Murray Street and Broadway

I’m on vacation. Back after Labor Day. Enjoy the end of summer in the city (or wherever).

Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street

Everything We See Is Never Enough (upon reflection).

Crosby Street and Spring Street

”There are eight million stories in the naked city….”

West Broadway and Broome Street

A few of the funky (spiky) things (backpacks, I think) available at Treasure and Bond, the new for-charity shop from Nordstrom. I also spotted some nice housewares and candles and some beautiful jewelry (some of which would also be useful, such as the metal cuff with a Tube map of London). One of their first non-profit partners to benefit from the sales is the New York Public Library Programs for Children and Young Adults. Nice!

Union Square

“My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person,” said Andy Warhol, seen here in chrome and concrete as The Andy Monument, near one of his Factory locations. (The monument isn’t permanent, of course not.)

26th Street and 10th Avenue

Portrait of an apartment (rear view).

Broadway and 20th Street

A vat of handmade cheese at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese. They have, supposedly, the “world’s best” mac and cheese, and it’s available in the store to eat in or take out or frozen. (I tasted a sample and it was mighty fine, a perfectly old-fashioned version.) Here’s the recipe.

Madison Square Park

A last look at the serene and “otherwordly” (as I’ve read more than once) Echo. (It was dismantled yesterday, if these exhibit dates are correct.)

West Broadway and Park Place

As Jeff Koons said in this Guardian article about Magritte, “Whenever I see beautiful, perfect clouds in the sky, he’s the first thing that comes to mind.”

Cornelia Street and Bleecker Street

Marinated anchovies—believe me, they look better in black and white—at Pó  restaurant. On a bed of bulgur, I believe. Lovely. (Here's the chef's recipe for fregola with corn, also delicious.)

Columbus Circle

Artist at an intersection (maybe a crossroads).

Eleventh Avenue and 18th Street

And New York is the most beautiful city in the world? It is not far from it. No urban night is like the night there. . . . Squares after squares of flame, set up and cut into the aether. Here is our poetry, for we have pulled down the stars to our will.

            —Ezra Pound

17th Street and Fifth Avenue

Should have paid closer attention to the graffiti last week.

On the High Line

A scene that stopped me in my (railroad) tracks on the High Line because it looks like London (even old London), doesn’t it.

23rd Street and Ninth Avenue

A look up at the ArtBridge in Chelsea. Much better than the “visually polluting sidewalk bridging” that sometimes overtakes buildings and seems to stay forever. (Take a look at the Scaffolding Nightmares series on Curbed if you want to live vicariously.)

42nd Street and Broadway

“The lights are soul sparkling that you lose the Notion of the time.” —from a review of Times Square on Trip Advisor.

On the High Line

View from the High Line. (That’s Chelsea Modern, looking rather garish, in the background.) The new section is just as lovely as the old and worth a stroll (head north in the late afternoon so that the sun isn't shining in your eyes).

13th Street and Sixth Avenue

Peaches, candlelight, and the warning sign about choking (at the bar at Gradisca): all the pleasures of a rustic Italian restaurant (in New York City) on a summer evening.