Broome Street and Mercer Street

In The Story of New York in 10 Objects, surely the fleeing cab figures.

Hudson Street and Duane Street

Fence ornament at Duane Park, the second-oldest park in New York (the oldest is Bowling Green). According to NYC Parks, in 1797, “Trinity Church sold the triangle of land to the city for five dollars, on the condition that it be fenced and landscaped ‘as promotive of health and recreation.’ It was the first park purchased by the city specifically for that purpose.” (See more photos of the tiny park here.)

West Broadway and Reade Street

The shrimp balls at Super Linda were lovely, recently (here’s the recipe), but then everything I had (tostadas with corn, tostadas with crab, smoked chicken croqeutas, etc.) in this low-lit (but lively!) new space was good (maybe even super).

14th Street and Sixth Avenue

Portrait with/of the city (through a Starbucks window).

Eighth Avenue and 22nd Street

A bit of the tiny bakeshop, within the tiny new market called Foragers City Grocer. (I had thought it would be sprawling.)

17th Street and Sixth Avenue

Decorating ideas at Housing Works thrift shop. They also have a book out about that.

Franklin Street and Hudson Street

“The room … is appointed in a stylish, nouveau-Fontainebleau way with gold-colored light fixtures, whitewashed backlit walls, and a bar top made of copper.” That’s from Adam Platt in his review of Kutsher’s Tribeca in New York Magazine. I didn’t quite know what to expect from this place serving up “old-school Jewish food done up in a whole new, fancy way” (that’s Gothamist), and I had to ask my server what kreplach was. But it was all good (especially those crispy artichokes).

West Broadway and Murray Street

“She always wants me to stay over on Friday nights, which, you know, is impossible.” —overheard on the street

Warren Street and Greenwich Street

I dare you to find better advice posted on a city window. (From the kids at the Park Preschool.)

Union Square

Pussy willows rush to ruffle me as I root among them, while a Jack Russell terrier strains on its leash to be let go (at last! for once!) and an old man blows bubbles and someone else offers up pinhole photographs of skyscrapers: spring is coming.

Third Avenue and 13th Street

Something to think about while the disco ball spins over crowded tables of “modern comfort food from Thailand” at Ngam restaurant (which was just written up in the Times, as the wait staff repeatedly pointed out).

Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street

Four faces of the Egyptian goddess Sakhmet (at the Met), serene for a moment, removed from her time and place, like a tourist in a museum on a Saturday.