another Psychic. Is there a "Psychic Community" around here or something?
Some of them use Yoga symbols and some seem more oriented towards astrology or perhaps palmistry.

If you believe in conspiracy theories, I am sure you can find some wicked purpose to why so many of these places are located around here.

Derelict Bike; Feeding Pigeons

This bike chained to a traffic sign has the seat taken off..

What the hell is it doing here? Is someone coming back for it?

Meanwhile, someone has put food out for pigeons. Really not necessary...

Day is another hot and humid one...relief promised for tomorrow.

Eagle; Flower before rain: japanese straightening

Old eagle and tacky artificial flowers bedeck the window of a curious old building...

Some kind of summer flower sweats in the terrific heat and humidity as the rain moves in.

Hair and nail salon boasts Japanese straightening. What is that?

Gay Pride Parade; Yet Another Psychic

I got over to Madison Avenue too late to see any of the Gay Pride parade...sure it will be on TV news tonight.

All I saw were some stragglers like this couple and tons of cops soaking up overtime and tropic heat.

Heard one of the cops complaining about the heat...very unusual, NYC cops are real stoics about the weather. They are out in everything all the time...

Just when I thought I had seen all of them, voila, another new psychic shop pops up in my path. This neighborhood has too many psychic places for it not to mean something....but what?

Shoes; New Psychic; Neighbor

Street corner conversation is conveyed by stances of participants and, oddly enough, their shoes..

Yet another Psychic in the neighborhood...

Neighbor out on a park bench.Wouldn't sit still so he is out of focus...why is it so hard to get decent shots of some people?

Oxford Newz and Smoke; Green Condos

Can remember when I used to go to Oxford Newz and Smoke on Third Avenue to see if I could get a copy of Newsday...the NY paper with the best puzzle section.

I don't buy Newsday every day any more...and I don't buy cigarettes, which by the way are going way up again due to a new tax to try and close the State's deficit.

Those Green Condos over on Second Avenue seem to be ready but don't look like many people gave moved in...real estate market is still poor here.

Ghost of Warhol; Psychic Messengers

A store window displaying super"modern" furniture on 34th Street has what is like a pop Art photo of Andy Warhol hovering ghost-like in the background...

Meanwhile, on Fifth Avenue, people advertise....yet another Psychic! What is it with all these psychics in Midtown Manhattan?

34th Street- Astro Gems and Minerals

The Astro Gems and Minerals Shop on West 34th Street always has the most interesting windows...

Wish I had a polarizing filter built in on my camera to block distracting reflections in shop window.

Particularly like the reference to fish fossils...

Multitasking; Bar Flags for Soccer; Murray Hill Center?

Seems like half the people on the street are texting or on their cell phones...including this dad (?) taking kids out for stroll.





Bar flags for World's Cup in bar window ...

This tablet at the Southwest corner of Park Avenue and 35th Street marks the center of the old Murray farm-- the true center of Murray Hill?

World Cup Excitement-for a while

World Cup for soccer ( or football, if you will) has begun..

Sports bars at 34th Street and 3rd Avenue are seeing a lot more interest in this than in the past...

This may just be for today, as the U.S. plays England and U.S. fans are hoping for an upset.

Everyday sights- where are these people moving to?

There was no apartment building near where these people were unloading their stuff, so I wondered where they were moving it to.

Maybe this was as close a parking spot as they could get to where they wanted to go.

Two cafes catering to two different types of clientele--maybe--exist side by side.

Wanted to get shot of vendor at this street place selling food to someone but felt it would be an unwelcome intrusion...there are some places in Midtown where you are free to photograph anything, but this quiet corner didn't seem like one of them.

Apparent False Alarm

One of New York's bravest arrives at a big apartment complex.

A lot of trucks showed up ( not just the two shown here)...I walked by as they were coming and was back ten minutes later as some trucks were leaving, but a few more were coming in from farther away, probably!

This was possibly a heart attack... wonder if woman on cell phone nearby called in a false alarm just to relieve her boredom on lazy, hot afternoon. Hope not!

Hats; Bus People: Decorated Street

Hats for men are not particularly "in" right now and besides, it is summer. Am old enough to remember a time when adult men usually wore hats...

Taking their time, people wait and board slowly and patiently for a bus. This is what distinguishes them from the people dashing around in the subway.

This is either 31 st or 32nd Street and Fifth Avenue, and noticed there are decorations up for some kind of holiday...wonder which one. There is always something in NYC.