Houston Street and Broadway

A smear of Broadway through a drizzle. (Take a look at these amazing paintings that look like photographs of traffic in the rain.)

Water Street and Pine Street

Like a reflecting pool, this shimmering disk cut out of a slab mirrors its hole, and the whole landscape, up and down the sidewalk. (The AIA Guide to New York City says this sculpture is, in fact, Disk and Slab, by Yu Yu Yang.)

Bowery and Houston Street

Bowl of blurry snails with curry, crispy lotus chips, and Thai sausage (wow: nice combination) at DBGB Kitchen and Bar, balanced by a glass of in-focus, local (Long Island) rosé. (This might be my new favorite restaurant.)

53rd Street and Sixth Avenue

View from the hard café chairs, with coffee and a glimpse, just a bit, of Parisian-like architecture, past the metro sign, plus a feeling of foreignness in the MoMA sculpture garden.

Mulberry Street and Jersey Street

Art installation by Softlab at the entrance to the San Gennaro festival (which ended yesterday).

South Street and Wall Street

Seagull (ignoring the advice of an airline advertisement).

Murray Street and Church Street

Sometimes the setting sun lights up the skyline as if it were a movie set, as if the sun were one of those film lights that drive the residents crazy.

Church Street and Murray Street

“Urban luggage”: we all carry bags (baggage) here.

Fulton Street and Broadway

The skeleton of a spiral rises at the Fulton Street Transit Center. Can’t wait to see the what the Calatrava station, which will be a couple of blocks away and connect to Fulton Street, apparently, looks like (one day).

Kenmare Street and Mott Street

This might look like a simple, minimal meal, but that’s the fantastic kimchi-pancake-battered corndog at Asiadog. Bonus: you can get any of their preparations with vegetarian, chicken, or beef dogs. (Wasabi potato salad in the background.)

Fifth Avenue and 16th Street

A last look at the summer view, up the avenue. (Autumn begins next week.)

Church Street and Lispenard Street

Bordello vibe outside (and inside, especially downstairs) at Macao Trading Company. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the fusion (Portuguese/Chinese) food was here. Especially the fried eggplant cubes like crunchy cotton candy and the kaffir lime gimlet.

Broadway and Houston Street

Soho collage with blue lipstick (perhaps not one of the most flattering colors for fall).

Somewhere on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway

Upon return from escape from 9/11: happy to see the shape of the Empire State Building (still in place).

West Broadway and Warren Street

One of the many murals painted around town after 9/11. I walk past this one every day, only a couple of blocks from Ground Zero, which will soon, I hope, be something else entirely.

Warren Street and West Street

A glimpse of the progress at the World Trade Center site. (Here’s a video.)

And check out this week’s double issue of New York Magazine for its encyclopedia of 9/11. (One entry that particularly struck a chord was “Blue,” as in “what everyone would remember first.”)

Church Street and Barclay Street

This twisted, shiny cross has replaced the steel crossbeams from the World Trade Center rubble that were displayed here for years. Some considered those original beams, found in the form of a cross, to be a sign—as I did (of geometry). Of this new piece, the sculptor says: “To me it is more of a body than a cross, and it sort of symbolizes our country.” (Read more of his comments and see pictures of both crosses in this article from the Tribeca Trib.)

Somewhere in Tuba City, Arizona

Gearing up for 9/11, all across the country. Here’s what’s happening this week and next (in New York) as part of the anniversary.